justice and equity in all causes neither did it grieve them so to doe being perswaded that whilest they obeyed their lawes nothing could betide them but good The Lacedemonian Kings were in such bondage to the lawes of their countrey that the Ephori which were set up to none other end but to be a bridle to hold them backe from doing what they listed had absolute authority to correct them when they had committed any fault which subjection nothing displeased King Theopompus as it is apparent by the answer he made his wise that reproved him once in anger saying By his cowardise he would leave a lesse kingdome to his children than he had received of his Ancestors Nay saith he a greater forsomuch as more durable and permanent Plutarch praising the uprightnesse of King Alcamenes who for feare to breake the law refused divers presents that were sent him bursteth into this speech O heart worthy of a King that hath preferred the authority of the law before his owne profit Where are those fellowes now that cry Kings pleasures ought to be observed for Lawes and that a Prince may make a law but is not subject to it himselfe And this is that which Plutarch saith as concerning that matter who lived under Trajan the Emperor Cornelius Tacitus discovering the beginning and originall of the Romane Civill Law saith That Servius the third King of Rome after Romulus and Numa was the only man that most established those lawes whereunto Kings themselves ought to yeeld and be obedient And admit that the Emperours swayed with great power and authority almost all the world yet for all their fiercenesse and haughtinesse of minde Pliny durst tell Trajan That an Emperour ought to use to carry himselfe with such good government in his Empire as if he were sure to give up an account of all his actions Thou must not saith hee desire more liberty to follow thine owne lust than any one of us doe a Prince is not set over the law but the law placed in authority above the Prince This was the admonition of that heathen man Likewise Antonius and Severus two mighty Emperours although by reason of an opinion of their owne greatnesse and haughtinesse wherewith they flattered themselves bragged that they were not subject to any law yet they added this clause withall That notwithstanding they would live according to the direction of the law This saith Theodosius and Valentinion two no lesse mighty Emperours is a voice becomming the Royall Majesty and greatnesse of a King To confesse himselfe to live under a law and in truth it is a thing of greater importance than the imperiall dignity it selfe to put soveraignty under the authority of law Amongst many other good lessons and exhortations which Lewis that good King gave unto his sonne on his death-bed this was one worthy the remembring how he commanded him to love and feare God with all his strength and to take heed of doing any thing that should be contrary to his law whatsoever should befall him and to provide that the good lawes and statutes of his kingdome might be observed and the priviledges of his subjects maintained to forbid Iudges to favour him more than any others when any cause of his owne came in tryall Thereby giving us thus much to understand That every good King ought to submit himselfe in obedience under the hand of God and under the rule of justice and equity Wherefore there is neither King nor Keisar that can or ought to exempt himselfe from the observance of sacred and upright lawes which if they resist or disanull doubtlesse they are culpable of a most hainous crime and especially of Rebellion against the King of Kings CHAP. VII Of the punishment that seised upon Pharaoh King of Aegypt for resisting God and transgressing the first commandement of the Law WEe have sufficiently declared in the premisses that the mightiest potentates of this world are bound to range themselves under the obedience of Gods law it remaineth now that we produce examples of those punishments that have fallen upon the heads of the transgressours of the same according to the manner of their transgression of what sort soever which that we may the better describe it behooveth us to follow the order of the Commandements as the examples wee bring may be fitly referred to any of them And first we are to understand that when God said Thou shalt have none other Gods before me hee condemneth under these words the vanity of men that have forged to themselves a multitude of gods hee forbiddeth all false Religion and declareth That hee would be acknowledged to be the sole and true God and that we should serve worship love feare and obey him in and above all things and whosoever it be that doth otherwise either by hindring his worship or afflicting those that worship him the same man provoketh his heavy wrath to bee throwne upon him to his utter ruine and destruction This is the indignation that lighted upon Pharaoh King of Aegypt as wee read in the booke of God who being one of the most puissant Kings of the earth in his age God chose him for an object to shew his wonderfull power by the means of horrible plagues and scourges which hee cast upon him and by destroying him with all his armies at the length as his rebellion well deserved For he like a cruell Tyrant continuing to oppresse the children of Israel without giving them any release or breathing time from their misery or liberty to serve God although by Moses in the name and authority of God who made himselfe well enough knowne unto him without the help of any written law hee was many times instantly urged and requested thereunto so many judgements and punishments assayled him one in the necke of another in such sort that at length he was overtaken and ensnared therewith First of all the very waters of Aegypt being converted into bloud proclaimed warre against him then the frogges which covered the face of the earth climbed up even to his chamber and bed and filling every corner of his land sounded him an alarme next a muster of lice and gnats and such other troublesome and stinking creatures summoned him to combate an handfull of embers seattered in the aire by Moses were unto him as the strokes of a stone or a shaft which did wonderfully disfigure their bodies with boyles and most noysome scabbes afterward the grashoppers were put in battell array against him together with the hailestones horrible thunders and lightenings wasting and spoyling and running up and downe grievously through his whole land After all these bitter blowes the Tyrant being cut short and being so besieged on every side with hideous and palpable darknesse that he could not tell which wayes to turne himselfe yet would hee not be brought to any reason but continued obstinate and hardened against God though all the elements with heaven and earth had taken armour together
unto To this Pope and these Cardinals let us adde an Archbishop and that of Canterbury to wit Thomas Arundel upon whom the justice of God appeared no lesse manifestly than on the former For after hee had unjustly given sentence against the Lord Cobham he died himselfe before him being so striken in his tongue that he could neither swallow nor speake for a certaine space before the time of his death Hither might be adjoyned the vengeance of God upon Justice Morgan who condemned to death the innocent Lady Iane but presently after fell madde and so dyed having nothing in his mouth but Lady Iane Lady Iane. In the reigne of King Henry the eighth one Richard Long a man of armes in Calice bore false witnesse against master Smith the Curate of our Lady Parish in Calice for eating flesh in Lent which hee never did but hee escaped not vengeance for shortly after he desperately drowned himselfe A terrible example unto all such as are ready to forsweare themselves on a Booke upon malice or some other cause a thing in these dayes over rise every where and almost of most men little or nothing regarded About the same time one Gregory Bradway committed the same crime of false accusation against one Broke whom being driven thereunto by feare and constraint he accused to have robbed the Custome-house wherein hee was a Clerke of foure groats every day and to this accusation he subscribed his hand but for the same presently felt upon him the heavy hand of God for being grieved in his consciene for his deed hee first with a knife enterprised to cut his owne throâ—t but being not altogether dispatched therewith the Gaoler comming up and preventing his purpose hee fell forthwith into a furious frenzie and in that case lived long time after Hitherto we may adde the example of one William Feming who accused an honest man called Iohn Cooper of speaking trayterous words against Queene Mary and all because he would not sell him two goodly bullockes which he much desired for which cause the poore man being arraigned at Berry in Suffolke was condemned to death by reason of two false witnesses which the said Feming had suborned for that purpose whose names were White and Greenwood so this poore man was hanged drawne and quartered and his goods taken from his poore wife and nine children which are left destitute of all helpe but as for his false accusers one of them died most miserably for in harvest time being well and