images or pictures and such other outward and corruptible meanes which hee hath in no wise commanded wherefore Isaiah the Prophet reproouing the folly and vanity of idolatours saith Chap. 40.18 To whome will you liken God or what similitude will you set vp vnto him Therefore if it be not Gods will that vnder pretence and colour of his owne name any image or picture should be adored being a thing not only inconuenient but also absurd and vnseemely much lesse can he abide to haue them worshipped vnder the name and title of any creature whatsoeuer And for this cause gaue he the second commandement Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image c. which prohibition the Israelielits brake in the desert when they set vp a golden calfe bowed themselues before it after the maner of the Painyms giuing it the honour which was only due to God whereby they incurred the indignation of Almightie God Exod. 32. who is strong and iealous of suffering any such slander to be done vnto his name wherefore hee caused three thousand of them to be stroken wounded to death by the hand of the Leuits at the commaundement of Moses to make his anger against idolatrie more manifest by causing them to be executioners of his reuenge who were ordained for the ministery of his Church and the seruice of the altar and tabernacle Howbeit for all this the same people not long after fell backe into the same sinne and bowed themselues before strange gods through the allurements of the daughters of Moab ioyned themselues to Belphegor Num. 25. for which cause the Lord being incensed stroke them with so grieuous a plague that there died of them in one day about twenty and foure thousand persons And albeit that after all this being brought by him into the land of promise hee had forbidden and threatned them for cleauing to the idols of the nations whose land they possessed yet were they so prone to idolatry that notwithstanding all this they fell to serue Baal and Astaroth wherefore the fire of Gods wrath was enflamed against them and hee gaue them ouer to be a spoile and prey vnto their enemies on euery side so that for many yeeres sometimes the Moabites oppressed them otherwhiles the Madianites and euer after the death of any of their Iudges and rulers which God raised vp for their deliuerance some grieuous punishment befell them for then being without law or gouernment euery man did that which seemed good in his owne eies and so turned aside from the right way Now albeit these examples may seeme to haue some affinity with Apostasie yet because the ignorance and rudenessâ— of the people was rather the cause of their falling away from God then any wilfull affection that raigned in them therefore wee place them in this rancke as well as they that haue beene alwaies brought vp and nuzled in Idolatrie 2. Chron. 22. One of this crew was Ochosias king of Iuda sonne of Ioram who hauing before him an euill president of his wicked father and a worse instruction and bringing vp of his mother Athaliah who togither with the house of Achab pricked him forward to euill ioyned himselfe to them and to their idols and for that cause was wrapped in the same punishment destruction with Ioram the king of Israel whome Iehu slew togither with the princes of Iuda and many of his neere kinsmen And to be short Idolatry hath bene the decay and ruine of the kingdome of Iuda as at all other times so especially vnder Ioachas sonne of Iosias 2. King 23. that raigned not aboue three moneths in Ierusalem before hee was taken and led captiue into Aegypt by the king thereof and there died from which time the whole land became tributary to the king of Aegypt And not long after it was vtterly destroied by the forces of Nabuchadnezzar king of Babel that came against Ierusalem and tooke it and caried king Ioaâ—him with his mother his princes his seruants and the treasures of the temple and his owne house into Babylon And finally 2. King 24.25 tooke Zedechias that fled away and before his eies caused his sonnes to be slaine which assoone as he had beheld commaunded him also to be pulled out and so binding him in chaines of iron carried him prisoner to Babylon putting all the princes of Iuda to the sword consuming with fire the temple with the kings pallace and all the goodly buildings of Ierusalem And thus the whole kingdome though by an especiall prerogatiue consecrated and ordained of God himselfe ceased to be a kingdome and came to such an end that it was neuer reestablished by God but begun and confirmed by the filthy idolatry of Ieroboams calues Vide lib. 1. c. 19. which as his successours maintained and fauoured more or lesse so were they exposed to more or lesse plagues and incumbrances Nadab Ieroboams sonne being nuzled and nurtured vp in Idoll worship after the example of his father 1 King 15.27 receiued a condigne punishment for his iniquitie for Baasa the sonne of Ahijah put both him and all the offspring of Ieroboamâ— house to the sword and raigned in his stead who also being no whit better then those whome he had slaine was punished in the person of Ela his sonne whome Zambri one of his seruants slew And this againe vsurping the crowne enioyed it but seuen daies at the end whereof seeing himselfe in daunger in the citie Tirza taken by Amri whome the people had chosen for their king went into the pallace of the kings house and burned himselfe As for Achab hee multiplied idolatry in Israel and committed more wickednesse then all his predecessours wherefore the wrath of God was stretched out against hiâ— and his for hee himselfe was wounded to death in battaile by the Sitians his sonne Ioram slaine by Iehu and threescore and ten of his children put to death in Samaria by their gouernours and chiefe of the city sending their heads in baskets to Iehu Aboue all a most notable and manifest example of Gods iudgement was seene in the death of Iezabel his wife that had beene his spurre and prouoker to all mischiefe when by her Eunuches and most trustie seruants at the commandement of Iehu shee was thrown downe out of a window and trampled vnder the horse seer and last of all deuoured of dogges Moreouer the greatest number of the kings of Israel that succeeded him were murdered one after another so that the kingdome fell to such a low decline that it became first tributary to the king of Assyria and afterward inuaded and subuerted by him and the inhabitants transported into his land whence they neuer returned but remained scattered here and there like vagabonds and all for their abominable idolatrie which ought to be a lesson to all people princes and kings that seeing God spared not these two realmes of Iuda and Israel but destroied and rooted them out from the earth
