of 20. of the best learned Ciuilians with the aduise and consent of 50. of the grauest and wifest councellors that were within his Empire to examine whether the lawes were iust profitable for the people before they should be published but being once published as a lawe extreame punishment was appointed for the breach thereof as is before spoken without any appeale frō the lawe without some great extraordinary cause of appeale As among the Hebrewes in any citie of Iudah that if they could not rightly iudge nor discerne throughly the cause according to iustice by the Magistrates of the citie they might appeale to the Iudges named Sinadrion in Ierusalem from whence no appeale could be had So among the Grecians they might appeale from the Areopagites in Athens from the Ephories in Sparta and all other cities of Greece to the Amphictions at Trozaena which were appointed general Iudges for the vniuersall state of Greece in martiall and military causes and there to sit and determine twise a yeare of the whole state of Greece and further to heare and to iudge of some other great causes and capitall crimes from whose sentence no other appeale was to be had for out of euery citie in Greece in the Spring and in the Autumne to the Amphictions at Trozaena they sent Embassadors whom the Greekes called Pytagorae So among the Romanes a lawfull appeale might be had from the Consuls to the Senators from the Senators to the Tribune of the people and from the people to the Dictator which continued vntill the time of the Iudges called Centum viri for Sententia Dictatoris iudicia centum viralia were both lawes of life and death from whose iudgement and sentences there were no greater Iudges to appeale vnto of the like authoritie were the Decem viri from whom also there was no appeale during their gouernment So in diuine causes we may appeale to mount Sion from Mount Sinai from the lawe to the Gospell from Moses to Christ our perpetuall Dictator from whom we haue no place to appeale vnto for our eternall saluation In the fift Regiment is declared the choice of wise Gouernours to gouerne the people and to execute the lawes among all Nations and also the education and obedience of theyr children to their Parents and Magistrates ALl Nations made their choise of the wisest and chiefest men to rule and gouerne their countrey imitating Moses who was by the Lord commanded to choose seuentie wise graue men to be Iudges among the Israelites called Synadrion which continued from Moses time who first appointed these Magistrates vntill Herods time who last destroyed them for in euery citie of Iudah seuen Magistrates were appointed to gouerne and to iudge according to the law of Moses and for their further instructions in the lawe they had of the Tribes of the Leuites two in euery citie to instruct and assist the Magistrates in all actions according to the lawe The Egiptians being next neighbours to the Hebrewes though they mortally hated the Hebrewes yet theyr gouernment of Dinastia vnder thirtie Gouernours elected and chosen out of Eliopolis Memphis Pellusium Thaebes and other chiefe cities of Egipt seemed to imitate Moyses lawe vnder Aristocratia So Solon appointed in Athens certaine wise men called Areopagitae as Iudges to determine of life and death and of other criminall causes Among the old Gaules the Druydes sage and wise religious men had authoritie both in warre and peace to make lawes and to determine of the state of theyr countrey The lawes of all Nations against disobedient children to theyr parents are manifest not onely the lawe of nature among all Nations vnwritten but also the diuine lawe of the Lorde written commaundes children to bee obedient to theyr parents as the lawe sayeth Whosoeuer curseth his father or mother shall dye and his bloud bee on his owne head for that hee curseth his father or mother If a man hath a sonne that is stubborne or disobedient let his parentes bring him vnto the Elders of the Cittie and there accuse him of his faultes saying my sonne is a Ryotour a Drunkarde and disobedient vnto his parentes the lawe is that all the men of that Cittie shall stone him with stones to death This commaundement was esteemed among all Nations euen among wicked men as Esau beeing a reprobate so the Lorde saide Esau haue I hated and Iacob haue I loued yet Esau hating his brother Iacob in heart saying that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hande for I will kill my brother and most like it is that he would haue done so had not the Lorde which appeared to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night for that hee followed Iacob from Mesopotamia said to Laban Take heed to thy selfe that thou doo or speake to Iacob nothing but good as the Lorde kept Iacob from Laban so he kept him from his brother Esau. Notwithstanding Esau came to his father and said hast thou any blessing for me see that obedience and feare was in Esau towards his father Isaac though hee was a wicked man he determined not to kill his brother before his father died least Isaac his father should curse him The sonnes of Samuel the Prophet Ioel and Abiath which were made Iudges in Bersabe by rheyr father Samuel beeing olde they turned from theyr fathers wayes tooke rewards and peruerted the right the people complained to Samuel that his sonnes followed not his steppes and therefore they would haue a King to gouerne them as other nations had See the ende of Iudges in Israel by the wicked Iudges Ioel and Abiath two wicked sonnes of a good and godly father and the cause of the ouerthrowe of the Iudges in Israel The two sonnes of Eli their offences were such that their father being an olde man was rebuked of the Lord for suffering their vnthriftinesse and wickednesse which was the cause that the Priesthood was taken from the house of Eli for euer so that the gouernment of Iudges in Iudah and also of the Priesthood were taken away by the corruption and disobedience of wicked and vngodly children Obserue likewise the end of kings and kingdomes by wicked kings by Ahaz who offered his sonnes in fire to Moloch by Ioachim and his sonne wicked fathers which brought vp wicked sonnes The kings which were 21. in number continued fiue hundred and odde yeares Who would haue iudged that three such good Kings of Iudah should haue three such wicked children As Dauid had Absolon who sought most trecherously to dispossesse his father of his kingdome As Ezechias had Manasses who offered his sonne in fire to Moloch and filled Ierusalem with bloud Or as Iosias had Ioachim whose wickednesse together with Zedechiah was so disobedient to the Lord and his Prophets that he lost the kingdome of Iudah Who would haue iudged that Salomon the onely wise king of the world hauing
which are read euery Sabboth day in the Temple After the destruction of the Temple first builded by Salomon the Lord stirred vp Cyrus for the second building of the Temple and to deliuer all the vesselles of golde and siluer which Nabuchodonozer had taken out of the Temple of Ierusalem to be placed againe in the house of the Lord at Ierusalem according to the propâ—… sie of Esay two hundred yeares before Cyrus time After Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes kings of Persâ—… commaunded in like manner that the Temple which was hindred for a time by meanes of the Samaritans to Cambises and others should be with great diligence bâ—…ded and all the vessels wich king Nabuchodonozer tooâ—… away should be according to Cyrus Darius and Aâ—… erxes three mightie kings of Persia againe restored to Ierusalem Among the Grecians the first day of euery moneth was their Sabboth called among them as among the Iewes Neomenia which they kept most solemnly serued most religiously their gods Among the Romanes the Nones and Ides of euâ—… moneth were their Sabboths and obserued as religious daies on which daies they would commence no batâ—… but as a Sabboth to serue their gods for on the Ides of euery moneth throughout the yeare the Romanes 〈◊〉 great solemnities with diuers sacrifices and religious ceremonies Among the Parthians they obserued the very day that Arsaces ouerthrew Zaleucus to bee theyr Sabboth for that they were restored on that day to theyr libertie by Arsaces which daye they keepe as a religious day and vse great solemnitie in memorie of their libertie The day that Cyrus ouercame the Scythians was one of the Sabboths of the Persians which they call Sacas And an other Sabboth day of the Persians had on the very day that their rebellious Magi were slain that would haue vsurped the kingdome in memory whereof they consecrated a feast called Magophâ—…niah the which day was so solemne a Sabboth among the Persians that it was not lawfull for any of the Magi that day to goe out of his house The victories at Marathon and at Micala ouer the Persians was the Sabboth of the Athenians for among the Heathens the dayes of their victories and triumphs the dayes of their liberties restored and of their feasts were their Sabboths for as it was not lawfull among the Iewes to fight vpoÌ„ the Sabboth day so among the Heathens they straightly obserued their