lusty of a sudden his bowels fell out of his body and so he perished the other two what ends they came unto it is not reported but sure the Lord hath reserved a sufficient punishment for all such as they are Many more be the examples of this sinne and judgements upon it as the Pillories at Westminster and daily experience beareth witnesse but these that we have alledged shall suffice for this purpose because this sinne is cousin Germane unto perjury of which you may read more at large in the former booke It should now follow by course of order if wee would not pretermit any thing of the law of God to speak of such as have offended against the tenth Commandement and what punishment hath ensued the same but forsomuch as all such offences for the most part are included under the former of which wee have already spoken and that there is no adultery nor fornication nor theft nor unjust warre but it is annexed to and proceedeth from the affection and the resolution of an evill and disordinate concupiscence as the effect from the cause therefore it is not necessary to make any particular recitall of them more than may well bee collected out of the former examples added hereunto that in evill concupiscence and affection of doing evill which commeth not to act though it be in the sight of God condemned to everlasting torments yet it doth not so much incurre and provoke his indignation that a man should for that onely cause be brought to apparent destruction and be made an example to others to whom the sinne is altogether darke and unknowne therefore we will proceed in our purpose without intermeddling in speciall with this last Commandement CHAP. XLVII That Kings and Princes ought to looke to the execution of Iustice for the punishment of naughty and corrupt manners NO man ought to be ignorant of this that it is the duty of a Prince not onely to hinder the course of sin from bursting into action but also to punish the doers of the Jame making both civill justice to be administred uprightly and the law of God to be regarded and observed inviolably for to this end are they ordained of God that by their meanes every one might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty to the which end the maintenance and administration of justice being most necessary they ought not so to discharge themselves of it as to translate it upon their Officers and Judges but also to looke to the execution thereof themselves as it is most needfull for if law which is the foundation of justice be as Plato saith a speechlesse and dumbe Magistrate who shall give voyce and vigor unto it if not hee that is in supreame and soveraigne authority For which cause the King is commanded in Deuteronomy To have before him alwayes the Booke of the Law to the end to doe justice and judgement to every one in the feare of God And before the creation of the Kings in Israel the chiefe Captaines and Soveraignes amongst them were renowned with no other title nor quality than of Judges In the time of Deborah the Prophetesse though she was a woman the weaker vessell yet because she had the conducting and governing of the people they came unto her to seeke judgement It is said of Samuel that he judged Israel so long till being tyred with age and not able to beare that burden any longer hee appointed his sonnes for Judges in his stead who when through covetousnesse they perverted justice and did not execute judgement like their father Samuel they gave occasion to the people to demaund a King that they might be judged and governed after the manner of other Nations which things sufficiently declared that in old time the principall charge of Kings was personally to administer justice and judgement and not as now to transferre the care thereof to others The same we read of King David of whom it is said That during his reigne he executed justice and judgement among his people and in another place That men came unto him for judgement and therefore he disdained not to heare the complaint of the woman of Tekoah shewing himselfe herein a good Prince and as the Angel of God to heare good and evill for this cause Solomon desired not riches nor long life of the Lord but a wise and discreet heart to judge his people and to discerne betwixt good and
aloft upon the roofe of an house perceiving his intent threw downe a tile with both her hands upon his head and hit him such a knocke upon the necke through default of his armour that it so bruised his joynts that he fell into a sudden swound and lost his sight his raines falling out of his hand and he himselfe tumbling from his saddle upon the ground which when some of the soldiers perceived they drew him out of the gate and there to make an end of the tragedy cut off his head The cruelty of the Ephori was marvellous strange when being unwilling once to heare the equality of lands and possessions to be named which Agis their King for the good of the commonwealth according to the antient custome and ordinance of Licurgus sought to restore they rose up against him and cast him in prison and there without any processe or forme of law sttangled him to death with his mother and grandfather But it cost them very deare for Cleamenes who was joynt King with Agis albe it he had consented to the weaving of that web himself to the end he might raigne alone yet ceased he not to prosecute revenge upon them which hee did not onely by his daily and usuall practises openly but also privily for taking them once at advantage being at supper all together hee caused his men to kill them suddenly as they fat And thus was the good King Agis revenged But this last murtherer which was fullied and polluted with so much bloud he went not long unpunished for his misdeeds for soone after Antigonus King of Macedonia gave him a great overthrow in a battell wherein hee lost Sparta his chiefe city and fled into Aegypt for succour where after small abode upon an accusation laid against him he was cast into prison and though he escaped out with his company by cunning and craft yet as he walked up and down Alexandria in armor in hope that through his seditious practises the citizens would take his part and help to restore him to his liberty when he perceived it was nothing so but that every man forsooke him and that there was no hope left of recovery he commanded his men to kill one another as they did In which desperate rage and fury he himselfe was slain his body being found was commanded by King Ptolomey to be hangd on a gibbet and his mother wives and children that came with him into Aegypt to bee put to death And this was the tragicall end of Cleomenes King of Sparta Alexander the tyrant of Pheres never ceased to make and spy out all occasions of warre against the people of Thessaly to the end to bring them generally in subjection under his dominion he was a most bloudy and cruell minded man having neither regard of person or justice in any action In his cruelty he buried some alive others he clothed in beares and boares skins and then set dogs at their tailes to rend them in pieces others hee used in way of pastime to strike through with darts and arrowes And one day as the inhabitants of a certaine city were assembled together in counsell he caused his guard to inclose them up suddenly and to kill them all even to the very infants He slew also his owne uncle and crowned the speare wherwith he did that deed with garlands of flowers and sacrificed unto him being dead as to a god Now albeit this cruell Tygre was garded continually with troupes of souldiers that kept night and day watch about his body wheresoever hee lay and with a most ougly and terrible dog unacquainted with any saving himselfe his wife and one servant that gave him his meat tied to his chamber dore yet could hee not escape the evill chance which by his wives meanes fell upon him for she taking away the staires of his chamber let in three of her owne brethren provided to murther him as they did for finding him asleep one tooke him fast by the heeles the other by the haire wringing his head behind him and the third thrust him through with his sword shee all this while giving them light to dispatch their businesse The citizens of Pheres when they had drawne his carkasse about their streets and trampled upon it their bellies full threw it to the dogges to be devoured so odious was his very remembrance among them Iâ—gurth sonne to Manastabal brother to Micipsa King of Numidia by birth a bastard for hee was borne of a concubine yet by nature and disposition so valiant and full of courage that hee was not onely beloved of all men but also so deerely esteemed of by Micipsa that he adopted him joynt heire with his sonnes Adherbal and Hiempsal to his crowne kindly admonishing him in way of intreaty to continue the union of love and concord without breach between them which hee promised to performe But Micipsa was no sooner deceased but hee by and by not content with a portion of the Kingdome ambitiously sought for the whole For which cause hee first found meanes to dispatch Hiempsal out of his way by the hands of the guard who in his lodging by night cut his throat and then by battell having vanquished Adherbal his brother obtained the sole regiment without controlment