the Citie supposing he had beene dead Howbeit as the Disciples stood round about him he rose up and came into the Citie and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe Acts 14. 19 20. Paul wee may conclude was more extraordinarily preserved by God not lesse rigorously dealt withall by the Iewes than Saint Stephen had beene That he was extraordinarily preserved we have reason to beleeve because he was appointed to be a patterne of suffring more violence than this from the time of his calling That he was appointed to bee a patterne of suffering evills we must beleeve because God himselfe doth expresly testifie as much at the time of his calling unto Ananius who was to ratifie his calling so farre as the notice of it concerned the visible Church For when Ananias did demurre upon his admission into the Church The Lord said unto him goe thy way for he is a chosen vessell unto mee to beare my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my names sake Act. 9. 15 16 And yet perhaps Saint Paul had not been made such a spectacle to the world of suffrance or persecutions unlesse he had persecuted more than Saint Stephen unlesse hee had made havocke of the Church 4 It is not probable that these Iewes had any minde to punish Paul for his offence against Stephen of which if they had any notice or remembrance this would have made them more ready to pardon him for preaching the Gospel at this time than to put him to death for persecuting such as had preached it before Their resolution to stone him at this time rather than beat him with rods as their usuall manner was argues that their wills though otherwise free more than enough to doe mischiefe were by the all-seeing Providence determined or guided in the manner of practising mischiefe To say the Author of beeing and Fountaine of goodnesse did instill this spirit of fury and malice into the hearts of these Iewes or did by any decree absolutely necessitate them to conceive so full a measure of mischiefe as now possessed them were I take it to swerve from the forme of wholsome words would give some advantage to the adversaries of truth It was Sathan thēselves which had charged their brests with this extraordinary measure of fury and malice But these being so overcharged as that without some vent or other they were ready to burst He who is as well the supreme moderator of mens thoughts and resolutions as Iudge of their actions did not onely permit or suffer but direct appoint and order that they should exonerate or discharge their furious malice upon Saint Paul not upon Barnabas and upon Saint Paul by that peculiar kinde of violence which now they practise rather than by any other unto which they were more accustomed CHAP. 36. Of sinnes visited or punished according to the circumstance of time or place wherein they were committed 1 IT may be the circumstance of the time wherein this visitation happened to S. Paul might suggest as much as wee have observed unto himselfe or unto others then living whom the remembrance or notice of his former trespasses might concerne But however it were in this particular the identitie whether of the time or of the place wherein men have done and afterwards suffer extraordinary evill are in their nature better Remembrancers of Gods justice than the exact identity or likenesse of the evills which they have done to others and from others suffer is If a man should meet with mischiefe in the same place or be overtaken by it on the same day wherein he had done the like mischiefe vnto others the event would naturally argue a legall and formall processe of Divine Iustice calling time and place which are alwayes witnesses of actions done in greatest secresie to give speciall evidence against him and to make his owne conscience confesse that which all the world besides were not able to prove Some within our memories have concluded their unseasonable sportings with death sudden and casuall in respect of men upon the same day after revolution of times wherein they had deserved or cunningly avoided the sentence of death being more than due unto them if Iustice might have had its naturall course And it might peradventure have gone better with them if they had hid themselves for that day in the house of mourning or not adventured upon the house of mirth or fields of sport 2 To particularize in or comment upon domestique moderne examples would bee offensive Beatus populus qui scit jubilationem That people or Family is happy which knows the times seasons of rejoycing and mirth but more happy are they which know the times and seasons of mourning or for preventing the day of visitation And the best meanes to foresee or prevent it would be to keepe an exact Calendar of our owne and of our forefathers sins for these we are bound to confesse with our owne And if we would unpartially judge our selves for both by unfaigned repentance and hearty contrition we might escape the judgements of God which by our neglect hang over us and without amendment will fall upon us It is a saying amongst the later Iewes Volvitur meritum in diem meriti Though punishments do not immediately pursue the fact which deserves it nor instantly overtake the party which committed such fact yet it resteth not but roules about untill it meet with them or their posterity at the same point of time wherein it was deserved The Temple by their calculation was twice destroyed upon the same day of the same month upon which Moses had broken the Tables Though so it were de facto yet this revolution infers not this destruction to be fatall It might have beene at both times prevented had that generation wherein it hapned beene as zealous of Gods glory as Moses had been or had they held idolatry or hypocrisie in as great detestation as Moses had done Some foraigne writers have observed that the hope of this Land whilest he lived Edward the sixt did dye upon the selfe same day after revolution of some yeares in which his Father had put Sir Thomas Moore to death a man otherwise faulty yet so true a pattern of morall justice as it cannot seeme strange if the righteous Iudge did take speciall notice of King Henries dealing with him and insert the day of his death in his everlasting Calendar to be after signed with the untimely death of King Henries only Son How the sins of parents are often punished in their harmlesse or lesse harmfull posterity is elsewhere discussed I will not interrupt this Discourse with any digression concerning Divine equity in this point nor with any Apology for these curious observations as some enstyle them I relate onely matters of fact or punishments answerable to offences as well for the circumstance of place as of time 3
his owne hands 3 But the unerrable rule of everlasting Iustice who from eternity decrees whatsoever may bee and foresees whatsoever will be because Heaven and Earth may sooner passe than his words or acts passeth no act to the prejudice of his absolute and eternall power of Iurisdiction What grant or promise soever he make cannot binde the exercise of his everlasting libertie for a moment of time they last no longer than durante beneplacito seeing gracious Equity and onely it is his everlasting pleasure He ever was ever is and ever shall be alike indifferent and free to recompence every man according to his present wayes And in that hee alwaies searcheth the very hart and secret thoughts and never ceaseth to decree his one and indivisibly everlasting decree without any variety or shadow of change in it selfe fits all the changes severall dispositions and contingent actions of Men and Angels as exactly as if he did conceive and shape a new Law for every one of them and they are conceived and brought forth as wel befitting them as the skin doth the body which nature hath enwrapped in it No man living I take it will avouch any absolute necessity from all Eternity that God should inevitably decree the deposition of Elies line from the Priesthood or his two sonnes destructions by the Philistims For this were to bereave him of his absolute and eternall liberty I demand then whether within the compass of time or in eternity as praeexistent to Elies dayes he past any act that could restraine his eternall liberty of honouring Elies families as well as any others in their time To say He did were impiety because it chargeth the Almighty with impotent immutability What shall we say then The deposition of his race the sudden death and destruction of his sonnes were not at all absolutely necessary but necessary onely upon supposed miscariage of the possible meanes and opportunities which hee had given them for honouring him And that eternall decree They that dishonour mee them will I dishonour as coexistent to the full measure of this their