keyes when all their corne was consumed they made bread of straw cut in small pieces and stamped in a morter and of a kinde of tile-stones and when all these things were spent the rage of their hunger was so extreme that they ate the dung of beasts and also their owne excrements they would also seeke among the dung-mixens for the bones and hornes of beasts that had long lien there rotting and eate them greedily There were that would haue eaten the carcasses of dead men but being taken with the manner they were punished by the Magistrates and when they were driven to this extremitie that all manner of things that might bee eaten were almost consumed they cast out of the towne all those that were vnserviceable for the Warres who were without any mercie or respect of humanitie most cruelly with stripes and wounds by the enemie driven into the towne againe but the sight of the towne was so hatefull vnto them that many chose rather to suffer any extremitie then to returne thither againe and were slaine with their shot It was a lamentable sight to behold men women and children like a dried corse nothing left upon them but skinne and bone but nothing could moove the hard hearts of their enemies so as at last they were enforced to yeeld up the towne upon certaine conditions When the French King that now is and of Navarre besieged Paris of late yeeres the famine grew so extreme within the Citie that they fed vpon their Horses Asses Dogs Cats Mice Vine-leaves and after some Writers there died by famine above thirtie thousand persons and this lamentable History is also reported that a Citizen having nothing wherewith to feede himselfe his wife and his children not able any longer to endure the sight of this miserie nor to heare their lamentable complaints he first hanged vp his wife and his children and then himselfe But before this was done he tyed a writing to his brest declaring the only cause why he committed this act to be that hee was no longer able to endure this miserie and therefore hee prayed God that hee would forgiue him this fault In the same Warres besides a great many other cruelties which these kinde of men continually exercised they would roast their owne country-men whom they had takē by a gē◅le fire that they might suffer long torment before they died some they would kil with often little prickes and blowes with swords and daggers for their pastime Others they would hang up by the chin vpon pot-hookes and put a little fire vnder them that they might suffer a long and miserable death To others they would cut off their privie members and put them into their mouthes They would teare the Psalmes of David and other bookes of holy Scripture and thrust them into the wounds of dead men Such as would flie into castels when the towne was won and yeeld them selves upon condition promise to have their lives saved should be cast over the wals and their neckes broken their bones in such sort with the fall that streams of blood like little rivers were seene runne downe the castle There were that opened a mans brest and tooke out his heart and as they had often before wished did eate it up Another there was that hanged up his owne sonne others would open dead mens bodies and take out their intrals offring them in scorne to sell crying about the citie Who would buy a Hugonits puddings There were that cut off a mans eares and fried them in a frying pan and ate them sweetely and with horrible othes curses invited other souldiers to this banquet To be short they devised all the waies they could to put men to strange kinds of death and torments not vsuall Some they would burne others they would smother to death with smoke some they would drown others they would stone to death some they would cut into small pieces others they would bury aliue some they would take out of their graues cast thē to dogs to be devoured others they would famish for lacke of meate some they wold kil with cold others with very feare to some they plucked out their eyes others they would kill because they mourned for others calamities to bemoane and behold a wicked act with pitifull eyes was with them to commit wickednesse But this was not sufficient for them to rage and exercise barbarous cruelty against men women and children and those of their owne nation except they also had used intolerable blasphemy against God when they had an intent to commit some of these kinds of murders that one of them might know another their watchword sometime should be Three times I curse God And as they brake into a Marchants house where they found many bookes they made a fire in the midst of the towne and burnt them all sauing certaine Bibles which were very faire bound and set ou◅ them they fastened to the points of their halberts and carrying them about the towne in a tryumph they cryed out Behold the truth of the Hugonots hanged the truth of all the Diuels in hell and when they came to the bridge they threw those Bibles into the riuer crying Behold the truth of