Besides hee corrupted so by bribes the Senators of Rome that had soveraigne authority in and over his Kingdome that in stead of punishment which his murther cried for he was by the decree of the Senate allotted to the one halfe of the Kingdome Whereupon being growne yet more presumptuous hee made excursions and ryots upon Adherbals territories and did him thereby much injury and from thence falling to open warre put him to flight and pursued him to a city where hee besieged him so long till he was constrained to yeeld himselfe And then having gotten him within his power put him to the cruellest death he could devise which villanous deed gave just cause to the Romanes of that warre which they undertooke against him wherein hee was discomfited and seeing himselfe utterly lost fled to his sonne in law Bochus King of Mauritania to seeke supply of succour who receiving him into safegard proved a false gard to him and delivered him into the hands of his enemies and so was he carried in triumph to Rome by Marius fast bound and being come to Rome cast into perpetuall prison where first his gowne was torne off his backe by violence next a ring of gold pluckt off his eare lap and all and lastly himselfe starke naked throwne into a deepe ditch where combating with famine six dayes the seventh miserably ended his wretched life according to the merits of his misdeeds Orsius saith he was strangled in prison Methridates king of Parthia put to death the king of Cappadocia to get his kingdome and after under pretence of parlying with one of his sonnes slew him also for which cause the Romanes tooke up the quarrell and made warre upon him by meanes
stove fell out among themselves and from words grew to blowes the Candles being put out insomuch that one of them was stabbed with a punyard Now the deed doer was unknowne by reason of the number although the Gentleman accused a Pursevant of the Kings for it who was one of them in the stove The King to finde out the homicide caused them all to come together in the stove and standing round about the dead Corps becommanded that they should one after another lay their right hand on the slain Gentlemans naked breasts swearing they had not killed him the Gentlemen did so and no signe appeared to witnesse against them the Pursevant onely remained who condemned before in his owne conscience went first of all and kissed the dead mans feet but as soone as he layed his hand on his breast the blood gushed forth in abundance both out of his wound and nosthrils so that urged by this evident accusation he confessed the murder and by the Kings owne sentence was incontinently beheaded whereupon as I said before arose that practise which is now ordinary in many places of finding out unknowne Murders which by the admirable power of God are for the most part revealed either by the bleeding of the corpes or the opening of the eye or some other extraordinary signe as daily experience doth teach The same Authour reporteth another example farre more strange in the same letter written to David Chytreus which happened at Itzehow in Denmarke A Traveller was murdered by the high-way side and because the murderer could not be found out the Magistrates of Itzehow caused the body to be taken up and one of the hands to be cut off which was carried into the prison of the Towne and hung up by a string in one of the Chambers about ten yeares after the murderer comming upon some occasion in to the prison the hand which had been a long time dry began to drop blood on the Table that stood underneath it which the Gaoler beholding stayed the fellow and advertised the Magistrates of it who examining him the murderer giving glory to God confessed his fact and submitted himselfe to the rigour of the Law which was inflicted on him as he very well deserved At Winsheime in Germany a certaine Theefe after many Robberies and Murders committed by him upon Travellers and Women with childe went to the Shambles before Easter and bought three Calves heads which when hee put into a Wallet they seemed to the standers by to be mens heads whereupon being attached and searched by the Officers and he examined how hee came by them answered and proved by witnesses that hee bought Calves heads and how they were transformed â—hee knew not whereupon the Senate amazed not supposing this miracle to arise of naught cast the party into prison and tortured him to make him confesse what villany he had committed who confessed indeed at last his horrible murders and was worthily punished for the same and then the heads recovered their old shapes When I read this story I was halfe afraid to set it downe least I should seeme to insert fables into this serious Treatise of Gods Judgements but seeing the Lord doth often worke miraculously for the disclosing of this foule sinne I thought that it would not seeme altogether incredible Another murderer at Tubing betrayed his murder by his owne sighes which were so deepe and incessant in griefe not of his fact but of his small booty that being but asked the question he confessed the crime and underwent worthy punishment Another murtherer in Spain was discovered by the trembling of his heart for when many were suspected of the murder and all renounced it the Judge caused all their breasts to be opened and him in whom he saw most trembling of brest he condemned who also could not deny the fact but presently confessed the same At Isenacum a certaine yong man being in love with a maid and not having wherewith to maintain her used this unlawfull meanes to accomplish his desire upon a night he slew his host and throwing his body into a Cellar tooke away all his money and then hasted away but the terrour of his owne conscience and the judgement of God so besotted him that hee could not stirre a foot untill he was apprchended At the same time Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon abode at Isenacum and were eye-witnesses of this miraculous judgement who also so dealt with this murderer that in most humble and penitent confession of his sinnes and comfort of soule he ended his life By all these examples wee see how hard it is for a murderer to escape without his reward when the justice of man is either too blinde that it cannot search out the truth or too blunt that it doth not strike with severity the man appointed unto death then the justice of God riseth up and with his owne arme he discovereth and punisheth the murderer yea rather than he shall goe unpunished sencelesse creatures and his owne heart and tongue rise to give sentence against him I doubt not but daily experience in all places affordeth many more examples to this purpose and especially the experience of our Judges in criminall causes who have continuall occasion of understanding such matters in their Circuits but these shall suffice for our present purpose CHAP. XII Of such as have murdered themselves WHen the Law saith Thou shalt not kill it not onely condemneth the killing of others but much more of our selves for charity springeth from a mans selfe therfore if they be guilty of murder that spill the bloud of others much more guilty are they before God that shed their owne bloud and if nature bindeth us to preserve the life of all men as much as lyeth in our power then much more are we bound to preserve our owne lives so long as God shall give us leave We are here set in this life as souldiers in a station without the licence of our Captaine we must not depart our soule is maried to the body by the appointment of God none must presume to put a sunder those whom God hath coupled and our life is committed to us as a thing in trust we must not redeliver it nor part with it untill he require it againe at our hands that gave it into our hands Saint Augustine in his first Booke De Civitate Dei doth most strongly evince and prove That for no cause voluntary death is to be undertaken neither to avoid temporall troubles least we fall into eternall nor for feare to be polluted with the sinnes of others lest by avoiding other mens sinnes we encrease our owne nor yet for our owne sinnes that are past for the which we have more need of life that we might repent of them nor lastly for the hope of a better life because they which are guilty of their owne death a better life is not prepared for them These be the words of Augustine wherein he alledgeth
