with him to put away the straunge gods that were among them to cleanse themselues and chaunge their garments and Iacob buried and hid their Images vnder an oake by Sichem and went to Bethel and made an aultar there to his God as the Lord had commaunded him So Ninus a little before that time set vp the first Image that is read of to bee among the Gentiles to Belus his father from which time the name of Baal his prophets and his priests began to multiply so many in Niniuie and in Babilon yea in Iudah it selfe among the Israelites to whome the lawe was giuen from the Lord to Moses forbidding them to serue straunge gods Ieroboam Salomons seruant and king of Israel which made Israel first to sinne by making two golden calues theyr gods the one in Dan the other in Bethel saying to the people These be thy gods ô Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egipt Within a while after wicked Achab being not satisfied with the gods of Samaria the golden calues which Ieroboam made brought Baal froÌ„ Assyria to Iudah where he kept and maintained 450. false Prophets to instruct and teach Israel in the religion of Baal contrarie to the lawe which the Lord gaue vnto Moses for the lawe was Thou shalt haue no other gods but me so that the gods of the Moabites and Ammonites yea the gods of the Gentiles came to be worshipped in the middest of Ierusalem and Mount Oliuet was so full of Idolatry vnder euery greene tree and in euery groue that thereby it was called the Mount of corruption so that Ierusalem had as many straunge aultars in the time of Salomon as Athens had in the time of Paul The Iewes therefore were as Idolatrous and had as many gods as the Gentiles had and rather serued the dumbe Idols of the Gentiles then the liuing God of Israel So vaine and wicked were the Israelites that while Moses was in the Mount with the Lord for the lawe before he came downe from the Mount they had forced Aaron to make them a calfe of mettall as a god to go before them for so the Lord said vnto Moses vp and get thee downe quickly for the people haue made them a god of mettall at what time the Lord was so angrie that he determined to destroy all the Hebrues for their Idolatrie had not Moses earnestly praied and made intercession for them For the Hebrues before they came out of Egipt sawe the Idolatry of the Egiptians in worshipping oxen calues serpents crocodiles and other beasts as gods the lawe was not so soone giuen to Moses but it was as soone broken by the people who forsooke the Lord and his lawe and followed other gods Baalim and Ashtaroth after Ioshuahs death for during the whole time of Ioshuah he kept Israel from Idolatry and they serued the Lord but after his death they committed fornication with the daughters of Moab who brought Israel to worship and serue theyr goddes that the Lord was angrie with Israel and bad Moses take vp the chiefe men among the people and hang them vp to the Lorde against the Sunne that the Lords wrath might bee taken away So after Gedeons death Israel fell to their Idolatrie as they were wont to doo that Manasses a most wicked Idolatrous king builded aultars to all the host of heauen in the house of the Lord and he put vp an Image in the Temple of the Lord where the Lord himselfe said In Ierusalem will I put my name hee worshipped and serued them hee reared vp aultars and made groues he built high aultars which Ezechiah his father destroyed and following Achab king of Israel offered his sonne in fire so that in Ierusalem the Israelites worshipped more gods and had more aultars to their gods then the Athenians had in Athens which Paul testified who sawe so many gods and so many aultars in Athens one to lust one to shame and one among so many Ignotodeo to an vnknowne god The second Regiment of Lawes containing the contempt of religion seuerely punished among diuers nations of the sundrie sacrifices and vowes of the Heathens and of the multitude of Idols and Aultars in Israel SOcrates deriding scoffing at the multitude of the goddes and aultars of Athens was by the Athenians put to death not for breaking their aultars destroying their temples nor betraying the Citie but because he sware by a straunge god thinking thereby hee had despised the goddes of Athens and more esteemed straunge gods Plato his scholler though hee was of the like opinion as his maister Socrates was yet durst hee not openly confesse it for feare of the people though king Dyonisius knew Platos minde by his Letters therein signified that when Plato wrote to king Dyonisius of one god then hee wrote seriously and earnestly but when hee wrote of many gods hee ieasted with scoffes as Socrates did Plato was of oipnion that Poets and Painters filled Greece with all kinde of Idols for what the Poets faigned in Greece in fables the same the Painters painted in Greece in tables and therefore Plato thought good to remoue Homer crowned annointed with all reuerence out of Greece for