to marry her but before night he cut off his head and gave her all his possessions Anno Christi 1056. A certain Advocate in Constance extreamly lusted after the wife of the Kings Procurator which Procuratour finding the Advocate and his wife sporting together in a Bath and afterwards in an old womans house hard by he gat him a sharp curry-comb and leaving three men at the doore to see that none should come in he so curried the Advocate that he tore out his eyes and so rent his whole body that he died within three dayes The like he would have done to his wife but that she was with childe In Germany a Gentleman of note solicited a Citizens wife to uncleannesse which her husband being informed of watched them so narrowly that finding them in bed together he first slew the adulterer and then his own wife Luther's Col. Mary of Arragon wife to the Emperour Otho the third was so unchast and lascivious a woman that she could never satisfie her lust carrying about her a young lecher in womans clothes with whom she daily committed filthinesse but this fellow being at last suspected was in the presence of many untired and found to be a man for which he was burnt to death yet did the Emperesse continue in her filthy course falling in love with the Count of Mutina a gallant young Gentleman and because she could not draw him to her lure she accused him to the Emperour for attempting to ravish her whereupon the Emperour caused his head to be cut off But by the meanes of his wife this wickednesse was discovered to the Emperour who enquiring more narrowly into the bufinesse found out his wives wickednesse and for the same caused her to be burnt at a stake Rodoaldus the eighth King of Lombardy being taken in adultery was by the husband of the adulteresse immediately slaine P. Melan. Chron. A Noble man in Thuringia being taken in adultery the husband of the adulteresse took him bound him hand and foot and cast him into prison and to quench his lust he kept him fasting and the more to augment his paine he daily set dishes of hot meat before him that the sight and smell might the more provoke his appetite In this torture the Lecher continued till he gnawed off the flesh from his own shoulders and so the eleventh day after his imprisonment ended his wretched life Luther Sergus a King of Scotland was so addicted to harlots that he neglected his own wife and drave her to such poverty that she was faine to serve another Noble-woman for her living whereupon watching her opportunity she slew her husband in his bed and her self after it Lang. Chron. Kenulphus King of the West-Saxons as he usually frequented the company of a whore that he kept at Merton was slaine by Clito the kinsman of the late King called Sigebert In the County of Fermanah in Ireland is a famous Meere called Logh-Erne stretching out fourty miles concerning which it's a common speech amongst the inhabitants that this Lake was formerly firme ground passing well husbanded with tillage and replenished with inhabitants But suddenly for their abominable Buggery committed with beasts it was overflowed with waters and turned into a Lake Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 106. Attalus who was one of Philip King of Macedonia's Courtiers Favourites Sodomitically defiled one Pausanias a Noble young man and not content therewith at a drunken feast he exposed him to be defiled by his guests also This indignity did so exasperate Pausanias that he complained to King Philip of the wrong who entertained him with scoffs and scornes in stead of punishing the offender Pausanias seeing this was so enraged against the King that on a day when he made a great feast for the Coronation of his son Alexander King of Epyrus and for the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra Pausanius watching his opportunity slew him thereby turning their melody into mourning and their joy into sorrow Diod. Sic. Nero the Emperour kept many Catamites and amongst the rest he caused the genitals of a boy called Sporus to be cut off and endeavoured to transforme him into a woman and causing him to be dressed like a woman he was solemnly married to him whereupon one said merrily That it had been well for the world if his father Domitian had had such a wife Pez Mel. Hist. Anno Christi 1120. Henry the first being King of England his two sonnes William and Richard with many Noble men Knights others coming out of Normandy towards England were shipwracked by the way and drowned all or most of them being polluted with the filthy sinne of Sodomy too rife in those dayes Henry Huntington Let not thine heart decline to the wayes of an whorish woman go not a stray in her paths For she hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slaine by her Her house is the way to hell going down to the Chambers of death Prov. 7. 25 26 27. CHAP. XI Examples of Chastity and Modesty THe way to heaven is up the hill all the way and the uncleane adulterer with his rotten Lungs and wasted Loines cannot climbe up it Virgins which are not defiled with women are they which follow the Lambe in white whithersoever he goes The frequency of the sinne of uncleannesse amongst Christians brings dishonour to God scandal to their profession and a wound to their own souls and many of the Heathen will rise up in judgement in the last day against such as these following Examples will more fully declare Chastity Commended Mat. 19. 12. 1 Thes. 4. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 2. 1 Cor. 7. 37. 1 Tim. 2. 9. Commanded Tit. 2. 5. 1 Pet. 3. 3 c. Scriptural Examples Isaac Gen. 25. 20. Joseph Gen. 39. 8 12. Boaz Ruth 3. 13. Job chap. 31. 1. Tamar 2 Sam. 13. 12. Other Examples Pericles the Athenian being made Admiral of the Athenian Fleet together with Sophocles who was joyned in the commission with him as they were going towards the haven they met a beautiful young boy whom Sophocles earnestly beholding highly commended his beauty to whom Pericles answered Sophocles a Governour must not onely have his hands but also his eyes chaste and clean Plut. Agesilaus King of Sparta was a great lover of chastity and as he was a great conquerer of others so also he conquerred his own lusts In his journey he would never lodge in private houses where he might have the company of women but ever lodged either in the Temples or in the open fields making all men the witnesses of his modesty and chastity Plut. Alexander M. being in the heat of youth shewed an admirable example of chastity when having taken the mother wives and daughters of Darius which were women of admirable beauty yet he neither by word or deed proffered them the least indignity thinking it a greater honour to overcome himself then his adversaries and when he looked upon other captive Ladies that excelled in stature and beauty
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
Dogs Domitian to prove him a lyar commanded him presently to be slaine and his body to be burnt but while it was in burning there fell out a great tempest that quenched the fire and so his body half unburnt was devoured by Dogs Suâ—t Constantine forbad all to ask Counsel at Witches oâ— to use the help of Charmers or Sorcerers upon pain of death Saul when he sought to the Witch at Endor instead of finding comfort was told of his utter ruine and destruction 1 Sam. 28. 