THE THEATRE of God's judgements: Or, A COLLECTION OF HISTOries out of Sacred, Ecclesiastical, and profane Authors, concerning the admirable judgements of God upon the transgressors of his commandments.  
TRANSLATED OUT OF FRENCH, AND AVGMENted by more than three hundred Examples, by Th. Beard.  
IL VOSTRO MALIGNARE NON GIOVA NULLA.  
LONDON, Printed by Adam Islip. 1597.   

To the right Worshipful, Sir Edward Wingfield, Knight.  
IT is a principle in natural philosophy (right Worshipful) that in every natural body, as well the Elephant as the gnat, there is some property or other to be admired and wondered at: and not only in philosophy, but also in Divinity; for even the divine Singer of Israel avoucheth the same, when he saith, That the works of God are wonderful, and his judgements past finding out: and not without great reason; for if we turn over every leaf of God's creatures from the tenth sphere to the centre of the earth, we shall find, that every leaf and letter of this great volume, is admirable and wonderful: and such as doth not only demonstrate a divine power to sit at the stern of the world, but also our own weakness, which is not able to comprehend the least part thereof. This wonderful workmanship as it doth set forth the power of God as he is the creator, and his wisdom as he is the governor of it; so especially his mercy & justice appear therein, as he is a father in preserving his children, and a judge in punishing sinners, and those that rebel against him: and these two are fitly called the arms of the Almighty, of which one is not longer & larger than the other; but he is so far merciful that he is just withal, and so far just, that his mercy doth also show itself in the midst thereof: the right consideration whereof if it were engrafted in the hearts of men, they would learn both to admire and reverence his mercy in creating and preserving the frame of the world, and stand in awe of his judgements in correcting sin: but so it is, that the greatest part of men go clean contrary, they dream upon mercy, mercy, & never think upon justice & judgement; and that is the cause why more perish by presumption than despair: for this cause it seemed to me most necessary to call into men's memories the wonderful judgements of God, & to set before their eyes a view of his justice manifested in the world upon sinners & reprobates, to the end that the drowsy consciences of God's children might be awakened, and the desperate hearts of the wicked confounded, when they shall see how vengeance pursueth malefactors to their shame and confusion in this life, and to their destruction in the world to come. This I have performed (according to the measure of my skill) in this present volume, which having partly translated out of the French, and partly collected by mine own industry out of many Authors: I dedicate and consecrate unto you as a monument of my dutiful love which I own & am ever bound to owe unto yourself, your virtuous Lady, and all your generation; desiring of you a favourable acceptance of my simple offering, and for you a protection from all such judgements as are contained in this, and a perpetual continuance of all happy and heavenly felicity.  
Your Worships in all duty to command, Th. Beard.   

The Preface.  
IF to avoid and eschew vice, (according to the saying of the Poet) be a chief virtue, and as it were, the first degree of wisdom; than it is a necessary point to know what vice and virtue is, and to discern the evil and good which either of them bring forth, to the end to beware lest we dash ourselves unawares against vice in stead of virtue, and be caught with the deceitful baits thereof. For this cause the great and famous Philosopher about to lay open the nature of moral virtues (according to that knowledge and light which nature afforded him) contented not himself with a simple narration of the properties, essence, and object of them, but opposed to every virtue on each side the contrary and repugnant vice; to the end that at the sight of them, being so out of square, so hurtful and pernicious, virtue itself might be more amiable and in greater esteem. And for this cause also God himself our sovereign and perfect lawgiver, that he might fashion and fit us to the mould of true and  virtue, useth oftener negative prohibitions than affirmative commandments in his law: to the end above all things to distract and turn us from evil, whereunto we are of ourselves too too much inclined. And as by this mean sin is discovered and made known unto us, so is the punishment also of sin set before our eyes by those threatenings and curses which are there denounced: to the end, that whom the promises of life and salvation could not allure and persuade to do well, them the fear of punishment (which followeth sin as a shadow doth the body) might bridle and restrain from giving them over to impiety. Now than if the very threatenings ought to serve for such good use, shall not the execution and performance of them serve much more? to wit, when the tempest of God's wrath is not only denounced, but also thrown down effectually upon the heads of the mighty ones of the world when they are disobedient and rebellious against God. And hereupon the Prophet saith, That when God's judgements are upon earth, than the inhabitants learn justice. And doubtless it is most true, that every one ought to reap profit to himself by such examples, as well them which are presented daily to their view by experience, as them which have been done in times past, and are by benefit of history preserved from oblivion. And in this regard history is accounted a very necessary and profitable thing, for that in recalling to mind the truth of things past, which otherwise would be buried in silence, it setteth before us such effects (as warnings & admonitions touching good and evil) and layeth virtue and vice so naked before our eyes, with the punishments or rewards inflicted or bestowed upon the followers of each of them, that it may rightly be called, an easy and profitable apprenticeship or school for every man to learn to get wisdom at another man's cost. Hence it is, that History is termed of the ancient Philosophers, The record and register of Time, the light of Truth, and the mistress and looking glass of man's life. Insomuch as under the person of another man it teacheth and instructeth all those that apply their minds unto it, to govern and carry themselves virtuously and honestly in this life. Wherefore they deserve great praise and commendation that have taken pains to enrol and put in writing the memorable acts and occurrents of their times to communicate the same to their posterity: for there the high and wonderful works of God do most clearly, and as it were to the view, present themselves; as his justice and providence: whereby albeit he guideth and directeth especially his own, to wit, those that in a special and singular manner worship and trust in him, (as by the sacred histories touching the state and government of the ancient and primitive Church it may appear) yet he ceaseth not for all that to stretch the arm of his power over all, and to handle and rule the profane and unbelieving ones at his pleasure: for he hath a sovereign empire and predominance over all the world. And unto him belongeth the direction and principal conduct of human matters, in such sort, that nothing in the world cometh to pass by chance or adventure, but only & always by the prescription of his will; according to the which he ordereth & disposeth by a strait and direct motion, as well the general as the particular, and that after a strange and admirable order. And this a man may perceive if he would but mark and consider the whole body, but especially the end & issue of things: wherein the great and marvelous virtues of God, as his bounty, justice, and power, do most clearly shine; when he exalteth and favoureth some, and debaseth and frowneth upon others, blesseth and prospereth whom he please, and on the contrary, curseth and destroyeth whom he please, and that deserve it. It is he also which erecteth principalities, and which maintaineth commonwealths, kingdoms, and empires, until by the sum and weight of their iniquities, they sink themselves into ruin and destruction. And herein is he glorified by the execution of his most just and righteous judgements, when the wicked after the long abuse of his lenity, benignity, and patience, do receive the wages and reward of their iniquities. In this (I say once again) shineth out the wonderful and incomprehensible wisdom of God, when by the due ordering of things so different and so many, he cometh still to one and the same mark which he once prescribed, to wit, the punishment of the world according to their demerits. And this same is most manifest and apparent even in the histories of profane writers, albeit in their purpose it was never intended nor thought upon, nor yet regarded almost of any that read the same; men contenting themselves for the most part with the simple recital of the story, therein to take pleasure and pass away time, without respecting any further matter: Notwithstanding the true and principal use of their writings ought to be, diligently to mark the effects of God's providence and of his justice: thereby to learn to contain our selves within the bonds of modesty and the fear of God, seeing that they which have carried themselves any thing uprightly in equity, temperance, and other natural virtues, have been in some sort spared: and the rest (bearing the punishment of their iniquities) have fallen into ruin and destruction.  
This consideration ought to persuade every man to turn from evil and to follow that which is good; seeing that the Lord showeth himself so incensed against all them which lead a wicked, damnable, and perverse life. And this is the cause why I having noted the great and horrible punishments wherewith the Lord in his most righteous judgement hath scourged the world for sin, according to that which is contained as well in sacred as profane histories: having gathered them together and sorted them one after another in their several rooms, according to the diversity of the offences, and order and course of time, which as near as I could I endeavoured to follow: To the end, to lay down as it were in one table and under one aspect, the great and fearful judgements of God upon them that have rebelled or repugned his holy will. And this I do not with purpose to comprehend them all, (for that were not only difficult but impossible:) but to lay open the most notable and markable ones that came to my knowledge: to the end, that the most wicked, dissolute, and disordered sinners, that with lose rains run fiercely after their lust, if the manifest tokens of God's severity presented before their eyes, do not touch them, yet the cloud and multitude of examples, through the sight of the inevitable anger & vengeance of God upon evil livers, might terrify and somewhat curb them. Perjurers, idolaters, blasphemers, and other such wicked and profane wretches; with murderers, whoremongers, adulterers, ravishers, and tyrants, shall here see by the mischief that hath fallen upon their likes, that which hangeth before their eyes, and is ready to lay hold of them also. For albeit for a time they sleep in their sins and blindness, delighting in their pleasures, and taking sport in cruelties and evil deeds, yet they draw after them the line, wherewith (being more ensnared than they are aware) they are taken and drawn to their final destruction.  
And this may teach and advertise both those that are not yet obstinate in their sins, to bring themselves to some amendment; and those that fear God already, to strengthen and encourage them in the pursure and continuance in their good course. For if God show himself so severe a revenger of their sins that take pleasure in displeasing him: there is no doubt, but on the contrary, he will show himself bountiful, gracious and liberal in rewarding all them according to his promise which strive to please him, and conform their lives unto his will. Great and small, young and old, men and women, and all other of what degree and condition soever, may here learn at other men's charges, how to govern themselves in duty towards God and betwixt themselves, by a holy and unblamable life in mutual peace and unity: and by shunning and eschewing sin, against the which, God (a most just judge) poureth forth his vengeance, even upon the heads of them that are guilty thereof. Beside here is ample matter and argument to stop the months of all Epicures and Atheists of our age, and to leave them confounded in their errors, seeing that such and so many occurrents and punishments are manifest proofs, that there is a God above that guideth the stern of the world, and that taketh care of human matters, and that is just in punishing the unjust and malicious. Again, whereas so much evil and so many sins have reigned and swayed so long time, and do yet reign and sway upon the earth, we may behold the huge corruption & perversity of mankind, and the rotten fruits of that worm-eaten root original sin; when we are not directed nor guided by the holy spirit of God, but left unto our own nature. And hereby true faithful Christians may take occasion so much the more to acknowledge the great mercy and singular favour of God towards them, in that they being received to mercy, are renewed to a better conversation of life than others. In brief, a man may hear learn, (if he be not altogether void of judgement and understanding) to have sin in hatred and detestation, considering the wages and reward thereof: and how the justice of God pursueth it continually, even to the extremest execution, which is both sharp and rigorous.  
Touching the word judgement, I have imitated the language of holy Scripture, wherein as the ordinances and commandments of God are called judgements, because in them is contained nothing but that which is just, right, and equal: so likewise the punishments inflicted by God upon the despisers of his commandments are called by the same name, as in Exod. 6.6. 2. Chron. 20.12. & 22.8. Ezech. 5.8. & 11.9. and elsewhere, because they also are as just as the former, proceeding from none other fountain save the most righteous judgement of God, whereof none can complain but unjustly.   

The names of the Authors from whom the most part of the Examples contained in this Book are collected.  

MOses, and other sacred writers.  
Tertullian.  
Cyprian.  
Eusebius.  
Socrates. Theodoret.  
Sozomenes.  
Nicephor. Ruffinus.  
Suidas.  
Chrysostome.  
Luther.  
Jllyricus.  
Herodotus.  
Thucydides.  
Dion. Halycarnasseus.  
Diodorus Siculus.  
Polybeus. Plutarch.  
Herodian. Dion.  
Procopius.  
jornandes.  
Agathius.  
Aelianus.  
Tit. Livius.  
Salustius.  
Suetonius.  
Corn. Tacitus.  
Amni. Marcellinus.  
justinus.  
Eutropius.  
Lampridius.  
Spartianus.  
Flavius Vopiscus.  
Cuspinianus.  
Orosius.  
Aimoinus.  
Gregor. Turonensis.  
Anton. Volscus.  
Paulus Diaconus.  
Luitprandus.  
Olaus magnus Gothus.  
Sabellicus.  
Anton. Panormitanus.  
Aeneas Silvius.  
Ravisius.  
Hieronymus Marius.  
Alexander ab Alexandro  
Pet. Praemonstratensis.  
Mich. Ritius Neapolitanus.  
Fulgosius.  
Fran. Picus Mirandula.  
Bembus.  
Antonius Bomfinius.  
Munsterus.  
johan. Wierus.  
Platina. Nauclerus.  
Vincentius.  
Hugo Cluniacensis.  
Benno. Baleus.  
Gagninus.  
Paulus Aemilius.  
Discipulus de tempore.  
Acts and Monuments.  
Carion. Chronicon.  
Beza.  
josephus.  
Manly Collectanea.  
Stow Chronica.  
froissard.  
Enguerran de Monstrelet.  
Philip le Comines.  
Nicholas giles.  
Guicciardine.  
Paulus iovius.  
Benzoin Milanois.  
job. Fincelius.  
Centuriae Magdeburg.  
Abbas Vrispurgensis.  
Philippus Melancthon.  
Sleidanus.  
Lanquet. Chronica.    

THE FIRST BOOK, OF THE WORTHY AND MEMOrable Histories of the great and marvelous judgements of God sent upon the World, for their misdeeds against the Commandments of the first and second Table.  

CHAP. I. ❧ As touching the Corruption and perversity of this World, how great it is.  
EVen as one that taketh pleasure to behold a pleasant and delightsome place, a piece of ground covered and painted with all manner of fine flowers, a garden decked, and as it were clothed with exquisite plants and fruitful trees, is much grieved so soon as he perceiveth all this beauty and pleasure suddenly to be withered and scorched by the violence of some outrageous tempest: or if he be constrained to cast his eyes from them upon some other place by, all craggy and parched, full of briers and brambles. In like sort, a man can not choose, but be sore grieved and discontent when he beholdeth on the one side the wholesome light of the sun, whereby the heavens do many ways distill their favours upon this world, gloriously to advance itself: on the other side, he perceiveth such an army of thick clouds and palpable darkness, from whence such a number of disorders and hurly-burlies do arise that most strangely disfigure the face of the whole world: when that he which ought to be gentle & peaceable, is become mischievous and quarrelous: and in stead of being true & single hearted, disloyal and deceitful: instead of being modest, well governed, and courteous; is proud, cruel, and dissolute: in steed of serving of God, serveth his own humours and affections: which kind of behaviour is but too common and usual: for there is not any kind of wickedness which is not found in this rank. Ungodliness vomiteth up his fury together with injustice, in those men of whom it is said: There is none that understandeth or seeketh after God, their throat is an open sepulchre, they use deceit in their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips, 
Psal. 14.  they have nothing in their mouths but cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery is in their ways: and they have not known the way of peace; In sum, the fear of God is not before their eyes. From whence it cometh, that being not restrained by any bridle, like untamed colts broke lose, they give the full swinge to their bold and violent affections, running fiercely to all filthiness and mischief: and being thus enraged, some of them with horrible blasphemies (most villainously) speak and do in despite of God, and deny him that created them and sent them into the world: others are not ashamed to be open forswearers of themselves, violating and breaking every promise without regard of faith or honesty. Others as they are of cruel and bloody natures, so they do not cease to exercise these their natures by outrageous practices: to some of them whoredoms and adulteries are no more esteemed then as sports and pastimes, whereof they boast and vaunt themselves: to another sort, cozenings, extortions, and robberies are ordinary exercises, whereof they make their best occupations. All which evils are so common and so usual at this time amongst men, that the world seemeth truly to be nothing else but an Ocean full of hideous monsters: or a thick forest full of thieves and robbers: or some horrible wilderness wherein the inhabitants of the earth, being savage and unnatural, void of sense and reason, are transformed into bruit beasts; some like tigers or lions, others like wolves or foxes, others like dogs and swine: Oh sinful nation (would the man of God say if he lived at this hour) a people laden with iniquity, a seed of the wicked, 
Isay. 1.4.  corrupt children, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the holy one of Israel to anger. The noble and high minded are proud to disdain the lower, and ready always to smite them; making their countenance pale with vices and oaths: the magistrate partial and full of bribes, overthroweth equity: the merchant covetous and desirous of gain, remembreth not his integrity: nor the labourer his simplicity. And so virtue in most men lieth buried, piety banished, justice oppressed, and honesty trodden under foot: in such sort that all things being as it were overthrown and turned upside down, men speak evil of good, and good of evil, accounting darkness light, and light darkness: sour sweet, and sweet sour. And by such disorder it cometh to pass, that the most virtuous are despised, whilst naughty packs and vicious fellows are esteemed and made much of.   

CHAP. II. What the cause is of the great overflow of Vice in this age.  
IF we would consider from whence it is that this great disorder and corruption of manners doth arise, we should find especially that it is because the world every day groweth worse & worse according to the saying of our Saviour and redeemer (Christ jesus the son of God) That in the latter days (which are these wherein we live) Iniquity shall be increased. 
Mat. 24.12.  And herein we shall perceive even the just vengeence of God to light upon the malice and unthankfulness of men, to whom when he would draw near, to do good unto by offering them the clear light of his favour, the more they strive to alienate and keep themselves aloof from him, and are so far from being bettered thereby, that they show themselves a great deal more malicious and obstinate then ever they did before: not unlike to those who by nature being blear eyed & tender sighted, are rather dazzled and dimmed by the sun beams, than any ways enlightened: so men in stead of growing better, grow worse, and every day add some increase to their wickedness: to whom also many great men give elbow-room and permission to sin, whilst justice slumbereth; and the not punishing of misdeeds, giveth them liberty and boldness to commit their wickedness: so that some of these mighty ones show themselves but little better than the other. A mischief to be lamented above the rest, drawing after it an horrible overflow of all evils, and like a violent stream spoiling every where as it goeth: when as they that ought to govern the stern of the Commonwealth let all go at random, suffering themselves to be rocked a sleep with the false and deceitful lullaby of effeminate pleasures and delights of the flesh; or at least letting themselves be carried headlong by the tempest of their own strong and furious passions, into eminent danger of shipwreck: when as their careful watchfulness and modesty accompanied with the train of other good and commendable virtues, aught to serve them for fails cables, anchors, masts and skutles, whereby to govern and direct the vessel whose stearsmen they are appointed, and those that are their charge, to whom they ought to give a good example of life, and be unto them as it were a glass of virtue: for they are set aloft as it were upon a stage to be gazed at of every comer. Their faults and vices are like foul spots and scars in the face, which cannot by any means be hid. And therefore they ought to be careful to lead an honest and virtuous life, that thereby they might persuade and move the meaner sort of people to do the like: for it is a true saying of the Philosopher, Like Prince, like people: in so much, that every one desireth to frame himself according to the humour of his superior, whose will and manners serve simply for a law to do evil: to the which men use by taking any occasion too hastily to give themselves over with too much liberty: whereupon followeth an unrecoverable ruin, no less than the fall of a great house, which for want of pillars and supporters that should uphold it, suddenly falleth to the ground; so this ship being deprived of her governor, is set lose and laid open to the mercy of the waves, violence of winds, and rage of tempests, without any direction or government, and so the body of man not having any more the light of his own eyes, abideth in darkness all blinded, not able to do any thing that is right and good, but ready every minute to fall into some pit. And this is the perversity and corruption of this world.   

CHAP. III. That great men which will not abide to be admonished of their faults cannot escape punishment by the hand of God.  
IN this poor and miserable estate every man rocketh himself asleep, and flattereth his own humour, every man pursueth his accustomed course of life, with an obstinate mind to do evil: yea many of those that have power & authority over others, according as they are endued and persuaded with a foolish conceit of themselves, make themselves believe that for them every thing is lawful, and that they may do whatsoever they please, never imagining that they shall give up an account of their actions to receive any chastisement or correction for them, even as though there were no God at all that did behold them: & being thus abused by this vain and fickle security, they swim in their sins, and plunge themselves over head and ears in all kind of sensuality: giving hearty welcome and entertainment to all that approve and applaud their manners, and that study to feed and please their humour. As contrariwise none less welcome unto them, than they that tell them of their faults, and contradict them never so little: for they cannot abide in any case to be reproved whatsoever they do. And now a days every base companion will forsooth storm and fume as soon, if he be reproved of a fault, as if he had received the greatest wrong in the world: so much is every man pleased with himself, and puffed up with his own vices and foolish vanities. And what should a man do in this case? It is as hard to redress these great mischiefs as if we should go about to stop and hinder the course of a mighty stream, there where the bank or causey is broken down: if it be not by applying extreme & desperate medicines, as to desperate diseases, which are as it were given over by the Physician, and to the which a light purgation will do no good. For as for admonitions and warnings, they are not a whit regarded: but they that give them are derided or laughed to scorn or reviled for their labours. What must we therefore do? It is necessary that we assay by all means to bring these men (if it be possible) to some modesty & fear of God, which if it cannot be done by willing and gentle means, force and violence must be used, to pluck them out of the fire of God's wrath, to the end they be not consumed: if not all yet at least those that are not grown to that height of stubbornness, and of whom ther●●s yet left some hope of amendment. For even as when a captain hath not prevailed by summoning a city to yield up itself, he by and by placeth his canon against their walls, to put them in fear; In like sort must we bring forth against the proud and high minded men of this world, an army of God's terrible judgements thrown down by his mighty and puissant hand upon the wicked, more terrible and fearful, than all the roaring canons or double canons in the world, whereby the most proud are destroyed and consumed even in this life, all their pride and power how great soever it be being not able to turn back the vengeance of God from lighting upon their heads to their utter destruction and confusion. As it is manifest by infinite examples. Now because that the nature of men is fleshly and given to be touched with things that are presented before their faces, or hath been done before time, it is a more forcible motive to stir them up, then that which as yet cannot be made manifest, but is to come. Therefore I purpose here to set down the great & fearful judgements, wherewith God hath already plagued many in this world, especially them of high degree: whose example will serve for a glass, both for these that live now, or shall live hereafter. And to the end that the justice of God may more clearly appear and show itself in such strange events, before we go any further we will run over certain necessary points concerning this matter.   

CHAP. FOUR How the justice of God is more evidently declared upon the mighty ones of this world, then upon any other and the cause why.  
SEeing then that these men are more guilty and culpable of sin then any other, they deserve so much a more grievous punishment, by how much their misdeeds are more grievous: 
Psal. 58 11.  for doubtless, There is a God that judgeth the earth, (as the Psalmist saith) who as he is benign and merciful towards those that fear and obey him, so he will not suffer iniquity to go unpunished: This is he (saith the Prophet) that executeth justice mercy and judgement upon the earth: for if it be the duty of an earthly prince to exercise not only clemency and gentleness, but also sharpness and severity, thereby by punishing and chastising malefactors to suppress all disorders in the Commonwealth; than it is very necessary that the justice of our great God to whom all sovereign rule and authority belongeth, and who is the judge of the whole world, should either manifest itself in this world, or in the world to come: and chief towards them which are in the highest places of account, who being more hardened and bold to sin, do as boldly exempt themselves from all corrections and punishments due unto them, being altogether unwilling to be subject to any order of justice or law whatsoever: and therefore by how much the more they cannot be punished by man, and that human laws can lay no hold upon them, so much the rather God himself becometh executioner of his own justice upon their pates: and in such sort, that every man may perceive his hand to be upon them. Let any adversity or affliction light upon a man of low degree, or which is poor and desolate, no man considereth of it rightly, but talking thereof, men cease not to impute the cause of this poor soul's misery either to poverty or want of succour, or some other such like cause. Therefore if any such be in grief, or by chance fallen into some pit, and drowned, or rob & killed in the way by thieves: strait way this is the saying of the world, That it cometh thus to pass either because he was alone without company, or destitute of help, or not well looked to and regarded: and thus they pass over the matter. But as concerning great men, when they are any way afflicted, no such pretences or excuses can be alleged: seeing they want neither servants to attend upon them, nor any other means of help to secure them: therefore when these men are overtaken and surprised with any great evil, which by no means they can eschew, & when their bold and wicked enterprises, are pursued & concluded with strange and lamentable events, in this we must acknowledge an especial hand of God, who can entangle and pull down the proudest and arrogantest he that lives, & those whom the world feareth to meddle with all: these proud gallants are they against whom God displaieth his banner of power more openly then against meaner and base persons: because these poor souls find oftentimes to their pains that they are punished without cause, and tormented and vexed by those Tyrants, not having committed any offence at all, to deserve it: whereas (as Philip Comine saith) who dare be so bold as to control or reprehend a King and his favourites, or to make inquiry of his misdeeds: or having made inquisition of them, who dare presume to inform the judge thereof? Who dare stand up to accuse them? Who dare sit down to judge them? Nay who dare take knowledge of them? And lastly, who dare assay to punish them? Seeing then in this case that our worldly justice hath her hands bound behind her from executing that which is right: it must needs be that the sovereign Monarch of heaven and earth should mount up into his throne of judgement, and from thence give his definitive unchangeable sentence to deliver up the most guilty and heinous sinners, to those pains and torments which they have deserved; and that after a strange and extraordinary manner which may serve for an example to all others.   

CHAP. V How all men both by the law of God and Nature, are inexcusable in their sinners.  
NOw to the end that no man should pretend ignorance for an excuse, God hath bestowed upon every one a certain knowledge and judgement of good and evil, which being naturally engraved in the tables of man's heart, is commonly called The law of nature: whereby every mans own conscience giveth sufficient testimony unto itself, when in his most secret thoughts it either accuseth or excuseth him: for there is not a man living, which doth not know in his own heart, that he doth an evil deed when he wrongeth another, although he had never been instructed elsewhere in that point. So although that in Tarqvinius Superbus time (Cicero saith) there was no written law established in Rome forbidding the ravishing and deflowering of wives and virgins: yet the wicked son of this Tarquin was not therefore less guilty of an heinous crime, when contrary to the law of nature, he violently rob Lucrece of her chastity: for no man can be ignorant that it is a most grievous crime to lay siege to the chastity of a married woman, with such outrage: and so the whole people of Rome did esteem of it as a crime most wicked, strange, and intolerable, and worthy of grievous punishment. Every man knoweth thus much, that he ought not to do that to another, which he would not another should do to him: which sentence the Emperor Severus made always to be spoken aloud and declared by the sound of the trumpet, in the way of advertisement, as often as punishment was taken upon any offender, as if it were a general law pertaining to all men. This is that equity & justice, which ought to be engrafted in our hearts, & whereof nature herself is the schoolmistresse: from this fountain all human and civil laws are derived: if we had not rather say that they are derived from that true spring of equity, which is in the law of God, which law he hath given for a plain and familiar manifestation of his will, concerning just, holy, and reasonable things, touching the service, honour, and glory which is due unto himself, and the mutual duty friendship and good will, which men own one to another: whereunto he exhorteth and enticeth every one by fair and gracious promises, and forbiddeth the contrary, by great and terrible threatenings, (so gentle & merciful is he towards us and desirous of our good.) This is that law which was published before the face of more than six hundred thousand persons, with the mighty & resounding noise of trumpet, with earthquake, fire, and smoke, & with thunders & lightnings to make men more attentive to hear & more prepared to receive it with all humility, fear, & reverence, & also to put them in mind, that if they were disobedient & rebellious, he wanted no power and ability to punish them, for he hath lightning, thunder, & fire, prepared instruments to execute his just vengeance, which no creature under heaven is able to avoid, when by the obstinate transgression of wicked men, he is provoked to anger and indignation against them. This is that holy law which hath been set forth by the Prophets: by the rule whereof all their warnings, exhortings, and reproving, have been squared: to this law the only begotten son of God our saviour and redeemer jesus Christ conformed his most holy doctrine; bringing men to the true use and observation 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 have 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, what a shame and reproach is this for men to call themselves by the name of God's children, Christians, and Catholics, and yet to do every thing clean contrary to the will of God, to make no reckoning of his law, to lead a dissolute and disordered life, and to be as evil (if not worse) then the vilest miscreants and infidels in the world? God willeth and requireth that he alone should be worshipped and prayed unto; and yet the greater part of the world are idolaters, and full of superstition, worship Images, sticks and stones, and pray to creatures instead of the creator. God forbiddeth us to swear by his name in vain: and yet what is more rife than that? so that a man can hear nothing else but oaths and blasphemies. Many for the least trifle in the world stick not to swear & forswear themselves. God forbiddeth theft, murder, adultery, and false witness bearing, and yet nothing so common as backbitings, slanders, forgeries, false reports, whoredoms, cozenings, robberies, extortions, and all manner of envies and enmities. God hath commanded that we love our neighbours as ourselves: but we in stead of love; hate, despise, and seek to procure the hurt and damage of one another, not regarding any thing but our own peculiar profit and advantage. Is not this a manifest and professed disobedience, and intolerable rebellion against our maker? What child is there that is not bound to honour and reverence his father? What servant that is not bound to obey his master, and to do all that he shall will him? What subject that is not tied in subjection to his Prince and Sovereign? Yet there is not one which will not confess, yea and swear too with his mouth, that God is his Lord and father; Which if it be true, what is then the cause, that instead of serving and pleasing him, they do nothing else but displease and offend his Majesty? Is not this the way to provoke his wrath, and stir up his indignation against them? Is it any marvel if he be incensed with anger, if he be armed with revenge, and send abroad his cruel scourges upon the earth to strike and whip it with all? Is it any wonder if he pile up the wicked ones on heaps, and shoot out his revengeful arrows against them, and make them drunken with their own blood, and make his sword of justice as sharp as a razor, 
Deut. 32.35.  to punish those rebels that have rebelled against him? For vengeance is mine (saith he) and belongeth only unto me, whosoever therefore he be that followeth the desires and concupiscence of his own flesh, and this wicked world, & shall lead a life contrary to the instruction and ordinance of the law of God, yea although he never heard thereof, yet is he guilty thereof & worthy to be accursed; for so much as his own conscience ought to serve for a law unto himself, by the which he is condemned in those evil actions which he committeth (even as Paul saith) all that have sinned without the law shall likewise perish without the law. 
Rom. 2.12.    

CHAP. VI How the greatest Monarches in the world ought to be subject to the law of God, and consequently the laws of man and of nature.  
Every man confesseth this to be true, That by how much the more benefits and dignity he hath received from another, by so much is he the more bounden and beholden to him: now it is so that Kings and Princes are those upon whom God hath bestowed more plentifully his gifts and graces, then upon any other, whom he hath made as it were his Lieutenants in this world: for he hath extolled and placed them above others, and bedecked them with honour, giving them power & authority to rule and reign, by putting people in subjection to them: and therefore so much the more are they bound to reacknowledge him again, to the end to do him all honour and homage which is required at their hands. 
Psal. 2.11.  Therefore David exhorteth them to serve the Lord even with reverence. This than their high and superintendant estate, is no privilege to exempt them from the subjection and obedience which they own unto God, whom they ought to reverence above all things. 
Psal. 29.1.  Ye Princes and high Lords (saith the Prophet) give you unto the Lord eternal glory and strength: give unto him glory due unto his name: and cast yourselves before him to do him reverence. If they own so much honour unto God as to their sovereign, then surely it must follow, that they ought to obey his voice, and fear to offend him; and so much the rather, because he is a great deal more strong, and terrible than they, able to cause his horrible thunderbolts to tumble upon their heads, they being not able once to withstand his puissance, but constrained very often to tremble thereat. In all that prescription and ordinance ordained & set down by God concerning the office of Kings, 
Deut. 17.15.  there is no mention made of any liberty that he giveth them to live after their own lusts, and to do every thing that seemeth good in their own eyes: but he enjoineth them expressly to have always with them the book of his law, delighteth to read and meditate therein, and thereby to learn to fear and reverence his name, by observing all the precepts that are contained in that book. As for civil and natural laws in so much as they are founded upon equity and right, (for otherwise they were no laws) therein they are agreeable to, and as it were dependants on the law of God, as is well declared by Cicero in the first and second book of his laws: for even they also condemn thieves, adulterers, murderers, parricides, and such like. If then princes be subject to the law of God, as I am about to show: there is no doubt, but that they are likewise subject to those civil laws, by reason of the equity and justice which therein is commended unto us. And if (as Plato saith) the laws ought to be above the prince, not the prince above the laws: 
Dial. 4. ote legibus.  it is then most manifest that the prince is tied unto the laws, even in such sort, that without the same, the government which he swayeth can never be lawful and commendable. And if it be true, that the Magistrate is or aught to be a Speaking law, (as it is said) and ought to maintain the authority and credit thereof, by the due and upright administration of justice: for if he did not this, he were a dumb law and without life: How is it possible that he should make it of authority & source with others, if he despiseth and transgresseth it himself? David did never assume so much to himself, as to desire to have liberty to do what he listed in his kingdom, but willingly submitted himself to that whic● his office and duty required: 
2. Sam. 5.  making (even then when he was installed and established king over the whole land) a covenant of peace with the princes and deputies of the people: and we know, that in every covenant and bargain both parties are bound to each other by a mutual bond to perform the conditions which they are agreed upon: the like is used at the coronation of Christian Kings, where as the people is bound and sworn to do their allegiance to their Kings: so the kings are also solemnly sworn to maintain and defend true religion, the estate of justice, the peace and tranquillity of their subjects, and the right and privileges (which are nothing but the laws) of the Realm: whereas David was by the Prophet Nathan reproved for the adultery and murder which he had committed, he neither used any excuse, nor alleged any privilege whereby he was exempted from the rigour of the law to justify his fact: but freely confessed without any cloak, that he had sinned. Whereby it appeareth of how small strength and authority their opinion and words be, which think or affirm that a prince may dispense with the laws at his pleasure: by this opinion was the mother in law of Antonius Caracalla seduced; who having by her lascivious and filthy allurements, enticed her son in law to lust, and love her, and to desire her for his wife, persuaded him that he might bring his purpose to pass, and that it was lawful enough for him if he would, though for other it was unlawful, seeing that he was Emperor, and that it belongeth not to him to receive, but to give laws: by which persuasion, that brave marriage was concluded and made up, contrary to the law of nature and nations, and to all honesty and virtue. So it was reported how Cambyses took his own sister to wife, 
Herod. lib 3.  whom notwithstanding a little after he put to death: which thing being not usual then among the Persians, not daring to enterprise it (although he was a most wicked man) without the advise of the magistrates and counsellors of his realm: he called them together, and demanded whether it was lawful for him to make such a marriage or no: to whom they answered freely, that there was no prescript law which did allow of it: yet (that they might soothe him up, fearing to incur his displeasure) they said further, that though there was no law to command it, yet such a mighty king as he, might do what he pleased. In like manner that trencher Philosopher Anaxarchus after that he had told Alexander the Great, 
Plutarch.  with a loud voice, that he ought not to fear the penalty of any law, nor the reproach nor blame of any man, because it belonged only to his office to create laws for all other to live by, and to prescribe the limits of lawful and lawless things; and that it became him being a conqueror, to rule like a lord and a master, and not to obey any vain conceit of law whatsoever; and that what thing soever the king did, the same was sacred, just, and lawful without exception: And by this means made his proceed far more dissolute and outrageous in many things then ever they were before. Dion in the epitome of Xiphiline, reporteth how the Emperors were wont to usurp this privilege to be exempted from all law, that they might not be tied to any necessity of doing or leaving undone any thing, and how in no case they would endure to be subject to any written ordinances: the which thing is manifest even in the behaviour of the chiefest of them, aswell in regard of their life and manners, as of the government that they used in their Commonwealths. For first of all Augustus Caesar having kept in his own hand the office of the Triumuir ten years (as Suetonius testifieth) he also usurped the Tribunes office and authority, and that till his dying day: and likewise took upon him the Censureship, namely the office of correcting and governing manners and laws, if need required: whose successors (a man may truly say for the most part) trampled under their feet all sincere and sacred laws, by their notorious intemperance, dissoluteness, and cruelties. And yet for all this there wanted not a parasitical lawyer, who to please the Emperor his lord and master the better, and to underprop, and as it were seel over with a fair show that tyrannical government used by other Emperors, foisted in this as a la amongst the rest, Princeps legibus solutus est, That the prince was exempted from all law. As for that which they allege out of Aristotle's Politics, maketh nothing to set a colour upon this counterfeit: for (saith Aristotle) if there be any man that excelleth so in virtue above all others, that none is able to compare with him, that man is to be accounted as a God amongst men, to whom no law may be prescribed, because he is a law unto himself: all which, I grant to be true, if that which was presupposed could take place: for where no transgression is found, there no law is necessary: according as Saint Paul said, The law was not given for the just, but for the unjust and offenders: but where is it possible to find such a Prince so excellent and so virtuous, that standeth not in need of some law to be ruled by?  
Of the like force and strength is that which is written in the first book of Institutions tit. 2. the words are these, The Prince's pleasure serveth for a law, because the whole body of the people hath translated all their authority, power, and jurisdiction unto him: this is spoken of the Roman Emperors, but upon the ground of so slender & silly reason, that upon so weak a foundation it can never stand: for if it be demanded, whether this action of the people of giving over their right and prerogative to their Prince, be willing or constrained, what answer will they make? If it be by constraint and fear (as it is indeed) who will not judge this usurping of their liberty utterly unjust and tyrannical: when one man shall arrogate that to himself which pertaineth to many, yea to the whole body of the people? And admit that this reason was effectual: yet the gloze upon the place saith very notably, That the prince's pleasure may be held for a law so far forth as that which pleaseth him, be just and honest: giving us to know thus much thereby, that every will and pleasure of a Prince, may not indifferently be allowed for a law if it be in an unjust and dishonest action, & contrary to the rule of good manners. Moreover it appeareth by the customs of many ancient people, and realms, that Princes had never this licence given them to do what they listed: for let them be never so mighty, yea as mighty as Darius, under whose reign, the Persian monarchy was abolished: yet he must be content (according to the law of the Medes and Persians) not to be able to infringe that law which was by the advise of his Peers and privy counsel enacted, and by his own consent and authority established: no though for daniel's deliverance sake whom he loved, 
Dan. 6.8.  he greatly desired and took pains either to disannul or at least to give a favourable interpretation of it.  
Such in old time was the custom of the Kings of Egypt not to follow their own affections in any actions they went about, 
Diod. lib. 2. cap. 2.  but to be directed by the advise of their laws; for they had not so much authority as to judge betwixt man and man, or to levy subsidies and such like by their own powers: neither to punish any man through choler, or any overweening conceit, but were always tied to observe justice and equity in all causes: neither did it grieve them so to do, being persuaded that whilst they obeyed their laws, nothing could better betide them but good. 
Thucyd. lib 1.  The Lacedaemonian Kings were in such bondage to the laws of their country, that the Ephori which were set up to none other end, but to be a bridle to hold them back from doing what they listed, had absolure authority to correct them when they had committed any fault: which subjection nothing displeased king Theopompus, as it is apparent by the answer he made his wife, that reproved him once in anger, saying by his cowardliness he would leave a less kingdom to his children, than he had received of his ancestors: nay saith he, a greater, for so much as more durable and permanent. Plutarch praising the uprightness of King Alcamenes, who for fear to break the law refused diverse presents that were sent him, bursteth into this speech, O heart worthy of a King, that hath preferred the authority of the law before his own profit. Where are those fellows now that cry, King's pleasures ought to be observed for laws, and that a Prince may make a law, but is not subject to it himself: and this is that which Plutarch saith as concerning that matter, who lived under trajan the Emperor.  
Cornelius Tacitus discovering the beginning and original of the Roman civil law, 
Lib. 3. Annal.  saith that Servius the third King of Rome after Romulus and Numa, was the only man that most established those laws whereunto kings themselves ought to yield and be obedient. And admit that the Emperors swayed with great power and authority almost all the world, yet for all their fierceness and haughtiness of mind, Pliny durst tell trajan very roundly, 
In Paneger.  that an Emperor ought to use to carry himself with such good government in his Empire, as if he were sure to give up an account of all his actions: thou must not (saith he) desire more liberty to follow thine own lust, than any one of us do, a Prince is not set over the law, but the law placed in authority above the Prince, this was the admonition of that Heathen man. Likewise Antonius and Severus two mighty Emperors, although by reason of an opinion of their own greatness and haltiness wherewith they flattered themselves, bragged that they were not subject to any law: yet they added this clause withal, That notwithstanding they would live according to the direction of the law. 
Lib. 4. tit. 17.  This (saith Theodosius and Valentinian, two no less mighty Emperors) is a voice becoming the royal Majesty and greatness of a king, To confess himself to live under a law: and in truth it is a thing of greater importance, than the imperial dignity itself, 
Lib. 1. ●od.  to put sovereignty under the authority of law. Amongst many other good lessons and exhortations which Lewis that good King gave unto his son on his death bed, 
Nicol. Gil, vol. 1. Chronicl. franc.  this was one worthy the remembering, how he commanded him to love and fear God with all his strength, and to take heed of doing any thing that should be contrary to his law, whatsoever should befall him; and to provide that the good laws and statutes of his kingdom might be observed, and the privileges of his subjects maintained: to forbid judges to favour him more than others, when any cause of his own came in trial. Thereby giving us thus much to understand, that every good King ought to submit himself in obedience under the hand of God, and under the rule of justice and equity. Wherefore there is neither king nor Kaiser that can or aught to exempt himself from the observance of sacred and upright laws, which if they resist or disannul, doubtless they are culpable of a most heinous crime, and especially of rebellion against the king of kings.   

CHAP. VII. Of the punishment that seized upon Pharoa king of Egypt for resisting God, and transgressing the sixth commandment of the law.  
WE have sufficiently declared in the premises, that the mightiest potentates of this world are bound to range themselves under the obedience of God's law: it remaineth now that we produce examples of those punishments that have fallen upon the heads of the transgressors of the same, according to the manner of their transgression, of what sort soever: which that we may the better describe, it behoveth us to follow the order of the Commandments, as the examples we bring may be fitly referred to any of them. And first we are to understand that when God said, Thou shalt have none other Gods before me, he condemneth under these words the vanity of men that have forged to themselves a multitude of gods: he forbiddeth all false religion, & declareth that he would be acknowledged to be the sole & true God; & that we should serve, worship, love, fear, & obey him in and above all things. And whosoever it be that doth otherwise either by hindering his worship, or afflicting those that worship him, the same man provoketh his heavy wrath to be thrown upon him to his utter ruin and destruction. This is the indignation that lighted upon Pharoa king of Egypt, as we read in the book of God: 
Exod. 3.  who being one of the most puissant Kings of the earth in his age, God chose him for an object to show his wonderful power on, by the means of horrible plagues and scourges which he cast upon him, and by destroying him with all his armies at the length, as his rebellion well deserved: for he like a cruel tyrant continuing to oppress the children of Israel, without giving them any release or breathing time from their misery, or liberty to serve God, although by Moses in the name & authority of God, who made himself well enough known unto him, without the help of any written law, he was many times instantly urged and requested thereunto: so many judgements and punishments assailed him one in the neck of the other in such sort, that at length he was overtaken and ensnared therewith. First of all the very waters of Egypt being converted into blood, proclaimed war against him: then the frogs which covered the face of the earth, climbed up even to his chamber and bed, and filling every corner of his land, sounded him an alarm: next a muster of louse and gnats, and such other troublesome and stinking creatures summoned him to combat: an handful of embers scattered in the air by Moses, were unto him as the strokes of a stone or a shaft, which did wonderfully disfigure their bodies with boils and most noisome scabs: afterward the grasshoppers were put in battle array against him, together with the pestilence, hailstones, horrible thunders, and lightnings, wasting and spoiling, and running up and down grievously though his whole land. After all these bitter blows the tyrant being cut short, and being so besieged on every side with hideous and palpable darkness that he could not tell which ways to turn himself: yet would he not be brought to any reason, but continued obstinate & hardened against God, though all the elements with heaven and earth had taken armour together and conspired his destruction. Therefore while he remained in this wretched state, God's angel punished him in the person of his eldest son, which died suddenly in one night, together with all the first borne of Egypt, wherewithal both he and all his people being greatly moved and grieved, at length gave the Israelites not only leave, but also hasted them to departed: but anon as he saw them going, like a man distraught, he ran after them again, and pursued them with a mighty army, until God in the mean while opening a passage to his children overthwart the deep red sea, attended him in the midway: where he surprised and ensnared him, overthrew and violently overturned the wheels of his chariots, and put his whole army to a hurly burly, and that he might utterly destroy him, caused the sea from each side to return to his channel, which drowned and devoured him and all his army. And this is one of the notablest and fearfullest judgements of God, that can be mentioned: and therefore is very often recounted inmanie places of the scripture, as a thing most memorable above others. Neither ought we to marvel, if so notable an history as this, is not set down among the writings of profane authors: for besides that their histories do not ordinarily stretch so far, as to record such ancient acts: there is also no doubt but the successors of that Tyrant, and all the Egyptians sought all means possible to cancel and blot out the memory of their so great and horrible ruin. And if by chance any historiographer make mention of the departure of the Israelits out of Egypt, it is done in such sort, that the truth is not only disguised, but wholly perverted by them, and in place thereof nothing but lies and falsehood foisted in.   

CHAP. VIII. Of the destruction of many other Kings for the like sin.  
LIke as Pharaoh by his unjust and outrageous persecuting the children of God, made himself so guilty of God's wrath, that he deserved to be utterly destroyed with the greatest part of his people: so also after th●●r miraculous deliverance, whosoever laboured either to hurt, hinder, or resist them, did no less incur God's displeasure and fierce wrath against them, wherewith they were consumed: Whereof, the overthrow and discomfiture of Amalech is a plain example: who admit, all the great wonders which God had done for the Israelites in Egypt, and in the red sea; 
Exod. 17.  whereof the bruit being blown into all corners of the earth, he could not be ignorant of; yet was he so malicious and foolish hardy, as to take up armour against them, and to meet them to bid them battle: but he and his wicked complices were by joshua and his poor people (though unwarlike and unacquainted with such actions, lately crept out of bondage, wherein they had been only exercised to make mortar and brick, and not to handle weapons) discomfited and overthrown: for the Lord of hosts (who is the divider of victories to whom he pleaseth) at the fervent prayers of his servant Moses fought for them, to the confusion of Amalech and all his train: And therefore he commanded Moses to put this deed of his in writing, as a thing worthy to be remembered: who also erected an altar in the same place, for a perpetual monument of so noble a victory.  
As Amalech, and for the like sin, 
Num. 2.1.  were Arad a king of the Canaanites, Sehon king of Amorites, and Og king of Basan with their people & cities destroyed and razed down; So the Madianites enterprising to withstand the foresaid Israelites, by the wicked and pernicious counsel of Balaam, were subdued & put to the sword, 
Num 31.  even five kings of them together, not one escaping save the young virgins, which had never committed fornication with man.   

CHAP. IX. More Examples like unto the former.  
AFter that the children of Israel had continued a season peaceably in the land of Canaan which the Lord had bestowed upon them, 
Indg. 3.  than did Eglon king of Moab rise up & subdued them by war, & tyrannised over them eighteen years. And although it was God's will that they should be thus chastised, because of their corruption & iniquities nevertheless this Moabite (his rod) he caused (in regard of his love to his people) to be slain by Ahud an Israelite, as he was taking his ease in his chamber. In like manner was his wrath stirred up against jabin king of Asor, who had oppressed Israel twenty years; whose army though it was great and well appointed, was notwithstanding by barac's handful of men, under the conduct & rule of Deborah the Prophetess, wondrously discomfited; in such sort, that of all the multitude, there remained not one that felt not the edge of the sword, except Sisera their captain: who escaping from the battle by taking him to his heels, turned in by chance into the house of a woman called jahel, who hating him, as he slept with a hammer fastened a nail into his temples: and thus escaping from those whom he feared, he was murdered by her whom he trusted. And so this valiant warrior as he was overcome in battle by the conduct of a woman so was he put to death by the hand of a woman.  
That which happened to the Madianites in the time of Gedeon, 
judg. 7.  is admirable and very strange; who, being furnished with a mighty army of soldiers with the Amalekites & other their allies, to destroy Israel, were so scared & scattered at the sound of the trumpets & brightness of torches, of three huudred men at the most that were with Gedeon, that through the marvelous astonishment they were in, they turned their blades into their own bosoms, & murdered one another till the greatest part of them were destroyed; and the residue being put to flight and pursued by the men of Ephraim, two of their kings Oreb & Zeb were taken and slain.  
A while after it came to pass that the princes of the Philistims, 
judg. 16.  who had oppressed the people of God by the space of 40 years, being assembled together with all their people in the temple of Dagon their god, even then when after their sacrifices they thought to make themselves most sport & pastime with poor Samson, whose eyes in mockery & contempt they had put out, were altogether massacred by the fall of the house which Samson by his strength pulled upon their heads: which was the greatest overthrow that beforetimes by his means they had received.  
In the reign of Saul king of Israel, 
1. Sam. 15.  Agag king of Amalech the posterity or those that laid wait for Israel in the desert as they came out of Egypt, were by Saul (following the commandment of the Lord) set upon, who running upon him & his people made a great slaughter & butchery of them, not sparing man, woman, nor child, except the king only, whom he took to mercy & led captive; which he ought not to have done. This captain being thus spared by one that was but little better than himself, could not so escape, for the Prophet Samuel became the executioner of God's vengeance upon him, since Saul refused it: & with his own hand slew him, even then when he thought he should live.  
A little while after, Golia a giant of the Philistims, who as well through the hugeness of his stature & strength of body, 
1. Sam. 17.  as through the horrible cruelty which appeared in him, seemed in man's eyes invincible, proudly & presumptuously defied the army of the living God, offering & daring any one man of Israel to enter combat with him: this proud fellow, was notwithstanding all his brags, by young & unarmed David, save a little stick & a few stones which he had in his hands, vanquished & trodden under foot: for he gave this great beast such a knock with one of his stones on the forehead, that at the first blow he tumbled him groveling on the earth, & quickly leaping upon him, caught hold of his huge sword, & therewithal cut off his monstrous head: which the Philistims perceiving, turned their backs and fled, and were pursued and slain by the Israelites.   

CHAP. X. More examples like unto the former.  
IN the time of Achah, Benhadad king of Syria accompanied with two and thirty kings, 
1. King 20.  came very proudly against Israel, as it were in despite of God to bid him battle: but it turned to his own shame and confusion, being first dishonourably put to flight by two hundred & thirty servants of the Princes of Israel: (a small handful to encounter so mighty an army:) And secondly, returning to seek revenge, found the loss of an hundred thousand footmen at one clap, besides seven and twenty thousand which escaping by flight, were crushed in pieces by the ruin of a wall in the city Aphec. And so this brave gallant that erst bragged that the gold and silver of Israel, yea their wives and children were his, was now glad to fly for his life among the rest, and in his return to hide himself all dismayed in a little chamber; and from thence (being advised thereto by his servants) to send to entreat Achab for his own life, which a little before thought him sure of the lives of all Israel. Yet for all this ere long he enterprised a new practice against the Prophet Elizaeus, 
2. King. 6. 2. King. 7.  and besieged also the city of Samaria so long, that certain women (constrained by extreme famine) devoured their children: but in the end he was compelled (through fearful terror which God sent into his army by the noise of infinite chariots and horses which sounded in their ears, as if some puissant host of men of war had been marching towards them) to forsake the siege and fly with all his forces, leaving behind them their tents, horses, carriages, victuals, and munitions, to be a prey for them that pursued them not. And lastly falling sick, Hazael one of his own servants that succeeded him in the kingdom, 
2. King 8.  to the end he might dispatch him quickly and without tumult, early in the morning took a thick cloth dipped in water, and spreading it over his face, stifled him to death.  

2. Chron. 20.  When the Moabites and Ammonites rose up in arms against jehosaphat king of juda, assoon as this good king humbled him self together with all his people before the face of God by fasting and prayer, forthwith God sent such a giddiness of spirit amongst his enemies, that they killed one another: and the men of juda without being troubled with fight, gathered the spoil which they had scattered, and enriched themselves with their relics.  
Aman, 
Ester. 7. & 9  promoted in honour and credit above all the Princes of the court of king Assuerus, conceived so deadly an hatred against the poor dispersed jews (being at that time the only Church of God) that maliciously he conspired in one day to destroy and put to death the whole nation, to the very women & infants: and in accomplishing this his purpose, he mightily abused the authority of the king, whom he falsely informed that this nation would not be subject to his ordinances and laws, which his other people were subject unto: and that therefore he ought not to permit & suffer them any longer. But God that carrieth always a watchful eye over his Church, and knoweth how to break & dash all the enterprises of his enemies, brought all this wretches purposes to nought, by preserving miraculously those whom he would have destroyed, & making him do reverence to Mardocheus whom he especially sought to bring to infamy, and for whom he had of purpose provided a gibbet to hang him on, but was hanged thereon himself, with ten of his sons: beside, all those which had conspired with him against the jews, were upon the same day which they had set down for their massacre, by the king's commandment slain, by the hands of them whom they had appointed to the slaughter.  
Balthasar king of Babylon as he was feasting among his princes, 
Dan. 5.  commanded amidst his cups the golden and silver vessels which Nabuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple of jerusalem to be brought, that both he, his princes, and his wives and concubines might drink therein, exalting himself thus against the Lord of heaven, & boasting in his Idols of earth: therefore, God being stirred up to wrath against him, appointed his destruction even whilst he thus drank and made merry in the midst of his jollity, and caused a strange and fearful sign to appear before his eyes: a bodiless handwriting upon the wall over against the candlestick: The words of which writing portended the destruction of his kingdom, which presently ensued, for the very same night he was murdered, and the sceptre seized upon by Darius' king of Media.   

CHAP. XI. Of the kings which in hatred to the law and religion of God, afflicted the jews in the time of the Maccabees.  

1. Mach. 2. & 6.  Antiochus' by surname Epiphanes or excellent (though by truer report of people contemptuously entitled the furious) king of Asia, being venimously enraged against the jews, began at the first marvelously to oppress them, to rob and spoil their temple, and to slaughter the people. About ten years after deceiving the poor people with fair and smooth words, covers of most vile and wretched treason, whilst they imagined no mischief, he set upon them in such cruel sort, that the loss & desolation which they endured at that time was inestimable: for besides the destruction of jerusalem their city, the slaughter of infinite multitudes of their people, and the captivity of women and infants; as if all these were not enough, there was yet another misery to make up the full sum, worse than all the rest, which was this: The cursed tyrant seeing his purpose not to take the full effect, commanded every where that all his subjects (I mean the jews) should forsake and abjure the law of God, & be united into one religion with the infidels. By means of which edict, the religion of God was defaced, the books of his law rend and burned; and those with whom any such books were found, rigorously put to death: Which fearful cruelty when the jews perceived, it caused many of them to wax faint hearted, & to give themselves over to wallow in the dirty fashions of the uncircumcised idolaters: & in their madness to subscribe to the unjust laws of the vile monster. Now after he had committed all these outrages, he was repulsed with dishonour from the city Elymais in Persia which he went about to spoil & rob, and forced to fly to Babylon, where after tidings of the overthrow of his two armies in judea, with grief & despite he ended his days.  
Antiochus the son of this wretched father, 
1. Mach. 6.  succeeding him as in his kingdom, so in wickedness, perjury, & disloyalty, when, to the end to consult about his own affairs, he concluded a peace with the jews, & by solemn oath as well of himself as his princes, confirmed the free exercise of their religion; behold suddenly he falsified his plighted & sworn faith, & undid all that ever he had done: but it was not long ere he also was overtaken by the army of Demetrius, & together with Lysias his governor put to death.  
A while after reigned Alexander his brother, 
1. Mach. 11.  who whilst he was encumbered with the troubles of Cilicia that revolted from him, the king of Egypt his father in law came traitorously to forestall him of his kingdom, took his wife, & gave her to his deadliest enemy, and afterward gave him battle, discomfited his forces, and drove him to fly 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 gratify the king of Egypt withal.  
Not long after, Antiochus his son recovered, 
1. Mach. 13.  the sceptre of his father: but alas his reign endured but a small space, for being yet but a young child, he was slain by Triphon, in the way as he led him to war against the jews: and thus perished the cursed race of Antiochus, which felt God's wrath upon it, even to the third generation.  
Antiochus the son of Demetrius, (of whom mention was made but a little before) after he had chased Triphon from the kingdom of Asia, which he usurped, 
2. Mach. 5.  and broken the league which he had made with the jews, gave himself wholly to work them misceiefe. Therefore coming against jerusalem, he took it by force, commanding his soldiers to put all to death that were within the same: So that within three days there was such a massacre of young and old, men, women, and children, that the number of the slain arose to fourscore thousand carcases. After this, having executed many more villainies against this people, in so much as to make them renounce the la of God, putting them cruelly to death that did not obey his commandment, It came to pass that this cruel 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 overthrow of his army in judea: which he no sooner understood, but he took counsel in his fury, how to be revenged on jerusalem, and belched forth bitter threats against it. But in the mean while the Lord struck him with a sudden & incurable plague, & surprised him with a horrible torment of his entrails. Howbeit for all this, he ceased not his malicious enterprisse, but hasted forward his journey towards the jews, with such eagerness, that in the way he fell out of his chariot, & bruised so his body, that it became putrefied & so full of corruption, that very vermin scrawled out thereof, and the rotten flesh dropped piecemeal away; no man, no nor himself being able to endure the stinch thereof. Then was he constrained in the midst of his torments to confess, that it was meet that he should submit himself unto God, that he which is mortal ought not to exalt himself so high, as to compare with the immortal God: and in this estate this reprobate ended his wicked days by a strange and most miserable kind of death.   

CHAP. XII. Of those that persecuted the son of God, and his Church.  
IF they who in the law injured and persecuted the Church of God, were punished according to their deserts, as we have already heard; is it any marvel then, if the enemies & persecutors of our Lord & Saviour Christ jesus, which labour by all means to discountenance and frustrate his religion, and to oppress his Church, do feel the heavy & fearful vengeance of God upon them for their wickedness & unbelief? No verily: for he that honoureth not the son, honoureth not the father which sent him, and is guilty therefore before God of impiety & profaneness. From this hamous crime king Herod in no wise can be exempted, that caused all the infants of Bethlehem of two years old & under to be cruelly murdered, 
Mat. 2.  in hope thereby to put the true Messiah and saviour of the world to death. For which deed accompanied with many other strange cruelties: 
This example belongeth also (in regard of cruelty) to the sixth commandment. Lib. 2. cap. 11.17. Book of the jewish antiquity. chap. 8  as by killing the ordinary judges of the house of David, and his own wife and children, this caitiff was tormented with sundry intolerable griefs: and at last devoured by an horrible and most fearful death. For (as josephus reporteth) his body was boiled, and his bowels gnawn in two by a soft and slow fire fretting inwardly without any outward appearance of heat: besides the ravenous & insatiable desire of eating, which so possessed him, that without chewing, his meat in whole lumps descended into his body, devouring it so fast as it could be thrown into his mouth, and never ceasing to farce his greedy throat with continual sustenance: moreover, his feet were so swollen and puffed up with such a phlegm, that a man might see through them: his privy parts so rotten and full of vermin, and his breath so stinking, that few or none durst approach near unto him: yea his own servants forsook him. Now lying in this wretched plight, when this wicked man saw no remedy could be found to assuage his grief, he went about to kill himself, and being not able to perform it, he was constrained to endure all the pangs of a most horrible, lingering, and languishing death, and at last mad and miserable distraught of sense and reason to end his days.  
As for Herod the Tetrarch, 
Luke. 9, 7.  surnamed Antipas (who to please Herodias had caused john Baptist to be beheaded) when he had likewise prepared snares for our saviours feet, and being sent to him by Pilate to quit himself and gratify him withal, had jested and mocked at him his belly full, 
This example in regard of divorce belongeth to the seveth commandment. Lib. 2. cap. 29. joseph of the jewish antiquity, book, 8. chap. 9  behold his reproaches and mocks (was he never so subtle) turned into his own bosom: For first after that his army had been discomfited by the soldiers of king Aretas, whose daughter (in regard of Herodias his brother Philip's wife) he had repudiated: a further shame and dishonour befell him, even to be deprived of his royal dignity: and not only to be brought into a low and base estate, but also being rob of his goods, to be banished into a far country, & there to make an end of the rest of his life.  
As touching Pilate the governor of judea he did so excel in wickedness and injustice, 
Euseb.  that notwithstanding the restraint of his own conscience, the law of civil equity, and the advertisement of his own wife; yet he condemned Christ jesus the just and innocent to the death of the cross: albeit he could not but know the power of his miracles, the renown whereof was spread into all places. But ere long having been constrained to erect the image of the Emperor Caligula in the Temple of jerusalem to be worshipped, he was sent for to make personal appearance at Rome, to answer to certain accusations of cruelty which were by the jews objected against him: And in his journey being afflicted in conscience, 
Euseb. Eutrop. lib. 7.  with the number and weight of his misdeeds, like a desperate man to prevent the punishment which he feared, willingly offered violence to his own life and killed himself. The first Emperor that took in hand to persecute the Christians, was Nero the tyrant: picking a quarrel against them for setting the city on fire, 
Tertul. Nicephor. 8. Commandment. calumniation. Lib. 2. cap. 44.  which being himself guilty of, he charged them withal as desirous to find out any occasion to do them hurt: wherefore under pretence of the same crime, discharinging his own guilt upon their backs, he exposed them to the fury of the people, that tormented them very sore, as if they had been common burners & destroyers of cities, & the deadliest enemies of mankind: 
Tacit. Annal. Lib. 5.  Hereupon the poor innocents were apprehended, & some of them clad with skins of wild beasts, were torn in pieces by dogs; others crucified, or made bonfires of on such heaps, that the flame arising from their bodies, served in stead of torches for the night. To conclude, such horrible cruelty was used towards them, that many of their very enemies did pity their miseries. But at last this wretch the causer of all, seeing himself in danger to be murdered by one appointed for that purpose, (a just reward for his horrible & unjust dealing) hastened his death by killing himself, 
Suet. Refer this also to the 24 chap. of this book. Suet. Eutrop.  as it shallbe showed more at large in the 2. book.  
The author of the second persecution against the Christians was Domitian, who was so puffed up and swollen with pride, that he would needs ascribe unto himself the name of God. Against this man rose up his household servants, who by his wives consent slew him with daggers, in his privy chamber: his body was buried without honour, his memory cursed to posterity, & his ensigns & trophies thrown down & defaced. trajan, who albeit in all things else, & in the government of the Empire also, showed himself a good & sage Prince; yet did he dash & bruise himself against this stone with the rest, & was reckoned the third persecutor of the church of Christ: for which cause he underwent also the cruel vengeance of God, & felt his heavy hand upon him: for first he fell into a palsy, 
Dion.  & when he had lost the use of his senses, (persuading himself that he was poisoned) got a dropsy also, and so died in great anguish.  
Hadrian in the 9 year of his Empire caused ten thousand Christians to be crucified in Armenia at one time; & after that ceased not to stir up a very hot persecution against them in all places: 
Mandate. 7. Liq. 2. cap. 12. Sparta.  But God persecuted him & that to his destruction: first with an issue of blood wherewith he was so weakened & disquieted, that oftentimes he would feign have made away himself: next with the consumption of the lungs & lights which he spate out of his mouth continaully: and thirdly with an insatiable dropsy: so that seeing himself in this horrible torment, he desired poison to hasten his death, or a knife to make quick riddance: but when all those means were kept back, he was enforced to endure still, & at last to die in great misery.  
Whilst Marcus Antonius surnamed Verus, swayed the Empire, there were exceeding cruelties set abroach against the poor Christians every where, but especially at Lions and Vienna in Dauphin (as Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical history recordeth: 
Euseb. Sparta. ) Wherefore he wanted not his punishment, for he died of an apoplexy after he had lain speechless three days.  
After that Severus had proclaimed himself a professed enemy to God's church, his affairs began to decline, and he found himself pestered with diverse extremities, and set upon with many wars: and at length assaulted with such an extreme pain throughout his whole body, that languishing and consuming, he desired oft to poison himself: and at last died in great distress. Vitellius Saturninus, one of his lieutenants in those exploits, became blind: 
Tert. as Scap.  another called Claudius Herminianus governor of Capadocia, who in hatred of his own wife that was a Christian, had extremely afflicted many of the faithful: was afterward himself afflicted with the pestilence, persecuted with vermin bred in his own bowels, and devoured of them alive in most miserable sort. Now lying in this misery, he desired not to be known or spoken of by any, lest the Christians that were left unmurthered, should rejoice at his destruction, confessing also that those plagues did justly betide him for his cruelties sake.  
Decius in hatred of Philip his predecessor that had made some profession of Christianity, wrought tooth and nail to destroy the church of Christ, using all the cruelties and torments which his wit could devise, against all those which before time had offered themselves to be persecuted for that cause. But his devilish practices were cut short by means of the war which he waged against the Scythians: 
Euseb. book 7. chap. 1. Ecclesi. hist.  wherein when he had reigned not full two years, his army was discomfited, and he with his son cruelly killed.  
Valerian albeit in the beginning of his Empire, he showed himself somewhat mild and gentle towards the professors of religion, yet afterwards he became their deadly enemy: but when he had terribly persecuted them in his dominions, it was not long ere he was taken prisoner in the Persian wars, being threescore and ten years old, and made a slave to his conqueror all the rest of his life: 
In the sermon of the congregation of saints. Euseb. histor. ecclesiast. book 7. chap. 30.  And whose condition was so miserable, that Sapor king of Persia, used his back as a block or stirrup to mount upon his horse. Yea he dealt so cruelly with the poor old man (as Eusebius testifieth) that to make up the full number of his miseries, he caused him to be slain alive.  
Aurelian being upon point to trouble the quiet of the church, which it a while enjoyed under the Emperor Galen; even whilst he was devising new practices against it, a thunderbolt fell from heaven at his feet, which so amazed him, that his malicious and bloodthirsty mind was somewhat rebated and repressed from doing that which he pretended: until that returning to his old bent, and persevering to pursue his purpose, when God's thunder could not terrify him, 
Vepis. Eutrop. Nicephor.  he stirred up his own servants to cut his throat.  
Dioclesian went another way to work, for he did not set abroach all his practices at one push, but first assayed by subtle means to make those that were in his army to renounce their faith, then by open proclamation commanded that their churches should be razed and beaten down, 
Ruffin.  their bibles burned and torn in pieces: that they that were Magistrates, or bore any public office in the Commonwealth, if they were Christians should be deposed: and that all bondmen that would forsake their profession should be enfranchised. When he had thus left no devise unpractised that might further to abolish and destroy the religion of Christ, and perceiving that notwithstanding all his malice and cruel rage, it every day (through the wonderful constancy of Martyrs) increased and grew even against the hair, with very spite and anger he gave up the Empire. And lastly when he had been tormented with diverse and strange diseases, and that his house had been set on fire with lightning, and burned with fire from heaven, and he himself so scared with thunder, that he knew not where to hide him, he sell mad and killed himself. There was joined to this man in the government of the Empire, one Maximian, whose cruelty and tyranny against the Christians was so outrageous also, 
Mandate. 7. Lib. 2. cap. 12.  that upon a solemn festival day, when infinite numbers of them were assembled together at Nicomedia in a temple to serve God, he sent a band of Atheists to enclose them & burn the temple and them together, as they indeed did: for there were consumed at that bondfire (as Nicephorus writeth) twenty thousand persons. 
Euseb. histor. ecclesiast. 7. & 8. chap. 16. Nicephor. lib. 7. chap 6.  In like sort dealt he with a whole city in Phrigia, which after he had long besieged, he caused to be burnt to cinders with all the inhabitants therein, But the end of this wretch was like his life, even miserable: for lying a while sick of a grievous disease, the very vermin and such horrible stink came forth of his body, that for shame and grief he hung himself.  
Maximinus that reigned Emperor in the East, 
Nicephor. 7.22.  was constrained to interrupt and make cease his persecution which he had begun by means of a dangerfull and grievous sickness, and to confirm a general peace to all Christians in his dominions by public edicts. But (alas) it was so brittle that it lasted but six months: for even then he sought all means possible again to trouble and disquiet their rest, & sent forth a new edict quite contrary to the former, importing their utter destruction. And thus being nothing amended, but rather made worse by his sickness it assailed him afresh in such sort, that every day growing in extremity, as he grew in cruelty: it at last brought him to his death: his carcase being all rotten and full of corruption and worms. 
Against the Gentiles.  S. Chrisostome writeth of him that the apple of his eye fell out before he died.  
Macentius and Licinius the one Emperor of Italy, the other of the East, perceiving how the Emperor Constantine that reigned in the West, was had in great reputation, for maintaining the cause of the Christians, began also to do the like: but by and by their malice and hypocrisy discovered itself when they undertook to trouble & afflict those whom before they seemed to favour, for which cause Constantine taking arms against them, destroyed them both one after another, for Maxentius thinking to save himself upon a bridge on Tiber, was deceived by the breaking of the bridge, and so drenched and drowned in the water. Licinius was taken and put to death. And thus two tyrants ended their days for persecuting the church of Christ.  

Lanques chron.  In the tenth year of the persecution of Dioclesian, Galerius his chief minister and instrument in that practice, fell into a grievous sickness, having a sore risen in the neither part of his belly which consumed his privy members, from whence swarmed great plenty of worms, engendered by the putrefaction. This disease could not be helped by any chirurgery or physic: wherefore he confessed that it justly happened unto him for his monstrous cruelty towards the Christians, & called in his proclamations which he had published against them. Howbeit notwithstanding he died miserably, and as some write slew himself.   

CHAP. XIII. More examples of persecutors.  
SAint Bartholomew one of the twelve Apostles after he had preached Christ jesus unto the Indians, and delivered them the Gospel written by Matthew, and had converted many unto the faith: albeit the miracles which he wrought were strange and supernatural, (for he restored many diseased persons to their health, 
Hieron. in catalogo.  and cleansed king Polemius his daughter from an unclean spirit wherewith he was possessed) yet in regard that he destroyed their idol Astaroth and bewrayed the subtleties of Satan, he was by Astyages, Polemius younger brother, at the instigation of the idolatrous priests first cruelly beaten with clubs, after flaied, and last of all beheaded. But within 30 days after both the wicked king, and the sacrilegious priests were possessed with Devils and brought to a wretched and miserable death. 
Theodoret. lib. 4. chap. 26.  Aphraates that heavenly Philosopher, going out of his cloister towards the Temple to feed the flock of Christ with some wholesome food of sound doctrine, and being perceived by the Emperor Valens and demanded whether he went; he answered to pray for him and his kingdom. 
Tripartit hist. lib. 8. chap, 4. Nicephor. lib. 11. chap. 25.  I but said the Emperor it were more convenient for thee that professest thyself a Monk to remain at home in contemplation, then to stray abroad: true answered this holy man, if Christ's sheep enjoyed peace: but as it becometh an honest matron to sit still within doors, nevertheless if her house were on fire, & the flame environed her, should she not stir to help to quench it? And should I lie still and see my country set on fire by thy persecution? Whereat the Emperor being nettled, threatened him with death: and one of his chamberlains taunting him for his boldness, used him most currishly. But presently as he went to the baths to make them ready for the Emperor, the hand of God struck him with an apoplexy, that he fell down dead into the waters.  
Under the Empire of julian the Apostate, all they that either conspired or practised the death of Cyrillus a Deacon of Heliopolis situate near to Libanus, 
Theodor. lib. 3. chap. 7.  came to a miserable end: for after that Constantine was deceased, by whose authority the holy Martyr had broken down many of their Images and Idols, the abominable idolaters did not only murder him, but also devoured his liver with bread, as if it had been the sweetest morsel of meat in the world. But the all-seeing eye of God, saw their villainy, and his revengeful rod bruised them in pieces: for their teeth wherewith they chewed that unnatural food, fell all out of their heads; and their tongues wherewith they tasted it, rotten and consumed to nothing: and lastly their eyes which beheld it, failed them, and they became blind. And thus were they all served not one excepted, bearing justly the marks of God's wrath for so inhuman and unnatural a deed.  

Euseb. lib. 8. cap. 7.  At Tyre a city of Paenicia under the reign of Dioclesian, many Christians that stoutly professed and maintained the faith and teligion of Christ jesus, were after many tortures and distractions exposed to wild beasts to be devoured, as bears, leopards, wild bores, and bulls: but the savage beasts though made fierce and furious by fires and swords, yet (I know not by what secret instinct) refused once to touch them or to come near them, but turned their teen upon the infidels that were without, and came to set them on upon the saints, and tore many of them in pieces in their steads. Howbeit although they escaped the chaws of wild beasts, yet they escaped not the sword of them that were more savage than any beasts: and though the bowels of bears refused to entomb them, yet were they emtombed in the floods: and crowned with the crown of sacred martyrdom.  
Processus and Martianus, keepers of the prison wherein the Apostles Peter and Paul were enclosed at Rome, seeing the miracles which were wrought by their hands, believed in Christ, and together with seven and forty other prisoners were baptized: which when Paulinus the judge perceived, he enjoined them to lay aside their conscience, and offer sacrifice to idols: But they readier to obey God then man, 
Vincentius lib. 10. cap. 56. Petrus de natalibus.  could neither by threats nor violence be brought to it, but chose rather to be beaten with clubs or consumed with fire, or scourged with scorpions as they were, then to yield to deny their maker by doing worship to devilish and monstrous idols. But that judge the procurer of their martyrdoms, shortly after became himself an object of God's wrath: when his eye sight failed him, and an evil spirit so possessed him and tormented him, that in the extremity of terrors and grief he breathed out ere long his last and miserable breath.  
Nicephorus reporteth how the Emperor trajan having caused five holy Virgins to be burned for standing in the profession of the truth, 
Lib. 3. cap. 23.  commanded certain vessels to be made of their ashes mingled with brass, and dedicated them to the service of a public bath: but the bath that before time instilled a wholesome and heathfull vapour into men's bodies, now became pernicious and fatal to them: for all that washed themselves therein, felt presently such a giddiness in their brains, and such a dimness of sight, that they fell down dead forthwith: The cause of which mischief being perceived by trajan, he melted again the Virgin moulded vessels, and erected five statues to the honour of them, so choking as it were one superstition with another, to his own eternal infamy and disgrace.  
As Agrippus a young man of fifteen years of age, 
Bergomiensis lib. 8.  being apprehended by the inhabitants of Preneste, and grievously tormented for refusing to offer sacrifice to their idols: and when all would not serve to shake the foundation of his faith, which was builded upon a rock, he was condemned and executed to death. Behold the judge that pronounced the sentence fell down dead from his throne, before the face of the world, even whilst the young man was in the midst of his torments, and by his example made known to all men how odious such cruel persecutors are in the sight of him that judgeth the earth, and entrolleth the mighty Princes and potentates of the same.  
In the Empire of julian the Apostate, the Lord sent such horrible earthquakes upon the world, that what for the fall of houses and ruptures of fields, neither city nor country was safe to abide in; beside, such an extreme drought dried up the moisture of the earth, that victuals were very geason and dear. These plagues Theodoret avoucheth to have fallen upon the world for the impiety of julian and the miserable persecution of Christians. 
Lib. 4. cap. 4.   

Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 21. & 22.  The Emperor Gallus had good success in his affairs whilst he abstained from shedding the blood of Christians, but assoon as he gave himself over unto that villainy, his prosperity, kingdom, and life diminished and decreased at once: for within two years he and his son V●lusianus in the war against Aemilian were both slain, through the defection of his soldiers, who in the point of necessity forsook him. Beside the Lord in his time sent upon the provinces of Rome a general and contagious pestilence, which lasted whole ten years without intermission, to make satisfaction for the much innocent blood which was spilt amongst them.  

Phil. Melanct. chron. lib. 4. Sebast franc. chron. Polon.  Arnolphus the fourescorth Emperor raged like a Tiger against all men, but especially against those that professed the religion and name of Christ jesus, for which cause the Lord stirred up a woman the wife of Guido to minister unto him the dregs of his wrath in a poisoned cup, by means whereof such a rottenness possessed all his members, that louse and worms issuing out continually, he died most miserably in Orange, a city of Bauarie, the twelfth year of his reign.  

Philip Melan. chron. lib. 5.  Baiaset the Turk, to what a miserable and ludibrious end came he to, for his outrageous hatred against all Christendom, but especially against Constantinople, which he had brought to so low an ebb, that they could scarce have resisted him any longer, had not Tamerlane the Tartarian revoked him from the siege and bidden him leave to assail others and look unto his own? 
Campofulus lib. 9 cap. 5.  And indeed he welcomed him so kindly, that he soon took him prisoner, and binding him with chains of gold, carried him up and down in a cage for aspectacle, using his back for a footstool to get upon his horse by. And thus God plaugeth one Tyrant by another, and all for the comfort of his chosen.  
Gensericus king of the Vandals, 
Phil. Melan. chron. lib. 3.  exercised cruel tyranny against the professors of the truth. So did Honoricus the second also: but both of them reaped their just deserts; for Gensericus died being possessed with a spirit: And Honoricus being so rotten and putrefied that one member dropped off after another. 
Greg. Taron. lib. 2. cap. 3.  Some say that he gnew off his own flesh with his teeth.  
Autharis the twelfth King of Lombardy, 
Paulus Diaconus. lib. 3. cap. 18. de gestis L●rgo bard.  forbade children to be baptized or instructed in the Christian faith; seeking by that means to abolish and pluck down the kingdom of Christ; but he reigned not long, for ere six years were complete, he died with poison at Pavia: And so he that thought to undermine Christ jesus, was undermined himself most deservedly in the year of our Lord. 592.  
When Arcadius the Emperor through the persuasion of certain envious fellows and his wife Endoxia, 
Euagriur. lib. 5. cap. 34.  had banished john Chrisostome bishop of Constantinople into Bosphorus; the next night there arose such a terrible earthquake, that the Empress and the whole City was sore affrighted therewith, so that the next morrow messengers after messengers were sent without ceasing till they had brought him back again out of exile, 
Mandate. 9 Calumniation. lib. 2. cap. 44.  and his accusers were all punished for their wrongful accusation. Thus it pleased God to testify the innocency of his servant even by terrifying his enemies.  
Smaragdus an exarch of Italy, was transported by a Devil for tyrannising over Christians in the first year of the Empire of Mauritius. 
Paul. Diacon. lib 3. cap. 12. de gestis Longab. Cent. 6. cap. 3. Anton. lib. 15. cap. 15.  Mamucha a Sarasen being equal to Pharaoh in persecuting the church of God, God made him equal to him also in the manner of his destruction: for as he returned from the spoil of the monastery of Cassime and Messana and the slaughter of many Christians, the Lord caused the sea to swallow up his whole army even an hundred ships, 
Paul. Diacon. lib. 21.  so that few or none escaped. Another time even in the year 719 they were miraculously consumed with famine, sword, pestilence, water, and captivity, and all for their infestious rancour and tyranny towards Christians, for whom the famine spared, the sword devoured, whom both these touched not, the pestilence eat up: and they that escaped all three, yet perished in the waters: and ten ships that escaped the waters were taken by the Romans and the Syrians: surely an egregious sign of God's heavy wrath and displeasure. To conclude, there was never any that set themselves against the church of God, but God set himself against them by some notable judgement: so that some were murdered by their subjects, as Bluso king of the Vandals: others by their enemies, as Vdo Prince of Sclavonia: some by their wives, 
Helmold. cap. 24. Sclauon. & cap. 34.  as Cruco another Sclavonian Prince: others discomfited in war, as Abbas the king of Hungaria: some destroyed by their own horses, 
Bonfinus.  as Lucius the Emperor; who had first put his own daughter because she was a Christian, amongst the same horses. And generally few persecutors escaped without some evident and markable destruction.   

CHAP. XIIII. Of the jews that persecuted Christ.  
BY how much the offence of the jews was more heinous not only in despising and rejecting the Lord of glory, whom God had sent amongst them for their salvation, but also in being so wicked as to put him to death: by so much the more hath God shed his fearful indignation upon them: as at many other times, so especially, by that great calamity and desolation which they abode at their last destruction, begun by Vespasian, and perfected by Titus: which was so great and lamentable, as the like was never heard of until this day: for if the sacking and overthrow of jerusalem, then when jeremy the Prophet made his book of Lamentations over it, was reputed more grievous than the subversion of Sodom which perished suddenly: How much more than is this last destruction without all comparison, by reason of those horrible & strange miseries, which were there both suddenly and in continuance of time committed? Neither truly is there any history which containeth a description of so many miseries as this doth: as it may appear by josephus record of it. For after that they had been afflicted in divers countries, and tossed up and down by the deputies a long while, there were slain at Caesarea in one day, twenty thousand: at Alexandria another time, fifty thousand: at Zabulon and joppes, eight thousand and four hundred, besides the burning of the two towns: at Damascus ten thousand that had their throats cut. As for jerusalem, when it had a long time endured the brunt of the war both within and without, it was pinched with so sore a famine, 
joseph. of the wars of the jews, lib. 2. cap. 19, 21, 22, 23. Lib. 6. cap. 16. Lib. 7. cap. 7.8. Lib. 6. c. 16.  that the dung of oxen served some for meat: others fed upon the leather of old shoes and buckles: and divers women were driven to the extremity to boil and eat their own children: Many thinking to save their lives by flying to the enemy, were taken and slit in pieces, in hope to find gold and silver in their guts: in one night two thousand were thus piteously dealt withal: and at last the whole city was by force taken, and the holy Temple consumed by fire. And this in general was the miserable issue of that lamentable war: during which, fourscore and seventeen thousand jews were taken prisoners, and eleven hundred thousand slain: for within the city were enclosed from the beginning to the ending all those that were assembled together from all quarters of the earth, to keep the Passeover as their custom was. As touching the prisoners, some were carried to Rome in triumph: others were here and there massacred at their conquerors wills: sums lot it was to be torn in pieces and devoured of wild beasts: others were constrained to march in troops against their fellows, and kill one another as if they had been enemies. All which evils came upon them for the despite and fury which they used towards the Son of God and our Saviour: and that was the cause why he foreseeing this desolation, wept over jerusalem and said, That it should be besieged on every side, and razed to the ground, and that not one stone should be left upon another, because it knew not the time of her visitation. Likewise said he to the women that bewailed him as he was led to the cross, That they should not weep for him, but for themselves and their children, because of the days of sorrow which were to come, wherein the barren and those that had no children, & the dugs that never suckled should be counted happy. So horrible and pitiful was the destruction of this people, that God would not suffer any of his own children to be wrapped in their miseries, nor to perish with this perverse and unbelieving nation: for (as Eusebius reporteth) they were a little before the arrival of these mischiefs advertised from heaven by the especial providence of God to forsake the city, and retire into some far country where none of these evils might come near them. 
This example belongeth also to the contempt of the word, Lib. 1. cap. 34.  The relics of this wretched people that remained after this mighty tempest of God's wrath, were dispersed and scattered throughout all nations under heaven, being subject to them with whom they sojourned, without king, prince, judge, or magistrate to lead and guide them, or to redress their wrongs; but were altogether at the discretion and commandment of the lords of those countries wherein they made their abode: so that their condition and kind of life is at this day so vile and contemptible (as experience showeth) that no nation in the world is half so miserable, which is a manifest badge of God's vengeance yet abiding upon them.  
And yet for all this, these dispersed relics ceased not to vomit out the foam of their malice against Christ, it being so deep rooted an evil, and so inveterate, that time nor reason could revoke them from it. And no marvel, seeing that God useth to punish the greatest sins with other sins as with the greatest punishment: so they having shut their eyes to the light when it shined among them, are now given over to a reprobate and hardened sense: otherwise it were not possible they should remain so obstinate. And albeit (God be thanked) we have many converts of them, yet I dare say for the most part they remain in malicious blindness, barking against & despiting both our saviour himself & all that profess his name, although their punishments have been still according to their deserts: as by these examples following shall appear.  
The jews of Inmester a town lying betwixt Calchis & Antioch, being upon a time celebrating their accustomed plays and feasts, in the midst of their jollity, as their use is, they contumeliously reviled not only Christians, but even Christ himself: for they got a Christian child and hung him upon a cross, and after many mocks & taunts, making themselves merry at him, they whipped him to death. What greater villainy could there be then this? or wherein could these devils incarnate, show forth their malice more apparently, then thus, not content once to have crucified Christ the Saviour of the world, but by imitation to perform it again, and as it were to make known, that if it were undone, they would do it? So also handled they a boy called Simeon, of two years and an half old in the year of our Lord 1476, 
job Fincel. lib. 3  & another in Fretulium five years after that. But above all, they massacred a poor carpenters son in Hungary in hatred of Christ, whom they falsely supposed to be a carpenters son: for they cut in two all his veins, & sucked out his blood with quills. And being apprehended and tortured, they confessed that they had done the like at Thirna, 4 years before; & that they could not be without Christian blood, for therewithal they anointed their priests. But at all these times they suffered just punishment, for being still taken, they were either hanged, burned, murdered, or put to some other cruel death, at the discretion of the magistrates. Moreover, they would at divers times buy the holy host of some popish priest, and thrust it through with their knives, and use it most despitefully: this did one Eleazarus in the year of our Lord 1492, the 22 of October, but was burnt for his labour: And eight and thirty at another time for the same villainy, by the marquess joachinus: for the caitiffs' would suffer themselves to be baptised for none other end, but more securely to exercise their villainies.  

Casp. Hedius lib. 3. cap. 6.  Another jew is recorded in the year of our Lord 147 to have stolen the picture of Christ out of a Church, and to have thrust it through many times with his sword, whereout when blood miraculously issued, he amazed, would have burned it, but being taken in the manner, the Christians stoned him to death. The truth of which story, though I will not stand to avow, yet I doubt not but it might be true, considering that either the devil might by his cunning so foster and confirm their superstition: or rather that seeing Christ is the subject of their religion as well as of ours, though after a corrupt and sacrilegious form, and that the jew did not so much aim at their religion, as at Christ the subject of it, the Lord might show a miracle, not to establish their error, but to confound the jews impiety, especially in those young years of the Church.  
But that their impiety may be yet more discovered, I will here set down the confession of one of their own nation, a jew of Ratisbone, converted to the faith, one very skilful in the Hebrew tongue: This man being asked many questions about their superstition and ceremonies, answered very fitly: and being demanded why they thirsted so after Christian men's blood, he said it was a mystery only known to the Rabbins and highest persons: but that this was their custom he knew, when any of them was ready to die, a rabbin anointed him with this blood, using these or such like words: If he that was promised in the law and prophets hath truly appeared, and if this jesus crucified be the very Messiah: then let the blood of this innocent man that died in his faith cleanse thee from thy sins, and help thee to eternal life: Nay Epiphanius affirmeth, that the jews of Tiberias did more confidently affirm it then thus: for they would whisper into a dying man's ear, Believe in jesus of Nazareth whom our princes crucified, for he shall come to judge thee in the latter day: all which declareth how impious they are to go against their own conscience, and upon how fickle ground all their religion standeth.   

CHAP. XV. Of those that in our age have persecuted the Gospel in the person of the faithful.  
AS the religion of Christ hath been hitherto cruelly crossed and besieged by the mightiest captains of this world (as hath been partly declared) so it hath not been any better entertained by the potentates of this age, that ceased not to disturb the quiet and pursue to death the lives of God's children for their professions sake, and to bring them utterly to ruin: to address all the engines and subtleties of their malicious and wicked counsels, without leaving any one devise unthought of that their wit could imagine, or their power afford: they joined craft with force, and vile treason with horrible cruelty, thereby to suppress the truth & quench that fair & clear light, which God after long time of blindness and ignorance had caused of his infinite mercy to shine upon us. Their fires were kindled every where with the bones of Martyrs, whilst for the space of fottie years or thereabouts they never ceased to burn those that were followers of that way. Now when they saw that all their butcheries and burnings were not able to consume this holy seed, but that the more they went about to choke it, the more it grew up and increased: they took another course, and raised up troubles and seditions in all quarters, as if by that means they should attain the end of their purpose. Hell vomited up all her furies of war, the whole earth was in a tumult, young and old with tooth and nail were employed to root out the Church of Christ: but God stretching forth his arm against all their practices, showed himself not only a conqueror, but also a most sharp revenger of all his adversaries. This is most apparent in that which happened to Thomas Arondell an English man, 
History of Martyrs first book.  Archbishop of Canterbury, an enemy and persecutor of the truth of Christ, who having put to death divers holy and upright men, thinking that all he did was gain, was rooted out at last himself by a most strange and horrible death: for he that sought to stop the mouth of God in his ministers, and to hinder the passage of his Gospel, had his tongue so swollen that it stopped his own mouth, that before his death he could neither swallow nor speak, and so through famine died in great despair.  
Foelix Eearle of Wartemberg one of the captains of the Emperor Charles the fift, 
Illiricus.  being at supper at Ausbourg with many of his companions, where threats were blown out on every side against the faithful, swore before them all, that before he died he would ride up to his spurs in the blood of the Lutherans. But it happened in the same night that the hand of God so struck him, that he was strangled and choked with his own blood: and so he road not, but bathed himself, not up to the spurs, but up to the throat, not in the blood of the Lutherans, but in his own blood before he died.  
In the reign of Francis de Valois of late memory, the first king of France of that name, those men that showed themselves frowardest, sharpest, and most cruel in burning and murdering the holy martyrs; were also forwardest examples of the vengeance of God prepared for all such as they are. For proof whereof, the miserable end of john de Roma, a monk of the order of the white Friars may serve, who although in regard of his hood and habit ought not to be placed in the number of men of note, yet by reason of the notable example of God's vengeance upon him, we may rightly place him in this rank. This man therefore (at that time when the Christians of Cabrier and Merindol began to suffer persecution) having obtained a commission from the bishop of Province and the ambassador of avignon to make inquisition after and seize upon the bodies of all them that were called Lutherans, ceased not to afflict them with the cruelest torments he could devise: Among many of his tortures this was one; to cause their boots to be filled with boiling grease, and then fastening them overthwart wise over a bench their legs hanging over a gentle fire, to seethe them to death. The French king advertised of this his cruelty, sent out his letters patents from the parliament of Province charging that the said ●ohn de Roma should be apprehended, imprisoned, and by process of law condemned: which news when the caitiff heard, he fled back as fast as he could troth to Avignon, there purposing to recreate and delight himself with the excrements of his oppression and robbery which he had wrong out of the purses of poor people: but see how contrary to his hope it fell out: for first he was rob of his evil gotten goods by his own servants, and presently upon the same fell sick of so horrible and strange a disease, that no salve or medicine could be found to assuage his pain: and beside it was withal so loathsome, that a man could not endure his company for the stink and corruption which issued from him. For which cause the white Friars (his cloisterers) conveyed him out of their covent into the hospital, where increasing in ulcers and vermin, and being become now odious not only to others but to himself also, he would often cry either to be delivered from his noisomeness, or to be slain, being desirous but not able to perform the deed upon himself. And thus in horrible torments and fearful despair, he most miserably died. Now being dead, there was none found that would give sepulture to his rotten carcase, had not a monk of the same order dragged the carrion into a ditch, which he provided for the purpose.  
The lord of Reuest who a while supplied the place of the chief precedent in the parliament of Province, by whose means many of the faithful were put to death, after he was put beside his office, and returned home unto his own house, was attached with so grievous a sickness, and such furious and mad fits withal, that his wife and nearest allies not daring to come near him, he like a frantic bedlam enraged, and solitarily ended his life.  
A counsellor of the same court called Bell●m●nt, was so hot and zealous in proceeding against the poor prisoners for the word of God's sake, that to the end to pack them soon to the fire, he usually departed not from the judgement hall from morning to evening, but caused his meat and drink to be brought for his meals, returning not home but only at night to take his rest. But whilst he thus strongly and endeavourously employed himself about these affairs, there began a little sore to rise upon his foot, which at the first being no bigger than if a wasp had stung the place, grew quickly so red and full of pain, and so increased the first day by rankling over all his foot, and inflaming the same, that by the judgement of Physicians and Chirurgeons, through the contagious fire that spread itself over his whole body, it seemed incurable, except by cutting off his foot the other members of the body might be preserved: which he in no case willing to yield unto, for all the medicines that were applied unto it, found the second day his whole leg infected, and the third his whole thigh, and the fourth day his whole body: in so much that he died the same day, his dead body being all parched, as if it had been roasted by a fire. And thus he that was so hot in burning poor Christians, was himself by a secret flame of God's wrath, as by slow and soft fire, burned and consumed to death.  
Lewes de Vain brother in law to Menier the precedent of the said parliament of Province, 
History of Martyrs second book.  with the brother and son of Peter Durand, chief butcher of the city Aix, the evening before their horrible cruelty was executed at Merindoll, fell at debate amongst themselves, and the morrow as instruments of God's judgements, slew one another.  
The judge of the city Aix (one of that wretched crew) drowned himself in his return, 
The same.  as he passed over the river Durance.  
As for the chief judge that was principal in that murderous action, 
The same.  touching the condemnation of those poor souls of Merindoll and Cabrieres, he likewise suddenly died before he saw the execution of that decree which himself had said down.  
john Mesnier lord of Oppede another chief officer of the foresaid parliament, that got the leading of that murdering army against the poor Christians aforesaid, committed such excess of cruelty, that the most barbarous heathen in the world would have yearned to do. For which cause he was also summoned to appear personally at the parliament of Paris, there to answer to those extortions, robberies, & oppressions, which were laid to his charge: and being convinced and found guilty thereof, was nevertheless released and set at liberty; and that which is more, restored to his former state. Howbeit though he escaped the hands of men, yet was he overtaken by the hand of God, who knew well enough the way how to entrap and abate his proud intents: for even then when he was in the height of worldly prosperity, and busier than ever, in persecuting Christians, even than was he pulled down by a flux of blood, which provoking his privy parts, engendered such a carnosity and thickness of flesh therein, and withal a restraint of urine, that with horrible ourcries and raving speeches he died: feeling a burning fire broiling his entrails from his navel upwards, and an extreme infection putrefying his lower parts: and beginning to feel in this life both in body and soul, the rigour of eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.  
john Martin Trombant of Briqueras in Piedmont, vaunting himself every foot in the hindrance of the Gospel, cut off a ministers nose of Angrogne in his bravery, 
2 Books of martyrs.  but immediately after was himself assailed by a mad wolf that gnawed off his nose as he had done the ministers and caused him like a mad man to end his life: which strange judgement was notoriously known to all the country thereabout: and beside, it was never heard that this wolf had ever harmed any man before, Gaspard of Renia●me, one of the magistrates of the city of Anuers that adjudged to death certain poor faithful souls, received in the same place ere he removed, a terrible sentence of God's judgement against himself; for he fell desperate immediately, and was feign to be led into his house half beside himself, where crying that he had condemned the innocent blood, he forthwith died.   

