where Gods word is generally despised not regarded nor profited by there some notable destruction approcheth Philip Melanc in collectaneis Manlij In a certain place there was acted a tragedie of the death and passion of Christ in shew but indeed of themselues for hee that plaied Christs part hanging vpon the crosse was wounded to death by him that should haue thrust his sword into a bladder full of blood tied to his side who with his fall slew another that plaied one of the womens part that lamented vnder the crosse his brother that was first slaine seeing this slew the murderer and was himselfe by order of iustice hanged therfore so that this tragedie was concluded with four true not counterfeit deaths and that by the diuine prouidence of God who can endure nothing lesse then such prophane and ridiculous handling of so serious and heauenly matters In the Vniuersitie of Oxford the historie of Christ was also plaied and cruelly punished that not many years since for he that bore the person of Christ the Lord stroke him with such a giddinesse of spirit braine that he became mad forthwith crying when he was in his best humour that God had laid this iudgement vpon him for playing Christ Three other actors in the same play were hanged for robbing as by credible report is affirmed Most lamentable was the iudgement of God vpon one Iohn Apowel somtimes a seruingman for mocking iesting at the word of God this Iohn Apowell hearing one William Malden reading certaine English praiers mocked him after euery word with cōtrary gauds flouting termes insomuch that at last he was terribly afraid so that his hair stood vpright on his head and the next day was found besides his wits crying night and day without ceasing The deuill the deuill Acts and monuments pag. 2103. O the deuill of hell now the deuill of hell there he goeth for it seemed to him as the other read Lord haue mercie vpon vs at the end of the praier that the deuill appeared vnto him and by the permission of God depriued him of his vnderstanding this is a terrible example for all those that bee mockers at the word of God to warne them if they do not repent least the vengeance of God fall vpon them in like manner Thus wee see how seuerely the Lord punisheth all despisers and prophaners of his holy things and thereby ought to learne to carrie a most dutifull regard and reuerence to them as also to note them for none of Gods flocke whosoeuer they be that deride or contemne any part of religion or the ministers of the same CHAP. XXXV Of those that prophane the Sabboth day IN the fourth last commandement of the first table it is said Remember to keep holy the sabboth day by which words it is ordained and enioined vs to seperate one day of seuen from al bodily and seruile labor not to idlenes loosenes but to the worship of God which is spirituall and wholesome Which holy ordināce whē one of the childrē of Israel in contempt broke as they were in the wildernesse Numb 15. by gathering stickes vpon the sabboth he was brought before Moses Aaron the whole congregation by them put in prison vntill such time as they knew the Lords determination concerning him knowing well that he was guiltie of a most grieuous crime And at length by the Lords owne sentence to his seruant Moses condemned to be stoned to death without the host as was speedily executed wherin the Lord made known vnto them both how vnpleasant odious the prophanation of his Sabboth was in his sight and how seriously and carefully euery one ought to obserue and keepe the same Now albeit that this strict obseruation of the sabboth was partly ceremoniall vnder the law and that in Christ Iesus wee haue an accomplishment as of all other so also of this ceremonie hee being the true sabboth and assured repose of our soules yet seeing wee still stand in need of some time for the instruction and exercise of our faith it is necessarie that we should haue at least one day in a weeke to occupie our selues in and about those holy and godly exercises which are required at our hands and what day fitter for that purpose then sunday Which was also ordained in the Apostles time for the same end and called by them Des dominicus that is The day of our Lord Because vpon that day he rose from the dead to wit the morrow after the Iewes sabboth being the first day of the weeke to which sabboth it by cōmon consent of the church succeeded to the end that a difference might be put betwixt Christians Iews Therfore it ought now religiously to be obserued as it is also commanded in the ciuil law with expresse prohibition not to abuse this day of holy rest in vnholy sports pastimes Cod. lib. 3. tit 12. leg 10. of euill example Neuerthelesse in steed hereof we see the euill emploiance abuse and disorder of it for the most part for beside the false worship and plentifull superstitions which raigne in so many places all manner of disorder and dissolutenesse is in request beareth sway in these daies this is the day for tipling houses and tauernes to be fullest fraught with ruffians and ribalds and for villanous and dishonest speech with lecherous and baudie songes to be most rise this is the day when gourmandise and drunkennesse shew themselues most frollick othes blasphemies flie thickest and fastest this is the day when dicing dancing whoring and such noisome and dishonest demeanours muster their bands and keep ranke togither from whence fome out enuies hatreds displeasures quarrels debates bloodsheddings and murders as daily experience testifieth All which things are euident signes of Gods heauy displeasure vpon the people where these abuses are permitted and no difference made of that day wherin God would be serued but is cōtrarily most dishonored by the ouerflow of wciked examples And that it is a thing odious and condemned of God these examples following will declare Gregory Turonensis reporteth that a husbandman who vpon the Lords day went to plow his field as he cleansed his plowshare with an iron the iron stucke so fast into his hand that for two yeeres hee could not be deliuered from it but carried it about continually to his exceeding great paine and shame Discipulus de tempore ser 117. Another profane fellow without any regard of God or his seruice made no conscience to conuey his corne out of the field on the Lords day in sermon time but hee was well rewarded for his godlesse couetousnesse for the same corne which with so much care he gathered togither was consumed with fire from heauen with the barne and all the graine that was in it A certaine noble man vsed euery Lords day to go a hunting in the sermon while Theatr. hist which impietie the Lord punished
THE THEATRE of Gods Iudgements Or A COLLECTION OF HISTOries out of Sacred Ecclesiasticall and prophane Authours concerning the admirable Iudgements of God vpon the transgressours of his commandements TRANSLATED OVT OF FRENCH AND AVGMENted by more than three hundred Examples by Th. Beard IL VOSTRO MALIGNARE NON GIOVA NVLLA LONDON Printed by Adam Islip 1597. To the right Worshipfull Sir Edward Wingfield Knight IT is a principle in natural philosophy right Worshipfull that in euerie naturall bodie as well the Elephant as the gnat there is some propertie or other to be admired and wondred at and not only in philosophie but also in Diuinitie for euen the diuine Singer of Israel anoucheth the same when hee saith That the workes of God are wonderfull and his iudgements past finding out and not without great reason for if we turne ouer euery leafe of Gods creatures from the tenth sphere to the centre of the earth we shall find that euery leafe and letter of this great volume is admirable and wonderfull and such as doth not onely demonstrate a diuine power to sit at the stern of the world but also our owne weaknes which is not able to comprehend the least part thereof This wonderfull workmanship as it doth set forth the power of God as he is the creator and his wisdome as he is the gouernor of it so especially his mercie iustice appeare therein as he is a father in preseruing his children and a iudge in punishing sinners and those that rebell against him and these two are fitly called the armes of the Almighty of which one is not longer larger than the other but he is so far mercifull that he is iust withall and so far iust that his mercie doth also shew it selfe in the middest therof the right consideratiō wherof if it were ingrafted in the hearts of men they would learne both to admire and reuerence his mercie in creating and preseruing the frame of the world and stand in awe of his iudgements in correcting sinne but so it is that the greatest part of men go clean contrary they dreame vpon mercie mercy neuer thinke vpō iustice iudgement and that is the cause why more perish by presumption than despaire for this cause it seemed to me most necessary to call into mens memories the wonderfull iudgements of God to set before their eies a view of his iustice manifested in the world vpon sinners reprobats to the end that the drousie consciences of Gods children might be awakened and the desperat hearts of the wicked cōfounded when they shall see how vengeance pursueth malefactours to their shame and confusiō in this life and to their destructiō in the world to come This I haue performed according to the measure of my skil in this present volume which hauing partly translated out of the French and partly collected by mine owne industrie out of many Authors I dedicate and consecrate vnto you as a monument of my dutifull loue which I owe am euer bound to owe vnto your selfe your vertuous Lady and all your generation desiring of you a fauourable acceptance of my simple offering and for you a protection from all such iudgements as are contained in this and a perpetuall continuance of all happie and heauenly felicitie Your Worships in all dutie to command Th. Beard The Preface IF to auoid and eschew vice according to the saying of the Poet be a chiefe vertue and as it were the first degree of wisdome then it is a necessarie point to know what vice and vertue is and to discerne the euill and good which either of them bring forth to the end to beware least wee dash our selues vnawares against vice in stead of vertue and be caught with the deceitfull baites thereof For this cause the great and famous Philosopher about to lay open the nature of morall vertues according to that knowledge and light which nature afforded him contented not himselfe with a simple narration of the properties essence and obiect of them but opposed to euery vertue on each side the contrarie and repugnant vice to the end that at the sight of them being so out of square so hurtfull and pernicious vertue it selfe might be more amiable and in greater esteeme And for this cause also God himselfe our soueraigne and perfect lawgiuer that hee might fashion and fit vs to the mould of true and solide vertue vseth oftener negatiue prohibitions