better order and cheefely above all had imbraced Christian and Catholike religion then behold what these Benjamins proved who by the British Iacob Gildas I meane are termed Lupi â— rapaces ravenous Wolves see if that was not truely fulfilled in them which was rightly prophesied of that worthy Benjamin S. Paul which is Mane rapit vespere dividit escas in the morning or at the first they gained their booties by spoyling but in the evening or at the last they distributed their foode or baites what foode but to satisfie the hungry soules of men what baites but to catch such fish as might serve for the festivall table of our Saviour Looke into Wales and Cornewall and see how many Townes beare yet the names of Irish Saints who harboured there not as before to punish the Britaines with death but to draw them to the rewards of eternall life Peruse the histories of the Countries beyond Humber you shall read how the Pictes and inhabitants of Scotland who sometimes broke downe the Northerne fortifications and invaded the Land did afterwards beate down the Bulwarke of hell delivered the soules which sinne did withhold in bondage and made them the blessed captives of Christ men undoubtedly of rare holinesse and unspotted conversation had they not beene a little blemished with an erronious opinion about the celebration of Easter which as venerable Bede signifieth continued the longer among them because inhabiting in a farre removed region of the world they had not heard of the Cannons of the Church which commanded the contrary Moreover as our Saviour did feede them bodily whom before he refreshed spiritually so did they of Scotland not onely with the bread of life releeve their neighbours but also received the Britaines when they were expulsed out of their Country by the Saxons into their bosome and suffered them quietly to inhabit by them in Cumberland and with like charitable affection entertained also the Saxons with their Prince Edgar when they fled from the countenance of the victorius Norman William the Conqueror And as touching their old barbarous misbehaviour which Gildas here mentioneth we have no more reason to upbraide the Scottish therewith then to cast in the teethes of the refined Italians what their Country was before Saturne did first instruct them in civility being a time so overgrowne with rudnesse as the Poets doe thereupon wittily descant that men of that age were borne out of the trunckes of trees For in processe of time by carefull diligence commeth the correction and amendment of Countries and by carelesse negligence falleth the corruption and destruction of Nations The last are the Saxons and English called by him a people odious to God and man to God because they were Idolatrous Infidels to man because they murthered and oppressed the Christian Britaines and although he enlargeth himselfe in the dispraise of the Nation let no man neverthelesse suppose that he uttereth this of any malice as stung with the dreadfull miseries with the which they vexed his Country For who knoweth not that the English were in his age enemies of Christ religion and the Land But according to Esay In the dennes wherein dragons did formerly dwell greene reedes and rushes did afterwards grow and after the sentence of Hosea Where it was sayd ye were no people of mine there shall the same persons bee named the sonnes of the living God Yea the Lyons the Liberds the Beares and the Wolves shall as the Prophet writeth quietly lodge and live with Oxen Sheepe Kiddes and Calves and a little child no doubt the Sonne of the Virgin shall governe them all For if ever the wilde Olive were changed into the rightfull Olive of our Lord or if ever tree brought forth the true fruits of goodnesse then were both these undoubtedly verified in the Saxons For although they came but lately into the Vineyard yet having entred they laboured diligently and undertaking the race of a Christian life they ranne most swiftly and gained the garland victoriously and who so thinketh I exceede in their commendation let him but cast his eyes round about this Realme and hee shall see the Churches and Monuments of religion some fevv onely excepted altogether founded by them and that vve may leave the dead buildings and come to the lively stones of the heavenly Ierusalem how are the Provinces shires and Parishes of the Land severally adorned with mighty number of English Saints and if we may measure by the Governours what the people were since unto the examples of their Rulers the subjects are commonly conformable let us but consider the royall off-spring of the Saxons and we shall finde that never in any land so many Princes left their worldly estates to embrace Christian poverty and draw in the Yoake of our Saviour and never so many of Kingly blood were canonised in the heavenly Register as in this our Country what shall I say more In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum their renowne is spread over the whole world and their glory fixed above the firmament in so much as William of Malmsbury deriving the Pedegree of holy Edward the Confessour sheweth a descent not onely of Kings but also of Saints so as to the Church then among us those Words of Esay may be fitly applyed Reges servient tibi and againe Mamilla regum lactaberis Kings shall doe service unto thee and with the teates of Princes thou shalt be nourished Let us leave the heavens and returne to the earth was the glory of the Saxons which now mounted in blessed vertues aboue the Skie bounded here below onely in the Cloystures of Monasteries No but as the shaddow followeth the body so likewise ensued all commodities requisite in a well ordered regiment and first as touching learning which manureth the mindes of men and maketh them in due season bring forth their timely fruites they founâ—ded both the Vniversiâ—ties of Oxford and Camâ—bridge For the ancienâ— lawes the most excelâ—lent helme which steared the state the bridle which restrayned distempered wils and the very soule of the body of the Common-wealth they were by them chiefely framed and did their prayse onely consist in matters of pietie and peace and was not their warlike glory equall to their civill government not so truely but as a well compacted body hath bones and sinewes sutable to the head so was their powerfull strength answerable to their other vertues and not-onely of singular proofe at home but also obtained a most high commendation abroad in forraigne Countries All which heroicall actions they accomplished in lesse than five hundred yeeres notwithstanding they were during the same time almost continually either invaded by strangers or molested by unquiet neighbours And thus have I somewhat inlarged my selfe in declaring the undoubted worthinesse of these three Nations because I shall be enforced in this my translation to discover their ancient imperfections neither have I used this commendation as sugar Whereby these distastfull pills may bee the better
Thy Princes are unfaithfull companions of theeves all love gifts hunt after rewards they doe no justice to the Orphan the widowes cause entreth not unto them For this saith our Lord God of hosts the strong one of Israel Alas I will take consolation upon my foes and be revenged upon mine enemies and the hainous sinners shall be broken to powder and offenders together with them and all who have left our Lord shall be consumed And afterwards The eyes of the lofty man shall bee brought low and the heighth of men hath bowed downe And againe Woe be to the wicked evill be fall him for he shall be rewarded according to his handy workes And a little after Woe be unto ye who arise earely to follow drunkennesse and to drinke even to the very evening that ye may vapouring fume with Wine The Harpe and the Lyra and the Taber and the Pipe and Wine are in your banquets and the worke of our Lord ye respect not neither yet consider ye the workes of his hands Therefore is my people led captive away because they have not had knowledge and their Nobles have perished with famine and their multitude hath withered away with thirst Therefore hath hell enlarged and dilated his spirit and without measure opened his mouth and his strong ones and his people and his lofty and glorious ones shal descend down unto him And afterwards Woe be unto ye who are mighty for the drinking of wine and strong men for the procuring of drunkennesse who justifie the wicked for rewards and deprive the just man of his justice For this cause even as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubbell and as the heate of the flame burneth up so shall their roote be as the ashes and their branch shall rise up us the dust For they have cast away the law of our Lord of hosts and despised the speech of the holy one of Israel In all these the fury of our Lord is not turned away but as yet his hand is stretched out And somewhat after debating of the day of judgement and the unspeakeable feare of offendors he saith Howle ye out because the day of our Lord is neere at hand if then neere what shall it now be thought to be in regard destruction shall proceed from God For this shall all hands be dissolved and every mans heart shall wither away and be bruised small tortures and dolours shall hold them as a woman in labour so shall they be grieved every man shall at his neighbour stand astonished burned faces shall be their countenances Behold the day of our Lord shal come cruell and full of indignation and of wrath and fury to turne the earth into a desert and breake her sinners in small peeces from off her because the starres of Heaven and the brightnesse of them shall not unfold their light the Sunne in his rising shall bee covered over with darknes and the Moone shall not shine in her season and I will visite upon the evils of the world and against the wicked their owne iniquity and I will make the pride of the unfaithfull to cease and the arrogancy of the strong I will bring full low And againe Behold our Lord will disperse the earth he will strip her naked and afflict her face and scatter her inhabitants and as the people so shall be the Priest and as the slave so shal be his Lord as the handmaid so shall be her Lady as the purchaser so shall be the seller as the usurer so shall be he that borroweth as he who