CHAP. XVI. Other Examples of the same subject.  
ABout the same time, there happened a very strange judgement upon an ancient lawyer of Bourges, one john Cranequin, a man of ripe wit natural, and a great practitioner in his profession, but very ignorant in the law of God, and all good literature, & so enviously bend against all those that knew more than himself, and that abstained from the filthy pollutions of popery, that he served in stead of a promootour, to inform Ory the inquisitor, of them: but for his labour, the arm of God struck him with a marvelous strange frenzy, that whatsoever his eyes beheld, seemed in his judgement to be crawling serpents: In such sort, that after he had in vain experienced all kind of medicines, yea, and used the help of wicked sorcery and conjuration, yet at length his senses were quite benumbed and deprived him, and in that wretched and miserable estate, he ended his life.  
john Morin, a mighty enemy to the professors of God's truth, one that laboured continually at Paris in apprehending and accusing the faithful, in so much that he sent daily, multitudes that appealed from him to the high court of the palace, died himself in most grievous and horrible torment. The Chancellor of Prat, he that in the Parliaments of France, put up the first bill against the faithful, and gave out the first commissions to put them to death, died swearing and blaspheming the name of God, his stomach being most strangely gnawn in pieces, and consumed with worms.  
The Chancellor Oliver, being restored to his former estate, 
Refer this among apostara's. Lib. 1. cap. 18.  having first (against his conscience) renounced his religion: so also now (the same conscience of his, checking and reclaiming) he spared not to shed much innocent blood, by condemning them to death. But such a fearful judgement was denounced against him (by the very mouths of the guiltless condemned souls) that struck him into such a fear and terror, that presently he fell sick, surprised with so extreme a melancholy, that sobbing forth sighs without intermission, and murmurings against God, he so afflicted his half dead body, like a man robbed and dispossessed of sense and reason, that with his vehement fits he would so shake the bed, as if a young man in the prime of his years with all his strength had assayed to do it. And when a certain Cardinal came to visit him in this extremity, he could not abide his sight, his pains increasing thereby: but cried out assoon as he perceived him departed, that it was the Cardinal that brought them all to damnation. When he had been thus a long time tormented, at last in extreme anguish and fear, he died.  

Sleidan. lib. 9  Sir Thomas More, L. Chancellor of England, a sworn enemy to the Gospel, and a professed persecutor by fire and sword of all the faithful, as if thereby he would grow famous and get renown, caused to be erected a sumptuous sepulchre, and thereby (to eternize the memory of his profane cruelty) to be engraven the commendation of his worthy deeds: amongst which the principal was, that he had persecuted with all his might the Lutherens', that is, the faithful: but it fell out contrary to his hope, for being accused, convicted, and condemned of high treason, his head was taken from him, and his body found no other sepulchre to lie in, but the gibbet.  
Cardinal Croscentius, the Pope's ambassador to the Council of Trent, in the year of our Lord 1552, being very busy in writing to his master the Pope, and having laboured all one night about his letters; behold as he raised himself in his chair to stir up his wit and memory, overdulled with watching, a huge black dog with great flaming eyes and long ears dangling to the ground, appeared unto him; which coming into his chamber, and making right towards him, even under the table where he sat, vanished out of his sight: whereat he amazed & a while senseless, recovering himself, called for a candle, & when he saw the dog could not be found, he fell presently sick with a strong conceit, which never left him till his death: ever crying that they would drive away the black dog which seemed to climb upon his bed: and in that humour he died.  

27 book of his histories.  Albertus' Pighius, a great enemy of the truth also (in so much that Paulus iovius calleth him the Lutherans scourge) being at Bologne at the coronation of the Emperor upon a scaffold to behold the pomp and glory of the solemnisation, the scaffold bursting with the weight of the multitude, he tumbled headlong amongst the guard that stood below upon the points of their halberds, piercing his body clean through, the rest of his company escaping without any great hurt: for though the number of them which fell with the scaffold was great, yet very few found themselves hurt thereby, save only this honourable Pighius that found his death's wound, and lost his heart's blood, as hath been showed.  
Poncher, 
2. Book of martyrs. The burning chamber was a court in France, which adjudged the Christians to be burned.  Archbishop of Tours pursuing the execution of the burning chamber, was himself surprised with a fire from God, which beginning at his heel, could never be quenched, till member after member being cut off, he died miserably.  
An Augustine friar named Lambert, doctor and Prior in the city of Liege, one of the troup of cruel inquisitors for religion, whilst he was preaching one day with open mouth against the faithful, was cut short of a sudden in the midst of his sermon, being bereaved of sense and speech, in so much that he was feign to be carried out of the pulpit to his cloister in a chair, and a few days after, was found drowned in a ditch.  
In the year of our Lord 1527, there was one George Hala a Saxon, minister of the word and sacraments, 
Luther.  and a stout professor of the reformed religion, who being for that cause sent for to appear before the Archbishop of Mentz at Aschaffenburge, was handled on this fashion: they took away his own horse, and set him upon the Archbishop's fools horse, and so sent him back homewards, conducted by one appointed for the purpose, who not suffering him to ride the common and beaten way, but leading him a new course through by and uncouth paths, brought him into an ambush of thieves placed there by the bishop's appointment, who set upon him and murdered him at once; but it is notoriously known, that not one of that wicked rabble came to a good end, but were consumed one after another.  
In a city of Scotland called Fanum janius, the chief mart town of that country, four of the chiefest citizens were accused by a monk before the Cardinal, for interrupting him in a sermon, and by him condemned to be hanged like heretics, when no other crime could be laid to their charge, 
History of martyrs, part. 7.  save that they desired the monk to tie himself to his text, and not to rove up and down as he did, without any certain scope or application of matter. Now as they went to execution, their wives fell down at the Cardinal's feet, beseeching and entreating pardon for their husband's lives: which he was so far from granting, that he accused them also of heresy: and especially one of them (whose name was Helen) for he caused her young infant to be pulled out of her arms, and her to be put to death with her husband, for speaking certain words against the virgin Mary, which by no testimonies could be proved against her. Which doom the godly woman taking cheerfully, and desiring to hang by her husband's side, they would not do her that last favour, but drowned her in a river running by, that it might truly be said, that no jot of mercy or compassion remained in them. But ere long the cruel Cardinal found as little savour at another butcher's hands that slew him in his chamber when he dreamt of nothing less, and in his Cardinal's robes hanged him over the wall to the view of men. And thus God revenged the death of those innocents, whose bloods never ceased crying for vengeance against their murder, until he had justly punished him in the same kind, and after the same fashion which he had dealt with them.  

Theatrum historicum.  Thomas Blaver, one of the privy counsellors of the king of Scots, was a sore persecutor of the faithful in that land: for which cause, lying on his death bed, he fell into despair, and said he was damned, 
Refer this also to hypocrisy, Lib. 1. cap. 22.  and a castaway: and when the monks came about him to comfort him, he cried out upon them, saying, that their Masses and other trash would do him no good; for he never believed them: but all that he did was for love of lucre, & not of religion, not respecting or believing there was either a God or a devil, or a hell or a heaven, and therefore he was damned, there was no remedy. And in this miserable case without any sign of repentance, he died.  
But let us come to our homebred English stories, and consider the judgements of God upon the persecutors of Christ's Gospel in Queen Mary's time: And first to begin with Steven Gardiner, who was one of the grand butchers in this land, what a miserable end came he unto? Even the same day that B. Ridley, and M. Latimer were burnt at Oxford; he hearing news thereof, rejoiced greatly: and being at dinner, eat his meat merrily. 
Acts and Monuments, pag. 1788.  But ere he had eaten many bits, the sudden stroke of God's terrible hand fell upon him, in such sort, that immediately he was taken from the board, and brought to his bed, where he continued fifteen days in intolerable anguish, by reason he could not expel his urine, so that his body being miserably inflamed within (who had inflamed so many godly martyrs) was brought to a wretched end, with his tongue all black and swollen, hanging out of his mouth most horribly: a spectacle worthy to be beholden of all such bloody burning persecutors. Bonner, 
Pag. 2114.  bishop of London, another archbutcher, though he lived long after this man, and died also in his bed; yet was it so provided of God, that as he had been a persecutor of the light, and a child of darkness, so his carcase was tumbled into the earth in obscure darkness at midnight, contrary to the order of all other Christians: and as he had been a most cruel murderer, so was he buried among thieves and murderers; a place by God's judgement rightly appointed for him. 
2099.   
Morgan bishop of S. David's sitting upon the condemnation of the blessed martyr, bishop Farrar, whose room he unjustly usurped, was not long after stricken by God's hand, after such a strange sort, that his meat would not go down, but rise and pick up again, sometime at his mouth, sometime blown out of his nose, most horrible to behold, and so continued to his death: Where note moreover, that when master Leyson (being then sheriff at bishop Farrars burning) had fetched away the cattle of the said bishop, from his servants house into his own custody, divers of them would never eat meat, but lay bellowing and roaring, and so died.  
Bishop Thornton Suffragan of Dover, another grand persecutor, coming upon a Saturday from the chapter house at Canterbury, and there upon the Sunday following looking upon his men playing at bowls, fell suddenly into a palsy, and died shortly after. But he that will read more hereof, I refer him to the latter end of the Acts and Monuments of the English Church, where he shall find a whole catalogue of such like histories.  
The overthrow of many mighty ones in our age serve for a looking glass to represent the high exploits of the wonderful judgements which the king of kings hath sent upon those that have in any place or country whatsoever resisted and strove against his truth: whereof some after great victories, which their singular dexterity and worldly wisdom in the managing of their affairs have achieved, by a perverse and overthwart end contrary to their former prosperity, have darkened and obscured the renown and glory of all their brave deeds, their good report dying with their bodies, and their credit impaired and buried with them in their graves: Others in like manner having addressed all their forces, laid their battery, and placed all their pieces and canons against the walls of Zion, and thinking to blow it up and consume it to ashes, have made many breaches into the sides thereof, yea they have so bend all their strength against it, and afflicted it with such outrageous cruelty, and unmerciful effusion of blood, that it is pitiful and lamentable to remember: howbeit after all their policies and practices, their courage hath been at length abated, and themselves raked one after another out of this world, with manifest marks of the just vengeance of God upon them. For though it may seem for a time that God sleepeth, and regardeth not the wrongs and oppressions of his servants, yet he never faileth to carry a watchful eye upon them, and in his fittest time to revenge himself upon their enemies.  
Along the verdant fields all richly died  
With nature's paintments, and with Flora's pride:  
Whose goodly bounds are lively crystal streams  
Begirt with bowers to keep back Phoebus' beams,  
Even when the quenchless torch, the world's great eye,  
Advanced his rays orethwartly from the sky,  
And by his power of heavenly influence,  
Revived the seeds of springs decayed essence:  
Then many flocks unite in peace and love,  
Not seeking ought but natural behove,  
Past quietly uncharged with other care,  
Save of their feed within that pasture fair.  
These flocks a shepherd had (of power and skill)  
To fold and feed and save them from all ill:  
By whose advise they lived: whose wholesome voice  
They heard, and feared with love, and did rejoice  
Therein, with melody of song and praise,  
And dance, to magnify his name always.  
He is their guide, they are his flock and fold,  
Nor will they be by any else controlled:  
Well knowing that whom he takes care to feed,  
He will preserve and save in time of need.  
Thus lived this holy flock at hearts content,  
Till cruel beasts all set on ravishment,  
Broke off their peace, and ran upon with rage  
Themselves, their young, and all their heritage:  
Slitting their throats, devouring lambs and all,  
And dissipating them that scaped their thrall.  
Then did this jolly feast, to fast transform,  
(So asked the fury of that rageful storm)  
Their joyful song was turned to mournful cries,  
And all their gladness changed to welladaies.  
Whereat heaven grieving, clad itself in black:  
But earth in uproar, triumphed at their wrack.  
What profits then the sheephook of their guide?  
Or that he lies upon a beacons side  
With watchful eye to circumscribe their train,  
And hath no more regard unto their pain?  
To save them from such dangers imminent  
(Say some) as are so often incident.  
'tis not for that his arm wants strength to break  
All proud attempts, that men of might do make,  
Or that he will abandon unto death  
His own, dear bought with exchange of his breath:  
Nor must we think that though they die they perish:  
Death dies in them, and they in death reflorish:  
And this lives loss, a better life renews,  
Which after death eternally ensues.  
Though then their passions never seem so great:  
Yet never comfort wants to suage their heat:  
Though strength of torments be extreme, in durance,  
Yet are they quenched, by hopes and faiths assurance.  
For thankful hope, if God be grounded in it,  
Assures the heart and pacifies the spirit.  
To them that love and reverence his name,  
Prosperity betides and want of shame.  
Thus can no tyrant pull them from the hands  
Of mighty God, that for their safety stands.  
Who ever sees, and ever can defend  
Them whom he loves, he loves unto the end:  
So that the more their fury over floweth,  
The more each one his own destruction soweth.  
And as they strive with God in policy;  
So are they sooner brought to misery.  
Like as the savage bore disloged from den,  
And hotly chased by pursuit of men,  
Runs furiously on them that come him near,  
And gores himself upon the hunter's spear.  
The gentle puissant lamb, their champion bold,  
So helps to conquer all that hurts his fold,  
That quickly they and all their progeny,  
Confounded is and brought to misery.  
This is of juda the courageous Lion  
The conquering captain, and the rock of Zion,  
Whose favour is as great to jacobs' line:  
As is his fearful frwone to Philistine.   

CHAP. XVII. Of Apostates and Backsliders, that through infirmity and fear have fallen away.  
IT is a kind of Apostasy and Backsliding condemned by this first commandment of the law, when as he that hath been once enlightened by the word of God in the knowledge of salvation, and nourished & instructed therein from his cradle, doth afterward cast behind his back the grace of God's spirit, or disallow thereof, & exempt himself from the service of God, to serve idols, or make any outward show to do it: which kind of sin may be committed after two sorts; either through infirmity and fear, or willingly and with deliberation: when not being pressed or constrained thereto by any outward means, a man doth clearly and of himself abandon and forsake the true Religion, to march under the banner of ●●than and Antichrist: and this also of two sorts: either when a man doth simply forsake the profession of the truth, to follow superstition and idolatry, without attempting any thing beside the mere denial of his faith; or when after his revolt he professeth not only the contrary religion, but also endeavoureth himself by all means possible to advance it, and to oppress and lay siege to the doctrine of God's truth in those that maintain the same. By this it appeareth that there are three kinds of apostasy: one as it were enforced and compelled, the second voluntary, the last both voluntary and malicious: which though they be all very heinous and offensive in the sight of God; yet the second and third sort are most dangerous, & of them also one more hurtful and pernicious than the other, as we shall perceive by that which followeth. Now as all these kinds are different one from another; so I will refer the examples of each sort to his several place, that the efficacy thereof may be the better perceived. And first of those which have fallen away through fear and infirmity, and afterward in order of the rest. Although that they who by the conceit and fear of tortures presented before their eyes, or of speedy and cruel death threatened against them, do decline and slide back from the profession of the Gospel, may pretend for excuse the weakness and feebleness of the flesh, yet doubtless they are found guilty before the throne of God, for presetting the love of this transitory and temporary life before the zeal of his glory, and the honour which is due to his only begotten son, especially at that time when they are called out of purpose by their Martyrdom to witness his sacred truth before man, and he desireth most to be glorified by their free and constant perseverance therein: to the which perseverance they are exhorted by many fair promises of eternal life and happiness: and from the contrary terrified by threats of death and confusion, and upon pain to be discarded from the presence of Christ before God, because they have denied him here before men: which is the misery of all miseries, & the greatest that can happen to any man; for what shall become of that man whom the son of God doth not acknowledge? Now to prove that God is indeed highly offended at this faint-hearted cowardliness, he himself hath made known unto us by the punishments which diverse times he hath sent upon the heads of such offenders. As in the time of the Emperor Valerian the eighth persecutor of the church, under whose persecution albeit that many champions bestirred themselves most valiantly in that combat of faith, yet there wanted not some whose hearts failing them, and who in steed of maintaining and standing for their cause to the death, as they ought have done, retired and gave up themselves to the enemy at first assault. Amongst the number of which doughty soldiers, there was one that went up into the Capital at Rome in that place where jupiters' temple in old time stood, 
Cyprian in his sermons de lapsu multorum.  to abjure and recant Christ and his profession, which he had no sooner done, but he was presently struck dumb, and so was justly punished in that very member wherewith he had offended.  
A woman likewise having renounced her profession, 
Cyprian.  and feeling in herself no remorse of conscience for her fall, went as she was wont to do in the time of her rest and prosperity to the baths and hot houses to refresh herself, as if all had gone well with her: but she was so seized upon and possessed by an evil spirit, that in stead of pleasure which she sought for, she fell to lamenting and tormenting her own flesh, and chopped in pieces with her dainty teeth her rebellious tongue, wherewith she had spoken wicked words and dishonoured God, and tasted meats offered to idols: and so this poor wretch whereas she should have washed herself in tears of true repentance, and in the true bath of grace and mercy, because she had more care of cleansing her body from filth, them her soul from sin, became corrupt and filthy both body and soul, by the means of that unclean spirit, which God had given power to afflict her: and armed her own mouth which had tasted chewed and swallowed that cursed food, furiously to rise against herself to destroy her: so that she became her own murderer, for she survived not long, by reason that her bowels and entrails were choked up to the throat with pain.  

Cyprian.  Another woman well stricken in years, that in like manner had revolted from the truth, thrust herself notwithstanding into the assembly of the faithful as they were receiving the holy sacrament: but that holy food which nourished the souls of them that believe turned to her bane; 
Contempt of word and sacrament. lib. 1. cap. 34.  for she found there in steed of peace a sword, in steed of nourishment deadly and mortal poison, in such sort that immediately after the receipt of that holy supper, she began to be marvelously troubled and vexed in soul, and felt the hand of God so heavy upon her for her offence committed in denying her saviour to shun persecution, that trembling and stamping she fell down dead.  

Cyprian.  There was also in like manner a certain man that having renounced his faith, did notwithstanding present himself at the celebration of the holy supper, presuming to come eat at his table, whom he had a little before denied, and received into his hand part of the sacrament aswell as the rest, but thinking to put it into his mouth, it was turned into ashes; whereupon he stood amazed, 
Contempt of sacraments. Lib. 1. cap. 34.  and confounded in himself, God manifesting in him, that he that revoked his faith, and recoiled from Christ jesus, Christ jesus would recoil from him, and give him over to death, by depriving him of his grace, and spoiling him of the power of his quickening and saving spirit.  
These are the fearful examples of God's judgements which Saint Cyprian reporteth to have light upon Backsliders in his time, adding moreover that besides these, many were possessed with Devils, rob of their wits, and enraged with fury and madness, and all for this offence of Apostasy.  
Amongst all the examples of our age of God's severe justice upon Apostates, the examples of Francis Spiera an Italian Lawyer, a man of credit and authority in his country, is most pitiful and lamentable: who having embraced the true religion with marvelous zeal, and made open profession of the same, 
Sleidan lib. 21.1  feared not freely to declare his opinion of every point of doctrine that came in question: and grew in knowledge every day more and more. But it was not long ere he was complained off to the Pope's Ambassador, which when he understood, and saw the danger wherein he was like to fall. After he had long debated and disputed the matter in his own conscience, the counsel of the flesh and wordly wisdom prevailing, he resolved at last to go to the Ambassador to the intent to appease his wrath, and do whatsoever he should command: Thus coming to Venice, and overruled with immoderate fear, he confessed that he had done amiss and craved pardon for the same, promising ever after to be an obedient subject to the Pope's laws: and that which is more, when it was enjoined him that at his return home, he should in his own country openly recant his former profession, he refused not, but performed his recantation in due sort. But it chanced very soon after that this miserable man fell sick of body and soul, and began to despair of God's mercy towards him. His Physician perceiving his disposition judged that the cause of his body's disease, was a vehement conceit and thought of mind: and therefore gave advise to minister counsel to his troubled mind very carefully, that the cause being taken away, the effect also might surcease: To this end many learned men frequented him every day, recalling into his mind, and laying open before him many express places of Scripture touching the greatness of God's mercy: which things he avouched to be true: but said that those promises pertained not to him, because he had renounced Christ jesus, and forsworn the known truth, and that for this cause nothing was prepared for him but hell fire, which already in soul he saw and felt. I would (said he) willingly if it were possible love God, but it is altogether impossible: I only fear him without love. These and such speeches used he with a steadfast countenance: neither did his tongue at any time run at random, nor his answers savour of indiscretion or want of memory: but advisedly warned all that stood by, to take heed by his example how to listen too much to worldly wisdom, especially then when they should be called before men to profess the religion of Christ. And lying in this extremity he refused all manner of sustenance, rebuking and being angry with his sons that opened his mouth to make him swallow some food, to sustain him, saying, Since he had forsaken his Lord and master, all his creatures ought to forsake him; I am afeard of every thing, there is not a creature that hath not conspired to work my destruction; let me die, let me die, that I may go and feel that unquenchahle fire which already consumeth me, and which I can by no means escape. And thus he died indeed pined to death in despair and horrible torment of conscience.  

Centur. 3 cap. 12  Nichomachus a man that stoutly professed Christ jesus in prosperity, being brought to his trial at Troas, and put into torments, he denied him: and being delivered by that means, consented to offer sacrifice unto idols: But assoon as he had finished his sacrifice, he was hoist up by the spirit of darkness, whose darling now he was, & dashed against the earth, so that his teeth biting his profane tongue (wherewith he had denied his savour) in two, he died incontinently.  
Tamerus a professor of the true religion was seduced by his brother to cleave unto Popery, 
Theatrum historicum.  and to forsake his first love: but for his defection from the truth the Lord gave him up into a reprobat sense, so that falling into despair, he hung himself.  
Richard Denton a blacksmith, dwelling at Wells in Cambridgeshire, having been a professor of the Gospel before time, when William Wolsey Martyr (whom the said Denton had first converted unto the truth) sent him certain money out of prison at Ely with this commendations, That he marveled he tarried so long behind him, seeing he was the first that delivered him the book of scripture into his hand, 
Acts & monuments. pag 1717.  and told him that it was the truth: his answer was this, I confess it is true, but alas I cannot burn. But he that could not burn in the cause of Christ, was afterward burned against his will: for in the year 1564 his house was set on fire, and whilst he went in to save his goods, he lost his life.  
There was also one Burton, bailiff of Crowland in Lincolnshire, who pretending an earnest friendship to the gospel in king Edward's time, after the king's death began lustily to set up the Popish mass again, and would have beaten the poor Curate if he had not settled himself thereto: but see how the Lords judgement overtook him; as he came riding from Fennebancke one day a crow flying over his head, let fall her excrements upon his face, so that it ran from the top of his nose, down to his beard, 
Acts & monuments. pag. 2101  the poisoned sent and savour whereof so annoyed his stomach, that he never ceased vomiting until he came home: and after falling deadly sick would never receive any meat, but vomited still and complained of that stink, cursing the crow that had poisoned him: to be short within few days he died desperately without any token of repentance of his former life.  
Hither may we add the examples of one Hendrie Smith, a Lawyer of the middle temple, 
Acts & monuments.  and Arnoldus Bomelius a student of Louvain, both which having professed the truth a while, and after being seduced by evil company, the one of Gilford, the other of Master Tileman, Smith afterward hanged himself in his chamber in the temple in the year of our Lord, 1569. Bomelius murdered himself with his own dagger. And thus these two Apostates felt the heavy scourge of God's wrath for revolting from the truth which they once professed.   

CHAP. XVIII. Of those which have willingly fallen away.  
THese kind of Apostates which we are now to speak of, are such as without any outward compulsion, threats, or likelihood of danger, forsake freely God's true Religion, and give themselves over to all idolatry, against whom there is a decree ordained in the thirteenth of deuteronomy by the lawgiver of heaven, which is this, If the inhabitants of any city have turned from the Lord, to follow after strange Gods, let them be destroyed with the edge of their sword, and their city consumed with fire, that they may be utterly razed out and brought to nothing. This was the sin of Solomon King of Israel (a brave and mighty kingdom in his time) a man subject to none for power, 
1. King. 11.  nor fearing any for authority: yet for all this so filthily recoiling from the truth which he knew and had professed, that in stead of serving the true God, he became a setter up of false Idols, and that of his own free will and pleasure: he that had been so well brought up and instructed from his childhood in true religion by his schoolmaster the Prophet Nathan, into whose charge he was committed: and so often and earnestly admonished by his father David, to observe diligently the law of God to direct his ways thereby: and whom God vouchsafed this honour to appear twice unto, and to enrich and adorn with such excellent wisdom, that the queen of Saba hearing his report came to jerusalem to be his auditor: even this Solomon in his old age, when he should have been most steadfast and constant, suffered himself to be seduced by the enticements of his strange wives and concubines, to offer service unto strange gods, & to forsake the God of heaven to worship the Idols of the Gentiles. And as his renown was great and famous before for building that sumptuous and beautiful temple at jerusalem: so was his obloquy and reproach the greater for erecting altars and chapels, for the idols of his wives and concubines, even for every one of their idols, to the intent to flatter and please their humours: it was therefore just and equal that the Lord (his wrath being proveked against him) raised up two strong enemies that wrought him and his people much scathe. Yea moreover jeroboam one of his own servants (whilst he yet lived) was by the ordinance of God designed king over ten tribes, & so God punished him for his idolatry & backsliding, leaving him but a small portion of the kingdom to continue to his successors: which had it not been for his father David's sake had been also taken away. It is true that we read not that he ever hindered the service of the temple, or compelled or persuaded any man to worship an idol: yet he did enough to make him culpable before God of a grievous sin, in that he being the head & sovereign magistrate of the people, committed such wickedness & such Apostasy in Israel: beside it is a marvelous strange thing that in all his history there is not so much as any token mentioned, or to be gathered, of his true repentance after this notable fall. And he that well weigheth the nature & quality of this sin shall perceive it that some what resembleth that which is spoken of in the 6. cha. to the Heb. ver. 4, 5, 6, for Solomon was not so ignorant and destitute of the knowledge of God, but rather had the treasure of wisdom in fullness and abundance, and was endowed with the gifts and graces of God's spirit, that he was able to instruct others and to discharge a Doctor's place in the church, as he also did both by word and writing. And although that the son of God was not as then yet manifested in the flesh: yet the power and efficacy of his death being everlasting, and from the beginning, whereof the law with the ceremonies and sacrifices thereof was as it were a schoolmaster, could not be hidden from him: therefore so soon as he addicted himself to his Idolatry, he forthwith abandoned the holy ordinances and sacrifices of God's law, and quitted himself of the promise of salvation therein contained, disannulling and making of none effect as concerning himself, the grace of the mediator ordained from the beginning, so that his downfall was terrible and perilous: yet there be that think that after all this he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes as a declaration of his repentance, whose opinion I purpose not to contradict.  
Roboam his son succeeded him as well in the likeness of his sin as of his kingdom, 
2. Chron. 12.  for after that the priests and Levites forsaking the part of jeroboam because of his Idols, and leaving their houses and possessions to strangers, had made repair to him for fear of God and love of his holy service: and that he had disposed and put in order his public affairs, for the ratifying and confirming of his kingdom: presently he and all his people forsook the law of God, and gave themselves over to Idolatry and other grievous sins: wherefore the Lord also forsook and gave them over to the hands of Caesac King of Egypt, that raised up a mighty power of men, even a thousand and two hundred chariots, threescore thousand horsemen, with an infinite multitude of footmen, to make war against him: So that all the strong Cities and fortresses of juda, no nor Jerusalem itself, was strong enough to repulse him from sacking and taking them, and robbing the Temple of their treasures, and despoiling the King's palaces of his riches, and carrying back into Egypt a rich prey of the best and beautifullest things that were therein. And this was the first shake that ever this kingdom received since it was a kingdom, whereby it began to wain and decline: Notwithstanding all this, yet the Lord had compassion and pity of him and his people: and would not suffer his dignity to be trodden under foot and quite suppressed, but restored him once again into an honourable estate, because when he was reproved by Semeia the Prophet, he humbled himself before the Lord, and his Princes also: which is a manifest sign that his sin was not an universal Apostasy, whereby he was wholly turned aside from God and all hope of grace, as his father Solomon was; but it was a particular revolt, such as was that of his forefathers, the children of Israel, when they imagined that God would be present with them in the idolalatrous golden calf, and in that figure to worship him; so gross and senseless were they: although yet Roboam's sin seemeth to exceed theirs in greatness and guiltiness. The jews that in the time of Ptolomey Philopater abode in Egypt, and willingly renounced the law and service of God, in hope thereby better to provide for their worldly commodities, enjoyed not long their ease and prosperity: for the other jews which had courageously stuck to their profession, and had been miraculously delivered from their enemies, being grieved and chafed at their recoil, made their supplications to the king (whose heart God inclined to favour their suit) that he would permit them to revenge God's quarrel upon those Apostates as they had deserved: 
Machab. 7.  alleging that it was hard for them to be true subjects to the king, who for their bellies sake had rebelled against the commandments of God. The king seeing their request reasonable, and their reasons which they alleged likely, not only commended them, but gave them full authority to destroy all those that could be found in any place of his dominion, without any further inquiry of the cause, or intelligence of the king's authority: insomuch that they put to death all those that they knew to have defiled themselves by filthy Idols, doing them before all the shame they could devise: so that at that time there were dispatched above three hundred persons: which when they had accomplished they rejoiced greatly.   

CHAP. XIX. Of the third and worst sort of Apostates, those that through Malice forsake the truth.  
IF so be that they of whom we have spoken in the two former chapters are in their revoltings inexcusable (as indeed they are) them much more worthy condemnation are they, who not only in a villainous contempt cast away the grace of God's spirit, and his holy worship: but also of a purposed malice set themselves against the same, yea and endeavour with all their power utterly to race and root it out, and in stead thereof to plant the lies errors and illusions of Satan, by all means possible. Against this kind of monsters, sentence is pronounced in the thirteenth of deuteronomy to wit, That justice should be executed upon them with all extremity, and no mercy and compassion shown unto him, be he Prophet or what else, that goeth about to seduce others from the service of the almighty, 
2. King. 11.  to follow false gods. This is the pitfall wherein jeroboam the first king of Israel slipped by the perverseness of his own conscience; who as he had by his rebellion against Rehoboam and the house of David upreared a new kingdom: so by rebellion against God and his house (in hope by that means to retain his usurped state and people in subjection) upreared also a new religion: for distrusting the promises of God which were made him by the Prophet Ahias, as touching the realm of Israel which he was already in possession of, and despising the good counsel of God in respect of his own inventions, he was so besotted and bleared with them, that just after the pattern of his Idolatrous forefathers, who by their Egyptian tricks had provoked the wrath of God against themselves, he set up golden calves, and caused the people to worship them, keeping them so from going to jerusalem to worship God: nor yet content with this, he also erected high places to set his idols in; & having restrained the Priests and levites from the exercise of their charge, he ordained a new order of priests to sacrifice & minister unto his gods, & proclaimed a newer feast them that that was in juda: even the seventh day of the 8 month; wherein he not only exiled the pure and sincere service of God, but also perverted & turned upside down the Ecclesiastical discipline & policy of God's church, which by the law had been instituted. And that which is yet more, 
1. King. 13.  as he was offering incense on the altar at bethel, when the Prophet cried out against the altar and exclaimed against that filthy idolatry, by denouncing the vengeance of God against it and the maintainers thereof, 
Contempt of God's word. Lib. 1. cap. 34.  he was so desperate and senseless as to offer violence to him, and to command that he should be attached: but the power of God's displeasure was upon him by and by, for that hand which he had stretched out against the Prophet dried up, so that he could not draw it back again; & at the very instant for a more manifest declaration of the wrath of God, the altar rend in pieces, & the ashes that were within were dispersed abroad. And although at the prayer of that holy man his dried hand was restored to his former strength and soundness, yet returned not he from his unjust and disloyal dealing, but obstinately continued therein till his dying day. Wherefore also the fierce wrath of God hunted and pursued him continually, for first of all he was rob of his son Abia, dying through sickness: 
1. King. 14.  then he was set upon by Abia king of juda with an army of four hundred thousand men of war: 
2. Chron. 13.  and though his power was double in strength & number, arising to eight hundred thousand people, yet was he & his vast at my quite discomfited, for he lost at that field five hundred thousand of his men, beside certain cities which were yielded to Abia in the pursuit of his victory: his courage was so abated and impoverished ever after this, that he could never recover strength to resist the king of juda any more: And so God revenged at once the Apostasy both of the king and people of Israel: and last of all so struck him after, that he died. joram king of juda although his father josaphat had instructed him from his childhood with holy and wholesome precepts, 
2 Chron. 21.  and set before his face the example of his own zeal, in purging the church of God from all idolatry and superstition, and maintaining the true and pure service of God: yet did he so foully run astray from his father's steps, that allying himself by the marriage of Athalia to the house of Achab, he became not only himself like to the kings of Israel in their filthy Idolatry, but also drew his people after him, causing the inhabitants of jerusalem, and men of juda to run a whoring after his strange gods, for which cause Elias the Prophet most sharply reproved him by letters; the contents whereof in sum was this: that because he rebelled against the Lord God of his fathers, therefore, the people that were in his subjection should rebel against him. Presently the Arabians and Philistims rose up against him, wasted his country, rob him of his treasures, took away his wives, and put all his children to the sword, except little Ochozias his youngest son that was preserved: And after all these miseries the Lord smote him with so outrageous and uncurable a disease in his bowels, that after two years torment he died thereof, his guts being fallen out of his belly with anguish. joas also king of the same country was one to whom God had been many ways beneficial from his infancy, 
2. Chron. 22.  for he was even then miraculously preserved from the bloody hand of Athalia, and after brought up in the house of God under the tuition of that good Priest jehoiada yet he was no sooner lifted up into his royal dignity, but by and by he and his people started aside, to the worship of stocks and stones, at that time when he had taken upon him the repair of the house of God. But all this came to pass after the decease of that good priest his tutor, whose good deeds towards him in saving his life, and giving him the crown, he most unthankfully recompensed by putting to death his son Zacharias; 
2. Chron. 24.  whom he caused (for reproving and threatening his idolatry in a public assembly, incited thereto by the spirit of God) to be stoned to death in the porch of the Temple. But seeing he did so rebelliously set himself against the holy spirit, as if he would have quite oppressed and extinguished the power thereof, by the death of this holy Prophet, by whom it spoke: God hissed for an army of Syrians that gave him battle, and conquered his soldiers, who in outward show, seemed much to strong for them: His princes also that had seduced him, were destroyed, & himself vexed with grievous diseases: till at length his own servants conspired against him for the death of Zacharia, and slew him on his bed: yea and his memory was so odious, that they could not afford him a burying place among the sepulchres of their kings. Amazias the son of this wicked father, 
2. Chro 25.  carried himself also at the first uprightly towards God in his service, but it lasted not long; for a while after he was corrupted and turned aside from that good way which he had begun, to tread after the by paths of his father joas: for after he had conquered the Idumeans, and slain twenty thousand men of war, and spoiled divers of their cities: in stead of rendering due thanks to God, who (without the aid of the Israelites) had given him that victory, he set up the gods of the Edomites, which he had rob them of, to be his gods, and worshipped and burned incense to them: so void of sense and reason was he. And being rebuked by the Prophet of his adverse dealing, he was so far from humbling and repenting himself thereof, that quite contrary, he proudly withstood and rejected the Prophet's threatenings, menacing him with death if he ceased not. Thus by this means having aggravated his sin, and growing more and more obstinate, God made him an instrument to hasten his own destruction: for being proud and puffed up with the overthrow which he gave the Edomites, he defied the king of Israel, and provoked him to battle also; but full evil to his ease: for he lost the day, and was carried prisoner to jerusalem, where (before his face for more reproach) four hundred cubits of the wall was broken down, the temple and palace ransacked of his treasures, & his children carried for hostages to Samaria. And not long after, treason was devised against him in jerusalem, so that he fled to Lachish, and being pursued thither also, was there taken and put to death. 
2. Chron. 28.  Likewise king Ahaz for making molten images for Baalim, and walking in the idolatrous ways of the kings of Israel, and burning his sons with fire, after the abominations of the heathen in the valley of Ben-Hinnon, was forsaken of the Lord, and delivered into the hands of the king of Syria, who carried him prisoner to Damascus: and not only so, but was also subdued by Pekah king of Israel, in that great battle, wherein his own son with fourscore thousand men at arms, were slain: yea, and two hundred thousand of all sorts, men, women, and children taken prisoners: for all these chastisements did he not once reform his life, but rather grew worse and worse. To make up the number of his sins, he would needs sacrifice to the gods of Damascus, also thinking to find succour at their hands: so that he utterly defaced the true service of God at jerusalem, broke in pieces the holy vessels, locked up the temple doors, and placed in their stead his abominable idols for the people to worship: and erected altars in every corner of the city to do sacrifice on. But as he rebelled on every side against his God, so God raised up enemies on every side to disturb him: The Edomites and Philistims assaulted him on one side, beat his people, took and ransacked his cities: on the other side, the Assyrians whom he had hired with a great sum for his help, turned to his undoing and utter overthrow and confusion. What shall we think of Manasses? who re-edified the high places and altars, which the zeal of Ezechias his father, had defaced and thrown down, 
2. Chron 33.  and adored and worshipped the planets of heaven, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, profaned the porch of God's Temple with altars dedicated to strange gods, committing thereon all the abominations of the Gentiles: 
Idolatry, Lib. 1. cap. 26.  yea and caused his sons to pass through the valley of Benhinnon, and was an observer of times and seasons, and gave himself over to witchcraft, charming, and sorceries, and used the help of familiar spirits and soothsayers: and that which is more, placed a carved Image in the house of God, flat against the second commandment of the law: So that he did not only go astray and err himself, in giving over his mind to most wicked and damnable heresies: but also seduced the people by his pernicious example and authority, to do the like mischief. And that which is yet more and worst of all, he made no account nor reckoning of the admonitions of the Prophets, but the rather and the more, hardened his heart to run out into all manner of cruelty and wickedness, that his sins might have their full measure. For the very stones of the streets of jerusalem were stained from one corner to another with the guiltless and innocent blood of those, that either for dissuading him from, or not yeeldihg unto his abominable and detestable Idolatry, were cruelly murdered: amongst the number of which slain innocents, many suppose that the Prophet Esaias (although he was of the blood royal) was with a strange manner of torment put to death. 
2. King. 12.  Wherefore the flame of God's ire was kindled against him and his people: so that they stirred up the Assyrians against them, whose power and force they being not able to resist, were subdued, and the king himself taken and put in fetters and bound in chains, carried captive to Babylon: but being there in tribulation, he humbled his soul, and prayed unto the Lord his God: who for all his wicked, cruel, and abominable Apostasy, was entreated of him, and received him to mercy: yea and brought him again to jerusalem into his unhoped for kingdom. Then was he no more unthankful to the Lord for his wonderful deliverance but being touched with true repentance for his former life, abolished the strange gods, broke down their altars, and restored again the true religion of God, and gave strait commandment to his people to do the like. Wherein it was the pleasure of the Highest to leave a notable memorial unto all posterity, of his great and infinite mercy towards poor and miserable sinners, to the end that no man (be his sins never so heinous) should at any time despair: for, where sin aboundeth, 
Rom. 5.  there grace aboundeth much more. Admit that this revolt of Manasses was far greater and more outrageous than was salomon's, yet his true repentance found the grace to be raised up from that woeful downfall: for, God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, 
Rom. 9.15. Rom. 11.33.  and compassion on whom he will have compassion. O the profound riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unspeakable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out.  

2. Chron. 33.  Amon the wicked son of this repentant father, committed also the like offence, in serving strange gods; but recanted not by like repentance: 
Idolatry. Lib. 1. cap. 26,  and therefore God gave his own servants both will to conspire, and power to execute his destruction, after he had swayed the kingdom but two years.   

CHAP. XX. Of the third and worst sort of Apostates.  
BY how much the more God hath in these latter days poured forth more plentifully his graces upon the sons of men, by the manifestations of his son Christ jesus in the flesh, and sent forth a more clear light by the preaching of his Gospel into the world than was before times: by so much the more culpable before God, and guilty of eternal damnation are they, who being once enlightened and made partakers of those excellent graces, come afterwards either to despise or make light account of them, or go about to suppress the truth and quench the spirit, which instructed them therein. This is the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is mentioned in the sixth and tenth chapter to the Hebrews; and in the 12 of Luke, and in another place, it is called a sin unto death, because it is impardonable, by reason that no excuse of ignorance can be pleaded, nor any plaster of true repentance applied unto it. The Apostates of the old Testament under the law, were not guilty of this sin: for although there were many that willingly and maliciously revolted and set themselves against the Prophets of God, making war as it were with the holy ghost, yet seeing they had no such clear testimonies of Christ jesus, & declaration of God's spirit as we have, their sin can not be properly said directly to be against the H. ghost, & so never to be remitted; according to the description of this sin in those passages of Scripture, which were before recited: as it may manifestly appear by the former example of king Manasses. The Apostle himself likewise doth aver the truth hereof, when he saith, If we sin willingly after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins: 
Heb. 10.26, 27, 28, 29.  but a fearful looking for of judgement, and violent fire which shall devour the adversaries. If any man despised Moses law, he died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be worthy, which treadeth under foot the son of God, and counteth the blood of the Testament as a profane thing, whereby he was sanctified, and doth despite the spirit of grace? Here we may see, that this sin is proper to those only that lived under the Gospel, and have tasted of the comfort and knowledge of Christ. judas Iscariot (that wicked & accursed varlet) committed the deed, and feels the scourge of this great sin: for he (being a disciple, nay an Apostle of Christ jesus, moved with covetousness, after he had devised and concluded of the manner and complot of his treason with the enemies sold his Lord and master the Saviour of the world, for thirty pieces of silver, and betrayed him into the hands of thieves and murderers, who sought nothing but his destruction. After this vile traitor had performed this execrable purpose (by reason whereof he is called the son of perdition) he could find no rest nor repose in his guilty conscience, but was horribly troubled and tormented with remorse of his wickedness, judging himself worthy of a thousand deaths, for betraying that innocent and guiltless blood. If he looked up, he saw the vengeance of God ready to fall upon him and ensnare him: if he looked down, he saw nothing but hell gaping to swallow him up: the light of this world was odious to him, and his own life displeased him, so that being plunged into the bottomless pit of despair, he at last strangled himself, 
Matth. 27. Acts. 1.  and burst in twain in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.  

Suid.  There is a notable example of Lucian, who having professed Christianity for a season under the Emperor trajan, fell away afterwards, and became so profane and impious, as to make a mock at religion and divinity, whereupon his surname was called Atheist. This wretch, as he barked out (like a foul mouthed dog) bitter taunts against the religion of Christ, seeking to rent and abolish it: so he was himself in God's vengeance torn in pieces and devoured of dogs.  
Porphyry also (a whelp of the same litter) after he had received the knowledge of the truth, for despite and anger that he was reproved of his faults by the Christians, set himself against them, and published books full of horrible blasphemies to discredit and overthtow the Christian faith. But when he perceived how fully and sufficiently he was confuted, and that he was reputed an accursed and confounded wretch for his labour, in terrible despair and anguish of soul, he died.  
julian the Emperor, surnamed the Apostate, cast himself headlong into the same gulf: for having been brought up and instructed from his childhood in the Christian faith, and afterward a while a professed reader thereof to others in the Church, assoon as he had obtained the Empire, maliciously revolted from his profession, and resisted with all his power, 
Socrat. Theod. Sozom.  the saith and Church of Christ, endeavouring by all means possible, either by force to ruinated and destroy it, or by fine sleights and subtleties to undermine it. And because his purpose was to do what hurt he could to Christians; therefore he studied by all he could to please, content, and uphold the contrary party, I mean the Painyms: he caused their temples first to be opened, which Constantine his predecessor had shut up: he took from the Christian Churches & their ministers, those privileges, liberties, and commodities which the said Constantine had bestowed upon them: and not content with this, he confiscated the Church revenues, 
Atheism, Lib. 1. cap. 25.  and imposed great taxes and tributes upon all that professed the name of Christians, and forbade them to have any schools of learning for their children. And yet more to vex and grieve them, he translated many ordes of the Church discipline and policy into Paganism. After he had thus by all means striven to beat down the sceptre of Christ's kingdom, it turned quite contrary to his expectation; for in stead thereof, the sceptre of his own kingdom was broken and brought to nought: at that time when making war upon the Persians, he was wounded with an arrow, which pierced his armour, and dived so deep into his side, 
Socrat. lib. 3. hist. ecclesiast. cap. 20.  that he died thereof. When he undertook this voyage, he was furnished with such bravery both of apparel and all things else, as it might seem it appertained to him and none else to overwhelm and oversway the world, still belching out threats against poor Christians, whom he had determined at his return from Persia utterly to destroy and leave none alive, as was afterwards reported by one of his counsel. The number of his soldiers was so innumerable, and his strength so impregnable, that he made no other reckoning, but to be lord of Persia in a very short space. But lo how the Lord overturneth the attempts of his enemies: this great army (as S. Chrysostome reporteth against the heathen) in which he put so much confidence, seemed ere long to be rather a vast and weak multitude of women & infants, than an host of warriors: for by his evil and foolish conduct and government, there rose so great a famine amongst them, that their horses which were provided for the battle, served for their bellies, yea and for want of that too, many hundreds died for hunger and thirst. Ever when he skirmished his own side came to the worst, doing more scathe to themselves, then to their enemies: and last (leading them so undiscreetly) they could not by any means escape, but were constrained after he was slain, to entreat the Persians to suffer them to retire: and so as many as could, escaped and fled away to save their lives. And thus this brave army was thus miserably dismembered and discomfited, to the everlasting shame of that wicked Apostate.  
One of the treasurers of this wicked Emperor, (who to please his master, 
Theod. lib. 3. cap. 13. Sozom. lib. 5. cap. 8. Contempt the word, Lib. 1. cap. 34.  forsook also the religion of Christ) being on a time mocking and deriding the ministry of the holy word, died miserably on a sudden, vomiting his own blood out of his mouth: and (as Chrysostome saith) his privy parts being rotten and putrefied, and consumed with louse, for all that ever he could do to remedy the same.  
It is recorded of Trebellius the first king of the Bulgarians, that being converted with his people to the faith of Christ, to the end to give himself the quieter to the meditation & exercise of religion, resigned over his kingdom to his eldest son: whom when he perceived to renounce the faith, and to follow strange gods, he not only deprived of all his royal dignity, but also caused his eyes to be put out for a punishment of his Apostasy, and bestowed the kingdom upon his other son: showing thereby, that he that abandoneth the true light of salvation, is not worthy to enjoy the comfortable light of the world.  
A Divine of Louvain, one james Latonus, who was well instructed at the first in the knowledge of the truth: afterwards renouncing the same, endeavoured with all his power to impugn & oppress it: this man being on a time mounted into a pulpit to preach before the Emperor Charles the fift, was at the very instant so amazed & astonished, that no man could perceive what he said, & so made himself a laughing stock to all that audience: seeing himself thus disgraced, he returned from Brussels to Louvain, where he fell into such grief & sorrow of mind for the dishonour which he had gotten, that it turned at length into despair: and in his daily lectures these or like words oftentimes escaped him, after that goodly sermon, that he had impugned the truth of God: which when divers of his own coat heard, they caused him to be shut up fast in a house, where in desperation he died telling every man he was damned, and that he could not hope for salvation or remission of his sins, because that of mere malice he had resisted and made war with God.  
Cardinal Poole an Englishman, had also sometimes professed himself to be well seen in the sincerity of the gospel, yet contrary to his conscience he sent into his country the trophies and ensigns of Antichrist the Pope, which before had been razed out, and abolished the realm: but he died two or three days after queen Mary, in horrible griefs terrors and fearfulness, without any show of repentance.  
Stephan Gardiner bishop of Winchester, and afterward Chancellor of England, showed in his young years some forwardness to withstand the Popish abuses and superstitions: but assoon as he was exalted to honour he turned over a new leaf, & began freshly and furiously to afflict and to rend the poor and faithful servants of Christ, putting them to the cruelest deaths he could devise. And yet more to discover his profaneness & rebellion, he wrote many books against the pure religion of God: & being thus swollen with venomous spite against the son of God, beside the extreme covetousness, whoredoms, & extortions which reigned in him, behold the Lord laid his hand of wrath upon him, & struck him with so strange a malady, that before his death such horrible stink issued from him, that none of his friends and servants no not himself could endure the savour thereof: his belly was swollen like a taber, his eyes distracted and sunk into his head, his cheeks thin, & the appearance of his whole face very terrible: his breath savoured of a filthy & intolerable stink, and all his members were rotten, with continual griefs & sownings: yet this vile wretch in the midst of all these torments ceased not to yell out continual blasphemies, and infamous speeches, and so despighting and maugring God, died.  
Peter Castellan bishop of Maston having attained to great riches and renown by the means of the gospel, turned notwithstanding his back to Christ, and mightily inveighed in his sermons at Orleans against the profession of his religion: seeking to make it known that he had not only abjured and denied it, but also that he was a professed adversary unto it. This man sitting at a time in his chair, fell into a strange disease which no Physician had ever seen or could search out the cause of, for one half of his body was extreme hot and burned like fire, the other extreme cold and frozen like ise: and in this torment with horrible cries and groanings he ended his life.  
A grey friar called Picard, who once was not ashamed of the Gospel, afterwards set himself to preach against that which he had professed, & being in the pulpit at Orleans after infinite blasphemies which he disgorged against the truth, at last said, That he protested before God and the whole assembly that he would never preach more after that day, because he was an Apostatae: which saying he by and by impudently and constantly denied to the peril & damnation of his own soul: thinking by his horrible curses & forswearing to abuse the poor ignorant and superstitious people: but he no sooner came into the field, but the puissant hand of God overreached him and stroke him speechless, so that he was carried thence half dead: and with in short space died altogether without any appearance of repentance.  
Among many other judges which showed themselves hot and rigorous in persecuting and proceeding against the faithful prisoners of Valence in Dauphin and other Romans, at that season when two ministers of the same city suffered martyrdom: one Lanbespin a Counsellor, and Ponsenas the King's attorney at the parliament of Grenoble, both two having been professors in times past, were not the backwardest in that action: but God made them both strange examples of his wrath; for Lanbespin falling in love with a young maid was so extremely passionate therein, that he forewent his own estate, and all bounds of civil honesty, to follow her up and down whether soever she went: and seeing his love and labour despised and set at nought, he so pined away with very thought, that making no reckoning of himself, such a multitude of louse so fed upon him, & took so good liking of their pasture, that by no means he could be cleansed of them, for they increased & issued out of every part of his body in such number, as maggots are wont to engender in a dead & rotten carrion. At length a little before his death seeing his own misery, and feeling Gods heavy vengeance upon him, he began to despair of all mercy; & to the end to abridge his miserable days, he resolved to hunger starve himself to death: which purpose the louse furthered, for they stack so thick in his throat as if they would have choked him every moment: neither could he suffer any sustenance to pass down by reason of them. They that were eye witnesses of this pitiful spectacle, were wondrously moved with compassion, and constrained him to eat whether he would or not. And that they might make him take cullisses and other stewed broths, because he refused and strove against them, they bond his arms and put gagges into his mouth to keep it open whilst others poured in the food. And in this wise being gagged, he died like a mad beast with abundance of louse that went down his throat: in so much that the very Papists themselves stuck not to say, 
Persecution. lib. 1. cap. 15.  That as he caused the ministers of Valence to have gagges thrust into their mouths and so put to death: so likewise he himself died with a gag in his mouth.  
As touching Pons●nas commonly called Bourrell, (a very butcher indeed of poor Christians) after he had sold his own patrimony and his wives and friends also to the end to buy out his office, & had spent that which remained in house keeping, hoping in short space to rake up twice as much as he had scattered, fell suddenly into a strange and unknown disease, and shortly grew in despair of God's succour and favour towards him, by a strong remembrance of those of Valence and the other Romans which he had put to death, which would never departed out of his mind, but still presented themselves before him: 
Persecution. Lib. 1. cap. 15.  so that as one distraught of reason & sense, he denied his maker and called upon his destroyer the Devil with most horrible and bitter cursings: which when his clerk perceived, he laid out before him the mercies of God out of all places of the scripture to comfort and restore his decayed sense. But in stead of returning to God by repentance and prayer, he continued obstinate, and answered his clerk (whose name was Steven) in this wife: Steven, Steven, thou art black: So I am and it please you (quoth he) but I am neither Turk nor Moor, nor Bohemian, but a Gascoigne of red hair. No, no (answered he) not so, but thou art black: but it is with sin. That is true (quoth he) but I hope in the bountiful mercy of God that for the love of Christ who died for me, my black sins shall not be imputed to me. There he redoubling his choler, cried mainly after his clerk, calling him Lutheran, Huguenot, villain. At which noise his friends without rushed in to know what the matter was: but he commanded that Steven his clerk should presently have a pair of bolts clapped on his heels, and to be burned for an Heretic. In brief his choler and rage boiled so furiously in him, that in short space he died a fearful death, with horrible howling & outcries: his creditors scarce gave them respite to draw his carcase out of his bed, before they seized upon all his goods, not leaving his poor wife and children so much as a bed of straw to lie in: so grievous was the curse of God upon his house.  
Another great Prince having in former time used his authority and power to the advancing of God's kingdom: afterwards being seduced by the allurements of the world renounced God, and took part with the enemies of his church to make war against it; in which war he was wounded to death: and is one notable example of God's just vengeance to all that shall in like manner fall away.   

CHAP. XXI. Of Heretics.  
AS it is a matter necessarily appertaining to the first commandment that the purity and sincerity of the doctrine of God's word be maintained, by the rule whereof he would have us both know him and understand the holy mysteries which are revealed to us therein: so also by the contrary, whatsoever tendeth to the corrupting or falsifying of the same word, rising from foolish and strange opinions of human reason, the same transgresseth the limits of this commandment: of which sort is Heresy, an evil of it own nature very pernicious and contagious, and no less to be feared and shunned then the heat of persecution: and by means whereof the whole nation of Christendom hath been heretofore tossed with many troubles, and the church of God grievously vexed. But as truth got ever the upper hand, and prevailed against falsehood: so the brochers and upholders of falsehood came ever to the worse, and were confounded as well by the strength of truth, as by the special judgements of God sent down upon the most part of them.  

Acts. 5.36.39. Euseb. eccle. hist. lib 2. cap. 10. joseph. antiq. lib. 18. cap. 1. & lib. 20, cap. 2.  Theudas and judas Galilaeus were two that seduced the jews before Christ: for the first of them said he was a Prophet sent from God, and that he could divide the waters of jordan by his word, as joshua the servant of the Lord did. The other promised to deliver them from the servitude and the yoke of the Romans. And both of them by that means drew much people after them: so prone is the common multitude to follow novelties, and to believe every new fangle that is but yesterday set on broach. But they came both to a deserved destruction: for Fatus the governor of jury overtook Theudas, & sending his trunk to the grave, carried his head as a monument to jerusalem. As for judas he perished also & all his followers were dispersed, manifesting their ends that their works were not of God but of men, and therefore must needs come to nought.  

Act. 13.  After Christ (in the Apostles time) there was one Elimas a sorcerer that mightily withstood the doctrine of Paul and Barnabas before Sergius Paulus the Deputy, and sowed a contrary heresy in his mind, but Paul full of the holy Ghost set his eyes on him and said: O full of all subtlety and mischief, the child of the Devil and enemy of righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the strait ways of the Lord? Now therefore behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind for a season. And immediately there fell upon him a mist and darkness, and he went about to seek some to lead him by the hand. And this recompense gained he for his erroneous and heretical practice.  

Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 6. Philip. M. chron.  A while after him under the Empire of Adrian arose there another called Bencochab that professed himself to be the Messiah, and to have descended from Heaven in the likeness of a Star, for the safety and redemption of the people: by which fallacy he drew after him a world of seditious Disciples: but at length he and many of his credulous rout were slain, and was called by the jews Bencozba (that is) the son of a lie, and this was the goodly redemption which this Heretic brought upon his own head and many of his fellows.  
It is reported of Cerinthus an Heretic, that he denying and going about to darken the doctrine of Christ's everlasting kingdom, 
Euseb.  was overwhelmed by the sudden fall of an hot house which fell upon him and his associates, assoon as Saint john was departed from it: for Ireneus saith, that he heard Polycarpus often report how Saint john being about to enter into the baths at Ephesus, when he perceived Cerinthus already within, departed very hastily, saying to those that bore him company, that he feared that the house would fall upon their heads, because of Cerinthus the Heretic that was therein at that instant.  
Manes, 
Euseb. Socrat.  of whom the Manichees took their name and first oririginall, forged in his foolish brain a fiction of two gods and two beginners, and rejecting the old Testament & the true God which is revealed in the same, published a fifth Gospel of his own forgery, yea and was so besotted with folly (as Suidas testifieth of him) that he reported himself to be the holy Ghost: when he had thus with his devilish heresies and blasphemies infected the world, and was pursued by God's just judgement, at last for other wicked practices he had his skin pulled over his ears alive, and so died in misery.  
Montanus that blasphemous caitiff, of whom came the montanists, or Pepuzian heretics of a town in Phrigia called Pepuza, denied Christ our saviour to be God, and said he was but a man only like other men, without any participation of divine essence: he called himself the comforter and holy spirit which was forepromised to come into the world: and his two wives, Priscilla and Maximilla, he named his prophetesses, and their writings prophecies: howbeit all their cunning could not foretell nor prevent a wretched and desperate end which befell him, for he hung himself after he had deluded the world a long season, & proved by his end, his life to have been vile and damnable, according to the Proverb, 
Nicephor. lib. 4. cap. 22. Centur. 2. cap. 8.  Qualis vita, finis ita, A cursed life and a cursed death.  
Of all Heretics that ever troubled and afflicted God's church, the Arians were the chief: the author and ringleader of which crew, as by his vainglorious pride and ambition he sought to extol himself above the clouds, boasting and vaunting in his damnable error: 
Socrat. Theod. Sozom.  so by the just vengeance of God, he was abased lower than hell, and put in everlasting shame & opprobry: for he had long time as it were entered the list and combated with Christ, & was condemned for an Heretic by the Nicene counsel, and his books burned: and then afterwards making show before Constantine the Emperor with a solemn oath to recant his old errors, and approve the profession of faith which the counsel of Nice had set forth concerning Christ's divinity, whereunto also he subscribed his name: but all that he did was in hypocrisy, to the end to renew and republish the more boldly his false and pernicious doctrine. But when he thought himself nearest to the attainment of his purpose, and braved it most with his supporters and companions, even than the Lord struck him with a sudden fear in the open street, and with such horrible pangs in his guts, and vehement desire of disburdening nature, that he was feign to come unto the public houses appointed for that purpose, taking them which were next at hand for a shift: but he never shifted from them again, for his breath went out of his mouth, and his guts ran out of his fundament, and there lay he dead upon his own excrements. As the Emperor Gonstantius was a great favourer and supporter of this sect and maintained it against, and in despite of true Christians, and by that means stirred up schisms and dissensions throughout all Christendom: 
Socrat lib. 2. cap. 47.  so the Lord to requite him stirred up one julian whom he himself had promoted to honour to rebel against him: whose practices as he went about to suppress and was even ready to encounter, a grievous apoplexy suddenly surcharged him so sore, that he died of it before he could bring his purpose to pass.  
The Emperor Valence was infected also with this poison, 
R ff. lib. 2. c. 13. jornand.  wherewith likewise he infected the Goths, who by his means were become the greater part Arrians and not Christians: but neither went he unpunished, for when he marched forth to repress the rage of the furious Goths, who were spread over all Thracia, and had given them battle, he lost the day; and being shamefully put to flight, was pursued so fiercely, that he was feign to hide himself in a little house, which being set on fire by the Goths, he was burnt therein.  
As for Nestorius, which would maintain by his foolish & dangerous opinions, that the divinity of Christ was divided from his humanity, making as it were two Christ's of one, and two persons of one, 
Niceph. lib. 14. cap. 36.  and so turned upside down the whole ground work of our salvation, escaped no more the just vengeance of God, than all other heretics did: for first he was banished into a far country, and there tormented with a strange disease: the very worms did gnaw in pieces his blasphemous tongue, and at length the earth opened her mouth and swallowed him up.  
Concerning the Anabaptists, which rose up about five hundred years since, it is evidently known how divers ways God scourged and plagued many of them: some of them were destroyed by troops and by thousands: others, miserably executed and put to death in divers places, as well for their monstrous & damnable heresies, as for many mischiefs and outrages which they committed. By all which things, God doth exhibit and set before our eyes, how dear & precious in his sight the pureness of his holy word, & the union of his Church is: and how careful & zealous every one of us ought to be in maintaining and upholding the same: when as he revengeth himself so sharply upon all those that go about to pervert and corrupt the sincerity thereof, or which be breeders of new sects and divisions among his people.  
Olympus, (by office bishop of Carthage, but by profession a favourer and maintainer of the Arrian heresy) being upon a time in a bath washing himself, 
Paul. Diac. in Anastas. hist. Sabel. lib. 5. c. 4. Blasphemy, Lib. 1. cap. 31. Atheism, Lib. 1. cap. 25.  he uttered with an impious mouth, blasphemous words against the holy Trinity: but a threefold thunderbolt came from above, and struck him dead in the same place; teaching him by his pain, and all other by experience, what it is to blaspheme the Lord of heaven, or with polluted lips to mention his sacred majesty: this happened in the year of our Lord God 510.  
Cyrill hath recorded unto us of his own knowledge, a more wonderful and admirable wonder of God upon an heretic than all the rest, and such an one indeed, as the like (I dare say) was never heard of, the history is this; After the decease of S. Jerome, there stood up one Sabinianus, a perverse and blasphemous fellow, that denied the distinctions of persons in the Trinity, and affirmed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to be but one indistinct person: and to give credit to his heresy, he wrote a book of such blasphemies, tending to the confirmation of the same; and fathered it upon S. Jerome, as being the author of it. But Silvanus the bishop of Nazaren mightily withstood, and reproved him for depraving so worthy a man now dead; and offering his life for the truth, made this bargain with Sabinianus, that if S. Jerome the next day did not by some miracle testify the falseness of his cause, he would offer his throat to the hangman, and abide death: but if he did that, than he should die. This was agreed upon by each party; and the day following both of them accompanied with great expectation of the people, resorted into the Temple of jerusalem to decide the controversy. Now the day was past, and no miracle appeared, so that Silvanus was commanded to yield his neck to that punishment which himself was author of: which as he, most willingly and confidently did, behold, an Image like to Saint Jerome in show, appeared and slaied the hangman's hand, which was now ready to strike; and vanishing forthwith, another miracle succeeded, Sabinianus head fell from his shoulders, no man striking at it: and his carcase remained upon the ground dead and senseless. Whereat the people amazed, praising God, clave unto Silvanus, and abjured Sabinianus heresy. Wherein we may observe the wonderful wisdom of God, both in punishing his enemies, and trying his children whether they will stand to his truth or no: and learn thereby, neither rashly to measure and limit the purposes of God, nor yet timorously to despair of help in a good cause, though we see no means nor likelihood thereof.  
Grimeald king of Lombardy, was infected with the Arrian heresy, for which cause the Lord punished him with untimely death, for having been let blood, the eleventh day after as he strove to draw a bow, he opened the vain a new, and so bled to death.  
Cabades, 
Casp. head, lib. 3. cap. 10. & 15.  king of Persia when he saw his son Phorsuasa addicted to the Manichees, he assembled as many as he could of that sect into one place, and there setting his soldiers on them, slew them till there was not one left.  
Photinus a Gallograecian, for renewing the heresy of Hebion, 
Platina sub. Siricio 7.  and affirming Christ to be but an excellent man borne naturally by Mary, after the manner of other men, excelling in justice and moral virtues, was by the Emperor Valentinianus justly banished.  
The Emperor justinian, 
Niceph. l●b. 27. cap. 31.  favouring the heresy of the Apthardocites, when as he gave out one edict whereby Anastasius the bishop and all other that maintained the truth should be banished, 
Zen. come. 3.  suddenly he was strooken with an inward and invisible plague, which took away his life, and forestalled his wicked & cruel determination from coming to the desired effect. In all which examples we may see how God doth not only punish heretics themselves, but also their favourers and supporters, yea the very places & cities wherein they lived & broached their blasphemies: 
Paul. Dia●. lib. 5.  as by the destruction of Antioch is seen, which being a very sink of heretics, was partly consumed with fire from heaven above, in the seventh year of justinus the Emperor, and partly overthrown with earthquakes below, wherein Euphrasius the bishop and many other were destroyed  
Moreover, besides those, there were under Pope Innocent the third, certain heretics called Albigenses, or Albiani, which being possessed with the same spirit of fury, that the Manichees were, affirmed that there were two Gods; one good, and another evil: they denied the resurrection, despised the sacraments, and said that the souls of men after their separation, passed either into hogs, oxen, serpents, or men, according to their merits: 
Contempt of the word, Lib. 1. cap. 34.  they would not spare to pollute the temples appointed for the service of God, with their excrements, and other filthy actions: and to defile the holy bibles with urine in despite and contumely: This heresy like an evil weed, so grew and increased, that the branches thereof spread over almost all Europe; a thousand cities were polluted therewith: so that it was high time to cut it short by violence & the sword, as it was: for they were oppressed with so huge a slaughter, that an hundred thousand of them were slain, partly by war, partly by fire at one time.  
Gregory of Tours hath recorded the life and death of an heretical monk of Bourdeaux, that by the help of Magic wrought miracles, and took upon him the name and title of Christ, saying he could cure diseases, and restore those that were past help by physic, unto their healths: he went attired with garments made of goars hair, and an hood, professing an austerity of life abroad, whereas he played the glutton at home: but at length his cozenage was discovered, & he was banished the city, as a man unfit for civil society.  
In the year of our Lord God 1204 in the Empire of Otto the fourth, there was one Almaricus also that denied the presence of Christ in the sacrament, 
Atheism, Lib. 1. cap. 25.  and said, that God spoke as well in profane Ovid, as holy Augustine: he scoffed at the doctrine of the resurrection, and esteemed heaven and hell but as an old wives fable: he being dead, his disciples were brought forth into a large field near Paris, and there in the presence of the French king, degraded and burnt: the dead carcase of Almaricus being taken out of the sepulchre and burnt amongst them. It fell out that whilst they were in burning, there arose so huge a tempest, that heaven and earth seemed to move out of their places, wherein doubtless the souls of these wicked men felt by experience, that hell was no fable, but a thing and such a thing as waited for all such rebels against God as they were.  
Anastasius, Emperor of Constantinople, being corrupted with the heresy of Eutiches, published an edict, wherein all men were commanded to worship God not under three persons as a trinity, but as a quaternity, containing in it four persons: and could not by any counsel be brought from that devilish error, but repelled from him divers bishops with great reproach, which came to persuade him to the contrary: for which cause not long after, a flash of lightning from heaven suddenly seized upon him, and so he perished when he had reigned eight and twenty years.  
justinus the second also, who after the death of justinian obtained the Imperial crown, was a man of exceeding pride and cruelty, contemning poverty and murdering the nobility for the most part. In avarice his desire was so insatiate, that he caused iron chests to be prepared, wherein he might lock up that treasure which by unjust exactions he had extorted of the people. Notwithstanding all this, he prospered well enough, until he fell into the heresy of Pelagian, soon after which, the Lord bereft him of his wits, and shortly after of his life also, when he had reigned eleven years.  
Mahomet, by birth an Arabian, and by profession one of the most monstrous heretics that ever lived, began his heresy in the year 625, his offspring was but out of a base stock: for being fatherless, one Abdemonoples a man of the house of Ishmael, bought him for his slave, and loved him greatly for his favour and wit: for which cause, he made him ruler over his merchandise and other business. Now in the mean while one Sergius a monk, (flying for heresy into Arabia) instructed him in the heresy of Nestorius: a while after, his master died without children, and left behind him much riches, and his wife a widow of fifty years of age, whom Mahomet married; and when she died, was made heir unto all her riches. So that now (what for his wealth and cunning in magic) he was had in high honour among the common people. Wherefore (by the counsel of Sergius) he called himself, The great Prophet of God. And shortly after (when his fame was published) he devised a law and kind of religion called Koran, wherein he borrowed something almost of all the heresies that were before his time: with the Sabellians he denied the Trinity: with the Maniclies he said there was but two persons in the Deity: he denied the equality of the Father with the Son, with Eunomius: and said with Macedon, that the Holy Ghost was a creature: and approved the community of women, with the Nicholaits: he borrowed of the jews circumcision, and of the Gentiles much superstition: and somewhat he took of the Christian verity, besides many devilish fantasies invented of his own brain: those that obeyed his law, he called Saracens. Now after he had lived in these monstrous abuses forty years, the Lord cut him off by the falling sickness, which he had dissembled a long time, saying when he was taken therewith, that the Angel Gabriel appeared unto him, whose brightness he could not behold; but the Lord made that his destruction, which he imagined would be for his honour, and setting forth his sect.  

Stow Chron.  Infinite be the examples of the destruction & judgement of private heretics in all ages, & therefore we will content ourselves with them that be most famous. In the year of our Lord 1561, and the third year of the reign of Q. Elizabeth, there was in London one William Geoffrey that constantly avouched a companion of his, called john Moor, to be Christ our Saviour, and could not be reclaimed from this mad persuasion, until he was whipped from Southwark to Bedlam, where the said Moor meeting him, was whipped also until they both confessed Christ to be in heaven, and themselves to be sinful and wicked men.  
But most strange it is, 
The same.  how divers sensible & wise men were deluded & carried beside themselves by the subtlety of Satan in the year 1591., & the reign of Q. Elizabeth 33: the memory thereof is yet fresh in every man's head and mouth, and therefore. I will but briefly touch the same. Edmond Coppinger & Henry Arthington, two gentlemen being associated with one William Hacket, sometimes a profane & very lewd person, but now converted in outward show, though not in inward affection, were so seduced by his hypocritical behaviour & the devils extraordinary devices, that from one point to another they came at last to think, that this Hacket was anointed to be the judge of the world: & therefore coming on a day to Hacke●s lodging in London, 
Hypocrisy in regard of Hacket, lib. 1. c. 22.  he told them that he had been anointed of the H. ghost: then Coppinger asked him what his pleasure was to be done: Go your way (saith he) & proclaim in the city that Christ jesus is come with his fan in his hand to judge the earth: & if they will not believe it, let them come & kill me if they can. Then Coppinger answered, it should be done forthwith: & thereupon (like mad men) he & Arthington ran into the streets, & proclaimed their message aforesaid, & when by reason of the concourse of people they could not proceed any further, they got up into two empty carts in Cheap, crying, Repent, repent, for Christ jesus is come to judge the world: & then pulling a paper out of his bosom, he read out of it many things touching the office & calling of Hacket, how he represented Christ by partaking part of his glorified body, etc. beside, they called themselves his prophets, one of justice, another of mercy. And thus these simple men were strangely deceived by a miraculous illusion of Satan, who no doubt by strange apparitions had brought them into this vain conceit. But let us observe the end of it, it was thus: The whole city being in a maze, took Hacket the breeder of this devise, and arraigning him before the Mayor & other justices, found him guilty as well of this seditious practice, as of speaking traitorous words against the Queen: Wherefore he was shortly after hanged on a gibbet in Cheapside, counterfeiting to his last, his old devices, and at length uttering horrible blasphemies against the majesty of God. As for his Prophets, Coppinger died the next day in Bridewell, and Arthington was kept in prison upon hope of repentance. This though it be no fit example for Heresy, yet because it cometh somewhat near unto it, I thought it meet to insert it in this place.   

CHAP. XXII. Of Hypocrites.  
AS God is a spirit and truth, so he will be worshipped in truth of spirit and affection, and not in hypocrisy and dissimulation: for which cause he commandeth us by the mouth of Moses in the sixth and tenth Chapters of Deuteronomie, To love and honour him with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our strength, which Hypocrites are so far from doing, that they have nothing in them but a vain show of coined religion, and so by that means break the first commandment, thinking to blear God's eyes with their outward shows and ceremonies, as if he were like men to see nothing but that which is without, and offereth itself to the view: but it is quite contrary: for it is he that describeth the heart, 
1. Sam. 16.  and searcheth out all the corners thereof, to see what truth and sincerity is therein; and therefore hateth and detesteth all hypocrisy, and abhorreth all such service as is performed only for fashion sake or in regard of men: as appeareth by the reproofs and checks which the Prophet Esay denounceth against the hypocrites of his time: who made show of honouring God, but it was but with their lips and vain and frivolous ceremonies, not in truth of heart and affection: 
Mat. 23.  so our Saviour Christ thundered out his curses against the Scribes and pharisees with the judgements & vengeance of God for their Hypocrisy. 
Num. 22.  With this sin was Balaam that wicked Prophet upon whom God bestowed a certain gift of prophecy, infected: for when King Balac sent for him to curse the Israelites, he made as though he would no● enterprise any thing contrary to the will of God, as if he had had him in great reverence and estimation: nevertheless being alured and enticed by the golden presents which were sent him, he despised God's commandment, and discovered his own secret impiety, and became an hired fl●ue and enemy to the people of God: but as he was in journey towards him, there happened a strange and prodigious thing, an Angel met him by the way with a naked sword in his hand, ready to hue him in pieces, whom when he himself being blinded with covetousness as with a vail, could not perceive, his ass saw and was afraid; and that which was more strange the poor brute and dumb beast, 
2. Pet. 2.16.  speaking in anew language like a man, reproved his masters madness: whereat he being sore amazed, and notwithstanding all the asses humbling before the Angel, yet pursued his unhappy journey to his eternal shame and confusion, as one of an obstinate and hardened heart: for he was forced by the spirit of God to bless those whom he had purposed curse: and yet further discovering his Hypocrisy and envious disposition, he was the cause why the Israelites provoked the wrath of God against themselves, through the pernicious and deceivable counsel which he gave to the Madianites: for which cause he himself was in the end slain. 
Num. 25. Num. 3.   
In this range may we place, Geefie, Blizeus servant, who being as it were the Disciple and professed follower both of his masters life and doctrine, the true Prophet of God, by whom for the further assurance and confirmation of the grace and blessing of God he had seen many notable and excellent miracles wrought: 
2. King. 5.  yet notwithstanding was not true of heart, but drawn aside by desire of lucre, that caused him secretly (unwitting to his master) to run after Naaman the Syrian, 
Avarice lib. 2. cap. 35.  in his masters name, for the money and apparel which his master had before refused: and supposing his knavery to be so hidden that it could not come to light, God discovered and pulled off his vizard, and punished as well the deed as the manner of doing thereof, upon him and his posterity with a perpetual leprosy. Saint Luke in the first chapter of the Acts doth at large describe the hypocrisy of Ananias and Saphira, who that they might seem zealous to Godward, and charitable toward the Saints, having sold a certain possession under pretence of giving the price thereof among the poor, retained covertly a certain portion of it to their own use, being so impudent as to lie unto the Holy-ghost, the precedent of the Church and sounder of all secrets: but being attached by the mouth of Peter, a just and fearful judgement of God fell on them both: even their sudden death at the Apostles feet one after the other.  
Nicephorus telleth of one Philip the first Emperor that undertook the name and profession of Christ, but by the report of other writers, it proceeded not from any zeal of religion or fear of God: but only to the intent to counterfeit a kind of honesty and cover his foul vices and cruelties under the cloak of religion. But God quickly espied and punished his deep hypocrisy: for before he had reigned full five years, both he and his son were slain at Verona by his men of war. Let us learn then this lesson, by these examples to carry ourselves in all pureness, sincerity, and good conscience before God; that our thoughts, words, and deeds being estranged from all hypocrisy and dissimulation, may be agreeable and acceptable in his sight.  
Moreover even as hypocrisy can wind and insinuate herself into the pure and sincere service of God, as hath been declared; so doth she play her part with no less bravery and ostentation in superstition and idolatry: for the truth whereof (before I proceed further) I will set down a history not altogether unworthy the reading and remembering: Two hundred years are not yet past since there was in the reign of Charles the seventh king of France, certain preaching Friar of Britain called Friar Thomas, 
Euguerran de monstr. & Vol. 2.  who by his dissembling customs and brags, under pretence of a certain reformation of manners, so mightily deceived the whole world, that every where he was reputed for a holy man: this Friar puffed up with a greedy desire of vainglory, used to go from town to town and from country to country, finding exceeding honourable entertainment in every place, which he took very willingly; and that he might ride at the more ease, he got him a little young mule that would go very softly, and in this sort appointed, he was accompanied with diverse of his own order, and many other Disciples that went for the most part one foot by him: the people flocked together from all quarters to see him, yea and many were so besotted as to forsake their fathers, mothers, wives, and children to attend upon this holy man: always when he came near to any city the Burgesses and Gentlemen and Clergy with one consent came forth to meet him, doing him as much honour and reverence (saith mine author) as they would have done to one of Christ's Apostles if he were alive: he was very well content that very honourable personages, as Knights and such others, being on foot should hold his mule by the bridle, to be in stead of pages and lackeys to lead him into the towns: his entrance into every City was with great pomp and magnificence, and his lodging provided at the richest and stateliest Burgess house. Now that he might the better play his part, they prepared him in the best and convenient places of the city ascaffold richly hung & garnished, upon the which his custom was first to say Mass, them to begin his sermon, wherein he ripped up the vices of every estate, but reproved especially the Clergies enormities, because of their concubines and whores which they maintained: wherein he did say nothing but that which was good & lawful: but in the same he used no discretion, but joined madness & sacrilege with his Monkish nature in stirring up little children to exclaim upon women for their attire: promising certain days of pardon to them, as if he had been a God: so that ladies and gentlewomen were enforced to lay aside for a season their accustomed trinkets. Moreover also towards the end of his sermons he commanded to be brought unto him their chestbords, cards, dice, nine pings, & such other trash, which he openly threw into the fire to be burned before them all: and that he might give more strength and credit to this his paltry riffraff he caused the men and women to be divided on each side with a line drawn betwixt them as in a tennis court: and by this means he drew together sometimes twenty thousand persons: so ready and zealous, is and ever hath been the world to follow after such hypocritical deceivers, rather than the true preachers of God's word.  
But let us hear the issue of this holy hypocrite, it was thus, when he had in the forenamed sort traversed aswell France and Flanders; it took him in the head to pass the mountains and visit Rome: imagining that it was no hard matter to obtain the Popeship, seeing that in all places where he went there was equal honour given unto him: or if he should fail of that hope, yet at least the Pope and his cardinals would entertain him honourably: but it happened far shorr of his expectation, for Popes are not so prodigal of their honours to do any such reverence to a poor silly Monk, but are very niggards and sparing thereof even towards Kings; so far are they from leaving their thrones of majesty to any other: neither must we think that the Pope cared greatly for all those tricks and quiddities of Friar Thomas, seeing he himself is the only Merchant of such trash. When he was arrived at Rome, Pope Eugenius seeing that he came not according to custom to kiss his holiness feet, sent for him twice, and understanding that he refused to come, and that he feigned himself to be evil at ease: sent his treasurer, but not to impart to him any treasure, but to apprehend and attach him. The Friar now perceiving that inquiry was made for him, and that they were at his chamber door, leapt out at a window thinking by that means to escape: but he was quickly taken prisoner by the treasurers servants waiting before the door, and brought before the consistory of Cardinals: law proceeded against him, by doom whereof though no erroneous opinions could be proved against him, he was adjudged to the stake to be burned for an Heretic: but it was sufficient to make him guilty, because he defamed the Priests in his sermons, and had spoken so broadly of their gossips, and had been so bold to usurp the authority of giving pardons, which the Pope's claim for a privilege of their own sea, and beside had made no more account of him that is a petty God on earth: but had done all these things without his leave and licence: it was an hard matter to be induced of the bishops of Rome that a silly Monk should so intermeddle with their affairs, and should derogate any whit from their supremacy: seeing that they quit themselves so well with Kings and Emperors, and can at every right occasion make them stoop: neither is it to be doubted, but that Pope Eugenius was very jealous of the honour which Friar Thomas attained unto in every place, & fearful lest his presence might disturb his present estate. By this means God who useth all instruments for his own purpose, and can direct every particular to the performing of his will, did punish and correct the hypocrisy of this Monk, that seemed to be holy and wise being indeed nothing but foolish, stubborn and ambitious.  
Moreover most notable was the hypocrisy of two counterfeit holy maids, 
Stow. chron.  one of Kent in England called Elizabeth Barton, the other of France called joane la Pucelle: the former of which by the procurement & information of one Richard Master, person of Aldington, and Edward Bocking Doctor of divinity a Monk of Canterbury, and diverse others, counterfeited such manner of trances and distortions in her body, with the uttering of divers counterfeit virtues, & holy words tending to the rebuke of sin, & reproving such new opinions as there begun to spread, that she won great credit amongst the people, & drew after her a multitude of favourites: beside she would prophesy of things to come, as that she should be helped of her disease by none but the image of our lady in Aldington; whether being brought, she appeared to the people to be suddenly relieved from her sickness: by means of which hypocrital dissimulation, she was brought into marvelous estimation, not only with the common people, but with diverse great men also, insomuch that a book was put in print, touching her feigned miracles & revelations. Howbeit not content to delude the people, she began also to meddle with the king himself, Henry the eight: saying that if he proceeded to be divorced from his wife Queen Katherine he should not remain king one month after, and in the reputation of God not one day: for which & many other tricks practised by her, she with her complices was arraigned of high treason, and after confession of all her knavery, drawn from the tower to Tyburn and there hanged; the holy maids head being set upon London bridge, & the others on certain gates of the city.  

Stow. chron.  The other named lafoy Pucelle de dieu, marvelously deluded with her counterfeit hypocrisy, Charles the seventh king of France, and all the whole French nation in such sort that so much credit was attributed unto her, that she was honoured as a saint, and thought to be sent of God to the aid of the French king: by her means Orleans was won from the English, and many other exploits achieved, which (to be short) I will refer the reader unto in the French Chronicles, where they shall find her admirable knavery at large discovered. But touching her end it was on this sort: as she marched on horseback to the town of champaign, to remove the siege wherewith it was girt by the Duke of Burgoine and other of the English captains, Sir john Leupembrough a Burgonian knight took her alive, and conveyed her to the city of Roan, where she feigning herself with child, when the contrary was known, was condemned and burnt. And thus these two holy women that in a diverse kind mocked the people of England and France by their hypocrisy, by the justice of God came to deserved destructions.   

CHAP. XXIII. Of Conjurers, and Enchanters.  
IF God by his first commandment hath enjoined every one of us to love serve and cleave unto him alone in the conjunction and unity of a true faith and hope unremovable: there is no doubt but he forbiddeth on the other side that which is contrary to this foresaid duty, and herein especially that cursed familiarity which diverse miserable wretches have with that lying spirit the father of error, by whose delusions and subtlety they busy themselves in the study of sorceries and enchantments, whereupon it is forbidden the Israelites in the nineteenth of Leviticus, 
Levit. 19.31.  to turn after familiar spirits, or to seek to soothsayers to be defiled by them: and the more to withdraw men from this damnable crime, in the chapter following there is a threat set down against it in manner of a commandment, 
20.27.  That if either man or woman have a spirit of divination or soothsaying in them, they should die the death, they should stone them to death, their blood should be upon them: 
Exod. 22.18.  so in the twenty two of Exodus the law of God saith, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live: and Moses following the same steps, giveth an express charge in in the eighteenth of Deutronotny against this sin saying, Let none be found among thee that useth witchcraft, 
Deu. 18.10.11.  nor that regardeth the clouds or times, nor a sorcerer, or a charmer, or that counseleth with a spirit, or a teller of fortunes, or that asketh counsel at the dead: for all that do such things are abomination unto the Lord: 
1. Sam. 15. Isay. 8.19.20.  and therefore this sin in the 1. Sam. 15. Is reputed amongst the most heinous and enormous sins that can be? When they shall say unto you (saith the Prophet) inquire at them that have a spirit of divination and at the soothsayer which whisper and murmur: answer Should not a people inquire at their God? From the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony? Wherefore it was a commendable thing and worthy the imitation when they that had received the faith by Paul's preaching, 
Acts. 19.19.  having before used curious arts as Magic and such like, being touched with the fear of God brought their books and burned them before all men, although the price thereof amounted to fifty thousand pieces of silver, which by Budeus his supputation ariseth to five thousand French crowns. The counsels, as that of Carthage, and that other of Constantinople kept the second time in the suburbs, utterly condemned the practice of all conjurers and enchanters. The twelve tables in Rome adjudged to punishments those that bewitched the standing corn. And for the civil law, this kind is condemned both by the law julia and Cornelia. In like manner the wisest Emperors, those I mean that attained to the honour of Christianity, ordained diverse edicts and prohibitions under very shape & grievous punishments against all such villainy: as Constantine in the ninth book of the Cod. tit. 18. enacted that whosoever should attempt any action by art Magic against the safety of any person, or should bring in or stir up any man to make him fall into any mischief or riotous demeanour, should suffer a grievous punishment: in the fifth law he forbiddeth every man to ask counsel at witches, or to use the help of charmers and sorcerers under the pain of death. Let them (saith he in the sixth law) be thrown to wild beasts to be devoured, that by conjuring or the help of familiar spirits go about to kill either their enemies or any other. Moreover, in the seventh law he willeth, that not so much as his own courtiers and servants, if they were found faulty in this crime, should be spared but severely punished: yet nevertheless, many of this age give themselves over to this filthy sin, without either fear of God or respect of law: Some through a foolish and dangerous curiosity: others through the overruling of their own vile and wicked affections; and a third sort troubled with the terrors of an evil conscience, desire to know what shall befall and happen unto them in the end.  
Thus Saul the first king of Israel being troubled in himself, & terrified with the army of the Philistims that came against him, would needs foreknow his own fortune, and the issue of this doubtful war. Now whereas before whilst he performed the duty of a good king, and obeyed the commandment of God, he had cleansed his realm of witches and enchanters: yet is he now so mad as to make them serve his own turn, and to use their counsels in his extremity, adding this wickedness to the number of his other great sins, that the measure thereof might be full: he went therefore to a witch to seek counsel, who caused a devil to appear and speak unto him in the shape of Samuel, and foretell him of (Gods just judgement upon his wickedness) his utter and final ruin and destruction.  
Plutarch in the life of Romulus reporteth of one Cleomedes, a man in proportion of body and cruel practices, 
Plutarch. Romulus.  huge and giantlike: who for that he was the cause of the death of many little children, and was pursued, by the parents of those dead infants who sought to be revenged on him for that cruel part, he hide himself in a coffer closing the lid fast to him: but when the coffer was broken up, the conjuror was not therein neither alive nor dead, but was transported by the malicious spirit the devil, unto a place of greater torment.  
Ancient histories make mention of one Piso, a man of credit and authority among the Romans, 
Tacit.  whom the Emperor Tiberius gave unto his son Germanicus for an helper & counsellor in the managing of his affairs in Asia, so well was he persuaded both of his sufficiency, courage, and loyalty towards him. It chanced a while after that he was suspected to have bewitched to death the said Germanicus: the signs & marks of which suspicion were, certain dead men's bones digged out of the earth with divers charms and curses, and Germanicus name engraven in tables of lead, and such like trash which witches exercise to murder men withal, were found with him: whereupon Tiberius himself accused him of that crime, but would not have the ordinary judges to sit upon it: but by special privilege committed the inquiry thereof unto the Senate. Pise, when every man thought he was preparing himself for his defence against the morrow (like a wise man to prevent all mischiefs) was found dead the day before, having his throat cut: and as most likelihood was, finding himself guilty of the fact, and too weak to overway the other side, forestalled the infamy of a most shameful death, by killing himself: although there be that say, that the Emperor sent one of purpose to dispatch him in this manner.  

Lib. 3. cap. 4. Of the Northern people.  Olaus Magnus telleth of one Meth●tin, a noble magician in old time, that by his delusions did so deceive and blind the poor ignorant people, that they accounted him not only for some mighty man, but rather for some demi god; & in token of the honour and reverence they bore him, 
Refer this also to the lib. 1. cap 24.  they offered up sacrifices unto him, which he refused not: but at last his knaveries and cousinages being laid open, they killed him whom before they so much esteemed: & because his dead carcase with filthy stink infected the approchers, they digged it up, and broached it upon the end of a stake to be devoured of wild beasts.  

Chap. 18. of the foresaid book.  Another called Hollere (as the same author witnesseth) played the like tricks in abusing the people's minds as strongly as the other did: insomuch that he was reputed also for a god: for he joined with his craft, strength and power, to make himself of greater authority in the world. When he listed to pass over the sea, he used no other ship, but a bone figured with certain charms, whereby he was transported, as if both sails & wind had helped & driven him forwards; yet his enchanted bone was not of power to save him from being murdered of his enemies. The same author writeth, that in Denmark there was one Otto a great rover & pirate by sea, who used likewise to pass the seas without the help of ship or any other vessel, & sunk & drowned all his enemies with the waves which by his cunning he stirred up, but at last this cunning practiser was overreached by one more expert in his Art then himself, and as he had served others, so was he himself served, even swallowed up of the waves.  
There was a conjuror at Saltzbourg, that vaunted that he could gather together all the serpents within half a mile round about into a ditch, and feed them and bring them up there: and being about the experiment, behold the old and grand serpent came in the while, which whilst he thought by the force of his charms to make to enter into the ditch among the rest, he set upon, and enclosed him round about like a girdle so strongly, that he drew him perforce into the ditch with him, where he miserably died. Mark here the wages of such wicked miscreants, that as they make it their occupation to abuse simple folk, they are themselves abused & cozened of the devil, who is a finer juggler than them all.  
It was a very lamentable spectacle that chanced to the governor of Mascon, a magician whom the devil snatched up in dinner while, and hoist aloft, carrying him three times about the town of Mascon in the presence of many beholders, to whom he cried on this manner, Help, help, my friends: 
Hugo de Clam.  so that the whole town stood amazed thereat, yea and the remembrance of this strange accident, sticketh at this day fast in the minds of all the inhabitants of the country: and they say, that this wretch having given himself to the devil, provided store of holy bread (as they call it) which he always carried about with him, thinking thereby to keep himself from his claws: but it served him to small stead, as his end declared.  
About the year 1437, Charles the seventh being king of France, Sir Giles of Britain, lord of Rays, and high Constable of France, was accused (by the report of Enguerran de Monstrelet) for having murdered many infants and women great with child, 
Vol. 2.  to the number of eight score or more, with whose blood he either writ or caused to be written, books full of conjurations, hoping by that abominable means to attain to high matters: but it happened clean cross & contrary to his expectation and practice, for being convinced of those horrible crimes (it being God's will that such gross and palpable sins should not go unpunished) he was adjudged to be hanged and burned to death, which was also accordingly executed at Nantes by the authority of the Duke of Britain.  
john Francis Picus of Mirand saith, that he conferred divers times with many, who being enticed with a vain hope of knowing things to come, were afterwards so grievously tormented by the devil (with whom they had made some bargain) that they thought themselves thrice happy, if they escaped with their lives. He saith moreover, that there was in his time a certain conjuror that promised a too curious & no great wise prince, to present unto him upon a stage the siege of Troy, and Achilles and Hector fight together as they did when they were alive: but he could not perform his promise, for another sport and spectacle more hideous & ugly to his person, for he was taken away alive by a devil in such sort, that he was never afterward heard of.  
In our own memory the Earl of Aspremont and his brother lord of Orne, were made famous and in every man's mouth for their strange and prodigious feats, wherein they were so unreasonably dissolute and vainglorious, that sometime they made it their sport and pastime to break down all the windows about the castle Aspremont where they kept (which lieth in Lorraine two miles from S. Michael) and threw them piece meal into a deep well, to hear them cry plump: but this vain excess prefaged a ruin and destruction to come, aswell upon their house, which at this present lieth desolate and ruinous in many respects, as upon themselves that finished their days in misery one after another; as we shall now understand of the one, the Lord of Orne: 
a Albeit the author forget himself, for there is no more mention made of him in the whole book.  as for the Earl how he died we shall see more at large in the second book & 28 chapter, to which place his history properly belongeth. Now it chanced that as this Lord of Orne was of most wicked and cruel conditions, so he had an evil favoured look answerable to his inclination, and name to be a conjuror: the report that went of his cruelty was this; that upon a time he put the baker (one of his servants, whose wife he used secretly to entertain) into a tun, which he caused to be rolled from the top of a hill into the bottom, bouncing some times as high as a pike, as the place gave occasion: but by the great mercy of God, notwithstanding all this, this poor man saved his life. Furthermore, it was a common report that when any Gentlemen or Lords came to see him, they were entertained (as they thought) very honourably being served with all sort of most dainty fare and exquisite dishes, as if he had not spared to make them the best cheer that might be: but at their departure they that thought themselves well refreshed, found their stomachs empty & almost pined for want of food, having neither eaten nor drunk any thing save in imagination only: & it is to be thought that their horses found no better fare than their masters. It happened one day that a certain Lord being departed from his house, one of his men having left something behind returned to the castle, & entering suddenly into the hall where they dined a little before, he espied a Monkey beating the master of the house that had feasted them of late, very sore: And there be others that say that he hath been seen through the chink of a door lying on a table upon his belly all at length, & a Monkey scourging him very strangely, to whom he should say, Let me alone, let me alone; Wilt thou always torment me thus? And thus he continued a long time: but at length, after he had made away all his subhance, he was brought to such extremity, that being destitute of maintenance and forsaken of all men, he was feign (for want of a better refuge) to betake himself to the hospital of Paris, which was his last mansion house wherein he died. See here to how pitiful & miserable an end this man fell, that having been esteemed amongst the mighties of this world; for making no more account of God, and for following the illusions of Satan, the common enemy of mankind, became so poor and wretched as to die in an hospital among cripples and beggars.  
It is not long since there was in Lorraine, a certain man called Coulen, that was overmuch given to this cursed Art, amongst whose tricks this was one to be wondered at: that he would suffer Harquebouses or a pistol to be shot at him, and catch their bullets in his hand without receiving any hurt: but upon a certain time one of his servants being angry with him, hot him such a knock with a pistol (notwithstanding all his great cunning) that he killed him therewith.  
Moreover it is worthy to be observed, that within these two hundred years hitherto, more monks and priests have been found given over to these abominations and devilishnesses, then of all other degrees of people whatsoever, as it is declared in the second volume of Enguerran de Monstrelet more at large: where he maketh mention of a monk that used to practise his sorceries in the top of a tower of an Abbey lying near to Login upon Marne, where the devils presented themselves to be at his commandment: and this was in the reign of Charles the sixth. In the same book it is recorded, that in the reign of Charles the seventh, one Master William Ediline Doctor in Divinity, and Prior of S. German in Lay, having been an Augustane friar, gave himself to the denill for his pleasure, even to have his will of a certain women: he was upon a time in a place where a synagogue of people were gathered together, where to the end that he might quickly be (as he himself confessed) he took a broom and road upon it: he confessed also that he had done homage to that enemy of God the devil, who appeared unto him in the shape of a sheep, and made him kiss his hinder parts, as he reported: for which causes, 
A sweet kiss doubtless.  he was placed upon a scaffold, and openly made to wear a paper containing his own faults, and afterwards allotted to live prisoner all the rest of his life laden with irons, in the bishop of Eureux his house, which was accordingly executed: this happened in the year 1453.  
In the reign of the same king 1457, there was a certain curate of a village near to Soissons, who to revenge himself of a farmer that retained from him the tenths which were appointed to the knights of the Rhodes, went to a witch of whom he received in gift a fat toad in an earthen pot, which she, had a long while fed and brought up, which she commanded him to baptise, as he also did, and called it by the name of john: 
Contempt of sacraments. Lib. 1. cap. 34.  albeit I tremble to recite so monstrous & vile a fact, yet that every man might see, how deadly besotted those sort of people are, that give themselves over to Satan, and with what power of error he overwhelmeth them, and beside how full of malice this unclean spirit is, that as it were in despite of God would profane the holy sacrament of baptism. This good holy curar after he had consecrated the holy ghost, gave it also to the toad to eat, and afterward restored it to the witch again, who killing the toad, and cutting it in pieces, with other such like sorceries, caused a young wench to carry it secretly into the farmer's house, and to put it under the table as they were at dinner, whereupon immediately the farmer and his chldrens that were at the table fell suddenly sick, & three days after died: the witch herself being detected, was burned, but the Curate suffered only a little imprisonment in the bishop of Paris house, and that not long, for what with friendship & money he was soon delivered.  
Froissard, who was treasurer & canon of Chymay, reporteth of another Curate in the country of Bear (inner Charles the seventh) that had a familiar spirit, which he called Orthon: whose help he used to the disturbance of the lord of Corasse, by causing a terrible noise to be heard every night by him and his servants in his castle, because the said lord withheld his tithes from him, and converted them to his own use.  
In the year 15●0 at Nuremberg a certain priest studied Art magic, 
Wierus.  and being very covetous of gold and silver; the devil (whom he served) showed him through a crystal certain treasures hidden in the city: he by and by (greedy of this rich prey) went to that part of the city, where he supposed it to have lain buried: & being arrived at the place with a companion whom he brought to this pretty pastime, fell a searching and digging up a hollow pit, until he perceived a coffer that lay in the bottom of the hole, with a great black dog lying by it: whether he was no sooner entered, but the earth fell down and filled up the hole, and smothered and crushed him to death: so this poor priest was entrapped and rewarded by his master no other ways than he deserved; but otherwise then he expected or looked for.  

