law-makers of the world Quibus omnes antiquae gentes quondā paruerunt both for the more credit of thēselues better authoritie of their lawes made their subiects people beleeue when their first lawes were made that the gods were so carefull that they gaue them seuerall lawes to gouerne the people So Mena one of the first kings of Egipt affirmed that he had instructions for making of his lawes and decrees to the Egiptians from god Mercurius In like sort Licurgus made the Lacedemonians beleeue that the lawes which he gaue vnto them were deliuered vnto him from Appollo in Delphos The people of Creete were perswaded fully by Minoes their first lawe-maker that the lawes which he gaue vnto them were deliuered vnto him from Iupiter that thereby the law might the more be feared and the law-makers better obeyed So did Numa Pomp. warrant his lawes which he established among the Romanes concerning religion from the Nimph Egeria for the gouernmēt which was vnder kings is by Aristotle called Primus diuinissimus principatus When the first gouernment and state of Common-wealths fell by too much seueritie of kings as among the Romaines who were wearie of kings and had no lawe but Ius regis the iudgement and sentence of the king called in Romulus time Lex curiata whose seueritie grew to be such that the second gouernment in Rome which was by Consuls and Senators tooke place by fall of the first which lawe was called Senatus Consultus which grew so great by authoritie of the Consuls that a third kind of popular gouernment vnder the Tribune of the people was authorised to suppresse the misgouernment both of the Consuls and Senators as the Ephori were among the Lacedemonians made by Theopompus to bridle the insolencie of the kings So were the wise men called Magi in Persia without whom the kings of Persia could make no lawes And so the Magistrates called Megistenes had the like authoritie with the kings of Armenia as the Ephori had in Sparta Among the Carthagineans also were two chiefe Magistrates named Suffetes the one with the other to looke to the gouernment of the kings that they should iustly and rightly minister iustice to the people The Hebrewes likewise where God placed Iudges to gouerne the people of the which they were wearie and would haue a king so that the Romanes being wearie of kings would haue Consuls and the Hebrewes being wearie of Iudges would haue kings for all nations at the beginning began with the gouernment of kings sauing the Hebrewes which were as straungers and bondmen in Egipt without eyther king lawe or libertie foure hundred thirtie yeares euen from the comming of Abraham into Egipt vntil Moses and Aaron were commaunded to bring Israel out of Egipt at what time a lawe was giuen in Mount Sinai to Moses within fiftie dayes after the Israelites came out of Egipt that they should bee gouerned thereby before they possessed the land of Canaan After they had receiued the lawe the Lorde commaunded them that they should not make gods of siluer nor gods of golde hee also commaunded that they should make him an Aultar and thereon to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings with a straight charge that they should not make him an Aultar of hewed stones like the aulter at Damascus which Achab brought to Israel for that they should doo nothing of themselues after the manner of the Gentiles but by the Lords prescript rules which are his eternall lawes Yet before this lawe was giuen to Moses there were Aultars builded and sacrifices offered by Noah after hee landed out of the Arke at Baterion by Abraham after he came to the land of Canaan at Sychem by Isaac in Bersabe by Iacob in Bethel where hee fled from his brother Esau they were instructed by the lawe of nature written in the tables of their hearts to worship the Lord to feare him euen from the creation Vnder the lawe of nature the people of God liued and were assisted by the spirit of the Lord ministred vnto them by Angels and instructed by the Patriarches and liuely tradition of the fathers to the sonnes two thousand fiue hundred yeares before the lawe written Who doubtes but what Methusalem beeing in the company of Adam aboue two hundred fiftie yeares and with the rest of the Patriarches vnto the very floud liuing vnder the lawe of nature heard of Adam but Methusalem deliuered it to Sem what Sem heard of Methusalem but hee instructed Abraham therewith what Abraham heard of Sem hee shewed it to Iacob and what Iacob heard of Abraham hee taught it to Amri who was father to Moses to whom the lawe written was giuen so that the one was instructed by the other from the father to the sonne to serue and feare the Lord by the lawe of nature So that Enoch Noah Abraham Iacob Iob and all the olde Patriarches and godly fathers liued in the feare of God by the lawe of nature No doubt many things were written of the olde fathers before the floud and left to their posterities and after the floud generally ouer the whole world before the vse of paper lawes and learning were giuē by traditions frō the parents to the children their posterities as the Indians which had no lawes written no more then the Lacedemonians but by obseruations vntill the Indian Philosophers called Brachmaines found meanes to write in Sindone fine linnen or lawne as the old Egiptians vsed to write on the inward side of the barke of the tree Biblus or as Vlpian saith the Grecians vsed to write on the barke of the tree Tilia for in auntient time from the beginning lawes were written on the inward side of barks of trees as on the barke of Beech trees Elme Ashe Palme trees and such for the great library in Alexandria by Philadelphis compiled and the library in Asia by A◅talus and Eumenes gathered together were written in Haedonis Chartis in goate skinnes During all which time there was no mention made neither of gods nor of Idols though Satan plaid the first Idolater in practising to Adam Eue saying Eritis vt dij Ye shal be like gods on earth your eies shal be opened Satan by degrees deceiued Adā first asking him questions then doubting then denying saying you shal not die which was the first lye in the world so Satan proceedeth with his stratagems as Gregorius Magnus saith in Vnoquoque lapsu a minimis semper incipitur Yet after the lawe written was giuen Idolatry was presently committed before Moses came downe from the Mount so that there was no Idols mentioned nor spoken of before Rachel Iacobs wife stole her father Labans Image and brought it from Mesopotamia in her husbands company towards Canaan where Laban accused his daughter that she stole his gods away But Iacob within a while after he came to Canaan commaunded his houshold and all that were
wife and daughters made Narseus to yeeld vnto the Komanes and to deliuer to the Romais hands Armenia with fiue other Prouinces and to conclude a peace See the force of vertue and power of chastitie in Heathens that Alexander Scypio and Dioclesian wanne by temperance and chastitie that which they could not conquere by armes Antigonus vnderstanding that his sonne lodged in a house where three sisters were of passing beautie wrote that he was most straightly besieged of three great enemies and therefore wished him to remoue his campe and afterwards made a decree that his son should lodge in no place but where the woman should be 50. yeares of age The lawe was among the Grecians that women should not sit among men vnlesse it were with thier husbands and among their next neighbours The like lawe was among the Romains the woman that might be found with strangers in banquets her husband might put her away and be diuorced frō her and therefore it is written in the lawe that conuiuia veneris Praeludia sunt Licurgus lawe was among the Lacedemonians that none should fare better then an other in banquets but all by lawe should be equally feasted the number was appointed in banquets from three vnto seuen among the Greekes so that it grew to be a prouerbe among the Grecians Septem conuiuium nouem conuitium facere So among the auntient Romanes not aboue foure or fiue should be allowed or admittted to a feast or banquet for the chiefe feast by Platoes lawe called Bellaria Platonis was figges berries oliues pease beanes masts of beech trees tosted and prunes for the temperate fare and thin dyet both of the olde Greekes and of the Romanes were Magis iucunda quam Profusa But after in time it grew to such excesse among the Romanes that they came to their feasts and banquets with garlands crowned and there to drinke the first draught to Iupiter as the Grecians drank the last draught to Mercurius Vnto these kinde of feasts the Romanes might not come in black or sad coloured garments but all in white Wisedome exclaimes against those that say Coronemus nos vosis ante quā marcescant vino precioso nos impleamus So likewise among the Grecians it grew to such excesse that they forgot Anacharsis lawe which was but three draughts of wine or Democritus lawe which was but foure at the most though afterward it came to a popular lawe Aut biberent aut abirent This the Greekes had frō the Persians who with their wiues and concubines consulted of state matters at their feasts Licurgus also decreed an other lawe that in any publike feast or banquet whē neighbours and friends were disposed to be merrie that the best and auntientest man of the company should speake to the rest that nothing spoken or done in this feast should passe yonder doore shewing to the company with his finger the chamber doore which they came in at These feasts were not Bellaria Platonis but rather Praeludia veneris In the eight Regiment is contained the commendation of chastitie in vertuous and godly women with the sinister means of the Gentiles to become chaste AFter lawes were made in euery countrey confirmed by diuine authoritie and executed by graue and wise magistrates these lawes for necessitie sake were sent for from one kingdome to an other to gouerne to rule theyr countreys Philadelphus king of Egipt sent three from Alexandria to Eleazarus the high Priest at Ierusalem for the lawes of Moses to bee translated from Hebrew into Greeke So the Senators of Rome sent three for the lawe of the 12. Tables to be brought from Athens to Rome So the Mazacens sent for the lawe of Charondas to Thuria and so the Grecians sent for the lawes of king Minoes into Creete Philadelphus much wondred after the reading of the Hebrew lawes being so wise and godly a lawe that welnigh for a thousand two hundred yeares no nation among the Gentiles made any mention of this lawe though before that time they must needs heare and read of it by reason of the greatnesse and authoritie of the Iewes common-wealth Demetrius and Menedemus two great Philosophers at that time answered the King that none durst attempt to mingle the diuine lawes of the Hebrewes with the prophane lawes of the Gentiles for both Theodectus and Theopompus were punished the one with madnesse the other with blindnesse for making no difference betweene the lawes of the Lord and the lawes of the Gentiles for as Dagon their god fel could not stand before the arke where the presence of God and the figure of Christ was so the lawes of the Lord suffered no prophane lawes to be ioyned with them Seeing we are commaunded by the lawe to forsake adultery wee must learne by the selfe same lawe how to become chaste not as the Priests of Athens did called Hierophantae before they should come to doo sacrifice to their goddesse Pallas they would drinke a very colde drinke made of Cicuta hemblocke to make themselues chaste sometimes vsed in Athens to poison condemned men which was the last drinke and draught of Socrates Neither like the Romaine Priests who vsed to drinke and to wash themselues often with the colde water Cicalda to become chaste to sacrifice to the Goddesse Ceres Neither as the Priests of Egipt did by shauing theyr beards and the haires of their heads by abstaining from wine women and flesh or by ofren washing or annointing of their bodies to become the more continent to serue their goddesse Ifis These Heathens all for that they knew not Christ missed in the meanes to become temperate So the Priests of Cybeles did amputare virilia because they might continue chast and religious to sacrifice and serue their goddesse Cybeles But it was commanded by the Lord to Aaron and his sonnes that they should make no baldnesse on theyr heads nor shaue off the lockes of their beards nor make any marke in their flesh as the Gentiles did It was not lawfull for them to marrie with a widowe or woman diuorced from her husband or any polluted woman but onely with a maide for the Lord would haue his Priests holy which kindle fire on his aultar and offer bread in his sacrifice If the Priests daughter play the harlot she should be burnt by the lawe though others by the lawe should be stoned to death To become chaste is to serue God and to say as Sarah Tobiahs wife said in her praiers thou knowest ô Lord how I haue kept my soule cleane without any desire or company of man Likewise to become temperate is to imitate Iudith the widdowe that sate all day long in her house in sackcloath and kept her selfe close within doores with her maides fasting all the daies of her life excepting onely the Sabboth and the feast of the new Moone not like Dina gadding to Sichem to see the manners and
fashions of the Sichemites neiiher like the Sabine virgins going to the feast Consualia to see playes in Rome neither like the maides in Siloh to go abroad to play to daunce and to sing What was the end of this libertie first the ouerthrow of Sichem and the Sichemites for violating Dina Iacobs daughter secondly the rauishment of the Sabine virgins which moued publike warres betweene the Sabines and the Romanes and so of the virgins of Siloh Neither like that light woman which is spoken of in the Prouerbes of Salomon saying I haue deckt my bed with ornaments with carpets and carued workes laces of Egipt I haue perfumed it with mirrhe Aloes and Synamom come and let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning and take our pleasure in dalliance and he followed her as an oxe that goeth to the slaughter as a foole to the stockes or as a bird hastneth to the snare not knowing what danger he runneth into for can a man take fire in his bosome and not be burnt can a man goe barefoote vpon coales and his feete not be burnt so he that goeth to his neighbours wife shall not be innocent saith Salomon It was a custome among the Hebrewes that the spowse was brought to her her husband her head being couered so Rebecca tooke availe and couered her head when shee sawe Isaac in token of shamefastnesse and chastity for the way to become chast is first to be shamefaste Men must haue chaste eyes Holosernes offended and desired to sinne with Iudith at the sight of her slippers So the two Elders offended at the sight of Sufanâ—… bathing her selfe in the well This made Abraham to speake to his wife Sarah I know thou art a faire woman that when the Egiptians see thee they will kill me to obtaine thee The eye of Herod was delighted so much at the dancing of Herodias daughter that he foolishly promised whatsoeuer she would aske which hee cruelly performed with the head of Iohn Baptist. To become chast is the gift of the Lord not by vnlawfull meanes as Origen did though learned and religious yet missed in the meanes to be temperate so that he made himselfe to be made an Euenuke and his stones to be taken away thinking thereby to become continent for you shall not teare nor cut your flesh nor make any print of a marke by whipping of your bodies or burning marks any where vpon the flesh as the Heathens and Pagans did So the Prophet Elizeus commaunded Naman the Syrian to goe to wash him in Iordan to elense him of his leprosie So Christ commanded a poore cripple to goe to the water of Syloh to wash him the water wherof being stirred by the Angell many were healed I do not speake of the waters which in olde time the Romaine marchants vsed to sprinkle themselues withall called Aqua Mercurij whereby they supposed that their God Mercurius would giue them good successe great gaines Mary Magdalene trusting too much the false reports of some Rabines was deceiued in the seeking of the Messias but hauing founde whome shee sought the Messias her loue was such that shee washt his feete with the teares of repentance and dried them with the haires of her head and therefore many sinnes were forgiuen her because she loued the Lord much Among the Gentiles also there were so many that made meanes to become chast as they which were called Animphi and another sort called Abij which in no sort could abide women but led a single life especially the heatheÌ„ priests in all countries they should not come and offer sacrifice vnto their gods vntil they had shaued their haires and washed their bodies ouer from top to to toe and abstained from wine and women The Gymnosophists in Aethiopia graue and wise Iudges they made means likewise to become chast by thin fare feeding on Gurgins and course bread made of the huskes of corne with Apples and Rice this was their meanes to become temperate in their prophane religioÌ„ So in India Sacedotes solis the Priestes of the Sunne thought the meanes to make themselues continent not only by abstaining from flesh wine and women as the Priests of Athens of Rome and of Egipt did but also by refraining their owne beds in their owne houses and to liue sub dio to lie in their cloathes vpon the earth Among the Romanes and the Grecians the lawes of the 12. tables commaunded commended to them chastitie in such sort that they might neither serue sacrifice nor offer vnto their gods vnlesse for a certaine time they had abstained froÌ„ wine women the words of the law were these Ad diuos adeunto castè Pietatem adhibento opes admouento How straightly the Gentiles obserued this you read before yet seeke they their warrant from Moses for the high Priest Abimelech would know of Dauid whether he and his company were pure and cleane frooÌ„ women before they should eat of the shewe bread which was lawfull for no man to eate but the Priest The lawe of Moses was that money gotten by common women might not be accepted neither in offring nor in sacrifice vpon the Lords Aultar for the law saith thou shalt neither bring the hire of a whore nor the price of a dogge into the house of the Lorde for euen both these are abhominations vnto the Lord for there shall be no whore nor whore keeper in Israel So Numa Pomp made a lawe in Rome that a strumpet or a leaud woman should not so much as touch the aultar of Iuno for it was his lawe that Pellex non tangerâ—… Innonis aram so all the Pagans and Heathens would haue cleane and pure things offered and sacrificed vnto their gods vpon their prophane aultars so it is written by Cicero Impij donis non audeant Placare deos In the ninth Regiment is signified the continuance of lawes in diuers countries and the care in keeping of their lawes AFter lawes were made and executed in all countries reuerenced with obedience and so kept with care that Licurgus lawes were kept in Sparta among the Lacedemonians fiue hundred and odde yeares the lawes of the Sybils in Rome continued welnigh fiue hundred yeares the lawes of Bocchoris in Egipt endured seuen hundred yeares the lawes of Solon in Athens continued one hundred yeares from Solons time to Xerxes at what time Athens was burnt by the Persians The lawes of the Rechabites were obserued kept three hundred yeares by the children of Ionadab but the lawes of the Iewes from the comming of Moses out of Egipt to the last destruction of Ierusalem vnder Titus continued 1500. yeares So carefull were the first age that the children of Seth hearing Adam prophesying of two destructions which should come vpon the whole world the one by fire the other by water builded vp two arches or pillars the one of bricke the other of stone in the