demandeth so shall be he that oweth With dispersing shall the earth be scattered and with sacking shall she be spoyled For our Lord hath spoken this word The earth hath bewailed and hath fleeted away the world hath run to nothing she is weakned by her inhabitants because they have transgressed lawes changed right brought to ruine the eternall truce For this shall malediction devour the earth And afterwards They shall lament all of them who doe in heart rejoyce the delight of the timbrells hath ceased the sound of the gladâ—some shall be silent the sweetnesse of the Harpe shall be hushed they shall not with singing drinke their wine bitter shall the potion be to the drinkers thereof The Cittie of vanitie is wasted every house is shut up no man entring in an outcry shall be in the streetes upon wine all gladnesse is forsaken the joy of the land is transferred solitarinesse is left in the town and calamitie shall oppresse the gates because these things shall be in the middest of the land and in the middest of the people And somewhat afterwards Swarving from the truth have they wandred out of the right way with the stragling of transgressors have they gone astray Feare and intrapping falls and a snare upon thee who art the inhabitant of the earth And it shall come to passe Who so shall flye from the voyce of the feare shall tumble downe into the intrapping pit and who so shall deliver himselfe out of the downefall shall bee caught in the intangling snare because the flood-gates from aloft shall be opened and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken With bruising shall the earth be broken with commotion shall she be moved with tossing shall she be tottred like to a drunken man and she shall be taken away as if shee were a pavilion of one nights pitching and her iniquitie shall hang heavie upon her and she shall fall done and shall not attempt to rise againe And it shall be that our Lord in the same day shall visit on the warfare of heaven in the high place and on the Kings of the earth who are upon the earth and they shall be gathered together in the bundle of one burthen into the Lake and shall there be shut up in prison and after many dayes shall they be visited And the Moone shall blush and the Sunne be confounded when our Lord of hosts shall raigne in mount Sion and in Ierusalem and be glorified in the sight of his Seniors And after a while yeelding a reason why hee threatneth in that sort he saith thus Behold the hand of our Lord is not shortned that he cannot save neither yet is his eare made heavy that he may not heare But your iniquities have divided betweene ye and your God aâ—d your offences have hid his face from yee that he might not heare For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquitie Your lippes have spoken lying and your tongue uttereth iniquity There is not who calleth on justice neither is there he who judgeth truely but they trust in nothing and speake vanities and have conceived greefe and brought forth iniquity And a little after Their workes are unprofitable and the worke of iniquity in their hands their feete runne into evill and make haste that they may shed the innocent blood their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts spoyle and
injustice can in the attempts of men either be or ever be committed then to deny God of that awful feare honest Countrymen of that charity and those who are placed in higher authority without impeachment of faith of that honour due unto them to breake alleageance to divine and humane reason and casting away all dread of Heaven and Earth to be ruled by their owne inventions and sensualities Omitting therfore those ancient errours common to all nations of the earth with the which before the comming of Christ in our flesh all mankinde was entangled and bound nor yet recounting up the monstrous Idols of our Country surpassing almost in number the very devilish devises themselves of Egypt of the which we behold as yet some both within and without the wals of their forsaken Temples with deformed portratures and terrible countenances after the accustomed manner now mouldring away neither yet crying out namely one after another on the mountaines themselves or hils or floods damnable sometimes as to the which divine honour by the people then blinded was yeelded though now truely profitable to the use of mankinde and letting passe in silence those old outworne ages of our detestable Tyrants who in other far remooved regions were infamous in so much as Porphyrie that outragious easterling dogge who barked against the Church hath in the stile of his madnesse and vanity also added this That Britaine is a fruitfull Province of Tyrants I will onely endeavour to set forth to the world those miseries which in the time of the Romane Emperours she suffered and likewise heaped on the heads of others as well her Countrymen as Strangers and not farther neverthelesse then I am well able to declare neither yet so much out of the Chronicles of our Country or the monuments of our owne Authors for why these truely if any such there have beene are either now devoured with the fires of our foes or being transported into forraigne Nations by the meanes of our banished Countrymen are quite vanished away as by the relation of outlandish writers which broken off with many interruptions doth not sufficiently appeare Thirdly for when the Rulers of Rome had obtained the Empire of the world and now having brought under their governement all their next neighbours Nations and Ilands had towards the East confirmed with the power of their encreasing renown the first peace of the Parâ—hians who confine on the Indians which being finished warres thenceased through out almost the whole earth the fury in a sort of this flame towards the West could noâ— with the blewish billows of the cold Ocean Seas be suppressed or extinguished but passing over without resistance drew our Iland to the lawes of obedience and subdued absolutely to their command the weake but unstable people not like other nations so much with sword fire and warlike engines as with threats or amazing their mindes with the superficious frownes of their countenances so deeply were their hearts inwardly dismayed Fourthly after whose returne unto Rome which for want of pay as they said was present suspecting nothing lesse then rebellion the subtil Lioness murthred the Rulers who were left behinde of purpose more fully to show or rather to confirme the enterprises of the Romane Empire Which being so done when the report thereof was declared unto the Senate and they with a speedy army made all haste to be revenged on the crafty foxes cubbs as they called them there appeared no warlike Navy on the Seas prepared valiantly to encounter for our Country nor yet a square mustered army neither the right wing of the battaile nor other order of fight to withstand on the shore but backes in place of sheilds were turned to the pursuing foes neckes subjected to the conquering swords cold feare invading all their limbs and supplyant hands stretched out womâ—n-like to be bound so that it was bruted farre and neere as a proverbe and scornefull reproach that Britaine were neither valiant in warre nor faithfull in peace Fifthly many therefore of the rebellious being slaine and some of the inthralled for baser workes least the Land should be wholly brought to desolation left alive they sailed from our Country void of wine and oyle towards Italy leaving behinde them some of their Governors as scourges over our Countrymens shoulders yokes on their neckes who should engrave as it were on the very ground the name of their subjection to Rome and chastice not so much with warlike weapons as with reprochfull punishments the subtill people and if occasion so required should fashion them as they say to weare their naked swords by their sides so that now it was not reputed as Britania but Romania and what soever Brasse Silver and Gold it could possesse was stamped with the Image of Caesar. Sixthly in the meane while Christ the true Son of God spreading forth not onely from this temporall firmament but also from the Castell and Court of Heaven which exceedeth all times throughout the whole world his most glorious light especially as we know in the Raigne of Tiberius Caesar whereas in regard that the Emperour against the will of the Senate threatned death to the disturbers of the professors thereof Religion was most largely without any hinderance dispersed of his infinite mercy did first cast on this Iland starving with frozen cold and in a farre remote climate from the visible Sunne his gladsome beames to wit his most holy Lawes Seaventhly which although they were received of the inhabitans but with lukewarme mindes remained notwithstanding fully in the soules of some and in others lesse untill the nine yeares persecution of the Tyrant Dioclesian in which the Churches throughout the whole world were overthrowne to the ground all holy Scriptures that could be found burned in the streetes the chosen Priests of the flocke of our Lord together with the innocent Sheepe murthered to the end that not the least remembrance truely of Christian Religion if possibly it might be should in any place of the Provinces be left How foule the flights were then how great the slaughters what torments of sundry deaths what ruines of Apostataes what shining Crownes of glorious Martyrs what furious madnesse of the persecutors and on the contrary what singular patience of the Saints of God the Ecclesiasticall History declareth so as the whole Church in mighty thronging troopes leaving behind them all worldly darkenes hastened with speede to the pleasant Pallaces of Heaven as to their proper seats Eightly God therefore whose will is that all men should be saved and who calleth no lesse sinners then such as repute themselves just magnified his mercy with us who as wee conjecture of his gracious aforenamed goodnesse that Britaine should not be altogether overwhelmed with the black cloud of this dark some night lightned unto us in this time of persecution the most cleare lamps of his Holy Martyrs the tombes of whose bodies and places of passion were wee not