than affirmatiue commandements in his law to the end aboue all things to distract and turne vs from euill whereunto we are of our selues too too much inclined And as by this meane sinne is discouered and made known vnto vs so is the punishment also of sinne set before our eyes by those threatnings and curses which are there denounced to the end that whome the promises of life and saluation could not allure and persuade to do well them the feare of punishment which followeth sinne as a shadow doth the body might bridle and restraine from giuing them ouer to impietie Now then if the very threatnings ought to serue for such good vse shall not the execution and perfourmance of them serue much more to wit when the tempest of Gods wrath is not only denounced but also throwne downe effectually vpon the heads of the mightie ones of the world when they are disobedient and rebellious against God And hereupon the Prophet saith That when Gods iudgements are vpon earth then the inhabitants learne iustice And doubtlesse it is most true that euery one ought to reape profit to himselfe by such examples as well them which are presented daily to their view by experience as them which haue beene done in times past and are by benefit of history preserued from obliuion And in this regard historie is accounted a very necessary and profitable thing for that in recalling to mind the truth of things past which otherwise would be buried in silence it setteth before vs such effects as warnings admonitions touching good and euill and laieth vertue and vice so naked before our eyes with the punishments or rewards inflicted or bestowed vpon the followers of each of them that it may rightly be called an easie and profitable apprentiship or schoole for euery man to learne to get wisedome at another mans cost Hence it is that Historie is tearmed of the ancient Philosophers The record and register of Time the light of Truth and the mistresse and looking glasse of mans life Insomuch as vnder the person of another man it teacheth and instructeth all those that apply their minds vnto it to gouerne and carry themselues vertuously and honestly in this life Wherefore they deserue great praise and commendation that haue taken paines to enroll and put in writing the memorable actes and occurrents of their times to communicate the same to their posteritie for there the high and wonderfull workes of God do most clearely and as it were to the view present themselues as his iustice and
home vnto his owne house was attached with so grieuous a sicknesse and such furious and mad fits withall that his wife and neerest allies not daring to come neere him hee like a franticke bedlem enraged and solitarily ended his life A counsellour of the same court called Bellâ—mâ—nt was so hote and zealous in proceeding against the poore prisoners for the word of Gods sake that to the end to packe them soone to the fire hee vsually departed not from the iudgement hall from morning to euening but caused his meat and drinke to be brought for his meales returning not home but only at night to take his rest But whilst hee thus strongly and endeauourously emploied himselfe about these affaires there began a litle sore to rise vpon his foote which at the first being no bigger then if a waspe had stung the place grew quickly so red and full of paine and so encreased the first day by ranckling ouer all his foot and inflaming the same that by the iudgement of Phisitians and Chirurgians through the contagious fire that spred it selfe ouer his whole body it seemed incurable except by cutting off his foot the other members of the body might be preserued which hee in no case willing to yeeld vnto for all the medicines that were applied vnto it found the second day his whole legge infected and the third his whole thigh and the fourth day his whole body in so much that he died the same day his dead body being all parched as if it had bene rosted by a fire And thus hee that was so hote in burning poore Christians was himselfe by a seeret flame of Gods wrath as by slow and soft fire burned and consumed to death Lewes de Vaine brother in law to Menier the president of the said parliament of Prouince History of Martyrs second booke with the brother and sonne of Peter Durand chiefe butcher of the city Aix the euening before their horrible crueltie was executed at Merindoll fell at debate amongst themselues and the morrow as instruments of Gods iudgements slew one another The Iudge of the city Aix one of that wretched crew drowned himselfe in his returne The same as hee passed ouer the riuer Durance As for the chiefe Iudge that was principall in that murderous action The same touching the condemnation of those poore soules of Merindoll and Cabrieres he likewise suddenly died before he saw the execution of that decree which himselfe had sed downe Iohn Mesnier lord of Oppede another chiefe officer of the foresaid parliament that got the leading of that murdering armie against the poore Christians aforesaid committed such excesse of cruelty that the most barbarous heathen in the world would haue yearned to doe For which cause hee was also summoned to appeare personally at the parliament of Paris there to answere to those extortions robberies oppressions which were laid to his charge and being conuinced and found guilty thereof was neuerthelesse released and set at liberty and that which is more restored to his former state Howbeit though he escaped the hands of men yet was he ouertaken by the hand of God who knew well enough the way how to entrap and abate his proud intents for euen then when hee was in the height of worldly prosperity and busier then euer in persecuting Christians euen then was hee pulled downe by a fluxe of blood which prouoking his priuie partes ingendred such a carnositie and thicknesse of flesh therein and withall a restraint of vrine that with horrible ourcries and rauing speeches hee died feeling a burning fire broiling his entrails from his nauell vpwards and an extreme infection putrifying his lower parts and beginning to feele in this life both in body and soule the rigour of eternall fire prepared for the deuill and his angels Iohn Martin Trombant of Briqueras in Piemont vaunting himselfe euery foot in the hindrance of the Gospell cut off a ministers nose of Angrogne in his brauery 2 Bookes of martyrs but immediatly after was himselfe assailed by a mad wolfe that gnawed off his nose as he had done the ministers and caused him like a mad man to end his life which strange iudgement was notoriously knowen to all the countrey thereabout and beside it was neuer heard that this wolfe had euer harmed any man before Gaspard of Reniaâ—me one of the magistrates of the city of Anuers that adiudged to death certaine poore faithfull soules receiued in the same place ere hee remooued a terrible sentence of Gods iudgement against himselfe for hee fell desperate immediatly and was faine to be led into his house halfe beside himselfe where crying that hee had condemned the innocent blood he sorthwith died CHAP. XVI Other Examples of the same subiect ABout the same time there happened a very straunge iudgement vpon an ancient lawier of Bourges one Iohn Cranequin a man of ripe wit naturall and a great practitioner in his profession but very ignorant in the law of God and all good literature so enuiously bent against all those that knew more then himselfe and that abstained from the filthie pollutions of poperie that hee serued in stead of a promootour to enforme Ory the inquisitour of them but for his labour the arme of God stroke him with a marueilous straunge phrensie that whatsoeuer his eies beheld seemed in his iudgement to be crawling serpents In such sort that after hee had in vaine experienced all kind of medicines yea and vsed the helpe of wicked sorcerie and coniuration yet at length his senses were quite benummed and depriued him and in that wretched and miserable estate hee ended his life Iohn Morin a mighty enemie to the professors of Gods truth one that laboured continually at Paris in apprehending and accusing the faithfull in so much that hee sent daily multitudes that appealed from him to the high court of the pallace died himselfe in most grieuous and horrible torment The Chauncellour of Prat hee that in the Parliaments of France put vp the first bill against the faithfull and gaue out the first commissions to put them to death died swearing and blaspheming the name of God his stomacke being most straungely gnawen in peeces and consumed with wormes The Chauncellour Oliuer beeing restored to his former estate Refer this among Apostaraes Lib. 1. cap. 18. hauing first against his conscience renounced his religion so also now the same conscience of his checking and reclaiming hee spared not to shedde much innocent blood by condemning them to death But such a fearefull iudgement was denounced against him by the very mouthes of the guiltlesse condemned soules that stroke him into such a feare and terrour that presently hee fell sicke surprised with so extreame a melancholy that sobbing forth sighes without intermission and murmurings against God hee so afflicted his halfe dead body like a man robd and dispossest of sense and reason that with his vehement fits hee would so shake the bedde as if a young man in