in the person of his youngest sonne Chaanan and made a seruant to the seruants of his brethren Num 33. Deut. 7. which curse was fulfilled in his posterity the Canaanites who beeing forsaken of God were rooted vp and spued out of their land because of their sinnes and abominations Marueilous strange was the malice of Absolom to rebell so furiously against his father Dauid as to wage warre against him 2. Sam. 15. which hee did with all his strongest endeauours without sparing any thing that might further his proceedings insomuch that he grew to that outrage and madnesse through the wicked and pernicious counsell of Achitophel that hee shamed not villanously to commit incest with his fathers concubines 2. Sam. 16. and pollute his bed euen before the eies of the multitude by which meanes being become altogither odious and abominable 2. Sam. 18. he shortly after lost the battell wherein though himselfe receiued no hurt nor wound yet was hee not therefore quit but being pursued by Gods iust iudgement fell vnwittingly into the snare which he had deserued for as hee rode along the forrest to saue himselfe from his fathers armie his mule carrying him vnder a thicke oake left him hanging by the haire vpon a bow betwixt heauen and earth vntill being found by Ioab hee was wounded to death with many blowes Whereby euery man may plainly see that God wanteth no meanes to punish sinners when it pleaseth him but maketh the dumbe and senslesse creatures instruments of his vengeance for hee that had escaped the brunt and daunger of the battell and yet not hauing therefore escaped the hand of God was by a bruit beast brought vnder a senslesse tree which God had appointed to catch hold of him as an executioner of his iust iudgement which if wee consider is as straunge and wonderfull an accident as may possible happen and yet such an one as God himselfe prouided to punish this wicked proud and rebellious wretch withall for seeing his outrage and villany was so great as to rebell against his father and so good and kind a father towards him as hee was it was most iust that hee should endure so vile a punishment Beside herein God would doubtlesse lay open to the eies of all the world a fearefull spectacle of his iudgements against wicked and disobedient children thereby to terrifie the most impudent and malicious wtetches that liue from this horrible sinne And for the same cause it was his pleasure that that wicked and false Achitophel should fall into extreame ignominy and confusion for forsaking Dauid and setting forward with counsell and presence young Absolom against his father for which cause with despaire he hung himselfe Now by this example it is easie to perceiue how vnpleasant this sinne is in Gods sight and how much he would haue euery man to hate and detest it seeing that nature her selfe teacheth and instructeth vs so farre as to yeeld duty and obedience vnto those that begat nourished and brought vs vp Notwithstanding all this yet is the world full of ill aduised and ill nourtured youth that are little lesse disobedient vnto their parents then Absolom was as Adramalech and Sarasar that slew their father Sennacherib as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroth his god but whereas they looked for the soueraignty they lost the benefite of subiection and were banished into Armenia their brother Esarhaddon reigning in their stead Gregory of Tours maketh mention of one Crannius the sonne of Clotarius king of France Greg. of Tours 4. booke who hauing conspired treacherously and raised warre against his father togither with the Earle of Britaine his supporter were both vanquished and put to flight but the Earle was slaine in the pursute the Prince himselfe also thinking to escape by sea where lay prouided certaine shippes ready to receiue him was in the midde way ouertaken togither with his wife and children whome hee purposed to make partakers of his fortune and were all togither by the expresse commaundement of his father shut vp in a little house and there burned togither In this wise did Clotarius reuenge the treacherie and rebellion of his sonne after a more seuere cruell and fierce manner then king Dauid did who would haue saued his sonne Absoloms life notwithstanstanding all his wickednes malicious and furious rebellion but this man contrariwise being bereft of all fatherly affection would vse no compassion towards his sonne but commanded so cruell an execution to be perfourmed not only vpon him but vpon his daughter in law also and their children perchance altogither innocent and guiltlesse of that crime A very rare and strange example seeing it is cōmonly seene that grandfathers vse more to cherish and cocker their childrens children than their own Therfore we must thinke that it was the prouidence of God to leaue behind a notable example of his most iust and righteous seueritie against disobedient and rebellious children to the end to amaze and scare all others from enterprising the like Philip Comineus in the reign of Lewis the twelfth chap. 63. Philip Comineus hath recorded the treacherous tragedy of a most wicked and cruel sunne called Adolphus for the world waxeth euery day worse then other that came in an euening suddenly to take his father the Duke of Gilderland prisoner euen as he was going to bed and would not giue him so much liberty as to pull on his hose for he was bare legged but carried him away in all hast making him march on foot without breeches fiue long Almaine miles in a most cold weather and then clapt him vp in the bottome of a deepe tower where there was no light saue by a little window and there kept him close prisoner sixe moneths togither After which cruell fact he himselfe was taken prisoner in like manner and carried bound to Namur where hee lay a long time vntill the Gaunts repriued him forth and led him with them against Tournay where he was slaine in the while of his imprisonment his father yeelding vnto nature disinherited him of all his goods for his vile ingratitude and vnnatural cruelty and left the succession of his dukedome to the Duke of Burgundy In the yeere of our Lord 1461 in a village called Iuchi neere to Cambray Enguerr de Monstr vol. 2. there dwelt a certaine man or rather a beast that in a great rage threw his owne mother out of his dores thrise in one day and the thitd time told her in furie that hee had rather see his house on fire and burnt to coales then that she should abide there but one day longer It happened that the very same day according to his cursed speech his house was indeed fired but how or whence no man could iudge and the fire was so fierce that it consumed to ashes not onely that house but also twelue other houses adioining which was an euident figure of Gods iust iudgement in punishing so vile and vnnaturall a
more manifest I will briefly reckon vp a catalogue of the cheifest of them In the yeare 1275 Lewline Prince of Wales rebelled against King Edward the first and after much adoe was taken by Sir Roger Mortimer and his head set vpon the tower of London In like sort was Dauid Lewlines brother serued Ries Madok escaped no better measure in stirring the Welchmeâ— vp to rebellion No more did the Scots who hauing of their owne accord committed the gouernment of their kingdome to king Edward after the death of Alexander who broke his necke by a fall from an horse and left no issue male and sworn feaulty vnto him yet dispensed with their oth by the Popes commission and Frenchmens incitement and rebelled diuerse times against King Edward for hee ouercame them sundrie times and made slaughter of their men slaying at one time 32000 and taking diuerse of their Nobles prisoners In like manner they rebelled against King Edward the third who made three voiages into that land in the space of foure yeares and at euerie time ouercame and discomfited them in so much that well neare all the nobilitie of Scotland with infinite number of the common people were slaine Thus they rebelled in Henry the sixts time and also Henrie the eights and diuerse other kings raignes euer when our English forces were busied about forraine warres inuading the land on the other side most traiterously And thus it is to bee feared they will euer doe except they degenerate from their old natures and therefore it ought to bee a Caueat to vs how wee trust them in any