from mount Ephraim and now followed the enemies vnto Bethauen the victory was great which Saul got ouer the Philistines Saul in this battel did binde the souldiers by oath not to eate till euening and cursed him that would eate any foode till night for Ionathan tasted a little hony with the end of his rod and Saul his father would haue put him to death sauing that the souldiers rescued and deliuered him for the Lord had giuen a great victory by Ionathan ouer the Philistines CHAP. XX. Of the victorie of Saul at Iabesh Gilead and after how he was ouerthrowne by the Philistines and slew himselfe in mount Gilboa and of the reward of diuers treasons AFter the battel at Michmash Saul had an other victorie ouer the Ammonites where the Ammonites were slain at Iabesh Gilead the Lord prospered Saul and endued him with such vertues as were meete for a K. yet Saul disobeyed the Lord being commanded to destroy the Amalekites and sley both man and woman both infant and suckling both oxe and sheepe both camel and asse yet he spared Agag king of the Amalekites and the fat beasts and the lambes the sheepe and the oxen that were good against the commaundement of the Lord and therefore Samuel reproued him and tolde him that the Lord had reiected him and that his kingdome should bee giuen to an other and vpon Sauls disobedience Samuel was commaunded to annoint Dauid king ouer Israel so Saul wonne the victory but lost his kingdome and his life in the next battell Saul being forsaken of the Lord for his disobedience the Philistines preuailed against him in diuers battels for Saul was more desirous to kill Dauid the seruant of the Lord then to destroy the Philistines the enemies of the Lord. But Dauid was reserued and ordained to fight the battels of the Lord to destroy the Amalekites the Philistines the rest of the Lords enemies whom Saul spared being commanded to the contrary therfore the Lord gaue Saul to the hands of the Philistins at the battell in mount Gilboa that the Israelites fled and fell before the Philistines and the three sonnes of Saul were flaine and Saul himselfe sore wounded Such was his cruell life seeking to kill Dauid that he had a desperate death for he slew himself with his owne sword seeing the battell so sore against him his sonnes slaine his souldiers killed and all the rest of his army fled This was the end of Saul the first K. of Israel like the end of Zedechia the last king of Israel And whē the Philistins came to the spoyle of them that were slaine they found the body of Saul and his three sonnes in mount Gilboah slaine in the battel and they cut off Sauls head and stripped him out of his armour and they laid vp his armour in the Temple of their god Astaroth and hanged vp his body on the wall of Bethshan in token of victorie and triumph and they sent the head of Saul vnto the land of the Philistines that they might shew it in their cities and publish it in the Temples of their Idols among the people and after to set vp Sauls head in the Temple of Dagon This was the end of Saul whom the Lord raised from keeping his fathers asses to be a king ouer his people for not obeying the commaundement of the Lord thus euer the Lord punished disobedience in Saul in Rehoboam Achab Manasses and Zedechiah that the Lord deliuered Ierusalem and the kingdome of Iudah to the hands of Nabuchodonozer king of Babilon Saul being now slaine in mount Gilboa the Amalekite which brought to Dauid Sauls crowne and his bracelets and tolde Dauid that hee himselfe slew Saul which was a lye for Saul slew himselfe thought to haue a great reward for such good newes but Dauid commanded him to be slaine The like reward had Rechab and Banah that brought Isbosheths head vnto Dauid who disguised themselues as Marchants to buy wheate and went to Isbosheths house who slept on his bed at noone and they slew him tooke his head with them and presented it vnto Dauid at Hebron supposing they should bee better rewarded then the Amalekite was but Dauid rewarded them in this sort that their hands and their feete were cut off hanged vp ouer the poole in Hebron The recompence of such treacherous seruants were euer so rewarded as Bessus the onely chiefe captaine vnder Darius who after he fled from the battell at Arbela was slaine by Bessus and his head cut off and brought vnto Alexander who thought to be aduanced for his trecherous seruice but Alexander commaunded that he should be tyed to the tops of two young trees bending to the ground that he by the swinge and lifting vp of the trees might be torne in peeces So Septimius and Achillas commaunded by Ptolomeus king of Egipt to kill Pompey and to present his head vnto Caesar from him though Pompey before time had restored Ptolomeu his father to his kingdome in Egipt and Septimius had beene Pompey his souldier in diuers warres yet they slew him most trecherously in his boate at Pellusium and cut off his head to please Caesar but they were rewarded of Caesar as Bessus was of Alexander for the king was slaine and his kingdome giuen to Cleopatra his sister When Antigonus sawe Pirrhus head presented vnto him by his sonne though they were both enemies and in the field in armor one against an other yet he couered Pirrhus head with his hat discommending the crueltie of his sonne with such a reward that he made his bloud run about his eares saying how durst thou like a sauage beast bring Pirrhus head from his body being dead whom no prince or captaine in Asia or in Europe durst in the face meet in the field aliue Yet most men think that trecherie is allowed though traitors be not accepted I do not thinke but the head of Darius brought to Alexander by Bessus and the head of Pompey to Caesar were as gratefull as Ciceroes head was to Marc. Antonius brought by Popilius or as Marc. Crassus head sent by Surena to Horodes for thereby had Alexander the kingdome of Persia Caesar the Empire of Rome treason hath better successe then traitors haue To this effect spake Iezabell to Iehu Had Zimri peace which slew his maister Elah as though she should say can traitors haue good successe but she was rewarded by Iehu for that Naboth was stoned to death by her meanes for his vineyard as the rest were Euen cruel Sylla the Romane the enemie of Marius and all his well-willers and especiall of Sulpitius Syllas mortall foe Yet when Sulpitius seruant would haue betrayed Sulpitius his maister vnto Sylla Sylla caused him to bee throwne headlong downe from the rocke Tarpeia So much the olde Romanes hated traitors and treasons that when Viriatus an other Haniball and a great enemie of the Romanes for 14.