transgression by it shapes their punishment 4 To thinke of Gods eternall decree with admiration void of danger we must conceive it as the immediate Axis or Center upon which every successive or contingent act revolves and yet withall that wherein the whole frame of succession or contingency is fully comprehended as an unconstant movable Sphere in a farre greater quiescent or rather in such a one as in the description of Eternity was imagined which hath drawne all the successive parts of motion into an indivisible unity of duration permanent Every part of the larger Sphere this swallowing up motion in vigorous rest should have coexistence locall with all and every part of the next moveable Sphere under it move it as slowly and swiftly as the latitude of successive motion can admit Whilest we thus conceive of Gods eternall decree and of his foreknowledge included in our conceipt of it according to the Analogy of what we must beleeve concerning the manner of his ubiquitary presence or immensity we shall have no occasion to suspect that his necessary foreknowledge of what we doe should lay a necessity upon our actions or take away all possibility of doing otherwise Rather we may by this supposall beleeve that as probable and perceive in part the manner how it is so which shall by Gods assistance be demonstrated to be de facto most true As first that the Omnipotent doth eternally decree an absolute contingency in most humane acts Secondly that this eternall act or decree which we thus conceive to be throughout the whole succession of time in every place indivisibly coexistent to each humane thought or action doth not only perpetually support our faculties but withall uncessantly inspire them with contingency in their choice that is it so moves them as they may without lett or incumbrance move themselves more wayes then one And yet even whilest it so moves them it withall inevitably effects the proportioned consequents which from everlasting were fore-ordained to the choices which we make be they good or bad or according to the severall degrees of good or evill done by us or of our affections or desires to doe them CHAP. 11. Of transcendentall goodnesse and of the infinity of it in the Divine nature 1 IF in assigning reasons of Maximes or proverbiall speeches wee might not bee thought to fetch light beyond the Sunne we should say Life unto things living is therefore sweet because it is a principall stemme of being as sweetnesse likewise is of goodnesse However we may resolve this Physicall Axiome into a Metaphysicall Omne ens qua ens est bonum Vnto every thing it s owne proper being is good Poyson though noysome to man to the Aspe is pleasant so is venome to the Toad and the Adder delighteth in his sting In things inanimate there should be no reluctance of contrary or hostile qualities unlesse each had a kinde of gratefull right or interest in their owne being and were taught by nature to fight for it as men doe for their lives or goods This is that goodnesse which we call entitative or transcendentall A goodnesse equally alike truly communicated to al things that are from his goodnesse who onely is but not participated equally or according to equality by all For as the least vessell that is filled to the brimme is as full as the greatest that can be and yet the quantity of liquor contained in them equally full is most unequall So albeit the entitative being of the Flye Ant or Worme be unto them as good as mans being is to man For even the Ant or Flye being vext or Wormes trod upon will bewray their spleene and labour as it were to right themselves for the losse or prejudice which they suffer in their Entitative goodnesse by doing harmes to their tormentors yet is mans being simply much better than the being of Ants or Wormes And much worse were that Man than any Beast that with Gryllus in the Poet would like to change his humane nature for a bruitish This excesse of entitative goodnesse by which one creature excelleth another accreweth partly from the excellency of the specificall Nature of Entity which it accompanieth as there is more Entitative goodnesse is being a Man than in being a Lyon and more in being a Lyon than in being some inferiour ignoble Beast it partly accreweth according to the greater or lesser measure wherein severall creatures enjoy their specificall Nature Men though by nature equall are not equally happy either in body or minde Bodily life in it selfe is sweet and is so apprehended by most yet is lothsome to some who as we say doe not enjoy themselves as none of us fully doe Sensitive appetites may be in some measure satisfied by course not all at once The compleat fruition of goodnesse incident to one defeats another though capable of greater pleasure for the time of what it most
her opinion needed no reformation A practice injoyned by S. Paul I exhort or desire first of all that supplications prayers intercessions and giving thankes be made for all men If any man shall seeke to lay that restraint upon this place which S. Austine somewhere doth as if the word all men did import only genera singulorum all sorts of men not singula generum every particular man the scanning of the words following the sifting of the matter contained in both with the reason of the exhortation and other reall circumstances will shake off this or other like restriction with greater ease than it can be laid upon it Wee are commanded to pray for no more than them whose salvation we are unfainedly to desire otherwise our prayers were hypocriticall Are we then to desire the salvation of some men onely as they are dispersed here and there throughout all nations sorts or conditions of men or for every man of what condition soever of what sort or nation soever he be The Apostle exhorts us to pray for Kings not excepting the most malignant enemies which the Christians then had and for all that be in authority And if we must pray for all that are in authority with fervency of desire that they may come unto the knowledge of the truth then questionlesse wee are to desire wee are to pray for the salvation of all and every one which are under authority God is no accepter of persons nor will the Omnipotent permit us so to respect the persons of the mighty in our prayers as that we should pray that all and every one of them might become Peeres of the heavenly Ierusalem and but some choice or selected ones of the meaner sort might bee admitted into the same society Wee must pray then for high and low rich and poore without excepting any either in particular or indefinitely The reason why our prayers for all men must be universall is because wee are bound to desire the spirituall good of all men not as they fall under our indefinite but under our uniuersall consideration The reason againe why wee are bound to desire the spirituall good of all men universally considered is because wee must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Vnto this universall desire wee must adde our best endeavours that saving truth may be imparted unto all because it is our heavenly Fathers will his unfaigned will that all should come to the knowledge of truth 2 Both parts of this inference as first that it is our duty to pray for all sorts of men and for every man of what sort soever And secondly that we are therefore to pray thus universally because it is Gods will not onely that we should thus pray but that all without exception shold come unto the truth and be saved are expressely included in the prayers appointed by the Church of England to bee used upon the most solemne day of devotions The Collects or Praiers are in number three The first Almighty God we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family for the which our Lord Iesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men and to suffer death upon the Crosse c. The tenour of this petition if we respect onely the forme is indefinite not universall but every Logician knows and every Divine should consider that the necessity of the matter whether in prayers or propositions will stretch the indefinite forme wherewith it is instamped as farre as an absolute universall That the forme of this petition is in the intention of the Church of England to be as farre extended as we have said that is to all and every one of the congregation present the prayer following puts out of question For in that wee are taught to pray for the whole Church and for every member of it Almighty and everlasting God by whose spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Congregation that every member of the same in his vocation and ministery may truly and godly serve thee c. If here it be excepted that albeit this prayer be conceived in termes formally universall yet is the