but a famine in hearing the word of God and waters shall be mooved from sea even to sea and they shal run over from the North even unto the East seeking out the word of our Lord and yet shall not find it Let holy Micheas also pierce your eares who not unlike a certaine heavenly trumpet soundeth shrilly forth against the deceitfull Princes of the People saying Hearken now yee Princes of the house of Iacob is it not for yee to know judgement who hate goodnesse and seeke after mischiefes who plucke their skinnes from off men and their flesh from their bones Even as they have eaten the flesh of my people and flâ—yed of their skins from them broken their bones to peeces and hewed them small as meate to the pot they shall cry to God and he will not heare them and in that season turne his face away from them even as they before have wickedly behaved themselves in their inventions Thus speaketh our Lord of the Prophets who seduce my people who bite with their teethes and preach against them peace and if a man giveth nothing to stoppe their mouthes they raise and sanctifie a war upon him Night shall therefore be unto yee in place of a vision and dâ—rkenesse unto ye in lâ—we of divination and the sunne shall set upon your Prophets and the day shall waxe darke upon them and seeing droames they shall be confounded and the diviners shall be derided and they shall speake ill against all men because there shall not be any one that will heare them but that I myselfe shall doe mine uttermost strongest endeavour in the spirit of our Lord in judgement and in power that I may declare unto the house of Iacob their impieties and to Israel their offences Hearken therefore unto these words ye Captaines of the house of Iacob and ye remnants of the house of Israel who abhorre judgment and overthrow all righteousnesse who build up Sion in blood and Ierusalem in iniquities her rulers did judge for rewards and her Priests answered for hire aâ—d her Prophets did for money divine and rested on our Lord saying And is not our Lord within us evils shall not fall upon us For your cause therefore shall Sion be ploughed up as a field and Ierusalem as a watch cabbin of a garden and the mountaine of the house as a place of a wooddy wildernesse And after some words ensuing Woe is me for that I am become as â—e that gathereth stubble in the harvest and a cluster of grapes in the Vintage when the principle branch is not left to be eaten Woe is me that a soule hath perished through earthly actions the reverence of sinners ariseth even reverencing from the earth and hee appeareth not that among men correcteth All contend injudgement for blood and every one with tribulation afflicteth his neighbour for mischiefe hee prepareth his hands Listen ye likewise how the famous Prophet Sophonias debated also in times past with your fellow banqueters for hee spake of Ierusalem which is spiritually to be understood the Church or the soule saying O the Citty that was beautifull and set at liberty the confident Dove hath not obediently hearkened to the voyce nor yet entertained discipline she hath not trusted in our Lord and to her God she hath not approached And he sheweth the reason why Her Princes have beene like unto roaring Lyons her Iudges as Wolves of Arabia did not leave towards the morning her Prophets carrying the spirit of a contemptuous despising man her Priests did prophane what wâ—s holy and dealt wickedly in the law but our Lord is upright in the middest of his people and no unjust morning will he make in the morning will he give his judgement But heare ye also blessed Zachery the Prophet in the Word of God admonishing yee For thus saith our Almighty Lord Iudge ye righteous judgement and worke yee every one towards his brother mercy and pitty and hurt yee not thorough your power the Widdoow or Orphan or stranger or poore man and let not any man remember in his heart the malice of his brother and they have beene stubborne not to observe these and have yeelded their backes to foolishnesse and made heavie their eares that they might not hearken and framed their hearts to be not perswasible that they might not listen to my law and words which our Almighty Lord hath sent in his spirit through the hands of his former Prophets and mighty wrath hath beene raised by our Almighty Lord. And againe Because they who have spoken have spoken molestations and diviners have uttered false visions and deceitfull dreames and given vaine consolations in respect hereof they are made dry as sheepe and are afflicted because no health was to bee found my wrath is heaped upon the Shepheards and upon the Lambes will I visite And within a few words after The voyce of lamenting Pastors because their greatnesse is become miserable The voyce of roaring Lyons because the fall of Iordan is become miserable Thus saith our Almighty Lord who have possessed have murthered and yet hath it not repented them and who have sold