Scypio Affrican for their victories to their countrey though they were compared to Hanibal for the harm hurt which they had done to their countrey Had Ieroboam harkned to the counsell of Abiah king of Iudah vpon mount Zemaraim he had saued fiue hundred thousand Israelites which were slaine at the battel If the Beniamites had taken counsel of their bretheren the Israelites and to yeeld vnto them the wicked mē that abused the Leuites wife the whole tribe of Beniamin had not bin destroied It was the ouerthrow of Iudas Machabaeus by Bacchides at the battell of Laisa for that he would not be perswaded by his friends to refraine the battell for that time Had the Prophet Ieremy beene heard of Zedechiah and the princes of Iudah Zedechiah had saued the liues of his owne children slaine in his sight and had likewise saued his owne eyes in his head which presently were pulled out after he saw his children slaine and himselfe caried captiue and blind vnto Babilon Ierusalem destroyed and the kingdome of Iudah subdued by Nabuchodonozer so it may be said of Saul refusing the counsell of Samuel and so of Iosias disobeying the counsell of Necho After the great victorie that Iudah had ouer Israel by Abiah king of Iudah his sonne Asa fought with Zerah king of Aethiopia an Infidel who brought an host of ten hundred thousand men three hundred chariots from Aethiope to Iudah and came to Maresha a citie of Iudah Asa the king of Iudah came with an army of fiue hundred and foure score thousand into the valley of Zephatah and both the kings set the battel in a ray But Asa began with praiers cryed vnto the Lord by praiers for the victorie putting no trust in his own power or pollicie neither fearing the strength of the multitude of his enemies so with full confidence in the Lord he set vpō the Aethiopians the Lord smote them before Asa and before Iudah that the Aethiopians fled and the army of Iudah followed and pursued them vnto Gerer for the Lord had striken the Aethiopians with such fear that there was no life in them that the slaughter was exceeding great the spoyle exceeding much of camels sheepe and cattell And Asa after the victorie which he had giuen him by the Lord returned to Ierusalem and gaue the Lord thankes who giueth all victories so as all good kings and generals ought to pray to the Lord before they enter into battell so ought they also to giue thankes after the battell for their victories This victory was a requitall and a full reuenge vpon the Aethiopians for the sacking and spoyling of Ierusalem and of the great slaughter of the people by Shesak king of Egipt In like maner as Abiah beganne with prayers before he beganne to battell so did king Asa his sonne follow his fathers rule and order in seeking helpe and aide at the Lords hand which euery King Generall or Captaine should doo So Iosaphat Asas sonne did when it was tolde him that the Moabites Ammonites Edomites came with an infinit number to fight against him he set himselfe to seeke the Lord and to aske counsell of him and all Iudah with him prayed vnto the Lorde to aide and strengthen him to fight the Lords battel wherby hee got a maruellous victorie ouer his enemies for before he went into the battell Iosaphat caused a Psalme of thankesgiuing to the Lord to be sung before the men of armes and so entred the battell and the Lord laide ambushments and shewed such stratagems against Ammon Moab and Edom that euery one helped to destroy another and the Lord turned euery mans sword to kill his fellow Where the Lorde leadeth the armie the victorie is soone gotten so Iosaphat putting his whole trust confidence in the Lord slue all his enemies that none did escape and the spoyle was such of golde of siluer and pretious Iewels that they were three dayes in gathering and in carrying the spoyle away and then they assembled together after the victorie by Iosaphats commaundement to giue the Lord thankes for the victory and called the place where they got the victory Berachab and they returned to Ierusalem with violls harpes and with trumpets These three battels of Abiah Asa and Iosaphat were battells of the Lord and as the Lord had done at that battell at Michmash to Ionathan so the Lord did now at the battell at Beracha to Iosaphat and so the Lord in all the battels of the good kings of Iudah and Israel shewed alwaies his diuine stratagems for the defence of Ierusalem as in Egipt by Moses against Pharao by Elias at the brooke Kyson against Baals prophets by Elizeus at Dothan against king Benhadads souldiers The Gentiles in like sort commence no warre enter no battell before they sing a song vnto their gods as the Lacedemonians brought vp onely in warre from seuen yeares old vsed before they went to the warres to make solemne sacrifice to the Muses to the goddesse Feare with a song to Castor Pollux The Thrasians sing a song to their god Mars and bragge much of Mars for that he was borne in Thracia Others made vowes when they went to any warres As among the Romanes their wiues their children and their friends should make vowes and cause the same to be written in tables and to be set on that gate through the