Naucler. vinc. etc.  Howbeit they are not only simple priests and friars that deal with these cursed arts, but even Popes themselves. Silvester the second, who (as Platina and others report) was first a conjuring friar, and gave himself to the devil upon condition he might be Pope, as he was indeed; and having obtained his purpose as it seemed, he began earnestly to desire to know the day wherein he should die, which also his schoolmaster the devil revealed unto him, but under such doubtful terms, that he dreamt in his foolish conceit of immortality, and that he should never die. It chanced on a time as he was singing mass at Rome in a Temple called jerusalem (which was the place assigned for him to die in) and not jerusalem in Palaestina (as he made himself falsely believe) he heard a great noise of devils that came to fetch him away, 
A note worthy the noting  (note that this was done in mass while) whereat he being terrified and tormented, and seeing himself not able any ways to escape, he desired his people to rend his body in pieces after his death, and lay it upon a chariot, and let horses draw it whether they would; which was accordingly performed: for as soon as he was dead, the pieces of his carcase were carried out of the Church of Laterane by the wicked spirit, who as he ruled him in life, so he was the chief in his death and funerals.  
By like means came Benedict the ninth to the Popedom, for he was a detestable magician: 
Benno. Balleus.  and in the ten years wherein he was Pope having committed infinite villainies and mischiefs, was at last by his familiar friend the devil strangled to death in a forest, whither he went to apply himself the more quieter to his conjurings.  
Gregorio the sixth, scholar to Silvester, as great a conjuror ●s his master, wrought much mischief in his time, 
Bal.  but was at last banished Rome, and ended his life in misery in Germany.  
john the two and twentieth, being of no better disposition than these we have spoken of, but following judicial astrology, fed himself with a vain hope of long life, whereof he vaunted himself among his familiars, one day above the rest at Viterbum, in a chamber which he had lately builded, saying, that he should live a great while, he was assured of it: presently the flore broke suddenly in pieces, and he was found seven days after crushed to pieces under the ruins thereof. All this notwithhanding, yet other Pope eased not to suffer themselves to be infected with this execrable poison: as Hildebrand, who was called Gregory the seventh, and Alexander the sixth, of which kind we shall see a whole legend in the next book and 43 chapter; do but mark these holy fathers how abominable they were, to be in such sort given over to Satan.  
Cornelius Agrippa, a great student in this cursed Art, and a man famous both by his own works and others report for his Necromancy, 
iovius in elogij● utrorum illustrium.  went always accompanied with an evil spirit in the similitude of a black dog: but when his time of death drew near, and he was urged to repentance, he took off the enchanted collar from the dog's neck, and sent him away with these terms, Get thee hence thou cursed beast, which hast utterly destroyed me: neither was the dog ever after seen: some say he leapt into Araxis and never came out again. Agrippa himself died at Lions in a base and beggarly Inn.  
Zoreastres, king of Bactria, is notified to have been the inventor of Astrology and Magic, 
Theat. hist.  but the devil (whose ministery he used) when he was too importunate with him, burned him to death.  
Charles the seventh of France, put Egidius de Raxa martial of his kingdom, 
Fulgos. lib. 9 cap. 1.  to a cruel and filthy death, because he practised this art, and in the same had murdered an hundred and twenty teeming women and young infants: he caused him to be hanged upon a f●●ke by a hot fire, and roasted to death.  
Bladud the son of Lud king of Britain, now called England, in the year of the world 3100, he that builded the city Bath (as our late histories witness) and also made therein the hot baths, addicted himself so much to the devilish art of Necromancy, that he wrought wonders thereby: in so much that he made himself wings, and attempted to fly like Dedalus: but the devil (as ever, like a false knave) forsook him in his journey, so that he fell down and broke his neck.  
In the year of our Lord 1578, one S●mon Pembroke dwelling in S. George's parish in London, being a figure setter, and vehemently suspected to be a conjuror; by the commandment of the judge appeared in the parish Church of S. Saviour at a court holden there: where, whilst he was busy in entertaining a proctor, and leaned his head upon a pew a good space, the proctor began to lift up his head to see what he ailed, and found him departing out of this life, and strait ways he fell down rattling in the throat, without speaking any one word: this strange judgement happened before many witnesses, who searching him, found about him five devilish books of conjuration, and most abominable practices, with a picture in tin of a man having three dice in his hand with this writing, Chance dice fortunately, and much other trash: so that every one confessed it to be a just judgement against sorcery, and a great example to cause others to fear the justice of God. Now let every one learn by these examples to fear God, and to stand firm & steadfast to his holy word without turning from it on any side, so shall he be safe from such like miserable ends as these wicked varlets come unto.   

CHAP. XXXIIII. Of those that through pride and vainglory, strove to usurp the honour due unto God.  
A Forgetful and unthankful mind for the benefits which God bestoweth upon us, is a branch of the breach of this first commandment, as well as those which went before: and this is, when we ascribe not unto God the glory of his benefits to give him thanks for them, but through a foolish pride extol ourselves higher than we ought, presuming above measure and reason in our own power, desire to place ourselves in a higher degree than is meet. With this fond and foolish affection (I know not how) our first fathers were tickled and tainted from the beginning to think to impair the glory of God: 
Gen. 3.  and they also were puffed up with the blast of ambition, that I know not with what fond, foolish, rash, and proud conceit, went about after the flood to build a city and tower of exceeding height, by that means to win fame and reputation amongst men: 
Gen. 11.  In stead whereof, they ought rather to have praised God by remembering his gracious goodness in their miraculous deliverance in their father's persons, from that general deluge and shipwreck of the world: but forasmuch as with a proud and high stomach they lifted up themselves against God, to whom only all glory appertaineth, therefore God also set himself against them and against their over bold practices, interrupting all their determined presumptuous purposes, by such a confusion and alteration of tongues which he sent amongst them, that one could not understand another: so that with shame they were constrained to leave their begun work. And beside, instead of that strong and sure habitation which they dreamt on to maintain and defend themselves by against all enemies, and the fortress & castle whereby they went about to keep other in subjection to them, they were forced to forsake the place by the just judgement of God, who scattered and dispersed them hither and thither, that he might bring them to that estate & condition, which they most of all feared and strove to shun; And thus God resisteth the proud, and favoureth the humble: lo here the punishment wherewith God punished their sin, remaining still upon them until this day, for a chastisement of their proud spirits: with the stain of this sin, most commonly the mightiest potentates of this world are defiled, who although both by word and writing avouch & confess their power to be by the grace of God: yet for the most part, they are very unthankful for the same, and so proud and high minded, that they show themselves most obstinate and ungrateful of all men: for oftentimes they rob him of the honour and glory which is peculiar unto himself, and attribute it to themselves, in setting forth their brave and sumptuous shows and triumphs: this is the sin whereof Nabuchadnezzar king of Babel was reproved; for God having bestowed upon him a kingdom with such pomp and renown, that he made whole nations to tremble before his face, and putting many people in subjection under him, he (in stead of giving thanks for these great benefits) exalted himself, suffering his heart to swell, and his understanding to wax hard with pride, not regarding the Lord who extolled him so high: and yet notwithstanding he was constrained to confess and acknowledge him for the true God, to have an everlasting kingdom, and an infinite power, as well by the forewarning of dreams which Daniel interpreted, as by the miraculous deliverance of the three young men out of the burning furnace: therefore as he walked one day in his royal palace at Babylon, and vaunted of his greatness and magnificense, saying to himself, 
Dan. 4.  Is not this great Babel which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? Now whilst the word was yet in his mouth, a voice was heard from heaven, saying, O king, to thee it is spoken, Thy kingdom shall departed from thee: and according to the tenor of the voice, he was immediately deposed from his royal seat, spoiled of all his glory, driven from the society of men, deprived of sense, & made a companion for the bruit beasts, and wild asses, eating grass like oxen, even so long, until his hair was grown stiff like eagle's feathers, and his nails like the claws of birds. In which estate, he continued the space of seven years: even he, that a little before was so proud and arrogant, and he that had conquered so many kingdoms and nations, that triumphed over jewry and jerusalem, with the kings thereof. This is a most excellent looking glass for kings to behold the fickleness and instability of all their power and pomp, when it pleaseth God to humble and bring them under: there is neither sceptet, crown, stay, or strength of man that is able to hinder and turn aside the hand of the Almighty, the King of kings, from abasing and weakening the most high and strong of this world, let them be never so brave and jolly, and bringing them unto a low, contemptible, and brutish estate.  
Besides this which we have already touched, there is another kind of pride and presumption most damnable and detestable of all: and it is, when a man doth so much forget himself, as to seize and take upon him that honour which appertaineth only to God, ascribing to himself a certain deity: one would hardly think that there were any such in the world, so proud as to commit this sin, did not experience by certain examples teach us the contrary: As first of all the king of tire, whose heart was so exalted with the multitude of ●iches, and the renown and greatness of his house, that he doubted not to esteem himself a god, and to desire majesty and power correspondent thereunto: for which presumption, 
Chap. 28.1, 2, 3, etc.  God by the Prophet Ezechiel reproved him, and threatened his destruction, which afterward came upon him, when by the power of a strange and terrible nation, his goodly godhead was overcome and murdered, feeling in deed that he was no god as he supposed, but a man subject to death and misery.  
King Herod, surnamed Agrippa, which put james the brother of john to death, 
Act. 12.  and imprisoned Peter, with purpose to make him taste of the same cup, was puffed up with no less sacrilegious pride, for being upon a time seated in his throne of judgement, and arrayed in his royal robes, showing forth his greatness and magnificense in the presence of the Ambassadors of tire and Sidon, that desired to continue in peace with him, as he spoke unto them the people shouted and cried, That it was the voice of God and not of man: which titles of honour he disclaimed not, and therefore the Angel of the Lord smote him suddenly, because he gave not the glory to God: so that he was eaten with worms and gave up the ghost. josephus reporteth the same story more at large on this manner: Upon the second day of the solemnisation of the plays which Herod caused to be celebrated for the emperors health, there being a great number of gentlemen and Lords present that came from all quarters to this feast; 
jewish antiquities. Lib. 19 cap. 7.  he came betime in the morning to the Theatre, clad in a garment all woven with silver of a marvelous workmanship; upon which, as the sun rising cast his beams, there glittered out such an excellent brightness, that thereby his pernicious flatterers took occasion to call him with a loud voice by the name of God: for the which sacrilegious speech, he not reproving nor forbidding them, was presently taken with most grievous and horrible dolours and gripes in his bowels, so that looking upon the people, he uttered these words: Behold here your goodly god, whom you but now so highly honoured, ready to die with extreme pain: And so he died in deed most miserably, even when he was in the top of his honour and jollity, and as it were, in the midst of his earthly paradise, being beaten down and swallowed up with confusion and ignominy, not strooken with the edge of sword or spear, (for that had been far more honourable) but gnawn in pieces with louse and vermin.  
Simon Magus, otherwise called Simon the Samaritane, borne in a village called Gitton, after he was cursed of Peter the Apostle, for offering to buy the gifts of the spirit of God with money, went to Rome, 
Euseb. lib. 2. cap. 12. Philip. in Chron. Cent. ●. lib. 2. cap. 11.  and there putting in practise his magical arts, and working miracles by the devil, was reputed a god, and had an image erected in his honour with this inscription, To Simon the holy God: beside, all the Samaritans, and divers also of other nations accounted him no less, as appeared by the reverence and honour which they did unto him: in so much, as they called his companion, or rather his whore Helena (for that was her profession in tire a city of Phenicia) The first mover that distilled out of Simons bosom. Now he, to foster this foolish and ridiculous opinion of theirs, and to eternize his name, boasted that he would at a certain time fly up into heaven, which, as he attempted to do by the help of the devil, Peter the Apostle commanded the unclean spirit to cast him down again, so that he fell upon the earth and was bruised to death, and proved himself thereby to be no more than a mortal, wicked, and detestable wretch.  
Moreover, elsewhere we read of Alexander the great, whose courage and magnanimity was so exceeding great, that he enterprised to go out of Greece and set upon all Asia, only with an army of two and thirty thousand footmen, 
Oros. lib. 3.  five hundred horse, and an hundred and fourscore ships: and in this appointment passing the seas, he conquered in short space, the greatest part of the world: for which cause, he was represented to the Prophet Daniel in a vision, by the figure of a Leopard with wings on his back, to notify the great diligence and speedy expedition which he used in compassing so many sudden and great victories; with pride whereof, he was so soon infected, that he would brook no equal nor companion in his Empire; but as heaven had but one son, so he thought the earth ought to have but one monarch, which was himself: 
just. lib. 11.  which mind of his, he made known by his answer to king Darius demanding peace, and offering him the one half of his kingdom to be quiet; when he refused to accord thereunto, saying, He scorned to be a partner in the half, and hoped to be full possessor of the whole. After his first victory had of Darius, & his entrance into Egypt (which he took without blows, as also he did Rhodes and Cicilia) he practised and suborned the priests that ministered at the Oracle of Hammon, to make him be pronounced and entitled by the Oracle, The son of jupiter: (which kind of juggling and deceit was common at that time) Having obtained this honour, forthwith he caused himself to be worshipped as a god, 
just. lib. 12. Curt. lib. 8.  according to the custom of the kings of Persia: neither wanted he flatterers about him that egged him forward, & soothed him up in this proud humour: albeit that many of the better sort endeavoured tooth and nail to turn him from it. It happened as he warred in India, he received so sore a wound, that with pain thereof he was constrained to say, Though he was the renowned son of jupiter, yet he ceased not to feel the infirmities of a weak & diseased body: finally, being returned to Babylon, where many ambassadors of diverse far countries, as of Carthage, and other cities in Africa, Spain, France, Sicily, Sardinia, and certain Cities of Italy, were arrived, to congratulate his good success, for the great renown which by his worthy deeds he had gotten; as he lay there taking his rest many days, and bathing himself in all kind of pleasure, one day after a great feast that lasted a whole day and a night, in a banquet after supper being ready to return home, he was poisoned; when before he had drunk his whole draft he gave a deep sigh suddenly, as if he had been thrust through with a dart, and was carried away in a sown, vexed with such horrible torment, that had he not been restrained he would have killed himself. And on this manner he that could not content himself with the condition of a man, but would needs climb above the clouds to go in equipage with God, drunk up his own death, leaving as suddenly all his worldly pomp, as he had suddenly gotten it: which vanished like smoke, none of his children being any whit the better by it.  
There was in Siracusa a city of Sicilia (which is now called Saragosse) a Physician called Menecrates, whose folly and presumption was so great that he accounted himself a god: and desired to be so reputed by others: insomuch that he required no other wages and recompense of the patients which he took in hand (as Aelianus witnesseth) but that they should only acknowledge him to be jupiter, and call him so, & avow themselves to his service. Upon a time Denis the tyrant desirous to make some pastime with him, made a feast and invited him amongst others to be his guest: but because he was a god, to do him honour answerable to his name, he placed him a table all alone, and set before him no dishes, but only a censer with frankincense, which was a proper and convenient service for the gods: this honourable duty pleased the Physician very well at the first, so that he snuffed up the perfume most willingly: but when this poor god saw the other guests eating and drinking indeed, and himself not being able to be fed with smoke, ready to starve with hunger rose up and went away all enraged in himself, and derided of others, having more need to purge his own brain from their superfluous humour, than others from their sicknesses.  
Caligula the first Emperor, being become an ordinary despiser and open mocker of all religion, it came presently in his brain to believe (so drunken was he with a draft of his own foolish conceit) that there was no other God but himself: therefore he caused men to worship him, & to kiss his hands or his feet in token of reverence, (which honour afterwards the Popes took unto them) yea and was so besotted, that he went about by certain engines of art to counterfeit thunder and lightnings: albeit in all this pride and arrogancy or rather folly, there was none so timorous and fearful as he, or that would sooner upon lighter occasion be dismayed. One day as he was by mount Aetna in Cicilie hearing by chance the violent cracking of the flames which all that season ascended out of the top of the hill, it struck so sudden and horrible a fear into him, that he never ceased flying all night till he came to Phar. in Messina. Every little thunderclap put him in fear of death, for he would leap up and down like a mad man when he heard it thunder, finding himself not able by all his godhead to defend himself from the power thereof: but if there chanced greater cracks then ordinary, then would not his hot bed hold him, but needs must he run into the cold flower underneath the bed to hide himself. Thus was he compelled against his will to fear him, whom willingly he would not deign to acknowledge. And thus it falleth out with all wicked miserable Atheists whose hearts imagine there is no God: and therefore have so little assurance in themselves, that there need no thunder and lightning to amaze them: for the shaking of every leaf, is sufficient to make them tremble. To conclude, this Atheist void of religion and fear of God, and full of all profaneness, was according to his due desert murdered by one of his own servants: of the which, will follow more at large in the next book.  
Domitian likewise was so blinded with pride, that he would be called a god and worshipped: 
Oros. lib. 7. ca 7.  of whom also we will speak in the second book, and 34 chapter.  
To these we may add them also, 
Dionys. Holy. Lib. 1. antiq. Roman.  that to the end to make themselves feared and reverenced as gods, have counterfeited the lightnings and thunders of heaven, as we read of one Alladius a Latin king that reigned before Romulus: who being a most wicked tyrant & a contemner of God, invented a trick whereby to represent to the ear and eye, the rattling & swift shine of both thunder & lightning; that by that means astonishing his subjects, he might be guised of them for a god: but it chanced that his house being set on fire with true lightning, & overthrown with the violent strength of tempestuous rain, together with the overflowing of a pond that stood near, he perished by fire & water, burnt & drowned, & all at once.  
Did not the king of Elide the like, and to the same end also by the device of a chariot drawn about with four horses, wherein were certain iron works, which with wrinching about, gave an horrible sound resembling thunder, and torches and squibs which he caused to be thrown about like lightnings in such sort, that he oftentimes burned the beholders: 
Diod. lib. 4.  & in this manner he went up and down braving it, especially over an iron bridge which he had of purpose built to pass and repass over at his pleasure; until God's long suffering could not endure any longer such outrageous and presumptuous madness, but sent a thunderbolt from heaven upon his head, that all the world might see by his destruction, the exceeding folly and vain pride which bewitched him in his life time: Which history the Poet in the person of Sibilla setteth down at large to this effect.  
I saw Salmon in cruel torments lie,  
For counterfatting thunder of the sky,  
And Ioues clear lightning: whilst with torches bright,  
Drawn with four steeds, and brandishing his light,  
He road triumphantly through Elis streets,  
And made all Grecia wonder at his feats.  
Thinking to win the honour of a god,  
(Mad as he was) by scattertng fire abroad.  
With brazen engines, and with courses feigning,  
A noise like that which in the clouds is raining,  
And no where else: but God from thickest sky,  
No torch, but such a thunderbolt let fly  
At him, that headlong whirled him from his cell,  
And tumbled down into the deepest hell.  
Thus this arrogant king was punished according to the quality of his offence, even in the same kind wherein he offended, which thing though it be found written in a Poet, yet ought not be rejected for an old wives tale, seeing it is not incredible that a king might make such pastimes, & iron crashing noises, nor that he might be justly punished for the same; and the rather because Caligula did the like, as we have heard before. And we read also that one Arthemisius in the time of the Emperor justinian, counterfeited by certain engines and devices in his own house in Constantinople, 
Agath. lib. 5. bell. Gothis.  such earthquakes, lightnings and thunders, that would astonish a wise brain to hear or behold them on a sudden.  
But above all others that by darkening the glory of God to increase their own power have proudly exalted themselves against him, the Popes are the ringleaders, whose unbridled boldness hath been so much the more impudent & pernicious, for that in terming themselves the servants of the servants of God, in word; in deed, take unto them the authority and power of God himself: as of pardoning & absolving sins, creating laws & ordinances at their pleasure in binding or unbinding men's consciences; which things appertain to God only: nay they have been so brazen faced, as to command Angels and devils, as Clement the fift did in one of his bulls: so impudent, as to be carried like idols upon their vassal● shoulders, & wear three crowns upon their heads: so proud and arrogant as to constrain kings and Emperors to kiss their feet, to make them their vassals, to usurp Lordship & dominion over them and all their lands and possessions: and to dispossess whom they like not, of kingdoms, & install in their rooms whom they please: and all this by the thunder of excommunication, whereby they make themselves feared and stood in awe of. By which dealings of theirs they verify in themselves that which the scripture speaketh of Antichrist, which is the man of sin, the son of perdition, 
2. Thes. 2.3.  an adversary and one that exalteth himself against all which is called God, or which is worshipped, till he be set as a god in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Wherefore also the heavy vengeance of God is manifest upon them, by the great and horrible punishments they have been tormented with; for some of them have had their eyes pulled out, others have died in prisons, a third sort have been smothered to death, a fourth hath been killed with the sword, a fift hath died with hunger, a sixth been stoned, a seventh poisoned, and yet there hath not wanted an eight sort whom the devil himself hath stifled.  
This it is to overreach the clouds, 
Sabel Aenead. 9 lib. 7. john le Maire de Besges. Ni●h. Giles, of the Chronicles of France.  and not content with earthly power, to usurp a supremacy and pre-eminence over kings: such was the pride of Pope Boniface the eight, when he sent an embassage to Philip the Fair, king of France, to command him to take upon him an expedition against the Saracens beyond the sea, upon pain of forfeiting his kingdom into his hands: and when having his sword by his side he shamed not to say, that he alone and none else was Emperor and Lord of all the world: in demonstration whereof he bestowed the Empire upon Duke Albert, together with the crown of France: and not content herewith, his insolency was so importunate, that he charged Philip the Fair to acknowledge himself to be his subject in all causes as well spiritual as temporal: and to levy a subsidy for his holiness out of his Clergy, disabling his authority in bestowing church livings, which prerogative he challenged to his sea: the conclusion of this bull was in these words: Aliud credentes fatitos reputamus: as much to say, as whosoever is of another mind then this, we esteem him a fool. Whereunto the King answered in this wise, Philippus dei gratia Francorum rex Bonifacio se gerenti pro summ● pontificé salutem modicam sive nullam. Sciat tua maxima fatuitas, in temporalibus nos alicui non subesse, ecclesiarum & prebendarum vacantium collationem ad nos iure regio pertinere: secus autem credentes fatuos reputamus deviantes, in English thus, Philip by the grace of God King of France, to Boniface bearing himself for Pope little or no health. Be it known unto thy exceeding great foolishness, that we in temporal affairs are subject to none, that the bestowing of benefices belongeth to us by our royal right: and if there be any that think otherwise, we hold them for erroneous fools. A memorable answer well beseeming a true royal and French heart: immediately he assembling together a●● national council of all the Barons and prelate's within his dominion at Paris, wherein Boniface being pronounced an Heretic, a Simonist, and a manslayer, it was agreed upon by a joint consent that the king should do no more obeisance, but reject as nothing worth, whatsoever he should impose. Wherefore the king to tame his proud & malicious nature, dispatched secretly two hundred men at arms, under the conduct of one captain ●oguard towards Auian in Naples (whither his holiness was fled for fear of diverse whose houses and castles he had caused to be razed down) there to surprise him on a sudden: which stratagem they speedily performed, and carried him prisoner to Rome, where he died most miserably. Peter Mesie a Spanish Gentleman of Seville, saith in many of his lectures that he died in prison enraged with famine. Nicholas giles in his first volume of French chronicles, reporteth that he died in the castle Saint Angelo, through a flux of his belly which cast him into a frenzy, that he gnew off his own hands: and that at the hour of his death there were heard horrible thunders and tempests and lightnings round about: this is he in whose honour this fine Epitaph was made: Intravit ut vulpes, regnavit ut lo, mortuus est ut canis: 
Sabel. Aenead. 9 lib. 7.  He entered like a fox, reigned like a lion, and died like a dog. And this was he that on the first day of Lent giving ashes to the bishop of Genes, in stead of using the ordinary form of speech which is, Momento homo quod cinis es, & in cinerem converteris, Remember man that thou art ashes, and into ashes thou shalt return: said in despite and mockery, Memento homo quia Gibellinus es, & cum Gibellinis in cinerem converteris: Remember that thou art a Gibelline, and together with the Gibillines thou shalt be turned into ashes: and in stead of laying the ashes upon his forehead, threw them into his eyes; and forthwith deprived him of his Bishopric, and would have done worse if it had been in his power: mark what little account this holy father himself made of these ceremonies: and therefore it is no marvel if others mock at them, seeing the Popes themselves make them but matters of pastime.  
If it be so therefore that no man ought to arrogate to himself any title of deity, then consequently it is no less unlawful to give that divine honour to any other mortal creature: and therefore the people of Caesarea faulted greatly when blasphemously they called King Herod a god, as hath been declared before. Likewise it was high and proud presumption in the Senate of Rome not to receive any god to their Commonwealth without their own foreapprobation and consent, as if that God could not maintain his dignity, nor stand without the good liking and assent of men; or as if that man could deify whom he listed, which is a most ridiculous and absurd thing. And thus the Romans in time of Tiberius consecrating to themselves a whole legion, even thousands of false gods, 
Tertullian apolog.  would not admit of the true God & his son Christ, but rejected him above all others.  
Among all the vanities of the Athenians this was one worthy noting, how they ordained that Demetrius, Alexander's successor (for re-establishing their popular and ancient liberty) with his father Antigonus should be called kings, and honoured with the title of Saving gods, and to have a Priest that should offer sacrifice unto them: and moreover caused their pictures to be drawn in the same banner where the pictures of jupiter & Minerva (the protectors of their city) were drawn, in broidered work: but this goodly banner as is was carried about in procession was rend in pieces by a tempestuous storm that arose suddenly, God thereby manifesting how odious and displeasant both this new and old superstition was in his sight: besides that do but consider the laudable virtues that so commended this new god Demetrius, to make them honour him in such sort: they were violence, and cruelties, intemperance, with all inordinate lasciviousness, villainies, and whoredoms: so that it was no marvel if they had made him a God, being unworthy altogether of human society. This new found god having gotten a great victory by sea, as he triumphed and braved it with ships after the same, was so shattered with a sudden tempest, that the greatest part of his navy went to wrack, and afterwards was vanquished by Seleuchus in a battle, wherein his father Antigonus was slain: & when he thought to retire to Athens, they shut their gates upon him, whom a little before they had canonised for a god: for which cause he raised war against them, & so wearied them with onsets on each side, and so enclosed them both by sea & land, that being brought to extreme famine & necessity, they were compelled to entertain him again, and to behold the horrible outrages of their own made god, to their grief & confusion. But not long after Seleuchus once again damped his courage, in so much that having lived three years in a country of Sivia like a banished outlaw, for fear to be delivered into his hands, & weary of his own life, he stuffed himself so with food that he burst in pieces. Therefore let every man learn by these examples not to translate the honour and majesty of God to any creature, but to leave it to him alone, who is jealous thereof, & will not (as the Prophet saith) give his glory unto another.   

CHAP. XXV. Of Epicures and Atheists.  
AS touching voluptuous Epicures and cursed Atheists, that deny the providence of God, believe not the immortality of the soul, think there is no such thing as life to come, and consequently impugn all divinity, living in this world like brute beasts, & like dogs and swine, wallowing in all sensuality; they do also strike themselves against this commandment, by going about to wipe out and deface the knowledge of God, and if it were possible, to extinguish his very essence; wherein they show themselves more then mad, and brutish, whereas notwithstanding all the evident testimonies of the virtue, bounty, wisdom, and eternal power of God, which they daily see with their eyes, and feel in themselves, do nevertheless strive to quench his light of nature which enlighteneth and persuadeth them and all Nations of this, There is a God, by whom we live, move, and have our being; 
Acts. 17.28.  who although in his essence is invisible, yet maketh he himself known and as it were seen by his works and creatures, and mighty government of the world, that he that would seek after him, may (as one might say) handle and feel him. Therefore they that would persuade themselves that this glorious heaven & massy earth wanted a guider and a governor, have their understanding blinded from sight of things manifest, & their hearts perverted from all show of reason: for is there any substance of this world that hath no cause of his subsisting? Is there a day without a son? Are there fruits and no trees? Plants and no seeds? Can it rain without a cloud? Be a tempest without wind? Can a ship sail without a Pilot? Or a house be built without a carpenter or builder? If then every part of this world hath his particular cause of being and dependence, is it likely that the whole is without cause to be to it a furnishing and government? Say you hogs and dogs do you not believe that which you see: or if your eyes be bored out that you cannot see, must you think there is no son nor light, because your eyes are in darkness and blindness? Can you behold all the secrets of nature? Is there nothing but a voice, a singing of birds, or an harmonious consort of musical instruments in the world? And yet who perceiveth these small things? Can you behold the wind? Can you see the sweet smell of fragrant flowers along the fields? Can you see the secrets of your own bodies, your entrails, your heart and your brain? And yet you cease not to believe that there are such things, except you be heartless & brainless indeed: Why then do you measure God by your own fight, & do not believe there is a God because he is invisible, since that he manifesteth himself more apparently both to understanding & sense then either voice, smell, or wind? do not your own oaths blasphemies and horrible cursings bear witness against you, when you swear by, despite and maugre him whom you deny to be? doth not every thunderclap constrain you to tremble at the blast of his voice: if any calamity approach near unto or light upon you, or if death be threatened or set before your eyes, do you not then feel in spite of all your reason, that the severe judgement of God doth waken up your dull & sleepy conscience to come to his trial? There was never yet any nation or people so barbarous which by the persuasion and instinct of nature hath not always believed a certain deity, and to think otherwise is not only a detestable thing, but also most absurd & so contrary to human reason, that the very Paynims have very little tolerated such horrible blasphemy. The Athenians are witnesses hereof, 
Cic. of the nature of gods. Lib. 1.  who banished Protagoras their city and country because in the beginning of one of his books he called in question the deity: & caused his books to be burned openly. Neither showed they any less severity towards Diagoras surnamed the Atheist, 
Diodor. 13.  when being as some say injuriously and falsely accused of this crime, and for fear of punishment fled away, they proclaimed that whosoever did kill him, should have a talon of silver in recompense, which in value is as much as six hundred crowns after the rate of 35 shillings French to the crown. How much more than is the state of Christendom at this day to be lamented, which we see in many places infected with such a contagious pestilence, that divers men envenomed with this deadly poison, are so mischievous and wretched as to make room for Atheism, by forbidding and hindering by all means possible the course of the gospel: wherein they make known what they are and what zeal they bear to the religion & service of God, & with what affection they are led towards the good & safety of the Commonwealth, and what hereafter is to be hoped of them: for where there is no knowledge nor fear of God, there also is no bridle nor bond to restrain and hold men back from doing evil: whereupon they grow to that pass to be most insolent and profane. This is the divinity and goodly instruction that cometh beyond the mountains from that scientifical University and College of the right reverend masters, and from the excellent holiness of some of their Popes: whose manner of life is so dissolute, lascivious, dishonest and Sardanapal like, 
Vide lib. 1. cap. 20. Lucian. Porphory, julian. etc. Bale.  that thereby their Atheism is evidently and notoriously known and talked of by every one.  
Hereof Pope Leo the tenth a Florentine by birth, may serve for an example: who as he was a very effeminate person, given to all manner of delights and pleasure, having no other care but of himself, and his own filthy carcases ease; so had he no more taste at all nor feeling of God and his holy word, than a dog: he made the promises and threats contained in holy scripture, and all else that we believe, matter to laugh at, and things frivolous and of no weight, mocking at the simplicity, the faith and belief of Christians: for one day when Cardinal Bembus (who also showed himself to be none of the best Christians in the world, by his Venetian history, where as oft as he speaketh of God he useth the plural number after the manner of Heathen writers) alleged a place out of the Gospel, his damnable impudency was so great as to reply, That this fable of Christ had brought to him and such as he, no little profit. Oh stinking and cursed throat to belch out such monstrous blasphemy! do not these speeches bewray a villainous and abominable Atheist, if ever any were? Is not this to declare himself openly to be Antichrist? For he is Antichrist which denieth jesus to be Christ, and which denieth the Father and the Son, 
1. john 2.22.  according as Saint john saith. Albeit in the mean while this cursed caitiff that had as much religion as a dog, made show to be the protector and defender of the Catholic faith, making war with all his power against Christ jesus in the person of his servant Luther. Now after he had by his pardons and indulgences drawn out a world of money, and heaped up great treasures by the maintenance of courtesans and Whores, and had enriched his bastards, one day being at meat he received news of the overthrow of the French in Lombardy, whereat he rejoiced out of measure, and for that good tidings doubled his good cheer: suddenly he was constrained to turn his copy from joy into sadness, from pleasure into grief and gnashing of teeth, by a most bitter and unlooked for death which deprived him at once of all his pleasures, to make him drink the cup of God's fierce wrath, and to throw him down headlong into everlasting pains and torments which were provided for him. Pope Leo (saith S. Martin of Belay in his second book of memorable things) hearing of the great loss which the French men sustained at Milan took so great joy thereat, that a catar and an ague ensuing, killed him within three days after: a happy man indeed to die with joy. Pope julius the third was one of the same stamp, 
Bale. Veag.  nothing inferior to the former in all manner of dissolute and infamous living and vile and cursed talk, making known by his impiety, that he had none other God but his belly, 
Vide lib. 1. cap. 21. Heresy.  and that he was none of Christ's fold but one of Epicures crew; he was such a glutton, and so passionate in his lusts, and so profane a despiser of God and his word, that once at supper being enraged & blaspheming because they had not served in a cold peacock which he commanded to be kept whole at dinner, though there were other hot on the table, a Cardinal that was present desired him not to be so moved for so small a trifle: What (quoth he) if it pleased God to be so angry for eating of an apple as to thrust Adam and Eve out of Paradise, should not I which am his vicar be angry for a peacock, which is far more worth than any apple? See how this wicked wretch profaned the holy scripture, and like an Epicure and Atheist mocked God: but he died of the gout after he had been long plagued with it together with other diseases, leaving none other good name behind him save the report of a most wicked and abominable man.  
Philip Strozze whom Paulus iovius reporteth to have been commonly bruited to be an Atheist, 
Tom. 2. lib. 36.  was an exile of Florence and afterwards prisoner there, in the time of Cosimus Medius the Prince of that Commonwealth (against whom this Philip had enterprised to make war) and being in prison he killed himself with a sword of a Spaniard his keeper which by oversight he had left behind, setting the point against his throat & falling down upon it: so may all Atheists perish and come to nought.  
Francis Rabelais having sucked up also this poison, used like a profane villain to make all religion a matter to laugh and mock at: but God deprived him of his senses, that as he had led a brutish life so he might die a brutish death: for he died mocking all those that talked of God, or made any mention of mercy in his ears.  
How miserable was the end of Periers, the author of that detestable book entitled Symbalum mundi, wherein he openly mocked at God and his religion: even he fell finally into despair, and notwithstanding all that guarded him killed himself.  
Iodelle also, a Frenel tragical Poet, being an Epicure and an Atheist, made a very tragical and most pitiful end: for he died in great misery and distress even pined to death after he had rioted out all his substance and consumed his patrimony. Lignereles the courtier to make himself seem a man of service made open profession of Atheism, but his end and destruction came from thence, whence he looked for credit and advancement.  
To bring the matter to an end, I will here set down a notable and strange thing, that chanced in the reign of Lewis the ninth (as Enguerran de Monstrelet in his second volume of Histories recordeth it:) upon the fifteenth day of june in the year of our Lord God 1464 there happened a strange thing in the palace at Paris: so it was that there was a matter in law to be tried betwixt the Bishop of Angiers and a rich Citizen, whom the Bishop charged to have spoken before many witnesses, that he believed not that there was either God or Devil, Heaven or hell. Now whilst the Bishop's Lawyer laid to his charge these things, the place began to tremble very much, wherein they were, and a stone fell down from the roof amongst them all without hurting any: yet every man was sore afraid, and departed out of the house until the morrow: when the matter was begun again to be pleaded, which was no sooner in hand, but the chamber begun afresh to shake, and one of the summers came forth of his mortise hole, falling downwards two foot and there stayed: so that all that were within the hall looking to have been slain outright, ran out so violently that some left behind them their caps, others their hoods, others their slippers: summarily, glad was he that could get out first; neither durst they plead any more causes in that place until it was mended. Thus much reporteth Enguerran without mention of any decision of that matter: now for as much as nothing happeneth by chance, it is most likely that God by that accident would give us to understand both how monstrous and detestable all such speeches are, as also how men ought to fear & abhor them, seeing that the dumb & senseless creatures & wood, beams, planks and stones, and the earth at self, (by nature steadfast and fixed) are so far from enduring them, that they are moved withal.  
There was a certain blasphemous wretch that on a time being with his companions in a common Inn carousing and making merry; 
Discipulus de tempore Sermon. 132.  asked them if they thought a man was possessed with a soul or no: whereunto when some replied, that the souls of men were immortal, and that some of them after release from the body lived in heaven, others in hell; for so the writings of the Prophets and Apostles instructed them: he answered and swore that he thought it nothing so, but rather that there was no soul in man to survive the body, but that Heaven and hell were mere fables, and inventions of Priests to get gain by; and for himself he was ready to sell his soul to any that would buy it: than one of his companions took up a cup of wine and said, sell me thy soul for this cup of wine: which he receiving bade him take his soul, and drank up the wine. Now Satan himself was there in a man's shape, (as commonly he is never far from such meetings) and bought it again of the other at the same price, and by and by bade him give him his soul: the whole company affirming it was meet he should have it, since he had bought it, not perceiving the Devil: but presently he laying hold on this soul seller, carried him into the air before them all, toward his own habitation, to the great astonishment and amazement of the beholders: and from that day to this he was never heard of, but tried to his pain that men had souls: and that hell was no fable according to his godless and profane opinion.  
Pherecides by birth a Syrian, a tragical Poet and a Philosopher by profession, 
Aelianus de var. hist. lib. 4.  boasted impudently amongst his scholars of his prosperity learning, and wisdom, saying: that although he offered no sacrifices unto the gods, yet he lead a more quiet and prosperous life then those that were addicted to religion, and therefore he passed not for any such vanity. But ere long his impiety was justly revenged, for the Lord struck him with such a strange disease, that out of his body issued such a slimy and filthy sweat, and engendered such a number of louse and worms, that his bowels being consumed by them he died most miserably.  

Theat. historicum.  At Hamburge not long since there lived an impious wretch that despised the preaching of the Gospel and the ministers thereof, accounting it as a vain thing, not worthy the believing of any man: neither did he thus himself only but also seduced many others, bringing them to all Atheism and ungodliness. Wherefore the Lord justly recompensed him for his impiety: for he that before had no sense nor feeling of God in his conscience, being touched with the finger of the almighty, grew to the contrary, even to too much feeling and knowledge of God, that he fell into extreme despair, affirming now his sins to be past forgiveness because he had withdrawn others from the truth aswell as himself, whereas before he thought himself guilty of no sin; and that God was so just that he would not forgive him, whereas before he thought there was no God: (so mighty is the operation of the Lord when he pleaseth to touch the conscience of man) finally, continuing in this desperate case, he threw himself from the roof of a house into a well, and not finding water enough to drown him, he thrust his head into the bottom thereof till he had made an end of his life.  

Theat. historicum.  In the year of our Lord 1502 there lived one Hermannus Biswick, a grand Atheist, and a notable instrument of Satan, who affirmed that the world never had beginning, as foolish Moses dreamt: and that there was neither Angels nor devils, nor hell, nor future life, but that the souls of men perished with their bodies: beside, that Christ jesus was nothing else, but a seducer of the people; and that the faith of Christians, and whatsoever else is contained in holy writs, was mere vanity. These articles full of impiety and blasphemy, he constantly avouched to the death: And for the same cause was together with his books burnt in Holland.  
A certain rich man at Holberstadium abounding with all manner of earthly commodities, 
Theatr. histor.  gave himself so much to his pleasure, that he became besotted therewith: in such sort, that he made no reckoning of religion, nor any good thing; but dared to say, that if he might lead such a life continually upon earth, he would not envy heaven, nor desire any exchange. Notwithstanding ere long (contrary to his expectation) the Lord cut him off by death, and so his desired pleasure came to an end. But after his death there appeared such diabolical apparitions in his house, that no man daring to inhabit in it, became desolate, for every day there appeared the image of this Epicure sitting at a board with a number of his guests, drinking, carousing, and making good cheer; and his table furnished with delicates, and attended on by many that ministered necessaries unto them, beside with minstrels, trumpeters, and such like. In sum, whatsoever he delighted in his life time, was there to be seen every day, the Lord permitting Satan to blear men's eyes with such strange shows, to the end that others might be terrified from such epicurism and impiety.  
Not inferior to any of the former in Atheism & impiety, and equal to all in manner of punishment was one of our own nation, of fresh and late memory, called Marlin, 
Marlowe.  by profession a scholar, brought up from his youth in the University of Cambridge, but by practise a playmaker, and a Poet of scurrility, who by giving too large a swinge to his own wit, and suffering his lust to have the full rains, fell (not without just desert) to that outrage and extremity, that he denied God and his son Christ, and not only in word blasphemed the trinity, but also (as it is credibly reported) wrote books against it, affirming our Saviour to be but a deceiver, and Moses to be but a conjuror and seducer of the people, and the holy Bible to be but vain and idle stories, and all religion but a device of policy. But see what a hook the Lord put in the nostrils of this barking dog: It so fell out, that in London streets as he purposed to stab one whom he ought a grudge unto with his dagger, the other party perceiving so avoided the stroke, that withal catching hold of his wrist, he stabbed his own dagger into his own head, in such sort, that notwithstanding all the means of surgery that could be wrought, he shortly after died thereof. The manner of his death being so terrible (for he even cursed and blasphemed to his last gasp, and together with his breath an oath flew out of his mouth) that it was not only a manifest sign of God's judgement, but also an horrible and fearful terror to all that beheld him. But herein did the justice of God most notably appear, in that he compelled his own hand which had written those blasphemies to be the instrument to punish him, and that in his brain, which had devised the same. I would to God (and I pray it from my heart) that all Atheists in this realm, and in all the world beside, would by the remembrance and consideration of this example, either forsake their horrible impiety, or that they might in like manner come to destruction: and so that abominable sin which so flourisheth amongst men of greatest name, might either be quite extinguished and tooted out, or at least smothered and kept under, that it durst not show it head any more in the world's eye.   

CHAP. XXVI. Touching the transgressors of the second commandment, by Idolatry.  
We have hitherto seen how and in what sort they, that either by malice, or impiety, or Apostasy, or heresy, or otherwise have transgressed the first commandment, have been punished: Let us now consider the judgements that have befallen idolaters, the breakers of the second commandment. But before we proceed, we must know, that as it is required of us by the first commandment to hold God for our true and only God, to repose all our whole trust and confidence in him, and call upon him, serve and worship him alone: so in the second, the contrary to this is forbidden; which is, to do any manner of service, honour, and reverence by devotion to Idols, forasmuch as he is a spirit (that is to say, 
john. 4.  of a spiritual nature and essence which is infinite and incomprehensible) so loveth he a spiritual worship and service which is answerable to his nature, and not by images or pictures, and such other outward and corruptible means, which he hath in no wise commanded: wherefore Isaiah the Prophet reproving the folly and vanity of idolaters saith, 
Chap. 40.18.  To whom will you liken God, or what similitude will you set up unto him. Therefore if it be not Gods will, that under pretence and colour of his own name, any image or picture should be adored, (being a thing not only inconvenient, but also absurd and unseemly) much less can he abide to have them worshipped under the name and title of any creature whatsoever. And for this cause gave he the second commandment, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, etc. which prohibition the Israelielits broke in the desert, when they set up a golden calf, & bowed themselves before it after the manner of the Painyms, giving it the honour which was only due to God: whereby they incurred the indignation of Almighty God, 
Exod. 32.  who is strong and jealous of suffering any such slander to be done unto his name: wherefore he caused three thousand of them to be strooken & wounded to death by the hand of the levites, at the commandment of Moses, to make his anger against idolatry more manifest, by causing them to be executioners of his revenge, who were ordained for the ministry of his Church, and the service of the altar and tabernacle. Howbeit for all this, the same people not long after, fell back into the same sin, and bowed themselves before strange gods, & through the allurements of the daughters of Moab joined themselves to Belphegor: 
Num. 25.  for which cause, the Lord being incensed, struck them with so grievous a plague, that there died of them in one day about twenty and four thousand persons.  
And albeit that after all this, being brought by him into the land of promise, he had forbidden and threatened them for cleaving to the idols of the nations whose land they possessed, yet were they so prone to idolatry, that notwithstanding all this, they fell to serve Baal and Astaroth: wherefore the fire of God's wrath was inflamed against them, and he gave them over to be a spoil and prey unto their enemies on every side, so that for many years, sometimes the Moabites oppressed them, otherwhiles the Madianites, and ever after the death of any of their judges and rulers which God raised up for their deliverance, some grievous punishment befell them: for then (being without law or government) every man did that which seemed good in his own eyes, and so turned aside from the right way.  
Now albeit these examples may seem to have some affinity with Apostasy, yet because the ignorance and rudeness of the people was rather the cause of their falling away from God, than any wilful affection that reigned in them, therefore we place them in this rank, as well as they that have been always brought up and nuzzled in Idolatry.  

2. Chron. 22.  One of this crew was Ochosias' king of juda son of joram, who having before him an evil precedent of his wicked father, and a worse instruction and bringing up of his mother Athaliah, who together with the house of Achab pricked him forward to evil, joined himself to them, and to their idols, and for that cause was wrapped in the same punishment & destruction with joram the king of Israel, whom jehu slew together with the princes of juda, and many of his near kinsmen. And to be short, Idolatry hath been the decay and ruin of the kingdom of juda, as at all other times, so especially under joachas son of josias, 
2. King. 23.  that reigned not above three months in jerusalem before he was taken and led captive into Egypt by the king thereof, and there died: from which time the whole land became tributary to the king of Egypt. And not long after it was utterly destroyed by the forces of Nabuchadnezzar, king of Babel that came against jerusalem and took it, and carried king Ioa●him with his mother, his princes, his servants, and the treasures of the temple, and his own house, into Babylon. And finally, 
2. King. 24.25.  took Zedechias that fled away, and before his eyes caused his sons to be slain, which assoon as he had beheld, commanded him also to be pulled out, and so binding him in chains of iron, carried him prisoner to Babylon: putting all the princes of juda to the sword, consuming with fire the temple with the king's palace, and all the goodly buildings of jerusalem. And thus the whole kingdom (though by an especial prerogative consecrated and ordained of God himself) ceased to be a kingdom, and came to such an end, that it was never re-established by God, but begun and confirmed by the filthy idolatry of jeroboams calves, 
Vide lib. 1. c. 19  which as his successors maintained and favoured more or less, so were they exposed to more or less plagues and encumbrances.  
Nadab, jeroboams son, being nuzzled and nurtured up in Idol worship, after the example of his father, 
1 King. 15.27.  received a condign punishment for his iniquity: for Baasa the son of Ahijah put both him and all the offspring of Ieroboam● house to the sword, and reigned in his stead: who also being no whit better than those whom he had slain, was punished in the person of Ela his son; whom Zambri one of his servants slew. And this again usurping the crown, enjoyed it but seven days, at the end whereof (seeing himself in danger in the city Tirza taken by Amri, whom the people had chosen for their king) went into the palace of the king's house, and burned himself. As for Achab, he multiplied idolatry in Israel, and committed more wickedness than all his predecessors, wherefore the wrath of God was stretched out against hi● and his: for he himself was wounded to death in battle by the Sitians, his son joram slain by jehu, and threescore and ten of his children put to death in Samaria by their governors and chief of the city, sending their heads in baskets to jehu. Above all, a most notable and manifest example of God's judgement, was seen in the death of jezabel his wife, that had been his spur and provoker to all mischief, when by her eunuchs and most trusty servants at the commandment of jehu she was thrown down out of a window, and trampled under the horse seer, and last of all devoured of dogs. Moreover, the greatest number of the kings of Israel that succeeded him were murdered one after another, so that the kingdom fell to such a low decline, that it became first tributary to the king of Assyria, and afterward invaded and subverted by him, and the inhabitants transported into his land: whence they never returned, but remained scattered here and there like vagabonds, and all for their abominable idolatry: which ought to be a lesson to all people, princes, and kings, that seeing God spared not these two realms of juda and Israel, but destroyed and rooted them out from the earth; much less will he spare any other kingdom and monarchy which continue by their images and idol worship to stir up his indignation against them.   

CHAP. XXVII. Of many evils that have come upon Christendom for idolatry.  
IF we consider and search out the cause of the ruin of the East Empire, and of so many famous and flourishing Churches as were beforetime in the greatest part of Europe, & namely in Greece, we shall find, that Idolatry hath been the cause of all: for even as it got footing and increase in their dominions; so equally did the power of Saracens and Turkish tyranny take root and foundation amongst them, and prospered so well, that the rest of the world trembled at the report thereof; God having raised and fortified them, as beforetime he had done the Assyrians and Babylonians as whips and scourges to chasten the people and nations of the world that wickedly had abused his holy gospel, & bearing the name of Christians, had become idolaters: for no other name then this can be given them, that in devotion do any manner of homage to images & pictures, whatsoever may superficially be alleged to the contrary. For be it the image either of Prophet, Apostle, or Christ jesus himself, yet it is necessary that the law of God stand whole and sound, which saith, Thou shalt make thyself no graven image, nor any likeness of things either in heaven above, or in earth beneath: 
Epiphan. john Bishop of jerusalem.  thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them, etc. Wherefore he performed the part of a good bishop, that finding a vail spread in the entrance of a Church door wherein the image of Christ or of some other Saint was pictured, rend it in pieces, with these words, That it was against the authority of the sacred scripture to have any image of Christ set up in the Church. After the same manner, Serenus bishop of Marseilla, beat down & banished all images out of his Churches, as occasions of idolatry: & to shun them the more, it was ordained in the Elibertine council, that no image nor picture should be set up in any Church: for which cause also the Emperor Leo the third, by an open edict commanded his subjects to cast out of their temples all pictures and statues of Saints, 
Paul. Diacon. Lib. 6. cap. 14.  Angels, and whatsoever, to the intent that all occasions of Idolatry might be taken away: yea and he burned some, and punished divers otherwise, that in this regard were not pliant, but disobedient to his commandment. After which time, when images were recalled into Greece & into Constantinople (the chief city and seat of the east Empire) it came to pass by a great and dreadful, yet just judgement of God, that this famous and renowned city, in the world's eye impregnable, after long siege, and great and furious assaults, was at length taken by the Turks, who having won the breach and entered with fury, drove the poor Emperor Paleologus (even till then fight for the city's defence) to that extremity, that in retiring among the press of his own soldiers, he was thronged and trampled to death; and his slain body being found, was beheaded, and his head contemptuously carried about the city upon a lance. Now after the massacre of many thousand men, to make up a complete and absolute cruelty, they drew the Empress with her daughters, and many other Ladies & gentlewomen to a banquet, where after many vile and horrible wrongs and disgraces, they killed and tore them in pieces in most monstrous manner. In all which, the execution of Gods most just wrath for idolatry did most lively appear: which sin, accompanied with many other execrable and vile vices, must needs draw after it a grievous and terrible punishment to serve for example to others that were to come: neither was it a thing by chance or haphazzard that the christians were made a mocking stock unto them in that woeful day, when in their bloody triumphs they caused a crucifix to be carried through the streets in contempt, and throwing dirt upon it, cried in their language, This is the gallant God of Christians. And thus did God licence and permit these savage Turks to commit everyday grievous outrages, and to make great wastes and desolations in all Christendom, till that they grew so mighty that it is to be feared lest the saying of Lactantius touching the return of the Empire into Asia, be not verified and accomplished very shortly, if there be no amendment practised: for we see by woeful experience, that almost all the forces which Christian Princes have mustered together from all quarters in pretence to resist their fury and rage, have not only been bootless and unprofitable, but also that which is worse, given them further occasion by their bloody victories and wonderful slaughter of so many millions of men, to make them more obstinate in their detestable Mahumetisme and Turkish religion, than they were before: for they make their boasts thereof, and rear up trophies of their cruelties, taking no more pity of the vanquished, than a butcher doth of sheep allotted to the slaughter. Whereof we have a pitiful example in the overthrow of the French army which john the son of Philip duke of Burgundy led against the Turk Pazaite, and by the treachery and cowardice of the Hungarians, who in the time of battle turned their backs and fled, was overcome: in that this wicked and cruel tiger expressly charged that all the prisoners (in number many) should be murdered one after another; which was readily executed before his eyes: so that saving the chief captain and certain few lords of the company that were spared in respect of great ransoms, there scaped not one alive.  
Besides these general calamities, the Lord hath particularly shown forth his indignation against private persons and places for Idolatry: 
Cent. 4. cap. 3.  as in Spoletium at one rhyme there perished by an earthquake three hundred and fifty, whilst they were offering sacrifice unto their Idols. At Rome under the empire of Alexander Severus, after that the left hand of the image of jupiter was miraculously melted, 
Cent 3. cap. 14.  the priests going about to pacify the anger of their gods with Lectisterns and Sacrifices, four of them together with the altar and Idol were stricken in pieces with a thunderbolt, and suddenly such a horrible darkness overspread all the City, that most of the inhabitants ran out into the fields all amazed. Moreover did not the Lord send lightning from Heaven to inflame that notorious Temple for Idolatry of Apollo, 
Theodor. lib. 3. cap. 9 & 10.  or rather the Devil of Delphos, in the time of julian the wicked Apostatae, whilst he was exercising tortures upon one Theodorus a Christian, and did it not consume the image of Apollo to ashes? The famous and rich Temple of jupiter at Apamea, how strangely did it come to ruin and destruction? 
Nic●phor. lib. 12. cap. 27.  For when the Precedent and Tribunes who had in charge to destroy it, thought it a thing almost unpossible by reason of the strength of the walls and matter of it, Marcellus the Bishop undertook the labour and found out a man that promised to shake and root up the foundation of it by fire, but when he had put it in practice, a black Devil appeared and hindered the natural operation of the fire, which when Marcellus perceived, he by earnest and zealous prayer drove away the Devil, and so the fire rekindled and consumed it to nothing. In all which examples we may see the wonderful indignation of God against Idolworshippers, when by such strange and extraordinary means he bringeth them to destruction. And this doubtless is no new course, for even since the beginning of the world (if we consult histories) we shall find, that well nigh all kingdoms, places, persons, and countries that have been any wise infected with this sin have still come to some ruin or other, and to some great overthrow, and their idolatry suppressed by some notable and strange accident, whereof S. Jerome may may be a witness, who affirmeth that when jesus being a child was carried into Egypt for fear of Herod, all the Idols of Egypt fell down, and all their Oracles became mute, 
Isai. 19.1.  which the Prophet Isaias foreseeing saith, Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the Idols of Egypt shall melt in the midst of her: Besides the general silence of the Devil in all his Oracles throughout the world presently upon Christ's incarnation is a thing known and confessed of all men. Notwithstanding all which the holy Pope will still maintain his idolatry, albeit the Lord hath made known manifest tokens of his indignation against it. As appeareth by that which happened in the year 1451 being the Pope's jubilee, when such a concourse of people was made from all quarters of the world to honour that superstitious day: for the people being upon Adrians' bridge were so thrust together that two hundred men and three horses lost their lives being trampled upon and stifled to death▪ many fell into the water over the bridge, and so perished: of whom an hundred and thirty were buried at Saint Selsus: and these are the fruits of their indulgences which are so much brought and sought for, and of their jubilees, proceeding from the Bishop of Rome his impious and sacralegious zeal. Now to eschew these and such like misfortunes the true and only means is, an unfeigned diversion from all Idolatry and superstition, and whatsoever else cotrarieth the pure service of God, and a conversion unto him to serve him in spirit and truth as the Scripture exhorteth.   

CHAP. XXVIII. Of those that at any time corrupted and mingled God's religion with human inventions, or went about to change and disquiet the discipline of the Church.  
NOw seeing that God hath set down a certain form of doctrine and instruction, according to which he would have us to serve him, and established a kind of discipline and policy to be observed and maintained of every man inviolably, it behoveth therefore every Christian to conform himself unto this order: and not to be guided by every fickle imagination of his own brain, or every rash presumption that ariseth in himself, but only by the direct rule of God's word, which only we ought to follow: by means of neglecting which duty many vain and pernicious ceremonies and strange superstitions have been brought in, and swayed mightily: by reason whereof, great controversies and disputations are taken up at this day. Albeit indeed it be a thing manifest, that being not grounded and propped upon the anchor of the scriptures, they ought to be abolished, what brave outward show in appearance soever they bear.  
And that they that set abroach such things are not blameless and excusable before God, 
Levit. 20. Numb. 34.  it appeareth by the punishment of Nadab and Abihu, who being ordained Priests of God to sacrifice and offer only those things which were commanded in the law, yet were so evil advised as to offer strange incense, and perfume upon the altar, received at the very instant of the fact condign punishment for their presumption: for suddenly this their strange fire invaded them so fiercely and so piercingly, that they were soon burned and consumed therewith, and so they were not spared albeit they were Aaron's sons even his first borne, and Moses nephews; that by them all other might fear and take warning how to enterprise any thing in God's service contrary to his express ordinance.  
This moderation also aught to be observed in the church discipline, to wit, that every man contain himself within the precincts of his vocation, and that none intrude themselves into any charge without being called of god thereunto: wherein Corah greatly faulted, 
Numb. 16.  when being not content with the dignity of a levites office which God had bestowed upon him, he ambitiously aspired to the priests office, & besides this stirred up and drew to his faction Dathan & Abiram, & many others, to the number of two hundred & fifty persons, against Moses and Aaron: but he drew withal the vengeance of God down upon himself, and all that took his part in most horrible and fearful manner: for some of them (to wit) the two hundred and fifty, (who notwithstanding Moses reproof, were so hardy and presumptuous as to present themselves the next morrow after the tumult, openly before the tabernacle to offer incense as if they had been true priests) were for their flame of ambition and pride set on fire and consumed with the flame of God's wrath: others (to wit Dathan and Abiram) for their audacious enterprise against God in the person of his servants Moses and Aaron, and their high mindedness and rebellion in not coming out of their tents at the commandment of Moses were thrown down into the lowest pit, the earth opening her mouth & swallowing them up alive with their tents and families and all that belonged unto them, to the fearful amazement of the whole people that were beholders of this spectacle.  
Oziah king of juda carried himself a long while uprightly and modestly in the service of God: 
2. Chron. 26.  but after God had given him many great victories over his enemies the Philistims, the Arabians, the Amorites: and that his renown and fear was spread not only to his neighbours, but also to strange nations, by & by his heart was puffed up with pride & self conceit, that he dared to enter the temple of God, and burn incense upon the altar, which belonged only to the priests office to do: & not obeying the strong resistance & countermand of the good priests that had charge of the temple, he was strooken with a leprosy & hastily carried out and sequestered from the society of men all his life time. And so this proud king that foolishly took upon him more than was lawful & convenient, was forced to recoil, and to be still, being humbled under so grievous a scourge as never forsook him till his death.  
When the ark of the covenant was in bringing from abinadab's house in Kyriathiarim in a cart guided by Vzza and Ahio, abinadab's sons, 
1. Sam. 6. 1. Chron. 13.  it fell out by the way that it being shaken by the oxen (unfit servitors for such a work) Vzza put forth his hand to hold it, but therein he went beyond his charge, & therefore was punished forthwith with present death, for his inconsiderate rashness: for albeit he was both a Levit and thought no evil in his heart, yet in no respect was he licensed to touch the ark, being a thing lawful for the Priests only. Let therefore every one be advised by these examples to follow that rule in serving God, which is by him designed in all simplicity, modesty, and obedience, without altering or declining, or undertaking any thing above or beside their calling.   

CHAP. XXIX. Of Perjurers.  
THe third commandment, which is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, is first and especially broken by perjury, when God is so lightly esteemed, nay so despised that without any regard had to his name (that is to say) to his greatness, majesty, power, divine virtue and fearful justice, (for these be his names) men by fraud and malice abuse their oaths, either in denying that which is true, or affirming that which is untrue, or neglecting their promises made & vowed to others: for this is neither to have respect unto his presence who is every where, nor reverence to his majesty who is God of heaven and earth, but rather to make him bear witness to our lie & falsehood: as if he approved it, or had no power to revenge the injury & dishonour done unto him. And therefore against such in threatening words he denounceth this judgement, that He will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Howbeit very many overboldly give themselves over to this sin, making little or no conscience to cousin one another even by forswearing, whereby they give most clear evidence against themselves, that they have very little fear of God before their eyes, and are not guided by any other rule, save of their own affections, by which they square-out, and build their oaths and pull them down again at their pleasures, for let it be a matter of vantage, and then they will keep them, but straightway if a contrary persuasion come in their brain they will cancel them by and by: wherein they deal far worse and more injuriously with God, then with their known enemies: for he that contrary to his sworn faith, deceiveth his enemy, declareth that therein he feareth him, but feareth not God; and careth for him, but contemneth God. It was therefore notwithout good reason that all antiquity ever marked them with the coat of infamy that forswore themselves. And thereupon it is that Homer so often taunteth the Troyans' by reason of their so usual perjuries. 
Diod. lib. 2. ca 2.  The Egyptians had them in detestation as profane persons, and reputed it so capital a crime that whosoever was convinced thereof was punished by death. The ancient Romans reverenced nothing more than Faith in public affairs, for which cause they had in their city a temple dedicated to it: wherein for a more straight bond they used solemnly to promise and swear to all the conditions of peace, truces and bargains, which they made, and to curse those which went about first to break them: for greater solemnity and confirmation hereof they were accustomed at those times to offer sacrifices to the image of faith for more reverence sake. Hence it was that Attilius Regulus chief captain of the Roman army against the Carthaginians was so highly commended of all men, because when he was overcome and taken prisoner and sent to Rome, he only for his oaths sake which he had sworn returned again to the enemy, albeit he knew what grievous torments were provided for him at his return. Others also that came with him though they were entreated, and by their parents, wives and allies instantly urged not to return to Hannibal's camp could in no wise be moved thereunto: but because they had sworn to the enemy, if the Romans did not accord to those conditions which were offered, to come again: they preferred the bond and reverence of their promised faith, though accompanied with perpetual captivity, before their private commodities, and nearest link of affection. But two of those ten (for so many were they) falsified their oath, & whatsoever mist they may cast to darken and disguise their perjury with, yet were they condemned of all men for cowards, and faint-hearted traitors: in so much that the Censors also noted them with infamy for the fact, whereat they took such grief and inward sorrow, that being weary of their lives, they slew themselves. Now what can they pretend that profess themselves Christians and Catholics to excuse their perjuries, 
Cic. office lib. 1.  seeing that the very Heathen cry out so loud and clear, that an oath and faith is so sacredly to be kept towards our enemies? This is one of the greatest virtues and commendations which the Psalmist attributeth to the faithful man, and him that feareth God, and whom God avoucheth for his own, 
Psal. 15. Josh. 9  not to falsify his oath that he sweared though it be to his damage. The Gibaonites although they were so execrable a people that for their great and horrible wickednesses and abominations they might be well esteemed for Heretics, yet the Princes of Israel after they had sworn and given their faith unto them, would in no wise retract or go against their oath, albeit therein they were abused & deceived by them, for fear of incurring the wtath of God, that suffereth not a perjurer to go unpunished. Upon what ground or example of holy Scripture then may that doctrine of the counsel of Constance be founded, the purport whereof is, That a man ought not to keep his faith to Heretics? I omit to speak how these good fathers (by Heretics) meant those men who fearing God, relied themselves upon his word, and rejected the foolish and superstitious inventions of men. And under what colour can the Popes usurp this authority, to quit and discharge subjects of their oath wherewith they are bound to their superiors? yet this was the impious audacity of Pope Zacharia, pope Boniface the eight, and pope Benedict de la Lune, 
Platina.  who freed the Frenchmen from their duty and obedience which they ought unto their kings. In like manner disgorged Gregory the seventh his choler and spite against the Emperor Henry, by forbidding his subjects to be his subjects, 
Enguerran de Monstrelet.  and to yield that obedience unto him, which subjects were bound to do.  
Howbeit if an oath be made either against God, or to the damage and hurt of our neighbour (it being for that cause unlawful) it behoveth us to know that we ought to revoke it, lest we fall into the sin of Saul and Herod. 
1. Sam 14. Marc. 6.  Now what punishments God hath laid upon perjurers, these examples that follow shall make known unto us. Osee the last king of Israel being made (by God's just judgement for his sins) subject and tributary to Salmanazar king of Ashur, without regard to the bond wherewith he was bound, 
2. King 17.  and to his faith which he had plighted, conspired and entered league with the king of Egypt against him: but he, discovering their seditions and privy conspiracies, assembled his forces, spoiled his country, and bade them war on all sides, laying siege to the chief city of his kingdom, after three years took it, together with the forsworn king, whom he put in close prison and kept very straightly, leading him and his whole nation captive into Assyria to end their days in misery; of which evil, as of all others that happened in that war, the disloyalty and treason of Osee was the next and chiefest cause.  
Among the beadroll of sins which Sedechias the last king of juda is noted withal in holy scripture, perjury is one of the count, for notwithstanding he received his kingdom of Nabuchadnezzar, and had sworn fealty to him as to his sovereign, yet broke he his oath in rebelling against him, which was the very cause of his destruction: 
2. Chron. 36.  for NabuchadneZZar to be revenged on his disloyalty, sent a puissant army against jerusalem, which took, spoiled, and burned it, and overtook the perjurer in his flight, and first made him a beholder of the slaughter of his own children, and then had his own eyes bored out, and was carried in chains to Babylon, serving for a spectacle to all posterity of God's wondrous judgements upon perjurers. And thus both the kingdoms of Israel and juda were for breach and falsifying their oath, quite extinguished and razed out.  

Plutarch.  The greatest deceiver and most treacherous person one of them that ever Greece saw, was Lisander the Lacedaemonian, a busy body full of cunning, subtlety, and craft, and one that performed the most of his acts of war, more by fraud and stratagems, then by any other means: this was he that said, that when the lions skin (meaning Fortitude) would not serve, it was needful then to sue unto the fox's case (meaning subtlety:) he made so little reckoning of forswearing himself, that he would often say, that children were to be cozened with trifles, as dice and cockals, and old men with oaths: but by his deceitful tricks he was occasion of much evil, & divers murders: but at last this fox making war against the Thebans, for that they had taken part with the Athenians against him, and given them secure and means for recovering their liberty, was taken in the trap and slain at the foot of their walls.  

Livy.  Metius Suffetius, General of the Albans, procured the Fidenates to enter war against the Romans, contrary to his oath which he had sworn unto them, and being called by the Romans to their succour and placed in an outwing to help if need were, whilst the rest were fight, he drove away the time in ordering his men, and ranging them into squadrons, to see which part should have the best, that he might join himself unto that side. But Tullus the Roman king having obtained the victory, and seeing the cowardice, subtlety, and treason of this Alban, adjudged him to a most strange and vile death answerable to his fact: for as he had in his body a double heart swimming between two streams, and now ready to go this way now that, so was his body dismembered and torn in pieces by four horses, drawing four contrary ways, to serve for an example to all others to be more faithful and true observers of their oaths then he was.  
In old time the Africanes and Carthaginians were generally noted for perfidy and falsehood above other nations; 
Li●. Decad. 3. lib. 1.  the cause of which bruit, was principally that old subtle soldier Hannibal, an old deceiver and a notorious perjurer, who by his crafts and cousinages which he wrought without religion or fear of God, raised up that evil report. This subtle fox having made war in Italy sixteen years, and all that while troubled and vexed the Romans sore, after many victories, wastings of countries, ruins, and sackings of cities, and cruel bloodshed, was at length overcome by Scipio in his own country, and perceiving that his country men imputed the cause of their fall unto him, and sought to make him odious to the Romans by laying to his charge the breach of that league which was betwixt them, he fled to Antiochus king of Syria, not so much for his own safeties sake, as to continue his war against the Romans, which he knew Antiochus to be in hammering, because they came so near unto his frontiers, but he found his hope frustrate: for king Antiochus for the small trust he affied in him, and the daily suspicion of his treachery, would not commit any charge of his army into his hand, although for valiantness and prowess he was second to none in that age: It came to pass therefore, that assoon as Antiochus was overthrown of the Romans, he was constrained to fly to Prusias king of Bythinia, that took him into his protection: but being as treacherous as himself, he soon devised a means to betray him to Quintius the general of the Roman army, which when Hannibal understood, and seeing that all the passages for evasion were closed up, and that he could not any way escape, he poisoned himself, and so miserably ended his treacherous life. And thus the deceit which he practised towards others, fell at length upon his own pate to his utter destruction.  
Albeit that perjurers and forswearers were to the Egyptians very odious and abominable (as we said before) yet among them there was one Ptolemy, 
justine.  who to bereave his sister Arsinoe of her kingdom, stained himself with this villainous spot, and thereby brought his purpose to pass: for pretending and protesting great affection and love unto her in the way of marriage (for such incestuous marriages were there through a perverse and damnable custom not unlawful) and avowing the same by solemn oath before her ambassadors, did notwithstanding soon make known the drift of his intent, which was to make himself king: for being arrived in show to consummate the marriage, at his first approach he caused his nephews (her sons which she had by her former husband Lysimachus, and were come forth from their mother to give him entertainment on the way) to be slain, yea and lest they should escape his hands, he pursued them even to their mother's bosom, and there murdered them, and after (expelling her also from her kingdom) caught the crown & reigned tyrant in her room: all which mischiefs, he committed by reason of the faithless oath which he had taken: and although that in such a case no oath ought to be of force to confirm so unlawful an alliance, (though it be pronounced & taken by the name and in the temple of their idols:) yet notwithstanding it being done with an evil conscience, and to an evil purpose, he that did it can be no less than a perjurer. But for this and other vices it came to pass, that ere long he was conquered by the Gauls, who taking him in battle slew him and cut off his head, and having fastened it upon a lance, carried it in sign of victory and triumph up and down the host.  
A most notable example of the punishment of perjury & falsehood in Vladislaus king of Hungary and his army destroyed by the Turks, is set down in Bonfinus his Hungarian history, after this manner. It fell out that the king of Hungary had so well bestirred himself against the Turks, that Amurathes was glad (upon unequal conditions and even to his own hurt, and their good) to conclude a peace with him: wherein it was agreed, that certain provinces should be restored to the Hungarians, which otherwise could not have been recovered but by great loss of men: this league being made, and the articles thereof engrossed in both languages, with a solemn oath taken on both parties for the confirmation of the same: Behold the Cardinal of Florence Admiral of the navy which lay upon the sea Hellespont (now called S. George's arm, 
It is so called by the French men, but more commonly, The straits of Castill.  which divideth Turkey from Greece) sendeth letters to the king of Hungary to persuade him to disannul and repeal this new concorded peace: this practice likewise did Cardinal julian the Pope's legate in Hungary with might and main help forward: which two good pillars of the Church inspired with one and the same spirit wrought together so effectually with the king, that at their instance, he falsified his oath, broke the peace, & sent to Constantinople to denounce war afresh: and forthwith whilst their Ambassadors were retiring their garrisons out of M●sia, to bring them into their hands again, and had sent forty thousand crowns for the ransom of certain great men which were prisoners, and had restored the realm of Rascia & all their captives, according to the tenor of the late league, not knowing of this new breach, in the mean while (I say) he set forward his army towards the Turks i● all expedition. Now the Turks secure and misdoubting nothing, were set upon unawares by the king, yet putting themselves in defence, there grew a long and sharp battle, till Amurathes perceiving his side to decline and almost overcome, pulled out of his bosom the articles of the foresaid peace, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, utrered these speeches; O jesus Christ, these are the leagues that thy Christians have made and confirmed by swearing by thy name, and yet have broken them again: If thou be'st a God as they say thou art, revenge this injury which is offered both thee and me, and punish those truce-breaking varlets. He had scarce ended these speeches, but the Christians battle and courage began to rebate: Vdislaus himself was slain by the janissaries, his horse being first hurt, his whole army was discomfited, and all his people put to the sword, saving a few that fled: amongst whom was the right reverend Ambassador of the Pope, who assoon as he had thrust in others over the ears, withdrew himself (forsooth) far enough from blows or danger. Then followed a horrible butchery of people, and a lamentable noise of poor souls ready to be slaughtered, for they spared none, but haled them miserably in pieces, and executed a just and rigorous judgement of God for that vile treachery and perjury which was committed.   

CHAP. XXX. More examples of the like subject.  
But let us add a few more examples of fresher memory as touching this ungodly perjury: and first, not to overpass king Philip of Macedon, who never made reckoning of keeping his oaths, but swore and unswore them at his pleasure, and for his commodity: doubtless it was one of the chiefest causes why he and his whole progeny came quickly to destruction (as testifieth Pausanias') for he himself being six and forty years old, 
In Arcad●cis.  was slain by one of his own servants; after which Olympias his wife made away two of his sons, Anideus, and another which he had by Cleopatra Attalus his niece, whom she sod to death in a cauldron: his daughter thessalonica's children likewise all perished: and lastly, Alexander after all his great victories, in the midst of his pomp, was poisoned at Babylon.  

De Consessoribus.  Gregory Tours maketh mention of a wicked varlet in France among the people called Auerni, that forswearing himself in an unjust cause had his tongue so presently tied, that he could not speak but roar, and so continued, till by his earnest prayers and repentance, the Lord restored to him the use of that unruly member.  
Thete were in old time certain people of Italy called Aequi, whereof the memory remaineth only at this day, for they were utterly destroyed by Q. Cincinnatus, 
Liu. lib. 3.  these having solemnly made a league of friendship with the Romans, and sworn unto it with one consent, afterward chose Gracchus Cluilius for their captain, and under his conduct spoiled the fields and territories of the Romans, contrary to their former league and oath. Whereupon the Romans sent Q. Fabius, P. Voluminus, & A. Posthumius Ambassadors to them, to complain of their wrongs and demand satisfaction: but their captain so little esteemed them, that he bade them deliver their message to an oak standing thereby, whilst he intended other business. Then one of the three turning himself towards the oak, spoke on this manner: Thou hallowed oak, and whatsoever else belongeth to the gods in this place, hear and bear witness of this disloyal part, and favour our just complaints, that with the assistance of the gods we may be revenged on this injury. This done, they returned home, and shortly after gathering a power of men, set upon and overcame that truce-breaking nation.  
In the year of Rome built 317, the Fidenates revolted from the friendship and league of the Romans to Toluminus the king of the Veyans, and adding cruelty to treason, killed four of their Ambassadors that came to know the cause of their defection: which disloyalty the Romans not brooking, undertook war against them; and notwithstanding all their private and foreign strength, overthrew and slew them. In this battle it is said, that a Tribune of the soldiers seeing Toluminus bravely galloping up and down and encouraging his soldiers, & the Romans trembling at his approach, said, Is this the breaker of leagues, & violator of the law of nations? If there be any holiness on earth, my sword shall sacrifice him to the souls of our slain Ambassadors; & therewithal setting spurs to his horse, he unhorsed him, & fastening him to the earth with his spear, cut off his perfidious head: whereat his army dismayed, retired, & became a slaughter to the enemies.  
Albertus' Duke of Franconia having slain Conrade the Earl of Lotharingia, brother to Lewes the fourth, then Emperor, 
Melant. Chron. lib. 4.  and finding the emperors wrath incensed against him for the same, betook himself to a strong castle at Bamberg; from whence the Emperor neither by force nor policy, could remove him for seven years space, until Atto the bishop of Mentz by treachery delivered him into his hands. This Atto under show of friendship repaired to the castle and gave his faith unto the Earl, that if he would come down to parley with the Emperor, he should safely return into his hold: the Earl mistrusting no fraud, went out of the castle gates with the bishop towards the Emperor, but Atto (as it were suddenly remembering himself, when indeed it was his devised plot) desireth to return back and dine ere he went, because it was somewhat late: so they do, dine and return: Now the Earl was no sooner come to the Emperor, but he caused him to be presently put to death, notwithstanding he urged the bishop's promise and oath for his return: for it was answered, that his oath was quit by returning back to dine, as he had promised. And thus the Earl was wickedly betrayed, though justly punished. As for Atto the subtle traitor, indeed he possessed himself by this means of the Earls lands, but withal, the justice of God seized upon him, for within a while after he was strooken with a thunderbolt, and as some say, carried into mount Aetna with this noise: Sic peccata lues, atque ruendo rues.  

Campofulgos. lib. 7. cap. 3.  Cleomene● king of Lacedemonia, making war upon the Argives, surprised them by this subtlety: he took truce with them for seven days, and the third night whilst they lay secure and unwary in their truce, he oppressed them with a great slaughter saying (to excuse his treachery, though no excuse could clear him from the shame thereof) that the truce which he made was for seven days only, without any mention of nights: howbeit for all this, it prospered not so well with him as he wished, for the Argive women (their husbands slain) took arms like Amazons, Tolesilla being their captainesse, and compassing the city walls repelled Cleomenes, half amazed with the strangeness of the fight, after which he was banished into Egypt, and there miserably and desperately slew himself.  
The Pope of Rome with all his herd of bishops opposed himself against the Emperor Henry the fourth, 
Chron. Carionis.  for he banished him by excommunication from the society of the Catholic Church, discharged his subjects from the oath of fealty, and sent a crown of gold to Rodulph king of Suevia to canonize him Emperor: the crown had this inscription, Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodulpho, that is, The rock gave unto Peter, and Peter gave unto Rodulph the crown: notwithstanding Rodulph remembering his oath to the Emperor, & how vile a part it was to betray him whom he had sworn to obey and defend, at first refused the Pope's offer: howbeit by the persuasion of the bishop's sophistry he was induced to undertake the name and title of Cesar, and to oppugn the Emperor Henry by arms, even by four unjust battles, in the last of which Rodulph being overcome, lost his right hand, and was sore wounded otherwise: wherefore being ready to die; when one brought unto him his hand that was cut off in the battle, he in detestation of the pope's villainy burst forh into these terms (many bishops standing by) Behold here the hand wherewith I swore fealty to the Emperor, this will be an argument of my breach of faith before God, and of your traitorous impulsion thereunto. And thus he deceased, justly punished even by his own confession for his perjury. Howbeit for all this manifest example the pope and bishops continued to persecute the poor Emperor, yea and to stir up his own sons, Conrade and Henry to fight against him; so hardened are their hearts against all judgements.  
Narcissus' bishop of jerusalem, 
Euseb. lib. 6. c. 8  a man famous for his virtues, & sharp in reproving and correcting vice, was accused by three wicked wretches, of unchastity; and that falsely and maliciously: for to prove their accusation true, they bond it with oaths and curses on this wise: the first said, If I lie, I pray God I may perish by fire: the second. If I speak aught but truth, I pray God I may be consumed by some filthy and cruel disease: 
Calumniation. Lib. 2. cap. 44.  the third, If I accuse him falsely, I pray God I may be deprived of my sight and become blind. Thus although the honesty and chastity of Narcissus was so well known to all the faithful, that they believed none of their oaths, yet the good bishop partly moved with grief of this false accusation, and partly with desire of quietness from worldly affairs, forsook his bishopric, and lived in a desert for many years. But his forsworn accusers by their death witnessed his innocency, which by their words they impugned: for the first his house being set on fire extraordinarily, perished in the flame with all his family and progeny: The second languished away with an irksome disease that bespread his body all over: The third seeing the woeful ends of his companions, confessed all their villainy, and lamenting his case and crime, persisted so long weeping, till both his eyes were put out. Thus God in his just judgement sent upon each of them their wishes, and thereby cleared his servant from shame and opprobry.  

Chron. Ernosti. Brotanss.  Burghard, Archbishop of Magdeburg, though in regard of his place and profession, he ought to have given good example of honesty in himself, and punish perjury in others, yet he thrice broke his promise and oath with his own citizens, the Senate and people of Magdeburg: for first he besieged them with a power of men, & though they redeemed their liberty with a sum of money (he swearing not to besiege them any more) yet without respect of truth and credit he returned a fresh to besiege: but his perfidy was soon tamed, for they took him prisoner at that assault: howbeit he so assuaged their angry minds with his humble and lowly entreaties & counterfeit oaths never to trouble them any more, but to continued their steadfast friend, that they not only freed him from imprisonment, but restored him to all his dignities with solemnity: nevertheless the traitorous Archbishop returning to his old vomit, got dispensation for his oath from pope john the 23, and began a fresh to vex, molest, and murder them whom he had sworn to maintain: but it was the will of God that he should be once again caught, and being enclosed in prison, whilst his friends sought means to redeem him, the jailor beat him to death with a door bar, or as some say, with an iron rod taken out of a window: and so at last, though long, his perjury found it desert.  
The small success that the Emperor Sigismond had in all his affairs (after the violation of his faith given to john Hus, 
Theatr. histor.  and Jerome of prague at the council of Constance, whom though with direct protestations and oaths he promised safe conduct & return, yet he adjudged to be burned) doth testify the odiousness of his sin in the sight of God. But above all, this one example is most worthy the marking, of a fellow that hearing perjury condemned in a pulpit by a learned preacher, and how it never escaped unpunished, said in a bravery, I have oft forsworn myself, and yet my right hand is not a whit shorter than my left: which words he had scarce uttered, when such an inflammation arose in that hand, that he was constrained to go to the surgeon and cut it off, lest it should infect his whole body; and so his right hand became shorter than his left, in recompense of his perjury, which he lightly esteemed of.  
In the year of our Lord 1055, Goodwin Earl of Kent sitting at the table with king Edward of England, 
Stow Chron.  it happened that one of the cupbearers stumbled, and yet fell not; whereat Goodwin laughing said, That if one brother had not helped another (meaning his legs) all the wine had been spilled: with which words the king calling to mind his brother's death which was slain by Goodwin, answered, So should my brother Alphred have helped me, had not Goodwin been: then Goodwin fearing the kings new kindled displeasure, excused himself with many words, & at last (eating a morsel of bread) wished it might choke him if he were not guiltless of Alphreds blood: but he swore falsely as the judgement of God declared, for he was forthwith choked in the presence of the king, ere he removed one foot from that place, though there be some say he recovered life again.  

Stow Chron  Long time after this, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there was in the city of London one Anne Aueri●● widow, who forswore herself for a little money that she should have paid for six pound of tow at a shop in Woodstreet for which cause being suddenly surprised with the justice of God, she fell down speechless forthwith, and cast up at her mouth in great abundance & with horrible stink that matter which by nature's course should have been voided downwards, and so died to the terror of all perjured and forsworn wretches. There are in Histories many more examples to be found of this hurtful and pernicious sin exercised by one nation towards another, and one man towards another, in most profane and villainous sort, neither shaming to be accounted forsworn, nor consequently fearing to displease God and his majesty. But forasmuch as when we come to speak of murderers in the next book, we shall have occasion to speak of them more, or of such like, I will refer the handling thereof unto that place; only this, let every man learn by that which hath been spoken, to be sound and fraudless, and to keep his faith and promise towards all men, if for no other cause, yet for fear of God, who leaveth not this sin unpunished, nor holdeth them guiltless that thus take his name in vain.   

CHAP. XXXI. Of Blasphemers.  
AS touching Blasphemy, it is a most grievous and enormous sin, and contrary to this third commandment, when a man is so wretched and miserable as to pronounce presumptuous speeches against God, whereby his name is slandered and evil spoken of, which sin can not choose but be sharply and severely punished: for if so be that God holdeth not him guiltless that doth but take his name in vain, must he not needs abhor him that blasphemeth his name? See how meritoriously that wicked and perverse wretch that blasphemed and murdered (as it were) the name of God among the people of Israel in the desert, was punished: he was taken, 
Levit. 24.  put in prison, and condemned, and speedily stoned to death by the whole multitude: and upon that occasion (as evil manners begat evermore good laws) the Lord instituted a perpetual law and decree, that every one that should blaspheme and curse God, of what estate or degree soever, should be stoned to death in token of detestation: which sentence, if it might now a days stand in force, there would not reign so many miserable blasphemers & deniers of God as the world is now filled and infected with. It was also ordained by a new law of justinian, 
Cod. lib. 3. tit. 43.  that blasphemies should be severely punished by the judges & magistrates of commonweals: but such is the corruption and misery of this age, that those men that ought to correct others for such speeches, are oftentimes worst themselves; & there are that think, that they can not be sufficiently feared and awed of men, except by horrible ban & swear they despite & maugre God: nay it is further come to that pass, that in some places to swear and ban be the marks & ensigns of a Catholic, & they are best welcome that can blaspheme most. How much then is that good king S. Lewes of France to be commended, 
Nichol. Gil. vol. 1. Of French Chronicles.  who especially discharged all his subjects from swearing & blaspheming within his realm, insomuch that when he heating a 
a Lord of jenville.  noble man blaspheme God most cruelly, he caused him to be laid hold on, & his lips to be slit with an hor iron, saying, he must be content to endure that punishment, seeing he purposed to banish oaths out of his kingdom. Now we call blasphemy (according to the scripture phrase) every word that derogateth either from the bounty, mercy, justice, eternity, & sovereign power of God: of this sort was that blasphemous speech of one of king joram's princes, who at the time of the great famine in Samaria, when it was besieged by the Syrians, hearing Elizaeus the Prophet say, that the next morrow there should be plenty of victuals, and good cheap, rejected this promise of God made by his Prophet, 
2. King. 7.  saying that it was impossible; as if God were either a liar, or not able to perform what he would: for this cause, this unbelieving blasphemer received the same day a deserved punishment for his blasphemy, for he was trodden to death in the gate of the city under the feet of the multitude that went out into the Syrians camp forsaken and left desolate by them, through a fear which the Lord sent among them.  

2. King. 19  Sennacherib king of Assyria, after he had obtained many victories, & subdued much people under him, & also laid siege to jerusalem, became so proud & arrogant, as by his servants mouths to revile and blaspheme the living God, speaking no otherwise of him then of some strange idol, and one that had no power to help and deliver those that trusted in him; for which blasphemies he soon after felt a just vengeance of God upon himself & his people: for although in man's eyes he seemed to be without the reach of danger, (seeing he was not assailed but did assail, & was guarded with so mighty an army that assured him to make him lord of jerusalem in short space) yet the Lord overthrew his power, & destroyed of his men in one night by the hand of his Angel 185 thousand men, so that he was feign to raise his siege, & return into his own kingdom, where finally he was slain by his own sons, as he was worshipping on his knees in the temple of his God.  
In the time of the Maccabees those men that were in the strong hold called Gazara, 
2. Mach. 10.  fight against the jews, trusting to the strength of the place wherein they were, uttered forth most infamous speeches against God: but ere long, their blasphemous mouths were encountered by a condign punishment, for the first day of the siege Machabeus put fire to the town, & consumed the place (with the blasphemers in it) to ashes.  
Holofernes, when Achior advanced the glory of the God of Israel, 
judith. 6.7.  replied on this fashion: Since thou hast prophesied unto us that Israel shall be defended by their god, thou shalt prove that there is no God but Nabuchadonosor, when the sword of mine army shall pass through thy sides, and thou shalt fall among their slain: but for this blasphemy the Lord cut him short, and prevented his cruel purpose by sudden death, and that by the hand of a woman, to his further shame.  
Nay this sin is so odious in the sight of God, that he punisheth even them that give occasion thereof unto others, yea though they be his dearest children, as it appeareth by the words of the Prophet Nathan unto king David: 
2. King 12.  Because of this deed (saith he) of murdering Vriah and defiling Bathshabe, thou hast made the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child that is borne unto thee shall surely die.  
In the Empire of julian the Apostata, there were divers great men that for the Emperor's sake forsook Christ & abjured his religion: 
Theod. llb. 3. cap. 11, & 12. Contempt of holy things. Lib. 1. cap. 3, 4.  amongst whom was one julian uncle to the Emperor & governor of the East; another Faelix, the Emperor's treasurer: the first of which two, after he had spoiled all Christian Churches and temples, pissed against the table whereon the holy sacraments were used to be administered, in contempt, and stroke Euzoius on the ear for reproving him for it: the other beholding the holy vessels that belonged to the Church, said, See what precious vessels Mary's son is served withal. After which blasphemy, the Lord plagued them most strangely; for julian fell into so strange a disease, that his entrails being rotten, he voided his excrements at his mouth, because when they passed naturally, he abused them to the dishonour of God. Foelix vomited blood so excessively night and day at his blasphemous mouth, that he died forthwith.  
About the same time there lived a famous sophister & Epicure called Libanius, who being at Antioch, 
Theatr. hist.  demanded blasphemously of a learned & godly schoolmaster, what the Carpenter's son did, and how he occupied himself? Marry (quoth the schoolmaster, full of the spirit of God) the creator of this world (whom thou disdainfully callest the carpenters son) is making a coffin for thee to carry thee to thy grave, whereat the sophister jesting departed, and within few days dying, was buried in a coffin, according to the prophesy of that holy man.  

Vide lib. 1. c. 21. Heres. Philip. Chron. Abb. Vrusperg.  The Emperor Heraclius sending Ambassadors to Cosroe the king of Persia to entreat of peace, returned with this answer, that he would never cease to trouble them with war till he had constrained them to forsake their crucified Christ and to worship the Sun. But ere long he bore the punishment of his blasphemy, for what with a domestical calamity & a foreign overthrow by the hand of Heraclius, he came to a most woeful destruction.  
Michael that blasphemous rabbin, that was accounted of the jews as their Prince and Messiah, 
Fincelius de miraculis lib. 2.  as he was on a time banqueting with his companions, amongst other things this was chiefest sauce for their meat, to blaspheme Christ & his mother Mary, insomuch as he boasted of a victory already gotten over the Christians God. But mark the issue; as he descended down the stairs, his foot slipping, he tumbled headlong & broke his neck: wherein his late victory proved a discomfiture & overthrow, to his eternal shame & confusion.  
Three soldiers (amongst the Tyrigetes a people of Sarmatia) passing through a wood, there arose a tempest of thunder and lightning, which though commonly it maketh the greatest Atheists to tremble, yet one of them to show his contempt of God and his judgements, burst forth into blasphemy & despitings of God. But the Lord soon tamed his rebellious tongue: for he caused the wind to blow up by the root a huge tree that fell upon him & crushed him to pieces, the other escaping to testify to the world of his destruction.  
No less notable is the example of a young girl, named Denis Benifield of twelve years of age, 
Acts and Monuments of the Church.  who going to school amongst other girls, when they fell to reason among themselves after their childish discretion about God, one among the rest said that he was a good old father; what he? (said the foresaid Denyse) he is an old doting fool: which being told to her mistress, she purposed to correct her the next day for it: but it chanced that the next day her mother sent her to London to the market, the wench greatly entreating her mother that she might not go, so that she escaped her mistresses correction. But the Lord in vengeance met with her: for as she returned homeward, suddenly she was so stricken dead all the one side of her being black, and buried at Hackney the same night. A terrible example (no doubt) both to old and young; what it is for children to blaspheme the Lord and God; and what it is for parents to suffer their young ones to grow up in blindness without nurturing them in the fear of God, and reverence of his majesty, and therefore worthy to be remembered of all.  
In the year 510 an Arrian bishop called Olympus being at Carthage in the baths reproached and blasphemed the holy and sacred trinity, and that openly: 
Paul. Diacon. in the history of Anastatius. Sabell. Aenead. 8. lib. 2. Anton. Panor. of the acts of Alphonsus Aeneas. Silvius of the acts of Alphonsus.  but lightning fell down from heaven upon him three times, and he was burnt and consumed therewith. There was also in the time of Alphonsus king of Arragon and Sicily in an Isle towards Africa, a certain Hermit called Antonius a monstrous and profane hypocrite, that had so wicked a heart to devise, and so filthy a throat to belch out vile and injurious speeches against Christ jesus and the virgin Mary his mother: but he was stricken with a most grievous disease, even to be eaten and gnawn in pieces of worms until he died.   