all the Diuels in hell is drowned The intent of these men was not to follow acitm counsell Bellorum egregij fines quoties ignoscendo tra◅sigitur The end of those wars are notable when peace is made by forgiuing And Cyrus King of the Persians was wont to say that the workes of humanitie and courtifie were much more pleasant and gracious then the workes of the warres for warre bringeth to men very much euill and humanity very many goods things These bee the fruits of this glorious profession which is exalted aboue all other estates of life and the manners of them that follow it but so far are these men from happinesse that if any estate be more vnhappie then others these seeme to challenge the vantgard But let vs license men of warre to follow their owne manners and to enrich themselues by violence with the spoyle of other men seeing it will be no better that wee may with more safety passe thorow their pikes to another sort of men whose profession neither alloweth war nor they will suffer men to liue in peace as though they were borne to this end neither to be quiet themselves nor to suffer other men who in a more civill sort not like a torrent throwing down all before them as the other doth but soberly like a consumption know how not with effusion of blood out of mens bodies but of money out of their purses to make their gaine much greater in few yeeres by peace without sheading their blood and endangering their bodies then souldiers can do by the wars all their whole life with the losse of their bloud and continuall hazzard of their persons and see what happinesse is in their life who now somewhere be the onely men that be reputed
to Rome and as we shal find our wiues imployed so wee shall have cause to judge of their disposition Every man allowed of the motion and taking their horses they forthwith galloped to Rome being dark-night and unawares to them went to visit their wiues whom they found feasting and passing the time in pleasures But when they came to Collatinos house they found the doores fast shut and Lucretia spinning in the middest of her maides Then was the sentence given by all their consents with Collatino they all commending the modestie of Lucretia Collatino then being victor invited them all to dinner the next day But after their returne to the campe the kings sonne being ravished with the beautie and modestie of Lucretia sought all meanes how to fulfill his lust And for that purpose comming to Rome on a time secretly in the evening he supped with Lucretia dissembling his intent lodged in her house When the d◅ad of the night was come he brake into her chamber and so craftily undermined her with threatnings of present death and perpetuall shame that abusing the simplicitie of the modest woman she suffered him to use his will When day was come and he gone she sent presently for her father her husband and kinsfolkes letting them to understand that a great misfortune had happened to her When they were come perceiving by her sad countenance that all was not well her husband asked whether all things were safe in the house shee like one in a trance stood silent unable to answere them a word But they urging still to know the cause of her heauinesse and what had befallen her after a little pause beeing come to her selfe her cheekes watered with abundance of teares What sayd she can bee accounted safe to a woman when her chastitie is lost Thy bedde my husband that hitherto hath been kept unspotted is now defiled by the kings sonne who comming to me yester-night to supper was curteously entertained of me as a guest lodged in my house as a friend altogether ignorant of his intent but when wee were all at rest he brake into my chamber and standing by my bed side with his dagger in his right hand and his left hand upon my brest hold thy peace quoth he Lucretia I am Tarquinius if thou speake any word this dagger shall be thy death Then began hee to discover his villanous minde and mingling threats with amorous words shewed me what paine and torment he had suffered for my sake But the Gods that never faile to strengthen them that carrie an honest mind gave me sufficient power to resist his treacherous temptations and by contempt of death to preferre an honest same before a shamefull life And when he perceived that I would neither bee enti◅ed with his amorous words nor terrified with his threats of death he altered his course and assured mee if I would not consent to his will hee would put a slave naked into my bedde and after he had killed us both he would make it knowne to the world that hee found us in adultery Then the feare of perpetuall shame and infamie to me and to all you my kinsfolkes prevailing more with me than the terror of death though my heart consented not my body yeelded to fulfill his lust And albeit I absolve my selfe of the fault yet I wil not remit to my selfe the paines of death lest any matron of Rome should hereafter take occasion by mine example to live when her honour is lost When shee