persons in so little a time Plut. Daemaratus the Lacedemonian being at the King of Persia's Court and in favour with him the King bid him ask what he would of him Daemaratus desired him to give him leave to go up and down the City of Sardis with his Royal hat on his head as the Kings of Persia used But Mithropaustes the Kings cozen taking him by the hand said If the King should grant thy request the hat on thy head would cover but a little wit Plut. Camillus the Romane General having after ten years siege taken the strong and rich City of Veia grew very proud upon his successe and was more puffed up by reason of the praises of the people so that he rode through Rome in a triumphant Chariot drawn by four white horses which was judged a solemnity only meet for the father and chief of the gods Plut. Some Germane Ambassadours coming to Alexander M. to make peace with him he seeing them to be men of such great bodies asked them What it was that the Germanes stood in most fear of supposing that they would have said of him But they answered that the onely thing that they feared was lest the heavens should fall upon their heads Diod. Sic. Darius King of Persia hearing that Alexander M. was come over into Asia with an Army to make a conquest of it wrote to his Lieutenants wherein he stiled himself King of kings and Kinseman to the gods calling Alexander his slave and commanding them to take that Grecian boy and whip him with rods and to put a purple garment upon him and send him in chaines to him and then to drown all his ships and mariners and to transport all his souldiers beyond the red-sea Diod. Sic. Q. Curtius Alexander M. going out of Egypt to the Temple of Jupiter Hammon at his coming thither the Priest being suborned thereunto saluted him as the son of Jupiter which so puffed him up with pride that he commanded himself to be worshipped with divine honours and to be called Jupiters son Q. Cur. Darius King of Persia being overcome in a second battel by Alexander M. sent Ambassadours to him wherin he gave him thanks for his courtesie to his mother wives and children proffered him the greatest part of his dominions if he would marry his daughter and one thousand Talents for the ransome of the other Captives Parmenio told Alexander that if he were Alexander he would accept of those termes And I said Alexander if I were Parmenio would rather have the money then glory But now said he I am secure from poverty and must remember that I am a King and not a Merchant and so he returned this proud answer Tell faith he Darius that it 's superfluous to returne thanks to his enemy and wherein I have dealt mildly and liberally with his family it proceeds from my good nature and not to curry favour with him I would do what he desires if he would be my inferiour but not if he would be my equal for as the world cannot have two Suns neither can it containe two Emperors therfore let him either yield up himself to me to day or expect the fortune of Warre to morrow Q. Cur. Plut. See the example of S. Tullius in Parricide John Cappadox Bishop of Constantinople and John sirnamed Jeninator out of their ambition obtained that they should be stiled vniversal Bishops which Gregory the Great earnestly opposed Theat vitae hum Julius Caesar earnestly affecting the office of High Priest wherein he had Quintus Catulus a worthy man for his competitour said unto his mother when they were going to the choice O mother this day you shall have your son either High Priest or an exile Plut. Pompey the Great being sent with a great Navy against the Pirats and hearing that Metellus Praetor of Crete had begun the Warre against them he with his Navy assisted them against Metullus so ambitious he was that he would endure no competitour in conquering those Pirates Fulgos. Lib. 8. Phidias that made a curious shield for Minerva was so ambitiously desirous of glory thereby that he so wrought in his own name that it could not be defaced without spoiling the shield Val. Max. Themistocles was so ambitious of honour as that he could not sleep in the night and being asked the reason of it he answered Because the Trophies of Miltiades run so in my head that they will not suffer me to rest And being asked in the Theater whose voice pleased him best he answered Of them that most sing my praise Plut. Cicero Alexander the Great when he was young hearing his Master Democritus affirming that there were many worlds cried out Heu me miserum quod ne uno quidem adhuc potitus sum Wo is me that have not yet gotten the dominion of one of them Val. Max. Xerxes having made a bridge of boats over the Helespont for the transportation of his huge Army out of Asia into Europe there arose a great tempest which brake his bridge in sunder wherewith he was so enraged that he caused his men to give the sea three hundred stripes and to throw fetters into it to binde it to its good behaviour his officers performing his command cried O unruly water thy Lord hath appointed thee this punishment for that thou hast wronged him that deserved it not from thee but whether thou wilt or no he is resolved to passe over thee Herod Themistocles was exceeding ambitious of popular applause and for that end he gat all the names of the Citizens of Athens by heart that when he met them he might salute them by name And after his great victories against the Persians he went to the Oympick Games where all the people gave over beholding the sports that they might look upon him which so pleased his ambitious humour that he said to his friends That now he reaped the fruit of all the dangers and labours that he had gone throw for the safety of Greece Also after the great overthrow given to the Persians by sea he with one of his friends walking by the sea-side and seeing many dead bodies cast up he shewed his friend the bracelets and chaines of gold which they had upon them saying to him Ea tibi accipe tu enim non es Themistocles Take thou those things for thou art not Themistocles Plut. Pericles the Athenian a little before his death in an oration which he made to the people tolde them that he was second to none in knowing and speaking those things which were necessary to be known and spoken and that he so loved his countrey that he would never suffer himself to be corrupted with money to speak or do any thing to the prejudice of it Plut. King Henry the second of England AnnoChristi 1170. in his life-time caused his son young Henry to be crowned King and on his Coronation-day for honours sake placed the first dish upon the table himself Whereupon the Arch-bishop of York
