axe But the Bishop of Rome which had more Kings and Kingdomes vnder his obeysance vseth much more tyrannie than Tamberlane of Scythia or Sapor of Persia Yea greater tyrannie than Adonibezek who had 70 Kings feeding like dogs vnder his table without either toes to their feet or fingers to their hands but he had legem Talionis This man of Rome commaundeth his Embassadors as Nabuchadnezar commaunded Holofernes Ne parâ—at oculus tuus vlli regno to make Acheldama of England and great Britane This is that Ashuerus that willed proude Haman De populo age quod placet Doe what thou wilt with the Iewes The like condition is betweene the Pope and his people who sends his Heraulds abroade tanquam cursores with his Buls and Agnus Dei pardoning and absoluing all murtherers that will destroy all Kinges and Kingdomes that are not of his Catholike Religion This hath beene practised in Fraunce vppon their cheefe Peeres by the Massacres in Paris and by a Friar in auricular consession of a King In England vpon the best learned men of England and vpon our late gracious and renowned Queene if their often practises by many pretended had not fayled them And now of late vpon our Soueraigne Lord and King vpon our Queene vpon our Prince and vpon their children the sacred and stayed anchor of three Kingdomes and vpon these three Kingdoms it selfe At illos Deus è Coelo subsannauit Is this the Catholike fruit of their Catholike Religion Is Treason and Murther the profession of Papists We thanke God with Paul that hath deliuered vs from the snares of Sathan and from the practise of his fierie Souldiers and from these Dreamers Caligula that Monster wished but one necke vnto Rome one Citie that hee might cut it off with one stroke That proud Haman sought of king Ashuerus but to destroy the remnaÌ„t of one nation that vpon one day within a hundred and seuen and twentie Prouinces in Persia. But these Serpents in one houre with one flame of fier fully decreed to destroy England Scotland and Ireland three flourishing Kingdomes Quis non meminisse horret Who laments not to thinke much more to haue seene the terror of that day The inuenter thereof could not be but a Diuell and not one Diuell vnlesse it bee that Diuell which Christ commaunded exi hominem whose names was Legio a legion of Diuels Such a Diuell might draw many Diuels after him Such a treacherous Catelin had more with him to destroy Rome rather thaÌ„ 300 faithfull Fabians to defend it Who seeth not the monstrous intentions of these Traytors after long lurking in many secret Labyrinths of Britane where so longe they were hidden vntill they had decreed to bring their last Pageant of ostentation not only with their great Colossus from Rome to England and there to rest but also with their huge Pyramides from Egipt to bee buried in England and to make a Chaos of Great Britane sometime called Insula fortiuÌ„ and to christen it againe after their own name Insula Serpentum the Isle of Serpents which is an Isle in Arabia where such Serpents breed that are of 120 cubites long And yet now in Britane my heart bleedeth to speake of them wee finde longer Serpents that their bodies bee in Britane and their heads at Rome I will not say their heart and hands at Spaine These are worse than the Athenians that had certaine Priests named Mantes which caried Firebrands in their handes and went before the Magistrates of Athens and threw about their Firebrands in signe of battell between the cities of Greece These are worse then the Priests of Rome called Faeciales that went before the Consulls with bloudy darts in their hands which they threwe towardes the Confines of their neighbours to pronounce warre And these our late Iesuits and Seminaries as Embassadors came from Rome with Firebrands and bloodie darts not in their hands but in their harts to destroy their Countrey and Countrey-men and glad when they finde meanes by any policie to practise mischiefe But these hellish Harpeis these cruell Crocodiles worse than Pharoh that sayd Quis est Dominus and worse than the Athiests that say in their hearts there is no God Such double faced Ianus children such two-fronted Cecrops broode say with the foole Non est Deus who can onely deliuer vs from these that are double-hearted double tongues double faced Such the law of God punished so that fire from heauen deuoured them the earth gaped and swallowed them vp aliue Such the lawes of men amonge all Nations haue punished as in Athens by Solon in Sparta by Lycurgus and in Rome by so many lawes that tortures and torments were inuented to punish these tanquam sacrilegos in patrios lares focos deos penates The Egiptians with long sharpe needles per singula patricidae membra torment such Offenders the Grecians threwe such headlong downe from high rockes the Macedonians stoned them to death The Romanes drewe them in peeces either between fower horses or 4 boughes of a tree and yet sayd Cicero Quae nex tanta tanto sceleri inueniri potuit And should not these false and forsworne Gibeonites be punished with seruitude and bondage and be reiected from the house of Iudah as Ioshua vsed them And should not these dissembling Giliadites which could not pronounce Scibboleth bee vsed as Ieptha vsed the Ephramites at the riuer Iordan The Tyrant Antiochus gaue them time by tormenting the seuen brethren either to eate Swines-flesh or to die The tyrant Phaleris in like manner torturing them with his frying-panne and with Perillus his brazen Bull were not in such a rage insuch a furie and that against the rule of reason so long I neuer remember of the like that in a whole yere and a halfe they could not call vpon God and repent of this their determined tyrannie worse than Esau who would haue repented and sought it with teares but yet could not worse than Pharoh for hee desired Moses to pray to his God for him But these refuse all mens praiers but such as be Catholikes like themselues Cain felt his conscience so to afflict him that hee thought that euerie man that mette him would haue killed him and faine would die but could not But these without feeling of any conscience are worse than Cain neither fearing God nor man worse than Esau for they seeke not to repent with teares and worse than Pharoh as I sayd before who sought Moses to pray for him These I say stood to their first longe pretended tyrannie to the very day most vnhappy for them and most happie for vs. Dies quem fecit Dominus Dies solus supra Gabaon the day of Ioshua when the Sunne stood ouer Gabaon And Dies Lunae when the Moone stood ouer Atalon And Dies Martis not onely in Scotland
multitude of birds in the Etruscan warre for those fowles fledde in such fright from a thicke wood that the Consull sent scowt-watch and found 10 Thousand Boyans in watch for Aemilius and his Romane Armie We should finde greater birds in great Britane if we should send scowt-watch abrode and yet I stand in doubt that as Ioshua sent some of euerie Tribe to search the Land of Chanan at their returne they would not open the fertilitie of the Land for feare of great men of higher stature than the Israelites were lest they should fight with those mightie men the brood of Enachims saying Nuncij cor nostrum terruerunt those Israelites feared men more thaÌ„ God they had rather returne to Egipt than otherwise They came from Rome to great Britane as Cleonimus the Athenian with his souldiers went to Tracaena with a dart in his hand which hee threw ouer the wals which had written vpon his dart that Cleonimus came to deliuer the Trocenians from Craterus their enemie by this policie Cleonimus wan Trocaena by sedition of the souldiers The like did Haniball after he had gotten the great Victorie at Thrasymenum wrote diuers Letters to sundry Cities and Townes in Italy saying that Haniball came from Carthage to Italy to deliuer Italy from the Romans Many vse Hanibals speach and letters that come in one hand with pardons indulgences not onely promising on earth absolution for their treacherie and murther but also to be canonized Saints in heauen and in the other hand Cleonimus dart yea Sauls dart to throw to King Dauids face such darts would these cursed Crew throwe to Kinges and Princes faces Not what lawes should bee sought for these Rebels but what punishment might bee inuented for these Traytors Antiochus inuented torments to torture the Iewes that would not eate Swines flesh Phalaâ—is had by perillous inuention a brazen Bull to torment Offendors Among the Greekes it was lawfull for any man to bring such Offenders to Delphos and there to offer them quicke in sacrifice to Apollo Among the Romanes to bring such to the Theators and there to bee hewd and