had thus spoken and taken them all by the hand requiring them as they were men not to suffer this villany which reached also to them to passe unrevenged whilest they were cōforting of her and advising her not to take the matter so grievously seeing there was no fault where the heart consented not she tooke out a knife which shee had secretly hidden under her clothes and thrust it into her heart Then was there great cries lamentation by her husband and friends and Brutus one of them perceiving her dead drew the knife out of her body and kissing the same did solemnly sweare by the bloud of that modest woman he would not suffer that injurie to goe unrevenged nor that any king hereafter should reigne over the people of Rome whereunto when the rest condescended he carried the dead body into the market place and perswaded the yong men to joyne with him in revenge of this abhominable act and to expell their king wherunto they easily agreed armed themselves and would not suffer the king not any of his to enter any more into the citie and erected a new State translating the government from a Monarchy to a common wealth Thus by the incestuous act of this yong man Tarquinius lost his kingdome from himselfe and his posteritie By the like occasion of a libidinous desire after certaine yeares that the Romanes had changed their governement of two Consuls to ten principall men they returned it backe againe from them to two Consuls For Appius Claudius one of the ten governors was so extremely enamoured upon a yong virgin that was contracted to a yong Gentleman that when hee saw shee would not be enti◅ed with his faire promises and gifts he entered into a most odious wicked practice Hee caused a yong man that he had brought up as shee went forth of her fathers house into the towne who was then in the warres to challenge her for his slave and to bring her before him as hee sate in judgement that hee by adjudging her to him might by that meanes have his will of her This man according to his instructions claimed her openly in the Court and sayd that she was borne in his house and stolen from him and conveyed to the house of Virginius who falsely tooke upon him to be her father which hee offered to prove before him and desired justice that he might have his slave restored to him againe There was a great concourse of people to see the end of this tragedy and much murmuring against Appius whose wicked purpose they began to conjecture And as her friends desired him that for as much as her father was absent in service of the common-wealth the matter might bee stayed untill his returne Appius answered that he was contented to deferre judgement untill the next day yet so as he that challenged her might receive no prejudice which would be if he should lose the possession of her and therefore hee would take order that hee should put in sufficient suretie to bring the damsell in place againe when her father was come and then hee would judge her to him that should have best right At these words he that should be her husband pressed to come neare to lay hold upon his wife but beeing kept out by Appius commandement hee cried out upon his unjust sentence and told him hee would rather dye than suffer his wife to be taken from him and after many hot words Appius
strange to all men and that they might procced orderly with her she was committed to prison and examined where shee confessed all that had happened But this EthiopiaÌ„ Divell would not so leave her societie for as she was kept close in prison whilest her cause was examining when the Nuns after midnight used their ordinarie service in the quire the Divel would transforme himselfe into her likenesse and sit in her place and kneele upon his knees as though he prayed they all thinking it had beene Magdalen and that shee had that liberty given for her repentance But the next day when they understood that shee was kept in prison and the night following seeing her againe in the quire they told the visitors who examining the matter found that shee went not forth of the prison And when the cause was known to the Pope through her repentance he pardoned her and gave her absolution But Sathan never found so fit an instrument to serve his purpose with such effect as was that false Prophet Mahomet who through ambition and an unsatiable desire of glory wherein his life shewed him to put his felicity not content to become of a base fellow a Monarch of divers goodly kingdomes but must also take upon him to be a holy Prophet sent from God to give laws to his people whereby he hath not onely damned his owne soule but also sendeth dayly infinite numbers of soules to the bottomlesse pit of hell to whom the Poets saying may be aptly applyed Alsquid tamdudum invadere magnum Mens agitat miht nec placida contenta quiete est My mind hath in long labour bin nor yet In quiet is some great thing to beget And that it may the better appeare what pernicious effects the desire of vaineglory hath wrought and therefore