life in offending God because as yet an acceptable time and day of Salvation shineth on the faces of the repentant wherein thou mayest worke well that thy Flight may not be made in the Winter or Sabbath Turne away according to the Psalmist from evill and doe good seeke forth blessed peace and follow the same because the eyes of our Lord will bee cast upon thee when thou dost righteousnsse and his eares will bee then open unto thy prayers and he will not destroy thy memory out of the land of the living thou shalt cry and he will heare thee and out of thy tribulations deliver thee for Christ doth never despise an heart that is contrite and humbled with his feare Otherwise the worme of thy torture shall not dye and the fire of thy burning be never extinguished And why art thou tumbled in the old filth of thy naughtinesse yea since the very first spring of thy tender youth thou Beare thou rider and ruler of many and guider of the chariot which is the Beares bearour thou contemner of God and depressour of his lot Cuneglasse and by interpretation in Latine a yellow or golden butcher why dost thou raise so great a warre as well against men as also against God himselfe against men yea thy Country-men with thine especiall powers against God with thine infinite offences Why besides other thine innumerable ruines having throwne out of doores thine owne wife dost thou with the lustfull love or rather blockish dulnesse of thy minde against the Apostles expresse prohibition denouncing that no adulterers can be partakers of the Kingdome of heaven esteeme according to the Poet as the exceeding dainties of the celestiall nimphes her detestable sister who had vowed unto God the everlasting continency of her widdowhood Why dost thou provoke with thine often injuries the lamentations and sighes of Saints by thy meanes corporally afflicted which will in time to come like a terrible Lionesse breake thy bones in peeces Desist I beseech thee as the Prophet saith from wrath and leave of thy deadly and that which will be thy selfe tormenting fury which thou breathest out against heaven and earth which is against God and his flocke make them rather with altered mindes to pray for thee who possesse a power of binding over this world when in this world they binde the guilty and of loosing when they loose the penitent Be not as the Apostle saith proudly wise nor hope thou in the uncertainty of riches but in God who giveth thee many things abundantly and by the amendment of thy manners purchase unto thy selfe a good foundation for hereafter and obtaine a â—rue and truely everlasting life and not a transitory one Otherwise thou shalt know and see yea in this very world how bad and bitter a thing it is for thee to leave thy Lord God and not have his feare before thine eyes and in the next how thou shalt be burned in the foule incompassing flames of endlesse fire nor yet by any manner of meanes ever dye For why the soules of the sinfull are as well eternall in perpetuall fire as the soules of the just in perpetuall joy and gladnesse And likewise O Dragon of the Island O depriver of many Tyrants as well from their kingdomes as also from their lives and among the fore-recited the last in my writing but the first in thine owne mischiefe exceeding many in power and also in malice more liberall in giving more licentious in sinning boystrous in armes but stronger in working thine owne foules destruction Maglocune to what end art thou as one Soken in the wine pressed out of the Sodomiticall grape foolishly moyled in that so ugly old deformity of thine offences Why dost thou wilfully heape in bands upon thy kingly shoulders such huge weights of sinnes not unlike as I may say unto the unsupportable burdens of great mountaines Why dost thou not shew thy selfe unto the King of all kings who hath made thee as well in kingdome as also in stature of body higher than almost all the Dukes of Britaine besides better likewise in vertues than the rest but on the contrary side for thy sinnes much worser The certaine affirmation of which sinnes do thou a while with an indifferent eare heare and listen unto wherein I will not touch any whitte thy domesticall and higher offences if yet any of them are light but onely report those open ones which are spread farre and broade in the knowledge of all men Didst not thou in the very first entrance of thy youth most terribly oppresse through sword speare and fire the King thine uncle together with his most couragious bands of Souldiers whose countenances in battell were not much unlike unto young Lions Little esteeming those words of the Prophet that say Men of blood and deceite shall not accomplish the middle part of their daies and were not the sequell of thy sinnes such as insued yet what revenge shouldest thou expect at the hands of the just Iudge for this onely offence He also saying by his Prophet Woe be to thee who spoylest and shalt not thou thy selfe be spoiled and thou who killest shall not thy selfe be killed and when thou shalt make an end of thy spoyling then shall thy selfe ruinate But when the conceit of this usurping raigne had succeeded according to thine owne hearts wishes didst not thou being taken with a desire of returning to the right way day and night as then perhaps through the deepe remorse of thy sinnefull conscience chaw first of all the cudde of thy many meditations about the service of God and the observance of the rules of Monkes and afterwards make it knowne to the whole world and for ever vow thy selfe before Almighty God and in the sight of Angels and men breaking as it was thought those most large nets wherein fat buls of thy sort are wont to be headlong intangled and overcomming all temptations of thirst of Kingdomes Gold and Silver and which is greatest that of thine owne will and wert professed a Monk without any thought as thy selfe didst say of violating the same and didst not thou being now become of a crow a dove like the same bird when shee sheareth swiftly with her singing wings the empty aire and avoideth with her often winding turnes the fell talons of the ravenous hawke safely recover thy selfe to the cels and reposes of Saints as thy most trusty refuge Oh how great a joy should it have beene to our Mother the Church if the enemy of all mankind had not lamentably pulled thee in a sort out of her bosome Oh how ample fewell of Heavenly hope would have been inkindled in the hearts of desperate sinners hadst thou remained in thy blessed estate Oh what and how great rewards in the Kingdome of Christ would have beene laid up for thy soule against the day of judgement if that crasty wolfe had not caught thee who of a wolfe
was now become a Lambe not much against thine owne will out of the fold of our Lord and made thee of a Lambe a wolfe like to himselfe againe Oh how great a joy would the conservation of thy salvation have beene to God the holy Father of all Saints had not the devill the miserable father of all castawaies as an Eagle of monstrous wings and claws carryed thee captive away against all right and reason to the unhappy roote of his children And to be short as great gladnes and sweetnesse did thy conversion to righteousnesse minister to heaven and earth as now thy detestable returne after the manner of a sicke mastive unto the horrible vomit againe breedeth griefe and lamentation which being done The members are now become the armours of iniquity for sinne and the devill which in right sence should have beene busily imployed as the armours of justice for God for now with thy listening eares are not heard the praises of God sweetly sounded forth by the pleasant voices of Christs Souldiers nor the Organs of ecclesiasticall melody but thine owne praises which are nothing rung out after the fashion of Bacchus giddy rout by the mouthes of thy villanous followers fulfilled with lies and also with foming malice to the utter overthrow of every one of their neighbours so as the vessell sometimes prepared for the service of God is now turned to a vessell of durt and what was once reputed worthy of Heavenly honour is now worthily cast into the bottomelesse pit of hell Neither yet is thy sensuall mind which is overcome by the excesse of folly any whit abated or debarred of his course with committing so great sinnes but hot and prone like a young colt that coveteth every pleasant pasture runneth headlong forward with irrecoverable fury through the large fields of offences in heaping new wickednesse on the head of the old For the former marriage of thy first wife although after thy violated vow of Religion she were not lawfully thine yet being sometimes thine was now despised another the wife of a man then living and hee no stranger but thine own brothers sonne being in her place beloved Vpon which occasion that stiffe necke of thine being already laden with many burthens of sinnes is now moreover with two monstrous murthers the one of thy aforesaid Nevew the other of her who sometimes was thy marryed wife as with the outragious extremity of thy sacriledge from low to lower and from bad to worser bowed bended and depressed downe Afterwards also didst thou accept her by whose deceit and suggestion such mighty matter of offences was undergone publickely and as the flattring tongues of thy parasites with faigned but not faithfull words pronounce lawfully as a widdow but as we say most wickedly to be thine owne in wedlocke And therefore what holy man is there whose bowels being mooved with the narration of such an history would not presently break out into weeping and lamentations What Priest whose heart lyeth open unto God would not instantly upon the hearing of this with marveilous mourning cry out that saying of the Prophet Who shall give water to my head and to mine eyes a fountaine of teares and I will day and night bewaile those of my people who are slaughtered For why full little alas hast thou with thine eares once heard that reprehension of the Prophet speaking in this wise Woe be unto yee O wicked men who have left the Law of the most holy God and if ye shall be borne your portion shall be to malediction and if ye die into malediction shall be your portion al things that are from the earth to the earth shall bee converted againe so shall the wicked from malediction passe to perdition but ever supposed if they returne not unto our Lord receiving especially this