which they went out of the citie to warre that vpon their return home they might see and read their vowes and performe them The three hundred Fabians which were slaine at the battell at Crimera the gate that they went through out of Rome then was euer called after that Porta Scelerata So did the Romains likewise call the field where one of the Vestal virgins called Minutia for her incest carnall fault was buried in the field was called Sceleratus Campus according to the Romain lawes made for the Vestal virgins that so offended We leaue the prophane marching of the Romanes and the Greekes and we will returne to the marching of Israel vnder king Asa and king Iosaphat his sonne who both by praiers obtained great victories as all the Israelites preuailed more by praier then by fight As by praier Ioshua made the Sun to stand stil ouer Gibeon and the Moone ouer Aialon By praier Elias made the cloudes to fall raine By praier Moses made his enemies to flie Elizeus raised the dead to life Solomon obtained wisdom So long as the Lord taketh not away thy praying so lōg he doth not take away his grace mercy from thee for a wicked man cannot pray well and he that praieth wel cannot liue wickedly And therfore praiers are compared to Sampsons haires for as Sampsons strength laie in his haires so our strength lieth in praiers Ester praied to haue that to come to proud Ammon which Ammon wished to haue done to Mardochaeus and the
THE STRATAGEMS of Ierusalem With the martiall lawes and militarie discipline as well of the Iewes as of the Gentiles By Lodowick LLoyd Esquier one of her Maiesties Serieants at Armes Sap. 7. Candor lucis aeternae est sapientia LONDON Printed by Thomas Creede 1602. TO THE RIGHT Honourable Syr Robert Cecill Knight Principall Secretary to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie Maister of the Court of Wardes and Liueries One of her Highnesse most Honourable priuie Councell and Chauncellour of the Vniuersitie of Cambridge ALexander the great right Honorable thought long to write the straunge sights hee sawe in India to Aristotle the philosopher in Macedonia Caesar made haste to write the celeritie of his victorie in Pontus to his friend Anitus at Rome The like desire is in my selfe with no lesse longing to make my labour knowne to such honourable friends as will both accept and defend my trauaile herein Of whom I made choice of your honour to dedicate the Stratagems of Ierusalem as vnto one that is furnished with stratagems wisedome and knowledge of whoÌ„ I may say as Plato spake of such like Consilium eius est qui rei cuiusque peritus Such wise and graue councellors the Lord euer prouided to attend on godly and vertuous Princes as eyes and eares to preuent both home and forraigne stratagemes of enemies as Chusai with Dauid to preuent the wicked purpose of Absalon and Nathan with Salomon to finde out the trecherous intention of Adonias The Lord left not the wicked Samaritans vnprouided of Prophets councellors yea euen amoÌ„g Infidels and Pagans the Lord stirred vp Daniel to counsel Nabuchodonozer in BabiloÌ„ Ioseph to counsell Pharao in Egipt that they might confesse acknowledge God to be the Lord therfore wel said Solon Non quae suauissima sed quae optima sunt coÌ„sulenda It is not the coÌ„sultatioÌ„ of the Romains with their soothsaiers that made their Empire so to florish nor of the Persians with their Magi that got the Monarchy of the Assyrians to Persia. All stratagems victories good counsell commeth from the Lord so wisdom saith I dwel with Princes in councell and am among them that seek wisdom knowledge Plato the Philosopher could so say Omnis consultatio quiddam sacrum est and Aristotle his scholler called councell of Princes Diuinissimum consilium The kings of Persia when they admitted any into councell tooke their fignet laid it on their mouths as a seale of sileÌ„ce saying Anima coÌ„silij secretuÌ„ so AlexaÌ„ did to his councellor EphestioÌ„ Neither could any be of councel in Persia but such as were in couÌ„cell most secret in gouernmeÌ„t most wise prudent The cause why Demosthenes was so esteemed amoÌ„ng the AtheniaÌ„s was his wisdoÌ„ policie often to preuent the force stratagems of Phillip of Macedon The cause why Vlixes was iudged more worthy of Achilles armor then Aiax was his experience and councell to Agamemnon in the Grecian warres So it may be well spoken of Nestor who was preferred before all other Greeke Captaines for the like cause Multitudo enim sapientuÌ„ sanitas orbis terraruÌ„ est saith wisdom It was not the counsel of the Nimph Egeria to Numa which was ridiculous but the wisedome policie of Numa therby to establish his lawes much commeÌ„ded Neither the counsell of Iupiter in the Capitoll to Scypio which was foolish but the policie practise of Scypio therby to animate his soldiers much extolled But no councell no policie against the Lord no wisdom nor Stratagem to ouerthrow a king or a kingdom but the sins of the king the kingdome So could Cratippus the Philosopher to that effect answere Pompey the great Fata per causas agunt So could Phaetenissa the Witch answere Saul at Endor Fatum pietatis appendix So could the Idoll of Apollo aunswere Augustus Caesar at Delphos the one willing to know what should become of the kingdome of Israel the other of the Empire of Rome But such busie ambitious braines like Cornel Lentulus that dreamed he should be the third Cornelius that should gouern the Empire were banished out of Athens by the law Ostracismus such might not come in Rome in gownes or in long cloakes into the Senate house by the law of Cincius Many haue Iocobs voice but they haue Esaus hands like Balaam Qui vocem non mentem mutant These dissembling Gibeonites were found out by Ioshuah these bragging Ephraimites were tried by pronouncing the letter Schiboleth None can resist the set purpose of the Lorde who could