universall forme of it to be no further extended than its proper matter or subject and that as will be alleaged is the mysticall live-body of Christ whose extent or the number of whose members is to us unknowne the third and last prayer will clearely quit this exception and free both the former petitions from these or the like restrictions For in the last prayer wee are taught to pray for all and every one which are out of the Church that they may bee brought into the Church and bee made partakers with us of Gods mercy and the common salvation Mercifull God who hast made all men and hatest nothing that thou hast made nor wouldest the death of a sinner but rather that he should be converted and live have mercy upon all Iewes Turkes Infidells and heretiques and take from them all ignorance hardnesse of heart and contempt of thy Word And so fetch them home blessed Lord to thy flocke that they may bee saved among the remnant of the true Israelites and be made one fold under one shepheard Iesus Christ our Lord. If God therefore will not the death of any Iew Turke or Infidell because of nothing hee made them men wee may safely conclude that he willeth not the death of any but the life of all whom of men or infidells hee hath made Christians to whom he hath vouchsafed the ordinary meanes of salvation and daily invites by his messengers to imbrace them Hee which made all things without invitation out of meere love made nothing hatefull nor is it possible that the unerring fountaine of truth and love should cast his dislike much lesse fix his hatred upon any thing that was not first in it nature odious Nothing can make the creature hatefull or odious to the Creator besides its hatred or enmity of that love by which it was created and by which he sought the restauration of it when it was lost Nor is it every degree of mans hatred or enmity unto God but a full measure of it which utterly exempts man from his love as that reverend Bishop and glorious Martyr one of the first Reformers of the Religion profest in this Land observes 3 If with these authorized devotions we compare the doctrine of our Church in the publike catechisme what can bee more cleare then that as God the Father doth love all mankind without exception so the Sonne of God did redeeme not some onely of all sorts but all mankind universally taken First wee are taught to beleve in God the Father who made us and all the world Now if the Church our mother have in the former prayers truly taught us that God hateth nothing which he hath made this will
unquestionable earnests of thy everlasting love since more fully manifested For thou so lovedst the world not Israel onely that thou gavest thine onely begotten son to the end that who so beleeved in him should not perish but have everlasting life What further argumeÌ„t of Gods infinite love could flesh blood desire thaÌ„ the Son of Gods voluntary suffring that in our flesh by his Fathers appointment which unto flesh and blood seemes most distastfull That this love was unfaignedly tendered to all at least that have heard or hereafter may heare of it without exception what demonstration from the effect can be more certaine what consequence more infallible thaÌ„ the inference of this truth is froÌ„ a sacred truth received by all good Christians viz. Al such as have heard Gods love in Christ proclaimed and not beleeved in it shall in the day of Iudgement appeare guilty of greater sinnes than their forefathers could be endited of and undergoe more bitter death than any corruption drawne from Adam if Christ had never suffered could have bred I shall no way wrong the Apostle in unfolding his exhortations to the Athenians thus farre but they rather offer the spirit by which hee spake some kinde of violence that would contract his meaning shorter The times of this ignorance before Christs death God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent Because hee hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom hee hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that hee hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. 3 Why all men in the world have not heard of Gods infinite love thus manifested many causes may hereafter bee assigned all grounded upon Gods infinite Iustice or Mercy Of Christs death many which heard not might have heard many which are not might have bin partakers save only for their free and voluntary progresse from evill to worse or wilfull refusall of Gods loving kindnesse daily profered to them in such pledges as they were well content to swallow foolishly esteeming these good in themselves being good onely as they plight the truth of Gods love to them which he manifested in the death of his Sonne With this manifestation of his love many againe out of meere mercy have not beene acquainted lest the sight of the medicine might have caused their discase to rage and make their case more lamentably desperate CHAP. 18. Want of consideration or ignorance of Gods unfeigned love to such as perish a principall meanes or occasion why so many perish 1 BVt if the most part of men as we cannot deny doe finally perish what shall it availe to revive this doctrine of Gods infinite love to all by whose fruitlesse issue he rather is made an infinit looser than men any gainers As for God he hath froÌ„ eternity infallibly forecast the entire redemption of his infinite love which unto us may seeme utterly cast away And of men if many dye whom he would have live for his will is that all should bee saved and come to the knowledge of the truth the fault is their owne or their instructers that seeke not the prevention of their miscariage by acquainting them with this coelestiall fountaine of saving truth whose taste we labor to exhibite unto all because the want of it in observation of the heathen is the first spring of humane misery Or in language more plaine or pertinent to the argument proposed most men reape no benefit from Gods unspeakeable love because not considering it to be his nature they doe not beleeve it to be as he is truly infinite unfeignedly extended to all that call him Maker But had the doctrines which those divine Oracles God is love and would have all men to bee saued naturally afford beene for these forty yeeres last past as generally taught and their right use continually prest with as great zeale and fervency as the doctrine and uses of Gods absolute decree for electing some and reprobating most in that space have beene the plentifull increase of Gods glory and his peoples comfort throughout this land might have wrought such astonishment to our adversaries as would have put their malicious mouths to silence Who would not be willing to be saved if hee were fully perswaded that God did will his salvation in particular because hee protests hee wills not the death of any but the repentance of all that all might live Or were the particulars of this doctrine unto whose generality every loyall member of the Church of England hath subscribed generally taught beleeved all would unfeignedly endeavour with fervent alacrity to be truely happy because none could suspect himselfe to bee excluded from his unfeigned and fervent love who is true happinesse Whose love and goodnesse is so great that hee cannot passe any act whereby any of his creatures should bee debarred either from being like him in love and goodnesse or being such from being like him in true happinesse But alas while the world is borne in hand that the Creator oft-times dispenseth the blessings of this life not as undoubted pledges of a better but deales with most men as man doth with beasts feeding them fattest which are appointed first to bee slaine the magnificent praises of his bounty secretly nurseth such a misperswasion in most men of his goodnesse at least towards them as the Epigrammâ—tist had of a professed Benefactor that shewed him as he thought little kindnesse in great Benevolence Munera magna quidem misit sed misit in hamo Et Piscatorem piscis amare potest Great gifts he sent but under his gifts there covered lay an hooke And by the fish to be belov'd can th'cunning Fisher looke 2 The frequency of sinister respects in dispensing of secular dignities or benevolences makes such as are truly kind to be either unregarded or mistrusted by such as stand in neede of their kindnesse And as fishes in beaten waters will nibble at the bait although they suspect the hooke so the world hath learned the wit to take good turnes and not to be taken by them as suspecting them to bee profered in cunning rather than in true kindnesse and cunning where it is discovered or suspected is usually requited with craft love onely hath just title unto love The most part indeed are so worldly wise that none but fooles will easily trust them howbeit our naturall mistrust of others makes all of us a great deale worse than we would be And as if we thought it a sinne or point of uncharitablenesse to prove other mens conjectures that measure our dispositions by their owne altogether false wee fit our demeanours to their misdeemings of us and resolve rather to do amisse than they should thinke amisse Howbeit even in this perfidious and faithlesse age the old saying is not quite out of date Ipsa fides habita obligat fideÌ„ Many would be more trusty than they are and do much
