ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like Ostriches in the wildernesse Lam. 4. 3. CHAP. XXXII Examples of fond Parents and the miseries that they have brought upon themselves thereby FOrbidden Deut. 13. 8 9. Prov. 19. 18. 13. 24. 29. 17. Scriptural Examples Eli 1 Sam. 2. 22 29. David to Adonijah 1 Kings 1. 6. to Absalom 2 Sam. 18. 33. How severely God punished Eli for his indulgence to his wicked sonnes See it in 1 Sam. 2. 27 c. 3. 11 c. David also who cockered Absalom and Adonijah above all the rest of his children was most afflicted by them one breaking out into open rebellion wherein he died the other usurping the Crowne before his fathers death which cost him his life also 2 Sam. 15. 1 King 1. 5 c. A certaine woman in Flanders contrary to the will of her husband used to feed her two sonnes with money to maintaine their riot yea to furnish them she would rob her husband but presently after her husbands death God plagued her for this her foolish indulgence for from rioting these youngsters fell to robbing for the which one of them was executed by the sword and the other by the halter the mother looking on as a witnesse of their destructions Ludo. Vives A young man in our owne Nation as he was going to the gallows desired to speak with his mother in her eare but when she came instead of whispering he bit of her eare with his teeth exclaiming upon her as the cause of his death because she did not chastise him in his youth for his faults but by her fondnesse so imboldened him in his vices as brought him to this wofull end Seleucus marrying Stratonica the daughter of Demetrius shortly after Antiochus the sonne of Seleucus fell in love with his stepmother and not daring to discover it for feare of the displeasure of his father he pined a way from day to day at last one of his Physicians found out the cause of his disease and acquainted his father therewith who out of indulgence to his sonne calling his Nobles and people together said I have decreed to make Antiochus my sonne King of all my superior Provinces and to give him Stratonica for his wife and Queen and if she scruple the unlawfulnesse of the marriage I desire you that are my friends to perswade her that all things are honest and just that a King shall decree for the publick profit Plut. Andronicus one of the Greek Emperours doted with such extream impotency of partial affection upon his Nephew young Andronicus that in comparison of him he disregarded not only the rest of his Nephews but his own children also being unwilling to spare him out of sight either day or night but when this young man was stept further into yeares besides a world of miseries and molestations created to his Grand-father in the mean time at last he pressed without resistance upon his Palace with purpose to surprise his person though the old Emperout intreated him with much affectionate eloquence that he would reverence those hands which had oftentimes so willingly embraced him and those lips which had so oft lovingly kissed him and that he would spare to spill that blood from which himselfe had taken the fountaine of life yet for all this he caused the old Emperour to be polled shaven and made a Monk and not only so but also the very Anvile of much dunghill-scorne and vilest indignities untill the workmanship of death had finished the sorrowful businesse of a wretched lfie Turk Hist. Austine upon a terrible and dreadfull accident called his people together to a Sermon wherein he relates this dolefull story Our Noble Citizen saith he Cyrillus a man mighty amongst us both in work and word and much beloved had as you know one onely sonne and because but one he loved him immeasurably and above God and so being drunke with immoderate doting he neglected to correct him and gave him liberty to do whatsoever he list Now this very day saith he this same fellow thus long suffered in this dissolute and riotous courses hath in his drunken humour wickedly offered violence to his mother great with childe would have violated his sister hath killed his father and wounded two of his sisters to death Adfrat in Eremo Ser. 33. Chasten thy sonne betimes and let not thy soul spare for his crying Prov. 19. 18. CHAP. XXXIII Examples of Brethrens love each to other THey ought to love one another Prov. 17. 17. 1 Pet. 3. 8. Rom. 12. 10. Heb. 13. 1. It 's an excellent thing Psal 133. 1. Scriptural examples Jobs children Job 1. 13. Lazarus Martha and Mary John 11. 19 c. Joseph Gen. 43. 29 c. 45. 14. Joab and Abishai 2 Sam. 3. 27 30. Judah Gen. 37. 26. In the beginning of the reigne of Darius King of Persia one of his Nobles called Intaphernes conspired against him which being discovered to Darius he caused him and all his kindred to be cast into prison But Intaphernes wife exceedingly weeping and houling Darius gave her leave to choose any one of the prisoners whose life she would have spared whereupon amongst them all she chose her brother and Darius asking her why she â—…se her brother rather then her husband or son she answered Because if God please I may have another husband and children but my Parents being dead I cannot have another brother This so pleased Darius that he granted her the life not only of her brother but of her son too Herod Darius King of Persia being dead left two sons Ariamenes or as some call him Artabazanes and Xerxes these both claimed the Kingdome but brotherly love so prevailed with them that they were contented to stand to the judgement of the Persian Nobles yet in the interim Xerxes being in Persia performed all the offices of a King and Ariaments coming out of Media Xerxes sent great presents to him commanding the messengers to tell him Thy brother Xerxes presents thee with these gifts and if by the consent and suffrage of the Nobles he be declared King he promises thee the chiefest place next unto himself To which Ariamenes returned this answer Truly I willingly accept of these gifts yet claim the Sovereignty to belong to me but will reserve the next place of dignity for my brother Xerxes The Persian Nobles referred the determination of this controversie to their Uncle Artabanus who having heard both sides determined for Xerxes because Ariamenes was borne to Darius whil'st he was a private person Xerxes after he was a King the mother of Ariamenes was the daughter of Gobrias a private woman the mother of Xerxes was Atossa a Queen Ariamenes hearing this judgement without any distemper of spirit rose up worshipped his brother and taking him by the hand placed him in the Kingly throne and ever after was very obsequious to him Plut. Herod And he fell upon his brother Benjamins neck and wept and