halfe dead and with in short space died altogether without any appearance of repentance Among many other iudges which shewed themselues hot and rigorous in persecuting and proceeding against the faithfull prisoners of Valence in Daulphin and other Romanes at that season when two ministers of the same citie suffered martyrdome one Lanbespin a Counsellor and Ponsenas the Kings attourney at the parlement of Grenoble both two hauing beene professors in times past were not the backwardest in that action but God made them both strange examples of his wrath for Lanbespin falling in loue with a young maid was so extreamely passionate therein that hee forewent his owne estate and all bounds of ciuill honestie to follow her vp and downe whether soeuer shee went and seeing his loue and labour despised and set at naught hee so pined away with verie thought that making no reckoning of himselfe such a multitude of lice so fed vpon him took so good liking of their pasture that by no meanes he could be clensed of them for they increased issued out of euery part of his body in such number as maggots are wont to engender in a dead rotten carrion At length a litle before his death seeing his owne miserie and feeling Gods heauie vengeance vpon him he began to despaire of all mercie to the end to abridge his miserable daies hee resolued to hunger starue himself to death which purpose the lice furthered for they stack so thick in his throat as if they would haue choked him euery momeÌ„t neither could he suffer any sustenance to passe downe by reason of them They that were eie witnesses of this pittifull spectacle were wonderously mooued with compassion and constrained him to eat whether hee would or not And that they might make him take cullisses and other stewed broathes because hee refused and stroue against them they bound his armes and put gagges into his mouth to keepe it open whilest others poured in the food And in this wise being gagged he died like a mad beast with aboundance of lice that went downe his throat in so much that the very Papists themselues stucke not to say Persecution lib. 1. cap. 15. That as hee caused the ministers of Valence to haue gagges thrust into their mouthes and so put to death so likewise hee himselfe died with a gag in his mouth As touching Ponsâ—nas commonly called Bourrell a very butcher indeed of poore Christians after hee had sold his owne patrimonie and his wiues and friends also to the end to buy out his office had spent that which remained in house keeping hoping in short space to rake vp twise as much as he had scattered fell suddainly into a strange and vnknown disease and shortly grew in despaire of Gods succour and fauor towards him by a strong remembrance of those of Valence and the other Romanes which hee had put to death which would neuer depart out of his mind but still presented themselues before him Persecution Lib. 1. cap. 15. so that as one bestraught of reason sense he denied his maker and called vpon his destroier the Deuill with most horrible and bitter cursings which when his clarke perceiued he laid out before him the mercies of God out of all places of the scripture to comfort and restore his decaied sence But in stead of returning to God by repentance and praier hee continued obstinate and answered his clarke whose name was Steuen in this wife Steuen Steuen thou art blacke So I am and it please you quoth hee but I am neither Turke nor Moore nor Bohemian but a Gascoigne of red haire No no answered he not so but thou art blacke but it is with sinne That is true quoth hee but I hope in the bountifull mercie of God that for the loue of Christ who died for mee my blacke sinnes shall not bee imputed to me There he redoubling his choler cried mainely after his clarke calling him Lutheran Huguenot villaine At which noise his friends without rushed in to know what the matter was but hee commanded that Steuen his clarke should presently haue a paire of bolts clapt on his heeles and to bee burned for an Heretike In briefe his choler and rage boiled so furiously in him that in short space hee died a fearfull death with horrible houling outcries his creditors scarce gaue them respite to draw his carcase out of his bed before they seased vpon all his goods not leauing his poore wife and children so much as a bed of straw to lie in so grieuous was the curse of God vpon his house Another great Prince hauing in former time vsed his authoritie and power to the aduancing of Gods kingdome afterwards being seduced by the allurements of the world renounced God and took part with the enemies of his church to make warre against it in which warre hee was wounded to death and is one notable example of Gods iust vengeance to all that shall in like manner fall away CHAP. XXI Of Heretikes AS it is a matter necessarily appertaining to the first commandemeÌ„t that the puritie and sinceritie of the doctrine of Gods word be maintained by the rule whereof hee would haue vs both know him and vnderstand the holy mysteries which are reuealed to vs therein so also by the contrarie whatsoeuer tendeth to the corrupting or falsifieng of the same word rising from foolish and strange opinions of humane reason the same transgresseth the limits of this commandement of which sort is Heresie an euill of it owne nature verie pernicious and contagious and no lesse to bee feared and shunned then the heate of persecution and by meanes whereof the whole nation of Christendome hath beene heretofore tossed with many troubles and the church of God greeuously vexed But as truth got euer the vpper hand and preuailed against falshood so the brochers and vpholders of falshood came euer to the worse and were confounded as well by the strength of truth as by the speciall iudgements of God sent downe vpon the most part of them Acts. 5.36.39 Euseb eccle hist lib 2. cap. 10. Ioseph antiq lib. 18. cap. 1. lib. 20 cap. 2. Theudas and Iudas Galilaeus were two that seduced the Iewes before Christ for the first of them said hee was a Prophet sent from God and that hee could deuide the waters of Iordan by his word as Ioshua the seruant of the Lord did The other promised to deliuer them from the seruitude and the yoke of the Romanes And both of them by that means drew much people after them so prone is the coÌ„mon multitude to follow nouelties and to beleeue euery new fangle that is but yesterday set on broch But they came both to a deserued destruction for Fatus the gouernour of Iury ouertooke Theudas sending his trunck to the graue carried his head as a monument to Ierusalem As for Iudas hee perished also al his followers were dispersed manifesting their ends that their works were
not of God but of men and therfore must needs come to naught Act. 13. After Christ in the Apostles time there was one Elimas a sorcerer that mightily withstood the doctrine of Paul and Barnabas before Sergius Paulus the Deputy and sowed a contrarie heresie in his mind but Paul full of the holy Ghost set his eies on him and said O full of all subtiltie and mischiefe the child of the Deuill and enemie of righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to peruert the straight waies of the Lord Now therefore behold the hand of the Lord is vpon thee and thou shalt be blind for a season And immediately there fell vpon him a mist and darkenesse and he went about to seeke some to lead him by the hand And this recompense gained he for his erronious and hereticall practise Euseb lib. 4. cap. 6. Philip. M. chron A while after him vnder the Empire of Adrian arose there another called Bencochab that professed himselfe to bee the Messias and to haue descended from Heauen in the likenesse of a Starre for the safetie and redemption of the people by which fallacie hee drew after him a world of seditious Disciples but at length hee and manie of his credulous rout were slaine and was called by the Iewes Bencozba that is the sonne of a lie and this was the goodly redemption which this Heretike brought vpon his owne head and many of his fellowes It is reported of Cerinthus an Heretike that hee denying and going about to darken the doctrine of Christs euerlasting kingdome Euseb was ouerwhelmed by the sodaine fall of an whote house which fell vpon him and his associates assoone as Saint Iohn was departed from it for Ireneus saith that hee heard Polycarpus often report how Saint Iohn being about to enter into the bathes at Ephesus when hee perceiued Cerinthus alreadie within departed verie hastily saying to those that bore him companie that hee feared that the house would fall vpon their heads because of Cerinthus the Heretike that was therein at that instant Manes Euseb Socrat. of whom the Maniches tooke their name and first oririginall forged in his foolish braine a fiction of two gods and two beginners and reiecting the old Testament the true God which is reuealed in the same published a fifth Gospell of his owne forgerie yea and was so besotted with folly as Suidas testifieth of him that hee reported himselfe to be the holy Ghost when hee had thus with his deuelish heresies and blasphemies infected the world and was pursued by Gods iust iudgement at last for other wicked practises hee had his skin pulled ouer his eares aliue and so died in miserie Montanus that blasphemous caitife of whom came the Montanistes or Pepuzian heretikes of a towne in Phrigia called Pepuza denied Christ our sauiour to bee God and said he was but a man only like other men without any participation of diuine essence hee called himselfe the comforter and holy spirit which was forepromised to come into the world and his two wiues Priscilla and Maximilla hee named his prophetisses and their writings prophecies howbeit all their cunning could not foretell nor preuent a wretched and desperate end which befell him for hee hong himself after he had deluded the world a long seasō proued by his end his life to haue beene vile and damnable according to the Prouerbe Nicephor lib. 4. cap. 22. Centur. 2. cap. 8. Qualis vita finis ita A cursed life and a cursed death Of all Heretikes that euer troubled and afflicted Gods church the Arians were the chiefe the author and ringleader of which crue as by his vainglorious pride and ambition he sought to extoll himselfe aboue the clouds bosting and vaunting in his damnable error Socrat. Theod. Sozom. so by the iust vengeance of God he was abased lower then hell and put in euerlasting shame opprobrie for he had long time as it were entered the list and combated with Christ was condemned for an Heretike by the Nicene counsell and his books burned and then afterwards making shew before Constantine the Emperour with a solemne oth to recant his old errors and approue the profession of faith which the counsell of Nice had set forth concerning Christs diuinity whereunto also he subscribed his name but all that he did was in hipocrisie to the end to renue and republish the more boldly his false and pernicious doctrine But when hee thought himselfe neerest to the attainement of his purpose and braued it most with his supporters and companions euen then the Lord stroke him with a soddaine feare in the open street and with such horrible panges in his guts and vehement desire of disburdening nature that hee was faine to come vnto the publike houses appointed for that purpose taking them which were next at hand for a shift but he neuer shifted from them againe for his breath went out of his mouth and his guts ran out of his fundament and there lay hee dead vpon his owne excrements As the Emperour Gonstantius was a great fauourer and supporter of this sect and maintained it against and in despight of true Christians and by that meanes stirred vp schismes and dissentions throughout all Christendome Socrat lib. 2. cap. 47. so the Lord to requite him stirred vp one Iulian whom he himselfe had promoted to honour to rebell against him whose practises as hee went about to suppresse and was euen readie to encounter a grieuous apoplexie suddenly surcharged him so sore that he died of it before he could bring his purpose to passe The Emperour Valence was infected also with this poison R ff lib. 2. c. 13. Iornand wherewith likewise hee infected the Gothes who by his meanes were become the greater part Arrians and not Christians but neither went he vnpunished for when hee marched forth to represse the rage of the furious Gothes who were spred ouer all Thracia and had giuen them battell hee lost the day and being shamefully put to flight was pursued so fiercely that he was faine to hide himselfe in a litle house which being set on fire by the Gothes he was burnt therein As for Nestorius which would maintaine by his foolish dangerous opinions that the diuinitie of Christ was deuided from his humanity making as it were two Christs of one and two persons of one Niceph. lib. 14. cap. 36. and so turned vpside downe the whole ground worke of our saluation escaped no more the iust vengeance of God then all other heretikes did for first hee was banished into a farre countrey and there tormented with a strange disease the very wormes did gnaw in pieces his blasphemous tongue and at length the earth opened her mouth and swallowed him vp Concerning the Anabaptists which rose vp about fiue hundred yeres since it is euidently knowen how diuers waies God scourged and plagued many of them some of them were destroied by troupes and by thousands others miserably executed and