to marry her but before night he cut off his head and gave her all his possessions Anno Christi 1056. A certain Advocate in Constance extreamly lusted after the wife of the Kings Procurator which Procuratour finding the Advocate and his wife sporting together in a Bath and afterwards in an old womans house hard by he gat him a sharp curry-comb and leaving three men at the doore to see that none should come in he so curried the Advocate that he tore out his eyes and so rent his whole body that he died within three dayes The like he would have done to his wife but that she was with childe In Germany a Gentleman of note solicited a Citizens wife to uncleannesse which her husband being informed of watched them so narrowly that finding them in bed together he first slew the adulterer and then his own wife Luther's Col. Mary of Arragon wife to the Emperour Otho the third was so unchast and lascivious a woman that she could never satisfie her lust carrying about her a young lecher in womans clothes with whom she daily committed filthinesse but this fellow being at last suspected was in the presence of many untired and found to be a man for which he was burnt to death yet did the Emperesse continue in her filthy course falling in love with the Count of Mutina a gallant young Gentleman and because she could not draw him to her lure she accused him to the Emperour for attempting to ravish her whereupon the Emperour caused his head to be cut off But by the meanes of his wife this wickednesse was discovered to the Emperour who enquiring more narrowly into the bufinesse found out his wives wickednesse and for the same caused her to be burnt at a stake Rodoaldus the eighth King of Lombardy being taken in adultery was by the husband of the adulteresse immediately slaine P. Melan. Chron. A Noble man in Thuringia being taken in adultery the husband of the adulteresse took him bound him hand and foot and cast him into prison and to quench his lust he kept him fasting and the more to augment his paine he daily set dishes of hot meat before him that the sight and smell might the more provoke his appetite In this torture the Lecher continued till he gnawed off the flesh from his own shoulders and so the eleventh day after his imprisonment ended his wretched life Luther Sergus a King of Scotland was so addicted to harlots that he neglected his own wife and drave her to such poverty that she was faine to serve another Noble-woman for her living whereupon watching her opportunity she slew her husband in his bed and her self after it Lang. Chron. Kenulphus King of the West-Saxons as he usually frequented the company of a whore that he kept at Merton was slaine by Clito the kinsman of the late King called Sigebert In the County of Fermanah in Ireland is a famous Meere called Logh-Erne stretching out fourty miles concerning which it's a common speech amongst the inhabitants that this Lake was formerly firme ground passing well husbanded with tillage and replenished with inhabitants But suddenly for their abominable Buggery committed with beasts it was overflowed with waters and turned into a Lake Camb. Brit. Irel. p. 106. Attalus who was one of Philip King of Macedonia's Courtiers Favourites Sodomitically defiled one Pausanias a Noble young man and not content therewith at a drunken feast he exposed him to be defiled by his guests also This indignity did so exasperate Pausanias that he complained to King Philip of the wrong who entertained him with scoffs and scornes in stead of punishing the offender Pausanias seeing this was so enraged against the King that on a day when he made a great feast for the Coronation of his son Alexander King of Epyrus and for the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra Pausanius watching his opportunity slew him thereby turning their melody into mourning and their joy into sorrow Diod. Sic. Nero the Emperour kept many Catamites and amongst the rest he caused the genitals of a boy called Sporus to be cut off and endeavoured to transforme him into a woman and causing him to be dressed like a woman he was solemnly married to him whereupon one said merrily That it had been well for the world if his father Domitian had had such a wife Pez Mel. Hist. Anno Christi 1120. Henry the first being King of England his two sonnes William and Richard with many Noble men Knights others coming out of Normandy towards England were shipwracked by the way and drowned all or most of them being polluted with the filthy sinne of Sodomy too rife in those dayes Henry Huntington Let not thine heart decline to the wayes of an whorish woman go not a stray in her paths For she hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slaine by her Her house is the way to hell going down to the Chambers of death Prov. 7. 