that hee through the opinion of the Greekes had of him filled Greece with too many gods and aultars But the Lord commanded Israel to ouerthrowe the â—…ltars of the Gentiles to breake their pillars cut downe their groues and burne the Images of their goddes with fire saying Couet not the golde nor the siluer that is about the Heathens Images as Achan did least thou be snaâ—…ed thereby for it is an abhomination to the Lord. Among the Romanes they thought it a great sacriledge to contemne and prophane the religion of theyr gods for so Alcibiades was accused of sacriledge for that he offended the lawe of the Athenians despising the holy misteries of the goddesse Ceres entred with his torch-bearer and vâ—…rger before him against the lawe of Eumolpides into the secret sacrifice and misteries of Ceres for the which his goods were confiscated and himselfe banished out of Athens for his contempt So for the like Clodius was accused in Rome for that he entered secretly into the misteries of Flora where none should bee but women and the Priests of Flora but as Alcibiades was banished out of Athens so Cloâ—…ius after was slaine in Rome for that Clodius offended the lawe being rather suspected for Pompeia Caesars wife then for the zeale hee had to Floraes sacrifice So zealous were the Heathens that euen among the Scythians rude and sauage people for that Anacharsis the Philosopher brought the ceremonies of the Grecians and their religion into Scythia and vsed the same in Scythia he was slain by his owne countreymen the Scythians In like maner the Athenians vsed certaine of the Acarnanites who being not Priests prophaned the gods of Athens in their religion which was taken of the Athenians for a
that they hadde not slaine the Madianite women And therefore Phineas the sonne of Eleazer for his zeale against adulterie slew Coshi the Madianite harlot and Zimri the Israelite thrust them through both theyr bellies in the act for the which the Lord was so pleased that the plague ceased in the campe and the Priesthood was giuen for euer to Phineas his stocke for the Lord would not haue a whore to liue in Israel The zeale of Iehu was such that hee caused seuentie sonnes of Achab to bee slaine and caused Iezabal his wife to bee cast headlong downe out of a windowe to be eaten of dogges hee slew 42. of Achabs bretheren and destroyed all the Priests of Baal and left not one of Achabs house aliue The zeale of Iehu so pleased the Lord that his children raigned foure generations after him The zeale and faith of Abraham was such that he was readie to offer sacrifice his onely sonne Isaac to obey the Lords commandement The zeale and loue of Ioseph in Egipt was such that he preferred the lawes and loue of the Lord before the loue of his mistresse Putiphars wife Such also was the loue and zeale of Moses to Israel that hee requested to be put out of the booke of life before Israel should be destroyed of the Lorde in his anger Salomon was so zealous in the lawes of the Lord that he sought nothing but wisedome to rule his people and to know his lawes So Iob loued the Lord and his lawes that for all the losse of his goods and children and for diuers plagues and punishments of body yet he still stood constant in the lawes of the Lord. Adulterers are cryed out vpon in the scripture and often mentioned in the olde and newe Testament compared by the Prophet to stoned horses neying vpon other mens wiues Women so corrupted Salomon that hee forsooke the Lorde and worshipped straunge goddes and lost thereby tenne of the twelue Tribes of Israel Dauid his father was so punished for his offences with one woman against the Lord that he welnigh lost his kingdome by it If Dauid if Moses and Paul were buffeted by Sathan who can think himselfe free from Sathan we must therfore watch if we will not be deceiued we must fight if we thinke to haue victorie not against flesh and bloud onely but against armies of spirits infernall powers against spirituall enemies and against Sathan the prince and ruler of darknesse For many are the stratagems of Sathan with whom wee must wrestle as Iacob did with the Angell with such weapons as is taught in Paul or as Dauid did with Goliah or as Iob did with Sathan himselfe The euill counsell of Achitophel to Absolon to lye with his fathers concubines brought both Absolon and Achitophel to hanging Pharao for lusting on Sarah Abrahams wife both hee and all his house were scourged and plagued with Angels and visions The Beniamites for their abhominable abuse of the Leuites wife was the cause that three score fiue thousand died in Israel Sychem all the Sychemites for the rauishment of Dina Iacobs daughter were slain the towne ouerthrown by Simeon and Leui Iacobs sonnes The lawes of all countries and nations appointed such due seuere punishments for adulterie as in Rome Lex Iulia was as sharpely executed against adulterers as against traitors and still renewed by many of the Emperours