cut in peeces Per Gladiatores the Sword-players Among the Persians such should be quick buried the Massilians had a naked Sword and a great Vessell full of poyson hanged vp in publicke sight to terrifie such Traytors Sectio 4. THemistocles before compared himselfe to a Plantane tree for that the Athenians vsed it for to shadow them and to defend them in times of warres with the Persians so in like sort said Themistocles That Athenians vse him at their pleasure sometime for their drinking Cup and sometime for their Chamber pot and so often vsed him off and on to cast him of at their pleasure and to call him againe at their will that Themistocles would sometime speake to the Athenians Illos non laudo homines qui eodem vase pro calice matula vtuntur I like not those kinde of people that vseth one vessell for to drinke out wine of it in the morning and to make water in it at night So vngratefull people were the Athenians that they wayed for nothing but for three Monsters of Athens Noctua populus draco so full of flattery and dissimulation was Athens that euerie one stood in doubt whome to trust Many vse such dissembling speaches and countenances in great Britane like counterfeit Tragedians at Smyrna with their false Solaescismes holding vp to heauen their bloodie hands and looking downe to the earth with wicked malicious eyes longing to see their tree at Rome bring forth such fruits as the wild Oliue tree did at Megara a Citie of Achaia in Greece There was a Citie in the Market-place a wilde Oliue tree on which the Captaines and the souldiers vsed to hange their armors a long season that in continuance of time this tree by hanging on of these armors bred of it selfe Armors which was prophecied that when this tree should breed of it selfe Armors for souldiers this Citie should be destroyed for this tree was Arbor fatalis There was a great Tree likewise in Babilon which shadowed all beasts of the field and on whose boughes all the fowles of the ayre made their neasts and all the Kings of the earth hanged their Swords their Targets their Helmets and all their Militarie Armors But there was a rotteÌ„ Tree a long time in Rome Religiosa arbor on which the Dominick Franciscans Benedicts Friars hanged their Caputium their weeds and religious garments so long that this Tree bred more Armors and armed men in Rome and out of Rome than the wilde Oliue did at Megara or the mightie high Tree at Babilon But as the fatall Tree of Megara had an end so the great Tree of Babilon was cut downe and so the rotten Tree of Rome is as readie to fall downe for vnder this Tree were more Traytors bredd more Scysmes and heresies brought vp than were Souldiers at Megara either beasts or fowles in Babilon For these hold it a principle or a maxim of their laws that it was as lawfull to burne a Protestant in England as to kill a Tyrant in Greece and the reward was a like Spolia opima Ioui a rich spoyle to their Iupiter It was counted great tyrannie in Tamberlane King of Scythia to vse Baizates the great Turke though as great a Tyrant as himselfe being taken captiue to carrie him in his tryumph from Countrey to Countrey in a Cage and to feede him like a dogge vnder his table in that Cage And it is greater tyrannie to feed Turkes and Tamberlanes to cut our throats in England Sapor King of Persia after his great Victorie ouer the Romanes and had taken the Roman Emperour Valerianus he kept him as his Prisoner vsed him as a blocke on his knee for the King of Persia to mount on horse-backe to the great disgrace of the Romans These were tryumphs of Tyrants and not of Kings The King of great Britane may vse his enemies as Tamberlane vsed the great Turke or as Sapor vsed the Romanes I remember the tyrannie of Sesostris whom the Ethiopians call the Hercules of Egipt which was caried in a Coach as Melancthon saith In curru ex auro lapidibusque praeciosis constructo by â—ower Kinges in a Charriot wrought with gold and precious stones But one of these 4 Kings euer looked back vpon the wheele of the chariot Sesostris asked him why he so ofteÌ„ looked back he said I look vpon the wheele how by course the staues of the whele are somtimes aboue sometimes belowe Histories report that he dismissed those Kinges and freed them from such bondage vpon these words Such was the fortune of Tygranes the great King of Armenia though he had 4 Kings wayted on him at his Table and ranne sometime as foot-men at his stirrope yet was hee forced to throw his Diademe at Pompeis feet Thus Fortuna ambiguo vagatur
he might get some money At Athens sayd Antiphones where the Statues and Images of Harmodius and Aristogiton are made of pure siluer for that they kill Pysistratus the Tyrant that bold speech cost Antiphones his life Plutarch recites a Historie of Dionisius barbor who hearing in his shop many attending their washing and trimming that Dionisius Anton Comodus and Alexander Pheraeus and especially Dionisius and his sonne was the most cruell Tyrant Say you so sayd his barbor Sub cuius iugulo hanc teneo nouaculum he was hanged for his speech In manibus linguae mors vita But Dionisius the Father was slaine by the people and Dionysius the Sonne expelled out of Scicilia by Dion a Noble man in Sicilia by the Councell of Plato That was the cause why Philippides the Poet refused to be of King Lysimachus Councell being in such grace and fauor with Lysimachus that the King spake with Philippides Quid vis vt impartiar tibi nothing said the poore poet but only this ne sime consilijs tuis Orontes the Persian being cast out of fauour with king Artaxerxes his father in law would cōpare the fauour of Princes to Arithmeticians fingers laying downe and taking vp to make what summe they list so might that great Philosopher Aratus speake of king Philip when he vomited vp blood saying haec sunt regia proemia Valentinianus the Emperour after he had caused his familiar friend Aetius to be slaine asked another friend of his whether Aetius deserued death that I know not said he to the Emperour but this I know that you cut off your right hand with your left hand and it was true for Valentinianus was slaine by Aetius souldiers And yet better is an euill Prince hauing good and faithfull subiects than wicked and false subiects with a good Prince Had Saul but tenne such as Samuel as he had tenne Thousand Doegs about him no doubt he had obeyed God and serued him better and gouerned Israel wiser Had Ioas but few such coūcellors as Iehoida was he had not been seduced to forsake his God to neglect his commaundement and to forget what Iohoida had done for him Had Dionisius the Tyrant entertained but Ten such like Plato to tell him true as he had ten Hundred like Aristippus to flatter him he had not need to be guarded with armed men and to say to his son Haec adamantina regum vincula God would haue but tenne good and godly in Sodome and Sodome should bee saued Agamemnon wished but tenne such as Naestor to vanquish all his enemies in Phrygia and sette the Greekes at libertie to returne to Greece againe And yet Saul a wicked King did many good things by the perswasion of Samuel And King Ioas while Iohoida liued forsooke not God nor his lawes And Dionisius the Tyrant abstained from much tyrannie by the councell of Plato But Saul had not so many Chusai as he had Achitophels Dionisius had not so many Platoes to tell him truth as he had of Aristippus to flatter him Plato asked Dionisius why he went so guarded Dionisius answered Plato I told my Sonne a dumme stratageme that Torquinius Superbius told his Sonne Tarquinius Sextus what Thrasibulus willed Periander to do In spicarum de truncatione but all these damned stratagems were to effect tyrannie as you read before But King Antigonus reprehended his Sonne that handled his Subiects roughly saying Doest not thou know Son that Regnum nostrum est splendida seruitus that neither armes strength nor treasures are so certaine and sure to regall Sceptors as faithfull friends So Maximilian the Emperor said in a publick meeting with all the Princes of Germanie at Wormatia where the Duke of Saxon first preferring his Mettals and rich vaines of the earth the Duke of Bauaria much commending his stronge and braue Cities and Townes the Duke Palatine his Wines and fertilitie of his Land and the Duke of Whitenberg sayd I can lay my head and sleepe vpon the lap of any Subiects I haue idque subdio abrode in the field euerie where and when I will Then sayd Maximilian Huic facile concedite palimam I would England might haue so sayd in Queen Elizabeths time or now great Britane in King Iames time is hard to haue it among such as thinke it as sweete a Sacrifice to their Romane