hinder Moses of his triumph in the midst of the sea or let Ioshuah to set his trophey in the middest of the heauens euen he that commaunded the seas to be diuided and commanded the Sun to stand ouer Gibeon and the Moone ouer Aialon to whom iustly belong all stratagems victories tropheys and tryumphes Your Honors alwayes readie at commandement Lodowick Lloyd To the courteous Reader ALphonsus king of Cicile gentle Reader was euer wont to say Optimos consiliarios esse mortuos meaning wise and profitable bookes both at home and abroad Lucullus one of the greatest captaines among the Romaines and PhilopomeÌ„ of no lesse fame among the Grecians the one by reading Euangelus bookes the other by reading Xenophon became excellent souldiers In so much that Cicero wondred that Epaminondas being such a singular Philosopher should become so famous a Captaine A great staine in M. Corilianus and in C. Marius though otherwise stout and valiant not to be learned Caesars Commentaries are at this time as much esteemed among the Turkes as Homers Illiads were in auntient time among the Grecians If these Polymarchies and Campmaisters confesse that by holding a penne in the one hand do profit as much as by holding a sword in the other or rather more If Fabius weakned Hanibal more by delayes then Marcellus did by the sword If Fabritius wearied Pirrhus more by counsell then all Rome could do by their warres then it is truly said that Plura auspicijs concilijs quam telis manibus geruntur So that sometimes that saying of Cicero is true Cedantarma togae an other time the saying of Lysander is as true Sileant leges inter arma So all Empires ought to be Non â—…olùm armis decorata verumetiam legibus ornata Therefore Alexander Seuerus vsed both the sword and the penne as well in decreeing of his lawes at home as in mannaging of his warres abroad Consilijs togae militiae literatos adhibere I speak not of such bookes which Plato compareth Adonijs hortis fresh and full of sauour in the morning and withered and decayed at night like the Elephants of India at their first sight in Asia were so wondred at that Antiochus the great hauing but two named the one Aiax the other Patroclus the names of two Princes but when these Elephants became so common in Rome and in Asia that they were in euery CoÌ„suls triumph they were called but Boues Lucanias a great
Ghost some denying Christ by nature to bee Cod but onely of accidentall participation of diuine properties as Arius Some affirming that Christ tooke his beginning of the Virgin Mary denying the diuine nature of Christ as Samosatenus and Photinus Others imagined that Christ had not a true and natural body borne of the Virgin Mary as the Marcionites and Manichees The Ebionites affirmed Christ to be naturally born of a woman gotten by man I will omit to speake of Simon Magus and his disciple Menander of Cerdon and his disciple Marcion and of Saturninus and a number more of this crewe who denie one Article or other of our Christian faith confounding the diuine nature of the Trinitie These heretikes possessing diuers seates as Arius in Alexandria Saturninus in Antioch Photinus in Lions and so of the rest which beeing the verie blast and breath of Sathan haue brought into their heresie many kings and princes of Asia and Europe but all these heretikes were by generall councell confuted and condemned The Nicene councell condemned Arius and his partners which denied the deitie and diuine nature of Christ this councell held vnder the Emperour Constantine where 318. Bishops met together to confute Arius and his heresie The second councell at Constantinople vnder Gratianus the Emperour against Eudoxius and Macedonius denying the holy Ghost to be God The third councell at Ephesus vnder Theodosius the great against Nestorius affirming two sonnes the one of God the other of man denying the mistery of the incarnation of Christ. The fourth councell at Calcedon vnder Martianus against Eutiches who confounded the natures in Christ for the vnity of the three persons CHAP. VIII Of the marching of the Hebrewes from Egipt vnder Moses and Aaron toward the land of Canaan Of the life of Moses in Egipt and of his victories against the Aethiopians NOw Moses and the Hebrewes beeing discharged out of Egipt where they had bin in bondage and miseries many yeares and were called Hicsos now they march like souldiers of the Lord vnder Moses and Aaron towardes the lande of Canaan but marke the hardnesse of Pharaos heart for while the Hebrewes were in Egipt beeing extreame enemies vnto Pharao yet Pharao endured tenne horrible and terrible plagues before he would let the Hebrewes goe out of Egipt vntill hee was brideled and hooked by the nosthrils as Senacharib was and compelled to let the Hebrewes goe Yet Pharao with his wonted hardened heart with all the power and force of Egipt followed after beeing two hundreth thousand footemen fiftie thousand horsemen sixe hundreth chosen chariots of the kings owne army a sufficient armie against weaponlesse and vnarmed men Notwithstanding he had infinite number of footemen horsemen and chariots out of all parts of Egipt assuring himselfe by this multitude he would make a full end of the Hebrewes hauing this aduantage the sea being before the Hebrues the mountaines on either side them and Pharao with all the force of Egipt at their back a narrower straight as Pharao supposed then the Greeks had against the Persians at Thermopyla and there Pharao thought to ende his long desired tyrannie vpon the Hebrewes It was to be wondred that after ten great victories in Egipt gotten against Pharao by no other weapon then with a rod in Moses hand durst not looke Moses in the face after these victories in Egipt durst follow Moses hauing sixe hundred thousand Hebrewes marching in his campe this was the time appointed of the Lord to do with Pharao that which Pharao