order which God hath set downe Gen. 2.18 For it is Gods ordinance and thereinto he secretly infuseth his grace wherof he depriues Adulterine and spurious off-spring As appeares especially in that they are forbidden entrance into the congregation of the Lord Deut. 23.2 euen to the tenth generation as if God should say They shall neuer enter Reasons may be these First in regard of the ignominie and reproch of their birth as that which comes forth with shame and proceeds otherwise then that due course which God hath set downe Secondly because these through want of Gods blessing seldome proue good though I confesse the rule holds not alwaies Heroum filij noxa Pro. for Gods mercie hath a prerogatiue and God will haue it appeare that goodnesse is his gift and that it comes not by propagation or ex traduce from our parents but for the most part such off-spring is viciate and corrupt We know the prouerbe Malus coruus malum onum like bird like egge A third cause of this inhibition was to extoll holy Marriage and to aduance the houses and Families of them that liued chaste to encourage them to keepe their vessels pure that their posteritie might not be reiected or depriued of this blessing For if the Adulterous broode should haue had equall priuiledge of honour and entrance into the congregation with the righteous seede holy wedlocke should haue growne into a contempt but because God will stand by his owne ordinance therefore he will reiect such adulterine commixtures with fastidiousnesse and disdaine Now the consideration of this namely the disaduantaging of his issue wronging the fruite of her wombe and bringing vpon it that incestuous defilement and pollution this might be a cause of some remorse For though God forgaue the offence yet the blot of it all the teares that euer hee could shed were neuer able to wash away And if this were no cause we will goe yet further Iudah was a Prince and an honorable man and it is not vnlike but his birth his minde were of equall greatnesse No doubt his reputation and good name was precious vnto him Qua semel amissa postea nullus eris Ouidius Now his birth his worth his reputation to be blemished with so foule a staine so great a sinne as Incest a man of so high place to fall into so base an action to giue so ill an example so foule a scandall this might touch him neere for such a one shall finde dishonour saith Salomon Prou. 6.33 and his reproch shal neuer be done away Nothing more forcible and perswasiue with the vulgar then the examples of great men The liues of such stand like looking glasses before the peoples eyes Validiora sunt exempla quam verba Bern. Their examples are of greater perswasion then the perswasion of their words A great man of a good life Et carbo lāpas est saith a Father hee is a Cole burning and a Lampe shining sibi ardet aliis lucet Gregor super Ezech. Hom. 1. hee warmes his owne conscience he heates himselfe well and he shewes a good light vnto others also Lib. de pastore De consideratio ad Eugenium Saint Augustine makes him a murderer who liues aloft and liues ill Qui in conspectu populi male viuit quantum in illo est occidit and Bernard Sedes prima vita ima The first and forwardest in esteeme and place the basest and beastliest in behauiour and life Monstruosares he cries out of it This Incest in Iudah a foule blemish in so great a man his ill example might doe great hurt It was bad inough that Ieroboam sinned but is farre worse that hee made Israel to sinne Tantum est peccare Authoribus illis Great mens sinnes are great maimes to the common-wealth and many base sellow will countenance himselfe with Vices as well as with their coates of Armes which as they presume to beare without right so hauing such Authors who seeme to sell sinne vpon warrantise are the bolder to offend without checke It is not so great an euill that they are euill in regard of themselues but that they draw euill men vnto greater euill by their euill example The Prophet obiected it to Dauid 2. Sam. 12. that by this foule sinne he committed he had caused the enemies of God to blaspheme And if you thinke the consideration of this did not touch him with remorse we will goe yet further To see himselfe so grossely ouerseene and ouer-reached euen by a woman Iudg. 9.54 Abimelech Iudg. 9. had rather his Page should thrust him thorow then it should bee said A woman slew him Richard Plantag D. of Yorke Henr. 6. That most heroick spirit of Yorke chose rather with an handfull of men to issue out against the Queenes great Armie then it should bee said A woman cooped him vp in his Castle It goeth against the heart of greatnesse to be ouer-reached or kept vnder either by inferiour or equall Honour is haughtie and dignitie impatient of the least indignitie yet they who striue most to keepe their mindes from basenesse cannot alwaies keep their fortunes from declining Amongst all