CHAP. XXXII. Of those that by cursing and denying God give themselves to the Devil.  
AS concerning those that are addicted to much cursing, and as if their throats were Hell itself, to despighting and revilings against God (that is blessed for ever) and are so mad as to renounce him and give themselves to the Devil: truly they worthily deserve to be forsaken of God, & given over to the devil indeed, to go with him into everlasting perdition: which hath been visibly experienced in our time upon certain wretched persons, which have been carried away by that wicked spirit to whom they gave themselves.  

Luther upon the 15 chap. of the 1 Epist. to the Corinth.  There was upon a time in Germany a certain naughty-pack of a most wicked life, & so evil brought up, that at every word he spoke almost, the evil was at the one end; if walking he chanced to tread awry, or to stumble, presently the devil was in his mouth: whereof albeit he was many times reproved by his neighbours, and exhorted to correct and amend so vile & detestable a vice, yet all was in vain, continuing therefore this evil and damnable custom, it happened that as he was upon a time passing over a bridge, he fell down, & in his fall gave these speeches, Hoist up with a hundred devils; which he had no sooner spoken, but the devil whom he called for so oft was at his elbow to strangle him & carry him away with him.  

Wietus 3. book chap. 17. of the delusion of spirits.  A certain soldier travailing through Marchia a country of Almaigne, and finding himself evil at ease in his journey, abode in an Inn till he might recover his health: and committed to the hostesses custody certain money which he had about him. Now a while after being recovered of his sickness he required his money again, but she having consulted with her husband denied the receipt, and therefore the return thereof; and accused him of wrong in demanding that which she never received: the soldier on the other side fretted amain & accused her of cozenage; which stir when the good man of the house understood (though privy to all before) yet dissemblingly took his wives part, and thrust the soldier out of doors: who being thoroughly chafed with that indignity, drew his sword & ran at the door with the point thereof: whereat the host begun to cry, thieves, thieves, saying that he would have entered his house by force, so that the poor soldier was taken & cast in prison, and by process of law ready to be condemned to death but the very day wherein this hard sentence was to be pronounced & executed, the devil entered into the prison & told the soldier that he was condemned to die, howbeit nevertheless if he would give himself body & soul unto him, he would promise to deliver him out of their hands: the prisoner answering, said that he had rather die being innocent & without cause, them to be delivered by that means: again the devil replied, & propounded to him the great danger wherein he was, yea & used all cunning means possible to persuade him: but seeing that he lost his labour, he at length left his suit, and promised him both help & revenge upon his enemies, & that for nothing: advising him moreover when he came to judgement to plead not guilty, & to declare his innocency & their wrong & to entreat the judge to grant him one in a blue cap that stood by to be his advocate: (now this one in a blue cap was the devil himself) the soldier accepting his offer being called to the bar, and indited there of felony, presently desired to have his attorney who was there present to plead his cause: them began the fine & crafty doctor of the laws to plead and defend his client very cunningly, affirming him to be falsely accused, & consequently unjustly condemned, & that his host did withhold his money & had offered him violence: & to prove his assertion, he reckoned up every circumstance in the action, yea the very place where they had hidden the money. The host on the other side stood in denial very impudently, wishing the devil might take him if he had it: then the subtle lawyer in the blue cap, looking for no other vantage, left pleading, & fell to laying hold of the host, & carrying him out of the session's house hoist him into the air so high, that he was never after seen nor heard of. And thus was the soldier delivered from the execution of law most strangely, to the astonishment of all the beholders that were eic witnesses of that which happened to the forsworn & cursing host.  
In the year of our Lord 1551 at Megalopole near Voildstat it happened in the time of the celebration of the feast of Pentecost, the people being set on drinking & caroussing, 
john Wierus.  that a woman in the company commonly named the devil in her oaths: till that he being so often called on came of a sudden, & carried her through the gate aloft into the air before them all, who ran out astonished to see whether he would transport her, and found her a while hanging in the air without the town, and then falling down upon the ground dead.  
About the same time there lived in a city of Savoy one that was both a monstrous swearer, and also otherwise very vicious, who put many good men to much fruitless pains, that in regard of their charge employed themselves often to admonish and reprove his wicked behaviour, to the end he might amend it: but all in vain, they might as well cast stones against the wind; for he would not so much as listen to their words, much less reform his manners. Now it fell out that the pestilence being in the city, he was infected with it, and therefore withdrew himself a part with his wife & another kinswoman into a garden which he had: neither yet in this extremity did the ministers forsake him, but ceased not continually to exhort him to repentance, & to lay before his eyes his faults and offences, to the end to bring him into the right way. But he was so far from being touched or moved with these godly admonitions that he strove rather to harden himself more and more in his sins. Therefore one day hasting forward his own mishap, as he was swearing & denying God, and giving himself to the Devil, and calling for him with vehemency, behold even the Devil indeed snatched him up suddenly, and heaved him into the air, his wife and kinswoman looking on, and seeing him fly over their heads, being thus swiftly transported, his cap tumbled from his head, and was found at Rosne, but himself no man could ever after set eye on. The Magistrate advertised hereof, came to the place where he was taken to be better informed of the truth, taking the witness of the two women touching that which they had seen. Here we may see the strange and terrible events of Gods just vengeance upon such vile; caitiffs which doubtless are made manifest to strike a fear and terror into the heart of every swearer and denier of God, (the world being but too full at this day of such wretches) that are so inspired with Satan, that they cannot speak but they must name him, even him that is both an enemy to God & man, and like a roaring lion runneth and roveth to & fro to devour them: not seeking any thing but man's destruction And yet when any pain assaileth them, or any trouble disquieteth their minds, or any danger threateneth to oppress their bodies, desperately they call upon him for aid, when indeed it were more needful to commend themselves to God and to pray for his grace and assistance, having both a commandment so to do, and a promise adjoined, that he will help us in our necessity, if we come unto him by true & hearty prayer. It is not therefore without just cause that God hath propounded and laid open in this corrupt age a Theatre of his judgements that every man might be warned thereby.   

CHAP. XXXIII. More examples of God's judgements upon cursers.  
But before we go to the next commandment we will adjoin a few more examples of this devilish cursing. Martin Luther hath left registered unto us a notable example shown upon a Popish priest that was once a professor of the sincere religion, 
Ex colliquij● Lutheri.  and fell away voluntarily unto papism, whereof Adam Budissina was the reporter: this man thundered out most bitter curses against Luther in the pulpit at a town called Ruthnerwald: and amongst the rest, wished that if Luther's doctrine was true, a thunderbolt might strike him to death. Now three days after, there arose a mighty tempest with thunder and lightning: whereat the cursed priest bearing in himself a guilty conscience for that he had untruly and maliciously spoken, ran hastily into the church, and there fell to his prayers before the altar most devoutly; but the vengeance of God found him out and his hypocrisy, so that he was strooken dead with the lightning, and albeit they recovered life in him again, yet as they led him homewards through the churchyard, another flash so set upon him that it burned him from the crown of the head to the sole of his foot as black as a shoe, so that he died with a manifest mark of God's vengeance upon him.  

Homil. 26. in hist. passionis.  Theodorus Beza reporteth unto us two notable histories of his own knowledge of the severity of God's judgement upon a curser and a perjurer, the tenor whereof is this: I knew (saith he) in France a man of good parts, well instructed in religion, and a master of a family, who in his anger cursing and bidding the Devil take one of his children, had presently his wish, for the child was possessed immeadiately with a spirit: from which though by the fervent & continual prayers of the church he was at length released, yet ere he had fully recovered his health he died. The like we read to have happened to a woman whom her husband in anger devoted with bitter curses to the devil; for Satan assaulted her presently and rob her of her wits, so that she could never be recovered.  

Discipulus de tempore, sermon. 116. Perjury lib. 1. cap. 29.  Another example (saith he) happened not far hence, even in this country upon a perjurer that forswore himself, to the end to deceive and prejudice another thereby: but he had no sooner made an end of his false oath, but a grievous apoplexy assailed him, so that without speaking any one word he died within few days.  

job Fincelius lib. 3. de mirac.  In the year of our Lord 1557 the day before good friday, at Forchennum a city in the bishopric of Bamburge, there was a certain crooked priest both in body & mind, through age & evil conditions, that could not go but on crutches, yet would needs be lifted into the pulpit to make a sermon, his text was out of the 11 chap. of the first epistle to the Corinthians touching the Lords supper: whereout taking occasion to defend the papistical errors & the mass, he used these or such like blasphemous speeches: O Paul, Paul, if thy doctrine touching the receiving the sacrament in both kinds be true, & if it be a wicked thing to receive it otherwise, then would the devil might take me: & (turning to the people) if the pope's doctrine concerning this point be not true, then am I the devils bondslave, neither do I fear to pawn my soul upon it: these & many other blasphemous words he used, till the devil came indeed transformed into the shape of a tall man black & terrible, sending before him such a fearful noise and such a wind, that the people supposed that the church would have fallen on their heads; but he not able to hurt the rest, took away the old priest being his devoted bondslave, & carried him so far that he was never heard of: the bishop of Rugenstines' brother hardly escaped his hands, for he came back to fetch him, but he defending himself with his sword wounded his own body, & very narrowly escaped with his life. Beside after this there were many visions seen about the city, as army's of men ready to enter & surprise them, so that well was he that could hide himself in a corner. At another time after the like noise was heard in the church whilst they were baptizing an infant: & all this for the abominable cursing and blasphemy of the profane priest.  
In the year of our Lord 1556 at S. Gallus in Helvetia, 
job. Fincelius lib. 2. de mirac.  a certain man that earned his living by making clean rough and foul linen against the sun, entering a tavern tasted so much the grape that his wits were drowned, and his tongue so inspired that he vomited out terrible curses against himself and others: among the rest he wished, if ever he went into the fields to his old occupation, that the devil might come & break his neck: but when sleep had conquered drink, & sobriety restored his senses, he went again to his trade remembering indeed his late words, but regarding them not: howbeit the devil to show his double diligence, attended on him at his appointed hour in the likeness of a big sworthy man, and asked him if he remembered his promise and vow which he had made the day before, & if it were not lawful for him to break his neck? and withal struck the poor man trembling with fear over the shoulders, that his feet and his hands presently dried up, so that he lay there not able to stir, till by help of men he was carried home; the Lord not giving the devil so much power over him as he wished himself: but yet permitting him to plague him on this sort, for his amendment and our example.  

Albert Krantz, chron. 〈◊〉, lib. 6.  Henry Earl of Schwartburge through a corrupt custom used commonly to wish he might be drowned in a privy: and as he wished so it happened unto him, for he was so served, & murdered at S. Peter's monastery in Erford, in the year of our Lord, 1148.  

Cyriac. Spangenb. in elegantijs veteris Adami.  The like befell a young courtier at Mansfield, whose custom was in any earnest asseveration to say the Devil take me if it be not so: the Devil indeed took him whilst he slept and threw him out of a high window; where albeit by the good providence of God he caught no great hurt, yet he learned by experience to bridle his tongue from all such cursed speeches, this being but a taste of God's wrath that is to fall upon such wretches as he.  

Theat. histor.  At Oster a village in the Duchy of Megalopole, there chanced a most strange and fearful example upon a woman that gave herself to the Devil both body and soul, and used most horrible cursings and oaths, both against herself and others: which detestable manner of behaviour, as at many other times, so especially she showed at a marriage in the foresaid village upon S. john Baptists day, the whole people exhorting her to leave off that monstrous villainy: but she nothing bettered continued her course, till all the company were set at dinner, and very merry. Then lo the Devil having got full possession of her, came in person and transported her into the air before them all, with most terrible outcries and roar, & in that sort carried her round about the town, that the inhabitants were ready to die with fear, and by and by tore her in four pieces, leaving in four several high ways a quarter, that all that came by might be witnesses of her punishment. And then returning to the marriage, threw her bowels upon the table before the Mayor of the town with these words: Behold these dishes of meat belong to thee, whom the like destruction awaiteth, if thou dost not amend thy wicked life. The reporters of this history were john Herman the minister of the said town, with the Mayor himself, and the whole inhabitants, being desirous to have it known to the world for example sake.  
In Luther's conferences there is mention made of this story following: 
Luther.  diverse noble men were striving together at a horse race, and in their course cried the devil take the last. Now the last was a horse that broke lose, whom the devil hoist up into the air and took clean away. Which teacheth us not to call for the devil, for he is ready always about us uncalled and unlooked for: yea many legions of them compass us about, even in our best actions to disturb and pervert us.  
A cettaine man not far from Gorlitz provided a sumptuous supper, & invited many guests unto it, 
job. Fincelius.  who at the time appointed refusing to come, he in an anger cried, then let all the Devils in hell come: neither was his wish frivolous; for a number of those hellish fiends came forthwith, whom he not discerning from men, came to welcome and entertain, but as he took them by the hands and perceived in steed of fingers claws, all dismayed he ran out of the doors with his wife, and left none in the house but a young infant with a fool sitting by the fire; whom the devils had no power to hurt, neither any man else, save the goodly supper, which they made away withal, and so departed.  
It is notoriously known in Oundle a town in Northamptonshire, amongst all that were acquainted with the party, namely one Hacket, of whom more hath been spoken before, how he used in his earnest talk ever to curse himself on this manner: If it be not true, then let a visible confusion come upon me. Now he wanted no● his wish, for he came to a visible confusion indeed, as hath been declared more at large in the 20 chap. of this book. At Witeberg before Martin Luther and diverse other learned men, a woman whose daughter was possessed with a spirit, confessed that by her curse that plague was fallen upon her, for being angry at a time she bade the devil take her, & she had no sooner spoken the word but he took her indeed, & possessed her in most strange sort.  
No whitlesse strange and horrible is that which happened at Neoburge in Germany to a son that was cursed of his mother in her anger with this curse, 
Theat. histor.  she prayed God she might never see him return alive, for the same day the young man bathing himself in the water was drowned, and never returned to his mother alive according to her ungodly wish.  

Theat. histor.  But above all, this is most strange which happened in a Town of Misina in the year of our Lord God 1552 the eleventh of September, where a cholletick father seeing his son slack about his business, wished he might never stir from that place: 
Let not the strangeness of this example discredit the truth thereof: seeing we read how Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt, Gen. 19 and Corah with his company swallowed of the earth Num. 16 which are more strange than this. Acts and monuments. pag. 2101.  for it was no sooner said but done, his son stuck fast in the place, neither by any means possible could be removed, no not so much as to sit or bend his body: till by the prayers of the faithful his pains were somewhat mitigated, though not remitted: three year he continued standing with a post at his back for his ease, and four years sitting, at the end whereof he died. Nothing weakened in his understanding, but professing the faith, and not doubting of his salvation in Christ jesus. When he was demanded at any time how he did: he answered most usually, that he was fastened of God, and that it was not in man, but in God's mercy for him to be released.  
john Peter son in law to Alexander that cruel keeper of Newgate, being a most horrible swearer and blasphemer, used commonly to say, If it be not true, I pray God I may rot ere I die: and not in vain, for he rotten away indeed, & so died most miserably.  
Hither we may add a notable example of a certain young gallant that was a monstrous swearer, who riding in the company of diverse gentlemen, began to swear and most horribly blaspheme the name of God: unto whom one of the company with gentle words, said he should one day answer for that: the younker taking snuff thereat, why said he takest thou thought for me? 
Acts and monuments. pag. 2105.  Take thought for thy winding sheet. Well (quoth the other) amend, for death giveth no warning; as soon cometh a lambs skin to the market as an old sheeps. God's wounds (said he) care not thou for me, raging still on this manner worse and worse, till at length passing on their journey they came riding over a great bridge, upon which this gentleman swearer spurred his horse in such sort, that he sprang clean over with the man on his back, who as he was going cried, Horse and man and all to the devil. This terrible story bishop Ridley preached and uttered at Paul's cross: and one Haines a minister of Cornwall the reprehender of this man was the reporter of it to Master Fox out of whom I have drawn it. Refrain then (wretches that you are) your devilish tongues, leave off to provoke the wrath of God any longer against you: forbear all wicked and cursed speeches, and acquaint yourselves as well in word as deed to praise and glorify God.   

CHAP. XXXIIII. Punishments for the contempt of the word and the Sacraments: and abuse of holy things.  
NOw it is another kind of taking the name of God in vain, to despise his words and sacraments; for like as among earthly princes it is accounted a crime no less than treason either to abuse their pictures, to counterfeit or deprave their seals, to rend, pollute, or corrupt their letter patents, or to use unreverently their messengers, or any thing that cometh from them: So with the prince of heaven it is a sin of high degree, either to abuse his word profanely, which is the letter patents of our salvation: or handle the sacraments unreverently, which are the seals of his mercy: or to despise his ministers, which are his messengers unto us. And this he maketh known unto us not only by edicts & commandments, but also by examples of his vengeance on the heads of the offenders in this case: for the former look what Paul saith, That for the unworthy receiving of the Sacraments many were weak and sick among the Corinthians, & many slept, how much more than for the abusing & contemning the Sacraments? 
1. Cor. 11.29.30  And the prophet David, That for casting the word of God behind them, 
Psal. 50.16.17.  they should have nothing to do with his covenant: how much more than for profaning & deriding his word? 
Exod. 16.8.  And Moses (when the people murmured against him, and Aaron saith that their murmurings were not against them which were but ministers, but against the Lord; how much more than is the Lord engaged, when they are scoffed at, derided, & set at nought? hence it is that the Lord denounceth a woe to him that addeth or taketh away from the word: and calleth them dogs that abuse such precious pearls. 
Deut. 4.2. & 12.22. Apoc. 22.18. Proverb. 30.6. Vide lib. 1. cap. 14. example of the jews.  But let us come to the examples, wherein the grievousness of this sin will lie more open than by any words can be expressed. Denterius an Arrian bishop being at Bezantium, as he was about to baptize one Barbas after his blasphemous manner, saying, I baptize thee in the name of the father through the son in the Holy-ghost. Which form of words is contrary to the prescript rule of Christ, that bade his disciples to baptise all nations, In the name of the father the son and the Holy-ghost; the water suddenly vanished, so that he could not then be baptized: wherefore Barbas all amazed fled from thence to a church of purer religion, and there was entertained into the church by baptism. 
Socrat. lib 7. cap. 17.  Socrates in his Ecclesiastical history reporteth the like accident to have happened to a jew who had been oftentimes baptized, and came to Paulus a Novatian bishop to receive the sacrament again: but the water as before vanished, and his villainy being detected he was banished the church.  

Opiate. Meltuit. lib. 2. contr. Parenianum. Cent. 4. cap. 6.  Vrbanus Farmensis, and Foelix Iducensis, two Donatists by profession, rushing into Thipasa a City of Mauritania, commanded the Eucharist to be thrown amongst the dogs; but the dogs growing mad thereby, set upon their own masters, and rend them with their teeth as being guilty of despising the body of Christ: certainly a noble judgement to condemn the wicked behaviour of those miscreants, who were so profane, as not only to refuse the sacrament themselves, 
Vide lib. 1 ca 17.  but also to cast it to their dogs as if it were the vilest and contemptablest thing in the world.  
Theopompus a Philosopher being about to insert certain things out of the writings of Moses into his profane works, and so to abuse the sacred word of God, was strooken with a frenzy; and being warned of the cause thereof in a dream, 
joseph, antiq. lib. 12. cap. 2.  by prayers made unto God recovered his senses again: this story is recorded by josephus, as also another of Theodectes a Poet that mingled his Tragedies with the holy Scripture, and was therefore strooken with blindness until he had recanted his impiety.  
In a town of Germany called Itzsith there dwelled a certain husbandman that was a monstrous despiser and profaner of the word of God and his sacraments: 
Luther in coloquijs.  he upon a time amidst his cups railed with most bitter terms upon a minister of God's word, after which going presently into the fields to overlook his sheep, he never returned alive, but was found there dead with his body all scorched and burnt as black as a coal, the Lord having given him over into the hands of the devil to be thus used for his vile profaneness and abusing his holy things. This D. justus jonas in Luther's conferences reporteth to be most true.  
In the year of our Lord 1553 a certain cobblers servant being brought up among the professors of the reformed religion, and having received the sacrament in both kinds, 
Philip Melanc.  after living under Popery, received it after their fashion in one kind; but when he returned to his old master and was admonished by him to go again to the communion as he was wont, than his sleepy conscience awaked, and he fell into most horrible despair, crying that he was the devils bondslave, and therewithal threw himself headlong out of the window, so that with the fall his bowels gushed out of his mouth and he died most miserably.  
When the great persecution of the Christians was in Persia under king Sapor in the year of our Lord 347, 
Sozomen lib. 2. cap. 31.  there was one Miles an holy bishop and constant Martyr, who preaching, 
Vide lib. r. ca 16.  exhorting, & suffering all manner of torments for the truth of the gospel, could not convert one soul of the whole city (whereof he was bishop) to the faith, wherefore in hatred and detestation of it, he forewent it clean: but after his departure the Lord made them worthily rue their contempt of his word, for he sent the spirit of division betwixt king Sapor and then, so that he came with an army of men & three hundred Eliphants against it and quickly subverted it, that the very appearance & memorial of a city was quite defaced and rooted out: for certainly this is a sure position, where God's word is generally despised, & not regarded, nor profited by, there some notable destruction approacheth.  

Philip Melanc. in collectaneis Manlij.  In a certain place there was acted a tragedy of the death and passion of Christ in show, but indeed of themselves, for he that played Christ's part hanging upon the cross was wounded to death by him that should have thrust his sword into a bladder full of blood tied to his side; who with his fall slew another that played one of the women's part that lamented under the cross; his brother that was first slain seeing this, slew the murderer, and was himself by order of justice hanged therefore: so that this tragedy was concluded with four true, not counterfeit deaths, and that by the divine providence of God, who can endure nothing less than such profane and ridiculous handling of so serious and heavenly matters. In the University of Oxford the history of Christ was also played, and cruelly punished: & that not many years since, for he that bore the person of Christ, the Lord struck him with such a giddiness of spirit & brain, that he became mad forthwith, crying when he was in his best humour, that God had laid this judgement upon him for playing Christ. Three other actors in the same play were hanged for robbing, as by credible report is affirmed.  
Most lamentable was the judgement of God upon one john Apowel (sometimes a servingman) for mocking & jesting at the word of God: this john Apowell hearing one William Malden, reading certain English prayers, mocked him after every word with contrary gauds & flouting terms; insomuch that at last he was terribly afraid, so that his hair stood upright on his head, and the next day was found beside his wits, crying night and day without ceasing, The devil, the devil, 
Acts and monuments. pag. 2103.  O the devil of hell, now the devil of hell, there he goeth, for it seemed to him as the other read Lord have mercy upon us at the end of the prayer that the devil appeared unto him, and by the permission of God deprived him of his understanding: this is a terrible example for all those that be mockers at the word of God to warn them (if they do not repent) lest the vengeance of God fall upon them in like manner. Thus we see how severely the Lord punisheth all despisers and profaners of his holy things, and thereby aught to learn to carry a most dutiful regard and reverence to them, as also to note them for none of God's flock whosoever they be that deride or contemn any part of religion or the ministers of the same.   

CHAP. XXXV. Of those that profane the Sabbath day.  
IN the fourth & last commandment of the first table it is said, Remember to keep holy the sabbath day: by which words it is ordained and enjoined us to separate one day of seven from all bodily and servile labour, not to idleness & looseness, but to the worship of God, which is spiritual and wholesome. Which holy ordinance when one of the children of Israel in contempt broke, as they were in the wilderness, 
Numb. 15.  by gathering sticks upon the sabbath, he was brought before Moses & Aaron & the whole congregation, & by them put in prison, until such time as they knew the Lords determination concerning him, knowing well that he was guilty of a most grievous crime: And at length by the Lords own sentence to his servant Moses, condemned to be stoned to death without the host, as was speedily executed: wherein the Lord made known unto them both how unpleasant & odious, the profanation of his Sabbath was in his sight, and how seriously and carefully every one ought to observe and keep the same. Now albeit that this strict observation of the sabbath was partly ceremonial under the law, and that in Christ jesus we have an accomplishment as of all other, so also of this ceremony; he being the true sabbath and assured repose of our souls: yet seeing we still stand in need of some time for the instruction and exercise of our faith, it is necessary that we should have at least one day in a week to occupy ourselves in and about those holy and godly exercises which are required at our hands: and what day fit for that purpose than sunday? Which was also ordained in the Apostles time for the same end, and called by them Des dominicus (that is) The day of our Lord: Because upon that day he rose from the dead, to wit, the morrow after the jews sabbath being the first day of the week: to which sabbath it by common consent of the church succeeded, to the end that a difference might be put betwixt Christians & jews. Therefore it ought now religiously to be observed, as it is also commanded in the civil law, with express prohibition not to abuse this day of holy rest in unholy sports & pastimes, 
Cod. lib. 3. tit. 12. leg. 10.  of evil example. Nevertheless in steed hereof, we see the evil emploiance, abuse, and disorder of it for the most part: for beside the false worship and plentiful superstitions which reign in so many places, all manner of disorder and dissoluteness is in request & beareth sway in these days: this is the day for tippling houses and taverns to be fullest fraught with ruffians, and ribalds, and for villainous and dishonest speech, with lecherous and bawdy songs to be most rise: this is the day when gormandize and drunkenness show themselves most frolic, & oaths & blasphemies fly thickest and fastest: this is the day when dicing, dancing, whoring, and such noisome and dishonest demeanours, muster their bands and keep rank together: from whence foam out envies, hatreds, displeasures, quarrels, debates, bloodsheddings and murders, as daily experience testifieth. All which things are evident signs of Gods heavy displeasure upon the people where these abuses are permitted, and no difference made of that day wherein God would be served, but is contrarily most dishonoured by the overflow of wciked examples.  
And that it is a thing odious and condemned of God, these examples following will declare. Gregory Turonensis reporteth, that a husbandman who upon the Lord's day went to blow his field; as he cleansed his plowshare with an iron, the iron stuck so fast into his hand, that for two years he could not be delivered from it, but carried it about continually to his exceeding great pain and shame. 
Discipulus de tempore ser. 117.  Another profane fellow without any regard of God or his service, made no conscience to convey his corn out of the field on the Lord's day in sermon time; but he was well rewarded for his godless covetousness, for the same corn which with so much care he gathered together, was consumed with fire from heaven, with the barn and all the grain that was in it.  
A certain noble man used every Lord's day to go a hunting in the sermon while, 
Theatr. hist.  which impiety the Lord punished with this judgement, he caused his wife to bring forth a child with a head like a dog, that seeing he preferred his dogs before the service of God, he might have one of his own getting to make much of.  
At Kimstat a town in France, 
job. Fincel. lib. 3. de mirac.  there lived in the year of our Lord 1559, a certain covetous woman, who was so eager upon the word and greedy of gain, that she would neither frequent the Church to hear the word of God herself, nor suffer any of her family to do it, but continually abode labouring and toiling about drying and pilling flax, and doing other domestical businesses: neither would she be reclaimed by her neighbours who admonished and dehorted her from such untimely works. One Sabbath day as they were thus busily occupied, fire seemed to issue among the flax without doing any hurt: the next Sabbath day it took fire indeed, but was quickly extinct: for all this she continued obstinate in her profaneness even the third Sabbath, when the flax again taking fire, could not be quenched till it had burnt her & two of her children to death; for though they were recovered out of the fire alive, yet the next day they all three died. And that which was most to be wondered at, a young infant in the cradle was taken out of the midst of the flame without any hurt. Thus God useth to exercise his judgements upon the contemners of his commandments.  

Cent. 12. cap. 6.  The Centuriators of Magdeburge, entreating of the manners of Christians, made report out of another history, that a certain husbandman (in Parochia Gemilacensi) grinding corn upon the Lord's day, the meal began to burn, Anno Dom. 1126: which though it might seem to be a thing more casual, 
Ecclesiast. hist. Cent. 12. ibid.  yet they set it down as a judgement of God upon him for breaking the Sabbath. As also of that which they speak in the same place of one of the kings of Denmark, who when as he (contrary to the admonition of the priests, who desired him to defer it) would needs upon the day of Pentecost make war with his enemy, died in the battle. But that may be better known to us all, which is written in the 2 book of Machabes of Nicanor the jews enemy, who would needs set upon them on the Sabbath, from which when other the jews that were compelled to be with him could no way dissuade him, he was slain in the battle, and most miserably but deservedly handled, even the parts of his body shamefully dismembered, as in that history you may read more at large.  

Concil. Paris. lib. 1. cap. 50.  Therefore in the council at Paris every one labouring to persuade unto a more religious keeping of the Sabbath day, when they had justly complained, that (as many other things) so also the observation of the Sabbath was greatly decayed through the abuse of Christian liberty; in that men too much followed the delights of the world, and their own worldly pleasures, both wicked and dangerous: they further add, Multi nanque nostrum visu, multi etiam quorundam relatu didicimus, etc. For many of us have been eye witnesses, many have intelligence of it by the relation of others, that some men upon this day being about their husbandry, have been stricken with thunder, some have been maimed and made lame, some have had their bodies (even bones and all) burnt in a moment with visible fire, and have consumed to ashes, and many other judgements of God have been, and are daily: whereby it is declared, that God is offended with the dishonour of so high a day. And our time hath not wanted examples in this kind, whosoever hath observed them, when sometimes in the fairs upon this day the wares have swom in the streets; sometimes the scaffolds at plays have fallen down, to the hurting & endangering of many, sometime one thing, sometime another have fallen out: and that which is most strange within these late years, a whole town hath been twice burnt, for the breach of the Sabbath by the inhabitants. The just report thereof, because I probably know not, I pass over here to set down, until such time as I shall be better instructed.  
Famous and memorable also is that example which happened at London in the year 1583 at Paris garden, where, upon the Sabbath day, were gathered together (as accustomably they used) great multitudes of profane people to behold the fport of bear-baiting, without respect of the Lords day, or any exercise of religion required therein: which profane impiety the Lord that he might chasten in some sort, & show his dislike thereof, he caused the scaffolds suddenly to break, and the beholders to tumble headlong down: so that to the number of eight persons men & women, were slain therewith, besides many others which were sore hurt & bruised to the shortening of their days. Surely a friendly warning to such as more delight themselves with the cruelty of beasts & vain sports, than with the works of mercy & religion, the fruits of a true faith, which ought to be the sabbath days exercise. And thus much for the examples of the first table, whereof if some seem to exceed credit, by reason of the strangeness of them, yet let us know, that nothing is impossible to God; and that he doth often work miracles to control the obstinate impiety and rebellion of mortal men against his commandments. Besides, there is not one example here mentioned, but it hath a credible or probable author for the avoucher of it. Let us now out of all this that hath been spoken, gather up this wholesome lesson, to love God with all our heart and affection, to the end we may worship him, invocate his holy name, and repose all the confidence of our salvation upon him alone through Christ jesus, seeking by pleasing and obeying his will, to set forth his glory, and render him due thanks for all his benefits.   
FINIS.   

The second Book.  

CHAP. I. Of rebellious and stubborn children towards their parents.  
We have seen in the former book what punishments they have incurred, that either maliciously or otherwise have transgressed and broken the commandments of the first Table: Now it followeth to discover the chastisements which God hath sent upon the transgressors of the second Table. And first concerning the first commandment thereof, which is, Honour thy father and mother, that thy days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Cham, one of old Noah's sons, 
Gen. 9  was guilty of the breach of this commandment; who instead of performing that reverence to his father which he ought, (and that presently after the deluge, which being yet fresh in memory, might have taught him to walk in the fear of God) came so short of his duty, that when he saw his nakedness he did not hide it, but mocked and jested at it: for which cause, he was cursed both of his father and of God in the person of his youngest son Chaanan, and made a servant to the servants of his brethren; 
Num 33. Deut. 7.  which curse was fulfilled in his posterity the Canaanites, who being forsaken of God, were rooted up and spewed out of their land, because of their sins and abominations.  
Marvelous strange was the malice of Absolom to rebel so furiously against his father David, as to wage war against him: 
2. Sam. 15.  which he did with all his strongest endeavours, without sparing any thing that might further his proceed: insomuch that he grew to that outrage and madness through the wicked and pernicious counsel of Achitophel, that he shamed not villainously to commit incest with his father's concubines, 
2. Sam. 16.  and pollute his bed even before the eyes of the multitude: by which means being become altogether odious and abominable, 
2. Sam. 18.  he shortly after lost the battle, wherein though himself received no hurt nor wound, yet was he not therefore quit, but being pursued by God's just judgement, fell unwittingly into the snare which he had deserved: for as he road along the forest to save himself from his father's army, his mule carrying him under a thick oak, left him hanging by the hair upon a bow betwixt heaven and earth, until being found by joab he was wounded to death with many blows. Whereby every man may plainly see, that God wanteth no means to punish sinners when it pleaseth him, but maketh the dumb and senseless creatures instruments of his vengeance: for he that had escaped the brunt and danger of the battle (and yet not having therefore escaped the hand of God) was by a bruit beast, brought under a senseless tree which God had appointed to catch hold of him, as an executioner of his just judgement: which if we consider, is as strange and wonderful an accident as may possible happen; and yet such an one as God himself provided to punish this wicked, proud, and rebellious wretch withal: for seeing his outrage and villainy was so great, as to rebel against his father, and so good and kind a father towards him as he was, it was most just that he should endure so vile a punishment. Beside, herein God would doubtless lay open to the eyes of all the world, a fearful spectacle of his judgements against wicked and disobedient children, thereby to terrify the most impudent and malicious wtetches that live, from this horrible sin. And for the same cause it was his pleasure, that that wicked and false Achitophel should fall into extreme ignominy and confusion for forsaking David, and setting forward with counsel and presence young Absolom against his father; for which cause with despair he hung himself. Now by this example it is easy to perceive how unpleasant this sin is in God's sight, and how much he would have every man to hate and detest it, seeing that nature herself teacheth and instructeth us so far, as to yield duty and obedience unto those that begat, nourished, and brought us up.  
Notwithstanding all this, yet is the world full of ill advised and ill nurtured youth, that are little less disobedient unto 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 sovereignty, they lost the benefit of subjection, and were banished into Armenia, their brother Esarhaddon reigning in their stead.  
Gregory of Tours maketh mention of one Crannius the son of Clotarius king of France, 
Greg. of Tours 4. book.  who having conspired treacherously, and raised war against his father, together with the Earl of Britain his supporter, were both vanquished and put to flight; but the Earl was slain in the pursuit: the Prince himself also (thinking to escape by sea, where lay provided certain ships ready to receive him) was in the mid way overtaken together with his wife and children, whom he purposed to make partakers of his fortune, and were all together (by the express commandment of his father) shut up in a little house, and there burned together. In this wise did Clotarius revenge the treachery and rebellion of his son after a more severe, cruel, and fierce manner than king David did, who would have saved his son Absoloms life, notwithstanstanding all his wickedness, & malicious and furious rebellion: but this man contrariwise being bereft of all fatherly affection, would use no compassion towards his son, but commanded so cruel an execution to be performed not only upon him but upon his daughter in law also and their children, perchance altogether innocent and guiltless of that crime. A very rare and strange example, seeing it is commonly seen, that grandfathers use more to cherish and cocker their children's children than their own. Therefore we must think, that it was the providence of God to leave behind a notable example of his most just and righteous severity 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 sun called Adolphus (for the world waxeth every day worse than other) that came in an evening suddenly to take his father the Duke of Gilderland prisoner even as he was going to bed, and would not give him so much liberty as to pull on his hose (for he was bare legged) but carried him away in all haste, making him march on foot without breeches five long Almain miles in a most cold weather: and then clapped him up in the bottom of a deep tower, where there was no light save by a little window, and there kept him close prisoner six months together. After which cruel fact, he himself was taken prisoner in like manner, and carried bound to Namur, where he lay a long time, until the Gaunts reprieved him forth, and led him with them against Tournay, where he was slain: in the while of his imprisonment, his father yielding unto nature, disinherited him of all his goods, for his vile ingratitude and unnatural cruelty, and left the succession of his dukedom to the Duke of Burgundy.  
In the year of our Lord 1461, in a village called juchi near to Cambray, 
Enguerr. de Monstr. vol. 2.  there dwelled a certain man (or rather a beast) that in a great rage threw his own mother out of his doors thrice in one day, and the thitd time told her in fury, that he had rather see his house on fire and burnt to coals, 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 judge: and the fire was so fierce that it consumed to ashes not only that house, but also twelve other houses adjoining, which was an evident figure of God's just judgement in punishing so vile and unnatural a deed with fire: seeing he deserved at the least to lose his house for banishing her out of it, that had borne him in her belly, and nourished him with the milk of her paps.  
In this place I may fitly insert two memorable examples of the same subject, 
Alex. ab Alex. geneal. dier. lib. 4. cap. 14.  gathered by an author of credit & fame sufficient to this effect. It is not long (saith he) since a friend of mine a man of a great spirit and worthy to be believed, recounted to me a very strange accident which he said happened to himself, and proved his saying by the testimony of many witnesses, which was this; that being upon a time at Naples at a kinsman's and familiars house of his, he heard by night the voice of a man crying in the street for aid, which caused him to rise and light a candle and run out to see what the matter was: being come out of the doors he perceived a cruel and ugly shaped Devil striving with all his force to catch and get into his clutches a young man that strove on the other side to defend himself, & for fear raised that outcry which he had before heard: the young man seeing him ran to him forthwith, & catching fast hold by his clothes, and pitifully crying to God, would in no case let go his hold until his cruel enemy forsook him: and being brought into the house all dismayed and beside himself, would not let go his hold until he came to his senses again out of that exceeding fear. The cause of which assault was, he had led all his time a most wicked life, and had been a contemner of God and a rebel against his parents, using vile railing and bitter speeches against them, in such sort that in stead of blessing they had laid a curse upon him: and this is the first example.  
Concerning the second I will also set down the Authors own words as followeth: of all the strange things (saith he) that ever I heard report of, that which happened not long since at Rome is most worthy to be remembered, of a certain young man of Gabia borne of a base and poor family, but endued with a a terrible and furious nature, and addicted to a lose & disordinate life. This gallant picking a quarrel with his own father in his anger reviled him with most gross and reproachful terms: In which mad fits, as one wholly given over to the Devil, he purposely departed to Rome to practise some naughty devise against his father: but his ghostly father the Devil met with him in the way under the shape of a cruel and ugly fellow with a thick bushy beard and head hanging disorderly, and clothes all rent and tottered, who (as they walked together) inquired of him why he was so sad. He answered that there had passed some bitter speeches betwixt his father and him, and now he devised to work him some mischief. The devil by & by like a crafty knave soothed him up and said; that he also upon the like occasion went about the same practice, and desired that they might pursue both their voyage & enterprise together: it was soon agreed upon betwixt them, being like to like as the Proverb goeth. Therefore being arrived at Rome, and lodged at the same Inn, one bed did serve them both, where whilst the young man securely & sound slept, the old malicious knave watching his opportunity caught him by the throat to strangle him: whereat the poor wretch awoke, and cried for help to God, so that the wicked spirit was constrained to forsake him without performing his purpose, and to fly out at the chamber with such force & violence, that the house roof cracked & the tiles clattered down abundantly. The host of the house being awaked with the noise, cried out to know what the matter was, & running into the chamber where this noise was with a candle in his hand, found the poor young man all alone betwixt dead and alive, of whom (recovered) he learned out the whole truth as hath been told: but he after this terrible accident repent him of his wicked life, and was touched with the sense of his grievous sin so nearly, that ever after he led a more circumspect and honest life. Thus much we find written in that author.  
Henry the fift inspired with the furies of the Pope of Rome made war upon his father Henry the fourth, 
Philip. Melanc. lib. 4. chron.  vexing him with cruel & often battles, and not ceasing till he had spoiled him of his Empire, & till the bishop of Mentz had proudly and insolently taken from him his imperial ornaments even in his presence: but the Lord in recompense of his unnatural dealing made him and his army a prey unto his enemies the Saxons, and to fly before them, stirring up also the Pope of Rome to be as grievous a scourge unto him, as he had been before time to his father. Now as the ambition of a kingdom was the cause of this man's ingratitude, so in the example following pride and disdain ruled, and therefore he is so much the more to be condemned, by how much a kingdom is a stronger cord to draw men to vice then a man's own affections.  
There was (saith Manlius) an old man crooked with age, 
In collectan.  distressed with poverty, and almost pined with hunger, that had a son rich, strong, & fat, of whom he entreated no gold or silver or possessions, but food & sustenance for his belly, and clothes for his back, but could not obtain it at his hands: for his proud heart exalted with prosperity, thought it a shame & discredit to his house to be born of so poor & base a parentage, & therefore not only denied him relief, but also disclaimed him from being his father, & chased him away with bitter and crabbed reproaches. The poor old man thus cruelly handled let tears fall as witnesses of his grief, and departed comfortless from his Tygre-minded son. But the Lord that gathereth up the tears of the innocent, looked down from heaven in justice, and sent a fury into the senses and understanding of this monstrous son, that as he was void of nature and compassion, so he might be void of reason and discretion for ever after.  
Another not so cruel and disdainful as the former, yet cruel and disdainful enough to pluck down vengeance upon his head, 
Manlius in collectan.  would not see his father beg indeed, nor yet abjure him as the other did; but yet undertaking to keep him used him more like a slave then a father, for what should be too dear for him that gave us life? Yet every good thing was too dear for this poor father. Upon a time a dainty morsel of meat was upon the board to be eaten, which as soon as he came in he conveyed away, and foisted in courser victuals in the room. But mark what his dainties turned to: when the servant went to fetch it again, he found in steed of meat, 
Fides fit apud Authorem.  snakes; and of sauce, serpents; to the great terror of his conscience: but that which is more, one of the serpents leapt in his face, and catching hold by his lip hung there till his dying day, so that he could never feed himself, but he must feed the serpent withal. And this badge carried he about as a cognisance of an unkind and ungrateful son.  
Moreover this is another judgement of God, that commonly as children deal with their parents, so do their children deal with them: & this in the law of proportion is most just, & in the order of punishing most usual: for the proof whereof as experience daily teacheth so one example or two I will subioine. 
Theat. histor.  It is reported how a certain unkind & perverse son beat his aged father upon a time, and drew him by the hair of his head to the threshold: who when he was old was likewise beaten of his son, and drawn also by the hair of the head not to the threshold, but out of doors into the dirt; and how he should say he was rightly served, if he had left him at the threshold as he left his father, and not dragged him into the streets which he did not to his: thus did his own mouth bear record of his impiety, & his own conscience condemn him before God and men.  

Guiliel. Lugdi.  Another old man being persuaded by his son (that had married a young wife) with fair and sugared promises of kindnesses and contentments to surrender his goods and lands unto him, yielded to his request, and found for a space all things to his desire: 
Discipulus de temp.  but when his often coughing annoyed his young and dainty wife, he first removed his lodging from a fair high chamber to a base under room, and after showed him many other unkind and unchildish parts: and lastly when the old man asked for clothes, he bought four elnes of clothes, two whereof he bestowed upon him, and reserved the other two for himself. Now his young son marking this nigardise of his father towards his grandfather, hide the two else of cloth, and being asked why he hide them, (whether by ingeniousness of wit, or instinct of God) he answered to the end to reserve them for his father, against he was old, to be a covering for him. Which answer touched his father so near, that ever after he showed himself more loving and obsequious to his father then he did before. Two great faults, but soon and happily amended. Would it might be an example to all children if not to mitigate, yet at least to learn them to fear how to deal roughly and crookedly with their parents, seeing that God punisheth sin with sin, and sinners in their own kind, and measureth the same measure to every man which they have measured unto others. 
George Lanter. de disciplina liberorum.  The like we read of another that provided a trough for his old decrepit unmannerly father to eat his meat in: who being demanded of his son also to what use that trough should serve, answered for his grandfather: What (quoth the child) and must we have the like for you when you are old? Which words so abashed him that he threw it away forthwith.  
At Milan there was an obstinate and ungodly son that when he was admonished by his mother of some fault which he had committed, made a wry mouth, 
Theat. histor.  and pointed his fingers at her in scorn and derision. Whereat his mother b●ing angry, 
Mandate. 3. Cursing. lib. 1. cap. 33.  wished that he might make such a mouth upon the gallows. Neither was it a vain wish, for within few days he was taken with a theft, and condemned by law to be hanged, and being upon the ladder was perceived to wryth his mouth in grief, after the same fashion which he had done before to his mother in derision.  
Henry the second of that name king of England son of Geffrey Plantagenet and Maud the Empress, 
Stow. chron.  after he had reigned twenty years, was content to admit his young son Henry (married to Margaret the French kings daughter) into participation of his crown, but he like an unnatural son to requite his father's love, sought to dispossess him of the whole; for by inciting the King of France and certain other Nobles, he took arms and raised deadly war against his own natural father: betwixt whom diverse strong battles being fought, as well in England by the Deputies and friends of both parties, as also in Normandy, Poytou, Guyan, and Britain; the victory always inclined to the father, so that the rebellious son with his allies were constrained to bend to his father's will, and to desire peace, which he gently granted, and forgave his offence. Howbeit the Lord for his disobedience did not so lightly pardon him, but because his hasty mind could not tarry for the crown till his father's death, therefore the Lord cut him short of it altogether, causing him to die six years before his father, being yet but young, and like to live long.  

Languet. chron.  Lothair King of Soyssons in France committed the rule of the Province of Guyan to his eldest son Cramiris, who when (contrary to the mind of his father) he oppressed the people with exactions and was reclaimed home, he like an ungracious and impious son, fled to his uncle Childebert, & provoked him to war upon his own father, wherein he himself was by the just vengeance of God, taken & burned with wife and children to death.  

Levit. 20.  Furthermore it is not (doubtless) but to a very good end enacted in the law of God that he which curseth his father or mother should die the death, & that rebellious children & such as be incorrigable, should at the instance and pursuit of their own parents by order of law be stoned to death. As children by all these examples ought not only to learn to fear to displease and revile their parents, but also to fear and reverence them, lest that by disobedience they kindle the fire of God's wrath against them: so likewise on the other side parents are here advertised to have great care in bringing up and instructing their children in the fear of God and obedience to his will; least for want of instruction and correction on their part, they themselves incur a punishment of their careless negligence in the person of their children. And this is proved by experience of the men of Bethel, 
2. King. 2.  of whose children two and forty were torn in pieces by bears, for that they had been so evil taught as to mock the holy Prophet Elizeus in calling him bald pate. 
1. Sam. 2.4  Heli likewise the high Priest was culpable of this fault, for having two wicked and perverse sons, whom no fear of God could restrain, being discontent with that honourable portion of the sacrifices allotted them by God, like famished and insatiable wretches fell to share out more than was their due, and by force to raven all that which by fair means they could not get: And that which is worse, to pollute the holy Tabernacle of God with their filthy Whoredoms, 
Contempt of holy things lib. 1. cap. 34.  in such sort that the Religion of God grew in disgrace through their profane dealings. And albeit that it may seem that their father did his duty in some sort when he admonished and reproved them: yet it is manifest by the reprehension of the man of God, that he did no part of that at all, or if he did, yet it was in so careless lose & cold manner, using more lenity than he ought, or less severity than was necessary; that God turned their destructions (when they were slain at the overthrow of Israel by the Philistims) to be his punishment: for understanding the doleful news of his son's death & the arks taking at once, he fell backwards from his stool, and burst his neck, being old and heavy even fourscore and eighteen years of age, not able either to help or stay himself.  

Lib. 2. cap. 10. de in titut. christ. fami.  Ludovicus Vives saith, that in his time a certain woman in Flaunders did so much pamper and cocker up two of her sons even against her husband's will, that she would not suffer them to want money or any thing which might furnish their riotous life, both in drinking, banqueting & dicing; yea she would steal from her husband to minister unto them: but as soon as her husband was dead, she was justly plagued in them both, for they fell from rioting to robbing, (which two vices are commonly linked together) and for the same one of them was executed by the sword, & the other by the halter, she herself looking on as a witness of their destructions, whereof her conscience told her that her indulgence was the chiefest cause. Hither may we refer that common and vulgar story, and I suppose very true which is almost in every child's mouth, of him that going to the gallows desired to speak with his mother in her ear ere he died, 
Cyriac. Spang.  and when she came unto him, in stead of speaking bit off her ear with his teeth, exclaiming upon her as the causer of his death, because she did not chastise him in his youth for his faults, but by her flatteries established him in vice, which brought him to this woeful end: & herein she was doubly punished, both in her son's destruction & her own infamy, whereof she carried about her a continual mark. This aught to be a warning to all parents to look better to the education of their children, and to root out of them in time all evil and corrupt manners, lest of small sprigs they grow to branches, and of qualities to habits, and so either be hardly done of; or at least deprave the whole body & bring it to destruction: but above all to keep them from idleness & vain pleasures, the discommodity and mischief whereof, this present example will declare: At a town called Hannuel in Saxony the Devil transforming himself into the shape of a man, 
job Fincel. lib. de miracu.  exercised many juggling tricks and pretty pastimes to delight young men and maids withal; and indeed to draw after him daily great companies, one day they followed him out of the city gates unto a hill adjoining, where he played a juggling trick in deed with them, for he carried them all away with him, so that they were after never heard of. This history is recorded in the annals of the forenamed city, and avouched to be most true, being a notable and fearful admonition to all parents to set their children to learning and instruction, and to withdraw them from all such vain and foolish pastimes.   

CHAP. II. Of those that rebel against their Superiors.  
NOw as it is a thing required by law and reason, that children bear that honour and reverence to their natural parents which is commanded: so it is as necessary by the same respect, that all subjects perform that duty of honour & obedience to their Lords, Princes, and Kings, which is not derogatory to the glory of God: and the rather, because they are, as it were, their fathers, in supplying that duty towards their subjects which fathers own their children: as namely in maintaining their peace & tranquillity in earthly things, and keeping them under the discipline of God's Church, to which two ends they were ordained. 
Rom. 13.  For this cause the scripture biddeth every man to be subject to the higher powers, not so much to avoid the punishment which might befall the contrary, as because it is agreeable to the will of God. And in another place, To honour the king; and, To give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, 
1. Pet. 2. Matth. 22. Exod. 22.  as unto God that which is Gods. So also in Moses law we are forbidden to detract from or speak evil of the magistrate, or to curse the ruler of the people.  
Yet for all this the children of Israel were not afraid many times to commit this sin, but then especially when they charged Moses with conspiring the murder of those rebels that (under Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, captains of that enterprise) set themselves against him and Aaron; 
Num. 16.  whom not he, but God for their pride and stubbornness, had rooted out and destroyed: and thus they backbited and slandered Moses, and mutined against him being their sovereign magistrate and conductor, that so meekly and justly had brought them aught of Egypt, even by the special commission of almighty God. But the fury of God's displeasure was so stirred up against them for this their fact, that they were scourged with a most grievous plague, whereof died about four thousand and seven hundred persons.  
In the time of king David's flight from Absolom, who pursued him to bereave him of his kingdom, 
2. Sam. 16.  there was one Semei a jeminite, that in his wicked and perverse humour, in stead of service due unto his sovereign, especially in that extremity, not only presented not himself unto him as a subject; 
Mandate. 3. Cursers, lib. 1. cap. 33.  but as a railer, cursed him with most reproachful terms, as of murderer, and wicked man, and also threw stones at him and his followers in most despiteful manner: for which his malicious and rebellious act, though whilst David lived, he was not once called in question: yet was he not exempted from punishment therefore: for in the end his wickedness fell upon his own head, and destruction overtook him by desert of another fault, 
1. King. 2.  at the commandment of Solomon.  

2. Sam. 20.  The punishment of Shiba the son of Bichri tarried not all so long, who having also with a proud and audacious heart stirred up the greatest part of Israel to rebel against David then when he thought to have been most at quiet, enjoyed not long his disloyal enterprise, for being speedily pursued by David's servants, and besieged in the city Abel, his head was cut off by the citizens, and thrown over the wall as a just reward for his rebellious act.  
But let us pass over these sacred histories & come to profane, yet probable and more near examples. When Camillus besieged the Phalischi, 
Liu. lib. 5.  a people in Hitruria, near to mount Floscon, a schoolmaster of the city, who had the rule over the chief men's sons, both touching instruction and governance, led them out of the city gates one day in show to walk, but indeed to betray them into Camillus' hands: which unfaithful dealing Camillus did not only mislike, but detest & refuse, thinking it an unhonest part by such sinister means to bring even his enemies in subjection: And therefore reproving the trustless schoolmaster, & binding his hands behind his back, he gave every one of his scholars a rod with commandment to whip him back unto their parents, whom he had pretended so to deceive. A most noble act in Camillus (would we could find the like amongst Christians) & a most deserved punishment of the schoolmaster (would no traitor might be served better.) Neither might that worthy Roman repent his deed, for the Phalischi in admiration and love of this notable justice, freely yielded themselves and their city to him which otherwise in long time and without great effusion of blood he could not have achieved.  
Did Tarpeia the daughter of Sp. Tarpeius speed any better when she betrayed the tower whereof her father was the overseer, to Tatius king of the Sabines, 
Liu. lib. 1.  who at that season besieged Rome, upon condition of a sum of gold, or as other writers say, of all that the soldiers wore on their left hands? No verily, for the Sabines (assoon as they had attained their purpose) overwhelmed her with their left hand gifts, to wit, their shields, and not their rings and bracelets which she hoped: to the end to leave an example to the posterity, how no promise nor oath ought to be of force to traitors to keep them from punishment.  
Neither did those noble young men of Rome, 
Tit. Liu.  amongst whom were the consul Brutus sons, come to any better issue, when they conspired to receive king Tarqvinius into the city by night, who by the virtue and valour of their father was worthily expulsed: for their secret and wicked counsel being bewrayed to the Consuls junius and Pub. Valerius, by Vindicio a bondslave, they were apprehended, having letters about them written to Tarqvinius to the same effect: and being condemned, were first shamefully scourged with rods, and after executed to death.  

Thucyd. lib. 1.  Pausanius king of Sparta, having conspited with the Persians against his own country, and as it were, offered violence to his own bowels, fled into the sanctuary of Pallas for relief, 
Aelian. lib. 9  when he saw the Ephori to go about to call him in question for his treason. Now whereas it was religion to take him from thence by violence, they agreed to shut him up there continually, and so to pine him to death. Which when his mother understood, she was the first person that brought a stone to stop up the doors to hinder him from getting forth, and therein showed a notable example of godly cruelty to her child, and cruel piety to her country: approving that saying of Aristippus, who being demanded why he neglected his son being borne of his body? answered, Do we not cast from us lice and phlegm which are also bred of our bodies? insinuating, that they which have nothing to commend them to their parents, but generation, are not to be esteemed as children; much less they that degenerate.  
When Brennus captain of the Gauls, brother to Belinus and son to Molnutius king of Britain, besieged Ephesus, a devilish woman enticed with the jewels which Brennus wore about him, betrayed the city into his hands. But Brennus' detesting this abominable covetousness, when he entered the city so loaded her with gold, that he covered and oppressed her therewith.  
In like manner, Heradamon delivered up to the Emperor Aurelian his own native city Tiana, in hope to save his own life by betraying his country. But it fell out quite contrary to his expectation, for though Caesar had sworn not to leave a dog alive within the walls, because they shut their gates against him; and also his soldiers were instant and urgent upon his promise: 
Eras. in Apoph. lib. 6.  yet he spared the city and destroyed the traitor, and quit himself of his promise by hanging up every dog in the city contrary to his own intent, and his army's expectation; yet agreeable to his words, & most correspondent to equity and true fortitude.  
In the year of our Lord 1270, the bishop of Colonea practising to spoil the city of her privileges, and reduce it under his own jurisdiction: Hermanus Grinu consul and chief magistrate, withstood his power and authority with all his force, so that he could not bring his purpose about. Wherefore two Canons belonging to the Bishop, sought to undermine this their enemy by policy, and to take him out of the way: for which end they invited him in very kind manner to dinner, but when he was come, they brought him into a young lions den (which they kept in honour of the bishop) and unawares shut the doors upon him, bidding him shift for himself, thinking that it was impossible for him to scape out alive. But the Consul perceiving in what great danger he was, wrapped his cloak about his left arm, and thrusting it into the mouth of the hungry lion, killed him with his right hand, and so by the wonderful providence of God, escaped without hurt. But the two traitorous Canons he caught right soon, and hung them at their cathedral Church gate, to their own confusion and terror of all traitors.  
It was a noble saying and worthy the marking, of Augustus Caesar to Rhaemitalches king of Thracia, who having forsaken Anthony to take part with Augustus, boasted very insolently of his deserts towards him: then Caesar dissembling his folly, drank to another king, and said, I love treason, but I can not commend nor trust a traitor. The same also in effect, Philip of Macedony and julius Caesar were wont to say, That they loved a traitor at the first, but when he had finished his treason, they hated him more than any other: signifying, that traitors deserved no retribution of thanks, seeing their office was accepted for a time, yet they themselves could never be counted less than naughty and disloyal persons: for no honest man ever betrayed his country or his friend: and what greater punishment can there be than this? But for manifest proof hereof, let this one example serve in stead of many, namely of Theodoricke king of Francia, and Irminfride king of Thuringia, 
Albert. Crantz.  who being professed foes, and having fought many cruel battles, at length the latter was conquered of the former, by the lucky assistance of the Saxons. This Irminfride thus subdued, sued for pardon and release at the conquerors hand, but he was so far from pitying his estate, that he corrupted one Iringus a noble man, and Irminfrides' subject, to murder his master, which he performed kneeling before Theodoricke, running him through with his sword at his back: which traitorous deed, assoon as it was finished, Theodoricke though the setter of it, yet he could not abide the actor, but bade him be packing, for who could put trust in him that had betrayed his own master. At which words Iringus (mad with anger and rage) ran at Theodoricke also with purpose to have slain him too; but his hand missing the mark, returned his sword into his own bowels, so that he fell down dead upon his master's carcase. What more notable and wonderful judgement could happen? surely it is an example worthy to be written in golden letters, & to be read and remembered of every one, to teach men allegiance and obedience to their princes and superiors, lest more sudden destruction than this fall upon them.  

Tit. Livius.  After the death of jeronimus king of Siracusa, Andronodorus and Themistius provoked by their wives descending of the blood royal, affected an usurpation of the crown, and wrought much hurt to the common wealth: but their practices being discovered, the praetors (by the consent of the Seniors) slew them both in the market place, as rotten members of their common body, and therefore fit to be cut off. And when they understood how their wives Damarata and Harmonia were breeders and incensers of this mischief, they sent to kill them also: yea and Heraclia, Harmonia her sister, guiltless and witless of the crime (for no other cause, but because she was sister unto her) was plucked from the altar, and slain in the tumult with two of her daughters that were virgins. And thus is treason plagued not only in traitors themselves, but also in those that are linked unto them in friendship and affinity.  
The glory and reputation of Fabritius, the Roman is eternised by that noble act of his, 
Cic. office lib. 9  in sending bound to Pyrrhus a traitor that offered to poison him. For albeit that Pyrrhus was a sworn enemy to the Roman Empire, and also made war upon it, yet would not Fabritius treacherously seek his destruction, but sent back the traitor unto him to be punished at his discretion.  
What notable treasons did Hadrian the fourth, Pope of Rome, practise against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, yet all was still frustrate; for the Lord protected the Emperor, and punished the traitor with a sudden and strange death; for he was choked with a fly which went down his throat, and stopped his breath, and could by no means be pulled out till it made an end of him. Besides, many others that went abour the same practice, were brought to notable destructions: as that counterfeit fool whom the Italians set on to murder Frederick in his chamber, which had been performed, had he not leapt out of a window into a river, and so saved his life: for the fool being taken, was thrown headlong out of the same window, and broke his neck. As also an Arabian doctor, a grand poisoner, who going about to infect with poison his bridle, his saddle, his spurs, and stirrups, that assoon as he should but touch them, he might be poisoned, was discovered and hanged for his labour.  
In the year of our Lord 1364, 
Albert. Crantz.  when as the Emperor Charles the 4, and Philip duke of Austria, were ready to join battle in the field, Charles distrusting his own power, undermined his foe by subtlety on this fashion: he sent for three of duke Philip's captains privily, & persuaded them with promises of rewards to work some means to terrify the duke & dissuade him from that battle, which they performed with all diligence: for they told the duke that they had stolen into the Emperor's tents by night, & viewed his power, which they found to exceed his by three parts, and therefore counseled him not to try the hazard of the battle, but to save his soldiers lives by flight, which if they tarried, they were sure to lose. Wherewithal the Duke mistrusting no fraud sore affrighted, took the next occasion of flight, & returned home with dishonour. Now when these three traitors came to the Emperor for their compacted rewards, he caused them to be paid in counterfeit money, not equivaling the sum of their bargain by the twentieth part, which though at first they discerned not, yet afterwards finding how they were cozened, they returned to require their due, and complain of their wrong. But the Emperor looking sternly upon them, answered, That counterfeit money was good enough for their counterfeit service, and that if they tarried long, they should have a due reward of their treason.   

CHAP. III. More examples of the same subject.  
WHen Manuel the Emperor of Constantinople lay about Antioch with an army prepared against the Turk, 
Otto Frisingensis de rebus Freder. prin. lib. 1. cap. 47.  one of his chiefest officers, namely his Chancellor, put in practise this notable piece of treason against him: he waged three desperate young men with an infinite sum of money to kill him on a day appointed, and then with a band of soldiers determined to possess himself of the crown, and of the city, and to slay all that any way crossed his purpose. But the treason being discovered secretly to the Empress, she acquainted her lord with it, who took the three traitors and put them all to cruel deaths: and as for the Chancellor, he first bored out his eyes, and plucking his tongue through his throat, tormented him to death with a rigorous and most miserable punishment.  
When the Turk besieged Alba Graca certain soldiers conspired to betray the city into his hands, 
Bonfi●●us. lib 3. Decad. 5.  for he had promised them large rewards so to do, howbeit it succeeded not with them, for they were detected and apprehended by Paulus Kynisius governor of Hungary, who constrained them to eat one another's flesh, seething every day one to feed the other withal, but he that was last was feign to devour his own body.  
Scr bonianus a Captain of the Romans in Dalmatia, rebelled against the Emperor Claudius, 
Lanquet. chron.  and named himself Emperor in the arm; but his rebellion was miraculously punished, for though the whole army favoured him very much: yet they could not by any means spread their banners, or remove their standards out of their places as long as he was called by the name of Emperor, with which miracle being moved they turned their loves into hatred, and their liking into loathing, so that whom lately they saluted as Emperor, him now they murdered as a traitor.  
To rehearse all the English traitors that have conspired against their kings from the conquest unto this day, 
Lanquet.  it is a thing unnecessary, and almost impossible. Howbeit that their destructions may appear more evidently, and the cutses of God upon traitors be made more manifest, I will briefly reckon up a catalogue of the chiefest of them. In the year 1275 Lewline Prince of Wales rebelled against King Edward the first, and after much ado, was taken by Sir Roger Mortimer, and his head set upon the tower of London. In like sort was David Lewlines brother served. Rises & Madok escaped no better measure in stirring the Welshmen up to rebellion. No more did the Scots, who having of their own accord committed the government of their kingdom to king Edward, after the death of Alexander (who broke his neck by a fall from an horse, and left no issue male) and sworn feaulty unto him: yet dispensed with their oath by the Pope's commission, and Frenchmens incitement, and rebelled diverse times against King Edward: for he overcame them sundry times, and made slaughter of their men slaying at one time 32000, and taking diverse of their Nobles prisoners. In like manner they rebelled against King Edward the third, who made three voyages into that land in the space of four years, and at every time overcame and discomfited them, in so much that well near all the nobility of Scotland, with infinite number of the common people were slain. Thus they rebelled in Henry the sixt's time, and also Henry the eights, and diverse other kings reigns, ever when our English forces were busied about foreign wars invading the land on the other side most traitorously. And thus it is to be feared they will ever do, except they degenerate from their old natures: and therefore it ought to be a Caveat to us how we trust them in any extremity, but nevertheless they ever yet were whipped for their treason, as the histories of our English Chronicles do sufficiently record.  

●●nquet.  In the reign of king Henry the fourth there rebelled at one time against him, Sir john Holland D. of Excester, with the Dukes of Aumarle, Surrey, Salisbury, and Gloucester: and at another time Sir Thomas Percy Earl of Worcester, and Henry Percy son to the Earl of Northumberland: at another, Sir Richard Scroop Archbishop of York, and diverse others of the house of the Lord Mowbray: at another time Sir Henry Percy the father, Earl of Northumberland, & the Lord Bardolph. And lastly Rice ap Dee and Owen Glendour two Welshmen: all which were either slain, as Sir Hendry Percy the younger; or beheaded, as the rest of these noble rebels; or starved to death as Owen Glendour was in the mountains of Wales after he had devoured his own flesh.  
In the reign of Henry the fift, Sir Richard Earl of Cambridge, Sir Richard Scroop treasurer of England, and Sir Thomas Grace were beheaded for treason.  
No less was the perfidious and ungrateful treachery of Humphrey Banister an Englishman towards the duke of Buckingham his Lord & master, whom the said duke had tenderly brought up, & exalted to great promotion. For when as the duke being driven into extremity, by reason of the separation of his army which he had mustered together against king Richard the usurper, fled to the same Banister as his trustiest friend to be kept in secret until he could find opportunity to escape. This false traitor upon hope of a thousand pounds which was promised to him that could bring forth the duke, betrayed him into the hands of john Mitton sheriefe of Shropshire, who conveyed him to the city of Salisbury, where king Richard kept his household: where he was soon after put to death. But as for ungrateful Banister, the vengeance of God pursued him to his utter ignominy: for presently after, his eldest son became mad & died in a bores sty: his eldest daughter was suddenly stricken with a foul lepry: his second son marvelously deformed of his limbs, and lame: his youngest son drowned in a puddle: And he himself in his old age arraigned and found guilty of a murder, and by his clergy saved. And as for his thousand pounds, king Richard gave him not a farthing: saying that he which would be untrue to so good a master, must needs be false to all other.  
To pass over the time of the residue of the kings, wherein many examples of treasons & punishments upon them are extant, & to come nearer unto our own age, let us consider the wonderful providence of God in discovering the notorious treasons which have been pretended so often & so many against our sovereign now living Queen Elizabeth, & protecting her so fatherly from the dint of them all. First therefore to begin with the chiefest, the Earl of Northumberland & Westmoreland in the eleventh year of her reign began a rebellion in the North, pretending their purpose to be sometimes to defend the Queen's person & government from the invasion of strangers, and sometimes for conscience sake to seek reformation of religion: under colour whereof they got together an army of men to the number of six thousand soldiers: against whom marched the Earl of Sussex lieutenant of the North, and the Earl of Warwick sent by the Queen to his aid: whose approach struck such a terror into their hearts, that the two Earls with diverse of the Archrebels fled by night into Scotland, leaving the rest of their company a prey unto their enemies, whereof threescore and six or thereabout, were hanged at Durham. As for the Earls, one of them (to wit) of Northumberland, was after taken in Scotland and beheaded at York. Westmoreland fled into another country, and left his house and family destroyed and undone by his folly.  
A while after this what befell to john Throgmorton, Thomas Brooke, George Redman, and diverse other Gentlemen at Norwich, who pretended a rebellion under the colour of suppressing strangers, were they not discovered by one of their own conspiracy Thomas Ket, and executed at Norwich for their pains? The same end came Francis Throgmorton to, whose treacheries as they were abominable, & touching the Queens own person, so they were disclosed not without the especial providence of God.  
But above all that vile and ungrateful Traitor William Parry upon whom the Queen had poured plentifully her liberality, deserveth to be had in everlasting remembrance to his shame: whose Treasons being discovered he paid the tribute of his life in recompense thereof. What shall I say of the Earl of Arundel, and a second Earl of Northumberland? Did not the justice of God appear in both their ends, when being attainted for Treason, the one slew himself in prison, and the other died by course of nature in prison also? Notorious was the conspiracy of those Arch-traitors. Ballard, Babington, Savage, and Tylney, etc. yet the Lord brought them down, and made them spectacles to the world, of his justice. Even so that notorious villain doctor Lopus (the Queen's Physician) who a long time had not only been an intelligencer to the Pope and King of Spain, of our English counsels, but also had poisoned many Noblemen, and went about also to poison the Queen herself, was he not surprised in his treachery and brought to sudden destruction? In sum the Lord hath preserved her majesty not only from these but many other secret and privy foes, and that most miraculously and contrary to all reason, and hath spread his wings over her to defend her from all her enemies: the consideration whereof as it ought to stir up in every one a thankful heart to acknowledge his mercies, and a fearful care not to displease him that is so gracious unto us: so it ought also to incite every one of us to pray incessantly for her further preservation, as being the soul of our souls, and life of our lives: for surely if the Lord deprive us of her life, our sins are the cause, and our smart will be the effect thereof.  
Moreover there is yet another kind of treason, and another rank of traitors as pernicious as any of the former, and as odious before God and man. Such are they which either upon private quarrels, or received injuries, or hope of gain, or any other silly respect, forsake their countries, & take part with the enemies to fight against it: or they that in time of necessity refuse to fight or dare not fight in defence of it: the former sort are called fugitives, and the latter cowards. As touching the first they have been always in detestation in well governed policies, and also evermore severely punished. The Aeginates punished them with the loss of their right hand thumbs, to the end they might no more handle a spear or a sword but an oar. The Mitylenians with loss of their lives. The inhabitants of Samos marked them in the face with the picture of an owl: and the Romans punished them after diverse fashions: Fabius Maximus caused all those that had fled from the Roman succours to the enemy to lose their hands. Africanus the former, though gentle & mild by nature, yet in this respect he borrowed from foreign cruelty, for having conquered Carthage & got into his power all those Roman rebels that took part against his country, he hung the Romans as traitors to their country; 
Valerius maximus.  and mitigated the punishment of the Latins, as but perfidious confederates. Africanus the latter when he had subdued the Punic Nation he threw all fugitives amongst wild beasts to be devoured.  
Lucius Paulus after the conquest of the king of Persia, committed these fellows to the mercy of elephants. Generally there is no Nation under the sun which holdeth them not in execration; and therefore our English fugitives, who under cloak of religion not only abandon their country, their kindred and their Prince, but also conspire the undoing & swear the destruction of them: are they not worthy to be handled like traitors and to have their quarters spectacles of perfidy? The bridge and gates of London bear witness of the woeful ends that these jesuits come unto.  
As touching cowards (I mean such as preferring their lives or liberty or any other by-respects before their country's welfare, & either dare not or will not stand stoutly in defence of it in time of war and danger) they deserve no less punishment than the former, seeing that as they are open oppugners, so these are close underminers of the good thereof. And therefore the Romans did sharply chasten them in their government, as may appear by diverse examples of the same: as first they were noted with this ignominy, never to eat their meat but standing; & hereunto they were sworn: Nay they were in such hateful account amongst them, 
Alex. ab Alex.  that when Hannibal offered the Senate 8000 captives to be redeemed, they refused his offer, saying that they were not worthy to be redeemed, that had rather be taken basely then die honestly & valiantly: the same Senate dealt more favourably with the captives which king Pyrrhus took, for they redeemed them but with this disgrace, degrading them from their honours and places, until by a double spoil they had won their reputation again. L. Calpurnius Piso handled Titius the captain of his horsemen in Sicilia (one who being overcharged with enemies delivered his weapons unto them) on this manner, 
Valerius Max. lib. 2. cap. 2.  he caused him to go barefooted before the army wearing a garment without seams, he forbade him society with any save such as were noted with the same fault, and from a General over horsemen, he debased him to a common soldier. How did the same Senate correct the cowardice of Caius Vatienus (who to the end to privilege himself from the Italic war, cut off all the fingers of his left hand) even they proscribed his goods, and cast him into perpetual prison, that that life which he refused to hazard in defence of his country, he might consume in bondage and fetters.  
Fulgosius saith, 
Lib. 2. cap. ●.  that among the Germans it was so unhonourable a part to lose but a shield in the war, that whosoever had happened to do so, was suspended both from the place of common council, and from the temples of religion: insomuch that many (as he reporteth) killed themselves to avoid the shame. The people called Daci punished cowards on this sort, they suffered them not to sleep but with their heads to the beds feetward, & beside by the law they made them slaves and subjects to their own wives: what viler disgrace could there be then this? 
Plu. Agefilaus  And yet the Lacedæmonians plagued them more shamefully, for with them it was a discredit to marry in the stock of a coward, any man might strike them lawfully: and in their attire they went with their clothes rend, and their beards half shaven. Thus are all kind of traitors continually punished of the Lord by one means or other, and therefore let us learn to shun treason as the vilest and the detestablest thing in the world.   

CHAP. FOUR Of such as have murdered their rulers or Princes.  
ZImri captain of half the chariots of Elah King of Israel, conspired against his Lord, 
All this whole chapter in regard of murder belongeth to the sixth commandment. 1. K●ng 16.  as he was in Tirza drinking till he was drunk in the house of Arza his steward, and came upon him suddenly and smote him till he died, and possessed the kingdom in his room. Howbeit herein he was the Lord's rod to punish the house of Baasha, yet when the punishment was past, the Lord threw the rod into the fire; for he enjoyed the crown but seven days: For all Israel detesting his fact made Omri king over them, who besieged him in Tirza, and drove him inro that extremity that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burned himself and the house with fire.  

2. Kin. 12.21.  jozachar the son of Shimeah, and jehozabod the son of Shomer came to no better end for murdering jehoash King of juda: for Amaziah his son after the kingdom was confirmed unto him, caused them both to be put to death. But their children he slew not, 
2. King. 14.5.  according to that which is written in the book of the law, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers, but every man shall bear his own sin.  

2. King. 15.  Neither did Shallum that slew Zacharia king of Israel, prosper any better, for he reigned but one month in Samaria, when Menahim the son of Gadi rebelled against him, and slew him as he had done his master.  
Amon the son of Manasseh was slain by his own servants, but the Lord stirred up the people of the land to revenge his death, & to kill all them that had conspired against their king.  
But to let pass the holy histories of the sacred scripture, wherein ever after any treason, the Holy-ghost presently setteth down the punishment of traitors, as it were of purpose to signify how the Lord hateth all such rebels that rose up against his own ordinance. Let us consider a little the consequents of these in profane yet credible authors, and apply them unto our purpose.  

I●lian. lib. 1.  Archelaus King of Macedonia had a minion called Cratenas, whom he loved most entirely, but he again required him not with love, but with hatred, and stretched all his wits to install himself in his kingdom, by deposing and murdering him: which though he accomplished, yet his deserts were cut short by the vengeance of God: for he continued not many days in his royalty, but he was served with the same sauce, that he had made Archelaus before him to taste of: even betrayed and murdered as he well deserved.  
Ludovicus Sfortia to the end to invest himself with the dukedom of Milan, spared not to shed the innocent blood of his two nephews; the sons of Galeachus, together with their tutors, and one Francis Calaber a worthy and excellent man. But the Lord so disposed of his purposes, that he (in stead of obtaining the kingdom) was taken prisoner by the king of France, so that neither he nor any of his offspring enjoyed that which he so much affected.  
When Numerianus was to succeed Carus his father in the Empire, 
Phil. Melanct. chron. lib. 3.  Arrius Axer his father in law to the end to translate the Empire unto himself, entered a conspiracy and slew his son in law, that nothing mistrusted his disloyalty: But the Praetorian army understanding the matter, discharged Arrius and elected Dioclesian in his room, who laying hold upon his competitor, laid an action of treason to his charge, and put him to death in the sight of the multitude.  
Theodericke and Frederick conspired against their own brother Thurismund king of the Visigothes, 
Chron. Sigebert.  to the intent to succeed him in his kingdom: And albeit that nature reclaimed them from the act, yet they slew him without all compassion. But after thirteen years reign the same Theodericke was requited by his other brethren with the same measure that he before met to his brother Thurismund. And so though vengeance slept a while, yet at length it wakened.  
Aelias' Antonius Gordianus, the third Emperor of Rome, 
Phil. Melanct. chron. Aventin. lib. 2.  though so excellent a young prince that he deserved to be called the Love, and jewel of the world, yet was he slain by one promoted by himself to high honour, called Philip Arabs, when he was but two and twenty year old: after whose decease this Philip got himself elected Emperor by the band, & confirmed by the Senat. 
Ingratitude punished.  All which notwithstanding, after five years Decius rebelled, and his own soldiers conspired against him, so that both he at Verona, and his son at Rome, were slain by them about one time.  

A●entin. lib. 2.  After the death of Constantine the Great, his three sons dividing the Empire betwixt them, succeeded their father. Constantine the eldest had for his share Spain, France, the Alps, and England. Constance the second, held Italy, Africa, Graecia, and Illiricum. Constantine the younger, was king and Emperor of the East. But ambition suffered them not to enjoy quietly these their possessions: for when the eldest being more proud and seditious th●n the other, not content with his allotted portion, made war upon his brother Constance his provinces, and strove to enter Italy, he was slain in a battle by Aquileia, when he was but five and twenty year old: by which means, all the provinces which were his, fell to Constance, and therewithal such a drowsiness and epicurism for want of a stirrer up after his brother's death, that he fell into the gout, and neglected the government of the Empire. Wherefore in Auspurge and in Rhetia they created a new Emperor, one Magnentius, whose life beforetime Constance had saved from the soldiers, 
Notable ingratitude punished.  and therefore his treachery was the greater. This Magnentius deprived and slew Constance, but was overcome by Constantine the third brother in Illiricum, yet in such sort, that the conqueror could not greatly brag, for he lost an infinite company of his men, and yet miss of his chief purpose, the taking of Magnentius, for he escaped to Lions, and there massacring all that he mistrusted, at last growing (I suppose) in suspicion with his own heart, slew himself also. And so his traitorous, ingrateful, and ambitious murder was revenged with his own hands.  

Ritius. lib. 1. regib. Hispan.  Victericus betrayed Luyba king of Spain, and succeeded in his place; seven years after, another traitor slew him, & succeeded also in his place. Mauritius the Emperor was murdered by Phocas together with his wife & five of his children, he seating himself Emperor in his Rome: Howbeit traitors and murderers can never come to happy ends; for as he had slain Mauritius, so Priscus, Heraclianus, and Phorius, three of his chiefest captains, conspiring against him, with three several armies gave him such an alarm at once at his own doors, that they soon quailed his courage; and after much mangling of his body, cut him shorter by the head and the kingdom at one blow.  
In the time of Edward the second and Edward the third in England, 
Lanquet.  one Sir Roger Mortimer committed many villainous outrages in shedding much blood, and at last king Edward himself lying at Barkley castle; to the end that he might (as it was supposed) enjoy Isabella his wife, with whom he had very suspicious familiarity. After this, he unjustly accused Edmond Earl of Kent of treason, and caused him to be put to death therefore: and lastly, he conspired against king Edward the third, as it was suspected, for which cause he was worthily and deservedly beheaded.  
Among this rank of murderers of kings we may fitly place also Richard the third usurper of the crown of England, 
Stow.  and divers others which he used as instruments to bring his detestable purpose to effect: as namely, Sir james Tirrell knight, a man for nature's gifts worthy to have served a much better prince than this Richard, if he had well served God, and been endued with as much truth & honesty as he had strength & wit: also Miles Forest, & john Dighton, two villains fleshed in murders: but to come to the fact. It was on this sort: When Richard the usurper had enjoined Robert Brackenbury to this piece of service of murdering the yo ●g king Edward the fift his nephew in the tower, with his brother the duke of York, and saw it refused by him, he committed the charge of the murder to Sir james Tirrel, who hasting to the tower by the king's commission received the keys into his own hands, and by the help of those two butchers, Dighton & Forest, smothered the two princes in their bed, & buried them at the stairs feet: which being done, Sir james node back to king Richard, who gave him great thanks, & as some say, made him knight for his labour. All which things on every part well pondered, it appeareth that God never gave the world a notabler example, both of the unconstancy of worldly weal, and also of the wretched end which ensueth such despiteful cruelty: for first to begin with the ministers, Miles Forest rotten away piecemeal at S. Martin's: Sir james Tirrell died at the tower hill beheaded for treason: king Richard himself (as it is declared elsewhere) was slain in the field, hacked and hewed of his enemies, carried on horseback dead, his hair in despite torn and tugged like a dog: besides the inward torments of his guilty conscience were more than all the rest, for it is most certainly reported, that after this abominable deed done, he never had quiet in his mind: when he went abroad, his eye whirled about, his body was privily fenced, his hand ever upon his dagger, his countenance and manner like one always ready to strike, his sleep short and unquiet, full of fearful dreams, insomuch that he would often suddenly start up and leap out of his bed, and run about the chamber: his restless conscience was so continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression of that abominable murder.   

CHAP. V Of such as rebelled against their superiors, because of subsidies and taxes imposed upon them.  
AS it is not lawful for children ro rebel against their parents, though they be cruel and unnatural, so also it is as unlawful for subjects to withstand their princes and governors, though they be somewhat grievous and burdensome unto them: which we affirm, not to the end that it should be licenced to them to exercise all manner of rigour and unmeasurable oppression upon their subjects (as shall be declared in the 35 chapter of this book more at large) but we entreat only here of their duties which are in subjection to the power of other men, whose authority they ought in no wise to resist, unless they oppose themselves against the ordinance of God. Therefore this position is true by the word of God, that no subject aught by force to shake off the yoke of subjection and obedience due unto his prince, or exempt himself from any tax or contribution which by public authority is imposed: Give (saith the Apostle) tribute to whom tribute belongeth, custom to whom custom pertaineth, fear to whom fear is due, and honour to whom honour is owing. And generally in all actions wherein the commodities of this life (though with some oppression and grievance) and not the religion and service of God, nor the conscience about the same is called into question, we ought with all patience to endure whatsoever burden or charge is laid upon us, without moving any troubles or showing any discontentments for the same: for they that have otherwise behaved themselves, these examples following will show how well they have been apaid for their misdemeanours.  
In the year of our Lord 1304, 
Nich. Gil. vol. 1.  after that Guy Earl of Flaunders having rebelled against Philip the Fair his sovereign, was by strength of arms reduced into subjection, and constrained to deliver himself and his two sons prisoners into his hands: the Flemings made an insurrection against the king's part, because of a certain tax which he had set upon their ships that arrived at certain havens: and upon this occasion, great war, divers battles, and sundry overthrows on each side grew, but so, that at last the king remained conqueror; and the Flemings (for a reward of their rebellion) lost in the last battle six and thirty thousand men that were slain, beside a great number that were taken prisoners.  
Two years after this Flemish stir, 
The same author.  there arose a great commotion and hurlyburly of the rascal and basest sort of people at Paris, because of the alteration of their coins: who being not satisfied with the pillage and spoilage of their houses, whom they supposed to be either causes of the said alteration, or by counsel or other means any furtherers thereunto, came in great troops before the king's palace at his lodging in the temple with such an hideous noise and outrage, that all that day after, neither the king nor any of his officers durst once stir over the threshold: nay they grew to that overflow of pride and insolency, that the victuals which were provided for the king's diet, and carried to him, were by them shamefully throwed under feet in the dirt, & trampled upon in despite and disdain. But three or four days after this tumult was appeased, many of them for their pains were hanged before their own doors, and in the city gates, to the number of eight and twenty persons.  
In the reign of Charles the sixth, the Parisians (by reason of a certain tax which he minded to lay upon them) banded themselves and conspired together against him: they determined once (saith Froissard) to have beaten down Louvre and Saint Vincents castle, 
Vol. 2. cap. 120.  & all the houses of defence about Paris, that they might not be offensive to them. But the king (though young in years) handled them so ripely and handsomely, 
Cap. 129.  that having taken away from them their armour, the city gates and chains of the streets, & locked up their weapons in S. Vincents castle; he dealt with them as pleased him. 
Cap. 130.  And thus their pride being quashed, many of them were executed and put to death. As also for the like rebellion were at Troy's, 
Nic. Gil. vol. 2.  Orlean, Chalon, Sens, and Rheims.  
About the same time the Flandrians, and especially the inhabitants of Gaunt wrought much trouble against Lewis the Earl of Flanders, 
Froiss. vol. 2. cap. 97.  for divers taxes and tributes which he had laid upon them, which they in no respect would yield unto. The matter came to be decided by blows, & much blood was shed, & many losses endured on both sides, as a means appointed of God to chastise as well the one as the other. The Gaunts being no more in number then five or six thousand men, 
Cap. 98.  overthrew the Earls army, consisting of forty thousand, and in pursuit of their victory took Bruges, whither the Earl was gone for safety; & lying in a poor woman's house, was constrained (in the habit of a beggar) to fly the city. And thus he fared till king Charles the sixth sent an army of men to his succour, 
Cap. 125, 126.  (for he was his subject) by whose support he overcame those rebels in a battle fought at Rose Be●, to the number of forty thousand: & the body of their chieftain Philip Arteuill slain in the throng he caused to be hanged on a tree. 
Nic. Gil. vol. 2.  And this was the end of that cruel Tragedy, the country being brought again into the obedience of their old Lord.  
A while before this, 
Froiss. vol. r. cap. 182.  whilst king john was held prisoner in England, there arose a great commotion of the common people in France against the nobility and gentility of the realm, that oppressed them: this tumult began but with an hundred men that were gathered together in the country of Beauvoisin, but that small handful grew right quickly to an armful, even to nine thousand, that ranged and rob throughout all Brie, along by the river Marne to Laonoise, and all about Soissons, armed with great bats shod with iron: an headless crew without governor, fully purposing to bring to ruin the whole nobility. In this disorder they wrought much mischief, broke up many houses and castles, murdered many Lords; so that diverse Ladies and knights, as the duchesses of Normandy, Orleans, were feign to flee for safeguard to Meaux: whither when these rebels would needs pursue them, they were there overthrown, killed and hanged by troops.  
In the year of our Lord 1525, 
Sleid. lib. 4.  there were certain husbandmen of Sovabey that began to stand in resistance against the Earl of Lupsfen, by reason of certain burdens which they complained themselves to be overlaid with by them: their neighbours seeing this, enterprised the like against their lords: And so upon this small beginning (by a certain contagion) there grew up a most dangerous and fearful commotion, that spread itself almost over all Almain: the sedition thus increasing in all quarters, and the swains being now full forty thousand strong, making their own liberty and the Gospels a cloak to cover their treason and rebellion, and a pretence of their undertaking arms (to the wonderful grief of all that feared God) did not only fight with the Roman Catholics, but with all other without respect, as well in Souabe as in Franconia: they destroyed the greater part of the nobility, sacked and burnt many castles and fortresses, to the number of two hundred, and put to death the Earl of Helfestin, making him pass through their pikes. But at length their strength was broken, they discomfited and torn in pieces with a most horrible massacre of more than eighteen thousand of them. During this sedition, there were slain on each side fifty thousand men. The captain of the Sovabian swains called Geismer having betaken himself to flight, got over the mountains to Padua, where by treason he was made away.  
In the year of our Lord 1517, in the marquisdom of the Vandals, the like insurrection and rebellion was of the commonalty; especially the base sort against the nobility, spiritual and temporal, by whom they were oppressed with intolerable exactions: their army was numbered to stand of ninety thousand men all clowns and husbandmen, that conspired together to redress and reform their own grievances, without any respect of civil magistrate, or fear of Almighty God. This rascality of swains raged and tyranized every where, burning and beating down the castles and houses of noble men, and making their ruins even with the ground: Nay they handled the noble men themselves as many as they could attain unto, not contumeliously only, but rigorously and cruelly; for they tormented them to death, and carried their heads upon spears in token of victory. Thus they swayed a while uncontrolled, for the Emperor Maximilian winked at their riots, as being acquainted with what injuries they had been overcharged: but when he perceived that the rude multitude did not limit their fury within reason, but let it run too lavish to the damnifying as well the innocent as the guilty, he made out a certain small troop of mercenary soldiers together with a band of horsemen to suppress them, who coming to a city were presently so environed with such a multitude of these swains that like locusts overspread the earth, that they thought it impossible to escape with their lives; wherefore fear and extremity made them to rush out to battle with them. But see how the Lord prospereth a good cause, for all their weak number in comparison of their enemies, yet such a fear possessed their enemy's hearts, that they fled like troops of sheep, and were slain like dogs before them: insomuch that they that escaped the sword, were either hanged by flocks on trees, or roasted on spits by fires, or otherwise tormented to death. And this end befell that wicked rebellious rout, which wrought such mischief in that country with their monstrous villainies, that the traces and steps thereof remain at this day to be seen.  
In the year of our Lord 1381, 
Stow Chron.  Richard the second being king, the commons of England (and especially of Kent and Essex) by means of a tax that was set upon them, suddenly rebelled and assembled together on Blackheath, to the number of 60000 or more: which rebellious rout, had none but base and ignoble fellows for their captains, as What Tilour, jacke Straw, Tom Miller, but yet they caused much trouble and disquietness in the realm, and chief about the city of London, where they committed much villainy in destroying many goodly places; as the Savoy, and others: and being in Smithfield used themselves very proudly and unreverently towards the king: but by the manhood and wisdom of William Walworth Mayor of London, (who arrested their chief captain in the midst of them) that rude company was discomfited, and the ringleaders of them worthily punished.  
In like manner in the reign of Henry the seventh, 
Stow Chron.  a great commotion was stirred up in England by the commons of the North, by reason of a certain tax which was levied of the tenth penny of all men's lands & good within the land; in the which, the Earl of Northumberland was slain: But their rash attempt was soon broken, and Chamberlain their captain with divers others hanged at York for the same. Howbeit their example scared not the Cornish men from rebelling upon the like occasion of a tax, under the conduct of the lord Audley; until by woeful experience they felt the same scourge: for the king met them upon black heath, and discomfiting their troops, took their captains and ringleaders, and put them to most worthy and sharp death.  
Thus we may see the unhappy issue of all such seditious revoltings, and thereby gather how unpleasant they are in the sight of God. Let all people therefore learn by these experiences to submit themselves in the fear of God to the higher powers, whether they be lords, kings, princes, or any other that are set over them.   