thought to do to the Hebrewes for the Lord commaunded Moses to hold vp his rod and to stretch out his hand vpon the sea and to diuide the seas to let the Hebrues goe through on drie ground and to suffer the Egiptians to follow after vntil the Lord commaunded Moses againe to stretch out his hand vpon the sea a diuine straragem of the Lord to let the waters turnevpon the Egiptians ouerwhelme them So the Lord by water saued the Hebrewes his people and by water drowned the Egiptians his enemies Yet Appian most impudently affirmed Moses to haue done what hee did by Magicke whom the common people in Egipt named Tisithes and Ioshuah Peresephes Appian alleageth Manetho and Cheremon two Egiptian writers to proue his fond assertions Pliny also held that opinion that Moses was a great Magician and did many miracles in Egipt through Magick yet it is more lawfull for Pliny that wrote of so many thinges to lie in some thinges then for Manetho a poore schoole-maister in Alexandria or for Cheremon two fabulous writers of the Egiptian history onely The best Magician that helped himselfe at need was Appollonius Thianeus who beeing accused of capitall crimes before Domitianus the Emperour being demanded by the Emperour what helpe hee could do now to himselfe by his Magick nothing said he but this and vanished away out of the Emperours sight so much could not Iamnes and Iambres do to saue themselues from the botches blaines which as they say was done by Moses Magicke in Egipt And therefore I thinke it best to set downe the true history of Moses before yet he was called by the Lord to leade the Hebrewes out of the lande of Egipt into Canaan Moses the sonne of Amri was of the tribe of Leui and the seuenth from Abraham borne in Egipt brought vp by Thermutes king Pharaos daughter and heire in this childe Moses shee delighted so much being brought vp in all the learning and knowledge of the Egiptians that Moses pleased Thermutes so well that she moued her father hauing no male childe but her selfe that it might please the king to make Moses her adopted sonne least Thermutes also should be barren and want an heire to possesse the crowne This being agreed vpon betweene Pharao and his daughter Moses grew great in Egipt fauoured and well beloued amongst all the Aegiptians It happened at that time that the Aethiopians had warre with the king of Egipt hauing wonne two great victories ouer the Egiptians spoyled and wasted Egipt vnto the verie citie of Memphis The Priests of Egipt being instructed by the Oracles of Ammon to choose an Hebrew captaine to lead their armie against the Aethiopians the king being informed of this Oracle spake faire to his daughter Thermuthes through the perswasion of the Priests who vsed the like pollicie to haue Moses slaine among the Aethiopians as Saul vsed to haue Dauid slaine among the Philistines Thermutes perceiuing the daunger of her fathers kingdome which fell vnto her by succession would knowe of Moses secretly his minde therein Moses being therewith contented the kings daughter brought Moses before her father and the Priests to whom Thermutes in this sort spake Is Moyses the man whome before this time you founde by Oracles shoulde destroy Egipt and now you finde by the same Oracles to haue that man to be your captaine to saue Egipt But the Priests forgat
tribute paide vnto Pharao so that Ioseph enriched Pharao by meanes of the yearely tribute and saued Pharaos life and all Egipt by Gods prouidence and his wisedome that at that time hee was called in Egipt Pater patriae but soone forgotten in Egipt as was seene after in the tyrannie of the Egiptians towards Iosephs children and the whole stocke of the Hebrewes Victories and ouerthrowes by warres gotten imposed such tribute as pleased the cōquerer For among the Romanes before their Empire grew great the Lucanians payed for their tribute but swine the Brusians oxen the Frizians the skinnes of oxen others paid diuers kindes of wine others waxe others fish and such like And as the olde Romanes tributes were but cattell corne wine fish and such so were their tryumphes had ouer the Samnites the Volscians Sabines Tarentines and olde Gaules but the weapons armors coaches garments cattells and such like of the enemies To the Persians while yet the Monarchie was in Persia the Aethiopians payed but Ebanye Iuory Elephantes teethe Frankencense and certaine measures of base gold euery third yeare So the Capadocians payed to the Persians for yearely tribute fiue hundred Horse two thousand Moyles So likewise the Townes and small Villages about Babilon were to prouide and feede the dogges of the king of Persia. But the Citie of Babilon it selfe paide for tribute to the king of Persia Artabas plenas argento certaine accounts of mony euery day The Arabians likewise paide to the King of Persia certaine measures of such sweete odours as the country did abound as Frankincense and such like These were but small tributes as swine oxen corne wine fish in former time which the Romanes had in respect of their tributes had ouer Asia Affricke and Europe afterwards which commaunded not only corne nauies horses souldiers and armours but also after this a farre greater tribute beganne in the time of Paul Aemilius who after he had subdued the Macedonians and Persius their king the Illyrians and their king Gentius hee imposed vppon the Macedonians and Illyrians halfe the tribute which they were wont to paie to their former kings So Scypio Affrican after hee had conquered Hanibal at Zama and brought the Carthagineans to such composition as pleased himselfe to paie two hundred talents yearely for fiftie yeares with such conditions that the Carthagineans should depart from Sardinia and Cicilia to restore the Romane souldiers which Hanniball brought captiue with him out of Italy and to deliuer vp their Elephants and all their nauies tenne