Iacobs sonnes none sinned more grieuously then Ruben and Iudah Gen 35.22 both in Incest The one defiling his fathers Concubine the other his sonnes Wife Yet when all the rest conspired to kill their innocent brother Ruben saued him by his mercie Gen. 37.21.27 and Iudah by his wisedome That Iudah was very politique and wise appeares in his speech to the rest of his Brothers Hexapla in Gen. concerning Ioseph What will it auaile vs saith hee to kill our brother though wee keepe his bloud secret I will tell you what we will doe sell him to the Ismaelites Now by this as one well obserues Iudah went about very politiquely to auoide three inconueniences First the guilt of bloudshed that was a maine thing hee would not bee touched with the spilling of bloud Secondly whereas Iacob was wonderfully affected towards him because he was the sonne of his old age his reach was by selling of him to these Merchants to worke an impossibilitie that his Father might neuer see him Thirdly by his course he thought to preuent the honour that Ioseph dreamt of namely that the Sun the Moone and the 11. Stars did reuerence vnto him which his Father interpreted of himself his Mother the rest of his Brothers Yet this man as deepe and as politique as he was how grossely is he here ouer-reached euen by a seely woman as a man may say catched in a fooles trap Imposturam fecit passus est Here was the deceiuer himselfe deceiued Thamar had shorne his Fleece and so for a time Iudg. 16.19 Iudah had lost his wit as Sampson lost his strength For whiles hee thought politiquely to auoide one mischiefe in regard of his sonne he fell into a greater in respect of himselfe And here is
should be a couragious and stout Nehemiah Nehem. 6.11 Should such a man as I flie Lawes that lie dead he must put life into them 2. Kin. 4.32 as Elisha did into the Shunamites sonne and set them vpon their feete It was the commendation of Ieroboam 1. King 11.29 1. King 15.23 that he was strong and couragious This man Ieroboam was a man of strength and courage And surely hee that is set ouer others as Ieroboam was set ouer Salomons workes hee had not neede be gowtie in his feete as Asa was but he must haue abilitie of bodie to manage his affaires without check He must not sit still or be as a dumb Image or Statue no he is lex loquens a speaking Law And though he be a God on the earth Psal 82.6 yet he must not be like the gods of the Heathen who haue eyes and see not eares and heare not mouthes and yet could not speake Such are but Idol Magistrates Psal 115.6.7 Gen. 31.30 like Labans gods for so indeed he called them and yet were very blocks or like Bell in the Storie Brasse without but clay within Historia Bell verse 3. and if they deserue any worship it is because they spend so much vpon their Tables so many Measures of fine Flower so many Sheepe and so many pots of Wine euery day A shame it is they should sit in their places for fashion sake as Tradesmen weare swords or like a George on horseback terrible onely in view and that is all No they must deale roundly and vse that seueritie against offenders which is meete that because Euils are many and rife and the wicked haue an insatiable appetite to doe wickedly like the winde euer in motion like the Sea euer working therefore to breake off the armes of wickednesse betimes to doe it manfully and couragiously Hee that spares the Wolfe hazards the whole Flocke and all goe to ruine where there is not a resolute and yet a conscionable seueritle For I would not haue a Magistrate like Aristides who for his ouer much Iustice whether iustly or no was banished out of Athens or like Cassius a Praetor in Rome Valer. Maximus whose Iudgement seate was said to be Scopulus reorum where there was as little fauour for an offender to bee had as the Ship hath that dasheth or rusheth vpon a Rocke these turne Iustice into cruelty and equity into reuenge and are fitter to gouerne where Minos and Radamanthus beare office then to bee set ouer the people of God Woe be vnto such Amos 4.1 For they shall bee taken away with Thornes and their posterity with Fishhookes There seuerity therfore must be moderate and Christian and to their Courage they must ioyne Knowledge too First to know their owne strength that is the authoritie and power that is cōmitted vnto them from whence it is giuen and for what end Secondly to iudge aright how euils and misdemeanors grow from what causes and how to proceede in them and so shall they be the better able to remoue them As I remember Heraclitus when he was sicke he examined his Phisitions concerning the cause of his sicknesse and for that they were ignorant and could not resolue him he sent them away and would haue none of their Physick For saith he if ye be not able to shew me the cause of my disease much lesse are yee able to take the cause away And surely many disorders get head through the vnskilfulnes