them have sayd Our Lord is blessed and we have beene enriched and their Pastors have suffered nothing concerning them For which I will now beare no sparing hand over the inhabitants of the earth saith our Lord. Heare ye moreover what the holy Prophet Malachy denounceth unto yee saying Yee Priests who despise my name and have sayd Wherein doe we despise thy name in offering on mine Altar polluted bread and yee have sayd Wherein have we polluted it In that ye have sayd The table of our Lord is as nothing and have despised such things as have beene placed thereupon because if yee bring what is blind for an offering is it not evill If ye set and apply what is lame or languishing is it not evill Offer therefore the same unto thy governour if he will receive it if he will accept of thy person saith our Almighty Lord. And now doe ye humbly pray before the countenance of your God and earnestly beseech him for in your hands have these things beene committed if happily he will accept of your persons And againe And out of your ravenous theft ye have brought in the lame and languishing and brought it in as an offering Shall I receive the same at your hands saith our Lord Accursed is the deceitfull man who hath in his flocke one of the male kinde and yet making his vow offereth the feeble unto our Lord because I am a mighty King saith our Lord of hosts and my name is terrible among the Gentiles And now unto yee appertaineth this Commandement O yee Priests if yee will not heare and resolve in your hearts to yeeld glory unto my name saith our Lord of hosts I will send upon ye poverty and accurse your blessings because ye have not setled these things on your hearts Behold I will extend out
time of their outcry unto me and of their affliction What then shall now our miserable Governours doe these few who found out the narrow way and left the large were from God forbiden to powre out their prayers for such as persevered in their evils so highly provoked his wrath against whom on the contrary side when they returned with all their hearts unto God his divine Majesty being unwilling that the soule of man should perish but calling backe the castaway that he should not utterly be destroyed the same Prophets could not procure the Heavenly revenge because not Ionas when hee desired the like most earnestly against the Ninevites could obtaine it But in the meane while omitting our owne words let us rather heare what the propheticall trumpet soundeth in our eares speaking thus If thou shalt say in thy heart why have these evils befalne For the multitude of thine iniquities If the Ethiopian can change his skin or the Parde his sundry spots ye may doe also well when ye have learned evill supposed ever because ye will not And afterwards These words doth our Lord say to this people who have loved to move their feete and have not rested and not pleased our Lord now shall he remember their iniquities and visit their offences and our Lord said unto me Pray thou not for this people to worke their good when they shall fast I will not heare their prayers â—nd if they offer burnt sacrifices and oblations I will not â—eceive them And againe And our Lord said unto me â—f Moses and Samuel shall stand before me my soule is not bent to this people cast them out away from my face and let them depart And after a few words Who shall have pitty on thee Ierusalem or who shall be sorrowfull for thee or who shall goe to pray for thy peace Thou hast left me saith our Lord and gone away backeward and I will stretch forth my hand over thee and kill thee And somewhat after Thus saith our Lord Behold I doe imagine a thought against you let every man returne from his evill course and direct ye streight your waies and endeavours Who said we despaire we will goe after our owne thoughts and every one of us doe the naughtinesse of his evill heart Thus therefore saith our Lord. Aske the Gentiles who hath heard such horrible matters which the Virgin Israel hath too often committed Shall there faile from the rocke of the field the snow of Libanus or can the waters be drawne dry that gush out colde and flowing because my people hath forgotten me And somewhat also after this propounding unto them an election he speaking saith Thus saith our Lord Doe ye judgement and justice and deliver him who by power is oppressed out of the hand of the malicious accuser and for the stranger and orphan and widdow doe not provoke their sorrow neither yet worke ye unjustly the griefe of others nor shed ye out the innocent blood For if indeed ye shall accomplish this word there shall enter in through the gates of this house Kings of the linage of David sitting upon his throne But if ye will not harken unto these words by my selfe I have sworne saith our Lord that this house shall be turned into a desart And againe for he spoke of a wicked King I live saith our Lord if so be that Iechonias shall be a Ring on my right hand I will