extremity but neuerthelesse they euer yet were whipped for their treason as the histories of our English Chronicles doe sufficiently record â—â—nquet In the raigne of king Henry the fourth there rebelled at one time against him Sir Iohn Holland D. of Excester with the Dukes of Aumarle Surrey Salisburie and Gloucester and at another time Sir Thomas Percie Earle of Worcester and Henry Percie sonne to the Earle of Northumberland at another Sir Richard Scroope Archbishop of Yorke and diuerse others of the house of the Lord Moubray at another time Sir Henry Percie the father Earle of Northumberland the Lord Bardolph And lastly Ryce ap Dee and Owen Glendour two Welchmen all which were either slaine as Sir Hendry Percie the yoonger or beheaded as the rest of these noble rebels or starued to death as Owen Glendour was in the mountains of Wales after he had deuoured his owne flesh In the raigne of Henry the fift Sir Richard Earle of Cambridge Sir Richard Scroope treasurer of England and Sir Thomas Gray were beheaded for treason No lesse was the perfidious and vngratefull trecherie of Humfrey Banister an Englishman towards the duke of Buckingham his Lord maister whom the said duke had tenderly brought vp exalted to great promotion For when as the duke being driuen into extremity by reason of the seperation of his army which he had mustered together against king Richard the vsurper fled to the same Banister as his trustiest friend to be kept in secret vntill hee could find oportunity to escape This false traitor vpon hope of a thousand pounds which was promised to him that could bring forth the duke betraied him into the haÌ„ds of Iohn Mitton sheriefe of Shropshire who conueied him to the citie of Salisbury where king Richard kept his houshold where he was soon after put to death But as for vngrateful Banister the vengeaÌ„ce of God pursued him to his vtter ignominy for presently after his eldest son became mad died in a bores stie his eldest daughter was sodainly stricken with a foule leprie his second sonne marueilously deformed of his lims and lame his yoongest sonne drowned in a puddle And he himself in his old age arraigned and found guiltie of a murder and by his clergie saued And as for his thousand pounds king Richard gaue him not a farthing saying that hee which would bee vntrue to so good a master must needs be false to all other To passe ouer the time of the residue of the kings wherein many examples of treasons punishmeÌ„ts vpon them are extant to come nearer vnto our own age let vs consider the wonderfull prouidence of God in discouering the notorious treasons which haue ben preteÌ„ded so often so many against our soueraign now liuing Queen Elizabeth protecting her so fatherly from the dint of them all First therefore to begin with the chiefest the Earle of NorthumberlaÌ„d Westmerland in the eleuenth year of her raign began a rebellioÌ„ in the North pretending their purpose to bee sometimes to defend the Queens person gouernment from the inuasion of strangers and sometimes for conscience sake to seeke reformation of religion vnder colour whereof they got together an army of men to the number of sixe thousand souldiors against whom marched the Earle of Sussex leiutenant of the North and the Earle of Warwick sent by the Queen to his aid whose approch stroke such a terror into their hearts that the two Earles with diuerse of the Archrebels fled by night into Scotland leauing the rest of their companie a prey vnto their enemies whereof threescore and sixe or thereabout were hanged at Durham As for the Earles one of them to wit of Northumberland was after taken in Scotland and beheaded at Yorke Westmerland fled into another countrie and left his house and family destroied and vndone by his folly A while after this what befell to Iohn Throgmorton Thomas Brooke George Redman and diuerse other Gentlemen at Norwich who pretended a rebellion vnder the colour of suppressing strangers were they not discouered by one of their owne conspiracy Thomas Ket and executed at Norwich for their paines The same end came Francis Throgmorton to whose trecheries as they were abominable touching the Queens owne person so they were disclosed not without the especial prouidence of God But aboue all that vile and vngratefull Traitor William Parry vpon whome the Queene had poured plentifully her liberalitie deserueth to bee had in euerlasting remembrance to his shame whose Treasons being discouered hee paied the tribute of his life in recompence thereof What shall I say of the Earle of Arundell and a second Earle of Northumberland Did not the iustice of God appeare in both their endes when being attainted for Treason the one slew himselfe in prison and the other died by course of nature in prison also Notorious was the conspiracie of those Arch-traitors Ballard Babington Sauadge and Tylney c. yet the Lord brought them downe and made them spectacles to the world of his iustice Euen so that notorious villaine doctor Lopus the Queens Phisitian who a long time had not onely beene an intelligencer to the Pope and King of Spaine of our English counsailes but also had poysoned many Noblemen and went about also to poyson the Queene her selfe was he not surprised in his trecherie and brought to suddaine destruction In summe
Heraclius hauing raigned Emperour but one yeere was poisoned by his stepmother Martina Zonoras tom 3. to the end to install her owne sonne Heraclon in the crowne but for this cruell part becomming odious to the Senat they so much hated to haue her or her sonne raigne ouer them that in stead thereof they cut off her tongue and his nose and so banished them the city Fausta the wife of Constantine the Great fell in loue with Constantine her sonne in law begotten vpon a concubine Zonoras 3. Annal. Sex Aur. whom when she could not persuade vnto her lust shee accused vnto the Emperour as a sollicitour of her chastitie for which cause hee was condemned to die but after the truth was knowen Constantinus put her into a hote bath and suffered her not to come forth vntill the heat had choaked her reuenging vpon her head his sonnes death and her owne vnchastitie CHAP. XII Of Subiect Murderers SEing then they that take away their neighbours liues doe not escape vnpunished as by the former examples it appeareth it must needs folow that if they to whom the sword of iustice is committed by God to represse wrongs and chastise vices doe giue ouer themselues to cruelties and to kill and slay those whome they ought in duty to protect and defend must receiue a greater measure of punishment according to the measure and quality of their offence Such an one was Saul the first king of Israel who albeit he ought to haue bene sufficiently instructed out of the law of God in his duty in this behalfe yet was hee so cruell and bloody minded as contrary to all iustice to put to death Abimelech the high priest with fourescore and fiue other priests of the family of his father 1. Sam. 22. onely for receiuing Dauid into his house small or rather no offence And yet not satisfied herewith h◠vomited out his rage also against the whol city of the priests and put to the mercilesse sword both man woman and child without sparing any Hee slew many of the Gibeonites who though they were reliques of the Amorites that first inhabited that lād yet because they were receiued into league of amity by a solemne oth and permitted of long continuance to dwell amongst them should not haue bene awarded as enemies nor handled after so cruell a fashion Thus therefore he tyranizing