of Magistrates in their places for though they meane well and are desirous in a godly care to reforme abuses yet such is the nature of euill like the Diuell himselfe that it will grow too subtill and cunning for the Magistrate 1. Kings 14. Hierome Euill will disguise it selfe like Ieroboams wife ye shal not know it to be euill Ignorantia Iudicis plerunque est calamitas innocentis saith a Father so it is very true For Ioseph was punished with imprisonment by Putiphar Gen. 39.20 2. Sam. 16.4 and Mephiboseths lands were all giuen away by Dauid and yet both proued meere innocents and so many times the innocent smart for it when there is no cause and the nocent guilty scape free vntouched Sinister informations and want of due iudgement in the Magistrate is not onely a cause of much disorder amongst wicked men but euen of much iniustice against good men Adde hereunto Diligence 3. Diligence which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the onely substantial thing euen al in all as one spake of perfection The onely thing in euery thing Dr. Pl. For he must not be like Polyphemus who had but one eye and a bad one too but hee had need haue an hundred eyes as the Poet faignes of Argus I meane much vigilancy in his gouernmēt Centum luminibus cinctii caput Argus babebat Ouid. Metam Homer He must be oculatus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à fronte à tergo he must looke before him behind him he must be euery way vigilant in this respect is that Apothegme iust and true that one good Magistrate is worth twenty good Lawes And if a man did rightly iudge aforehand what diligence and paines-taking this Office requires I thinke he would scarse haue the honour to beare the Burthen He must stand Sentinell and haue his eye euery where that as the heart sendeth forth spirit and vigour into all parts and members of the body and yet is not present in euery part or member So though not his Person yet the presence of his Power should bee euery where in all parts of his common-weale and gouernment And as it was said of the gods of the Pagans other gods were limited and tyed to their seueral places as Iupiter to Elis Diana to Ephesus Apollo to Delos But Esculapius whose skil and knowledge in Physick was admirable hee had his Temples and Altars euery where in Corinth in Thebes in Athens in Lacedaemon in Arcadia c. So I say though priuate men neither can nor ought to range beyond their proper and particular stations yet the Magistrate the great Physition of the weale publique must be euery where in all places as the beames of the Sunne striking into euery house in euery part or disordered place ought his power to bee for rereformation and amendment And as nothing paineth the Physition more then the difficultie and hardnesse of the cure so nothing should be a greater griefe vnto his heart then when disorders shall grow aboue his strength to reforme and euils and abuses ouer-master him Hence no doubt is that of the Sonne of Syrach Ecclus 7.7 Seeke not to bee made a Iudge or a Magistrate lest thou beest not able to take away iniquitie By all which it is manifest what a Burthen and weight lyeth vpon the shoulders of the Magistrate and therefore it is no faire play in your Elections to this purpose so often to lay this Burthen vpon one
his victories ouer Egypt in three words Venit vidit vicit He came he saw he ouercame So in three words Iudah huddles vp his bargaine with this Cananitish woman Verse 2 Vidit accepit cognouit He saw her he tooke her he went in vnto her Which shewes how rash and retchlesse we are without our right guide yea and euen how shamelesse in our actions when God turnes vs ouer to our lusts and to the sinfull affections of our owne hearts Neither was this vnpunished in Iudah thus matching himselfe into this accursed stocke for God blessed him not he grew so infortunate in his posteritie that he might haue wished with Augustus Caesar Suetonius O Vtinam coelebs vixissem orbusque perissem he had had neither wife nor child For euen the fruits of this Marriage Er and Onan were accursed of God And thus will it euer come to passe where God is neglected and our carnall affections beares the sway Thirdly to come more neere to the matter it selfe The fact thus committed with Thamar he labours to conceale it as much as he can For when he had sent the Kid to redeeme the Pledge and the Messenger could not finde her he satisfies himselfe without further inquirie Accipiat sibi Let her take it saith he without more adoe ne forte simus contemptui lest if al come to light we be ashamed Thus he feares man more then the God of Heauen that made man and the shame of men he stands in more awe of then the dreadfull presence and Maiestie of God The credit and reputation of his name he preserues prefers Omnia si perdat if hee lose all yea euen God himselfe who is all in all yet will he not incurre