much Prudentia non vult falli nec fallere potest that a wise man neither can nor will be deceiued In like sort Thou shalt not commit adultery and therefore the lawe commandeth men to be chast sober and temperate both in bodie and minde for the lawe requireth inward and outward obedience as well in Angels as in men for outward euil springs from inward corruption Murther proceeds from hatred and malice of the heart Adultery commeth from wicked and filthie lust of the heart Theft is falshood and fraude in the heart to steale other mens goods therefore to do or to wish any thing against the lawe is sinne for the lawe is spirituall and he that is not subiect to the lawe saith Paul is subiect to the wrath of the Lorde for by the lawe we know our sinnes and in the lawe consisteth the knowledge of our life for the Lord hath decreed a necessiti◅ of obedience to the lawes of ciuil Magistrates for it is said Inuictae leges necessitatis and though the law doth accuse all men yet the lawe doth freely promise with a condition of obedience as the Gospell promiseth with a conditiō of faith for as by the lawe we see as in a glasse the corruption of nature and deformitie of sinne so by the lawe we are taught what is to be done and by the Gospell how things ought to be done Among the Romaines for the space of 300. yearer welnigh after the building of Rome they had no lawes written but Ius regis before they sent for the lawe of the 12. Tables from Athens which law was so obscure that they brought Hermadorus from Greece to Rome to interpret the lawes of the 12. Tables which lawe against theft was so seuerely executed that it was lawfull to kill a theefe that would not yeld especially in the night time for the lawe was Sifurtum sit factum nocte si eum aliquis occidit iure caesus esto if a theefe be found breaking any mans house in the night time be smitten to death no bloud must be shead for him which is also Moses law except the sunne be vp when he is found but if a theefe were taken in the day time with his theft with him hee was by the lawe of the 12. Tables to become his slaue and bondman of whom he stole it to be vsed as pleased the partie all his life time after An other lawe of the twelue Tables against other iniuries was that if any mans seruant had stolne any thing or his beast had done harme or endamaged his neighbour or a straunger he was to yeeld his seruant or his beast that so offended to the party grieued and so by the lawe of the 12. Tables the maister of the seruant was free for a theefe that cannot make restitution for his theft must be solde according to Moses lawe The seuerest lawe among the Romanes was Lex Iulia which appointed iust punishment for treason adulterie and theft by Lex Iulia in Rome theft was as seuerely punished as adulterie and adulterie punished as treason for the lawe saith a man must not robbe for theeues are accursed men must haue no conuersation with theeues Also there was a lawe in Lycia that if a free man should steale any thing he should loose his freedome and become a bond-seruant to him of whome hee stole it and by the lawe of Lycia neuer after to recouer his libertie but to liue as a bondman all his life time Bocchoris lawe in Egipt was that if any wayfaring man finde a man in daunger of his life and so to be slain by theeues and robbers and not helpe him eyther by his sloathfulnesse or negligence if he could hee was by the lawe of Bocchoris guiltie of death because hee did not ayde and helpe him with all meanes possible hee could Againe if a man were robd by theeues on the way though he were not killed and not rescued of any that could and neglecting to follow after the theeues hee or they by the lawe of Bocchoris were punished and beaten with a certaine number of stripes and kept without victualls three daies Licurgus made no lawes in Sparta against theft for it was lawfull by Licurgus lawe among the Lacedemonians to vse theft vnlesse the partie were taken with the theft which if he were he should be seuerely punished following the maner and custome of the Egiptians and the old Germanes which had no lawe written against theft but left vnpunished and therfore there is no transgression where there is no lawe There was then and is now a greater kinde of theft then stealing among diuers nations which is vsurie forbidden by the lawes of God as well as theft for before Bocchoris lawe which banished vsurie the lawe was in Egipt that the creditors might arrest the bodies of the dead for debts and that they should be vnburied till the depts were paid Pecunia est enim anima sanguis mortalibus which lawe was abrogated by Bocchoris that debts onely should be paid of the goods of the debters and not their bodies to be imprisoned for that they should be alwaies readie for defence of their countrey and not imprisoned either for debt or vsurie Solon brought this lawe from Egipt vnto Athens and called it Sysacthia against vsurers This lawe was after executed in the market place of Athens by Agis who extreamely hated vsurie where hee burnt all the vsurers writing tables of which fire Agesilaus was wont to say that he neuer lawe a better fire in Egipt Persia nor in Greece then when Agis burnt all the writing tables of the vsurers in the market place at Athens for before Solon brought this law from Egipt vnto Athens dead mens bodies might be arrested and an actiō might be had before the magistrate called Zeteta for satisfaction of debts in Athens Therefore Solons lawe was that no man should credit the sonne while the father liued to auoyd further daungers least the sonne should practise against the father which children do vse against their parents the law was that he which would c◅dit the sonne during the life of the father should haue no action against the son after the fathers death So hatefull was vsurie among welnigh all nations that where punishment of theft was but double punishment of vsurie was quadruple and therfore Lu. Genutius Tribune of the people in Rome abrogated former lawes of vsurie in Rome Lucullus in his victorie ouer Asia among other Romanie lawes which hee gaue them set all Asia free and at libertie from vsurie So Cato made a lawe that no vsurer should dwell within the prouince of Cicilia So also Licurgus made a lawe to bannish vsurie so farre from Sparta that it should neuer be named nor spoken of within Sparta The lawe of Moses among the Hebrewes was Thou shalt not giue to vsurie to thy brother as vsurie of
A BRIEFE CONFERENCE OF DIVERS LAWES Diuided into certaine Regiments By Lodowick LLoyd Esquier one of her Maiesties Serieants at Armes Eccle. 21. Vidi in loco iudicij impietatem in loco institiae iniquitatem LONDON Printed by Thomas Creede 1602. TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE Elizabeth by the grace of God Queene of England France and Ireland c. I Knew not how most gratious Queene to make my most bounden dutifull seruice known vnto your Maiestie But as Dauids seruaunts ventured theyr liues through the middest of their enemies to fetch water from the well of Bethelem to please their Lord and Maister So my selfe thought it my dutie to trauell into some farre countries in no daunger but of your Maiesties displeasure by presenting some straunge Iewels among so many as might dislike your Highnesse which should scorch mee more then the Sunne did Ionas when his gourd was off and terrifie me more then the countenance of Moses terrified the Iewes without his vaile on But your Maiestie which forget nothing but iniuries will the sooner forgiue mee my ouermuch boldnesse the rather for that I present your highnesse but with Iewels such as far excell the Iewels on Aarons garment the onely pearles which ought to be bought with al the wealth we haue the Iewels which we ought to seeke with all the studie and trauell wee can the onely Vrim and Thummim which should shine bright on a Princes breast which the auncient Kings of Israel ware as tablets about their necks as frontlets on their foreheads and gardes on their garments which Iewels many other kings sought and mist. Licurgus sought these Iewels for the Lacedemonians at Delphos Mena sought them of Mercurius for Egipt Numa of the Nymph Egeria for the Romanes Zaleucus of Minerua for the LocreaÌ„s Of these Iewels also I brought the best Pearles I could finde among them vnto your Maiestie in hope of your wonted gracious fauour to accept these Iewels for their owne sake as Artaxerxes accepted water of the riuer Cyrus for Cyrus sake Your Maiesties most bounden and obedient seruant Lodowick LLoyd A BRIEFE CONFErence of diuers Lawes diuided into certaine regiments In the first Regiment is expressed the antiquitie and force of the Lawe the states of Common-wealths vnder diuers kindes of gouernments ALl creatures of God as well in heauen as in earth had lawes giuen them after they were created to be gouerned and ruled by the Sunne the Moone and the Starres to keepe their perpetuall motions and course in their places and regiments so the seas haue their limits and bounds how farre they should rule and raigne and though one starre differeth from an other in glorie in greatnesse and in brightnesse yet are they gouerned by one perpetuall lawe so the seas though the waues thereof be so loftie and proud yet are they shut vp within doores and commaunded to keepe in and not to goe further then the place to them by lawe appointed By lawe also the elements are commaunded to staie within their owne regiments without trespassing one of another as Manilius faith Certa stant omnia lege For the stanes by lawe haue their leaders before them they haue their watch giuen them they haue their motions and marching appointed them and as all riuers and waters haue their course and recourse to the seas and from the seas as from their chiefe commaunder so all starres haue their brightnesse light from the Sun as from their chiefe generall Neither were the Angels in heauen being the first and the chiefest creatures of God nor man in Paradise beeing the last creature Tanquam Epilogus operum dei without lawe the breach wherof made such a generall confusion that it so obscured the first integritie of the lawe of nature that the Angels that offended in heauen lost heauen and were iudged to perpetuall darkenesse and man for his disobedience in Paradise cast out of Paradise to euerlasting punishment so that the Angels were not pure nor the heauens cleare before God The earth likewise and the seas and all the creatures in them by breaking of the first lawe which Tertullian calleth Primordialem lâ—…gem legum omnium matricem lost the benefites of the first creation for in Adams fall all creatures were cursed which made Augustine to woÌ„der Vtrùm mirabilius homines iustos creare quà m iniustos instificare whether the mercy of God were more in creating iust men or in iustifying wicked men though with God it was of equall and like power yet said Augustine it was of greater mercy to iustifie vniust men for that Iustificatio er at secunda hominis creatio Yet the old Patriarches liued vnder the lawe of nature so Paul testifieth that the lawe was first written not in tables of stones but in fleshly tables of the heart for I will put my lawe saith the Lorde in their inward parts and in their hearts will I write it so Augustine saith Audi linguam non in lapide sed in corde scribentem for from the eternall lawe which is Creatrix gubernatrix vniuersitatis was reuiued and lightned the lawe of nature vnder the which the Patriarches liued for the lawe of nature which the Patriarches had being not corrupted differeth nothing froÌ„ the written lawe giuen to Moses which is the whole summe of the morall lawe What else is the lawe written giuen to Moses but a short repetition and compendious catalogue expounding vnto vs the lawe of nature beeing obscured and corrupted by the fall of Adam but by the second Adam renued written and giuen to Moses in tables of stones Tanquam norma rectitudinis in Deo So Paule sayeth that if the Gentiles which haue not the lawe doo by nature those things contained in the lawe they hauiug not the lawe are a lawe to themselues and therefore the Heathens are not excuseable for conscience which is that Flammeus gladius is a witnesse of theyr fault and a signe of the anger and iudgement against them for theyr sinne Agnitio Peccatilex and therefore the lawe was giuen to shewe vs our infirmities and that by the lawe grace might bee sought for Fides enim impetrat quod lex imperat for when the lawe was first giuen in Mount Sinai to Moses it was with such feare lightning and thundering with such cloudes smoake and fire that euery part of Sinai trembled and quaked when the lawe was giuen for the law is full of terror and ministreth vnto death The law said Plato punisheth wicked meÌ„ rewardeth good meÌ„ so Cicero saith Lex vitioruÌ„ emeÌ„datrix virtutuÌ„ est commendatrix By the lawe we know our selues without the which we wander in darknesse without light in ignorance without knowledge in sin without feare whose force and authoritie is from God and not from man so could Cicero say Tantalegis vis est vt ea non homini sed deo Delphico tribueretur And therefore the first and auncient kings and
that hee doubted in his opinion of the gods of Athens they so sought him that had he not fled betimes hee had died for it The like hapned to a Romane captaine in Egipt for killing of a Catte one of the Gods of Egipt which was against his will he hardly escaped with his life whom the people so followed and pursued to Alexandria that Ptolomeu the king and all his princes had their hands full to saue him and others from death The Athenians also were so zealous and religious towards their gods that they decreed 600. crownes to any man that would kill Diagoras for that hee was charged that hee scoft and laughed at their gods and doubted whether any gods were if there were what maner of gods they were Too many examples might be brought for the proofe of this in all ages and in all countries The lawes of Moses by the Lord set downe was to serue him in the Temple of Salomon and that onely in Ierusalem yet Salomon in his old age forsooke the Temple which he made to serue the Lord and was the first himselfe that serued straunge gods in groues and vnder euery green tree that from Salomons time Idolatry grew so in Iudah that the Israelites had as many lawes as they had gods and as many gods as they had cities and although they had not so many Temples builded to their gods as the Gentiles had yet they had as many aultars in groues vnder euery green tree for among the Israelites in euery groue was a temple vnder euery greene tree an aultar yet they spared not to defile the temple of the Lord in Ierusalem among the Gentiles they were so carefull of their gods that euery god had his temple for among them two gods might not be in one temple So the Romanes could endure nothing worse then to suffer strange gods to be among them for Lu. Aemilius the Consul was by the Senators commaunded to pull downe the temples of Isis Serapis 〈◊〉 â—…at they were Egiptian gods for there was a lawe among the Senators of Rome that Dij Peregrini e ciuitate â—…ijciantur And therfore the Romanes so esteemed their gods that when Pilate wrote vnto his Lord and maisâ—…r Tiberius Caesar to haue one Iesus allowed to be one of the gods in Rome who did many miracles and great wonders in Iudah Ierusalem and yet of malice by the Iewes was put to death though Caesar would allow it and would haue the Senate also to allow 〈◊〉 yet the Senators thought it not fit that a strange god should be accepted in Rome among the Romane gods so that the Romains the Grecians could serue many gods but Israel could not allow nor accept their Lord God for the Samaritans draue him out of their cities the Gergesites banished him out of their country and in Ierusalem his owne citie the Iewes crucified him preferring Barabas the murtherer before Iesus their Sauiour Yet Cyrus king of Persia caused it to be proclaimed by writing throughout all his Empire that the Lorde God of heauen had commaunded him to build him a house at Ierusalem in Iudah confessing that he onely is the god that is at Ierusalem and therfore Cyrus commanded the Israelites to build their Temple againe Artaxerxes surnamed long hand made the like lawe for repairing of the Temple of Ierusalem Nabuchodonozer published a lawe that he should be torne in peeces and his house made a Iakes that blasphemed the God of Israel but before he said what God can take you out of my hand at what time Holofernes said there was no other God but Nabuchodonozer