heauen and hell but as an old wiues fable hee beeing dead his disciples were brought forth into a large field neere Paris and there in the presence of the French king degraded and burnt the dead carkasse of Almaricus being taken out of the sepulchre and burnt amongst them It fell out that whilst they were in burning there arose so huge a tempest that heauen and earth seemed to mooue out of their places wherein doubtlesse the soules of these wicked men felt by experience that hell was no fable but a thing and such a thing as waited for all such rebels against God as they were Anastasius Emperour of Constantinople being corrupted with the heresie of Eutiches published an edict wherein all men were commanded to worship God not vnder three persons as a trinity but as a quaternitie containing in it foure persons and could not by any counsell be brought from that deuilish errour but repelled from him diuers bishops with great reproch which came to perswade him to the contrary for which cause not long after a flash of lightning from heauen suddenly seazed vpon him and so he perished when hee had reigned eight and twentie yeeres Iustinus the second also who after the death of Iustinian obtained the Imperiall crowne was a man of exceeding pride and crueltie contemning pouertie and murdering the nobilitie for the most part In auarice his desire was so insatiate that he caused iron chests to be prepared wherein hee might locke vp that treasure which by vniust exactions hee had extorted of the people Notwithstanding all this hee prospered well enough vntill he fell into the heresie of Pelagian soone after which the Lord bereft him of his wits and shortly after of his life also when he had reigned eleuen yeeres Mahomet by birth an Arabian and by profession one of the most monstrous heretikes that euer liued began his heresie in the yeere 625 his offspring was but out of a base stocke for being fatherlesse one Abdemonoples a man of the house of Ismael bought him for his slaue and loued him greatly for his fauour and wit for which cause he made him ruler ouer his marchandize and other businesse Now in the meane while one Sergius a monke flying for heresie into Arabia instructed him in the heresie of Nestorius a while after his master died without children and left behind him much riches and his wife a widow of fifty yeeres of age whome Mahomet married and when shee died was made heire vnto all her riches So that now what for his wealth and cunning in magicke he was had in high honour among the common people Wherefore by the counsell of Sergius he called himselfe The great Prophet of God And shortly after when his fame was published hee deuised a law and kind of religion called Alcaron wherein he borrowed something almost of all the heresies that were before his time with the Sabellians he denied the Trinitie with the Maniclies he said there was but two persons in the Deity hee denied the equalitie of the Father with the Sonne with Eunomius and said with Macedone that the Holy Ghost was a creature and approoued the community of women with the Nicholaits hee borrowed of the Iewes circumcision and of the Gentiles much superstition and somewhat he tooke of the Christian verity besides many deuilish fantasies inuented of his owne braine those that obeied his law he called Sarazins Now after he had liued in these monstrous abuses fourty yeeres the Lord cut him off by the falling sicknesse which he had dissembled a long time saying when hee was taken therewith that the Angell Gabriel appeared vnto him whose brightnesse hee could not behold but the Lord made that his destruction which he imagined would be for his honour and setting forth his sect Stow Chron. Infinite be the examples of the destruction iudgement of priuat heretikes in all ages therfore we will content our selues with them that be most famous In the yeere of our Lord 1561 and the third yere of the reigne of Q. Elizabeth there was in London one William Geffery that constantly auouched a companion of his called Iohn Moore to be Christ our Sauiour and could not be reclaimed from this mad perswasion vntill he was whipped from Southwarke to Bedlam where the said Moore meeting him was whipped also vntill they both confessed Christ to be in heauen and themselues to be sinfull and wicked men But most strange it is The same how diuers sensible wise meÌ„ were deluded caried beside themselues by the subtilty of Satan in the yeere 1591 the reigne of Q. Elizabeth 33 the memory thereof is yet fresh in euery mans head and mouth and therfore I will but briefly touch the same Edmond Coppinger Henry Arthington two gentlemen being associated with one William Hacket somtimes a profane very leud person but now coÌ„uerted in outward shew though not in inward affection were so seduced by his hypocriticall behauiour the deuils extraordinary deuices that from one point to another they came at last to thinke that this Hacket was anointed to be the Iudge of the world therfore comming on a day to Hackeâ—s lodging in London Hypocrisie in regard of Hacket lib. 1. c. 22. he told them that he had bin annointed of the H. ghost then Coppinger asked him what his pleasure was to be done Go your way saith he proclaime in the city that Christ Iesus is come with his fan in his hand to iudge the earth if they wil not beleeue it let them come kill me if they can Then Coppinger answered it should be don forthwith therupon like mad men he Arthington ran into the streets proclaimed their message aforesaid wheÌ„ by reason of the concourse of people they could not proceed any further they got vp into two empty carts in Cheap crying Repent repent for Christ Iesus is come to iudge the world then pulling a paper out of his bosom he read out of it many things touching the office calling of Hacket how he represented Christ by partaking part of his glorified body c. besides they called themselues his prophets one of Iustice another of mercy And thus these simple men were strangely deceiued by a miraculous illusion of Satan who no doubt by strange apparitions had brought them into this vain conceit But let vs obserue the end of it it was thus The whole citie being in a maze tooke Hacket the breeder of this deuise and arraigning him before the Maior other Iustices found him guilty as well of this seditious practise as of speaking traiterous words against the Queene Wherefore hee was shortly after hanged on a gibbet in Cheape-side counterfaiting to his last his old deuises and at length vttering horrible blasphemies against the maiestie of God As for his Prophets Coppinger died the next day in Bridewell and Arthington was kept in prison vpon hope of repentance This though it be no
a wise man to preuent all mischiefes was found dead the day before hauing his throat cut and as most likelihood was finding himselfe guilty of the fact and too weake to ouerway the other side forestalled the infamie of a most shamefull death by killing himselfe although there be that say that the Emperour sent one of purpose to dispatch him in this manner Lib. 3. cap. 4. Of the Northren people Olaus Magnus telleth of one Methâ—tin a noble magitian in old time that by his delusions did so deceiue and blind the poore ignorant people that they accounted him not only for some mightie man but rather for some demy god in token of the honour and reuerence they bare him Refer this also to the lib. 1. cap 24. they offered vp sacrifices vnto him which he refused not but at last his knaueries and cousenages being laid open they killed him whom before they so much esteemed because his dead carkasse with filthy stinke infected the approchers they digged it vp and broched it vpon the end of a stake to be deuoured of wild beasts Chap. 18. of the foresaid book Another called Hollere as the same authour witnesseth plaied the like tricks in abusing the peoples minds as strongly as the other did insomuch that he was reputed also for a god for he ioined with his craft strength and power to make himselfe of greater authority in the world WheÌ„ he listed to passe ouer the sea hee vsed no other ship but a bone figured with certaine charmes wherby he was transported as if both sailes wind had helped driuen him forwards yet his enchanted bone was not of power to saue him from being murdered of his enemies The same authour writeth that in Denmarke there was one Otto a great rouer pirat by sea who vsed likewise to passe the seas without the helpe of ship or any other vessell sunke drowned all his enemies with the waues which by his cunning he stirred vp but at last this cunning practiser was ouerreached by one more expert in his Art then himselfe and as hee had serued others so was hee himselfe serued euen swallowed vp of the waues There was a coniurer at Saltzbourg that vaunted that he could gather togither all the serpents within halfe a mile round about into a ditch and feed them and bring them vp there and being about the experiment behold the old and grand serpent came in the while which whilst he thought by the force of his charmes to make to enter into the ditch among the rest he set vpon and enclosed him round about like a girdle so strongly that he drew him perforce into the ditch with him where he miserably died Marke here the wages of such wicked miscreants that as they make it their occupation to abuse simple folke they are themselues abused cousened of the deuill who is a finer iuggler then them all It was a very lamentable spectacle that chanced to the gouernour of Mascon a magitian whome the deuill snatched vp in dinner while and hoisted aloft carrying him three times about the towne of Mascon in the presence of many beholders to whome hee cryed on this manner Helpe helpe my friends Hugo de Clam so that the whole towne stood amazed thereat yea and the remembrance of this strange accident sticketh at this day fast in the minds of all the inhabitants of the countrey and they say that this wretch hauing giuen himselfe to the deuill prouided store of holy bread as they