CHAP. VI Of Murderers.  
AS touching Murder, which is (by the second commandment of the second table) forbidden in these words, 
Exod. 21.  Thou shalt not kill: the Lord denounceth this judgement upon it, that he which striketh a man that he dieth, shall die the death. And this is correspondent to that edict which he gave to Noah presently after the universal flood, to suppress that general cruelty which had taken root from the beginning in Cain and his posterity, being careful for man's life, 
Gen. 9  saying, That he will require the blood of man, at the hands of either man or beast that killeth him: adding moreover, That whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man also his blood shall be shed, seeing that God created him after his own image: which he would not have to be basely accounted of, but dear and precious unto us. 
Exod. 21.  If then the bruit and unreasonable creatures are not exempted from the sentence of death pronounced in the law, if they chance to kill a man: How much more punishable than is man, endued with will & reason, when maliciously and advisedly he taketh away the life of his neighbour? But the heinousness & greatness of this sin is most lively expressed by that ordinance of God set down in the 21 of Deuteronomie, where it is enjoined, That if a man be found slain in the field, 
Deut. 21.  and it be not known who it was that slew him, than the Elders and judges of the next town assembling together, should offer up an expiatory sacrifice by the hands of the priests, to demand pardon for that cruel murder, that the guilt of innocent blood might not be imputed unto them. And if by oversight or negligence without any malice, hatred, or pretence, one killed another, yet was he not exempted from all punishment, 
Num. 35.  but suffered to fly to the city of refuge to be kept, and as it were, enclosed until his innocency were made manifest, or at the least until the death of the high priest. From this (it may seem) arose the custom of Painyms in the like case, which was, that if a man unwillingly had committed murder, he did presently avoid the country, and go unto some man of power and authority of a strange nation, and present himself at his gate, sitting with his face covered humbly, entreating pardon and reconciliation for his murder: and for one whole year he might not return into his own counrrey. On this manner was the son of a certain king of Phrygia entertained in king Croesus' court, 
Herod. lib. 1.  who unadvisedly had slain his own brother. Whereby it is manifest, how odious and execrable in all ages, and all places, and all people, this homicide and murder hath been: insomuch that men did shun their very meeting and company, and abandon them out of their temples and public assemblies, as people excommunicate and profane. And yet for all this, mankind (for the most part) like savagde beasts hath by the instigation of that wicked spirit, (who was a murderer from the beginning) been too too addicted to this kind of cruelty, not being afraid to offer violence to nature, and shed innocent blood. Such was the frantic & perverse cruelty of the second man Cain, 
Gen. 4.  when without any occasion, but only through envy he slew his only brother Abel, and that traitorously: which deed, albeit it was done in secret and without the view of men, yet it could not shun the piercing eye of God, who reproved him for it, saying, That the blood of Abel cried for vengeance from the earth. And although this cursed and wicked murderer received not immediately a condign punishment answerable to his crime, (God to the end to spare man's blood, using undeserved favour towards him) yet escaped he not scotfree, for he was pursued with a continual torment and sting of conscience, together with such an incessant fear, that he became a vagabond and a runagate upon the earth: and seeing himself brought into so miserable an estate, he fell to complaining that the punishment was greater than he was able to bear. Thus God permitted this wretch to draw out his life in such anguish, that for a greater punishment he might pine away the rest of his days without comfort. A man may find in this world many such brother-murdering cain's, who for no occasion stick not to cut their throats, whom (for the bond of common nature wherein all men are linked together as branches of one root) they ought to acknowledge for their brethren & friends: upon whom, the heavy hand of God hath not been more slack to punish either by one means or other, than it was upon their eldest brother Cain. But seeing the number of them is so great, and it is not so convenienr to heap up here so huge a multitude together, it shall suffice only to recount the most famous and notablest of them, as of those that have been men of note and reputation in the world, or that through an ambitious desire of reigning, have by arms sought to achieve their purposes: for these for the most part are the greatest murderers and butchers of all, that through their wicked affections, worldly pomp, or desire of revenge, have no remorse of making the blood of men run like rivers upon the earth, making no more account of the life of a man, then of a fly or a worm.  

judg. 9  Such an one was Abimelech, one of the sons of Gedeon, who to the end to usurp the regiment of the people, (which his father before him refused) got together a rout of rascal & vile fellows, by whose aid coming to his father's house, he slew seventy of his brethren, even all except joathan the youngest that stole away and hid himself. After which massacre, he reigned in jollity three years, and at the end thereof was cut short by God, together with the Sichemites his provokers and maintainers, who were also guilty of all the innocent blood which he had shed: for God sent the spirit of division betwixt them, so that the Sichemites began to despise him, and rebel against him; but they had the worst end of the staff, and were overcome by him: who pursuing the victory, took their city by force, and put them all to the edge of the sword. And after he had thus destroyed their city, put fire also to the castle, wherein he consumed near about a thousand persons of men and women, that were retired thither to save their lives. And thus God brought upon them the mischief which they had consented and put their hands unto: For as they had lent him aid and furtherance to the shedding of his brethren's blood, so was their own blood with their wives and children's shed by him: yet this tyrant not content therewith, made war also with the inhabitants of Tebez, and took their city, and would have forced the tower also wherein the citizens had enclosed themselves, but as he approached to the wall, a woman threw down a piece of a millstone upon his head, wherewith finding himself hurt to death, he commanded one of his soldiers to kill him outright. And thus this wicked murderer that had shed the blood of many men, yea of his own brethren, had his brains knocked out by a woman, and died a most desperate death.  
The bloody treachery of Baana and Rechab, 
2. Sam. 4.  chief captains of Ishbosheth, saul's son, in conspiring against and murdering their master whilst he slept, abode not long unpunished; for having cut off his head, they presented it for a present to king David, hoping to gratify the king, 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3, & 4.  and to receive some recompense for their pains. But David being of an upright and true kingly heart, could nor endure such vile treachery, though against the person of his enemy; but entertained them as most vile traitors and master murderers, commanding first their hands and feet to be cut off, which they had especially employed as instruments about that villainy, and afterwards caused them to be slain, and then hanged for an example to all others that should attempt the like.  
For the like cause was joab (general of king David's host) for killing Abner traitorously, (who forsaking Ishbosheth, had yielded himself to the king) cursed of David with all his house, 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3.  with a most grievous and terrible curse. And yet notwithstanding a while after he came again to that pass, as to murder Amasa one of David's chief captains, making show to salute and embrace him. 
2. Sam. 20.  For which cruel deed, albeit that in David's time he received no punishment, yet it overtook him at last, and the same kind of cruelty which he had so traitorously and villainously committed towards others, fell upon his own head, being himself also killed as he had killed others; which happened in king salomon's reign, who executing the charge and commandment of his father, put to death this murderer in the tabernacle of God, 
1. King. 2.  and by the altar, whither he was fled as a place privileged for safety.   

CHAP. VII. A suit of Examples like unto the former.  
Leaving the Scripture, we find in other writers notable examples of this subject: 
Herod. lib. 1.  As first of Astyages king of the Medes, who so much swerved from humanity, that he gave in strait charge that young Cyrus his own daughter's son now ready to be borne, should be made away by some sinister practice; to avoid by that means, the danger which by a dream was signified unto him. Notwithstanding the young infant finding friends to preserve him alive, and growing up by means of the peers favour, (to whom his grandfather by his cruel dealings, was become odious) obtained the crown out of his hands, and dispossessing him, seated himself in his room.  
This Cirus was that mighty and awful king of Persia, whom God used as an instrument for the delivery of his people out of the captivity of Babylon, as he foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, who yet (following kind) made cruel war in many places for the space of thirty years: and therefore it was necessary that he should taste some fruits of his insatiable and bloodthirsty desire, as he indeed did: for after many great victories and conquests over divers countries achieved, 
Oros. lib. 2.  going about to assail Scythia also, he and his army together were surprised, overcome, and slain, to the number of two hundred thousand persons: and for his shame received this disgrace at a woman's hand, who triumphing in her victory, threw his head into a sack full of blood, with these terms, Now glut thyself with blood which thou hast thirsted after so long time  
Cambyses, Cyrus' son, was also so bloody and cruel a man, 
Herod. lib. 3.  that one day he shot a noble man's son to the heart with an arrow, for being admonished by his father of his drunkenness, to which he was very much given, which he did in indignation, and to show that he was not yet so drunken but he knew how to draw his bow. He caused his own brother to be murdered privily, for fear he should reign after him; and slew his sister for reproving him for that deed. In his voyage to Aethiopia when his army was brought into so great penury of victuals that they were glad to feed upon horse flesh, he was so cruel and barbarous, that after their horses were spent, he caused them to eat one another: But at his return from Egypt, the Susians his chief citizens welcomed him home with rebellion: and at last as he was riding, it so chanced, that his sword fell out of the scabbard, and himself upon the point of it, so that it pierced him through, and so he died.  
After that Xerxes by his overbold enterprise had disturbed the greatest part of the world, 
Diodor. lib. 11.  passed the sea, & traversed many countries to the end to assail Greece with innumerable forces, he was overcome both by sea & by land, and compelled privily to retire into his country with shame & discredit: where he had not long been, but Artabanus the captain of his guard killed him in his palace by night: who also after that & many other mischiefs committed by him, was himself cruelly murdered.  
The thirty governors which the Lacedæmonians set over the Athenians by compulsion, were such cruel Tyrants, oppressors, and bloodsuckers of the people, that they made away a great part of them, until they were chased away themselves violently: and then being secretly dogged & pursued were all killed one after another.  
Pyrrhus' King of Epire that reigned not long after Alexander the great, was naturally disposed to such a quickness & heat of courage, that he could never be quiet but when he was either doing some mischief to another, or when another was doing some unto him: ever devising some new practice of molestation for pastimes sake. This his wild and dangerous disposition began first to show itself in the death of Neoptolemus who was conjoined King with him, whom having bidden to supper in his lodging under pretence of sacrifice to his gods, he deceitfully slew: preventing by that means Neoptolemus pretended purpose of poisoning him when occasion should serve. After this he conquered Macedonia by arms, and came into Italy to make war with the Romans in the behalf of the Tarentines, and gave them battle in the field, and slew fifteen thousand of them in one day: he took their camp, revoked many cities from their alliance, & spoiled much of their country even to the walls of Rome: and all this in a trice without breathing. Again by Ascoly he encountered them the second time, where there was a great overthrow of each side of fifteen thousand men: But the Romans had the worst & took their heels. When he was entreated by the Sicilian Ambassadors to lend them aid to expulse the Carthaginians out of their isle, he yielded presently and chased them out. Being recalled by the Tarentines into Italy for their succour, he was conquered by the Romans after he had made war upon them six years. At his return to Epire he re-entered by violence Macedonia, took many places, overcame the army of king Antigonus that resisted him, and had all the whole Realm rendered into his hand. Being entreated by Cleominus to make war upon Sparta, to the end to reinstall him in his kingdom which he was deprived of: forthwith he mustered his forces, besieged the city, and spoiled and wasted all the whole country. Afterwards there being a sedition raised in the city Argos between two of the chiefest citizens, one of the which sent unto him for aid, he (what issue soever was like to ensue, whether victory or vanquishment) could not abide in peace from disquieting others and himself, but must needs go to take part in that sedition; but to his cost even to his destruction. For first in his way he found an evill-favoured welcome by an Ambush placed of purpose to interrupt his journey, amongst whom he lost his son: which mishap nothing dismayed him, nor abated any whit of his purpose or courage from pursuing this journey to Argos, though the citizens themselves entreated him to retire, and though he had no business there save only to look over the town: being arrived by night, & finding a gate left open for him to enter by, by the means of him that had sent for him to his aid, he put his soldiers in, and possessed himself of the town incontinently. But the city being aided by Antigonus and the king of Sparta, charged and pressed him so sore, that he sought means to retire out of the same, but could not. At which time being about ro strike a young man of the city that had done him some hurt, his mother being aloft upon the roof of an house, perceiving his intent threw down a tile with both her hands upon his head, and hat him such a knock upon the neck through default of his armour, that it so bruised his joints that he fell into a sudden sound, & lost his sight, his rains falling out of his hand, & he himself tumbling from his saddle upon the ground, which when some of the soldiers perceived they drew him out of the gate, & there to make an end of the tragedy cut off his head.  
The cruelty of the Ephori was marvelous strange, when being unwilling once to hear the equality of lands and possessions to be named, 
Plutarch.  which Agis their king for the good of the Commonwealth (according to the ancient custom and ordinance of Lycurgus) sought to restore: they rose up against him & cast him in prison, and there without any process or form of law strangled him to death with his mother & grandfather. But it cost them very dear: for Cleomenes who was joint king with Agis albeit he had consented to the weaving of that web himself, to the end he might reign alone, yet ceased he not to prosecute revenge upon them, which he did not only by his daily & usual practices openly, but also privily, for taking them once at advantage, being at supper all together, he caused his men to kill them suddenly as they sat: And thus was the good king Agis revenged. But this last murderer which was soullied and polluted with so much blood, he went not long unpunished for his misdeeds: for soon after Antigonus king of Macedonia gave him a great overthrow in a battle, wherein he lost Sparta his chief city, and fled into Egypt for secure: where after small abode, upon an accusation laid against him, he was cast into prison, and though he scaped out with his company by cunning & craft, yet as he walked up & down Alexandria in armour, in hope that through his seditious practices the citizens would take his part, & help to restore him to his liberty; when he perceived it was nothing so, but that every man forsook him, & that there was no hope left of recovery, he commanded his men to kill one another as they did: In which desperate fury and rage he himself was slain, and his body being found was commanded by king Ptolemy to be hanged on a gibbet, and his mother, wives and children that came with him into Egypt to be put to death. And this was the tragical end of Cleomenes king of Sparta.  
Alexander the tyrant of Pheres never ceased to mark & spy out all occasions of war against the people of Thessaly, 
Plutarch.  to the end to bring them generally in subjection under his dominion: he was a most bloody & cruel minded man, having neither regard of reason or justice in any action. In his cruelty he buried some alive, others he clothed in bears & boar's skins & then set dogs at their tails to rend them in pieces, others he used in way of pastime to strike through with darts and arrows. And one day as the inhabitants of a certain city were assembled together in counsel, he caused his guard to enclose them up suddenly & to kill them all even to the very infants. He slew also his own uncle, and crowned the spear wherewith he did that deed with garlands of flowers, and sacrificed unto him being dead as to a god. Now albeit this cruel Tiger was guarded continually with troops of soldiers that kept night & day watch about his body wheresoever he lay, and with a most ugly & terrible dog unacquainted with any saving himself, his wife, and one servant that gave him his meat, tied to his chamber door, yet could he not escape the evil chance, which by his wives means fell upon him: for she taking away the stairs of his chamber, let in three of her own brethren provided to murder him as they did: for finding him asleep, one took him fast by the heels, the other by the hair wring his head behind him, and the third thrust him through with his sword, she all this while giving them light to dispatch their business. The citizens of Pheres when they had drawn his carcase about their streets, & trampled upon it their bellies full, threw it to the dogs to be devoured: so odious was his very remembrance among them.  
jugurth, son to Manastabal brother to Micipsa, 
Sallust.  king of Numidia, by birth a bastard for he was born of a concubine, yet by nature & disposition so valiant & full of courage that he was not only beloved of all men, but also dearly esteemed of by Micipsa, that he adopted him joint heir with his sons Adhorbal & Hiempsal to his crown, kindly admonishing him in way of entreaty to continue the union of love & concord without breach between them, which he promised to perform. But Micipsa was no sooner deceased, but he by & by not content with a portion of the kingdom, ambitiously sought for the whole. For which cause he found means first to dispatch Hiempsall out of his way by the hands of his guard, who in his lodging by night cut his throat, and then by battle having vanquished Adherbal his other brother, obtained the sole regiment without controlment. Besides he corrupted so by bribes the Senators of Rome that had sovereign authority in and over his kingdom, that in stead of punishment which his murder cried for, he was by the decree of the Senate allotted to the one half of the kingdom. Whereupon being grown yet more presumptuous, he made excursions and riots upon Adherbals territories, and did him thereby much injury: and from thence falling to open war put him to flight, and pursued him to a city where he besieged him so long till he was constrained to yield himself. And then having gotten him within his power, put him to the cruelest death he could devise: which villainous deed gave just cause to the Romans of that war which they undertook against him, wherein he was discomfited: and seeing himself utterly lost, fled to his son in law Bochus king of Mauritania, to seek supply of succour, who receiving him into safeguard proved a false guard unto him, and delivered him into the hands of his enemies, and so was he carried in triumph to Rome by Marius fast bound: & being come to Rome, cast into perpetual prison, where first his gown was torn off his back by violence: next a ring of gold plucked off his ear lap and all: and lastly himself stark naked thrown into a deep ditch, where combating with famine six days, the seventh miserably ended his wretched life, according to the merits of his misdeeds. Orosius saith he was strangled in prison. 
Oros. Sabel. Treason. lib. 2. cap. 3.   
Methridates' king of Parthia put to death the king of Cappadocia to get his kingdom, and after under pretence of parlying with one of his sons, slew him also: for which cause the Romans took up the quarrel, and made war upon him, by means whereof much loss and inconvenience grew unto him as well by sea as by land. After his first overthrow, where one of his sisters was taken prisoner, and when he saw himself in so desperate a case that no hope of help was left, he slew two other of his sisters with two of his wives, having before this war given his fourth sister (who also was his wife) a dram of poison to make up the tragedy. Afterward being vanquished in the night by Pompey the Roman, and put to flight with only three of his company, as he went about to gather a new supply of forces, behold tidings was brought him of the revolt of many of his Provinces and countries, and of the delivering up of the rest of his daughters into Pompey's hand, and of the treason of his young son Pharnax the gallantest of his sons, and whom he purposed to make his successor, who had joined himself to his enemy, which troubled and astonished him more than all the rest: so that his courage being quite dashed, and all hope of bettering his estate extinguished, his other two daughters he poisoned with his own hands, and sought to practise the same experiment upon himself, but that his body was too strong for the poison and killed the operation thereof by strength of nature: but that which poison could not effect, his own sword performed.  
Though Pompey the great was never any of the most notorious offenders in Rome, 
Pl●tarch.  yet did this stain of cruelty ambition and desire of rule cleave unto him: for first he joining himself to Silla dealt most cruelly & unnaturally with Carbo, whom after familiar conference in show of friendship, he caused suddenly to be slain without show of mercy. And with Quintius Valerius a wise and well lettered man, with whom walking but two or three turns, he committed to a cruel and unexpected slaughter. He executed severe punishment upon the enemies of Silla, sepecially those that were most of note and reputation, and unmercifully put Brutus to death that had rendered himself unto his mercy. It was he that devised that new combat of prisoners and wild beasts, to make the people sport withal, a most inhuman and bloody pastime to see human and manly bodies torn and dismembered by brute and senseless creatures: which if we will believe Plutarch, was the only cause of his destruction. Now after so many brave & gallant victories, so many magnificent triumphs: as the taking of king Hiarbas, the overthrow of Domitius, the conquest of Africa, the pacifying of Spain, and the overwelding of the commotions that were therein, the clearing of the sea coasts from Pirates, the victory over Methridates, the subduing of the Arabians, the reducing of Syria into a province, the conquest of judea, Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, & Paphlagonia: I say after all these worthy deeds of arms and mighty victories, he was shamefully overcome by julius Caesar in that civil war, wherein it was generally thought that he had undertaken the better cause in maintaining the authority of the Senate, & defending the liberty of the people, as he pretended to do: being thus put to flight, & making towards Egypt, in hope the king (for that before time he had been his tutor) would protect & furnish him, that he might recover himself again: he found himself foe far deceived of his expectation, that in stead thereof the king's people cut him short of his purpose, & of his head both at once, sending it for a token to Caesar to gratify him withal. Nevertheless, for all this his murderers & betrayers, as the young king, & all others that were causers of his death were justly punished for their cruelty, by the hands of him whom they thought to gratify; for as Cleopatra the king's sister threw herself down at Caesar's feet to entreat her portion of the kingdom, and he being willing also to show her that favour, was by that means gotten into the king's palace: forthwith the murderers of Pompey beset the palace, & went about to bring him into the same snare that they had caught Pompey in. But Caesar after that he had sustained their greatest brunt, frustrated their purposes & recovered his forces into his hands, assailed them with such valour & prowess on all sides that in short space he overcame this wicked & traitorous nation. Amongst the slain the dead body of this young and evil advised king was found overborne with dirt. 
Flor. lib. 4.  Theodotus the king's schoolmaster (by whose instigation and advise both Pompey was slain, and this war undertaken) being escaped & fled towards Asia for his safety, found even there sufficient instruments both to abridge his journey, & shorten his life. As for the rest of that murdering fellowship, they ended their lives some here some there, in (that merciless element) the sea, and by (that boisterous element) the wind, which though senseless, yet could not suffer them to escape unpunished.  
Although that julius Caesar (concerning whom more occasion of speech will be given in the 39 chapter) did tyrannously usurp the key of the Roman commonwealth, 
Plutarch.  & intruded himself into the Empire against the laws, customs, and authority of the people and Senate: yet was it accounted a most traitorous and cruel part to massacre & kill him in the Senate, as he sat in his seat misdoubting no mishap, as the sequel of their several ends which were actors in this tragedy did declare: 
Treason. lib. 2. cap 3, & 4. Plutarch.  for the vengeance of God was so manifestly displayed upon them, that not one of the conspirators escaped, but was pursued by sea and land so eagerly, till there was not one left of that wicked cr●e whom revenge had not overtaken. Cassius being discomfited in the battle of Philippos, supposing that Brutus had been also in the same case, used the same sword against himself (a marvelous thing) wherewith before he had smitten Caesar. Brutus also a few days after, 
Eutrop.  when a fearful vision had appeared twice unto him by night, understanding thereby that his time of life was but short, though he had the better of his enemies the day before, yet threw himself desperately into the greatest danger of the battle, for his speedier dispatch, but he was reserved to a more shameful end; for seeing his men slain before him, he retired hastily apart from view of men, & setting his sword to his breast, threw himself upon it, piercing him through the body, and so ended his life. And thus was Caesar's death revenged by Octavius and Anthony, who remained conquerors after all that bloody crew was brought to nought: betwixt whom also ere long burst out a most cruel division, which grew unto a furious and cruel battle by sea, wherein Anthony was overcome, and sent flying into Egypt, and there taught his own hands to be his murderers. And such was the end of his life, who had been an actor in that pernicious office of the Triumuirship, and a causer of the deaths of many men. And for as much as Cleopatra was the first motive and setter on of Anthony to this war, it was good reason that she should partake some of that punishment which they both deserved: as she did, for being surprised by her enemies, to the intent she might not be carried in triumph to Rome, she caused an asp to bite her to death. Mark here the pitiful Tragedies that following one another in the neck were so linked together, that drawing and holding each other, they drew with them a world of miseries to a most woeful end: a most transparent and clear glass wherein the visages of Gods heavy judgements upon all murderers are apparently deciphered.   

CHAP. VIII. Other examples like unto the former.  
AFter that the Empire of Rome declining after the death of Theodosius, was almost at the last cast, ready to yield up the ghost: 
Procopius.  and that Theodorick king of the Goths had usurped the dominion of Italy under the Emperor Zeno, he put to death two great personages Senators & chief citizens of Rome, to wit Simmachus and Boetius, only for secret surmise which he had, without probabilty, that they two should weave some sly web for his destruction. After which cruel deed as he was one day at supper, a fishes head of great bigness being served into the table, purposing to be very merry, suddenly the vengeance of God assailed, amazed, oppressed, & pursued him so freshly, that without intermission or breathing it sent his body a senseless trunk into the grave in a most strange & marvelous manner: for he was conceited (as himself reported) that the fishes head was the head of Simmachus whom he had but lately slain, which grinned upon him & seemed to face him with an overthwart threatening & angry eye: wherewith he was so scared, that forthwith he rose from the table, and was possessed with such an exceeding trembling & icy chillness that ran through all his joints, that he was constrained to take his chamber & go to bed, where soon after with grief & fretting & displeasure he died. He committed also another most cruel and traitorous part upon Odoacer, whom inviting to a banquet, he deceitfully welcomed with a mess of swords in stead of other victuals, to kill him withal, that he might sway the Empire alone both of the Goths and Romans without check.  
It was not without cause that Attila was called the scourge of God: 
jornand. Greg. de Tours.  for with an army of 500 thousand men he wasted and spoiled all fields, cities, & villages, that he passed by, putting all to fire and sword without showing mercy to any: on this manner he went spoiling through France, and there at one time gave battle to the united forces of the Romans, Vice-Gothes, Frenchmen, Sarmatians, Burgundians, Saxons, and Almains: after that he entered Italy, took by way of force Aquilea, sacked and destroyed Milan, with many other cities, and in a word spoiled all the country: in fine being returned beyond Almaigne, having married a wife of excellent beauty, though he was well wived before, he died on his marriage night suddenly in his bed: for having well caroused the day before, he fell into so dead asleep, that lying upon his back without respect, the blood which was often wont to issue at his nostrils finding those conduits stopped by his upright lying, descended into his throat & stopped his wind. And so that bloody tyrant that had shed the blood of so many people, was himself by the effusion of his own blood murdered and stifled to death.  
Ithilbald king of Gothia at the instigation of his wife put to death very unadvisedly one of the chief peers of his realm, after which murder as he sat banqueting one day with his princes, environed with his guard & other attendants, having his hand in the dish and the meat between his fingers, one suddenly reached him such a blow with a sword that it cut off his head, so that it almost tumbled upon the table, to the great astonishment of all that were present.  

Greg. of Tours. lib. 3. histor.  Sigismond king of Burgundy suffered himself to be carried away with such an extreme passion of choler, provoked by a false and malicious accusation of his second wife, that he caused one of his sons which he had by his former wife to be strangled in his bed, because he was induced to think that he went about to make himself king: which deed being blown abroad, Clodomire son to Clodo●ee and Clotild king of France and cousin German to Sigismond, 
Refer this properly to lib. 2. cap. 11.  came with an army for to revenge this cruel and unnatural part, his mother setting forward and inciting him thereunto, in regard of the injury which Sigismunds' father had done to her father and mother one of whom he slew, and drowned the other. As they were ready to join battle, Sigismunds' soldiers forsook him, so that he was taken and presently put to death, and his sons which he had by his second wife were taken also and carried captive to Orleans, & there drowned in a well. Thus was the execrable murder of Sigismond & his wife punished in their own children. As for Cleodomire though he went conqueror from this battle, yet was he encountered with another disastrous misfortune: for as he marched forward with his forces to fight with Sigismunds' brother, he was by him overcome and slain: and for a further disgrace, his dismembered head fastened on the top of a pike carried about to the interview of all men. He left behind him three young sons whom his own brethren and their uncles Clotaire and Childebert notwithstanding their young & tender years took from their grandmother Clotildes custody, that brought them up, as if they would install them into some part of their father's kingdom: but most wickedly and cruelly to the end to possess their goods, lands, & signiories, bereft them all of their lives, save one that saved himself in a monastery. In this strange & monstrous act Clotaire showed himself more then barbarous, when he would not take pity upon the youngest of the two, being but seven year old, who hearing his brother (of the age of ten years) crying pitifully at his slaughter, threw himself at his uncle childebert's feet with tears desiring him to save his life, wherewith Childebert being greatly affected, entreated his brother with weeping eyes to have pity upon him, and spare the life of this poor infant; but all his warnings and entreaties could not hinder the savage beast from performing this cruel murder upon this poor child, as he had done upon the other.  
The Emperor Phocas attained by this bloody means the imperial dignity, 
Nicephor. lib. 18. cap. 58.  even by the slaughter of his Lord & master Mauricius, whom as he fled in disguised attire, for fear of a treason pretended against him, he being beforetime the lieutenant general of his army, pursued so maliciously & hotly, that he overtook him in his flight, & for his further grief, first put all his children severally to death before his face, that every one of them might be a several death upon him before he died, and then slew him also. This murderer was he that first exalted to so high a point the popish horn, when at the request of Boniface, he ordained that the bishop of Rome should have pre-eminence & authority overall other bishops: which he did to the end that the stain & blame of his most execrable murder might be either quite blotted out, or at least winked at. Under his regency the forces of the Empire grew wondrously into decay: France, Spain, Almaigne and Lombary revolted from the Empire: and at last himself being pursued by his son in law Priscus with the Senators, was taken, and having his hands and feet cut off, was together with the whole race of his offspring put to a most cruel death, because of his cruel and tyrannous life.  
Among all the strange examples of God's judgements that ever were declared in this world, that one that befell a king of Poleland called Popiell for his murders, is for the strangeness thereof most worthy to be had in memory: he reigned in the year of our Lord 1346, this man among other of his particular kinds of cursings and swearing whereof he was no niggard, used ordinarily this oath: If it be not true would rats might devour me, 
Munst. Cosmog. Mandate. 3. Cursing. lib. 1. cap. 32.  prophesying thereby his own destruction; for he was devoured even by the same means which he so often wished for, as the sequel of his history will declare. The father of this Popiell feeling himself near death resigned the government of his kingdom to two of his brethren, men exceedingly reverenced of all men for the valour and virtue which appeared in them. He being deceased and Popiell being grown up to ripe and lawful years, when he saw himself in full liberty without all bridle of government to do what he listed, he began to give the full swinge to his lawless and unruly desires, in such sort that within few days he became so shameless, that there was no kind of vice which appeared not in his behaviour, even to the working of the death of his own uncles, for all their faithful dealing towards him, which he by poison brought to pass. Which being done he caused himself forthwith to be crowned with garlands of flowers and to be perfumed with precious ointments: and to the end the better to solemnize his entry to the crown, commanded a sumptuous and pompous banquet to be prepared, whereunto all the princes and lords of his kingdom were invited. Now as they were about to give the onset upon the delicate cheer, behold an army of rats sallying out of the dead and putrefied bodies of his uncles set upon him, his wife, and children, amid their dainties to gnaw them with their sharp teeth, insomuch that his guard with all their weapons & strength were not able to chase them away, but being weary with resisting their daily & mighty assaults, gave over the battle: wherefore counsel was given to make great coal fires round about them, that the rats by that means might be kept off, not knowing that no policy or power of man was able to withstand the unchangeable decree of God: for, for all their huge forces they ceased not to run through the midst of them and to assault with their teeth this cruel murderer. Then they gave him counsel to put himself, his wife, & children into a boat and thrust it into the midst of a lake, thinking that by reason of the waters the rats would not approach unto them: But alas in vain, for they swum through the waters amain & gnawing the boat, made such chinks into the sides thereof that the water began to run in, which being perceived of the boatmen, amazed them sore, and made them make post hast unto the shore, where he was no sooner arrived, but a fresh muster of rats uniting their forces with the former, encountered him so sore, that they did him more scathe than all the rest. Whereupon all his guard and others that were there present for his defence, perceiving it to be a judgement of God's vengeance upon him, abandoned and forsook him at once: who seeing himself destitute of succour and forsaken on all sides, flew into a high tower in Chousuitze, whether also they pursued him, and climbing even up to the highest room where he was, first eat up his wife and children (she being guilty of his uncles death) and lastly gnew and devoured him to the very bones.  
After the same sort was an Archbishop of Mentz, called Hatto, 
Munsteer cosmography.  punished in the year 940 under the reign of the Emperor Otho the great, for the extreme cruelty which he used towards certain poor beggars, whom in time of famine he assembled together into a great barn, not to relieve their wants as he might & ought, but to rid their lives, as he ought not, but did: for he set on fire the barn wherein they were, and consumed them all alive comparing them to rats & mice that devoured good corn, but served to no other good use. 
Mandate. 8. Avarice and unmercifulness.  But God that had regard and respect unto those poor wretches, took their cause into his hand, to quit this proud prelate with just revenge for his outrage committed against them: sending towards him an army of rats & mice to lay siege against him with the engines of their teeth on all sides: which when this cursed wretch perceived, he removed into a tower that standeth in the midst of Rhine not far from Bing, whether he presumed this host of rats could not pursue him: but he was deceived for they swum over Rhine thick & threefold, & got into his tower with such strange fury, that in very short space they had consumed him to nothing. In memorial whereof, this tower was ever after called the tower of rats. And this was the tragedy of that bloody archbutcher that compared poor Christian souls to brutish & base creatures, and therefore became himself a prey unto them, as Popiel king of Poleland did before him. In whose strange examples the beams of God's justice shine forth after an extraordinary & wonderful manner to the terror & fear of all men: when by the means of small creatures he made room for his vengeance, to make entrance upon these execrable creature murderers, notwithstanding all man's devices & impediments of nature; for the native operation of the elements was restrained from hindering the passage of them, armed & inspired with an invincible & supernatural courage to fear neither fire, water, nor weapon, till they had finished his command that sent them. And thus in old time did frogs, flies, grasshoppers and lice make war with Pharoa at the command of him that hath all the world at his beck.  
After this Archbishop in the same rank of murderers we find registered many Popes, of all whom the notorious and markable are these two, Innocent the fourth and Boniface the eight, who deserved rather to be called Nocents & Malefaces than Innocents' & Boniface, for their wicked & perverse lives: for as touching the first of them, from the time that he was first installed in the Papacy, he always bend his horns against the Emperor Frederick, & fought with him with an army not of men, but of excommunications & cursings as their manner is: & seeing that all his thundering bulls and canons could not prevail so far as he desired, he presently sought to bring to pass that by treason which by force he could not: for he so enchanted certain of his household servants with foul bribes and fair words, 
Hieron. Marius.  that when by reason of his short draft the poison which he ministered could not hurt him, he got them to strangle him to death. Moreover he was chief sour of that war betwixt Henry, Landgrave of Thuring, whom he created king of the Romans, & Conrade, frederick's son, wherein he reaped a crop of discomfitures & overthrows: after which he was found slain in his bed, his body being full of black marks, as if he had been beaten to death with cudgels.  
Concerning Boniface, 
Baleus.  after he had by subtle & crafty means made his predecessor dismiss himself of his Papacy and enthronized himself therein, he put him to death in prison: and afterward made war upon the Gibilines and committed much cruelty: wherefore also he died mad as we heard before. But touching the murderers of Popes and their punishments for the same, we shall see more in the 43 chapter following, whether the examples of them are referred that exceeding in all kind of wickedness cannot be rightly placed in the treatise of any particular commandment.   

CHAP. XIX. Other memorable examples of the same subject.  
IF we descend from antiquities to histories of later & fresher memory, we shall find many things worthy report and credit, as that which happened in the year 1405 betwixt two gentlemen of Henault, 
Eguerron. de monstr. vol. 1.  the one of which accused the other for killing a near kinsman of his, which the other utterly and steadfastly denied: whereon duke William county of Henault, offered them the combat in the city of Quesney to decide the controversy by, when as by law it could not be ended: whereunto they being come & having broken their spears in two, & encountered valiantly with their swords, at length he that was charged with & indeed guilty of the murder, was overcome of the other, and made to confess with his mouth in open audience the truth of the fact: Wherefore the County adjudged him in the same place to be beheaded, which was speedily executed, and the conqueror honourably conducted to his lodging. Now albeit this manner of deciding controversies be not approved of God, yet we must not think it happened at aladuentures, but rather that the issue thereof came of the Lord of hosts, that by this means gave place to the execution of his most high & sovereign justice, by manifesting the murderer, & bringing him to that punishment which he deserved.  

Eguerron. de monstr. vol. 1.  About this very time there was a most cruel & outrageous riot practised & performed upon Lewis duke of Orleans, brother to Charles the sixth, by the complot & devise of john duke of Burgundy, who (as he was naturally haughty & ambitious) went about to usurp the government of the realm of France, for that the king by reason of weakness of his brain was not able to manage the affairs thereof, so that great trouble & uncivil wars were grown up by that occasion in every corner of the realm. As therefore he affected and gaped after the rule, so he thought no means dishonest to attain unto it, and therefore his first enterprise was to take out of the way the king's brother who stood betwixt him and home. Having therefore provided fit champions for his purpose, he found opportunity one night to cause him to come out of his lodging late by counterfeit tokens from the king, as if he had sent for him about some matters of importance: and being in the way to S. Paul's hostile, where the king's lodging was in Paris, the poor prince suspecting nothing was suddenly set upon with eighteen roisters at once, with such fury & violence, that in very short space they left him dead upon the pavement by the gate Barbet, his brains lying scattered about the street. After this detestable and odious act committed and detected, the cruel Burgundian was so far from shaming, that he vaunted and boasted at it, as if he had achieved the most valorous and honourable exploit in the world (so far did his impudency outstretch the bond of reason.) Nevertheless to cast some counterfeit colour upon this rough practice, he used the conscience and fidelity of three famous divines of Paris, who openly in public assemblies approved of this murder, saying, That he had greatly offended, if he had left it undone. About this devise he employed especially M. john Petit a Sorbonist doctor, whose rashness and brasen-facednes was so great, as in the counsel house of the king, stoutly to aver, that that which was done in the death of the duke of Orleans, was a virtuous and commendable action, and the author of it to be void of fault, and therefore aught to be void of punishment. The preface which this brave orator used was, That he was bounden in duty to the duke of Burgundy, in regard of a goodly pension which he had received at his hands, and for that cause he had prepared his poor tongue in token of gratitude to defend his cause. He might better have said thus, That seeing his tongue was poor and miserable, and he himself a senseless creature, therefore he ought not to allow or defend so obstinately such a detestable and traitorous murder committed upon a Duke of Orleans, and the same the king's brother, in such vile sort; and that if he should do otherwise, he should approve of that which God and man apparently condemned, yea the very Turks and greatest Painyms under heaven; & that he should justify the wicked & condemn the innocent, which is an abomination before God; & should put darkness in stead of light, and call that which is evil, good (for which the Prophet Esai in his 1 chapter denounceth the judgements 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 return to our history: The duke of Burgundy having the tongues of these brave doctors at his commandment, and the Parisians who boar themselves partially in this quarrel) generally favourers of his side, came to Paris in arms, to justify himself as he pretended, and struck such a dreadful awe of himself into all men's minds, that notwithstanding all the earnest pursuit of the Duchess the widow of Orleans for justice, he escaped unpunished, until God (by other means) took vengeance upon 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 cruel murders, as of the Constable and Chancellor, two head officers of the realm, whose bodies fast bound together they drew naked through the streets from place to place in most despiteful manner: for the Dauphin escaping their hands by night, and safeguarded in his castle, after that he heard of the seizure of the city, found means to assemble certain forces, and marched to Montereaufautyon with twenty thousand men, of purpose to be revenged on the Duke for all his brave & riotous demeanours: hither under colour of parling & devising new means to pacify these old civil troubles, he enticed the duke, & being come, at his very first arrtuall, as he was bowing his knee in reverence to him, he caused him to be slain: And on this manner was the duke of Orleans death quitted, & the evil and cruelty showed towards him, returned upon the murderers own neck; for as he slew him treacherously & cowardly, so was he also treacherously and cowardly slain, and justly requited with the same measure that he before had measured to another: 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3.  notwithstanding herein the Dauphin was not free from a grievous crime of disloyalty & truth breach, in working his death without shame of either faith-breach, or perjury, and that in his own presence, whom he had so often with protestation of assurance and safety, requested to come unto him. Neither did he escape unpunished for it; for after his father's decease, he was in danger of losing the crown, and all for this cause. For Philip duke of Burgundy taking his father's revenge into his hands, by his cunning devices wrought means to displace him from the succession of the kingdom, by according a marriage betwixt the king of England and his sister, to whom he in favour agreed to give his kingdom in reversion after his own decease. Now assoon as the king of England was seized upon the government of France, the Dauphin was presently summoned to the marble table to give answer for the death of the old duke: whither, when he made none appearance, they presently banished him the realm, and pronounced him to be unworthy to be succeeder to the noble crown: which truly was a very grievous chastisement, and such an one, as brought with it a heap of many mischiefs and discomfitures which happened in the war betwixt England and him, for the recovery of his kingdom.  
Peter, son to Alphonsus' king of Castill, 
Froiss. lib. r. hist.  was a most bloody and cruel tyrant, for first he put to death his own wife, the daughter of Peter duke of Burbone, and sister to the Queen of France: Next he slew the mother of his bastard brother Henry, together with many Lords and Barons of the realm, for which he was hated not only of all his subjects, but also of his neighbour and adjoining countries: which hatred moved the aforesaid Henry to aspire unto the crown: which, what with the Popes avouch, who legitimated him, and the help of certain French forces, and the support of the nobility of Castill, he soon achieved. Peter thus abandoned, put his safest-guard in his heels, and fled to Bourdeaux towards the Prince of Wales, of whom he received such good entertainment, that with his aid he soon re-entered his lost dominions, and by main battle chased his bastard brother out of the confines thereof: But being reinstalled, whilst his cruelties ceased not to multiply on every side, behold, Henry (with a new supply out of France) began to assail him afresh, and put him once again to his shifts: but all that he could do, could not shift him out of Henry's hands, who pursued him so hotly, that with his own hands he soon rid him out of all troubles, and afterwards peaceably enjoyed the kingdom of Castill.   

CHAP. X. Of divers other murderers, and their several punishments.  
Maximinus' from a shepherd in Thracia, grew to be an Emperor in Rome by these degrees: his exceeding strength and swiftness in running commended him so to Severus then Emperor, that he made him of his guard; from that he arose to be a Tribune, and at last to be an Emperor: which place he was no sooner in possession of, but immoderate cruelty (all this while buried) began to show itself: for he made havoc of all the nobility, and put to death those that he suspected to be acquainted with his estate: insomuch as some called him Cyclops, some Busiris, others Anteus, for his cruelty. Wherefore the Senate of Rome seeing his indignity, proclaimed him an enemy to their commonwealth, and made it lawful for any man to procure his death: which being known, his soldiers lying at the siege of Aquileia moved with hatred, entered his tent at noon day, and slew him and his son together.  
justinian the younger (no less hateful to his subjects for his cruelty than Maximinus) was deposed from the Empire by conspiracy, and having his nostrils slit, exiled to Chersona, Leontius succeeding in his place. Howbeit ere long he recovered his crown and sceptre, and returned to Constantinople, exercising more cruelty at his return, than ever he had done before him: for he not only put to death Leontius and Tiberius, but also all that any way favoured their parts. It is said of him, that he never ●●●w his mangled nose, but he caused one of them to be executed to death. At last he was slain by Philippicus to verify the word of the Lord, That he which striketh with the sword, shall perish with the sword.  
Albonius king of Lombary, drinking upon a time to his wife Rosimund in a cup made of her father's skull (whom he in battle had slain) so displeased her therewith, that she (attributing more to natural affection then unity of marriage) decreed with herself to hazard life and kingdom, to be revenged upon this grievous injury; wherefore she thus practised: A knight called Hemichild was enamoured with one of her maids; him she brought into a secret dark place by policy, in show to enjoy his love, but indeed to be at her command, for she supplied his loves place: and then discovering herself, put it to his choice either to kill her husband, or to be accused by her of this villainy. Hemichild chose the former, and in deed murdered his lord in his bed; and after the deed done, fled with her to Ravenna. But mark how the Lord requited this murder, even most strangely; for they both which had been linked together in the fact, were linked together also in the punishment; and as they had been joint instruments of another's destruction, so he made them mutual instruments of their own: for Rosimund thinking to poison him too, made him drink half her medicine; but he feeling the poison in his veins, stayed in the midway, and made her sup up the other half for her part, so they died both together.  
The Electors of the Empire disagreeing in suffrages, 
Munst. cos●n. Philip. Melan. lib. 5.  Adolphus duke of Nassavia, & Albertus' duke of Austria, took upon them the regiment and managing of the state: whereupon grew grievous wars in all Germany, and dissension between the two statemen, so that Adolphus was slain by the duke of Austria in battle by the city of Spire: whose death was thus notably revenged. All that took part against him, or that were accessary to the murder, perished most strangely, Albert Earl of Hagerloch was slain, Otto of Ochsensteme hanged, the bishop of Mentz died suddenly of an apoplexy in his cellar, the bishop of Stratsbrough was butchered by a butcher: the Earl of Leimingen died of a frenzy, the duke of Austria himself was slain by his nephew john, from whom he had taken the government of Suevia, because of his unthriftiness: generally they all came to destruction, so grievous is the cry of innocent blood, against those that are guilty thereof.  
After the death of Woldimirus king of Rhythenia, his son Berisus succeeded in the kingdom, 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3.  who though he was a virtuous and religious prince, yet could not his virtue or religion privilege him from the malice of his brother Suadopolcus, who gaping and itching for the crown, slew his brother this good prince as he was sleeping in his chamber, together with his Esquire that attended upon him: 
Chron. Pol. lib. 2. cap. 10.  and not content herewith, but adding murder to murder, he assaulted another of his brethren by the same impiety, and brought him to the same end. Whereupon the last brother Ior●slaus (to be revenged on this villainy) set upon him with an army of men, and killing his complices, drove him to fly to Crachus king of Polonia for succour: who furnishing him with a new army, sent him back against his brother, in which battle (his success being equal to his former) he lost his men, and himself escaping the sword, died in his flight to Polonia, and was buried in a base and ignoble sepulchre, fit enough for so base & ignoble a wretch. And that we may see how hateful and ungodly a thing it is, to be either a protector or a saver of any murderer: mark the judgement of God that fell upon this king of Polonia, though not in his own person, yet in his posterity; 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3.  for he being dead, his eldest son and heir Crachus was murdered by his younger brother Lechus as they were hunting, so disguised and torn, that every man imputed his death not to Lechus (whose eyes dropped crocodiles tears) but to some savage and cruel beast: Howbeit ere long (his treachery being discovered, and disseised of his kingdom) he died with extreme grief and horror of conscience. And thus we see that Crachus his kingdom came to desolation for maintaining a murderer.  
john the high priest of jerusalem, son and successor to judas, had a brother termed jesus, to whom Bagoses the lieutenant of Antaxerxes army, promised the priesthood, 
joseph an●iq. judaic. l. r 1. c, 7  meaning in deed to depose john and install him in his room: upon which occasion, this jesus growing insolent, spared not to revile his brother, & that in the temple with immodest & opprobrious speeches, so that his anger being provoked, 
Profanation of holy things, lib. 1. cap. 34.  he slew him in his rage; a most impious part for the high priest to pollute the holy temple with blood, & that of his own brother, and so impious, that the Lord in justice could not choose but punish the whole nation for it most severely. For this cause Bagoses imposed a tribute upon them, even a most grievous tribute, that for every lamb they offered upon the altar, they should pay fifty groats to the king of Persia, besides the profanation of their temple with the uncircumcised Persians, who entered into it at their pleasures, and so polluted the sanctuary and holy things of God: this punishment continued upon them seven years, and all for this one murder.  
Gerhardus Earl of Holsatia, after he had conquered the Danes in many and sundry battles, 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3.  was traitorously slain in the city Kanderhusen, by one Nicolaus jacobus a rich Baron, so that whom the open enemy feared in the field, him the privy subtle foe murdered in his chamber. But the traitor and murderer albeit he fled to the castle Schaldenburg, and got a band of soldiers to defend himself, yet he was surprised by the Earls sons, who tormenting him as became a traitor to be tormented, at last rend his body into four quarters, and so his murder and treason was condignly punished.  
Above all, the execution of God's vengeance is most notably manifested in the punishment and detection of one Parthenius an homicide, treasurer to Theodobert king of France, 
Greg. of Tours, lib. 3. cap. 36.  who having traitorously slain an especial friend of his called Ausanius, with his wife Papianilla, when no man suspected or accused him thereof, he detected and accused himself after this strange manner: As he slept in his bed, suddenly he roared out most pitifully, crying for help or else he perished: and being demanded what he ailed, he half asleep answered, That his friend Ausanius and his wife whom he had slain long ago, summoned him to judgement before God: upon which confession he was apprehended, and after due examination, stoned to death. Thus though all witnesses fail, yet a murderers own conscience will bewray him.  
Pipin, and Martellus his son, kings of France, envying prosperity and ease, 
Casp. head. lib. 6. cap. 17.  fell into divers monstrous sins: as to forsake their wives and follow whores, which filthiness when the Bishop of Tungria reproved, Dodo the harlot's brother murdered him for his labour: but he was presently taken with the vengeance of God; even a lousy and most filthy disease, with the grief and stink whereof being moved, he threw himself into the river Mosa, and there was drowned.  
How manifest and evident was the vengeance of God upon the murderers of Theodoricke hishop of Treverse: 
Martian. Scotus.  Conrade the author of it died suddenly, the soldier that helped to throw him down from the rock, 
Hermanus contractus.  was choked as he was at supper: two other servants that laid too their hands to this murder, slew themselves most desperately.  
About the year of our Lord 700, Geilian the wife of Gosbert prince of Wurtiburg, 
Casp. Hed. lib. 6. cap. 10.  being reproved by Kilianus for incest, (for she married her husband's brother) wrought such means, that both he and his brethren were deprived of their lives: but the Lord gave her up to Satan in vengeance, so that she was presently possessed with him, and so continued till her dying day.  
A certain woman of Milan in Italy hung a young boy, and after devoured him instead of meat, when as she wanted none other victuals: and when she was examined about the crime, she confessed that a spirit persuaded her to do it, telling her that after it, she should attain unto whatsoever she desired: for which murder, she was tormented to death by a lingering and grievous punishment: This, Arlunus reporteth to have happened in his time. And surely howsoever openly the devil showeth not himself, yet he is the mover and persuader of all murders, and commonly the detector. For he delighteth in men's bloods and their destruction as in nothing more.  
At Winsheime in Germany a certain thief after many robberies & murders committed by him upon travailers and women with child, went to the shambles before Easter and bought three calves heads, which when he put into a wallet they seemed to the standers by to be men's heads. 
Theat. histor. Though strange yet not incredible: since God can as well turn calves heads into men's, as a rod into a serpent, or water into blood  Whereof being attached & searched by the officers, and found so indeed, he being examined how he came by them, answered and proved by witnesses that he bought calves heads, & how they were transformed he knew not. Whereat the Senate amazed not supposing this miracle to arise of nought, cast the party into prison, and tortured him to confess the villainy whereof the Lord would have him detected, as he did indeed, and was worthily punished for the same: and then the heads recovered their old shapes. Another thief at Tubing betrayed his murder & robbery by his own sighs, 
8. Mandate. lib. 2, cap. 35.  which were so incessant in grief not of his fact, but of his small booty, that being but asked the question, he confessed the crime and underwent worthy punishment. Another murderer in Spain was discovered by the trembling of his heart: for when many were suspected of the murder, and all renounced it, the judge caused all their breasts to be opened, and him in whom he saw most trembling of breast, he condemned, who also could not deny the fact, but presently confessed the same.  
At Isenacum a certain young man being in love with a maid, & not having wherewith to maintain her, used this unlawful means, he upon a night slew his host, 
8. Mandate. lib. 2. cap. 35.  & throwing his body into the seller, took away all his money, and then hasted away; but the terror of his own conscience, and the judgement of God so besotted him, that he could not stir a foot until he was apprehended. At the same time Martin Luther & Philip Melancton abode at Isenacum, & were eye witnesses of this miraculous judgement, who also dealt with the murderer, that in most humble and penitent confession of his sins & comfort of soul he ended his life. By all these examples we see how hard it is for a murderer to escape without his reward. Nay rather than he shall go unpunished senseless creatures and his own soul riseth to give sentence against him.  
In the year of our Lord 1546 john Diazius a Spaniard by birth, living a student and professor in Paris came first to Geneva, and then to Strasbrough, and there by the grace of God's spirit saw his Sorbonicall errors and renounced them, betaking himself to the profession of the purer religion, and the company and acquaintance of godly men: amongst whom was Bucer that excellent man, who sent him also to Nurnburge to oversee the printing of a book which he was to publish. 
Sleid. lib. 17.  Whilst Diazius lived at this Nurnburge (a city situate upon the river Dimow) his brother a lawyer, and judge lateriall to the inquisition, by name Alphonsus came thither, and by all means possible endeavoured to dissuade him from his religion, and to reduce him again to Popery. But the good man persisted in the truth notwithstanding all his persuasions and threats: wherefore the subtle fox took another course and feigning himself to be converted also to his religion, exhorted him to go with him into Italy where he might do much good, or at the least to August: but by the counsel of Bucer and his friends he was kept back, otherwise willing to follow his brother. Wherefore Alphonsus departed & exhorteth him to constancy & perseverance, giving him also foureteeene crowns to defray his charges. Now the Wolf had not been three days absent, when he hired a rakehell and common butcher and with him flew again to Nurnburge in post hast: and coming to his brother's lodging, delivered him a letter which whilst he read, the villain his confederate cloven his head in pieces with an axe, leaving him dead upon the floor, and so fled with all expedition. Howeit they were apprehended, yet quit by the Pope's justice, so holy and sacred are the fruits of his holiness, though not by the justice of God, for within a while after he hung himself upon his mules neck at Trent.  
Duke Abrogastes slew Valentinian the Emperor of the West, and advanced Eugenius to the crown of the Empire: but a while after the same sword which had slain his Lord and master was by his own hands turned into his own bowels.  
Mempricius the son of Madan the fourth king of England, then called Britain after Brute, 
Lanquet. chron.  had a brother called Manlius, betwixt whom was great strife for the sovereign dominion: but to rid himself of all his trouble at once, he slew his brother Manlius by treason, and after continued his reign in tyranny and all unlawful lusts, the space of twenty years, but although vengeance all this while winked, yet it slept not, for at the end of this space, as he was hunting he was devoured of wild beasts.  
In the year of our Lord God 745 one Sigebert was authorized king of the Saxons in Britain, a cruel and tyrannous Prince towards his subjects, and one that changed the ancient laws and customs of his realm after his own pleasure, and because a certain Nobleman somewhat sharply advertised him of his evil conditions, he maliciously caused him to be put to death: but see how the Lord revenged this murder, he caused his Nobles to deprive him of his kingly authority, and at last as a desolate and forlorn person wandering alone in a wood, to be slain of a swineherd, whose master he (being king) had wrongfully put to death.  
In the year of our Lord 678 Childerich king of France, caused a Nobleman of his Realm called Bolyde, to be bound to a stake and there beaten to death without the pretence of any just crime or accusation against him; for which cruelty his Lords and commons, being grievously offended conspired together and slew him with his wife as they were in hunting.  
In the reign of Edward the second and Edward the third Sir Roger Mortimer committed many villainous outrages in shedding much human blood, but he was also justly recompensed in the end: first he murdered king Edward the second lying in Barkley castle, to the end he might as it was supposed enjoy Isabella his wife with whom he had very suspicious familiarity. Secondly, he caused Edward the third to conclude a dishonourable peace with the Scots, by restoring to them all their ancient writings, charters, and patents, whereby the kings of Scotland had bound themselves to be feudaries to the kings of England. Thirdly, he accused Edmund Earl of Kent uncle to king Edward of treason, and caused him unjustly to be put to death. And lastly he conspired against the king to work his destruction, for which and diverse other things that were laid to his charge he was worthily and justly beheaded.  
In the reign of Henry the sixth, Humphrey the good duke of Gloucester & faithful protector of the king, by the means of certain malicious persons, and especially the Marquis of Suffolk (as it was suspected) was arrested, cast into hold, & strangled to death in the Abbey of Bury: for which cause the Marquis was not only banished the land for the space of five years, but also banished out of his life for ever, for as he sailed towards France, he was met withal by a ship of war, and there presently beheaded, and the dead corpse cast up at Dover, that England wherein he had committed the crime might be a witness of his punishment.  
As the murder of a gentleman in Kent called master Arden of Feversham was most execrable, so the wonderful discovery thereof was exceeding rare: this Arden being somewhat aged had to wife a young woman no less fair than dishonest, who being in love with one Mosby more than her husband, did not only abuse his bed, but also conspired his death with this her companion: for together they hired a notorious ruffian one Black Will to strangle him to death with a towel as he was playing a game at tables: which though secretly done, yet by her own guilty conscience and some tokens of blood which appeared in the house was soon discovered and confessed. Wherefore she herself was burnt at Canterbury: Michael master Arden's man was hanged in chains at Feversham: Mosby and his sister were hanged in Smithfield. green another partner in this bloody action was hanged in chains in the high way against Feversham. And Black Will the ruffian after his first escape was apprehended and burnt on a scaffold at Flushing in Zealand. And thus all the murderers had their deserved dews in this life, and what they endured in the life to come (except they obtain mercy by true repentance) it is easy to judge.   

CHAP. XI. Of Parricides or parent murderers.  
IF all effusion of human blood be both horrible to behold and repugnant to nature, then is the murdering of parents especially detestable, when a man is so possessed with the devil, or transported with a hellish fury, that he lifteth up his hand against his own natural father or mother to put than to death: this is so monstrous and inormious an impiety that the greatest Barbarians ever have had it in detestation: wherefore it is also expressly commanded in the law of God, that whosoever smiteth his father or mother in what sort soever, though not to death, 
Exod. 21.  yet he shall die the death. If the disobedience, unreverence, and contempt of children towards their parents are by the just judgement of God most rigorously punished as hath been declared before in the first commandment of the second table) how much more than when violence is offered, & above all, when murder is committed. 
Diodor. Sic.  Thus the Egyptians punished this sin: they put the committants upon a stack of thorns, and burned them alive, having beaten their bodies before hand with sharp reeds made of purpose. Solon being demanded why he appointed no punishment in his laws for Parricides; answered that there was no necessity, thinking that the wide world could not afford so wicked a wretch. It is said that Romulus for the same cause ordained no punishment in his Commonwealth for that crime, but called every murderer a Parricide, the one being in his opinion a thing execrable, and the other impossible. And in truth there was not for 600 years' space (according to Plutarch's report) found in Rome any one that had committed this execrable fact. The first Parricide that Rome saw, was Lucius Ostius, after the first Punic war; although other writers affirm that M. Malliolus was the first, and Lucius the second: howsoever it was they both underwent the punishment of the law Pompeia, which enacted that such offenders should be thrust into a sack of leather, & an ape, a cock, a viper & a dog put in to accompany them, & then to be thrown into the water, to the end that these beasts being enraged & animated one against another, might wreak their teen upon them, & so deprive them of life after a strange fashion, being debarred of the use of air, water, & earth, as unworthy to participate the very elements with their deaths, much less with their lives: which kind of punishment was after practised and confirmed by the constitution of Constantine the great. And albeit the regard of the punishment seemed terrible & the offence itself much more monstrous, yet since that time there have been many so perverse & exceedingly wicked, as to throw themselves headlong into that desperate gulf. As Cleodorick son of Sigebert king of Austria, 
Greg. of Tours, lib 2.  who being tickled with an unsatiable lust of reign through the deceivable persuasions of Cleodovius king of France slew his father Sigebert as he lay asleep in his tent in a forest at noon time of the day, who being weary with walking laid himself down there to take his rest: but for all that, the wicked wretch was so far from attaining his purpose, that it fell out clean contrary to his expectation, for after his father's death, as he was viewing his treasures and ransacking his coffers, one of Cleodovius' factors struck him suddenly and murdered him, & so Cleodovius seized both upon the crown and treasures.  
After the death of Hircanus, 
joseph. antiq.  Aristobulus succeeded in the government of judea, which whilst he strove to reduce into a kingdom & to wear a crown, contrary to the custom of his predecessors, his mother & other brethren contending with him about the same he cast in prison, and took Antigonus his next brother to be his associate: but ere long (a good grateful son) he famished her to death with hunger, that had fed him to life with her teats, even his natural mother: And after persuaded with false accusations caused his late best beloved Antigonus to be slain by an ambush, that lay by Stratos tower, because in the time of his sickness he entered the temple with pomp: but the Lord called for quittance for the two bloosheads immediately after the execution of them: for his brother's blood was scarce washed of the ground, ere in the extremity of his sickness he was carried into the same place, & there vomiting up blood at his mouth & nostrils to be mingled with his brothers, he fell down stark dead, not without horrible tokens of trembling and despair.  
Nero that unnatural Tyrant surpassed all that lived, 
Corn. Tacit. lib. 14.  as in all other vices, so in this; for he attempted thrice by poison to make away his mother Agrippina: and when that could not prevail by reason of her usual Antidotes and preservatives, he assayed diverse other means: as first a devise whereby she should be crushed to death as she slept, 
Sueton. cap. 33.  a loosened beam that should fall upon her; and secondly by shipwreck: both which when she escaped, the one by discovery, and the other by swimming: he sent Anicetus the Centurion to slaughter her with the sword: who with his companions breaking up the gate of the city, where she lay, rushed into her chamber, and there murdered her. It is written of her that when she saw there was no remedy but death, she presented her belly unto the murderer, and desired him to kill her in that part which had most deserved it by bringing into the world so vile a monster: and of himt, hat he came to view the dead carcase of his mother, and handled the members thereof, commending this and discommending that, as his fancy led him, & in the mean time being thirsty, to call for drink: so far was he from all humanity and touch of nature; but he that spared not to imbrue his hands in her blood that bred him, was constrained ere long to offer violence unto his own life, which was most dear unto him.  

Munst. Cosmog. lib. 3.  Henry the son of Nicolotus duke of Herulia had two wicked, cruel and unkind sons, by the younger of whom with the consent of the elder he was traitorously murdered, because he had married a third wise: for which cause Nicolotus their cousin German pursued them both with a just revenge: for he deprived them of their kingdom, and drove them into exile where they soon after perished.  

Phil. Melanct. chron. lib. 5. Munst. Cosmog. lib. 4.  Selimus the tenth Emperor of the Turks was so unnatural a child, that he feared not to dispossess his father Baiaset of the crown by treason: and next to bereave him of his life by poison: And not satisfied therewith, even to murder his two brethren, and to destroy the whole stock of his own blood. But when he had reigned eight years, vengeance found him out, and being at his back so corrupted and putrefied his reins, that the contagion spread itself over all his body: so that he died a beastlike and irksome death, and that in the same place where he had before oppressed his father Baiaset with an army, to wit at Chiurle a city of Thracia, in the year of our Lord 1520 the month of September.  

Casp. Hedian. lib. 6. cap. 29.  Charles the younger by surname called Crassus, son to Lodouick the third, was possessed and tormented with a Devil in the presence of his father, and the peers of the realm; which he openly confessed to have justly happened unto him, because he had pretended in his mind to have conspired his father's death and deposition: what then are they to expect that do not pretend but perform this monstrous enterprise?  
A certain degenerate and cruel son longing and gaping after the inheritance of his father, which nothing but his life kept him from, wrought this means to accomplish his desire: he accused his father of a most filthy and unnameable crime, even of committing filthiness with a cow; knowing, that if he were convicted thereof, 
Theat. hist.  the law would cut off his life: and herein he wrought a double villainy, in going about not only to take away his life (which by the law of nature he ought to have preserved) but also his good name, without respecting that the stain of a father redoundeth to his posterity, 
Mandate. 8. Calumniation, lib. 2. cap.  and that children commonly do not only inherit the possessions but also imitate the conditions of their parents: but all these supposes laid aside together with all fear of God, he indicted him before the magistrate, of incest, & that upon his own knowledge: insomuch, that they brought the poor innocent man to the rack, to the end to make him confess the crime, which albeit amidst his tortures he did, assoon as he was out he denied again: howbeit his extorted confession stood for evidence, and he was condemned to be burned with fire, as was speedily executed, and constantly endured by him, exclaiming still upon the false accusation of his son, and his own unspotted innocency, as by the issue that followed, most clearly appeared; for his son not long after, fell into a reprobate mind, and hanged himself: and the judge that condemned him, with the witnesses that bare record of his forced confession, within one month died all after a most wretched and miserable sort: And thus it pleased God both to revenge his death, and also to quit his reputation and innocency, from ignominy and discredit in this world.  
Manfred, prince of Tarentum, 
Phillip Melanct. Chron. lib. 4. No better fruit to be expected of an● bastard im●  bastard son to Frederick the second, smothered his father to death with a pillow, because (as some say) he would not bestow the kingdom of Naples upon him: & not content herewith, he poisoned also the heirs of Frederick, to the end he might attain unto the crown, as Conrade his elder brother, and his nephew the son of Henry the heir, which Henry died in prison; & now only Conradinus remained betwixt him and the kingdom, whom though he assailed to send after his father, yet was his intention frustrate, for the Pope thundered out his curses against him, and instigated Charles duke of Angiers to make war against him: wherein bastard and unnatural Manfred was discomfited and slain, and cut short of his purpose, for which he had committed so many tragedies.  

Luther.  Martin Luther was wont to report of his own experience this wonderful history of a locksmith, a young man, riotous and vicious, who to find fuel for his luxury, was so bewitched, that he feared not to slay his own father and mother with a hammer, to the end to gain their money and possessions: after which cruel deed, he presently went to a shoemaker and bought him new shoes, leaving his old behind him, by the providence of God to be his accusers: for after an hour or two, the slain bodies being found by the magistrate, and inquisition made for the murderer, no manner of suspicion being had of him, he seeming to take such grief thereat. But the Lord that knoweth the secrets of the heart, discovered his hypocrisy, and made his own shoes which he had left with the shoemaker rise up to bear witness against him: for the blood which ran from his father's wounds besprinkled them so, that thereof grew the suspicion, & from thence the examination, & very soon the confession, & last of all his worthy & lawful execution. From hence we may learn for a general truth, that murder, never so secret, will ever by one means or other be discovered; the Lord will not suffer it to go unpunished, so abominable it is in his sight.  
Another son at Bosil, in the year of our Lord God 1560, bought a quantity of poison of an Apothecary, 
Casp. Hed. 4. part. chron.  & ministered it to none but to his own father, accounting him worthiest of so great a benefit: which, when it had effected his wish upon him, the crime being detected, in stead of possessing his goods which he aimed at, he possessed a vile and shameful death: for he was drawn through the streets, burnt with hot irons, and tormented nine hours in a wheel, till his life forsook him. As it is repugnant to nature for children to deal thus cruelly with their parents, so it is more against nature for parents to murder their children: insomuch as natural affection is of greater force in the descent, then in the ascent, & the love that parents bear their children, is greater than that which children redound to their parents, because the child proceedeth from the father, and not the father from the child, as part of his father's essence, and not the father of his: Can a man then hate his own flesh, or be a rooter out of that which himself planted? It is rare: yet sometimes it cometh to pass. Howbeit as the offence is in a high degree, so it is always punished by some notable and high judgement: as by these examples that follow, shall appear.  
The ancient Ammonites had an idol called Moloch, to the which they offered their children in sacrifice: this idol (as the jews writ) was of a great stature and hollow within, having seven chambers in his hollowness, whereof one was to receive meat, another turtle doves, the third a sheep, the fourth a ram, the fift a calf, the sixth an ox, and the seventh a child: his hands were always extended to receive gifts, and when a child was offered, they were made fire hot to burn it to death; none must offer the child but the father: & to drown the cries of it, the Chemarims (for so were the priests of that idol called) made a noise with bells, cymbals, and horns: thus it is written that king Achab offered his son, yea & many of the children of Israel beside, as the Prophet David affirmeth: They offered (saith he) their sons and daughters to devils, & shed innocent blood, 
Psal. 106, 37, 38.  even the blood of their children, whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan, and their land was defiled with blood: this is the horrible crime. Now mark the judgement touching the Canaanites; the land spewed them out for their abominations, Achab with his posterity was accursed, himself being slain by his enemies, and the crown taken from his posterity, not one being left of his offspring to piss against the wall: according to the saying of Elias: as for the jews, the Prophet David in the same place declareth their punishment, when he saith, That the wrath of the Lord was kindled, 
Vers. 40.  and he abhorred his inheritance, and gave them into the hands of the heathen, that they that hated them were lords over them.  
In the year of our Lord 1551, in a town of Hassia called Weidenhasten, 
job. Fincel. llb. 1. de mirac.  the 20 day of November, a cruel mother inspired with Satan, shut up all her doors, and began to murder her four children on this manner: she snatched up a sharp axe, and first set upon her eldest son, being but eight years old, searching him out with a candle behind a hogshead where he hide himself, and presently (notwithstanding his pitiful prayers and complaints) clave his head in two pieces, and chopped off both his arms: next she killed her daughter of five years old, after the same manner: another little boy of three years of age (seeing his mother's madness) hide himself (poor infant) behind the gate, whom assoon as the tiger espied, she drew out by the hair of the head into the floor, and there cut off his head: the youngest lay crying in the cradle but half a year old, him she (without all compassion) plucked out, and murdered in like sort. These murders being finished, the devil incarnate (for certain no womanly nature was left in her) to take punishment of herself for the same, cut her own throat; and albeit she survived nine days, and confessing her fault, died with tears and repenrance, yet we see how it pleased God to arm her own hands against herself, as the fittest executioners of his vengeance.  

Theatr. hist.  The like tragical accident, we read to have happened at Cutzenborff, a city in Silesia, in the year 1536, to a woman and her three children, who having slain them all in her husband's absence, killed herself in like manner also to make up the tragedy.  
Concerning stepmothers, it is a world to read, how many horrible murders they have usually practised upon their children in law, to the end to bring the inheritance to their own brood, or at least to revenge some injury supposed to be done unto them: of which, one or two examples I will subnect, as a taste out of many hundred, leaving the residue to the judgement and reading of the learned.  
Constantius, the son of Heraclius, having reigned Emperor but one year, was poisoned by his stepmother Martina, 
Zonoras'. tom. 3.  to the end to install her own son Heraclon in the crown; but for this cruel part becoming odious to the Senate, they so much hated to have her or her son reign over 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 love with Constantine her son in law, begotten upon a concubine, 
Zonoras'. 3. Annal. Sex. Aur.  whom when she could not persuade unto her lust, she accused unto the Emperor, as a solicitor of her chastity; for which cause he was condemned to die: but after the truth was known, Constantinus put her into a hot bath, and suffered her not to come forth until the heat had choked her, revenging upon her head, his sons death, and her own unchastity.   

CHAP. XII. Of Subject Murderers.  
seeing then they that take away their neighbour's lives, do not escape unpunished, (as by the former examples it appeareth) it must needs follow, that if they to whom the sword of justice is committed by God to repress wrongs and chastise vices, do give over themselves to cruelties, and to kill and slay those whom they ought in duty to protect and defend, must receive 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 have been sufficiently instructed out of the law of God in his duty in this behalf: yet was he so cruel and bloody minded, as contrary to all justice, to put to death Abimelech the high priest, with fourscore and five other priests of the family of his father, 
1. Sam. 22.  only for receiving David into his house: small, or rather no offence. And yet not satisfied herewith, h● vomited out his rage also against the whole city of the priests▪ and put to the merciless sword both man, woman, and child, without sparing any. He slew many of the Gibeonites, who though they were relics of the Amorites that first inhabited that land, yet because they were received into league of amity by a solemn oath, and permitted of long continuance to dwell amongst them, should not have been awarded as enemies, nor handled after so cruel a fashion. Thus therefore he tyrannizing and playing the butcher amongst his own subjects (for which cause his house was called the house of slaughter) & practising many other foul enormities, he was at the last overcome of the Philistims, & sore wounded: which when he saw, fearing to fall alive into his enemy's hands, and not finding any of his own men that would lay their hands upon him, desperately slew himself. The same day three of his sons, and they that followed him of his own household were all slain. The Philistims the next day finding his dead body despoiled among the carcases, beheaded it, and carried the head in triumph to the temple of their god, and hung up the trunk in disgrace in one of their cities, to be seen, looked upon, and pointed at. And yet for all this was not the fire of God's wrath quenched: for in king David's time, there arose a famine that lasted three years, the cause whereof was declared by God to be the murder which Saul committed upon the Gibeonites: 
2. Sam. 21.  wherefore David delivered saul's seven sons into the Gibeonites hands that were left, who put them to the most shameful death that is, even to hanging.  
Amongst all the sins of king Achab and jezabel which were many and great, 
1. King. 21.  the murder of Naboth standeth in the forefront, for though he had committed no such crime as might any way deserve death: yet by the subtle and wicked devise of jezabel, 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 war which he made with the king of Syria, received so deadly a wound, that he died thereof, the dogs licking up 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 jezabel, whom her own servants at the commandment of jehu (whom God had made executor of his wrath) threw headlong out of an high window unto the ground, so that the walls were died with her blood, and the horses trampled her under their feet, and dogs devoured her flesh, till of all her dainty body, there remained nothing saving only her skull, feet, and palm of her hands.  
joram son of jehosaphat king of judah, being after his father's death possessed of the crown and sceptre of judah, 
2. Chron. 21.  by and by exalted himself in tyranny, and put to death six of his own brethren, all younger than himself, with many princes of the realm, for which cause God stirred up the Edomites to rebel, the Philistims and Arabians to make war against him, who foraged his country, sacked and spoiled his cities, and took prisoners his wives and children, the youngest only excepted, who afterwards also was murdered, when he had reigned king but a small space. And lastly, as in doing to death his own brethren, he committed cruelty against his own bowels, so the Lord struck him with such an incurable disease in his bowels, and so perpetual (for it continued two years, that his very entrails issued out with torment, and so died in horrible misery.  
Albeit that in the former book we have already touched the pride and arrogancy of king Alexander the Great, yet we can not pretermit to speak of him in this place, his example serving so fit for the present subject; for although as touching the rest of his life he was very well governed in his private actions, as a monarch of his reputation might be, yet in his declining age (I mean not in years▪ but to deathward) he grew exceeding cruel, not only towards strangers, as the Cosseis, whom he destroyed to the sucking babe, but also to his household and familiar friends: Insomuch, that being become odious to most, fewest loved hi● and divers wrought all means possible to make him away but one especially, whose son in law and other near friends he had put to death, never ceased until he both ministered a deadly draft unto himself, 
justine.  whereby he deprived him of his wicked life, and a fatal stroke to his wives and children after his death, to the accomplishment of his full revenge.  
Phalaris, the tyrant of Agrigentum, made himself famous to posterity by no other means, 
Oros.  then horrible cruelties, exercised upon his own subjects, inventing every day new kinds of tortures to scourge and afflict the poor souls withal. In his dominion there was one Perillus an artificer of his craft, one expert in his occupation, who to flatter and curry favour with him, devised a new torment, a brazen bull of such a strange workmanship, that the voice of those that were roasted therein, resembled rather the roaring of a bull then the cry of men: the tyrant was well pleased with the invention, but he would needs have the inventor make first trial of his own work, as he well deserved, before any other should take taste thereof. But what was the end of this tyrant? 
Cic. Off. 2.  The people not able any longer to endure his monstrous and unnatural cruelties, ran upon him with one consent with such violence, that they soon brought him to destruction; and as some say, put him into the brazen bull, (which he provided to roast others) to be roasted therein himself; deserving it as well for approving the devise, as Perillus did for devising it.  
Edward the second of that name, king of England, at the request and desire of Hugh Spencer his darling, 
Enguerr. de Monstr. vol. 1.  made war upon his subjects, and put to death divers of the peers & lords of the realm, without either right or form of law, insomuch that Queen Isabella his wife fled to France with her young son for fear of his unbridled fury, and after a while finding opportunity and means to return again, guarded with certain small forces which she had in those countries gathered together▪ she found the whole people discontented with the king's demeanours, and ready to assist her against him: so she besieged him with their succour, and took him prisoner, and put him into the tower of London to be kept till order might be taken for his deposition, so that shortly after by the estates (being assembled together) he was generally & jointly reputed & pronounced unworthy to be king, for his exceeding cruelties sake which he had committed upon many of his worthy subjects: and so deposing him they crowned his young son Edward (the third of his name) king in his room, he yet living and beholding the same.  
john Maria duke of Milan may be put into this rank of murderers: 
Paulus iovius.  for his custom was diverse times when any citizen offended him, yea and sometimes without offence too, to throw them amongst cruel mastiffs to be torn in pieces and devoured. But as he continued & delighted this unnatural kind of murder, the people one day incensed & stirred up against him, ran upon him with such rage and violence, that they quickly deprived him of life. And he was so well beloved that no man either would or durst bestow a sepulchre upon his dead bones, but suffered his body to lie in the open street uncovered, save that a certain harlot threw a few roses upon his wounds and so covered him.  
Alphonsus the second king of Naples Ferdinand's son was in Tyranny towards his subjects nothing inferior to his father, 
Sabel. Guicciard. lib. 1. Philip de Com. Bemb. histor. Vent. lib. 2.  for whether of them imprisoned & put to death more of the nobility & Barons of the realm it is hard to say; but sure it is that both were too outrageous in all manner of cruelty: for which as soon as Charles the eight king of France departing from Rome made towards Naples, the hatred which the people bore him secretly with the odious remembrance of his father's cruelty, began openly to show itself by the fruits; for they did not nor could not dissemble the great desire that every one had of the approach of the Frenchmen: which when Alphonsus perceived, and seeing his affairs and estate brought unto so narrow a pinch, he also cowardly cast away all courage to resist, and hope to recover so hug a tempest: and he that for a long time had made war● his trade and profession, and had yet all his forces and armies complete & in readiness, making himself bankrupt of all that honour and reputation, which by long experience and deeds of arms he had gotten, resolved to abandon his kingdom, and to resign the title and authority thereof to his son Ferdinand: thinking by that means to assuage the heat of their hatred, and that so young and innocent a king who in his own person had never offended them might be accepted and beloved of them, and so their affection toward the French rebated and cooled. But this devise seemed to no more purpose than a salve applied to a sore out of season, when it was grown incurable, or a prop set to a house that is already fallen. Therefore he tormented with the sting of his own conscience, and finding in his mind no repose by day, nor rest by night, but a continual Summns and advertisement by fearful dreams, that the Noblemen which he had put to death cried to the people for revenge against him, was surprised with so terrible terror, that forthwith without making acquainted with his departure either his brother or his own son, he fled to Sicily, supposing in his journey that the Frenchmen were still at his back, and starting at every little noise, as if he feared all the elements had conspired his destruction. Philip Comineus that was an eye witness of this journey, reporteth that every night he would cry, that he heard the Frenchmen, and that the very trees and stones echoed France into his ears: And on this manner was his flight to Sicily. King Charles in the mean while having by force and bloodshed to terrify the rest taken two passages that were before him, the whole realm without any great resistance yielded itself unto his mercy: albeit that the young king had done what he could, to withstand him. But at length seeing the Neapolitans ready to rebel and himself in danger to be taken prisoner, he fled from the castle of Naples, and with a small company got certain brigandines wherein he sailed to the Island Ischia, thirty miles from Naples, saying at his departure this verse out of the Psalms: How vain are the watchmen and guards of that city which is not guarded and watched by the Lord? which he oftentimes repeated, and so long as Naples was in his view. And thus was cruelty punished both in Ferdinand the father, and Alphonse the son.  
Artaxerxes Ochus the eight king of the Persians began his reign with thus many murders; 
Herodos.  he slew two of his own brethren first: secondly Euageras' king of Cyprus, his partner and associate in the kingdom: thirdly he took Gidon traitorously, & was the cause of forty thousand men's deaths that were slain & burned therein: beside many other private murders & outrages which he committed, for which cause the Lord in his justice reigned down vengeance upon his head: for Bagoas one of his princes ministered such a fatal cup to his stomach, that it mortified his senses, & deprived him of his unmerciful soul and life: & not only upon his head, but upon his kingdom & his son Arsame also, for he was also poisoned by the same Bagoas, & his kingdom translated to Darius' prince of Armenia, whom when the same Bagoas went about to make taste of the same cup which his predecessors did, he was taken in his own snare: for Darius understanding his pretence, made him drink up his own poison which he provided for him: and thus murder was revenged with murder, and poison with poison, 
Exod. 22.24.  according to the decree of the almighty who saith Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc.  
In the year of the world 3659 Morindus a most cruel and bloody minded Prince reigned here in England, who for his cruelties sake came to an unhappy and bloody end: 
Stow.  for out of the Irish seas came forth a monster which destroyed much people, whereof he hearing, would of his valiant courage needs fight with it, and was devoured of it: so that it may truly here be said that one monster devoured another.  
There was (as Elianus 
Elianus.  reporteth) a cruel and pernicious Tyrant, who to the end to prevent all practices of conspiracy and treason (as Tyrants are ever naturally and vpo● desert, timorous) that might be devised against him; enacted this law among his subjects, that no man should confer with another either privately or publicly upon pain of death, and so indeed he abrogated all civil society [for speech as it was the beginning and birth of fellowship, so it is the very joint and glue thereof] but what cared he for society that respected nothing but his own safety: he was so far from regarding the common good, that when his subjects not daring to speak, signified their minds by signs, he prohibited that also: and that which is yet more, when not daring to speak nor yet make signs, they fell to weeping & lamenting their misery, he came with a band of men even to restrain their tears too: but the multitudes rage being justly incensed they gave him such a desperate welcome, that neither he nor his fellows returned one of them alive. And thus his abominable cruelty came to an end together with his life, and that by those means (which is to be observed) by which he thought to preserve and maintain them both.  
Childericus who in the year 697 succeeded in the kingdom of France Theodoricke (that for his negligence and sluggish government was deposed and made of a king a Friar) exercised barbarous and inhuman cruelty upon his subjects: 
Michael. Rit. l b. 1. de regibus Franc. Lib. 2. cap. 46.  For he spared neither noble nor ignoble, but mixedly sent them to their graves without respect of cause or justice. One of the noble sort he caused to be fastened to a stake and beaten with clubs not to death, but to chastisement: which monstrous cruelty so incensed the people's mind against him, that there wanted no hands to take part with this clubbeaten man against the tyrant his enemy. Wherefore they laid wait for him as he came one day from hunting, and murdered him together with his wife great with child, no man either willing or daring to defend him.  
Tymocrates the king or rather tyrant of the Cyrenians will give place to none in this commendation of cruelty: for he afflicted his subjects with many and monstrous calamities, insomuch that he spared not the priests of his gods, which commonly were in reverent regard among the Heathen, as the bloody death of Menalippus (Apollo's Priest) did witness, whom to the end to marry his fair and beautiful wife Aretaphila, he cruelly put to death: howbeit it prospered not with him as he desired; for the good woman not contented with this sacrilegious contract sought rather means to revenge her first husband's death, than to please this new lechers humour. Wherefore she assayed by poison to effect her wish: and when that prevailed not, she gave a young daughter she had to Leander the tyrant's brother to wife, who loved her exceedingly, but with this condition that he should by some practice or other work the death and destruction of his brother: Which indeed he performed, for he so bribed one of the grooms of the tyrant's chamber, that by his help he soon rid wicked Tymocrates out of the way by a speedy & deserved death. But to abridge these long discourses, let us look into all times and ages and to the histories of all countries and nations, and we shall find that tyrants have ever co●● to one destruction or other. Diomedes the Thracian king fed his horses with man's flesh as with provender, 
Plut. in Dion.  but was made at last provender for his own horses himself by Hercules. Calippus the Athenian that slew Diana his familiar friend, and deposed Dionysius the Tyrant, and committed many other murders among the people, was first banished Rheginum, and then living in extreme necessity, 
Philip. Melanct. lib. 3. Valemar.  slain by Leptines and Polyserchon. Clephes' the second king of the Lombardy's, for his savage cruelty towards his subjects was slaughtered by one of his friends. Damasippus that massacred so many citizens of Rome was cut off by Silla.  
Ecelinus that played the tyrant at Taurisium, gelding boys, deflowering maids, maiming Matrons of their dugs, cutting children out of their mother's bellies, and killing 1200 Patavians at once that were his friends, 
Sabel. lib. 8. c. 3.  was cut short in a battle. In a word if we read and consult histories of all countries and times, we shall find seldom or never any notorious Tyrant and oppressor of his subjects that came to any good end, but ever some notable judgement or other fell upon them.   

CHAP. XXIII. Of those that are both cruel and disloyal.  
NOw if it be a thing so unworthy and evil beseeming a Prince as nothing more, to be stained with the note of cruelty: how much more dishonourall is it, when with cruelty, disloyalty and falsehood is coupled? and when he is not ashamed not only to play the Tyrant but also the traitor, dissembler, and Hypocrite, to the end he may more freely pour out the foam of his rage against those that put confidence in him. This is one of the foulest and vilest blots that can be, wherewith the honour and reputation of a man is not only stained, but blasted and blotted out, not ever to be recovered: for what persuasion can one have of such? Or who is so fond as to put affiance in them?  

2. Sam. 18.  This was one of the notorious vices of king Saul, when maligning the prosperity of David, he cunningly promoted him to be general of his army, and married him to one of his daughters, to this end, that by exposing him to the hazards and perils of war, he might bring him to speedy destruction; seeking beside other unlawful means to put him to death by: but what was the end of this unjust murderer we have declared in the former chapter.  
But above all that by Treason and deceit made way unto their cruelty, 
Herodian.  the Emperor Antonius surnamed Caracalla, was the chief: who to revenge himself more at full upon the Citizens of Alexandria in Egypt, feign, as if he would come see their city, built by Alexander; and receive an Oracle from their God: which when he approached near unto, the Alexandrians prepared to entertain him most honourably: and being entered, he went first to visit their Temples, where to cast more colours upon his treachery he offered many sacrifices, and in the mean while perceiving the people gathered together from all quarters to bid him welcome, finding opportunity fitting his wicked and traitorous enterprise, be gave commandment that all the young men of the city should assemble together in one place, saying that he would acquaint them to range themselves in battle after the manner of the Macedonians, in honour of king Alexander. But whilst they thus assembled together in mirth and bravery, he making as though he would bring them in array by going up and down amongst them, and holding them in talk, his army enclosed them on all sides: then withdrawing himself with his guard he gave the watchword that they should rush upon them; which was performed with such outrage, that the poor credulous people being surprised at unawares were all most cruelly massacred. There might you see the most horrible, barbarous and incredible butchery of men that ever was heard of: for besides those that were actors in this bloody Tragedy, there were others that drew the slain bodies into great ditches, and very often haled in them that were scarce dead, yea and sometimes that were altogether alive, which was the cause that diverse soldiers perished at the same time, when those that having some strength of life left, being haled to the ditch, held so fast by the halers, that diverse times both fell in together. The blood that was shed at this massacre was so much, that the mouth of the river Nilus, and the sea shore were died with the streams thereof, that ran down by smaller rivers into those plain places. Furthermore being desirous to obtain a victory over the Parthians, that he might get himself fame and reputation thereby, he passed not at what rate he bought it: He sent therefore Ambassadors with letters and presents to the king of Parthia, to demand his daughter in marriage, though he never intended any such thing, and being nonsuited at the first with a denial, yet pursued he his counterfeit purpose with much earnestness: and with solemn oath protested his singular good affection and love that he bore unto her: so that in the end the match was condescended unto by all parties, whereof the Parthian people were not a little glad, in hope of so durable a peace which by this marriage was like to be established betwixt them. The king therefore with all his subjects being ready to entertain this new bridegroom, went out with one consent to meet him in the midway: their encounter was in a fair plain, where the Parthians having sent back their horses, being unarmed and prepared not for a day of battle, but of marriage and disport, gave him the most honourable welcome they could, but the wicked varlet finding opportunity so fit, set his armed soldiers upon the naked multitude, & hewed in pieces the most part of them: and had not the king with a few followers bestirred him well, he had been served with the like sauce. After which worthy exploit, 
Treason. lib. 2. cap. 3.  and bloody stratagem, he took his voyage backward, burning and spoiling the towns and villages as he went, till he arrived at Charam a city in Mesopotamia, where making his abode a while, he had a fancy to walk one day into the fields, and going apart from his company to unburden nature, attended upon by one only servant, as he was putting down his breeches, another of his company ran in and struck him through with his dagger. Thus God blessed the world by taking out of it this wicked Tyrant, who by treason and treachery had spilled so much innocent blood.  
Seturus Galba, another bird of the same feather, exercised no less perfidious cruelty upon the people of three cities in Lusitania, for he assembled them together in colour of providing for their common affairs: but when he had gotten them into his hands unarmed and weaponless, he took nine thousand of the flower of their youth, and partly committed them to the sword, and partly sold them for bondslaves.  
The disloyal and treacherous dealing of Stilico towards the Goths, how dear it cost him and all Italy beside, 
jornand. Paul. Aemil,  histories do sufficiently testify: for it fell out that the Goths (under the conduct of Allaricus) entered Italy with a puissant and fearful army, to know the cause why the Emperor Honorius withheld the pension which (by virtue of a league, and in recompense of their aid to the Empire in time of war) was due unto them: which by riper judgement and deliberation of the council was quieted: & to preserve their country from so imminent a tempest, 
Treason, lib. 2. cap. 3.  offer was made unto them of the Spaniards and Frenchmen, if they could recover them out of the hands of the Vandals, which usurped over them; so that incontinently they should take their journey over the Alps towards them, and departed their coasts. Which offer and gift the Goths accepting, did accordingly fulfil the condition, and passed away without committing any riot or any damage in their passages. But as they were upon mount Cinis making towards France, behold Stilico, Honorius his father in law (a man of a stirring, stubborn, and rash spirit) pursueth and chargeth them with battle unawares, and dreaming of nothing less: whereat they, being at the instant amazed, quickly gathered their spirits together, and putting themselves in defence, fought it out with such courage and eagerness, that the traitors army was wholly discomfited, and he himself with one of his sons slain. The Goths having gotten this victory, broke off their voyage to France, and turned their course back again to Italy, with purpose to destroy and spoil: And so they did, for they laid waste all the country of Piedmont and Lombary, and elsewhere, and besieged Rome itself: so that from that time Italy never ceased to be scourged and tormented with the Goths, for the space of eighteen years. Moreover, whosoever else have been found to follow the steps of these truce, peace, & promise breakers (void of truth and regard of reputation) always underwent worthy punishment for their unworthy acts, and fell headlong into confusion and ignominy, making themselves subjects worthy to be cursed & detested of all men.   

CHAP. XIIII. Of Queens that were Murderers.  
IF these and such like cruelties as we have spoken of before, be strange and monstrous for men, what shall we then say of wicked and bloody women, who (contrary to the nature of their sex) addict themselves to all violence and bloodshedding, as cursed jezabel Queen of Israel did; of whom sufficient hath been spoken before.  
Athaliah, Achabs' daughter, and wife to joram king of juda, was a bird of the same feather; for she was possessed with such a spirit of fury and rage, 
2. King. 11.  that after the death of her son Ochosias' (that died without issue) she put to death all the blood royal, to wit, the posterity of Nathan, salomon's brother, to whom by right of succession, the inheritance of the crown appertained; to the end, that she might install herself into the kingly diadem: after this cruel butchery of all the royal male children, except joas, who (by God's providence) was preserved alive, she usurped the crown and sceptre of juda full seven years; at the end of which date, joas was exalted to the crown, and she not only deposed, but slain by the hands of her guard that attended upon her.  
Brunchild (whom histories call Brunhault) a Queen of France by marriage, 
Aimon. Nic. Gil. vol. 1.  but a Spaniard by birth, was a woman that bred much mischief in her age, and that wrought many horrible and death-deserving crimes: for partly with her subtle devices, and partly with her own hands, she murdered ten kings of France one after another: she caused her husband to slay his own brother, she procured the death of her nephew Meroveus, whom against all equity and honesty, she had secondly espoused for her husband; for he being hated of his father for that vile incest, and perceiving himself in danger of taking, made one of his own servants thrust him through. After she had committed these and many other foul facts, she went about also to defraud Clotairius the son of Chilpericke of the right of the crown, which pertained unto him, and to thrust in another in the room: Whereupon arose great war, in the which as she dealt more boldly and manfully then the condition of her sex would bear, so she received the due wages of her brave and virtuous deeds, for she was taken prisoner with three of her nephews, whose throats she saw cut before her face, and after herself was set upon a camel, and led through the host three days together, every man reviling, mocking, reproaching, and despiting her: and at last by the award and judgement of the princes and captains of the army, she was adjudged to be tied by the hair of her head, one arm & one foot to the tail of a wild and untamed horse, and so to be left to his mercy to be drawn miserably to her destruction: which was no sooner executed, but her miserable carcase (the instrument of so many mischiefs) was with men's feet spurned, bruised, trampled, and wounded after a most strange fashion: and this was the woeful end of miserable Brunchild.  
Let every one both great and small learn by these examples to contain themselves within the limits of humanity, and not to be so ready and prompt to the shedding of human blood, knowing nothing to be more true than this, That he that smiteth with the sword, shall perish with the sword.   

CHAP. XV. Of such as without necessity or conference, upon every light cause, move war.  
AS in surgery, so in a commonwealth we must account war as a last refuge, and as it were, a desperate medicine, which without very urgent necessity, when all other means of maintaining our estate against the assaults of the enemy fail, ought not to be taken in hand: and indeed the chief scope and mark that all those that lawfully undertake war, 
Cic. Off. lib. 1.  aught to propound to themselves, should be nothing else, but the good and quiet of the commonwealth, with the peace and repose of every member thereof. And therefore so oft as any reasonable offers and conditions of peace are propounded, they ought to be accepted, to the end to avoid the mass of evils (as ruins, bloodsheds, robberies) which always accompany war as necessary attendants: for whosoever doth not so, but upon every light occasion runneth to arms, and to try the hazard of battle, they manifest their own foolish and pernicious rashness, and their small conscience in shedding human blood.  
Amongst the good kings of juda, josias for piety & zeal in the service of God, was most renowned; for he purged the realm from all dross of idolatry, repaired the decayed temple, and restored it to the first glory: and yet for all this, for committing this one crime, he lost his life; for as Nechao king of Egypt was passing with an army towards the king of Babylon in Charcamis beside Euphrates to bid him battle, he would needs encounter him by the way, 
2. Chron. 35.  and interrupt his journey by unprovoked war: yea though Nechao had by embassage assured him not to meddle with him, but entreated only free passage at his hand: yet would not josias in any wise listen (so opinionative and self-willed was he) but gave him battle in the field without any just cause, save his own pleasure, which turned to his pain: for he caught so many wounds at that skirmish, that shortly after he died of them, to ●he great grief of the whole people, and the Prophet Iere●●e also that lamented his death.  
King john of France (for refusing reasonable conditions of peace at the English men's hands) was overthrown by them two miles from Poitiers, with a great overthrow: 
Froiss. vol. 1. Nic. Gil. vol. 2.  for the Englishmen in regard of their own small number, and the huge multitude of the French to encounter with them, timorously offered up a surrender of all that they had either conquered, taken, or spoiled since their coming from Bourdeaux, and so to be sworn not to bear arms against him for seven years, so that they might quietly departed. But the king that crowed before the conquest, affying too much in the multitude of his forces, stopped his ears to all conditions, not willing to hear of any thing but war, war, even thinking to hue them in pieces, without one escaping: but it fell out otherwise, for the Englishmen entrenching themselves in a place of advantage, and hard of access, enclosed with thick hedges and brambles, disturbed and overthrew with their archers at the first onset the French horsemen, and wounded most of their men and horses with multitude of arrows: it tarried not long ere the footmen also were put to flight on the other side, & the whole army of threescore thousand men, by bare eight thousand English, discomfited: divers great lords were found slain in the field, and divers others with the king himself carried prisoners into England: which was a great shake to the whole Realm, and the occasion of many tumults and disorders that ensued afterwards.  
Moreover, as it is a rash part to hazard the doubtful event of battle indiscretely, and without cause, so it is a point of no less folly to thrust one's self voluntarily into any action of war without charge, not being particularly called and bound thereunto, or having a body unsufficient and unfit for the same. And this was also one of the warlike points of discipline, which the ancient Romans used; That none should presume to fight for his country, before he had been admitted by some captain by a solemn oath.  
Of all the histories that I ever read, I know none more strange in matter of war, than this which I now go about to recite, of Henry of Luxenbourge, Emperor of Germany, who when he heard that his son Charles king of Bohemia was in the French army, 
Froiss. vol. 1. Cap. 130.  and that Philip of Valois, king of France, was ready to give battle to the English, albeit he was blind, and consequently unfit for war, yet would needs take part with the French: And therefore commanded his men at arms to guide him into the place where the field was to be fought, that he might there strike one blow. They as foolish as himself, not willing to cross his mind, and fearing to lose him in the press, tied him fast to the rains of their bridles, being by this means so coupled together, as if they meant all to perish together if need were, as indeed they did, for they were overcome in battle, and the next day found all dead, horse and men, fast bound together. This accident befell at Crecy near Abrevile, in which journey the French king sustained an inestimable damage, for he lost fifteen of his chiefest princes, fourscore ensigns, twelve hundred knights, and about thirty thousand men.  
In the year 1455, the Hungarians without any just cause or pretence, 
Theatr. hist.  made war upon the Emperor Otto, only moved with a desire of bringing under their subjection the German powers, and the rather at this time, because they supposed the emperors strength of war to be weakened and his power of men lessened, by those continual troubles and wars which he had been daily occupied in: notwithstanding Otto, as by his former deeds of arms, he deserved the surname of Great, so in this exploit especially, for he conscribed eight legions of men out of Franconia, Bavaria, and Bohemia, and with that small valiant handful, overturned and destroyed the huge unchristened multitude of his enemies: for albeit the Bohemians being placed in the rearward, were as suddenly and unexpectedly assaulted by the enemy that craftily passed over the river Lycus to set upon them behind, as unhappily put to flight with the loss of the carriages and victuals, which they were set to protect; yet Otto with his other legions renewing the battle and encouraging his soldiers, gave the enemy such an encounter and repulse, that he put them to flight, and slew them with a miserable slaughter: three of their kings he took prisoners, and few of that vast army escaped with their lives. On the emperors side died many worthy men, among whom, Conrade the emperors son in law, and Burghard duke of Suevia were two, beside many other. In this successive battle it is to be noted above the rest, how religiously the Emperor both began and finished it: the day before the fight, he enjoined a fast in his army, and directed his prayers to the Almighty, relying more upon the presence of God's help, than his own power: After the conquest gotten, he caused solemn thanks to be given in all Churches to God for that great deliverance. I would our modern Generals and Captains would learn by this example to follow his footsteps, & not to make their prayers quaffings, and their thanksgivings carousing, as they use to do, even as it were purposely to tempt the Lord, and to stir up his wrath against them.  
Penda, king of middle England, 
Lanque●. Chron.  making war upon Anna king of East Angles, slew him in open field; with which victory being puffed up in pride, he sent defiance to Osway king of Northumberland also: who hearing of his approach, proffered him great gifts and fair conditions of peace, which when Penda obstinately refused, he was slain in battle with thirty of his most noble captains, although he had thrice the number of people which Osway had. And thus the heathen and bloody Pagan ended his cruelty, and paid dear for his too much forwardness in war.   