and playing the butcher amongst his own subiects for which cause his house was called the house of slaughter practising many other foul enormities he was at the last ouercome of the Philistims sore wounded which when he saw fearing to fall aliue into his enemies hands and not finding any of his owne men that would lay their hands vpon him desperately slew himselfe The same day three of his sonnes and they that followed him of his owne houshold were all slaine The Philistims the next day finding his dead body despoiled among the carcasses beheaded it and caried the head in triumph to the temple of their god and hung vp the trunke in disgrace in one of their cities to be seene lookt vpon and pointed at And yet for all this was not the fire of Gods wrath quenched for in king Dauids time there arose a famine that lasted three yeeres the cause whereof was declared by God to be the murder which Saul committed vpon the Gibeonites 2. Sam. 21. wherefore Dauid deliuered Sauls seuen sonnes into the Gibeonites hands that were left who put them to the most shamefull death that is euen to hanging Amongst all the sinnes of king Achab and Iezabel which were many and great 1. King 21. the murder of Naboth standeth in the forefront for though hee had committed no such crime as might any way deserue death yet by the subtill and wicked deuise of Iezabel foolish and credulous consent of Achab and false accusation of the two suborned witnesses he was cruelly stoned to death but his innocent blood was punished first in Achab who not long after the warre which hee made with the king of Siria receiued so deadly a wound that hee died thereof the dogges licking vp his blood in the same place where Naboths blood was licked 2. King 9. according to the foretelling of Elias the Prophet And secondly of Iezabel whome her owne seruants at the commandement of Iehu whome God had made executour of his wrath threw headlong out of an high window vnto the ground so that the walls were died with her blood and the horses trampled her vnder their feet and dogs deuoured her flesh till of all her dainty body there remained nothing sauing only her scull feet and palme of her hands Ioram sonne of Iehosaphat king of Iudah being after his fathers death possessed of the crowne and scepter of Iudah 2. Chron. 21. by and by exalted himselfe in tyranny and put to death sixe of his owne brethren all younger than himselfe with many princes of the realme for which cause God stirred vp the Edomites to rebell the Philistims and Arabians to make war against him who forraged his countrey sacked and spoiled his cities and tooke prisoners his wiues and children the yongest only excepted who afterwards also was murdered when he had raigned king but a small space And lastly as in doing to death his owne brethren hee committed crueltie against his owne bowels so the Lord stroke him with such an incurable disease in his bowels and so perpetuall for it continued two yeeres that his very entrails issued out with torment and so died in horrible misery Albeit that in the former booke we haue already touched the pride and arrogancie of king Alexander the Great yet wee can not pretermit to speake of him in this place his example seruing so fit for the present subiect for although as touching the rest of his life hee was verie well gouerned in his priuat actions as a monarch of his reputation might be yet in his declining age I meane not in yeeres but to deathward he grew exceeding cruell not only towards strangers as the Cosseis whome he destroied to the sucking babe but also to his houshold and familiar friends Insomuch that being become odious to most fewest loued hi◠and diuers wrought all meanes possible to make him away but one especially whose sonne in law and other neare friends he had put to death neuer ceased vntill he both ministred a deadly draught vnto himselfe Iustine whereby he depriued him of his wicked life and a fatall stroke to his wiues and children after his death to the accomplishment of his full reuenge Phalaris the tyrant of Agrigentum made himselfe famous to posterity by no other meanes Oros then horrible cruelties exercised vpon his owne subiects inuenting euery day new kinds of tortures to scourge and afflict the poore soules withall In his dominion there was one Perillus an artificer of his craft one expert in his occupation who to flatter and curry fauour with him deuised a new torment
her enemies namely his sonne Callinicus who slew her with one of her sonnes and all that belonged vnto her and then he tooke again his old wife for which cause Ptolomie Euergetes sonne to Philadelphus renued war vpon him Herod the Tetrarch was so bewitched with the loue of Herodius his brother Philips wife Ioseph of the Iewish antiquitie lib. 18. cap. 7.9 that to the end hee might enioy her hee disclaimed his lawfull wife and sent her home to her father king Aretas who being touched netled with this indignity and disgrace sought to reuenge himselfe by armes and indeed made so hote war vpon him and charged his army so furiously that it was discomfited by him after which shameful losse he was by the Emperor Caligulas commandement banished to Lions there to end the residue of his daies Amongst the Remans Marcus Antonius was noted for the most dissolute and impudent in this case of diuorce Plutarch for albeit that in the beginning of his triumphirship he forsooke his first wife to mary Octauius his sister yet he proceeded further not content herewith but must needs forsake her to to bee with Cleopatra the queen of Aegypt from whence sprung out many great euils which at length fel vpon his own head to his finall ruin destruction for when he saw himself in such streights that no means could be found to resist Octauius hee sheathed with his own hands his sword into his bowels whē all his seruants being requested refused to performe the same being thus wounded hee fell vpon a little bed intreating those that were present to make an end of his daies but they all fled and left him in the chāber crying tormēting himself vntill such time that he was cōueied to the monumēt wherin Cleopatra was enclosed that he might die there Cleopatra seeing this pitifull spectacle all amased let down chains cords from the high window with the help of her two maids drew him vp into the monument vniting their forces and doing what they could to get his poore carcasse though by a shamefull vndecēt maner for the gate was locked might not be opened it was a lamentable sight to see his poor body al besmeared with bloud breathing now his last blast for he died assoon as he came to the top to be drawne vpon that cruell fashion As for Cleopatra who by her flattering allurements rauished the hart of this miserable man was cause of his second diuorce she plaied her true part also in this woful tragedy as she partaked of the sin so she did of the punishment for after she saw her self past hope of help her sweet heart dead she beat her own breasts tormented her self so much with sorrow that her bosome was brused halfe murdered with her blows her body in many places exulcerate with inflamations she puld off her hear rent her face with her nailes altogether in phrensied with grief melancholy distresse was found fresh dead with her two maids lying at her feet this was the miserable end of those two who for enjoying of a few foolish cursed pleasures together receiued in exchange infinite torments and vexations and at length vnhappy deaths togither in one the same place verifieng the old prouerbe For one