Countries to know the judgement of all the learned Divines concerning the matter in controversie who especially those that dwelt not far off seemed to allow and approve the divorce Thereupon he resolved rejecting his olde wife to take him to a new and to marrie as he did Anne of Bulloine one of the Queenes maides of honour a woman of most rare and excellent beauty Now as touching his first marriage with his brothers wife how unfortunate it was in it owne nature and how unjustly dispensed withall by the Pope we shall anon see by those heavy sorrowfull and troublesome events and issues which immediatly followed in the neck thereof And first and formest of the evill fare of the Cardinall of Yorke with whom the King being highly displeased for that at his instance and request the Pope had opposed himselfe to this marriage requited him and not undeservedly on this manner first he deposed him from the office of the Chancellorship secondly deprived him of two of his three bishoprickes which he held and lastly sent him packing to his owne bouse as one whom he never purposed more to see yet afterward being advertised of certaine insolent and threatning speeches which he used against him he sent againe for him but he not daring to refuse to come at his call dyed in the way with meere griefe and despight The Pope gave his definitive sentence against this act and favoured the cause of the divorced Ladie but what gained he by it save only that the King offended with him rejected him and all his trumpery retained his yearely tribute levied out of this Realm and converted it to another use and this was the recompence of his goodly dispensation with an incestuous marriage wherein although to speake truly and properly he lost nothing of his owne yet it was a deep check and no shallow losse to him and his successors to be deprived of so goodly a revenue and so great authority in this Realme as he then was CHAP. XXVII Of Adulterie SEeing that marriage is so holy an institution and ordinance of God as it hath been shewed to be it followeth by good right that the corruption thereof namely Adultery whereby the bond of marriage is dissolved should be forbidden for the woman that is polluted therewith despiseth her owne husband yea and for the most part hateth him and foisteth in strange seed even his enemies brats in stead of his owne not only to be fathered but also to be brought up and maintained by him and in time to be made inheritors of his possessions which thing being once knowne must needes stir up coales to set anger on fire and set abroach much mischiefe and albeit that the poore infants are innocent and guiltlesse of the crime yet doth the punishment and ignominie thereof redound to them because they cannot be reputed as legitimate but are even marked with the black coale of bastardy whilest they live so grievous is the guilt of this sin and uneasie to be removed For this cause the very Heathen not only reproved adultery evermore but also by authority of law prohibited it and allotted to death the offenders therein Abimelech King of the Philistims a man without circumcision and therefore without the covenant knowing by the light of nature for hee knew not the law of God how sacred and inviolable the knot of marriage ought to be expresly forbad all his people from doing any injury to Isaac in regard of his wife and from touching her dishonestly upon paine of death Out of the same fountaine sprang the words of queene Hecuba in Euripides speaking to Menelaus touching Helen when she admonished him to enact this law That every woman which should betray her husbands credit and her owne chastity to another man should die the death In olde time the Aegyptians used to punish adultery on this sort the man with a thousand jerkes with a reed and the woman with cutting off her nose but he that forced a free woman to his lust had his privy members cut off By the law of Iulia adulterers were without difference adjuged to death insomuch that Iulius Antonius a man of great parentage and reputation among the Romanes whose son was nephew to Augustus sister as Cornelius Tacitus reporteth was for this crime executed to death Aurelianus the Emperour did so hate and detest this vice that to the end to scare and terrifie his souldiers from the like offence he punished a souldier which had committed adultery with his hostesse in most severe manner even by causing him to be tyed by both his feet to two trees bent downe to the earth with force which being let goe returning to their course rent him cruelly in pieces the one halfe of his body hanging on the one tree and the other on the other Yea and at this day amongst the very Turkes and Tartarians this sin is sharply punished So that we ought not wonder that the Lord should ordaine death for the Adulterer If a man saith the law lie with another mans wife if I say he commit adultery with his neighbours wife the Adulterer and the Adulteresse shall die the death And in another place If a man be found lying with a woman married to a man they shall die both twaine to wit the man that lay with the wife and the wife that thou maiest put away evill from Israel Yea and before Moses time also it was a custome to burne the Adulterers with fire as it appeareth by the sentence of Iuda one of the twelve Patriarchs upon Thamar his daughter in law because he supposed her to have played the whore Beside all this to the end this sin might not be shuffled up and kept close there was a meanes given whereby if a man did but suspect his wife for this sin though she could by no witnesse or proofe be convinced her wickednesse notwithstanding most strangely and extraordinarily might be discovered And it was this The woman publikely at her husbands suit called in question before the Priest who was to give judgement of her after divers ceremonies and circumstances performed and bitter curses pronounced by him her belly would burst and her thigh would rot if she were guilty and she should be a curse amongst the people for her sin but if she was free no evill would come unto her Thus it pleased God to make knowne that the filthinesse of those that are polluted with this sin should not be hid This may more clearely appeare by the example of the Levites wife of whom it is spoken in the 19 20 and 21. Chapters of Iudges who having forsaken her husband to play the whore certaine moneths after he had againe received her to be his wife she was given over against her will to the villanous and monstrous lusts of the most wicked and perverse Gibeonites that so abused her for the space of a whole night together that in the morning she was found dead upon
bloud When the Cities of Greece saith Orosius would needs through too greedy a desire and ambition of reigne get every one the mastery and soveraignty of the rest they all together made shipwracke of their owne liberties by encroaching upon others as for instance the Lacedemonians how hurtfull and incommodious the desire of bringing their neighbour adjoyning Cities under their dominion was unto them the sundry discomfitures and distresses within the time of that war undertaken upon that onely cause befell them bear sufficient record Servius Tullus the son to a bondman addicted himselfe so much to the exploits of war that by prowesse he got so great credit and reputation among the Romans that he was thought â—it to be son in law of King Tarquinius by marrying one of his daughters after whose death he usurped the Crowne under colour of the Protectorship of the Kings â—oo young sonnes who when they came to age and bignesse married the daughters of their brother in law Tullus by whose exhortation and continuall provokement the elder of them which was called Tarquinius conspired against his father in law and practised to make himselfe King and to recover his rightfull inheritance and that by this meanes he watched his opportunity when the greatest part of the people were out of the City about gathering their fruit in the fields and then placing his companions in readinesse to serve his turne if need should be he marched to the palace in the royall robes garded with a company of his comederates and having called a Senate as he began to complain him of the treachery and impudency of Tullus behold Tullus himselfe came in and would have run violently upon him but Tarquinius catching him about the middle threw him headlong downe the staires and presently sent certaine of his guard to make an end of the murder which he had begun But herein the cruelty of Tullia was most monstrous that not onely first moved her husband to this bloudy practice but also made her coach to be driven over the body of her father which lay bleeding in the midst of the street scarce dead Manlius after hee had maintained the fortresse of Rome against the Gaules glorying in that action and envying the good hap and prosperity of Camillus went about to make himselfe King under pretence of restoring the people to their antient entire libertie but his practise being discovered hee was accused found guilty and by the consent of the multitude adjudged to be throwne headlong downe from the top of the same fortresse to the end that the same place which gave him great glorie might be a witnesse and a memoriall of his shame and last confusion for all his valiant deeds before done were not of so much force with the people to excuse his fault or save his life as this one crime was of weight to bring him to his death In former times there lived in Carthage one Hanno who because he had more riches than all the Common-wealth beside began to aspire to the domination of the Citie which the better to accomplish hee devised to make shew of marrying his onely daughter to the end that at the marriage feast hee might poison the chiefest men of credit and power of the City whom he knew could or would not any wayes withstand or countermand his purpose but when this devise tooke no effect by reason of the discovery thereof by certaine of his servants hee sought another meanes to effect his will Hee got together a huge number of bondslaves and servants which should at a