CHAP. XVI. Of such as please themselves overmuch in seeing cruelties.  
THe Romans were so accustomed by long use of war to behold fightings and bloodshed, that in time of peace also they would make themselves sports and pastimes therewith: for they would compel poor captives and bondslaves, either to kill one another by mutual blows, or to enter combat with savage and cruel beasts, to be torn in pieces by them. The first (according to Seneca 
Seneca. ) that devised and put in practise this unkindly combat of beasts and malefactors, was Pompey, who provided an army of eighteen Elephants to fight with men, and thought it a notable and commendable spectacle to put men to death after this new and strange fashion. Oh how men's minds are blinded with overmuch prosperity! he esteemed himself at that time to be higher in dignity than all other, when he thus threw to wild beasts, people of far countries, and in the presence of the people caused so much blood to be shed: but not long after, himself was betrayed by the treachery of the Alexandrians, & slain by a bondslave, (a just quittance for murdering so many of that condition:) thus much out of Seneca. Now it is manifest that this was an ordinary pastime among the Romans, albeit it is strange, that any pastime or pleasure could arise by seeing poor creatures interchangeably strike one another to death, and human blood to run like water along the streets.  
It was not then without cause, but by a special will of God to revenge cruelty, 
Flor.  that the bondslaves (conducted by Spartacus the fencer) rebelled against their masters in Rome, after they had broken through the guards of Lentulus his house, and issuing out of Capua, gathered together above ten thousand fight men, and encamped themselves in Mount Vesuvius, where being besieged by Clodius Glaber, they sallied so rudely and boisterously upon him, that the victory and spoil of their enemy's tents, remained on their sides: after this, they ran over all the land, foraged the country, and destroyed many villages and towns, but especially these four, Nola, Nocera, Terrenevae, and Metaponte, were by them sacked and spoiled with a strange and bloody overthrow: after all which, having encountered two Consuls, they overcame Lentulus on mount Apennine, and discomfited Gaius Cassius here Modene: all which victories and lucky proceed did so embolden & puff up the courage of captain Fencer, that he determined to give an alarm to Rome, and to lay siege unto it: but the Romans preparing and directing all their forces to withstand their practices, gave him & his crew so sore a repulse, that from Rome they were feign to fly to the uttermost borders of Italy, & there seeing themselves penned in on all sides, and driven to deep extremity, they gave so desperate an onset upon their enemies, that both their captain & they were all slain. And thus the Romans made jolly pastime with their fencers and bondslaves, and more (I think at this time) than they either looked or wished for: for four hundred of them being taken by the bondmen, were enforced to show them pastime at the same game, 
Oros. lib. 5. c. 24.  whereat they had often times made themselves merry at their costs, and to kill one another, as they had beforetime caused them to do.  
How curious and desirous the people of Rome was wont to be of beholding these bloody and mischieivous games, 
Cornel. Tacit. Annal. lib. 4.  Cornelius Tacitus in the fourth book of his Annals declareth at large: where he reporteth, That in the city of the Fidenauts (in the twelfth year of the reign of Tiberius) the people being gathered together to behold the fencer's prizes, were fifty thousand of them hurt and maimed at one time by the Amphitheatre that fell upon them: ● cruel pastime indeed, and a strange accident, not coming by adventure (as some suppose) but by the just vengeance of God, to suppress such pernicious and uncivil sports. The same story is registered by Paulus Orosius in his seventh book, with this adjection, That at that time were slain more than twenty thousand persons.  
I can not pass over in silence two notable and memorable histories of two lions, 
Senec. lib. 1. de benefic.  recorded by two famous Authors, Seneca the one, and Aulus Gellius the other. The first of whom reporteth, that he saw on the Theatre, a lion, who seeing a slave that sometimes had been his keeper thrown among the beasts to be devoured, acknowledged him and defended him from their teeth, and would not suffer any of them to do him hurt. 
Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 5. c. 14.  The second bringeth the testimony of one Appianus, that affirmed himself to have seen at Rome a lion, who for old acquaintance sake which he had with a condemned servant, fawned upon him, and cleared him in like manner from the fury of the other beasts; the history was this:  
A certain bondslave, too roughly handled by his master, forsook him, and fled away, and in his flight retiring into a desert, and not knowing how to bestow himself, took up a cave for his lodging, where he had not long abode, but a mighty lion came halting to his den, with a sore and bloody leg: the poor slave all foregone at this strange and ugly sight, looked every minute to be devoured, but the lion in another mood came fawningly and softly towards him, as if he would complain unto him of his grief: whereat (somewhat heartened) he bethought himself to apply some medicine to his wound, and to bind up the sore as well as he could, which he had no sooner done, but the lion made out for his prey, and ere long returning, brought home to his host and surgeon certain gobbets of raw flesh, which he half roasting upon a rock by the sun beams, made his daily sustenance, for the time of his abode there: notwithstanding at length wearied with this odd & savage life, and hating to abide long in that estate, he forsook the desert, and put himself again to adventure: now it chanced, that he was taken by his old master, and carried from Egypt to Rome, to the end to be an actor in those beastly tragedies, but by good chance his old patiented the lion (taken also since his departure, being ready amongst other beasts to play his part) knew him by and by, and ran unto him, fawning and making much of him: the people wondering at this strange accident, after inquiry made of the cause thereof, gave him the Lion and caused him to lead him in a string through the city for a miracle: for indeed both this and the former deserve no other name. Thus God reproveth the savage inhumanity of men, by the example of the wild and furious beasts, at whose teeth poor servants found more favour, than at their master's hands.  
The Emperor Constantine, weighing the indignity of these and such like pastimes, and knowing how far they ought to be banished from the society of men, by a public edict abolished all such bloody and monstrous spectacles. In like manner these monomachies and single combats performed in places enclosed for the purpose, wherein one at the least if not both must of necessity die, aught to be abrogated in a Christian policy, as by the Laterane council it was well enacted with this penalty, That whosoever should in that manner be slain, his body should be deprived of Ecclesiastical burial: and truly most commonly it cometh to pass, that they that presuming most upon their own prowess and strength, are most forward in offering combat, either lose their lives, or gain discredit, which is more grievous than death.   

CHAP. XVII. Of such as exercise too much rigour and Severity.  
furthermore we must understand, that God doth not only forbid murder and bloodshed, but also all tyranny and oppression, therein providing for the weak against the strong, the poor against the rich, and bondslaves against their masters: to the end, that none might be trodden under foot and oppressed of others, under pain of his indignation. Insomuch therefore as the Romans used such rigour towards their servants, it came to pass by a just judgement of God, that they being lords over all the world, were three sundry times driven by their servants into great extremities. As first in Rome within the walls, at the same time when they also were troubled with the seditious factions of their tribunes. Secondly in Sicily, where they horribly laid waste the whole country▪ the cause of which commotion was, because the Romans had chained a multitude of slaves together; and in that order sent them to manure & till the ground: for a certain Sirian first assembled two thousand men of them that came next hand, then breaking up the prisons, multiplied his army to forty thousand, and with them pulled down castles, razed up towns, & destroyed every where. The third undertaken by a shepherd, who having killed his master, set at liberty all the bondmen, and prepared an army of them, wherewith he spoilt cities, towns, & castles, & discomfited the armies of Seru●lius and Lucullus, who were praetors at that time: but at last they were destroyed and rooted out by little and little: and this good service got the Romans at their servants hands.  
As every nation hath his proper virtue and vice ascribed to it, so the Spaniards for their part are noted famous for cruelty towards their subjects and vassals, insomuch that (as experience in many witnesseth) they are intolerable in that kind: for which cause they have borne the mark of God's justice, for their rigorous & barbarous handling of the poor west Indians, whom they have brought to that extremity by putting them to such excessive travels in digging their mines of gold (as namely in the island Hispagnola) that the most part by sighs and tears wish by death to end their miseries: 
Bonzoni. Milan. of the new world.  many (first killing their children) have desperately hung themselves on high trees: some have thrown themselves headlong from steep mountains, and others cast themselves into the sea to be rid of their troubles: but the tyrants have never escaped scotfree, but came always to some miserable end or other: for some of them were destroyed by the inhabitants, others slew one another with their own hands, provoked by insatiable avarice, some have been drowned in the sea, and others starved in the desert; in fine, few escaped unpunished.  
Bombadilla, one of the governors of Hispagnola, after he had swayed there awhile, and enriched himself by the sweat and charge of the inhabitants, was called home again into Spain: whitherward (according to the commandment received) as he embarked himself, shipping with him so much treasure as in value amounted to more than an hundred and fifty thousand ducats, beside many pieces and grains of gold, which he carried to the Spanish queen for a present, whereof one weighed three thousand ducats: there arose such a horrible and outrageous tempest in the broad sea, and beat so violently against his ships, that four and twenty vessels were shivered in pieces and drowned at that blow; there perished Bombadilla himself with most of his captains, and more than five hundred Spaniards, that thought to return full rich into the country, and became with all their treasures a prey unto the fishes.  
In the year of our Lord 1541, the eight day of September, 
●he same author.  there chanced in the city Suatimala which (lieth in the way from Nicaragna Westward) a strange and admirable judgement. After the death of Auarado, who subdued this province, and founded the city, and was but a little before slain in fight, it reigned so strangely and vehemently all this whole day and night, that of a sudden so huge a deluge and flood of waters overflowed the earth, streaming from the bottom of the mountains into the lower grounds, with such violence, that stones of incredible bigness were carried with it; which tumbling strongly downwards, bruised and burst in pieces whatsoever was in their way. In the mean while there was heard in the air fearful cries and voices, and a black cow was seen running up & down in the midst of the water, that did much hurt. The first house that was overthrown by this tempest, was dead Auarados, wherein his widow (a very proud woman that held the government of the whole province in her hand, and had before despited God for her husband's death) was slain with all her household, and in a moment the city was either drowned or subverted: there perished in this tempest of men and women, six score persons: but they that at the beginning of the flood fled, saved their lives. The morrow after the waters were surceased, one might see the poor Spaniards lie along the fields, some maimed in their bodies, other with broken arms or legs, or otherwise miserably wounded. And thus did God revenge he monstrous Spanish cruelties exercised upon those poor people, whom in stead of enticing by fair and gentle means to the knowledge of the true God & his son Christ, they terrified by extraordinary tyranny (for such is the Spanish nature) making them think that Christians were the cruelest and most wicked men of the earth.   

CHAP. XVIII. Of Adulterers.  
IT followeth by the order of our subject, now to touch the transgressions of the third commandment of the second. Table, which is, Thou shalt not commit Adultery; In which words, as also in many other texts of Scripture, Adultery is forbidden, & grievous threatenings denounced against all those that defiling their bodies with filthy and unpure actions, estrange themselves from God, and conjoin themselves to whores and ribauds.  
This sin did the Israelites commit with the women of Midian, by means whereof, they were to follow strange gods, & to fall into God's heavy displeasure, who by a cruel plague destroyed 24 thousand of them for the same sin. And forasmuch as the Madianites (through the wicked and pernicious counsel of Balaam) did lay this snare for them, & were so villainous and shameless, as to prostitute, and be bawds unto their own wives; therefore they were by the express commandment of God discomfited, their kings & false prophets with all their men & women, except only their unpolluted virgins, that had known no man, slain: and all their cities & dwellings, burned and consumed to ashes. As every one ought to have regard and care to their honesty, so maids especially, whose whole credit and reputation, hangeth thereupon; for they that make no account thereof, but suffer themselves to be polluted with any filthiness, draw upon them not only most vile infamy, but also many great miseries: as is proved by the daughter of Hippomenes prince of Athens, who being a whore, her father shut up in a stable with a wild horse, giving him no provender, nor other meat to eat, that the horse (naturally furious enough, but more enraged by famine) might tear her in pieces, and with her carcase, refresh his hunger, as he did. Pontius Aufidian, understanding that his daughter had been betrayed & sold into a lechers hands, by a slave of his that was her schoolmaster, put them both to death. In like manner served Pub. Attilius, Falisque his daughter that fell into the same infamy. Vives reporteth, that in our father's days, 
Lud. Vives.  two brothers of Arragon perceiving their sister (whom they ever esteemed for honest) to be with child, (hiding their displeasure until her delivery was passed) came in suddenly, and stabbed her into the belly with their daggers, till they killed her, in the presence of a sage matron that was witness to their deed. The same author saith, That when he was a young man, there were three in the same country, that conspired the death of a companion of theirs, that went about to commit this villainy, & as they conspired, so they performed it, strangling him to death with a napkin, as he was going to his filthiness. As for adulterers, examples are infinite, both of their wicked lives and miserable ends. In which number, many of them may be scored, that making profession of a single life, and undertaking the vow of chastity, show themselves notwithstanding monstrous knaves & ribauds, as many of the Popes themselves have done. 
Petr. praemonst.  As we read of john the eleventh, bastard son to Lando his predecessor, who by means of his adulteries with Theodora then governess of Rome came by degrees to the Papacy, so he passed the blessed time of his holy popeship with this virtuous dame, to whom he served in stead of a common horse to satisfy her insatiable & disordinate lust: but the good & holy father was at last taken and cast in prison, and there smothered to death with a pillow. Benedict the eleventh, dining on a time with an Abboresse his familiar, 
●al.  was poisoned with certain figs that he eat. Clement the fift, was reported to be a common bawd, & a protector of whores; he went apart into avignon, & there stayed of purpose to do nothing but whore hunt: he died in great torment of the bloody flux, pleurisy, and grief of the stomach.   

CHAP. XIX. Of Rapes.  
NOw if adultery which with liking and consent of parties is committed, be condemned, how much more grievous and heinous is the offence, and more guilty the offender, when with violence the chastity of any is assailed, and enforced? This was the sin wherewith Sichem the son of Hemor the Levit is marked in holy scripture, for he ravished Dina, Jacob's daughter, 
Gen.  for which cause Simeon and Lui her brethren revenged the injury done done unto their sister upon the head of not only him and his father, but all the males that were in the city, by putting them to the sword. It was a custom among the Spartans & Messenians during the time of peace betwixt them, to send yearly to one another certain of their daughters to celebrate certain feasts and sacrifices that were amongst them, now in continuance of time it chanced that fifty of the Lacedaemonian Virgins being come to those solemn feasts, were pursued by the Messenian gallants to have their pleasures of them: but they jointly making resistance, and fight for their honesties, strove so long, not one yielding themselves a prey into their hands, till they all died: whereupon arose so long & miserable a war, that all the country of Messena was destroyed thereby. Aristoclides a Tyrant of Orchomenus a city of Arcadia fell enamoured with a maid of Stymphalis: who seeing her father by him slain because he seemed to stand in his purposes light, fled to the Temple of Diana to take Sanctuary, neither could once be plucked from the image of the goddess until her life was taken from her: but her death so incensed the Arcadians that they fell to arms & sharply revenged her cruel injury. Appius a Roman a man of power and authority in the city, 
●●us Livius.  inflamed with the love of a Virgin whose father hight Virginius, would needs make her his servant, to the end to abuse her the more freely, & whilst he endeavoured with all his power and policy to accomplish his immoderate lust, her father slew her with his own hands, more willing to prostitute her to death, than to so foul an opprobry and disgrace: but every man provoked and stirred up with the woefulness of the event, with one consent pursued, apprehended, and imprisoned the foul lecher, who fearing the award of a most shameful death, killed himself to prevent a further mischief.  
In the year of our Lord 1271 under the reign of the Emperor Rodolphe, 
Nic. Gil. vol. 1.  the Sicilians nettled and enraged with the horrible whoredoms, adulteries & Rapes, which the Garrisons that had the government over them committed, not able to endure any longer their insolent & outrageous demeanour, entered a secret & common conspiracy upon a time appointed for the purpose, which was on Easter sunday at the shutting in of the evening, to set upon them with one accord, and to murder so many as they could: as they did, for at that instant they massacred so many throughout the whole island, that of all the great multitude there survived not one to bear tidings or bewail the dead. At Naples it chanced in the King's palace, 
B●mb. lib. 3. hist. Venet.  as young King Frederick, Ferdinand's son, entered the privy chamber of the Queen his mother, to salute her and the other Ladies of the court, that the Prince of Bissenio weighting in the outward chamber for his return, was slain by one of his own servants that suddenly gave him with his sword three deadly strokes in the presence of many beholders, which deed, he confessed that he had watched three years to perform, in regard of an injury done unto his sister, and in her to him, 
Benzoni. Milan. of the new found land.  whom he ravished against her will. The Spaniards that first took the Isle Hispaniola were for their whoredoms and Rapes whhich they committed upon the wives and Virgins, all murdered by the inhabitants.  
The inhabitants of the Province Cumana, when they saw the beastly outrage of the Spanish nation, 
The same author.  that lay along their coasts to fish for pearl, in forcing and ravishing (without difference) their women young and old, set upon them upon a Sunday morning, with all their force, and slew all that ever they found by the sea coasts Westward, till there remained not one alive: And the fury of the rude uncivil people was so great that they spared not the Monks in their cloisters, but cut their throats as they were mumbling their Masses; burnt up the Spanish houses, both religious and private, burst in pieces their bells, drew about their Images, hurled down their crucifixes and cast them in disgrace and contempt overthwart their streets to be trodden upon, nay they destroyed whatsoever belonged unto them, to their very dogs and hens, and their own Countrymen that served them in any service whether religious or other, they spared not, they beat the earth and cursed it with bitter curses; because it had upholden such wicked and wretched caitiffs. Now the report of this massacre was so fearful and terrible that the Spaniards which were in Cubagna doubted much of their lives also: and truly not without great cause, for if the Indians of the Continent had been furnished and provided with sufficient store of barks, they had passed even into that Island, and had served them with the same sauce, which their fellows were served with: for they wanted not will, but ability to do it. And these are the goodly fruits of their adulteries and Rapes, which the Spanish nation hath reaped in their new found land.  
The great calamity and overthrow which the Lacedæmonians endured at Leuctria, wherein their chiefest strength and powers were weakened and consumed, was a manifest punishment of their inordinate lust committed upon two Virgins, 
●i. Mel. lib. 2.  whom after they had ravished in that very place they cut in pieces and threw them into a pit, and when their father came to complain him of the villainy, they made so light account of his words that in stead of redress he found nothing but reproach, and derision, so that with grief he slew himself upon his daughter's sepulchre: but how grievously the Lord revenged this injury, histories do sufficiently testify, and that Leuctrias' calamity doth bear witness.  

Pausan. lib. 2.  Brias a Grecian captain being received into a Citizen's house as a guest, forced his wife by violence to his lust: but when he was asleep, to revenge her wrong she put out both his eyes: and afterward complained to the citizens also, who deprived him of his office and cast him out of their city.  
Macrinus the Emperor punished two soldiers that ravished their hostess on this manner: he shut them up in an ox's bowels with their heads out, and so partly with famishment, and partly with worms, and rottenness, they consumed to death.  

johan magnus.  Rodericus king of the Goths in Spain forced an Earl's daughter to his lust, for which cause her father brought against him an army of Saracens, and Moors, and not only slew him with his son, but also quite extinguished the Gothicke kingdom in Spain, in this war, and upon this occasion seven hundred thousand men perished, as histories record, and so a kingdom came to ruin by the perverse lust of one lecher, Anno 714.  
At the sacking and destruction of Thebes by king Alexander, a Thracian captain which was in the Macedonian army took a noble Matron prisoner, called Tymoclea, whom when by no persuasion of promises he could entice to his lust, he constrained by force to yield unto it: 
Plut. in vita. Alexand. Sabel. lib. 5. c. 6.  but this noble minded woman invented a most witty & subtle shift both to rid herself out of his hands and to revenge his injury: she told him that she knew where a rich treasure lay hid in a deep pit whether when with greediness of the gold he hastened, & standing upon the brink pried and peared into the bottom of it, she thrust him with both her hands into the hole, and tumbled stones after him that he might never find means to come forth: for which fact she was brought before Alexander to have justice, who demanding her what she was, she answered that Theagenes who led the Theban army against the Macedonians, was her brother: Alexander perceiving the marvelous constancy of the woman, and knowing the cause of her accusation to be unjust; manumitted and set her free with her whole family.  
When Cn. Manlius having conquered the Gallogrecians, pitched his army against the Tectosages (people of Narbonia towards the Piren mountains) amongst other prisoners, a very fair woman wife to Orgiagous Regulus was in the custody of a Centurion, that was both lustful and covetous: 
Liuiu●. lib. 38.  This lecher tempted her first with fair persuasions, and seeing her unwilling, compelled her with violence to yield her body, as a slave to fortune, so to infamy and dishonour: after which act somewhat to mitigate the wrong, he gave her promise of release and freedom, upon condition of a certain sum of money; and to that purpose sent her servant that was captive with her to her friends to purvey the same: which he bringing, the Centurion alone with the wronged lady, met him at a place appointed, and whilst he weighed the money, by her counsel was murdered of her servants: so she escaping carried to her husband both his money, and threw at his feet the villains head that had spoiled her of her chastity.  
Andrea's king of Hungary having undertaken the voyage into Syria for the recovety of the holy land, together with many other kings and Princes, committed the charge of his kingdom and family to one Bannebanius, 
Chronica Hungariae.  a wise and faithful man, who discharged his office as faithfully as he took it willingly upon him: now the Queen had a brother called Gertrude that came to visit and comfort his sister in her husband's absence, and by that means sojourned with her a long time, even so long till he fell deadly in love with Bannebanus lady, a fair & virtuous woman, & one that was thought worthy to keep company with the Queen continually: to whom when he had unfolded his suit, and received such steadfast repulse that he was without all hope of obtaining his desire, he began to droop and pine, until the Queen his sister perceiving his disease, found this perverse remedy for the cure thereof: she would often give him opportunity of discourse, by withdrawing herself from them being alone, and many times leave them in secret and dangerous places, of purpose that he might have his will of her, but she would never consent unto his lust, and therefore at last, when he saw no remedy, he constrained her by force, and made her subject to his will against her will: which vile disgraceful indignity when she had suffered, she returned home sad and melancholy, and when her husband would have embraced her, she fled from him, ask him if he would embrace a whore, and related unto him her whole abuse, desiring him either to rid her from shame by death, or to revenge her wrong & make known unto the world the injury done unto her. There needed no more spurs to prick him forward for revenge, he posteth to the court, and upbraiding the Queen with her ungrateful and abominable treachery, runneth her through with his sword, and taking her heart in his hand, proclaimeth openly that it was not a deed of inconsideration, but of judgement, in recompense of the loss of his wives chastity: forthwith he flieth towards the King his Lord, that now was at Constantinople, and declaring to him his fact, and showing to him his sword besmeared with his wives blood, submitteth himself to his sentence either of death in rigour, or pardon in compassion: but the good King inquiring the truth of the cause, though grieved with the death of his wife, yet acquit him of the crime, and held him in as much honour and esteem as ever he did, condemning also his wife as worthy of that which she had endured, for her unwomanlike and traitorous part. A notable example of justice in him, and of punishment in her, that forgetting the law of womanhood and modesty, made herself a bawd unto her brother's lust: whose memory as it shall be odious and execrable, so his justice deserveth to be engraven in marble with characters of gold.  
Equal to this king in punishing a Rape, was Otho the first, 
Albert. Krant. lib. 3.  for as he passed through Italy with an army, a certain woman cast herself down at his feet for justice against a villain that had spoiled her of her chastity; who deferring the execution of the law till his return, because his haste was great, the woman asked who should then put him in mind thereof, he answered, This church which thou seest shall be a witness betwixt me and thee, that I will then revenge thy wrong. Now when he had made an end of his warfare, in his return, as he beheld the church, he called to mind the woman and caused her to be fetched, who falling down before him desired now pardon for him whom before she had accused, seeing he had now taken her to wife, & redeemed his injury with sufficient satisfaction: Not so I swear (quoth Otho) your compacting shall not infringe, or collude the sacred ● but he shall die for his former fault, and so he caused hi● be put to death. A notable example for them that after they have committed filthiness with a maid, think it no sin, but competent amends, if they take her in marriage whom they abused before in fornication.  
Nothing inferior to these in punishing this sin, was Gonzaga duke of Ferrara, as by this history following may appear: in the year 1547 a citizen of Comun, 
Theat. histor.  was cast into prison upon an accusation of murder, whom to deliver from the judgement of death, his wife wrought all means possible, therefore coming to the captain that held him prisoner, she sued to him for her husband's life, who upon condition of her yielding to his lust and payment of 200 ducats, promised safe deliverance for him: the poor woman seeing that nothing could redeem her husband's life, but loss & shipwreck of her own honesty, told her husband, who willed her to yield to the captains desire, & not to pretermit so good an occasion, wherefore she consented: but after the pleasure past, the traitorous and wicked captain put her husband to death notwithstanding: which injury when she complained to Gonzaga duke of Ferrara, he caused the captain first to restore back her 200 dukats, with an addition of 700 crowns, & secondly to marry her to his wife, and lastly, when he hoped to enjoy her body, to be hanged for his treachery. O noble justice, and comparable to the worthiest deeds of antiquity, and deserving to be held in perpetual remembrance!  
As these before mentioned excelled in punishing this sin, so this fellow following excelled in committing it, and in being punished for it; 
Theat. histor.  his name is Novellus Cararius Lord of Pavia, a man of note and credit in the world for his greatness, but of infamy and discredit for his wickedness. This man after many cruel murders and bloody practices, which he exercised in every place where he came, fell at last into this notorious, and abominable crime: for lying at Vincentia he fell in love with a young maid of excellent beauty but more ●ent honesty, an honest citizen's daughter, whom he ●anded her Parents to send unto him, that he might have his pleasure of her: but when they regarding their credit, and she her chastity, more than the Tyrant's command, refused to come; he took her violently out of their house, and constrained her body to his lust; and after to add cruelty to villainy, chopped her into small pieces, and sent them to her Parents in a basket for a present: wherewith her poor father astonished, carried it to the Senate, who sent it to Venice, desiring them to consider the fact, and to revenge the cruelty. The Venetians undertaking their defence, made war upon the Tyrant, and besieging him in his own city, took him at last prisoner, and hanged him with his two sons Francis and William.  
Diocles, son of Pisistratus, Tyrant of Athens, for ravishing a maid, 
Lanquet.  was slain by her brother; whose death when Hippias his brother undertook to revenge, and caused the maiden's brother to be racked, that he might discover the other conspirators, he named all the tyrant's friends (which by commandment being put to death) the Tyrant asked whither there were any more; none but only thyself (quoth he) whom I would wish next to be hanged, whereby it was perceived how abundantly he had revenged his sister's chastity, by whose notable stomach all the Athenians being put in remembrance of their liberty, expelled their tyrant Hippias out of their city.  
Mundus a young Gentleman of Rome, 
Lanquet. chron.  ravished the chaste Matron Paulina in this fashion: when he perceived her resolution not to yield unto his lust, he persuaded the priests of Isis to say that they were warned by an Oracle, how that Anubius the god of Egypt, desired the company of the said Paulina: to whom the chaste Matron gave light credence, both because she thought the Priests would not lie, and also because it was accounted a great renown to have to do with a god: and thus by this means was Paulina abused by Mundus in the temple of Isis, under the name of Anubius, which thing being after disclosed by Mundus himself, was thus justly revenged; the Priests were put to death, the temple beaten down to the ground, the image of Isis thrown into Tiber, and the young men banished.  
In the year of our Lord 955 Edwine succeeding his uncle Eldred was king of England: 
Lanquet.  This man was so impudent that in the very day of his Coronation, he suddenly withdrew himself from his lords, and in sight of certain persons, ravished his own kinswoman, the wife of a Nobleman of his realm, and afterward slew her husband, that he might have unlawful use of her beauty: for which act he became so odious to his subjects and nobles, that they jointly rose against him, and deprived him of his crown, when he had reigned four years.   

CHAP. XX. Other examples of God's judgements upon Adulterers.  
AMongst all other things this is especially to be noted, how God (for a greater punishment of the disordinate lust of men) struck them with a new (yet filthy and stinking) kind of disease, called the French pocks; though indeed the Spaniards were the first that were infected therewith, by the heat which they caught among the women of the new found lands, 
Paulus iovius. Ben. b.  & sowed the seeds thereof first in Spain, and from thence sprinkled Italy therewith, where the Frenchmen caught it, when Charles the eight their king went against Naples; 
Guicciardine.  from whence the contagion spread itself throughout divers places of Europe. Barbary was so overgrown with it, that in all their cities the tenth part escaped not untouched, nay almost not a family but was infected. From thence it ran to Egypt, Syria, and to the great Cair; and it may nearhand truly be said, that there was not a corner of the habitable world, where this not only new and strange (for it was never heard of in ancient ages) but terrible and hideous scourge of God's wrath stretched not itself. They that were spotted with it, and had it rooted in their bodies, led a languishing life full of aches and torments, and carried in their visages filthy marks of unclean behaviour, as ulcers, boils, and such like, that greatly disfigured them. And herein we see the words of S. Paul verified, 
1. Cor. 6.18.  That an Adulterer sinneth against his own body. Now for so much as the world is so brutishly carried into this sin, as to none more, the Lord therefore hath declared his anger against it in divers sorts, so that divers times he hath punished it in the very act, or not long after, by a strange death. 
Sabell.  Of which Alcibiades, one of the great captains of Athens, may stand for an example, who being polluted with many great and odious vices, and much given to his pleasures, and subject to all uncleanness, ended his life in the midst thereof: for as he was in company of a Phrygian strumpet (having flown thither to the king of Persia for shelter) was notwithstanding set upon by certain guards, which the king (induced by his enemies) sent to slay him; but they though in number many, through the conceived opinion of his notable valour, durst not apprehend him at hand, but set fire to the house, standing themselves in arms round about it to receive him if need were: He seeing the fire, leapt through the midst of it, and so long defended himself amongst them all till strength failed in himself, and blows increasing upon him constrained him to give up his life amongst them.  
Pliny telleth of Cornelius Gallus and Q. Elerius, 
Pliny. lib. 7.  two Roman knights that died in the very action of filthiness.  
Theodebert, the eldest son of Clotharius, 
Mich. Rit. Neap.  died amidst his whores, to whom he was (though married) too too much addicted. The like befell one Bertrane Ferrier, 
Lib. de obedi.  at Barselon in Spain, according to the report of Pontanus. In like manner there was one Giachet Geneue of Saluces, 
Fulgos. lib. 9 cap. 12.  a man that had both wife and children of his own, of good years, well learned and of good esteem amongst his neighbour citizens, that secretly haunted the company of a young woman; with whom being coupled one evening in his study he suddenly died: his wife and children seeing his long tarriance, when time required to go to bed, called him and knocked at his door very hard, but when no answer was made, they broke open the doors that were locked on the inner side, and found him (to their great grief and dismay) lying upon the woman stark dead, and her dead also.  
Claudius' of Asses, counsellor of the Parliament of Paris (a man very evil affected towards the professors of the Gospel) committed villainy with one of his weighting maids, in the very midst whereof he was taken with an apoplexy, which immediately after made an end of him.   

CHAP. XXI. Showing that Stues ought not to be suffered amongst Christians.  
BY this which hath been spoken it appeareth manifestly, how infamous a thing it is among Christians to privilege and allow public places for adulteries, albeit it is a common thing in the greatest cities of Europe, yea and in the very bowels of Christendom, where no such villainy should be tolerated. There is nothing that can cast any colour of excuse upon it, seeing it is expressly contrary to God's edict in many places, as first: Thou shalt not commit Adultery. And in the 19 of Leuit. 29. Thou shalt not pollute thy daughter in prostituting her to be a whore, lest the land be defiled with whoredom, and filled with wickedness. And in Deut. 23.17. Let there be no whore of the daughters of Israel, neither a whorekeeper of the sons of Israel: this is the decree of God, and the rule which he hath given us to square our affections by, and it admitteth no dispensation. But some do object that those things are tolerated to avoid greater mischiefs: as though the Lord were not well advised when he gave forth those commandments, or that mortal men had more discretion than the immortal God. This truly is nothing else but to reject and disannul that which Saint Paul requireth as a duty of all Christians: 
Ephes. 5.  namely, That fornication and all uncleanness should not once be named amongst us, neither filthiness, foolish talking, or jesting, which are things not comely; for so much as no whoremonger, nor unclean person can have any inheritance in the kingdom of God. 
Dial 3.  Plato the Philosopher, though a Panym and ignorant of the knowledge of the true God, forbade expressly in his Commonwealth, Poets and Painters to represent or set to the view any unclean and lascivious counterfeit, whereby good manners might be any ways depraved. 
Lib. 7. cap. 7.  Aristotle following his masters steps ordained in his Politics, That all filthy communication should be banished out of his city. How far were they then from giving leave and liberty for filthy and stinking brothelhouses to be erected and maintained? In this therefore the very Heathen are a shame and reproach to those that call themselves Christians and Catholics. Besides, the goodly reason which they allege for their upholding of their stews is so far from the truth, that the contrary is ever truer, namely that by their odious and dishonest liberty more evil ariseth to the world, than otherwise would, in so much as it setteth open a wide door to all dissoluteness and whoredoms, & an occasion of lechery and uncleanness even to those that otherwise would abstain from all such filthy actions. How many young folk are there, aswell men as women, that by this means give themselves over to looseness, and undo themselves utterly? how many murders are, have been, and still will be committed thereby? What a disorder, confusion, and ignomy of nature is it, for a father to lie with her with whom his son had been but a little before? Or the son to come after the father? and such like: but by the just judgement of God it cometh to pass that that which is thought to be enclosed within the precincts of certain appointed places, spreadeth itself at large so far, that oftentimes whole streets and cities are poisoned; yea even their houses, who in regard of their place either in the law or policy, aught to stop the stream of such vices: nay which is more marvel, they that with open mouth vaunt themselves to be God's lieutenants on earth, Christ's vicar's, and successors to his Apostles, are so filthy and abominable, as to suffer public bawds and whores to be under their noses uncontrolled; and which is more, to enrich their treasures by their traffic. Cornelius Agrippa saith, that of all the hee-bauds of his time, Pope Sextus was most infamous, for he builded a most glorious and stately Stues (if any state or glory can abide in so bad a place) aswell for common Adultery, as unnatural Sodomy, to be exercised in. He used (as Heliogabalus was wont to do) to maintain herds of whores with whom he participated his friends and servants as they stood in need; and by Adulteries reared yearly great revenues into his purse. Baleus saith, that at this day every whore in Rome pays tribute to the Pope, a julle, which amounted then to twenty thousand dukats by the year at least, but now the number is so increased that it ariseth to forty thousand. I think there is none ignorant how Pope Paul the third had by computation five and forty thousand whores and courtesans, that paid him a monthly tribute for their whoredoms; and thus also this holy father was a protector and upholder of the Stues, and deserved by his villainous behaviour (for he was one of the lewdest Adulterers of that time) to bear the name of the master and erector of these filthy places: And herein both he and the rest of that crew have showed themselves enemies to God, and true Antichrists indeed, and have not only imitated, but far surpassed shameless and wicked Caligula in all filthy and monstrous dealings. 
Deut. 23.  Thou shalt not (saith Moses) bring the hire of a whore into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: by what title then can these honest men exact so great a rent from their whorish tenants, seeing it is by the law of God a thing so abominable? truly it can no otherwise be but a kind of art of bawdry, as may be gathered out of the law which is in F. de ritu nuptius: L. palam. Qui habet mancipia, etc. the meaning whereof is, That he which for gain prostituteth his slaves to the lust of men, and draweth thereby commodity to himself, is a bawd: He is also stained with infamy by the law Athletas, that partaketh the gain or wages of a whore. How much more than is that law of justinian to be commended which commandeth all whores to be banished out of the confines of Cities and Commonwealths? 
Socrates lib. 5. cap. 18. Eccles. histor.  It was also a worthy and memorable act of Theodesius when he rooted the Stues out of Rome; and of Saint Lewis king of France that pulled down the Stues at Paris, and chased away as near as he could, all lose and whorish women from his dominions. 
Cornel. Tacitus.  The ancient Romans permitted no woman to become an open whore, before she had made a formal declaration of her intent before the Aediles; thinking by this means to quench their hot lust, because they would be ashamed to make such an open confession. And by a decree of the Senate it was enacted that no woman coming of gentle stock should be suffered to give herself over to this trade, it being a stain and blot to true Nobility.   

CHAP. XXII. Of whoredoms committed under colour of Marriage.  
SEeing that oftentimes it falleth out that those which in show seem most honest, think it a thing lawful to converse together as man and wife by some secret and private contract, without making account of the public celebration of marriage as necessary, but for some worldly respects according as their foolish and disordinate affections mispersuadeth them, to dispense therewith: It shall not be impertinent as we go, to give warning how unlawful all such conversation is, and how contrary to good manners, and to the laudable customs of all civil and well governed people. For it is so far from deserving the name of marriage, that on the other side it can be nothing but plain whoredom and fornication: 
Lib. de pudi.  the which name and title Tertullian giveth to all secret and privy meetings which have not been allowed of, received, and blessed by the church of God. Again besides the evil example which is exhibited, there is this mischief moreover, that the children of such a bed cannot be esteemed legitimate, yea and God himself accurseth such lawless familiarity, as the mischiefs that arise therefrom do declare, whereof this one example which we allege shall serve for sufficient proof.  
In the reign of Lewis the ninth king of France, and julius the second Pope of Rome, there was a Gentleman of Naples called Antonio Bologne that had been governor of Frederick of Arragon's house when he was king of Naples, and had the same office under the Duchess of Malfi after she was widow, with whom in protract of time, he grew to have such secret and privy acquaintance (albeit she was a Princess and he her servant) that he enjoyed her as his own wife. And thus they conversed secretly together under colour of marriage accorded betwixt them, the space of certain years, until she bore unto him three children: by which means, their private dealings which they so much desired to smother and keep close, burst out and bewrayed itself. The matter being come to her brother's ears, they took it so to the heart, that they could not rest, until they had revenged the vile injury & dishonour which they pretended to have been done to them & their whole house, equally by them both. Therefore when they had chased them first from Ancona, whether in hope of quietness they had fled out of Naples, they drove them also out of Tuscan: who seeing themselves pursued so hotly on every side, resolved to make towards Venice, thinking there to find some safety: But in the midway she was overtaken and brought back to Naples, where in short space she miserably ended her life: For her brothers guard strangled her to death, together with her chambermaid, who had served in stead of a bawd to them; and her poor infants which she had by the said Bologne. But he by the goodness of his horse escaping, took his flight to Milan, where he sojourned quietly a long while, until at the instant pursuit of one of her brothers, the Cardinal of Arragon, he was slain in the open streets, when he least mistrusted any present danger. And this was a true Cardinallike exploit indeed, representing that mildness, mercifulness, and good nature which is so required of every Christian, in traitorous murdering a man so many years after the first rancour was conceived, that might well in half that space have been digested, in fostering hatred so long in his cruel heart, and waging ruffians and murderers to commit so monstrous an act: wherein albeit the Cardinal's cruelty was most famous, as also in putting to death the poor infants, yet God's justice bore the sway, that used him as an instrument to punish those, who under the vail of secret marriage, thought it lawful for them to commit any villainy. And thus God busieth sometime the most wicked about his will, and maketh the rage and fury of the devil himself serve for means to bring to pass his fearful judgements.   

CHAP. XXIII. Of unlawful marriages, and their issues.  
NOw to redress all such evils as have before been mentioned, and to avoid all inconveniences in this case, God of his bountiful mercy hath ordained marriage as a remedy to be applied to all such as have not the gift of continency, lest they should fall into fornication: which notwithstanding many shameless creatures that blush not at their own filthiness, but rather rejoice therein, make no account of. Such are they, that making marriage one of the sacraments of the Church, do nevertheless despise it as a vile and profane thing; albeit that the Apostle saith, That marriage is honourable among all men, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. But they have it not in that estimation, seeing by authority they are deprived of the use thereof, and not of adultery. That which is honest and laudable is forbidden, and that which is sinful and unlawful, allowed of. This (saith Sleidan) is the custom of the German bishops, 
Lib. 4.  for money to suffer their priests to keep harlots, not exacting any other punishment, saving their purses to privilege their knaveries. But these reins of liberty were let more lose in certain villages of the Cantons of the Swissers, 
Lib. 3.  where it was not only winked at, but also commanded, that every new priest should have his private whore for his own tooth, that he might not intermeddle with other men's. Neither was it without reason that john le Maire said, How under the show and colour of chastity, priests whoredoms did overflow, being men abandoned to all dissolute and riotous living. Now than it were far better to marry than to burn, yet in such sort to marry, that all giddiness and inconsideration set aside, every one should match himself according to his degree and age, with great respect and good advisement had unto them both, to the end to avoid those mischiefs and enormities which oftentimes happen, when either by an over hardy, foolish, and rash presumption, a man would nestle himself in an higher nest than his estate and calling requireth, or by a sensual and fleshly lust passing the bounds of reason, goeth about to constrain, and interrupt the law of nature. The chiefest thing that is required in marriage, is the consent of parties, as well of themselves that are to be joined together, as of each of their parents; the contrary whereof is constraint, where either party is forced: 
judg. 21.  as it happened to those two hundred maids, which the Beniamites took by force and violence to be their wives.  
This was a reproach to Romulus, the first king of Rome, when he ravished the Sabine virgins that came to see their sports, which was cause of great war betwixt them. Moreover, besides the mutual joint of love which ought to be betwixt man and wife, it is necessary that they that marry, do marry in the Lord, to serve him in greater purity, and with less disturbance; which can not be, if a Christian marry an infidel, for the great difficulties and hindrances that usually spring from such a root. 
Exod. 34 16, Deut. 7 3.  Therefore it was straightly forbidden the people of God to contract marriages with idolaters; yea, and the holy Patriarches before any such law was given, had carefully great regard (in the marriages of their children) to this thing, as the example of Abraham doth sufficiently declare. Therefore they that have any manner of government and authority over unmarried folks, whether they be fathers, mothers, kinsmen, or tutors, aught to have especial 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 especial charge forbidden it, to the end, that both their laws might be conformable, and in every respect agreeable to the holy ordinances of God, and that the way might be stopped to those mischiefs, which were likely to arise from such evil concluded marriages. For what reason is it, that a young maid, baptised and brought up in the Church of Christ, should be given in marriage to a worshipper of images and idols, and sent to such a country where the worship of God is not so much as once thought upon? Is not this to pluck a soul out of the house of God, and thrust it into the house of the devil? out of heaven into hell? than which, what greater Apostasy or falling from God can there be? whereof all they are guilty that either make up such marriages, or give their good will and consent to them, or do not hinder the cause and proceed of them, if any manner of way they can. Now that this confusion and mixture of religion in marriages is unpleasant and noisome to God, it manifestly appeareth by the sixth chapter of Genesis, where it is said, That because the sons of God, [to wit, those whom God had separated for himself from the beginning of the world to be his peculiar ones,] were so evil advised, as to be alured 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 themselves by this contagious acquaintance of profane people, with whom they should have had nothing to do,] that therefore God was incensed against them, and resolved simply to revenge the wickedness of each party without respect. Beside, the monstrous fruits of those profane marriages, do sufficiently declare their odiousness in God's sight: for from them arose giants of strength and stature exceeding the proportion of men, who by their hugeness did much wrong and violence in the world, and gained fearful & terrible names to themselves: but God (provoked by their oppressions) drowned their tyrannies in the flood, and made an end of the world for their sakes. In the time of the judges in Israel, the Israelites were chastised by the hand of God for this same fault; for they took to wives the daughters of the uncircumcised, and gave them their daughters also. 
judg. 3.  In like sort framed they themselves by this means to their corrupt manners and superstitions, and to the service of their idolatrous Gods: But the Lord of heaven reigned down anger upon their heads, and made them subject to a stranger, the king of Mesopotamia, whom they served the space of eight years. 
1. King. 11.  Look what happened to king Solomon for giving his heart to strange women that were not of the household of God's people: He that before was replenished with such admirable wisdom, that he was the wonder of the world, was in his old age deprived thereof, and besotted with a kind of dullness of understanding, and led aside from the true knowledge of God to serve idols, and to build them altars and chapels for their worship; and all this to please forsooth his wives humours, whose acquaintance was the chief cause of his misery and apostasy.   

CHAP. XXIIII. Touching Incestuous marriages.  
NOw as it is unlawful to contract marriages with parties of contrary religion, so it is as unlawful to marry those that are near unto us by any degree of kindred or affinity, as it is inhibited not only by the law of God, but also by civil and politic constitutions; whereunto all nations have ever by the sole instinct of nature agreed and accorded, except the Egyptians and Persians, whose abominations were so great, as to take their own sisters and mothers to be their wives, Cambyses, king of Media and Persia, married his own sister, but it was not long ere he put her to death; a just proof of an unjust and accursed marriage. Many others there were in protract of time, that in their insatiable lusts, showed themselves no less unstaid and unbridled in their lawless affections than he: One of which, was Antiochus king of juda, son of Herodes, surnamed Great; 
joseph antiq. lib. 17. cap. 15.  who blushed not to marry his sister, the late wife of his deceased brother Alexander, by whom she had borne two children: but for this and divers other hi● good deeds, he lost not only his goods (which were confiscated) but was himself also banished out of his country into a foreign place, from judea to Vienna in France.  
Herode also the Tetrarch was so impudent and shameless, 
The same, lib. 18. cap. 9  that he took from his brother Philip his wife Herodias, and espoused her unto himself: which shameless and incestuous deed john Baptist reproving in him, told him plainly how unlawful it was, for him to possess his brother's wife; but the punishment that befell him for this, and many other his sins, we have heard in the former book, and need not here to be repeated.  
Anton. Caracalla, took to wife his mother in law, alured thereunto by her fair enticements, whose wretched and miserable end hath already been touched in the tenth Chapter of this book.  
The Emperor Heraclius, after the decease of his first wife, married his own niece, the daughter of his brother, which turned mightily to his undoing: for besides that, that under his reign, and as it were, by his occasion, the Saracens entered the borders of Christendom, and spoiled and destroyed his dominions under his nose, to his soul and utter disgrace: he was over and above smitten corporally with so grievous and irksome a disease of dropsy, that he died thereof.  
Thus many men run riot, by assuming to themselves too much liberty, and break the bounds of civil honesty, required in all contracts, and too audaciously set themselves against the commandment of God, which ought to be of such authority with all men, that none (be they never so great) should dare to derogate one jot from them, unless they meant wholly to oppose themselves as professed enemies to God himself, and to turn all the good order of things into confusion. All which notwithstanding some of the Romish Popes have presumed to encroach upon God's right, and to disannul by their foolish decrees, the laws of the almighty: 
Sleid. lib. 9  As Alexander the sixth did, who by his bull approved the incestuous marriage of Ferdinand king of Naples with his own Aunt, his father Alphonsus' sister by the father's side, which otherwise (saith Cardinal Bembus) had been against all law and equity, and in no case to be tolerated and borne withal.  
Henry the seventh, king of England, after the death of his eldest son Arthur, caused (by the special dispensation of Pope julius) his next son named Henry, to take to wife his brother's widow called Katherine, daughter to Ferdinando king of Spain, for the desire he had to have this Spanish affinity continued: who succeeding his father in the crown, after continuance of time, began to advise himself, and to consult whether this marriage with his brother's wife might be lawful or no; and found it by conference both of holy and profane laws, utterly unlawful: whereupon he sent certain bishops to the Queen to give her to know, That the Pope's dispensation was altogether unjust, and of none effect to privilege such an act: to whom she answered, that it was too late to call in question the Pope's bull which so long time they had allowed of. The two Cardinals that were in Commission from the Pope to decide the controversy, and to award judgement upon the matter, were once upon point to conclude the decree, which the king desired, had not the Pope impeached their determination in regard of the Emperor Charles, nephew to the said Queen, whom he was loath to displease: wherefore the king seeing himself frustrate of his purpose in this behalf, sent into divers countries to know the judgement of all the learned Divines concerning the matter in controversy, who (especially those that dwelled not far off) seemed to allow and approve the divorce: thereupon he resolved (rejecting his old wife) to take him to a new, and to marry (as he did) Anne of Bulloyne one of the Queen's maids of honour, a woman of most rare and excellent beauty. Now as touching his first marriage with his brother's wife how unfortunate it was in it own nature, and how unjustly dispensed withal by the Pope, we shall anon see, by those heavy, sorrowful, and troublesome events and issues which immediately followed in the neck thereof.  
And first and foremost of the evil fare of the Cardinal of York, with whom the king being highly displeased, for that at his instance and request, the Pope had opposed himself to this marriage, requited him (and not undeservedly) on this manner: First he deposed him from the office of the Chancellourship: secondly, deprived him of two of his three bishoprics which he held: & lastly, sent him packing to his own house, as one whom he never purposed more to see. Yet afterward being advertised of certain insolent and threatening speeches which he used against him, he sent again for him: but he not daring to refuse to come at his call, died in the way with mere grief, and despite. The Pope gave his definitive sentence against this act, and favoured the cause of the divorced lady: But what gained he by it? save only that the king offended with him, rejected him and all his trumpery, retaining his yearly tribute levied out of this realm, and converted it to another use; and this was the recompense of his goodly dispensation with an incestuous marriage: wherein although to speak truly and properly he lost nothing of his own, yet it was a deep check and no shallow loss to him and his successors to be deprived of so goodly a revenue, and so great authority in this realm, as he then was.   

CHAP. XXV. Of Adultery.  
SEeing that marriage is so holy an institution and ordinance of God, as it hath been showed to be, it followeth by good right that the corruption thereof, namely Adultery, whereby the bond of marriage is dissolved, should be forbidden: for the woman that is polluted therewith, despiseth her own husband, yea and for the most part hateth him, and foisteth in strange seed (even his enemy's brats) in stead of his own, not only to be fathered, but also to be brought up, and maintained by him, and in time to be made inheritors of his possessions; which thing being once known, must needs stir up coals, to set anger on fire, and set a broach much mischief: and albeit that the poor infants are innocent and guiltless of the crime, yet doth the punishment and ignominy thereof redound to them, because they can not be reputed as legitimate, but are ever marked with the black coal of bastardy whilst they live: so grievous is the guilt of this sin, and uneasy to be removed. For this cause the very heathen not only reproved adultery evermore, but also by authority of law prohibited it, and allotted to death the offenders therein.  
Abimelech, king of the Philistims, a man without circumcision, and therefore without the covenant, 
Gen. 26.  knowing by the light of nature (for he knew not the law of God) how sacred and inviolable the knot of marriage ought to be, expressly forbade all his people from doing any injury to Isaac, in regard of his wife, and from touching her dishonestly upon pain of death. Out of the same fountain sprang the words of Queen Hecuba in Euripides speaking to Menelaus as touching Helen, when she admonished him to enact this law, That every woman which should betray her husband's credit, and her own chastity to another man, should die the death.  
In old time the Egyptians used to punish adultery on this sort, the man with a thousand jerks with a reed, 
Diodor.  and the woman with cutting off her nose; but he that forced a free woman to his lust, had his privy members cut off. By the law of julia, adulterers were without difference adjudged to death, insomuch that julius Antonius, a man of great parentage and reputation among the Romans, 
Lib. 4. Annal.  whose son was nephew to Augustus' sister (as Cornelius Tacitus reporteth) was for this crime executed to death. Aurelianus the Emperor did so hate and detest this vice, that to the end to scare and terrify his soldiers from the like offence, he punished a soldier which had committed adultery with his hostess in most severe manner, even by causing him to be tied by both his feet to two trees bend down to the earth with force, which being let go, returning to their course, rend him cruelly in pieces, the one half of his body hanging on the one tree, and the other on the other. Yea and at this day amongst the very Turks and Tartarians, this sin is sharply punished. So that we ought not wonder that the Lord should ordain death for the adulterer. If a man (saith the law) lie with another man's wife, 
Levit. 20.10.  if (I say) he commit adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall die the death. 
Deut. 22.22.  And in another place, If a man be found lying with a woman married to a man, they shall die both twain, to wit, the man that lay with the wife, and the wife, that thou mayst put away evil from Israel. Yea and before Moses time also, it was a custom to burn the adulterers with fire, 
Genes. 38.  as it appeareth by the sentence of juda (one of the twelve Patriarches) upon Thamar his daughter in law, because he supposed her to have played the whore. Beside all this, to the end this sin might not be shuffled up and kept close, there was a means given, whereby if a man did but suspect his wife for this sin, though she could by no witness or proof be convinced, her wickedness notwithstanding most strangely and extraordinarily might be discovered. 
Numb. 5.  And it was this: The woman publicly at her husband's suit, called in question before the priest, who was to give judgement of her after divers ceremonies and circumstances performed, and bitter curses pronounced by him, her belly would burst, and her thigh would rot, if she were guilty, and she should be a curse amongst the people for her sin; but if she was free, no evil would come unto her. Thus it pleased God to make known, that the filthiness of those that are polluted with this sin, should not lie hid. This may more clearly appear by the example of the Levites wife, of whom it is spoken in the 19, 20, and 21 chapters of judges, who having forsaken her husband to play the whore, certain months after he had again received her to be his wife, she was given over against her will to the villainous and monstrous lusts of the most wicked and perverse Gibeonites, 
Rape, li. 2. c. 19  that so abused her for the space of a whole night together, that in the morning she was found dead upon the threshold, which thing turned to a great destruction and overthrow in Israel; for the Levit, when he arose, and found his wife newly dead at the door of his lodging, he cut and dismembered her body into twelve pieces, and sent them into all the countries of Israel to every tribe one, to give them to understand, how vile and monstrous an injury was done unto him, whereupon the whole nation assembling and consulting together, when they saw how the Beniamites (in whose tribe this monstrous villainy was committed) make no reckoning of seeing punishment executed upon those execrable wretches, they took arms against them, and made war upon them; wherein though at the first conflict they lost to the number of forty thousand men, yet afterward they discomfited and overthrew the Beniamites, and slew of them 25000, rasing and burning down the city Gabea (where the sin was committed) with all the rest of the cities of that tribe, in such sort that there remained alive but six hundred persons, that saved their lives by flying into the desert, and there hid themselves four months, until such time as the Israelites taking pity of them, lest they should utterly be brought to nought, gave them to wife (to the end to repeople them again) four hundred virgins of the inhabitants of Iabes Gilead, reserved out of that slaughter of those people, wherein man, woman, and child were put to the sword, for not coming forth to take part with their brethren in that late war. And forasmuch as yet there remained two hundred of them unprovided for, the Ancient of Israel gave them liberty to take by force two hundred of the daughters of their people; which could not be but great injury and vexation unto their parents, to be thus rob of their daughters, and to see them married at all adventures without their consent or liking. These were the mischiefs which issued and sprang from that vile and abominable adultery of the wicked Gabaonites with the levites wife, 
One sin punished with another.  whose first voluntary sin was in like manner also most justly punished by this second rape: and this is no new practice of our most just God, to punish one sin by another, and sinners in the same kind wherein they have offended.  
When king David, after he had overcome the most part of his enemies, 
2. Sam. 11.  and made them tributaries unto him, and enjoyed some rest in his kingdom, whilst his men of war pursuing their victory, destroyed the Ammonites, and were in besieging Rabath their chief city; he was so inflamed with the beauty of Bathshabe, Vriahs' wife, that he caused her to be conveyed to him to lie with her: to which sin, he combined another more grievous, to wit, when he saw her with child by him (to the end to cover his adultery) he caused her husband to be slain at the siege, by putting him in the vanguard of the battle at the assault; and then thinking himself cocksure, married Bathshabe. But all this while, as it was but vain allurements, no solid joy that fed his mind, and his sleep was but of sin, not of safety, wherein he slumbered: so the Lord awakened him right soon by afflictions and crosses, to make him feel the burden of the sin which he had committed: 
2. Sam. 12.  first therefore the child (the fruit of this adultery) was stricken with sickness and died; next his daughter Thamar, Absoloms sister, was ravished by Ammon one of his own sons; 
2. Sam. 13. 2. Sam. 15.  thirdly Ammon for his incest was slain by Absolom; and four Absolom (ambitiously aspiring after the kingdom, and conspiring against him) raised war upon him, and defiled his concubines, and came to a woeful destruction. All which things (being grievous crosses to king David) were inflicted by the just hand of God to chastise and correct him for his good, not to destroy him in his wickedness: neither did it want the effect in him, for he was so far from swelling and hardening himself in his sin, that contrariwise, he cast down and humbled himself, and craved pardon and forgiveness at the hand of God with all his heart, and true repentance; not like to such as grow obstinate in their sins and wickedness, and make themselves believe all things are lawful for them although they be never so vile and dishonest. This therefore that we have spoken concerning David, is not to place him among the number of lewd and wicked livers, but to show by his chastisements, being a man after Gods own heart) how odious and displeasant this sin of Adultery is to the Lord, and what punishment all others are to expect that wallow therein, since he spared not him whom he so much loved and favoured.   

CHAP. XXVI. Other examples like unto the former.  
THe history of the ravishment of Helen, registered by so many worthy and excellent authors, and the great evils that pursued the same, 
Herodot. lib. 2.  is not to be counted altogether an idle fable, 
Thucyd.  or an invention of pleasure, seeing that it is sure, that upon that occasion great and huge war arose between the Greeians and the Trojans, during the which, the whole country was havocked, many cities and towns destroyed, much blood shed, and thousands of men discomfited; amongst whom, the ravisher and adulterer himself (to wit Paris, the chief mover of all those miserable tragedies) escaped not the edge of the sword; no nor that famous city Troy (which entertained and maintained the adulterers within her walls) went unpunished, but at last was taken and destroyed by fire and sword. In which sacking, old and grey headed king Priam, with all the remnant of his half slain sons, were together murdered, his wife and daughters were taken prisoners, and exposed to the mercy of their enemies; his whole kingdom was entirely spoiled, and his house quite defaced, and well nigh all the Trojan nobility extinguished: and as touching the whore, Helen herself, (whose disloyalty gave consent to the wicked enterprise of forsaking her husband's house, and following a stranger) she was not exempt from punishment; for as some writers affirm, she was slain at the sack: but according to others, 
Anton. Vols. upon Ovid's epist. of Hermione to Orestes.  she was at that time spared, and entertained again by Menelaus her husband; but after his death, she was banished in her old age, and constrained for her last refuge (being both destitute of relief and succour, and forsaken of kinsfolks and friends) to fly to Rhodes, where at length (contrary to her hope) she was put to a shameful death, even hanging on a tree, which she long time before deserved.  

Tit. Liu.  The injury and dishonour done to Lucrece, the wife of Collatinus, by Sextus Tarqvinius, son to Superbus the last king of Rome, 
Rape, l. 2. c. 19  was cause of much trouble and disquietness in the city and elsewhere: for first she (not able to endure the great injury and indignity which was done unto her, pushed forward with anger and despite) slew herself in the presence of her husband and kinsfolk, notwithstanding all their desires and willingness to clear her from all blame: with whose death the Romans were so stirred & provoked against Sextus the son, and Tarqvinius the father, that they rebelled forthwith, and when he should enter the city, shut the gates against him, neither would receive or acknowledge him ever after for their king. Whereupon ensued war abroad, and alteration of the state at home; for after that time, Rome endured no more king to bear rule over them, but in their room created two Consuls to be their governors, which kind of government continued to julius Caesar's time. Thus was Tarqvinius the father shamefully deposed from his crown, for the adultery, or rather, rape of his son; and Tarqvinius the son slain by the Sabians, for the robberies and murders which by his father's advise he committed amongst them; and he himself not long after in the war which by the Tuscan succours he renewed against Rome to recover his lost estate, 
Plutarch in the life public.  was discomfited with them, and slain in the midst of the rout. In the Emperor Valentinianus time, the first of that name, many women of great account and parentage, were for committing adultery put to death, as testifieth Ammianus Marcellinus. When Europe after the horrible wasting and great ruins which it suffered by the furious invasion of Attilia, 
Lib. 28.  began to take a little breath and find some ease, behold, a new trouble more hurtful and pernicious than the former, came upon it, by means of the filthy lechery and lust of the Emperor Valentinianus the third of that name, who by reason of his evil bringing up, 
Procop.  and government under his mother Placidia, being too much subject to his own voluptuousness, and tied to his own desires, dishonoured the wife of Petronius Maximus a Senator of Rome, by forcing her to his pleasure; an act indeed that cost him his life, and many more beside, and that drew after it the final destruction of the Roman Empire, and the horrible besacking and desolation of the city of Rome: For the Emperor being thus taken and set on fire with the love of this woman, through the excellent beauty wherewith she was endued, endeavoured first to entice her to his lust by fair allurements; and seeing that the bulwark of her virtuous chastity, would not by this means be shaken, but that all his pursuit was still in vain, he tried a new course, and attempted to get her by deceit and policy; which to bring about, one day setting himself to play with her husband Maximus, he won of him his ring, which he no sooner had, but secretly he sent it to his wife in her husband's name with this commandment, That by that token she should come presently to the court, to do her duty to the Empress Eudoxia: she, seeing her husband's ring, doubted nothing, but came forthwith as she was commanded; where, whilst she was entertained by certain suborned women whom the Emperor had set on, he himself cometh in place, and discloseth unto her his whole love, which he said he could no longer repress, but must needs satisfy, if not by fair means, at least by force and compulsion, and so he constrained her to his lust. Her husband advertised hereof, 
Rape, l. 2. c. 19  intended to revenge this injury upon the Emperor with his own hand: but seeing he could not execute his purpose, whilst Actius the captain general of Valentinianus army lived (a man greatly reverenced and feared for his mighty and famous exploits, achieved in the wars against the Burgundians, Goths, and Attila) he found means by suggesting a false accusation of treason against him (which made him to be hated and suspected of the Emperor) to work his death. After that Actius was thus traitorously and unworthily slain, the grief of infinite numbers of people for him, in regard of his great virtues and good service which he had done to the commonwealth, gave Maximus fit occasion to practise the emperors destruction, and that by this means: He set on two of Actius most faithful followers, partly by laying before them the unworthy death of their master, and partly by presents and rewards to kill the Emperor, which they performed as he was sitting on his seat of judgement in the sight of the whole multitude; amongst whom there was not one found that would oppose himself to Maximus in his defence, save one of his Eunuches, who stepping betwixt to save his life, lost his own: and the amazement of the whole city with this sudden accident was so great, that Maximus having revenged himself thus upon the Emperor, without much a do not only seized upon the Empire, but also upon the Empress Eudoxia, and that against her will to be his wife (for his own died but a little before:) Now the Empress, not able to endure so vile an indignity (being above measure passionate with grief and desire of revenge) conspired his destruction on this manner: She sent secretly into Africa to solicit and request most instantly, Gensericus king of the Vandals, by prayers mingled with presents, to come to deliver her and the city of Rome from the cruel tyranny of Maximus, and to revenge the thrice unjust murder of her husband Valentinian; adding moreover, that he was bound to do no less in consideration of the league of friendship which by oath was confirmed betwixt them. Gensericus well pleased with these news, laid hold upon the offered occasion, which long time he had more wished than hoped for, & forthwith (being already tickled with hope of a great and inestimable booty) rigged his ships and made ready his army by sea, launching forth with three hundred thousand men, Vandals and Moors, and with this huge fleet made strait for Rome. Maximus mean while mistrusting no such matter, especially from those parts, was sore affrighted at the sudden brute of their coming; & not yet understanding the full effect of the matter, perceiving the whole city to be in dismay, and that not only the common people but also the nobility had for fear forsaken their houses, and fled to the mountains, or forests for safety; he I say destitute of succour, took himself also his heels, as his surest refuge: but all could not serve to rid him from the just vengeance of God prepared for him, 
Mandate. 6. lib. 2. cap. 8.  for the murders which he had been cause of: For certain Senators of Rome, his private & secret foes, finding him alone in the way of his flight, and remembering their old quarrels, fell upon him suddenly & felled him down with stones, and after mangled him in pieces and threw his body into Tiber. Three days after arrived Gensericus with all his forces, and entering Rome found it naked of all defence, and left to his own will and discretion: where (albeit he professed himself to be a Christian) yet he showed more pride and cruelty, and less pity than either Attila or Allaricus, two Heathen kings: For having given his soldiers the pillage of the city, they not only spoiled all private houses, but also the Temples and monasteries in most cruel and riotous manner. All the best & beautifullest things of the city they took away, and carried a huge multitude of people prisoners to Africa, amongst the which was Eudoxia the Empress (with her two daughters Eudocia and Placidia) who was the cause of all this calamity, but her treachery saved not herself nor them from thraldom. 
Treason. lib. 2. cap 3.  And thus was Rome sacked and destroyed more than ever it was before, insomuch that the Roman Empire could never after recover itself, but decayed every day, and grew worse and worse. These were the calamities which the adultery of Valentinian brought upon himself and many others, to his own destruction, and the utter ruin of the whole Empire.  

Paulus Aemil. Nichol. Gil.  Childericke king of France son to Merovee, for laying siege to the chastity of many great ladies of his realm, the Princes and Barons conspired against him, and drove him to fly for his life.  

Paulus Aemil.  Eleonor the wife to king Lewis of France (he that first cut through the sea furrows towards jerusalem, against the Turks & Saracens) would needs courageously follow her husband in that long and dangerous voyage: but how? Marry whilst he travailed night & day in peril of his life she lay at Antioch bathing herself in all delights, & that more licentiously than the reputation or duty of a married woman required; wherefore being had in suspicion, & evil reported of for her lewd behaviour, it was thought meet that she should be divorced from the king under pretence of consanguinity to the end she should not altogether be defamed.  

Fulgo. lib. 6. c r.  The fair daughter of Philip the fair king of France escaped not at so good a rate, for the king as soon as he smelled out the haunt of their unchastity, caused them to be apprehended and imprisoned presently, howbeit one of them (namely the Countess of poitiers) her innocency being known was set at liberty, and the other two (to wit, the Queen of Navarre and the wife of john de la March) being found guilty by proof, were adjudged to perpetual imprisonment. And the Adulterers (two brethren of the country of Anjou) with whom these ladies had often lain, were first cruelly slain, and after hanged.  

Froysard. vol. 1. cap. 22.  Charles, son of the foresaid Philip the fair, had to wife the daughter of the Earl of Artois that also offended in the like case, and in recompense received this dishonour and ignominy to be divorced, and put in prison, and to see him married to another before her face.  

Froysard. vol. 3. cap. 45.  In the reign of Charles the sixth, there befell a notable & memorable accident which was this: One jaques le Grys of the country of Alencon being enamoured with a lady no less fair than honourable, the wife of the Lord of Carouge, came upon a day when he knew her husband to be from home to her house, & feigning as if he had some secret message to unfold unto her on her husband's behalf (for their familiarity was so great) entered with her all alone into a most secret chamber, 
Rape. lib. 2. cap. 19  where assoon as he had gotten her he locked the door, and throwing himself upon her, forced her unto his lust, and afterward saved himself by speedy flight. Her husband at his return understanding the injury and wrong which was done him by this vile miscreant, sought first to revenge himself by justice, and therefore put his cause to be heard by the Parliament of Paris, where being debated, it could not well be decided, because he wanted witnesses to convince the crime, except his own wives words, which could not be accepted: so that the court to the end that there might some end be made of their quarrel, ordained a combat betwixt them which was forthwith performed; for the two duelists entering the lists, sell presently to strokes, and that so eagerly, that in short space the quarrel was decided; the Lord of Carouge, husband of the wronged lady remained conqueror, after he had slain his enemy that had wronged him so wickedly & disloially: the vanquished was forthwith delivered to the hangman of Paris, who dragged him to mount Falcon, and there hanged him. Now albeit this form and custom of deciding controversies hath no ground nor warrant either from human or Divine law (God having ordained only an oath to end doubts where proofs and witnesses fail) yet doubtless the Lord used this as an instrument to bring the treacherous and cruel Adulterer to the deserved punishment and shame, which by denial he thought to escape.  
A certain Seneschal of Normandy, 
Fulgos. lib. 6. cap. 1.  perceiving the vicious and suspicious behaviour of his wife with the steward of his house, watched them so narrowly that he took them in bed together: he slew the Adulterer first, and after his wife; for not all her pitiful cry for mercy with innumerable tears for this one fault, and holding up in her arms the children which she had borne unto him, no nor her house and parentage, being sister to Lewis the eleventh then king, could not withhold him from killing her with her companion: Howbeit king Lewis never made show of anger, 
Lanquet. chron.  or offence for her death.  
Messelina the wife of Claudius the Emperor was a woman of so notable incontinency, that she would contend with the common harlots in filthy pleasure; at last she fell in love with a fair young Gentleman called Silius, and to obtain more commodiously her desire, she caused his wife Sillana to be divorced; and notwithstanding she was wife to the Emperor there living, yet she openly married him: for which cause after great complaint made to the Emperor by the Nobles she was worthily put to death.  
Abusahed king of Fez was with six of his children murdered at once by his secretary for his wives sake whom he had abused. 
Paulus iovius. Tom. 2. lib. 38. Sleid, lib. 10.  And it is not long sithence the two cities Dalmendine and Delmedine were taken from the king of Fez & brought under the Portugal dominion, only for the ravishment of a woman whom the governor violently took from her husband to abuse, and was slain for his labour.   

CHAP. XXVII. Other examples like unto the former.  

Munst. Cosm. lib. 3. Casp. Hed. histor. Ecclesiast.  Marry of Arragon wife to Otho the third, was so unchaste and lascivious a woman, and withal barren (for they commonly go together) that she could never satisfy her unsatiable lust: she carried about with her continually a young lecher in woman's clothes to attend upon her person, with whom she daily committed filthiness, who being suspected was in the presence of many untired, and found to be a man, for which villainy he was burnt to death. Howbeit the Empress, though pardoned for her fault, returned to her old vomit, & continued her wanton traffic with more then either desired or loved her company, at last she fell in love with the county of Mutina, a gallant man in parsonage & too honest to be alured with her stolen, though he was often solicited by her, wherefore like a Tiger she accused him to the Emperor (for extreme love converts to extreme hatred if it be crossed) of offering to ravish her against her will; for which cause the Emperor Otho caused him to lose his head: but his wife being privy to the innocency of her husband, traversed his cause, and required justice, that though his life was lost, yet his reputation might be preserved, and to prove his innocency she miraculously handled iron red with heat without any hurt: which when the Emperor saw, searching out the cause very narrowly he found out his wives villainy; and for her pains caused her to be burned at a stake, but on the Earl's wife he bestowed great rewards even four castles in recompense of her husband, though no reward could countervail that so great a loss.  
Rodoaldus the eight king of Lombardy, 
Chron. Phil. Melanct. lib. 3.  being taken in Adultery even in the fact, by the husband of the adulteress, was slain without delay, Anno 659 in like sort john Malatesta slew his wife and the adulterer together when he took them amidst their embracements. So did one Lodowick steward of Normandy kill his wife Carlotta and her lover john Lavernus, as they were in bed together  
Hedion in his Chronicle telleth of a Doctor of the law that loved his proctor's wife, 
Casp. Hed. pars 4.  with whom as he acquainted himself over familiarly and unhonestly, both at her own house, when her husband was absent, and at a bath in an old woman's house hard by, the proctor watched their haunt so near, that he caught them naked together in the bath, and so curried the lecherous doctor with a currycomb, that he scraped out his eyes, and off his privy members; so that within three days after he died: his wife he spared because she was with child, otherwise she should have tasted the same sauce. Another story like unto this he telleth of a Popish priest that never left to lay siege to the chastity of an honest Matron, till she condescended to his desire, brought him into the snare, and caused her husband to geld him. I would to God that all that dishonour their profession by filthy actions might be served after the same manner, that there might be fewer bastards and bawds and common strumpets than there are now adays, and that since the fear of God is extinguished in their souls, the fear and certainty of sudden judgements might restrain them.  
Wolfius Schrenk reported to Martin Luther how in Vaytland four murders were committed upon the occasion of one Adultery; for whilst the Adulteress strumpet was banqueting with her lovers, her husband came in with a hunting spear in his hand and stroke him through that sat next unto her, and then her also, other two in the mean while leapt down the stairs with fear and haste, broke their arms and shortly after died.  

Theat. histor.  A certain Cardinal committed daily Adultery with a man's wife, that winked & as it were subscribed unto it; wherefore her brother taking this dishonour to his house in evil part, watched when the lecher had promised to come, but upon occasion came not, & in the dark slew his sister, and her husband supposing it to have been the Cardinal: but when he perceived his error, he fled the country for fear of the law; howbeit before his departure he wrought such means that whom he miss in his purpose of the sword, him he murdered by poison: this judgement is not only for adulterers, but for wittols also, that yield their consents to the dishonouring of their own wives; a monstrous kind of creatures, and degenerate not only from the law of humanity, but of nature also.  
Martin Luther hath left recorded in his writings many examples of judgements on this sin, but especially upon clergy men, whose profession as it requireth a more strict kind of conversation, so their sins and judgements were more notorious, both in their own natures, and in the eye and opinion of the world, some of which as it is not amiss to insert in this place, so it is not unnecessary to believe them proceeding from the mouth of so worthy a witness.  
There was (saith he) a man of great authority & learning that forsaking his secular life betook himself into the college of priests, 
Luther in epist. consolat. ad Lucum Cranach.  (whether of devotion or of hope of liberty to sin, let them judge that read this history) this new adopted priest fell in love with a Mason's wife, whom he so wooed that he got his pleasure of her; & what fit time but when Mass was singing, did he daily choose for the performing of his villainy. In this haunt he persisted a long season, till the Mason finding him in bed with his wife, did not summon him to law, nor penance: but took a shorter course, & cut his throat. 
Luther.  Another nobleman in Thuringa, being taken in Adultery was murdered after this strange fashion by the adulteresses husband: he bond him hand & foot & cast him into prison, & to quench his lust, seeing that Ceres, that is, gluttony, is the fuel of Venus, that is, lust; denied him all manner of sustenance, & the more to augment his pain set hot dishes of meat before him, that the smell & sight thereof might more provoke his appetite, & the want thereof torment him more. In this torture the wretched lecher abode so long, until he gnew off the flesh from his own shoulders; and the eleventh day of his imprisonment ended his life: this punishment was most horrible & too too severe in respect of the inflicter, yet most just in respect of God, whose custom is to proportion his judgements to the quality of the sin that is committed. Luther affirmeth this to have happened in his childhood, and that both the parties were known unto him by name, which for honour and charity sake he would not disclose.  
There was another nobleman that so delighted in lust, 
Luther. Mandate. 1. Atheism. li. 1. cap. 25.  & was so inordinate in his desires, that he shamed not to say, that if this life of pleasure, & passing from harlot to harlot might endure ever, he would not care for heaven or life eternal: what cursed madness & impiety is this? a man to be so forgetful of his maker & himself, that he preferred his whores before his Saviour, and his filthy pleasure before the grace of God, doth it not deserve to be punished with scorpions? Yes verily, as it was indeed, for the polluted wretch died amongst his strumpets, being strooken with a sudden stroke of God's vengeance.  
In the year 1505 a certain Bishop well seen in all learning and eloquence, and especially skilful in languages, was notwithstanding so filthy in his conversation, that he shamed not to defile his body and name by many Adulteries: but at length he was slain by a cobbler whose wife he had often corrupted, being taken in bed with her, and so received a due reward of his filthiness.  

Lanquet. chron.  In the year of our Lord 778 Kenulphus king of the West Saxons in Britain, as he usually haunted the company of a a certain harlot which he kept at Merton, was slain by one Clito the kinsman of Sigebert that was late king.  

The same.  Sergus a king of Scotland was so foul a drunkard & glutton and so outrageously given to harlots, that he neglected his own wife, and drove her to such penury that she was feign to serve other noblewomen for her living; wherefore she murdered him in his bed, and after slew herself also.  
Arichbertus elder son unto Lotharius king of France, died even as he was embracing his whores.  
In sum to conclude this matter, our English Chronicles report that in the year of our Lord 349 there was so great plenty of corn and fruit in Britain that the like had not been seen many years before, but this was the cause of much idleness, gluttony, lechery, and other vices in the land, for usually ease and prosperity are the nurses of all enormity, but the Lord requited this their riotous and incontinent life with so great a pestilence & mortality, that the living scantly sufficed to bury the dead.  

Petrarch.  Petrarch maketh mention of a certain Cardinal, that though he was seventy years old, yet every night would have a fresh whore, & to this end had certain bawds purveyors and providers of his trash: but he died a miserable and wretched death. And Martin Luther reported, that a bishop being a common frequenter of the Stues in Hidelberge came to this miserable end: The boards of the chamber whither he used to enter were loosened, that assoon as he came in he flipt through and broke his neck.  
But above all, that which we find written in the second book of Fincelius is most strange and wonderful, 
job. Fincelius. lib. 2.  of a Priest in Albenthewer, a town near adjoining to Gaunt in Flaunders, that persuaded a young maid to reject and disobey all her parents godly admonitions & to become his concubine: when she objected how vile a sin it was, and how contrary to the law of God, he told her that by the authority of the Pope, he could dispense with any wickedness were it never so great, and further alleged the discommodities of marriage and the pleasure that would arise from that kind of life; in fine he conquered her virtuous purpose, and made her yield unto his filthy lust. But when they had thus pampered their desires together a while, in came the devil and would needs conclude the play: for as they were banqueting with many such like companions, he took her away from the priest's side, and notwithstanding her pitiful crying and all their exorcizing and conjuring, carried her quite away, telling the Priest that very shortly he would fetch him also, for he was his own darling.   

CAAP. XXVIII. More examples of the same argument.  
I Cannot pass over in silence a history truly tragical, touching the death of many men who by reason of an Adultery slew one another in most strange and cruel manner, & indeed so strangely, that (as far as I ever red or knew) there was never the like particular deed heard of, wherein God more evidently poured forth the stream of his displeasure, turning the courage and valour of each part into rage and fury, to the end that by their own means he might be revenged on them. In the Dukedom of Spoleto which is the way from Ancona to Rome (of the ancient Latins called Vmbria) there were three brethren who kept in their possession three cities of the said dukedom, namely Faligno, Nocera, and Trevio, the eldest of whom whose surname was Nicholas, as he passed from one town to the other, being at Nocera, lodged divers times in the castle in the keepers and captains house, whom he had there substituted to defend the place with an ordinary band of soldiers: now as he made his abode there a few days, he grew to cast a more lascivious eye upon the captain's wife than was meet, and from looking fell to lusting after her, in such sort that in short space he got very privy & familiar acquaintance with her, & oftentimes secret, & suspicious meetings: which being perceived by her husband, he after watched so narrowly their haunts, that once he spied them together without being seen of them: Nevertheless digesting and swallowing up this sorrow with silence, and without giving forth any tokens thereof, he consulted in himself to revenge the injury by the death & rasing out, not only of the Adulterer, but also of the whole race & fraternity. Now when he had hammered this enterprise & laid forth the plot thereof in his head, he dispatched presently a messenger to the three gentlemen brethren, to invite them against the next day to the hunting of the fairest wild bore that was this many a day seen in the forests of Nocera. signor Nicholas failed not to come at the time appointed accompanied with Duke Camerino, who desired to be one of this jolly crew: they supped in the town but lodged in the castle, where being at rest about midnight, the captain rushed into his chamber with the greatest part of his guard, & there handled Signior Nicholas on this manner, he first cut off his privy members as being principal in the offence, them thrust him through on both sides with a spear, next plucked out his heart, & lastly tore the rest of his body into a thousand pieces. As for the duke Camerino he shut him up in a deep & dark dungeon with all the strangers of his retinue. At day break another of the brethren called Caesar, that lay that night in the town was sent for to come & speak with his brother, & assoon as he was entered into the court of the castle, seven or eight of the guard bound him & his followers, & carried him into the chamber where his dead brother lay chopped as small as flesh to the pot, & there murdered him also. Conrade the third brother being by reason of a marriage absent from this feast, when he received the report of these pitiful news, gathered together a band of men from all quarters, and with them (assisted with the friends and allies of the duke Camerino then prisoner) laid siege to the castle, they battered the walls, made a breach, and gave the assault of entrance, and were manfully resisted five hours long, till the defendants being but thirty or forty men at the most, not able to stand any longer in defence, were forced to retire and lay open way of entrance to the enemy, than began a most horrible butchery of men: for Conrade having won the fort, first hewed them in pieces that stood in resistance, then finding the captains father, slew him, and cast him piecemeal to the dogs, some he tied to the tails of wild horses, to be drawn over hedges, ditches, thorns and briars; others he pinched with hot irons, and so burnt them to death, which when the captain from the top of the dungeon, where he had saved himself, beheld, he took his wife whom he held there prisoner, and binding her hand and foot, threw her headlong from the top of the tower upon the pavement; which the soldiers perciving, put fire to the tower, so that he was constrained through heat and smoke (himself, his brother, and his little child) to sally down the same way, which he had taught his wife a little before to go: and so all three broke their necks: their carcases were cast out to be meat for wolves, as unworthy of human sepulture. And this was the catastrophe of that woeful tragedy, where by the occasion of one adultery (so heavy is the curse of God upon that sin) a number of men came to their ends.  

Luth. prand. lib. 5. cap. 15.  In the time of Pope Steven the eight, there was a varlet priest that was captain in the house of a Marquis of Italy, who although he was very misshaped and evil favoured, yet was entertained of the lady Marques his mistress to her bed, and made her paramour; upon a night as he was going to lie with her according ro his wont (his Lord being from home) behold a dog barked so fiercely, leaping & biting at him, that all the servants of the house being awaked ran thitherward, and finding this gallant in the snare took him, and for all his bald crown stripped him naked, and cut off clean his privy and adulterous parts, and thus was this lecherous Priest served.  

Luth. prand. lib. 6. cap. 6.  Pope john the thirteenth a man as of wicked conversation in all things, so especially abominable in whoredoms and adultery, which good conditions whilst he pursued, he was one day taken tardy in the plain fields, whether he went to disport himself; for he was found in the act of adultery, and slain forthwith: and these are the godly fruits of those single life lovers, to whom the use of marriage is counted unlawful, and therefore forbidden, but adultery not once prohibited nor disallowed.   

CHAP. XXIX. Of such as are divorced without cause.  
BY these and such like judgements, it pleaseth God to make known unto men how much he desireth to have the estate of marriage maintained and preserved in the integrity, and how much every one ought to take heed how to deprave or corrupt the same: now then to proceed; if it be a sin to take away, ravish, or entice to folly another man's wife, shall we not think it an equal sin for a husband to forsake his wife, and cast her off to take another, she having not disannulled and canceled the band of marriage by adultery? Yes verily: for as concerning the permission of divorce to the Israelits under the law, 
Mat. 19  our saviour himself expoundeth the meaning and intent thereof in the gospel, to be nothing else but a toleration for the hardness and stubbornness of their hearts, and not a constitution from the beginning; upon which occasion speaking of marriage, and declaring the right & strength of the same, he saith, That whosoever putteth away his wife, except it be for adultery, and marrieth another committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her that is put away, committeth adultery also. All which notwithstanding the great men of this world let loose themselves to this sin too licentiously, as it appeareth by many examples: As of Antiochus Theos son of Antiochus Soter king of Syria, who to the end to go with Ptolemy Philadelphus' king of Egypt, and marry his daughter Bernice, cast off his wife Laodicea that had borne him children, and took Bernice to be his wife: but ere long he rejected her also, and betrayed her to her enemies (namely his son Callinicus) who slew her with one of her sons, and all that belonged unto her; and then he took again his old wife, for which cause Ptolemy Euergetes (son to Philadelphus) renewed war upon him.  
Herod the Tetrarch was so bewitched with the love of Herodius his brother Philip's wife, 
joseph. of the jewish antiquity. lib. 18. cap. 7.9.  that to the end he might enjoy her, he disclaimed his lawful wife, and sent her home to her father king Aretas, who being touched & nettled with this indignity and disgrace, sought to revenge himself by arms: and indeed made so hot war upon him, and charged his army so furiously, that it was discomfited by him: after which shameful loss, he was by the Emperor caligula's commandment, banished to Lions, there to end the residue of his days.  
Amongst the reman's Marcus Antonius was noted for the most dissolute and impudent in this case of divorce, 
Plutarch.  for albeit that in the beginning of his triumphirship he forsook his first wife to marry Octavius his sister, yet he proceeded further, not content herewith but must needs forsake her to, to be with Cleopatra the queen of Egypt, from whence sprung out many great evils, which at length fell upon his own head to his final ruin & destruction: for when he saw himself in such straits, that no means could be found to resist Octavius, he sheathed with his own hands his sword into his bowels, when all his servants being requested, refused to perform the same; & being thus wounded, he fell upon a little bed entreating those that were present to make an end of his days, but they all fled and left him in the chamber crying & tormenting himself until such time that he was conveyed to the monument wherein Cleopatra was enclosed, that he might die there. Cleopatra seeing this pitiful spectacle, all amazed let down chains & cords from the high window, & with the help of her two maids drew him up into the monument, uniting their forces, and doing what they could to get his poor carcase, though by a shameful & undecent manner, for the gate was locked & might not be opened; & it was a lamentable sight to see his poor body all besmeared with blood, & breathing now his last blast (for he died as soon as he came to the top) to be drawn upon that cruel fashion. As for Cleopatra who by her flattering allurements ravished the heart of this miserable man, & was cause of his second divorce, she played her true part also in this woeful tragedy, & as she partaked of the sin so she did of the punishment: for after she saw herself past hope of help, & her sweet heart dead, she beat her own breasts, & tormented herself so much with sorrow that her bosom was bruised & half murdered with her blows, & her body in many places exulcerate with inflammations: she pulled off her hear, rend her face with her nails, & altogether in phrensied with grief, melancholy, & distress, 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, received in exchange infinite torments and vexations, and at length unhappy deaths together in one & the same place, verifying the old proverb: For one pleasure a thousand dolours.  
Charles the eight king of France, 
Philip. de Cont.  after he had been long time married to the daughter of the king of the Romans, sister to the Archduke of Austria, was so evil advised as to turn her home again upon no other occasion, but to marry the duchess of Britain, the sole heir to her father's dukedom: wherein he doubly injured his father in law the Roman king; for he did not only reject his daughter, but also deprived him of his wife the duchess of Britain, whom by his substitute (according to the manner 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 never touched by king Charles in the way of marriage all the while she was there, by reason of her unripe & overyong years. After a while, after this new married king had given a hot alarm to all Italy, and conquered the realm of Naples; as the Venetians were deliberating to take the matter in hand of themselves, & to resist him, Maximilian the Roman king solicited them in the same, & thrust them forward, aswell that he might confederate himself with the duke of Milan, as that he might revenge the injury touching his repelled daughter: so that by this means the French king was sore troubled at his return, having to withstand him all the Venetian forces, with the most part of the Potentates of Italy; notwithstanding he broke through them all after he had put the Venetians to the worst: 
Philip. de Com.  but being returned after this victorious & triumphant voyage, it happened that one day as he led the queen to the castle of Amboise to see some sport at tennis, he struck his forehead against the upper door post of the gallery as he went in, that he fell presently to the ground speechless, 
Sursevil.  & died incontinently in the place, from whence (though the filthiest & sluttishest place about the castle) they removed not his body, but laid it on a bed of straw to the view of the world from two of the clock in the afternoon till eleven at midnight, and this good success followed at last his so much desired divorce.   

CHAP. XXX. Of those that either cause or authorize unlawful divorcements.  

Mat. 19  ALthough the commandment of our Saviour Christ be very plain and manifest, That man should not separate those whom God hath joined together, yet there are some so void of understanding and judgement, that they make no conscience to dissolve those that by the bond of marriage are united: 
judg. 15.  of which number was Sampsons' father in law, who took his daughter (first given in marriage to Samson) and gave her to another, without any other reason save that he suspected that Samson loved her not: but what got he by it? Marry this: the Philistims provoked against him, consumed him and his daughter with fire; because that by the means of his injury Samson had burned their corn, their vineyards, and their olive trees.  

1. Sam. 25.  After the same sort dealt king Saul with David when he gave him his daughter Michol to wife, and afterward in despite and hatred of him took her away again, and bestowed her upon another, wherein as in many other things he showed himself a wicked and profane man, and was worthily punished therefore as hath been before declared.  

Froysard. vol. 1.  Hugh Spencer one of king Edward of England's chiefest favourites, insomuch that his ear and heart was at his pleasure, was he that first persuaded the king to forsake and repudiate the Queen his wife (daughter to Philip the Fair, king of France) upon no other occasion, but only to satisfy his own appetite, and the better to follow his delights: And thus by this means she was chased out of England, and driven to retire to king Charles her brother; where hoping to find rest and refuge, she was deceived: for what by the crafts and practices of the English, and what by the Pope's authority (who thrust himself into this action, as his custom is) she was constrained to dislodge herself, and to change her country very speedily: wherefore from thence she went to crave succour of the County of Henault, who furnished her with certain forces, and sent her towards England: where being arrived, and finding the people generally at her command, and ready to do her service, she set upon her enemy Hugh Spencer, took him prisoner, and put him to a shameful death, as he well deserved. For he was also the causer of the deaths of many of the Nobles of the Realm, therefore he was drawn through the streets of Herford upon a hurdle, and after his privy members, his heart, and head were cut off, his four quarters were exalted in four several places to the view of the world.  
Now if these be found guilty, that either directly make or indirectly procure divorcements, shall we excuse them that allow and authorize the same, without lawful and just occasion? No verily, 
Guicciard. li. 4.  no though they be pope's that take it upon them: as we read pope Alexander the sixth did; who for the advancement of his haughty desires, to gratify and flatter Lewis the twelft king of France, sent him by his son a dispensation to put away his wife (daughter to king Lewis the eleventh) because she was barren and counterfeit; and to recontract Anne of Bretaigne, the widow of Charles the eight lately deceased. But herein though barrenness of the former was pretended, yet the duchy of the latter was aimed at, which before this time, he could never attain unto. But of what force and virtue this dispensation by right was, or at least ought to be, it is easy to perceive, seeing that it is not only contrary to the words of the Gospel, Mat. 19, but also to their own decrees, secund. part. quaest. 7. Hi qui matrimonium: wherein is imported, that marriage ought not to be infringed for any default or imperfection, no not of nature; but Popes may maim and clip both the word of God and all other writings, and do whatsoever themselves liketh, be it good or bad.   