25 26 27. CHAP. XI Examples of Chastity and Modesty THe way to heaven is up the hill all the way and the uncleane adulterer with his rotten Lungs and wasted Loines cannot climbe up it Virgins which are not defiled with women are they which follow the Lambe in white whithersoever he goes The frequency of the sinne of uncleannesse amongst Christians brings dishonour to God scandal to their profession and a wound to their own souls and many of the Heathen will rise up in judgement in the last day against such as these following Examples will more fully declare Chastity Commended Mat. 19. 12. 1 Thes. 4. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 2. 1 Cor. 7. 37. 1 Tim. 2. 9. Commanded Tit. 2. 5. 1 Pet. 3. 3 c. Scriptural Examples Isaac Gen. 25. 20. Joseph Gen. 39. 8 12. Boaz Ruth 3. 13. Job chap. 31. 1. Tamar 2 Sam. 13. 12. Other Examples Pericles the Athenian being made Admiral of the Athenian Fleet together with Sophocles who was joyned in the commission with him as they were going towards the haven they met a beautiful young boy whom Sophocles earnestly beholding highly commended his beauty to whom Pericles answered Sophocles a Governour must not onely have his hands but also his eyes chaste and clean Plut. Agesilaus King of Sparta was a great lover of chastity and as he was a great conquerer of others so also he conquerred his own lusts In his journey he would never lodge in private houses where he might have the company of women but ever lodged either in the Temples or in the open fields making all men the witnesses of his modesty and chastity Plut. Alexander M. being in the heat of youth shewed an admirable example of chastity when having taken the mother wives and daughters of Darius which were women of admirable beauty yet he neither by word or deed proffered them the least indignity thinking it a greater honour to overcome himself then his adversaries and when he looked upon other captive Ladies that excelled in stature and beauty
that Sirname was so bountiful to the poore that Queen Elizabeth would merrily complaine of him that he made all the beggars and sure it 's more honourable for Noblemen to make beggars by their liberality then by their oppression Holy State p. 297. Holy Mr. Bradford in a hard time solde his chaines rings and jewels to relieve those that were in want Act. Mon. George Wisehart a Scottish Martyr forbore one meal in three one day in four that he might have wherewithal to relieve the poor He lay also hard upon straw with new course canvas sheets which when ever he changed he gave away to the poor See his Life in my General Martyrology Giles of Bruxels Martyr gave to the poore all that he had that necessity could spare and lived by his trade which was of a Cutler some he refreshed with meat some with clothing some with shooes other with housholdstuffe A poor woman being delivered and wanting a bed to lie on he brought her his own bed contenting himselfe to lie on the straw Dr. Taylour Martyr used at least once in a fourtnight to call upon Sir Henry Doile and others of the rich Clothiers in his Parish to go with him to the Almes house and there to see how the poore lived what they lacked in meat drink apparel bedding or other necessaries ministering to them himself according to his power and causing his rich neighbours to do the like See his life in my first Part. Cimon a chiefe magistate amongst the Athenians went alwayes attended with many young men that were his friends to whom as he met with any poor men he commanded either to give them money or else to change garments with them Whence Gorgias Leontinus used to say That Cimon so possessed his riches as one that knew how to use them For saith he the true use of riches is so to imploy them as may be for the owners honour Plut. He used also to entertain the poore at his table to cloath poor aged persons and by throwing down the enclosures of his lands he gave them leave freely to take of the fruits thereof Plut. Nerva the Romane Emperour though a heathen was very charitable to many who were unjustly dispossessed by Domitian he restored their goods and possessions he caused the sonnes of poor men to be educated at his charges To poor Citizens whom he knew to be in want he gave possessions which he purchased with his own money Dion King Henry the second of England sirnamed Beauclerk was very charitable and merciful to the poor And Anno Christi 1176. in a great dearth in his countreys of Anjou and Maine he fed every day with sufficient sustenance ten thousand persons from the beginning of April till the time that new corne was inned and whatsoever was laid up in his Granaries and storehouses he imployed the same for the reliefe of Religious and poore people Petrus Blesensis King Edward the sixth was as truly charitable in granting Bridewel for the punishment of sturdy Rogues as in giving Saint Thomas hospital for the relief of the poore Mr. Fox never denied to give to any one that asked for Jesus sake and being asked whether he knew a poore man that had received succour of him answered I remember him well I tell you I forget Lords and Ladies to remember such See his life in my first Part. Mr. Hooper Bishop of Worcester used every day at dinner to have a certaine number of the poore of the City by course where they were served by four at a Messe with whole and wholesome meat before himselfe would go to dinner See his Life in my first Part. Amedeus Duke of Savoy being asked by certain Ambassadours whether he had any hunting Dogs to shew them told them they should see them the next day and getting together many poor people he set them with him at his own Table on the morrow and said to the Ambassadours These be the Dogs that I keep daily and with which I use to hunt after heaven Queen Anne Bullen ever used to carry a little purse about her for the poore thinking no day well spent wherein some had not fared the better at her hand She kept her maides and such as were about her so imployed in working and sowing garments for the poore that neither was there seen any idlenesse amongst them nor any leasure to follow