pleasure a thousand dolours Charles the eight king of France Philip. de Cont. after he had ben long time married to the daughter of the king of the Romanes sister to the Archduke of Austria was so euill aduised as to turne her home again vpō no other occasion but to mary the duchesse of Britaine the sole heire to her fathers dukedome wherein he doubly iniured his father in law the Roman king for he did not only reiect his daughter but also depriued him of his wife the duchesse of Britaine whom by his substitute according to the maner of great Princes he had first espoused Bembus Bembus in his Venetian history handling this story somewhat mollifieth the fault when he saith that the Roman kings daughter was neuer touched by king Charles in the way of mariage all the while she was there by reason of her vnripe oueryong yeares After a while after this new maried king had giuen a hote alarme to all Italy and conquered the realme of Naples as the Venetians were deliberating to take the matter in hand of themselues to resist him Maximilian the Roman king sollicited them in the same thrust them forward aswell that he might confederate himselfe with the duke of Millan as that he might reuēge the iniury touching his repelled daughter so that by this means the French king was sore troubled at his return hauing to withstād him al the Venetian forces with the most part of the Potentates of Italy notwithstāding he broke through thē al after he had put the Venetians to the worst Philip. de Com. but being returned after this victorious triumphant voiage it happened that one day as hee led the queen to the castle of Amboise to see some sport at tenise he stroke his forehead against the vpper dore post of the gallory as he went in that he fel presently to the ground speechles Surseuil died incontinently in the place from whence though the filthiest sluttishest place about the castle they remoued not his body but laid it on a bed of straw to the veiw of the world from two of the clocke in the afternoone till eleuen at midnight and this good successe followed at last his so much desired diuorce CHAP. XXX Of those that either cause or authorise vnlawfull diuorcements Mat. 19. ALthough the commandement of our Sauiour Christ bee very plaine and manifest That man should not seperate those whome God hath ioined together yet there are some so void of vnderstanding and iudgement that they make no conscience to dissolue those that by the bond of mariage are vnited Iudg. 15. of which number was Sampsons father in law who took his daughter first giuen in mariage to Sampson and gaue her to another without any other reason saue that he suspected that Sampson loued her not but what got he by it Marry this the Philistims prouoked against him consumed him and his daughter with fire because that by the meanes of his iniury Sampson had burned their corne their vineyards and their oliue trees 1. Sam. 25. After the same sort dealt king Saule with Dauid when he gaue him his daughter Michol to wife and afterward in despight and hatred of him tooke her away againe and bestowed her vpon another wherein as in many other things hee shewed himselfe a wicked and prophane man and was worthely punished therefore as hath ben before declared Froysard vol. 1. Hugh Spencer one of king Edward of Englands chiefest fauourits insomuch that his eare and heart was at his pleasure was he that first persuaded the king to forsake and repudiate the Queene his
wanted no power and ability to punish them for he hath lightning thunder fire prepared instruments to execute his iust vengeance which no creature vnder heauen is able to auoid when by the obstinat transgression of wicked men he is prouoked to anger and indignation against them This is that holy law which hath ben set forth by the Prophets by the rule whereof all their warnings exhortings and reprouings haue ben squared to this law the onely begotten sonne of God our sauiour and redeemer Iesus Christ conformed his most holy doctrine bringing men to the true vse and obseruation thereof from which they had declined and whereof he is the end the scope and perfect accomplishment so that so far it is that a Christian man may be ignorant of it and haue it in contempt that none can be counted and reputed a true Christian if he frame not his life by the rule thereof if not fully yet at least as farforth as he is able otherwise vvhat a shame and reproch is this for men to call themselues by the name of Gods children Christians and Catholicks and yet to do euery thing clean contrarie to the will of God to make no reckoning of his law to lead a dissolute and disordered life and to bee as euill if not worse then the vilest miscreants and infidels in the world God willeth and requireth that he alone should bee worshipped and praied vnto and yet the greater part of the world are idolaters and full of superstition worship Images stickes and stones and pray to creatures instead of the creator God forbiddeth vs to sweare by his name in vaine and yet what is more rife then that so that a man can heare nothing else but othes and blasphemies Manie for the least trifle in the world stick not to sweare forsweare themselues God forbiddeth theft murther adulterie and false witnesse bearing and yet nothing so common as backbitings slanders forgeries false reports whoredomes cousenings robberies extortions and all manner of enuies and enmities God hath commanded that we loue our neighbours as our selues but we in stead of loue hate despise and seeke to procure the hurt and damage of one another not regarding anie thing but our owne peculiar profit and aduantage Is not this a manifest and profest disobedience and intollerable rebellion against our maker What child is there that is not bound to honour and reuerence his father What seruant that is not bound to obey his maister and to doe all that hee shall will him What subiect that is not tied in subiection to his Prince and Soueraigne Yet there is not one which will not confesse yea and sweare too with his mouth that God is his Lord and father Which if it bee true what is then the cause that instead of seruing and pleasing him they doe nothing else but displease and offend his Maiestie Is not this the way to prouoke his wrath and stirre vp his indignation against them Is it any maruaile if he be incensed with anger if he be armed with reuenge and send abroad his cruell scourges vpon the earth to strike and whip it with all Is it any wonder if he pile vp the wicked ones on heapes and shoot out his reuengefull arrows against them and make them drunken with their owne blood and make his sword of iustice as sharpe as a rasor Deut. 32.35 to punish those rebels that haue rebelled against him For vengeance is mine saith he and belongeth onely vnto me whosoeuer therefore he be that followeth the desires and concupiscence of his owne flesh and this wicked world shall lead a life contrarie to the instruction and ordinance of the law of God yea although he neuer heard thereof yet is he guiltie thereof worthie to be accursed for so much as his owne conscience ought to serue for a law vnto himselfe by the which hee is condemned in those euill actions which he committeth euen as Paul saith all that haue sinned without the law shall likewise perish without the law Rom. 2.12 CHAP. VI. How the greatest Monarchs in the world ought to be subiect to the law of God and consequently the lawes of man and of nature EVerie man confesseth this to be true That by how much the more benefits and dignitie hee hath