contrary to that Summâ—… bonum or felicitie wee seeke after it will not be impertinent to the matter to make a briefe narration of the course of Mahomets life whereby we shall see how by the helpe of the Divell his owne subtil wit by Gods sufferance for our sins hee was advaÌ„ced froÌ„ a poore wretch to a mighty Monarch and reputed Prophet and law-maker This Mahomets father was an Arabian called Abdalla his mother an Ismaelite called Enyma he was borne in a little village not far from Mecha called Itrarip about sixe hundred yeares after Christs incarnation The Turks say that the same day he was borne there fell downe to the ground of their own accord a thousand Churches one which was a signe that in his time there should bee a great decay of Christianity Being in his youth brought up by his parents in two religions every of them desirous to draw him to his opinion when he came to be a man he was of no religion He was sent no doubt by the Divel to the shame of mankind who cannot endure the sincerity of Christs Gospell but finding so apt an instrumeÌ„t to worke the dishonor of God and the destruction of men and knowing the disposition of the world to embrace new things he practised by his meanes to plant a new religion having fit opportunity therto by the wavering minds of the Arabians and Affricans who were at that time he was borne in doubt whether they might follow the religion of the Christians or of the Iewes or Arrians There was great fâ—…iendship about this time betweene Mahomets father and a Iew that was an Astronomer well learned in the old law in the Christian religion It chanced that Mahomet was borne when his father was gone to Ierusalem and at his returne this Iew having calculated his sonnes nativitie told him that he should be mighty in dominion law Not long after the birth of this apostle of Sathan Abdalla the father died When Mahomet was 4 yeres old this Iew devised a notorious and most shamefull lye He said that he saw two Angels take Mahomets hart out of his bodie divided it in the middest and tooke out of it a drop of bloud and afterward washed it cleane with faire water put it in a paire of ballance weighed it with ten other hearts because his heart weighed them downe all Then one of the Angels said to the other if his heart were set against all the hearts in Arabia it would over weigh them all This said the Iew the Angell Gabriell shewed him When Mahomet was viijyeares old his mother died and committed him to his uncle by the fathers side who delivered him to the Iew to be brought up in learning The Iew instructed him in naturall Philosophy but especially in the Iewish and ChristiaÌ„ religion wherin he proved so good a scholler that it holpe to work the destruction of his own soule many others Some write that when Mahomet was thirteen yeare old as he wandred abroad he met with merchants that were going into Egypt desirous to be of their company they tooke him with them to helpe to keepe their camels horses and wheresoever he went there was many times seene a blacke fellow standing by him And when they came to a village in Egypt where at that time were divers Christians the Parson of the towne invited theÌ„ to his house they followed the Parson left Mahomet to keep their camels The Parson enquiring whether all their coÌ„pany were come into his house they are all here said they saving a boy that stayeth without with our camels As the Parson went forth he saw a black fellow 〈◊〉 by the boy which put him in mind of a prophecie that he had read of one that should descend of pareÌ„ts of two sundry natioÌ„s who shold establish a religion against the christian faith by whom for a signe should many times stand a black fellow The parsoÌ„ desired the merchaÌ„ts to cal in the boy understanding his name to be Mahomet he remeÌ„bred him so to be called in the prophecie that he should be a mighty man a great trouble to Christendome that his religion should not continue above 1000. yeers then it should vanish away When the Parson had considered of his name of the black fellow staÌ„ding by him he perceived that it was he the prophecie spake of and set him at his table above the merchants and did him great reverence After they had eaten the Priest asked the merchants whether they knew the boy who told him the manner how they came by him The parson enformed theÌ„ of the prophecy he ha 〈◊〉 read who affirmed that they had seene such a blacke fellow stand by him Then sayd the Parson to the boy Thou shalt be a great learned maÌ„ and shalt establish a new religion among the Heathens and with they power thou shalt bee great annoyance to the Christians and thy successors shall be mighty men Now I desire thee that thou wilt suffer my country men the Armenians to live in peace Mahomet promised that he would so doe and went forwards with