foolish pastimes Paulinus Bishop of Nola having consumed all his estate in Redeeming of poor Christian Captives at the length having nothing left paâ—â—ed himself for a certaine Christian widows sonnâ—… the Barbarians moved with his goodnesse and charity returned him home and many captives with him freely Paul Diac. The young Lord Harrington gave the tenth of his allowance which was one thousand pounds per annum during his minority to the poor and other good uses besides what he gave in the way as he walked which was often and much See his life in my second Part. Mr Whateley the late painful and powerful Preacher of Gods Word at Banbury for the space of many years together set apart the tenth part of his Revenues both Ecclesiastical and Temporal which he used to give to the poor See his Life in my first Part. It it storied of Stephen King of Hungary and of Oswald King of England that their right hands though dead yet never putrified because they were often ex-excised in relieving the wants of the poor Beda Hist. Ang. A certain good Bishop of Millaine journeying with his Servant was met by some poor people who begged something of him He commanded his man to give them all that little money that he had which was three Crowns the Servant gave onely two reserving the other for their own expences at night Soone after certaine Nobles meeting the Bishop and knowing him to be a good man and bountiful to the poor commanded two hundred Crowns to be delivered to the Bishops Servant for his Masters use The man having the money ran with great joy and told his Master Ah said the Bishop what wrong hast thou done both me and thy self Si enim tres dedisses trecentos accepisses If thou hadst given those three Crowns as I appointed thee thou hadst received three hundred â—â—lanc apud Job Manlium in loc com p. 360. Our General Norris never thought that he had that thing that he did not give The Emperour Tiberius the second being a valiant godly and liberal Prince the more bountiful that he was to the poor the more his riches encreased so that he had such quantities of gold silver and precious things as none of his Predecessors attained the like Plat. Titus Vespasianus though an Heathen yet was eminent for justice liberality and the love of all He was a great enemy to Promoters Petty-foggers and Extorters of penal Laws which Canker-worms of Common-wealths and Caterpillars of Courts of Justice he caused to be whipped and banished out of Rome Merciful he was to the poor and so ready to
them a great reward and presently brake all the vessels in pieces and being asked the reason of it he answered Because knowing that I am soon angry I may prevent being angry with those that might hereafter break them Eras. Lib. 5. Adag Alexander Magnus being of a cholerick disposition obscured three of his greatest victories with the death of three of his friends causing Lysimachus to be cast to a Lion Clitus to be slaine with a speare and Calisthenes to be put to death Theat vitae hum King Perses being overcome by Paulus AEmilius grew into such a passion that he slew two of his Nobles which came to comfort him which so provoked the rest that they all forsooke him Theat vitae hum L. Sylla who in his anger had spilt the blood of many at last in his fury raging and crying out against one that had broken promise with him thereby brake a veine within him vomiting out his blood soul and anger together Val. Max. lib. 9. Amilcar the Carthaginian did so extreamly hate the Romanes that having four sons he used to say that he bred up those foure Lions whelps for the destruction of the Romane Empire Probus in vita Semiramis as she was dressing her head newes being brought that Babylon rebelled against her she was so incensed that in that habit her haire halfe tied up and half hanging loose she hastened to reduce it and never dressed up her head till she had subdued that great City Polyb. Tomyris Queen of Scythia having overcome and taken Cyrus King of Persia caused his head to be cut off and thrown into a bowle of blood bidding him to drink his fill for that he had so much thirsted after blood and had slaine her sonne in the Warres Val. Max. Lysander the Lacedemonian was noted to be of such an implacable disposition tbat nothing could appease his malice but the death of the person with whom he was angry whereupon it grew to a proverb That Greece could not bear two Lysanders Pez Mel. Hist. Alexander M in a drunken feast that he made after his conquest of Persia began to boast of his great victories and atchievments to the distaste of his own Captaines insomuch as one of them called Clitus speaking to another said He boasts of those victories which were purchased with other mens blood Alexander suspecting that he spake against him asked what he said and when all were silent Clitus spake of the great victories which Philip his father had gotten in Greece preferring them before these which so incensed Alexander that he bade him be gone out of his presence and when Clitus hastened not but multiplied words the King rose up in a great fury and snatching a lance out of his Squires hand therewith he thrust Clitus thorow and killed him This Clitus had formerly saved the Kings life in the battel against Darius He was an old souldier of King Philips and had performed many excellent exploits Besides his mother had nursed Alexander and he was brought up with him as his foster-brother So that Alexander when the heat of his anger was over was so enraged against himselfe for this murther that he was about with the same lance to have murthered himself if he had not been violently restrained by his servants Q. Cur. Caius Caligula was of a most malicious disposition for which end he kept two books which he called his sword and dagger wherein he wrote the names of all such as he had appointed to