religious dayes as their Sabboth Phillip king of Macedonia vpon the very day that his sonne Alexander was borne got two victories the one was with his Mares in the games of Olympia and the other with his men of armes in Thracia for memorie whereof hee decreed an annuall feast to bee made which was obserued for a Sabboth among the Macedonians The Iewes so obeyed and reuerenced their lawes that they would not breake theyr Sabboth daye in so much that they suffered theyr enemins to kill and ouerthrow them because they would not fight vpon the Sabboth day so did they when they began to build the temple before they would build houses to dwell in or walles to defend them but euery man readie with weapon in one hand for their enemies working with the other hand Nicanor going to strike a fielde with Iud. Machabaeus vppon the Sabboth daye was willed to hallowe the Sabboth who said is there a God mightie in heauen that commands to keepe the Sabboth day and I am mightie on earth that commaund the conâ—…ry but Nicanor lost the battell and his life in the battell and his head his hands and his blasphemous tongue were cut off and hangd on the Pinnacles of the Temple at Ierusalem Nehemias finding some Israelites prophaning the Sabboth day in carrying burthens he tooke them and rebuked them sharply for prophaning of the Sabboth day So straightly the Iewes obserued their lawes that he that gathered but a fewe stickes vpon the Sabboth day was taken and brought to Moses and Moses brought him before the Lorde and sentence of death was giuen vpon him by the Lord for breaking of the Sabboath saying Let him bee stoned to death by the people Such reuerence obedience the Iewes had to Moses lawe that when Alexander the great commaunded the high Priest to aske him whatsoeuer he would haue him to do whereas he might haue had Territories and Countries giuen him hee requested but the liberties and lawes of his Countrey to the poore Iewes that did inhabite within Asia and all the dominions of Alexander So did the Iewes that dwelt in Greece in Asia and in Antioch requested of Zaleucus and Antiochus the great nothing but that they might liue and enioy the benefites of the lawes of their countrey which is the lawe of Moses Neither could the Iewes endure any that would despise theyr lawes for a souldier vnder Cumanus the Romane President for tearing of Moyses bookes in contempt mooued suche sedition that they came armed to Cumanus and claimed to haue iustice executed vpon the souldiers that so despised their law for the tearing of one leafe The like sedition moued an other Romane souldier vpon the feast day of the Iewes by shewing his genitall parts scoffiing and flowting theyr lawes and religion so that Cumanus to satisfie the Iewes put both the Romaines to death to the losse of twentie thousande Iewes by the Romaine Armyes afterwards The Iewes suffered many ouerthrowes most willingly vpon the Sabboth day saying Moriamur omnes because they would resist neither Pompey the great nor Antiochus King of Syria vpon the Sabboth aâ—… the Romaines and the Syrians euer found meaâ—… to fight with the Iewes vppon the Sabboth daye on the which daye Pompey the great tooke Ierusalem Therefore Iud. Machabaeus made a lawe that to fight vppon the Sabboth day in defence of theyr lawes of theyr countreys and of theyr liues was no seruile worke but thought it lawfull to fight vppon the Sabboth daye with Nicanor a blasphemer and an enemie of the Lorde and his Armye and so ouerthrew Nicanor and slew nine thousand of his host so that vpon the Sabboth day any man may do good So Christ aunswered the Israelites for his Disciples beeing accused that they brake the lawe in eating the eares of corne haue you not read what Dauid did when hee was a hungrye to eate the shewe bread which was not lawfull but onely for the Priests So he also answered for himselfe beeing accused of the Israelites that he brake the lawe in healing the 〈◊〉 vpon the Sabboth day Which of you said Christ will not loose his Oxe or his Asse from his cribbe vpon the Sabboth day to water them The Sabboth day is the schoole of the Lord in the which he would haue his people taught and instructed not onely to heare the lawes read vnto them but to learne the lawes and to liue according as the lawe commaundeth them to that ende was man created that hee
of the souldiers in the one oxe and the other souldier in the other oxe and left their heads out of the oxen that thereby they might speake one to an other as long as they liued Was not Abraham called from the Chaldeans because they were wicked Idolaters Did not Iacob long in Mesopotamia for the land of Canaan Did not Dauid wish to be in Iudah from among the Amalekites wicked Infidels Were not the captiue Israelites most desirous from Babilon to come to Ierusalem yet not before the time that God had appointed and determined for Elizeus could not prophesie before Elias threw his mantle vpon him neither could Dauid appeale the furie of Saul before hee played on his harpe neither could Aaron become a high Priest before his rod blossomd in the Arke The very Heathens forsooke the company countrey of wicked people as Hermadorus forsooke his countrey Ephesus for the iniquitie of the people Anacharsis left Scythia his barbarous countrey and came to Greece to learne wisedome and Philosophie in Athens Plato left Athens and went from Greece to Egipt to be taught in the religion ceremonies and lawes of the Egiptians Paul left Tharsis to goe to Ierusalem to learne the lawes of the Iewes at Gamaliel Queene Saba came from Aethiope to heare Salomons wisedome in Ierusalem It was lawfull by the lawe of Solon in Athens to kill an adulterer beeing taken in the act as among the olde Romanes the husband might kill his wife if hee found her an adulteresse but this lawe of Solon in Athens was after mitigated by Solon with a lesse punishment The Parthians supposed no offence greater then adultery neither thought they any punishment to be equall with so great a crime Among the Arabians the lawe was that the adulterer should die such a death as the partie grieued should appoint Diuers Philosophers euer thought adultery worse then periurie and without doubt greater harmes growe by adultery then periurie though the one be in the first Table against the maiestie of God to take his name in vaine and the other in the second Table against thy neighbour whom thou oughtest to loue as thy selfe and yet some of the best Philosophers as Plato Crisippus and Zeno iudged that common-wealth best gouerned where adultery was freely permitted without punishment that libertie they brought from Egipt vnto Greece where the Egiptians might marrie as many wiues as they would like the Persians Among diuers other nations adulterie was left vnpunished for that they had no lawe against adultery Histories make mention that the virgins of Cypria and of Phaenizia get their dowrie with the hire of their bodies vntil they gaue so much for their dowries that they might make choise of their husbands and be married The Troglodites the nights before they be married vnto their husbands must lye and keepe company with the next of their kin and after their marriage they were with most seuere lawes punished if they had offended It should seeme by the lawes of Licurgus in Sparta 300. yeares before the law of Solon in Athens which was 200. yeares before the law of Plato among the Cicilians which made no lawes against adultery that the Grecians tooke their instructions by imitation from the Egiptians For one after an other Solon after Licurgus and Plato after Solon trauelled to Egipt to other farre countries and brought the lawe of Bocchoris out of Egipt the lawe of Mynoes out of Creete and the lawes of the Gymnosophists out of India into Greece As among the Lesbians Garamites Indians Massagets Scythians and such that were more like to sauage beasts then to temperate people for by the lawe wee knowe sinne for I had not knowne what adultery was vnlesse the lawe had commaunded thou shalt not lust And therefore it was not lawfull by Moses lawe that a bastard or the sonne of a commonwoman should come vnto the congregation of the Lord or serue in any place of the Tabernacle or enter into the ministerie vntill the tenth generation so hatefull vnto the Lord was fornication adulterie and vncleannesse of life When Iacob had blessed all his children yet for that Ruben lay with his fathers concubine Bilha his father Iacob prophesied that he should not be the chiefest of his bretheren though hee was the eldest sonne of Iacob and the eldest of his bretheren for that he was as vnstable as water for defiling his fathers bed for among the Israelites it was a great shame and reproach for women to be barren therfore the wiues brought their maides to their husbands for childrens sake as Sarah brought her maide Agar vnto Abraham and Leah and Rachel brought to Iacob their two maides Bilha and Zilpha so Rachel gaue leaue to Iacob to lye with Bilha her maide who bare to Iacob two sonnes whom Rachel though not their mother named them as her owne sonnes Dan and Nepthali So Leah brought her maide Zilpha to Iacob