after Iulius Caesar who made this lawe as Tiberius Seuerus and others who with great seueritie punished adulterie Lawes were made in many Countries to suppresse adulterie for concupiscence and euill affections were condemned by the lawes among the Gentiles to be the roote of all mischiefe for euill thoughts breed delectation delectation bredeth consent consent action action custome and custome necessitie for custome is as another nature Adultery was punished in Egipt by the lawe of Bocchoris in this sort the man should be beaten with rods to a thousand stripes and the womans nose should be cut off to deforme her face as a perpetuall marke of her adultery but if she were a free woman the man should haue his priuie members cut off for that member which offended the law should be punished by the law which law sometime was executed among the Romaines for so was Carbo gelded by Bibienus the Consul for his adultery the Romanes had rather make lawes then keepe the lawes which they made Therefore Charondas made a lawe to keep the good from the bad for to flie from vice is vertue that by taking away the cause the effect might also be remoued for vertue is soone corrupted with vice and a litle leauen infecteth the whole doughe and therefore an action might be had by the lawe of Charondas not onely against honest women that vsed the company of leaude men but also against men that should be often found in the societie of wicked men for Charondas saide good men become better by obedience of the lawe and become wicked by wicked company which obey no lawes for that lawe said Charondas is euer best by the which men become more honest then rich Par est eos esse meliores qui ex melioribus Lysander being demaunded what maner of gouernment he best liked said where good men are rewarded for their weldoing and euil men punished for their wickednesse as Plato said Omnis Respub paena Praemio continetur So Demosthenes euer thought that law best which prouided for good men aduancement and for euill men punishment To the like effect Zaleucus made a lawe that no honest or modest woman should goe in the street but with one maide with her and if shee had two the lawe was she should be noted for a drunkarde Neither might knowne honest women goe out of the Towne in the night time vnlesse they would be noted to goe in the company of adulterers Neither might any modest woman or sober matron be attired with braue apparell imbrodered or wrought with gold siluer bugles and such vnlesse shee would be noted by the lawe of Zaleucus that shee went abroad to play the strumpet for among the Locreans an adulterous nation people much giuen to lust and lecherie Zaleucus made a lawe that by their comely and modest apparell they should be knowne from harlots and light women which vsed to weare light garrish and all kinde of glistering garments to be looked at Aurelianus the Emperour punished a souldier found in the campe in adultery in this sort to tye both his legs to two toppes of trees bended to the earth and so his bodie by the swinge of the trees to cleaue in the midst through that the one halfe hangd on the one tree and the other halfe vpon the other tree The like or rather more horrible punishment vsed Macrinus the Emperour against two souldiers in the campe that deflowred a maide in their lodging he caused two oxen to be opened and sowed aliue one
might choose whether he would be acquainted with his father or no or giue him a meals meat in his house or a cup of drinke at his doore for that he was the cause of his ignominious and infamous birth Among the Israelites if a man marry a young virgin and after proue her not to be a virgin when hee married her the lawe is that she should be brought to the doore of her fathers house and the men of that citie should stone her with stones to death but if her husband falsly accused her then the Elders of that citie should chastise him and mearce him in an hundred sickles of siluer and giue them to the father of the damzell and she to continue with him as his wife But in Israel there was an other lawe that if a man be taken committing fornication with a virgin after the matter come before a Iudge he shall be caused to marrie the woman and to liue with her during his life and to pay 50. sickles of siluer to the maides father for his offence A woman with childe condemned to death might challenge the time of her childbirth by the lawe of Bocchoris which lawe was brought by Solon from Egipt vnto Greece for the law thought it not fit that the guiltlesse should die for the fault of the guiltie An other lawe was made that if a man hurt a woman with childe so that her child depart from her and she die not hee shall be punished according as the womans husband shall appoint or pay as arbiters will determine Againe in Israel there was an other lawe that the wife of the dead shall not be giuen vnto a straunger but her brother in lawe shall take her to wife and