Darius Medus made a streight lawe that all dominions and people should feare the God of Daniel but before he proclaimed an edict that whosoeuer desired any petition either of any god or man within 30. dayes but of himselfe should be cast into a Lions den so that Daniel was found against the statute praying to his god and was cast into the Lions denne King Agrippa all in cloth of siluer glistring garments making an Oration to the people vpon the Theaters at Caesaria because hee suffered the people to flatter him and to say it is the voice of God not of man which as Thucidides saith is one of the three most dangerous enemies to ouerthrow a common-wealth this king in the very face of these his flatterers was presently so tormented with such pangues of death that dying hee spake to the people See whom you called a god a little before dieth now like a most wretched man like Bel the god of Nabuchodonozer who after that Daniel tooke pitch fat and haire and did seethe them together and put it in Bels mouth god Bel burst in sunder of whoÌ„ Daniel said Behold your god Bel whom you worship for the greatest king is like an earthen vessell soone broken a spider is able to poyson him a gnat is able to choake him and a little pinne able to kill him this is the greatest glory that man can bragge of himselfe In the third regiment is set downe the Idolatry and superstitiousnesse of the Israelites compared by application with the customes and lawes of the Gentiles IN Egipt the mother of all Idolatry from whence the Grecians the Romanes and all the world were instructed to serue straunge gods they had most sumptuous Temples of Marble and of Iuory bedect with gold siluer most richly but such ridiculous gods were in Egipt as apes dogges crocodiles calues oxen serpents and cattes that euery seuerall citie in Egipt had a seuerall beast for their god in Memphis a bull in Heliopilis an oxe in Medeta a bucke goate in the citie of Elephantina a crocodile and so of the rest And therefore the greekes scoffed the Egiptians for that there was no beast so vile but they would make him a god in Egipt and none but beasts were gods in Egipt the Grecians gods were carued made like men The Romains made themselues gods as Domitianus after he decreed to be called sonne vnto Pallas was not contented therwith but would be called Dominus Deus Domitianus So Caius and other some of the later Caesars would bee called sonne vnto Iupiter others brothers to the Sunne and Moone which both Augustus Caesar and Tiberius refused to be honored with those names though they were offered others would haue their Image set vp in the Temple at Ierusalem but woe be vnto him that saith vnto a peece of wood arise and to a dumbe stone stand vp And therefore the Prophet saith Confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia gloriantur in simulachris suis. Wee are forbidden to bring rubbers and napkins and to holde a looking glasse to Iuno for it is not Pauls napkin Peters shadow Elizeus staffe Moses rodde nor Elias mantle but the Lord God of Elias as Elizeus said When Pilate the Romane President was commanded by Tiberius
aultars taking Abraham for their warrant in sacrificing his sonne Isaac and Ieptha in sacrificing of his daughter for their Idolatrous sacrifice in murdering their children as is said before of Achab Manasses and others The Ammonites had a great Image called Moloch which had seuen chambers within the hollownesse of it one to receiue meale the second to receiue Turtle Doues the third a sheepe the fourth a ramme the fift a calfe the sixt an oxe and the seuenth a man This Idoll had the face of a calfe with stretched out hands to receiue gifts certaine Samaritan Priests called Chemarims attended vpon this Idoll Moloch though I know well that graue godly Iudges are not acquainted with Molochs reaching hand nor with his chambers yet I doubt some like Chemarims that liue in the world and serue Moloch attend more vpon the reaching hand of Moloch and his hollow chambers then their maisters becke in true seruice to whom may bee said as Christ spake to Nicodemus Art thou a maister in Israel and knowest not how to be borne againe Euen among the Persians Cambises though a tyrant and a wicked king yet would he haue the Persian lawes obserued for the breach whereof hee caused one of his Iudges named Sinetes corrupted with money to haue his skinne fleyed from his backe and to be made a carpet for his sonne that succeeded after him to leane vpon to put him in remembrance of his fathers corruption and punishment by the law that his sonne therby might better obserue the lawe Remota iustitia regna magna latrocinia sunt Darius king of Persia caused Sandoces one of his Iudges for that he was corrupted with money to iudge vniustly against the law to be hanged and codemned by the lawe in that very place where hee was appointed to be a Iudge Of these corrupt Iudges and of the like the Prophet saith Dextra eorum repleta est muneribus These and such Lawiers and Iudges that oppresse poore Widowes and Orphants robbe the poore are corrupted with rewards cannot be hold the brightnesse of Moses face without a vaile to couer their face These are the lawiers of which the Prophet speakes that turne the lawe to wormewood righteousnesse to bitternesse and cast downe iustice to the ground for Nihil tam venâ—… quam aduocatâ—…m praesidâ—… saith Aristotle And therefore the Prophet Esay reprehended the Iudges of Israel and called them companions of theeues following after gifts and rewards as Samuels sonnes did he called them tyrants of Zodome and people of Gomorah Learne to do right saith the Lord apply your selues to equitie let the Widdowes complaint come before you and helpe the fatherlesse to his right This is the lawe onely of the Lord these be the precepts and summe of all lawes to liue honestly to hurt none and to giue to euery man his owne for where good kings rule and raigne there lawes are obeyed Iudges ought to doo righteous iudgement they ought to accept no persons but iudge according to the lawe of the people they should heare the small and the great alike neither accept the face of the poore nor feare the face of the mightie for that iudgement is the Lordes therefore Iudges are called goddes for the lawe commaundeth that thou shalt not raile vpon the Magistrates neither curse the ruler of the people So Homer saide Ex Ioue sunt reges To that effect dooth Plato likewise say Deus quispiam humanus Rex est What lawe had then Nabuchodonozer to say what GOD is hee that is able to take Iudah out of my hand Or Holofernes to say there was no God but onely his maister Nabuchodonozer such lawes made Domitianus that he would be called Dominus Deus Domitianus What lawe had king Zedechiah to answere his nobles that sought the Prophet Ieremies death take Ieremie and do with him what you list it is not lawfull for me to denie you any thing The like lawe and the like words vsed king Ashuerus to Ammon who sought the destruction of the Iewes throughout all the kingdome of Persia age quod placet do what thou list with the Iewes The like lawes vsed Darius at the request of his Persian Princes to throwe Daniel the Prophet of the Lord to be deuoured of Lyons these are the lawes of tyrants and not of kings to kill the Prophets of the Lord without lawe they forget the lawe of the Lord written by Esay the Prophet Woe be vnto you that make vnrighteous lawes and deuise lawes which are hard to keepe and are not to be kept that thereby the innocents are robbed of iudgement such a lawe made Iezabel for Naboths vineyard with false witnesse These kings like tyrants vse the sword for bloud and not the scepter for iustice like Pharao to whom when Moses alledged all the lawes of the Lord hee said Who is the Lord Nescio dominum I know not the Lord like Lysander of Sparta who said to a Lawier that pleaded lawes and customes on their sides he pleadeth best in lawe which pleadeth with this said Lysander laying his hand on his sword for this penne doth write with bloud Sileant leges inter arma So also Pompey the great said what prattle you to vs of your lawes when wee haue our swordes in our hands Who doth warrant the sword but the lawe who defends the lawe but the sword he that commaunded Peter to put vp his sword in his sheath in mount Oliuet was euen he that commaunded Ioshua to pull his sword out of his sheath to destroy the Canaanites the first commaundement that was giuen to man after the creation was the lawe and vpon breach of the lawe was the sword giuen to reuenge iustice for the Lord is iust for as lawes are made by God and ministred by Angels vnto men so must lawes be obeyed with reuerence and defended with the sword Prudentem dicemus sibi Reipub consulere potentem validum So Plato saith that he is valiant and wise that can both with the sword and the law defend a common-wealth In Egipt it was not lawfull for any heard-man to come within their Temples neither among the Hebrewes was it lawfull for men or women that had any white or blacke spottes somewhat reddish or pale to come among the congregation to the Temple for the priests should pronounce them vncleane So among the Persians by the lawe of their Magi none that had any pimples or red speckes on their face might touch the aultar or offer any sacrifice to their gods for in Persia they had neither Temples nor Images but among the Persians and the Arabians laid fire vpon the aultar in a vessel called Arula and offered frankinsence in sacrifice onely to the sunne for the Gentiles trimmed their aultars diuersly the aultar of Iupiter with Oaken branches the aultar of Appollo with Lawrell the aultar of Bacchus
with Iuye the aultar of Hercules with Popley and of Pluto with Cypresse so were the aultars of Minerua with Oliue and of Venus with Myrtle so that there was no seruice omitted no dutie forgotten no lawe broken in the superstitious and prophane religion of the Heathens So fond and superstitious were both the Athenians and the Romaines that the Athenians builded temples out of Athens to Pouertie and old age because they would faine expell these aged and poore gods out of Athens or else to put the Athenians in remembrance that they should pray vnto them least they should come to pouertie and to want The Romans and Egiptians builded temples to those gods that might annoy their cities out of their cities as the Romanes builded the Temples of Bellona Mars foure miles out of the gate Capaena in Rome to reâ—…ist and withstand the trecherie and violence of their enemies The Egiptians builded the Temples of Saturnus and Serapis out of the cities as gods to watch ward to defend their cities from the enemies and least their gods by inuocation or supplication of the enemies should forsake their cities the Romanes bound fast the Image of Mars and the Carthaginians Hercules See how blinde men in religion are ignorant in gods seruice and yet ignorance with some late learned men was termed the mother of deuotion The Lord commaunded Israel to serue no straunge gods but him onely and to come at three appointed feasts in the yeare to one place in the citie of Ierusalem to serue him and to sacrifice in one Temple the Temple of Salomon for as the Lord made choise of one nation to be his peculiar people so hee made also choise of one place Ierusalem where his name should bee worshipped and called vpon After that the Tabernacle was set vp the arke of testimonie set therin the Lord commanded Moses to bring Aaron and his sonnes vnto the doore of the Tabernacle and there to wash them with water after to put vpon Aaron the holy garments to annoint him and 〈◊〉 him that he might minister in the Priests office The Gentiles vsed the like ceremonies at the first coâ—…crating of any teÌ„ple which they dedicated to their gods that they should lay their hands vpon the porch poste calling vpoÌ„ the name of that god to whoÌ„ they consecrated the temple for whatsoeuer the Gentiles dedicated to their gods though prophane before yet after they were coÌ„secrated they were Sacra diuino cuâ—… maÌ„cipata ciâ—…er temples aultars mony religious places or otherwise For among the Romains the Grecians the dumbe deafe blind lame or maimed otherwise by nature were reiected from any office in the temples of their gods So was it among the Persians in like sort that no blinde or maimed man should minister vnto their gods Whence had they all these originals but as it seemeth from the lawe of Moses And as Moses was commaunded that Aaron and his sons should be first washt with water before they should put on their holy garments and minister vnto the Lord so the priests of Egipt should often wash and annoint themselues before they should serue and sacrifice in the temple of Isis. So the Priests of Greece washt and annointed themselues before they would sacrifice vnto Ceres And so among the Romanes in other places they seemed though they erred much to imitate the ceremonies of the Iewes who had their warrant from the Lord and they from the diuell Moses put on Aaron the coate and girded him with a girdle cloathed him with the robe and put the Ephod on him after he put the brest-plate thereon and put in the brest-plate the Vrim and Thummim he also put the golden plate and the Miter vpon his head and vpon the Miter the holy crowne as the Lord had commaunded Moses and he powred of the annointed oyle vpon Aarons head and annointed him that the excellencie of his calling might be knowne and the dignitie of his office present the maiestie of the highest Hence the Heathens and the Gentiles tooke their platforme as an example to be followed in the annointing and crowning of their kings by the Lord warranted and particularly set downe to Moses whereby you shall find by comparison that the prophane ceremonies of the Gentiles tooke their originall from Moses lawe in the annointing of their kings In the fourth Regiment is shewed how the Gentiles confirmed their lawes by diuers authorities faining that their laâ—…s were giuen to them of their gods with the straight keeping of the same THere was no lawe among the Gentiles made nor established vnlesse they were authorized and confirmed by some diuine power to satisfie ignorant people for the Heathens most preferred that lawe and esteemed that gouernment which was commaunded and allowed as it were from the gods as by Mercurius in Egipt by Iupiter in Greece and by Appollo in Sparta as you heard before So among the Locreans their lawes were authorized by Minerua among the Getes by the Goddesse Vesta and so the lawe which Sergius compiled to the Turkes to this day the Turkes holde it authorized and confirmed from the very mouth of their great Prophet Mahomet And for that a sperhawke brought in her clawes a booke written with red letters to the Priests at Heliopâ—…lis in Egipt containing the lawes and religion of theyr gods the Priests therefore euer after ware red Scarâ—… caps like the colour of the letters the feather of a sperhawke in their caps in memorie thereof So no warre was commenced nor battell taken in hand without such policies to intice and allure the souldiers to fight as Sertorius had his white hinde which he taught to follow him in his Affrican warres by whom he made his souldiers belieue hee was instructed to dâ—… any thing he did So Lu. Sylla would take vpon him in the sight of his souldiers to consult with the picture of Appollo to make his souldiers more obedient and valorous So did Marius with his Scythian woman Martha and so of others which I spake of in my booke of stratagems and now to the Sabboth The obseruation of the Sabboth was seuerely by the lawe of the Iewes kept for the Lord blessed the seuenth day and hallowed it to rest from our workes aâ—…d to serue the Lord signifying vnto vs our eternall rest to come and therefore the Iewes gathered vpon the sixt day in the wildernesse so much Manna as serued them vpon the Sabboth because they should not breake the Sabboth As the Lord Iesus was crucified on the Sabboth eue and rested in his graue the Sabboth day so careful were the Iewes to obserue the Sabboth that the holy womeÌ„ that followed Christ with their odors ointments and spices staied from the annointing of his body vpon the Sabboth for the Sabboth was made especially that they should cease from labour and come to heare the lawes of the Lord and the voices of the Prophets