shame and reproch at the hands of men as if God did shut vp his eyes in boxes and were in a deepe slumber as if his all-seeing eye were not present yea euen with them who would auoide his presence as if he tooke no account of mans iniquitie or that the holy One of Israel would not be reuenged Fourthly to lay open the wound yet more You heard before how he was ouer-borne with lust with incontinencie you shall now see him as farre ouer-gone with crueltie I note it the rather because they are vices which seldome doe abandon one another especially if it be true which some hold for a Maxime Euery voluptuous Prince is cruell and the more if necessitie constraine him as here this great man Iudah adiudgeth Thamar for this fact to be burnt not for any such reason I rendred before but hereby he thought to be rid of Thamar and so his sonne Shelah might be at liberty to marry elsewhere For no doubt had not this beene his purpose he would not haue beene so forward so resolute He would rather haue expostulated with her concerning the Fact For was there no orderly proceeding to be had Doth hee settle his Iudgement vpon the first impression to haue her dispatched Had she been married to two of his sonnes Er and Onan and is his fauor no better nay are his words so bitter the words of death Surely yea here is but a word and a blowe As peremptorie was he as euer was Dauid 2. Sam. 11.5 The man that hath done this shall surely dye and little thought it concerned him so neere Educite eam Bring her forth Verse 24. he spake imperatiuely and this was generosum and spoken like a King but vt comburatur that she may bee burnt and her complaint not entred her cause not heard this was scelerosum and spoken like a Tyrant Nay here is one thing more that fils vp the measure of his iniquitie and makes him wicked aboue measure for hee would haue had her dispatched being great with child Here was nihil virtutis besides the first sillable nihil humanitatis besides the Name Pietatis omniâ—o nihil Nay rather Excede pietas Be gone pietie be gone Though he had not regarded her because she had offended yet me thinkes he should haue respected the poore infant who offended not could it speake to any other then to the bowels that bare it Or plead at any Barre either for it selfe or the Mother being as yet imprisoned in the Wombe and not so soone enlarged as it should haue beene enwrapped with the slames of Death 2. King 8. The teares in the eyes of Elisha I can scarce remember without teares when so earnestly hee eyed Hazael knowing that amongst other villanies committed by him hee should rend in pieces women great with child I pray what answere made Hazael againe Is thy seruant a Dogge that he should doe this thing So brutish so inhumane Deut. 24.16 How did God prouide against this Rigour when he made a Law that the Child should not suffer for the Father nor the Father for the Child When Iudgement of death passeth vpon a woman with child the execution is deferred till she be deliuered This was practised amongst the Athenians and it was the Law of the ancient Romans Aelianus lib. 5. Suetonius in vita Claudij Eras in Paedagog Yet Suetonius who wrote the liues of the twelue Caesars and indeede he wrote as Erasmus wittily eà dem libertate quà ipsi vixerunt euen as freely as they liued reports of Claudius that he spared not to put to death women great with child Generall Historie of Spaine Pag. 420. Such was that horrible outrage of the Sicilians vpon the French mentioned in the generall Historie of Spaine who slew them with such cruelty that where they knew any women of their owne Nation begotten with child of the French they ripped open their wombes and slew both women and children because they would be sure to leaue none of their French seede in the Countrey answerable to this was the clemencie of Q. Acts and Monuments Pag. 129. Maries Bishops who burning a woman great with child her wombe burst and the Babe sprang forth which labouring to auoid the flame they tooke and cast into the fire againe I will say no more but surely this was an hard doome for Thamar Hexapla in Gen. pag. 302. and so much the more vniust because this punishment was not arbitrarie in Iudah for hee had no such authoritie an honourable man hee was indeede but no Magistrate there to command the execution of any such Iustice Iudah is now at the highest Concerning Thamar 2. Thamar if we pull off her vaile we may easily see that though it couered her face yet it could not couer her sinne For though Iudah knew her not to be Thamar yet Thamar knew him well inough to be Iudah and it is more then manifest that she willingly committed this Incest And say she did it not in any desire of inordinate lust as it is like she did not but rather successionis gratia desiring onely to haue issue Et ex ea familia quam delegerat and of that Family and I ribe too that shee had chosen