admonition Sonne thou hast offended adde no farther offence thereunto but withall doe thou pray for the forgivenesse of the former And againe Forslow not to be converted unto our Lord neither yet doe thou put of the same from day to day for his wrath doth come suddenly Because as the Scripture saith When the King heareth the unjust word all under his dominion become wicked And The just King according to the Prophet raiseth up his Region But warnings truely are not wanting to thee since thou hast for thine instructor the most eloquent Master of almost all Britaine Take heed therefore lest that which Solomon noteth befalleth not to thee which is Even as he who stirreth up a sleeping man out of his heavy sleepe so is that person who declareth wisdom unto a foole for in the end of his speech will he say What hast thou first spoken Wash thine heart as it is written from malice Oh Ierusalem that thou maist be saved Despise not I beseech thee the unspeakeable mercy of God calling by his Prophet the wicked in this sort from their offences I will on the suddvine speake to the Nation and to the Kingdome that I may roote out and dispearse and destroy and overthrow As for the sinner hee doth in this wise exhort him vehemently to pennance And if the same people shall do pennance from their offence I will also doe pennance upon the evil which I have said that I would doe against them And againe Who will give them such an heart as they may heare me and keepe my Commandements and that it may be well with them all the daies of their lives And also in the Canticle of Deuteronomy A people without counsell and prudence I wish they would be wise and understand and foresee the last of all how one pursueth a thousand and two put to flight ten thousands And againe our Lord in the Gospell Come unto me all yee who doe labour and are burthened and I will make ye rest Take up my yoake upon you and learne of me because I am meeke and humble of heart and yee shall finde repose in your soules For if thou dost hearken to these admonitions but with deafe eares if thou contemnest the Prophets if thou despisest Christ and although most base we are makest no account of us so long as with sincere pietie and puritie of minde we observe the same of the Prophet that we may not bee found Dumbe dogges not able to barke howsoever I for mine own particular am not of that singular fortitude in the spirit and vertue of our Lord as to declare To the house of Iacob their sins and the house of Israel their offences and so long as wee shall remember that of Salomon Who so termeth the wicked to be just shall be accursed among the people and odious to nations for they who reproove shall have better hopes And againe Respect not with reverence thy neighbour in his ruine nor spare thou to speake in time of Salvation And as long also as wee forget not this Withdraw them away by force who are
Heare now likewise what fell upon the two sacrilegious Kings of Israel even such as ours are Ieroboam and Baasa unto whom the sentence and doome of our Lord is by the Prophet in this sort directed For what cause have I exalted thee a Prince over Israel in regard they have provoked me in their vanities Behold I will stirre up after Baasha and after his house and I will give over his house as the house of Ieroboam the Sonne of Nebat whoso of his blood shall dye in the City the dogges shall eate him and the dead carkasse of his in the field shall the foules of the aire devoure What doth hee also threaten unto that wicked King of Israel a fellow souldier of the former band by whose collusion and his wives deceit innocent Naboth was for his Fathers Vineyard oppressed talking by the holy mouth of that Elias yea the selfe-same mouth that was instructed with the fiery speech of our Lord. Thou hast killed moreover likewise thou hast possessed and after these thou wilt adde yet more Thus saith our Lord in this very place wherein the dogges have licked the blood of Naboth they shall lick up thy blood also Which that it fell out afterwards in that very sort we have certaine experience But least perchance according as it befell unto the aforesaid Achab The lying spirit which pronounceth vaine things in the mouthes of your Prophets may seduce ye harken ye to the speeches of the Prophet Michaias Behold God hath suffered the spirit of lying to possâ—sse the mouths of all thy Prophets that doe here remaine and our Lord hath pronounced evil against thee For even now it is certaine there are some Doctors replenished with a contrary spirit preaching and affirming rather naughty pleasure then truth whose words are softer then oyle and the selfe same are darts who say peace peace and there shall be no peace to them who persevere in sinnes as the Prophet in another place on this wise speaketh It is not for the wicked to rejoyce saith our Lord. Azarias also the sonne of Obed did speake unto Asa who returned from the slaughter of the Army of ten hundred thousand Ethiopians saying Our Lord is with yee while ye remaine with him and if yee will seeke him out he will be found by ye and if ye will leave him he will forsake ye For if Iehoshaphat but yeelding assistance unto a wicked King was thus reproved by the Prophet Iehu the sonne of Anany saying If thou givest aid to a sinner or lovest them whom our Lord doth hate the wrath of God doth therefore hang over thee what shall become of them who are fettered in the proper snares of their owne offences whose sinnes but not whose souleÌ„s we must of necessity hate if wee will fight in the Army of our Lord the Psalmist saying Hate ye evill who love our Lord. What was said to the sonne of the afore reÌ„cited Iosaphat named Ioram that most horrible murtherer who being himselfe a bastard slew his noble brethren that hee might possesse the throne in their place by the Prophet Elias the wagon and wagoner of Israel Thus speaketh quoth he the Lord God of thy Father David Because thou hast not walked in the way of thy Father Iosaphat and in the waies of Asa the King of Iudah but hast made thy passage through the wayes of the Kings of Israel and in unsensiblenesse according to the behaviour of the house of Achab and hast moreover killed thy brethren the sonnes of Iosaphat men farre better then thy selfe behold our Lord shall strike thee and thy children with a mighty plague And a little afterwards And thou shalt be marveilous sicke of a disease of thy belly until the entrailes of thy belly shal together with the malady it selfe from day to day passe forth away from thee And listen also what the Prophet Zachary the sonne of Ioiades menaced to Ioas the King of Israel leaving our Lord even as ye now do who arising spoke in this manner to the People Thus saith our Lord why doe ye transgresse the Commandements of our Lord and doe not prosper Because ye have left our Lord he will also leave you What shall I mention of Esay the first and chiefe of the Prophets who beginneth the proeme and enterance of his Prophesie or rather vision saying in this sort Heare O yee Heavens and O thou earth conceive in thine eares because our Lord hath spoken I have nourished children and exalted them but they themselves have despised me The Oxe hath knowne his owner and the Asse the manger of his Master but Israel hath not knowne me and my people hath not understood And after a few words framing threatnings answerable to so great a folly he saith The Daughter of Sion shall be uterly left as a shelter in the Vineyard and as a hovell in the Cowcumber Garden and a City that is sacked And especial-conventing and accusing the Princes he saith Heare the word of our Lord O yee Princes of Sodome perceive ye the Law of our Lord O yee people of Gomorrah Where truely it is to be noted that unjust Kings are tearmed the Princes of Sodome for our Lord forbidding sacrifices and gifts to be offered unto him by such where we with greedy covetousnesse receive those offerings which in all Nations are displeasing unto God and to our owne destruction suffer them not to be bestowed on the poore and needy speaketh to them who laden with abundance of riches are likewise given to the filth of offences on this wise Offer not any more your sacrifice in vaine your incense is abomination unto me And againe he denounceth And when yee shall stretch out your hands I will turne away mine eyes from ye and when ye shall multiply your prayers I will not heare And hee declareth wherfore he doth this saying Your hands are full of blood And likewise showing how he may be appeased he saith Be ye washed be ye cleane take away the evill of your thoughts from mine eyes leave of to deale perversly learne to doe well seeke for the judgement succour the oppressed doe justice to the pupill or Orphan And then assuming as it were the part of a reconciling appeaser he adding saith If your sinnes shall be as scarlet they shall be made white as Snow if they shal be as red as the little worme they shall be as white as wooll If ye shall be willing and will heare me ye shall feede on the good things of the Land but if ye wil not and shall provoke mee unto wrath the sword shall devoure ye Receive ye heare the true and publike avoucher witnessing without any falshood or flattery the reward of your good and evill not like the soothing humble lippes of your Parasites whispering poysons into your eares And also directing his sentence against ravenous judges he saith thus