receiued from another by so much is he the more bounden and beholden to him now it is so that Kings and Princes are those vpon whom God hath bestowed more plentifully his gifts and graces then vpon any other whom hee hath made as it were his Lieutenants in this world for he hath extolled and placed them aboue others and bedecked them with honour giuing them power authoritie to rule and raigne by putting people in subiection to them and therefore so much the more are they bound to reacknowledge him againe to the end to doe him all honour and homage which is required at their hands Psal 2.11 Therefore Dauid exhorteth them to serue the Lord euen with reuerence This then their high and superintendent estate is no priuiledge to exempt them from the subiection and obedience which they owe vnto God whom they ought to reuerence aboue all things Psal 29.1 Ye Princes and high Lords saith the Prophet giue you vnto the Lord eternall glorie and strength giue vnto him glorie due vnto his name and cast your selues before him to doe him reuerence If they owe so much honour vnto God as to their soueraine then surely it must follow that they ought to obey his voice and feare to offend him and so much the rather because hee is a great deale more strong and terrible then they able to cause his horrible thunderbolts to tumble vpon their heads they being not able once to withstand his puissance but constrained very often to tremble thereat In al that prescription and ordinance ordained set downe by God concerning the office of Kings Deut. 17.15 there is no mention made of any libertie that he giueth them to liue after their owne lusts and to do euery thing that seemeth good in their owne eies but he enioineth them expressely to haue alwaies with them the booke of his law delighteth to read and meditate therein and thereby to learne to feare and reuerence his name by obseruing all the precepts that are contained in that booke As for ciuill and naturall lawes in so much as they are founded vpon equitie and right for otherwise they were no lawes therein they are agreeable to and as it were dependents on the law of God as is well declared by Cicero in the first and second booke of his lawes for euen they also condemne theeues adulterers murderers parricides and such like If then princes be subiect to the law of God as I am about to shew there is no doubt but that they are likewise subiect to those ciuill lawes by reason of the equitie and iustice which therein is commended vnto vs. And if as Plato saith the lawes
his princes and his wiues and concubines might drinke therein exalting himselfe thus against the Lord of heauen boasting in his Idols of earth therfore God being stirred vp to wrath against him appointed his destruction euen whilst he thus dranke and made merry in the midst of his iolity and caused a strange and fearfull signe to appeare before his eies a bodilesse handwriting vpon the wall ouer against the candlestick The words of which writing portended the destruction of his kingdom which presently ensued for the very same night he was murdred and the scepter seased vpon by Darius king of Media CHAP. XI Of the kings which in hatred to the law and religion of God afflicted the Iewes in the time of the Machabees 1. Mach. 2. 6. ANtiochus by sirname Epiphanes or excellent though by truer report of people contemptuously intituled the furious king of Asia being venimously enraged against the Iewes began at the first marueilously to oppresse them to rob and spoile their temple and to slaughter the people About ten yeeres after deceiuing the poore people with faire and smooth words couers of most vile and wretched treason whilst they imagined no mischiefe he set vpon them in such cruell sort that the losse desolation which they endured at that time was inestimable for besides the destruction of Ierusalem their city the slaughter of infinite multitudes of their people and the captiuitie of women and infants as if all these were not enough there was yet another misery to make vp the full sum worse then all the rest which was this The cursed tyrant seeing his purpose not to take the full effect commaunded euery where that all his subiects I meane the Iewes should forsake and abiure the law of God be vnited into one religion with the infidels By meanes of which edict the religion of God was defaced the bookes of his law rent and burned and those with whome any such books were found rigorously put to death Which fearfull crueltie when the Iewes perceiued it caused many of them to wax faint hearted to giue themselues ouer to wallow in the durty fashions of the vncircūcised idolaters in their madnes to subscribe to the vniust lawes of the vile monster Now after he had committed all these outrages he was repulsed with dishonour frō the city Elymais in Persia which he went about to spoile rob and forced to fly to Babylon where after tidings of the ouerthrow of his two armies in Iudea with grief despite he ended his daies Antiochus the sonne of this wretched father 1. Mach. 6. succeeding him as in his kingdom so in wickednes periury disloialty when to the end to consult about his own affaires he cōcluded a peace with the Iewes by solemne oath as well of himselfe as his princes confirmed the free exercise of their religiō behold suddenly he falsified his plighted sworn faith vndid all that euer he had done but it was not long ere he also was ouertaken by the army of Demetrius togither with Lysias his gouernor put to death A while after reigned Alexander his brother 1. Mach. 11. who whilst hee was encumbred with the troubles of Cilicia that reuolted from him the king of Aegypt his father in law came traiterously to forestall him of his kingdome tooke his wife gaue her to his deadliest enemy and afterward gaue him battell discomfited his forces and droue him to flie into Arabia for safety where in stead of help he found an hatchet to chop off his head which was sent for a present to gratifie the king of Aegypt withall Not long after Antiochus his son recouered 1. Mach. 13. the scepter of his father but alas his reign endured but a small space for being yet but a yong child he was slaine by Triphon in the way as he led him to war against the Iews and thus perished the cursed race of Antiochus which felt Gods wrath vpon it euen to the third generation Antiochus the son of Demetrius of whom mention was made but a litle before after he had chased Triphon from the kingdome of Asia which he vsurped 2. Mach. 5. and broken the league which he had made with the Iewes gaue himselfe wholly to worke them misceiefe Therfore comming against Ierusalem he tooke it by force commanding his souldiers to put all to death that were within the same So that within three daies there was such a massacre of young and old men women and children that the number of the slaine arose to fourescore thousand carcasses After this hauing executed many more villanies against this people in so much as to make them renounce the lavv of God putting them cruelly to death that did not obey his commandement It came to passe that this cruell tyrant was first of all pur to flight by the inhabitants of Persepolis a city of Persia for going about to rob their temple of their treasures next endamaged by an ouerthrow of his armie in Iudea which he no sooner vnderstood but he tooke counsell in his fury how to be reuenged on Ierusalem and belched forth bitter threats against it But in the meane while the Lord stroke him with a sudden incurable plague surprised him with a horrible