perpetuall memory after his death these men lead a very painefull and dangerous life not onely by their enemies but by an infinite number of diseases that follow the campe they must suffer hunger thirst heate and cold winde and weather frost and snow they watch and ward and wake almost continually and when they sleepe they must take vp their lodging in the plaine fields at the signe of the Moone And this paines they take to embrue their hands in the blood of them for whose preservation Christ was contented to shead his own blood Lyons Beares Wolves and all other kinde of wilde beasts spare to exercise their fury vpon their owne kinde but these vse extreme cruelty and utter all their rage upon men that Christ dyed for as wel as for them not vpon the Heathens onely which were more tolerable And what be the fruits of these mens profession Beside their owne miseries which are many as the effusion of their owne blood and that of infinite numbers of innocents men women and children burning and sacking of goodly cities and townes spoyling and 〈◊〉 mens goods wasting territories and fields rapes upon matrones and virgins prophaning Temples and sacred places making men captives and slaues and to end in one word all manner of impieties and outrages that men can commit which is confirmed by the Poet Nulla fidesx pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur Venalesque manus ibi fas vbi maxima merces No faith no piety's in those That are of Mars his traine Their servile hands hold all as iust Where they can rub to gaine And when they returne from the warres many of the common sort that liued honestly before by want of discipline and good example get such licentiousnesse and dissolutenesse of manners that they become beggers or theeues and so lead end their liues in myserie of whom the Italian hath a prouerb Warres make theeues and Peace hangeth them vp The better souldier saith one the worse man but that wee may the better see what fruits spring out of this profession let vs produce some examples of the miseries and calamities that men haue suffered by the warres yet not of the great number of thousands of men that haue beene slaine in the field with the sword at one battayle or the goodly cities that have beene vtterly destroyed and made desolate for those examples be infinite but of some few that be more strange and not so common Iosephus reporteth that when Ierusalem was besieged by the Emperour Titus besides wonderfull things that the people suffred by the extremitie of famine as the eating of the leather of their girdles shooes targets and also of their old hay There was a rich woman had gathered together her goods into a house within the Citie and lived sparingly upon that she had left but the souldiers in short time tooke all away and she could no sooner begge a morsell of meat to helpe to relieue her but they would take it from her and deuoure it themselues at last seeing her selfe ready to famish she committed a horrible Act against nature shee tooke her childe that she had sucking vpon her brests O vnhappie child quoth shee but much more vnhappie is thy mother what shall I doe with thee in this Warre in this famine and among these seditious people If I should save thy life thou shalt live in perpetuall servitude with the Romanes come hither therefore my little wretch and serve thy mother for meat to relieue her and for a terrour to the Souldiers that haue left me nothing and for a perpetuall memorie of the miseries of mans life which onely wanteth to the calamities of the Iewes after shee had spoken these words shee killed the poore infant and put him vpon the broach and roasted him and ate the one halfe and laid vp the rest which was no sooner done but the Souldiers came into the house againe who smelling the sauour of the roasted meat threatned to kill her except shee brought it foorth Content your selves my friends quoth shee I have dealt well with you looke how I haue reserved the one moitie for you and therewith shee set the rest of her childe vpon the table before them The souldiers being amazed with the horrour of this lothsome spectacle stood silent unable to speake a word but the woman contrariwise beholding them with a sterne and sturdie countenance What now my friends quoth she this is my fruit this is my childe this is my fact why eate yee not I have eaten before you are ye more daintie or scrupulous then the mother that brought him foorth doe yee disdaine the meate that I have tasted before you and will eate the rest if yee leave it The souldiers were not able any longer to endure this lamentable sight but went trembling away leaving her alone with the rest of her childe In the time of Traiane the Emperour the Iewes rebelled in which Warres the Iewes not content to have slaine the Romanes but brought also their dead bodies to the shambles and there quartered cut them in pieces and sold them by weight and ate them with as good appetite as if they had beene Hens or Feasants and further adding one crueltie to another they brought foorth certaine Romanes which they had in prison and made wagers one with another a denier or a point to strike off the head of a Romane at a