death He had such a chest of all sorts of the most exquisite poisons that when afterwards it was thrown into the sea by his successor Claudius it poisoned a great multitude of fishes Sueto Amilcar the Carthaginian at what time he did sacrifice being ready to take his journey into Spaine called his young son Hannibal being then but nine years old and caused him to lay his hand upon the Altar and to sweare that being come to mans estate he should pursue the Romanes with immortal hatred and work them all the mischief that possibly he could Sir W. Raw. King Edward the first of England going against Bruce King of Scotland caused his eldest sonne and all his Nobles to swear that if he died in his journey they should carry his corps about Scotland with them and not suffer it to be interred till they had vanquished the Scots and subdued the whole Kingdom Sed ira mortalium debet esse mortalis saith Lactantius Darius being offended with the Athenians for assisting his enemies he called for a bowe wherewith he shot up an arrow towards heaven saying O Jupiter grant that I may be revenged upon the Athenians He appointed also one of his servants every night when he was at supper to say to him Here memento Atheniensium Master remember the Athenians Pez Mel. Hist. Camillus a Noble Romane after many great services done for the Common-wealth was at the instigation of a wicked detractor condemned by the common people to pay a greater summe of money then he was able But he scorning such an open shame resolved to go into voluntary exile and so taking leave of his wife children and friends he went out of the City-gate but then turning again and lifting up his hands towards the Capitol he said O ye gods if it be of spite and malice that the common people thus drive me away then let them have quickly cause to repent and stand in need of me Put. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart Leviticus 19. 17. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel Gen. 49. 7. CHAP. XIX Examples of Patience Moderation and Meeknesse SOme of the Heathens have attained to a great eminencie in this vertue of Patience but Christians are to adde it to the number of their graces 2 Pet. 1. 6. And indeed it is that that gives a great lustre to all the rest Humility is the root whence it springs and the fruit of it is both amiable and profitable It puts and keeps a man in possession of his soul Luk. 21. 19. It makes all burthens light and is much improved by exercise Rom. 5. 3. Moses his meeknesse and Jobs patience are exemplary and so held forth in the Scripture And these which follow also may be useful to quicken us to an earnest pursuit after this so excellent a vertue Commanded Luke 21. 19. Col. 1. 11. Rom 12. 12. 1 Thes. 5. 14. Jam. 5. 7 8. c. 1 Tim. 6. 11. Heb. 10. 36. 12. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 6. 1 Pet. 2. 20. Mat. 11. 29. Commanded Eccles. 7. 8. 2 Cor. 6. 4. 12. 12. 1 Tim. 3. 3. 2 Tim. 2. 24. 2 Thes. 1 4. Tit. 2. 2. Heb. 6. 12. Jam. 1 3 4. Rev. 2. 2 3 19 13. 10. 14. 12. Psal. 22. 26. 25. 9. 37. 11. 76. 9. 147. 6. 149 4. Isa. 29. 19. Mat. 5. 5. 1 Pet. 3. 4. Scriptural examples Paul 2 Cor. 6. 4. Moses Num. 12. 3.
to sweare allegiance to his daughter Maud and that she should succeed in his Kingdome they which swore were first William Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops and Abbats then David King of Scotland Uncle to Maud now married to the Emperesse of Germany then Stephen Earle of Mortaigne and Bulloigne Nephew to the King c. But so soon as King Henry was dead in Normandy Stephen hasted into England and by the help especially of the Bishops was made King and the Emperesse put by but behold the revenging hand of God following their Perjury Stephen though otherwise a gallant Prince yet found his Crowne to be but a glorious misery Mars and Vulcan never suffering him to be at quiet and as he would not suffer the right heire to inherit so God would not suffer him to have an heire to inherit for his sonne was put by the Crowne which was conferred upon Henry sonne to the Emperesse the rightfull heire Also William Arch-bishop of Canterbury never prospered after his perjury but died within that yeare Roger Bishop of Salisbury fell into displeasure with King Stephen who took him prisoner seized upon his Castles and treasures and so used him that he died for very griefe Alexander Bishop of Lincolne was also taken by the King and led in a rope to the Castle of Newark upon Trent the King swearing that the Bishop should neither eat nor drink till his Castle was surrendered so that there he gat all the Bishops treasure and as for Hugh Bigot he also escaped not long unpunished saith Fabian Rodulph Duke of Sweveh provoked by the Pope rebelled against his Sovereigne the Emperour Henry the fourth but in a battel which he fought against him he lost his right arme whereof he shortly after died acknowledging Gods justice for his disloyalty punishing him in that arme which before was lift up to sweare the oath of allegiance to his Master Act. Mon. Narcissus a godly Bishop of Ierusalem was falsly accused by three men of many foule matters who sealed up with oathes and imprecations their false testimonies But shortly after one of them with his whole family and substance was burnt with fire another of them was stricken with a grievous disease such as in his imprecation he had wished to himselfe the third terrified with the sight of Gods judgements upon the former became very panitent and poured out the griefe of his heart in such aboundance of teares that thereby he became blinde Euseb. The Arians hired a woman to accuse Eustatius a godly Bishop of committing whoredome with her thereby procuring his banishment But shortly after the Lord struck her with a grievous disease whereupon she confessed her perjury the childe