who conceiued and brought him two sonnes of whom Leah was so glad that she named them as her owne sons the one Gad and the other Asar so that foure of Iacobs sonnes were borne by his maides and not by his wiues This was tollerated but not lawfull Though the Hebrewes were tollerated by the lawe of Moses to haue many wiues and concubines and Libels of diuorcement for the hardnesse of the lewes hearts as Christ said yet said our Sauiour Non fuit sic ab initio it was not so from the beginning Euen from the creation men liued vnder the law of nature for in mans heart yet not corrupted before the fall there was perfect knowledge in the lawe of nature as in the first man Adam was seene before his fall vnder the which the olde Patriarkes liued and sinnes were corrected and punished by the same lawe for it was a positiue lawe by nature set foorth and written in the hearts of men thus was the written lawe yet by Moses tollerated When it was tolde Iudah that his daughter in lawe Thamar was with childe hee commaunded that shee should be brought forth and be burnt Here the law of nature before the lawe written commaunded whoredome to be punished with death here Iudah though he detested whoredome in Thamar yet being found that the incest was committed by him found his fault greater then hers If a man be found with a woman that hath a wedded husband let them both die the death so shalt thou put euill away from Israel for the lawe is you shall maintain no harlots in Israel as the Cyprians and Locreans doo It was not lawfull among the old Romaines to call a bastard by the name of his father because he was the son of a common woman and no man knew who should be his father but they vsed for his name to write these two letters S. P. quasi sine patre as though he had neuer a father In Athens by the law of Solon a bastard
might choose whether he would be acquainted with his father or no or giue him a meals meat in his house or a cup of drinke at his doore for that he was the cause of his ignominious and infamous birth Among the Israelites if a man marry a young virgin and after proue her not to be a virgin when hee married her the lawe is that she should be brought to the doore of her fathers house and the men of that citie should stone her with stones to death but if her husband falsly accused her then the Elders of that citie should chastise him and mearce him in an hundred sickles of siluer and giue them to the father of the damzell and she to continue with him as his wife But in Israel there was an other lawe that if a man be taken committing fornication with a virgin after the matter come before a Iudge he shall be caused to marrie the woman and to liue with her during his life and to pay 50. sickles of siluer to the maides father for his offence A woman with childe condemned to death might challenge the time of her childbirth by the lawe of Bocchoris which lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Greece for the law thought it not fit that the guiltlesse should die for the fault of the guiltie An other lawe was made that if a man hurt a woman with childe so that her child depart from her and she die not hee shall be punished according as the womans husband shall appoint or pay as arbiters will determine Againe in Israel there was an other lawe that the wife of the dead shall not be giuen vnto a straunger but her brother in lawe shall take her to wife and marrie her and the eldest sonne which shee beareth shal be the child of the brother that was dead and not of him that begat him but if the brother refuseth to marrie his brothers wife the Elders of the citie shall call vnto him and commune with him before whom if hee denie to take her to wife then the sister in lawe should go in presence of the Elders and loose his shooe of his foote spit in his face and say so shall his name be called in Israel of the vnshod house The lawe of Moses was that an adulteresse should be brought by her husband vnto the Priest and the Priest to bring her and set her before the Lord shall vncouer her head haue bitter cursed water in his hand and say if thou be not an adulteresse and defiled not thy selfe vnknowne to thy husband then haue thou no harme of this bitter and cursed water but if thou be defiled by an other man besides thy husband the Lord make thee accurst and make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell and this cursed water goe into thy bowels and the woman his wife so accused shall say Amen The lawe which the Lorde punished his people for committing adulterie was with such seueritie that they should die the death either by stoning or burning which was the lawe among the Israelites The people called Cortini had a law in their country that an adulterer should bee crowned with wooll and should sit in the market place in open sight of the people to be laught at and to be noted as an infamous adulterer all his life long in his countrey The people called Pisidae had a law made that the adulterer should be bound vpon an asse and be carried from towne to towne for the space of three dayes with his face backwards holding the taile of the asse in his hand for a bridle They had in Athens by the law of Solon a place called Casaluion the women were called Casaluides to whom any Athenian might resort to auoyd adultery with the Matrons and Virgins of Athens The like place they had in Rome called Summaenium for the like purpose and the like are tollerated in many countries to auoyd great offences but rather a nurserie of whoredome then a prohibition These vsed the like words as Iulia did in Rome Licet si libet like Anaxarchus being demanded by Cambises Is it lawfull for the kings of Persia to marry their sisters we finde not such lawes said Anaxarchus Non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas but wee finde an other lawe that the kings of Persia may do what they list What vice can be greater in man then incontinencie for it doth sin against the body it selfe doth weary and languish all the parts thereof for as fish saith Plato are taken with hookes so men are taken and deceiued with pleasures in so much that Xerxes the great king of Persia decreed by lawe a reward to any man that could inuent andfind out new kinds of pleasures but he was slain and lost the kingdom of Persia by his pleasures And therfore well said Solon Cōsule non quae suauissima sed quae optima Hanibal hauing welnigh subdued the Romane Empire yet being taken with the baites and pleasures of Campania in company of wine and women and all delicacies and pleasures that could be inuented of which Seneca saith Conuiuiorum luxuria vestium aegrae ciuitatis indicia sunt that by meanes of his incontinency in Campania he was driuen out of Italy and after out of his own country of Affrike by him that was one of the chiefest and chastest Captaines of all the Romaines Scypio Affrican who made a lawe to bannish all women out of his camp to whom in his Affrican wars was brought a passing faire young Gentlewoman of singular beautie and of a noble house whom Scypio vsed so honourably with great care and diligence for her good name credite vntill Allucius a young Gentleman that should be married to the virgine brought a great raunsome from her parents to redeeme her to whom Scypio deliuered both the young virgin into his hands and bestowed the gold which her father sent vnto him for her raunsome vpon Allucius for her dowry by this honourable dealing of Scypio the whole Prouince which stood out in armes against Scypio yeelded vnto him sought peace at Scypios hand for his courteous modestitie temperancie where Hanibal lost all Italy and Campania by his incontinencie and vnchaste life If Darius king of Persia had escaped from his last ouerthrow at Arbela by Alexander no doubt in respect of the honourable vsage which Alexander shewed to Darius wife and his daughters he would haue yeelded all the whole Empire of Persia vnto Alexander Narseus king of Persia being ouerthrowne and his armie slaine by Dioclesian the Emperor of Rome and the King himselfe constrained to flight his wife and his daughters were taken by the Romanes and were vsed so honourably that the Persians confessed that the Romanes did not only exceed all Nations in armes valour but in modestie and temperancie the honourable vsage of his