blow They would flay the Romanes quicke and tanne their skinnes for leather and further to disgrace them they would cut off their privie members and tosse them as a ball in the market place The Greekes and Romanes that were in all places slaine in these Warres were reported to bee fiue hundred thousand which cost the Iewes so deare that if the dead had beene living they would have thought themselves sufficiently revenged After the Emperour 〈◊〉 had killed his brother Geta and was in possession of the Empire the Praetorian souldiers finding themselves rich by the rewards of Bassianus and their enemies subdued went into Rome and entering into the houses slew all persons with whom they had any vnkindnesse and vpon wagers would kill a whole kindred vntill they had left no person in whom any remembrance might remaine The people of Numantia in Spaine were driven to such extremitie when Scipio besieged the Citie that they would hunt after the Romanes as men doe use to hunt after a Hare or Deare and eate their flesh and drinke their blood as hungerly as if it had beene Beefe or Mutton they would vowe to their Gods not to breake their fast but with the flesh of a Romane nor to drinke wine or water untill they had tasted of the blood of their enemies which they should kill so that none of the Romanes were taken prisoners but when they had killed any of them they would flay him quarter him wey him in the shambles and sell him more deare being dead then his ransome would yeeld being alive When
vlciscitur orbem The euils of long peace Now luxury is held w'indure Amongst vs raging worse then Warre To auenge the conquered world Philemon in his Comedie bringeth in a plaine Countriman that derided the Philosophers disputing vpon their Summum Bonum one placing it in this thing another in that according to the diuersitie of their conceits Yee mistake the matter quoth this homely fellow to the Philosophers peace is the thing wherein the felicitie of man consisteth for nothing is better nor more desired or pleasant that God hath giuen to men then peace Yet notwithstanding wee doe see that a long continued peace engendreth luxuriousnesse and intemperance whereof ensueth beastly drunkennesse and an infinite number of diseases both of body and minde that besides many torments hasten men to their end it encreaseth riches which bringeth foorth couetousnesse pride vaine glory and ambition whereof ensueth vncharitable contention by law and effusion of innocent blood by ciuill Warres to the vtter ruine and destruction oftentimes of many goodly Kingdomes and Common-wealths Which was the cause that mooued Scipio to disswade the Romans from the destruction of Carthage lest by liuing securely in continuall peace without feare of any enemie they should at the length turne their weapons to their owne bodies which came euen so to passe Lodouicus Guicciardine in his description of the Low-Countrey seemed to presage the fall of Antwerpe before their Ciuill Warres began by reason of their abundance of riches wherein they were thought to exceed all the townes in Europe and luxuriousnesse security of life by their long peace Which may be a warning to other countries that finde themselues drowned in the like vices Cato said that luxuriousnesse and couetousnesse were two plagues that ouerthrow all great Empires Cyprian findeth fault with the corruption of his time by long peace Idlenesse saith he and long peace hath corrupted the discipline deliuered by the Apostles euery man laboureth to increase his patrimonie and is carried away with an insatiable desire to augment his possessions What would he haue said of the couetousnesse and greedy desires of these dayes Many examples may be produced out of Histories of the ouerthrow of Cities and countries by the vices gathered by long peace Euscbius reporteth that the long peace and rest which the Christians enioyed from the persecution that was in the gouernment of the Emperour Aurelian to the raigne of Dioclesian was the cause that the Christians manner of liuing began to be corrupted so as many iniquities did grow presently and the former old holinesse began to decrease and such disorders and dissentions began to be mooued among the Bishops and Prelates that as Eusebius saith God suffered the persecution of Dioclesiâ—… to serue in place of reuenge and chastisement of his Church which was so extreme and bloody and full of crueltie that neither is it possible for a pen to write not tongue to pronounce it So that whether wee liue in the warres or in peace each of them hath in them their infelicitie Occidit ignavus dum pralia pace quiescunt The slothfull dyes whil'st warres sleepe in peace Now if wee should prosecute in a generalitie this discourse of the miseries of man as wee haue done of their particular estates how many kinds of paines and torments hee suffereth in this life and how many wayes and in what miserable estate hee commeth by his death wee should rather lacke time then matter to write of But to