excepted To such greatnesse grewe the tributes of the Romanes by their victories that Hispaine and Carthage were to pay yearely stipendary tributes not onely in money but also horses corne nauies armours and to maintaine stipendary souldiers And among all other conquered nations by them they had in their cities and townes places called Cripta for corne and prouisions for souldiers but especially in Egipt which was for their prouisions called the storehouse or barne of Rome But now to the victories of Dauid againe which after hee had raigned twentie yeares king quietly in Ierusalem he lost two great battels in the one he lost seuentie thousand and in the other battell hee had welnigh lost both himselfe and his kingdome in the first battell Dauid committed great faults in setting out his power his glorie his victories and his greatnesse and most ambitiously to commaund Ioab to number all Israel from Berseba euen vnto Dan as though power strength and victorie came from him and not from the Lord. Here Dauid consulted not with the iudgement of Vrim and Thummim and therefore he lost the victory and Sathan gaue him a buffet Dauid againe in the second battel was ouerthrowne by prouokemēt of the former enemie not only to looke vpon the beauty of Bethseba from the roofe of his house but also to send for her and lie with her and to hide the first wicked great fault he committed a greater he sent Letters to Ioab his captaine to put Vriah Bethsebas husband in the front of the battell to bee slaine in this battell also Dauid did not call for the Ephod nor asked counsell of the Lord as he was wont to do therefore Sathan gaue two such great buffets to Dauid that he lost the field and two victories one after an other of these buffets and stratagems Paul speakes that he was buffetted of Sathan least he should glory too much by reuelation shewed vnto him Moses also had a buffet of Sathan at the water of Meribah for his incredulitie that the Lord said vnto him that hee should not enter into the land of Canaan but dye in mount Nebo Iob also had a buffet in the land of Huz Sathan vseth many such stratagems whereby hee giueth many such buffets If Moses Iob Dauid Paul and others were thus buffeted by Sathan who can thinke himselfe free from the stratagems of Sathan wee must therefore watch if wee will not bee deceiued and wee must fight if we thinke to haue victorie our battell is not against flesh and bloud but against power and states of heauens against the prince and ruler of darknesse and against spirituall enenemies But the Prophet Nathan was sent to Dauid to open vnto him the rewards of adultery and murther that the sword should not go from Dauids house the banishment the punishment and miserie that should fall vpon him for offending the Lord. First his sonne died gotten in adultery by Bethseba the rauishment of his women by his owne sonne Absolon the incest of his daughter Thamar by her brother Ammon the murthering of Dauids eldest sonne Ammon by his brother Absolon and the rebellion of his sonne Absolon against his father the King Thus Dauid sawe the iust iudgement of the Lord and the tragicall end of his children for offending the Lord. Euen Dauid that subdued so many nations that got so many victories that fought with a beare with a lyon and with a gyant and subdued them is now subdued by a woman had Dauid after these victories so much temperance and chastitie at the sight of Bethseba as hee had faith and courage at his combat with Golias hee had conquered both alike but the Lord punished Dauid and his house The sonne of Emor for that he violately abused Dina Iacobs daughter her bretheren tooke at it such a spite that Simeon and Leui Iacobs sonnes went and slew Sichem and his father Emor and all the men within Sichem and tooke Dina theyr sister away with them Thus the gadding abroad of Dina to Sichem to see the manner and fashion of the Sichemites was the cause of the ouerthrowe of Sichem and the Sichemites The going of the Sabine virgins to the feast of Consus to see playes in Rome were rauished and taken by the Romanes to the number of six hundred were the onely cause of the warres between the Sabines and the Romanes In Siloth likewise on
that day the feast of the Lorde was kept the virgins of Siloth came abroad to daunce to sing and to play the Beniamites caught the maides of Siloth to the number of 200. and brought them to the land of Beniamin So the abuse of one woman the Leuites wife by the Beniamite cost sixtie foure thousand mens liues and more in Israel For by the taking away of Viriahs wife by Dauid Israel was plagued with the death of seuentie thousand men and the taking away of Menelaus wife from Greece cost the liues of many millions of men and the warres of tenne yeares betweene the Greekes and the Troians And for that the time of the taking away of Vriahs wife by Dauid agreeth with the historie of the taking away of Menelaus wife by Alexander otherwise called Paris After the death of Dauid and Salomon his sonne the kingdome of Israel was established vpon Rehoboam Salomons sonne he forsooke the law of the Lord and reiected his fathers wise and graue counsellors and followed rash young mens counsell and therefore the Lord raised Shesak king of Egipt against Israel and he came with twelue hundred chariots three score thousand horsemen and his footemen were without number for from Egipt came with him the Lybians the Troglodites and the Aethiopians he tooke the strong cities of Iudah and Ierusalem and all the treasures of the Lords house and all the treasures of the kings house and he carried away two hundred targets and three hundred shields of gold which Salomon made and returned to Egipt with a great spoile because Rehoboam forsooke the Lord and therefore was forsaken of the Lord. The temple that Salomon his father builded was spoiled by the negligence of