torment of his entrails Howbeit for all this he ceased not his malitious enterprisse but hasted forward his iourny towards the Iews with such egernesse that in the way he fell out of his charriot bruised so his body that it became putrified so full of corruption that very vermine scrawled out therof and the rotten flesh dropped peecemeale away no man no nor himselfe being able to endure the stinch therof Then was he constrained in the midst of his torments to confesse that it was meet that he should submit himselfe vnto God that he which is mortall ought not to exalt himselfe so high as to compare with the immortall God and in this estate this reprobate ended his wicked daies by a strange and most miserable kind of death CHAP. XII Of those that persecuted the sonne of God and his Church IF they who in the law iniured and persecuted the Church of God were punished according to their deserts as we haue already heard is it any maruell then if the enemies persecuters of our Lord Sauiour Christ Iesus which labour by all meanes to discountenance and frustrate his religion and to oppresse his Church do feele the heauy fearfull vengeance of God vpon them for their wickednes vnbeliefe No verily for he that honoreth not the sonne honoureth not the father which sent him and is guilty therfore before God of impiety prophanesse From this hamous crime king Herod in no wise can be exempted that caused all the infants of Bethlehem of two yeres old vnder to be cruelly murdred Mat. 2. in hope therby to put the true Messias and sauiour of the world to death For which deed accompanied
the duke of Orleance was a vertuous and commendable action and the authour of it to be void of fault and therefore ought to be void of punishment The preface which this braue oratour vsed was That he was bounden in duty to the duke of Burgundy in regard of a goodly pension which he had receiued at his hands and for that cause he had prepared his poore tongue in token of gratitude to defend his cause Hee might better haue said thus That seeing his tongue was poore and miserable and he himselfe a senslesse creature therfore he ought not to allow or defend so obstinately such a detestable and traiterous murder committed vpon a Duke of Orleance and the same the kings brother in such vile sort and that if hee should do otherwise he should approoue of that which God and man apparantly condemned yea the very Turkes and greatest Painyms vnder heauen that he should iustify the wicked condemne the innocent which is an abomination before God should put darknes in stead of light and call that which is euill good for which the Prophet Esai in his 1 chapter denounceth the iudgemēts of God against false prophets should follow the steps of Balaam which let out his tongue to hire for the wages of iniquity but none of these supposes came once into his mind But to returne to our history The duke of Burgundy hauing the tongues of these braue doctors at his commaundement and the Parisians who bore themselues partially in this quarrel generally fauourers of his side came to Paris in armes to iustifie himselfe as he pretended and stroke such a dreadfull awe of himselfe into all mens minds that notwithstanding all the earnest pursuit of the Duchesse the widow of Orleance for iustice he escaped vnpunished vntill God by other meanes tooke vengeance vpon him which happened after a while after that those his complices of Paris being become lords and rulers of the city had committed many horrible and cruell murders as of the Constable and Chancellour two head officers of the realme whose bodies fast bound togither they drew naked through the streets from place to place in most despitefull maner for the Daulphin escaping their hands by night and safeguarded in his castle after that hee heard of the seasure of the citie found meanes to assemble certaine forces and marched to Montereaufautyon with twenty thousand men of purpose to be reuenged on the Duke for all his braue riotous demeanors hither vnder colour of parling deuising new means to pacifie these old ciuill troubles he enticed the duke being come at his very first arrtuall as he was bowing his knee in reuerence to him he caused him to be slaine And on this manner was the duke of Orleance death quitted the euill and cruelty shewed towards him returned vpon the murderers owne necke for as hee slew him treacherously cowardly so was hee also treacherously and cowardly slaine and iustly requited with the same measure that he before had measured to another Treason lib. 2. cap. 3. notwithstanding herein the Daulphin was not free from a grieuous crime of disloialtie truth breach in working his death without shame of either faith-breach or periury and that in his owne presence whom he had so often with protestation of assurance and safety requested to come vnto him Neither did hee escape vnpunished for it for after his fathers decease hee was in danger of loosing the crowne and all for this cause For Philip duke of Burgundy taking his fathers reuēge into his hands by his cunning deuises wrought meanes to displace him from the succession of the kingdome by according a marriage betwixt the king of England and his sister to whome he in fauour agreed to giue his kingdome in reuersion after his owne decease Now assoone as the king of England was seased vpon the gouernment of Fraunce the Daulphin was presently summoned to the marble table to giue answer for the death of the old duke whither when he made none appearance they presently banished him the realme and pronounced him to be vnworthy to be succeeder to the noble crowne which truly was a very grieuous chastisement and such an one as brought with it a heape of many mischiefes and discomfitures which happened in the warre betwixt England and him for the recouery of his kingdome Peter sonne to Alphonsus king of Castill Froiss lib. r. hist was a most bloodie and cruell tyrant for first hee put to death his owne wife the daughter of Peter duke of Burbone and sister to the Queene of France Next he slue the mother of his bastard brother Henry togither with many Lords and Barons of the realme for which he was hated not only of all his subiects but also of his neighbour and adioyning cuntries which hatred mooued the aforesaid Henry to aspire vnto the crowne which what with the Popes aduouch who legitimated him and the helpe of certaine French forces and the support of the nobility of Castill he soone atchieued Peter thus abandoned put his safest-guard in his heeles and fled to Bordeaux towards the Prince of Wales of whome he receiued such good entertainment that with his aid he soone reentred his lost dominions and by maine battell chased his bastard brother out of the confines thereof But being reinstalled whilst his cruelties ceased not to multiply on euery side behold Henry with a new supply out of France began to assaile him afresh and put him once againe to his shifts but all that hee could doe could not shift him out of Henries hands who pursued him so hotly that with his owne hands he soone rid him out of all troubles and afterwards peaceably enioyed the kingdome of Castill CHAP. X. Of diuers other murderers and their seuerall punishments MAximinus from a shepheard in Thracia grew to be an Emperor in Rome by these degrees his exceeding strength and swiftnes in running commended him so to Seuerus then Emperour that he made him of his guard from that hee arose to be a Tribune and at last to be an Emperour which place he was no sooner in possession of but immoderate crueltie all this while buried began to shew it selfe for he made hauocke of all the nobilitie and put to death those that hee suspected to be acquainted with his estate insomuch as some called him Cyclops some Busiris others Anteus for his cruelty Wherfore the Senat of Rome seeing his indignity proclaimed him an enemy to their commonwealth and made it lawfull for any man to procure his death which being knowen his souldiers lying at the siege of Aquileia mooued with hatred entred his tent at noone day and slew him and his sonne togither Iustinian the younger no lesse hatefull to his subiects for his cruelty than Maximinus was deposed from the Empire by conspiracie and hauing his nosthrils slit exiled to Chersona Leontius succeeding in his place Howbeit ere long hee recouered his crowne and scepter and returned to