actuall goodnesse hee which is actually and infinitely good cannot but hate or dislik actuall evill in whomsoever it is found as much as he loveth the contrary good Now punishment or malum poenae being as necessarie a consequent of Gods hate or dislike of sinne as reward or happinesse is of his loue to vertue and pietie the reasonable creature by declining from vertue to vice from good to bad doth ipso facto and inevitably bring evill malum poenae damni tribulation and anguish upon it selfe By reward and punishment in this place wee understand not onely life and death everlasting of whose reference to Gods aeternall decree we shall in particular dispute hereafter if Superiours shall so think fit but every temporall blessing or crosse all prosperity or calamitie specially publike remarkable Prosperitie we alwayes take to be a pledge of Gods love though not alwaies of the Person on whom it is bestowed yet of some good quality in him or in some of his serving for publique use or private imitation and is alwayes in the beginning at least an effect of Gods antecedent will Calamitie we take alwayes for a token of Gods dislike though not alwaies of the person afflicted yet either of somewhat in him to bee amended or of somewhat formerly done by him to bee by others avoided and is an effect of Gods consequent will For hee wils no evill at all not malum poenae but as it is either a punishment or correction for evill done or good neglected or as it is a medecine to prevent the doing of evill or neglect of goodnesse 3 From the infinite varietie of possibilities authorized by the aeternall decree and their correspondent consequences which one time or other actually follow upon their reductions into Act by the irresistible award of the same decree wee may resolve many difficulties and abandon sundry inconveniences wherewith the Heathen in their vaine speculations and many Christians in more grievous temptations charge either the truth or goodnesse of Gods Providence The varietie of such possibilities amounts partly from the specificall nature of the objects made possible by the divine decree partly from the severall degrees of good or evill contained in such objects or in mens actions concerning them The whole latitude if I may so speake of Gods providence as it concernes kingdomes states or persons consists in moderating and ordering the possible devolutions or alternations of the resonable creature from his antecedent will to his consequent The alternations or devolutions themselves may be numberlesse save onely to God so may the degrees bee of mans dissonancie or consonancie to Gods antecedent will throughout the course of his life CHAP. 19. Of the divers acceptions or importances of Fate especially among the Heathen writers 1 THE very name of Fate will be I know to many very offensive unto whom I am unwilling to give the least offence The use of it I must confesse is in some cases prohibited by St. Austin a man too modest to vsurpe greater authoritie then he had and oecumenicall authoritie in this point hee had none or none so great as might impose silence upon all posteritie Would to God such as are most forward to presse us with this Reverend fathers interlocutorie sentence once or twice perhaps vttered for not vsing the name could be perswaded to stand to his definitive sentence often pronounced against the nature of the Errour which the Heathens against whom hee disputes covered under this name Vpon condition they would be pleased not to revive the nature of the errour or bury their opinions that way tending my heart and mouth should never give breath unto the name The opinion which some rigid Stoicks had of Fate is an haeresie not to bee named among the Heathen so deepely tainted with the very dregs of heathenisme that it is a wonder any Christian writer should come neere it that any at least should take infection from it especially seeing the Reverend and learned Fathers of the primitive church had provided so many excellent preservatives against it But albeit Fate according to that sense or meaning where in some heathens tooke it was become a wicked Idol yet seeing the word or name whether in the ordinary use of Greeke or Latine writers hath greater varietie of significations or importances then almost any other word in the world besides to abandon all for one ill sense or importance seemes to me as rude and uncivill a part as to roote out a whole clan or surname because one of the same name and stocke had beene at deadly sohood with our family or had otherwise deserved death Vpon diligent perusall of the best Philosophers historians or Poets amongst the Heathens of some historians and Moralists of best note amongst Christians we may finde realities or solid matter answering to this word Fate which cannot bee so well expressed by any other terme or name by any paraphrase more briefe than the true and proper definition of the matter or reality signified by it Now if the matter defined prove to bee no Idoll the name certainly is indifferent and of the definition there may be a good morall or historicall use For finding out the true and proper definition or description of it we are to explicate the divers acceptions or importances of the name 2 Fatum à fando dictum and sometimes imports no more then the dictate of nature or the certaine course appointed to things naturall Thus naturall death is by some accounted fatall And Dido according to this importance did not die by Fate because shee prevented Lachesis by cutting the thred of her owne life before this great Arbitresse of mortality had passed sentence upon her Sed quia nec fato merita nec morte peribat And according to this importance it is used by the Prince of Romane Historians in the sixt booke of his Annals Per idem tempus Lucius Piso Pontifex rarum in tanta claritudine fato obijt About the same time L. Piso High Priest died a naturall death being 80. yeares of age a matter rare in those times in a man of so great birth and place Sometimes againe Death it selfe howsoever it come upon men is termed Fate or Destiny perhaps because the comming of it is by course of nature certaine albeit the time and manner of it be unknown or incomprehensible So another Roman Poet saith The parthians poysoned arrowes carryed Fates upon their points able to let in Death at the least breach of skin Fatumque in sanguine summo est It may be Virgil held naturall death to be fatall because it cannot be avoided being otherwise of our opinion that Dido might have lived longer or that it was not absolutely necessary from the houre of her birth that she should live so many yeares and no more For so some of the wisest amongst the Heathens held death to be fatall that is simply necessary unto all albeit to dye at this or that set houre
contingency or al possibility of being recalled or avoyded were by the Heathens ascribed Fato majori to greater Fates The symptomes or characters of events becomming thus irresistibly absolutely necessary come elsewhere by Gods assistance to be deciphered Here it sufficeth to advertise the Reader that as divers things besides so necessitie may be enstyled absolute many waies but two especially Some things are said to be absolutely necessarie that is altogether inevitable albeit this necessitie or inevitablenesse did accrue from some occasions or set points of time lately past As many diseases in their nature curable and easie to have beene cured by ordinarie medicines if they had beene administred in time do by some few daies ill diet by carelesse attendance or casuall relapse become altogether incurable by any after-care or helpe of physick Other events there be which were absolutely necessarie in respect of all times their exhibition or production could not by any policie of man have beene prevented So our Saviours death was absolutely necessary from the beginning of the World but whether absolutely necessary from eternity or absolutely necessary without supposall of Adams fall which was not necessary shall not here be disputed Certaine it is that nothing decreed by God can be so absolutely necessary as the Divine Nature or blessed Trinity is Many errors have found opportunity to mingle