daughter of Sp. Tarpeius betrayed her father and the tower whereof he was governour to Tatius King of the Sabines who besiedged it for all that the Sabine Souldiers wore upon their left armes meaning their golden bracelets But when she demanded her reward Tatius badehis souldiers to do as he did and so together with their bracelets throwing their shields which they wore on their left armes upon her they crushed her to death Romulus ordained no punishment for Parrioide because he thought it impossible that any one should so much degenerate from nature as to commit that sin but he called all other murthers Parricides to shew the heinousnesse of them and for six hundred years after his time such a sin as Parricide was never heard of in Rome Plut. Darius the son of Artaxerxes Mnemon King of Persia affecting the Kingdome conspired to take away the life of his father but his treason being discovered he together with his wives and children were altogether put to death that so none might remain of so wicked a breed Diod. Sic. Servius Tullius the 6th King of the Romanes married his daughter to Tarquinius she was a woman of an exceeding ambitious spirit and would not suffer her husband to be at quiet till she had procured him to murther her father and as soon as ever she heard that the fact was committed she hasted in her chariot to salute her husband King and by the way encountring with the dead body of her murthered father she caused her chariot to be driven over it Ovid. Pezel Mel. Hist. Nero sending some to murther his own mother Agrippina when they came into her chamber she seeing one to unsheath his sword and believing what they came for and by whose directions she laid open her bare belly to him bidding him strike that as having deserved it for bringing forth such a monster as Nero. Nero hearing that she was dead came presently to the place caused her body to be stripped and Crowner-like beheld it all over praising this part dispraising that as if he had been to censure a Statue and at last caused her wombe to be opened that he might behold the place of his conception Neros Life Not long after about the neck of one of Nero's Statues was hung a leather sack to upbraid his parricide the punishment whereof by the ancient Laws of Rome was to be trussed in such a sack with a cock a dog and a viper and so all to be thrown quick into Tyber Nero's Life The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it Prov. 30. 17. Every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death he hath cursed his father or his mother his blood shall be upon him Lev. 20. 9. CHAP. XXXI Examples of Parents love to and Care over their Children THey are to bring their children to God Luk. 2. 27. 41. Mark 10. 13. To instruct them Ephes. 6. 4. Prov. 22. 6. Exod. 12. 26. Deut. 6. 7. 11. 19 32. 46. 4. 10. 31. 13. Gen. 18. 19. To lay up for them 2 Cor. 12. 14. Prov. 19. 14. To correct them Prov. 22. 15. 23. 13. 29. 15 17. Heb. 12. 9. 1 Tim. 3. 4. Not to provoke them to anger Col. 3. 21. Eph. 6. 4. Not to give them evil examples Ier. 7. 18. 31. 29. Ezek. 18. 2. Ier. 17. 2. Mothers must instruct them Proverb 31. 1 c. 2 Tim. 1. 5. Numa Pompilius reformed the Law amongst the Romanes which gave liberty to parents to sell their children exempting children that were married provided that they married with their parents consent Plut See Callings Trades Agesilaus King of Sparta a prudent man and brave souldier did exceedingly love his children and on a time a friend coming to his house found him riding upon an hobby-horse amongst them whereupon Agesilaus fearing lest he should speak of it to his disgrace intreated him not to censure him for it nor to speak of it to any till himselfe had some children Plut. Augustus Caesar found out the inclinations and dispositions of his two daughters by observing their company at a publick shew where much people were present at which time his daughter Livia associated herselfe and discoursed with grave and prudent Senators but his daughter Iulia adjoyned herselfe to loose youngsters and riotous persons Sueto Noscitur ex socio qui non cognoscitur ex se. Scillurus who had eighty sonnes when he lay on his death-bed called them all before him presented them with a bundle of speares or sheafe of arrows and bade each of them trie whether he could break that bundle which they assayed to do but were not able Then he pulled out one javlin out of the bundle and bade them break that which they did easily intimating thereby that unity and compacted strength is the bond which preserves families and Kingdomes which bond if it be once broken all runnes quickly to ruine Micypsa when he was on his death-bed called all his sonnes and caused them to write this sentence in golden letters Concordiâ parvae res crescunt Discordiâ magnae dilabuntur By concord small things are increased but by discord the greatest are overthrown Fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Eph. 6. 4. Richard Woodmans father in the reigne of Queen Mary betrayed him into the hands of his bloody persecutors whereby he lost his life See my English Martyrology p. 185. Philip King of Spaine out of an unnatural and bloody zeale suffered his eldest sonne Charles to be murthered by the Fathers Inquisitors because he favoured the Protestant religion which when the Pope heard of he abusively applied that text of Scripture to him He spared not his own Sonne but delivered him up for us all Act. Mon. Alfrith mother of King Edward hearing that her sonne was coming to visit her suborned one of her servants to murther him who accordingly as the King was drinking with her struck him into the body with a two-edged dagger whereof he died and this she did to make way for another of her sonnes to come to the Crowne See my English Martyrology p. 31. Master Iulins Palmer in the reigne of our Queen Mary went to Evesham in Glocestershire to his own mother hoping to obtaine a legacy left him by his father and when he came kneeling down to crave her blessing she said Thou shalt have Christs curse and mine wherever thou goest for saith she thou doest not believe as thy father and I nor as thy fore-fathers but art an Heretick and therefore get thee out of my house and out of my sight and never take me for thy mother any more Faggots I have to burn thee but no money for thee c. Eodem p. 173. Even the sea-monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young