Mars to burne a Protestant in England as in Greece to kill a Tyrant to please their God Iupiter And as great a tryumph was it in Oxford to burne three famous learned Bishops as it was to Diagoras the Philosopher to see his three Sonnes crowned at the games of Olympia This was prooued in Queene Maries time when Arch-bishops Bishops learned men and all kind of men were burned in all places of England and yet in all the time of Queene Elizabeth not a haire of their heads were toucht But of such Iesuits and Seminaries which vnder colour of Religion became Traitors and Rebels These forget Hectors verse out of Homer chiding his friend Polydamus that feared to fight for his Countrey doubting soothsaying Augurium optimum said Hector patriam fortiter defendere But these Iesuites hold with Pope Iulian the 2 that threw Saint Peters keyes ouer Romes bridge into Tiber and with Pope Hildebrand which threw the Sacrament into the fire haue that verse in their mouth which Pope Leo and diuers other Popes vsed to say Flectere si nequeo superos acheronta mouebo Of such Menedemus the Philosopher sayd That many went to Athens that thought themselues wise before they went to Athens and after a while being at Athens they thought themselues eloquent Orators and streight after they thought themselues to be graue philosophers but at last prooued verie Idiots Many likewise goe to Rome to see the Pope the Senators and people of Rome and as some prooued to be Idiots by going to Athens so some be prooued to be Serpents by going to Rome and such Serpents that are Rebels and Traytors in England are canonized Saints at Rome Beda our Countrey-man being at Rome was requested by some Schoole-master in a scoffe to know what meant these foure letters S. P. Q. R. Beda dissembled out the matter sayd Stultus populus quaerit Romam Foolish people seeke to see Rome yea too many seek out Rome in England and too many would willingly build Rome in England Such a Schoolemaister was Appion in Alexandria that reioysed to make discord and mooue sedition in the Citie to set the Egiptians against the Iewes and the Iewes against the Greekes to expell to banish both Greekes and Iewes out of Alexandria to haue Egiptians onely in Egipt saying ô beatae ciuitas quae me talem maeruit habere ciuem This seditious Schoole-maister Appion was more esteemed in Rome of both the Emperours Claudius and Nero in his Embassage for the Egiptians than Philo that learned Iewe was on the behalfe of the people of God
and made two golden Calues to entice Israel to Idolatrie These Iesuites and Seminaries haue hornes ready made and they promise their Maister the Pope as Zedechia did to Achab victorie and say Hijs ventilabis Britanniam donec deleas eam And if that faile Balacke shall cause Balaam for reward to curse Britane with Bookes and Bels. So did Golias curse Dauid in the name of his Gods The Bishop of Rome did vse to baptize and name Bels and annoint the same by the sound of which Bels they coniure Diuels from their houses terrifie their enemies purifie the ayre curse and excommunicate whome they list Raimerus the 5 King of Arragon published that he would make such a great Bell that all Spaine should heare the sound of it Some of his noble-men iesting and scoffing at this Bell lest it should be like the cursing Bell of Rome despised the same speech But they were apprehended and commanded by Raimerus to be put to the sword saying Nescit vulpecula cum quo laudat The like punishment had many that spake against the Bels and Buls of Rome Surely we shall neuer be able to end this quarrell or make a lawe as Elias did with Achabs Prophets and as Daniel did with Nabuchadnezars priests and so execute the lawe according to their composition which was effected by the commandement of these two great idolatrous Kings the one at the brooke Kyson the other at Babilon Illustrissimo principi Christiano regi Daciae c. Ludouici Lloid gratulatio QVis potest tanta illustrissime Princeps hodierno die coÌ„ticere gaudia aut hos halcyoneos poterit silere dies in quibus rex Daciae relicto regni scaeptro ac regijs insignijs depositis quasi vna inter duos reges diuisa fuisset anima pluris aestimans de suo dimidio in Britania quam de roto in Dacia O quantus amor qui nec in coelo vinci nec in terra obliuisci nec vllo vnquam fortunae fulmine subuerti potest de cuius fama fama mentiri veretur Quiescat Maro suuÌ„laudare Aeneam sileat Homerus de suo magno Achille erubescat Graecia de suo Vlisse qui insaniam dissimulauit ne ex Ithaca de Penelope vxore dissederet in Ilion At Christianus rex Daciae nec mater nec regina nec regnum potuit à magna detinere Britania à rege à regina sorore à principe à caeteris regijs liberis quasi artibus neruis huius imperij vbi rex Daciae tanquam sydus aquilonis coronatum hoc coelum nostruÌ„ corruscans multo magis potest laetari de regia progenia sua in Britania quam Philippus de Heraclea stirpe in Macedonia quae in Alexandro desinit quam Caesar Augustus qui multum de gente Iulia iactauit quae in Nerone extincta fuit itanunc Romani dicant fuimus Trâ—es ita nunc dicant Macedones fuimus Heraclides At magnae Britania ita sicut aquila renouatur aetas nunquam enim maior nec tam magna magna Britania fuit sub Bruto primo quam hodterno die sub Bruto secundo nostro Iacobo vt in cunis adhuc vagientes de cunis clamitant iubilate Britani O quanta nostri in nos numinis beneficentia si nostri numinis noÌ„ obliuiscamur aut de nostra ingratitudine in DaciaÌ„ obruamur quae si taÌ„ta potest muta Angerona silere ligna lapides loquentur Cum nec Syracusa cuÌ„ suis Comeatibus ad cladem Thrasimeni Romanis nec Tyrus cum Caedris Libani Hierosolyme paratior quam Dacia in nostram Angliam Quanto magis hodierno die qui vt Masinissa vnum ait esse in terris populuÌ„ Romanum in illo vno populo vnuÌ„ esse Scipionem cui animum animam deuouebat ita rex Daciae vnam ait esse in terris gentem Britaniam in illa vna gente vnum esse Iacobum cui nec Hira cum suis Sydonijs paratior fuit Salomoni nec Masinissa cum suis numidicis magis beneuolus suo Scipioni quam rex Daciae cum suis Dacis regi Iacobo Sit par noster amor si par potest esse cum Dacis non cum argenteis gladijs Philippi nec cum aureis Artaxerxis sagittarijs sed cum Pythagoreis armis vna anima ac animo in eadem lance trutinari sic amor amore compensatur O amor quem nec ensis Alexandri dissecare nec delphicus gladius enodare poterit Quid opus est inire foedus cum vestibus sanguine imbutis vt Armenij aut cum Lydis Medis ex humeris brachijs sanguineÌ„ inuicem propinare cum nostra foedera ex cruore cordiuÌ„ confirmata ex visceribus pareÌ„tum sint consecrata hoc tam validuÌ„ naturae vinculum vt citius duos soles in coelo concordes esse videris quaÌ„ duos hos reges in terra discordes inueneris ita fatuÌ„ voluit ita natura annu it ita virtus praesagit ita Deus ipse esse statuit Hinc publica nostra Scaenopegia digna coronis tegi Hinc per petuus Britanorum triumphus qui faecile Caesaris contemnat triumphos Hinc Britani cum Dacis vt Romani olim cum Sabinis sua sacra semper Consualia decantabunt FINIS Hanibal a sworne enemy to the Romans Zozom lib. 5. cap. 8. The custome of Rome Serpents borne in mens armes in Asia The armed Serpents of Medea The Gods Mesopotamia Gen. 31. Mychaes Idoll Iudg. 18. Many ran after their Gods from great Brittane the target of treason Front lib. 1. cap. 5. Front lib. 1. cap. 8. Lib. 16. cap 3. The wild Ashtree Men aptlie compared to trees In Euang. in Die pasc Aug. ad fratres in Eremo serm 8. 30. Tyrants in Athens 4. Reg. 21. Sesostris in Herodot Sylla Caligula Nero. Elias sacrifice Oros. lib. 7. cap. 22. Exod. 12. Ezech 9. Sauls seed 2 Reg. 21. The brood of Enachims 4 Reg cap. 5. The puddles of Ieroboam Diuers kinds of purifications among the Gentiles Iudg 11. The false Ephramites could not pronounce Schiboleth 2 Reg. 11. Iudg 8. Hamilcars dreame 2 Reg. 20. Cyrus and Caesars dreames Cyrus and Caesars dreames Ezech. ca. 8. Ezech. cap. 40. Plut. in Bruto Plut. in Hanib Descriptions of some Serpents 1. Sam. 28. Saul consulted with Coniurers Witches Dan. 3. For such Kings the Prophet Elizeus wept Exod. 12. 4 Kin. 19. Senacherib England late frighted Iud. 5. 1. Sam. 7. Gen. 31. The maner of CouenaÌ„ts among the old Hebrewes Rhodig lib. 8. cap. 26. King Philip taunted of Archidamus The answere of Epaminondas All victories come from God Dan. 7. Esay 63. Idumeans and Romans compared Zedechia one of Baals false Prophets 3. Kin. 22. 2. Kin. 10. The Embassadors of Israel abused by the Amonites Hispaine in Rome and Rome England Num. 22. Gen. 27. Some curses perilous Gen. 9. 2. Reg. 6. 1. Mac. 13. 4. Reg. 21. Triphon Hazael Cic. de diui lib. 1.