time of their outcry unto me and of their affliction What then shall now our miserable Governours doe these few who found out the narrow way and left the large were from God forbiden to powre out their prayers for such as persevered in their evils so highly provoked his wrath against whom on the contrary side when they returned with all their hearts unto God his divine Majesty being unwilling that the soule of man should perish but calling backe the castaway that he should not utterly be destroyed the same Prophets could not procure the Heavenly revenge because not Ionas when hee desired the like most earnestly against the Ninevites could obtaine it But in the meane while omitting our owne words let us rather heare what the propheticall trumpet soundeth in our eares speaking thus If thou shalt say in thy heart why have these evils befalne For the multitude of thine iniquities If the Ethiopian can change his skin or the Parde his sundry spots ye may doe also well when ye have learned evill supposed ever because ye will not And afterwards These words doth our Lord say to this people who have loved to move their feete and have not rested and not pleased our Lord now shall he remember their iniquities and visit their offences and our Lord said unto me Pray thou not for this people to worke their good when they shall fast I will not heare their prayers â—nd if they offer burnt sacrifices and oblations I will not â—eceive them And againe And our Lord said unto me â—f Moses and Samuel shall stand before me my soule is not bent to this people cast them out away from my face and let them depart And after a few words Who shall have pitty on thee Ierusalem or who shall be sorrowfull for thee or who shall goe to pray for thy peace Thou hast left me saith our Lord and gone away backeward and I will stretch forth my hand over thee and kill thee And somewhat after Thus saith our Lord Behold I doe imagine a thought against you let every man returne from his evill course and direct ye streight your waies and endeavours Who said we despaire we will goe after our owne thoughts and every one of us doe the naughtinesse of his evill heart Thus therefore saith our Lord. Aske the Gentiles who hath heard such horrible matters which the Virgin Israel hath too often committed Shall there faile from the rocke of the field the snow of Libanus or can the waters be drawne dry that gush out colde and flowing because my people hath forgotten me And somewhat also after this propounding unto them an election he speaking saith Thus saith our Lord Doe ye judgement and justice and deliver him who by power is oppressed out of the hand of the malicious accuser and for the stranger and orphan and widdow doe not provoke their sorrow neither yet worke ye unjustly the griefe of others nor shed ye out the innocent blood For if indeed ye shall accomplish this word there shall enter in through the gates of this house Kings of the linage of David sitting upon his throne But if ye will not harken unto these words by my selfe I have sworne saith our Lord that this house shall be turned into a desart And againe for he spoke of a wicked King I live saith our Lord if so be that Iechonias shall be a Ring on my right hand I will plucke him thence away and give him over into the hands of them who seeke his life Moreover holy Abraham cryeth out saying Woe be unto them who build a City in blood and prepare a towne in iniquities saying Are not these things from our Almighty Lord and many people have failed in fire and many Nations have beene diminished And thus complaining hee beginneth his prophesie How long O Lord shall I call and thou wilt not heare shall I cry out unto thee to what end hast thou given mee labours and griefes to behold misery and impiety And on the other side And judgement was sat upon and the Iudge hath taken in regard hereof the Law is rent in peeces and â—udgement is not brought fully to his conclusion because â—he wicked through power â—readeth the just underfoote In this respect hath passed forth perverse judgement And marke yee also what blessed Osee the Prophet speaketh of Princes saying For that they have transgressed my covenant and ordained against my Law and exclaimed out Wee have knowne thee because thou art against Israel they have persecuted good as if it were evill They have raigned to themselves and not by mee they have held a Principality neither yet have they acknowledged me And heare ye likewise the holy Prophet Amos in this sort threatning In three hainous offences of the sons of Iudah and in foure I will not convert them for that they have cast away the Law of our Lord and not kept his Commandements but their vanities have seduced them And I will send fire upon Iudah and it shall eate the foundations of Ierusalem Thus saith our Lord In three grievous sinnes of Israel and in foure I will not convert them for that they have sold the just for money and the poore man for shooes which they tread upon the dust of the earth and with buffets they did beate the heads of the poore and have eschewed the way of the humble And after a few words Seeke our Lord and ye shall live that the house of Ioseph may not shine as fire and the flame devoure it and he shall not be that can extinguish it The house of Israel hath hated him who rebuketh in the gates and abhorred the upright word Which Amos being forbidden that he should not prophesie in Israel without any fawning flattery answering saith I was not a Prophet nor yet the sonne of a Prophet but a Goate herd I was plucking Sicamores and our Lord tooke me from my herd and our Lord said unto me Goe thy way and prophesie against my people of Israel and now heare thou the Word of our Lord For hee directed his speech unto the King Thou sayest doe not Prophesie against Israel and thou shalt not assemble troopes against the house of Iacob For which cause our Lord saith thus Thy wife in the City shall play the harlot and thy sonnes and daughters shall dye by the sword and thy ground be measured by the cord and thou in a polluted land shalt end thy life but for Israel shee shall be led from his owne Country a captive And afterwards Heare therefore these words ye who doe outragiously afflict the poore and practise your mighty power against the needy of the earth who say When shall the moneth passe over that we may purchase and the Sabbaths that wee may open the treasuries And within a few words after Our Lord doth sweare against the pride of Iacob if he shall neglecting forget your
actions and if in these the earth shall not be disturbed and every inhabitant thereof fall to lamentation and the finall end as a flood ascend and I will turn your festivall dayes into wailing and cast on the loynes of every one hairecloth and on the head of every man baldnesse and make him as the mourning of one over his beloved and those who are with him as the day of sorrow And againe In the sword shall die all the sinners of my people who say Evils shall not approch nor yet shall light upon us And listen ye likewise what holy Micheas the Prophet hath spoken saying Hearken ye Tribes And what shall adorne the City shall not fire and the house of the wicked hoording up unjust treasures and with injury unrighteousnesse If the wrongfull dealer shall be justified in the ballance deceitful weights in the scales by which they have heaped up their riches in ungodlinesse And hearken also what threates the famous Prophet Sophonias thundereth out together Neere draweth on saith he the great day of our Lord neere it is at hand and very swiftly approcheth The voice of the day of our Lord is appointed to be bitter and mighty that day a day of wrath a day of tribulation and necessity a day of clouds and mist a day of the trumpet and outcry a day of misery and extermination a day of darknesse and dimnesse upon the strong Cities and high corners And I will bring men to tribulation and they shall goe as if they were blinde because they have offended our Lord and I will powre out their blood as dust and their flesh as the dung of Oxen and their silver and gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of our Lord. And in the fire of his zeale shall the whole earth be consumed when the Lord shall accomplish his absolute end and bring solitarinesse upon all the inhabitants of the earth Come together and be joyned in one thou Nation without Discipline before ye be made as the fading flowre before the wrath of our Lord falleth upon ye And give eare also unto that which the Prophet Aggeus speaketh on this wise Thus saith our Lord I will once moove the Heaven Earth Sea and dry land and I wil drive away the Thrones of Kings and roote out the powre of the Kings of the Gentiles and I will chase away the chariots of those who mount upon them Now also behold ye what Zacharias the sonne of Addo that chosen Prophet said beginning his prophesie on this manner Returne ye to me and I will returne unto ye saith our Lord and be not like your Fathers to whom the former Prophets have imputed saying Thus saith our Almighty Lord Turne away from your waies and they have not marked whereby they might obediently heare me And afterwards And the Angell asked me what dost thou see and I said I see a flying sythe which containeth in length twenty cubits The malediction which hath proceeded upon the face of the whole earth because every one of her theeves shall be punished even to the very death and I will throw him away saith our Almighty Lord he shall enter into the house of fury and into the house of swearing falshood in my name Holy Malachy the Prophet also saith Behold the day of our Lord shal come inflamed as a furnace and all proud men and all workers of iniquity shall be as stubble and the approching day of our Lord of hostes shall set them on fire which shall not leave a roote nor a bud of them And hearken ye also what holy Iob debateth of the beginning and end of the ungodly saying For what purpose doe the wicked live and have dishonestly worne even to old age and their issue hath beene according to their owne desire and their sonnes before their faces and their houses are fruitfull and no feare nor yet the scourge of our Lord is upon them Their Cow hath not beene abortive their great with young hath brought forth her young ones and not missed but remaineth as an eternall breede and their children rejoyce and taking the Psaltery and Harpe have finished their dayes in felicity and fallen peaceable a sleepe downe into hell Doth God therefore not behold the workes of the wicked Not so truely But the candle of the ungodly shall be extinguished â—â—d destruction shall fall upon them and dolors as of one in childbirth shall with hold them from wrath and they shall be as chaffe before the wind and as the dust which the whirlewind hath carryed away Let all goodnes faile his children let his eyes behold his owne slaughter nor yet by our Lord let him be redeemed And a little after he saith of the same men Who have ravenously taken the flocke with the shepheard and driven away the beast of the Orphans and engaged the Oxe of the Widdow and deceiving have declined from the way of necessity They have reaped other mens fields before