should bee the Temple of God where the Lord might dwell and raigne within him and that the Lord should be our aultar vpoÌ„ the which we should offer our selues vnto him in sacrifice both in body and â—…ule Among the Heathens the Sabboth of the Lorde was not knowne for that they knew not the Lord of the Sabboth this commandement pertained onely to the children of the Lord the Israelites to whom the law was giuen in hope of eternall rest The restoring to their libertie their victories their triumphes theyr feastes and the dayes of their birth these were the Sabboths of the Gentiles to serue to giue thankes and to sacrifice to their gods as before 〈◊〉 written but the Lord spake to Israel you shall not obserue time to make some dayes luckie and others vnluckie as the Gentiles did but only obserue your Sabboths and to come to the Temple to heare the lawes of the Lord read When Hanibal departed out of Italy the Temples were set opeÌ„ according to the custome of the Romanâ—… that they might goe and giue thanks to the gods for the vanquishing of such an enemie Archidamus began first with seruice and sacrifice to the gods before he would attempt any great battel with the enemie Xenophon before hee had gotten his whole Armie reconciled and willing to craue the fauour of the gods in any distresse hee would take no iourney in hand The Gentiles obserued times dayes and moneths as the kings of Macedonia commenced nowarre during the whole moneth of Iune The Romans likewise obserued the Nones of euery moneth as vnluckie and religious dayes and refrained that time to take any great thing in hand The Germaines also had a lawe not to fight any battell in the wane of the Moone much like the Lacedemonians who were forbidden by Licurgus lawe that they should take no warre or battell in hand before the full of the Moone they were therein so religious that they absented from the battell at Marathon foure dayes The Romans also would enter into no field neither wage any battell vpon their religious dayes Cai. Caesar in his warres against Ariouistus King of the Germaines knowing that the Germaines hadde a lawe set downe that it was not lawfull for them to commence any battell in the wane of the Moone Caesar obseruing the Germaines to bee so religious gaue them a battell vnexspected and ouerthrew them So Titus Vespasian vpon a satterday the Sabboth of the Iewes subdued the Iewes destroyed the Temple and tooke Ierusalem as Pompey the great did before Before the Temple was builded in Ierusalem by Salomon the Israelites came to Siloh where the Taberâ—…cle rested to offer to the Lord as after they did to Ieâ—…salem In this Temple at Ierusalem the Lord promised to Salomon that he would present himselfe and appeare at the prayer of Salomon as hee promised to Moses in the wildernesse to appeare at the doore of the Tabernacle to comfort them and to further them in all theyr lawes The Angels that brake the lawes of the Lord in heauen were condemned and had iudgement giuen to bee prisoners in perpetuall darkenesse and man that brake the lawe in Paradise had sentence of death pronounced against him by the Lorde himselfe in Paradise And therefore Licurgus to haue his lawes continue among the Lacedemonians to performe the Oracle of Appollo which was so long should the Lacedemonians keep Licurgus lawes vndefiled as long as Licurgus should keepe himselfe absent from the Lacedemonians and therefore most willingly banished himselfe out of his countrey to dye in Delos that by his absence the lawes which he established amoÌ„g the Lacedemonians should continue his lawes therefore continued 500. yeares and more after his death The contempt breach of lawes in all countries were seuerely punished in so much that Charondas made a law to the Carthaginians Archadians others that they that found fault with paenall lawes should be crowned with Tamarisk and be carried round about the towne and so thence to be banished according to the lawe of the 12. tables Violati iuris paena este And therefore Antalcidas accused Agesilaus for the breach of Licurgus lawe for that he taught the Persians by often warres to become men from women Non diù in hos bellaadum ne ipsi bellicosi euaderint Charondas made an other lawe that if any that were coÌ„uicted thought his lawe to be too seuere they might vpon condition make meanes to the people for abrogating of the lawe the condition was they should come with halters about their neckes before all the people in one place assembled which if they by complaining of the seuerities of the lawe should goe free the former law should be abrogated or mitigated but if they falsly accused and slaundered the integritie of the lawe they should be strangled with the same halters which they ware about their necks to accuse the law for the words of the lawes of the twelue tables which agree with Charondas lawe are these Legum iusta imperia sunto hisque ciues modestè sine recusatione Parento And yet it is necessary vpon occasions that lawes should be altered for saith Hypocrates Tempus est in quo occasio occasio in qua tempus though he applied this to Phisicke yet in the selfe same reason it serueth for the lawe Cicero thinketh the life and manners of good men often changed to be the cause of changing of the lawes and states of cities and Plato whom Cicero calleth Deum Philosophorum said that the least lawe made may not be chaunged nor abrogated without doing hurt or harme to the publique state of a common-wealth and therefore in Aegina he was euer accounted accurst that went about to make new lawes by abrogating the former For when Lysander went about to alter and change Licurgus lawes among the Lacedemonians hee was resisted by the Senators and the people though Lysander was the onely chiefe man in Sparta Likewise the whole summe of Aristotles Aeconomicall and Politicall lawes are but instructions teaching the rule and gouernment of a Common wealth iubendo parendo how men should know to doo good and auoyd to do euil to gouern and to be gouerned that the people should be defended from wrong so is the law of the twelue Tables Vis in populo abesto causas populi tencto And therefore positiue lawes in all countries were and are made from the beginning to maintaine ciuill orders and to determine of such orders and circumstances as are necessary and requisite for the keeping of the people in obedience of the same Of these and such lawes Plato wrote his booke de Repub tending to the administration and gouernment of the people according to the lawe The morall lawe commaundeth a iust and vpright ordering of iudgements contracts and punishments in a common-wealth Alexander Seuerus the Emperour therefore would make no lawes without the iudgement
of 20. of the best learned Ciuilians with the aduise and consent of 50. of the grauest and wifest councellors that were within his Empire to examine whether the lawes were iust profitable for the people before they should be published but being once published as a lawe extreame punishment was appointed for the breach thereof as is before spoken without any appeale frō the lawe without some great extraordinary cause of appeale As among the Hebrewes in any citie of Iudah that if they could not rightly iudge nor discerne throughly the cause according to iustice by the Magistrates of the citie they might appeale to the Iudges named Sinadrion in Ierusalem from whence no appeale could be had So among the Grecians they might appeale from the Areopagites in Athens from the Ephories in Sparta and all other cities of Greece to the Amphictions at Trozaena which were appointed general Iudges for the vniuersall state of Greece in martiall and military causes and there to sit and determine twise a yeare of the whole state of Greece and further to heare and to iudge of some other great causes and capitall crimes from whose sentence no other appeale was to be had for out of euery citie in Greece in the Spring and in the Autumne to the Amphictions at Trozaena they sent Embassadors whom the Greekes called Pytagorae So among the Romanes a lawfull appeale might be had from the Consuls to the Senators from the Senators to the Tribune of the people and from the people to the Dictator which continued vntill the time of the Iudges called Centum viri for Sententia Dictatoris iudicia centum viralia were both lawes of life and death from whose iudgement and sentences there were no greater Iudges to appeale vnto of the like authoritie were the Decem viri from whom also there was no appeale during their gouernment So in diuine causes we may appeale to mount Sion from Mount Sinai from the lawe to the Gospell from Moses to Christ our perpetuall Dictator from whom we haue no place to appeale vnto for our eternall saluation In the fift Regiment is declared the choice of wise Gouernours to gouerne the people and to execute the lawes among all Nations and also the education and obedience of theyr children to their Parents and Magistrates ALl Nations made their choise of the wisest and chiefest men to rule and gouerne their countrey imitating Moses who was by the Lord commanded to choose seuentie wise graue men to be Iudges among the Israelites called Synadrion which continued from Moses time who first appointed these Magistrates vntill Herods time who last destroyed them for in euery citie of Iudah seuen Magistrates were appointed to gouerne and to iudge according to the law of Moses and for their further instructions in the lawe they had of the Tribes of the Leuites two in euery citie to instruct and assist the Magistrates in all actions according to the lawe The Egiptians being next neighbours to the Hebrewes though they mortally hated the Hebrewes yet theyr gouernment of Dinastia vnder thirtie Gouernours elected and chosen out of Eliopolis Memphis Pellusium Thaebes and other chiefe cities of Egipt seemed to imitate Moyses lawe vnder Aristocratia So Solon appointed in Athens certaine wise men called Areopagitae as Iudges to determine of life and death and of other criminall causes Among the old Gaules the Druydes sage and wise religious men had authoritie both in warre and peace to make lawes and to determine of the state of theyr countrey The lawes of all Nations against disobedient children to theyr parents are manifest not onely the lawe of nature among all Nations vnwritten but also the diuine lawe of the Lorde written commaundes children to bee obedient to theyr parents as the lawe sayeth Whosoeuer curseth his father or mother shall dye and his bloud bee on his owne head for that hee curseth his father or mother If a man hath a sonne that is stubborne or disobedient let his parentes bring him vnto the Elders of the Cittie and there accuse him of his faultes saying my sonne is a Ryotour a Drunkarde and disobedient vnto his parentes the lawe is that all the men of that Cittie shall stone him with stones to death This commaundement was esteemed among all Nations euen among wicked men as Esau beeing a reprobate so the Lorde saide Esau haue I hated and Iacob haue I loued yet Esau hating his brother Iacob in heart saying that the dayes of his fathers sorrowes were at hande for I will kill my brother and most like it is that he would haue done so had not the Lorde which appeared to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night for that hee followed Iacob from Mesopotamia said to Laban Take heed to thy selfe that thou doo or speake to Iacob nothing but good as the Lorde kept Iacob from Laban so he kept him from his brother Esau. Notwithstanding Esau came to his father and said hast thou any blessing for me see that obedience and feare was in Esau towards his father Isaac though hee was a wicked man he determined not to kill his brother before his father died least Isaac his father should curse him The sonnes of Samuel the Prophet Ioel and Abiath which were made Iudges in Bersabe by rheyr father Samuel beeing olde they turned from theyr fathers wayes tooke rewards and peruerted the right the people complained to Samuel that his sonnes followed not his steppes and therefore they would haue a King to gouerne them as other nations had See the ende of Iudges in Israel by the wicked Iudges Ioel and Abiath two wicked sonnes of a good and godly father and the cause of the ouerthrowe of the Iudges in Israel The two sonnes of Eli their offences were such that their father being an olde man was rebuked of the Lord for suffering their vnthriftinesse and wickednesse which was the cause that the Priesthood was taken from the house of Eli for euer so that the gouernment of Iudges in Iudah and also of the Priesthood were taken away by the corruption and disobedience of wicked and vngodly children Obserue likewise the end of kings and kingdomes by wicked kings by Ahaz who offered his sonnes in fire to Moloch by Ioachim and his sonne wicked fathers which brought vp wicked sonnes The kings which were 21. in number continued fiue hundred and odde yeares Who would haue iudged that three such good Kings of Iudah should haue three such wicked children As Dauid had Absolon who sought most trecherously to dispossesse his father of his kingdome As Ezechias had Manasses who offered his sonne in fire to Moloch and filled Ierusalem with bloud Or as Iosias had Ioachim whose wickednesse together with Zedechiah was so disobedient to the Lord and his Prophets that he lost the kingdome of Iudah Who would haue iudged that Salomon the onely wise king of the world hauing
700. Queenes and 300. concubines and hauing but one sonne which is read of and that so wicked that through his wicked and cruell dealing to his people the Lord tooke 10. of the 12. Tribes of Israel away from Salomons sonne gaue them to Ieroboam Salomons seruant It was a commaundement giuen from Moses to the people that they should not forget the lawes of the Lord but teach them to their sonnes and their sonnes sonnes and therefore the lawes were commaunded to be set as frontlets betweene their eyes to bee written vpon the postes of their houses vpon their gates and to bind them for a signe vpon their hands that their children should not forget but be instructed by the sight thereof in the lawes of the Lord. For the olde Pharisies were wont to weare Philacteria which were scrolles of parchment about their heads and armes hauing the tenne commandements written on them therefore Christ pronounced so many woes against the Scribes and Pharisies for their hipocrisie Hence grew the beginning of setting vp of pictures in porches the Images of Philosophers in Schooles and Vniuersities and the Images of the goddes in the Temples and secret closets of Princes as Alex. Seuerus had the Image of Christ Abraham Orpheus and Appollonius in his closet worshipped as gods so the Heathens and Pagans had the Images of their countrie gods set vp at theyr gates galleries and closets Among the olde Romanes in auntient times they were buried in theyr gardens and in theyr houses and therefore they had their houshold godeds to doo sacrifice vnto them and to vse funerall ceremonies vnto these Idols for it was not lawfull by the lawe of the 12. tables to burie any within the citie for the lawe was Ne in vrbem sepelito and it was also Platos lawe that the dead should bee buried in the fieldes or some barren ground out of the cities least the dead bodies should infect the quicke These lawes were called Leges funerales But the Lord spake to Ioshuah Let not the booke of this lawe depart out of thy mouth see that thou doo and obserue all the lawes which Moses commaunded thee so Ioshuah did made a couenant with the people at his death set ordinances and lawes before them in Sychem and tooke a great stone and pitched it vnder an oake that stood in the Sanctuarie and said behold this stone shal be a witnesse vnto vs and a memoriall of the couenant betweene vs. So Iacob set vp a stone and said to his bretheren gather stones and make a heape which hee called Gilead and said to Laban this heape of stones be a witnesse betweene thee and me It was a custome among the olde Hebrewes as markes of witnesse and memoriall of things past to put vp stones as Samuel did in his victorie against the Philistines pitched vp a stone and named it the stone of helpe So carefull were the kings of Persia that they made choise of foure principall men in all knowledge to instruct the kings children after fourteene yeares of age and therefore the Persian lawes for education of theyr youth were not onely commended of many but of many imitated they should learne three principall lessons to take heed of lyes and onely to speake the truth secondly to deale iustly and wrong no man and thirdly to knowe what was wrong and what was iustice The children in Persia were brought vp with such reuerence to their parents that it was not lawfull for them in the presence of their parents either to sit to spit or to blowe their noses theyr children might not so much as taste wine though it were vpon their feast day which among the Persians is the most solemne feast also the children might not come to their parents sight before they were seuen yeares olde there is nothing so requisite in parents as the education of children And therefore Charondas made a lawe that the citizens which were gouerned by his lawes should bring vp their children in schooles to be taught to know good from euill and to be accustomed with vertuous education that thereby they might stand in stead to theyr countrey with wisedome iudgement and counsell The like law is set downe by Plato who saith Si Rempub. verè institues virrtus cum ciuibus comunicanda est For as euery citie hath her Phisitions to prouide for health and to care for the bodye So I thinke it rather better saide Chaerondas to haue schoolemaisters and teachers to bring vp youth in vertue and knowledge and to bee taught in the lawes of God man to serue their countrey Diuers Nations as the Carthagineans Arcadians Baeotians and Mazacens sent for Charondas lawes to gouerne their countrey and as the Romanes sent to Greece for Hermadorus to interpret the 12. Tables so the Mazacens sent for one to Thuria to interpret Charondas lawes So the Iewes after their return from Babilon appointed Esdras to read interpret the law of Moses vnto thē before whom they sware that they would turne away theyr straunge women the Ammonites and Moabites and that they would keepe the lawes of the Lord. The Lacedemonians would make their hindes and husbandmen drunken hauing roddes in their hands to whip and beat them for their drunkennesse and would bring them out before their children other youths of Sparta which was both Plato and Anacharsis order to the Grecians because their children might see the faults and beastlinesse of the seruants to terrifie the children that thereby they might loath vice and loue vertue and learne to bee obedient to their parents for the greatest care the Lacedemonians had was to bring vp their children in musicke and military discipline esteeming the education of their chidren in any thing else indifferent Nabuchodonozer king of Babilon caused foure of the kings stocke Zedechiah Daniel and his fellowes to bee brought vp in the Chaldaean discipline that they might serue the king in his chamber and at his table In auntient time the olde Romanes were not onely studious and carefull to bring vp their children to obserue the lawes of their gods at Rome but also vsed yearly to make choise often of the best mens children in Rome and to send thē to Etruria a religious nation there to be taught in the Etrurian discipline concerning religion to their gods and to learne dutie and seruice to their countrey beeing in the Latin tongue instructed first then in the Greeke tongue and after to learne wise and pithy sentences as Paradoxes and Aphorismes Charondas iudged those parents not fit to be of counsell nor worthy to be Magistrates to rule in their countrey that hauing many children by the first wife would marry a second for he supposed that they would neuer be carefull ouer their country that would not be careful ouer their children And therefore the lawes of diuers of the Gentiles were not to bee allowed in selling theyr