themselves with divine truth for want of a commodious distinction or explication of this indistinct and confused terme Absolute the anatomy of it were worth the paines of the Learned Evident it is that some things which are not to day may to morrow be in their kind absolute 3 We truly say that the summe of mony wherin one man stands bound unto another is absolutely due from the time of the forfaiture or non-performance of the condition that is there is no plea left in Law no course or meanes of Iustice to avoyd the payment of it Yet was not the same sum absolutely due from the first date of the bond the performance of the Condition in due time had prevented the losse which negligence or breach of promise hath now made necessary and irrecoverable Moneys lent upon no other consideration but upon meere good will to be repayd whensoever the party lending shall demand them are absolutely due from the date of the recognizance and for that which is absolutely due there is a necessitie of payment or satisfaction 4. Some disasterous events become by divine providence irresistibly necessarie long before they be actually accomplished or inflicted such was the destruction of Pharaoh of Senacherib the desolation of Iudah and Ierusalem by Titus Others become fatally irresistible within some few dayes or houres before they happen other not till the very moment wherein they are awarded either for some grievous sinne then committed or for some remarkable document of Gods justice Some againe are for a long time totally irresistible and unpreventable others resistible quoad tantum though not quoad totum that is part of the evils might be prevented though not the whole All that we have said concerning the alteration of possibilities or contingencies or change of events contingent into necessary may easily be conceived without any surmise of alteration in the Omnipotent or in his everlasting decree The least degree of possibility or contingency is as necessarily derived from his absolute irresistible will as necessity it selfe in the highest degree It is impossible for possibility to have any right to actuall being without his speciall appointment To think that Fate Chance or Fortune should nestle in some certaine periods of time or be brought forth by revolutioÌ„s of the heavens is altogether heathenish But neither doth Scripture insinuate nor can reason justly suspect any danger in avouching that the Almighty suffers that contingency or multiplicity of possibilities betweene good and evill or the severall degrees of evill wherewith hee hath endued the reasonable creature to explicate or contract it selfe in every moment of time And according to the nature of the free motions of man the irresistible decree brings 〈◊〉 such events or issues as were truly possible from eternity but become necessary by revolutions not of the heavens but of mans hart and thoughts publike plague or calamities become necessary or inevitable by these meanes onely We must ever remember that God hath not so decreed all things before they come or the manner how they shall come as that he doth not yet decree them For he continually decrees as well necessity as contingency and brings forth effects as well contingent as necessary from this present houre both being sometimes meerly possible The truth of this our last assertion may be demonstrated from our former principle If one part of a disjunctive proposition be denied or faile the other may be necessarily inferred though neither bee absolutely and determinately necessary but become such by consequence or upon supposition of the others failing Many things which in respect of our present purpose or resolution are free or contingent may within a short while after become altogether necessary and unavoydable without any alteration or change in us Suppose a Iudge should be tied by oath to execute justice upon a malefactor within eight dayes there is no necessity that he should performe his vow the first second third or fourth day The execution or not execution of Iustice is during the first seven daies free and contingent without any breach or violation of oath but omitting the opportunities which the first seven dayes have offered the execution of Iustice upon the eighth day is as necessarie as his honesty or fidelity as necessary as if hee had beene tied by oath to execute it upon that day alone The parts of indefinite time or of the matter promised or threatned by man may be farre more than this instance implies So that the performance of those duties or promises which for a long time was free and arbitrarie and might have beene performed in different measure becomes at length absolutely necessary and necessary to such a determinate degree The parts of Gods disjunctive decree and the degrees as well of every matter decreed by him as of the time allotted for the execution of it may be numberlesse in respect of us And man by not entertaining the opportunities which by severall times have beene allotted him for reducing his possibilities of doing Gods antecedent will into act may forfeit the very possibilities themselves for ever or for a long time And by continuance of such neglect of many parts or kindes of successe all truly possible in respect of the eternal decree that only shall in the end become necessary which he least desires which his soule shall most deâ—est In respect of some future events not as yet become necessary the eternall decree leaves fewer branches of contrary contingencies or possibilities in respect of others more Their multitude may expire or revive every moment according to the diversity of mens waies
carve opportunities out of perplexities Yet for all this â—ad no skill or forecast to prevent no fence to put by the sudden stroke of Death which seâ— a short period to his farre reaching plots and dashed the masterpiece of his projects when it was come to the very height and ready to fall upon the marke it aymed at The Spaniards have more cause to blesse the day of this Princes death then the day of their victory over the Duke of Saxony his uncle For if he had lived but a little longer the wings of Austria and Spaine had in all probability beene cut a great deale shorter throughtout Germany and the Low-Countries than since they have beene by the confederacy which the French King and he had made lately for ruinating Charles the fift But whatsoever devices were in their hearts the counsell of the Lord was against them and that must stand though by the sudden fall of the Confederates 11 To reflect a little upon the more speciall interpositions of Gods providence in moderating the proceedings and issues of this warre The Romanists have small cause to brag though many of them doe so of Charles his victorie over the two confederate Princes as of some speciall token of Gods favour to their Church and religion Chytreus a most unpartiall Writer and well acquainted with the State of Germany as then it stood and with the severall dispositions of the chiefe confederates ingenuously confesseth as a speciall argument of Gods favour towards the professors of the reformed Religion throughout Germany that the Duke of Saxony and Landgrave of Hessen had not the victory which they expected over the Emperour Hee might have more reason thus to write then I know or now remember but certainly their agreement during the time of the war was not altogether so good as to promise any lasting concord or sure establishment of true Christian peace throughout the severall Provinces of Germany if they had prevailed Shertelius who commanded in chiefe for the free Cities did as some write forsake the Campe as being wearie of their wranglings However their few yeares captiuitie was a fatherly chastisement no plague or token of Gods wrath against them As the unjust detention of the Landgrave brought greater dishonour to the Emperour Charles then any one Act that ever he did so the Duke of Saxonie wonne himselfe more honour by his durance then the Emperour could bestow upon him Victorie in battaile abundance of wealth and titles of honour are gifts and blessings from the Lord yet of which Pagans and Infidels are capable and such as many Heathen have scorned or not affected But for a Prince by birth which had beene continually borne upon the wings of better Fortune alwayes reputed the chiefe stay and pillar of his Country to endure captivity in an uncouth Court with such constancy of minde as could turne the intended contempt and scorne of his witty enemies into kindnesse and admiration and cause such as had led him captive not only to pitie but to honour him and propagate his fame unto posterity This was a blessing peculiar to Gods Saints That character which forraigne Writers have put upon him will hardly