sudden put him in possession of the city but being prevented herein also by the Citizens he seised upon a castle with a thousand men of base regard even servants for the most part whither thinking to draw the Africans and King of the Moores to his succour he was taken and first whipped next had his eyes thrust out and then his armes and legs broken in pieces and so was executed to death before all the people his carkasse being thus mangled with blowes was hanged upon a gallowes and all his kindred and children put to death that there might not one remaine of his straine either to enterprise the like deed or to revenge his death That great and fearefull warrior Iulius Caesar one of the most hardie and valiant pieces of flesh that ever was after hee had performed so many notable exploits overcome all his enemies and brought all high and haughtie purposes to their desired effect being prickt forward with the spurre of ambition and a high minde through the meanes and assistance of the mighty forces of the common-wealth which contrary to the constitution of the Senat were left in his hands hee set footing into the State and making himselfe master and Lord of the whole Romane Empire usurped a soveraigntie over them but as he attained to his dignitie by force and violence so he enjoyed it not long neither gained any great benefit by it except the losse of his life may be counted a benefit which shortly after in the open Senat was bereft him for the conspirers thereof as soone as hee was set downe in his seat compassing him about so vehemently overcharged him on all sides that notwithstanding all the resistance hee could make for his defence tossing amongst them and shifting himselfe up and downe he was overthrowne on the earth and abode for dead through the number of blowes that were given him even three and twenty wounds The Monarchie of Assyria was at one instant extinguished in Sardana palus and of Babylon in Balthasar Arbaces being the worker of the first and Darius King of Persia of the later both of them receiving the wages not of their wickednesse but also of their predecessors and great grandfathers cruelty and oppressions by whom many people and nations had been destroyed Moreover as the Babylonian Empire was overthrowne by Darius of Persia so was his Persian Kingdome in Darius the last King of that countrey his time this mans successor overturned by Alexander Again the great dominion of Alexander who survived not long after was not continued to any of his by inheritance but divided like a prey amongst his greatest captaines and from them the most part of it in short time descended to the Romanes who spreading their wings and stretching their greedie tallons farre and neere for a while ravened and preyed over all the world and enriched and bedecked themselves with the spoyles of many nations and therefore it was necessary that they also should be made a prey and that the farre fetcht Goths and Vandales should come upon them as upon the bodie of a great Whale that suffers shipwreck upon the sea shore since which time the Romane Empire went to decay and grew every day weaker than other yea and many Princes setting themselves against and above it have robbed it of the realmes and provinces which it robbed others of before And thus wee may see how all
the woman asked her before them all whether she durst say that he had ravished her to whom she replyed yea I sweare and vow that thou hast done it for shee supposed it to have beene Athanasius whom shee never saw whereat the whole Synod perceived the cavill of the lying Arrians and quitted the innocency of that good man Howbeit these malicious hereticks seeing this practise not to succeed invented another worse then the former for they accused him to have slaine one Arsenius whom they themselves kept secret and that hee carried one of his hands about him wherewith he wrought miracles by enchantment but Arsenius touched by the spirit of God stole away from them and came to Athanasius to the end he should receive no damage by his absence whom he brought in to the Judges and shewed them both his hands confounded his accusers with shame of their malice insomuch as they ranne away for feare and satisfied the Judges both of his integrity and their envious calumniation the chiefe Broker of all this mischiefe was Stephanus Bishop of Antioch but he was degraded from his Bishopricke and Leontius elected in his roome In our English Chronicles we have recorded a notable history to the like effect of King Canutus the Dane who after much trouble being established in the Kingdome of England caused a Parliament to bee held at London where amongst other things there debated it was propounded to the Bishops Barons and Lords of that Assembly Whether in the composition made betwixt Edmond and Canutus any speciall remembrance was made for the children or brethren of Edmond touching any partition of any part of the land which the English Lords flattering the king though falsly and against the truth yea and against their owne consciences denied to be and not onely so but for the Kings pleasure confirmed their false words with a more false oath that to the uttermost of their powers they would put off the bloud of Edmond from all right and interest by reason of which oath and promise they thought to have purchased with the King great favour but by the just retribution of God it chanced farre otherwise for many of them or the most part especially such as Canutus perceived to have sworne fealtie before time to Edmond and his heires he mistrusted and disdained ever after insomuch that some he exiled many he beheaded and divers by Gods just judgement died suddenly In the Scottish Chronicles we read how Hamilton the Scot was brought unto his death by the false accusation of a false Frier called Campbel who being in the fire ready to be executed cited and summoned the said Frier to appeare before the high God as generall Judge of all men to answer to the innocency of his death and whether his accusation were just or not betwixt that and a certaine day of the next moneth which he there named Now see the heart and hand of God against a false witnesse ere that day came the Frier died without any remorse of conscience and no doubt he gave a sharpe account to Almighty God of his malicious and unjust accusation In the yeare of our Lord 1105 Henry Archbishop of Mentz being complained of to the Pope sent a learned man a speciall friend of his to excuse him named Arnold one for whom he had much done and promoted to great livings and promotions but this honest man in stead of an excuser became an accuser for hee bribed the two chiefest Cardinals with gold and obtained of the Pope those two to be sent Inquisitors about the Archbishops case The which comming into Germany summoned the said Henry and without either law or justice deposed him from his Archbishoprick and substituted in his place Arnold upon hope of his Ecclesiasticall gold Whereupon that vertuous and honourable Henry is reported to have spoken thus unto those perverse Judges If I should appeale to the Apostolike Sea for this your unjust processe had against me perhaps I should but lose my labour and gaine nothing but toyle of body losse of goods affliction of minde and care of heart Wherefore I doe appeale to the Lord Jesus Christ as to the most highest and just Judge and cite you before his judgement seat there to answer for this wrong done unto me for neither justly nor godly but corruptly and unjustly have you judged my cause Whereunto they scoffingly said Goe you first and we will follow Not long after the said Henry dyed whereof the two Cardinals having intelligence said one to the other jestingly Behold he is gone before and wee must follow according to our promise And verily they spoke truer than they were aware for within a while after they both dyed in one day the one sitting upon a jakes to ease himselfe voyded out all his entrailes into the draught and miserably ended his life the other gnawing off the fingers of his hands and spitting them out of his mouth all deformed in devouring of himselfe died And in like wise not long after the said Arnold was slaine in a sedition and his body for certaine dayes lying stinking above the ground unburied was open to the spoyle of every raskall and harlot And this was the horrible end of this false accuser and those corrupted Judges Thus were two Cardinals punished for this sinne and that we may see that the holy father the Pope is no better than his Cardinals and that God spareth not him no more than he did them let us heare how the Lord punished one of that ranke for this crime It is not unknowne that Pope Innocent the fourth condemned the Emperour Fredericke at the Councell at Lyons his cause being unheard and before hee could come to answer for himselfe For when the Emperour being summoned to appeare at the Councell made all haste hee could thitherward and desired to have the day of hearing his cause prorogued till that he might conveniently travell thither the Pope refused and contrary to Gods law to Christian Doctrine to the prescript of the law of nature and reason and to all humanity without probation of any crime or pleading any cause or hearing what might be answered taking upon him to be both Adversary and Judge condemned the Emperour being absent What more wicked sentence was ever pronounced What more cruell fact considering the person might be committed But marke what vengeance God tooke upon this wicked Judge The writers of the Annals record that when Fredericke the Emperour and Conrade his sonne were both dead the Pope gaping for the inheritance of Naples and Sicilie and thinking by force to have subdued the same came to Naples with a great hoast of men where was heard in his court manifestly pronounced this voyce Veni miser ad judicium Dei Thou wretch come to receive thy judgement of God And the next day the Pope was found in his bed dead all black and blew as though he had beene beaten with bats And this was the judgement of God which he came