plucke him thence away and give him over into the hands of them who seeke his life Moreover holy Abraham cryeth out saying Woe be unto them who build a City in blood and prepare a towne in iniquities saying Are not these things from our Almighty Lord and many people have failed in fire and many Nations have beene diminished And thus complaining hee beginneth his prophesie How long O Lord shall I call and thou wilt not heare shall I cry out unto thee to what end hast thou given mee labours and griefes to behold misery and impiety And on the other side And judgement was sat upon and the Iudge hath taken in regard hereof the Law is rent in peeces and â—udgement is not brought fully to his conclusion because â—he wicked through power â—readeth the just underfoote In this respect hath passed forth perverse judgement And marke yee also what blessed Osee the Prophet speaketh of Princes saying For that they have transgressed my covenant and ordained against my Law and exclaimed out Wee have knowne thee because thou art against Israel they have persecuted good as if it were evill They have raigned to themselves and not by mee they have held a Principality neither yet have they acknowledged me And heare ye likewise the holy Prophet Amos in this sort threatning In three hainous offences of the sons of Iudah and in foure I will not convert them for that they have cast away the Law of our Lord and not kept his Commandements but their vanities have seduced them And I will send fire upon Iudah and it shall eate the foundations of Ierusalem Thus saith our Lord In three grievous sinnes of Israel and in foure I will not convert them for that they have sold the just for money and the poore man for shooes which they tread upon the dust of the earth and with buffets they did beate the heads of the poore and have eschewed the way of the humble And after a few words Seeke our Lord and ye shall live that the house of Ioseph may not shine as fire and the flame devoure it and he shall not be that can extinguish it The house of Israel hath hated him who rebuketh in the gates and abhorred the upright word Which Amos being forbidden that he should not prophesie in Israel without any fawning flattery answering saith I was not a Prophet nor yet the sonne of a Prophet but a Goate herd I was plucking Sicamores and our Lord tooke me from my herd and our Lord said unto me Goe thy way and prophesie against my people of Israel and now heare thou the Word of our Lord For hee directed his speech unto the King Thou sayest doe not Prophesie against Israel and thou shalt not assemble troopes against the house of Iacob For which cause our Lord saith thus Thy wife in the City shall play the harlot and thy sonnes and daughters shall dye by the sword and thy ground be measured by the cord and thou in a polluted land shalt end thy life but for Israel shee shall be led from his owne Country a captive And afterwards Heare therefore these words ye who doe outragiously afflict the poore and practise your mighty power against the needy of the earth who say When shall the moneth passe over that we may purchase and the Sabbaths that wee may open the treasuries And within a few words after Our Lord doth sweare against the pride of Iacob if he shall neglecting forget your
which I have given unto yâ—e and to your fathers as I have done to Shilo and I will cast yee away from my counâ—enance And againe My children have departed from me and have no abiding and there is not he who any more pitcheth my tent and advanceth my Pavillion because the Pastors have dealt fondlâ— and not sought out our Lord. Wherefore they have not understood and their flocke hath beene dispersed And within some words after What is the matter that my beloved hath in my houses committed many offences shall the holy flesh take away thy malitiousnesse from thee wherein thou hast gloried our Lord hath tearmed thy noone a plentifull faire fruitfull goodly olive at the voyce of the speech a mighty fire hath beene inflamed in her and her Orchards have beene quite consumed therewith And againe Come ye to me and be ye gathered together all ye beasts of the earth make ye haste to devoure Many Pastours have throwne downe my vine they have trampled my part under foote they have given over my portion which was well worthy to be desired into a desart of solitarinesse And againe he speaketh Thus saith our Lord unto this people which have loved to moove their feete and not rested nor yet pleased our Lord now shall he remember their iniquities and visite their offences Prophets say unto them ye shall not see the sword and there shall no famine be among ye but our Lord shall give true peace unto ye in this place And our Lord hath said unto me The Prophets doe falsly foretell in my name I have not sent them neither yet laid my Commandement on them they prophesie unto ye a lying vision and divination together with deceitfulnesse and the seducement of their