lawes for it was the manner as well among the Grecians as among the Romaines euer to make lawes and neuer to keepe them And though the authoritie of the kings were taken away and derogated in many countries yet the force and power of the law stood in effect though the change thereof were dangerous For the lawe sayth Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsely heerein is included vnder the name of stealing all kinde of sacriledge falshood fraud lying one to an other and all other crimes pertaining to stealing Achan for his cunning stealing of a cursed Babylonian garmēt two hundred sickles of siluer and a toong of gold against the lawe at the spoile of Iericho was deliuered by the Lord to Ioshuahs hand who brought him with his sonnes his daughters all his cattells his Tent and all that hee had vnto the valley of Achor and there stoned Achan to death and burned them with fire the Lord euer preferreth obedience before sacrifice for the disobedience in Achan for breaking the lawe was the cause of his stoning The disobedience of Saul against the commaundement of the Lord was such that he lost both his kingdome and his life A Prophet that went from Iudah with the word of the Lord to Bethel for that he did eat bread in that place being forbidden he was killed of a Lion as he returned The man that gathered stickes vpon the Sabboth day against the commaundement the Lord commaunded he should be stoned to death We might thinke that the gathering of stickes and the eating of a peece of bread were but small faults that thereby the one should be stoned and the other killed of a Lyon had it not bene forbidden by the lawe So such men suppose Adams fault to be but little that for earing of an Apple in Paradise not onely he but his posteritie after him should loose Paradise but as the Angels in heauen by their disobedience lost heauen so Adam by his disobedience lost Paradise The Lorde spared not Kings for breach of the law as Oza and Ozias both kings the one for vnreuerent handling of the Arke vsurping the Leuites Office against the lawe was strooken with sudden death and the other for burning incense against the lawe which was the Priestes Office was strooken with leprosie The Lord spared not his owne Priest Aaron that for his incredulitie before the people he died for it in mount Hor. Neither spared the Lord his owne seruant Moses for his disobedience so that hee also died in mount Nebo that neither of them both came to the land of Canaan for their disobedience and diffidence in the Lord. So seuere the lawe of the Lord was that 50000. Bethsamites died for looking into the Arke Aarons sonnes Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord against the lawe were destroyed by fire from heauen Hence grew the ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles touching their religion and sacrifices to their Gods So the women that attended the fire on the aultar of Apollo in Delphos were seuerely punished if by any negligence it happened to be extinguished neither might that fire being so extinguished be kindled again by any other then by the said women and by no other fire thē by the beames of the sunne The Vestall virgins in Rome if the sacred fire of Vesta weare out by any negligence that Vestall virgine that then attended should be brought Per Regem sacrorum to the Bishop to be whipt neither might any fire be kindeled againe to the goddesse Vesta but by the heate of the Sunne neither might they sweare by any other then by the name of Vesta the like ceremonies they vsed to Minerua in Athens So among the Persians Assyrians and Chaldeans they worship their sacred fire Vt Deorum maximum on their aultars seeming to follow Moses lawe Zaleucus an auncient Lawe-maker among the Locreans brought vp with Pythagoras the Phylosopher made a lawe against adulterers that both the eyes of the adulterer should be pulled out which being broken by his eldest sonne though all the Locreans ioyntly en treated for Zaleucus sonne yet said he the lawe must nobe broken and to satisfie the lawe Zaleucus pulled one of his sonnes eyes out and an other of his owne shewing himselfe a natural father to his sonne a iust Iudge to performe the lawes which hee made to the Locreans so seuerely were they punished that brake the lawes or sought to breake the lawes among the Gentiles Those people said Alcibiades do better which keepe the lawes they haue though they be worse then often changed for better Obseruatio legum morum tutissima that plant cannot take roote which is often remoued So Augustus Caesar wrote to the Senators that what lawes soeuer they had decreed and set downe should not be chaunged nor altered for better were it not to make lawes then to make so many lawes and not to keepe them Positas semel leges constanter seruate nec vllam earum immutate si deteriores sint tamem vtiliores sunt Reipub. Lu. Papirius Cursor the Dictator for that Fabius Rutilius brake the decree of the Dictator though hee had good successe and wonne a great victorie yet the lawe was that Fabius should dye neither could the captaines entreate him for his pardon that Fabius was constrained secretly to flye to Rome and to appeale to the Tribune of the people and to the Senators the Dictator followed Fabius to Rome saying that there was no lawe that any appeale should be made from the Dictator vntill Fabius and his father fell vpon their knees with the Senators and Tribune of the people to entreat for him and that for breach of the lawe though hee was Magister equitum the greatest and next in authoritie to the Dictator for the lawe-makers themselues that brake their owne lawes were punished as Zaleucus spared not his owne eye nor Diocles his owne life for breach of the lawe The like we find in Plato comparing the lawe to medicines mingled with poyson to that ende the patient might recouer his health by the medicine so that saith Plato the law is profitable to correct and amend the offender Vt medicamentis venena miscemus salutarifine instar pharmaci haec talia vtilia esse Diocles among other of his lawes in Syracusa made a lawe that if any should come armed with weapons into any Senate Court of Councell or before any Magistrate or assembly of people sitting in lawe causes he should die for it by the lawe of Diocles. This lawe of Diocles was the cause of his own death for as he was riding into the Towne being met sent for to mitigate some contention and debates among the people he making hast forgetting his sword on his side came to the Court and opened to them the lawe made to the people to be gouerned by willed them to obey the same but hee was tolde by some
much Prudentia non vult falli nec fallere potest that a wise man neither can nor will be deceiued In like sort Thou shalt not commit adultery and therefore the lawe commandeth men to be chast sober and temperate both in bodie and minde for the lawe requireth inward and outward obedience as well in Angels as in men for outward euil springs from inward corruption Murther proceeds from hatred and malice of the heart Adultery commeth from wicked and filthie lust of the heart Theft is falshood and fraude in the heart to steale other mens goods therefore to do or to wish any thing against the lawe is sinne for the lawe is spirituall and he that is not subiect to the lawe saith Paul is subiect to the wrath of the Lorde for by the lawe we know our sinnes and in the lawe consisteth the knowledge of our life for the Lord hath decreed a necessiti◅ of obedience to the lawes of ciuil Magistrates for it is said Inuictae leges necessitatis and though the law doth accuse all men yet the lawe doth freely promise with a condition of obedience as the Gospell promiseth with a conditiō of faith for as by the lawe we see as in a glasse the corruption of nature and deformitie of sinne so by the lawe we are taught what is to be done and by the Gospell how things ought to be done Among the Romaines for the space of 300. yearer welnigh after the building of Rome they had no lawes written but Ius regis before they sent for the lawe of the 12. Tables from Athens which law was so obscure that they brought Hermadorus from Greece to Rome to interpret the lawes of the 12. Tables which lawe against theft was so seuerely executed that it was lawfull to kill a theefe that would not yeld especially in the night time for the lawe was Sifurtum sit factum nocte si eum aliquis occidit iure caesus esto if a theefe be found breaking any mans house in the night time be smitten to death no bloud must be shead for him which is also Moses law except the sunne be vp when he is found but if a theefe were taken in the day time with his theft with him hee was by the lawe of the 12. Tables to become his slaue and bondman of whom he stole it to be vsed as pleased the partie all his life time after An other lawe of the twelue Tables against other iniuries was that if any mans seruant had stolne any thing or his beast had done harme or endamaged his neighbour or a straunger he was to yeeld his seruant or his beast that so offended to the party grieued and so by the lawe of the 12. Tables the maister of the seruant was free for a theefe that cannot make restitution for his theft must be solde according to Moses lawe The seuerest lawe among the Romanes was Lex Iulia which appointed iust punishment for treason adulterie and theft by Lex Iulia in Rome theft was as seuerely punished as adulterie and adulterie punished as treason for the lawe saith a man must not robbe for theeues are accursed men must haue no conuersation with theeues Also there was a lawe in Lycia that if a free man should steale any thing he should loose his freedome and become a bond-seruant to him of whome hee stole it and by the lawe of Lycia neuer after to recouer his libertie but to liue as a bondman all his life time Bocchoris lawe in Egipt was that if any wayfaring man finde a man in daunger of his life and so to be slain by theeues and robbers and not helpe him