Lord delivered him miraculously for when they had invironed the Church wherein he was he passed safely through the middest of them and though many Arians that knew him were present to discover him yet was he not discerned Theod. See his life in my first part The City of Nisibis being straitly besieged by Sapores King of Persia there was in the City an holy man of God Jacobus by name unto whom the Citizens resorted beseeching him that he would shew himselfe upon the walls and pray to God for help against their enemies which so soone as he had done the Lord sent a cloud of gnats and flies among the Persians whereby the siege was raised and the City saved Simps Eccles. Hist. Sanctius a godly Christian under one of the first persecutions though he was vexed with all sorts of Torments yet could he not be compelled to confesse his name countrey or kindred but to every question still answered I am a Christian whereupon the tormenters applied Plates of Brasse red-hot to all the tenderest parts of his body which was extreame sore with former scourgings whereby his body was so pitifully drawne together that he retained not the shape of a man after which they cast him into prison and after a few dayes his body being all over so sore that he could scarce endure the least touch they bring him forth to new torments presuming thereby either to force him to blaspheme or to die under them on the contrary his body was so suppled and refreshed by his torments that he recovered his former shape and use of his members their intended punishment by the grace of Christ proving a safe medicine unto him Act. Mon. In Tyre a City of Phenicia certain Christians being cast to most savage beasts were not at all hurt by them though the beasts were kept hungry on purpose and raged so vehemently that they which brought them to the Stage though they stood as they presumed out of their reach yet were caught and devoured by them Act. Mon. Quirinus Bishop of Scescanus having an hand-mill tied about his neck was throwne headlong from a bridge into the River where a long time he miraculously floated above the water and called to the lookers on that they should not be dismayed at his sufferings and so at last with much ado he was drowned Act. Mon. The childe of a Christian being but seven years old was asked by a heathen Tyrant how many gods there were whereunto he answered that whatsoever men affirme to be God must needs be one which with one is one and the same and inasmuch as this one is Christ of necessity Christ must be the true God The Tyrant being amazed at this answer asked him where and of whom he had learned this lesson Of my mother quoth the childe with whose milke I sucked in this Doctrine Whereupon the mother was called and she gladly appeared The Tyrant commanded the childe to be horsed up and scourged the joyful mother standing by with dry cheeks whilest all the beholders wept yea she rebuked her Babe for craving a cup of water to quench his thirst charging him to thirst after the cup which the Infants of Bethlehem once dranke of and to remember little Isaac who willingly offered his throat to the sacrificing knife Whilest she thus counselled him the bloody Tyrant puld off the skinne from the crowne of his head the mother cried Suffer my childe for anon thou shalt passe to him who will adorn thy naked head with a crown of glory Whereby the childe was so encouraged that he received the stripes with a smiling countenance After which the Tyrant cast him into prison and shortly after commanded him to be beheaded at which time the mother taking up her childe into her armes kissed him and being required she delivered him to the Executioner saying Farewell my sweet childe and whil'st his head was cutting off she sang All land and praise with heart and voice O Lord we give to thee To whom the death of all thy Saints We know full dear to be The head being off the mother wrapped it in her garments laid it to her breast and so departed Act. Mon. Babilas a godly Christian for the cause of Christ was tormented with most exquisite tortures and so cruelly excruciated from morning till noone that he hardly escaped with life After which some of his friends asking him how he could abide such sharp torments he said that at the beginning he felt some paine but afterwards there stood by him a young man who as he was sweating with paine wiped it off and oft-times refreshed him with cold water wherewith he was so delighted that when he was let down from the Engine it grieved him more then his torments Act. Mon. Pope Martin the fifth raised three great armies intending therewith to destroy all the Bohemians which clave to the doctrine of John Husse and Jerome of Prague but when they came to the encounter five several times each time the said Armies ran away out of the field leaving their Tents and surniture behinde them being strucken and daunted with a causelesse fear before any blow was given or received whereby the godly Bohemians were much encouraged enriched Afterwards under their Captain Zisca they fought eleven battels against the Popes side ever went away victors Act. Mon. See Zisca's Life in my second Part. Ladislaus King of Hungary getting by fraud the two sonnes of Huniades into his hands most cruelly and unjustly caused the eldest of them to be beheaded who after he had received three blowes from the Hangman his hands being tied behinde him rose up upon his feet and looking 〈◊〉 heaven called upon the Lord protesting his innoâ—â—â—cy and so laying down his head again at the fourth blow was dispatched Act. Mon. Examples of Miraculous provision in times of Famine Neere unto Aldborough in Suffolk at what time viz. in the yeere 1555. by reason of unseasonable weather the corne throughout all England was choaked and blasted in the eare there grew up Pease miraculously amongst the rocks without any earth at all about them about the end of September which much brought down the price of corne Camb. Brit. p. 466. In the yeere 1331. when there was a great famine in Ireland the mercy of God so disposed that upon the twenty seventh of June there came to land a mighty multitude of sea-fishes called Thurlheds such as in many ages before had not been seen there They came into the Haven of Dublin Anthony Lord Lucy being Justice of Ireland and by the Citizens of Dublin were many of them killed Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 184. Leyden in the Low Countries being straitly besieged by the Spaniard Anno 1574. and blocked up with thirty six forts the famine grew so great that there died above seven thousand in the City whereupon the Prince of Orange by breaking of ditches and drawing up of sluces did what he could to drown the