owne hearts And therefore thus saith our Lord in sword and famine shall those Prophets be consumed and the people to whom they have prophesied shall by meanes of the famine and sword be cast out in the waies of Ierusalem and there shall be none to bury them And moreover Wâ—e be to the â—astours who desâ—roy and rent in peeces the flocâ—e of my pasture saith our Lord. Thus therefore saith our Lord God of Israel unto the Pastours who guide my people ye have dispersed my flocke and cast them forth and not visited them Behold I will visite upon ye the malice of your endeavours saith our Lord. For the Prophet and the Priest are both defiled and in my house have I found their evill saith our Lord and therefore shall their way be as a slippery place in the darke for they shall be thrust forward and fall downe together therein for I will bring evils upon them the yeare of their visitation saith our Lord. And in the Prophets of Samaria I have seene foolishnesse and they did prophesie in Baal and deceived my people of Israel and in the Prophets of Ierusalem have I seene the like resemblance adultery and the way of lying and they have comforted the hands of the vildest offendors that every man may not be converted from his malice they have beene all made to me as Sodome and the inhabitants thereof as those of Gomorrha Thus therefore saith our Lord to the Prophets Behold I will give them wormewood for their food and gall for their drinke For there hath passed from the Prophet of Ierusalem pollution over the whole earth Thus saith our Lord of hosts listen not unto the words of Prophets who prophesie unto ye and deceive ye for they speake the vision of their owne heart and not from the mouth of our Lord. For they say unto these who doe blaspheme me our Lord hath spoken peace shall be unto ye and to all that walke in the wickednesse of their owne hearts they have said Evil shal not fall upon them For who was present in the counsell of our Lord and hath seene and heard his speech who hath considered of his word and hearkened thereunto Behold the whirlewinde of the indignation of our Lord passeth out and a tempest breaking forth shall fall upon the heads of the wicked the fury of our Lord shall not returne untill the time that he worketh and untill he fulfilleth the cogitation of his heart In the last daies of all shal ye understand his counsell And little also doâ— ye conceive and put in execution that which the holy Prophet Ioel hath likewise spoken in admonishment of sloathfull Priests and Lamentation of the Peoples dammage for their iniquities saying Awake ye who are drunke from your wine and weepe and bewaile ye all who have drunke wine even to drunkennesse because joy and delight are taken away from your mouthes Mourne yee Priests who serve the Altar because the fields have beene made miserable Let the earth mourne because corne hath become miserable and wine beene dryed up oyle diminished and husbandmen withered away Lament ye possessions in regard of Wheate and Barly because the vintage hath perished out of the field the vine withered up the figges diminished the pomegranates and palme and apple and all trees of the field are withered away in respect that the children of men have confounded their joy All which things are spiritually to be understood by you that your soules may not wither away with so pestilent a famine for want of the word of God And againe Weepe out yee Priests who serve our Lord saying Spare O Lord thy People and give not over thine inheritance unto reproch and let not Natioâ—s hold dominion over them that Gentiles may not say Where is their God And yet ye yeeld not your eares unto these sayings but admit of all matters by which the indignation of the fury of God is more vehemently inflamed With diligence also attend ye what holy O see the Prophet hath spoken unto Priests of your behavior Heare these words O yee Priests and let the house of Israel together with the Kings house marke them fastâ—n ye them in your eares for that unto ye appertaineth judgement because yee are made an intangling snare to the espying watch and as a piched nâ—t more and worse then the toyle which the followers of hunting have framed To ye also may this kinde of alienation from our Lord be meant by the Prophet Amos saying I have hated and rejected your festivall daies and I will not receive the savour in your solemne assemblies because albeit ye offer our burnt sacrifices and hosts I will not accept them and I will not cast mine eye on the vowes of your declaration Take away from me the sound of your songs and the Psalme of your Organs I will not heare For why the famine of the Evangelicall meate consuming in your abundance of victuals the very bowels of your soules rageth violently within ye according as the aforesaid Prophet hath foretold saying Behold the daies shal come saith our Lord and I will send out a famine upon the earth not the famine of bread nor the thirst of water