being begotten by Eustatius a Smith and not Eustatius the Bishop and so presently after she died Euseb. The Emperour Albert having made a truce with the great Turke and solemnly sworne to the same Pope Eugenius the fourth sent him a dispensation from his oath and excited him to renew the warre against them but in the first battel he was discomfited and slaine to the great shame of Christianity the infidels justly accusing them of Perjury and Covenant breaking sealed by the Name of Christ whom they professe to be their Saviour Turk Hist. Almerick King of Ierusalem having entred into League with the Caliph of Egypt and confirmed the same by an oath afterwards warred upon him contrary to his promise whereupon God raised him up many enemies who miserably wasted the Kingdome of Ierusalem himselfe was beaten out of Egypt and all hopes of succour failing him being wearied with whole volleys of miseries he ended his life of a bloody Flux Hist. holy Warres The Egyptians reputed perjury so capital a crime that whosoever was convinced thereof was punished with death Pausanias noteth this to be one chiefe cause why Philip King of Macedon with all his posterity were so quickly destroyed because he made no account of keeping his oathes but sware and unswere as might stand best with his interest Gregory of Tours makes mention of a wicked varlet in France among the people called Averni that forswearing himselfe in an unjust-cause had his tongue presently so tied that he could not speake but roare till by his inward prayer and repentance the Lord restored him the use of that unruly member Theodor Beza recordeth what befell a perjured person who forswore himselfe to the prejudice of his neighbour He had no sooner made an end of his oath but being suddenly stricken with an Apoplexie he never spake word more till he died Cleomenes King of Lacedemonia making truce with the Argives for seven dayes oppressed them in the third night unawares thinking thereby to avoid perjury But the Argive women their husbands being slaine took up armes like so many Amazones and repelled Cleomenes who afterwards was banished into Egypt where desperately he slew himselfe Plut. Uladislaus King of Hungary having contracted a League with Amurath the great Turke and bound himselfe to it by an oath the Pope sent a Legat to absolve him from his oath and provoke him to warre which he undertaking with a very great Army the victory stood doubtfull a great while together but Amurath seeing a Crucifix in the Christians Ensigne pluckt the writing wherein the late League was contained out of his bosome and with his eyes and hands cast up to heaven said O thou crucified Christ behold this is the League thy Christians in thy Name made with me which they have causelesly violated If thou be a God as they say thou art and as we dream revenge the wrong now done unto thy Name and me and shew thy power upon thy perjured people who in their deeds deny thee their God Immediately afterward the King in the middest of his enemies was slaine and the Christians fled very few ever returning to their own homes but perished miserably Turk Hist. When Harold King of England was ready to joyne in battel with William the Conquerer and his Normans Gyth a younger brother of his advised him that in case he had made promise unto William of the Kingdome he should for his own person withdraw himselfe out of the battel for surely all his forces could not secure him against God and his own conscience who no doubt would require punishment for breach offaith and promise withall assuring him that if he would commit the fortune of that battel into his hands he would not faile to performe the part of a good brother and valiant Captaine but the King contemning this wholesome counsel would needs joyne battel himselfe wherein he lost his Army Kingdome and his own life Camb Brit. p. 149 150. Henry Falmer being accused by his own brother of Heresie as they call it suffered Martyrdome for the same but shortly after his said brother who had borne false witnesse against him was pressed for a Pioner in the voyage to Bulloine where within three dayes as he was exonerating nature a Gun took him and
a while excluding his servants he kept himselfe in his chamber with his children only Then he conceited that all civil society with others defiled him and thereupon locking his chamber-door continually he caused his servants to reach in at the window food for himselfe and children He cut out all the contents of the Chapters through the whole Bible expected Enthusiasmes and revelations often in the day lying along on the floore and causing his children to do the like with their heads in a ring and when his ancient friends Ministers and others hearing of it came to speake with him amongst whom my selfe was one knocking at his chamber-door importuning intreating and threatening to break open the doore yet could they by no meanes prevaile either to have a word from him or the door opened at length one of his children sickened and died yet he concealing it privately carried it into the next roome and locked it up till the corpse putrefying almost choaked him whereupon he caused his servant to bring him some Mosse still concealing the occasion wherewith he stopped the cranies in his wall to keep out the stench But his course of life being much talked of abroad a neighbour Justice of Peace pittying his condition sent some with command to break open his chamber-doore which being done they found him and his children like Nebuchadnezzar much deformed with their haire and nailes grown very long their clothes almost rotten upon their backes for the want of shift and all their healths very much impaired with that course of life yet neither would he nor any of his children being so tutored by him speak to any one though never so much pressed