children to straunge Nations as the Phrygians and others did for to relieue theyr parents for necessitie sake and yet farre better then to burne kill and sacrifice theyr children to Images and Idols as Ahaz Manasses and others did Bocchoris made a lawe against idlenesse for all idle men in Egipt were compelled to write theyr names and to giue account how they liued This lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Athens where they gaue the like account in Athens as they did in Egipt before the Areopagites for we read that the figge tree because it was barren and bare no fruite was spoyled of his leaues and therefore the well exercised man is compared to the Bee that gathereth honye of euery weede and the euil sloathful man to the Spider which gathereth poison of euery flower Bocchoris made an other lawe against those that clipt any coine diminished the waight changed the form or altered the letters about the coine that both their hands should be cut off for Bocchoris lawe was that those members should be punished that committed the offence So carefull were the Hebrew women for their children that their fathers should not name them but the mothers should giue them such names as should signifie some goodnesse or holinesse to come as a memoriall to the parents to thinke vpon their children besides giuing them their names their naturall mothers should be Nurses to their childrē as Sarah was a Nurse to Isaac her son Zephorah a Nurse to her son Moses the blessed Virgin Mary a Nurse to her sonne Christ Iesus our Sauiour so the two wiues of Iacob Leah and Rachel gaue names to all their children the twelue Patriarkes the sonnes of Iacob So Iacob corrected his children kept them vnder and blessed them at his death so Iob prayed for his children and offered for his children vnto the Lord euery day a burnt offering and so was Dauid for his sonne Salomon so carefull that he committed him to the Prophet Nathan to be brought vp in wisedome and in the law of the Lord this care had the Hebrewes to bring vp theyr children in the lawe and feare of the Lord. The very Heathens euen Phillip king of Macedonia was glad to haue his sonne Alexander borne in Aristotles daies because he might be brought vp in his house with him and instructed with so great a Philosopher Agamemnon was in his youth brought vp with wise Nestor of whom Agamemnon was wont to say that if he had but ten such wise Consuls as Nestor was he doubted not but soone to subdue Troy And so was Antigonus brought vp with Zeno chiefe of the Stoik Philosophers where hee could heare see nothing but what he sawe and heard from his maister Zeno. There bee many parents in the world that weigh not how they liue themselues neither esteeme how to bring vp their children like the Troglodites whose children were named after the names of the beastes of their countrey as horse ramme oxe sheepe lambe and such alledging that the beasts were their best parents in feeding in cloathing and in all other necessary helpes and therefore they would rather bee named after these beasts that maintained them in life and liuing then after their parents who gaue them but bare birth against the lawe of nature and therfore they and such are to be called Antinomi I doubt too many of these in many places may bee called Antinomi which degenerate from their parents both in name and in nature yea from all lawes rather to be beasts then to haue the name of beasts like people in Affrica called Atlantes whose children haue no names at all but as the Troglodites were named after theyr beasts and therefore well called Antinomi so these people leaue their children like themselues without names not like beasts but beasts indeed and therefore well and truly to be called Anomi for many haue the names of beasts that be neither beasts nor like beasts for as the Troglodites that before their parents preferre beastes against the lawe of nature are called Antinomi so these Atlantes in Affrica worse then beasts are called Anomi which is without any name It is much therefore in parents to shewe good examples before their children for what children see in the parents or heare from theyr parents that lightly will they imitate for the tree is bended when it is tender the horse is broken when he is a colte and the dogge taught when hee is a whelpe so children must be instructed and brought vp when they are young for that seede which is sowed in youth appeareth in age for Vertue must haue a time to growe to ripenesse Therfore Marc Cato the Censor made meanes to remoue Manlius from the Senat house because he wantonly imbraced and kist his wife before his daughter saying that his wife durst neyther imbrace nor kisse him before his children but for very feare when it lightned and thundered Hieron King of Cicilia sharpely punished Epicarmus the Poet for that he made and read certaine light verses before his daughter So was Ouid for the like offence bannished from Rome and so was Archiloccus from Sparta for saying it was better for a souldier to loose his shield then to loose his life The children of Bethel had they bene well brought vp they would not haue mocked flouted Elizeus the Prophet they might as well haue said Ozanna in excelsis with the children of Ierusalem as to say Ascende calue vp balde fellowe But true it is as Isocrates faieth that rude and barbarous men not brought vp in Vertue from theyr youthes should neuer or seldome prooue iust or honest And so it is written that Equus indomitus euadet durus filius remissus euadet praeceps And therefore both the Romaines and the Grecians were carefull to haue graue wise vertuous and learned men to bring vp theyr children in the feare of God Among the Lacedemonians Licurgus lawe was that expert and iudiciall men should bee founde out which were named Paedonomi to instruct and teach the youth of Laced◅mon for in three things especially the Grecians brought theyr children vp in Learning in Painting and in Musicke and especially great mens children in dauncing and in singing as Epaminondas and Cimon and for that Themistocles Alcibiades found great fault for that great Captains should become dancers they were therefore reprehended and answered that Epaminondas and Cimon were as great Captaines as they The Egiptians were wont to bring vp theyr children in Arithmeticke and Geometry and the Kings children in Magicke People of Creete brought theyr children vp in three things first to learne the lawes of theyr countrey secondly to learne Hymnes and Psalmes to praise theyr gods and thirdly to learne to sing the praise and fame of their great Captaines Among the Indians theyr wise men called Brachmanes made a Lawe that theyr Children should be brought after two
as murther and whoredome were punished first by the lawe of nature before the lawe written so all other offences contained in the Decalogue were by the same lawe punished long before the lawe was written and giuen to Moses in mount Tabor The murthering of the Prophets of the Apostles and of the martirs of God euen frō the bloud of righteous Abel vnto the bloud of Zacharias the Priest crye and call for iustice and iudgement saying How long Lord will it be before vengeance be taken vpon wicked murtherers and tyrants Of these the Prophet saith Dederunt cadauera seru◅rum tuorum in cibum anibus caeli carnes piorum bestijs terrae But when the Lord is readie to be reuenged vpon these cruell murtherers and ambitious murmurers who can quench the fire in the stubble when it beginneth to burne who can turne againe the arrow shot of a strong archer or driue away a hungry Lyon in the wood who can resist the Lord in his purpose and decree Murtherers haue their markes as Cain had such a marke that hee could not dye though hee wisht to dye Esau had such a marke that though he sought with teares to repent yet he could not repent Pharao had such a marke that he could not confesse the Lord to be God though he sought Moses to pray for him but no doubt markes of murther for Cain kild his brother Abel Esau sought and said he would kill his brother Iacob and Pharao in his heart threatned death to Moses and Aaron and to all the Hebrewes These signes and markes which these reprobates had were not outward markes seene but inward burned with hotte Irons in their consciences but the Hebrewes in the land of Gosen were marked with the letter Tau in their foreheads as signes to be saued from the plagues in Egipt they that lamented and wept for Ierusalem were marked in theyr foreheads with the letter Tau of the Angell so all Christians are saued by this letter Tau made like a crosse which we must beare in our harts and not in our foreheads The punishment of Paracides among the olde Romanes was such that the murtherer should bee put in a sacke aliue bound hand and foote together with an ape a cocke and a viper which should so byte and torment him vntill he were almost dead and then to bee throwne into Tiber with his three companions with him so was Marc. Malleolus for killing of his mother iudged so to die by the Senators The second Paracide in Rome was Histius after the second Romane warres with the Affricans with the like iudgement giuen as before this kind of punishment for Paracides continued a long time among the Romaines for in former time while yet the Romaines were poore not acquainted with money long before they knew Affrike or Asia their punishment for murther was but a ramme which the Romanes slew and sacrificed to their gods The Grecians like the Romains in auntient time punished a murtherer with a certaine set number of cattell yet in other countries they punished murther most seuerely and cruelly As in Egipt they would thrust long needles made sharpe of steele vnder the nailes of their hands of their toes and after cut the flesh of the murtherer in small peeces and throwe it by gobbets into the fire burne it in his sight while yet he had life in him A lawe was made among the said Egiptians that if any man had killed his sonne the father should be lockt together with the sonne slaine by him in one chamber without meate or drinke for three dayes beholding still before his face the dead body of his sonne by himselfe slaine with a watch that none should come to him thinking that by looking theron there could be no greater torture or punishment to the father then to see his sonne so slaine by himselfe which was his father Among the Persians a lawe was made that he that killed his father was thought that he neuer had a father for they thought it against the lawe of nature a thing vnnaturall yea and vnpossible that the sonne should kill his father and therefore he should be euer after called a bastard a greater reproach among the Persians could not be and therefore Romulus in Rome and Solon in Athens being demaunded why they made no lawes against Paracides answered that they thought none so wicked or so cruell as to thinke on such wickednesse and therefore they thought it fit that no lawe should be mentioned for so wicked a fact though by Dracoes lawe Solons predecessor the least fault in Athens was punished with death and therefore called in ieast Lex Draconis In Lusitania a Paracide should be stoned to death not within their country least the murtherers bloud should defile their countrie but they should be banished to the next confines and there to die Dauid was forbidden to build the Temple in Ierusalem for that he was a man of bloud so the Lord said Thou art a man of bloud and therefore thy sonne Salomon shall build me a Temple In the citie Elephantina in Aethiopia a murtherer should bee forced by the lawe to eate the hearbe called Ophiusa which being eaten the murtherer should be so tormented with such terrible visions and dreames that he could neuer take rest or sleepe before he had kild himselfe The Macedonians in like sort stoned them not onely to death that committed any murther or treason against their Prince and their countrey but also such as were consenting therevnto and therfore Plato in Athens made a law that the hand that slew himselfe should not be buried with the body but should either be throwne away to be eaten of dogges or else to be nailed in some publike place to be eaten of fowles of the ayre as actor of the murther In many places murther was lesse esteemed of men then of birds or of beasts as in Egipt to kill an Egiptian cat was more dangerous then to kill a Romane captain The history is written in Diod. sic at large So to kill the bird called Ibis in Egipt there was by the lawe capitall punishment for it In Thessalia none might kill a stoike neither in Athens by the lawe of Solon none might sacrifice an oxe Cai. Caligula after he had murthered so many much complained because he could not murther more oftentimes wished that all Rome had but one necke that he might with one stroake cut it off There was found in this Emperours studie after he was murthered like a sword and a dagger the one written on and named Gladius the other Pugio in the which were written the most part of the names of the chief Senators appointed by Caligula to bee slaine and in the same studie was found a chest full of cups filled vp with diuers kindes of poysons which likewise he appointed to poyson the most part of the Romane knights as well of the Senate as of the Citie which
of the souldiers in the one oxe and the other souldier in the other oxe and left their heads out of the oxen that thereby they might speake one to an other as long as they liued Was not Abraham called from the Chaldeans because they were wicked Idolaters Did not Iacob long in Mesopotamia for the land of Canaan Did not Dauid wish to be in Iudah from among the Amalekites wicked Infidels Were not the captiue Israelites most desirous from Babilon to come to Ierusalem yet not before the time that God had appointed and determined for Elizeus could not prophesie before Elias threw his mantle vpon him neither could Dauid appeale the furie of Saul before hee played on his harpe neither could Aaron become a high Priest before his rod blossomd in the Arke The very Heathens forsooke the company countrey of wicked people as Hermadorus forsooke his countrey Ephesus for the iniquitie of the people Anacharsis left Scythia his barbarous countrey and came to Greece to learne wisedome and Philosophie in Athens Plato left Athens and went from Greece to Egipt to be taught in the religion ceremonies and lawes of the Egiptians Paul left Tharsis to goe to Ierusalem to learne the lawes of the Iewes at Gamaliel Queene Saba came from Aethiope to heare Salomons wisedome in Ierusalem It was lawfull by the lawe of Solon in Athens to kill an adulterer beeing taken in the act as among the olde Romanes the husband might kill his wife if hee found her an adulteresse but this lawe of Solon in Athens was after mitigated by Solon with a lesse punishment The Parthians supposed no offence greater then adultery neither thought they any punishment to be equall with so great a crime Among the Arabians the lawe was that the adulterer should die such a death as the partie grieued should appoint Diuers Philosophers euer thought adultery worse then periurie and without doubt greater harmes growe by adultery then periurie though the one be in the first Table against the maiestie of God to take his name in vaine and the other in the second Table against thy neighbour whom thou oughtest to loue as thy selfe and yet some of the best Philosophers as Plato Crisippus and Zeno iudged that common-wealth best gouerned where adultery was freely permitted without punishment that libertie they brought from Egipt vnto Greece where the Egiptians might marrie as many wiues as they would like the Persians Among diuers other nations adulterie was left vnpunished for that they had no lawe against adultery Histories make mention that the virgins of Cypria and of Phaenizia get their dowrie with the hire of their bodies vntil they gaue so much for their dowries that they might make choise of their husbands and be married The Troglodites the nights before they be married vnto their husbands must lye and keepe company with the next of their kin and after their marriage they were with most seuere lawes punished if they had offended It should seeme by the lawes of Licurgus in Sparta 300. yeares before the law of Solon in Athens which was 200. yeares before the law of Plato among the Cicilians which made no lawes against adultery that the Grecians tooke their instructions by imitation from the Egiptians For one after an other Solon after Licurgus and Plato after Solon trauelled to Egipt to other farre countries and brought the lawe of Bocchoris out of Egipt the lawe of Mynoes out of Creete and the lawes of the Gymnosophists out of India into Greece As among the Lesbians Garamites Indians Massagets Scythians and such that were more like to sauage beasts then to temperate people for by the lawe wee knowe sinne for I had not knowne what adultery was vnlesse the lawe had commaunded thou shalt not lust And therefore it was not lawfull by Moses lawe that a bastard or the sonne of a commonwoman should come vnto the congregation of the Lord or serue in any place of the Tabernacle or enter into the ministerie vntill the tenth generation so hatefull vnto the Lord was fornication adulterie and vncleannesse of life When Iacob had blessed all his children yet for that Ruben lay with his fathers concubine Bilha his father Iacob prophesied that he should not be the chiefest of his bretheren though hee was the eldest sonne of Iacob and the eldest of his bretheren for that he was as vnstable as water for defiling his fathers bed for among the Israelites it was a great shame and reproach for women to be barren therfore the wiues brought their maides to their husbands for childrens sake as Sarah brought her maide Agar vnto Abraham and Leah and Rachel brought to Iacob their two maides Bilha and Zilpha so Rachel gaue leaue to Iacob to lye with Bilha her maide who bare to Iacob two sonnes whom Rachel though not their mother named them as her owne sonnes Dan and Nepthali So Leah brought her maide Zilpha to Iacob who conceiued and brought him two sonnes of whom Leah was so glad that she named them as her owne sons the one Gad and the other Asar so that foure of Iacobs sonnes were borne by his maides and not by his wiues This was tollerated but not lawfull Though the Hebrewes were tollerated by the lawe of Moses to haue many wiues and concubines and Libels of diuorcement for the hardnesse of the lewes hearts as Christ said yet said our Sauiour Non fuit sic ab initio it was not so from the beginning Euen from the creation men liued vnder the law of nature for in mans heart yet not corrupted before the fall there was perfect knowledge in the lawe of nature as in the first man Adam was seene before his fall vnder the which the olde Patriarkes liued and sinnes were corrected and punished by the same lawe for it was a positiue lawe by nature set foorth and written in the hearts of men thus was the written lawe yet by Moses tollerated When it was tolde Iudah that his daughter in lawe Thamar was with childe hee commaunded that shee should be brought forth and be burnt Here the law of nature before the lawe written commaunded whoredome to be punished with death here Iudah though he detested whoredome in Thamar yet being found that the incest was committed by him found his fault greater then hers If a man be found with a woman that hath a wedded husband let them both die the death so shalt thou put euill away from Israel for the lawe is you shall maintain no harlots in Israel as the Cyprians and Locreans doo It was not lawfull among the old Romaines to call a bastard by the name of his father because he was the son of a common woman and no man knew who should be his father but they vsed for his name to write these two letters S. P. quasi sine patre as though he had neuer a father In Athens by the law of Solon a bastard