CHAP. XXXI. Of Incestuous persons.  
ALthough incest be a wicked and abominable sin, and forbidden both by the law of God and man, in so much that the very heathen held it indetestation, yet are there some so inordinately vicious and so dissolute, that they blush not once to pollute themselves with this filthiness. 
Genes. 35.  Reuben the Patriarch was one of this vile crew, that shamed not to defile himself with Bilba his father's concubine, but he was cursed for his labour: for whereas by right of eldership and birth, 
Genes. 49.  he ought to have had a certain prerogative and authority over his brethren, his excellency shed itself like water, and he was surpassed by his brethren both in increase of progeny and renown. Ammon, one of king David's sons, 
2. Sam. 13.  was so strongly enchanted with the love of his sister Thamar, that to the end to fulfil his lust, he traitorously forced her to his will: 
Rape, lib. 2. cap. 21.  but Absolom her natural brother, (hunting for opportunity of revenge for this indignity towards his sister) invited him two years after to a banquet with his other brethren, and after the same, caused his men to murder him for a farewell.  
The same Absolom that slew Ammon for incest with his sister, 
2. Sam. 16.  committed himself incest with his father's concubines, moved thereto by the wicked counsel of Achitophel, that advised him to that infamous deed of defiling his father's bed: but it was the forerunner of his overthrow, as we have already heard.  
divers of the Roman Emperors were so villainous and wretched, 
Suet. Lamprid  as to make no bones of this sin with their own sisters, as Caligula, Antoninus, and Commodus: and some with their mothers, as Nero, so much was he given over and transported to all licentiousness. 
Oros. lib. 7. c. 4.   
Plutarch telleth us of one Cyanippus, that being overcome with wine, deflowered his own daughter Cyane, but he was slain of her for his labour. Neither do I think it so unnatural a part for her to kill her father, as in him to commit incest with his own daughter: for the oracle lessened, or rather approved her fault, when it abhorred and chastened his crime: for when Siracusa was grievously infected with the pestilence, it was pronounced by the oracle that the plague should continue, till the wicked person was sacrificed: which dark speech when no man knew, Cyane haled her father by the head to the altar, telling them that he was that wicked person pointed at by the Oracle, and there sacrificed him with her own hands, killing herself also with the same knife, that her innocency might be witnessed even by her blood. Thus it pleased God even among the idolatrous heathen to execute justice & judgement upon the earth, though by the means of the devil himself, who is the author of all such villainy.  
Valeria Thusculana was in love with her own father, 
Plutarch.  and under colour of another maid got to lie with him: which as soon as he understood, he slew himself in detestation of his own ignorant abomination and wickedness: nay so monstrous and horrible is this sin even in the sight of man, 
Valerius.  that Nausimenes (a woman of Athens) taking her own son and daughter together, was so amazed and grieved therewith, that she never spoke word after that time, but remained dumb all the rest of her life time: as for the incestours themselves, they lived not, but became murderers of their own lives.  
Papyrius a Roman, got with child his own sister Canusia, which when their father understood, he sent each of them a sword wherewith they slew themselves.  
But above all, the vengeance of God is most apparent in the punishment of Heraclius the Emperor, 
Zonar. lib. 3.  who to his notorious wickednesses, heresy, persecution, and paganism he added this villainy, 
Paul. Diac. lib. 18.  to defile carnally his own sister; so to his notorious punishments (the Saracens sword, dropsy, and the ruin of the Empire) the Lord added this infamous and cruel judgement, that he could not give passage to his urine, but it would fly into his face, had not a pentise been applied to his belly to beat it downward. And this last plague was proper to his last sin, wherein the very member which he had abused, sought revenge of him that abused it; for that he had confounded nature, and most wickedly sinned against his own flesh.  
Agathias, 
Agathias.  writing of the manners of the Persians, reporteth, that certain Philosophers coming out of Egypt into Greece, where they had seen all manner of unnatural mixtures, found the carcase of a man without a sepulchre, which when in charity they buried the next day it was found unburied again; and as they went about to bury it the second time, a spirit appeared unto them, and forbade them to do it, saying, That it was unworthy that honour, seeing when it lived he had committed incest with his own mother. A notable story, showing that the very earth abhorreth this monstrous confusion of nature: the truth whereof let it lie upon the author's credit.  
Most abominable was the incest of Artaxerxes king of Persia, 
Herod. lib. 9  for first he took to himself Aspasia, his brother Cyrus' concubine, having overcome him in war; and afterward gave the same Aspasia to his own son Darius to wife; from whom, after carnal knowledge, he took her again, committing incest upon incest, and that most unnaturally: but mark how the Lord punished all this: first Darius his eldest son was put to death for treason, than Ochus (succeeding in the inheritance) slew Arsame another of his brethren; and albeit Artaxerxes himself died without note of judgement, yet his seed after him was punished for his offence, for so miserable a calamity pursued them all, that in the second generation not one was left, to sit upon his throne.  
Now to teach us how execrable and monstrous this kind of sin is, and how much to be abhorred of all men, the example of a poor bruit beast may stand in stead of a lesson for us, it being so worthy of remembrance, that I thought meet to make rehearsal of it in this place. It is reported by Varro, 
Varro.  a learned and grave writer (whom S. Augustine often commendeth in this book de civitate Dei) of a certain horse which by no means could be brought to cover a mare that was his dam, until by hiding her head, 
Lib. 2. de re rustica, cap. 7.  they beguiled his senses: but after when he perceived their guile, and knew his dam being uncovered, he ran so furiously upon the keeper with his teeth, that incontinently he tore him in pieces. Truly a miraculous thing, and no doubt divinely caused to reprove the enormous and too unruly lusts of men.   

CHAP. XXXII. Of effeminate persons, Sodomites, and other such like monsters.  
SArdanapalus king of Assyria, 
Frog. lib. 1.  was so lascivious and effeminate, that to the end to set forth his beauty, he shamed not to paint his face with ointments, and to attire his body with the habits and ornaments of women, 
Cic. lib. 5. Tuscul. quest.  and on that manner to sit and lie continually amongst whores, & with them to commit all manner of filthiness and villainy: wherefore being thought unworthy to bear rule over men, first Arbaces his lieutenant rebelled, than the Medes and Babylonians revolted, and jointly made war upon him, till they vanquished and put him to flight: and in his flight he returned to a tower in his palace, which (moved with grief and despair) he set on fire, and was consumed therein.  
Such like was the impudent lasciviousness of two unworthy Emperors, 
Lamprid.  Commodus and Heliogabalus, who laying aside all Imperial gravity, showed themselves oftentimes publicly in woman's attire; an act as in nature monstrous, so very dishonest and ignominious: but like as these cursed monsters ran too much out of frame in their unbridled lusts and affections, so there wanted not many that hastened and emboldened themselves to conspire their destruction, as unworthy in their judgements to enjoy the benefit of this light: wherefore to one of them poison was ministered, and when that would take no effect, strangling came in the room thereof, and brought him to his end: the other was slain in a jakes where he hide himself, and his body (drawn like carrion through the streets) found no better sepulchre but the dunghill.  
Touching those abominable wretches of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
Gen. 19  which gave themselves over with all violence, and without all shame and measure, to their infamous lusts, polluting their bodies with unnatural sins, God sent upon them an unnatural rain, not of water, but of fire and brimstone, to burn and consume them, that were so hot and fervent in their cursed vices: So that they were quite rooted and raked out of the earth, and their cities and habitations destroyed, yea and the very soil that bore them, made desolate and fruitless, and all this by fire, whose smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace: yea and in sign of a further curse for to be a witness and a mark of this terrible judgement, the earth and face of that country continueth still parched and withered, and (as josephus saith) whereas before it was a most plentiful and fertile soil, and as it were, an earthly paradise, bedecked with five gallant cities; now it lieth desert, inhabitable, and barren, yielding fruit in show, but such as being touched, turneth to cinders. In a word, the wrath of God is so notoriously and fearfully manifested therein, that when the Holy Ghost would strike a terror into the most wicked, he threateneth them with this like punishment, saying, 
The Lord will rain upon each wicked one 
Psal. 11.6.   
Fire, snares, and brimstone, for his portion.   
Howbeit this maketh not but that still there are too many such monsters in the world, so mightily is it corrupted and depraved: neither is it any marvel, seeing that divers bishops of Rome, that take upon them to be Christ's vicar's, and Peter's successors, are infected with this filthy contagion: As namely, Pope julius the third, whose custom was to promote none to Ecclesiastical livings, save only his buggers: amongst whom was one Innocent, whom this holy father (contrary to the Suffrages of the whole college) would needs make Cardinal: nay, the unsatiable and monstrous lust of this beastly and stinking goat was so extraordinary, that he could not abstain from many Cardinals themselves. john de la Casa, a Florentine by birth, and by office Archbishop of Benevento, and Deane of his Apostatical chamber, was his Legate and Intelligencer in all the Venetian signiories: a man equal or rather worse than himself, and such a one, as whose memory ought to be accursed of all posterity, for that detestable book which he composed in commendation and praise of Sodomy, and was so shameless, nay rather possessed with some devilish and unclean spirit, as to divulgate it to the view of the world. Here you may see (poor souls) the holiness of those whom you so much reverence, and upon whom you build your belief & religion: you see their brave & excellent virtues, and of what esteem their laws and ordinances ought to be amongst you: Now touching the end that this holy father made, it is declared in the former book among the rank of Atheists, where we placed him. And albeit that he & such like villains, please their own humours with their abominations, and approve and clear themselves therein, yet are they rewarded by death, not only by the law of God, 
Levit. 20.  but also by the law julia.  
When Charlemaigne reigned in France, there happened a most notable judgement of God upon the monks of Saint Martin in Tours, for their disordinate lusts: they were men whose food was too much and dainty, whose ease was too easy, and whose pleasures were too immoderate, being altogether addicted to pastimes and merriments: In their apparel they went clad in silk like great lords; 
Nic. Gil. vol. 1.  and (as Nichol. Gill. in his first volume of French Chronicles saith) their shoes were gilded over with gold, so great was the superfluity of their riches and pride: in sum, their whole life was luxurious and infamous: for which cause there came forth a destroying angel from the Lord (by the report of Eudes the Abbot of Clugny) and slew them all in one night, as the first borne of Egypt were slain, save one only person that was preserved, as Lot in Sodom was preserved: this strange accident moved Charlemaigne to appoint a brotherhood of Canons to be in their room (though little better, and as little profitable to the common wealth as the former.)  
It is not for nothing that the law of God forbiddeth to lie with a beast, 
Levit. 18.  and denounceth death against them that commit this foul sin: for there have been such monsters in the world at sometimes, 
Exod. 22. Levit. 20. Deut. 27.  as we read in Caelius and Volaterranus, of one Crathes a shepherd, that accompanied carnally with a she goat, but the Buck finding him sleeping, offended and provoked with this strange action, ran at him so furiously with his horns, that he left him dead upon the ground. God that opened an asses mouth to reprove the madness of the false Prophet Balaam, and sent lions to kill the strange inhabitants of Samaria, employed also this buck about his service in executing just vengeance upon a wicked varlet.   

CHAP. XXXIII. Of the wonderful evil that ariseth from this greediness of lust.  
IT is to very good reason, that the scripture forbiddeth us to abstain from the lust of the flesh and the eyes, 
1. joh. 2.  which is of the world and the corruprion of man's own nature; for so much as by it we are drawn and enticed to evil, it being as it were, a corrupt root which sendeth forth most bitter, sour, and rotten fruit: 
jam. 1.  and this happeneth not only when the goods and riches of the world are in quest, but also when a man hunteth after dishonest and unchaste delights: this concupiscence is it that bringeth forth whoredoms, adulteries, and many other such sins, whereout spring forth oftentimes floods of mischiefs, and that divers times by the self will and inordinate desire of private and particular persons: 
Gen. 39  what did the lawless lust of Putiphars' wife bring upon joseph? was not his life endangered, and his body kept in close prison, where he cooled his feet two years or more.  
We have a most notable example of the miserable end of a certain woman, with the sacking and destruction of a whole city, and all caused by her intemperance and unbridled lust.  
About the time that the Emperor Phocas was slain by Priscus, 
Sabell.  one Gysulphus (governor and chieftain of a country in Lombardy) going out in defence of his country against the Bavarians (which were certain relics of the Huns) gave them battle, and lost the field and his life withal: Now the conquerors (pursuing their victory) laid siege to the chief city of his province, where Romilda his wise made her abode: who viewing one day from the walls the young and fair king with yellow curled locks galloping about the city, fell presently so extremely in love with him, that her mind ran of nothing but satisfying her greedy and new conceived lust: wherefore (burying in oblivion the love of her late husband, with her young infants yet living, and her country, and preferring her own lust before them all) she sent secretly unto him this message, That if he would promise to marry her, she would deliver up the city into his hands: he well pleased with this gentle offer, (through a desire of obtaining the city, whioh without great bloodshed and loss of men, he could not otherwise compass) accepted of it, and was received upon this condition within the walls: and lest he should seem too perfidious, he performed his promise of marriage, and made her his wife for that one night, but soon after (in scorn and disdain) he gave her up to twelve of his strongest lechers to glut her unquenchable fire: and finally nailed her on a gibbet, for a final reward of her treacherous and boundless lust. Mark well the misery whereinto this wretched woman threw herself; and not only herself, but a whole city also by her boiling concupiscence, which so dazzled her understanding, that she could not consider how undecent it was, dishonest, and inconvenient, for a woman to offer herself, nay to solicit a man that was an enemy, a stranger, and one that she had never seen before, to her bed, and that to the utter undoing of herself, and all hers. But even thus many more (whose hearts are passionate with love) are blindfolded after the same sort, (like as poetical Cupid is feigned to be) that not knowing what they take in hand, they fall headlong into destruction ere they be aware. Let us then be here advertised to pray unto God that he would purify our drossy hearts, and divert our wandering eyes from beholding vanity to be seduced thereby.   

CHAP. XXXIIII. Of unlawful gestures, Idleness, Gluttony, Drunkenness, Dancing, and other such like dissoluteness.  
LIke as if we would carry ourselves chastened and uprightly before God, it behoveth us to avoid all filthiness and adultery, so we must abstain from uncivil and dishonest gestures, which are (as it were) badges of concupiscence, & coals to set lust on fire, and instruments to injury others withal: 
Sabel.  from hence it was that Pompey caused one of his soldiers eyes to be put out in Spain, for thrusting his hand under a woman's garment that was a Spaniard: and for the same or like offence, did Sertorius command a footman of his band to be cut in pieces. Oh that we had in these days such minded captains, that would sharply repress the wrongs and ravishments, which are so common and usual amongst men of war at this day, and so uncontrolled! they would not then (doubtless) be so rife and common as in these days they are.  
Kissing is no less to be eschewed than the former, if it be not betwixt those that are tied together by some bond of kindred or affinity, as it was by ancient custom of the Medes and Persians, and Romans also, according to the report of Plutarch and Seneca: and that which is more, 
Sueton.  Tiberius Caesar forbade the often and daily practise thereof in that kind, as a thing not to be frequented, but rather utterly abhorred, though it be amongst kinsfolks themselves. It was esteemed an indignity among the Grecians, to kiss any maid that was not in blood or affinity allied unto them; as it manifestly appeareth by the earnest sure and request of the wife of Pisistratus the tyrant of Athens, to put to death a young man for kissing her daughter in the streets, as he met her, 
Valer. lib. 1. c. 5.  although it was nothing but love that moved him thereto. Saint Augustine also affirmeth, 
De civitat. Dei. lib. 21. cap. 11.  that he which wanton kisseth a woman that is not his wife, deserveth the whip. It is true, 
Gen. 27.45.  that the holy scripture often mentioneth kissing, but either betwixt father and child, or brethren, or kinsfolks, or at least in manner of salutation betwixt one another of acquaintance, 
2. Sam. 20.9.  according to the custom of the people of God: and sometimes also it is mentioned as a token of honour and reverence which the subject performeth to his superior in this action. 
1. Sam. 10.  In the former ages, Christians used to kiss also, but so, that it was ever betwixt parties of acquaintance, and in such sort, 
just. Apolog. 2. Tectull.  that by this manner of greeting, they testified to each other their true and sincere charity, peace, and union of heart and soul in the Lord. Such chearings and loving embracings were pure and holy, not lascivious and wanton, like the kisses of profane and lecherous wretches and strumpets, 
Prou. 7.13.  whereof Solomon maketh mention. Furthermore every man ought to shun all means and occasions which may induce or entice them to uncleanness: and among the rest especially Idleness, which can not choose but be, as it were, a wide door and passage for many vices to enter by, as by experience we see in those that occupy themselves about no good nor profitable exercises, but misspend their time in trifling and doing nothing, and their wits either upon vain and foolish conceits to the hurt of others, or upon lascivious and unchaste thoughts, to their own overthrow; whereas on the contrary, to them that are well employed either in body or mind, no such thing betideth: wherefore we ought to be here advertised every one of us to apply ourselves to some honest and seemly trade, answerable to our divers and several estates and conditions, and not to suffer ourselves to be overgrown with Idleness, lest thereby we fall into mischief: for whom the adversary (that malicious and wicked one) findeth in that case, he knows well how to fit them to his purpose, and to set them about filthy and pernicious services.  
Next to Idleness, the too much pampering the body with dainty and much food, is to be eschewed; for like as a fat and well fed horse wincheth and kicketh against his rider, so the pampered flesh, rebelleth against God, and a man's own self: this fullness of bread and abundance of fleshly delights, was the cause of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, 
Ezech. 16. ●9.  and therefore our Saviour to good purpose warneth us, to take heed to ourselves, 
Luk. 21.34.  that we be not oppressed with surfeiting and drunkenness; and the Apostle, To take no thought for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof, but to walk honestly, 
Rom. 13.13.  not being given to gluttony and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness: and in another place, Not to be drunk with wine wherein is excess: 
Ephes. 5.  for besides the loss of time and mispence of goods, the grievous diseases and pangs of the body, and dulling and besotting of the wit, which spring from intemperance, many other great evils depend and wait thereon; as whoredoms, adulteries, uncleannesses, quarrels, debates, murders, with many other such like disorders and mischiefs.  
Noah, that holy Patriarch, by drinking too much wine, 
Gen. 9  not only discovered his own shame, but also was the occasion of that cruel curse which the Lord sent upon the posterity of Cham, which even to this day lieth heavy upon them.  
Lot, though he hated the sin of Sodom, 
Gen. 19  and escaped the punishment of Sodom, yet being overcome with the wine of the mountains, he committed incest with his own daughter, and made a new Sodom of his own family.  
Balthasar, rioting and reveling amongst his pots, had the end both of life and kingdom denounced against him, 
Dan. 5.  by a bodilesses handwriting upon the wall, the Lords decree. 
judith. 13.  Whilst Holofernes besotted his senses with excess of wine and good cheer, judith found means to cut off his head.  
The Emperors Septimus Severus, and iovinianus, died with eating and drinking too much.  
Likewise a certain African called Donitius, 
Euseb.  ovetcharged his stomach with so much food at supper, that he died therewith.  
Gregory of Tours reporteth of Childericke a Saxon, that glutted himself so full of meat and drink over night, that in the morning he was found choked in his bed.  
In our memory, there was a priest in Rovergne near Milan, that (dining with a rich farmer for his years dinner) cheered himself so well, and filled his belly so full, that it burst in two, and he died suddenly.  

Plutarch.  Alexander the Great, having invited many of his favourites and captains to supper, propounded a crown in reward to him that should drink most: now the greatest drinker swallowed up four steaens of wine, and won the price, being in value worth six hundred crowns, but lost his life (a jewel of greater worth) for he survived not three days after this vile excess: beside, the rest that strove with him in this goodly conflict of carousing, one and forty of them died to bear him company.  
The same Alexander was himself subject to wine, and so distempered divers times therewith, that he often slew his friends at the table in his drunkenness, whom in sobriety he loved dearest.  

Incest, lib. 2. cap. 31.  Plutarch telleth us of Armitus and Ciranippus, two Siracusians, that being drunk with wine, committed incest with their own daughters.  
Cle●mines, king of Lacedemonia, being disposed to carouse after the manner of the Scythians, drank so much, that he became and continued ever after senseless.  
Anacreon the Poet, a grand consumer of wine, and a notable drunkard, was choked with the husk of a grape.  
The monstrous and riotous excesses of divers Roman Emperors (as Tiberius by name, who was a companion of all drunkards) is strange to be heard, and almost incredible to be believed: he loved wine so well, that instead of Tiberius, they called him Biberius; and in stead of Claudius, Caldus; and in stead of Nero, Mer●: noting by those nicknames, how great a drunkard he was.  
The Earl of Aspremont, (after he had by infinite excess exhausted all his substance) being upon a day at S. Michael, drank so excessively, that he died therewith.  
Cyrillus, a citizen of Hippon, had an ungracious son, 
Aug. tom. 10. ver. 33.  who leading a riotous and luxurious life, in the midst of his drunkenness killed his own mother great with child, 
Paricid. lib. 2. cap. 11.  and his father, that sought to restrain his fury; & would have ravished his sister, had she not escaped from him with many wounds.  
Bonosus the Emperor, 
Flavius Vopisc.  is reported to have been such a notorious drunkard, that he was said to be borne not to live, but to drink: if any ambassadors came unto him, he would make them drunk, to the end to reveal their secrets: he ended his life with misery, even by hanging, with this epitaph, That a tun, not a man, was hanged in that place.  
Philostrates, being in the baths at Sinvess●, 
Mart●d. lib. 11.  devoured so much wine, that he fell down the stairs, and almost broke his neck with the fall.  
Zeno, the Emperor of the East, 
Platina.  was so notoriously given to excess of meats and drinks, that his senses being benumbed, he would often lie as one that was dead: wherefore being become odious to all men by his beastly qualities, his wife Ariad●e fell also indetestation of him, & one day as he lay senseless she transported him into a tomb, & throwing a great stone upon it, pined him to death, not suffering any to remove the stone, or to yield him any succour; and this was a just reward of his drunkenness.  
Pope Paulus the second, beside the exceeding pomp of apparel which he used, he was also very careful for his throat, for (as Platina writeth of him) he delighted in all kind of exquisite dishes and delicate wine, and that in superfluity; by which immoderate and continual surfeiting, he fell into a grievous apoplexy, which quickly made an end of his life. It is reported of him, that he ate the day before he died, two great melons, and that in a very good appetite; when as the next night the Lord struck him with his heavy judgement.  
Alexander, the son of Basilius, 
Phil. Melancth▪ lib. 4.  and brother of Leo the Emperor, did so wallow and drown himself in the gulf of pleasure & intemperance, that one day (after he had stuffed himself too full of meat) as he got upon his horse, he burst a vain within his body, whereat upwards and downwards issued such abundance of blood, that his life and soul issued forth withal.  
Concerning Dancing (the usual dependents of feasts and good cheer) there is none of sound judgement that know not, that they are baits end allurements to uncleanness, and as it were, instruments of bawdry: by reason whereof, they were always condemned among men of honour and reputation, whether Romans or Greeks', and left for vile and base minded men to use. And this may appear, by the reproach that Demosthenes the orator gave to Philip of Macedon and his courtiers, in an oration to the Athenians, wherein he termed them common dancers, and such as shamed not assoon as they had glutted their bellies with meat, and their heads with wine, to fall scurrilously a dancing: As for the honourable dames of Rome, truly we shall never read that any of them accustomed themselves to dance, according to the report of Sallust touching Sempronia, whom he judged to be too fine a dancer and singer to be honourable withal: as if these two could no more agree than fire and water. Cicero in his apology of Muraena, 
Muraena.  rehearseth an objection of Cato against his client, wherein he challenged him for dancing in Asia; which he maketh a matter of so great reproach, that not daring to maintain or excuse the fact he flatly denieth it, saying, That no sober and discreet man ever would commit that fault, unless his sense and reason was bereft him. Plutarch also setting forth the virtues of women putteth in this among the rest, that she ought to be no dancer: and speaking in a not her place to all others aswell as women, biddeth them to repulse even their friends if they should lead and entice them to that exercise.  
Besides, all the ancient Doctors of the Church have utterly condemned them as unlawful: Thou learnest to sing profane and idle songs (saith Basil) and forgettest the godly Psalms and Hymns which were once taught thee: thou caperest and leapest with thy feet in dances (unwise as thou art) when as thou shouldst rather bend thy knees in prayer to the almighty: but what gain is got hereby? Marry this, that virgins return rob of their Virginities, and married wives of their troth to their husbands; both, and all, less chaste than they went, and more dishonest than they should, if not in act, which peradventure may be, yet stained in thought which cannot be eschewed. Hear (saith Chrisostome) you maids and wives which are not ashamed to dance and trip it at others marriages, and to pollute your sexes; wheresoever a lascivious dance is danced, there the devil beareth the other part and is the author of it. It is better (saith Ambrose) to dig and delve upon holy days than to dance. And in another place writing to his sister, he saith, that he need not care for dissolute behaviours and songs which are used at marriages to make him merry with all, for when banquets are concluded with dances, then is chastity in an evil case and in great danger to suffer shipwreck by those suspicious allurements. Besides this, 
Orig. lib. 1. contra Cells. Can. 5. & 52.  dancing hath been absolutely forbidden by consent of the whole church of Christ before time, under pain of excommunication; as it may appear by the Constantinoplitane counsel under justinian the Emperor: what answer can they make then to this that are Christians and allow of these forbidden sports? Is it the denying of a man's self? The spiritual regeneration? The putting off the old man touching our conversation in this life? And if all adultery & uncleanness, 
Ephes. 5.4.  all filthiness and foolish talking, jesting and such like, ought not once to be named amongst us, because they are things not comely, If I say it be not lawful to jest or speak the least lascivious word that is, how shall it be lawful to do an action with the motion & consent of the whole body, which representeth nothing else but folly, vanity, and lasciviousness? And this is for them that demand where dancing is forbidden in the scripture, which I touch as it were by the way, and do but point at, not minding to frame any long discourse thereof, seeing there is a particular treatise touching the same matter, which he may read that desireth to know any more touching it. Now let us see what goodly fruits and commodities have risen therefrom. The daughters of the children of Israel being dancing in Silo upon a feastival day, after the manner of the uncircumcised Idolaters, were ravished by the Beniamites for to be their wives, 
judg. 11.  and that mixedly without regard of one or other were they of never so high or base condition.  
At the feast which Herod the Tetrarch made to the princes and captains and nobles of Galilee, the daughter of Herodias pleased him and his company so well with her dancing, 
Mark. 6.  that to gratify this filthy strumpet the incestuous tyrant caused john Babtist to be beheaded.  
Lodowicke's Archbishop of Magdeburge celebrating a solemn feast at a Town called Caluen, invited many of the worthy citizens to make merry with him; the place for their ioyaltie was the great hall, wherein judicial causes were appointed to be discussed: here after the banquet ended they fell a dancing men and women mixedly together, such a ridiculous round clay and such a multitude, that what with the weight of their bodies, or rather the indignation of God against than for this scurrilous & immodest behaviour, the beams of the house began to crack & threaten a certain ruin, whereat the Archbishop affrighted caught hold by a fair dame and began first to go down the stairs, but the steps afore losened, as soon as he trod upon them tumbled down and he & his comfort headlong withal, and were crushed in pieces: and thus he that was principal of the feast & sport, was made an example to all the rest of the Lords vengeance, because he dishonoured his calling and profession by such lewd & light behaviour: and this was one goodly effect of dancing.  

Chron. Magdenburge.  Another we read of in the Chronicles of the same city to this effect, in a village called Ossemer adjoining to Stendel, as the Popish priest played the minstrel to his parishioners that danced the morris before him, & rejoiced in their merry may games: a tempest arose & a thunderbolt struck off his right hand together with the harp which he played on, & consumed a four & twenty men & women of the company: a just punishment of so profane a priest, who in stead of dehorting them (as his duty bound him) from that lascivious custom, played the chief part in their madness, and was an inciter of them unto it.  
Moreover, in many places by dances, grievous & spiteful quarrels have been stirred up, & many murders executed, the examples whereof are so evident & notorious, that it is not needful now to stand upon them: to conclude therefore this point with the saying of Lud. Vives; 
Lodovicus Vives.  There is not a greater vanity in the world than dancing, for (saith he) I heard of certain men of Asia, that coming into Spain when they first saw the Spaniards dance, were so sore affrighted that they ran away for fear, supposing them to have been either possessed with some spirit, or out of their wits at least: & truly I think if a man had never seen a woman dance before, he could hardly be of another judgement, there being nothing that resembleth frenzy and lunacy more than the strange shake & motions of the body at the noise of a beaten sheepskin: verily it is a pastime to mark the grave behaviour, the measurable march, the pomp & ostentation of womendancers, & the great care they have to perform wisely so foolish an action: it is very likely that all their wit at that time is distilled from their head into their feet, for there it is more requisite & needful than in the brain: thus much saith L. Vives. Now touching Mummeries & Masks, I place them in the same rank with the other, forsomuch as they are derived from the same fountain, & communicate the same nature, & produce the same effects, & oftentimes are so pernicious, that diverse honourable women have been ravished & conveyed away by their means: Nay & some maskers have been well chastised in their own vices: as it happened in the reign of Charles the sixth, to six that masked it to a marriage at the hostel of S. Paul's in Paris, being attired like wild horses, covered with lose flax dangling down like hair: all-bedaubed with grease for the fit hanging thereof, & fast bound one to another, & in this guise entered the hall, dancing with torches before them: but behold suddenly their play turned to a tragedy, for a spark of one of their torches fell into the greasy flax of his neighbour, and set it immediately on fire, so that in the turning of an hand they were all on flame, than gave they out a most horrible outcry: one of them threw himself headlong into a tub of water provided to rinse their drinking cups and gobblites, and upon that occasion standing not far off; two were burnt to death without stirring once from the place: the bastard Foix & the Earl of jovy escaped indeed present death, but being conveyed to their lodgings they survived not two days: the king himself being one of the six, was saved by the duchess of Berry, that covering him with her lose and wide garments quenched the fire before it could seize upon his flesh. 
Vol. 4. cap. 52.  froissard the reporter of this tragedy saith, that the next morrow every man could say that this was a wonderful sign and advertisement sent by God to the king to warn him to renounce all such fond and foolish devices which he delighted too much in, & more than it became a king of France to do: and this was the event of that gallant mask.  
It resteth now that we speak somewhat of Plays & Comedies, and such like toys and may games which have no other use in the world but to deprave and corrupt good manners, and to open a door to all uncleanness: the ears of young folk are there polluted with many filthy & dishonest speeches, their eyes are there infected with lascivious and unchaste gestures and countenances, and their wits are there stained and imbrued with so pernicious liquor, that (except Gods good grace) they will ever savour of it: the holy and sacred scripture ordained to a holy & sacred use, is oftentimes by these filthy swine profaned to please and to delight their audience. In few words there is nothing else to be found amongst them but nourishment to our senses of foolish and vain delights: 
Tertul. Oros.  for this cause many of the sager Romans as Nasica and diverse other Censors, hindered the building of the Theatres in Rome, for an opinion they had that their sports and pastimes which were exercised therein, served to no other purpose but to make the people idle, effeminate, and voluptuous: and besides the masters guiders & actors of plays were always debarred as men infamous, from bearing any public office or dignity in the Commonwealth.  
Tiberius Caesar himself though of most corrupt and rotten manners and conversation, 
Tacit. lib. 4.  yet in open Senate complained and found fault with the immodesty of stage players, and banished them at that same time out of Italy: when Domitian was Censor he put out of the Senate a citizen of Rome, 
Fulgos. De curiositate.  because he was too much addicted to the imitation of the fashions of players and dancers: & Plutarch saith, that we ought to shun all such spectacles.  
If then such pastimes were by the judgement of the Romans noted with infamy, shall we have their equals in follies in better account? Basill calleth such sports and pastimes, The workhouse, forge, and common shop of all wickedness: 
Homil. 4.  & therefore Chrisossome prayeth and admonisheth the faithful of his time to abstain from frequenting such places. S. Augustine also forbiddeth to bestow our money upon tumblers, 
Homil 6. in. 1. cap. Gen. Can. 51.  jugglers, and players, and such like? Beside by the Constantinoplitane council under justinian, it was inhibited to be once present at such sports, under the pain of excommunication: and that the ancient Christians did by common consent not only condemn but also utterly abstain from such pastimes, it may appear by the testimony of Tertullian, writing to the Gentiles to this effect: 
Apolog.  We renounce and send back (saith he) sport's & plays unto you as to the head and fountain from whence they were first derived: we make no reckoning of those things which we know were drawn from superstition: we love not to behold the folly of turning with chariots, nor the unchastity of the Theatre, nor the cruelty of sword playing, nor the vanity of leaping, wrestling, and dancing: but take pleasure in exercises of better report, and less hurt.  
Moreover how odious and irksome in the sight of the Lord such spectacles are, and what power and sway the devil beareth therein, the judgement of God upon a Christian woman (reported by Tertullian 
Tertul. de spect. ) may sufficiently instruct us: There was a woman (saith he) that went to the Theatre to see a play, and returned home possessed with an unclean spirit: who being rebuked in a conjuration for daring to assault one of the faith, that professed Christ; answered that he had done well because he found her upon his own ground.  
The same author reporteth another example as strange, of a woman also that went to see a tragedy acted, to whom the night following appeared in a dream the picture of a sheet (a presage of death) casting in her teeth that which she had done; and five days after, death himself seized upon her.  
As touching wanton songs and unchaste and ribald books (that I may be brief) I will content myself only with that which is alleged by Ludivicus Vives concerning that matter. The Magistrate (saith he) ought to banish out of his dominion all unhonest songs and Poems, 
Lib. of instruction of a Christian woman.  and not to suffer novelties to be published day by day in rhymes and Ballads, as they are: as if a man should hear in a city nothing but foolish and sturrilous dirties, such as would make even the younger sort that are well brought up to blush, and stir up the indignation of men of honour and gravity: this aught Magistrate to prevent, and to discharge the people from reading Amadis, Tristram, Lancelot, du lake, Melusine, Poggius scurrilities, and Boccace novelties, with a thousand more such like toys: and thus much out of Vives.   

CAAP. XXXV. Of thieves and Robbers.  
IT follows that we speak in the next place of such as by their greedy covetousness and unquenchable desire of lucre, transgress the fourth commandment of the second table, to wit, Thou shalt not steal: wherein not only simple theft but also sacrilege is condemned, and first of Sacrilege.  
Into this sin fell wretched Achan in the time of joshua, 
joshua. 7.  when in the sack of jerecho, he seeing a Babylonish garment with certain gold and silver, covered it and stole it away, and hide it in his tent, contrary to the commandment of the Lord: for which cause the Lord was offended with his whole people, as if they all had been necessary to the crime; and infer bled them so before their enemies, that they were be at ●●ndowne at Hay, and shamefully put to flight, neither was his anger appeased until that the offendant being divinely and miraculously descried, was stoned to death and burnt with his children, and all his substance:  
But to come unto profane stories, let us begin with Heliodorus measurer of Seleuchus king of Asia: who by the King's commandment and suggestion of one Simon, governor of the Temple, came to take away the gold and silver which was kept in the treasury of the Temple, and to transport it unto the king's treasury, whereat the whole city of jerusalem put on sackcloth, and poured out prayers unto the Lord: so that when Heliodorus was present in the Temple with his soldiers ready to seize upon the treasure, the Lord of all spirits and power, showed so great a vision that he fell suddenly into extreme fear and trembling: for there appeared unto him an horse with a terrible man sitting upon him most richly barbed, which came fiercely and smote at him with his foreseer; moreover there appeared two young men, notable in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely in apparel, which stood by him on either side and scourged him with many striples, so that Heliodorus that came in with so great a company of soldiers and attendants, was strooken dumb and carried out in a litter upon thence shoulders: for his strength was so abated that he could not help himself, but lay destitute of all hope of recovery, so heavy was the hand of God upon him, until by the prayers of Onias the high priest he was restored; then lo, he confessed that he which dwelled in heaven had his eye on that place, and defended it from all those that came to hurt and spoil it.  
Another of this true, was in Crassus the Roman, who entering jerusalem rob the Temple of two thousand talents of silver and gold; 
josephus, Zonar.  beside the rich ornaments, which amounted in worth to eight thousand talents, and a beam of beaten gold containing three hundred pound in weight: 
Campoful. lib. 1.  for which sacraledge, the vengeance of God so pursued him, that within a while after he was overcome by the Parthians and together with his son slain, his evil got goods being dispersed, and the skull of his head being made a ladle to melt gold in, that it might be glutted with that being dead, which alive it could never be satisfied with.  

josephus. lib. 17.  Herod following the steps of Hircanus his predecessor that took out of the sepulchre of king David three thousand talents of money, 
Zonar. Annal. 1  thinking to find the like treasure, broke up the sepulchre in the night, and found no money but rich ornaments of gold which he took away with him: howbeit to his cost, for two of his servants perished in the vault, by a divine fire as it is reported, and he himself had small success in his worldly affairs ever after.  
julian the Apostatae rob the church of the revenues thereof, and took away all benevolences and contributions to schools of learning, to the end the children might not be instructed in the liberal arts, nor in any other good literature. He exaggered also his sacrilege with scornful jests, saying that he did further than salvation by making them poor: seeing it was written in their own bibles; Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: but how this sacreligious thief was punished, 
Lib. 2. cap. 20.  is already declared in the former book.  

Zonaras.  Leo Croponymus took out of the Temple of Constantinople an excellent crown of gold beset with precious stones, which Mauritius had dedicated to the Lord, but assoon as he had set it on his head, a cruel fever seized upon him that he died very shortly.  

Fulg of. lib. 1. chap. 2.  The punishment of the sacrilege of Queen Vrratha in Spain, was most wonderful and speedy: for when in her war against her son Alphonsus she wanted money, she rob the church dedicated to S. Isidore, and took with her own hands the treasures up, which her soldiers refused to do: but ere she departed out of the church, vengeance overtook her and struck her dead in the place.  
Moreover the Lord so hateth this ireligious sin, that he permitteth the devil to exercise his cruelty upon the spoilers of profane and idolatrous temples, as he did upon Dionysius the tyrant of Siracusa; 
Aelianus.  who after many robberies of holy things, and spoiling the churches, died suddenly with extreme joy as author's report, he spoilt the temple of Proserpina at Locris, and shaved off the golden beard of Aesculapius at Epidamnum, saying it was an unseemly thing for Apollo to be beardless and his son bearded: he deprived jupiter Olympus of his golden raiment, and gave him a woollen coat in steed thereof; saying it was too heavy for him in the summer, and too cold in winter, and that this was more convenient for both seasons: the pretext of all his sacrilege was this, that seeing the Gods were good, why should not he be partaker of their goodness.  
Such another was Cambyses king of Persia, 
Sabel. lib. 4. c. 3. Herod. lib. 1.  who sent fifty thousand men to rob and destroy the temple of jupiter Ammon, but in their journey so mighty a tempest arose, that they were overwhelmed with the sand, not one of them remaining to carry news of their success.  
Brennus was constrained to slay himself for enterprising to rob the Temple of Apollo at Delphos: Philomelus, 
Fulgo. lib. 1. c. 2.  Onomarchus, and Phayllus, went about the same practice, and indeed rob the Temple of all the treasures therein; but one of them was burned, another drowned, and the third broke his neck: to conclude, the Athenians put to death a young child for taking but a golden plate out of Diana's Temple, but first they offered him otheriewels & trinkets, which when he despised in respect of the plate, they rigorously punished him as guilty of sacrilege.  
Cardinal Wolsey being determined to erect two new colleges, 
Stow. chron.  one at Oxford, and the other at Ipswich, obtained licence and authority of Pope Clement the seventh to suppress about the number of forty Monasteries to furnish and set forward the building of his said college; which irreligious sacrilege (I call it sacrilege, because not done of conscience but to patch up pride) was furthered by five persons who were the chief instruments of the dissolution of Daintrey Monastery, because the Prior and Covent would not grant them certain lands in farm at their own price: But what punishment ensued upon them at God's hand the world was witness of: for of those five persons, two fell at discord amongst themselves, and the one slew the other, for the which the survivor was hanged; the third drowned himself in a well; the fourth being then worth two hundred pounds, within three years became so poor that he begged until his dying day; and the fift called (Doctor Allane) was cruelly maimed in Ireland, the Cardinal himself falling into the King's displeasure was deposed from his Bishopric and died miserably, the Colleges which he meant to have made so glorious a building, came never to any good effect; the one at Ipswich being clean defaced, the other at Oxford unfinished.  
And thus much of Sacrilege, now let us come and see the punishment of simple theft; the principal cause whereof is covetousness, which is so unruly an evil, and so deep rooted in the heart of man, that ever yet it hath used to encroach upon the goods of others, and to keep possession of that which was none of it own; breaking all the bands of humanity, equity, and right, without being contained in any measure or mean: whereof we have a most notable example in the old world before the flood, which (by Moses report) overflowed with iniquity and extortion; the mighty ones oppressed the weak, the greater trod under foot the less, and the rich devoured the poor: when the Lord saw the general deluge of sin and disorder thus universally spread (which indeed was a sign of great defection and contempt of him) he like a just judge that could not endure these monstrous iniquities, sent a deluge of waters amongst them by opening the windows of heaven, and breaking up the fountains of the great deeps, and giving passage to the waters both by heaven and by earth, so that it reigned forty days and forty nights without ceasing, and the waters prevailed upon the earth, and overcovered the high mountains by fifteen cubits, the earth being reduced into the same estate which it had in the beginning before the waters were took away from the face thereof: verily it was a most hideous and sad spectacle to see first the valleys, than the hills, and last the highest mountains so overflown with water, that no show or appearance of them might be perceived, it was a dreadful sight to behold whole houses tossed to and fro up and down in the waves, and at last to be shivered in pieces, there was not a city nor village that perished not in the deep, not a tree nor tower so high that could overpeere the waters: as they increased more and more in abundance, so fear, horror, and despair of safety increased in the heart of every living soul. And on this fashion did God punish those wicked rebels, not at one blow, but by little and little increasing their pain, that as they had a long time abused his patience, and made no reckoning of amendment, so the punishment of their sin might be long and tedious. Now in this extremity one could not help another, nor one envy another, but all were concluded under the same destruction, all surprised, assieged, and environed alike, aswell he that roved in the fields as he that stayed in the houses, he that climbed up unto the mountains, as he that abode in the valleys, the merciless water spared none: it was to no purpose that some ascended their high houses, some climbed upon trees, and some scaled the rocks, neither one nor other found any refuge or safety in any place, the rich were not saved by their riches, nor the strong by the pith of their strength, but all perished and were drowned together, except Noah and his family: which punishment was correspondent unto the world's iniquity, for as the earth was corrupted and polluted with abundance of sin: so God sent abundance of water to purge and cleanse away the filthiness thereof, as at the latter day he will send fire to purify and refine heaven and earth from their dregs, and restore them to their first and purest estate. And thus God revenged the extortion and cruelty of that age.  
But yet for all this those sins were not then so defaced and rooted up, but that they be burnished again and grown in time to as big a Bulk: for even at this day the greatest part of the world is given to practise fraud and deceit, and by unlawful means to encroach upon others goods; which subtleties, though they desire never so to disguise and cloak, yet will they ever be condemned & reputed kinds of theft before God: now as some are of greater power and authority than others in the world, so answerable to their selves is the quality of their sins, and by consequence the punishment: the greater of power, the greater thieves and the greater judgement: for if a poor man through poverty and necessity cutteth a purse, of stealeth any other trifle, be culpable; how much more culpable shall he that is rich be, that usurpeth the goods of his neighbour?  
Draco the lawgiver of Athens appointed death to be the punishment of theft: Solon mitigated that rigour, and punished it with double restitution: The Locrians put out his eyes that had stolen aught from his neighbour: The Etrurians stoned them to death: The Scythians abhorred them more than all creatures, because they had a community of all things except their cups. The Vacceians used such severity towards this kind of men, that if one had taken but a handful of corn, he was sure to die for it.  
Marcus Fabius being Censor, condemned his own son Bute● to death being apprehended for theft. Tiberius' the Emperor punished a soldier after the same manner for stealing a Peacock: in sum, there was no Commonwealth wherein this sin was not highly detested, & sharply punished, except the Lacedaemonian, where it was permitted and tolerated for their exercise of warlike discipline.  
It was a rash and severe, 
Theat. histor.  yet as it proved a just ded of Tamburlaine that mighty tyrant and conqueror of Asia, when a poor woman complained to him of one of his soldiers that had taken from her a little milk and a piece of cheese without payment, he caused the soldiers belly to be ripped to see whither she had falsely accused him or no, and finding the milk in his stomach adjudged him worthy of that punishment for stealing from so poor a woman.  
When Theophilus reigned Emperor in the East, there was a certain soldier possessed of a very gallant and brave horse, which his captain by all means possible sought to get from him, 
Zonar. Annal. 3.  but he would not in any case part with him; wherefore he put him forth of pay and took his horse from him by force, and sent him for a present to the Emperor Theophilus: now it chanced that this poor soldier was slain in the battle for want of his horse, and his wife and children left destitute of succour, insomuch that through necessity she was constrained to fly to Constantionple and to complain to the Emperor of the injury done unto her husband: with this resolution entering the city, she met the Emperor riding upon her husband's horse, and catching the horse bridle, challenged him not only for stealing the horse, but also being the cause of her husband's death. The Emperor wondering at the woman's boldness, examined her more narrowly and found out the whole practice of that wicked captain, whom he banished presently his Empire, and bestowed his possession in recompense upon the distressed widow.  
Ibicus the Poet being set upon by thieves, when he saw that they would not only spoil him of his money but of his life also, he cried for help and revenge to the crane's that flew over his head, a while after as these murdering thieves sat together in the market place, the same crane's appearing unto them in the air, they whispered one another in the ear, and said, yonder fly Ibicus revengers, which though secretly spoken, yet was overheard: so that they being examined and found guilty, were put to death for their pains. The like story Martin Luther 
Luther.  reporteth touching a travailer; only differing in this, that as crane's detected the former, so crows laid open the latter.  

Albert. Krantz. lib. 10. cap. 7.  In the year 1384 when as all Saxony was so infested with thieves, that no man could travail safely in the country, the Princes calling a council, set down this order, That not only the thieves themselves should be severely punished, but all that did protect or harbour any of them; which decree when as Theodorick county of Weringrode impugned, the body of the council sent for him and adjudged him to a most cruel and shameful death.  

Cranth. lib. 10. cap. 30.  In the year 1410 Henry duke of Luneburge, a most just & severe prince, went about to purge his country from all thefts & robberies, insomuch as the least offence committed in that kind he suffered not to go unpunished: now it happened as the Duke went towards Luneburge, he sent before him one of his chiefest officers to provide necessaries against his coming; who riding ●●thout a cloak, the weather being cold, entreated a ploughman to lend him his cloak till his return; which when the clown refused to do, he took it without leave, but it cost him his life for it, for the ploughman awaited the dukes coming and directed his complaint unto him on this manner: What availeth it (O noble prince) to seek to suppress the outrage of thieves & spoilers, when as the chiefest officers dare commit such things uncontrolled, as the lieutenant of Tzela hath but now taken from memy cloak? the duke hearing this complaint, & considering the cause, dissembled his council till his return back from Luneburge unto the same place, where calling for his lieutenant, and rating him for his injury, he commanded him to be hanged upon a tree: a wonderful severity in justice and worthy to be commended; for what hope is it to root out small and petty thieves, if we suffer grand thieves to go uncorrected.  
There is another kind of theft practised of them that be in authority, who under the title of confiscation assume unto themselves stolen goods, and so much the readilier, by how much the value of the things amounteth to more worth: an action altogether unjust and contrary to both divine and human law, which ordain to restore unto every man his own: & truly he that in steed of restitution with holdeth the good of his neighbour in this manner, differeth no more from a thief, than that the one stealeth boldly without fear, the other timorously and with great danger: and what greater corruption of justice can there be then this? For who would follow the law upon a thief when he knoweth he shall rather run into further charge, than recover any of his old loss? Beside this, it happeneth that poor small thieves are often drawn to the whip, or driven to banishment, or sent to the gallows, when rich grand thieves lie at their ease and escape uncontrolled, albeit the quality of their crime be far unequal, according to the Poet: 
The simple dove by law is censured, 
Dat veniam coruis vexat censura columbas.   
When ravenous crows escape unpunished.   
The world was ever yet full of such ravenous ravens, so nimble in pilling others goods, and so greedy of their own gain; that the poor people in steed of being maintained and preserved in the peaceable enjoying of their portions, are gnawn to the very bones amongst them: for which cause Homer in the person of Agamemnon calleth them devourers of men: likewise also the Prophet David in the sixteenth Psalm calleth them eaters of his people: and yet want they not flatterers and trencher-friends (cankerworms of a Commonwealth) that urge them forwards, & devise daily new kind of exactions, like horseleeches to suck out the very blood of men's purses, showing so much the more wit & deceit therein, by how much the more they hope to gain a great part thereof unto their selves: being like hunger-starved Harpeis, that will never be satisfied, but still snatch and catch all that cometh near their clutches: and these are they that do good to no man, but hurt to all; of whom the Merchant findeth himself aggrieved, the Artificer trodden under foot, the poor labourer oppressed, and generally all men endamaged.   

CHAP. XXXVI. Of the excessive burdening of the Commonalty.  
AS it is a just & approved thing before God to do honour and reverence to kings and Princes, and to be subject under them in all obedience: so it is a reasonable and allowable duty to pay such tributes and subsidies, (whereby their great charges & honourable estate may be maintained) as by right of equity are due unto them: and this is also commanded by our Saviour Christ in express words when he saith, 
Mat. 22.21.  Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. And by the Apostle Paul more expressly, 
Rom. 31.7.  pay tributes, render unto all men their due: tribute to whom tribute belongeth, and custom to whom custom: Mark how he saith, Give unto all men their due: and therein observe that kings and princes ought of their good and just disposition be content with their due; and not seek to load and overcharge their subjects with unnecessary exactions, but to desire to see them rather rich and wealthy than poor and needy, for thereby cometh no profit unto themselves; further it is most unlawful for them to exact that above measure, upon their commons, which being in mediocrity is not condemned: I say it is unlawful both by the law of God and man, [the law of God and man is termed all that which both God and man allow and agree upon, and which a man with a safe conscience may put in practice:] for the former we can have no other schoolmaster nor instruction, save the holy scripture, wherein God hath manifested his will unto us, concerning this very matter, as in Deuteronom. 18, speaking of the office and duty of a king, he forbiddeth them to be horders up of gold and silver, and espousers of many wives, and lovers of pride; signifying thereby, that they ought to contain themselves within the bounds of modesty and temperance, and not give the rains to their own affections, nor heap up great treasures to their people's detriment, nor to delight in war, nor to be too much subject to their own pleasures; all which things are means of unmeasurable expense: so that if it be not allowable to muster together multitudes of goods, for the danger and mischief that ensueth thereof, as it appeareth out of this place; then surely is it much less lawful to levy excessive taxes of the people; for the one of these can not be without the other: and thus for the law of God it is clear, that by it authority is not committed unto them, to surcharge, and as it were, trample down their poor subjects, by unmeasurable and unsupportable imposition.  
As for that which the Prophet Samuel in the name of God, giveth notice to the Israelites of, touching the right of a king; wherein he seemeth to allow him the disposition of the goods and persons of his subjects: I answer first, that God being an immovable truth, cannot contradict himself by commanding and forbidding the same thing; and secondly, that the word of the text in the original, signifieth nothing else, but a custom, or fashion, as it appeareth in the 1. Sam. 11.13: beside, the speech that the Prophet useth, importeth not a commandment, but an advertisement of the subjection, whereunto the people were about to thrust themselves, by desiring a king after the manner of other nations, whose customs amongst them, was to exercise authority and dominion as well over their goods as their persons: for which cause, God would have them forewarned, that they might know how vile a yoke they put their own neches under, and what grievous and troublesome servitude they undertook, from the which they could no ways be delivered, no though they desired it with tears.  
Furthermore, that a king in Israel had no power (in right and equity) to take away the possessions of any of his subjects, and appropriate it to himself, it appeareth by nabaoth's refusal to king Achab, 
1. King. 12.  to give him his vineyard, though he requested it (as in may seem) upon very reasonable conditions, 
1 King. 12.  either for his money, or for exchange; so that a man would think he ought not to have denied him: howbeit his desire being thus crossed, he could not mend himself by his authority, but fell to vex and grieve himself, and to champ upon his own bit, until by the wicked and detestable complot of jezabel, poor Nabaoth was falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and cruelly murdered; and then he put in possession of his vineyard: which murder (doubtless) she would never have attempted, nor yet Nabaoth ever have refused to yield his vineyard, if by any pretence of law they would have laid claim unto it: but Nabaoth knowing that it was contrary to God's ordinance, 
Num 36.9.  for him to part with his patrimony (which he ought most carefully to preserve) would not consent to sell over his vineyard neither for love nor money, nor other recompense: and herein he did but his duty, approved by the holy scripture. Now how odious a thing before God, the oppression of poor people is, it is manifest by his own words in the prophesy of Ezechiel, where he saith, 
Chap. 15.9.  Let it suffice, O princes of Israel, leave off cruelty and oppression, and execute judgement and justice: take away your exactions from my people, and cease to thrust them from their goods and heritage's. Now concerning the law of man, which all men agree unto, because it is grounded upon reason and equity, we find no permission given to kings to use the goods of other men at their pleasures; for that was far from equity: neither was there any such liberty bestowed upon them, by those that first in the beginning exalted them to that degree of dignity: but rather (as divers worthy authors avouch) their own virtues vnd good behaviour which won them credit amongst the better sort, installed them first unto that honour. 
Cic. lib. 3. de legibus. Aug. de civitat Dei. lib. 4. c. 6.  And truly, there is nothing more rightful and just in man's society, than that every one should possess and enjoy that which is his own, in peace and quietness, without disturbance or violence; in which respect also, rules of justice are established, called laws, which no good kings will ever seek to stand against. They are indeed lords of the earth, as some say, and truly; but so, that their lordships stretch no further than right, and pass not the rule of equity; and notwithstanding the propriety of goods and possession, remaineth untouched. 
Lib. 7. c. ●. & 5. de benefictis.  To kings (saith Seneca) pertaineth the sovereignty over all things, but to private men the propriety.  
Tiberius Caesar, being solicited by the governors of the provinces, to lay heavier tributes, and levy larger subsidies from his people, made (though a Painym) this notable answer: That a good shepherd ought to shear his sheep, not to slay them. Saint Lewes, that good king, amongst all his otherwise and virtuous exhortations which he gave unto his son before his death, this was none of the least nor last; 
Nic. Gil.  That he should never crave any tax or subsidy of his subjects, but upon urgent necessity and very just cause, and that if he did otherwise, he should not be reputed for a king, but for a tyrant.   

CHAP. XXXVII. Of those that have used too much cruelty towards their subjects in Taxes and Exactions.  
IT is clear then by these foresaid assumptions, that a king may not impose upon his subjects unmeasurable taxes, and subsidies, lest he make himself guilty of extortion; the root and fountain many times of many great mischiefs and inconveniences, and in very deed from whence oftener changes, seditions, and ruins of commonwealths have proceeded, than from any other cause beside.  
What happened to Roboam, king of Israel, for showing himself too rigorous on this behalf to his subjects, but the defection of the greater part of his kingdom from him; for being come to the crown after the death of his father Solomon, when the people came and made a supplication to him to be eased from his father's burdens, he (despising the counsel of his sage and ancient counsellors, 
1. King. 12.  and following the giddy advise of his young companions) gave them a most sharp and sour reply, saying, That if his father had laid a heavy yoke upon them, he would increase it; and if he had chastised them with rods, he would correct them with scourges: which when they of Israel heard, they revolted from him, (all save the two tribes of juda and Benjamin) and stoned to death his collectors, and chose them another king to rule over them: thus Roboam was deprived of ten parts of his kingdom through his own unadvised tyranny, and fled all amazed unto jerusalem, where he lived all his days without recovery of the same.  
Achaeus, king of Lydia, was hanged up against a hill, and his head thrown into a river running by, because of the great subsidies which he exacted of his people.  

Plutarch. apo●h. Reg.  Dionysius, the first of that name, a notorious and renowned tyrant, not only in regard of his exceeding cruelty, but also of his unjust rackings and exactions, was so violent in that practice of doing wrong, that albeit he well knew the griefs and vexations of the people, that ceased not to complain and lament their case continually, yet he diminished not their burdens, but multiplied them more and more, and sucked and gnew out all that ever he could, until he left them naked, empty, and despoiled: to conclude, this grand thief, that durst not trust his wife nor own daughters, 
Frog. lib. 21.  after he had been discomfited by the Carthaginians, was slain by his servants.  
Of the Roman Emperors that most vexed the commonalty with tributes and taxes, these three were chief, Caligula, Nero, and Caracalla, of whom, this latter did most pill and pull the people, and would often say, 
Dion. & Xiph.  That the gold & silver of the kingdom pertained in right to none but him: being reproved of his mother at a time for his immoderate & excessive expenses, saying, That there was almost not so much more treasure left as he had already spent; he made her this answer, That she should take no care for that, for as long as his hand was able to wield his sword (which he held naked before her) he would not want money. This is the sword which many now adays (after the example of Caracalla) have taken up, to cut out (by force and violence) a way to their own wills, and to cut the throat of equity & justice, and to compel the poor people to forego their goods, and surrender them into their hands: Now how odious and hateful these three were made unto the people by their own wicked demeanours, their miserable ends do sufficiently testify; which we have already before mentioned, and mean afterward more at large to speak of.  
The Emperor Constance, son to Constantine, whose father was Heraclius, coming at a time out of Greece to Rome, 
Fulgos. lib. 9 cap. 4.  abode there but five days, but in that short space committed so much outrage in ransacking the temples and other public places, and carrying away so many rich ornaments and pictures (whereof those places then abounded) that in man's remembrance, noforraine barbarous enemy, having taken the city by force of war, ever went away with the like spoil: beside, he did so oppress the allies and tributaries of the Empire, (and chief the sicilians) with taxes and imposts, that many of them were constrained to sell their children for money, to satisfy his extortion: and by this means, he scraped together an infinite mass of rapines and evil gotten goods, but enjoyed the sweet of them not very long; for very soon after, he was murdered by his own men of war, in his return out of Sicily: and all that spoil which he had unjustly surprised, was suddenly taken and transported into Africa, by the Saracens that then inhabited the city Panorme.  
Lewis the eleventh, king of France, after he had overcharged his subjects with too grievous burdens of payments and taxes, fell into such a timorous conceit & fear of death, as never any man did the like: he attempted all means of avoiding or delaying the same, as first during his sickness, he gave his physician monthly ten thousand crowns, by that means to creep into his favour; wherein he being in all other things a very niggard and pinchpenny, showed himself on the other side more than prodigal: next he sent into Calabria for a Hermit reported to be a holy and devout man, to whom at his arrival, he performed so much duty and reverence, as was wonderful and unseemly: for he threw himself on his knees, and besought him to prolong his decaying life, as if he had been a God and not a man: but all that he could do was to no purpose, no nor the relics which Pope Sixtus sent him to busy himself withal, nor the holy vial of Rheims which was brought him, could prorogue this life of his, nor privilege him from dying a discontent and unwilling death: he suspected the most part of his nearest attendants, and would not suffer them to approach unto him in his sickness: after he had thus prolonged the time in hope, and yet still languished in extreme distress of his disease, it was at length told him in all speed, that he should not set his mind any longer upon those vain hopes, nor upon that holy man, for his time was come, and he must needs die. And thus he that during his reign showed himself rough and cruel to his subjects, by too many and heavy impositions, was himself in his lattet end thus roughly and hardly dealt withal.  
Christiern, the eleventh king of Denmark, Norway, and Suecia, after the death of king john his father, reigned the year of our Lord 1514, and was too intolerable in imposing burdens and taxes upon his subjects; for which cause the Swecians revolted from his government: whom though after many battles and sieges he conquered, and placed amongst them his garrisons to keep them in awe, yet ceased they not to rebel against him, and that by the instigation of a mean gentleman, who very quickly got footing into the kingdom, and possessed himself of the crown and government. Now Christiern having lost this province, and being also in disdain and hatred of his own country, and fearing least this inward heat of spite should grow to some flame of danger to his life, seeing that the inhabitants of Lubeck conspiring with his uncle Frederick, began to take arms against him, he fled away, with his wife (sister to the Emperor Charles the fift) and his young children to Zealand, a province of the Emperors, after he had reigned nine years: after which, the Estates of the realm (aided by them of Lubeck) assembling together, exalted his uncle Frederick, prince of Holsatia, (though old and ancient) to the crown; and publishing certain writings, addressed them to the Emperor and the princes of his Empire, to render a reason of their con-proceeding, and to make known unto them upon how good siderations, they had deposed and banished Christian, for the tyranny which he exercised among them: ten years after this, he got together a new army by sea, in hope to recover his losses, but contrary to his hope he was taken prisoner, and in captivity ended miserably his days.  
Henry, king of Suecia, was chased from his sceptre for enterprising to burden his commons with new contributions. Those that were devisers of new taxes and tributes, 
Nic. Gil. v●l. 1.  for the most part ever lost their lives in their labours: for proof whereof, let the example of Parchenus or Porchetes serve; who for giving counsel to king Theodebert, touching the raising of new subsidies, was stoned to death by the multitude, in the city Trieves.  
Likewise was George Presquon cruelly put to death by the people for persuading and setting forward Henry of Suecia, to the vexation and exaction of his subjects.   

CHAP. XXXVIII. More Examples of the same subject.  

Platiniae in vita Zacharin.  AIstulphus the nineteenth king of Lombary, was not only a most cruel tyrant, but also a grievous oppressor of his subjects with taxes and exactions; 
Phil. Melanct. lib. 3.  for he imposed this upon every one of them, to pay yearly a noble for their heads: against this man, Pope Steven provoked king Pepin of France, who coming with an army, drove the tyrant into Ticinum, and constrained him to yield to partial conditions of peace; howbeir Pepin was no sooner gone, but he returned to his old bias; wherefore the second time he came and drove him to as great extremity: in so much, as another peace was concluded: after the accomplishment whereof, perverse Aistulph, still vexing his subjects, was plagued by God with an apoplexy, and so died.  

Zonar. lib. 3.  justinian the Emperor, as be was profuse and excessive in spending, so was he immoderate and insatiable in gathering together riches, for he exercised his wit in devising new tributes and payments, and rejoiced his heart in nothing more: for which causes there arose a grievous sedition at Constantinople against him; wherein not only the excellent and famous monuments of the Empire were burned, but also forty thousand men slain: and this was no small punishment for his oppression.  
At Paris there is to be seen in the corn market, a certain monument hard at the mouth of the common sink, which convaieth away all the filth out of the city; 
Eras. in lingua.  the occasion whereof is reported to be this: A certain courtier seeing the king sad and melancholy for want of treasure, counseled him to exact of every countryman that brought ware into the city but one penny, and that but for two years together: which when the king put in practice, and found the exceeding commodity thereof, he not only continued that tax, but also invented divers others, to the great damage of the Commonwealth and enriching of his own treasury. Wherefore he that put it first into his head, when he saw that he had not so much authority in dissuading as he had in persuading it, to take punishment of himself for that inconsiderate deed, and to warn others from attempting the like, he commanded by his testament that his body should be buried in that common sink, to be an example of exaction and the filthiness thereof.  
Barnaby Viscount of Milan by the report of Paulus jonius, 
Tom. 2. vivorum illustrum.  was an unconscionable oppressor of his subjects and tenants, for he did not only extort of them continual imposts and payments, but enioned them to keep every one a dog; which if they came to any mishap, or were either too fat or too lean, the keeper was sure to be beaten, or at least some fine to be set on his head: this tyrant was taken by john Galeacius, and after seven months' imprisonment poisoned to death.  
Archigallo brother to Gorbonianus in nature, 
Lanquet.  though unlike in conditions (for he was a good Prince, whereas this was a Tyrant) was crowned King of Britain in the year of the world 3671, we may well place him in this rank of oppressors, for he deposed the Noblemen, and exalted the ignoble: he extorted from men their goods to enrich his treasure: for which cause the estates of the realm deprived him of his royal dignity, & placed his younger brother Elydurus in his room, after he had reigned five years.  
Hardiknitus king of Denmark, 
The same.  after the death of Harold, was ordained king of England in the year of the Lord 1041, this king as he was somewhat cruel (for he caused the body of Harold to be taken up out of the sepulchre, and smiting off his head to be cast out into the river Thames, because he had injured his mother Emma when he was alive:) so he was burdensome to his subjects in tributes and exaction: for which cause growing into hatred with God and his subjects, he was stricken with sudden death, not without suspicion of poisoning, after he had reigned three years.  

The same.  William Rufus second son of William the conqueror succeeded his father as in the kingdom of England, so in disposition of nature, for they were both cruel, unconstant and covetous, and burdened their people with unreasonable taxes: insomuch that what with the morreine of men by pestilence, and the oppressions of them by exactions, the tillage of the earth was put off for one year, being the year 1096, whereby ensued great scarcity the year following throughout all the land: but for the oppression William was justly punished by sudden death, when being at his disport of hunting he was wounded with an arrow glancing from the bow of Tyrill a French knight: and so his tyranny and life ended together.  

The same.  Neither doth the Lord thus punish oppressors themselves, but also they that either countenance, or having authority do not punish the same; as it appeareth by this example following: In the year of our Lord 475, there lived one Corrannus a king of Scots: who though he governed the people in peace and quietness a long space, and was indeed a good Prince, yet because his Chancellor Tomset used extortion and exaction amongst his subjects, and he being advertised thereof did not punish him, he was slain traitorously by his own subjects.  
It is not unworthy to be noted, how Edward the third king of England, prospered a long while in the wars against France, and got many worthy and wonderful victories: but when Prince Edward, son unto the foresaid Edward, after conditions of peace concluded, began to set taxes and impositions upon the country of Aquitaine, then did king Edward's part begin to decline, and the success of war which the space of forty years never forsook him, now frowned upon him, so that he quickly lost all those lands which by composition of peace were granted unto him.   

CAAP. XXXIX. Of such as by force of arms have either taken away, or would have taken away, the goods and lands of other men.  
NOw if they that oppress their subjects and devour them in this manner, 
In this whole chapter note the nature of ambition, and the fruits thereof.  be found guilty, then must they needs be much more, that are carried with the wings of their own hungry ambitious desire to invade their lands and signiories, attended on with an infinite retinue of pillages, sackings, ruins of cities and people; which are always necessary companions of furious unmerciful war. There are no floods so broad, nor mountains so steep, nor rocks so rough and dangerous, nor sea so long and furious, that can restrain the rash and headstrong desire of such greedy minded Sacres: so that if their body might be proportioned to the square and greatness of their minds, with the one hand they would reach the East, and with the other hand the West (as it is said of Alexander:) howbeit hereof they boast and glory no less than they that took delight to be surnamed citie-spoilers: others burners of cities, some conquerors, and many Eagles and Falcons, seeking as it were fame by infamy; and by vice eternity. But to these men it often cometh to pass, that even then when they think to advance their dominion, and to stretch their bounds and frontiers furthest, they are driven to recoil for fear of being dispossessed themselves of their own lands and inheritances: and even as they dealt with others rigorously and by strength of weapons, so shall they be themselves rehandled and dealt withal after the same measure, according to the word of the Prophet denounced against such as they, Cursed be thou that spoilest and dealest unfaithfully; when thou hast made an end of spoiling others, thou thyself shall be spoiled: and when thou hast done dealing traitorously, than treason shall begin to be practised against thee: and this curse most commonly never faileth to seize upon these great thieves and Robbers, or at least upon their children and successors; as by particular examples we shall see, after we have first spoken of Adonias, who not content with his own estate of being a king's son, 
1. King. 12.  which God had allotted him, went about to get the crown and kingdom from his brother Solomon, 
Treason. lib. 2. cap. 3.  to whom by right it appertained (for God had manifested the same by the mouth of his father David) but both he and his assistants for their overbold and rash enterprise, were justly by Solomon punished with death.  

jarod.  Crassus' king of Lydia was the first that made war against Ephesus, and that subdued the Greeks' of Asia, to wit the Phrygians, Mysians, Chalybeans, Paphlagonians, Thracians, Bythinians, jonians, Dorians, Aeolians, and Pamphilians, and made them all tributaries unto him: by means whereof he being grown exceeding rich and puissant, by the detriment and undoing of so many people; vaunted and gloried in his greatness and power, and even then thought himself the happiest man in the world, when most misery and adversity, grief and distress of his estate and whole house, approached nearest: for first and foremost one of his sons that was dear unto him, was by oversight slain at the chase of a wild boar, next himself having commenced war with Cirus, was overcome in battle: and besieged in Sardis the chief city of his kingdom, and at last taken and carried captive to Cyrus, despoiled of all his late glory and dominion. And thus Crassus (as saith Plutarch after Herodotus) bore the punishment of the offence of his great grandfather Gyges', who being but one of king Candanles attendants slew his master, and usurped the crown at the provokement of the Queen his mistress, whom he also took to be his wife: And thus this kingdom decayed by the same means by which it first increased.  
Polycrates the Tyrant, 
Herod.  was one that by violence and tyrannous means, grew from a base condition to an high estate: for being but one of the vulgar sort in the city Samos, he with the assistance of sifteene armed men, seized upon the whole city, and made himself Lord of it: which dividing into three parts, he bestowed two of them upon his two brethren, but not for perpetuity; for ere long the third part of his usurpation cost the elder of them the best part of his life, and the younger his liberty, for he chased him away that he might be sole possessor of the whole Island: after this he invaded many other Islands, besides many cities in the same land: he raised the Lacedæmonians from the siege of Samos which they had begirt. And when he saw that all things fell out so well to his own wish, that nothing could be more, fearing so great prosperity could not but carry in the tail some terrible sting of adversity and mischance; attempted by voluntary loss of something of value to prevent the mischief which he feared to ensue, and this by the advise of his dear friend and ally (the king of Egypt) therefore he threw a ring which he had in great price, into the sea; to the end to delude fortune (as he thought) thereby: but the ring was after found in a fishes belly, and offered as a present unto him: and this was an evident presage of some inevitable misfortune that waited for him: neither did it prove vain and frivolous, for he was hanged upon a gibbet of Sardis, by the commandment of Orates the governor of the city; who under pretence of friendship, and colour of rendering his treasure into his hands, and bestowing upon him a great part thereof, promising also to pass the rest of his days under his wing, for fear of the rage of Cambyses, drew him to come privately to speak with him, and so easily wrought his will upon him.  
Aristodemus got into his hands the government of Cuma, 
Dion●s. Halicar. lib. 7.  after he had made away the principal of the city: and to keep it the better being obtained, he first won the vulgars' hearts by presents, then banished out of the City their children whom he had put to death, and entertained the rest of the youth with such variety of pleasures and delights, that by those devices he kept himself in his tyrannous estate many years: but assoon as the children of those slain Citizens, were grown to ripe years of strength and discretion, being desirous to revenge their father's deaths, they set upon him in the night, so at unawares, that they put him and all his family to the slaughter.  

Plutarch.  Tymophanes usurped a principality, power, and rule, in Corinth a free city, and became so odious thereby to the whole people, yea and to his own brother Tymoleon also, that laying aside all respect of nature, he slew him with his own hands: preferring the liberty of his country, before any unity or bond of blood. When the cities of Greece (saith Orosius) would needs through too greedy a desire and Ambition of reign, 
Lib. 3. cap. 12.  get every one the mastery and sovereignty of the rest, they altogether made shipracke of their own liberties by encroaching upon others: as for instance, The Lacedæmonians, how hurtful and uncommodious the desire of bringing their neighbour adjoining cities under their dominion was unto them, the sundry discomfitures and distresses within the time of that war undertaken upon that only cause befell them, 
Oros. l●b. 3. ca 2.  bear sufficient record.  
Servius Tullus the son to a bondman, addicted himself so much to the exploits of war, that by Prowess he got so great credit and reputation among the Romans; that he was thought worthy to be made the son in law of king Tarqvinius by marrying one of his daughters: 
Titus Livius.  after whose death he also usurped the crown, under colour of the Protectorship of the kings two young sons. Who when they came to age and bigness, married the daughters of their brother in law Tullius: by whose exhortation and continual provokement, the elder of them which was called Tarqvinius, conspired against his father in law, and practised to make himself king, and to recover his rightful inheritance, and that by this means: he watched his opportunity when the greatest part of the people were out of the city about gathering their fruit in the fields, and then placing his companions in readiness to serve his turn if need should be, he marched to the palace in the royal robes, guarded with a company of his confederates: and having called a Senate, as he began to complain him of the treachery and impudency of Tullius, behold Tullius himself came in & would have run violently upon him, but Tarqvinius catching him about the middle threw him headlong down the stairs, and presently sent certain of his guard to make an end of the murder which he had begun. But herein the cruelty of Tullia was most monstrous; that not only first moved her husband to this bloody practice, but also made her coach to be driven over the body of her father which lay bleeding in the midst of the street scarce dead.  
Manlius after he had maintained the fortress of Rome against the Gauls, glorying in that action, 
Parricide. lib ● cap. 11.  and envying the good hap and prosperity of Camillus, went about to make himself king, under pretence of restoring the people to their ancient entire liberty: but his practice being discovered, he was accused, found guilty, and by the consent of the multitude adjudged to be thrown headlong down from the top of the same fortress; to the end that the same place which gave him great glory might be a witness and memorial of his shame and last confusion: for all his valiant deeds before done were not of so much force with the people, to excuse his fault or save his life, as this one crime was of weight to bring him to his death.  
In former times there lived in Carthage one Hanno, 
Oros. lib. 4. c. 6.  who because he had more riches than all the Commonwealth beside, began to aspire to the domination of the city: which the better to accomplish, he devised to make show of marrying his only daughter, to the end that at the marriage feast he might poison the chiefest men of credit and power of the city, whom he knew could or would any ways withstand or countermand his purpose: but when this devise took no effect, by reason of the discovery thereof by certain of his servants, he sought another means to effect his will: He got together a huge number of bondslaves and servants, which should at a sudden put him in possession of the city; but being prevented herein also by the citizens, he seized upon a castle with a thousand men of base regard, even servants for the most part, whither thinking to draw the Africans, and king of the Moors to his succour, he was taken & first whipped, next had his eyes thrust out, and then his arms and legs broken in pieces, and so was executed to death before all the people: his carcase being thus mangled with blows was hanged upon a gallows, and all his kindred and children put to death, that there might not one remain of his strain, either to enterprise the like deed or to revenge his death.  
That great and fearful warrior julius Caesar, one of the most hardy and valiants pieces of flesh that ever was, after he had performed so many notable exploits, overcome all his enemies, and brought all high and haughty purposes to their desired effect: being pricked forward with the spur of ambition and a high mind, through the means and assistance of the mighty forces of the Commonwealth, which (contrary to the constitution of the Senate) were left in his hands, he set footing into the state, and making himself master & Lord of the whole Roman Empire, usurped a sovereignty over them. But as he attained to his dignity by force and violence, so he enjoyed it not long, 
Plutarch. Sueton. ●●●rop.  neither gained any great benefit by it, except the loss of his life may be counted a benefit, which shortly after in the open Senate was bereft him: for the conspirers thereof as soon as he was set down in his seat, compassing him about, so vehemently overcharged him on all sides, that notwithstanding all the resistance he could make for his defence, tossing amongst them, and shifting himself up and down, he was overthrown on the earth, and abode for dead, through the number of blows that were given him, even three and twenty wounds. The monarchy of Assyria was at one instant extinguished in Sardanapalus: and of Babylon in Balthasar, Arbaces being the worker of the first, and Darius' king of Persia of the latter; both of them receiving the wages not of their wickedness, but also of their predecessors & great grandfathers cruelty and oppressions, by whom many people and nations had been destroyed. Moreover, as the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by Darius of Persia, so was his Persian kingdom (in Darius the last king of that country his time, this man's successor) overturned by Alexander. Again, the great dominion of Alexander (who survived not long after) was not continued to any of his by inheritance, but divided like a prey amongst his greatest captains, and from them the most part of it in short time descended to the Romans; who spreading their wings and stretching their greedy talents far and near, for a while ravened and preyed over all the world, and enriched and bedecked themselves with the spoils of many nations; and therefore it was necessary that they also should be made a prey, and that the far fetched Goths and Vandals should come upon them, as upon the body of a great Whale that suffers shipwreck upon the sea shore: since which time the Roman Empire went to decay, and grew every day weaker than other: yea and many princes setting themselves against and above it, have rob it of the realms and provinces which it rob others of before: and thus we may see, how all things run, as it were, in a circle, and how great the uncertainty of this world is, seeing that the mightiest are subject to so many and great changes: For if there be any thing under the sun that may carry any show of stability or continuance, surely it is a monarchy or common wealth, grounded upon the unity and consent of all people, maintained by the authority of the greatest and most mighty, and underpropped with the shores of much strength and wealth, as that Roman Empire was: and yet for all that, there was never any, though never so well reared and furnished, and deep rooted, which at the length hath not been demolished, ransacked, and pulled up by some notable and strange calamity. And this is that which the spirit of God would give us to know, by the vision of that great image, represented to Nabuchadnezzar in a dream, according to daniel's interpretation thereof; to wit, that the four great and puissant monarchies of the world, should at last be ruinated and dispersed, like the chaff before the wind, till they were consumed and brought to nothing, albeit they were glorious and excellent as gold and silver, or strong and mighty as brass and iron.  
How much more foolish and evil advised are they then, that for a certain apparent splendour and show of worldly honour (which is as frail as any rose, as variable as the wind, as light and vain as a shadow or smoke, as vnassured as a rotten plank) have the eyes of their minds so dazzled, and their wits so bewitched, & all their affections so transported, as to mingle heaven and earth together, to dash the East against the West, to stir up discord and dissension betwixt man and man, and to shed so many thousand men's blood, and all for a paltry desire of reign, though to their own final ruin and destruction?  

Sabellicus.  And thus came it to pass in the time of the Emperor Otho, to a duke of Venice, called Peter Caudian, who (not content with his dukedom) went about to usurp a tyrannical rule over the whole signory, and that by pride and threats; desiring rather to make himself terrible to the people by those bad means, than amiable and beloved by any means whatsoever; and thus daily he grew as in age so in insolency: he placed a garrison of men about his palace, and so fortifying himself, presently he showed himself in his colours, namely a cruel tyrant: which when the multitude perceived, and remembered withal, their liberty, which they were like to lose, they took up arms forthwith, in purpose to beat down his haughty mind; therefore they first set on fire his house, and caused him to forsake his fortress, and to betake himself to his shifts: but when by reason of the stopping of the passages he could not escape, they took him and his young son also which was with him, and put them to a most cruel and sudden death, and cast their carcases to be devoured of dogs.  
In the Empire of Maximilian, Lewes Sforce, 
Bemh●●. lib. 2. of the Ven●●● history.  a prince of an inconstant and turbulent spirit, ambitious, and one that made no account of his promises nor faith, took upon him the government of Milan, after the death of his brother Galeaz duke of Milan, who was traitorously slain: in which action, the first wrong which he did, was to his brother's widow, whom he deposed; the second to his young nephew, his brother Galeaz son, whom he so brought up, as if he never meant he should come to honour or goodness, for he suffered him not to be trained up either in learning or arms, but let him run into all possible occasions that might corrupt and spoil his tender age: thus he enjoyed the principality thirteen years, all the while under his nephews rain; to whom when, Alphonsus king of Naples had given in marriage one of his daughters, and perceived what small reckoning his uncle made of restoring him his dukedom, after he had often and instantly entreated him without prevailing, at length he fell to threaten him with war: he fearing to have the worse and to lose so great a dignity, wrought so by his own shifts and devices, together with the helping hand of Pope Alexander, that he put it in the head of Charles the eight of France to go and conquer Naples, for the hatred which his heart possessed against Alphonsus, supposing by this means the better to accomplish his affairs to his own desire. The king of France was no sooner entered Italy, but Lewes Sforce ministered an Italian posset to his young nephew john Galeaz, that he immediatle died upon it, 
Guicciard. lib. 1.  and then he proclaimed himself prince of the Duchy, by the aid of the principal of the counsel, whom he had won to defer that honour unto him, by deposing the young son of john Galeaz, being then but five years old: but he declared presently his inconstant and perfidious nature, in breaking promise with the king of France, whom he had induced with so many fair speeches, to undertake that voyage; and entering a new league with the Venetians both against him and the Pope, although ere long he served them with the same measure: but Lewis the twelfth, succeeding in the crown of France, could not brook this injury done to his predecessor, but pretending a title to the Duchy of Milan, he dispatched an army thitherward, that bestirred itself so well, that in short space they brought under their subjection, all the cities and towns near adjoining: which the citizens perceiving, begun to rebel against their duke, and killed his treasurer; whereupon he (being not able to make his part good with the French abroad, nor daring to put any confidence in his own at home) left his castle to the charge and custody of a captain, and fled himself with his children to Almain, towards the Emperor Maximilians court, hoping to find succour at his hand, as indeed he did; for he returned to Milan with five hundred Burgundians, and eight thousand Switzers, and was received again into the city: being thus refortified with these and other more troops that came unto him, he encamped before Navarre, and by composition, got the city into his hands from the Frenchmen. The French king in the mean while sent a new supply of men into the Duchy, amongst whom were many Switzers, who so dealt with their countrymen that were on the duke's side, that they brought them also to favour the king of France, and to forsake the duke: which when he understood, he presently departed the city, and posting to the camp, hardened his soldiers, desiring them to play the men, and not to shrink, for he meant to give battle without delay: but the captains made answer, That they might not fight against their own nation without especial leave from their lords. Now in the mean while, whilst these things were in doing, they took order that the Frenchmen should approach to Nouare and intercept all the passages, that the duke might not escape, he therefore laid aside his horse and marched on foot in the squadron of Swissers, now joined to the French, in attire and armour like a Swisser, thinking by this trick to save his life: but all his counterfeiting could not save him from being taken, and from lying ten years prisoner in the Tower of Loches, where he also died: 
Gulcciard. li. 4.  and so all his high and ambitious thoughts (which scarcely Italy could contain) were penned up in a strait and narrow room.  
With the like turbulent and furious spirit of ambition have many Roman bishops been inspired, who what by their juggling tricks, cousinages, and subtle devices, and what by force, have prospered so well, that of simple bishops (which they were wont to be) they are grown temporal lords, and as it were monarches; having in their possessions, lands, cities, castles, fortresses, havens, garrisons, and guards, after the manner of kings, nay they have exalted themselves above kings, (so intolerable is their impudency) and made them subject to their wills: 
Mark. 10. Luke. 22.  and yet they call themselves the Apostles pedigree, whom Christ forbade all such domination. But what of that? it pertaineth not to them to succeed in virtue, but in authority the Apostles; for if that charge had concerned them, than Pope Lucius the second, 
Bal.  would never have been so shameless, as to request in right of his popeship, the sovereignty over Rome as he did; neither when it was denied him, to have gone about to usurp it by force, and to bring his mind about to have laid siege to the Senate house with armed men, to the end that either by banishing or murdering the Senators then assembled together, he might invest himself with the kingly dignity: But what got he by it? marry this: The people being in an uproar in the city upon the sight of this holy father's proud attempt, took themselves to arms, and ran with such violence upon master Pope, that they forthwith stoned his holiness to death, but not like Steven the martyr for the profession of Christ jesus, but like a vile and seditious thief for seeking the commonwealths overthrow.  
Pope Adrian the fourteenth, a monks son, succeeding Lucius both in the Papacy, 
Saboll. Bal.  and also in ambition, took in hand his omitted enterprises; for he excommunicated the Romans until they had banished Arnold a Bishop, that gave them counsel to retain the power of electing their magistrate, and governing their city in their hands (a thing repugnant to his intent) and after he had degraded the consuls; to make his part the stronger, he caused the Emperor Frederick to come with an army to the city; whom notwithstanding he handled but basely for his pains, for he did not only check him openly for standing on his feet and holding the stirrup of his horse with his left hand, but also denied him the crown of the Empire, except he would restore to him Poville, which (he said) pertained unto him: howbeit he got the crown notwithstanding, and before his return from Rome into Germany, more than a thousand citizens that would not yield nor subscribe unto the Pope's will, were slain: after frederic departure, the Pope seeing himself destitute of his further aid, first excommunicated the king of Sicily, that in right of inheritance possessed the foresaid Poville; but when this served him to small purpose, he practised with Emmanuel the Emperor of Greece to set upon him, which thing turned to his final confusion: after this (through his intolerable pride) he fell out with Frederick the Emperor, and to revenge himself upon him, discharged his subjects from their fealty to him, and him from his authority over them: Now mark his end; As he walked one day towards Auiane, a fly got in at his mouth and down his throat so far, that it stopped the conduit of his breath, so that for all that his physicians could do, he was choked therewith. And thus he that sought by all the means he could, to make himself greater than he ought to be, and to get the mastery of every thing at his own will and pleasure, and to take away other men's rights by force, was cut short and rebated by a small and base creature, and constrained to leave this life, which he was most unworthy of.  
Hither may be referred, that which befell the Emperor Albert, duke of Austria, and one of his lieutenants in Swizzerland, for going about to usurp and appropriate certain lands and dominions to him, which belonged not unto him. This Emperor had many children whom he desired to leave rich and mighty, and therefore by all means possible he endeavoured to augment his living, even by getting from other men whatsoever he could: and amongst all the rest, this was one especial practice wherein he laboured tooth and nail, to alienate from the Empire the land of the Swissers, and to leave it for an everlasting inheritance to his heirs: which although the Swizzers would in no case condescend nor agree unto, but contrariwise sued earnestly unto his majesty, for the maintenance of their ancient liberties and privileges which were confirmed unto them by the former Emperors, and that they might not be distracted from the Empire; yet notwithstanding were constrained to undergo for a season the yoke of most grievous tyranny and seruirude imposed by force upon them: and thus the poor commonalty endured many mischiefs, and many grievous and cruel extortions and indignities at the hands of the emperors officers, whilst they lived in this wretched and miserable estate.  
Amongst the rest there was one called Grislier that began to erect a strong fort of defence upon a little hill near unto Altorfe, to keep the country in greater awe and subjection; and desiring to descry his friends from his foes, he invented this devise: He put a hat upon the end of a long pole, and placed it in the field before Altorfe, where great multitudes of people, with this commandment, That every one that came by should do obeisance, & vail bonnet to the hat, and in every respect show themselves as dutiful unto it, as to his own person, imagining that his greatest enemies could not endure nor find in their hearts to do it, and therefore upon this occasion he might apprehend them, and discover all their close practices & conspiracies, which they might brew against him: now there was one, a stout hearted man, that passing every day up and down that ways, could in no wise be brought to reverence the dignity of the worthy hat, (so unreasonable a thing it seemed in his eyes) whereupon being taken, the tyrant commanded him (for punishment of his open contempt) to shoot at an apple laid upon the crown of the head of his dearest child, and if he missed the apple, to be put to death: the poor man after many excuses, and allegations, and entreaties that he might not hazard his child's life in that sort, was notwithstanding enforced to shoot, and shooting, God so directed his shaft, that the apple was hit & the child untouched; and yet for all this, he adjudged him to perpetual prison: out of which he miraculously escaping, watched the tyrant's approach in so fit a place, that with the shaft that should have been the death of his son, he struck him to the heart: whose unlucky end, was a lucky beginning of the Swissers deliverance from the bondage of tyrants, 
Nic. Gil. vol. 1.  and of the recovery of their ancient freedom, which ever after they wisely and constantly maintained.  
The Emperor Albert, purposing to be revenged upon them for his injury, as also for slaying many more of his men, and breaking down his castles of defence which he had caused to be builded in their country, determined to make war upon them; but he was slain ere he could bring that determination to effect by one of his own nephews, from whom (being his overseer and guardant for his bringing up) he withheld his patrimony against all equity; neither by prayers or entreaty could be persuaded to restore it. These things (according to Nicholas Gil's report in his 1 volume of the Chronicles of France) happened about the reign of Saint Lewes.   

CHAP. XL. Of Usurers and their thest.  
IF open larcinies and violent robberies and extortions are forbidden by the law of God, as we have seen they are, than it is no doubt but that all deceit and unjust dealings and bargains used to the damage of others are also condemned by the same law; and namely Usury, when a man exacteth such unmeasurable gain for either his money or other thing which he dareth, that the poor borrower is so greatly endamaged, that in steed of benefiting and providing for his affairs, which he aimed at, he hitteth his further loss and final overthrow. This sin is expressly prohibited in Leviticus 25, 
Levit. 25.36.  deuteronomy 23, 
Deut. 23.19.  and Psalm 15, 
Psal. 15.5.  where the committants thereof are held guilty before God's judgement seat of iniquity and injustice: and against them it is that the Prophet Ezechiell 
Eze. 18.12.13.  denounceth this threatening: That he which oppresseth or vexeth the poor and afflicted, he which robbeth or giveth to usury, and receiveth the increase into his bags, shall die the death, and his blood shall be upon his pate.  
Neither truly doth the justice of God sleep in this respect, but taketh vengeance upon all such, and punisheth them after one sort or other, either in body or goods, as it pleaseth him: I myself knew a grand usurer in the country of Vallay that having scraped together great masses of gold & silver by these unlawful means, was in one night rob of fifteen hundred crowns by thieves, that broke into his house. I remember also another Usurer dwelling in a Town called Argentall, nigh unto Anovay under the jurisdiction of Tholosse in high Vivaria, who being in hay time in a meadow, was stung in the foot by a serpent or some other venomous beast, that he died thereof: an answerable punishment for his often stinging and biting many poor people with his cruel and unmerciful usury.  
Nay it is so contrary to equity and reason, that all nations led by the instinct of nature have always abhorred and condemned it, insomuch that the condition of thieves hath been more easy and tolerable than usurers; for theft was wont to be punished but with double restitution, but usury with quadruple: and to speak truly, these rich and gallant usurers, do more rob the common people and purloin from them, than all the public thieves that are made public examples of justice in the world. It is to be wished that some would examine usurers books, 
De off●cio princip. lib. 4. ca 14.  and make a bondfire of their obligations, as that Laced emonian did when Agesilaus reported that he never saw a clearer fire: or that some Lucullus would deliver Europe from that contagion, as that Roman did Asia in his time. 
Alex. ab Alex. lib. 1. cap. 7.  Lycurgus banished this cankerworm out of his Sparta: Amasis punished it severely in his Egypt. Cato exiled it out of Sicily, and Solon condemned it in Athens: how much more should it be held in detestation among Christians? S. Chrisostome 
Chrisost. in Mat. cap. 5.  compareth it fitly to the biting of an asp, as he that is stung with an asp falleth asleep as it were with delectation, but dieth ere he awaketh, so money taken in usury delighteth and contenteth at the first, but it infecteth all his possessions, & sucketh out the marrow of them ere it be long.  then it is so abominable both by the law of God and nature, let us shun it as a toad, and fly from it as a cockatrice, but when these persuasions will not serve, let them turn their eyes to these examples following, wherein they shall see the manifest indignations of God upon it.  
In the Bishopric of Coline a notable famous Usurer lying upon his death bed ready to die, moved up and down his chaps and his lips as if he had been eating something in his mouth, 
D s●ipul. de tempor●.  and being demanded what he ear, he answered his money, and that the Devil thrust it into his mouth perforce, so that he could neither will nor choose but devour it: in which miserable temptation he died without any show of repentance.  
The same Author telleth of another Usurer, that a little before his death called for his bags of gold and silver, and offered them all to his soul, upon condition it would not forsake him: but if he would have given all the world it could not ransom him from death, wherefore when he saw there was no remedy but he must needs die, he commended his soul to the devil to be carried into everlasting torments, which words when he had uttered he gave up the ghost.  
Another Usurer being ready to die, made this his last Will and testament: My soul (quoth he) I bequeath to the Devil who is owner of it; my wife likewise to the Devil who induced me to this ungodly trade of life; 
johannes. Auglus.  and my Deacon to the Devil for soothing me up and not reproving me for my faults: and in this desperate persuasion he died incontinently.  
Usury consisteth not only in lending and borrowing, but in buying and selling also, and all unjust and crafty bargaining, yea and it is a kind of Usury to detain through too much covetousness those commodities from the people which concern the public good, and to hoard them up for their private gain, till some scarcity or want arise, and this also hath evermore been most sharply punished, as by these examples may appear. About the year 1543 at what time a great famine and dearth of bread afflicted the world, there was in Saxony a country peasant, that having carried his corn to the market, and sold it cheaper than he looked for, as he returned homewards he fell into most heavy dumps and dolours of mind with grief that the price of grain was abated, and when his servants sang merrily for joy of that blessed cheapness, he rebuked them most sharply and cruelly, yea and was so much the more tormented and troubled in mind by how much the more he saw any poor soul thankful unto God for it: but mark how God gave him over to a Reprobate and desperate sense: Whilst his servants road before he hung himself at the cart tail, being past recovery of life ere any man looked back or perceived him. A notable example for our English cormorants, who join barn to barn, and heap to heap, and will not sell nor give a handful of their superfluity to the poor when it beareth a low price, but preserve it till scarcity and want come, and then they sell it at their own rate; let them fear by this, lest the Lord deal so or worse with them.  
Another covetous wretch, when he could not sell his corn so dear as he desired, said the mice should eat it rather than he would lessen one jot of the price thereof: which words were no sooner spoken, but vengeance took them; for all the mice in the country flocked to his barns and fields, so that they left him neither standing nor lying corn, but devoured all: this story was written to Martin Luther, 
Luther.  upon occasion whereof he inveighing mightily against this cruel usury of husbandmen, told of three misers that in one year hung themselves, because grain bore a lower price than they looked for, adding moreover that all such cruel and muddy extortioners deserved no better a doom, for their unmerciful oppression.  

D. Pomeranus.  Another rich farmer, whose barns were full of grain and his stacks untouched, was so covetous withal, that in hope of some dearth and dearness of corn, he would not diminish one heap, but hoardward up daily more and more, and wished for a scarcity upon the earth, to the end he might enrich his coffers by other men's necessities, this cruel churl rejoiced so much in his abundance, that every day he would go into his barns and feed his eyes with his superfluity: now it fell out as the Lord would, that having supped & drunk very largely, upon a night as he went according to his custom, to view his riches with a candle in his hand, behold the wine, or rather the justice of God overcame his senses, so that he fell down suddenly into the mow, and by his fall set on fire the corn, being dry and easy to be incensed, in such sort that in a moment all that which he had scraped together and preserved so charily, and delighted in so unreasonably, was consumed and brought to ashes, and scarce he himself escaped with his life.  
Another in Mifina in the year 1559 having great store of corn hoardward up refused to secure the necessity of his poor and half famished neighbours, 
job. Flucel. li. 2.  for which cause the Lord punished him with a strange and unusual judgement, for the corn which he so much cherished assumed life, and became feathered souls, flying out of his barns in such abundance, that the world was astonished thereat, and his barns left empty of all provision in most wonderful and miraculous manner.  
No less strange was that which happened in a Town of France called Stenchansen to the governor of the Town, 
The same author.  who being requested by one of his poor subjects to sell him some corn for his money, when there was none to be gotten else where; answered he could spare none, by reason he had scarce enough for his own hogs: which hoggish disposition the Lord requited in it own kind, for his wise at the next litter brought forth seven pigs at one birth to increase the number of his hogs, that as he had preferred filthy & ugly creatures before his poor brethren, in whom the image of God in some sort shined forth, so he might have of his own getting more of that kind to make much of, since he loved them so well.  
Equal to all the former both in cruelty touching the person, and miracle touching the judgement, 
The same.  was that which is reported by the same author, to have happened to a rich covetous woman in Marchia, who in an extreme dearth of victuals, denied not only to relieve a poor man whose children were ready to starve with famine, but also to sell him but one bushel of corn when ●e wanted but a penny of her price: for the poor wretch making great shift to borrow that penny, returned to her again, and desired her he might have the corn: but as he paid her the money, the penny fell upon the ground by the providence of God, which as she stretched out her hand to reach, it miraculously turned into a serpent, and bitten her so fast, that by no means it could be loosened from her arm, until it had brought her to a woeful and miserable end.  