dream of Images and Idols like De Brutus which dreamed of such an Image that neuer left him till Brutus fell vpon his owne sword at Philippos And such an Image appeared to Hanibal that neuer gaue him ouer vntill Hanibal had poysoned himselfe in Bythinia It was then a world of Images amonge Heathens and Pagans and amonge Christians at this time too many though they know Confundantur qui sculptilia adorant I must needs borrow some termes of the Heralds and as they describe the natures of Lions being regal beasts So must I describe the nature of Serpents being Diuels themselues and beasts for the Diuels some dormient Serpents some cowching some walking Serpents and some flying Serpents that soare so hye that at their fall they are dasht in peeces Had Saul feared God and not consulted with these Serpents he should haue done as Dauid Asa Iosaphat consult with Samuel while Samuel liued and not after hee died Saul should aske counsell of the Prophets and not of Witches and Images not with Phaetanissa a Witch at Endor but of Huldah a Prophetesse at Hierusalem as Iosias did Daniel choakt that great Colossus the Image of Baall in Babilon Iacob buried his wiues Idols the Gods of Laban at Sichem King Asa burned to ashes and threw into Cedron his mothers Idoll Priapus Young Iosias left not an Altar an Image an Idoll a groue within Iudah destroyed the greene Groues in Mount Oliues called the Mount of corruption These were such Kings as should be imitated who clensed Angeus hall in Israel and extinguished the fierie furnace of Egipt in Iudah and not such as Triphon that killed his master King Antiochus nor such as Hazaeâ— that strangled his Maister Benhadad Great was the lamentation and cry in Egipt when the first-borne were slaine throughout the land of Egipt euen from Pharos throne to her that grindeth at the mill Likewise great was the feare and terror in Hierusalem when Senacherib came and determined with his huge Armie to destroy Hierusalem saying They should eate their owne dung and drinke their owne vrine if they refused to yeeld to the great King Nebuchadnezar England of late was not a little frighted when the Hispaniards with their great Armadoes laden with weapons and armor came fully perswaded to make an end of England But he that destroied the first-borne of Egipt from the highest to the lowest destroyed also Senacheribs Armie being a hundred fower-score and fiue thousand Assirians And the same Angell daunted the bragges of the Spaniards with the like reuenge vppon themselues which they thought to doe vnto others The Sunne the Moone the Starres and the Heauens fought for Deborah and gaue her victorie ouer the Chananites So the windes weathers stormes tempests rockes and stones of the earth sung and gaue the victorie to Queen Elizabeth against the Spaniards Truely these were three great Victories without blood or sword drawne of which wee may say as Samuel sayd for the like Victorie he had against the Philistines Hitherto hath the Lord holpen vs and pitched there a stone in remembrance of Victorie and named the place Lapis adiutorij So Ioshua pitched a stone vnder an Oake at Sichem as a couenant between him and the people So Iacob gathered a heape of stones as a witnesse between Laban and himselfe Wee must likewise pitch a stone Euen that stone which the Builders reiected which to the Iewes was a stumbling-blocke and to the Gentiles folly euen that stone must be our Angularis lapis We must not be like Philip of Macedon after his great Victorie at Chaeronea ouer the Graecians who waxed so proude and insolent that he was sharpely reprehended of that noble Prince Archidamus Agisilaus sonne saying that his shadowe was no longer after the victorie than it was before his victorie Neither must we answere as Epaminondas being asked what was the greatest ioy hee euer had in the world he sayd Leutrica victoria the Victorie of Leutricke In truth of our victories we ought to reioice and to giue thankes vnto God And wee must put away all other stones as our Idols and Images the Gods of the Gentiles being Lapidij Dij and build all buildings vpon that stone which is lapis Angularis This was the cause why Moses was sent an Embassabor to Pharo to deliuer Israel from double bondage where Israel serued Pharo in slauerie and the Diuel in Idolatry This ought and should cause vs to serue God in true and sincere Religion and not in Images and Idols as doe the Heathens in the engendred Serpents of Medea But that Monster and great terrible beast with iron teeth which deuoured and stamped all others vnder his feet neuer feared him that commeth in red garments from Bozra that plagued the Idumeans the Moabites the Amonites and the Iewes after them euen that God that saith Vengeance is in my heart and I will tread them in mine anger and stampe them vnder foot in my wrath If you compare Bozra with Rome and the Idumeans with the Romans you shall find the one to claime their chiefe Religion from Abraham by heritage and the other from Peter in like sort by succession and yet both worship Idols Who durst say that Micah was a true Prophet to Ahab If Micah so say Zedechia will strike him before Achab. If Ieremie prophecie to the King of Iudah the noblemen of Iudah will set Ieremie by the heeles But they will hearken what Zedechia Baals Prophet will say with his yron hornes who told Achab his Maister His ventilabis Syrtam donec deleas eam with these hornes thou shalt ouercome the Aramites vntill thou hast vtterly consumed them There bee I doubt many that so say of England Scotland and Ireland The Romane Achab will not bee satisfied as the Ammonites were with the Embassadors of Israel by cutting one side of their beards away and one halfe of their garments and so in contempt of Dauid sent backe againe to Hierusalem But they will haue all Dauids beard all his longe garments yea his crowne and all his Kingdomes or they will hange with Achitophell They will betray their friends their countrey their King and Soueraigne Lord or they will burst out their guts with Iudas They would haue all England either to Rome or to Spaine or bring Rome or Spaine into England At illa nobilitas cum plebe pereat qui patriam ita perire velit When Balac King of Moab perceiued that he could not subdue the children of Israel neither by strength nor by any policie hee practised with Balaam to destroy them be cursing but Balaams curse was turned into blessing to Israel This practise hath beene longe vsed in Rome for when guifts and rewards failed then cursing and excommunicating was vsed Isaac in giuing his blessing to Iacob sayd Cursed be those that cursed Iacob The Pope hath vsed
too long this in Rome to curse the house of Iacob So Ioshua cursed those that would rebuild Iericho And Moses cursed those that transgressed the commaundements of God These kinde of curses are most perilous The curse of Noah fell vpon his sonne Cham so that all his posteritie which was the third part of the world became accursed and Heathens Elizeus the Prophet being scoffed at by vngracious children at Bethel that called him Bald pate hee cursed them in the name of the Lord and 2 Beares came out of the wood and destroyed 42 of those children but these Serpents feare no cursing these traytors dread no punishment but Tryphon These are like Tryphon that killed his maister yong King Antiochus like Hazael that strangled his maister King Benhadad and such like Tyrants which stories are full of These slaughters and murtherings were euer common amonge the Turkes Romans and Syrians I wrote a Booke of the stratagems of Hierusalem and therein collected all kinde of Romane stratagems as also of the Graecians which farre exceeded the Romans But of this late practise and stratagem neuer man read or heard the like Hanibal a captaine full of fraude and subtiltie deuising euerie way to winne Italy to his hand he saw in his dreame in Italy a great monstrous Image appearing before him and being at the sight thereof astonished asked what he was The Image answered Vastitas Italiae This Image deceiued Hanibal for he was forced to flye from Italy to Carthage when he thought to be Lord of Italy The like dreame did Chaeremon a fabulous Writer in Egipt that the Goddesse Isis warned King Amenophis in his sleep to purge Egipt of that leaprous and scabbie Nation the Hebrewes for so Appion termes them and it seemed that these Traytors were often troubled with Hanibals Image Vastitatem patriae And with Chaeremons dreame to purge Great Britane of Hereticks and heresie as they terme it This is as it seemeth the law of their Religion and the full resolution of their dreames God send these Serpents no better successe hereafter than the Egiptians had against the Hebrewes in the time of Moses or the Spaniards had against England in the time of Queene Elizabeth or this Romish crew now of late in King Iames time in Britane But the Lord be praised we escaped better than the Massacres in Paris at the murthering of the chiefe Peeres of Fraunce or the Murther at Blois Such Serpents and Dreamers are fedd with vaine ambitious hopes that seeke to ouerthrow Kings and Kingdomes but such as destroyed these Tyrants the Greekes did yeeld to them diuine honour For to kill a Tyrant saith Seneca is Spolia opima Ioui a rich spoyle vnto God Cato wondered to see so many heads of Romane Magistrates and Officers set vp by Sylla and Marius in the market place on the