Rehoboam Salomons sonne This was the first victorie that was had ouer Ierusalem by Shesak king of Israel and here began the first battell of the ciuill warre betweene the kings of Iudah and the kings of Israel and such ciuill warre if you consider the slaughter betweene Iudah and Israel and the continuance of their warres you must needs confesse that in one battell betweene Abiah and Ieroboam were more slaine of the Israelites then among the Romanes in fortie yeares to talke of the Romanes ciuill warres which was fortie yeares betweene Sylla and Marius betweene Caesar and Pompey and last betweene Octauius and Marc. Antonius or the ciuill warres of the Greekes called the Peloponesian warre which endured seuen and twentie yeares it was nothing in respect of the murther and bloud betweene Iudah and Israel for in the ciuill warres of the Romanes histories doo not record aboue the deaths of three hundred thousand Romanes Where in this battell being the first ciuill battell betweene Ieroboam king of Israel against Abiah king of Iudah at what time was slaine in the field fiue hundred thousand of king Ieroboams souldiers in one battell which neither Tamberlane nor Xerxes though they could match them in number yet could they neuer match thē in slaughter For as the Romanes were full fiue hundred yeares in conquering the Sabines the Latines the Vients the Fidenates the Samnites Tarentines Hetruscans others frō Romulus time to Scypio Affrican before the Romanes could be Lords of Italy The like may bee spoken of the Israelites in conquequering the Moabites Ammonites Amalekites Philistines and others from Moses time vnto Dauid welnigh fiue hundred yeares and as the Romans held their Empire so long a time as they were in winning of it frō Scypio Affrican who conquered Haniball and Italy vnto the Emperor Probus which was fiue hundred years at what time the whole Empire fell by degrees to decay So Israel as they subdued their enemies from Moses to Dauid fiue hundred yeares as you read before so after Dauid by ciuill warres of Iudah and Israel vnto Zedechias time which was fiue hundred yeares they lost both the kingdomes Iudah and Israel the one taken captiue by Salmanasser vnto Niniuie the other by Nabuchodonozer vnto Babilon so that now the land of Iudah called the land of milke and honey is become Athisme subiect to Pagans Infidels which continued from Abraham the first father of the faith vntill Titus Vespasian two thousand and odde yeares and al through disobedience and contempt of their Lord and God Euen so the Romanes which were wont to be called lords of the world whose Consuls at that time ruled and gouerned the most kingdomes of the world are now left without King Emperor or Consull and many cities in Italy at this day preferred before Rome now gouerned by the Pope a Bishop as Ierusalem is gouerned by the Turk an Infidel so that in all things the Romanes and the Hebrews may be compared for as the greatest enemie that euer Rome had was Italy and the dangerousest foes that the Romanes had were Italians for the Gaules the Cymbres the Carthaginians and the Affricans vexed not the Romans as the Italians did their own country men and next neighbors So Iudah had no enemies but the house of Israel So Israel had no enemies but Iudah for Ierusalem could not away with Samaria for their two Idols the one at Dan the other in Bethell so Samaria could not brooke Ierusalem for the great solemnitie of Salomons temple CHAP. III. The great battell betweene Abia king of Iudah and Ieroboam king of Israel where 500000. were slaine on Ieroboams side Of the victories of Asa and Iosaphat kings of Iudah ouer Zerah king of Aethiopia ouer the Edomites Ammonites and Maobites AS it seemed by the long oration which Abiah made to Ieroboam and his army vpon mount Zemaraim before the battell ioyned together to disswade them from the battell saying that the Lord had giuen the kingdome ouer Israel to Dauid and to his house but Ieroboam contemned Abiahs counsel and thought by his policie and subtill stratagem to haue ouercome the host of Iudah but he himself was deceiued to the losse of fiue hundred thousand of his souldiers that his power and force failed that he was not able during his life to preuaile against Iudah for Ieroboam had gathered to encrease his army all leaud idle and wicked vnthrifts to fight this battell against Rehoboam the sonne of Salomon like Cinna in Rome that made open proclamation that al bondmē wicked doers and banished men should come to Cinna the Consul they should be restored to their former libertie freedome and thus Cinna gathered al the leaud and wicked men within all Italy he then being Consul taking part with Cai. Marius against his other fellow Consull Octauius which helde with Sylla slaine at that time a number more of the citizens of Rome but between Sylla and Marius one reuenging vpon an other fomi◅g in their countries bloud that all the streetes of Rome anne of bloud These two Marius and Sylla began the first Romane ciuil warres as Ieroboam and Rehoboam did and yet were they both compared to