he merrily said Persides oculorum dolores esse That the Persian women were a disease of the eyes and yet he looked on them but on so many statues And understanding that two of his Captaines under Parmenio had ravished two of the Persian wives he wrote to him to enquire after the matter and if he found it true that he should cut of their heads as of beasts borne for the hurt of mankinde he also wrote him word that he himself was so farre from contemplating the beauty of Darius's wife that he would not so much as suffer her to be commended in his presence and that he was so careful of their chastity that they lived in his camp shut up in their tent as if they had been in a Temple Plut. Appius Claudius one of the Decemviri of Rome seeking to ravish a Virgin that was daughter to Virginius her father to preserve her chastity slew her and complaining to the souldiers whereupon that forme of Government was abolished Eutropius Pub. Scipio Africanus warring in Spain took New Carthage by storme at which time a beautiful and Noble Virgin fled to him for succour to preserve her chastity he being but twenty four years old and so in the heat of youth hearing of it would not suffer her to come into his sight for fear of a temptation but caused her to be restored in safety to her father Aure Victor Amongst the Lacedaemonians when any maid was to be married she was laid in the dark and the groom being neither drunk nor finelier apparrelled then ordinary after his moderate supper secretly went to the place where she lay and having untied her girdle and stayed a while with her stole away to the place where he used to lie amongst other young men and thus he continued and onely sometimes met with his wife in private till he had a childe by her after which they boldly met together in the day-time This was a means to preserve chastity and modesty amongst them Plut. Cassander sending some to murther Olympias the mother of Alexander M. she met them with an unappaled countenance and without once changing colour received the sword into her bosome and finding death to approach she sat down and covering her feet with her haire and her garments she took care that nothing unseemly should appear about her body after death Diod. Sic. Aurelian an Heathen Emperour was so careful to preserve the chastity of women that one of his souldiers being found guilty of lying with his hostesse he commanded that the heads of two young trees should be bowed down and the souldiers legs tied thereto which being suddenly let go tore him into two peeces Emme the mother to King Edward the Confessour being charged for incontinency with Aldwin Bishop of Winchester to clear her self from that imputation being hoodwinked went barefoot over nine-coulters red hot in Winchester Church withoutany harme an usual kinde of trial in those dayes then called Ordalium making her chastity by so great a miracle famous to posterity Cam. Brit. p. 211. In the time when the barbarous and bloody Danes raged here in England they coming to Coldingham a Nunnery on the hither part of Scotland Ebba the Prioresse with the rest of the Nunnes cut off their own noses and lips choosing rather to preserve their Virginity from the Danes then their beauty and favour and yet for all that the Danes burnt their Monastery and them with all in it Cam. Brit. Scot. p. 10. Our Henry the sixth was so chaste a Prince that when certain Ladies presented themselves before him in a Maske with their haire loose and their breasts uncovered he being then at mans estate and unmaried immediately rose up and departed the Presence saying Fie fie forsooth you are much too blame Sp. Chron. For this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from Fornication that every one of you should know how to possesse his vessel in sanctification and honour 1 Thes. 4. 3 4. CHAP. XII Examples of Charity AS Husbandmen cast some of their Corne back into a fruitful soile whereby in due time they receive it back again with increase So should we do with worldly blessings sowe them in the bowels and on the backs of poor members of Christ and in the day of harvest we shall finde great increase Such laying out is a laying up our treasure in heaven Hereby we make to our selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse and though for the present it seem like bread cast upon the waters yet Solomon assures us That after many dayes we shall finde it again Eccses 11. 1. For we make God our debtour who is a sure paymaster Prov. 19. 17. Charity justifieth our faith as faith doth our persons James 2. 14 c. But yet we must look to our affections and ends in giving We must not draw forth our sheaves onely but our souls also Esay 58. 10. But on the contrary miserly muck-wormes are like the muckhill that never doth good till it be carried out like the earthen box that hath one chink to receive but never a one to let out and so doth no good till it be broken Or like the fat hog that yields no profit till he comes to the knife But that we may be the more quickened to that lovely grace of Charity observe these texts and examples following Directed Mat. 6. 1 c. 2 Cor. 9. 5 c. Rom. 12. 8. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Commanded Luk. 11. 41. 12. 33. Mica 6. 8. Zach. 7. 9. 1 Tim. 6. 18. Luk. 3. 11. 1 John 3. 17. Luke 6. 36. Lev. 25. 35. Nehem. 8. 10. Rom. 12. 13. Heb. 13 16. Commended Luk. 21. 4. 2 Cor. 8. 2 c. Psal. 12. 9. Mat. 5. 7. Psal. 41. 1. Phil. 4. 16. 1 Tim. 5. 10. It must be with compassion Job 30. 25. Isa. 58. 10. Col. 3. 12. Heartily 2 Cor. 9. 7. Considerately Psal. 37. 26. 112. 5. Willingly 1 Tim. 6. 18. Chearfully Rom 12. 8 2 Cor. 9. 7. Liberally 2 Cor. 9. 6. Psal. 112. 9. Prov. 11. 25. 22. 9. Eccles. 11. 1 2 6. Luk. 6. 38. Seasonably Prov. 3. 27 28. Impartially Prov. 25. 21 22. Rom. 12. 20. Not grudgingly Deut. 15. 10. 1 Pet. 4. 9. Prov. 21. 26. Scriptural Examples Christians Act. 2. 45. 4. 34. Women Luk. 8. 23. the poor widow Mar. 12. 42. Dorcas Act. 9. 36. Paul Act. 24. 17. Cornelius Act. 10. 2. Job Chap. 31. 16 21. Barnabas Act. 4. 36 37. Zacheus Luk. 19. 8. Phebe Rom. 16. 2. Hebrews Chap. 6. 10. Philemon Verse 5 7. the virtuous woman Prov. 31. 20. Obadia 1 King 18. 13. Onesiphorus 2 Tim. 1. 18. Saint Augustine was of so charirable a disposition that wanting of his own wherewith to do it he caused the ornaments of the Church to be sold and imployed the money for the redeeming of Captives and maintaining the poore Possid in vit Aug. chap. 24. Francis Russel second Earle of Bedford of