Capitoll and vpon euerie gate in Rome and that no Romane for Romes sake had not killed Sylla and Marius which had been the next and the best way of reformation in Rome to end the furie and rage of the two fire brands of Italy namely Sylla and Marius and their adherents When Goliahs head was cut off and caried by Dauid to Saul the Philistian armie fled for all their brag of Monamachis When Hanibal saw his brother Hadrubals head sent in token by the Romanes Hanibal made hast to depart out of Italy for al his great Image which appeared vnto him Truly Images appeare in dreames to such as worship and honour Images but we leaue them to such as walke in the way of Ieroboam and seeke to watch with the house of Achab I mean in mariage or otherwise of whom more regard with looking vnto must bee had least that the wrath of God should fall on Britanes as it fell on Israell We must remember Lots wife that looked backe toward Sodome Wee must not put our hand to the plough to till Gods ground and become worldlings in Symonie and Vsurie Moses the milde seruant of God for a little incredulity at the water of strife might not goe into Chaman but see it only and die at Mount Nebo Dauid a man found of God secundum cor suum yet for Vrias wife hee was plagued with the rauishing of his owne wiues the losse of his children and well nigh the losse of himselfe and of his kingdome Ieremie a Prophet blessed in his mothers bellie though he escaped the malice of the Noble-men of Iudah yet for that he went with the rest into Egipt he was in Egipt by the Egiptians stoned to death at Taphnes Therefore we must walke in the light whiles we haue light Sampson slept vpon Dalidahs lappe vntill the Philistines came and tooke him Zedechias fedde himselfe with the flatterie of his Courtiers vntill the Assyrians took him and his kingdome so we see that Security and Flattery are the onely chiefe enemies in Court and Countrey So the Persians flattered Alexander saying That he was the Sonne of Iupiter so that hee wrote and made meanes to all the Cities of Greece that the Greekes by a decree should make Alexander a God in Greece Some were contented as the Lacedemonians saying If Alexander will bee a God let him be a God The Athenians and others answered they might not allowe new and strange Gods in Greece So the Romanes might not endure any strange Gods in Rome so they denied our Sauiour Christ. And therefore the Prophet checketh the Iewes that they will not make so much of one God as the Gentiles made of many So that Varro a Roman Register of their Gods being asked howe many Gods were in all I haue registred sayd he 30 Thousand Ex antiquis monumentis But since they are growen infinite among the Iewes and the Assyrians hauing as many Gods as there bee Cities in Assiria so many Gods in Egipt as there be beasts in Egipt so many Gods in Persia as there be starres in the skie so many in Greece as the Poets can faine or Painters can make them And in Rome Tot nomina Deorum quot hominum For their Images and their Idols are so many that they semed to be Populus lapideus like people made of stones and yet none of these nations will suffer any strange Gods to bee worshipped in their Countrey besides their Gods And why then should Christians being sharpely chidden by the Prophet accept of their strange Gods being crucified with Christ as Ignatius sayth Many also like the Iewes here in England specially Grammarians and Schoole-maisters haue sought meanes to bee instructed in the Rabbins cabala of the Iewes which made great matters de apiculis literarum and that secret Science was secretly read to many Schollers by Schoolemasters in their Fathers houses and by Tutors in the Vniuersities that they would faine as the later superstitious Iewes would seeke out of Bereschith the first word of
the Hebrew Bible to draw the full time of the Messias from the verie promise of the seed of the woman vnto the very birth of the Messias So also did the Iewes draw Ex epinicio Mosis Quis sicut tu in dijs Iehouah Of these wordes they picked such letters as they inuented for the name of the Machabees For Ioshua vsed these words as Moses did And after Ioshua Iudas their third Iudge vsed it as his poesie the which was good and godly But how they vsed their vaine Cabbales out of the other godly words I know not vnlesse it were to know where when and how long this Religion should endure we know well how long it hath endured In like manner Maximilian the Emperour vsed the fiue Vowels for his poesie which noted the Maiesty and Iustice of the Empire a word for euery vowel which was Aquila Electa Iuste Omnia Vincit Vlisses had rather see the smoake of Greece than the sun shining in Phrygia And some had rather see the smoak of Idolatrie in Rome than their fier in England Vlisses confest that he would willingly loose the solace and ioy of immortalitie before he would forget the sweet ayer and delight of his Countrey Ithaca And others cannot abide the sight or smell of their Countrey Britane They cannot endure to drinke of the sweet Riuers of Bethel but they can swallow vp the puddles in Bethauen Genutius a Roman Pretor riding out of Rome suddainly there sprange as it seemed hornes on his head This woonder was by the Soothsayers interpreted that if Genutius would returne againe to Rome hee should be a King of the Romans He to auoid the name of a King being an odious name in his Countrey willingly banished himselfe from Rome least he should be a King in Rome to offend the Romanes The Romans therefore set vp his Image vpon that gate he went out of Rome in memorie of his great loue towards Rome So did they vpon the gate the 300 Fabij went out of Rome to end the quarrell betweene the Romans and the Viants Then in Rome they rewarded good Captaines for their seruice and now in Rome they reward Murtherers and Tirants that can inuent mischiefe When Kings and Kindomes reuolted their policies were practised then three Romane Embassadors were sent from Rome to Bythinia the one of them had a wound in his head The second had a stitch in his heart The third had the gowt or a sore legge Of these three Embassadors was Cato wont to iest saying Behold the Romane Embassadors without a head without a heart and without a legge Such Embassadors haue been often sent into England some with such wounds in their heads that their heads will not be healed without alteration of States and translation of Kingdomes some with such a stitch in their hearts that can take no rest before they haue gotten Spoliam opimam Patriae the overthrow of their Countrey and some with sore legges that cannot trauaile beyond the Seas but stay at home as standards and hospitals for such guests that come I know not whence I much doubt that there bee too many with such sore legges in Great Britane that lurke in Labyrinths made for such Embassadors some as Tutors in the Vniuersities some as Schoole masters in Gentlemens houses some as Magistrates and Officers in commission of peace some matcht in Mariage with great Houses and too many backt and countenanced lye hidden in such secret Labyrinths that the Sunne cannot see them but the Sonne of God seeth them though they be kept as secret as the Bookes of the Sibiles in Rome or verses of the Driades among the old Gauls Possidonius the Philosopher called Marcellus the Sword of Rome and Fabius the Target of Rome the one to cut off the heads of Romane enemies with his sword the other to guard and defend Rome with his Target Cunctando I pray God there bee not such a Marcellus or Fabius to defend these Romane Rebels in Britane who might liue and enioy the libertie of their countrey if they were not like the Cappadocians refusing their liberty offered theÌ„ by the Romans saying Se non posse ferre libertatem or like the Yonians as Critobolus sayd Frugi serui liberi mali good Romane seruants to the Pope but bad subiects in England These cannot abide the breath of Britane they would faine alter the name of the Isle of Britane either vnto the Isle of Serpents which is in Arabia or to the Isles of Satyres which is in Affrica Isles of their owne names Sectio 2. IN the time of Lu Crassus the Orator there dwelt in Rome a cruell dissembling Hypocrite one Dom surnamed Aenobarbus Of him Lu the Orator was woont to say That it was no wonder for Aenobarbus to haue a brazen beard since hee had an yron face and a leaden heart There bee many now in Rome and out of Rome that are like Aenobarbus with brazen beards yron faces and leaden hearts which if their bodies were opened as the Athenians did Aristomenes or as the Messenians did Hermogenes their hearts should bee found pilosa hijpida hairie and full of thornes And of late wee found many such brazen beards such yron faces and such leaden hearts in Britane as feare not the briars and brambles of Succoth nor the seruitude and bondage of Ioshua to the Gibeonites nor the lampes or the pitcher pots of Gedeon to the Medianites But it must be gladius Domini Gedeonis nostri the sword of God and our Gedeon that must tame these Tygrish Brutes and not Britanes whose hearts are in Rome though their bodies be in England and though they be not in Rome yet Rome is in their hearts for they are absent from Rome as the Iewes were from Egipt Corpore non animo But when the sunne shineth most cleere then the Crabbe catcheth the Oyster they are met and are found Policrates bragged so long of his fortunate estate and good successe that hee threw his Ring into the sea to trie further his fortune yet after his Ring was had againe he was hanged in Mount Mycalus in Persia by Oronâ—es Darius officer But Amasis a King in Egipt doubting much of his happinesse and great fortune wisht that he might tast of some calamitie and say Per varias fortunae vices and not alwayes to flourish in prosperitie Croesus iudged himselfe the happiest man vppon earth vntill he was taken with his Kingdome by Cyrus then hee thought what Solon sayd of such slipperie happinesse in this world Quam vitrea est Fortuna Saint Ambrose with some of his friends came vnto a lodging where the Host sayd of his good fortune and many bragged of their good fortune some sayd they knew not what calamity was others knew not what aduersitie was and others knew not what sicknesse meant Saint Ambrose made hast and tooke