the whole Island the most famous name by which it hath beene knowne to all the mighty Emperours of Rome and blazed throughout the world the most learned name as the bookes of the Latines and all other tongues and languages doe largely witnesse and lastly the most generall name of all the inhabitants for what are the English Scottish and Welch but three parts of the whole large and most beautifull Island of Britaine And surely as it were absurd in familiar speech of London to tearme it after the names of the particular Wards or companies of the City and not according to the entire Corporation or to call any Shire of the Realme after the Hundreds or divisions of the same and not according to the well knowne title of the whole Country so is it as farre against all reason that our little world of Britaine being now included in one Kingdome should be disâ—evered in names that would but ever rubbe up the remembrance of former injuries and be Nurses of dissention which his Majestie not unlike that ancient Romulus seeketh providently to abolish and making a skilfull mixture of the English Scottish and Welch laboureth now to severe them all into three distinct orders of the Nobility Gentry and Cominalty of his entire Realme of great Britaine vvhich being of three sundry people framed into one happy Soveraigntie I beseech the Almighty Trinity to bring to a most perfect Vnitie Thus have I vvith more good vvill than good skill presumed upon the mention of these three people to leape rashly into the matter of the union vvherein although I may bee condemned for vvant of discretion yet no man shall ever accuse mee for lacke of indifferencie Here beginneth the Prologue of Gildas surnamed the Wise as touching the overthrow of Britaine with his lamentation upon the same being a sharpe reprehension of the Princes and people of the Land WHatsoever I shall throughout this Epistle of mine rather by way of lamentation than declamation prosecute with mine unworthy but wellwishing pen let no man suppose I declare the same with any affectation of dâ—spising others or vainely esteeming my selfe better than all the rest being alasse the man who with weeping complaints bewayleth the common losse of all goodnesse and the increasing heape of mischiefes but rather communicating my sorrow on the discommodities and misâ—ries of my Country and on the contraryside my comfort on the reformation of the same Because it is not now my determination somuch to report the dangers of the bloody battailes of most valiant souldiers as the perils of slothfull men In silence have I I conâ—fesse with exceeding greefe of my heart as God the searcher of all secrets is my witnesse passed and overslipped full tenne yeeres space or more mine unskilfullnesse together with my vile basenesse ever as at this instant curbing me that I should not presume to write any so little an admonition I did notwithstanding reade how the admirable Lawgiver for the misdoubting of one onely word never entred into the desired land How the sonnes of the Priest for offering with other fire than was commanded by a sudden death perished how the people that broke the word of God being six hundred thousands yea and they most deare to him as whose smoothest way was the sands of the deepe red sea whose meate the heavenly bread whose drinke the new water passing out of the Rocke whose invincible army but onely the stretching up of handâ— all these two upright men excepted to have dyed through serpents sword and fire here and there along the desarts of Arabia yea after the entrance of the unknowne gate as it were of Iordan and their adverse Cities wals by the onely sound of trumpets through the commandement of God ouerthrowne one silly cloake and a little gold presumptuously taken of the accursed spoile to have beene the slaughter of many men how the breaking of the league made with the Gibionites yea though the same were through subtilty extorted was also to some their destruction I have read the complaining cryes of the holy Prophets poured out for the sinnes of men and especially those of Ieremie with his fourefold Alphabet lamenting the ruine of his Citie I saw moreover in this our time as he in former bewailed The widow City now sit alone sometimes replenished with people The Lady of nations the Prince of Provinces to wit the Church to be made tributary The gold obscured the most excellent colour which is the beauty of the word of God changed The sonnes of Sion that is of our holy mother the Church sometimes famous and clothed in the purest gold to have embraced dung And that which to him as a principall man to me also though an abject yet howsoever encreased this mountaine of sorrow whilest beforehand hee lamented them living as yet so famous in their flowing prosperity that he said Her Nazarens were whiter than snow redder than the ancient Ivory fairer than the Saphire Beholding in the old Testament these