evill which request was so agreeable and acceptable to God that hee granted it unto him so that he obtained such an excellent measure of incomparable wisedome that he was commended and reputed more for it than for all his great riches and precious treasure beside There is mention made in the Book of the Kings of his judiciall throne wherein he used to sit and heare the causes of the people and execute justice among them and albeit he was the most puissant and glorious King of the earth yet notwithstanding hee scorned not to hear two harlots plead before him about the controversie of a dead infant Ioram King of Israel son of Achab though a man that walked not uprightly before God but gave himselfe to worke abomination in his sight yet he despised not the complaint of the poor affamished woman of Samaria when she demanded justice at his hands although it was in the time of war when Lawes use to be silent and in the besieging and famishment of the City neither did he reject the Sunamites request for the recovery of her house and lands but caused them to be restored unto her So that then it is manifest that those Kings which in old time reigned over the People of God albeit they had in every City Judges yea and in Jerusalem also as it appeareth in the nineteenth Chapter of the second Book of Chronicles yet they ceased not for all that to give ear to suits and complaints that were made unto them and to decide controversies that came to their knowledge and for this cause it is that Wisdom saith That by her Kings reigne and Princes decree justice whereunto also belongeth that which is said in another place That a King sitting in the Throne of judgement chaseth away all evill with his eyes Moreover that this was the greatest part of the Office and duty of Kings in antient times to see the administration of justice Homer the Poet may be a sufficient witnesse when he saith of Agamemnon That the Scepter and Law was committed to him by God to do right to every man answerable to the which Virgil describing the Queen of Carthage saith She sat in judgement in the midst of her People as if there was nothing more beseeming such a person than such an action And therefore the Poets not without cause feigne Iupiter alwayes to have Themis that is to say Justice at his elbow signifying thereby not that whatsoever Kings and Princes did was just and lawfull be it never so vile in it own nature as that wanton flatterer Anaxarchus said to Alexander but that equity and justice should alwayes accompany them and never depart from their sides And hereupon it was that Eacus Minos and Radamanthus the first King of Graecia were so renowned of old antiquity because of their true and upright execution of Justice and therefore were not honoured with any greater title than the name of Judges It is said of King Alexander that although he was continually busied in affaires of war and of giving battels yet he would sit personally in judgement to hear criminall causes and matters of importance pleaded and that whilest the accuser laid open his accusation he would stop one ear with his hand to the end that the other might be kept pure and without prejudice for the defence and answer of the accused The Roman Emperours also were very carefull and diligent in this behalfe as first Iulius Caesar who is recorded to have taken great paines in giving audience to parties and in dealing justice betwixt them In like manner Augustus Caesar is commended for his care and travell in this behalfe for he would ordinarily sit in judgement upon causes and controversies of his subjects and that with such great delight and pleasure that oftentimes night was fain to interrupt his course before his will was to relinquish it yea though he found himselfe evill at case yet would he not omit to apply himselfe to the division of judgement or else calling the parties before him to his bed The Emperour Claudius though a man otherwise of a dull and grosse spirit yet in this respect he discharged the duty of a good Prince for that he would intermeddle with hearing his subjects causes and do right unto them he chanced once to make a very pretty and witty end of a suit betwixt a son and his mother who denying and disclaiming him to be her son was by the Emperour commanded to marry him and so lest he should agree to that mischief was constrained to acknowledge and avow him for her son and to be short it was very ordinary and usuall among the Emperours to take knowledge of matters controverted but especially of criminall and capitall causes by meanes whereof the Apostle Paul desirous to shun the judgement and lyings in wait of his enemies the Jewes appealed from them to Caesar which he would never have done if Caesar had not in some sort used to meddle with such affaires and for further proof hereof hither may be added the saying which is reported of Nero in the beginning of his reigne That when he should signe with his hand a sentence of death against a condemned person he wished that he could neither write nor reade to the end to avoid that necessary action The bold answer of an old woman to the Emperour Adrian is very worthy to be remembred who appealing and complaining to the Emperour of some wrong when he answered that he was not at leasure then to hear her suit she told him boldly and plainly That then he ought not to be at leasure to be her Emperour which speech went so near the quicke unto him that ever after he shewed more facility and courtesie towards all men that had any thing to do with him The Kings of France used also this custome of hearing and deciding their subjects matters as we reade of Charlemaigne the King and Emperour who commanded that he should be made acquainted with all matters of importance and their issues throughout his Realme King Lewis the first treading the steps of his father Charlemaigne accustomed himselfe three dayes in a week to hear publiquely in his pallace the complaints and grievances of his people and to right their wrongs and injuries King Lewis sirnamed the Holy a little before his death gave in charge to his son that should succeed him in the Crown amongst other this precept To be carefull to bear a stroke in seeing the distribution of justice and that it should not be perverted nor depraved CHAP. XLVIII Of such Princes as have made no reckoning of punishing vice nor regarded the estate of their People IT cannot chuse but be a great confusion in a Common-wealth when justice sleepeth and when the shamelesse boldnesse of evill doers is not curbed in with any bridle but runneth it own swinge and therefore a Consull of Rome could say That it was an evil thing to have a Prince
THE THEATRE OF GODS JUDGEMENTS Wherein is represented the admirable Justice of GOD against all notorious sinners great and small specially against the most eminent Persons in the World whose exorbitant power had broke through the barres of Divine and Humane Law Collected out of Sacred Ecclesiasticall and Pagan Historie by two most reverend Doctors in Divinity THOMAS BEARD of Huntington and THO. TAYLOR the famous late Preacher of Mary Aldermanbury in LONDON The incomparable use of this Book for Ministers and others is largely expressed in the Preface The fourth Edition With Additions God hath Woollen feet but Iron hands Aug. LONDON Printed by S. I M. Hand are to be sold by Thomas Whitaker at the signe of the KINGS ARMES in St Pauls Churchyard MDCXLVIII To His Highnesse IAMES Duke of YORK SIR IN the lowliest posture of Humility these Historicall Examples extracted out of the choicest Authors both Ancient and Moderne by two learned Doctors are presented to Your Highnesse Neither would they presume to put themselves under so high a Patronage did I not humbly conceive that being Historicall Peeces they might be fit for Your Highnesse perusall History being the proper'st and most advantagious Study that Princes can apply themselves unto because it containes examples of all sorts In History Brave men stand as Marble Statues erected in the Temple of Immortality and Bad men as Malefactors upon Gibbets expos'd to the publick view of the world to all Posterity Although Your Highnesse hath a Royall Father for an incomparable living Patterne of all the Cardinall Vertues with their Attendants which breaking through these late Clouds of Civill Confusions shin'd with an advantage of lustre to the wonderment of the world as also against any thing that