which were written many things concerning the lawe of nature and the influence and motions of the starres that if the bricke pillar were destroyed by water the stone pillar should reserue and keepe safe their lawes theyr seruice and sacrifice to God which the Patriarkes vsed as instructions to their posteritie after the floud which continued vntill Iosephus time which as Iosephus himself writes he sawe in Syria Moses at his death deliuered to the Hebrewes the booke of the lawe and he commaunded them to lay vp those lawes in the Arke within the Tabernacle where it was lawfull for none to come to them but the high Priest which continued from Moses time vntill Ierusalem was destroyed by Nabuchodonozer at what time Ieremie tooke the Tabernacle the Arke and the Aultar of Incense and brought them to Mount Nebo where Moses dyed where he found a hollow caue wherein he layed the Tabernacle the Arke the Aultar of Incense and so closed and stopped the caue Among the Egiptians their lawes were so reuerenced and honoured that none but onely the Priests of Memphis had the keeping thereof in the Temple of Vulcan The Lacedemonians in like sort so reuerenced and kept their lawes that their kings and the magistrates called Ephori came once a moneth to the Temple which they dedicated to the goddesse Feare and there in the porch of the temple the Senators of Lacedemonia which were 28. in number did minister an oath both to the King and the Ephori before the people to serue keep Licurgus lawes in the which Temple their lawes were lockt vp and kept with great care The Romaines made so much of the lawes of their Sybils that they were so kept and so strongly lockt with such care and diligence in a stony Arke in the Capitoll vnder the ground where none might come to them see nor read them but the officers called Duumuiri who had the charge ouer them neither they vntill the Consuls and the Senate had occasions to conferre with the lawes which continued from Torquinius Priscus time vntill Lu. Syllas time at what time the Capitoll was burnt and withall the lawes of the Sybils and if any of these officers would reueale any secrets out of the lawes of the Sybils hee was punished like a murtherer sowed aliue in a sheete and throwne into Tiber. So the Athenians very carefull of their lawes written first by Draco and after by Solon in Tables of wood called Syrbes that they were set vp to bee kept in theyr chiefe court place which the Athenians named Prytanion where Magistrates should sit and iudge causes of lawes The lawe of the Turkes is that the Priests after some ceremonies done should haue a sword and a speare which is set by him in the Pulpit and to shewe the same to the people saying see that you haue these weapons in a readinesse to defend the lawes and religion of Mahomet the penaltie of the Turkes lawe is that if any man speake against their law his tongue should be cut out in so much that the booke called Muzaph wherein their lawe is written is so reuerenced and honoured among the Turkes that no man may touch it with bare hands Thus were lawes in all countries reuerenced and with great care and diligence obserued After lawes decrees and statutes were made in euery Countrey with such circumstances as agreed with the time with the place and with the people for without law no Common-wealth nor Kingdome can be gouerned as Aristotle saith In legibus salus ciuitatis si ta est Iudges were appointed to execute the same in all countries and magistrates in euery citie as among the Hebrewes the Elders called Synadrion Iudges and yet in euery citie of Iudah was a seuerall Iudge Among the Egiptians they had 30. Iudges which they elected from Eliopolis Memphis Thaebes Alexandria and other citties of Egipt of the which 30. they elected one to be chiefe Among the Aethiopians the sage Philosophers the Gymnosophists executed theyr lawes among the Indians likewise the Brachmaines called also Sacerdotes solis Among the Grecians the generall Iudges called Amphictions which sate twise in the yeare once at Trozaena in the spring time and in the Autumne in the Temple of Neptune in Isthmos In many countries women for their wisedome and knowledge were admitted to sit in counsell as among the Persians with King Xerxes who in any great cause of counsell would sende for Artemisia Queene of Caria whose counsell he found so wise that chiefly among all the Princes of Persia in many causes he allowed and followed her counsell So the Queenes in Egipt altogether ruled and gouerned the whole estate of the kingdome to whom greater honour and homage was giuen rather then to the kings of Egipt for that the whole state of their kingdome was rather gouerned by the Queenes then by the Kings Women among the Lacedemonians were not only admitted in publike counsell to sit and determine in courts but also sent for to cōsult in secret matters of state with the Senators The old Gaules in the time of Haniball in any contention betweene them and the Carthagineans if the breach of the lawes or any league broken were committed by the Gaules the women should determine a satisfaction to the Carthagineans if any offence grew by the Carthagineans the Senators of Carthage should satisfie the Gaules It is as well saith Aristotle if men gouerne like women that women should gouerne Quid inter est vtrùm faeminae an qui gubernant gubernentur à faeminis The Romaines though they had a lawe that no woman nor young man should bee admitted to counsell yet suffered they such graue and wise women as Agrippina Meza Cornelia and others to sit in some secrete place where they might see and not bee seene Solon therfore forbad by law that young men should neither giue counsell nor be magistrates in a common-wealth So Plato saith Concilium eius est qui rei cunisque peritus est Yet Deberah and Hebrew woman was a Iudge in Israel gouerned and ruled the Hebrews for fortie yeares To this woman came all the children of Israel for iudgement and she gouerned them wisely and discreetly ministred vnto them in all points the lawes of Moses and deliuered them out of the hand of Iabin King of Canaan who had sore oppressed Israel for the space of twentie yeares But among the Athenians it was not lawfull that women should sit and determine in matters of state in Athens as the women in Sparta did or as the women of Persia. The Athenians sent to Delphos to know what lawe and religion were best to bee obserued among the people It was answered the auntient lawes and religion of their Elders The second time they sent againe saying that the lawes of the Elders were often chaunged It was by the Oracle answered that they should take the best lawes of diuers
lawes for it was the manner as well among the Grecians as among the Romaines euer to make lawes and neuer to keepe them And though the authoritie of the kings were taken away and derogated in many countries yet the force and power of the law stood in effect though the change thereof were dangerous For the lawe sayth Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsely heerein is included vnder the name of stealing all kinde of sacriledge falshood fraud lying one to an other and all other crimes pertaining to stealing Achan for his cunning stealing of a cursed Babylonian garmēt two hundred sickles of siluer and a toong of gold against the lawe at the spoile of Iericho was deliuered by the Lord to Ioshuahs hand who brought him with his sonnes his daughters all his cattells his Tent and all that hee had vnto the valley of Achor and there stoned Achan to death and burned them with fire the Lord euer preferreth obedience before sacrifice for the disobedience in Achan for breaking the lawe was the cause of his stoning The disobedience of Saul against the commaundement of the Lord was such that he lost both his kingdome and his life A Prophet that went from Iudah with the word of the Lord to Bethel for that he did eat bread in that place being forbidden he was killed of a Lion as he returned The man that gathered stickes vpon the Sabboth day against the commaundement the Lord commaunded he should be stoned to death We might thinke that the gathering of stickes and the eating of a peece of bread were but small faults that thereby the one should be stoned and the other killed of a Lyon had it not bene forbidden by the lawe So such men suppose Adams fault to be but little that for earing of an Apple in Paradise not onely he but his posteritie after him should loose Paradise but as the Angels in heauen by their disobedience lost heauen so Adam by his disobedience lost Paradise The Lorde spared not Kings for breach of the law as Oza and Ozias both kings the one for vnreuerent handling of the Arke vsurping the Leuites Office against the lawe was strooken with sudden death and the other for burning incense against the lawe which was the Priestes Office was strooken with leprosie The Lord spared not his owne Priest Aaron that for his incredulitie before the people he died for it in mount Hor. Neither spared the Lord his owne seruant Moses for his disobedience so that hee also died in mount Nebo that neither of them both came to the land of Canaan for their disobedience and diffidence in the Lord. So seuere the lawe of the Lord was that 50000. Bethsamites died for looking into the Arke Aarons sonnes Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord against the lawe were destroyed by fire from heauen Hence grew the ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles touching their religion and sacrifices to their Gods So the women that attended the fire on the aultar of Apollo in Delphos were seuerely punished if by any negligence it happened to be extinguished neither might that fire being so extinguished be kindled again by any other then by the said women and by no other fire thē by the beames of the sunne The Vestall virgins in Rome if the sacred fire of Vesta weare out by any negligence that Vestall virgine that then attended should be brought Per Regem sacrorum to the Bishop to be whipt neither might any fire be kindeled againe to the goddesse Vesta but by the heate of the Sunne neither might they sweare by any other then by the name of Vesta the like ceremonies they vsed to Minerua in Athens So among the Persians Assyrians and Chaldeans they worship their sacred fire Vt Deorum maximum on their aultars seeming to follow Moses lawe Zaleucus an auncient Lawe-maker among the Locreans brought vp with Pythagoras the Phylosopher made a lawe against adulterers that both the eyes of the adulterer should be pulled out which being broken by his eldest sonne though all the Locreans ioyntly en treated for Zaleucus sonne yet said he the lawe must nobe broken and to satisfie the lawe Zaleucus pulled one of his sonnes eyes out and an other of his owne shewing himselfe a natural father to his sonne a iust Iudge to performe the lawes which hee made to the Locreans so seuerely were they punished that brake the lawes or sought to breake the lawes among the Gentiles Those people said Alcibiades do better which keepe the lawes they haue though they be worse then often changed for better Obseruatio legum morum tutissima that plant cannot take roote which is often remoued So Augustus Caesar wrote to the Senators that what lawes soeuer they had decreed and set downe should not be chaunged nor altered for better were it not to make lawes then to make so many lawes and not to keepe them Positas semel leges constanter seruate nec vllam earum immutate si deteriores sint tamem vtiliores sunt Reipub. Lu. Papirius Cursor the Dictator for that Fabius Rutilius brake the decree of the Dictator though hee had good successe and wonne a great victorie yet the lawe was that Fabius should dye neither could the captaines entreate him for his pardon that Fabius was constrained secretly to flye to Rome and to appeale to the Tribune of the people and to the Senators the Dictator followed Fabius to Rome saying that there was no lawe that any appeale should be made from the Dictator vntill Fabius and his father fell vpon their knees with the Senators and Tribune of the people to entreat for him and that for breach of the lawe though hee was Magister equitum the greatest and next in authoritie to the Dictator for the lawe-makers themselues that brake their owne lawes were punished as Zaleucus spared not his owne eye nor Diocles his owne life for breach of the lawe The like we find in Plato comparing the lawe to medicines mingled with poyson to that ende the patient might recouer his health by the medicine so that saith Plato the law is profitable to correct and amend the offender Vt medicamentis venena miscemus salutarifine instar pharmaci haec talia vtilia esse Diocles among other of his lawes in Syracusa made a lawe that if any should come armed with weapons into any Senate Court of Councell or before any Magistrate or assembly of people sitting in lawe causes he should die for it by the lawe of Diocles. This lawe of Diocles was the cause of his own death for as he was riding into the Towne being met sent for to mitigate some contention and debates among the people he making hast forgetting his sword on his side came to the Court and opened to them the lawe made to the people to be gouerned by willed them to obey the same but hee was tolde by some
seditious men that he made lawes and brake them himselfe to come with his sword on his side against his owne lawe to the Court Diocles forgetting that he had his sword on his side answered I will streight satisfie the lawe drew his sword out and slue himselfe in presence of all the multitude I am not ignorant that some say that Charondas was he that made this lawe and not Diocles. So Licurgus willingly banished himselfe to die out of his countrey that the lawes which he made in his countrey might continue according to the Oracle Pythagoras disciples thought whatsoeuer their maister said was sound and sure they would haue no other proofe but what Pythagoras said Ipse dixit Likewise Aristoles schollers they would seeke no other proofe whether it were right or wrong but what they found in Aristotles booke est Aristotelis Vilescit princeps qui quae iusserat vetat quae vetuerat iubet For the which fault Cato reprehended Pompey for that hee brake the lawe which hee made before when hee was Consull The Israelites had not such trust and confidence in their Lord and God as eyther the schollers of Pythygoras or of Aristotle had in their maisters but said wee will obey the Queene of heauen wee will sacrifice to the calfe in Bethel and offer our children to Moloch in the valley of Hinnon See the diffidence which the Israelites had of their Lord and God of whom the Prophet said Ipse dixit facta sunt ipse mandauit creata sunt for by his word heauen and earth were made and by his commaundement all things created and yet not so much obeyed as Pythagoras was of his disciples or Aristotle of his schollers nor so much worshipped of his people Israel as the two calues made by Ieroboam in Dan and Bethel Old customes once rooted in long time confirmed are taken for lawes also whatsoeuer is done by example it is supposed that it may bee done by lawe so Cicero saith Quod exemplo fit id etiam iure fieri putant when in truth wicked customes are named Vetustas erroris non veritas legis though corrupt and leaud manners of men were first the cause that lawes were made yet euill examples may not bee allowed as lawes The auntient fathers and Patriarkes were Poliga◅ but not thereby to make good lawes by ill examples for it is said Praua consetudo magnus tyr annus In the tenth Regiment is shewed the disobedience of man against the Lord with the seuere punishments of all nations against theft THe Lord commaunded rauens to feed Elias and they did obey him he commaunded the Sunne to stay ouer Gibeon and the Moone ouer Aialō a whole day and they obeyed him the Lord commaunded the winds the seas fire haile snowe Ise and tempests and they obeyed his commaundement all creatures obey the Lord but man the chiefe creature which the Lord created according to his owne Image And therefore said Cicero Legi obediunt maria terraeque hominum vitaiussis supraemaelegis obtemperat the heauens the earth the sea and all men liuing obey the supreme lawe which is the lawe of God which Cicero calleth the lawe of nature Lex est illa circaea virga qua taetaeferae hominesque mitescunt Lawe is the rod apointed to tame man and beast The fraud of Giezi Elizeus seruant because he went secretly like a theese after Naman the Syrian and made a large lye that Elizeus his maister sent for a Tallent of siluer and two garments