and many others as certaine looking glasses of our life I turned me also to the new and there the shadow now ceasing and the light more clearely shining more plainely did I reade what before perchance was obscure unto me I did reade I say that our Lord hath said I came not but to the lost sheepe of the house oâ— Israel and yet on the other side But the children of this kingdome shall bee cast into outward darknesse there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth And againe It is not good to take the bread of the children and cast it unto dogs And also Woe be unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites I heard Many shall come from the East and the West and sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen And on the contrary part And then shal I say unto them Depart from me yee workers of iniquity I have read Blessed are the barren and the teats that have not given sucke And in contrary position They who were ready entred with him to the mariage afterwards came also the other Virgins saying Lord Lord open unto us to whom it was answered I know yee not I did truely heare Who so shall beleeve and be baptised shall be saved but who shall not beleeve shall bee damned I did reade from the penne of the Apostle that the branch of the wilde Olive was graffed on the good Olive but notwithstanding should be cut off from the community of the roote of his fruitfull fatnesse if hee carry not himselfe in feare but rashly entred into high secrets I knew the mercy of our Lord but dreaded his judgements I praised his grace but trembled that every man shall receive according to his workes Seeing the sheep of one folde unlike in fashion worthily I commended the most blessed Peter for his full
Heare now likewise what fell upon the two sacrilegious Kings of Israel even such as ours are Ieroboam and Baasa unto whom the sentence and doome of our Lord is by the Prophet in this sort directed For what cause have I exalted thee a Prince over Israel in regard they have provoked me in their vanities Behold I will stirre up after Baasha and after his house and I will give over his house as the house of Ieroboam the Sonne of Nebat whoso of his blood shall dye in the City the dogges shall eate him and the dead carkasse of his in the field shall the foules of the aire devoure What doth hee also threaten unto that wicked King of Israel a fellow souldier of the former band by whose collusion and his wives deceit innocent Naboth was for his Fathers Vineyard oppressed talking by the holy mouth of that Elias yea the selfe-same mouth that was instructed with the fiery speech of our Lord. Thou hast killed moreover likewise thou hast possessed and after these thou wilt adde yet more Thus saith our Lord in this very place wherein the dogges have licked the blood of Naboth they shall lick up thy blood also Which that it fell out afterwards in that very sort we have certaine experience But least perchance according as it befell unto the aforesaid Achab The lying spirit which pronounceth vaine things in the mouthes of your Prophets may seduce ye harken ye to the speeches of the Prophet Michaias Behold God hath suffered the spirit of lying to possâ—sse the mouths of all thy Prophets that doe here remaine and our Lord hath pronounced evil against thee For even now it is certaine there are some Doctors replenished with a contrary spirit preaching and affirming rather naughty pleasure then truth whose words are softer then oyle and the selfe same are darts who say peace peace and there shall be no peace to them who persevere in sinnes as the Prophet in another place on this wise speaketh It is not for the wicked to rejoyce saith our Lord. Azarias also the sonne of Obed did speake unto Asa who returned from the slaughter of the Army of ten hundred thousand Ethiopians saying Our Lord is with yee while ye remaine with him and if yee will seeke him out he will be found by ye and if ye will leave him he will forsake ye For if Iehoshaphat but yeelding assistance unto a wicked King was thus reproved by the Prophet Iehu the sonne of Anany saying If thou givest aid to a sinner or lovest them whom our Lord doth hate the wrath of God doth therefore hang over thee what shall become of them who are fettered in the proper snares of their owne offences whose sinnes but not whose souleÌ„s we must of necessity hate if wee will fight in the Army of our Lord the Psalmist saying Hate ye evill who love our Lord. What was said to the sonne of the afore reÌ„cited Iosaphat named Ioram that most horrible murtherer who being himselfe a bastard slew his noble brethren that hee might possesse the throne in their place by the Prophet Elias the wagon and wagoner of Israel Thus speaketh quoth he the Lord God of thy Father David Because thou hast not walked in the way of thy Father Iosaphat and in the waies of Asa the King of Iudah but hast made thy passage through the wayes of the Kings of