tore him all to peeces Act. and Mon. Sigismund the Emperour having granted letters of safe conduct unto Iohn Hus and Ierome of Prague under the faith and protection of himself and the Empire yet suffered them to be unjustly burnt at the Councel of Constance after which time the said Emperour never prospered in any thing that he took in hand he died without issue male and his daughters son Ladislaus died also childlesse whereby his name was quite extinguished in one age And his Emperesse became a dishonour also to the royal place which she held and so Gods judgements justly followed him for his perjury Luther Elfred a Nobleman in the dayes of King Ethelstane of England conspiring against his Sovereigne intended at Winchester to have pulled out his eyes but his treason being discovered he was sent to Rome to purge himself by oath where before the Altar of Saint Peter and in the presence of Pope Iohn the tenth he abjuring the thing suddenly fell down to the earth and being carried by his servants into the English schoole within three dayes after he there died Sp. Chron p. 340. Goodwin Earle of Kent Anno 1055. being charged by King Edward with the death of his brother Alfred excused himself with many words and at last eating a morsel of bread wished that it might choake him if he were guilty thereof but before he stirred one foot from the place he was according to his own imprecation forthwith choaked In the reigne of Queen Elizabeth one Annis Averies in the City of London widow forswore her selfe for a little mony which she should have paid for six pounds of Towe at a shop in Woodstreet and by Gods just judgement she immediately fell down speechless casting her excrements upwards which should have been voided downwards and so presently died Act. Mon. A certain Inne-Keeper in the town of Rutlinguen receiving a Budget of money from a passenger to keep for him forswore the same before the Judge giving himself to the devil if he swore falsly and was by two that testified against him which indeed were two Fiends of Hell presently in the presence of the Judge hoisted up into the aire where he vanished away with them and was never found after One hearing perjury condemned by a godly Preacher and how it never escaped unpunished said in a bravery I have often for sworne my self and yet my right hand is no shorter then my left which words he had scarce uttered when such an inflammation arose in that hand that he was forced to go to the Chirurgion and cut it off lest it should have infected his whole body whereby it became shorter then the other A rich young maide in Saxony promised marriage to a proper young man but poore He fore-seeing that wealth and inconstancy might alter her minde freely disclosed his thoughts to her whereupon she made a thousand imprecations to the contrary wishing that if she ever married another the devil might take her away on the wedding day yet afterwards the fickle wench was betrothed and married to another At dinner two men on horseback came to the house and were entertained at the feast and after dinner one of them leading the Bride a dance he took her by the hand and led her a turne or two and then in the presence of all her friends he caught her crying out for help and went out at the gate where he hoisted her up into the aire and vanished away with his companion and horses so that she was never seen more Sword against Swearers Philip King of Macedonia was a great contemner of all oaths and held the religious observation of them as a vaine thing for which cause the vengeance of God followed him and all his posterity For himself being scarce fourty six years old was slaine and his whole family was quickly extinguished Arideus one of his sons was slaine by Olympias his wife Another son that he had by Cleopatra was by his mother tormented to death in a brazen vessel compassed about with fire the rest of his sons perished in the like manner and his son Alexander after his great conquests in the prime of his dayes and in the middest of his victories died miserably as some think of poison Pausanius A certain maid in London that had stolen many things from her Mistris being examined forswore them wishing that she might rot if ever she touched them or knew of them but being yet carried to prison she began so to rot and stink that they were forced to thrust her out of prison into a common hospitall Iohn Cooper a godly man in Queen Maries dayes was falsely and maliciously accused of treason for speaking some words against the Queen and accordingly executed but one Grimwood who had sworn falsely against him being shortly after about his labour in the harvest and in good health suddenly his bowels fell out of his body and so he died most miserably Act. Mon. CHAP. XXV Examples of Gods Iudgements upon common Swearers BIshop Ridly in a Sermon at Pauls Crosse related a story of a young Gentleman of Cornwall in the dayes of King Edward the sixth who riding in the company of other Gentlemen began to swear and swagger and being reproved for it he swore the more and raged worse to whom one Master Haines a Minister with gentle words said that he should one day give an account thereof whereat the Gentleman being in a fume bade him take no thought for him but to prepare for his own Winding-sheet Well said the other amend for death gives no warning Gods wounds said he care not thou for me still raging worse and worse till coming to a bridge which passed over an arme of the Sea the young Gallant so spurred and switched his horse that he leaped over with him into the water who as he was going cried Horse and man and all to the devil Act. Mon. A Serving-man in Lincolnshire for every trifle used to swear by Gods precious blood and would not be warned by his friends till at length falling into a grievous sicknesse he was again much perswaded by his friends to repent which counsel he still rejected and hearing the Bell to toll in the very paines of death he start up swearing Gods wounds the Bell tolles for me but he shall not have me yet whereupon the blood issued out in a most fearful manner from all the joynts of his body from mouth nose wrists knees heeles and toes and other parts of his body and so he died Mr. Perkins Michael a Jewish Rabbin as he was swearing and blaspheming the Name of Iesus fell down and brake his neck Socrat. Eccl. Hist. Three Souldiers passing through a Wood in the Countrey of Samurtia there arose a tempest of thunder and lightning and one of them to shew his contempt of God and his judgements burst forth into swearing and blasphemy but the tempest tearing up an huge tree it fell upon him and crushed him to peeces