the Prophet beeing his maister gaue sentence on him that the leprosie of Naman shoulde cleaue and sticke to him for euer Giezi heere stole nothing but onely for his falsehood and lyes which with sacriledge and robberies stealing of cattell fraud deceit and the like are included within the precept of stealing for the law is Thou shalt not steale nor deale falsly neither lie one to another thou shalt not do thy neighbour wrong neither robbe him The vision of the flying booke signified the curse of theeues and such as abuse the name of the Lorde with oathes for all theeues and swearers shall be iudged by this booke for this booke shall remaine in theeues houses and in the houses of them that sweare falsly by my name saith the Lord and shall consume them with the timber and stones thereof Many poore theeues are fettered chained in prisons but great and publike theeues are cloathed in gold and purple Such was Heliodorus that came to robbe the Temple of Ierusalem from king Zaleucus who was so scourged and whipt that for golde and siluer he had stripes and stroakes that scarse thence he escaped aliue So should Shesac king of Egipt Antiochus king of Syria Pompey the great and Mar. Crassus the Romain Consul these foure great mightie theeues had bene as wel plagued and punished as Heliodorus was when they robd the Temple had it not bene for the great sinnes of Iudah and Ierusalem Many like Dyonisius after he spoyled the temple of Proserpina in Locris and sailing with a good gale of wind from Locris to Syracusa see said he to his mates fellowes how prosperously we saile after this our sacriledge Many againe robbe in scoffing sort like the same Dyonisius the tyrant who tooke the golden garment from Iupiter Olimpian in Peloponesus saying that it was too heauie for sommer and too colde for winter and therefore he commaunded that Iupiter should be cloathed with a woollen garment light for sommer and warme for winter many such like sacriledges are scoffingly committed in Christian Churches Many make but a ieast of theyr theeuerye and falshood with Dyonisius who when hee had taken the golden beard of Aesculapius away said it was no reason the sonne should weare a beard seeing his father Appollo had none If any man be found stealing any of his brethren the children of Israel and selleth him the thiefe shall die for the same the like is spoken to him that taketh the neather or vpper milstone to pledge The seuere lawes that they had in Phrygia against theft were such that hee that stole but a ploughe share from the fielde or a forke or a rake from a meadowe should by the lawe in Phrygia die In Athens the lawes of Draco were so hard streight against theft that for the least filching or stealing the theefe should die for it If any man in Athens should steale hearbes to make pottage or to take some dung of beasts for to dung his owne ground from another mans ground it was by Dracoes lawe a capitall crime He that borrowed a Horse of his neighbour and would ride further then the place appointed by the lawe of Draco hee might haue an action and therefore Demades saide that Dracoes lawes were Leges sanguine scriptae lawes written with blood the least fault in Athens by the lawe of Draco
was punished with death which lawes by Solon his successor were mittigated Among the Indians though adultery was left vnpunished as it was among the Scythians yet theft was most odious to both these Nations and most sharply to be punished by the lawes of India and Scythia In all countries among all nations theeues were diuersly punished In Egipt the lawe of Bocchoris was such against theft that if the Theefe after hee had stolne any thing had brought his stealth willingly of himselfe vnto the chiefe Priest called Princeps Sacerdotum before he was accused of it he that lost the goods should write the time the day and the houre when it was lost vnto the Priest and should haue again three parts of his goods the theefe should haue the fourth part that stole it for that he confest it before he was accused which is according to Moses lawe that if the theft be found in the theeues hands he shall restore double but if a theefe steale an oxe or a sheepe and kill it or sell it he shall restore fiue oxen for an oxe and foure sheepe for a sheepe for in the ciuil lawe it is written Propter manifestum furtum restituatur quadruplum The Romanes therefore verie carefull hereof kept in their Capitoll dogges quicke for smelling and sent and fed geese for sacrifice to Iuno quicke of hearing lest theeues should rob the Capitoll and so Manliuâ—… by geese saued not only the Capitoll but Rome it selfe from the Gaules Another lawe of Bocchoris that if any were accused falsly of theft in Egipt before a Iudge the lawe was that hee which wrongfully accused the partie should suffer that punishment which was due to him that was accused if he had committed the fault so is Moses lawe that if a false witnesse accuse a man of trespasse beforeâ—… Iudge and be not able to proue it then shall the Iudge do vnto the false witnesse as hee had thought to haue done vnto his brother Charondas made a lawe in fauour and education of Orphants that the wealth and legacies which were left vnto them by their parents should be answered to the Orphants by the next of theyr fathers kindred when they came to age and the Orphants to bee brought vp with the next of their mothers kindred therfore Charondas made this lawe least the fathers kindred or mothers kindred should deceiue the Orphants either by any fraud deceit or guile which is plaine theft The like lawe made Solon in Athens as Charondas made among the Thurians and Carthagineans least any fraude or deceit should bee practised against Infants or Orphants and therefore the Indians vsed none of the kindred or of the bloud of the Orphants but two straungers as tutors and gardens to answere to the pupuls their goods and legacies according to the lawe of India Among the Persians as among the Indians the lawe was that the patrons that deceiued their clients should die for it so was the law of the 12. Tables as wel among the Romanes as among the Grecians Patronus si clienti fraudem fecerit sacer esto The daughters of Zalphod were restored to theyr fathers heritage for the Lord commaunded Moses that hee should turne the inheritance of theyr father vnto them and gaue them a possession to inherit among their fathers bretheren this is the lawe of the Lord if a man die and haue no sonne his inheritance shall turne to his daughter if hee haue no daughter to his bretheren if hee haue no bretheren to his fathers bretheren Among the Arabians the lawe was that the eldest brother was allowed to the inheritance before the eldest sonne In Aethiopia in like manner not the kings children but his brothers childreÌ„ should succeed him in the kingdome Among the Lycians also the daughters and not the sonnes should be their fathers heires neither were they named after their fathers name but after their mothers name This is against Voconius lawe in Rome called Plaebiscita for that he was Tribune of the people by the which law it was lawful that no woman should haue though she were the onely daughter of her father but the fourth part and because women grew so rich by patrimonie and by legacies Domitianus the Emperour confirmed Voconius lawe and made a decree that no defamed woman should possesse the heritage of her father neither should she be carried in a coach were shee euer so great or so rich for the lawe was Nequis etiam census vnicam relinqueret filiam haeredem contrarie to the law of the 12. Tables which was that the Testator might dispose of his goods as pleased himselfe according to the lawe Vti legasset suae reiquisque ita ius esto Therefore the lawe commaunds iust and true dealings to be exercised and embraced as well in words as in deedes for negatiue commaundements include in themselues affirmatiues as Thou shalt doo no murther therefore thou must aide and helpe thy neighbour wherefore we must loue our neighbours in heart and wish them no more harme then to our selues and shewe the same in word and deed Such loue was in Moses and in Paul that the one wished to be put out of the booke of life to saue the people from destruction the other of meere loue wished to be accursed for their bretheren to do them good Such is the nature of perfect loue that Abraham prayed for the Zodomites and Moses for Pharao and the Egiptians though they were wicked people for that is the lawe loue your enemies and do good to them that hate you So Stephen the first martyr following the example of his maister Christ prayed for them that stoned him for all vertues haue their force power from praiers faith is strengthened by praiers loue confirmed by praiers and repentance continued by praiers In the eleuenth RegimeÌ„t is described the diuers kinds of thefts of vsurie and slaunder and of lawes prouided for the punishment of the same THe lawe commaundeth Thou shalt not steale which containeth not onely all kinde of falsehood fraude and deceit as before is spoken but also iustice equitie charitie and conscience Such was the iustice of Abraham to his nephew Lot that though their seruants contended and fell out yet they both agreed for Abraham vsed great iustice diuided their portions equally into two parts and gaue the choosing thereof to Lot The like iustice was betweene Iacob and his father in lawe Laban seperate thou or I said Iacob all the sheepe which haue great spots and little spots and all blacke lambes among the sheepe shall be my portion and wages and euery one that is not black nor 〈◊〉 ted among the sheepe and the lambes shall be the 〈◊〉 to me for my righteousnes shall answere for me Thus were they in auncient time instructed by the law of nature to loue one another and to vse iustice and charitie A Heathen man could say almost so
therefore destroyed at the brooke Kyson false witnesse is a murtherer of his neighbours false witnesse selleth bloud for money a theefe that selleth mens lands liuings and liues secretly for it is written in the lawe of Moses that thou shalt not remoue thy neighbours marke which they of olde time haue set in thine inheritance So Numa Pomp. made the selfe same lawe in Rome that whosoeuer would plough vp any of his neighbors markes or meeres both he and his oxen should be slaine and sacrificed to god Terminus vpon the very meere where the offence was done False witnesse is a defamer and slaunderer of mens credite and therefore the lawe of the twelue tables saith Siquis occentauisset aut carmen condidisset quod infamiam faceret flagitiumque alteri capitale sit If any would write slaunderous libelles or infamous verses touching a mans credite good name and fame he should die for it The selfe same lawe was by Solon made in Athens that vpon any slaunders or nicknames an action might be had before the Iudges Areopagites How much more false witnesses and periurers that seeke mens liues by false oathes are to bee punished whose conscience are burned with hotte irons of whom is said Conscientia pietatis lacinia for you shall not sweare by my name falsely saith the Lord neither shall you defile the name of your God The Lord though he commaunded his people that they should not sweare at all neither by heauen for it is the Lords throane neither by the earth for it is his footestoole for the scripture vsed the speech of the Lord for an oath Dixit Dominus it was an oath and the Lord sware by the excellencie of Iacob he sware by himselfe Per me ipsum iuraui Oathes may bee well and iustly required in lawfull causes for Abraham made his seruant to sweare by the God of heauen and earth not to take a wife to his sonne Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites but of his owne stocke and kindred and therefore hee caused his seruant to lay his hand vnder his thigh which ceremony declareth the dutie and obedience the seruant should haue to his maister Iacob sware the like oath as his grandfather Abraham did and caused Ioseph his sonne to put his hand vnder his thigh as an oath that he should not suffer him to be buried in Egipt but to be brought from Egipt to Haebron to the field Machpelaâ—… and there to be buried with his fathers Abimelech requested Abraham to sweare Iura per deum ne noceas mihi nec stirpimeae and Abraham sware vnto Abimelech and named the place where they both sware Berseba Iacob sware vnto Laban his father in law Pertimorem in Patrissui by the feare of his father Dauid sware against Nabal and said Hocfaciat mihi dominus Thus God do vnto me if I leaue Nabal a head for that he denied me and my company a little victualls being a hungrie Salomon sware vnto his mother by the Lord Thus God do vnto me if Adoniah liue for that by seeking Abizaig he seeketh also the kingdome Elias the Prophet sware vnto Achab king of Israel Viuit Dominus as sure as the Lord liueth So Elizeâ—…s sware vnto Elias the like oath Viuit Dominus I will not forsake thee this kind of oath is often vsed in scripture as the Lord liueth or as thy soule liueth Paul the Apostle vsed this oath God is my witnesse whom I feare in an other place Testem Deum inuoco in animam meam I call God to witnesse to my soule and againe God knoweth that I lye not In the thirteenth Regiment is set downe the danger and inconveniences that hapned by ambition and what lawes diuers countries made to banish the same THe states of Princes and countries are euer in most danger where ambitious men be who fearing nothing at all secretly to speake against Princes and Magistrates ambitiously whose ambitious nature seekes not onely to rule and raigne but also to practise without feare through pollicie to vndermine states and to ouerthrowe their countrey through ambition Pacem contemnentes gloriam appetentes pacem gloriam perdunt Of these men Plato saith Siquis priuatim sine publico scitu pacem bellumuè fecerit capitale esto Ambitious men are not so glad and proud to see many follow them and obey them as they are spitefull and disdainfull against any one man that esteemes them not so ambitious and proud was Ammon that he could not endure the sight of Mardochaeus The ambition of Abimelech was such that hee slew three score and eight lawfull sonnes of Gedeon his bretheren vpon one stone to become a Iudge in Israel himselfe being but a bastard Absolon the naturall sonne of Dauid went most ambitiously about to winne the hearts of Israel from his father embracing and kissing euery one that came vnto him saying I wish there were some that would minister iustice to the people Such is the nature of ambitious men Qui honores quieta Repub desperant perturbata se consequi posse arbitrantur Can a man goe barefooted on thornes and not bee prickt can a man put coles in his bosome and not bee burnt can a man be ambitious and not be trecherous for ambition claspeth enuie as the Iuye claspeth the Oake and as the Iuye sucketh all the moysture of the Oake so enuie sucketh all the moysture of the ambitious man What was the end of Ammon for his ambition to be hanged vpon the selfe-same gallowes which he prepared for Mardocheus What got Abimelech by his ambition and murthering of his bretheren but to haue his braine panne broken and slaine and that by a woman in the Cittie of Argos The end of Absolon was no better but to be brought by his owne mule and to be hanged by the haire of his owne head in the wood of Ephraim where his mule left him Impia proditio celeri paena uindicanda Had these ambitious men obserued the three precepts which Brasidas taught his countrey men the Athenians Velle vereri obedire they might haue died a more honourable death then to be hanged and killed by those whom they sought ambitiously to destroy by their next kinred and chiefe friends These bee such men Qui suam sibi fortunam fingunt The like lawe was appointed by Plato for treason as for sacriledge Iudices istis proditoribus dantur qui sacrilegis solent for as Philip of Maecedon was wont to say Amare se prodituros non proditores so Augustus Caesar after him vsed the like wordes Proditionem non proditores amo And therefore Corah Dathan and Abiron and all their complices to the number of two hundred and fiftie were swallowed vp of the earth aliue for theyr ambitious murmuring against Moses The Lord spared neither Aaron Moses brother nor Myria his sister for the like offence so