19. Natholicus the 31th King of the Scots who had usurped the Crown sent a trusty friend to a famous Witch to know what successe he should have in his Kingdom and how long he should live The Witch answered that he should shortly be murthered not by an enemy but by his friend The Messenger instantly inquired by what friend By thy self said the Witch The Messenger at first abhorred the thought of any such villainy but afterwards considering that it was not safe to reveal the Witches answer and yet that it could not be concealed he resolved rather to kill the King to the content of many then to hazard the losse of his own head Thereupon at his return being in secret with the King to declare to him the Witches answer he suddenly slew him Bucâ—an Cleomedes a great Conjurer in Rome having practised the death of many little children the Parents of them at last sought revenge on him who to shun their fury shut himself up close in a Coffer but when they had broken it open the Divel had carried away the Conjurer Plut. Piso being accused by Tyberius for bewitching Germanicus to death instead of defending himself cut his own throat Taci There was in Denmark one Otto a great Magician and a great Pirat who used to passe the Seas without the help of a ship or any other Vessel and by his divellish Art to raise stormes and drown his enemies but at last being overmatched by one that was more expert in that Art then himself he was by him drowned in the Seas Olaus Mag. There was a Conjurer in Saltzburg who attempted to gather together all the Serpents there abouts into a Ditch and to feed them there but as he was practising of it the old Serpent the Divel drew him into the Ditch amongst them where he perished miserably The Governour of Mascon a great Magician as he was at dinner with some company was snatched away by the Divel hoisted up into the air and carried three times about the Town to the great astonishment of the inhabitants to whom he cried for help but all in vain Hugo de Cluni Anno Christi 1437. in the reign of Charles the 7th King of France Sr. Giles of Britane high-Constable of France was a wicked Magician having murthered above 160. Infants and women great with child with whose blood he wrote Books full of horrible Conjurations which being proved against him he was adjudged to be hanged and burned to death which was accordingly executed Picus Mirandula writes that in his time a great Conjurer promised a certain Prince that he would present to him the Siege of Troy with Hector and Achilles fighting together as when they were alive But as he was about his Conjurations the Divel carried him away that he was never heard of after The Lord of Orue in Lorraine when Noble-men or Gentle-men came to visit him used as they thought to serve them very honourbly with all sorts of daintie dishes and viands but when they departed they found their stomachs empty having eaten nothing On a time a Lords servant going from thence having forgotten some thing behind him went back and suddenly entering the Hall found a Munkie beating the Lord of the house that had feasted them others reported that he hath been seen through the chink of a door lying on his belly along upon a Table and a Munkie scourging him very strongly to whom he would say Let me al ne wilt thou alwayes thus torment me at last he fell into so great misery and beggery that he was fain to get into an Hospital in Paris where he ended his wrethed life Anno Christi 1530. there was in Nuâ—â—mburg a Popish Priest that studied the black Art who coveting riches the Divel shewed him through a Cristal treasures hidden in a part of the City Thither therefore did the Priest go with another companion and having digged an hollow pit he perceived in the bottom a Coffer with a great black Dog lying by it which whilest he beheld the earth fell upon him and crushed him to death Wierus Cornelius Agrippa was a great Necromancer and was alwayes accompanied with a familiar spirit in the shape of a black Dog But when his end approached he took off the Inchanted choller from the Dogs neck saying Get thee hence thou cursed beast which hast utterly destroyed me After which the Dog was never seen and he died a miserable death P. Jovius Zoroastres King of Bactria a great Astrologer and Magician was burned to death by the Divel Theat Anno Christi 1578. one Simon Pembrook of St. Georges Parish in London was suspected to be a Conjurer and used to erect figures for which he was called in question but whilest he was before the Judge he fell down and died having some Conjuring Books found about him Julian the Apostate sending to Delphos to enquire of the Divel the successe of his Parthian War whilest his Ambassadors were there fire came down from heaven and destroyed Apollos Temple and beat his Image all to pieces like to the lightest and smallest powder or dust Mr. Tindal being present in a roome where a Conjurer was hindred him that he could not play his pranks A Saints presence may hinder Satans elbow-roome from doing his tricks See Tindals Life in my first Part And the Like of Athanasius in his Life in the same Book CHAP. LXXIII Examples of Apparitions and Satanical delusions ANno Christi 1228. in a Synod held by the Popish Clergy at Paris in France there was one appointed to make a Sermon who as he was walking abroad and meditating upon what subject to preach the Devil appeared to him asking him what he needed to be so solicitous about that matter Say saith he in thy Sermon The Princes of hell salute you O ye Princes of the Church and gladly give you thanks for that through your default and negligence it comes to passe that so many soules come down to hell Adding that he was enforced by God to declare the same Yea and he gave this Priest a certain token whereby the Synod might evidently see that he did not lie On a time as Luther was walking in his garden the Devil appeared to him in the likenesse of a black Boar But Luther sleighting and not regarding him he vanished away See his Life in my first Part. Luther telleth us that when he was lodged in the Castle of Wartzhurg in a Chamber far from any company he was many times
Emperours few or none of them escaped Gods revenging hand so that there is numbred fourty three of them that came to untimely ends Act. Mon. Constantine the Emperour a Monothelite being a cruel persecutor of godly Christians was slaine by one of his own servants as he was washing himself in a Bath Hist. Magd. Arnolphus the Emperour raging exceedingly against the Christians the wife of one Guido upon another grudge gave him a cup of poison by meanes whereof such rottenness possessed his members that lice and wormes issuing out continually he died a miserable death P. Melan. Chron. l. 4. Agapetus a young man of the age of fifteen years for the profession of Christ was first scourged with whips then hung up by the feet and scalding water poured upon him then cast to the wilde beasts which being more merciful then men refused to touch him whereupon he was taken and beheaded but Antiochus who passed sentence upon him suddenly fell down from his judicial seat crying out that all his bowels burned within him and so he gave up the ghost Act. Mon. Genserick an Arian King of the Vandals shewed a great deal of cruelty against the Oxthodox But the Lord met with him for he died being possessed with an evil spirit P. Melanc Chron. l. 3. Hunericus son to a King of the Vandals being an Arian was a mercilesse persecutor of the godly Christians banishing five thousand of them at one time amongst which some of them being unable to travel he caused cords to be tied to their legges and to drag them through rough places whereby many of them perished But shortly after he was tormented with venomous biles all over his body and in the end was consumed with vermine Hist. Mag◠Claudius who was President under Valerian and his instrument to torment and condemne many godly Christians was shortly after possessed with the devil and so tormented that biting off his own tongue in small peeces he ended his life in much misery Act. Mon. Anastasius the Emperour a Patron of the Eutychian Heresie became a bloody persecutor of godly Christians and by Gods just judgement was slain with a Thunderbolt Plat. Autharis King of the Longobards who forbade children to be baptized or instructed in the Christian faith ere he had reigned six years died of poison at Pavia Paulus Diac. l. 3. c. 18. Arcadius the Emperour having by the perswasion of his wife Eudoxia an Heretick banished Chrysostome The very next night there arose such a terrible earth-quake that the Emperour and all the people being affrighted therewith was faign to send Post after Post to fetch him home againe Mandat of calumniation l. 2. c. 44. Mamuca a Saracen being a cruel Persecutor of the Church of God like unto Pharaoh met with the like destruction from God for as he returned from the slaughter of many Christians the Lord caused the sea to swallow him up with the greatest part of his Army in an hundred ships so that few or none escaped Paul Diaconus l. 3. c. 12. Theodoricus an Arian King of the Goths persecuted the true Christians with all hostilitie amongst whom he slew two noble Senators Symmachus and Boëtius but shortly after the Lord struck him with madnesse and sitting at the table had the head of a great fish set