marrie her and the eldest sonne which shee beareth shal be the child of the brother that was dead and not of him that begat him but if the brother refuseth to marrie his brothers wife the Elders of the citie shall call vnto him and commune with him before whom if hee denie to take her to wife then the sister in lawe should go in presence of the Elders and loose his shooe of his foote spit in his face and say so shall his name be called in Israel of the vnshod house The lawe of Moses was that an adulteresse should be brought by her husband vnto the Priest and the Priest to bring her and set her before the Lord shall vncouer her head haue bitter cursed water in his hand and say if thou be not an adulteresse and defiled not thy selfe vnknowne to thy husband then haue thou no harme of this bitter and cursed water but if thou be defiled by an other man besides thy husband the Lord make thee accurst and make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell and this cursed water goe into thy bowels and the woman his wife so accused shall say Amen The lawe which the Lorde punished his people for committing adulterie was with such seueritie that they should die the death either by stoning or burning which was the lawe among the Israelites The people called Cortini had a law in their country that an adulterer should bee crowned with wooll and should sit in the market place in open sight of the people to be laught at and to be noted as an infamous adulterer all his life long in his countrey The people called Pisidae had a law made that the adulterer should be bound vpon an asse and be carried from towne to towne for the space of three dayes with his face backwards holding the taile of the asse in his hand for a bridle They had in Athens by the law of Solon a place called Casaluion the women were called Casaluides to whom any Athenian might resort to auoyd adultery with the Matrons and Virgins of Athens The like place they had in Rome called Summaenium for the like purpose and the like are tollerated in many countries to auoyd great offences but rather a nurserie of whoredome then a prohibition These vsed the like words as Iulia did in Rome Licet si libet like Anaxarchus being demanded by Cambises Is it lawfull for the kings of Persia to marry their sisters we finde not such lawes said Anaxarchus Non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas but wee finde an other lawe that the kings of Persia may do what they list What vice can be greater in man then incontinencie for it doth sin against the body it selfe doth weary and languish all the parts thereof for as fish saith Plato are taken with hookes so men are taken and deceiued with pleasures in so much that Xerxes the great king of Persia decreed by lawe a reward to any man that could inuent andfind out new kinds of pleasures but he was slain and lost the kingdom of Persia by his pleasures And therfore well said Solon Cōsule non quae suauissima sed quae optima Hanibal hauing welnigh subdued the Romane Empire yet being taken with the baites and pleasures of Campania in company of wine and women and all delicacies and pleasures that could be inuented of which Seneca saith Conuiuiorum luxuria vestium aegrae ciuitatis indicia sunt that by meanes of his incontinency in Campania he was driuen out of Italy and after out of his own country of Affrike by him that was one of the chiefest and chastest Captaines of all the Romaines Scypio Affrican who made a lawe to bannish all women out of his camp to whom in his Affrican wars was brought a passing faire young Gentlewoman of singular beautie and of a noble house whom Scypio vsed so honourably with great care and diligence for her good name credite vntill Allucius a young Gentleman that should be married to the virgine brought a great raunsome from her parents to redeeme her to whom Scypio deliuered both the young virgin into his hands and bestowed the gold which her father sent vnto him for her raunsome vpon Allucius for her dowry by this honourable dealing of Scypio the whole Prouince which stood out in armes against Scypio yeelded vnto him sought peace at Scypios hand for his courteous modestitie temperancie where Hanibal lost all Italy and Campania by his incontinencie and vnchaste life If Darius king of Persia had escaped from his last ouerthrow at Arbela by Alexander no doubt in respect of the honourable vsage which Alexander shewed to Darius wife and his daughters he would haue yeelded all the whole Empire of Persia vnto Alexander Narseus king of Persia being ouerthrowne and his armie slaine by Dioclesian the Emperor of Rome and the King himselfe constrained to flight his wife and his daughters were taken by the Romanes and were vsed so honourably that the Persians confessed that the Romanes did not only exceed all Nations in armes valour but in modestie and temperancie the honourable vsage of his
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