befit any that is not a Christian inwardly and in heart Neque in prosperis elatum neque in adversis dejectum sui hostes unquam vidêre His enemies did never see him either puft up with prosperitie or dejected with adversity But was it not the greater pitie if we may speake after the manner of most men and as many Germanes in those times did that so noble a Prince should be punished with the perpetuall losse of his Electorall dignity Yet even this that we may with veneration rather admire than question the secret wayes of Gods providence was no losse but gaine unto Gods Church and the publique weale of Saxony which he more sought than his owne ends or commodities For by his falling into Charles his hands the Electorall dignity of Saxony fell into another Collaterall line which proved as beneficiall and favourable to good learning and Reformed Religion as any other Princely Family of Germany in those times Witnesse to omit their other good deeds in this kinde that Princely munificence of Duke Augustus brother and heyre to Maurice the victorious annually exhibited to Ministers Orphans related by Polycarpus Lyserus How well those good examples which Maurice himselfe and his brother Augustus had set have beene followed by their Successors falls not within my reading or observation But surely these two advancers of this second Line did better imitate the princely vertues of their deprived Vncle than his owne sons were likely to have done For the judicious unpartiall French Historian assignes this as one speciall reason why the fame and memory of Iohn Duke of Saxony did not continue so fresh and pretious after his death as he deserved Quia reliquit filios sui dissimillimos CHAP. 29. Of Gods speciall providence in making unexpected peace and raising unexpected warre 1 THE hand of the Almighty is not more conspicuous in managing warres begunne by men than his finger is in contriving their first beginnings Love is his nature and friendship or mutuall love betwixt man and man Princes or Nations is a blessing which descends from him alone who is the onely Author of all true peace but not the Author onely of peace Sometimes hee kindles unquenchable dissentions where the seeds of secular peace have been sowne with greatest policy and watered with continuall care and circumspection Sometimes againe hee maketh sudden unexpected concord between spirits which jarre by nature and joynes the right hand of inveterate foes to strengthen the stroke of Iustice upon his enemies 2 Later Chronicles will hardly afford any example of worse consort betweene neighbour Princes than was betweene Charles of Burgundy and Lewes of France whether wee respect the contrarietie of their naturall dispositions or the incompossibilitie of their projects or engagements Nature had planted and policie had nourished a kinde of Antipathy betwixt them And yet how quickly and unexpectedly did these two great Princes after irreconcileable variances close and agree together to crush the wise the rich and martiall Earle of Saint Paul then High Constable of France He that had beene of both these Princes Courts and of both their Counsels hath left it observed that they could never bee brought in all their life time to concurre in any other action or project besides this albeit they had often greater motives to entertaine peace betweene themselves than provocations to conspire against this Earle Perhaps his experience of their ill consort made him more confident than otherwise hee would have beene though confident he might have beene upon better grounds than most great Subjects or inferiour Princes can be if wit if wealth if policie if martiall power or authority could secure any from the execution of Gods Iustice 3 The best use which Machiavel or his Scholars make of this Potentates mishap is
if hee had continued as hee once resolved to doe a true pâ—nitentiarie and not affected to be a prelate For if God would not suffer his Temple to be built by David a man otherwise after his owne heart onely because hee had beene a man of warre wee may from the morall Analogie of this sacred embleme collect that the same holy Lord would not suffer the sonne of that malignant cruell Pagan Fratricide which had imbrued his hands in the blood of his Priests and murthered his annointed King in the holy place to beare rule over his house or Church This his unseasonable ambitious humor without any other actuall remarkable crime might in Divine Iustice exact some print of the supreame Iudges indignation All this notwithstanding being granted doth not prove there was no good thing found in the partie that was thus punished as well as in Ieroboams child It was a fauour to the one that he dyed in peace though in his infancie and it might be some matter of honour or favour to the other that he had Christian buriall in the Church wherein hee died and that hee was not made a prey to the fowles of the ayre But this wee speake skeptique wise what became of Strachyquaz after his fearefull end we leave it for the eternall Iudge to determine 7 Whatsoever became of him the death of his grandmother Drahomira was much more terrible as she had lived so she dyed a malitious blasphemous Pagan a cruell bloody step-dame to Christs infant Church in that Kingdome The storie I know will unto many seeme strange yet in my observation very capable of credit if we consider the exigence of those times and the then desperate state of Boheme Christianity and paganisme lay then at stake whether should be entertained whether expelled the Pagans by their unconfeionable policie which aymes at nothing but some private end alwayes readie to hazard whatsoever lyes within their levell rather then misse of it had so cunningly played the foregame and by their bloody plots removed so many principall men out of the way that there was no possibilitie left save onely in the Almighties immediate hand to make any thing of the aftergame Now in case of such desperate extremities specially when they happen during the infancie of any particular Church it cannot to mee seeme incredible if the good spirit of God doe out vy those prodigious cruelties which Sathan deviseth against the Saints by sudden miraculous executions upon their Actors Sathans instruments The Tragedy of Drahomira was briefly thus This Queen-mother had animated her Pagan-sonne Boleslaus surnamed Savus the Cruell to murder his elder brother and Liege Lord Wenceslaus onely because he had approved himselfe a zealous professor of the doctrine of life To terrifie others from taking the sacred function upon them she caused the bodies of those Priests and Prelates whom Boleslaus had â—assacred to lye unburied and one Podivivus a man of principall note in his time to hang two intire yeares upon the gallowes Vpon these and many like provocations of Gods just vengeance her grave was made before she felt her selfe sicke her buriall like to that of Corah of Dathan and Abiram Whether this opening of the earth were truly miraculous or whethet it happened in the period of some naturall declination the supporters or pillars of it being digged up or undermined before the opening of it at that time wherein this wicked woman was to passe over that very place in which she had caused the Priests bodies to lye unburied was the Lords doing and no lesse wonderfull to Christian eyes than if it had beene as perhaps it was a meere miracle The truth of this story wanted not the testimony of many ages For passengers from the day of her death untill the day wherein mine Author wrote this Story which was within this age current eschewed the place wherein she dyed as execrable and accursed by God CHAP. 37. What manner of sinnes they be which usually provoke Gods judgements according to the rule of Counterpassion And of the frequency of this kinde of punishment foresignified by Gods Prophets 1 IVstice as was intimated before doth not formally consist in retaliation and yet is retaliation a formall part or branch of Iustice And of this branch Nemesis amongst the Heathen was the ordinary Arbitresse Shee was in their Divinity a Goddesse of Iustice not Iustice her selfe nor did every wrong in their opinion belong unto her cognizance but such insolent wrongs onely as deserved vengeance or indignation Nor doth the righteous most mercifull Lord and onely God usually punish ordinary or private but publique and outcrying sinnes by the severe Law or Rule of Counterpassion And it is observable that most Prophesies which are powred out against any Land City or People with fuller indignation are so intermingled with threats of judgement by way of Counterpassion that the quality and circumstances of the crimes may seeme to serve the Prophets as glasses for representing the nature and quality of the judgements to come And if the crimes were as well knowne to mâ—n as the judgements are we would thinke the one were moulded in the other This exact proportion betwixt the patterne of sinnes which Babylon had set and the manner of Gods judgements upon her for them hath beene observed before and I will not make the prophesies concerning her destruction any part of this observation The prophesies concerning other Nations and Cities will afford plenty of instances to this purpose 2 Samaria shall be as an heape of the field and as plantings of a Vineyard and I will powre downe the stones thereof into the valley and I will discover the foundations thereof And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces and all the hires thereof shall be burnt with the fire and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot and they shall returne to the hire of an harlot Micah 1. 