thereunto But it pleased God at length that his children being taken from him and sent to some friends recovered both their tongues and health Himself upon the breaking open of this door presently took his bed refusing to speak to or converse with any and though by godly Ministers and others which came to him he was laboured with to take notice of the dangerous temptation under which he lay intreated counselled threatened and prayed with and for him yet still turning his face to the wall he would neither heare nor answer them one word In which obstinate condition he remained till his death which was not long after David George alins Haàs Van Burcht borne in Delft in the Low-countreys a man altogether unlearned being a painter of glasses yet subtile of understanding and eloquent withal after he began to disperse his erroneous tenets was sought after by the Magistrates of that place whereupon he fled with his family to Basil in Suitzerland where in private he taught and advanced his damnable Heresies confirming his absent disciples by letters and books which he caused to be printed in the Castle of Beningen He died in the said town of Basil Anno 1556. for griefe that one of his followers was revolted Before his death whereas his disciples thought him to be god seeing him draw towards death he resolutely said unto them Be not amased I go to begin to shew my power Christ my predecessour to shew his power rose again the third day but I to shew my greater glory will rise again at the end of three years Afterwards the Magistrate being throughly informed of his life and doctrine caused his processe to be drawn and by a sentence his body was taken out of the ground and justice done as if he had been alive his goods confiscated and his books burnt Belg. Com. Wealth p. 65. 66. At Boston in New England the seventeenth of Octob. 1637. the wife of Master William Dier which woman held many monstrous and Heretical opinions was brought to bed of a Monster which had no head the face stood low upon the breast the eares like an Apes grew upon the shoulders the eyes stood far out and so did the mouth the nose was hooking upward the breast and back full of short prickles like a Thornback the Navel belly and distinction of the sexe were where the hips should have been and those back-parts were on the same side with the face the armes hands thighes and leggs were as other childrens but instead of toes it had on each foot three clawes with Tallons like a Fowle upon the back above the belly it had two great holes like mouths and in each of them stood out two peeces of flesh it had no forehead but in the place above the eyes it had four hornes two of above an inch long hard and sharpe and the othee two somewhat lesse It was of the female Sexe both the father and mother of it were great Familists The midwife one Hawkins wife of St. Ives was notorious for familiarity with the devil and a prime Familist Most of the women who were present at this womans travel were suddenly taken with such a violent vomiting and purging without eating or drinking any thing that they were forced to go home others had their children so taken with Convulsions which they neither had before nor after that they were sent for home so that none were left at the time of the birth of it but the Midwife and two other one of which was fallen asleep and at such time as the child died which was about two houres before the birth of it the bed wherein the mother lay shook so violently as that all that were in the roome perceived it the afterbirth had prickles on the inside like those on the childes breast See Mr. Wells short story c p. 44. Also about the same time and in the same place one Mistris Hutchinson who held about thirty monstrous and Heretical opinions whereof you have a Catalogue set down by the same Author Pag. 59. c. growing big with childe and towards the time of her labour at last brought forth thirty monstrous births or thereabouts at once some of them bigger and some lesser some of one shape and some of another few of any perfect shape none of all of them of humane shape This Mistris Hutchinson was first banished by the Magistrates of New-England into Read-Island for her Heresies but not staying long there she removed with all her family her daughter and her children into the Dutch Plantation to a place called Helgate where the Indians set upon them and slew her with all her family her daughter and her daughters husband with all their children save onely one that escaped which is the more remarkable because it was never heard that the Indians either before or since did commit the like outrage upon any others A Popish Priest Parson of Crondal neere Canterbury at the coming in of Cardinal Poole was absolved by him got a Copy of the Popes Bull of pardon brought into England by the said Poole which the Sabbath following he read to his people and withal told them that having been with the Cardinal on the Thursday before he had made him as clean from his sinnes as he was at the Font-stone or