the Peeres and Nobles of India went to the Riuer Ganges to offer sacrifice to the Sunne with a number of blacke Buls and blacke horses which colour among the Indians is best esteemed The Grecians vowed for their Princes and Gouernors health and long life to dedicate Statues and Images to their Gods in their temples with crownes and garlands The Persians and Armenians did honour their Kings as their Gods And no Nation vnder the Sun reuerenced their Kings more than England did before Titans children came from Rome to Britane who were taught in Rome mortally to hate Kings they might not heare of the name of a King And it seemeth that these be right Romanes who neuer with Kings could agree like to the Taprobanes a Nation in India where none might be King of the Kings stocke especially if he had children lest they should clayme the Kingdome by heritage The Priests of Egipt and Ethiop haue a Law and a Custome to elect Kings and so long he should raigne as pleased the priests And they had authoritie from their Gods to elect and depose Kings at their will This continued vntill their God of Heliopolis Vulcan appeared in a dreame to Sabachus King of Egipt whome hee warned either to kill all the priests of Egipt and to march ouer their bodies with his whole armie or to loose his Kingdome But this idolatrous and superstitious King yeelded his Kingdome vnto priests handes and they banished the King into Ethiop Some Kinges in Europa haue been and are in the like homage to the priests of Rome as the Kinges of Affricke haue beene to the priests of Egipt and Ethiop This law and custome continued with the priests of Egipt and Ethiop vntill Ergamenes time who liued in Pto Philadelphos time who to auoid this custome hee fained a great sacrifice to the Goddesse Isis and commaunded by a straight decree that all Prophets and Priests of Isis should come to this sacrifice Ergamenes by this stratageme slew and burned all these Sacrificers and left not one aliue The like did King Iehu to Baals prophets and the like Elias did to the false prophets of Achab and the like did Daniel at Babilon found out the policie and practise of Nabuchadnezar priest These three great stratagems are equall no doubt to the Iesuits and Seminaries though not in number yet in policie And truely farre better sacrifice than the blood of Rams Goats Heiffers and thought to be better farre than that good fire which Agesilaus commended in Greece when he saw the Vsurers tables burne at Athens Some thought yea too many agreed to practise Ergamenâ—s stratageme in England but I will let passe in silence the terrour and horrour of that day The determinations of these Serpents were such that neither by Tamberlane the Scythian neither by Romane Silla nor by any Turkish tyrannie could be inuented or practised You read in this booke before how in Asia men caried Serpents on their armes to driue Diuels and euill spirits from their houses in great Britane they carrie Diuels in their hearts not to driue Diuels out of Britane but to bring more Diuels into Britane by that Romane Belzebub as the Diuell confest when he knew not where to goe sayd I will returne whence I came and brings with him 7 Diuels worse thaÌ„ himselfe So these Serpents go to Rome at their returne bring seuen such and worse from Rome to great Britane While blindnes and ignorance with superstitious ceremonies were in England no such stratagemes were vsed the Diuell slept sound and secure but now in time of the Gospell the Diuels bestirre themselues with their Priests Iesuites and Seminaries And where before in Rome a Serpent barked like a Dogge and a Dogge spake like a man at the ouerthrow of Tarquine the proude And now in Rome such creeping frogges that creepes from Rome to England and croaking in euerie corner in euerie hole and in euerie ditch worse than barking Serpents or speaking Doggs These be Spiritus Daemonum that went out of the beasts mouth in farma runarum to moue contentions and brawles betweene Kings and Princes of the earth I meane not true papists nor religious Catholikes but these treacherous Iesuits and Seminaries which doe much resemble those frogges that went forth of the Dragons mouth croaking in euery place of great Britane the Messengers of Satan and the brood of Serpents to make debates and contention not as Mimus Roscius did with Cicero which of them both should excell in their faculties neither as Aiax did with Vlisses for Achilles Armour These frogges croake for Kings and Kingdomes and they meane to haue their Babilon againe so to flourish that neither Semiramis Cyrus nor Alexander shall preuaile against it the second time These Serpents the broode of the Dragon bestir themselues to get worke-men and Souldiers to build the wals of their Babilon and to turne the great Riuer Euphrates again as their sure defence I would they had fewer worke-men out of great Britane These Serpents these diuelish dogges and croaking frogges will not bee with the bryars and brambles of Succoth nor with the lampes and pitcher pots of Gedeon but with the sword of God our Gedeon Manasses would not know the Lord to bee God before he was taken Captiue and layd in bonds and fetters by the Assirians And Sampson did not fully call vpon God vntill his eyes were pluckt out by the Philistians Nabuchadnezer knew not God before he was cast off among beasts to eate with beasts Sampson had often reuenged the malice and enuie of the Philistians towards Israell and hee might haue had more reuenge vpon them if his wife a Philistian had not opened his probleme and betrayed him vnto the Philistians Againe Sampson might haue been reuenged of the Philistians before his locks had beene cut off had it not beene for his wife Dalilah This Sampson got by marriage of such a heiffer Surely Sampsons heiffer doth vexe and trouble many good husbands This jdolatrous heiffer doth molest many strong Sampsons and many wise Salomons which that good King confessed that it was for his good that God had humbled him and then he sayd Virgatua bacculus tuus c. thy rod and thy staffe hath much comforted me Athalia Sampsons heiffer a wicked woman constrayned her Son Ochosias to walke in the jdolatrous pathes of Achab. The marriage of Sampson with Dalilah a Philistian brought Sampson and all Israell to great vexation and troble It was a law in Israell that the Iewes should not marrie out of their own tribe and being maried they were straigsttly charged and commaunded to put their wiues away for the Prophet compared the Iewes to stoan'd Horses neying on their neighbors wiues and daughters which horse gaue the Iewes sundrie great fals This horse gaue to King Dauid neying on Vrias wife such a fal that the prophet Nathan told him Non
Ioseph lib. 2 con AppioÌ„ The Spaniards The Romanes Dreamers Plut. in Catone Goliahs head Hadrubals head 3. Reg 4. Lots wife Symony and Vsurie Iere. 35. Taphnes Iudg. 16. Eras. in Moria The flattery of the Persians Heidfiel de Dijs 30000. Gods Ierem. 35. The Idolatry of the Heathens Ignatius Cabala Bereschith Exod. 15. Iudas his Poesie Maximilians poesie Vlisses Ithaca Vlisses countrey Plinij lib. 11. cap. 37. The history of a Roman Praetor The three Romane Embassadors Plut. in Catone Many Labyrinths in England Plut. in Marcello Strab. li. 12 Diod. lib. 4. cap. 2. The Isles of Satyres and Serpents The saying of Lu. Crassus of Domit Aenobarbus Suet. in Nerone Philost in vita Antioch Iud. 8. Iosh. 9. Many are absent from Rome as the Iewes were from Aegipt Val max. lib. 6. cap. 9. Croesus forgot what Solon sayd Ad Marullum lib. 5. cap. 3. Gel. lib. 15. cap. 16. Milo Crotoniates brag 3. Reg. 13. Nebuchadnezar his bragge Ruth 2. Moab Iere. 2. Chaemarims Moloch his priests Ierem. 