whereupon he was deposed and banished from his Bishoprick But shortly after Gods heavy judgement falling upon the woman in her sicknesse she confessed that she was suborned by the Arians to accuse this holy man and that it was one Eustathius a Tradesman that had gotten that childe Niceph. l. 8. c. 46. See the like practice against Athanatius in his Life In my first Part of the Marrow of Ecclesiastical History In the reigne of King Canutus at a Parliament held at London the King asked the Lords and Nobles whether in the Agreement made betwixt King Edmund and him there was any mention made of the children or brethren of Edmund to have any part of the land divided to them The Lords flatteringly answered That there was none Yea they confirmed their false words with an oath thinking thereby to have procured great favour with the King But he on the contrary ever after mistrusted and disdained them especially such as had sworne fealty to King Edmund Yea some of them he exiled many he beheaded and divers of them by Gods just judgement died suddenly Speed In the Reigne of King Henry the eighth one Richard Long bore false witnesse against a Minister in Calice falsly accusing him for eating meat in Lent But shortly after Gods wrath did lie so heavy upon his conscience that he desperately drowned himselfe Aze Mon. About the same time Gregory Bradway accused one Brook falsly for stealth but shortly after through terrors of conscience he sought to cut his own throat but being prevented he fell mad In Queen Maries dayes one William Feming accused an honest man called John Cooper because he would not fell him two bullocks as if he had spoken traiterous words against the Queen and suborned two false witnesses to depose it Cooper was hanged and quartered and all his goods taken from his wife and nine children but shortly after one of these false witnesses being well and at harvest-work was stricken by God so that his bowels fell out and he died miserably See My English Martyrology The Egyptians had no punishment for lying and therefore no measure in lying One Thespis a Poet in Athens made a play wherewith the Citizens were much delighted and grave Solon himselfe went to see it but when the play was ended wherein Thespis himselfe acted a part Solon called him to him and asked him if he were not ashamed to lie so openly in the face of all the City Thespis answered that it made no matter so long as it was but in sport But Solon beating the ground with his staffe said If we commend or allow lying in sport we shall shortly finde it used in good earnest in all our bargaines and dealings Plut. Artaxerxes M. having found one of his souldiers in a lie caused his tongue to be thrust through with three needles Plut. Putting away lying speake every man the truth with his neighbour for we are members one of an other Eph. 4. 25. CHAP. XXIX Examples of Childrens Obedience and Love to their Parents COmmanded Eph. 6. 1. and why v. 2. Col 3. 20. Prov. 4. 1. 6. 20. Exod. 20. 12. Deut. 5. 16. Mat. 15. 4. 19. 19. Mark 7. 10. 10. 19. Luk. 18. 20. Commended Mal. 1. 6. Scriptural Examples Shem and Japhet Gen. 9. 23. Isaac Gen. 22. 6 c. Jacob Gen. 28. 1 5. Ioseph Gen. 37. 13. Ruth Chap. 1. 16 17. Solomon 1 King 2. 19. Other examples Pomponius Atticus making the funeral Oration at his mothers death protested that having lived with her sixty and seven years he was never reconciled to her Because said he there never happened betwixt us the least jarre which needed reconciliation In vita Attici Cyrus King of Persia having overcome Croesus King of Lydia in battel Croesus fled into the City of Sardis but Cyrus following took the City by storme and a souldier running after Croesus with his sword Croesus his sonne that had been dumb all his life-time before with the violence of natural affection seeing his father in such danger suddenly cryed out O man kill not Croesus and so continued to speak all his life after Pez Mel. Hist. Miltiades a famous Captaine of the Athenians died in prison for debt his sonne Cimon to redeeme his fathers body for burial voluntarily went into the prison and submitted to be cast into chaines there till the debt was paid Iustin. Cleobis and Biton two brethren in Greece loved their mother dearly insomuch as she being to go to Juno's Temple in her coach drawn by two oxen the oxen being out of the way they willingly harnessed themselves and drew her thither she much rejoycing that she had borne two such sonnes Plut. Olympias the mother of Alexander M. was very severe and morose in her carriage towards him and once Antipater Alexanders deputy in Europe wrote large letters of complaint against her to whom he returned this answer Knowest thou not that one little teare of my mothers will blot out a thousand of thy letters of complaint Plut. King Demetrius being overcome by Seleucus and taken prisoner his sonne Antigonus hearing of it mourned exceedingly and wrote lamentably to Seleucus in the behalfe of his father proffering to deliver up into his hands all the Countreys which he yet held and to become a pledge himselfe for his father so that he might be delivered out of captivity Diod. Sic. The carriage of Master Herbert Palmer towards his parents was very dutifull and obsequious not only during his minority but even afterwards which was very evident in that honour and respect which he continued to expresse to his aged mother to the day of her death being also a special help to her in the wayes of holinesse See his Life at the end of my General Martyrology Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20. 12. CHAP. XXX Examples of Gods judgements upon Unnatural and rebellious children Such were to be punished with death Exod. 21. 17. Levit. 20. 9. Mat. 15. 4. Mark 7. 10. Prov. 20. 20. Deut. 21. 18. c. Such are cursed Deut. 27. 16. It 's a damnable sinne 1 Tim. 1. 9. Rom. 1. 31. 2 Tim. 3. 3. Prov. 30. 11. Scriptural examples Simeon and Levi Gen. 34. 30. Elies sons 1 Sam. 2. 25. C ham for mocking the nakednesse of his father Noah was cursed by him Gen. 9. 25. Absalom for rebelling against his father David was hanged by his head and thrust through by Joab 2 Sam. 18. Adramelech and Sharaser that slew their father Sennacherib to enjoy his Kingdome were banished into Armenia and Esarhaddon succeeded his father 2 King 19. ult Crannius the son of Clotharius King of France conspired treacherously and raised warre against his father but being vanquished as together with his wife and children he was flying thinking to escape by sea being overtaken by the command of his father they were all shut up in a little house and so burned