eyther by his sloathfulnesse or negligence if he could hee was by the lawe of Bocchoris guiltie of death because hee did not ayde and helpe him with all meanes possible hee could Againe if a man were robd by theeues on the way though he were not killed and not rescued of any that could and neglecting to follow after the theeues hee or they by the lawe of Bocchoris were punished and beaten with a certaine number of stripes and kept without victualls three daies Licurgus made no lawes in Sparta against theft for it was lawfull by Licurgus lawe among the Lacedemonians to vse theft vnlesse the partie were taken with the theft which if he were he should be seuerely punished following the maner and custome of the Egiptians and the old Germanes which had no lawe written against theft but left vnpunished and therfore there is no transgression where there is no lawe There was then and is now a greater kinde of theft then stealing among diuers nations which is vsurie forbidden by the lawes of God as well as theft for before Bocchoris lawe which banished vsurie the lawe was in Egipt that the creditors might arrest the bodies of the dead for debts and that they should be vnburied till the depts were paid Pecunia est enim anima sanguis mortalibus which lawe was abrogated by Bocchoris that debts onely should be paid of the goods of the debters and not their bodies to be imprisoned for that they should be alwaies readie for defence of their countrey and not imprisoned either for debt or vsurie Solon brought this lawe from Egipt vnto Athens and called it Sysacthia against vsurers This lawe was after executed in the market place of Athens by Agis who extreamely hated vsurie where hee burnt all the vsurers writing tables of which fire Agesilaus was wont to say that he neuer lawe a better fire in Egipt Persia nor in Greece then when Agis burnt all the writing tables of the vsurers in the market place at Athens for before Solon brought this law from Egipt vnto Athens dead mens bodies might be arrested and an actiō might be had before the magistrate called Zeteta for satisfaction of debts in Athens Therefore Solons lawe was that no man should credit the sonne while the father liued to auoyd further daungers least the sonne should practise against the father which children do vse against their parents the law was that he which would c◅dit the sonne during the life of the father should haue no action against the son after the fathers death So hatefull was vsurie among welnigh all nations that where punishment of theft was but double punishment of vsurie was quadruple and therfore Lu. Genutius Tribune of the people in Rome abrogated former lawes of vsurie in Rome Lucullus in his victorie ouer Asia among other Romanie lawes which hee gaue them set all Asia free and at libertie from vsurie So Cato made a lawe that no vsurer should dwell within the prouince of Cicilia So also Licurgus made a lawe to bannish vsurie so farre from Sparta that it should neuer be named nor spoken of within Sparta The lawe of Moses among the Hebrewes was Thou shalt not giue to vsurie to thy brother as vsurie of
Common-wealth saith Cicero in some respect as dissimulation Nunquaâ—… regent qui non tegent That made Seneca to say that in Courts with Kings and Princes dissimulation must haue chiefe place Fraâ—… enim sublimi regnat in aula For if loue be not perfect nor esteemed and imbraced for it selfe where shall we finde true friendship If all men be addicted to their priuate gaine without doing good to any man or speaking wel ofany man where shall we finde a beneficiall man to his countrey or to his friend for hee that thinketh to do good to another to gaine profit to himselfe that man said Cicero is not to be thought beneficiall to his friend nor to his country but an Vsurer to himselfe The naturall societie among men and mutuall loue ought to be such that as Cicero said If any would ascend vp to the heauens to viewe the beautie and ornament thereof vnsweete were the admirations he sawe vnlesse it might be imparted to friends So may wee speake of vngratefull and slaunderous men who are not thankfull for any benefits done and therefore an action might be had against vngratefull men among the Macedonians and be brought before a Iudge as if they were in debt as debters not requiâ—…ing one good turne with another according to the lawe of nature much like to Charondas lawe which forbad ciuil citizens to associate themselues with euil vngrateful men which are as Cicero saith TanquaÌ„ glabra ad libidinem via which infect good men for being familiar with them and therefore an action might be had by lawe against honest men for comming oft to the company of these wicked euil men And so it was among the Athenians which had the like lawe against vnthankfull men for as Demosthenes said He that receiueth a benefit ought euer to be mindfull to requite it and he that benefites his friend ought to forget it as a man bound to do any good he can by the lawe of nature for so iust men are bound to do Non solum iuxta leges sed legibus ipsis imperare The wicked vngratefull Gergesites hunted Christ out of their countrey because he healed a man possessed of a diuel they had rather haue their diuel dwell with them then Christ they more esteemed their swine then the doctrine of Christ like the Iewes who had made choice of Barrabas the murtherer before Christ their Sauiour In the twelfth Regiment is mentioned the seuerepunishment of false witnesse together with the lawfull oathes of diuers godly men THe lawe is that if any bee found that hath giuen false witnesse against his brother let him stand before the Lord and before the Iudges and you shall doo to him as he thought to do to his brother that life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand and foote for foote should goe A false witnesse shall no remaine vnpunished and hee that speaketh lyes shallperish Againe be no false witnesse against thy neighbour hurt him not with thy lippes This is the sentence of the lawe pronounced by the Lord. He that priuily slaundereth his neighbour him will I destroy saith the Lord for he that telleth lyes shall not dwell in my house nor tarrie in my sight cursed is hee that striketh his neighbour secretly and cursed is he that taketh reward to shead innocent bloud and all the people shall say Amen And for that lyes and periurie are knit together with false witnesse we will examine the lawes of other Nations with the lawes of God and what punishment they haue for the same Foure hundred false witnesses did the Prophet Michaeas reproue of Baals Prophets which counselled king Achab to warre against the king of Syria Did not one true Prophet Micheas proue these 400. false Prophets to be false witnesses against the Lord but Achab by the king of Syria was slaine as Michaeas prophesied So did Elias kill foure hundred and fiftie false Prophets of Baal at the brooke Kyson for bearing false witnesse against the Lord for they affirmed that Baal was God And the Prophet Daniel caused 80. of Baals Priests to be slaine at Babilon for their lyes and false witnesse to the people against the Lord. These Idolaters were the worst kinde of witnesses because they bare false witnesse against the Lord to please Nabuchodonozer king Achab. The two Elders made themselues false witnesses against Suzanna in Babilon they were found by Daniel to be false witnesses and adulterous Iudges and were stoned to death according to the lawe Iezabel brought two false witnesses against Naboth for his vineyard to her husband king Achab and they said that they heard Naboth curse God and the king and Naboth was caried out of the citie and there they stoned him with stones to death but sentence was pronounced against him by Elias the Prophet saying In the same place where the dogs licked the bloud of Naboth shall the dogs licke the bloud of Achab also Non magis potest mactari opima Ioui quà m Rexiniquus Thales being demanded what was the strongest thing that he sawe answered Tyrannum senem Stephen was accused that he spake against the Lord and Moses and the Iewes brought two false witnesses against S. Stephen saying This man neuer ceaseth to speake euill words against this place the lawes and the holy Temple How often fought the Iewes meanes through false witnesse to condemne Paul crying out vpon him This Paul speaketh against this holy place against the lawe and against the people and brought Tertullus the Orator as a false witnesse to accuse and to plead against Paul before Faelix the Romaine deputie These forget the saying of the Prophet Michaeas who cryed out and said you Iudges you giue sentence for gifts ye Priests you teach for lucre ye Prophets you prophesie for money you build vp Syon with bloud and Ierusalem with doing wrong What dare not false witnesse do when they accused Christ to be a gluttoÌ„ a bibber of wine a blasphemer denying tribute to Caesar for being a seducer of the people a Samaritan a coniurer and one that had the diuell a breaker of the Sabboth day they wanted no false witnesse to proue all these things against Christ and yet against Mar. Cato being accused by his enemies in Rome fiftie seuerall times before the Senators they could not bring any one witnesse to prooue any thing against Cato Aristophantes in Athens beeing accused before the Iudges Areopagitae 95. times he pleaded his cause and shifted out himselfe from the maliee of his enemies not able to bring one witnesse against him that both Cato in Rome and Aristophantes in Athens were set at libertie and yet the Martyr Stephen the Apostle Paul and the sonne of God himselfe wanted no witnesses but had all Ierusalem to beare witnesse against them Zaleueus made many lawes but especially religious and ceremoniall lawes imitating his maister Pythagoras who was a