Fulgos. lib. 2. cap 2.  Sergius Galba, before he came to be Emperor, (being Precedent of Africa under Claudius, when as through penury of victuals, corn and other food was very sparingly shared out and divided among the army) punished a certain soldier that sold a bushel of wheat to one of his fellows for a hundred pence, in hope to obtain a new share himself, in this manner, he commanded the Quaestor or treasurer to give him no more sustenance, since he preferred lucre before the necessity of his own body and his friend's welfare; neither suffered he any man else to sell him any: so that he perished with famine, and became a miserable example to all the army of the fruits of that foul dropsy covetousness.  
And thus we see how the Lord reigned down vengeance upon all covetous Usurers and oppressors, plaguing some on this fashion, and some on that, and never passing any, but either in this life some notable judgement overtakes them either in themselves or their offsprings, (for it is notoriously known that usurers children, though left rich, yet the first or second generation became always beggars) or in the life to come they are thrown into the pit of perdition, from whence there is no redemption nor deliverance.   

CHAP. XLI. Of dicers and card players, and their theft.  
IF any recreation be allowed us as no doubt there is, yet surely it is not such as whereby we should work the damage and hurt of one another, as when by gaming we draw away another man's money with his great loss, and this is one kind of theft, to usurp any man's goods by unlawful means: wherefore no such sports ought to find any place amongst Christians, especially those wherein any kind of lot or hazard is used, by the which the good blessings of God are contrary to their true and natural use exposed to chance and fortune as they term it, for which cause Saint Augustine is of this opinion concerning them: 
Epist. 54. à Maced.  That the gain which ariseth to any party in play, should be bestowed upon the poor, to the end that both the gamesters, aswell the winner as the loser might be equally punished, the one by not carrying the stake being won, the other by being frustrated of all his hope of winning. Players at dice both by the Elibertine and Constantinoplitane council under justinian were punished with excommunication: 
Can. 79. Can. 50.  and by a new constitution of the said Emperor, it was enacted that no man should use dice play, either in private or public, no nor approve the same by their presence under pain of punishment; and bishops were there appointed to be overseers in this behalf, to espy if any default was made. 
Cod. li. 3. tit. 43.   
Horace an Heathen Poet avouched the unlawfulness of this thing even in his time, 
Od. 24. lib. 3. Lndere doction scu graeco iubeas trocho seu malis vetita legibus alea.  when he saith that dice playing was forbidden by their law. Lewis the eight king of France renowned for his good conditions and rare virtues, amongst all the excellent laws which he made, this was one, That all sports should be banished the Commonwealth (except shooting whether with long bow or crossbow) and that no cards nor dice should either be made or sold by any, to the end that all occasion of gaming might be taken away. Surely it would be very profitable and expedient, for the weal public, that this ordinance might stand in effect at this day, and that all Merchants and Mercers whatsoever, especially those that follow the reformation of Religion, might forbear the sale of all such paltry wares: for the fault in selling such trash is no less than the abuse of them in playing at them, for so much as they upon greediness of so small again, put as it were a sword into a mad man's hand by ministering them the instruments, not only of their sports, but also of those mischiefs that ensue the same: there a man may hear curses as rife as words, ban, swear, and blasphmies banded up and down; there men fret themselves to death, and consume whole nights in dark and devilish pastimes, some lose their horses, others their cloaks, a third sort all that ever they are worth, to the undoing of their houses, wives and children; and some again from brawlings fall to buffitings, from buffets to bloodsheding, from bloodshedding to hanging: and these are the fruits of those gallant sports.  

Discipu. de temp●r. ser. 12.  But this you shall see more plainly by a few particular examples. In a Town of Campania a certain jew playing at dice with a Christian lost a great sum of money unto him, with which great loss being enraged, & almost beside himself, as commonly men in that case are affected, he belched out most bitter curses against Christ jesus, & his mother the blessed virgin, in the midst whereof the Lord deprived him of his life and sense and stroke him dead in the place; as for his companion the Christian, indeed he escaped sudden death howbeit he was rob of his wit and understanding, 
Blasphemy. li. ● cap. 31.  & survived not very long after: to teach us not only what a grievous sin it is to blaspheme God and to accompany such wretches, and not to shun or at least reprove their outrage; but also what monstrous effects proceed from such kind of ungodly sports, & how grievously the Lord punisheth them, first by giving them over to blasphemy, secondly to death, and thirdly and lastly to eternal and irrevocable damnation: let our English gamesters consider this example, and if it will not terrify them from their sports, then let them look to this that followeth, which, if their hearts be not as hard as adamants, will mollify and persuade them.  
In the year 1553, near to Belissan a city in Helvetia, 
joh. Fincel. Andrea's Muscabus in diabol. blasphemiae.  there were three profane wretches that played at dice upon the Lord's day without the walls of the city, one of which called Vlrich Schraeterus having lost much money, and offended God with many cursed speeches, at last presaging to himself good luck, he burst forth into these terms, 
Mandate. 4. Breach of Saboth, lib. 1. cap. 35. Mandate 3. Blasphemy, lib. 1. cap. 31.  If fortune deceive me now, I will thrust my dagger into the very body of God as far as I can; now fortune failed him as before, wherefore forthwith he drew his dagger, and taking it by the point, threw it against heaven with all his strength: behold, the dagger vanished away, and five drops of blood distilled upon the table before them, and without all delay the devil came in place, and carried away that blasphemous wretch with such force and noise, that the whole city was amazed and astonished thereat: the other two (half beside themselves with fear) strove to wipe away the drops of blood out of the table, but the more they wiped it, the more clearly it appeared: the rumour of this accident flew into the city, and caused the people to flock thick and threefold unto the place, where they found the other two gamesters washing the board; whom (by the decree of the Senate) they bond with chains, and carried towards the prison, but as they passed with them through a gate of the city, one of them was strooken suddenly dead in the midst of them, with such a number of louse and worms creeping out of him, that it was both wonderful and loathsome to behold: the third they themselves (without any further inquisition or trial) to avert the indignation which seemed to hang over their heads, put incontinently to death: the table they took and preserved it for a monument, to witness unto posterity, both how an accursed a pastime dicing is, and also what great inconveniences and mischiefs grow thereby.  
But that we may see yet more the vanity & mischievous working of this sport, I will report one story more out of the same author, though not equal to the former in strangeness and height of sin, yet as tragical and no less pitiful.  

job. fincel. lib. 2.  In the year 1550, their lived in Alsatia one Adam Steckman, one that got his living by trimming, pruning, & dressing vines: this man having received his wages, fell to dice, & lost all that he had gotten, insomuch that he had not wherewith to nourish his family, so that he fell into such a grief of mind, & withal into such pains of the head, that he grew almost desperate withal: one day his wife being busy abroad, left the care of her children unto him, but he took such great care of them, that he cut all their throats, even three of them, whereof one lay in the cradle; and lastly would have hanged himself, had not his wife come in, in the mean while, who beholding this pitiful tragedy, gave a great outcry, and fell down dead: whereupon the neighbours running in, were eye witnesses of this woeful spectacle: as for him, by law he was judged to a most severe and cruel punishment; and all these pitiful events arose from that cursed root of diceplay.  
We ought therefore to learn by all these things that have been already spoken, to abstain not only from this cursed pastime, but also from extortion, robberies, deceit, guile, and other such naughty practices that tend to the hurt and detriment of one another; and in place thereof, to procure the good and welfare of each one in all kindness and equity, following the Apostles counsel, where he saith, Let them that stole steal no more, 
Ephes. 4.28.  but rather travail by labouring with his hands in that which is good, that he may have wherewith to secure the necessity of others: for it is not enough not to do evil to our neighbour, but we are tied to do him good, or at least to endeavour to do it.   

CHAP. XLII. Of such as have been notorious in all kind of sin.  
We have seen by these foreplaced examples, 
These examples of this chapter may be referred to all the commandments for the most part.  how heavy the judgements of God have been upon those, that through the untamednesse of their own lusts and affections, would not submit themselves under the holy and mighty will of God, but have countermanded his commandments, and withstood his precepts, some after one sort and some after another: now because there have been some so wicked and wretched, that being wholly corrupted and depraved, they have overflowed with all manner of sin and iniquity; and as it were, maugred God with the multitude and heinousness of their offences: we must therefore spend some time also in setting forth their lives and ends, as of the most vile and monstrous kind of people that ever were. In this rank, we may place the ancient inhabitants of the land of Canaan, an irreligious people, void of all fear and dread of God, and consequently given over to all abominable wickedness, as to coviuring, witchcrafts, and unnameable adulteries: for which causes the Lord abhorring and hating them, did also bring them to a most strange destruction; for first and foremost jericho (the frontier city of their country) being assaulted by the Israelites for bindering their progress into the country, were all discomfited, not so much by josuah his sword, as by the huge stones which dropped from heaven upon their heads: and lest the night overraking them should break off the small and full destruction of this cursed people, the day was miraculously prolonged, & the sun made to rest himself in the midst of heaven the space of a whole day: & so these five kings hiding themselves in a cave, were brought but, & their necks made a footstool to the captains of Israel, & were hanged on five trees.  
Semiramis, queen of Assyria, was a woman of an ambitious spirit, 
Sabell.  who through her thirst of reigning, counterfeited her sex, and attired herself like a man, to get more authority and reverence to herself; she was the destruction of many thousand people, by the unjust war which the stirred up: besides that, she was a notorious strumpet, and withal, a murderer of those that satisfied her lust, for still as they came from her bed, some lay privily in watch to kill them, lest they should bewray her villainy: yea and it is reported, that she was so vile and past shame, that she solicited her own soon to commit incest with her; who, in detestation of her filthiness, raised a power against her, and conquering her in one great battle, caused her to be put to death.  
The tyrant Periander usurped the government over Corinth, 
Sabell.  after he had slain the principal of the city: he put to death his own wife to the end to content and please his concubine; nay and was so execrable, as to lie with his own mother: he banished his natural son, and caused many children of his subjects to be gelded: finally fearing some miserable and monstrous end and want of sepulchre, in conscience of his misdeeds, he gave in charge to two strong and hardy soldiers, that they should guard a certain appointed place, and not fail to kill the first that came in their way, and to bury his body being slain: now the first that met them was himself, who offered himself unto them without speaking any word, and was soon dispatched and buried according to his commandment; but these two were encountered with four other, whom he also had appointed to do the same to them which they had done to him.  
In this rank deseruably we may place the second Dionysius his son, 
Sabell.  that for his cruelties and extortions, was slain by his own subjects: who though at the first made show of a better and milder nature than his father was of, yet after he was installed in his kingdom, and grown strong, his wicked nature showed forth itself; for first he rid out of the way his own brethren, than his nearest kindred, and lastly all other that but any way displeased him, using his sword not to the cutting down of vice, as it ought, but to the cutting the throats of his innocent and guiltless subjects: with which tyranny the people being incensed began to mutiny, & from mutinies fell to open rebellion persecuting him so, that he was compelled to fly and to take harbour in Greece: where notwithstanding he ceased not his accustomed manners, but continued still freshly committing robberies, and doing all manner of injuries and outrages, in wronging men and forcing both women and maids, to his filthy lust: until he was brought unto so low and so base an ebb of estate, that of a king, being become a beggar and vagabond, he was glad to teach children at Corinth, to get his poor living, and so died in misery.  
Clearchus another tyrant after he had put to death the most part of the Nobles and chief men of account in the city Heraclea, usurped a tyrannous authority over the rest: 
Sabel.  amongst many of whose monstrous enormities, this was one, that he constrained the widows of those whom he had slain, against their wills to marry those of his followers whom he allotted them to; in so much that many of them with grief and anger slew themselves: now there were two men of stouter courage than the rest, who pitying the miserable condition of the whole city, undertook to deliver the same out of his cruel hands: coming therefore accompanied with fifty other of the same mind and resolution, as though they would debate a private quarrel before his presence as soon as convenience served, they diverted their swords from themselves into the tyrant's bosom, and hewed him in pieces in the very midst of his guard.  
Agathocles, king or rather Tyrant of Sicily, 
Sabel.  from a potter's son growing to be a man of war, took upon him the government of the country and usurped the crown, contrary to the consent of his people: he was one given to all manner of filthy and unclean pollutions, in whom treachery, cruelty, and generally all kind of vice reigned, and therefore was worthily plagued by God, first by a murder of his youngest son committed by his eldest sons son, that aspired unto the crown, and thought that he might be an obstacle in his way for obtaining his purpose: and lastly having sent his wife and children into Egypt for safety, by his own miserable and languishing death which shortly after ensued.  
Romulus the first king of Rome was (as Florus 
Florus.  testifieth) transported by a devil out of this earth into some habitation of his own, for the monstrous superstitions, conjurings, thefts, ravishments, and murders, which during his pomp, he committed: and moreover (he saith) that Plutarch 
Plutarch.  the most credible & learned writer among Historiographers, both Greek and Latin that ever writ, avoucheth the same for true: that he was carried away one day by a spirit in a mighty tempest of thunder and lightning before the view of the whole multitude to their great astonishment, insomuch that they fled at the sight thereof. What shall we say of Silla, that monster in cruelty, that most odious and execrable Tyrant that ever was, by whom all civil order and human policy was utterly defaced, and all vice and confusion in steed thereof set up? Did he not procure the death of six thousand men at one clap, 
Plutarch.  at the discomfiture of Marius? and having promised to save the lives of three thousand that appealed unto his mercy, did he not cause them to be assembled within a park, and there to have their throats cut, whilst he made an oration to the Senate? It was he that filled the channels of the streets of Rome & other cities in Italy with blood & slaughters innumerable: and that spared neither altar, temple, or other privileged place or house whatsoever, from the pollution and destainement of innocent blood: husbands were slain in their wives arms: infants in their mother's bosoms: and infinite multitudes of men murdered for their riches: for if any were either rich, or owners of fair houses or pleasant gardens, they were sure to die: beside if there were any private quarrel or grudge betwixt any citizen and some of his crew, he suffered his side to revenge themselves after their own lusts, so that for private mislike and enmity, many hundreds lost their lives: he that saved an outlaw or proscribed person in his house (of which there were too many of the best sort in his time) or gave him entertainment under his roof, whether he were his brother, son, or parent whatsoever, was himself for recompense of his courtesy and humanity, proscribed and sold, and condemned to death: and he that killed one of them that was proscribed, had for reward two talents (the wages of his murder) amounting in value to twelve hundred crowns, whether it was a bondslave that slew his master, or a son that murdered his father: coming to Prenest, he began to proceed in a kind of iusticiall form amongst the citizens, & as it were by law and equity to practise wrong and injury; but ere long either being weary of such slow proceed, or not at leisure to prosecute the same any further, he caused to meet together in one assembly two thousand of them, whom he committed all to the massacre without any manner of compassion: as he was sitting one day in the midst of his palace in Rome, a soldier to whom he had granted the proscription of his dead brother, as if he had been alive (whom he himself before the civil war had slain) presented him in am of thanks for that great good turn the head of one Marcus Marius of the adverse faction before the whole city, with his hands all imbrued in blood, which he also washed in the holy waterstack of Apollo's temple, being near unto that place; and all this being commended & countenanced by Sill●: he decreed a general disanulment & abrogation of all titles and rights that were passed before his time, to the end to have more liberty both to put to death whom he pleased, & to confiscate men's goods & also to unpeople & to repeople cities, & to sack, pull down, & build, & to depose & make kings at his pleasure: the goods which he had thus seized, he shamed not to sell with his own handssitting in his tribunal seat, giving oftentimes a fair woman a whole country or the revenues of a city for her beauty, and to players, jesters, jugglers, minstrels, and other wicked effranchised slaves, great and unnecessary rewards: yea and to diverse married women also, whom (pleasing his eye) he deprived their husbands of perforce, and espoused them to himself, maugre their wills: being desirous to alley himself with Pompey, he commanded him to cast off his lawful wife, and taking from Magnus Glabrio, his wife Aemilia, made him marry her, though already great with child by her former husband: but she died in travail in his house. In feasts and banquetings he was too immoderate, for it was his continual and daily practice; the wine that he drank usually was forty year old, and the company that he delighted to keep was compact of minstrels, tumblers, players, singers, and such like rascals, and with these he would spend whole days in drinking, carousing, dancing, and all dissoluteness. Now this disordinate life of his, did so augment a disease which was grown in his body, to wit an impostume, that in time it corrupted his flesh, & turned it into louse: in such sort that though he had those that continually followed him, to sweep them off and to loose him night & day, yet the increase was still so plentiful that all would not serve to clear him for a moment: in so much that not his apparel though never so new and changeable, nor his linen though never so fresh, nor his bath nor his laver, no nor his meat and drink could be kept unpolluted from the flux of this filthy vermin, it issued in such abundance: oftentimes in a day he would wash himself in a bath, but to no great purpose; for his shame increased the more: the day before he died he sent for one Granius, who attending his death delayed to pay that which he ought to the Commonwealth, and being come in his presence he commanded him to be strangled to death before his face: but with straining himself in crying after his execution, his impostume burst and vomited out such streams of blood, that his strength failed him withal, and passing that night in great distress, the next day made up his wicked and miserable end.  

Dion.  After that Caligula began to addict himself to impiety and contempt of God, presently being not kerbed with any fear nor shame, he became most dissolute in all kind of wickedness; for at one time he caused to be slain a great number of people, for calling him young Augustus, as if it had been an injury to his person to be so entitled: and to say briefly of all his murders, there were so many of his kindred, friends, senators, and citizens made away by his means, that it would be too long and tedious here to recite: wherefore seeing that he was generally hated of the people for his misdeeds, he wished that they all had but one head, to the end (as it might seem) that at one blow he might dispatch them all. In sumptuousness and costliness of dishes and banquets he neither found nor left his equal, 
Sueton.  for he would sup up most precious stones melted by art, and swallow down treasures into his belly: his banquets were often served with golden loaves and golden meats: in giving rewards he was sometime too too prodigal, for he would cast great sums of money amongst the people certain days together, until his bags were drawn dry: and then new strange shifts must be practised to fill them up again: his subjects he overcharged with many new found and unjust taxes, exacting of them a tribute even for their meat: if there were any money controversies to be decided, the fourth part of the same was his share, which way soever the matter inclined: the eight penny of every porters gain throughout the city (which with travel they earned) he took into his purse: yea and that which is more filthy and dishonest, the very whores and common strumpets paid him a yearly revenue for their bauderies; which act though most villainous and slanderous, yet is made a sampler to some of our holy pope's to imitate, and indeed hath of many been put in practice: but to our purpose; whereas before his prodigality was so great as to scatter money like seed amidst the people, now his niggardliness grew on the other side so miserable, that he would have the people upon the first day of the year, every one to give him a Newyear's gift, he himself standing at the door of his house like a beggar, receiving the people's alms: moreover, of all that ever gave their lusts the bridle to abuse other men's wives he was most impudent and notorious; for diverse times he used to feast many fair ladies and their husbands, and after his good cheer ended, to overview them severally apart, as Merchants do their wares, and to take her that pleased his fancy best, into some secret place to abuse at his pleasure: neither after the deed done to be ashamed to glory and vaunt himself in his filthy and wicked act: He committed Incest with his own sisters, forcing them to his lust, and by one of them had a daughter borne, whom (saith Eutropius) his abominable concupiscence abused also in most filthy & preposterous manner: at length many conspired his destruction, but especially one of the Tribunes (which office we may after the custom of our French nation rightly term the Marshalship and the officer (one of our four Marshals, as Budeus saith) who showed himself more eagerly affected in the cause than the rest, pursued his enterprise in more speedy and desperate manner; for as the Tyrant returned from the Theatre by a by-way, to his palace (the third day of the feast which he celebrated in honour of julius Caesar) the Tribune presented himself as if in regard of his office, to impart some matter of importance unto him: and having received a currish word or two at his hands (as his custom was) he gave him so sudden a stroke between the head and the shoulders, that what with it and the blows of his complices, that going for the same intent rushed upon him, he was slain amongst them, no man stirring a foot to deliver him out of their hands, though many looked on and might have aided him if they would; he was no sooner slain but his wise incontinently was sent after, and his daughter also, that was crushed to death against a wall: and thus came his wretched self with his filthy progeny, to a wretched and miserable end.  

Sueton.  Nero showed himself not only an enemy to God in persecuting his church, but also a perverter and disturber of human nature in imbruing his hands in the blood of his own mother, and grandmother whom he caused to be put to death, and in killing his own wife and sister, and infinite numbers of all kind of people: beside in Adulteries he was so monstrous, that it is better to conceal them from modest ears, than to stir up the puddle of so stinking and noisome a dunghill, for which his villainies the Senate condemned him to a shameful and most ignominious death, & his armies and forces forsook him: which when he understood he betook him to flight and hid himself in an outway amongst thorns and bushes, which with great pain having passed through being weary of his life, he threw himself down into a pit four foot deep, and when he could get none of his men to lay their hands upon him, he desperately and miserably slew himself.  
Vitellius for the murders and other outrageous misdeeds which he committed, 
Sueton.  was taken in his shirt & drawn through the streets with a halter about his neck, and his hands bound behind him, and the point of a dagger under his chin: the people casting dirt and dung upon him in detestation, and calling him makebate and seditious villain, with other opprobrious reproaches, and at last being massacred with many blows, was drawn with a hook into Tiber like a carrion.  
Domitian was a cruel enemy of the Christians, 
Sueton.  he rejected his own wife to take a new, and being covertly reproved by helvidius for the same, in a play of the divorce of Paris and Enon, which he presented unto him; he put him to death for his labour: many worthy Senators and chief men, and such as had borne the office of the Consul, without just cause given of reprehension, were murdered by him; he spared not his own blood and nearest allies, no nor his own brother Titus, but what with poison and sword destroyed them all to confusion. But in the end when he saw that the world hated him for his outrageous cruelties, he consulted with the Astrologians and conjurers what death did wait for him: one of the which amongst the rest told him that he should be slain and that very shortly: wherewithal being sore troubled, he first caused him that had prognosticated this evil unto him to be slain, than he compassed himself with a strong guard, and to the end to see them that should come near, he made his gallery walls where he walked of such a kind of glistering and shining stone, that he might see in them all about him, both behind and before: when the day and hour which was forecalculated for his death was come, one of the conspirators came in with his left arm in a scarf, as if he had been sore hurt, feigning that he would bewray the whole treason which he so much feared; and being entered his chamber, presented him with a long discourse in writing, touching the matter and manner of the conspiracy: and when in reading the same he saw him most astonished, than he took occasion to strike him suddenly into the belly with his dagger, his own servants making up the murder, when they saw him go about to resist: and thus by all his wisdom and providence, he could not rid himself from being surprised, nor hinder the execution of God's just foreappointed judgement. And these were the ends of those wicked Emperors, who in regard of their vile lives, were rather monsters than men, and not only they whom we have named, but many more also, as Antonius Caracalla, Heliogabalus, and other like, may be worthily placed in this rank.  
Tigellinus, one of the captains of Nero's guard, & a chief procurer and setter forward of his tyranny, was the cause of the death of many great personages in Rome; and being enriched by their spoil and other such like robberies, after the death of Nero (whom in his extremity he forsook) plunged himself and wallowed in all manner of licentious and disordinate delights: now though he was worthy of a thousand deaths for his cruelties towards many good citizens, yet by the means of one junius, the Emperor Galba his chief minion, whose favour he had by great sums of money bought and obtained (for he gave unto his daughter at one time five and twenty thousand crowns, and to himself at another a carcanet worth fifteen thousand crowns for a present) he was spared and kept in safety: but as soon as Otho was installed in the Empire, his downfall and destruction began presently to follow: for Otho to the end to gratify the Romans, sent to apprehend him, who was then in his houses of pleasure in the field, banqueting and sporting with his harlots, and using all manner of riot, albeit by reason of a deadly disease which was upon him, he was even at death's door. When he saw himself thus taken, and that no means of escape was left, (no not by the vessels which he had prepared at the sea shore for purpose if need were to convey him away) & that he which had commission to take him, would give him no advantage of escaping, though he offered him great rewards for the same; he entreated only leisure to shave his beard before he went, which being granted, he took a razor, and in stead of shaving, cut his own throat.   

CHAP. XLIII. More Examples of the same argument.  
HIeronymus, a true tyrant of Cicile, 
Tit. Livius.  enured and fashioned to all pride, and of most corrupt and rotten manners, began right after the death of his father Hiero, (that left him a peaceable and quiet kingdom) to show forth his arrogancy; for he quickly made himself fearful to his subjects, both by his stately and proud manner of speech, as also by the hardness of access unto him, together with a kind of disdainful contempt of all men: but most of all did the inward pride of his heart appear, when he had gotten a guard about his body, for than he ceased not to bait, bite, and devour, and to exercise all kind of cruelty against every man, and all kind of riot and excess of filthiness against himself: so that he became so odious and contemptible to his subjects, that they conspired against him to deprive him both of his life and kingdom: which conspiracy though it came to light, yet for all that wanted not his due effect: for after he had (through listening to false reports) put to death unjustly his truest and dearest friends, and those that would indeed have helped him in his necessity, both with good advise, & other succour; he was surprised as he walked in a narrow and strait way, and there cruelly murdered: Now there was one Andronodorus his brother in law, that aspiring to the crown, had corrupted his manners, and thrust him forward to all these misdemeanours; to the end by those practices he might make him odious to his people, that by that means he might obtain his own purpose, as indeed he did: for after his death he seized upon the sceptre, though with no long enjoyance, for through the troubles and commotions which were raised in the country by his means, both he, his wife, and whole race, together with the whole progeny of Hieronymus, whether innocent or guilty, were all utterly rooted out and defaced.  
Andronicus was one of the most wickedest men that lived on the earth in his time, for he excelled in all kind of evil, in ambition, boldness in doing mischief, cruelty, whoredom, adultery, and incest; also to make up the whole number, beside he was so treacherous and disloyal, that he traitorously slew the son and heir of the Emperor Emanuel, shutting him in a sack, and so throwing him into the sea: after which, by violence he took possession of the Empire of Constantinople, and like a strong thief seized upon that which was none of his own: but assoon as he had gotten his desire, than began his lusts to rage and rave, than he fell to whoring and forcing women and maids to his lust; whom after he had once rob of their chastities, he gave over to his bawds and ruffians to abuse: and that which is more than all this, he ravished one of his own sisters, and committed incest with her: moreover, to maintain and uphold his tyrannous estate, he slew most of the nobility, and all else that bore any show of honesty or credit with them, and lived altogether by wrongs and extortions: Wherefore his subjects (provoked with these multitudes of evils which reigned in him, and not able to endure any longer his vile outrages and indignities) rebelled against him and besieged him, got him into their merciless hands, and handled him on this fashion following: first they degraded him and spoiled him of his imperial ornaments, than they pulled out one of his eyes, and set him upon an ass backward, with the tail in his hand in steed of a sceptre, and a rope about his neck instead of a crown: and in this order and attire they led him through all Constantinople, the people shouting and reviling him on all sides, some throwing dirt, others spittle, divers dung, and the women their pisspots at his head: after all which banqueting dishes, he was transported to the gallows, and there hanged to make an end of all.  
Charles king of Navarre, 
Froyss. vol. 3. chap. 100  whose mother Ieane was daughter to Lewes Lutton king of France, was another that oppressed his subjects with cruelty and rough dealing, for he imposed upon them grievous taxes and tributes, and when many of the chiefest of his common wealth came to make known unto him the poverty of his people, and that they were not able to endure any more such heavy burdens, he caused them all to be put to death for their boldness: he was the kindler of many great mischiefs in France, and of the fire wherewith divers places of strength and castles of defence were burned to ashes: he counseled the County of Foix his son to poison his father, and not only so, but gave him also the poison with his own hands, wherewith to do the deed: 
Nich. giles.  Moreover above all this, lechery and adultery swayed his powers, even in his old age, for at threescore years of age he had a whore in a corner, whose company he daily haunted, and so much, that she at length gave him his death's wound; for returning from her company one day (as his use was) & entering into his chamber, he went to bed all quaking and half frozen with cold, neither could he by any means recover his heat, until by art they sought to supply nature, and blew upon him with brazen bellows aquavitae and hot blasts of air, but withal, the fire unregarded flew betwixt the sheets, and inflamed the dry linen together with the aquavitae, so suddenly, that ere any help could be made, his late quivering bones were now half burned to death. It is true, that he lived fifteen days after this, but in so great grief and torment, without sense of any help or assuagement by physic or surgery, that at the end thereof he died miserably: and so as during his life his affection ever burnt in lust, and his mind was always hot upon mischief and covetousness; so his days were finished with heat and cruel burning.  
Lugtake, king of Scots, succeeding his father Galdus in the kingdom, was so odious and mischievous a tyrant, that everyman hated him no less for his vices, 
Lanques.  than they loved his father for his virtues: he slew many rich and noble men for no other cause, but to enrich his treasury with their goods: he committed the government of the realm to most unjust and covetous persons, and with their company was most delighted: he shamed not to deflower his own aunts sisters & daughters, and to scorn his wise and grave counsellors, calling them old doting fools: all which monstrous villainies (with a thousand more) so incensed his nobles against him, that they slew him after he had reigned three years: but as the Proverb goeth, seldom cometh a better, another or worse tyrant succeeded in his kingdom, namely Mogallus, cousin german to Lugtake, a man notoriously infected with all manner of vices: for albeit in the beginning of his reign he gave himself to follow the wisdom and manners of his uncle Galdus, yet in his age his corrupt nature burst forth abundantly, but chief in avarice, lechery, and cruelty: this was he that licenced thieves and robbers to take the goods of their neighbours without punishment; and that first ordained the goods of condemned persons to be confiscate to the king's use, without respect either of wives, children, or creditors: for which crimes he was also slain by his nobles.  
Besides these, there was another king of the Scots, called Atherco, in the year of our Lord 240, who showed himself also in like manner a most vile and abominable wretch; 
The same.  for he so wallowed in all manner of unclean and effeminate lusts, that he was not ashamed to go in the sight of the people playing upon a flute, rejoicing more to be accounted a good fidlar than a good prince; from which vices he fell at last to the deflowering and ravishing of maids and women, in so much as the daughters of his nobles could not be safe from his insatiable and intolerable lust. Wherefore being pursued by them, when he saw no means to escape, he desperately slew himself.  
The great outrages which the Spaniards have committed in the West Indies, are apparent testimonies of their impiety, injustice, cruelty, insatiable covetousness and luxury, and the judgements wherewith God hath hunted them up and down both by sea and land (as late and fresh histories do testify) are manifest witnesses of his heavy anger and displeasure against them: amongst all which, I will here insert none but that which is most notorious and worthy memory, as the wretched accident of Pamphilus Navares and his company: This man with six hundred Spaniards making for the coast of Florida to seek the gold of the river of Palm trees, 
Benzoni Mil.  were so turmoiled with vehement winds and tempests, that they could not keep their vessels from dashing against the shore, so that their ships did all split in sunder, and they for the most part were drowned, save a few that escaped to land, yet escaped not danger; for they ran roving up and down this savage country so long, till they fell into such extreme poverty and famine, that for want of victuals, twelve of them devoured one another: & of the whole six hundred that went forth, there never yet returned above ten, all the rest being either drowned or pined to death.  
Francis Pizare, a man of base parentage, for in his youth he was but a hogheard, and of worse qualities and education, 
Benzoni.  for he knew not so much as the first elements of learning, giving himself to the West Indian wars, grew to some credit in bearing office: but withal showed himself very disloyal, treacherous, and bloody-minded in committing many odious and monstrous cruelties, entering Peru with an army of soldiers, to the end to conquer new lands and dominions, and to glut his unsatiable covetousness with a new surfeit of riches, (after the true Spanish custom) he committed many bloody and traitorous acts, and exercised more than barbarous cruelty: for first under pretence of friendship, feigning to parley with Artabaliba King of Cusco, the poor king coming with five and twenty thousand of unarmed men, in ostentation of his greatness, not in purpose to resist: he welcomed him and his men so nimbly with swords and courtelaxes, that they had all soon their throats cut by a most horrible slaughter, & the king himself was taken & put in chains; yea and the city after this massacre of men abroad, felt soon the insolences of these brave warriors within: in fine though Pizarre promised Artabaliba to save his life, in regard of a ransom amounting to more than two Millians of gold, yet after the receipt thereof he traitorously caused him to be hanged: contrary to both his oath and all equity and reason, but this cruel perfidy of his went not long without punishment, for both he and all the rest that were any ways accessary, or consenting to the death of this king came to a wretched end, but especially his four brethren, Ferdinand, Gonzall, john Martin of Alcantara, and Diego of Almagro; who as they were principal in the action, so were they in the punishment: the first that was punished was john Pizarre, who with many other Spaniards was surprised in the city Cusco and slain by the men of war of Mangofrem and Artabaliba: next after that there arose such a division and heartburning betwixt the Pyzarres and Almagro & their partakers, that after they had rob and wasted and shared out the great and rich country of Peru they slew one another by mutual strokes: and albeit that there was by common consent an agreement accorded betwixt them, for the preserving of their unity, and friendship, yet Francis Pizarre envying that Almagro should be governor of Cusco & he not, interrupted all their agre●ments by starting from his promises, and rekindled the half quenched fire of war by his own ambition: for he presently defied Almagro, & sent his brother Ferdinand before to bid him battle, who so well behaved himself that he took Almagro prisoner, and delivered him bound to his brother Francis, who caused him to be strangled in prison secretly, and after to be beheaded in public: now Ferdinand being sent by his brother towards Spain with a great mass of gold to clear himself of the death of Almagro could not so well justify the fact as that all his treasure could save him from the prison, & what became of him afterwards known it is to God, but not to the world. A while after the fellows and friends of Almagro, whose goods the Pizarrists had seized upon, took counsel with Don Diego Almagro his son to revenge the death of his father, therefore being in number but twelve, with unsheathed swords, they desperately burst into Francis Pizarres house, (than Marquis and governor of Peru) and at the first brunt slew a captain that guarded the entrance of the hall, and next him Martin of Alcantara, with other more that kept the entrance of the chamber, so that he fell dead even at his brother the Marquis' feet: who albeit his men were all slain before his eyes, & himself left alone amidst his enemies, yet gave not over to defend himself stoutly and manfully, until all of them setting upon him at once, he was stabbed into the throat & so sell dead upon the ground, and thus finished he & his complices their wretched days, answerable to their cruel deserts: but their murderers (though they deserved to be thus dealt withal) yet for dealing in this sort without authority, were not faultless, but received the due wages of their furious madness; for Don Diego himself after he had been a while governor of Peru had his army overcome & discomfited by the Emperor's force, & was betrayed into their hands by his own lieutenant of Cusco, where he thought to have saved himself: & right soon lost his head with the greatest captains and favourites that he had, who were also quartered. Now of the five brethren we have heard four of their destruction, only one remaineth (namely Gonzalle Pyzare) to be spoken of, who being sent for by the conquerors to be their chieftain and Protector against the Viceroy, that went about to make them observe the emperors laws and decrees, touching the liberty of the Indian Nation, was betrayed and forsaken by the same men that sent for him, and so fell into his enemy's hands that cut off his head: the General of his army, a covetous and cruel man, that in short space made away above three hundred Spaniards, and all as it were with his own hand, was drawn up and down at a horse tail, the space of half a quarter of an hour, and then hanged upon the gallows, and quartered in four parts. The Monk of Vanguard called Vincent, who with his cross & porteise had encouraged Pizarre & his army against Artabaliba, and was for that cause treated bishop of Peru, when Diego came to the government fled into the Island Puna to escape his wrath, but in seeking to avoid him he fell into as great a snare, for the Islanders assaulted him one night, and knocked him to death with staves and clubs, together with forty Spaniards of his fellowship, that accompanied him in his flight and started not from him in his death. And thus the good and holy Monk for meddling with and setting forward the murder of so many poor people, was for his pains and good deeds justly rewarded by the Indians of that Island.  
Moreover, after & beside all these troubles, seditions, & civil wars of Peru, all they that returned from Spain suffered shipwreck for the most part, for their fleet had scarce attained the midst of their course, when there arose so terrible a tempest, that of 18 ships, 13 so perished that they were never heard of after: & of the five which remained, two were tumbled back to the coast of S. Dominick, all berent & shivered in pieces: other three were driven to Spain; whereof one hitting against the bay of Portugal lost many of her men, the admiral herself of this fleet, perished near unto S. Lucar de barra meda, with two hundred persons that were within her: and but one only of them all got safe into the haven of Calix without damage. Here we may see how mightily the hand of God was stretched forth to the revenge of those wicked deeds and villainies which were committed by the Spaniards in those quarters.  
Peter Joys bastard son to Pope Paul the third, 
Sleidan lib. 19 Bal.  was one that practised many horrible villainies, robberies, murders, adulteries, incest, and Sodomitries, thinking that because his father was Pope therefore no wickedness was unlawful for him to commit. He was by the report of all men, one of the most notorious, vildest, and filthiest villains that ever the world saw: he forced the Bishop of Faence to his unnatural lust; so that the poor Bishop with mere anger and grief that he should be so abused died immediately: being made Duke of Plaisence and Parme he exercised most cruel tyranny towards many of his subjects; insomuch that diverse gentlemen that could not brook nor endure his injuries, conceived an inward hate against him and conspired his death: and for to put in practise the same they hired certain ruffians and roisters to watch the opportunity of slaying him, yea and they themselves oftentimes, went apart with these roisters, keeping themselves upon their guards, as if some private and particular quarrels had been in hand, one day as the Duke went in his horselitter out of his castle: with a great retinue to see certain fortifications which he had prepared, being advertised by his father the Pope (by the help of Magic which he practised) to look diligently to himself the tenth day of September, in which notwithstanding he was slain: for as he returned into his castle the conspirators to the number of six and thirty, marched before him as it were to do him honour, but indeed to do him villainy: for assoon as he was entered the castle, they drew up the drawbridge for fear of his retinue that were without, and coming to him with their naked swords, cast in his teeth his tyranny, and so slew him in his litter, together with a Priest, the master of his horse, and five Almains that were of his guard: his dead body they hung by a chain over the walls, and shaking it to and fro to the view of the people, threw it down headlong at last into the ditch; where the multitude to show their hates, wounded it with daggers, and trampled it under their feet, and so whom they durst not touch in his life, him being dead, they thus abused: and this befell upon the tenth day of September in the year of our Lord 1547.  
Some of the Bishops of Rome for their rare and notable virtues, and the glory of their brave deeds, may be honoured with this dignity, to be placed in this worthy rank, for their good conditions and behaviours were such, that no tyrant, butcher, thief, robber, ruffian, nor any other, ever excelled them in cruelty, robbery, adultery, and such like wickedness, or deserved more the credit and reputation of his place than they: And hereof we have a manifest example in john the thirteenth, who pulling out the eyes of some of his Cardinals, cutting out the tongues of others, hewing off the hands, noses, and privy members of others, showed himself a pattern of such cruelty, as the world never saw the like: He was accused before the Emperor Otho in a synod, first of incest with two of his own sisters, secondly for calling the devil to help him at dice, thirdly for promoting young infants to bishoprics, bribed thereto by the gift of certain pieces of gold, four for ravishing maids and wives, and lying with his father's concubine, yea and last, for lying with his own mother, and many other such monstrous villainies; for which cause he was deposed from the papacy, though reinstalled again by the suit and cunning practice of his whores, by whom as he recovered his triple crown, so he lost shortly after his vicious life, by the means of a married whore that betrayed him.  

Benno. Bal.  Pope Hildebrand surnamed Gregory the seventh, was adorned with all these good qualities; namely to be bloody minded, a poisoner, a murderer, a conjuror, also a consulter with spirits; and in a word, nothing but a lump and mass of wickedness: he was the stirrer up of many battles against the Emperor Henry the fourth; and a provoker of his own son to depose and poison his father as he did, but this wicked (I would say holy) Pope was at last banished his Cathedral city to Salernum, where he ended his days in misery.  
Pope Clement the sixth of name contrary to his nature, for his inclemency, cruelty & pride towards the Emperor Lewis of Bauarie, was intolerable; he procured many horrible wars against the Empire, and caused the destruction of twenty thousand Frenchmen by the king of England, yea and poisoned the good Emperor also so well he wished to him: Howbeit ere long himself was stifled to death, and that suddenly, not by any practice of man as it was thought, but by the special hand of God, in recompense of all his notable acts.  
john the four and twentieth was deposed by the council of Constance for these crimes following; heresy, Simony, 
Benno. Bal.  manslaughter, poisonings, cozenings, adultery, & Sodomitry, and was cast into prison, where remaining three years he falsely made show of amendment of his wicked life, & therefore was graced with a Cardinal's hat, but it was not that which he expected, for which cause with despite & grief he died.  
It would be too long to run over the discourse of every particular Pope of like conditions, and therefore we will content ourselves in brief with the legend of Pope Alexander the sixth, reported by two authors of credit and renown, & unsuspected, to wit, Guicciardine a Florentine gentleman, 
Guicciardine. lib. 2. Bembus.  & Bembus a Venetian cardinal: this man (saith Guicciardine) attained to the Papacy, not by worthiness of virtues, but by heaviness of bribes and multitude of fair promises made to the cardinals for his election, promising large recompense to them that stood on his side, whereupon many that knew his course of life were filled with astonishment, amongst whom was the king of Naples, who hearing of this election, complained to his queen with tears, that there was such a pope created, that would be a plague to Italy & all Christendom: beside, the great vices which swayed in him, of which the same author speaking, maketh this catalogue and pedigree in his own language which followeth. 
Gui●●tardine. lib. 2.  Costum (d it ill) oscensimi non sincerita, non verita, non fede, non religione; avaritia, insatiabile, ambitione, immoderata crudelta pinque barbara, eo ardentissima cupidita di escaltare in qualunque modo, i figli voli: i quali erano molti, (that is to say) He was endued with most filthy conditions, and that neither sincerity, truth, faith, nor religion was in him: but in steed of them covetousness unquenchable, ambition unmeasurable, more than barbarous cruelty, and a burning desire of promoting his own children (for he had many) by what means soever. He persuaded king Charles the eight of France to undertake war against Naples; and after he had brought him to it, presently he forsook him and entered a new league with the Venetians, 
Venetian histor. lib. 6.  and the other princes of Italy to drive him home again. This was he (saith Cardinal Bembus) that set benefices and promotions to sale, that he which would give most, might have most; and that poisoned john Michael the Cardinal of Venice at Rome, for his gold and treasure which he abounded with: whose insatiable covetousness provoked him to the committal of all mischief, to the end he might maintain the forces of his son, who went about to bring the whole lands and dominions of all Italy into his possession: in adulteries he was most filthy and abominable, in tyranny most cruel, and in Magic most cunning, and therefore most execrable: supping one night with Cardinal Adrian his very familiar friend, in his garden, having foreappointed his destruction that night by poison; through the negligence and oversight of his butler to whom he had given the exploit in charge, that was deceived by mistaking the bottles, he drank himself the medicine which he had prepared for his good friend the Cardinal: and so he died (saith Bembus) not without an evident mark of God's heavy wrath, in that he which had slain so many Princes and rich men to enjoy their treasures, and went now about to murder his host which entertained him with friendship and good cheer into his house, was caught in the same snare which he had laid, and destroyed by the same means himself, which he had destinated for another; being thus dead, the whole city of Rome (saith Guicciardine) ran out with greediness & joy to behold his carcase, not being able to satisfy their eyes with beholding the dead serpent, whose venom of ambition, treachery, cruelty, adultery, & avarice, had empoisoned the whole world. Some say that as he purposed to poison certain Cardinals, he poisoned his own father, that being in their company chanced to get a share of his dregs: and that he was so abominable to abuse his own sister Lucrece in the way of filthiness. When Gemen the brother of Bajazet the Emperor of the Turks came and surrendered himself into his hands, & was admitted into his protection, he being hired with two hundred ducats by Bajazet, gave poison to his new client, even to him to whom he had before sworn and vowed his friendship: beside, that he might maintain his tyranny he demanded and obtained aid of the Turk against the king of France, which was a most unchristian and antichristian part; he caused the tongue & two hands of Antony Mancivellus (a very learned & wise man) to be cut off, for an excellent oration which he made in reproof of his wicked demeanours and dishonest life. It is written moreover by some that he was so affectionated to the service of his good Lord and master the devil, that he never attempted any thing without his counsel and advise, who also presented himself unto him at his death in the habit of a post, according to the agreement which was betwixt them: and although this wretched Antichrist strove against him for life, saying that his term was not yet finished; yet he was enforced to diflodge and departed into his proper place, where with horrible cries and hideous fearful groans he died.  
Thus we see how miserable such wretched and infamous miscreants and such pernicious & cruel Tyrants, have ended their wicked lives, their force & power being execrable and odious, 
In his book of the clemency of a prince.  and therefore (as saith Seneca) not able to continue any long time, for that government cannot be firm and stable, where there is no shame nor fear to do evil, nor where equity, justice, saith, and piety with other virtues are contemned and trodden under foot; for when cruelty once beginnerh to predominate, it is so unsatiable that it never ceaseth but groweth every day from worse to worse, by striving to maintain and defend old faults by new, until the fear and terror of the poor afflicted and oppressed people with a continual source and interchange of evils which surcharge them, converteth itself from forced patience, to willing fury, & breaketh forth to do vengeance upon the tyrant's heads with all violence: whence ariseth that saying of the Satirical Poet to the same sense, Where he saith; 

Ad generum cereris sine cede & sanguine pauci: Descendunt reges & sicca morte tyranni.  Few tyrants die the death that nature sends,  
But most are brought by slaughter to their ends.    

CHAP. XLIIII. Of calumniation and false witness bearing.  
We have seen heretofore what punishments the Lord hath laid upon those that either vex their neighbours in their persons, as in the breakers of the fift, sixth, and seventh commandments; or damage them in their goods, as in the eight: now let us look unto those that seek to spoil them of their good names and rob them of their credit by slanderous reproaches and false and forged calumniations, and by that means go against the ninth commandment, which saith, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour: in which words is condemned generally all slanders, all false reports, all defamations, and all evil speech else whatsoever, whereby the good name and credit of a man is blemished, stained, or impoverished; and this sin is not only inhibited by the divine law of the almighty, but also by the laws of nature and nations, for there is no country and people so barbarous with whom these pernicious kind of creatures are not held in detestation: of tame beasts (saith Diogenes) a flatterer is worst, and of wild beasts a backbiter or a slanderer, and not without great reason; for as there is no disease so dangerous as that which is secret, so there is no enemy so pernicious as he which under the colour of friendship biteth and slandereth us behind our backs; but let us see what judgements the Lord hath shown upon them, to the end the odiousness of this vice may more clearly appear.  
And first to begin with Doeg the Edomir, 
1. Sam. 22.9.  who falsely accused Achimelech the high priest unto Saul, for giving succour unto David in his necessity & flight; for though he told nothing but that which was true, yet of that truth, some he maliciously perverted, & some he kept back: & falsehood consists not only in plain lying, but also in concealing or misusing the truth; for Achimelech indeed asked counsel of the Lord for David, & ministered unto him the show bread & the sword of Goliath, but not with any intent of malice against king Saul, for he supposed and David also made him believe that he went about the king's business, & that he was in great favour with the king: which last clause the wicked accuser left out, & by that means not only provoked the wrath of Saul against the high priest, but also when all other refused, became himself executioner of his wrath and murdered Achimelech with all the nation of the priests, and smote Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both man & woman, child & suckling, ox and ass, not leaving any alive (so beastly was his cruelty) save Abiathar only one of the sons of Achimelech, that fled to David & brought him tidings of this bloody massacre. But did this cruel accuser escape scotfree? No, the spirit of God in the 52 Psalm proclaimeth his judgement: 
Psal. 52.1.2.5.  Why beastest thou in thy wickedness thou tyrant, thy tongue imagineth mischief, and is like a sharp razor that cutteth deceitfully, etc. but God shall destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee and pluck thee out of thy tabernacle, and root thee out of the land of the living.  
Next to this man, 
1. Kin. 21.  we may justly place Achab the king of Israel, & jesabel his wife, who to the end to get the possession of Naboths' vineyard (which being his inheritance he would not part from) suborned by his wives pernicious council false accusers, wicked men, to witness against Naboth, that he had blasphemed God & the king, & by that means caused him to bestoned to death: but mark the judgement of God denounced against them both, by the mouth of Elias for this wicked fact, Hast thou killed (saith he) and taken possession? Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs even lick thy blood also: & as for jezabel, dogs shall eat her by the wall of Israel, thy house shall be like the house of jeroboam the son of Nebat, I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, etc. Neither was this only denounced but executed also, as we may read, 1. Kin. 22.38. & 2. Kin. 9.36.37. etc. & 2. Kin. 10.7, etc.  

Amos. 7.17.  Amaziah the priest of Bethel under jeroboam the wicked king of Israel, perceiving how the Prophet Amos prophesied against the idolatry of that place, & of the king he falsely accused him to jeroboam to have conspired against him, also he exhorted him to fly from Bethel, because it was the king's chapel, & fly into judah, and prophecy there: but what said the Lord unto him by the prophet? Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, & thy land shall be divided by live, and thou shalt die in a polluted land: lo there was the punishment of his false accusation.  

Ester. 7.10.  How notable was the judgement that the Lord manifested upon Haman the Syrian for his false accusing of the jews, to be disturbers of the Commonwealth & breakers of the laws of king Ahasuerash? did not the Lord turn his mischief upon his own head? The same day which was appointed for their destruction, the Lord turned it to the destruction of their enemies, and the same gallows which he prepared for Mordecai was he himself hanged upon.  

Daniel. 6.  The men that falsely accused Daniel to king Darius for breaking the king's edict, which was, that none should make any request unto any for 30 days space, save only to the king himself fared no better: for when as he found Daniel praying unto God, they presently accused him unto the king, urging him with the stability which ought to be in the decrees of the kings of Medea and Persia, that ought not to be altered, in such sort that king Darius (though against his will) commanded Daniel to be thrown amongst the lions to be devoured of them, but when he saw how miraculously the Lord preserved him from the teeth of the lions, and thereby perceived his innocency, he caused his envious accusers to be thrown into the lions den with their wives and children, who were devoured of the lions ere they could fall to the ground.  
Notorious is the example of the two judges that accused Susanna, both how she was delivered and they punished: the credit of which history, because it is doubtful I here omit to speak further of.  
But let us come to profane histories, Apelles that famous painter of Ephesus, felt the sting and bitterness of this venomous viper, for he was falsely accused by Antiphillus another painter, an enuier of his art and excellent workmanship, to have conspired with Theodota against king Ptolemy, and to have been the cause of the defection of Pelusium from him, which accusation he laid against him, to the end that seeing he could not attain to that excellency of art which he had, 
Theat. histor.  he might by this false pretence work his disgrace and overthrow, as indeed he had effected had not great persuasions been used, and manifest proofs alleged of Apelles innocency and integrity, wherefore Ptolemy having made trial of the cause, and found out the false and wrongful practice, he most justly rewarded Apelles with an hundred talents, & Antiphillus the accuser with perpetual servitude: upon which occasion Apelles in remembrance of that danger painted out calumniation on this manner; a woman gaily attired, and dressed with an angry and furious countenance, holding in her left hand a torch, and with her right a young man by the hair of the head, before whom marched an evil favoured sluttish usher quick sighed and palefaced, called Envy, at her right hand sat a fellow with long ears like king Midas, to receive tales, and behind her two waiting maids, Ignorance, & Suspicion: and thus the witty painter to delude his own evil hap expressed the lively image and nature of that detracting sin. 
Vide li. 1. ca 12. example of Nero. Euseb. li. 9 ca 5.   
This trick used Maximinus the tyrant to deface the doctrine and religion of Christ in his time, for when he saw that violence & torments prevailed not, 
Nicep. li. 7. c. 27.  but that like the palm, the more it was trodden and oppressed the more it grew, he used this subtlety and craft to undermine it: he published diverse books full of blasphemy of a conference betwixt Christ and Pilate, and caused them to be taught to children in steed of their first elements that they might no sooner speak thàn hate and blaspheme Christ: moreover, he constrained certain wicked and lend women to avouch that they were Christians, and that vile filthiness was daily committed by them in their assemblies, which also he published far and near in writing: howbeit for all this the Lords truth quailed not, but swum as it were against the stream, and increased in despite of envy; as for these false accusers they were punished one after another with notable judgements: for one that was a chief doer therein became his own murderer, and Maximinus himself was consumed with worms and rottenness, as hath been showed in the former book.  
It was a law among the Romans, that if any man had informed an accusation against another, 
Euse. li. 5. ca 21.  either wrongfully, unlawfully, or without probability, both his legs should be broken in recompense of his malice: 
Nice. li. 4. c. 26.  which custom as it was laudable and necessary, so was it put in execution at diverse times, as namely under the Emperor Commodus, when a profane wretch accused Apollonius (a godly & professed Christian, & afterward a constant martyr of Christ jesus) before the judges, of certain grievous crimes, which when he could by no colour or likelihood of truth convince & prove, they adjudged him to that ignominious punishment to have his legs broken, because he had accused & defamed a man without cause.  
Eustathius bishop of Antioch, a man famous for eloquence in speech & uprightness of life, 
Nicep. li. 8. c. 46.  when as he impugned the heresy of the Arians, was circumvented by them and deposed from his bishopric by this means: they suborned a naughty strumpet to come in with a child in her arms, and in an open synod of two hundred & fifty bishops to accuse him of Adultery, & to swear that he had got that child of her body, which though he denied constantly, & no just proof could be brought against him, yet the impudent strumpet's oath took such place, that by the emperors censure he was banished from his bishopric; howbeit ere long his innocency was known, for the said strumpet being deservedly touched with the finger of God's justice in extreme sickness, confessed the whole practice how she was suborned by certain Bishops to slander this holy man, and that yet she was not altogether a liar, for one Eustathius a handicrafts man got the child as she had sworn, and not Eustathius the bishop.  
The like slander the same heretics devised against Athanasius in a synod convocated by Constantine the Emperor at Tyrus, 
Phil. Melanct. chro. lib. 3. Nicep. li. 9 c. 23.  for they suborned a certain lewd woman to exclaim upon the holy man in the open assembly for ravishing of her that last night against her will: which slander he shifted of by this devise, he sent Timotheus the presbyter of Alexandria into the synod in his place, who coming to the woman asked her before them all, whether she durst say that he had ravished her; to whom she replied, yea I swear and vow that thou hast done it (for she supposed it to have been Athanasius, whom she never saw) whereat the whole synod perceived the cavil of the lying Arrians, and quitted the innocency of that good man. Howbeit these malicious heretics seeing this practice not to succeed invented another worse than the former, for they accused him to have slain one Arsenius whom they themselves kept secret, and that he carried one of his hands about him, wherewith he wrought miracles by enchantment: but Arsenius touched by the spirit of God stole away from them & came to Athanasius, to the end he should receive no damage by his absence, whom he brought into the judges, and showed them both his hands, confounded his accusers with shame of their malice, insomuch as they ran away for fear, and satisfied the judges both of his integrity and their envious calumniation: the chief broker of all this mischief was Stephanus bishop of Antioch, but he was degraded from his bishopric, and Leontius elected in his room.  

Histor. tripart.  Hitherto we may add the example of one William Feming, who accused an honest man called john Cooper, of speaking traitorous words against Queen Mary, and all because he would not fallen him two goodly bullocks which he much desired, for which cause the poor man being arraigned at Berry in Suffolk was condemned to death by reason of two false witnesses which the said Feming had suborned for that purpose, whose names were White and Greenewood; so this poor man was hanged drawn and quartered and his goods taken from his poor wife and nine children, which are left destitute of all help: but as for his false accusers one of them died most miserably, for in harvest time being well and lusty, of a sudden his bowels fell out of his body, and so he perished; the other two what ends they came unto it is not reported, but sure the Lord hath reserved a sufficient punishment for all such as they are.  

Acts and mon. pag 2100.  Many more be the examples of this sin and judgements upon it as the pillories at Westminster and daily experience beareth witness, but these that we have alleged shall suffice for this purpose: because this sin is cousin German unto perjury, of which you may read more at large in the former book. It should now follow by course of order if we would not pretermit any thing of the law, of God to speak of such as have offended against the tenth commandment, & what punishment hath ensued the same, but for so much as all such offences, for the most part are included under the former, of which we have already spoken, and that there is no adultery nor fornication, nor theft, nor unjust-war, but it is annexed to and proceedeth from the affection, and the resolution of an evil and disordinate concupiscence, as the effect from the cause: therefore it is not necessary, to make any particular recital of them, more than may well be collected out of the former examples added hereunto, that in simple concupiscence and affection of doing evil which cometh not to act, (though it be in the sight of God condemned to everlasting torments) yet it doth not so much incur and provoke his indignation, that a man should for that only cause be brought to apparent destruction, and be made an example to others, to whom the sin is altogether dark and unknown, therefore we will proceed in our purpose without intermeddling in special with this last commandment.   

CHAP. XLV. That kings and princes ought to look to the execution of justice, for the punishment of naughty and corrupt manners.  
NO man ought to be ignorant of this, that it is the duty of a prince, not only to hinder the course of sin, from bursting into action, but also to punish the doers of the same, making both civil justice to be administered uprightly, and the law of God to be regarded and observed inviolably: for to this end are they ordained of God, that by their means every one might live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty: to the which end, the maintenance and administration of justice being most necessary, they ought not so to discharge themselves of it, as to translate it upon their officers and judges, but also to look to the execution thereof themselves, as it is most needful: for if law (which is the foundation of justice) be (as Plato saith) a speechless and dumb magistrate, who shall give voice and vigour unto it, if not he that is in supreme and sovereign authority? for which cause the king is commanded in Deuteronomie, 
Deu. 17.18, 19  To have before him always the book of the law, to the end to do justice and judgement to every one in the fear of God. And before the creation of kings in Israel, the chief captains and sovereigns amongst them, were renowned with no other title nor quality, than of judges. In the time of Deborah the Prophetess, though she was a woman the weaker vessel, yet because she had the conducting and governing of the people, they came unto her to seek judgement. It is said of Samuel, that he judged Israel so long, till being tired with age and not able to bear that burden any longer, he appointed his sons for judges in his stead: who when through covetousness they perverted justice, 
judg. 4. 1. Sam. 7.8.  and did not execute judgement like their father Samuel, they gave occasion to the people to demand a king, that they might be judged & governed after the manner of other nations: which things sufficiently declared, that in old time the principal charge of kings, was personally to administer justice and judgement; and not as now to transfer the ear thereof to others.  
The same we read of king David, of whom it is said, That during his reign, 
1. Chron. 18.  he executed justice and judgement among his people: and in another place, that men came unto him for judgement, 
2. Sam. 15.  and therefore he disdained not to hear the complaint of the woman of Tekoah, showing himself herein a good prince, and as the angel of God to hear good and evil: 
2. Sam. 14.  for this cause Solomon desired not riches nor long life of the Lord, but a wise and discreet heart to judge his people, 
1. King. 3.  and to discern betwixt good and evil: which request was so agreeable and acceptable to God, that he granted it unto him, so that he obtained such an excellent measure of incomparable wisdom, that he was commended and reputed more for it, than for all his great riches and precious treasures beside: there is mention mad● in the book of the kings of his judicial throne wherein he used to sit and hear the causes of the people, and execute justice among them; and albeit he was the most puissant and glorious king of the earth, yet notwithstanding he scorned not to hear two harlots plead before him about the controversy of a dead infant.  
joram, king of Israel, son of Achab, 
2. King 6.  though a man that walked not uprightly before God, but gave himself to work abomination in his sight, yet he despised not the complaint of the poor affamished woman of Samaria, when she demanded justice at his hands, although it was in the time of war when laws use to be silent, and in the besieging and famishment of the city: neither did he reject the Sunamites request, for the recovery of her house & lands, 
2. King 8.  but caused them to be restored unto her. So that then it is manifest, that those kings which in old time reigned over the people of God, albeit they had in every city judges, yea and in jerusalem also, as it appeareth in the 19 chapter of the second book of Chronicles, yet they ceased not for all that to give ear to suits and complaints that were made unto them, and to decide controversies that came to their knowledge: and for this cause it is that Wisdom saith, That by her, king's reign, 
Prou 8.15.  and princes decree justice: whereunto also belongeth that which is said in another place, That a king sitting in the throne of judgement, chaseth away all evil with his eyes. 
Prou. 20.8.   
Moreover, that this was the greatest part of the office and duty of kings in ancient times, to see the administration of justice, Homer the Poet may be a sufficient witness, when he saith of Agamemnon, That the sceptre and law was committed to him by God, to do right to every man; answerable to the which, Virgil (describing the Queen of Carthage) saith, She sat in judgement in the midst of her people: as if there was nothing more beseeming such a person than such an action. And therefore the Poets not without cause feign jupiter always to have Themis (that is to say, justice) at his elbow: signifying thereby, not that whatsoever kings or princes did, was just and lawful, be it never so vile in it own nature (as that wanton flatterer Anaxarthus said to Alexander) but that equity & justice should always accompany them, & never departed from their sides. And hereupon it was, that Acacus, Minos, and Radamanthus the first king of Grecia, were so renowned of old antiquity, because of their true and upright execution of justice, and therefore were not honoured with any greater title, than the name of judges.  

Plutarch.  It is said of king Alexander, that although he was continually busied in the affairs of war, and of giving battles, yet he would sit personally in judgement to hear criminal causes and matters of importance pleaded: and that whilst the accuser laid open his accusation he would stop one ear with his hand, to the end that the other might be kept pure and without prejudice, for the defence and answer of the accused. The Roman Emperors also were very careful and diligent in this behalf; 
Sueton.  as first julius Caesar, who is recorded to have taken great pains in giving audience to parties, and in dealing justice betwixt them. In like manner Augustus Caesar is commended for his care and travail in this behalf, for he would ordinarily sit in judgement upon causes and controversies of his subjects, and that with such great delight and pleasure, that often times night was feign to interrupt his course, before his will was to relinquish it; yea though he found himself evil at ease, yet would he not omit to apply himself to the division of judgement, or else calling the parties before him to his bed.  
The Emperor Claudius, though a man otherwise of a dull and gross spirit, yet in this respect he discharged the duty of a good prince, for that he would intermeddle with hearing his subjects causes, and do right unto them: He chanced once to make a very pretty and witty end of a suit betwixt a son and his mother, who denying and disclaiming him to be her son, was by the Emperor commanded to marry him; & so lest she should agree to that mischief, was constrained to acknowledge and avow him for her son: and to be short, it was very ordinary and usual among the Emperors, to take knowledge of matters controverted; but especially of criminal and capital causes, by means whereof the Apostle Paul desirous to show the judgement and lyings in weight of his enemies the jews, appealed from them to Caesar, which he would never have done, if Caesar had not in some sort used to meddle with such affairs: and for further proof hereof, hither may be added the saying which is reported of Nero in the beginning of his reign, That when he should sign with his hand a sentence of death against a condemned person, he wished that he could neither wright nor read, to the end to avoid that necessary action.  
The bold answer of an old woman to the Emperor Adrian is very worthy to be remembered; 
Fulgos. lib. 6. cap. 2.  who appealing and complaining to the Emperor of some wrong, when he answered that he was not at leisure then to hear her suit, she told him boldly and plainly, That then he ought not to be at leisure to be her Emperor: which speech went so near the quick unto him, that ever after he showed more facility and courtesy towards all men that had any thing to do with him. The kings of France used also this custom of hearing and deciding their subjects matters, as we read of Charlemaigne the king and Emperor, who commanded that he should be made acquainted with all matters of importance, and their issues, throughout his realm. King Lewes the first treading the steps of his father Charlemaigne, accustomed himself three days in a week, to hear publicly in his palace the complaints and grievances of his people, and to right their wrongs and injuries. King Lewes surnamed the Holy, 
Aimo.  a little before his death, gave in charge to his son that should succeed him in the crown, amongst other, this precept, To be careful to bear a stroke in seeing the distribution of justice, and that it should not be perverted not depraved.   

CHAP. XLVI. Of such princes as have made no reckoning of punishing vice, nor regarded the estate of their people.  
IT cannot choose but be a great confusion in a commonwealth, when justice sleepeth, and when the shameless boldness of evil doers is not kerbed in with any bridle, but runneth it own swinge: and therefore a Consul of Rome could say, That it was an evil thing to have a prince, under whom licence and liberty is given to every man to do what him listeth: for so much then as this evil proceedeth from the carelessness and slothfulness of those that hold the stern of government in their hands, it can not be but some evil must needs fall upon them for the same: The truth of this may appear in the person of Philip of Macedon, (whom Demosthenes the orator noteth for a treacherous and false dealing prince:) after that he had subdued almost all Greece, not so much by open war, as by subtlety, craft, and surprise, and that being in the top of his glory, he celebrated at one time the marriage of his son Alexander, whom he had lately made king of Epire, and of one of his daughters with great pomp and magnificense: as he was marching with all his train betwixt the two bridegrooms, (his own son & his son in law) to see the sports and pastimes which were prepared for the solemnity of the marriage, behold suddenly a young Macedonian gentleman called Pausanias, ran at him, and slew him in the midst of the press, for not regarding to do him justice when he complained of an injury done unto him by one of the peers of his realm.  

Plutarch.  Tatius, the fellow king of Rome with Romulus, for not doing justice in punishing certain of his friends and kinsfolks that had rob and murdered certain Ambassadors which came to Rome, and for making their impunity an example for other malefactors by deferring and protracting, and disappointing their punishment, was so watched by the kindred of the slain, that they slew him even as he was sacrificing to his gods, because they could not obtain justice at his hands.  
What happened to the Romans for refusing to deliver an Ambassador, 
Tit. Livius. Plutarch.  who (contrary to the law of nations coming unto them) played the part of an enemy to his own country, even well nigh the total overthrow of them and their city; for having by this means brought upon themselves the calamity of war, they were at the first discomfited by the Gauls, who pursuing their victory, entered Rome, and slew all that came in their way, whether men or women, infants or aged persons; and after many days spent in the pillage & spoiling of the houses, at last set fire on all, and utterly destroyed the whole city.  
Childericke king of France, 
Paul. Aemil.  is notified for an extreme dullard and blockhead, and such a one as had no care or regard unto his realm, but that lived idly and slothfully without intermeddling with the affairs of the common wealth, for he laid all the charge and burden of them upon Pepin his lieutenant general, & therefore was by him justly deposed from his royal dignity & mewed up in a cloister of religion to become a monk, because he was unfit for any good purpose: & albeit that this sudden change & mutation was very strange, yet there ensued no trouble nor commotion in the realm thereupon; so odious was he become to the whole land for his drowsy and idle disposition. 
Paul. Aemil.  For the same cause did the prince's electors depose Venceslaus the Emperor from the Empire, and established another in his room.  
King Richard of England, amongst other foul faults which he was guilty of, incurred greatest blame for this, because he suffered many thieves and robbers to rove up and down the land unpunished: for which cause the citizens of London commenced a high suit against him, & compelled him having reigned 22 years, to lay aside the crown, & resign it to another, in the presence of all the states, & died prisoner in the Tower.  
Moreover, this is no small defect of justice, when men of authority do not only pardon capital and detestable crimes, but also grace and favour the doers of them: and this neither aught nor can be done by a sovereign prince, without overpassing the bounds of his limited power, which can in no wise dispense with the law of God, 
Exod. 21.  whereunto even kings themselves are subject: for as touching the willing and considerate murderer, 
D●ut. 19  Thou shalt pluck him from my altar (saith the Lord) that he may die, thy eye shall not spare him, to the end it may go well with thee: which was put in practice in the death of joab, 
1 King. 2.  who was slain in the Tabernacle of God, holding his hands upon the horns of the Altar: for he is no less abominable before God that justifieth the wicked, 
Prou 17.  than he that condemneth the just: and hereupon that holy king S. Lewes when he had granted pardon to a malefactor, 
Nich. giles.  revoked it again after better consideration of the matter, saying, That he would give no pardon, except the case deserved pardon by the law, for it was a work of charity and pity to punish an offender; and not to punish crimes was as much as to commit them.  
In the year of our Lord 978, Egebrede the son of Edgare end Alphred, king of England, was a man of goodly outward shape and visage, but wholly given to idleness and abhorring all princely exercises: beside, he was a lover of riot & drunkenness, and used extreme cruelty towards his subjects, having his ears open to all unjust complaints; in feats of arms of all men most ignorant: so that his cruelty made him odious to his subjects, and his cowardice encouraged strange enemies to invade his kingdom: by means whereof, England was sore afflicted with war, famine, and pestilence. In his time (as a just plague for his negligence in government) decayed the noble kingdom of England, and became tributary to the Danes: for ever when the Danes oppressed him with war, he would hire them away with sums of money, without making any resistance against them: in so much that from ten thousand pounds by the year, the tribute arose in short space to fifty thousand, wherefore he devised a new trick, and sought by treachery to destroy them, sending secret commissioners to the Magistrates throughout the land, that upon a certain day and hour assigned, the Danes should suddenly and jointly be murdered: which massacre being performed, turned to be the cause of greater misery, for Swain king of Denmark hearing of the murder of his countrymen, landed with a strange army in diverse parts of this Realm, and so cruelly without mercy and pity spoiled the country, and slew the people, that the Emglishmen were brought to most extreme and unspeakable misery: and egelred the king driven to fly with his wife and children to Richard duke of Normandy, leaving the whole kingdom to be possessed of Swain.  
Edward the second of that name, 
Stow. chron. Phillip Com.  may well be placed in this rank, for though he was fair and well proportioned of body, yet he was crooked and evil favoured in conditions, for he was so disposed to lightness and vanity, that he refused the company of his Lords and men of honour, and haunted among villains and vile persons; he delighted in drinking and riot, and loved nothing less than to keep secret his own counsels though never so important, so that he let the affairs of his kingdom run at six and at seven: to these vices he added the familiarity of certain evil disposed fellows, as Pierce de Gaveston, and Hugh the Spencers; whose wanton counsel he following, neglected to order his Commonwealth by sadness, discretion and justice, which thing caused first great variance betwixt him and his nobles, so that shortly he became to them most odious, and in the end was deprived of his kingdom: for the Scots that were so kerbed in his father's days, now played reaks through his negligence, and made many eruptions into his land, killing & discomfiting his men at three sundry battles: besides Charles of France did him much scathe upon his lands in Gascoin and Guyan, and at last Isabella his own wife with the help of Sir john of Henault and his Henowaies (to whom the nobles & commons gave their assistance) took him and deprived him of his crown, installed his young son Edward in his place, keeping him in prison at Barteley, where not long after he was murdered by Sir Roger Mortimer.   

CHAP. LXVII. How rare and geason good Princes have been at all times.  
IT appeareth by all these former histories, what a multitude there hath been of dissolute, proud, cruel, and vicious princes, and of tyrants & oppressors, so that the number of good and virtuous ones seemeth to have been but small in comparison of them: which is also intimated by the tenor of the histories of the kings of juda and Israel, of whom (being in number forty) but ten only were found that pleased God in their reigns, and they of juda; & yet of them ten, one was corrupted in his old age, & fell away to vile iniquities: but of Israel, there was not one that demeaned not himself evil in his estate, and dealt not unjustly and wickedly before the Lord: as for the first Emperors what manner of men they were for the most part, we have already sufficiently declared. Wherefore it was not unfitly spoken of him that jesting wise told the Emperor Claudius, that all the good Caesar's might be engraven in one little ring they were so few: so that then a king or prince endued with virtue, bounty, & clemency, & that loveth his subjects, endeth strifes & kindleth concord, is an especial note of God's favour, & a gift inestimable; and that people that have such a prince for their support & stay, are infinitely blessed; they lie as it were upon a sunny bank, and ride in a most safe and quiet haven, whilst other are exposed & laid open to the cruelty of time, and are tossed & turmoiled with the waves of calamity & oppression; therefore this may be their song of mirth & rejoicing, whilst other nations sing nothing but welladaies.  
A sad afflicted soul all pale with grief and wrong,  
Being eased from sense of dole, doth straightway change his song  
From moan to mirth; for why, his thick and cloudy night  
Is turned to purity of T●tans glorious light.  
The raging storm is past, and fear of shipwreck gone,  
Their weary ships at last a calmy shore have won.  
The pilot safely lies reposed under lee,  
Not fearing frown of skies or other misery.  
The strong and mighty blast of furious winds are still,  
They do no more down cast huge fir trees at their will:  
A pleasant gale succeeds of fruitful Zephyrus,  
Which recreates the seeds of spring voluptuous.  
Pack hence you wicked ones with all your equipage  
Of murdering champions envenomed with rage:  
Your horse are tired with toil and all your strengths plucked down,  
Your swords have caught a foil by lovely pieces crown.  
O blessed glorious peace (that beautifiest each land,  
And makest all dangers cease whereof in fear we stand)  
Distill thy favours pure (which are immortal things)  
On us that lie secure in shadow of thy wings.  
Even those thy holy train which still attendance yield,  
Let them wax young again and flourish in our field:  
justice and verity which balance right from wrong,  
Let them attend on thee with equity among.  
Then shall the Swains rejoice under a figtree lain,  
And sing with cheerful voice until the suns decline:  
And all the world shall ring with echoes of our praise,  
Which to the Lord our king we warble out always.  
The simple harmless lamb no greedy wolf shall fear,  
Nor kid new weaned from dam shall stand in awe of bear:  
But sheep and wolf shall make like friends one flock & fold,  
A fearless child shall take the rule of tigers old.  
You flocks of Zion hill which through so many fears  
Of war and crosses, still have sown your field with tears,  
Take comfort to your hope, strait comes the joyful hour,  
To reap a fruitful crop for all your torments sour.  
But alas it cometh to pass through the sins and wickedness of men, that realms are oftentimes scared with the alarms and assaults of foes, and strangely afflicted with many evils, 
Esay. 3.  when as the state of government is troubled and changed by the iniquities of the people.   

CHAP. XLVIII. That the greatest and mightiest cities are not exempt from punishment of their iniquities.  
WHereas great and populous cities are as it were the eyes of the earth (as Athens and Sparta were said to be of Greece) there is no question but that they are so much the more blamable for glutting and overcharging themselves with sins, by how much the more they abound with temporable goods and commodities, and that at length they tumble into utter ruin and desolation; for in steed of being a pattern and direction unto others of wisdom and good government, as they ought, they are for the most part examples of folly and vanity: for where is there more evils and dissoluteness reigning, than in them? the principal cause whereof is that greedy worm Avarice, which begetteth in all estates much fraud, cozening, & other naughty practices, with many such like children: for through it every man looketh to provide for his own affairs, and to get any commodity or ease whatsoever to himself, even with all his power, not caring who be damnified so he be enriched: the plenty of riches which there aboundeth, instilleth pride and haughtiness of mind into some, maketh others dissolute and effeminate, and besotteth others with carnal and unhonest pleasures; from which head, spring rivers of evils, as envies, quarrels, dissension, debates, and murders, all which things hap to them that being transported & distracted with the furious contrariety of their disordinate affection, can find no contentment nor agreement with themselves, but must needs burst out into some outward mischiefs: hence is that wonderful pomp and bravery, aswell of apparel as other things: hence all gormandize and drunkenness are so common, yea and adulteries so much frequented: wherefore the anger of the almighty must needs be kindled, to consume them in their sins.  
One of the notablest cities of the world for greatness and antiquity was Ninive, the capital and chief city of the Assyrian Empire, howbeit her greatness and power could not so protect her, but that after she had once been spared by the means of the Prophet jonas, who foretold her of her destruction, being returned to her former vomit again, to wit, of robberies, extortions, wrongful dealings and adulteries, she was wholly and utterly subverted, God having delivered her for a prey into the hands of many of her enemies, that spoiled and peeled her to the quick; and lastly into the hands of the Medes, who brought her to a final & unrecoverable desolation, as it was prophesied by the prophet Nahum.  
Babylon was wont to be the seat of that puissant monarchy under Nabuchadnezzar, where flourished the famous Astrologers and notable wise men of the world, where the spoils and riches of many nations and countries were set up as trophies & kept as the remembrance of their victories, where also vices reigned, & all manner of excess and villainy overflowed: 
Lib. 5. of the acts of Alexander.  for by the report of Q. Curtius' the city did so exceed in whoredom and adulteries, that fathers and mothers were not ashamed to be bawds unto their daughters, no nor husbands to their wives, a thing most strange & odious; 
Oros. lib. 2.  wherefore it could not choose but in the end to be sacked and quite destroyed with an extreme ruin & destruction, 
Paul. Jou. come. 2. lib 33.  the signs and & appearance whereof yet are seen in the ruin of old walls and ancient buildings that there remain.  
Amongst sea-bordring cities, & for renown of merchandise, Tyre in former ages was most famous, for thither resorted the merchants of all countries for traffic of Palestina, Syria, Egypt, Persia, & Assyria; they of Tarshis brought thither iron, lead, brass, & silver; the Syrians sold their Carbuncles, purple, broidered work, fine linen, coral, & pearl; the jews honey oil, treacle, Cassia, and Calamus; the Arabians trafficked with lambs muttons, & goats; the Sabeans brought merchandise of all exquisite spices and apothecary stuff, with gold and precious stones; by means where●● it being grown exceeding wealthy, enriched by fraud & deceit, & being lifted up to the height of pride & plunged in the depth of pleasures, it was at length by the just judgement of God so sacked & ruinated, 
Sabel.  that the very memory thereof at this day scarce remaineth.  
The like judgement fell upon Sidon, & upon that rich & renowned city of Corinth, which through the commodiousnes of the haven was the most frequented place of the world for the intercourse of merchants out of Asia & Europe; 
Thuciaides.  for by reason of her pride & corruption of manners (but especially for her despising & abuse of thy heavenly graces of God's spirit) which were sowed & planted in her, 
Contempt of the word. lib. 1. cap. 34. Eutrop. Oros. lib. 9  she under went this punishment, to be first finally destroyed, and brought into cinders by the Romans; and then after her reedification, to be debased into so low and vile an estate, that that which remaineth is no wise comparable to her former glory.  
Again Athens the most flourishing & famous city of Greece for her fair buildings, large precincts & multitude of inhabitants, but especially for her philosophy, by means whereof recourse was made from all parts to her as the fountain & wellspring of arts, & the school & university of the whole world: whose policy and manner of government was so much esteemed by the Romans, that they drew from thence their laws, but now she lies dead and buried in forgetfulness, not carrying any of her former proportion or appearance.  
Carthage that noble city, mistress of Africa, and Paragon to Rome, may not brag of any better issue than her fellows: for though she resisted and made her part good with Rome for many years, yet at length by means of her own inward & civil jars, she was utterly destroyed by them; for the inhabitants not able to stand any longer in defence, 
Oros. Eutrop.  were constrained to yield themselves to the mercy of their enemies: the women to the number of 25 thousand marching first forth, & after them the men in number 30 thousand following, all which poor captives were sold for bondslaves, a few only of the principal excepted, & then fire was put to the city, 
Eutrop.  which burned 17 days without ceasing, even till it was clean consumed. It is true that it was re-edified after this, but which lasted not long, for it was again brought to destruction, that at this day there remaineth nothing but old & rotten ruins, and thus fared many other cities, 
Nunc seges est ubi Troia fuit.  of which may be verified that which was spoken of Troy, that fields and corn are where cities were.  
Numantium in Spain being besieged by the Romans after it had borne the brunt of war and sacking, a long while made many desperate sallies upon their enemies, and lastly seeing themselves consumed with famine, rather than they would bow their necks to the yoke of servitude, barring their gates, set fire on all; and so burning themselves with their whole city, left the enemy nothing but ashes for his prey and triumph: 
Titus Liuiu●.  as the Saguntines not long before served Hannibal.  
It is a marvelous and strange thing to consider, how that proud city hath lifted up her head above all others, and usurped a tyranny over nations; and which Lactantius, Hierom, 
Rome he meaneth.  and Augustine, three learned fathers entitled Babylon, how I say she hath been humbled for all her pride, and impoverished for all her riches and made a prey unto many nations. It was sacked & ransacked twice by the Visigothes, taken once by the Herulians, surprised by the Ostrogothes, destroyed and rooted up by the Vandals, annoyed by the Lumbards', peeled and spoiled by the Grecians, and whipped and chastised by many others; and now like Sodom and Gomorra it is to expect no more punishment, but the last blow of the most mightiest his indignation to throw it headlong into everlasting and horrible desolation.   

CHAP. XLIX. Of such punishments which are common to all men in regard of their iniquities.  
THese and such like effects of God's wrath ought to admonish & instruct every man to look unto himself for doing evil, and to abhor and detest sin, since it bringeth forth such sour and bitter fruits; for albeit the ways of the wicked seem in their own eyes fair and good, 
Prou. 22.  yet it is certain that they are full of snares & thorns to entrap and prick them to the quick: for after that being fed with the licourous & deceitful sweetness of their own lusts, they have sported themselves their fills in their pleasures & wicked affections; then instead of delights and pastimes, they shall find nothing but punishment & sadness: their laughter, joy, pomp, magnificence and glory shall be turned into torments & dolours, weep, opprobries, ignominies, confusion and misery everlasting: for if God spared not great cities, empires, monarchies, and kings in their obstinate misdeeds, shall we think he will spare little cities, hamlets, and villages, & men of base estate, when by their sins, they provoke him to anger? No it cannot be, for God is always of one & the same nature, always like unto himself: A God executing justice and judgement upon the earth; 
jerem. 9 Psal. 5.  A God that loveth not iniquity, with whom the wicked cannot dwell, nor the fools stand before his presence. It is he that hateth the workers of unrighteousness, and that destroyeth the liars, & abhorreth all deceitful, disloyal, periurous & murdering persons, as with him there is no acception of persons, so none of what estate or condition soever, be they rich or poor, noble or ignoble, gentle or carterlike, can exempt themselves from his wrath and indignation when it is kindled but a little, 
Rom. 2.9.  if they delight and continue in their sins; for as S. Paul saith, Tribulation & anguish is upon the soul of every man that doth evil.  
Now according to the variety and diversity of men's offences, the Lord in his most just and admirable judgement, useth diversity of punishments: sometimes correcting them one by one in particular, other whiles altogether in a heap; sometimes by storms and tempests both by sea and land, other times by lightning, hail, and deluge of waters; often by overflowing and breaking out of rivers, and of the sea also; and not seldom by remediless and sudden fires, heaven & earth and all the elements being armed with an invincible force, to take vengeance upon such as are traitors and rebels against God: sundry times he scourgeth the world (as it well deserveth) with his usual and accustomed plagues, namely of war, and famine, and pestilence, which are evident signs of his anger, according to the threats denounced in the law touching the same: and therefore if at any time he defer the punishment of the wicked, it is for no other end, but to expect the fullness of their sin, and to make them more inexcusable, when contrary to his bountifulness and long suffering (which inviteth and calleth them to repentance) they harden themselves and grow more obstinate in their vices and rebellion, drawing upon their heads the whole heap of wrath the more grievously to assail them. And thus the vengeance of God marcheth but a soft pace (as saith Valerius Maximus) to the end to double and aggravate the punishment for the slackness thereof.   

CHAP. L. That the greatest punishments are reserved and laid up for the wicked in the world to come.  
NOtwithstanding all which hath been spoken, and howsoever sinners are punished in this life, yet is certain, that the greatest and terriblest punishments are kept in store for them in another world: and albeit that during this transitory pilgrimage, they seem to themselves often times to live at their ease, and enjoy their pleasures and pastimes to their heart's contentment: yet doubtless it is so, that they are indeed in a continual prison, and in a dungeon of darkness, bound and chained with fetters of their own sin, and very often turmoiled and butchered with their own guilty conscience, overcharged with the multitude of offences, & fore-feeling the approach of hell: and in this case many languish away with care, fear, and terror, being toiled and tired with uncessant and unsupporrable disquietness, and tossed and distracted with despair, until by death they be brought unto their last irrevocable punishment: which punishment is not to endure for a time and then to end, but is eternal and everlastingly inherent both in body and soul: I say in the body, after the resurrection of the dead; and in soul, after the departure out of this life till all eternity: for it is just and equal that they which have offended and dishonoured God in their bodies in this life, should be punished also in their bodies in the world to come with endless torments: of which torments, when mention is made in the holy scripture, they are for our weak capacity sake called gehenna, or a place of torment, utter darkness and hell fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, &c: again, eternal fire, a pool and pit of fire and brimstone, which is prepared for the devil and his darlings: and how miserable their estate is that fall therein, our Saviour Christ giveth us to know in the person of the rich glutton, 
Luk. 16.  who having bathed himself in the pleasures and delights of this world, without once regarding or pitying the poor, was after death cast into the torments of hell, & there burneth in quenchless flames without any ceasing or allaying of his griefs: therefore whatsoever punishments the wicked suffer before they die, they are not quitted by them from this other, but must descend into the appointed place to receive the surplus of their payments which is due unto them: for what were it for a notorious and cruel tyrant that had committed many foul and wicked deeds, or had most villainously murdered many good men, to have no other punishment but to be slain, and to endure in the hour of death some extraordinary pain; could such a punishment balance with his so many and great offences? whereas therefore many such wretches suffer punishment in this world, we must think that it is but a taste and a scantling of those torments and punishments which are prepared and made ready for them in the world to come. And therefore it often cometh to pass, that they pass out of this life most quietly without the disturbance of any cross or punishment; but it is, that they might be more strangely tormented in another world. Some not considering this point, nor stretching the view of their understanding beyond the aspect of their carnal eyes, have fallen into this foolish opinion, to think that there is neither justice nor judgement in heaven, nor respect of equity with the highest: when they see the wicked to flourish in prosperity, and the good and innocent to be overwhelmed with adversity, yea and many holy men also have fallen into this temptation, as job and David did, 
job. 12. & 21. Psal. 73.  who when they considered the condition of the wicked and unjust, how they lived in this world at their heart's ease, compassed about with pleasures and delights, and waxing old in the same, were carried to their sepulchres in peace, they were somewhat troubled and perplexed within themselves, until being instructed and resolved by the word of God, they marked their fina●●end and issue, and the everlasting perdition which was pr●●●● for them, and by no means could be escaped. And thus it cometh to pass (saith S. Augustine) that many sins are punished in this world, 
Epist. 5●.  that the providence of God might be more apparent; and many, yea most reserved to be punished in the world to come, that we might know that there is yet judgement behind.   

CHAP. LI. How the afflictions of the godly, and punishments of the wicked differ.  
WHich seeing it is so, it is necessary that the wicked and perverse ones should feel the rigour of God's wrath for the presumption and rebellion wherewith they daily provoke him against them: and although with those that fear God, and strive to keep themselves from evil, and take pains to live peaceably and quietly, it often times goeth worse here below than with others, being laid open to millions of injuries, reproaches, and cruelties, and are as it were sheep appointed to the slaughter; whereof some are massacred, some hanged, some headed, some drowned, some burned, or put to some other cruel death: yet notwithstanding their estate and condition is far happier than that of the wicked, for so much as all their sufferings and adversities are blessed and sanctified unto them of God, who turneth them to their advantage, according to the saying of S. Luke, 
Rom. 8.28.  That all things work for the good to them that fear God: for whatsoever tribulation befalleth them, they cannot be separated from the love of God, which he beareth unto them in his well beloved son Christ jesus: be it then that God visiteth them for their faults (for there is none that is clear of sin) it is a fatherly chastisement, to bring them to amendment: be it that he exerciseth them by many afflictions, as he did job, it is to prove their faith and patience, to the end they may be better purified like gold in the furnace, and serve for examples to others. If it be for the truth of the Gospel that they suffer, than they are blessed, because they are conformed to the image of the son of God, that they might also be partakers of his glory, for they that suffer with him, are assured to reign with him: hence it is, that in the midst of their torments and oppressions, in the midst of fires and faggots flaming about them, being comforted with the consolations of God's spirit through a sure hope of their happy repose and incorruptible crown which is prepared for them in the heavens, they rejoice and are so cheerful: contrariwise the wicked, seeing themselves ensnared in the evils which their own sins brought upon them, gnash their teeth, fret themselves, murmur against God, and hlaspheme him, like wretches, to their endless perdition. There is therefore great difference betwixt the punishments of each of these, for the one tendeth to honour and life, the other to shame and confusion: and even as it is not the greatness of torments that maketh the martyr, but the goodness of the cause; so the infliction of punishment unjustly, neither maketh the party afflicted guilty, nor any whit diminisheth his reputation: whereas the wicked that are justly tormented for their sins, are so marked with infamy and dishonour, that the stain thereof can never be wiped out.  
Let every one therefore learn to keep himself from evil, and to contain himself in a kind of modesty and integrity of life, seeing that by the plagues and scourges wherewith the world is ordinarily afflicted, God's fierce wrath is clearly revealed from heaven upon all impiety and injustice of men, to consume all those that rebel against him. Think upon this you inhabitants of the earth, small and great, of what quality or condition soever you be.  
If you be mighty, puissant, and fearful, know that the Lord is greater than you; for he is almighty, all-terrible, & al-feareful; in what place soever you are, he is always above you, ready to hurl you down and overturn you, to break, quash, & crush you in pieces as pots of earth; he is armed with thunder, fire, and a bloody sword to destroy, consume, and cut you in pieces: heaven threateneth from above, and the earth which you trample on from below, shaking under your feet, and being ready to spew you out from her face, or swallow you up in her bowels: in brief, all the elements & creatures of God look a skew at you in disdain, and set themselves against you in hatred, if you fear not your Creator your Lord and Master, 
Esai. 40.  of whom you have received your sceptres and crowns, and who is able (when he please) to bring princes to nothing, and make the rulers of the earth a thing of nought: Forsake therefore if you tender the good, honour, and repose of yourselves and yours; the evil and corrupt fashions of the world, and submit yourselves in obedience under the sceptre of God's law and gospel, fearing the just retribution of vengeance upon all them that do the contrary; 
Heb. 10.31.  for it is a horrible thing to fall into the hands of the Lord. And you which honour and reverence God already, be now more quickened and stirred up to his love and obedience, and to a more diligent practising of his will and following his commandments, to the end to glorify him by your lives, looking for the happy end of your hope reserved in the heavens for you by Christ jesus our Lord, to whom be glory everlastingly, Amen.    

A Table of all the principal points contained in the first and second Book.  

AS touching the corruption and perversity of this World, how great it is. Pag. 1  
What the cause is of the great overflow of Vice in this age. Pag. 3  
That great men which will not abide to be admonished of their faults can not escape punishment at God's hand. Pag. 5  
How all men both by the law of God & Nature, are inexcusable in their sins. Pag. 9  
How the greatest monarches that are in the world ought to be subject to the law of God, & consequently the laws of man and of nature. Pag. 12  
Of those that persecuted Christ and his Church, and their issues. Pag. 18  
Of those that in our age have persecuted the Gospel in the person of the faithful. Pag. 45  
Of Apostates and Backsliders, that through infirmity have fallen away. Pag. 59  
Of those which have willingly fallen away. Pag. 66  
Of Apostates through Malice. Pag. 70  
Of Heretics. Pag. 95  
Of Hypocrites. Pag. 106  
Of Conjurers and Enchanters. Pag. 113  
Of those that through pride and vainglory, strove to usurp the honour due unto God. Pag. 125  
Of Epicures and Atheists. Pag. 139  
Touching transgressors by Idolatry. Pag. 1●9  
Of many evils that have come upon Christendom for Idolatry. Pag. 153  
Of those that corrupted and mingled God's religion with human inventions, or went about to disquiet the discipline of the Church. Pag. 157  
Of Perjurers. Pag. 160  
Of Blasphemers. Pag. 174  
Of those that by cursing and denying God, give themselves wholly to the devil. Pag. 179  
Punishments for the contempt of the word and Sacraments: and the abuse of holy things. Pag. 189  
Of those that profane the Sabbath day. Pag. 193   

The second Book.  
OF rebellious and stubborn children towards their parents. Pag. 199  
Of those that rebel against their Superiors. Pag. 211  
Of such as have murdered their rulers or princes. Pag. 225  
Of such as have rebelled against their Superiors, because of subsidies and taxes imposed upon them. Pag. 230  
Of Murderers. Pag. 236  
Their sevarall punishments. Pag. 262  
Of Parricides or parent murderers. Pag. 271  
Of Subject murderers. Pag. 27●  
Of those that are both cruel and disloyal. Pag. 288  
Of Queens that were murderers. Pag. 292  
Of such as without necessity or confe●●●e, upon every light cause, move 〈◊〉 Pag. 294  
〈…〉 please themselves overmuch 〈…〉 cruelties. Pag. 298  
〈…〉 exercise too much rigour and ●●●●tie. Pag. 302  
〈◊〉 ●●●erers. Pag. 305  
Of Rapes. Pag. 307  
●●●aples of God's judgements upon Adulterers. Pag. 316  
That Stews ought not to be suffered amongst Christians. Pag. 318  
Of whoredoms committed under the colour of Marriage. Pag. 321  
Of unlawful marriages, and their issues. Pag. 323  
Touching incestuous marriages. Pag. 327  
Of Adultery. Pag. 330  
Of such as are divorced without cause. Pag. 350  
Of those that either cause or authorize unlawful divorcements. Pag. 354  
Of Incestuous persons. Pag. 356  
Of effeminate persons, Sodomites, and other such like monsters. Pag. 359  
Of the wonderful evils arising from this greediness of lust. Pag. 363  
Of unlawful gestures, Idleness, Gluttony, Drunkenness, Dancing, and other such like dissoluteness. Pag. 365  
Of thieves and Robbers. Pag. 376  
Of the excessive burdening of the Commonalty. Pag. 386  
Of those that have used too much cruelty towards their subjects in Taxes & Exactions. Pag. 389  
Of such as by force of arms have taken away, or would have taken away, the goods and lands of other men. Pag. 397  
Of Usurers, and their theft. Pag. 411  
Of such as have been notorious in all kind of sin. Pag. 421  
Of calumniation and false witness bearing. Pag. 444  
That kings and princes ought to look to the execution of justice, for the punishment of naughty & corrupt manners. Pag. 451  
Of such princes as have made no reckoning of punishing vice, nor regarded the estate of their people. Pag. 456  
How rare & geason good princes have been at all times. Pag. 460  
That the greatest and mightiest princes are not exempt from punishment for their iniquities. Pag. 462  
Of such punishments which are common to all men in regard of their iniquities. Pag. 466  
That the greatest punishments are laid up for the wicked in the world to come. Pag. 467  
How the afflictions of the godly, and the punishments of the wicked differ. Pag. 470   
Finis.