Israel and in unsensiblenesse according to the behaviour of the house of Achab and hast moreover killed thy brethren the sonnes of Iosaphat men farre better then thy selfe behold our Lord shall strike thee and thy children with a mighty plague And a little afterwards And thou shalt be marveilous sicke of a disease of thy belly until the entrailes of thy belly shal together with the malady it selfe from day to day passe forth away from thee And listen also what the Prophet Zachary the sonne of Ioiades menaced to Ioas the King of Israel leaving our Lord even as ye now do who arising spoke in this manner to the People Thus saith our Lord why doe ye transgresse the Commandements of our Lord and doe not prosper Because ye have left our Lord he will also leave you What shall I mention of Esay the first and chiefe of the Prophets who beginneth the proeme and enterance of his Prophesie or rather vision saying in this sort Heare O yee Heavens and O thou earth conceive in thine eares because our Lord hath spoken I have nourished children and exalted them but they themselves have despised me The Oxe hath knowne his owner and the Asse the manger of his Master but Israel hath not knowne me and my people hath not understood And after a few words framing threatnings answerable to so great a folly he saith The Daughter of Sion shall be uterly left as a shelter in the Vineyard and as a hovell in the Cowcumber Garden and a City that is sacked And especial-conventing and accusing the Princes he saith Heare the word of our Lord O yee Princes of Sodome perceive ye the Law of our Lord O yee people of Gomorrah Where truely it is to be noted that unjust Kings are tearmed the Princes of Sodome for our Lord forbidding sacrifices and gifts to be offered unto him by such where we with greedy covetousnesse receive those offerings which in all Nations are displeasing unto God and to our owne destruction suffer them not to be bestowed on the poore and needy speaketh to them who laden with abundance of riches are likewise given to the filth of offences on this wise Offer not any more your sacrifice in vaine your incense is abomination unto me And againe he denounceth And when yee shall stretch out your hands I will turne away mine eyes from ye and when ye shall multiply your prayers I will not heare And hee declareth wherfore he doth this saying Your hands are full of blood And likewise showing how he may be appeased he saith Be ye washed be ye cleane take away the evill of your thoughts from mine eyes leave of to deale perversly learne to doe well seeke for the judgement succour the oppressed doe justice to the pupill or Orphan And then assuming as it were the part of a reconciling appeaser he adding saith If your sinnes shall be as scarlet they shall be made white as Snow if they shal be as red as the little worme they shall be as white as wooll If ye shall be willing and will heare me ye shall feede on the good things of the Land but if ye wil not and shall provoke mee unto wrath the sword shall devoure ye Receive ye heare the true and publike avoucher witnessing without any falshood or flattery the reward of your good and evill not like the soothing humble lippes of your Parasites whispering poysons into your eares And also directing his sentence against ravenous judges he saith thus
confusion are in their wayes and the way of peace they have not knowne and in their steps there is no judgement their pathes are made crooked unto them every one who treadeth in them is ignorant of peace in this respect is judgment removed farre off from yee and justice taketh no hold of yee And after a few words And judgement hath been turned back and justice hath stoode a farre off because truth hath fallen down in the streets equitie could not enter in and truth is turned to oblivion and who so hath departed from evill hath layne open to spoyle And our Lord hath seene and it was not pleasing in his eyes because there is not judgement And thus farre may it suffice among many to recite a few sentences out of the Prophet Esay Now truely doe ye a while with diligent eares hearken unto him who was foreknowne before he was formed in the belly sanctified before hee came forth of the wombe and appointed a Prophet in all Nations Ieremiah I meane what he hath pronounced of foolish people and cruell Kings beginning moderatly his Prophesie in this manner And the Word of God was spoken unto me saying Goe and cry in the eares of Ierusalem and thou shalt pronounce Heare the Word of our Lord thou house of Iacob and all ye kindreds of the house of Israel Thus saith our Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me who have beene farre removed from me and walked after vanitie and are become vaine and have not sayd Where is he who made us ascend out of the Land of Egypt And after a few words From the beginning of thine Age thou hast broken my yoake violated my bands and sayd I will not serve I have