follow the course that we haue already taken in other things let vs of an infinite number of examples select some few What paines and troubles men suffer in this life in labouring to attaine to their desires something hath beene said before and more shall be said hereafter Likewise what miseries men haue suffered by the warres hath beene touched already Now resteth to speake something of the calamities that happen to men by diseases and accidents which bring them to their end whereof we will recite some few examples of those that be rare and somewhat strange But first wee will adde one more to that which hath beene spoken before of famine a most miserable plague and horrible kinde of death one of the whips and scourges wherewith God vseth to punish the sinnes of men In the fourth booke of the Kings mention is made of a famine in Samaria in the time of Helizeus which was in all extremitie and when all their victuals were consumed the mothers did eate their owne children insomuch that a poore woman made her complaint to the King seeing him vpon the walles that a woman her neighbour would not performe a bargaine made betweene them which was that they should eate her childe first which said shee vnto the King I haue performed for wee sod and ate my childe and shee presently hath conueyed away her childe and hath hidden him that I should not eate my part of him which when the King heard his heart was ready for griefe to breake and leape out of his body and hee beganne to rent his garments and couered his flesh with sack-cloth saying God make mee so and as followeth in the Text. CHAP. IIII. Of sundry sorts of plagues and pestilence and great mortalities The Iudgements of God vpon diuers euill men Of Popyelus King of Polonia and his Queene Arnolphus and Hotto Bishop of Ments c. Other strange accidents concerning Gods great Iustice. The miraculous effects of feare sorrow and ioy approoued by History The instability of fortune instanced in the story of Policrates King of Samos His daughters ominous dreame His great prosperity and miserable end That no man can be said to be happy before death Of the vaine trust in riches and of rich and couetous men Auarice reprooued and punished c. CRedible Authors report that in Constantinople there was a strange kinde of pestilence in such manner as those which were sick therof thought themselues to be killed by other men and being troubled with that feare died madde supposing men did kill them Thucidides reporteth that there was a corruption of the aire in Greece that infinit numbers of people died without finding any remedy and such as recouered health lost their memory knowledge so as one knew not another not the father his child Certaine souldiers that were vnder the Lieutenant of the Emperour Marcus Anthonius being in Seleucia went into the Church of Apollo where they opened a coffer thinking to find some great treasure but the contagious aire that came forth of it first destroyed a great part of the people of Babylon then it entred into Greece and from thence to Rome whereof ensued such a pestilence that it destroyed a third part of the people In France there was such a disease at Aix that the people would die eating and drinking many would fall into a frenzie and drowne themselues in welles others would cast themselues out of their windowes and breake their neckes The mortalitie growing
this earthly body but above And Plato likeneth the soule when hee is in generation to men that dwell in a pestilent ayre and the soule that is without generation to them that dwell in a faire greene meadow And as they that dwell in an unwholesome countrey are for the most part sickely and few continue in their naturall health so the soule as long as it liveth in this elementary body as in a prison and both together in this world will be subject as it were to sicknesse that is to sinne to passions to corruption and uncleannesse For among so many men that are endued with a mind who useth it that is as Morney further saith in men how many beasts and among men what is more rare than a man And of these that use their minde how few use it well That is saith he in men how many Divels And if from among men beasts and divels should bee taken away what marvell is it that the Philosopher sought for a man at noone day with a lincke in the middest of a great assembly of men Some in condition resemble a Wolfe others a Foxe some a Swine others this or that kinde of Beast but few resemble a man in that hee is a man and more few in that hee is the image of God God created man to his owne glorie but as hee is now hee is continually a dishonour to God whereby it appeareth man is not now the same hee was at the beginning That hee is deprived of that high dignity and divine nature that was first given him That hee is fallen from being the Temple and habitation of God to bee the dungeon of sinne and wickednesse Which alteration of his estate and condition is not to bee imputed to God who is the author of all good and