moved out of that place he was smitten with such a feeblenesse of heart and dizzinesse in his head that desiring help to carry him to an house he died before the Lords day came At Walton upon Thames in Surrey in a great Frost 1634. three young men on the Lords day after they had been at the Church in the forenoone where the Minister pressing the words of his text out of 2 Cor. 5. 10. that We must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ c. they the while whispering as they sate In the afternoone they went together over the Thames upon the Ice unto an house of disorder and gaming where they spent the rest of the Lords day and part of the night also in revelling one of them in a Taverne merrily discoursing the next day of his Sabbaths acts and voyage over the Ice but on Tuseday next after these three returning homewards and attempting to passe againe over the Ice they all sunk down to the bottome as stones whereof one only of them was miraculously preserved but the other two were drowned These foure last are attested by good hands Anno Christi 1598. the towne of Feverton in Devonshire was often admonished by her godly Pastor that God would bring some heavy judgement upon the inhabitants of that place for their horrible profanation of the Lords day occasioned chiefly by their market on the Munday and accordingly not long after the said Ministers death on the third of April in the year aforesaid God sent a terrible fire which in lesse then halfe an houre consumed the whole towne except the Church the Conrt-house Almes-houses and a few poor peoples dwellings and above 50. persons were consumed in the flames Also Anno Christi 1612. it was again wholly burnt down except a few poor houses they being not warned by the former judgement but continuing in the same sin Beards Theat If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath-day and not to bear a burden even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Jer. 17. 27. CHAP. XXXVI Examples of Gods judgments upon Murtherers and Blood-shedders THe positive judiciall Law of God is that whosoever sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed Gen. 9. 6. and the reason is there rendred because such destroy Gods Image wherein man is made and the cry of blood if not punished by man is so great Gen. 4. 10. that the Lord comes down from heaven to call the murtherer to account and by some visible and remarkable judgements or other to stigmatize this sin as these following Examples will more fully manifest Murtherers ought to be punished with death Gen. 9. 6. Exod. 21. 12. Prov. 28. 17. Rev. 13. 10. No recompence is to be taken for it Num. 35. 32 c. for it defiles the land Hos. 4. 2 3. It 's diligently to be sought out Deut. 21. 1 c. God punisheth it here Psal. 55. 23. It excludes from heaven Gal. 5. 21. Rev. 21. 8. Scripturall Examples Cain Gen. 4. 8. Pharaoh Exodus 1. 16 Simeon and Levt Gen. 34. 25. c. Abimelech Judg. 9. 5. Agag 1 Sam. 15. 33. Joab 2 Sam. 3. 27. David 2 Sam. 11. 14 c. Absalom 2 Sam. 13. 28 29 Manasseh 2 King 21. 16. Amons servants 2 Kings 21. 23. Ahab and Jezabel 1 Kings 21. 9 c. Baanah and Rechab 2 Sam. 4. 6. Saul 2 Sam. 21. 1. 1 Sam. 22. 18. Athaliah Chron. 22. 10. Baasha Kin. 15. 27. Zimri 1 Kin. 16. 9. Joash 2 Chron 24. 21. Shalâ—um 2 Kings 15. 10. Manahem 2 Kings 15. 14 16. Herod Acts 12. 2. Cain for murthering his brother Abel was cursed by God Gen. 4. Abimelech who slew his 70. brethren was slain by a woman at Thebez Jud. 9. Baanah and Rechab who slew their L. Ishbosheth were slain by the command of David 2 Sam. 4. Joab who slew Abner and Amasa treacherously was slain by the command of Solomon 1 Kin. 2. Cyrus K. of Persia who for 30. years together made cruell war in many places at last fighting against the Scythians was overcome 200000 of his men slain and himself salling into the hands of Q. Tomyris she cut off his head threw it into a bowl of blood saying Thou hast all thy time thirsted after blood now drink thy fill and satiate thy self therewith Orosius Cambyses his son a bloody and cruell man who shot a noblemans son thorow the heart because the father had reproved him for drunkennesse He caused his own brother to be privily murthered lest he should usurp the Kingdom slew his own sister for reproving him for that deed At last as he was riding his sword fell out of the scabbard and himself falling upon it was slain thereby Herodo Xerxes who with his huge Army passed over into Greece being overthrown by sea and land fled shamefully into Asia in a fisherboat and shortly after was slain by Artabanus the Captain of his guard in his own palace Diod. Sic. The 30. Tyrants in Athens were cruell bloodsuckers till the people rising up against them slew them all Just. Phocas who to get the Empire put to death all the sons of Mauricius the Emperor before his face and then slew him also and after many villainies by him committed was pursued by his son in law Priscus and being taken had his hands and feet cut off and afterwards with all his posterity was put to a cruell death Nicephorus Anno Christi 1346. Popiel K. of Poland to obtain the Kingdom poysoned his two uncles and gave himself over to all manner of wickednesse He used upon every occasion to say If this be not true would rats might devour me On a time as he was going to a great feast an Army of rats out of the putrefied body of his uncles set upon him which all his guard with their weapons were not able to drive away Then did they make great cole-fires about him yet through the middest of the fire did the rats assault him Then did they put him with his wife and children into a boat and rowed them in the middest of a great lake yet thither did the rats swim to him and lastly he gat up to the top of an high Tower yet still the rats pursued him and they eat him up to the very bones together with his wife and children Munst. Cos. Bassianus the Emperour who slew his own brother in his mothers armes and tooke to wife his own mother in Law was shortly after himselfe murthered by the procurement of Macrinus to prevent his owne death Justinian the Emperour a cruel and bloody man who was the cause of many murthers was first banished from his Empire and afterwards slaine by one of his own servants Euseb. Clovis King of France an horrible murtherer who amongst other cruel facts caused one of his Peers to be murthered