call it which hee alwaies carried about with him thinking thereby to keepe himselfe from his clawes but it serued him to small stead as his end declared About the yeere 1437 Charles the seuenth being king of France Sir Giles of Britaine lord of Rayes and high Constable of France was accused by the report of Enguerran de Monstrelet for hauing murdered many infants and women great with child Vol. 2. to the number of eight score or more with whose blood he either writ or caused to be written books full of coniurations hoping by that abominable meanes to attaine to high matters but it happened cleane crosse contrary to his expectation and practise for being conuinced of those horrible crimes it being Gods will that such grosse and palpable sinnes should not go vnpunished hee was adiudged to be hanged and burned to death which was also accordingly executed at Nantes by the authoritie of the Duke of Britaine Iohn Francis Picus of Mirand saith that hee conferred diuers times with many who being enticed with a vaine hope of knowing things to come were afterwards so grieuously tormented by the deuill with whome they had made some bargaine that they thought themselues thrise happy if they escaped with their liues He saith moreouer that there was in his time a certaine coniurer that promised a too curious no great wise prince to present vnto him vpon a stage the siege of Troy and Achilles and Hector fighting togither as they did when they were aliue but he could not performe his promise for another sport and spectacle more hideous ougly to his person for hee was taken away aliue by a deuill in such sort that he was neuer afterward heard of In our owne memory the Earle of Aspremont and his brother lord of Orne were made famous and in euery mans mouth for their straunge and prodigious feats wherein they were so vnreasonably dissolute and vainglorious that sometime they made it their sport and pastime to breake downe all the windowes about the castle Aspremont where they kept which lieth in Lorraine two miles from S. Michael and threw them peece meale into a deep well to heare them crie plumpe but this vaine excesse prefaged a ruine and destruction to come aswell vpon their house which at this present lieth desolate and ruinous in many respects as vpon theÌ„selues that finished their daies in miserie one after another as wee shall now vnderstand of the one the Lord of Orne a Albeit the author forget himselfe for there is no more mentioÌ„ made of him in the whole booke as for the Earle how he died wee shall see more at large in the second booke 28 chapter to which place his history properly belongeth Now it chanced that as this Lord of Orne was of most wicked and cruell conditions so he had an euil fauoured looke answerable to his inclination and name to be a coniurer the report that went of his cruelty was this that vpon a time he put the baker one of his seruants whose wife he vsed secretly to entertaine into a tunne which he caused to be rouled from the top of a hill into the bottome bounsing some times as high as a pike as the place gaue occasion but by the great mercy of God notwithstanding all this this poore man saued his life Furthermore it was a common report that wheÌ„ any Gentlemen or Lords came to see him they were entertained as they
deigne to acknowledge And thus it falleth out with all wicked miserable Atheists whose hearts imagine there is no God and therfore haue so little assurance in themselues that there need no thunder and lightning to amase them for the shaking of euerie leafe is sufficient to make them tremble To conclude this Atheist void of religion and feare of God and full of all prophanesse was according to his due desert murthered by one of his owne seruants of the which will follow more at large in the next booke Domitian likewise was so blinded with pride that he would be called a god and worshipped Oros lib. 7. ca. 7. of whome also wee will speake in the second booke and 34 chapter To these we may adde them also Dionys Halie Lib. 1. antiq Roman that to the end to make themselues feared and reuerenced as gods haue counterfaited the lightnings and thunders of heauen as we read of one Alladius a Latin king that raigned before Romulus who being a most wicked tyrant a contemner of God inuented a trick whereby to represent to the eare and eie the rattling swift shine of both thunder lightning that by that meanes astonishing his subiects he might be guised of them for a god but it chanced that his house being set on fire with true lightning ouerthrown with the violent strength of tempestuous rain togither with the ouerflowing of a pond that stood nere he perished by fire water burnt drowned all at once Did not the king of Elide the like and to the same end also by the deuice of a chariot drawn about with foure horses wherein were certaine iron workes which with wrinching about gaue an horrible sound resembling thunder and torches and squibs which hee caused to be throwen about like lightnings in such sort that he oftentimes burnt the beholders Diod. lib. 4. in this manner hee went vp and downe brauing it especially ouer an iron bridge which hee had of purpose built to passe and repasse ouer at his pleasure vntill Gods long suffering could not endure any longer such outragious and presumptuous madnesse but sent a thunderbolt from heauen vpon his head that all the world might see by his destruction the exceeding folly and vaine pride which bewitched him in his life time Which history the Poet in the person of Sibilla setteth downe at large to this effect I saw Salmon in cruell torments lie For counterfatting thunder of the skie And Ioues cleare lightning whilst with torches bright Drawne with foure steedes and brandishing his light He rode triumphantly through Elis streats And made all Grecia wonder at his feats Thinking to win the honor of a god Mad as he was by scattertng fire abroad With brazen engines and with courses faining A noise like that which in the clouds is raining And no where else but God from thickest skie No torch but such a thunderbolt let flie At him that headlong whirld him from his cell And tumbled downe into the deepest hell Thus this arrogant king was punished according to the quality of his offence euen in the same kind wherin he offended which thing though it bee found written in a Poet yet ought not be reiected for an old wiues tale seeing it is not incredible that a king might make such pastimes yron crashing noises nor that he might be iustly punished for the same and the rather because Caligula did the like as wee haue heard before And we read also that one Arthemisius in the time of the Emperour Iustinian counterfeited by certain engines and deuises in his owne house in Constantinople Agath lib. 5. bell Gothis such earthquakes lightnings and thunders that would astonish a wise braine to heare or behold them on a sodaine But aboue all others that by darkening the glorie of God to encrease their own power haue prowdly exalted theÌ„selues against him the Popes are the ringleaders whose vnbrideled boldnes hath ben so much the more impudent pernicious for that in tearming themselues the seruants of the seruants of God in word in deed take vnto them the authoritie and power of God himself as of pardoning absoluing sins creating laws ordinances at their pleasure in binding or vnbinding mens consciences which things appertain to God only nay they haue ben so brasen faced as to coÌ„mand Angels and deuils as Clement the fift did in one of his buls so impudent as to be carried like idols vpon their vassalâ— shoulders weare three crownes vpon their heads so prowd and arrogant as to constraine kings and Emperours to kisse their feet to make them their vassals to vsurpe Lordship dominion ouer them and all their lands and possessions and to dispossesse whome they like not of kingdomes enstall in their roomes whom they please and all this by the thunder of excommunication whereby they make themselues feared and stood in awe of By which dealings of theirs they verifie in themselues that which the scripture speaketh of Antichrist which is the man of sinne the sonne of perdition 2. Thes 2.3 an aduersarie and one that exalteth himselfe against all which is called God or which is worshipped till he bee set as a god in the temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Wherefore also the heauie vengeance of God is manifest vpon them by the great and horrible punishments they haue beene tormented with for some of them haue had their eies pulled out others haue died in prisons a third sort haue beene smothered to death a fourth hath beene killed with the sword a fift hath died with hunger a sixt bene stoned a seuenth poysoned and yet there hath not wanted an eigth sort whom the deuill himselfe hath stifled This it is to ouerreach the clouds Sabel Aenead 9. lib. 7. Iohn le Maire de Besges Niâ—h Giles of the Chronicles of Fraunce and not content with earthly power to vsurpe a supremacy and praeeminence ouer kings such was the pride of Pope Boniface the eigth wheÌ„ he sent an embassage to Philip the Faire king of France to command him to take vpon him an expedition against the Sarasens beyond the sea vpon paine of forfeiting his kingdome into his hands and when hauing his sword by his side he shamed not to say that he alone and none else was Emperour and Lord of all the world in demonstration wherof he bestowed the Empire vpon Duke Albert together with the crowne of Fraunce and not content herewith his insolencie was so importunat that he charged Philip the Faire to acknowledge himselfe to bee his subiect in all causes as well spirituall as temporall and to leuie a subsidie for his holinesse out of his Clergie disabling his authority in bestowing church liuings which prerogatiue hee chalenged to his sea the conclusion of this bull was in these words Aliud credentes fatitos reputamus as much to say as whosoeuer is of another mind then this we esteeme him a foole Wherevnto