before him which he imagining to be the head of Symmachus whom he had slaine was so overcome with feare that anon after he died Evag. At Vassie in France fifteen hundred people being assembled in a Church upon a Sabbath-day hearing the Word of God preached The Duke of Guise suddenly compassed the Church with armed Souldiers himselfe standing in the doore with a drawn sword and sent in his Souldiers who cruelly killed all without distinction of age or sex but himselfe was shortly after slaine at the siege of Orleance Act. and Mon. Minerius Governour of Province who was sent by the King of France with an Army against the Waldenses used much cruelty against them burning some killing others driving others into woods and mountaines whereby they perished of famine depopulating whole townes But the Lord smote him with a tertible disease so that he felt like a fire burning him from the Navel upwards and his lower parts rotted and were consumed with vermine which was attended with a grievous stinke and profusion of blood in the place of his urine and in those extreame torments he ended his wretched life Simps The Emperour Phocas a most vicious and bloody persecutor being the first that ordained that the Bishop of Rome should be called the universall Bishop and the Church of Rome the head of other Churches was betrayed by his own son in Law and delivered up into the hands of his enemy Heracleus who commanded his head feet and privie members to be cut off and his body to be burned Plat. Earle Simon of Montfort a cruell persecutor of the Albingenses by the instigation of the Pope as he besieged some of them in Tholous had his head parted from his body by a fire stone which a woman let out of an Engine Simps King Lewis of France besieging Avignion a City of the Albingenses and vowing never to depart till he had taken it was shortly after punished with a grievous pestilence which daily wasted great numbers of his men So that the King going aside to an Abbey not far distant to avoide the same there died out of his wits Act. and Mon. King Charles the ninth of France a bloody persecutor of the Protestants who had caused the effusion of the blood of thirty thousand of them in the massacre of Paris by Gods just judgement fell sick and with great effusion of blood out of many parts of his body died miserably Act. and Mon. Truchetus an expert Captain imployed by the Duke of Savoy against the Protestants in his dominions who were a naked and unarmed people was first sore wounded with stones and afterwards slaine with his owne sword by a poor Shepherd who was keeping of Cattell in the field Act. and Mon. Henry the second King of France a cruel persecutor of Protestants caused Annas Burgeus a noble Counsellour of Paris to be condemned and in a great passion said that he would stand by and see him burned but before the time came the King being at Tilt put a Speare into one of his Noble mens hands and compelled him against his will to run against him at which time the Speare breaking a small splinter of it entred in at the Kings eye and pierced into his braine whereof he died Act. and Mon. King Henry the third of France in the selfe-same Chamber wherein the Massacre of Paris was concluded whereof himselfe being at that time Duke of Anjou was one of the chiefe was stabbed by a Iacobine Monke who thrust a knife violently into his small Ribs whereof he shortly after died Act. and Mon. Ladislaus King of Bohemia and Hungary who most unjustly had caused Ladislaus Huniades his son to be beheaded and
away from him and so ended his life Act. Mon. Morgan Bishop of Saint Davids who condemned the blesse Martyr Master Farrar and unjustly usurped his Bishoprick not long after was stricken by God after a most strange sort his meat would not go down but pick up again sometimes at his mouth sometimes blown out of his nose most horrible to behold and so he continued till he died Master Leyson also who was Sheriffe at Master Farrars burning having fetched away his cattel and put them into his own grounds divers of them would never eat meat but lay bellowing and roaring and so died Act. Mon. Doctor Duning Chancellour of Norwich a bloody persecutor in Queen Maries dayes was suddenly taken sitting in his chaire and died Act. Mon. Berry Commissary of Norfolke another bloody persecutor as he was walking with one of his Concubines fell down suddenly with an heavy groan and never stirred after A persecuting suffragan of Dover having been with Cardinal Poole for his blessing coming out of the Cardinals Chamber fell down the staires and brake his neck Act. Mon. Bishop Thornton a cruel persecutor also as he was looking upon his men at bowles upon the Sabbath-day fell suddenly into a Palsey and being carried to his bed and willed to remember the Lord Yea so I do said he and my Lord Cardinal too and so he died Act. Mon. Doctor Jeffery Chancellour of Salisbury a wretched persecutor having appointed to call before him ninety honest persons to examine them by inquisition the day before being looking upon his buildings fell down suddenly dead Act Mon. See more of these in my two Martyrologies It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to them which are troubled rest 2 Thes. 1. 6 7. Dicetur reprobis Ite Venite probis CHAP. V. Examples of the wicked lives and woful deaths of many of the Popes and Popelings THat Rome is Babylon and the Pope Antichrist are things now so evident and notorious that few question it but that so many thousands which live under the Romish jurisdiction should abide in so grosse ignorance as to continue courting that old and withered strumpet may justly seeme a marvell were it not that the common people are kept in such miserable ignorance being deprived of the soul-enlightning Word of God and enjoyned to pin their faith on the Priests sleeve And the more knowing sort of them are by Gods just judgement given over to strong delusions to believe a lie as the Apostle Paul long since foretold 2 Thes. 2. 11. which prophecie as it is in many other things fulfilled so especially in these prodigious blasphemies which are not onely published but believed and entertained with great applause among them Many instances might be given but take one onely in stead of all wherein they affirme that Christ imprinted his five wounds upon Francis of Assise the Freir as if he also were to suffer for the world and redeem mankinde whereupon Tursellin the Jesuite made these Verses Exue Franciscum tunicâ laceróque cucullo Qui Franciscus erat jam modo Christus erit Francisci exuviis siqualicet indue Christum Jam Franciscus erit qui modo Christus erat Strip Francis from his coat and cowle all nak't and you shall see He that even now St. Francis was to Christ will turned be Again put Francis coat and cowle on Christ and marke the lier He that even now Christ Jesus was will Francis be the Frier But that you may the better see what manner of persons the Popes themselves have been what their lives and what their deaths reade these Examples following Pope Joane whose proper name was Gilberta a Dutch woman cloathing her self in mans apparel and attaining to learning procured to be chosen Pope under the name of John the eighth who afterwards playing the whore fell in travel in the time of a solemne procession and died thereof since which time the Cardinals shun that place in all their processions Simps Pope Stephen the sixth so envied the name of his predecessor Formosus that he abrogated and dissolved all his decrees caused his body to be taken up cutting off two fingers of his right hand which he commanded to be cast into the River Tybur and then buried him in a private Sepulchre Simps Pope John the eleventh kept for his Paramour a famous strumpet called Marozia by whom afterwards he was smothered with a pillow that so her son might attaine to the Popedome Simps Pope John the thirteenth was a whoremaster an adulterer incestuous a gamester and extortioner Of some of his Cardinals he put out their eyes from some he cut out their tongues some their fingers some their noses and privy members He ordained Deacons in a Stable committed incest with two of his sisters at Dice he called to the devil for help and dranke an health to him for money made boyes Bishops lay with his fathers Concubine ravished maides and wives lay with his own mother made his