had vnto them both to the end to auoid those mischiefes and enormities which oftentimes happen when either by an ouer hardy foolish and rash presumption a man would nestle himselfe in an higher nest than his estate and calling requireth or by a sensuall and fleshly lust passing the bounds of reason goeth about to constraine and interrupt the law of nature The chiefest thing that is required in marriage is the consent of parties as well of themselues that are to be ioyned togither as of each of their parents the contrary whereof is constraint where either partie is forced Iudg. 21. as it happened to those two hundred maides which the Beniamites tooke by force and violence to be their wiues This was a reproch to Romulus the first king of Rome when hee rauished the Sabine virgins that came to see their sports which was cause of great warre betwixt them Moreouer besides the mutuall ioynt of loue which ought to be betwixt man and wife it is necessary that they that marrie doe marry in the Lord to serue him in greater puritie and with lesse disturbance which can not be if a Christian marrie an infidell for the great difficulties and hinderances that vsually spring from such a roote Exod. 34 16 Deut. 7 3. Therefore it was straightly forbidden the people of God to contract mariages with Idolatours yea and the holy Patriarchs before any such law was giuen had carefully great regard in the marriages of their childrē to this thing as the example of Abraham doth sufficiently declare Therefore they that haue any manner of gouernment and authority ouer vnmarried folkes whether they be fathers mothers kinsmen or tutours ought to haue especiall care and regard thereof Yea Christian princes and lords or rulers of commonwealths should not in this respect be so supine and negligent in the performance of their offices as once to permit and suffer this amongst them which is so directly contrary to the word of God but rather by especiall charge forbid it to the end that both their lawes might be conformable and in euery respect agreeable to the holy ordinances of God and that the way might be stopped to those mischiefes which were likely to arise from such euill concluded marriages For what reason is it that a yong maide baptized and brought vp in the Church of Christ should bee giuen in marriage to a worshipper of images and idols and sent to such a countrey where the worship of God is not so much as once thought vpon Is not this to plucke a soule out of the house of God and thrust it into the house of the deuill out of heauen into hell than which what greater Apostasie or falling from God can there be whereof all they are guilty that either make vp such marriages or giue their good will and consent to them or doe not hinder the cause and proceedings of them if any manner of way they can Now that this confusion and mixture of religion in marriages is vnpleasant and noisome to God it manifestly appeareth by the sixt chapter of Genesis where it is said That because the sonnes of God to wit those whome God had separated for himselfe from the beginning of the world to be his peculiar ones were so euill aduised as to be allured with the beauties of the daughters of men to wit of those which were not chosen of God to be his people and to marry with them corrupting themselues by this contagious acquaintance of prophane people with whome they should haue had nothing to doe that therefore God was incensed against them and resolued simply to reuenge the wickednes of ech party without respect Beside the monstrous fruits of those prophane marriages doe sufficiently declare their odiousnes in Gods sight for from them arose gyants of strength and stature exceeding the proportion of men who by their hugenes did much wrong and violence in the world and gained fearefull terrible names to themselues but God prouoked by their oppressions drowned their tyrannies in the flood and made an end of the world for their sakes In the time of the Iudges in Israel the Israelites were chastised by the hand of God for this same fault for they tooke to wiues the daughters of the vncircumcised and gaue them their daughters also Iudg. 3. In like sort framed they themselues by this means to their corrupt manners and superstitions and to the seruice of their idolatrous Gods But the Lord of heauen rained downe anger vpon their heads and made them subiect to a stranger the king of Mesopotamia whome they serued the space of eight yeeres 1. King 11. Looke what happened to king Salomon for giuing his heart to strange women that were not of the houshold of Gods people Hee that before was replenished with such admirable wisdome that he was the wonder of the world was in his old age depriued thereof and besotted with a kind of dulnes of vnderstanding and led aside from the true knowledge of God to serue idols and to build them altars and chappels for their worship and all this to please forsooth his wiues humours whose acquaintance was the chiefe cause of his misery and apostasie CHAP. XXIIII Touching Incestuous marriages NOw as it is vnlawfull to contract marriages with parties of contrary religion so it is as vnlawfull to marry those that are neare vnto vs by any degree of kindred or affinitie as it is inhibited not only by the law of God but also by ciuill and politique constitutions whereunto all nations haue euer by the sole instinct of nature agreed and accorded except the Aegyptians and Persians whose abominations were so great as to take their owne sisters and mothers to be their wiues Cambyses king of Media and Persia married his owne sister but it was not long ere he put her to death a iust proofe of an vniust and accursed marriage Many others there were in protract of time that in their insatiable lustes shewed themselues no lesse vnstaied and vnbridled in their lawlesse affections than hee One of which was Antiochus king of Iuda sonne of Herodes sirnamed Great Ioseph antiq lib. 17. cap. 15. who blushed not to marrie his sister the late wife of his deceased brother Alexander by whome shee had borne two children but for this and diuers other hi◠good deeds hee lost not only his goods which were confiscated but was himselfe also banished out of his countrey into a forraine place from Iudea to Vienna in France Herode also the Tetrarch was so impudent and shamelesse The same lib. 18. cap. 9. that hee tooke from his brother Philip his wife Herodias and espoused her vnto himselfe which shamelesse and incestuous deed Iohn Baptist reproouing in him told him plainly how vnlawfull it was for him to possesse his brothers wife but the punishment that befell him for this and many other his sinnes wee haue heard in the former booke and need not here to be repeated Anton.