the time the poore have laboured in the Vineards of the mighty without hyre and meate they have made many to sleepe naked without garments of the covering of their life they have bereaved them And somewhat afterwards when hee had throughly understood their workes he delivered them over to darkenesse Let therefore his portion be accursed from the earth let his plantings bring forth witherings let him for this be rewarded according to his dealings Let every wicked man like the unsound wood be broken in peeces For arising in his wrath hath he overthrown the impotent Wherefore truely shall he have no trust of his life when he shall beginne to grow diseased let him not hope for health but fall into languishing For his pride hath beene the hurt of many and he is become decayed and rotten as the mallowes in the scorching heate or as the yeare of corne when it falleth off from his stubble And afterwards If his children shall be many they shall be turned to the slaughter and if he gather together silver as if it were earth and likewise purifie his gold as if it were durt all these same shall the just obtaine Heare yee moreover what blessed Esdras that Library of the Law threatneth in his discourse on this wise Thus saith our Lord God My right hand shall not be sparing upon sinners neither shall the sword cease over them who spill the innocent blood on the earth Fire shall proceede from out my wrath and devoure the foundations of the earth and sinners as if they were inflamed straw Woe be unto them who offend and observe not my Commandements saith our Lord I will not forbeare them Depart away ye Apostatizing children and doe not pollute my sanctuarie God doth know who doe offend against him and he will therefore deliver them over to death and to slaughter For now have many evils passed over the round compasse of the
earth A sword of fire is sent out against yee and who is he that shall restraine it shall any man repulse a Lyon that hungereth in the wood or shall any one quench out the fire when the straw is burning our Lord God will send out evills and who is he that shall represse them and fire will passe forth from out his wrath and who shall extinguish it it shall brandishing shine and who will not feare it it shall thunder and who will not shake with dread God will threaten all and who will not be terrified before his face shall the earth tremble and the foundations of the sea fleet from the depth And marke ye also what Ezechiel the renowned Prophet and admirable beholder of the foure Evangelicall creatures speaketh of wicked offendors unto whom pittifully lamenting before hand the scourge that hung over Israel our Lord doth say Too farre hath the iniquity of the house of Israel and Iudah prevailed because the earth is fully filled with iniquity and uncleannesse Behold I am mine eyes shall not spare nor yet will I take pitty And afterwards Because the earth is replenished with people and the City fraughted with iniquity I will also turne away the force of their power and their holy things shall be polluted prayer shall approach and sue for peace and it shall not be obtained And somewhat after The Word of our Lord quoth he was spoken unto me saying Thou sonne of man the land that shall so farre sinne against me as transgressing it shall commit an offence I will streatch forth my hand upon her and breake in peeces her foundation of bread and send upon her famine and take away mankind and cattle from her and if these three men Noah Daniel and Iob bee in the midst of her they shall not deliver her but they in their justice shall be saved saith our Lord. If so be that also I shall bring 〈◊〉 evill beasts upon the land and punish her she likewise shall be turned to destruction and there shall not be one who shall have free passage from the face of the beasts and admit these three men are in the midest of her I live saith our Lord if their sonnes and daughters shall be preserved but they alone shall be saved and as for the land it shall fall to confusion And againe The sonne shall not receive the unrighteousnesse of the Father neither yet the Father the sonnes unrighteousnesse The justice of the just shall be upon himselfe And the unjust man if he turneth him away from all the iniquities which he hath done and keepeth all my Commandements and doth justice and abundance of mercy hee shall live in life and shall not dye All his sinnes whatsoever he hath committed shall have no further being he shall live the life in his owne justice which hee hath performed Doe I with my will voluntarily wish the death of the unrighteous saith our Lord raâ—her than he should returne from his evill way and live But when the just shall turne himselfe away from his justice and doe iniquity according to all the iniquities which the unrighteous hath committed all the just actions which hee hath done shall remaine no further in memory In his offence wherein he hath fallen and in his sinnes in which hee hath transgressed he shall dye And within some words afterwards And all nations shall understand that the house of Israel are led captive away for their offences because they have forsaken me And I have turned my face from them and yeelded them over into the hands of their enemies and all have perished by the sword according unto their uncleane sinnes and after their iniquities have I dealt with them and turned my face away from them This which I have spoken may suffice concerning the threates of the holy Prophets onely I have thought it necessary to intermingell in this little worke of mine as well as the former menaces a few words also borrowed out of the wisdome of Salomon which declares unto Kings matter of exhortation or instructioÌ„ that they may not say I am willing to lade the shoulders of men with heavie and insupportable burthens of words but not so much as once with mine owne finger which is with speech of consolation to moove the same Let us therefore heare what the Prophet hath spoken to rule us Love justice saith he yee that judge the earth This onely testimony if it were with a full and perfect heart observed would abundantly suffice to reforme the governours of our Country For if they had loved Iustice they would also love God who is in a sort the fountaine and originall of all justice Serve our Lord in goodnesse and seeke him in simplicity of heart Alas who shall live as one before us hath sayd to see these things performed by our Countrymen yea if perhaps they may be any where accomplished Because he is found of those who doe not tempt him he appeareth truely to them who have faith in him For these men without respect doe tempt God whose Commandements with stubburne despight they contemne neither yet doe they keepe to him their faith unto whose Oracles be they pleasing or somewhat severe they turne their backes and not their faces For perverse thoughts doe separate from God and this in the Tyrants of our time very plainely appeareth But why doth our meannesse intermeddle in this so manifest a determination Let therefore him who is onely true as wee have sayd speake for us the holy Ghost I meane of whom it is now pronounced The holy Ghost verily will avoyde the counterfetting of discipline And againe Because the spirit of God hath filled the globe of the earth And afterwards shewing with an evident judgement the end of the evill and righteous hee saith How is the hope of the wicked as the doune that is puffed away with the wind and as the smoake that with the blast is dispersed and as the slender froth that with a storme is scattered and as the memory of a guest who is a passenger of one day But the just shall live for ever and with God remaineth their reward and their cogitation is with the highest Therefore shall they receive the kingdome of glory and the crowne of beauty from the hand of our Lord. Because with his right hand he will protect them and with his holy arme defend them For very farre unlike in quality are the just and ungodly as our Lord verily hath spoken saying Them who honour me I will honour and who so despise me shall be of no estimation But let us passe over to the rest Hearken saith he all yee Kings and understand ye learne ye Iudges of the bounds of the earth listen with your eares who conteine multitudes in awe and please your selves in the troopes of nations Because power is given unto yee from God and puissance from the highest who will
our benefits bestowed upon them become more cruell but I by their wickednesse am the better instructed neither yet am I in this justified Oh when shall come those beasts the causers of my Salvation which are for me prepared when shall they be let out loose at me when shall it be lawfull for my carkas to enjoy them whom I doe most earnestly wish to be eagerly inraged against me and truely â— will incite them to devoure me moreover I will humbly pray least perchance they should dread to touch my body as in some others they have heretofore done yea also if they doubtfully stagger I will offer violence I will enforce my selfe upon them Pardon mee I beseech ye I know what is commodious for me even now I beginne to be the Disciple of Christ let all envy be it either of humane affection or else of spirituall wickednesse surcease that I may diserne to obtaine Christ Iesus let fires let crosses let cruelty of beasts let breaking of bones and renting of limbes with all the paines of the whole body and all the torments devised by the art of the devill be altogether powred out on mee alone so that I may merit to attaine unto Christ Iesus Why do ye behold these things with the sleepy eyes of your soules why do ye hearken unto them with the deafe eares of your sences Shake off I beseech yee the darkesome and blacke mist of the slothfulnesse of your hearts that so ye may see the glorious light of truth and humility A Christian and he not meane but a perfect one a Priest not base but one of the highest a Martyr not ordinary but one of the chiefest saith Now I begin â—o be the Disciple of Christ. And ye like the same Lucifer who was throwne downe out of Heaven are puffed up with words not with power and after a sort doe chaw under the tooth and make pretence in your actions even as the Authour of this your wickednesse hath expressed saying I will mount up into the Heavens and be like