Palace a Stews at length being found in the act of adultery was slaine by the womans husband Simps Pope Silvester the second was a great Conjurer and by the help of the devil obtained the Popedome He enquiring of the devil how long he should live was answered Till he should say Masse in Jerusalem In the Lent after as he was saying Masse in the Chappell of Saint Crosse he suddenly fell sick and remembering that that Chappel was called Jerusalem he perceived how he was cousened by the devil He commanded his Cardinals that after his death they should cut his body in peeces and so bury him having before bequeathed his soul to the devil It is commonly reported that by the ratling of his bones in his tombe is portended the death of the Pope Simps Pope Benedict the ninth attained to the Popedome by Magick and practised inchantments and conjuration in woods after an horrible manner and by magical Art used to allure women to his lust and being in fear of the Emperour whom he had much abused sold his Popedome for fifteen hundred pound weight of gold and going into a Forrest to practise his sorceries the more privately the devil strangled him to death Simps Pope Gregory the sixth scholar to Silvester and as great a Conjurer as his Master after many horrible mischiefs committed was banished Rome and ended his life most miserably in Germany Balleus Pope Hildebrand attaining to his Papacy by unlawful means set the whole Christian world into a combustion As he rose out of his seat to excommunicate the Emperour Henry the fourth his seat being newly made of great timber rent and shivered in peeces Afterwards he hired one to knock the Emperour on the head as he was at prayers Enquiring of the Hoast for an answer against the Emperour because it would not speak he threw it into the fire and burnt it and after many such outragious villainies he was deposed and banished after which
woman as ill as she was adventured to goe down and open it These Tyrants presently stabbed her husband in his bed The Midwife seeing them bent to murther the woman also earnestly intreated them to stay at least so long till the Infant which would be the twentieth childe that God had given her was borne but they took this poor woman and thrust her with a dagger into the fundament to the very hilts she finding her selfe mortally wounded and yet desirous to bring forth her fruit fled into a Corne-loft whither they pursued her giving her another stab into the belly and then cast â—er out of a window into the street in which fall the child came forth of her body gaping yawning a most woful â—ueful sight Act. Mon. At the same time also one of the bloody Papists having snatched up a little Child in his arms the poor Babe began to play with his Beard and to smile upon him but this barbarous wretch was so far from compassion that he wounded it with his dagger and so cast it all gore blood into the River Act and Mon In the Massacre at â—lâ—ise in France whilest the Protestants were cruelly handled and murthered in that disorder even many of the Romane Catholiques drank with them of the same cup whereupon both parties made their complaints to the Duke of Guise in hope of redresse whose answer was that the Kingdom was but too full of people and therefore his purpose was to cut off as many as he could that so all kinde of victuals might be better cheap Act and Mon. At the Massacre of Paris a Gentleman obtained letters from the King to murther the Protestants at Angiers also who coming to the house of a reverend and learned Minister one Master John Mason and meeting his wife at the entrance he saluted her and kis't her enquiring where her husband was she said In his garden and directed him to him whom also he very lovingly embraced asking him if he knew wherefore he was come to him The King saith he hath commanded me to kill you presently wherewithal he presented a Pistol to his breast The Minister said that he knew not wherein he had offended the King but seeing he would have his life he desired him to give him leave to commend his soule into the hands of God and having made a short prayer he willingly presented his body to the murtherer who shot him so that he presently died Act. and Mon. Anno Christi 1443 the Switzers having vanquished their enemies the Thuricenses in battell banquetted in the place where they won the victory using the dead bodies of their adversaries instead of stooles tables Cruelty complained of Gen. 49. 7. Exod. 6. 9. Deut. 32. 33. Psal. 25. 19. 71. 4. Prov. 12. 10. Jer. 6. 23. 50. 42. Lam. 4. 3. Heb. 11. 36. Ps. 27. 12. 74. 20. Ezek. 34. 4. The evils of it Prov. 11. 17. 27. 4. Scriptural examples Adonibezek Jud. 1. 7. Cain Gen. 1. 8. Simeon and Levi Gen. 342. 5. Pharaoh Exod. 1. 16 22. Saul 1 Sam. 22. 18 19. Athaliah 1 Chron. 22. 10. Menahem 2 King 15. 16. Jehoram 2 Chron. 21. 4. Abimelech Jud 9. 5. Philistines Jud. 15. 6. David 2 Sam. 12. 31. 1 Chron. 20. 3. Hazael 2 King 8. 12. Manasseh 2 King 21. 16. Amaziah 2 Chron. 25. 12. Nebuchadnezzar 2 Chron. 36. 17. Ezek. 23. 25. Jer. 51. 34. Haman Esther 3. 5 6. Medes Is. 13. 18. Edom Amos 1. 11. Ammon Amos 1. 13. Moab Amos 2. 1. Paul Act. 9. 1. 22. 4. It 's recorded of Julius Caesar that in his warres he slew eleven hundred ninty and two thousand men and at last was himself slaine by his seeming friends in the Senate-house Plin. Gains Caligula the fourth Emperour of Rome was of a most bloody and cruel disposition he caused Tiberius who was made coheire with him to be murthered He caused Syllanus his wives father to murther himself He caused divers of the Senators to be privily murthered and then gave it out that they had murthered themselves many other noble men he stigmatized then condemned them to the mettal-mines or to mending the high-wayes or to the wilde beasts Some he sawed a sunder in the middest He forced parents to be present at the torments of their children and whereas one excused himself by reason of sicknesse he sent his horse-litter for him Another asking whether he might not wink for that he caused him to be slaine Another whom he forced to be present at the torments of his children he presently took him home with him to a feast and forced him to be merry When he wanted condemned persons to feed his beasts he would cause some of the innocent spectators to have their tongues cut out that they might not complaine and so to be throwne to the beasts When he distasted any of the Senatours he would suborne some to come into the Courts and to declare them publick enemies to the State and presently to murther them yet was he not satisfied till he saw them torne peece-meale and their bowels dragged along the streets He used to say that he commended nothing more in his nature then his impudence He would not have men presently to be killed but used to say to his executioners Ita percute ut mori se sentiat So strike that he may feel himself to die Being angry with the people for coming slowly to his sports he wished Vtinam Populus Romanus unam cervicem haberet Would al the people of Rome had but one neck He used to complaine of his times that they were not made famous by some great publick calamity and therefore he used to wish for the destruction of his Armies famines pestilence burning or some extraordinary gapings of the earth grieved for that he should be soon forgotten because of the prosperity of all things Having entertained the two Consuls at a great feast suddenly he fell into a great laughter when they asked him mildly what he laughed at he answered To think that with one nod I can presently cause you both to be murthered When he used to kiss the necks of his wives and concubines he said This fair neck assoon as I command shall be cut off Sueto Vitellius the Romane Emperour was exceeding cruel putting many to death contrary to all Law equity seeking forgeries and false accusations against them One of his friends coming to visit him finding himself not well called for some water to drink the Emperour with his own hands cast poison into it poisoned him He commanded some young men to be slaine only because they came to intâ—eate him to pardon their father whom he had condemned to die Imperial Hist. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel Gen 49. 7. The darke places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelly Psal. 74. 20. CHAP. VII Examples of Temperance Abstinence and Sobriety