out more than was their due and by force to rauen all that which by faire meanes they could not get And that which is worse to pollute the holy Tabernacle of God with their filthie Whoredomes Contempt of holy things lib. 1. cap. 34. in such sort that the Religion of God grew in disgrace through their prophane dealings And albeit that it may seeme that their father did his dutie in some sort when hee admonished and reprooued them yet it is manifest by the reprehension of the man of God that hee did no part of that at all or if hee did yet it was in so careles loose cold maner vsing more lenitie thē he ought or lesse seueritie thē was necessary that God turned their destructions whē they were slain at the ouerthrow of Israel by the Philistims to bee his punishment for vnderstanding the doleful news of his sons death the arks taking at once he fel backwards from his stoole and burst his neck being old and heauy euen fourscore and eighteene yeares of age not able either to helpe or stay himselfe Lib. 2. cap. 10. de in titut christ fami Ludouicus Viues saith that in his time a certaine woman in Flaunders did so much pamper and cocker vp two of her sonnes euen against her husbands will that shee would not suffer them to want money or any thing which might furnish their riotous life both in drinking banquetting dicing yea she would steale from her husband to minister vnto thē but as soone as her husband was dead shee was iustly plagued in them both for they fell from rioting to robbing which two vices are commonly linked together and for the same one of thē was executed by the sword the other by the haltar shee her selfe looking on as a witnesse of their destructions whereof her conscience told her that her indulgence was the chiefest cause Hether may wee referre that common and vulgar story and I suppose verie true which is almost in euery childs mouth of him that going to the gallowes desired to speake with his mother in her eare ere hee died Cyriac. Spang and when she came vnto him in stead of speaking bit off her eare with his teeth exclaiming vpon her as the causer of his death because shee did not chastise him in his youth for his faults but by her flatteries established him in vice which brought him to this wofull end herein she was doubly punished both in her sons destruction her own infamy wherof shee carried about her a continuall marke This ought to bee a warning to all parents to looke better to the education of their children and to root out of them in time all euill and corrupt manners least of small sprigs they grow to branches and of qualities to habites and so either be hardly done of or at least depraue the whole body bring it to destruction but aboue all to keepe them from idlenesse vain pleasures the discōmodity and mischiefe wherof this present example wil declare At a towne called Hannuel in Saxonie the Deuill transforming himselfe into the shape of a man Iob Fincel lib. de miracu exercised many iugling trickes and pretty pastimes to delight yoong men and maids withall and indeed to draw after him daily great companies one day they followed him out of the citie gates vnto a hill adioyning where hee plaid a iuggling tricke in deed with them for he carried them all away with him so that they were after neuer heard of This history is recorded in the annales of the forenamed city and auouched to be most true being a notable and fearefull admonition to all parents to set their children to learning and instruction and to withdraw them from all such vaine and foolish pastimes CHAP. II. Of those that rebell against their Superiours NOw as it is a thing required by law and reason that children beare that honour and reuerence to their naturall parents which is commanded so it is as necessary by the same respect that all subiects perfourme that duty of honor obedience to their Lords Princes and Kings which is not derogatory to the glory of God and the rather because they are as it were their fathers in supplying that duty towards their subiects which fathers owe their children as namely in maintaining their peace tranquility in earthly things and keeping them vnder the discipline of Gods Church to which two ends they were ordained Rom. 13. For this cause the scripture biddeth euery man to be subiect to the higher powers not so much to auoid the punishment which might befall the contrary as because it is agreeable to the will of God And in another place To honour the king and To giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars 1. Pet. 2. Matth. 22. Exod. 22. as vnto God that which is Gods So also in Moses law we are forbidden to detract from or speake euill of the magistrate or to curse the ruler of the people Yet for all this the children of Israel were not afraid many times to commit this sinne but then especially when they charged Moses with conspiring the murder of those rebels that vnder Corah Dathan and Abiram captaines of that enterprise set themselues against him and Aaron Num. 16. whome not hee but God for their pride and stubbornnesse had rooted out and destroied and thus they backbited and slaundered Moses and mutined against him being their soueraigne magistrate and conductour that so meekely and iustly had brought them ought of Aegypt euen by the speciall commission of almighty God But the fury of Gods displeasure was so stirred vp against them for this their fact that they were scourged with a most grieuous plague whereof died about foure thousand and seuen hundred persons In the time of king Dauids flight from Absolom who pursued him to bereaue him of his kingdome 2. Sam. 16. there was one Semei a Ieminite that in his wicked and peruerse humour in stead of seruice due vnto his soueraigne especially in that extremitie not only presented not himselfe vnto him as a subiect Mandat 3. Cursers lib. 1. cap. 33. but as a railer cursed him with most reprochfull termes as of murderer and wicked man and also threw stones at him and his followers in most despightfull maner for which his malicious and rebellious act though whilst Dauid liued he was not once called in question yet was he not exempted from punishment therefore for in the end his wickednesse fel vpon his owne head and destruction ouertooke him by desert of another fault 1. King 2. at the commandement of Salomon 2. Sam. 20. The punishment of Shiba the sonne of Bichri tarried not all so long who hauing also with a proud and audacious heart stirred vp the greatest part of Israel to rebell against Dauid then when he thought to haue beene most at quiet enioyed not long his disloiall enterprise for being speedily pursued by Dauids
the Lord hath preserued her maiestie not onely from these but many other secret and priuie foes and that most miraculously and contrarie to all reason and hath spread his winges ouer her to defend her from all her enemies the consideration whereof as it ought to stirre vp in euerie one a thankfull heart to acknowledge his mercies and a fearefull care not to displease him that is so gratious vnto vs so it ought also to incite euerie one of vs to pray incessantly for her further preseruation as being the soule of our soules and life of our liues for surely if the Lord depriue vs of her life our sinnes are the cause and our smart will be the effect thereof Moreouer there is yet another kind of treason and another rancke of traitors as pernicious as any of the former and as odious before God and man Such are they which either vpon priuate quarrels or receiued iniuries or hope of gaine or any other silly respect forsake their countries take part with the enemies to fight against it or they that in time of necessity refuse to fight or dare not fight in defence of it the former sort are called fugitiues and the latter cowards As touching the first they haue beene alwaies in detestation in well gouerned pollicies and also euermore seuerely punished The Aeginates punished them with the losse of their right hand thumbes to the end they might no more handle a speare or a sword but an oare The Mitylenians with losse of their liues The inhabitants of Samos marked them in the face with the picture of an oule and the Romanes punished them after diuerse fashions Fabius Maximus caused all those that had fled from the Romane succours to the enemy to loose their hands Africanus the former though gentle mild by nature yet in this respect he borrowed from forraine cruelty for hauing conquered Carthage got into his power all those Romane rebels that tooke part against his country hee hung the Romanes as traitors to their countrie Valerius maximus and mitigated the punishment of the Latines as but perfidious confederates Africanus the latter when hee had subdued the Punicke Nation hee threw all fugitiues amongst wild beasts to be deuoured Lucius Paulus after the conquest of the king of Persia committed these fellows to the mercie of Eliphantes Generally there is no Nation vnder the sunne which holdeth them not in execration and therfore our English fugitiues who vnder cloke of religion not onely abandon their countrie their kindred and their Prince but also conspire the vndoing swear the destruction of them are they not worthie to be handled like traitors and to haue their quarters spectacles of perfidie The bridge and gates of London beare witnesse of the wofull ends that these Iesuits come vnto As touching cowards I meane such as preferring their liues or liberty or any other by-respects before their countries welfare either dare not or wil not stand stoutly in defence of it in time of war and danger they deserue no lesse punishment then the former seeing that as they are open oppugners so these are close vnderminers of the good thereof And therefore the Romans did sharply chasten them in their gouernment as may appear by diuerse examples of the same as first they were noted with this ignominy neuer to eat their meat but standing hereunto they were sworne Nay they were in such hatefull account amongst them Alex. ab Alex. that when Anniball offered the Senat 8000 captiues to be redeemed they refused his offer saying that they were not worthy to bee redeemed that had rather bee taken basely then die honestly valiantly the same Senat dealt more fauourably with the captiues which king Pirrhus tooke for they redeemed them but with this disgrace degrading them from their honors and places vntill by a double spoile they had won their reputation againe L. Calpurnius Piso handled Titius the captaine of his horsemen in Sicilia one who being ouercharged with enemies deliuered his weapons vnto them on this maner Valerius Max. lib. 2. cap. 2. he caused him to go barefooted before the army wearing a garment without seames hee forbad him society with any saue such as were noted with the same fault and from a Generall ouer horsemen he debased him to a common souldior How did the same Senat correct the cowardise of Caius Vatienus who to the end to priuiledge himselfe from the Italick war cut off all the fingers of his left hand euen they proscribed his goods and cast him into perpetuall prison that that life which he refused to hazard in defence of his countrie hee might consume in bondage and fetters Fulgosius saith Lib. 2. cap. â— that among the Germanes it was so vnhonourable a part to loose but a shield in the war that whosoeuer had happened to doe so was suspended both from the place of common councill and from the temples of religion insomuch that many as he reporteth killed themselues to auoid the shame The people called Daci punished cowards on this sort they suffered them not to sleepe but with their heads to the beds feetward besides by the law they made them slaues and subiects to their owne wiues what viler disgrace could there be then this Plu. Agefilaus And yet the Lacedemonians plagued them more shamefully for with them it was a discredit to marrie in the stock of a coward any man might strike them lawfully and in their attire they went with their clothes rent and their beards halfe shauen Thus are all kind of traitors continually punished of the Lord by one means or other and therefore let vs learne to shun treason as the vilest and the detestablest thing in the world CHAP. IIII. Of such as haue murdered their rulers or Princes ZImri captaine of halfe the chariots of Elah King of Israel conspired against his Lord All this whole chapter in regard of murder belongeth to the sixt commandemâ—nt 1. Kâ—ng 16. as hee was in Tirza drinking till hee was drunke in the house of Arza his steward and came vpon him suddainely and smote him till hee died and possessed the kingdome in his roome Howbeit herein he was the Lords rod to punish the house of Baasha yet when the punishment was past the Lord threw the rod into the fire for he inioied the crown but seuen daies For all Israell detesting his fact made Omri king ouer them who besieged him in Tirza and droue him inro that extremity that hee went into the pallace of the kings house and burnt himselfe and the house with fire 2. Kin. 12.21 Iozachar the sonne of Shimeah and Iehozabod the sonne of Shomer came to no better end for murdering Iehoash King of Iuda for Amaziah his sonne after the kingdome was confirmed vnto him caused them both to bee put to death But their children hee slew not 2. King 14.5 according to that which is written in the book of the law