unto the highest And againe I have digged and drunk water and dryed up with the steppes of my feete all the rivers of the bankes Where more rightly yee should have imitated him and harkened unto his words who is doubtlesse the most true example of all goodnesse and humility saying by his Prophet I am verily a worm and not a man the reproch of men and the outcast of the people Oh unspeakeable matter that he called himselfe the reproach of men when as he washed quite away the reproaches of the whole world And againe in the Gospel I of my selfe am not able to doe any thing When as he being coeternall with the Father coequall with the Holy Ghost and consubstantiall unto both Created not by the helpe of another but by his owne Almighty power the Heaven and Earth with all their inestimable Ornaments and ye neverthelesse have arrogantly lifted aloft your voyces notwithstanding the Prophet saith Why doth earth and ashes swell in pridâ— But that I may returne unto the purpose which of yee I say like the famous Bishop of the Church of Smerna Policarpus that witnesse of Christ hath courteously entertained as guests at his table those who violently drew him out to be burned and being for the charity which he did beare unto Christ brought to the stake sayd He who gave me grace to endure the torment of the fire will likewise graunt mee without fastning of nayles to suffer constantly the flames And now overpassing in this my discourse mighty armies of Saints I will as yet touch but one for examples sake Basil I meane the Bishop of Caesaria who when hee was thus by the unrighteous Prince threatned that unlesse he would on the next morrow be as the rest defiled in the durty dunghill of the Arrian heresie he was absolutely to be put to death answered as it is reported I truely will be to morrow the same as to day and for thee I wish thou wouldest not change thy determination And againe O would I had some worthy reward to bestow on him that would speedily discharge Basil from the bands of this breathing bellowes What one of ye to daunt the menaces of Tyrants doth inviolably keepe the rule of the Apostolicall speech which in all times and ages when some ever hath beene observed by al holy Priests to suppresse the suggestion of men when they sought to draw them headlong to naughtinesse saying in this manner It behoveth rather to obey God then men Wherfore after our accustomed manner making our refuge unto the mercy of our Lord and to the sentences of his holy Prophets that they on our behalfe may now levell the darts of their Oracles at unperfect Pastors as before at Tyrants so as thereby receiving compunction they may be cured let us behold what manner of threates our Lord doth by his Prophets utter against slothfull and dishonest Priests and such as doe not as well by examples as words rightly instruct the people For even Hely the Priest in Silo for that hee did not severely proceed with a zeale worthy of God in punishing his sonnes when they contemned our Lord but as a man overswayed with a fatherly affection too mildly and remisly admonished them was sentenced with this judgement by the Prophet speaking unto him Thus saith our Lord I have manifestly shewed my selfe unto the house of thy Father when they were the servants of Pharaohin Egypt and have chosen the house of thy Father out of all the Tribes of Israel for a Priesthood unto me And a little after Why hast thou looked upon mine incense and upon my sacrifice with a dishonest eye and hast honored thy children more then mee that thou mightst blesse them from the beginning in all sacrifices in my presence And now so saith our Lord Because who so honour me I will honour them againe and who so make no account of me shall be brought to nothing Behold the dayes shall come and I will destroy thy Name and the seedâ— of the house of thy Father And let this be to thee the signe which shall fall upon thy two sonnes Ophnee and Phinees in one day shall they both dye by the sword of men If thus therefore they shall suffer paines who correct them that are subjected under their charge with onely words and not with condigne punishment what shall become of those who by offending exhort ye and draw others unto wickednesse It is apparant also what befell unto the true Prophet who was sent from Iudah to prophesie in Bethel and forbidden not once to taste any meate in that place after the signe which he foretold was fulfilled and after hee had restored the wicked King his withered hand againe being deceived by another Prophet as he was tearmed and so made to take but a little bread and water his host speaking in this sort unto him Thus saith our Lord
God Because thou hast beene disobedient to the mouth of our Lord and not observed the precept which thy Lord God hath commanded and hast returned and eaten bread and drunke water in this place in which I have charged thee that thou shouldest neither eate bread nor drinke water thy body shall not be buried in the Sepulcher of thy forefathers And so saith the Scripture it came to passe that after he had eaten bread and drunke water he made ready his Asse and departed and a Lion found him in the way and slew him Heare yee also the holy Prophet Esay how he speaketh of Priests on this wise Woe be unto the ungodly evill befall him for the reward of his hands shall light upon him Her owne exactors have spoyled my people and women have borne sway over her O my people who tear me thee blessed they themselves deceive thee and destroy the way of thy footesteps Our Lord standeth to judge and standeth to judge the people Our Lord will come unto judgement with the elders of the people and her Princes Ye have consumed my Vine the spoile of the poore is in your house Why doe ye breake in peeces my people and grinde the faces of the poore saith our Lord God of Hosts And also Woe be unto them who compose ungodly lawes and writing have written injustice that they may oppresse the poore in judgement and worke violence unto the cause of the lowly of my people that widdowes may be their prey and they make sâ—â—ile of the Orphans what will ye doe in the day of visitation and calamity approching afarre of And afterwards But these also in regard of wine have beene ignorant and in respect of drunkennesse have wandered astray the Priests have not understood because of drunkennesse and have beene swallowed up in wine they have erred in drunkennesse they have not knowne him who seeth they have beene ignorant of judgement For all tables are filled with the vomit of their uncleannesse in so much as there is not any free place to be found Heare therefore the Word of our Lord O ye men ye deceivers who beare authority over my people that 〈◊〉 in Ierusalem For ye have sayd we have entred into a truce with death and with hell we have made a covenant The overflowing scourge when it shall passe forth shall not fall upon us because we have placed falshood for our hope and by lying we have beene defended And somewhat after And haile shall overthrow the hope of lying together with the defence Waters shall overflow and your truce with death shall be destroyed and your covenant with hell shall not continue when the overflowing scourge shall passe forth yee shall also be troden under foote whensoever it shall passe along thorough yee it shall sweepe ye away withall And againe And 〈◊〉 Lord hath sayd Because this people aproacheth with their mouth and with their lippes glorifie me but their heart is farre removed from me behold therefore I will cause this people to admire with a great and amazed wonder For wisedome shall decay and fall away from her wisemen and the understanding of her sages shall be concealed Woe be unto yee that are profound in heart to conceale counsell from our Lord whose workes are in darkenesse and they say who seeth us And who hath knowne us for this thought of yours is perverse And somewhat afterwards Thus saith our Lord Heaven is my seate and the earth the foote stoole of my feete What is this house that ye will erect unto me and what place shall be found of my resting repose all these things hath my hand made and these universally have beene all created saith our Lord on whom truely shall I cast mine eye but on the humble poore man and the contrite in spirit and him that dreadeth my speeches he that sacrificeth an Oxe is as he that killeth a man he that slaughtereth a beast for sacrifice is like him who beateth out the braines of of a dogge he that offereth an oblation is as he that offereth up the blood of an hogge he that is mindfull of frankincense is as he that honoureth an Idoll Of all these things have thâ—y made choice in their wayes and in their abominations hath their soule beene delighted Listen ye also what Ieremy that Virgin and Prophet speaketh unto the unwise Pastors in this sort Thus saith our Lord What iniquity have your fathers found in me because they have removed themselves farre off from me and walked after vanitie and are become vaine And somewhat after And entring in ye have defiled my Land and made mine inheritance abomination The Priests have not sayd Where is our Lord and the Rulers of the Law have not knowne mee and the Pastours have dealt treacherously against me Wherefore I will as yet contend in judgement with you saith our Lord and debate the matter with your children And a little afterwards Astonishment and wonders have beene wrought in the land Prophets did Preach lying and Priests did applaud with their hands and my people have loved such matters What therefore shall be done in her last and finall ends To whom shall I speake and make protestation that he may heare me behold their cares are uncircumcised and they cannot heare Behold the word of our Lord is uttered unto them for their reproach and they receive it not because I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the earth saith our Lord. For why from the lesser even unto the greater all study avarice and from the Prophet even unto the Priest all worke deceit and they cured the contrition of the daughter of my people with ignomy saying Peace Peace and peace there shall not be Confounded they are who have wrought abomination but rather they are not with a confusion confounded and have not understood how to be ashamed Wherefore they shall fall among those who are ruinating in the time of their visitation shall they rush headlong downe together saith our Lord. And againe All these Princes of the declining sort walking fraudulently being brasse and iron are universally corrupted the blowing bellowes hath failed in the fire the Fiâ—er of mettals in vaine hath melted their malicious acts assuredly are not consumed â—all them refuse and reproâ—ate silver because our Lord â—ath throwne them away And after a few words I â—m I am I have scene saith â—ur Lord. Goe your wayes to â—y place in Shilo where my â—ame hath inhabited from â—he beginning and behold â—hat I have done thereunto 〈◊〉 the malice of my people of â—srael And now because ye have wrought all these works saith our Lord and I have spoken unto yee arising in the morning and talking and yet ye have not heard me and have called yee and yet yee have not answered I will so deale towards this house wherein my name is now called upon and wherein ye have confidence and to this place