very ceremoniall Philosopher he made a law that no man should go about to corrupt iustice or iudgement either by periurie false witnesse or otherwise and the punishment for those that brake Zaleucus lawe was not redeemed with money but performed with shame and infamy paines and tortures And therefore Bocchoris made the like lawe in Egipt against periurers and false witnesses as against those that brake their professed faith and religion towardes God and violated their faith and bond of societie towards man with no lesse punishment then with death Artaxerxes so hated lyes that hee made a decree among the Persians that whosoeuer were found proued a lyar should haue his tongue set vnto a poste or a pillar in the market place fastned with three nailes thervnto The lawes of Moses to the Israelites against any great offence was to stone them to burne them or to run vpon them The lawes of the Indians against false witnesse was to cut off the endes of all his fingers from his hands and the ends of all his toes from his feete The lawes of the Persians as you heard by Cambises and Darius was fleying and hanging against false witnesses and corrupt Iudges as you read of Sandoces and Sinetes The punishment of false witnesse by the Turkes was and is executed in this sort that hee shall bee set on a Mule with his face backwards holding the tayle of the Mule for a bridle in his hand and so to bee carried round about through euery streete of the towne and after burned in the forehead with two letters as a marke of false witnesse By the lawe of the 12. Tables among the Romanes he that was conuicted for a false witnesse should bee throwne headlong downe frō the rocke Tarpeia which lawe was first exercised and executed in Egipt and a long time after brought from Athens to Rome For the law among the Egiptians was that false wie nesses should pe punished with the like death The Indians had the like lawe as the Persians had that if any man were found three times a lyar what state soeuer he were of he should be neither magistrate nor officer during his life but should be depriued of all honour and credit and lead his life priuate in silence and yet among the Egiptians lyes were left without lawes vnpunished The lawes of all countries were sharpe and seuere against rebellious seruants and false witnesses which like seditious serpents seeke secretly to forsake and defraude their maister both in word and deed And therefore the testimonie of the seruant against their maister by the lawe of Romulus among the auntient Romanes was not admitted so that many of the late Emperours of Rome made a decree that those seruants that would accuse their maisters should be slaine as vngratefull and trecherous seruants So did Sylla vse Sulpitius seruant for betraying of his maister though Sulpitius was Syllas enemie This continued vntil punishments were set downe and appointed by lawe for crimes and offences by seruants as carrying a forke made like a gallowes on his shoulders or with Paucicapa or burning markes in the foreheads as the Syracusans vsed to burne their bondseruants in the forehead with the print of a horse to note them as their owne bond-slaues Melius enim est vitiosas partes sancare quà m execare For the lawe doth respect no person otherwise then by iustice lawes then were made how much and how farre the authorities of maisters extended ouer their seruants Among the Lacedemonians the lawe of Licurgus was so austere that it was lawfull for their maisters to kill those wicked wilfull seruants that would practise either by word or deed any falsehood against their maisters Alexander in his great furie against all lawes slew Calistenes his seruant and Philosopher for some sharpe and quick words yet Calistenes spake but what he ought to speake but not how he ought to speake Quae debebat dicebat sed non quomodo debebat Calistenes though a Philosopher yet hee forgot this lesson Facile prsse loqui cum Rege sed non de Rege Heerein that which was spoken of Hanibal may be spoken of Alexander Armis vicit vitijs victus But better could Anaxarchus flatter Alexander then Calistenes lamenting the dearh of Clitus whom he slew in his furie Art thou ignorant king Alexander said Anaxarchus how auntient wise men caused the Image of Iustice to stand by Iupiter that whatsoeuer Iupiter had decreed it was taken for a lawe for that Iustice was on his side The like speech may bee spoken of Iulia procuring her sonne in lawe to offend with her Doest thou not know thou art an Emperor which makest law to others and makest it not to thy selfe A lawe was made in Athens not onely against seruants but against any trecherous man whatsoeuer were he neuer so great that though hee died in his countrey yet should he not be buried in his countrey but be carried out of the confines of Athens so was Phocion and others that were suspected of any treason An other law among the Grecians was that he which prodigally and wilfully consumed his fathers patrimonie should not be buried within his owne countrey of Greece so those kings of Egipt that neither obeyed nor liued vnder the lawe while they liued should not be buried in their Pyramides so were some of the kings of Iudah and of Israel vnburied for breaking of the lawe There was a lawe made by king Agis in Sparta that the seruants called Hilotae for their rebellious sedition against their maisters were condemned to be in perpetuall seruitude neither might their maisters make them free in Sparta neither might the seruaunts goe out of Sparta but liue there like bondslaues and their posteritie after them which should be called Hilotae Oportes enim supplicia more patrio sumi offenders most be punished as Aristotle saith after the lawes and custome of the country The like law made Salomon against Semeia for that he tooke part with Absalon against the King railed and slaundered Dauid and threw stones at him that if hee should but once goe out of Ierusalem he should die for it by the sentence of Salomon And so in Athens the like lawe was made that those that the Athenians ouercame at the riuer Hister they and theyr posteritie should be as captiues and bondslaues in perpetuall bondage with one name giuen to them and theyr posteritie called Getae as Hilotae were in Sparta Among the Persians their lawe was that the seruant being bought with money that fled afterwards from his maister beeing taken hee should be fettered and bound in chaines and so bound to serue his maister False witnesses are lyars periurers and blasphemers either with periured tongues for a mans life or with slaunderous tongues for his name and good fame calling God to be witnesse of vntruth so the false prophets and priests of Baal did whom Elias
most ambitiously sought Naboths vineyard but hee did not long enioy it and some seeke with Nimrod to build towers in the ayre like to the King of Mexico when hee is sworne at the first comming to the kingdome who among other oathes must sweare that the sunne must keepe his course shyning alwaies in sight that the cloudes must let raine fall downe that the riuers must runne their course and that the earth must bring forth all kinde of fruites These kinde of men search those things that be vnder the earth and those things that be aboue the heauens Satagunt inquirentes saith Plato quae subter terram quae super caelum sunt We read of Antiochus after hee had taken Ierusalem after such slaughter of men women virgins children and Infants that within three daies there was slain foure score thousand and as many solde as were slaine and 4000. taken prisoners after he had taken a thousand and eight hundred talents out of the Temple he went with such a haughtie proude minde from Ierusalem to Antioch as Xerxes went from Persia into Greece thinking in his pride to make men saile vpon drie lande and to walke vpon the seas but as they liued both so they dyed the one miserably murthered in his owne country the other most miserably dyed out of his countrey These and such ambitious men in seeking to build their great name and fame on earth as Xerxes and Antiochus they become so odious and contemptible in their own country as Ammon was in Persia among the Iewes whose name when the Iewes heard of they beate and stampt on the ground with theyr feete because they would not heare his name for the like ambition the name of Hercules might not be mentioned among the Dardanians nor the name of Achilles among the Taenedians for that they destroyed both these countreys To