planted thee my chosen vine all true seede How art thou therefore converted into naughtinesse O strange Vine If thou shalt wash thee with Niter and multiply unto thee the hearbe Borith thou art spotted in my sight with thine iniquity saith our Lord. And afterwards Why will yee contend with me in judgement Ye have all forsaken me saith our Lord in vaine have I corrected your children they have not received discipline Heare ye the Word of our Lord. Am I made a solitarinesse unto Israel or a lateward Land why therefore hath my people sayd we have departed we will come no more unto thee What doth the Virgin forget her ornament or the Spouse her gorget my people truely hath forgotten mee innumerable dayes Because my people are foolish they have not knowne me they are unwise and mad children They are wise to doe evill but to doe well they have beene ignorant Then the Prophet speaketh in his owne person saying O Lord thine eyes doe respect faith thou hast stroken them and they have not sorrowed thou hast broken them and they have refused to receive discipline they have made their faces harder than the rocke and will not returne And also our Lord Declare ye this same to the house of Iacob and make it to bee heard in Iuda saying Heare ye foolish people who have no heart who having eyes see not and eares heare not Ye will therefore not dread me saith our Lord and yee will not conceive griefe from my countenance who have placed the sand the bound of the sea an eternall commandement which she shall not breake and her waves shall be moved and they cannot and her sourges shall swell and yet not passe the same But to this people is framed an incredulous and an exasperating heart they have retired and gone their wayes and not in their heart sayd Let us feare our Lord God And againe Because there are found among my people wicked ones framing wiles to intangell as if they were foulers setting snares and ginnes to catch men As a net that is full of birds so are their houses fullfilled with deceites Therefore are they magnified and enriched they are become grosse and fat and have neglected my speeches most vildly the orphans cause they have not sentenced and the justice of the poore they have not adjudged What shall I not visit over these saith our Lord or shall not my soule be revenged upon such a nation But God forbid that ever shold befall unto you which followeth Thou shalt speake all these words unto them and they shall not heare thee and thou shalt call them and they shall not answer thee and thou shalt say unto them This is the Nation that hath not heard the voice of their Lord God nor yet received discipline faith hath perished and been taken away from out their mouth And after some few speeches Whoso falleth doth he not arise againe and who so is turned away shall he not returne againe why therefore is this people in Ierusalem with a contentious aversion alienated they have apprehended lying and they will not come backe againe I have beene attentive and harkened diligently no man speaketh what is good There is none who doth pennance for his sinne saying What have I done All are turned unto their owne course like a horse passing with violence into battle The Kite in the sky hath knowne her time the Turtle and Swallow and Storke have kept the season of their comming but my people hath not known the judgement of God And the Prophet being strucken into feare with so wonderfull a blindnesse and unspeakeable drunkennesse of the Sacrilegious and lamenting them who did not lament themselves even according to the present behaviour of these our unfortunate Tyrants he beseecheth of our Lord that an augmentation of teares might be granted him speaking in this manner I am contrite upon the contrition of the daughter of my people astonishment hath possessed me is there no gumme in Galaad or is there no Physition there Why therefore is not the wound of the daughter of my people healed Who shall give water unto my head and to mine eyes a fountaine of teares and I will day and night bewaile the slaughtered of my people who will grant me in the wildernes the Inne of passengers and I will utterly leave my people and depart from them because they are all of them adulterers a roote of offenders they have bent their tong as the bow of lying and not of truth they are comforted in the earth because they have passed from evil into evill not known me saith our Lord. And againe And our Lord hath said Because they have forsaken my law which I have given them and not heard my voice nor walked thereafter and have wandred away after the wickednesse of their owne heart in that respect our Lord of hostes the God of Israel saith these words Behold I will feede this people with wormewood give them to drinke the water of gall And a little after speaking in the person of God See therefore thou doe not pray for this people nor assume thou for them praise and prayer because I will not heare in the