the king of Iudahs side by the king of Israel that two hundred thousand of womē and children were taken prisoners in Samaria so that they wasted and spoyled one another in such sort that frō a happy populous people by forsaking their Lord and God they became a most miserable Idolatrous people to serue strange gods For during the time of Dauid which was 40. yeares the kingdome of Israel was the most famous renowned kingdome of the world For so the Lord spake I will make the Princes of Iudah like coales of fire among the wood and like a fire-brand in the sheafe and they shal deuour all people round about them So Dauid brought all the kings nations about subiect tributary vnto Israel whose happie whole gouernment was such that at his death hee left a hundred thousand talents to his sonne Solomon to build a temple to the Lord which he himself had determined to build but that the Prophet Nathā warned him from the Lord that he should not for that he was a man of blood but that Solomon his sonne should build him a house This kingdom of Israel being so happy as you heard in king Dauids time and in Solomons time so glorious a temple builded and so richly furnished vnto the Lord that in Solomons time such plentie was in Ierusalē mony was no more esteemed thē stones in the streets yet presently vpō Solomons death in the time of Rehoboham his sonne the state of Ierusalem was so obscured altered that the citie was sackt and the temple robd with great slaughter of people by Shesac king of Egipt so that the wealth and treasure of Ierusalem and of the temple was carried by Shesac into Egipt Againe the kings of Israel became so Idolatrous that there were no gods among the Heathens but they were as gods worshipped in Israel so that they were far worse then the Grecians or the Romans who would allow no strange gods to raigne neither in Athens nor in Rome and therefore for that they forsooke the Lord the Lord forsooke them and gaue them ouer and their kingdome to the Assirians by the hand of Salmanasser and so Samaria and other townes in Israel were inhabited by strangers So the kings of Iudah after Israel within 133. yeares after were carried captiues into Babilon by Nabuchodonozer yet the Lord gaue them not ouer but brought them within 70. yeares after againe to Ierusalem stirred vp Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes three great kings of Persia to fauour and to aide them with license to returne to their countrey to inhabit Ierusalem with money and much treasure to build vp the Temple redeliuering vnto them all the rich vessels of gold and siluer which Salomon left in the Temple at his death and which Nabuchodonozer tooke away from the Temple and brought to Babilon After Cyrus and these kings of Persia the Lord stirred vp a great Heathen Prince Alexander the great who when he came to Ierusalem lighted off his horse and came to meet the high Priest and reuerenced him with great obeysance where were read vnto him the prophesies of Daniel where it was found that a Grecian Prince should subdue the Persian kingdome which Alexander acknowledged to be himselfe and therefore went into the temple sacrificed to the God of Israel and not only freely granted to the high Priest whatsoeuer he would aske but commaunded him to aske what he would haue him do the high Priest asked nothing but that the Iewes that dwelt in Babilon in Medea and in other countreys about vnder his gouernment might enioy and liue according to the lawes of their countrey which Alexander graunted besides his great and liberall gifts which he bestowed vpon the Priest the temple Nabuchodonozer vsed himselfe otherwise then Alexander did against Iudah for he commanded Holofernus to spare no people no kingdome saying Non Parcet oculus tuus vlliregno The terror of Holofernus army therby was such that they came out of euery citie crowned with crownes on their heads and lamps in their hands to receiue him with all kind of musicke and with dauncing songs to please him yet could they not mittigate the fiercenesse of his fury After Alexander the Lord stirred vp Pthol Philadelphus so to fauour the Israelits to loue their lawes that he had the lawes of Israel written in the Greeke tongue in Alexandria and released many prisoners and captiues of the Iews to the number of 120000. which Ptol. Lagus his precessor had brought from Iudah to Egipt with as great bountifull rewards gifts as Alexander did So Zeleucus shewed such fauour to the Iewes dwelling in Antioch in Ionia in Ephesus that he graunted to them the liberties lawes of their countrey After Zeleucus the Lord stirred vp Antiochus the great being before a great enemy of the Iewes after Antiochus many of the kings of Asia so to fauour them that all the cities of Asia where the Iewes dwelt should suffer them to liue according to the laws of their country and to enioy the benefites of the same and though many of the Assirian kings troubled and molested them with great warres which ioyned themselues with the Samaritans to subdue the kingdome of Iudah Yet the Lord raised vp the house of Assamonias Mattathias to resist the violence of the Assyrians and after him his sonne Iu. Machabaeus who slew of the enemies Edumeans and Assyrians that sought the ouerthrowe of his countrey two hundred thirtie sixe thousand and seuen hundred in the defence of Ierusalem and after him his other foure bretheren forsooke not the lawes of the Lord for all the tyrannie of the Romane Emperors and the Assyrian Kings But the Iewes from time to time so reuoulted from the Lord that Aristobulus the sonne of Hircanus made himselfe a King 481. yeares after the returne of the captiuitie of the Iewes from Babilon but hee enioyed his kingdome but one yeare after he famished his mother and killed his brother for in Iudah their kings had no better succession then the kings of Rome had though in both the kingdomes they made great meanes to become kings After this Aristobulus there was no king among the Iewes vntill Herod who was made by the Senators of Rome with the consent of Augustus Caesar and Mar. Antonius both Emperours of Rome vnder whom Iudah was a Prouince Yet one false Alexander a Iew most subtilly adopted himselfe being very like to Herod to be of the stock and family of Herod and brother to Aristobulus and thereby claimed to bee king of Iudah saying that he was Herods sonne as false Philip faigned himselfe in Macedonia to be Persius sonne king Philips brother and as the common people there reuerenced false Philippe in Macedonia so likewise in all parts of Iurie was this false Alexander carried in coach from Cittie to Cittie with all the reuerence and honour that