5. 7. Mat. 5. 28 32. Gal. 5. 19. 2 Pet. 2. 14. Rom. 2. 22. Ier. 13. 27. Prov. 30. 20 Threatened Psal. 50. 18 c. Mal. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 6. 9. Heb. 13. 3. Ier. 29. 23. Hos. 4. 2 c. Hos. 4. 13 14. Iam. 2. 11. Rev. 2. 22. Punished Lev. 20. 10. Prov. 6. 32. Ioh. 8. 3 4. Scripturall examples Iudah Gen. 38. 16 c. Potiphars wife Gen. 39. 7. David 2. Sam. 11. 4. the Benjamites Iud. 19. 25. Amon 2. Sam. 13. 11 c. Mary Magdalen Iohn 8. 4. The Corinthian 1 Cor. 5. 1. Absalon 2 Sam. 16. 22. Reuben Gen. 35. 22. Lot Gen. 19. 36. Herod Mat. 14. 3. Other examples Ninus King of Assyria fell in love with Semiramis wife of Menon one of his Officers and when he could not perswade Menon to deliver his wife to him he threatened to pull out his eyes whereupon Menon hanged himselfe and Ninus married his wife Diod. Sic. Julius Caesar was a great adulterer defiling many of the chief Senators wives for which amongst other things he was murther'd in the Senate-house Sueto Augustus the Emperour was an adulterer and being at a feast he took a Noble woman from the table her husband being by and had her into a chamber and after brought her back her eyes very red and her hair all disordered Ibidem The like adulterer was Tiberius and most of the Romane Emperours C. Caligula was a most impudent and impure adulterer he took many wives from their husbands and when he had satiated his lust with them hated them as much as formerly he had pretended love to them Theat vitae hum He committed Incest with his own sisters and then banished them Messalina the wife of Cladius the Emperour was one of the most impudent adulteresses that ever was in the world She had a chamber in her palace wherein her selfe with many of the Noble women of Rome did commonly prostitute themselves she sent for Appius Sylvanus a Noble young man and solicited him to lie with her and because he refused she accused him to the Emperour her husband as Potiphars wife did Joseph and caused him to be put to death She also would needs be married to Caius Silus made a great feast at her wedding gave him much of the Emperours treasure She caused divers of the Noble women of Rome in her palace to commit adulterie their husbands standing by and looking on rewarding them greatly for the same but if any refused to do it she hated them exceedingly and by all meanes sought their destruction She eagerly doted upon a common dancer and when she could not prevail with him to lie with her she caused her husband to command him to obey her in whatsoever she should require of him and thereby had her desire with him the like she did with many others She went often to the common Stewes to satiate her lust with all comers Striving with the famousest Strumpets in all Rome to exceed them in their divellish art to vie with them in their filthy lusts For which at the complaint of the Nobles she was put to death Lang. Chron. Nero having made a great feast in a publick Theater after supper commanded all his guests to go into some house hard by into which he had gathered abundance of wives virgins maid-servants and harlots and there to defile whom they pleased commanding that none should be denied so that the servant committed wickednesse with his Mistris his Master being by and base fellowes with Noble virgins their fathers being by c. Xiphilinus Romulus ordained a Law amongst the Romanes that a man might put away his wife if she was proved to have committed adultery or consented to the poisoning of her children but if he put her away for any other cause she was to have halfe his goods and the other halfe went to the goddesse Ceres Plut. Artaxerxes Mnemon King of Persia fell in love with his own daughter a beautiful Virgin called Atossa which his own mother Parysatis perceiving perswaded him to marry her and so to make her his wife and though the Persian Lawes had formerly forbidden such incestuous marriages yet taking counsel with his wicked mother and his own lust he married her after which time he never prospered in any thing that he took in hand Diod. Sic. Nero the Emperour when he rode abroad with his mother Agrippina in his horse-litter used ordinarily to commit incest with her Suet. Cleopatra being very young was with her brother Ptolomaeus King of Egypt besieged in Alexandria by Iulius Caesar After a while she caused one Apollidorus to binde her up in cloaths like a bed and so carried her into Caesars tent where being laid down at Caesars feet the man opens his fardel and a Venus comes forth whose beauty Caesar being taken with used her body at his pleasure not long before she had been defiled by Pompey But these were her childish whoredomes Afterwards Mark Anthony being in Asia raising tributes and ready to underake the Parthian Warre sends for Cleopatra to plead her cause before him for assisting Cassius his enemy with money She attires her self after the curiousest and costliest manner that could be and upon the River Cydnus enters into her Galley all guilt with gold the oares covered with silver that kept their stroakes by the sound of Musicians the sailes were of purple silke her self lay under a heaven of gold beset with all sorts of precious stones many Ganimeds stood about her to fanne winde to coole her her Ladies like Nymphs sat up and down the ship burning incense and sweet persumes Being come to the place where Anthony was he to keep the Roman gravity sat in the Tribunal with the Officers and people about him and sends for her thither but she goes straight to her Inne and all the people left Anthony to gaze upon her So that being left alone he returnes to his quarters and sends to invite her to supper She refuses and excuseth herself Anthony could no longer forbear but goes to her sups with her eates and drinks in love her beauty wit and smooth tongue soon bewitched him She could readily speak Hebrew Greek Arabick AEthiopick and Persian language in their own Idiome Anthony being thus taken forgets his Warres his wives and all relations goes with her into Egypt and spends his time in adulteries till vengeance seized on them both which was executed by Octa. Caesar. Lipsius Faustina the wife of M. Anthoninus the Philosopher was insatiable in her lusts She used to prostitute herself in the stews in the baths in the Theaters She used to frequent the places where naked men strove for masteries and there noting those that were greatest of flesh would send for them to commit filthinesse with her She prefered to the Empire Commodus one of her adulterers and the sonne of a sword-player which ruined the Empire Lipsius In France there was one Fredegundis a famous whore who for her beauty was entertained
by Chilperic King of France whom she caused to banish his Queen Andovera and his other wife called Galsuinda she caused to be murthered that she might enjoy the King alone yet neither was she faithful to him but prostituted her body to Landric Master of the Kings horse On a time the King being to go a hunting went to bid his wife farewell who was combing her haire The King went softly behinde her and with his wand in sport struck her behinde She thinking it had been her Landric said What doest thou do my Landric It 's the part of a good Knight to charge a Lady before and not behinde The King by this means finding her falshood went his wayes on hunting and she finding her self discovered sent for Landric told him what was happened and therefore perswaded him to kill the King for his and her safety which he undertook and effected that night as the King came late from hunting French Hist. Semiramis sought out men to satisfie her brutish lust whom shortly after she used to slay And at last she grew to that abominable impudence that she drew her own sonne to lie with her and to cover her filthinesse enacted a law That propinquity of blood should not hinder marriage Orosius Cambyses King of Persia falling in love with his own sister sent for his Judges and asked them if there were any law that suffered a man to marry with his own sister to whom they answered That they found no such Law but they found another Law that the Kings of Persia might do whatsoever they pleased Whereupon he married her and afterwards he married another of his sisters also Herod Xerxes falling in love with Artaynta his daughter