sole possessor of the whole Island after this he inuaded many other Islands besides many cities in the same land he raised the Lacedemonians from the siege of Samos which they had begirt And when hee saw that all things fell out so well to his owne wish that nothing could be more fearing so great prosperity could not but carry in the taile some terrible sting of aduersitie and mischance attempted by voluntary losse of something of value to preuent the mischiefe which he feared to ensue and this by the aduise of his deare friend and ally the king of Aegypt therefore hee threw a ring which hee had in great price into the sea to the end to delude fortune as he thought thereby but the ring was after found in a fishes belly and offered as a present vnto him and this was an euident presage of some ineuitable misfortune that waited for him neither did it proue vaine and friuolous for hee was hanged vpon a gibbet of Sardis by the commandement of Orates the gouernour of the city who vnder pretence of friendship and coulor of rendering his treasure into his hands and bestowing vpon him a great part thereof promising also to passe the rest of his daies vnder his wing for fear of the rage of Cambises drew him to come priuately to speak with him and so easily wrought his will vpon him Aristodemus got into his hands the gouernment of Cuma Dionâ—s Halicar lib. 7. after hee had made away the principall of the citie and to keepe it the better being obtained hee first won the vulgars hearts by presents then banished out of the Citie their children whome hee had put to death and entertained the rest of the youth with such varietie of pleasures and delights that by those deuises hee kept himselfe in his tyrannous estate many yeares but assoone as the children of those slaine Citizens were growne to ripe yeares of strength and discretion being desirous to reuenge their fathers deaths they set vpon him in the night so at vnawares that they put him and all his family to the slaughter Plutarch Tymophanes vsurped a principality power and rule in Corinth a free citie and became so odious thereby to the whole people yea and to his owne brother Tymoleon also that laying aside all respect of nature hee slew him with his owne hands preferring the libertie of his countrie before any vnity or bond of bloud When the cities of Greece sayth Orosius would needes through too greedie a desire and Ambition of raigne Lib. 3. cap. 12. get euery one the maisterie and soueraigntie of the rest they altogither made shipracke of their owne liberties by encroching vpon others as for instance The Lacedemonians how hurtfull and vncommodious the desire of bringing their neighbour adioining citties vnder their dominion was vnto them the sundrie discomfitures and distresses within the time of that warre vndertaken vpon that onely cause befell them Oros lâ—b 3. ca. 2. beare sufficient record Seruius Tullus the sonne to a bondman addicted himselfe so much to the exploits of warre that by Prowesse hee got so great credite and reputation among the Romanes that hee was thought worthie to bee made the sonne in law of king Tarquinius by marrying one of his daughters Titus Liuius after whose death hee also vsurped the crowne vnder colour of the Protectorship of the kings two yong sonnes Who when they came to age and bignesse maried the daughters of their brother in law Tullius by whose exhortation and continuall prouokement the elder of them which was called Tarquinius conspired against his father in law and practised to make himselfe king and to recouer his rightfull inheritance and that by this means he watched his oportunitie when the greatest part of the people were out of the citie about gathering their fruit in the fields and then placing his companions in readinesse to serue his turne if need should be he marched to the pallace in the roiall robes guarded with a company of his confederats and hauing called a Senate as hee began to complaine him of the trecherie and impudencie of Tullius behold Tullius himselfe came in would haue run violently vpon him but Tarquinius catching him about the middle threw him headlong down the staires and presently sent certaine of his guard to make an end of the murder which hee had begun But herein the cruelty of Tullia was most monstrous that not only first moued her husband to this bloudy practise but also made her coach to be driuen ouer the body of her father which lay bleeding in the middest of the street scarce dead Manlius after hee had maintained the fortresse of Rome against the Gaules glorying in that action Parricide lib â— cap. 11. and enuying the good hap and prosperity of Camillus went about to make himselfe king vnder pretence of restoring the people to their ancient entire libertie but his practise being discouered he was accused found guiltie and by the consent of the multitude adiudged to be throwne headlong downe from the top of the same fortresse to the end that the same place which gaue him great glory might bee a witnesse and memoriall of his shame and last confusion for all his valiant deedes before done were not of so much force with the people to excuse his fault or saue his life as this one crime was of weight to bring him to his death In former times there liued in Carthage one Hanno Oros lib. 4. c. 6. who because hee had more riches than all the Commonwealth beside began to aspire to the domination of the citie which the better to accomplish he deuised to make shew of marrying his only daughter to the end that at the mariage feast he might poyson the chiefest men of credit and power of the citie whome hee knew could or would any waies withstand or countermand his purpose but when this deuise tooke no effect by reason of the discouerie thereof by certain of his seruants he sought another meanes to effect his will He got togither a huge number of bondslaues and seruants which should at a sodaine put him in possession of the citie but being preuented herein also by the citizens hee seased vpon a castle with a thousand men of base regard euen seruants for the most part whither thinking to draw the Affricanes and king of the Moores to his succour he was taken first whipped next had his eies thrust out and then his armes and legs broken in peeces and so was executed to death before al the people his carcas being thus mangled with blows was hanged vpon a gallowes and all his kindred and children put to death that there might not one remaine of his straine either to enterprise the like deed or to reuenge his death That great and fearefull warriour Iulius Caesar one of the most hardie and valiants peeces of flesh that euer was after he had performed so many notable exploits ouercome all his enemies
vsurpe and appropriate certaine lands and dominions to him which belonged not vnto him This Emperour had many children whome hee desired to leaue rich and mightie and therefore by all meanes possible he endeauoured to augment his liuing euen by getting from other men whatsoeuer hee could and amongst all the rest this was one especiall practise wherein hee laboured tooth and naile to alienate from the Empire the land of the Swizzers and to leaue it for an euerlasting inheritance to his heires which although the Swizzers would in no case condiscend nor agree vnto but contrariwise sued earnestly vnto his maiesty for the maintenance of their auncient liberties and priuiledges which were confirmed vnto them by the former Emperours and that they might not bee distracted from the Empire yet notwithstanding were constrained to vndergoe for a season the yoake of most grieuous tyrannie and seruirude imposed by force vpon them and thus the poore comminalty endured many mischiefes and many grieuous and cruell extortions and indignities at the hands of the Emperours officers whilst they liued in this wretched and miserable estate Amongst the rest there was one called Grislier that began to erect a strong fort of defence vpon a little hill neere vnto Altorfe to keepe the countrey in greater awe and subiection and desiring to discrie his friends from his foes hee inuented this deuise Hee put a hat vpon the end of a long pole and placed it in the field before Altorfe where great multitudes of people with this commandement That euery one that came by should do obeisance vaile bonnet to the hat and in euery respect shew themselues as dutifull vnto it as to his owne person imagining that his greatest enemies could not endure nor find in their hearts to doe it and therefore vpon this ocasion he might apprehend them and discouer all their close practises conspiracies which they might brew against him now there was one a stout hearted man that passing euery day vp and downe that waies could in no wise be brought to reuerence the dignity of the worthy hat so vnreasonable a thing it seemed in his eies whereupon being taken the tyrant commaunded him for punishment of his open contempt to shoot at an apple laid vpon the crown of the head of his dearest child and if hee mist the apple to be put to death the poore man after many excuses and allegations and entreaties that hee might not hazard his childs life in that sort was notwithstanding enforced to shoot and shooting God so directed his shaft that the apple was hit the child vntoucht and yet for all this he adiudged him to perperuall prison out of which hee miraculously escaping watched the tyrants approch in so fit a place that with the shaft that should haue bene the death of his sonne he stroke him to the heart whose vnluckie end was a luckie beginning of the Switzers deliuerance from the bondage of tyrants Nic. Gil. vol. 1. and of the recouery of their ancient freedome which euer after they wisely and constantly maintained The Emperour Albert purposing to be reuenged vpon them for his iniury as also for slaying many more of his men and breaking down his castles of defence which he had caused to be builded in their countrey determined to make war vpon them but he was slaine ere he could bring that determination to effect by one of his owne nephewes from whom being his ouerseer and guardant for his bringing vp he withheld his patrimony against all equity neither by praiers or entreatie could be persuaded to restore it These things according to Nicholas Gils report in his 1 volume of the Chronicles of France happened about the raigne of Saint Lewes CHAP. XL. Of Vserers and their thest IF open larcinies and violent robberies and extortions are forbidden by the law of God as wee haue seene they are then it is no doubt but that all deceit and vniust dealings and bargaines vsed to the dammage of others are also condemned by the same law and namely Vsurie when a man exacteth such vnmeasurable gaine for either his money or other thing which he lendeth that the poore borrower is so greatly indammaged that in steed of benefitting and prouiding for his affaires which he aimed at hee hitteth his further losse and finall ouerthrow This sinne is expressely prohibited in Leuiticus 25 Leuit. 