may have the least vicinity with Vice to imitate yet humbly under favour variety of Examples as of Witnesses in Law cannot doe amisse the one for confirmation of Truth the other for direction of Life In which opinion I rest Your Highnesse most Humble and most obedient Servant M. HERON THE PREFACE IF to avoid and eschew vice according to the saying of the Poet be a chiefe vertue and as it were the first degree of wisedome then it is a necessary point to know what vice and vertue is and to discerne the evill and good which either of them bring forth to the end to beware lest we dash our selves unawares against vice in stead of vertue and be caught with the deceitfull baits thereof For this cause the great and famous Philosopher about to lay open the nature of Morall vertues according to that knowledge and light which nature afforded him contented not himselfe with a simple narration of the properties essence and object of them but opposed to every vertue on each side the contrary and repugnant vice to the end that the sight of them being so out of square so hurtfull and pernicious vertue it selfe might be more admirable and in greater esteem And for this cause also God himself our soveraigne and perfect Law-giver that he might fashion and fit us to the mould of true and solid vertue useth ostner negative prohibitons then affirmative commandments in his Law to the end above all things to distract and turne us from cvill whereunto we are of our selves too too much inclined And as by this meane sin is discovered and made knowne unto us so is the pnnishment also of sin set before our eyes by those threatnings and curses which are there denounced to the end that whom the promises of life and salvation could not allure and perswade to doe well them the feare of punishment which followeth sin as a shadow doth the body might bridle and restraine from giving them over to impiety Now then if the very threatnings ought to serve for such good use shall not the execution and performance of them serve much more to wit when the tempest of Gods wrath is not onely denounced but also throwne downe effectually upon the heads of the mighty ones of the world when they are disobedient and rebellious against God And hereupon the Prophet saith That when Gods judgements are upon earth then the Inhabitants learne justice And doubtlesse it is most true that every one ought to reap profit to himself by such examples as well them which are presented daily to their view by experience as them which have been done in times past and are by benefit of History preserved from oblivion And in this regard History is accounted a very necessary and profitable thing for that in recalling to minde the truth of things past which otherwise would be buried in silence it setteth before us such effects as warnings and admonitions touching good and evill and layeth vertue and vice so naked before our eyes with the punishments or rewards inflicted or bestowed upon the followers of each of them that it may justly bee called an easie and profitable Apprentiship or Schoole for every man to learne to get wisedome at another mans cost Hence it is that History is termed of the ancient Philosophers The record and register of Time the light of Truth and the mistresse and looking-glasse of mans life insomuch as under the person of another man it teacheth and instructeth all those that apply their mindes unto it to governe and carry themselves vertuously and honestly in this life Wherefore they deserve great praise and commendation that have taken paines to inroll and put in writing the memorable acts and occurrents of their times to communicate the same to their posterity for there the high and wonderfull works of God doe most clearely and as it were to the view present themselves as his justice and providence whereby albeit hee guideth and directeth especially his owne to wit those that in a speciall and singular manner worship and trust in him as by the sacred Histories touching the state and government of the ancient and Primitive Church it may appeare yet hee ceaseth not for all that to stretch the arme of his power over all and to handle and rule the prophane and unbeleeving ones at his pleasure for he hath a soveraign Empire and predominance over all the World And unto him belongeth the direction and principall conduct of humane matters in such sort that nothing in the world commeth to passe by chance or adventure but onely and alwayes by the prescription of his will according to the which he ordereth and disposeth by a strait and direct motion as well the generall as the particular and that after a strange and admirable order And this a man may perceive if he would but mark and consider the whole body but especially the end and issue of things wherein the great and marvailous vertues of God as his bounty justice and power doe most clearely shine when he exalteth and favoureth some and debaseth and frowneth upon others blesseth and prospereth whom hee please and on the contrarie curseth and destroyeth whom he please and that deserve it It is hee also which
of Alphonsus King of Arragon and Sicily in an Isle towards Africa a certain hermit called Antonius a monstrous and prophane hypocrite that had so wicked a heart to devise and so filthy a throat to belch out vile and injurious speeches against Christ Iesus and the Virgin Mary his mother but hee was strieken with a most grievous disease even to be eaten and gnawne in pieces of wormes untill he died CHAP. XXX Of those that by cursing and denying God give themselves to the Devill AS concerning those that are addicted to much cursing and as if their throats were Hell it selfe to despightings and reviling against God that is blessed for ever and are so mad as to renounce him and give themselves to the Devill truely they worthily deserve to be forsaken of God and given over to the Devill indeed to go with him into everlasting perdition which hath been visibly experienced in our time upon certaine wretched persons which have been carried away by that wicked spirit to whom they gave themselves There was upon a time in Germany a certain naughty packe of a most wicked life and so evill brought up that at every word he spake almost the Devill was at one end if walking he chanced to tread awry or to stumble presently the Devill was in his mouth whereof albeit he was many times reproved by his neighbors and exhorted to correct and amend so vile and detestable a vice yet all was in vaine continuing therefore this evill and damnable custome it happened that as he was upon a time passing over a bridge he fell downe and in his fall gave these speeches Hoist up with an hundred Devils which he had no sooner spoken bat the Devill whom he called for so oft was at his elbow to strangle him and carry him away with him A certain souldier travelling through Marchia a country of Almaigne and finding himselfe evill at ease in his journey abode in an Inne till hee might recover his health and committed to the hostesses custody certaine money which he had about him Now a while after being recovered of his sicknesse required his money againe but she having consulted with her husband denied the receit and therefore the returne thereof and accused him of wrong in demanding that which she never received The souldier on the other side fretted amaine and accused her of cousenage Which stir when the goodman of the house understood though privy to all before yet dissembling tooke his wives part and thrust the souldier out of doors who being throughly chaâ—ed with that indignity drew his sword and ran at the doore with the point hereof whereat the host began to cry Theeves theeves saying that he would have entred his house by force so that the poore souldier was taken and cast into prison and by processe of law ready to be condemned to death but the very day wherein this hard sentence was to be pronounced and executed the Devill entred into the prison and told the souldier that he was condemned to die howbeit neverthelesse if hee would giue himselfe bodie and soule unto him he would promise to deliuer him out of their hands the prisoner answering said That he had rather die being innocent and without cause than to be delivered by that meanes againe the divell replied and propounded unto him the great danger wherein he was yea and used all cunning meanes possible to perswade him but seeing that he lost his labour he at length left his suit and promised him both helpe and revenge upon his enemies and that for nothing advising him moreover when he came to judgement to plead not guiltie and to declare his innocencie and their wrong and to intreat the Iudge to grant him one in a blew cap that stood by to be his advocate now this one in a blew cap was the Divell himselfe the souldier accepting his offer being called to the barre and indicted there of Felonie presently desired to have his Atturney who was there present to plead his cause then began the fine and craftie Doctor of the lawes to plead and defend his client verie cunningly affirming him to be falsly accused and consequently unjustly condemned and that his host did withhold his mony and had offered him violence and to prove his assertion he reckoned up every