in law often commited incest with her which his wife Amestris taking notice of and supposing that Artaynta's mother was the baude betwixt them she sent for her and put her to grievous torments cutting off her breasts casting them to the dogs she cut off also her nose eares lips and tongue and so dismissed her but shortly after Xerxes going with his innumerable army against the Grecians was plagued by God for his incest and his wives cruelty with the utter overthrow of his forces and himself hardly escaped with life Herod Solon made a law amongst the Athenians that it might be lawful for any man to kill an adulterer taking him in the fact Nerva the Romane Emperour made a law that no man should marry his neece or brothers daughter Suet. Agrippina was of so impudent and lustful a disposition that having formerly traded her self in manifold incests with Caligula her brother and Claudius her Uncle she at last offered her body to the lustful imbraces of her son Nero who scarcely twenty yeares before was bred therein Nero's Life The Egyptians used to punish adultery in a man by giving him a thousand jerks with a reed and in a woman by cutting off her nose And he that violated a free woman had his privy members cut off By the law of Julia amongst the Romanes adulterers were without difference to be put to death Before Moses time it was a custome to burne adulterers in the fire as appears in the case of Thamar Gen. 38. 24. What mischiefs the Levites wife that played the adulteresse brought upon all Israel may be read Judges 19 20 and 21. chapters What misery David brought upon himself and family by committing adultery with Bathsheba may be seen in 2 Sam. 12. 13. and 13. chapters Paris by his adultery with Helena stirred up warres between the Grecians and Trojans which lasted ten yeares and ended in the ruines of that famous City and Kingdome of Troy in the death of Paris and Helen of King Priamus and all his posterity Sextus Tarquinius sonne to Superbus the last King of the Romanes by ravishing Lucretia the wife of Collatinus was the author of manifold mischiefs For Lucretia slew her self in the presence of her husband and kinsfolk the Romanes expelled their King and his family and would never be reconciled to them again The adulterer was slaine by the Sabines and his father also fighting to recover his Kingdom was slaine by the Romanes Valentinian the third Emperour of Rome by dishonouring the wife of Petronius Maximus a Senator of Rome lost his life and was thereby the author of the final destruction of the Romane Empire For Petronius being informed of the wrong which the Emperour had done him by defiling his wife was purposed to revenge it with his own hands but knowing that he could not do it whilest Actius the General of his Army lived a man famous for his valiant exploits against the Burgundians and Gothes he accused him falsely to the Emperour of treason and thereby procured his death then did he stirre up some of Actius friends to revenge his death upon the Emperour which they also performed upon him as he was sitting in judgement then did Maximus not only seize upon the Empire but upon Eudoxia the Emperesse forcing her to be his wife which indignity she not enduring sent privately into Africa to Genserick King of the Vandals to come and deliver her and the City of Rome from the Tyranny of Maximus which occasion he laying hold of came into Italy with a huge Army whereupon the Citizens of Rome were so affrighted that they fled into the Mountains and Maximus flying with them was murthered by the way and hewen in pieces by some of the Senators And Genserick entring Rome found it empty of inhabitants but not of infinite riches all which he exposed as a prey to his Army and carried away into Africk together with a great number of the people and amongst them was Eudoxia the Emperesse and her two daughters Eudocia and Placidia After which the Romane Empire could never recover it self but grew weaker and weaker till it came to utter ruine Childerick King of France was so odious for his adulteries that his Nobility conspired against him and drave him out of his Kingdom Two of the daughters of Philip the fair King of France being found guilty of Adultery were condemned to perpetual imprisonment and they which had committed adultery with them were first slaine and then hanged A certain Seneschal of Normandy suspected the vicious behaviour of his wife with his Steward watched them so narrowly that at last he found them in bed together whereupon he slew them both first the adulterer and then his wife though she was sister to Lewis the eleventh the then King Fulgos. l. 6. c. 1. A Nobleman in Burgundy having in Warre taken a Gentleman Captive his wife being a beautiful Lady came to redeeme her husband The Nobleman promised to free him if she would let him lie with her which by the perswasion of her husband she consented to But the adulterous Nobleman the next day cut off his prisoners head and so delivered his body to his wife which horrible fact being complained of by her to the Duke of Burgundy he caused this Nobleman
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
second sonne became deformed in his Limbs and fell lame His third son was drowned in a small puddle of water His eldest daughter was suddenly struck with a foule Leprosie and himself in his old age was arraigned found guilty of murther and escaped hanging very narrowly Speed Chron. p. 927. John Curcy Earle of Ulster in Ireland was betrayed by his own servants for a peece of money given them in hand and for a greater reward to be given afterwards promised unto them by his mortal enemy Hugh Lacy accordingly the said Earl Hugh Lacy rewarded all the aforesaid Traitors with gold and silver as he had promised but presently after hanged them all up and took away their goods Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 153. Nicholas Keretschen Governour of Gyula in Transilvania betraied the same unto the Turks for a great sum of money but when he expected the reward he was by the command of Selymus the Great Turke thrust into an hogshead stuck full of nailes with the points inward with this inscription upon it Here receive the reward of thy treason if thou beest not faithful to thy Master neither wilt thou be to me and so he was rolled up and down till he died Turk Hist. p. 824. A Noble Senator in Rome being proscribed by the Triumviri they promised a great reward to them that would discover him to them whereupon the Senators own servant betrayed him The Triumviri according to their promises first rewarded him for his service to the State because he delivered up into their hands one that was judged guilty of treason then to reward him for his treachery to his Master whom he should have preserved they threw him down headlong from the Capitol whereby he brake his neck Don Frederick sonne to the Duke of Alva going with his Army to Naerden in Holland was admitted into the town and himselfe and souldiers feasted by the Bourgers after which he commanded them with the rest of the inhabitants to go into a certaine Chappel where they should be made acquainted with such Lawes as they were to be regulated by but when they were thus assembled he sent his souldiers commanding them to murther them without sparing any one The men were Massacred the women first ravished and then murthered the children and infants had their throats cut See my Gen. Martyr p. 265. Many of the chiefest of the Brittish Nobility were trained in Almsebury to treat with the chiefest of the Saxons about a peace but being betrayed by them they were basely murthered whence those great stones were erected called Stoneheng See my English Martyrology p. 8. The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously yea the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously Isa. 24. 16. CHAP. XXXIX Examples of Fidelity COmmended Mat. 24. 45. 25. 21. Prov. 25. 13. Psal. 15. 4. 31. 23. 101. 6. Prov. 13. 17. 14. 5. 28. 20. Luk. 12. 42. Commanded 1 Cor. 4. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 11. Jerem. 23. 28. Highly prized Psal. 12. 1. Prov. 11. 13. 20. 6. 27. 6. Luke 16. 10 c. 19. 17. Scriptural examples Abrahams servant Gen. 24. David to Jonathan 1 Sam. 20. 15. with 2 Sam. 9. 1. Jacob to Laban Gen. 31. 38 c. Jonathan to David 1 Sam. 18. 