forget these great iniuries Thrasibulus made a lawe in Athens called Amnestia because the crueltie of the thirtie tyrants which caused the children to daunce in their fathers bloud in Athens might no further bee remembred least by reuenging of the same more bloud should be lost much like the Dictators in Rome who might put to death any free Cittizen at theyr pleasure So did Opimius vsurping the office of a Dictator beeing but Consul caused Gracchus Fuluius and diuers other Cittizens to bee slaine But after Iulius Caesar became the first Emperour and Perpetuus Dictator the other Emperours that succeeded him claiming the like authoritie made such lawes in Rome as pleased themselues Sit fortitudo nostra lex iniusticiae for when the honour of the Senators were abrogated and past by Hortensius lawe vnder the Emperour Caesar and his successors that they onely made such lawes as were called Placita Principum without authoritie of the Senators or counsel of the people which were accepted as lawes among the Romaines during the time of the Emperors as Iusregis was in Rome during the raigne of the Kings The law called Plebiscita made by the Tribune of the people could not be allowed vnlesse it were confirmed by the Senators neither could the law made by Senators called Senatus Consultus be allowed without the voyce of the people In like sort Responsa Prudētū for that they had authoritie to enterpret the law in matters of controuersies their sentence iudgement was accepted as lawes so that the body and whole summe welnigh of the ciuill lawe consisted in these lawes before named None might in auntient time among the Romanes be elected Dictator Consul Praetor or Censor vnlesse he were one of the Patritians but in time it grew that the Patricians and the Plebeians were ioyned together that one Consul should be chosen by the Patritians the other by the people This lawe called Amnestia was afterwards brought to Rome from Athens and renewed by Cicero that they should forget the murthering of Caesar least a greater harme should come by reuenging of Caesars death by ciuill warres Omni enim populo inest malignum quiddam querulum in imperautes This lawe was put in practise by the Iewes in Mazphah for the trecherous murthering of Godoliah by ambitious Ismael for they thought it best to put vp iniuries by forgetting of iniuries But the lawe of Draco in Athens was not to forget iniuries as Thrasibulus lawe was neither to please the people as the lawe of Gracchus was in Rome but seuerely to punish the people and that with such seueritie that it was called according to his name Lex Draconis the lawe of a Dragon for the least fault in Athens by the lawe of Draco during the time of his raigne was punished with death who for his lawes was strangled in Aegina vppon the Theaters by the people So that in Rome for the lawes which Gracchus made to please the people he himselfe and diuers others were slaine So in Athens and in diuers other places by offending the people too much by cruell lawes they were strangled killed and slaine of the people for their lawes as Draco was in Aegina and Perillus in Agregutum who found out the brazen bull to please the tyrant Phalaris who decreed by lawe a reward to those that would find out new kindes of torments and tortures to punish offenders So Xerxes promised great gifts and rewards to any that would finde out diuers straunge kinds of pleasures to feed his humour as an Epicure Of these kinde of fellowes Aristotle saith Subtilia illa ignea ingenia in assiduo motu nouandis quam rebus gerendis aptiora and therefore rash young men must not bee magistrates or officers by Aristotles rule In the fourteenth Regiment is set downe the change and alteration of diuers lawes of the libertie and tyrannie of some lawes of the authoritie of soothsayers both among the Romaines and the Grecians HEliogabalus a monster and not an Emperour maintained rather women as Senators to sit with him in councell in Mount Quirinal to make lawes to feed his filthy humours then the Senators which haue beene Iudges equall with Kings in councell after Kings with Consuls after Consuls with good Emperours for Heliogabalus called the Senators Togatos seruos to whom Augustus Caesar gaue great reuerence in any publike assembly or meeting and with whom in the Senate house he sate in councell Facilius est errare naturam quà m sui dissimilem possit princeps formare Rempub. So Tiberius Caesar and Traiane that whatsoeuer was done in Rome was then done by the Senators with the consent of good Emperours which with the Senators made lawes and obeyed those lawes which they made for Vnum imperij corpus vnius animoregendum in so much that Adrian the Emperour when hee sawe a proud citizen of Rome walking in the market place betweene two Senators hee commaunded an officer to giue him first a buffet and after to bring him to prison for that hee made himsefe a
with him to put away the straunge gods that were among them to cleanse themselues and chaunge their garments and Iacob buried and hid their Images vnder an oake by Sichem and went to Bethel and made an aultar there to his God as the Lord had commaunded him So Ninus a little before that time set vp the first Image that is read of to bee among the Gentiles to Belus his father from which time the name of Baal his prophets and his priests began to multiply so many in Niniuie and in Babilon yea in Iudah it selfe among the Israelites to whome the lawe was giuen from the Lord to Moses forbidding them to serue straunge gods Ieroboam Salomons seruant and king of Israel which made Israel first to sinne by making two golden calues theyr gods the one in Dan the other in Bethel saying to the people These be thy gods ô Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egipt Within a while after wicked Achab being not satisfied with the gods of Samaria the golden calues which Ieroboam made brought Baal froÌ„ Assyria to Iudah where he kept and maintained 450. false Prophets to instruct and teach Israel in the religion of Baal contrarie to the lawe which the Lord gaue vnto Moses for the lawe was Thou shalt haue no other gods but me so that the gods of the Moabites and Ammonites yea the gods of the Gentiles came to be worshipped in the middest of Ierusalem and Mount Oliuet was so full of Idolatry vnder euery greene tree and in euery groue that thereby it was called the Mount of corruption so that Ierusalem had as many straunge aultars in the time of Salomon as Athens had in the time of Paul The Iewes therefore were as Idolatrous and had as many gods as the Gentiles had and rather serued the dumbe Idols of the Gentiles then the liuing God of Israel So vaine and wicked were the Israelites that while Moses was in the Mount with the Lord for the lawe before he came downe from the Mount they had forced Aaron to make them a calfe of mettall as a god to go before them for so the Lord said vnto Moses vp and get thee downe quickly for the people haue made them a god of mettall at what time the Lord was so angrie that he determined to destroy all the Hebrues for their Idolatrie had not Moses earnestly praied and made intercession for them For the Hebrues before they came out of Egipt sawe the Idolatry of the Egiptians in worshipping oxen calues serpents crocodiles and other beasts as gods the lawe was not so soone giuen to Moses but it was as soone broken by the people who forsooke the Lord and his lawe and followed other gods Baalim and Ashtaroth after Ioshuahs death for during the whole time of Ioshuah he kept Israel from Idolatry and they serued the Lord but after his death they committed fornication with the daughters of Moab who brought Israel to worship and serue theyr goddes that the Lord was angrie with Israel and bad Moses take vp the chiefe men among the people and hang them vp to the Lorde against the Sunne that the Lords wrath might bee taken away So after Gedeons death Israel fell to their Idolatrie as they were wont to doo that Manasses a most wicked Idolatrous king builded aultars to all the host of heauen in the house of the Lord and he put vp an Image in the Temple of the Lord where the Lord himselfe said In Ierusalem will I put my name hee worshipped and serued them hee reared vp aultars and made groues he built high aultars which Ezechiah his father destroyed and following Achab king of Israel offered his sonne in fire so that in Ierusalem the Israelites worshipped more gods and had more aultars to their gods then the Athenians had in Athens which Paul testified who sawe so many gods and so many aultars in Athens one to lust one to shame and one among so many Ignotodeo to an vnknowne god The second Regiment of Lawes containing the contempt of religion seuerely punished among diuers nations of the sundrie sacrifices and vowes of the Heathens and of the multitude of Idols and Aultars in Israel SOcrates deriding scoffing at the multitude of the goddes and aultars of Athens was by the Athenians put to death not for breaking their aultars destroying their temples nor betraying the Citie but because he sware by a straunge god thinking thereby hee had despised the goddes