circumstance in the action yea the verie place were they had hidden the mony The host on the other side stood in deniall very impudently wishing the divell might take him if he had it then the subtill lawyer in the blew cap looking for no other vantage left pleading and fell to lay hold of the host and carrying him out of the Sessions house hoisted him into the ayre so high that he was never after seen nor heard of And thus was the souldier delivered from the execution of the law most strangely to the astonishment of all the beholders that were eye witnesses of that which happened to the for sworne and cursing host In the yere of our Lord 1551 at Megalopole neer Voildstat it happened in the time of the celebration of the feast of Pentecost the people being set on drikingng and carousing that a woman in the company commonly named the Devill in her oathes till that he being so often called on came of a sudden and carried her through the gate aloft into the ayre before them all who ran out astonished to see whither he would transport her and found her a while hanging in the ayre without the towne and then falling downe upon the ground dead About the same time there lived in a City of Savoy one that was both a monstrous swearer also otherwise very vicious who put many good men to much fruitlesse paines that in regard of their charge employed themselves often to admonish and reprove his wicked behaviour to the end he might amend it but all in vaine they might as well cast stones against the wind for he would not so much as listen to their words much lesse reforme his manners Now it fell out that the Pestilence being in the City he was infected with it and therefore withdrew himselfe a part with his wife another kinswoman into a garden which he had neither yet in this extremity did the Ministers forsake him but ceased not continually to exhort him to repentance and to lay before his eyes his faults and offences to the end to bring him into the right way But he was so farre from being touched or moved with these godly admonitions that he strove rather to harden himselfe more and more in his sinnes Therefore one day hasting forward his owne mishap as hee was swearing and denying God and giving himselfe to the Devill and calling for him with vehehemency behold even the Devill indeed snatched him up suddenly and heaved him into the aire his wife and kinswoman looking on and seeing him fly over their heads Being thus swiftly transported his cap tumbled from his head and was found at Rosne
was this onely denounced but executed also as we may reade 1 Kin. 22. 38. 2 Kin. 9. 36 37 c. 2 Kin. 10. 7 c. Amaziah the Priest of Bethel under Ieroboam the wicked King of Israel perceiving how the Prophet Amos prophesied against the Idolatry of that place and of the King he falsly accused him to Ieroboam to have conspired against him also he exhorted him to flie from Bethel because it was the Kings Chappell and flie into Judah and prophesie there but what said the Lord unto him by the Prophet Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword and thy land shall be divided by line and thou shalt die in a polluted land Loe there was the punishment of his false accusation How notable was the judgement that the Lord manifested upon Hamon the Syrian for his false accusing of the Jewes to be disturbers of the Common-wealth and breakers of the lawes of King Ahasuerosh Did not the Lord turne his mischief upon his own head The same day that was appointed for their destruction the Lord turned it to the destruction of their enemies and the same gallowes which he prepared for Mordecai was he himselfe hanged upon The men that falsly accused Daniel to King Darius for breaking the Kings edict which was that none should make any request unto any for thirty dayes space save onely to the King himselfe fared no better for when as they found Daniel praying unto God they presently accused him unto the King urging him with the stability which ought to be in the Decrees of the Kings of Media and Persia that ought not to be altered in such sort that King Darius though against his will commanded Daniel to be throwne amongst the Lions to be devoured of them but when he saw how miraculously the Lord preserved him from the teeth of the Lions and thereby perceived his innocency he caused his envious accusers to be thrown into the Lions den with their wives and children who were devoured by the Lions ere they could fall to the ground Notorious is the example of the two Judges that accused Susanna both how she was delivered and they punished But let us come to prophane â—istories Apelles that famous Painter of Ephesus felt the sting and â—â—tternesse oâ— this venomous viâ—er for he was falsly accused by Antiphilus another Painter an envier of his art and excellent workemanship to have conspired with Theodota against King Ptolomie and to have been the cause of the defection of Pelusium from him which accusation he laid against him to the end that seeing he could not attain to that excellency of art which he had he might by this false pretence worke his disgrace and overthrow as indeed he had effected had not great persuasions been used and manifest proofes alledged of Apelles innocency and integrity wherefore Ptolomie having made triall of the cause and found out the false and wrongfull practise he most justly rewarded Apelles with an hundred talents and Antiphilus the accuser with perpetuall servitude upon which occasion Apelles in remembrance of that danger painted out Calumniation on this manner a Woman gayly attired and dressed with an angry and furious countenance holding in her left hand a torch and with her right a young man by the hair of the head before whom marched an evill favoured sluttish usher quicke-sighted and pale-faced called Envy at her right hand sat a fellow with long eares like King Midas to receive tales and behinde her two waiting maids Ignorance and Suspition And thus the witty Painter to delude his own evill hap expressed the lively Image and nature of that detracting sin This tricke used Maximinus the Tyran to deface the Doctrine and Religion of Christ in his time for when he saw that violence and torments prevailed not but that like the Palme the more it was trodden and oppressed the more it grew he used this subtilty and craft to undermine it he published divers bookes full of Blasphemy of a conference betwixt Christ and Pilate and caused them to be taught to children in stead of their first elements that they might no sooner speak than hate and blaspheme Christ Moreover he constrained certain wicked lewd women to avouch that they were Christians and that vile filthinesse was dayly committed by them in their assemblies which also he published far and near in writing howbeit for all this the Lords truth quailed not but swum as it were against the stream and encreased in despight of Envy and for these false accusers they were punished one after another with notable judgements for one that was a chiefe doer therein became his owne murderer and Maximinus himselfe was consumed with wormes and rottennesse as hath beene shewed in the former Booke It was a law among the Romans that if any man had enforced an accusation against another either wrongfully unlawfully or without probability both his legs should be broken in recompence of his malice which custome as it was laudable and necessary so was it put in execution at divers times as namely under the Emperour Commodus when a prophane wretch accused Apollonius a godly and profest Christian and afterward a constant martyr of Christ Jesus before the Judges of certaine grievous crimes which when he could by no colour or likelyhood of truth convince and prove they adjudged him to that ignominious punishment to have his legs broken because he had accused and defamed a man without cause Eustathius Bishop of Antioch a man famous for eloquence in speech and uprightnesse of life when as hee impugned the heresie of the Arrians was circumvented by them and deposed from his Bishopricke by this meanes they suborned a naughty strumpet to come in with a childe in her armes and in an open Synod of two hundred and fifty Bishops to accuse him of adultery and to sweare that hee had got that childe of her body which though he denied constantly and no just proofe could be brought against him yet the impudent strumpets oath tooke such place that by the Emperours censure hee was banished from his Bishopricke howbeit ere long his innocency was knowne for the said strumpet being deservedly touched with the finger of Gods justice in extreame sicknesse confessed the whole practise how she was suborned by certaine Bishops to slander this holy man and that yet she was not altogether a lyar for one Eustathius a handy-crafts man got the childe as shee had sworne and not Eustathius the Bishop The like slander the same hereticks devised against Athanasius in a Synod convocated by Constantine the Emperour at Tyrus for they suborned a certaine lewd woman to exclaime upon the holy man in the open assembly for ravishing of her that last night against her will which slander he shifted off by this devise he sent Timotheus the Presbyter of Alexandria into the Synod in his place who comming to