goodnesse it selfe but to his owne fault that would not persist in the same estate wherein God had placed him but would bee equall with his Creatour Whereby hee grievously offended God and procured his severe sentence and curse By meane whereof hee is not onely bereaved of those goodly gifts and ornaments which before by his contemplation and glorifying of God hee enjoyed at the full but hee is also become subject to those things which for his sake and use were created As Châ—…yfippus truly said Qudm falsò accusant superos stultèque queruntur Martales etenim nostrorum causa malorum Ipsi nos suâ—… sua quemque vecordia ladit How falsly and how foolishly doe men Accuse and rayle upon high powers when Wee all of our owne evils are the ground And each mans madnesse doth himselfe confound Order required that reason should obey God and our senses and desires should bee obedient to reason But now contrariwise the senses over-rule reason and desires lead our will the body commandeth the soule and the cart is before the horse So that wee must confesse wee bee most justly punished even by the same meanes by which our first parent committed the offence For as by his disobedience he rebelled against his Lord and Creator so by a just punishment the things which hee made to serve mans use rebell against him The defects of the soule and the motions wee seele of anger of lust and such like besides reason proceedeth not from our originall nature nor from our first creation but from the contagion of the flâ—…sh and enticements of the world being become corrupt and uncleane which is come upon our good nature as rust commeth upon iron And those things which be now common unto us and brute beasts by the corruption of our nature wee are ashamed neverthelesse if wee bee seene to doe them When wee are angry if a man given to vertue and honesty come the while it stayeth it selfe presently as though vice durst not abide the sight of vertue And if a man bee eâ—…pied in the act of Venus though lawfull he will bee ashamed and blush as if his bloud laboured to hide and cover him By which Repentance following those affections nature doth sharpely admonish us beeing ashamed to doe like brute Beastes of the difference betweene us and them which shee would not doe if shee had beene created brutish from the beginning But contrariwise brute beastes forbeare not to follow their motions openly because it was their nature at the beginning wherein they continue Man onely of all other Creatures of the earth dâ—…lineth from his originall nature in whom alone all things are corrupted If wee commit any vicious act though secretly beeing alone our Conscience by and by sheweth it selfe to bee our companion and doth not onely witnesse against us but condemneth us and punisheth the fact For though the soule bee a spirituall â—…ffence such as the elements and bodily substances can doâ—… nothing against it and had it selfe in his owne power and was ruler and commander of the body which before the fall suffered nothing of the body yet the objects and filthinesse of the flesh environing and as it were cleaving to the soule doth corrupt and defile her as good Wine receiveth an evill taste of a fustie vessell For the bodie is inclosed within the Elements the bloud within the body the spirits within the bloud the soule within the spirits the minde within the soule and Hermes further addeth God within the minde Fire covered with ashes shineth not the Sunne hidden with a thicke blacke cloud casteth foorth lesse light so the Soule being drowned in moyst and foule matter receiveth a certaine myst which shadoweth and covereth the minde and darkeneth the light of reason This power that God gave to these things over the substance of the Soule besides his nature which otherwise of their own nature they could not have done argueth the greatnesse of the offence which man committed against God and his high justice in his punishment Our wisedome is ignorance our knowledge is vanity our godlinesse is hypocrisie our vertue is nothing but a cloke to cover our vice For if it were possible to see into a man how many salvage beasts should wee see lurking in a mans heart as in a forrest or thicke wood Our imagination and thoughts what are they but meere wickednesse and vanitie These evils we have received by propagation from our first parent Sentit adhuc proles quod commisere parentes The children are yet sensible of what their parents have committed For the sins we commit is a punishment of his offence And though they are come to us by Gods permission yet it is not to bee imputed to him as an author of it because hee could by his absolute power hinder and let evill For hee proponeth lawes to man with rewards and punishments Hee willeth him to embrace good and flye evill To the doing whereof hee denyeth not his grace without which wee can doe nothing nor refuseth our diligence and labour Here if we cease and give over the sin and negligence is attributed to man and not to God though