6 7. The wound of Samaria as the Prophet addes vers 9. was incurable but so was not the wound of Iudah as yet although it was come to Iudah by infection and had touched at the very gates of Ierusalem For so he saith vers 12. The inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good but evill came downe from the Lord unto the gate of Ierusalem Thither it came but it found no entrance in for the present as it did into the gates of other Cities of Iudah Lachish of all the Cities of Iudah was the first which tooke the impression of Israels idolatry and did in part derive it unto Sion And as she was the first and principall in sinne so she was the first in the plagues here threatned The Chariots of Ashur did first triumph in her streets and her inhabitants felt the dint of the Assyrian swords when Ierusalem escaped with the lash of Rabshakehs tongue That which is afterwards related in the sacred story concerning Ierusalems
God prolongeth his dayes yet I know that it shall bee well with them that feare the Lord and doe reverence before him But it shall not be so well to the wicked neyther shall hee prolong his dayes hee shall bee like a shadow because he feareth not before God Verse 12 13. Besides this authoritie of the Preacher concerning the determinate extent or meaning of whose words I will not here dispute wee have a propheticall generall Rule which never faileth in it selfe nor to the apprehension of the observant How mightily soever iniquitie abounds in any Citie Land or Countrey yet the just Lord is in the midst thereof hee will not doe iniquitie Every morning doth hee bring his judgement to light hee faileth not but the unjust knoweth no shame Zephaniah 3. vers 5. 2 But these sacred as well as other Maximes have their peculiar subjects in which they are more remarkably verified at out time then at another The extraordinarie documents of Gods punitive justice had beene no doubt more rise in Iudah about Zephanies time than in former ages And amongst moderne Christian States none have beene so fertile as the Kingdome of Hungarie since it stood upon the same termes with the Turke that Iudah in Zephanies dayes did with the Chaldaean I will give the Reader onely a hint or taste from one or two particulars to set his meditations if it shall please him on working to observe the like out of the Histories of that Countrey 3 Amongst all the persons of better place or same mentioned in those Histories could there bee found but tenne as for ought I know there may bee more whose Legends eyther in respect of wrongs done to others by them or of wrongs done to them by others might afford so many pregnant proofes of Divine Retaliation as doth the Legend of Fryer George or as Thuanus calls him Martinusius the Prophets Proposition Every morning hee bringeth forth judgement to light might by exact Logicall Induction be proved to have beene universally true in that Kingdome for more than tenne yeares together This man by his valorous wit had advanced himselfe from a Turne-spit or Cole-carrier to be a Cardinall otherwise for his temporall dignitie and authoritie full Peere to most Princes of Christendome no way inferiour to many Kings save onely in want of Royall Title In the height of his prosperitie he had entertained one Marc Anthony de Ferraro Secretarie to Castaldie Lieutenant to Ferdinand the Emperour in those parts as a secret Intelligencer to betray his Master but was in the end miserably betrayed by him For this Assassinate Ferrarius having at all houres free accesse upon this hope tooke hence opportunitie to conveigh the rest of the bloody actors into the Bed-chamber of this usually well guarded Prince or Tyrant in a dismall morning before hee was dressed Ferrary himselfe giving the first wound whilest hee was reaching penne and Inoke to subscribe unto the counterfeit Letters or Patents which hee then did tender him This Fryer or Cardinall Marlinusius had plaid the Hypocrite as was then presumed with his Christian neighbours being either in affection to his owne country or for his private ends more engaged to the Turke And Captaine Lopez with the Spanish Harquebuzes designed by Ferdinand and Castaldie to assist Marquesse Pallavicino for effecting this plot were permitted without suspition of hostility into the Castle being apparelled in Turkish weeds or long gownes under which they covered their Harquebuzes and such other armour as they thought expedient for this feat 4 His death though bloody and cruell in the highest degree did not so deeply affect unpartiall hearts either with pity toward him or with indignation at his murderers as the strange and unusuall neglect of his mangled Corps did their hearts which either through partialitie or credulitie have professed a delectation of his tyrannicall life upon higher termes than hee deserved His enemies it seemes were so carefull to effect their intended plot and his friends so affrighted with his sudden disaster that his dead bodie remained many daies together above ground unburied or uncovered with the blood frozen upon it so stiffe with cold that it might rather seeme to have beene a blurred or besmeared statue of stone or marble than a dead man A fit relique for a sacrilegious Palace such was the Castle wherein hee was murthered for whose erection he had demolished an ancient Church and Monasterie of religious persons And whether it were that indignation doth sometimes make men as well peeces of Prophets as of Poets or whether it were spoken by way of bitter imprecation the Abbot upon the sacrilegious oppression did foresignifie that this Castle whose foundations were laid with others should at length be seasoned with the blood of him that built it Who buildeth so me thinkes so buildeth he As if his house should his Sepulcher bee 5 Though Gods judgements upon this man were as all his are most just yet were they unjustly done by these Assassinates They were Gods instruments but the devills agents in acting this plot and by doing to this Cardinall as hee had done to others they themselves become lyable in this life to the rigour of the indispensable Law As they have done to him so must it be done to them Gods will is fulfilled upon them as the devills will was fulfilled by them Hee was a murderer from the beginning and they are his sonnes And though they afterwards disperse themselves throughout divers Kingdomes or Nations yet the cry of this Cardinals blood doth still pursue them Which way soever they wander the Almighties net is spred out for them and being still hunted after by Gods judgements all of them are driven at length into it This wee are sure of saith the forementioned Author of the Hungarian historie that all those which were Actors of his death in time fell into great misfortunes The Marquesse Sforce within a while after was overthrowne and taken Prisoner by the Turkes who inflicted great torments upon him Captaine Monin was beheaded at Saint Germanes in Piemont Marc Anthony Ferraro in anno 1557. which was about six yeares after was also beheaded in Alexandria his native Country by the Cardinall of Trent his command Another was quartered by the French men in Provence Cheualier Campegio in anno 1562. was in the presence of the Emperour Ferdinand mortally wounded with a Bore in Bohemia Thuanus relates the selfe same accidents from the testimonies of more Writers than this save onely that hee omits the mention of him that was quartered in Provence 6 What one of many hundred mornings after this fact was there wherein Ferdinand did not lose soting either in Hungary or in Transylvania wherein the Turke did not sensibly incroach upon Christendome and gaine advantage against Christians The just comparison betweene the misery of Iudah in Zedechiaes dayes and of Hungary under Lewis the second with the parallell manner of these two noble Kings and their adherents