Greg. of Tour. lib. 4. Anno Christi 1461. there was in Juchi neere Cambray an unnatural son that in a fury threw his mother out of his doores thrice in one day telling her that he had rather see his house on fire and burned to coles then that she should remaine in it one day longer and accordingly the very same day his house was fired and wholly burned down with all that was in it none knowing how or by what meanes the fire came Enguer de Monst v. 2. The Emperor Henry the fifth being provoked thereto by the Pope rose up in rebellion and made cruel War against his father Henry the fourth not ceasing till he had despoiled him of his Empire But the Lord presently after plagued him for it making him and his Army a prey to his enemies the Saxons stirring up the Pope to be as grievous a scourge to him also as he had been to his father P. Melanct. Chron. l. 4. Manlius relateth a story of an old man crooked with age very poore and almost pined with hunger who having a rich and wealthy sonne went to him only for some food for his belly clothes for his back but this proud young man thinking that it would be a dishonour to him to be borne of such parents drave him away denying not only to give him sustenance but disclaiming him from being his father giving him bitter and reproachful speeches which made the poore old man to go away with an heavy heart and teares flowing from his eyes which the Lord beholding struck his unnatural son with madnesse of which he could never be cured till his death The same author relates another story of another man that kept his father in his old age but used him very currishly as if he had been his slave thinking every thing too good for him and on a time coming in found a good dish set on the table for his father which he took away and set courser meat in the roome but a while after sending his servant to fetch out that dish for himself he found the meat turned into snakes and the sauce into serpents one of which leaping up caught this unnatural sonne by his lip from which it could never be pulled to his dying day so that he could never feed himselfe but he must feed the serpent also At Millane there was a wicked and dissolute young man who when he was admonished by his mother of some fault which he had committed made a wry mouth and pointed at her with his finger in scorne and derision whereupon his mother being angry wished that he might make such a mouth upon the Gallowes which not long after came to passe for being apprehended for felony and condemned to be hanged being upon the ladder he was observed to writhe his mouth in grief as he had formerly done to his mother in derision Theat hist. Henry the second King of England son to Jeffery Plantaginet and Maud the Emperesse after he had reigned twenty yeares made his young son Henry who had married Margaret the French Kings daughter King in his life-time but like an unnatural son he sought to dispossesse his father of the whole and by the instigation of the King of France and some others he took Armes and fought often with his father who still put him to the worst So that this rebellious son at last was fain to stoop and ask forgivenesse of his father which he gently granted and forgave his offence Howbeit the Lord plagued him for his disobedience striking him with sicknesse in the flower of his youth whereof he died six years before his father Speed Anno Christi 1071. Diogenes Romanus Emperour of the Greekes having led an Army against the Turkes as far as the River Euphrates where he was like to have prevailed but by the treason of his Son in Law Andronicus his Army was routed and himself taken prisoner yet the Turkes used him honourably and after a while sent him home But in the mean season they of Constantinople had chosen Michael Ducas for their Emperour who hearing of Diogenes his returne sent Andronicus to meet him who unnaturally plucked out his fathers eyes and applying no medecines thereto wormes bred in the holes which eating into his braines killed him Zonaras Adolf son of Arnold Duke of Guelders repining at his fathers long life one night as he was going to bed came upon him suddenly and took him prisoner and bare-legged as he was made him go on foot in a cold season five Germane leagues and then shut him up a close prisoner for six months in a dark dungeon but the Lord suffered not such disobedience and cruelty to go long unpunished For shortly after the son was apprehended and long inprisoned and after his release was slaine in a sight against the French History of the Netherlands One Garret a Frenchman and a Protestant by profession but given to all manner of vices was by his father cast off for his wickednesse yet found entertainment in a Gentlemans house of good note in whose family he became sworn brother to a young Gentleman that was a Protestant But afterwards coming to his estate he turned Papist of whose constancy because the Papists could hardly be assured he promised his Confessor to prove himself an undoubted Catholick by setting a sure seal to his profession whereupon he plotted the death of his dearest Protestant friends and thus effected it He invited his Father Monsieur Seamats his sworn brother and six other Genlemen of his acquaintance to dinner and all dinner time intertained them with protestations of his great obligements to them But the bloody Catastrophe was this dinner being ended sixteen armed men came up into the roome and laid hold on all the guests and this wicked Parricide laid hold on his Father willing the rest to hold his hands till he had dispatched him he stabbed the old Gentleman crying to the Lord for mercy foure times to the heart the young Gentleman his sworne brother he dragged to a window and there caused him to sing which he could dovery sweetly though then no doubt he did it with a very heavy heart and towards the end of the Ditty he stabbed him first into the throat and then to the heart and so with his Poiniard stabbed all the rest but three who were dispatched by those armed Ruffians at their first entrance and so they flung all the dead bodies out at a window into a ditch Oubig Hist. France The base son of Scipio Africanus the Conquerour of Hannibal and Africk so ill imitated his father that for his viciousnesse he received many disgracefull repulses from the people of Rome the fragrant smell of his fathers memory making him to stinke the more in their nostriles yea they forced him to pluck off from his finger a signet-ring wherin the face of his father was engraven as counting him unworthy to wear his picture whose vertue he would not imitate Val. Maxi. Tarpeia the