Lacedemonians had also their Senate of eight and twentie graue and auncient wise men which by Licurgus lawe should be 60. yeares old before they should be chosen and accepted to be of councell The Carthagineans in like manner made choice of 30. of their principall and chiefe men of Carthage called Conipodes to sit and determine in secret councell of the state of their citie for the Carthagineans though they followed Charondas lawe yet they imitated the Lacedemonians in all other gouernment as well in warreas in peace So wearie were many nations of kings that when the Hebrewes sought to alter the gouernment of Iudges to haue Kings the Lord commaunded Samuel to set downe to the Hebrewes the lawes of Kings that they will take their sonnes their daughters the best of their fields of their vineards and of their Oliue trees giue them to their seruaunts and they shall take the best of their men-seruants and their maid-seruants their yong men and their asses to do their worke withall So the Vine the Figge tree and the Oliue answered the trees which would haue a king Shall we loose our fatnesse and sweetnesse to become a king Notwithstanding the bramble would be a king ouer the trees The Storke also would accept to be king ouer the the Frogges though all nations desire generally rather to be ruled by one then by many yet many that were elected kings would faine haue forsaken it Q. Cincinnatus being taken from the plough to be a Dictator in Rome to weare Togam praetextam assoone as sixe moneths were expired so long the office of the Dictatorship endured he returned again to his plough according to Salomons speech better is a morsel of bread in a poore mans house peaceably then to bee a Consul or a Dictator in Rome among vnruly people And therefore the Ephori of Sparta grew so ambitious that they began to enuie their kings and therefore deuised this lawe to expell their kings to obserue the starres euery ninth yeare in a cleare bright night which if they sawe any starre eyther shooting sliding or any way remouing from their place they with the consent of the whole colledge of soothsayers accused their kings that they had offended their gods and therefore deposed their kings so were king Agis and king Pausanias deposed from their kingdome by Lysander This was against the lawe of the Lord who said vnto Iob Where wast thou when I placed Hyades in theyr places and Plyades in their course canst thou know the course and orders of Septentriones and of other starres and of the reason thereof Nunquid Nosti rationem caeli saith the Lord Against these starre-gazers Plato writeth men should not bee too curious to seeke causes supernaturall and saith Nequè inquiri oportere nec fas esse curiosè satagere causas scrutantes That was the cause why Andronicus the Emperour hearing two learned men reasoning of the like to say if they would not leaue their curious and friuolous disputations the riuer Rindacus should be Iudge betweene them and end the controuersie for Non sapit qui nimis sapit So were the Priests called Mantes in Athens of such authoritie that nothing could be done in any publike councell concerning religion and matters of state vnlesse they were in place present The like lawe the Romaines vsed euery fiftyeare being taught and commaunded to bee obserued out of the bookes of the Sybils that vpon any appearances or sights of two Sunnes together or of three Moones or any other great causes the soothsayers might remoue either Consul or Praetor from their place The like ambition began in Persia after Cambises dyed that it was not lawfull for the kings of Persia to make any lawes otherwise then they were instructed by theyr Magi neither was there any lawe made among the auntient Romaines without the counsell of their soothsayers who were called interpretes Iouis Nuntijdeorum for these lawes were called among the Romains and the Persians Leges Augurales but of these Augural lawes I haue toucht them in my booke of Stratagems which were as much esteemed and feared of captaines and souldiers as their military lawes for both the Persians Grecians and Romains followed the counsell of soothsayers in their warres contrary to Moses lawe which forbad dreames and soothsaying to be vsed as the Gentiles did for saith the lawe Non declinetis ad magos The superstitious error of the Gentiles in their soothsayers grew to be so great that if the soothsaiers said that Esculapius beeing dead could sooner restore health and minister medicine to the sicke by dreames then Galen could do by his art aliue some would beleeue it and therefore the Pythagorians abstained from beanes when they went to sleepe because it filleth rather the minde with vaine dreames then the belley with good meate If any soothsayers would say that Serapis and Minerua through diuination could minister medicine and restore the sicke vnto health without the helpe of Phisitions sooner then the Phisitions themselues these flatterers would be as they are accepted in court countrey TanquaÌ„ Syrenes aulae the Gentiles would beleeue it which as Thucydides saith are two most noysome things in a common-wealth for nothing could be spoken so absurd but some Philosopher or other will maintaine it and defend it The Philosophers among the Indians which would either prognosticate or defend falsehood or seeme to affirme that to be true which was false they were by law for euer after commaunded to perpetuall silence The lawe of diuination was such in all kingdomes and countries eyther by fleeting of starres flying of fowles by intrailes of beasts or by dreames that whatsoeuer the soothsayers spake among the Persians Grecians and the Romaines it was taken for Maximum praestantissimum ius Reipub for the words of the lawe were Auspicia seruanto for example therof Cicero reciteth many histories and Crisippus gathered many Oracles together But if the lawe of the Gospell were so kept among Christians as the law of Augurers was among the Gentiles and the words of the Preacher were so obserued as the words of the Soothsayers among Pagans if mens affections were set on a heauenlycommon-wealth Vbi Rex est veritas lex charitas modus aeternitas as worldlings are set on an earthly habitation Vbi Rex est vanitas lex infidelitas modus breuitas As it hath bene seene in the Greeks which first florished before the Affricans in the Affricans which florished before the Romains and in the Romains which flourished before the Scythians and therefore In rebus cunctis est morum temporum imperiorum vices So that all commoâ—… wealths all kingdomes and all countries were ruled are and shall be gouerned by diuine prouidence from the beginning to the worlds ende FINIS A Table containing a briefe summe of the whole booke THe old Patriarkes liued vnder the lawe of nature
page 2 The lawe of nature is a short repetition of the lawe written pa. 3 The lawe writtten giuen to Moses pa. ead The credit and confirmation of lawes pa. 4 Chiefe magistrates and gouernors in diuers countries pa. 5 The Lord commaunded an aultar to be made pa. 6 Diuers aultars before the lawe written pa. ead How they vsed to write in auntitient time pa. 7 The first Image brought by Rachel Iacobs wife pa. 8 The Image of Belus in Niniuie pa. ead Ieroboam made two golden calues pa. ead Israel committed Idolatry while Moses was in the Mount pa. 9 Socrates poysoned in Athens for religion pa. 11 Platoes opinion of Poets and painters pa. ead Alcibiades banished from Athens pa. 12 Clodius slaine in Rome pa. ead Anacharsis slaine in Scythia pa. ead The vowes and supplications of the Gentiles pa. 13 Xerxes burnt the Temples in Greece pa. 14 The Rechabites lawes pa. ead The Prophet Ahiahs speech to Ieroboam pa. 15 Zaleucus lawes of religion to the Locreans pa. 16 Licurgus lawe against straungers in Sparta pa. ead Anaxagoras put to death pa. 17 The zeale of the Gentiles in theyr religion pa. ead Cyrus confessed the God of Israel pa. 18 Darius made a lawe that all dominions should feare the God of Daniel pa. 19 Egipt the mother of all Idolatrie pa. 20 The Iewes obserued straightly the lawes of Moses pa. 21 Diuers tooke vpon them to be the Messias pa. 22 Idolatrous sacrifice of the Gentiles pa. 23. No bloud offered in sacrifice by Licurgus lawe pa. ead Paul called in Athens Spermologos of the Philosophers pa. 24 Molochs reaching hand and seuen chambers pa. 25 Punishment of corrupt Iudges in Persia pa. 26 The lawe of the Lord set downe by Esay the Prophet pa. ead Of diuers kings blaspheming the name of the Lord pa. 27. Lysander and Pompeys taunt to a Lawyer pa. 28 Ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles pa. 29 The Gentiles builded diuers temples to their Gods pa. ead The manner of the dedication of the Temples of the Heathens pa. 30 The consecratiō of Aaron by Moses pa. 31 By what authoritie all Nations confirme their lawes pa. 32 The straight obseruation of the Sabboth by the Iewes pa. 33 The second building of the Temple by the appointment of Cyrus pa. ead Diuers kindes of Sabboths among the Heathens pa. 34 The blasphemie of Nicanor pa. 35 How dearely the Iewes esteemed their lawes pa. 36 Certaine Romaines slaine by the Iewes pa. 37 The lawe of Iud. Machabaeus pa. ead Among the Heathens the Sabboth of the Lord was not knowne pa. 38 Licurgus lawe for time to goe to battell pa. 39 Before the Temple was made the Israelites came to Sitoh pa. 40 The continuance of Licurgus lawes pa. ead Charondas lawes against contemners of lawes pa. ead Licurgus lawe called Rhetra pa. 41 The lawe of the 12. Tables touching obedience pa. ead The summe of lawes set downe by Plato pa. 42 The forme and manner of diuers appeales among the Heathens pa. 43 The wise and graue Iudges in diuers countries pa. 44 Lawes of all nations against disobedient children pa. 45 Corruption of Iudges pa. 46 Good parents had ill children pa. ead Markes of monuments and couenants pa. 48. The lawes and care of the kings of Persia to bring vp their children pa. 49 Charondas lawe for education of children pa. ead Plato and Anacharsis lawe for the education of the youth in Greece pa. 50 The Romanes care for their children pa. ead Bocchoris lawes against idlenesse and clippers of coyne pa. 51 The care of the Hebrew women in naming and nursing theyr children pa. 52 The carelesse nature of the people called Troglodites Atlantes for their children pa. 53 Manlius remoued from the Senate house pa. 54 Licurgus appointed schoolemaisters in Sparta called Paedonomi pa. ead The lawe of the Brachmaines in India pa. 55 Orators and Poets contended in Greece 56 Of lawe-makers and magistrates in diuers countries pa. ead Bloud the first witnesse against murther pa. 57 Foure witnesses against murther pa. 58 The enuie of Saul towards Dauid pa. ead Punishment of murther by the law of nature before the lawe written pa. 59 Murtherers haue their markes pa 60 How Paracides were punished in Rome pa. 61 Bocchoris lawe in Egipt against murther pa. ead No lawe against Paracides neither by Romulus nor Solō pa. 62 Platos lawe against him that kild himselfe pa. 63 The punishment of murther in diuers countries pa. 64 Charondas lawe for pulling out ones eyes pa. ead The law of the 12. Tables imitated Moses law pa. 65 The Gentiles both allow confirme their lawes by Oracles pa. 67 Pentapolis destroyed for Sodomiticall sinne pa. 68 The Israelites punished for theyr sinne with the Moabite pa. ead Commendation of godly zeale pa. 69 Adultery punished in diuers countries pa. 70 Bocchoris lawe against adulterie pa. 71 Charondas lawe against adultery pa. ead Zaleucus lawes against adultery pa. 72 Punishment of adulterie by Aurelianus Macrinus both Emperors of Rome pa. ead The law of Solon called Paratilmus against adulterie pa. 73 The opinion of diuers Philosophers cōcerning adultery pa. 74 Moses law against bastards pa. 75 Lawes of diuers nations against bastards pa 76 Bocchoris lawe in Egipt for a woman with childe pa. 77 The lawe of the Unshod house pa. 78 Moses lawe against an adulteresse pa. ead Xerxes reward to inuent pleasures pa. 79 Commendation of chastitie pa 80 Leges conuiuales pa. 81 Platos lawe called Bellaris Platonis pa. ead Good lawes sent for frō one countrey to an other pa. 82. 83 Meanes made by the Gentiles to become chaste pa. 84 Examples of chastitie in good women pa. ead The harme that hapneth by too much libertie pa. 85 The offence of the eye pa. 86 The chastitie of the people named Animphi and Abij pa. 87 The lawe of the twelue Tables for chastitie pa. ead Continuance of lawes in all countries pa. 88 The Tabernacle hidden by leremie pa. 89 The care and diligence of a◅ nations in keeping theyr lawes pa. 90 Iudges appointed in all countreys to execute lawes pa. 91 Of counsell and gouernment of women pa. 92 The Athenians sent to Delphos pa. 93 Achan stoned to death for theft pa. 94 The punishment of the Lorde for breach of his lawes pa. ead The lawe of Zaleucus for breach of his lawe pa. 95 The seueritie of Lu. Papirius for breach of the lawe page 96 Diocles slew himselfe to satisfie the offenee hee did to his owne lawe pa. 97 Licurgus banished himselfe for continuance of his lawes pa. ead The credit of Aristotle and Pythagoras with their schollers pa. 98 The Israelites sacrificed theyr children to Moloch pa. ead All creatures obey the Lorde more then man the chiefe creature pa. 99 The fraude of Giezi plaine theft pa. ead The vision of the flying booke pa. 100 Foure great men that robd the Temple in Ierusalem pa. ead The lawe Plagium pa. 101 The lawe of the Phrigians against theft pa.
ead The lawes of Draco in Athens against theft pa. ead Bocchoris lawes in Egipt against theft pa. 102 Charondas lawe in fauour of Orphants pa. 103 Solons lawe in Athens for Orphants and Infants pa. ead The daughters of Zalphod restorea by Moses lawe to their fathers inheritance pa ead The effect of loue and praiers pa. 105 The effectes of lawes in inward and outward obedience pa. 106 The lawes of the 12. Tables against theft pa. 107 Iulius lawe against theft pa. ead Bocchoris lawe against theft pa. 108 Theft left vnpunished by Licurgus lawe pa. ead Bocchoris lawe against vsurie pa. ead Solons lawe against vsury called Sysacthia pa. 109 Lucullus and Cato banished vsurie pa. ead Moses lawe against vsury pa. 110 Solons lawe against slaunderers pa. ead Description of ill tongues page 111 The diuerse punishmeÌ„t of tongues pa. 112 Slaunderous tongues practised mischiefe pa. 113 A lawe in Athens against vngratefull men pa. 115 Diuers false Prophets reproued pa. 116 Naboth and Stephen stoned to death pa. 117 False witnesse against Christ himselfe pa. 118 Zaleucus lawe against false witnesse pa. ead The lawe of Bocchoris in Egipt against periurers pa. 119 Punishment of false witnes among the Turkes pa. ead The lawe of the twelue Tables against false witnesse page ead Diuers lawes against rebellious and trecherous seruants pa. 120. 121. 122 The law of the 12. Tables against staunderers pa. 123 Of the maner of swearing among the Hebrewes pa. 124 Of diuers ambitious men pa. 125. 126 The euill end of ambition pa. ead Zaleucus lawe against ambitious men pa. 127 Cincius lawe in Rome against ambition pa. 128 The lawe Ostracismus in Athens against ambition pa. 129 Ambitious kings in Egipt might not be buried pa. ead The Image of Iustice in Eliopolis pa. 130 Of the oaths of the kings of Mexico at their consecratioÌ„ pa. 131 The pride and insolencie of Xerxes and Antiochus pa 132 The lawe of Thrasibulus in Athens called Amnestia pa. ead The lawe Plebiscita pa. 133 The lawe of the Indian Philosophers pa. 136 Of liberties and freedomes in diuers countries pa. ead The first law of Romulus in Rome called Lex Curiata pa. 137 The second lawe in Rome called Senatus Consultus pa. ead What the Senators of Rome might do without the consent of the people pa. 138 Gracchus law in Rome called Lex Agraria pa. 139 Thirtie Senators in Carthage called Conipodes pa. 140 Aristocratia chaunged to Monarchia among the Hebrewes pa. ead Kings deposed in Sparta by the Ephori pa. 141 Platos lawe against curious men pa. ead Consuls remoued in Rome from their office by soothsayers pa 142 The lawe called Lex Auguralis pa. 143 FINIS Iob. 38. Iob. 25. The old Patriarkes liued vnder the law of nature 2. Cor 3. Iere. 31. The lawe of nature is a short repetition of the lawe written The lawe written and giuen to Moses Cic de leg lib. 1. Cic. de leg lib. 3. Cic. de diuini lib 1. Diod. sic lib. 2. cap. 5. Lex curiata Chiefe magistrates gouernors in diuers countries The Lord coÌ„maunded an aultar to bee made Exod. 20. Diuers aultars beâ—…ore the law written Septe longaeui Tylia otherwise called Phyllida Vlpian F. de leg 3. Rachel stole her father Labans Image Gen. 31. Gen. 35. The Image of Belus made by his sonne Ninus Ieroboam made two golden calues Israel made a god of mettall while Moses was with the Lord for the lawe Deut. 9. Num. 25. 4. Regâ—… Socreates poisoned in Athens for religion Platoes opinion of Poets Painters Ioseph lib. 2. contra Apion 〈◊〉 Alcibiades 〈◊〉 ed from Athens Cloâ—…ius slaine in Rome Anacharsis slaine Ioseph lib. 2. contra Apion Paul 〈◊〉 ad Rom. Hermes in Poemand Plato in Phaed. The Romains vowe Grecians Vowes of the Gentiles to their gods Persâ—… Xerxes burnt the Temples in Greece Cic. de legib lib. 2. â—…em 1â—… The Rechabites lawes Ahiahs speech to Ieroboam Deut. 32 Deut. 38. Hose 10. Zeleueus first lawes to the Locreans Diod. sic li. 12. Cic. de leg 1. Licurgus lawe that no stranger should dwell in Sparta Anaxagoras put to death Ioseph lib. 2. contra Apion Iudic. 6. Protagoras Diod. sic lib. 2. Diagoras TalentuÌ„ Atticum Cic. de natura deor lib. 1. Val. Max. de peregrin religione cap. 3. Cyrus confessed the god which the lewes worshipped 1. Eldr. 〈◊〉 Artax Nabuchodonozer Darius made a lawe that all dominions should feare the god of Daniel Agrippa Ioseph de antiq li. 19. ca. 7. Egipt the mother of all Idolatrie Dioâ—…ic lib. 2. Ioseph lib 2. conâ—… Apion Gode c. â—…n li. 2. Viget cap. 1. The Iewes obserued straitly their lawes Alex. Neapolit genial lib. 5 cap. 24. Diuers tooke vpon theÌ„ to be the Mesias Ioseph de Antiquit. lib. 20. cap 5. Torquinius Three hundred aureos Idolatrous sacrifice of the Gentiles No bloud offered in sacrifice by Licurgus lawe Cic. de leg lib 2. Arist lib. 5. polit cap. 11. Paul called Spermologos in Athens Deut. 17. 2. Reg. 21. Moloches 7. chambers Hose 10. Punishment of corrupt Iudges in Persia. Psal. 25. Law turned to wormewood c. Amos. 4. Arist. Rhet. 1. cap. 3. The lawe of the Lord set down by Esay the Prophet Esai 〈◊〉 Deut. 7. Exod. 22. Plato polit Wicked answers of kingsâ—… Ashuerus Darius Iezabels lawe for Naboths vineyard Lysander and Pompeys speech to a Lawier â—…ammius gladâ—…us Plato in Alcibiad Leuit. 13. Alex. Neapo lit gnial lib. 4. â—…a 7. Ceremoniall lawes of the Gentiles The Gentiles builded diuers temples to their gods Exod. 40. The maner of the Gentiles in dedicating their temples c. Alex. Neapo lit li. 6. cap 14. Alex. Neapo lit genial lib. 4 cap. 17. The consecration of Aaron Leuit. 8. By what authorities all nations confirmed their lawes Diod. sic lib 2. cap. 4. Plut. in Sylla The straight obseruation of the Sabboth by the Iewes Exod. 16. Luk. 23. Iohn 19. The second building of the temple by Cyrus 1. Esdr. 1. Darius Artaxerxes Neomenia The Romains Sabboths Parthians The diuers kinds of Sabboths among the Heathens Heredot lib. 6 Phillip The blasphemy of Nicanor Ioseph lib. 11. cap. 8. Ioseph lib. 12. cap 3. Certaine Romanes slaine by the Iewes Ioseph lib. 20. cap. 4. 1. Machab. 2. Plut. in Pomp. The lawe of Iud. Machaâ—… Math. 12. Among the Heathens the Sabboth of the Lord was not knowne Liui 〈◊〉 Thueyd 1. Xenoph. de expedit Cyri. 3. Plut. in Alex. Licurgus lawe for time of battell Front lib. 2. cap. 1. Before y temple was made in Ierusalem the Israelites came to Siloh Esay 45. The continuance of Licurgus lawes Charondas lawes against those that disobeyed contemned lawes Licurgus law Rheâ—…ra Plut. in Licurgo The lawe of the 12. tables Hipocrates in praecepâ—… Cicero de leg 2. Cic. de diuin lib. 1. Cic. de leg lib. 3. Alex. Neapolit genial lib. 6 cap. 23. Ioseph lib. 4. cap. 8. The diuers orders of appeales among