of Athens and more esteemed straunge gods Plato his scholler though hee was of the like opinion as his maister Socrates was yet durst hee not openly confesse it for feare of the people though king Dyonisius knew Platos minde by his Letters therein signified that when Plato wrote to king Dyonisius of one god then hee wrote seriously and earnestly but when hee wrote of many gods hee ieasted with scoffes as Socrates did Plato was of oipnion that Poets and Painters filled Greece with all kinde of Idols for what the Poets faigned in Greece in fables the same the Painters painted in Greece in tables and therefore Plato thought good to remoue Homer crowned annointed with all reuerence out of Greece for that hee through the opinion of the Greekes had of him filled Greece with too many gods and aultars But the Lord commanded Israel to ouerthrowe the â—…ltars of the Gentiles to breake their pillars cut downe their groues and burne the Images of their goddes with fire saying Couet not the golde nor the siluer that is about the Heathens Images as Achan did least thou be snaâ—…ed thereby for it is an abhomination to the Lord. Among the Romanes they thought it a great sacriledge to contemne and prophane the religion of theyr gods for so Alcibiades was accused of sacriledge for that he offended the lawe of the Athenians despising the holy misteries of the goddesse Ceres entred with his torch-bearer and vâ—…rger before him against the lawe of Eumolpides into the secret sacrifice and misteries of Ceres for the which his goods were confiscated and himselfe banished out of Athens for his contempt So for the like Clodius was accused in Rome for that he entered secretly into the misteries of Flora where none should bee but women and the Priests of Flora but as Alcibiades was banished out of Athens so Cloâ—…ius after was slaine in Rome for that Clodius offended the lawe being rather suspected for Pompeia Caesars wife then for the zeale hee had to Floraes sacrifice So zealous were the Heathens that euen among the Scythians rude and sauage people for that Anacharsis the Philosopher brought the ceremonies of the Grecians and their religion into Scythia and vsed the same in Scythia he was slain by his owne countreymen the Scythians In like maner the Athenians vsed certaine of the Acarnanites who being not Priests prophaned the gods of Athens in their religion which was taken of the Athenians for a
the Emperour to set vp his Image in the Temple of Ierusalem some of the best of the Iewes went to Caesaria to Pilate requesting with teares that hee would not violate the Temple with Images Pilate aunswered Caesars Image must be set vp or else you die for it they presently offered their neckes bare to be cut off before theyr lawe should be broken or the Temple violated with Images The like commaundement had Petronius from his maister Cai. Caesar to set vp his Image in the Temple but in like manner as before to Pilate the Iewes came with their wiues and children to entreate Petronius who told them as Pilate did that the Image of Caesar must bee set vp in theyr Temple as other Nations suffered the Romaine Emperours Images to bee set in their Temples among their gods as fellowes to theyr gods or else they must dye for it the Iewes answered Petronius that all the Iewes in Iudah men women and children shall and will dye before the lawe shall be broken Thus were they so slaine and killed betweene the Romaine Emperours and the kings of Assyria that their bloud was shed out like water on euery side of Ierusalem and yet would they not allowe Images nor haue theyr lawes broken The Romaines had no Images for 170. yeares though afterwards they had in their closets diuers Images which they worshipped as goddes they had also houshold and peculiar gods at their gates and in theyr entries besides the Images and statues of themselues and of their friends so that the Romaines so esteemed Images that in the time of the late Caesars Theodosius the Emperour thought to destroy Antiochia for the pulling downe of the Image of his friend Placilla had not Macedonius perswaded him to the contrarie So Agrippa for his woman Drusilla despised Paul Among the Iewes one Theudas a Magitian tooke vpon him to be the Messias perswaded the people that he was that Prophet which they looked for and that he was able with a word to deuide the Riuer Iorden into two and to giue him and his company place to passe through but he was slaine and his company and Theudas head brought to Ierusalem by Cuspius the Romaine President An other after Theudas called Attonges a shepheard affecting the kingdome made himselfe the Messias And after Attonges one Barcosma who tooke vpon him to be the Messias whom the Iewes so affected and followed thirtie yeares and when they perceiued hee could not keepe promise with them in vanquishing the Romanes the Iewes slew him But as the Israelites offered the bloud of beasts and sprinkled theyr Aultars according to the lawe of Moses so the Gentiles imitated the Hebrewes offered also bloud but the bloud of theyr seruants and children The Heathens thought no bloud too deare to please their gods For the Romains were admonished out of the bookes of the Sibils which they more honoured and esteemed in Rome then the bookes of the Prophets were in Iudah as it may seeme by Torquinius Priscus who bought them so deare and after were more carefully kept then Zedechiah king of Iudah kept the lawes of God for hee did burne and teare the booke which Ieremiah sent to him from the Lord without any dread or care had of the Prophet so that the bookes of the Sibils were more reuerently kept and their lawes obserued in Rome then the bookes of the Prophets in Ierusalem So Zedechiah the false Prophet was preferred by Achab before Michaeah the true Prophet of the Lord and Baals priests before the Lords Prophets The Romanes had their warrants from the bookes of the Sibils to sacrifice vnto Iuno a quicke man buried as the Grecians were wont to sacrifice to Bacchus The Phaenizians and the Carthagineans sacrificed to Saturnus with Infants bloud the Laodicians sacrificed a young virgin vnto Pallas so the Lacedemonians sacrificed to Mars with bloud the old Germanes to Mercurie with bloud These sacrifices of bloud were contrarie to the lawe of Licurgus taught among the Lacedemonians and after by Numa Pomp. imitated in Rome in all his lawes taught to him by the Nimphe Egeria as Licurgus lawes were taught to him by Apollo in Delphos Yet Pythagoras brought this lawe of Licurgus after Numas time from Greece to other parts of Italy for it was Pythagoras lawe according to Licurgus that nihil animatum dijs litetur that no bloud should be sacrificed but fruites hearbes flowers meale milke honie and wine which was the lawe of Licurgus among the Lacedemonians The Romaines as Cicero said had their Temples made to pietie faith vertue and to the minde as degrees and steppes to ascend vp to heauen but by the same lawe of Cicero they were forbidden to build any Temples to any prophane vice contrarie to the Greekes and to the Egiptians who allowed all kinde of theyr countrey gods but yet would allow no straunge gods It was the chiefest poynt among all Heathen Princes to bee carefull of their religion Oportet principem saith Aristotle ante omnia res diuinas videre curari For in Pauls time when he came to Athens and sawe so many gods and so many aultars Paul waxed angrle to see one aultar to lust an other to shame and another to an vnknowne god after he had disputed with certain Philosophers of the Stoiks and Epicures against theyr gods and their aultars he had no other commendations of the Philosophers in Athens but to be called Spermolagos a teacher of straunge doctrine Among the Iewes the punishment of Idolators was to bring them to bee stoned with stones to death beeing lawfully conuicted with two or three witnesses and the handes of the witnesses shall be first vpon them to kill them and the handes of all the people I neede not goe out of Iudah for examples to the Gentiles in following straunge gods in committing Idolatrie and in forsaking the lawes of the Lord. Manasses built aultars in the house of the Lord for all the hosts of heauen gaue himselfe to witchery and forcerie vsed them that were soothsayers and had familiar spirits and caused his sonnes to passe through fire in the valley of Hinnon Wicked Ahaz king of Iudah made an Idolatrous aultar sacrificed offered the bloud of his son through fire to Moloch So wicked Achab offered the bloud of his sonne likewise in Tophet to Moloch following the king of Moab who sacrificed his sonne that should haue raigned next after him king to please his Idoll Chemosh Thus the kings of Iudah and Israel prophaned the Lords aultar with the bloud of their owne children to please their dumbe Idols Yet Pythagoras and Vlixes two Heathens sacrificed to Vrania but with water and hony mingled according to Numa Pomp. lawe which commanded that no bloud should be offered in sacrifice but milke and hony No doubt the Gentiles imitated these wicked kings of Iudah in their sacrifices in their vowes and in the dedicatiō of their temples and