against our Religion Doctor Bennet Chancellor of London objected it as an hainous crime against one Richard Butler that divers times he did erroneously and damnably read in a great book of Heresie meaning the Bible certaine Chaptâ—rs of the Evangelists in English containing in them divers erroneous and damnable opinions and conclusions of heresie Act. Mon. The Jesuites at Dole in France set up an Edict publickly wherein they forbad all talke of God either in good sort or in bad Francis Ximenius Cardinal of Toledo in his preface before the Bible set forth at Complutum saith that he set the vulgar Latine between the Hebrew and the Greeke as Christ was set betwixt two theeves Jeroboam made Priests of the vilest of the people and indeed the vilest of the people if they were but men were too good to make Priests for Jeroboams gods which were but Calves Tecelius the Popes Agent in Germany perswaded the ignorant and common people that assoone as their tenne shillings which was the price of an indulgence ting'd in the Basin any friend they would name should be immediately delivered out of Purgatory etiamsi per impossibile matrem Dei vitiâsset Coâ— O-Neale Earle of Ulster in Ireland curâ—ed all his posterity in case they either learned to speake English or sowed wheat or built houses often saying that by these meanes they would make themselves slaves to the English Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 120. The wilde Irish account it no shame to commit robberies which they practise every where with exceeding cruelty and when they go to robbe they power out their prayers to God that they may meet with a booty and when they meet with it they account it as Gods gift neither will they be perswaded that God would present unto them the opportunity of rapine violence and murder if it were a sinne nay a sinne it were as they think if they should not lay hold upon the opportunity Camb. Brit. Irel p. 144. When one of these wilde Irish lieth ready to die certaine women hired on purpose to lament standing in crosse waâ—es and holding their hands all abroade call unto him with certaine out-cries reckoning up the commodities that he enjoyes of worldly goods wives beauty fame kinsfolk friends and horses demanding of him why he will depart whither and to whom c Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 147. Stephen Gardiner speaking to one Marbeck What the Devil said he made thee meddle with the Scriptures Act. Mon. In China the Inhabitants use to whip their gods if they help them not when they pray unto them An old man above sixty yeares of age who lived and died in a parish where besides the Word read there was constant preaching almost all his time both upon ordinary and extraordinary occasions and himself a constant hearer and one that seemed forward in the love of the Word on his death-bed a Minister demanding of him what he thought of God answered that he was a good old man And what of Christ that he was a towardly young youth And what of his soul that it was a great bone in his body And what should become of his soul after death that if he did well he should be put into a pleasant green Meddow c. Pemb. William Courtney Arch-bishop of Canterbury cited certaine of his tenants for an hainous and horrible trespasse as he stiled it which was for that they brought straw to litter his horses not on carts as they ought but in bags for which hainous offence after they had confessed their fault and submitted themselves to him he enjoyned them this penance That going leasurely before the Procession barefoot and barelegged each of them should carry upon his shoulder a bag stuffed with straw the straw hanging out whereupon were made these verses This bag full of straw I bear on my back Because my Lords horse his litter did lack If you be not the better to my Lords Graces horse Ye are like to go barefoot before the Crosse. When the inhabitants of Ilium anciently called Troy sent Ambassadours to Tiberius to condole the death of his father Augustus a long time after he was dead the Emperour considering the unseasonableness of it requited them accordingly saying And I also am sorry for your heaviness having lost so valiant a Knight as Hector who was slaine above a thousand yeares before Herodotus tells of the Psilli a foolish people who being displeased with the South-winde for dâ—ying up their waters would needs take up armes against it but whilest they marched upon the sands to seek their enemy it blew so strongly that raising a drift of sand it overwhelmed them whereby in stead of a victory they met with their graves as a just reward of their folly Cardinal Woolsey falling into disgrace with King Henry the eighth said Had I been as wise and careful to serve the God of heaven as I have been to serve my great Master on earth he would never thus have left me in my gray haires Themistocles being banished Athens fled to Artaxerxes King of Persia for refuge who was wonderfully overjoyed that he had by this means gotten so gallant a man praying to his gods that his enemies might be alwayes so infatuated as to banish their worthiest men Herod Caius Caligula the Romane Emperour had one of his horses which he loved best and called him Swift he invited him to supper and gave him his provender in a golden manger and drank wine to him in golden bowles He used to sweare by his health and fortune He promised him to make him Consul as before he had made him his Priest He built him a Marble stable an Ivory manger cloathed him with purple put a chaine of pearles about his neck besides he built him an house furnished it with housholdstuffe and servants that so they whom his horse invited might have the better entertainment Pez Mel. Hist. He pretended an expedition into Britaine made great warlick preparations led his Army to the sea-side and then commanded them to gather cockleshells with which he returned in triumph to Rome as if they had been the spoiles of his conquered enemies Sueto The Turks foolishly hold that man so soone as he comes out of his mothers womb hath his destiny written in his forehead by God and therein all the good evil that shall befall him and in particular what death he shall die and hereupon they are desperate in the Wars fear not infection of the plague so that if one dies of the Plague another presently weares his cloaths Turk Hist. p. 1302. Sir Roger Williams hearing a Spaniard foolishly bragging of his Country-sallats gave him this quick answer You have indeed good sauce in Spaine but we in England have dainty Beeves Veale and Muttons to eat with that sauce And as God made Beasts to live on the grasse of the earth so he made man to live upon them Examples of wise fooles A poot begger in Paris stayed so long in a Cooks