excitat de quo minime suspicati fuerant Cominaeus in fine lib. 10. * ComponaÌ„ ergo illius accrbitates ac dolores quos pertulit ante mortem â—um ijs malis incommodis quibus alios affecit Magnitudine quidem inter se differunt ac longè aliud etiam fuit ipsius munus verùm quò prosperiori fuit usus fortuna quò major extitit ejus per omnem Europam authoritas eo quoque vehementiùs fuit afâ—ictus dum praeter consuetudinem suam naturam aliquid perferre coactus est Ineo quem diximus Eremica summam perpetuò spem habebat ac subinde missis nuncijs interpellabat eum ut vitam sibi produceret Nam etsi res suas quasi jam moriturus constituerat tamen redintegrato animo sperabat se posse evadere Cominaeus lib. 10. in initio a Medico suo menstruum dabat stipendium ut suprâ— quoque diximus decem aureorum millia nec id modò verum etiam Episcopatum Ambianensem ejus Nepoti munerae publica multa largiebatur ejus propinquis amicis Et tamen Medicus tam erat verbis in eum asper durus ut nihil supra valde igitur eum Rex metuebat ad suos familiares de illine asperitate 〈◊〉 saepe querebatur neque tamen andebat eum à se dimittere Ibid. Mortem nullus unquam vehâ—mâ—ntius exhorruit nâ—mo etiam majori studio ratione de remediis unquam cogitavit quam ipse Familiaribus suis per omnem vitam mihi quoque saepenumerò mandaverat sâ— quando ipsum in ea necessitatate positum esse conspiceremus ut nulla prorsuo factâ— mentione mortis ad peccatorum expiationem solummodo adhortaremur ac videbatur essenâ—nc temporis molliori animo quam ut adeò duram sententiam audiret Ibidem Jpse dâ—os Gaâ—â—â—â— principes Dâ—cem 〈◊〉 Câ—â—nest ablium capite muâ—ctaverâ— quod alteruÌ„ nâ—â—usset jaÌ„ cuÌ„ esset moriturâ—â— ipsuÌ„ punituit Et quem adâ—â—â—dum illis per homines delectos denunciatum fuit supplicium paneis verbis breve temporis spaâ—iuÌ„ quo de solu to sua statuerent coÌ„cessuÌ„ ad eundem plane modum isti nulla verborum 〈◊〉 circuitione cuÌ„ ei praesignificareÌ„t mortem ut officio nostro satisfaciamus aiâ—bantâ—res ipsa postulat Spem nullaÌ„ dâ—inceps collocare debes vel in Eremita vel in quovis alio Nam actuÌ„ est de te prorsus Ibid. * Carceres 〈◊〉 ravit horrendos valde tetros nempe caveas aliquot partim ferreas partim ligneas ferreis laminibus coopertas latitudine octo pedum altitudine paulo majori quam est staturae hominis Excogitâ—verat hanc rationem Cardinalis Baluensis in cam quae primum perfecta fuit inclusus est ipse perque totos quatuordecim annos detentus Ibid. a Et sicut per ipsius imperiuÌ„ carceres illi funesti fuerunt inventi ad eundeÌ„ plane moduÌ„ ipse quoque ante mortem consimilibus omninâ— vinculis sese induit inque majori versabatur metu quam illi quos aliquando captivos detinuerat Ibidem Ingrediendum erat omnibus non quidem per patenteÌ„ portam sed per parvnluÌ„ ostium praeter paucos aliquot familiares quoruÌ„ erat opera necessaria nemo quisquam nisi voluntate ipsius introibat Ibidem * Hierocles in haec aurea Pythagorae carmina Mortales quaecunque Deus mittentibus angunt Vt tua sors tulerit patiâ—â—â— ne ferre recusts Nec speranda medela tamen sed novis istud Parcius ista viris immittere numina justis Multos ipse per omnem vitam perpetuo metu et solicitudine excruciaverat nunc ecce videmus â—uÌ„ ad conâ—imileÌ„ plane moduÌ„ affligi Cui enim se coÌ„mittat qui liberis etiaÌ„ suis genero fidem non habet Haec autem non ad ipsuÌ„ modò pertineat veruÌ„ etiam ad cos omnes Principes qui metui volunt qua quideÌ„ in re quanta sit servitus quuÌ„ ad senectuteÌ„ pervenerunt tunc demuÌ„ aperte sentiunt quiae coguntur invicem plurimos formidare Com. ibid. * Borbonius Comes Dunensis Legatos Flandriae qui nuptius Deiphâ—â— interfueâ—ant Ambosae honoris causa quod fieri solet deduxerant Vbi PlessiuÌ„ revertissent magno cum comitatu è stipatorum satellitum suorum praefectis quendam accersit explorare jubet an essent armaâ—isub veste sed ut dissimulanter faceret mandat intereà dum familiariter cum iis loquitur Com. ibidem * Exod. 1. 15. c. * 1 King 21. 19. * 1 Kin. 22. 18. * 1 King 21. 8. 2 Kin. 9. 33. * 2 King 9. 34. * Ibidem Vide Thuanum ad finem lib. 20. * See the 1. Kings 21. 24. and 2 King 9. 26. c. * 2 Sam. 16. 21. 2 Sam. 12. 12 Saint Paul acknowledgeth his consent unto Saint Stephens death either as expresly given by him or as included in his willingness to keep the garments of such as stoned him to death * Acts 14. 5 6. Acts 22. 20. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the rayment of them that slew him * Vide Thuanum * Pausanias in Achaic lib. 7. p. 425. * Dubravius in histor Boem * Inâ— Ã breve igitur tempus vaâ—cuâ—um Divi Wenceslai compictuÌ„ fuit vaticinantis â—o e ut à discessu suo aâ—â—â—â—m Pauli Presbyteri Sacerdotibus vacuum redderetur Coâ—â—eptus inter precipuos ad suppliciuÌ„ Podivivus quoque totum biennium in Furcâ sub dio pendena nulla tabe violati nedum corrumpi consiciâ—ue potuit donec post haustam terrae hiatu Drahomâ—â—m sepeliretur Nam quo manifestior graviorque paena appareret quae merito de crudelissima atque impiissima muliere exigenda fuerat eo loci quo adhuc insepulta jacebant ossa occisorum Sacerdotum terra sua sponte dehiscens vivam Dâ—ahomiram una cum curiu qui simul vehebantur absorbuit auriga solo incolumi qui ad araÌ„ juxta sitam nune haud extat equo desiliens accurrit eum sorte tintinnabulum tinnire audisset ut corpus domini adoraret execrante illum Drahomira on nibus maledictis Quare locum eum etiamnum ut execratum funeslumâ—ue declinant viatores qui arcem Pragensem ab occidentali plaga petunt Quar quam terra eodem loci in statum pristinum cohaeserit Puniti illi divinitus qui Boleslaum assectati gladios etiam suos adversus divum Wenceslaum strinxerunt Pars enim eorum mente alienata in rabiemâ—ue versa praecipites ex alto deorsum se dabant quidam in eos gladios quos nudaverant incubuere Ad haec Templi paries quem prâ—pe occisus fuit Divus Wenceslaus velut caedis ipse quoque conscius aut potius ut testis foret sceletis sempiterni nulla ullius opera abstergi eluiâ—ue potuit à cruore quo respersus ex corpore Divi Wenceslai fuerat Haec tandem tot prodigia tamâ—ue varia supplicia Boleslaum exterruerunt ut mitius deinceps cum Christianis agere saevitiamâ—ue suam adversus illos remittere inciperet Dubravins in Histor Boem Lib. 5. p. 40. * See the Treatise of the originall of Atheisme Idolatry chap. 17. parag 10. * chap. 26. * 2 King 18. 15 17 Esay 36. 2. Esay 37. 33 * 1 King 14. 1 2. * vers 5. c. * Vers 17. * Hac vero arte conjurati in Georgij cubiculum irruperuÌ„t Marcus Antonius Ferrarius Castal do ab Epistolis homo prostitutae audacia jam abaliquo tempore tantam cum Georgio familiaritatem contraxerat dum se berum prodâ—re simulat ut cubiculorijs ejus proptereà factus notiâ—r quavis 〈◊〉 ad ipsum admiteretur Thuanus lib. 9. * And so this assembly was discomfited every man taking his neerest safest way leaving their Masters dead body to be a prey and spoile unburied It remained there many dayes above ground naked and without light there being not any who respected to cover or bury him being so stiffe with cold that he seemed as a man made out of marble having in his head brest and armes many wounds upon which was yet remaining the blood all frozen which to say truly was an object worthy of compassion and on the other side it was execrable and enormous to see so great a personage so vildly lest without buriall by those who God knowes for what cause had practised his death Martin Fuâ—ee in his Historie of Hungary Booke 4. * Si natura negat facit indignatio versum * Behold now the end of the proudest and insolentest man in the world and the greatest and closest Tyrant that ever lived God permitting that hee should in that very place end his dayes which hee had caused to be built upon the foundations of an ancient Church and Monastery of religious persons which for that occasion he caused to be defaced and pulled downe and for the ruine whereof his death was foretold unto him by the Abbot of that place See the History of Hungary in the place before cited See Thuanus Lib. 9. * Certe percusseres Georgij post ejus necem ad unum omnes pâ—nas dedisse plerique scripserunt ac Sfortiam quidem diuturna morte pejore apud Turcos captivitate Moninum vero insubalpiâ—a regione ad Germani fanum cervice abscissa Ferrarium denique qui Alexandriae quae ipsa patria erat Cardinalis Tridentini â—â—ssu sexennio post securi percussus est Postremo equitem Compegium qui hujus saeculi anno 62 inter venandum in Ferdinandi ipsius conspectu apri fulminio dente in Bohemia discerptus est honestiori nec tamen minus infortunata morte Thuanus lib. 9. * Quidex eo sperandum sit satis eum docent superiorum temporum exempla acceptae ad Nicopoliâ— ad Varnam clades absentesque adhuc â—â—â—ibus caeseruÌ„ Christianorum ad 〈…〉 Busbeq epist 4.