42. Ieremie could not perswade Israel from Egipt Fulg. lib. 3. Heidfiel ca. 2. de Dijs The Athenians sent Embassadors to Delphos Ignatius Acts. Gabr. biel super Cant. lect 4. Satyr 15. Eras. in Moria The Deuils speech with â— Bernard Superstitious Papists Cic. ad Q. fratrem The bragge of the Romanes In vitis patrum Three questions of the Diuell Chrysippus Oracles Lib. 2. de Diuinat Liâ—s de const lib. 2. cap. 22. The answere of an Hermite to a Philosopher Bernard his studie Arist ca. 5 de animal Plut. in Demetr Plat. in prafat ad Dionisium Balthazer Daniel 5. Iohn 8. Gel. lib. 27. cap 9. Dumme stratagems Herodot lib. 7. The Triumphs of the wicked Monkes Friers and Priestes made at Rome souldiers Diacon lib. 12. Hist. The Romane engsignes Vigit lib. 2. cap. 13. Diodor. lib. 2. Macab lib. 2. cap. 12. Iapyges stratagem Ismalits Britanes better backt than the Macedonians Heraclitus sermon Plut. de garul Lib. 6. ca. 33. Heidfield de monst hominibus Plin. lib. 2. cap. 10. Archimedes much feared of the Romanes Dinocrates Aquinas Hiedfield â—e Gryphis Gram. cap. 26. Appion Phaliscus Diodor lib. 17. bibliotheca Olaus mag hist Sepientria Three kinds of Captaines ouer the Iesuites and Seminaries Maeandri Places for meeting of Traytors Front lib. 2. cap. 13. Synode and consultation of Traitors Three stratagems of Iesuites Egiptian Spanish Romish Curtius â— â— The saying of the great Alexander Liui. lib. 4. Iosh. 10. Apion de bello Mythridat To fight in the darke Securitie is dangerous Amilius probus de vita Thrasibuli Liui. lib. 34. Front lib. 2. cap. 8. M. Crassus the Consull Lu Silla his sayings to his souldiers Treacherous papists Acheldama Many Legions of Diuels The ashes of Iuniper Aemil. preuented the snares of the Boians Num. 13. Cleonimus Dart. Front lib 4 cap. 7. Hanibals policie The Lawes of diuers Kingdomes in punishing Offendors Elian. li. 13 de var. hist. Fab. lib. 1. The wilde Oliue tree in Megara Dan. 4. The rotten Tree of Rome Tamberlane King of Scythia Oros. lib. 7. cap. 22. Melan. li. 2. Chron. Sesostris King of Egipt Plut. in Pomp. Tygranes king of Armenia Iud. 1. Adonibesek Iud. 2. Ashuerus Est. 3. Massakers The practise of Papists Caligula his wish Hamans request Catelin The Roman Colossus Insula Ophiadum Diod. lib. 4. Priests of Athens Alex. ab Alex. li. 5 ca. 7. The Priests of Rome The lawes of God Lawes for Traytors Diod. lib. 2. The lawes in Egipt The lawes of Greece and of the Macedonians The Lawes of the Romans Gibeonites Iud. 11. Efframites 2. Mach. 7. Punishment inuented by Tyrants Esau. Exod. 9. Pharoh Gen. 4. The Sunne stood ouer Gibeon Iosh. 10. Dayes to be remembred in England and Scotland 2. Chro. 29. 2 Chro. 35 2. Mach. 15. Feasts ought to be kept Hest. 9. A Feast to Bacchus in Athens A Feast to Priapus Dan. 5. What fell to such drunken Feasts to Baall and to Dagon Val. max. lib. 2. cap. 3. Anaximenes the Philosopher to Alexander Plut. in Demosthene King Philip reprehended of Demades for his drunkenesse PolemoÌ„ reduced from his drunkennesse by Anaxagoras Plin. lib. 14 M. Anton. hatred to Cicero Cic. Tusc. lib 5. The lawe of the Sybarites Gel. lib. cap. 2. Plut. in Caesare Cic. lib. 5. Tusc. Ptolomey Cic. Tusc. Diod. lib. 4. Three great Tyrants The saying of Orontes Melanth in vita Valentin Lamp in vita Alex. Seuer 4. Reg. 12. Plut. in Dione Herodot 7. Heidfiel de honore infamia cap. 24. Oxford Cranmar Ridley Iliad 12. Aenead 7. Traitors and Rebels are canonized Saints Rome Appion Ioseph lib. 2 in Appion A stratageme of a Schoolemaster Why was Socrates called the wisest man in Greece Gell. lib. 14. cap. 16. Plin. lib. 4. cap. 9. Theophrastus succeeded Aristotle in Athens Gell. lib. 13. cap. 5. Papists to Idumeans compared Themistocles saying Isocrates words of Demosthenes Drus. lib. 2 cap. 32. Plin. lib. 31. cap. 2. August li. 16. de ciuitat Dei Esay 40. Lib. 2. de caelo mundo Plut. de Iside Osiride Plut. in vita Ciceronis Plu. in Themist The Egiptians The Indians The Grecians Alex. ab Alex. lib. 4. cap. 3. Diod. lib. 2. cap. 2. Ergamenes stratageme 4 Reg. 10. 3. Reg. 18. The stratagemes of Iehu The terror of the fift day of Nouember Alex. ab Alex lib. 3. ca. 15. Apoc. 16. Apoc. 16. Front lib. 3. cap. 7. Manasses Nabuchadnezar Daniel 4. We are all Nazarites in this point Sampsons Heiffer Iudg. 14. 2. Reg. 11. 3. Reg. 11. Iudg. 19. Gen 38. Matching in mariage The law of Moses Leuit. 24. Gen. 24. Abraham Old Tobias Ruth 1. Gen. 30. Godly marriage The promise of Caleb Themistocles saying Cato Socrates Andr. Frisc. lib. 4. de Eccles. Sigeb in Chron. Herotimus King of Arabia had 600 Bastards The mariage of God Anubis Heidf de Diuit cap. 23. The mariage of M. Antonius with Minerua The Plebeans maried with the Patricians Paralip 25 The first sedition of Rome The old Scepters in Egipt and in Ethiop Diod. 2. The ancient Scepters of Persia. Abimelechs plough Iud. 9. Plin. lib. 18 cap. 43. Iesuites the Popes Apes The Pope the Diuels Ape Romulus staffe Saules Crowne 2. Reg. 1. 2. Reg. 4. The golden table Macrob. in Satur. Plut. in Themist Cic. lib. 3. de offic Sen. lib. 6. de benef ca. 30 Philosophers Priests and Preachers Heidfield de honore in famia ca. 24 Polien lib. 1. stratagem Alcibiades councell to Pericles Palinures The Church full of hypocrites Iliad 9. Cic. ad Attic hist. lib. 1. Plut. in Apoph King Antigonus went out of his Court to heare Truth Euseb. li. 1. ca. 11. de vita Constant A worthie saying of Constantine The wish of the wicked men The wish of the godly men Acts. 5. Liers and blasphemers Sen. epist. 95. Tertul. de cultu mulierum Wesellus Groning Plut. de claris mulier Lamp in vita Heliog Heliogabalus banquet Guil. Isengrin in Chronol Heidf de animal cap. 9. 3. Reg. 11. 7000 that bend not their kindes to Baall Ierem 44. Taphnis Plin. lib. 8. Regulus Monsters Plin. lib. 6. cap. 30. India 4. Reg. 1. 4. Reg. 6. Elizeus Daniel The brood of Satan The Serpent in Paradise The Roman Serpent Mandanes dreame Alex. lib. 3 cap. 26. Alexanders dreame Dreamers of Rome Plut. in Thes. Lib. 2. ca. 3 Val. max de miraculis The bragge of Innocent the third Aquinas answere Act. cap. 8. Simon Magus Act. 13. Elimas the Sorcerer Hildebrand Plut. in Lysand Palauor in vita Alphons In speculo Pontif. El. Spart Scen. lib. 3. de gest Alphons Polyd. lib. 5 de rerum inuent Hugo de anim clas Theophrastus Plin. lib 28 cap. 3. Exagon A Cappadocian Lazarus dogges 1. Reg. 17. Heidfield de tempore
his house and knew not what to do requested their helpes and councell All his flatterers forsooke him sauing one Callias a true and faithfull friend of Alcibiades of whom Alcibiades would say Callias instar omnium Notwithstanding this Alcibiades could flatter his vncle Pericles yet being a young youth asked his vncle Pericles why he sighed so often and seemed so sad because said Pericles I must yeeld an accompt to the Athenians for much money which I receiued to build vp a porch to Mineruaes Temple Rather said Alcibiades muse how you may not giue an accompt and be merry and make much of your selfe Too few like Pericles that thinke how much they are indebted to God to build his Church and to maintaine his Seruice and too many like Alcibiades carelesse of the Church though they liue by the Church and haue honour and dignitie from the Church But let the Church be tossed on surging waues of seas that cannot be remoued yet shee standeth sure and certaine vpon a rocke though many Palinures were drowned and lay dead vpon the sands that had no great care neither to gouerne nor to be gouerned by the Church and yet they will sit in Moyses chaire Saul could dissemble with Dauid and Absalon with the people of Israel and the latter Iewes were such dissemblers and hypocrites that Christ called the Scribes and the Pharises hidden hypocrites and false dissemblers the Church were euer full of such hypocrites A Romane Gentleman told Alexader Seuerus that hee was agreeued to see his Court so pestered with dissemblers and hypocrites and said I will find out a place to dwell where no hypocrites be the Emperour said where wilt thou goe where no dissemblers be thou must goe beyond the Sauromates and the frosen seas and yet when thou commest thither thou shalt find hypocrites and dissemblers And though Achilles in Homer exclaimeth out against such dissemblers and say that he hateth them worse thē hel it selfe that haue two tongues the one in their mouth the other in their harts Qui aliud sentiunt aliud loquuntur This was sometime a naturall propertie to the Thracians to bee liars and dissemblers and so to bee taught with their hypocrisie and dissimulations that it grew to a prouerbe Thrasica fides so it was sayd of the Africans punica fides and of the Grecians most of all spoken Nunqnam ista natio saith Cicero coluit fidem People of no trust of no faith that it grew to a very scoffe to the Grecians Greca mercarifide to taunt their lightnes and dissimulations Of late we robde Thracians Affricans and Grecians of their properties that now Cicero may speak of vs as he spake of thē Quos fugiamus ignoramus quibus credamus nescimus and therefore it is good to follow Epicharmus counsaile Sis prudens memento diffidere sith we dare not trust our friends our kinsmen nor our countrimen This dangerous time seemeth to be that of which the Prophet saith that the father shal be against the sonne and the sonne against the father the brother against the brother but though this prophecie was performed in other kingdomes of long time past yet we ought to doubt feare some iustice at gods hand for our sinne and onely for our hypocrisie dissimulations and flatterie the three greatest Monsters vpon the earth Lewis the tenth was wont to bragge of his owne kingdome of France that it was a kingdome that far exceded al other kingdoms wanting but one thing And being requested to know what that was hee answered Truth And therefore Osymantes had his picture painted with his eyes shut with a tablet of gold about hanging about his necke with this word written thereupon veritas And hee willed that the Kings of Egypt his successors to weare that Tablet in memorie of him So did Antigonus doubting much to heare trueth among flattering Courtiers went with his Nobles to hunting from whom