3 c. Jehoiadah to Joash 2 King 11. 4 c. Mordecai Ester 2. 22. A woman 2 Sam 17. 19 c. Rahab with the spies Ios. 2. 4 c. The workmen about the Temple 2 Kings 12. 15. Moses Num. 12. 7. Nehemiah chap. 7. 2. Daniel chap. 6. 4. Onesimus Col. 4. 9. Timothy 1 Cor. 4. 17. Tichicus Eph. 6. 21. Col. 4. 7. Epaphras Col. 1. 7. Sylvanus 1 Pet. 5. 12. Josiah's workmen 2 King 22. 7. Gains 3 Iohn 5. Joseph Gen. 39. 8. Other examples The Romanes so highly esteemed of Faith in all their publick affaires that in their City they had a Temple dedicated to it and for more reverence-sake offered sacrifice to the image of Faith Attilius Regulus General of the Romane Army against the Carthaginians being overcome was taken prisoner after which being sent to Rome upon his Parole with conditions of peace which he judged dishonourable he first disswaded his Citizens from accepting of them and then to keep his oath returned to the Carthaginians though he was sure to die a painful death Tul. de offic Pontius Centurio a Captaine of Caesars being taken by Pompey's father in Law had his life offered him with an honourable place in Pompey's Army if he would leave Caesar and serve Pompey But he stoutly answered Scipio that though he thanked him greatly for his kinde offer yet that he would not accept of life upon such unequal conditions choosing rather to die then to falsifie his faith to Caesar. Themistocles being banished Athens by his ungrateful Citizens was forced to flie to his mortal enemy Artaxerxes for refuge with whom he found great favour and having continued a while with him Artaxerxes went to warre against the Athenians and would needs have Themistocles to go along with him Themistocles was content upon condition that the King would sweare to him that without him he would not go into Greece this Artaxerxes assents to whereupon Themistocles making a great feast and inviting his friends to it the feast being ended he drank a draught of bulls blood and so poisoned himself by this means shewing his faithfulnesse to his City which had been so ungrateful to him for he prevented the Kings going against it by reason of his oath and rather chose death then that himself would act any thing against it Diodorus King Porsenna making peace with the Romanes amongst other conditions this was one that the Romans should deliver to him ten young Noble mens sons and ten of their daughters for hostages which was accordingly done and Publicola's daughter called Valeria was one of them within few days after these ten Virgins went to the river Tyber to wash themselves where being freed from their guard they had a great desire to escape over the river though it was very deepe and ranne with a swift streame and so to get home and Caelia venturing first upon her horses back encouraged the others and so they gat all safe over and went and presented themselves to Publicola but he was so farre from countenancing them in their escape that he immediately sent them back to Porsenna when they came back Porsenna asked which of them it was that had first adventured to swim the river and being shewed Caelia he sent for one of his best horses and richest furniture and bestowed it upon her Plut. Darius Junior accounted nothing more sacred then faithfully to keep and performe all his Leagues Covenants and Promises Xenophon Ptolemy King of Egypt besieging Tyrus sent to Andronicus the Governour to surrender it to him Andronicus returned answer that he would by no meanes be brought to violate his faith given to Antigonus for whom he kept the City withal adding divers reproachful speeches against
he had made himselfe sweat by some labour Stobaeus Anrelianus the Emperour never suffered day to passe over his head wherein he did not exercise himselfe in some hard labour or military imployment Alex. ab Alex. The City of Casan in Parthia is much to be commended for its civil Government for an idle person is not suffered to live amongst them The childe that is but six years old is set to labour no ill rule disorder or riot is suffered there They have a Law amongst them whereby every person is compelled to give in his name to the Magistrates withall declaring by what course he liveth and if any tell untruly he is either soundly beaten on the feet or imployed in publick slavery P. Pil. v. 1. In China the whole Countrey is well husbanded and though the people generally are great spenders yet they first get it by their hard labour Idle persons are much abhorred in this Countrey and such as will not labour must not eat amongst them for there are none that will give almes to the poore If any be blinde they are put to grinde in horse mills If lame impotent bedrid c. the next of their kin is forced to maintaine them If they be not able the King hath Hospitals in every City wherein they are sufficiently provided for P. Pil. v. 3. CHAP. LXII Examples of such as have preferred Christ before all earthly enjoyments Under the eight Persecution there was one Marinus a Nobleman and valiant Captaine in Caesaria who stood for an honourable office that of right fell to him but his Competitor to prevent him accused him to the Judge for being a Christian The Judge examining him of his faith and finding it true gave him three houres time to deliberate with himselfe whether he would lose his Office and Life or renounce Christ and his profession Marinus being much perplexed what to resolve on a godly Bishop took him by the hand led him into the Church laid before him a sword and a New-Testament bidding him freely take his choice which of them he would have whereupon Marinus ranne to the New Testament and chose that and so being encouraged by the Bishop he went boldly to the Judge by whose sentence he was beheaded Dioclesian that bloody Persecutor first laboured to seduce the Christian souldiers in his Camp commanding them either to sacrifice to his gods or to lay down their places offices and armes To whom they resolutely answered That they were not only ready to lay down their honours and weapons but even their lives if he required it rather then to sinne against God and deny Christ. A Noble Virgin in Portugal called Eulalia under the tenth Persecution seeing the cruelty used against Christians for the cause of Christ went to the Judge and thus bespake him What a shame is it for you thus wickedly to seek to kill mens souls and to break their bodies in pieces seeking thereby to withdraw them from Christ Would you know what I am I am a Christian ana an enemy to your devillish sacrifices I spurne your idols under my feet c. Hereupon the Judge being enraged said unto her O fond and sturdy girle I would faine have thee before thou diest revoke thy wickednesse Remember the Honourable House of which thou art come and thy friends teares Wilt thou cast away thy selfe in the flower of thy youth Wilt thou bereave thy selfe of honourable marriage Doth the glittering pomp of the bride-bed nothing prevaile with thee c. Behold if these things will not move thee I have here variety of engins prepared to put thee to a cruel death c. But our Noble Eulalia having her heart ravished with the love of Christ to whom she desired to be married rejected both his flatteries and threats and chose death rather then to forsake Christ. See my General Martyrology p. 77. In the late Bohemian Persecution a noble Lady of the City of Latium leaving all her riches house and friends crept under the walls through the common sewer the gates being guarded that she might enjoy Christ in his Ordinances elsewhere In the Affrican Persecution under the Arians there was a noble man called Saturus eminent for piety and holinesse whom the Tyrant King laboured to withdraw from Christ and his truth to the Arian Heresie telling him that if he consented not presently he should forfeit his house his Lands his goods his honours that his children and servants should be sold that his wife should be given to one of his basest slaves c. But when threats prevailed not he was cast into prison and when his Lady heard her doom she went to him with her garments rent and her hair disheveled her children at her heeles and a sucking infant in her armes and falling down at her husbands feet she took him about the knees saying Have compassion O my sweetest of me thy poor wife and of these thy children look upon them let them not be made slaves let not me