25.36 Deutronomie 23 Deut. 23.19 and Psalme 15 Psal 15.5 where the committants thereof are held guiltie before Gods iudgement seat of iniquitie and iniustice and against theÌ„ it is that the Prophet Ezechiell Eze. 18.12.13 denounceth this threatning That he which oppresseth or vexeth the poore and afflicted he which robbeth or giueth to vsurie and receiueth the encrease into his bags shall die the death and his bloud shall bee vpon his pate Neither truly doth the iustice of God sleep in this respect but taketh vengeance vpon all such and punisheth them after one sort or other either in body or goods as it pleaseth him I my self knew a grand vsurer in the country of Vallay that hauing scraped togither great masses of gold siluer by these vnlawful means was in one night robbed of fifteene hundred crownes by theeues that broke into his house I remember also another Vsurer dwelling in a Towne called Argentall nigh vnto Anouay vnder the iurisdiction of Tholosse in high Viuaria who being in hay time in a medow was stong in the foot by a serpent or some other venomous beast that hee died thereof an answerable punishment for his often stinging and biting many poore people with his cruell and vnmercifull vsurie Nay it is so contrary to equitie and reason that all nations led by the instinct of nature haue alwaies abhorred and condemned it insomuch that the condition of theeues hath ben more easie and tollerable then vsurers for theft was wont to be punished but with double restitution but vsurie with quadruple and to speake truly these rich and gallant vsurers doe more rob the common people and purloine from them then all the publicke theeues that are made publicke examples of iustice in the world It is to bee wished that some would examine vsurers bookes De offâ—cio princip lib. 4. ca. 14. and make a bondfire of their obligations as that Laced emonian did when Agesilaus reported that he neuer saw a clearer fire or that some Lucullus would deliuer Europe from that contagion as that Romane did Asia in his time Alex. ab Alex. lib. 1. cap. 7. Licurgus banished this Canckerworme out of his Sparta Amasis punished it seuerely in his Aegypt Cato exiled it out of Sicile and Solon condemned it in Athens how much more should it bee held in detestation among Christians S. Chrisostome Chrisost in Mat. cap. 5. compareth it fitly to the biting of an aspe as hee that is stung with an aspe falleth asleepe as it were with delectation but dieth ere hee awaketh so money taken in vsury delighteth and
strange thing to consider how that prowd citie hath lifted vp her head aboue all others and vsurped a tyranny ouer nations and which Lactantius Hierom Rome he meaneth and Augustine three learned fathers entituled Babylon how I say she hath been humbled for all her pride and empouerished for all her riches and made a prey vnto many nations It was sacked ransacked twice by the Visigothes takē once by the Herulians surprised by the Ostrogothes destroied and rooted vp by the Vandales annoied by the Lumbards pilled and spoiled by the Grecians and whipped and chastised by many others and now like Sodome and Gomorra it is to expect no more punishment but the last blow of the most mightiest his indignation to throw it headlong into euerlasting and horrible desolation CHAP. XLIX Of such punishments which are common to all men in regard of their iniquities THese and such like effects of Gods wrath ought to admonish instruct euery man to look vnto himselfe for doing euill and to abhorre and detest sin since it bringeth forth such soure and bitter fruits for albeit the waies of the wicked seeme in their owne eies faire and good Prou. 22. yet it is certaine that they are full of snares thorns to intrap and pricke them to the quicke for after that being fed with the licourous deceitfull sweetnesse of their owne lusts they haue sported themselues their fils in their pleasures wicked affections then insteed of delights and pastimes they shall find nothing but punishment sadnesse their laughter ioy pompe magnificence and glory shall bee turned into torments dolors weepings opprobries ignominies confusion and misery euerlasting for if God spared not great cities Empiers monarchies and kings in their obstinate misdeeds shall we thinke hee will spare little cities hamlets and villages men of base estate when by their sins they prouoke him to anger No it cannot be for God is alwaies of one the same nature alwaies like vnto himselfe A God executing iustice and iudgement vpon the earth Ierem. 9. Psal 5. A God that loueth not iniquitie with whom the wicked cannot dwell nor the fooles stand before his presence It is hee that hateth the workers of vnrighteousnesse and that destroieth the liers abhorreth all deceitfull disloiall periurous murdering persons as with him there is no acception of persons so none of what estate or condition soeuer be they rich or poor noble or ignoble gentle or carterlike can exempt themselues from his wrath and indignation when it is kindled but a little Rom. 2.9 if they delight and continue in their sinnes for as S. Paul saith Tribulation anguish is vpon the soule of euery man that doth euill Now according to the variety and diuersity of mens offences the Lord in his most iust and admirable iudgement vseth diuersity of punishments sometimes correcting them one by one in particular other whiles altogither in a heape sometimes by stormes and tempests both by sea and land other times by lightning haile and deluge of waters often by ouerflowing and breaking out of riuers and of the sea also and not seldome by remedilesse and sudden fires heauen earth and all the elements beeing armed with an inuincible force to take vengeance vpon such as are traitors and rebels against God sundry times he scourgeth the world as it well deserueth with his vsuall and accustomed plagues namely of warre and famine and pestilence which are euident signes of his anger according to the threats denounced in the law touching the same and therefore if at any time he defer the punishment of the wicked it is for no other end but to expect the fulnesse of their sinne and to make them more inexcusable when contrary to his bountifulnesse and long suffering which inuiteth and calleth them to repentance they harden themselues and grow more obstinate in their vices and rebellion drawing vpon their heads the whole heape of wrath the more grieuously to assaile them And thus the vengeance of God marcheth but a soft pace as saith Valerius Maximus to the end to double and aggrauate the punishment for the slacknesse thereof CHAP. L. That the greatest punishments are reserued and laid vp for the wicked in the world to come NOtwithstanding all which hath bene spoken and howsoeuer sinners are punished in this life yet is certaine that the greatest and terriblest punishments are kept in store for them in another world and albeit that during this transitory pilgrimage they seeme to themselues often times to liue at their ease and enioy their pleasures and pastimes to their hearts contentment yet doubtlesse it is so that they are indeed in a continuall prison and in a dungeon of darkenesse bound and chained with fetters of their owne sinne and very often turmoiled and butchered with their owne guiltie conscience ouercharged with the multitude of offences fore-feeling the approch of hell and in this case many languish away with care feare and terror being toiled and tired with vncessant and vnsupporrable disquietnesse and tossed and distracted with despaire vntill by death they be brought vnto their last irreuocable punishment which punishment is not to endure for a time and then to end but is eternall and euerlastingly inherent both in body and soule I say in the bodie after the resurrection of the dead and in soule after the departure out of this life till all eternity for it is iust and equall that they which haue offended and dishonored God in their bodies in this life should be punished also in their bodies in the world to come with endles torments of which torments when mention is made in the holy scripture they are for our weake capacity sake called gehenna or a place of torment vtter darkenesse and hell fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth c againe eternall fire a poole and pit of fire and brimstone which is prepared for the deuill and his darlings and how miserable their estate is that fall therein our Sauiour Christ giueth vs to know in the person of the rich glutton Luk. 16. who hauing bathed himselfe in the pleasures and delights of this world without once regarding or pittying the poore was after death cast into the torments of hell there burneth in quenchlesse flames without any ceasing or allaying of his griefes therefore whatsoeuer punishments the wicked suffer before they die they are not quitted by them from this other but must descend into the appointed place to receiue the surplus of their paiments which is due vnto them for what were it for a notorious and cruell tyrant that had committed many foule and wicked deeds or had most villanously murdered many good men to haue no other punishment but to be slaine and to endure in the houre of death some extraordinarie paine could such a punishment ballance with his so many and great offences whereas therefore many such wretches suffer punishment in this world wee must thinke