the King secretly departed changed his garments and wandred like a stranger among countrymen and lodged in a meane house and asked as an vnknowen man what was spoken of the King Of whom he heard Omnia quae fecerat mala The next morning the King being sought for and found they brought such princely garments as were fit for a King Giue said Antigonus these garments to him of whom Nisi hac nocte verum de me nunquam audiui Torquin the proud after he was put out of his kingdome would say that he neuer knew his friends while he was King in Rome Ma. Antonius surnamed the Philosopher was most carefull of his good name and fame willing the truth to be knowen by straungers report and not by such Courtiers which Constantine the Emperour cals Sorices Palatij the rats of the Court or as the Philosopher termes them vermes opum Many good Kings vsed the like meanes to auoid the one and to seeke out the other For Courts of Kings Princes cannot be without limping and halting In Meroe a Kingdome of India if the Kings were lame or halt or in any part of their bodies his Courtiers by the law in Meroe should be also lame and halt as the Kings did It is histored that in Macedonia in the time of Philip and in Neapolis in the time of Ferdinandus for that these two Kings held their necks a litle on the left side though it was a naturall defect in others yet in Princes followed and imitated and yet no longer then these Princes liued In the next King it is cleane altered for in the time of Alexander the great for that he had a bush of haire standing vp on his forehead the Courtiers in Macedonia left to holde their heads awry after Philip the father and followed the sonne Alexander euery Courtier imitating the time with great care and trauaile to make their haires stand vp vpon their foreheads like Alexander and to be called Opisthocomae as Alexander Hector and Pompei the great were noted to haue beene The Emperour Constantine practized a pollicie to find out sound Christians and faithfull seruants in his Court he fained a decree and commanded all the Christians to depart frō his Court cingula Militaria deponere The sound true Christians left the Emperour and his Court and forsooke their credit and militarie dignitie and esteemed not his Court in respect of Christianitie The other Christians which the Emperor found tantum nomine staied behind he banished and reuoked his decree and called backe the other and restored them to their former estate with greater credit saying Qui suo numini fidi non sunt nec mihi And so banished those counterfeit Christians This sentence squares well with our rebellious brutes and not Britanes who were neuer sound to God faithfull to their Prince nor true to their countrey but as Caligula wished to Rome so they wish to England and as Haman wished to the Iewes so they wished to the Britanes They wish with
Midas that whatsoeuer they tucht should be gold and therefore they shall for hunger with Midas starue They wish for blood and they shall be satisfied with blood in Britaine as King Cyrus was in Scithia or the Romane Consul Crassus was in Parthia From such people that so wished Elias wished to die vnder a Iuniper tree and among such people wished to know his friends from his foes So King Antigonus wished only to know his friends for his foes he would carefully looke vnto but the wish of a perfect Christian is set downe in the Lords Praier Thy kingdome come thy will be done yet we are commanded to aske to praise and to wish all good and godly things Simon wished to haue Christ in his armes and to embrace his Sauiour before he died Saint Augustine wished to haue seene Paul in his face and also wished to haue seene Christ in his bodie Beda wished to see Christ in his eternall and glorious bodie in heauen these wishes are to be wished Many haue Christ in their most wicked and blasphemous tongue by all kind of lies swearing and blaspheming of God So had Anam and his wife Saphira before Peter that denied the trueth Et mentiri spiritui sancto So had Iulian Apostata and confessed his impietie and wickednes by throwing out of his heart blood saying vicisâ—i o Galilee and after such vngodly sort too many throw their hearts blood and say Vincisti veritas And what is the end of these rebellious and treacherous wishes is it for gold and siluer is it for honour and dignitie is it for the whole world O foole said Christ to winne the whole world and to loose thy soule Of such fellowes saith Bernard O gens auara What is gold but rubea terra red earth What is siluer but terra allia white earth And yet wee esteeme of that vile thing which is below and but execrements of the earth more then any thing which is aboue the earth euen heauen Yea we make much of that which the Indians Ethiopians Pagans and Heathens esteeme as dirt For they vse neither Gemmes nor precious stones but onely in soccis calâ—eis and that in contempt of it For with the Ethiopians their maner was to bind their prisoners with chaines of gold their theeues with fetters of siluer But the Romanes would not be satisfied before they should haue all and notwitstanding in short time lost all The great Antiochus brought Hanniball to his Treasures and shewed Hanniball his Gold his Siluer his wealth and treasures and asked Hanniball if that would not please the Romanes yea said Hannibal it would please the Romans but not satisfie the Romans Rome was euer coÌ„pared to Sodome Gomorha for beastly inteÌ„perancie as Pope Sixtus the 4 who granted to vse in the three hot moneths Iune Iuly August sodomitrie Compared to Babilon and so called for her Idolatrie and Pride and for crueltie and greedinesse compared to Turkes and to Tyrants If the comparison of Rome with Sodome and Gomorrha with Babilon with Turkes and Tirants will not serue which most aptly agree with them I would also compare theÌ„ to Alexanders horse who feared not the persians phalanges the Camels of Asia not the Elephants of India and yet feared his own shadowe So the Romanes that feared not Asia Europe nor Affrica yet feared their owne shadowes at Rome A verie rich man borne in Lydia and dwelling in Phrygia hee willed his wife to prouide some great cheere for friends of his so his wife did She couered all places ouer with gold siluer Table Cupbords with all kind of golden vessels wherin for a while he delighted much but being huÌ„gry called for his meat shee layd vppon the table a painted dinner a banquet all maner of fowles of fish made on stone wood iuorie waxe and paimed the gold and siluer and garnished it with rich stones Pithius waxed angry with his wife and called for his meat His wife answered This is your meate husband that you feede night and day vpon I haue no meat for your friends but such as you feed on and with another taunt said That he could not liue long that fed on Midas table The like banquets made Heliogabalus of eight persons 8 bald-men 8 deafe meen 8 gowtie men 8 blacke Ethiopians 8 scoffers and 8 of the fattest and grossest And Heliogabalus commanded all these eights persons to bring him 1000 weight of cobwebs promising them to be well rewarded And being demaunded what to doe He answered Ex his colligi magnitudinem vrbis Romae These gathered and brought Heliogabalus 10000 weights to whom he made such a banquet for these Eights as Pytheus wife made for her husband Heliogabalus left these eights at their golden breakfast and tooke the eight that were burst with him ad balneum to bath themselues and when these eight had done bathing the Emperor commanded them to goe to breakfast with their fellowes and hee came himselfe sat with them and maruailed they could eat no meat I pray you come some other time when your stomackes serue you I see you can eat no meat and so let them goe And yet both these Feasts were farre better than the Arch-bishop of Mounse Hatto who in the time of great famine fained dissembled some almes reliefes to the poore and coÌ„manded they should be gathered together into a great barne vnder colour to bestowe his almes and relieue them and being shut in the barne commanded them to be all burned saying That these poore people were the Rats of the Countrey But this Arch-bishop was by Gods iust iudgment deuoured and eaten vp with Rats Mise this Archbishop forgat the plague of Pharo by frogs lice and flyes forgat the Isle of Cyclades plagued with Rats Sectio 8. THere bee certaine Iewes in the west parts of India called Essaâ—i which will eat no flesh drinke no wine nor vse the companie of any women There bee also certaine women in Scythia called Amazones which by the law of their Countrey men may not gouerne or dwell with them And yet such women did meet together in mount Quirinaâ— at Rome in the Court of Heliogabalus the Emperour who had Caenaculum Mulierum and where nothing was done but by women And such did meet sometime in the Court of Salomon in Hierusalem where was the Court of Pharoes daughter the Court of the Queen of the Moabites of the Queene of the Amonites of Edomites of Sydomites and so many Courts of Queenes in Hierusalem that there was no Court of Salomon These strange womeÌ„ did not only put Salomon king of Israel out of Israel but also the God of Israel and brought their idolatrous Gods vnto Israel with so many Altars to Idols in Hierusalem and Mount Oliuet that God reioyced to haue reserued yet in Israel 7000 that neuer bowed their knees to Ball. I would to God wee might