be yoaked in so base a marriage consider that which thou art required to do thou doest it not willingly but art constrained thereto and therefore it will not be laid to thy charge c. But this valiant Souldier of Christ answered her in the words of Job Thou speakest like a foolish woman Thou actest the Devils part If thou truly lovedst thy husband thou wouldest never seek to draw him to sin that may separate him from Christ and expose him to the second death Know assuredly that I am resolved as my Saviour Christ commands me to forsake wife children house lands c. that so I may enjoy him which is best of all One Copin a Merchant in France was apprehended and carried before the Bishop of Ast for his bold asserting of the truth to whom the B. said that he must either recant his opinions or be punished But Copin answered that he would maintain them with his life For saith he I have goods a wife and children and yet have I lost those affections which I formerly bore to them neither are they dear to me so I may gain Christ. See more Examples of this kind before in this Book p. 29 30 31. Anno Christi 1620. in that bloody Persecution in the Valtoline a noble Gentleman having for a while hid himself was at last found out by his Popish adversaries whom he requested to spare him for his childrens sake but they told him that this was no time for pity except he would renounce his Religion and embrace Popery whereupon he said God forbid that to save this temporal life I should deny my Lord Jesus Christ who with his precious blood upon the Crosse redeemed me at so dear a rate c. I say God forbid and so they murthered him See my Gen. Martyrologie p. 327. Anno Christi 1507. one Laurence Guest being in prison for the truth in Salisbury the Bishop because he had good friends laboured by all means to draw him to recant but not
about it whilest they strove which should have it and Epicurus the Philosopher was forc'd to preserve his own and the lives of his family by giving them a few Beans every day Diod. Sic. About the year 1595. there fell out so great a famine amongst the Turks in Hungary that the Tartar women that followed the Camp were fain to roast their own children and eat them Turk Hist. p. 1060. In the reign of Maximinus the Roman Emperour there was such a cruel Famine that multitudes died through hunger in the Cities but more in the Villages Divers brought out their best treasure and gave it for any kind of sustinance though never so little Others by selling their possessions for food fell into extreme misery Some did eat grasse others fell upon unwholesome herbs whereby they hurt or poisoned their bodies Many were driven to leave the Cities and to beg up and down the Countries Some through faintnesse fell down in the streets and holding up their hands cryed miserably for some scraps or fragments of bread being ready to give up the ghost and able to say no more then hungâ—â— hungry In the siege of Harlem under the D. De Alva their provisions being spent they were forced to make bread of Linseed and Turneps and lived upon the flesh of Horses Dogs Cats c. See in my General Martyrologie divers remarkable stories which fell out in the time of a terrible Famine in the siege of Sancerre in France Pap. 320. c. In the late Massacre in Ireland one Mary Barlow with her six Children were all stripped stark naked and turned out of doors and being forced to shelter themselves in a Cave they had nothing to eat for three weeks space but two old Calves-skins which they beat with stones and so eat them hair and all her children crying out to her rather to go out and be killed by the Irish then to famish there VVhilest the Saxons here were heathens God plagued them with such a cruel Famine that in Sussex many were so tormented with it that sometimes by fourty together they would get upon the rocks by the Sea-side and throwing themselves from thence drown themselves in the Sea Pegu one of the richest and fruitfullest Countries in the world whence probably Solomon fetched his Gold for it yields three harvests in the year yet by reason of VVars Anno Christi 1598. the City of Pegu formerly replenished with Millions of Inhabitants was so wasted by a terrible Famine that there were scarce 7000. persons men women and children left therein and those feeding on mans flesh the Parents requiring of their children that life which not long before they gave them and now laid them not in their bosomes but in their bowels The children became living Sepulchres of their scarce dead Parents The stronger preyed upon the weaker and if the Famine had left on them nothing but skin and bones for those hungry raveners they ripped up their bellies and devoured their inward parts and breaking the skull sucked out their brains raw Yea the weaker sex was by the strength of Famine armed with no lesse cruel despite against whomsoever they could meet in the streets of the City with their knives which they carried about them as harbingers to their teeth in these inhumane humane banquets Pur. Pilgrimag p. 464. About the year 1604. the Wars in Transylvania had brought such a Famine that roots herbs and leaves of trees were their usual food Horses Dogs Cats Rats c. were rarities to the poor and dainties beyond their reach yea a Mother brought back into her womb by unnatural means satisfying nature her six Children and two men aâ—e their own Mothers Others cut down Malefactors from the Gallowes and did eat them Idem p. 289. The Spaniards in their first Plantation of Dariena in the West-Indes though they met with Gold enough yet were afflicted with such a Famine that one sold an old lean mangie Dog to his fellowes for many pieces of Gold These flayed the Dog and cast his mangie skin and bones of his head amongst the bushes The next day another finds these full of Magots and stinking But hunger had neither eies nor sent he brought it home sod and ate it and found many customers that gave him a piece of gold for a dish of that mangie broth Another found two Frogs and sod them which a sick man bought for two fine shirts curiously wrought with gold others found a dead man â—oâ—ten and stinking which putrifyed carcase they did rost and eat So that of 770. men scarce 40. shadowes of men remained Idem p. 817. See more in my two Martyrologies They that be slain with the sword are better then they that be slain with hungar for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field Lam. 4. 9. CHAP. LXXII Examples of Gods judgments upon Witches Conjurers Inchanters and Astrologers IT 's heathenish sin Deut. 18 10 11 14. Ezek. 13. 6. 23. 2 King 9. 22. Nah. 3. 4. 2 Chron. 33. 6. 2 King 21. 6. Forbidden Deut. 18. 14. Jer. 27. 9. 29. 8. 14. 14. Ezek 12. 24. Lev. 19. 31. Mich. 5. 12. Gal 5. 20. Isai. 65. 4. 29 4. Wicked seek to them 1 Sam. 6. 2. 2 King 17. 17. Isai. 19. 3. 47. 12 13. Ezek. 21. 21. c. Num. 22. 5 c. Acts 16. 16. 1 Sam. 28. 7. Dan. 2. 2. 4. 7. 5. 7. God oft befools them Isai. 44. 25. Mich. 3. 7. Zach. 10. 2. They should be slaine Exod. 22. 18. Levit. 20. 27. God punisheth such as seek to them 1 Chron. 10. 13. Regard not them that have familiar spirits neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them Levit. 19. 31. A man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death they shall stone them with stones their blood shall be upon them Levit. 20. 27. Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live Exod. 22. 18. There shall not be found amongst you any one that useth Divination or an observer of times or an Inchanter or a Witch or a Charmer or a Consulter with familiar spirits or a Wizards or a Necromancer For all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord Deut. 18. 10 11 12. When they shall say unto you Seek to them that have familar spirits and unto wizards that peep and mutter Should not a people seek unto their God Isai. 8. 19. Vitellius Emperour of Rome banished all Astrologers out of Italy enacting that if any remained he should presently be put to death Suet. Domitian the Emperour also banished all Astrologers under a severe penalty Eus. yet in his old age beving full of fears he sent for an Astrologer and asked him about his death the Astrologer told him that it was near at hand then he asked him what he thought of himself he told him that his destiny was that shortly he should be torn in pieces with