which I have given unto yâ—e and to your fathers as I have done to Shilo and I will cast yee away from my counâ—enance And againe My children have departed from me and have no abiding and there is not he who any more pitcheth my tent and advanceth my Pavillion because the Pastors have dealt fondlâ— and not sought out our Lord. Wherefore they have not understood and their flocke hath beene dispersed And within some words after What is the matter that my beloved hath in my houses committed many offences shall the holy flesh take away thy malitiousnesse from thee wherein thou hast gloried our Lord hath tearmed thy noone a plentifull faire fruitfull goodly olive at the voyce of the speech a mighty fire hath beene inflamed in her and her Orchards have beene quite consumed therewith And againe Come ye to me and be ye gathered together all ye beasts of the earth make ye haste to devoure Many Pastours have throwne downe my vine they have trampled my part under foote they have given over my portion which was well worthy to be desired into a desart of solitarinesse And againe he speaketh Thus saith our Lord unto this people which have loved to moove their feete and not rested nor yet pleased our Lord now shall he remember their iniquities and visite their offences Prophets say unto them ye shall not see the sword and there shall no famine be among ye but our Lord shall give true peace unto ye in this place And our Lord hath said unto me The Prophets doe falsly foretell in my name I have not sent them neither yet laid my Commandement on them they prophesie unto ye a lying vision and divination together with deceitfulnesse and the seducement of their owne hearts And therefore thus saith our Lord in sword and famine shall those Prophets be consumed and the people to whom they have prophesied shall by meanes of the famine and sword be cast out in the waies of Ierusalem and there shall be none to bury them And moreover Wâ—e be to the â—astours who desâ—roy and rent in peeces the flocâ—e of my pasture saith our Lord. Thus therefore saith our Lord God of Israel unto the Pastours who guide my people ye have dispersed my flocke and cast them forth and not visited them Behold I will visite upon ye the malice of your endeavours saith our Lord. For the Prophet and the Priest are both defiled and in my house have I found their evill saith our Lord and therefore shall their way be as a slippery place in the darke for they shall be thrust forward and fall downe together therein for I will bring evils upon them the yeare of their visitation saith our Lord. And in the Prophets of Samaria I have seene foolishnesse and they did prophesie in Baal and deceived my people of Israel and in the Prophets of Ierusalem have I seene the like resemblance adultery and the way of lying and they have comforted the hands of the vildest offendors that every man may not be converted from his malice they have beene all made to me as Sodome and the inhabitants thereof as those of Gomorrha Thus therefore saith our Lord to the Prophets Behold I will give them wormewood for their food and gall for their drinke For there hath passed from the Prophet of Ierusalem pollution over the whole earth Thus saith our Lord of hosts listen not unto the words of Prophets who prophesie unto ye and deceive ye for they speake the vision of their owne heart and not from the mouth of our Lord. For they say unto these who doe blaspheme me our Lord hath spoken peace shall be unto ye and to all that walke in the wickednesse of their owne hearts they have said Evil shal not fall upon them For who was present in the counsell of our Lord and hath seene and heard his speech who hath considered of his word and hearkened thereunto Behold the whirlewinde of the indignation of our Lord passeth out and a tempest breaking forth shall fall upon the heads of the wicked the fury of our Lord shall not returne untill the time that he worketh and untill he fulfilleth the cogitation of his heart In the last daies of all shal ye understand his counsell And little also doâ— ye conceive and put in execution that which the holy Prophet Ioel hath likewise spoken in admonishment of sloathfull Priests and Lamentation of the Peoples dammage for their iniquities saying Awake ye who are drunke from your wine and weepe and bewaile ye all who have drunke wine even to drunkennesse because joy and delight are taken away from your mouthes Mourne yee Priests who serve the Altar because the fields have beene made miserable Let the earth mourne because corne hath become miserable and wine beene dryed up oyle diminished and husbandmen withered away Lament ye possessions in regard of Wheate and Barly because the vintage hath perished out of the field the vine withered up the figges diminished the pomegranates and palme and apple and all trees of the field are withered away in respect that the children of men have confounded their joy All which things are spiritually to be understood by you that your soules may not wither away with so pestilent a famine for want of the word of God And againe Weepe out yee Priests who serve our Lord saying Spare O Lord thy People and give not over thine inheritance unto reproch and let not Natioâ—s hold dominion over them that Gentiles may not say Where is their God And yet ye yeeld not your eares unto these sayings but admit of all matters by which the indignation of the fury of God is more vehemently inflamed With diligence also attend ye what holy O see the Prophet hath spoken unto Priests of your behavior Heare these words O yee Priests and let the house of Israel together with the Kings house marke them fastâ—n ye them in your eares for that unto ye appertaineth judgement because yee are made an intangling snare to the espying watch and as a piched nâ—t more and worse then the toyle which the followers of hunting have framed To ye also may this kinde of alienation from our Lord be meant by the Prophet Amos saying I have hated and rejected your festivall daies and I will not receive the savour in your solemne assemblies because albeit ye offer our burnt sacrifices and hosts I will not accept them and I will not cast mine eye on the vowes of your declaration Take away from me the sound of your songs and the Psalme of your Organs I will not heare For why the famine of the Evangelicall meate consuming in your abundance of victuals the very bowels of your soules rageth violently within ye according as the aforesaid Prophet hath foretold saying Behold the daies shal come saith our Lord and I will send out a famine upon the earth not the famine of bread nor the thirst of water
man adorned not given to wine no fighter but modest not contentius not covetous O lamentable change O horrible contempt of the heavenly Commandements And doe ye not continually use the force of your words and actions for the overthrowing or rather overwhelming of these for whose defence and confirmation if neede had required yee ought to have suffered paines yea and to have lost your very lives But let us see what followeth Well governing saith he his house having his children subjected with all chastity Imperfect therefore is the chastity of the Parents if the children be not also indued with the same But how shall it be where neither the father nor yet the sonne as depraved by the example of his evill parent is found to be chaste But if any one knoweth not how to rule over his owne house how shall hee imploy his care over the Church of God These are the words that with apparant effects shold be made good and approoved Deacons in like manner that they should be chast not double tongued not overgiven much to wine not followers of filthy gaine having the mystery of faith in a pure conscience and let these also be first approoved and so let them administer having no offence And now trembling truely to make any longer stay on these matters I can for a conclusion affirme one thing certainely which is that all these are changed into contrary actions in so much that Clarkes which not without griefe of heart I doe here confesse are shamelesse and deceitfull in their speeches given to drinking covetous of filthy commodity having faith or to say more truely unfaithfulnesse in an unpure conscience ministring not upon probation of their good workes but upon foreknowledge of their evill actions and being thus defiled with innumerable offences they are notwithstanding admitted unto the holy function ye have likewise heard on the same day wherin ye should with farre more right and reason have beene drawne to prison or punishment then preferred unto Priesthood when our Lord demanded whom his Disciples supposed him to be how Peter answered Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God and our Lord in respect of such his confession said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Baâ—jonas because flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee but my Father who is in Heaven Peter therefore instructed by God the Father doth rightly confesse Christ but ye being taught by the devill your father doe with your lewd actions wickedly deny our Saviour It is said to the true Priest Thou art Peter and upon this rocke will I build my Church But ye are resembled unto the foolish man who hath builded his house upon the sand And verily it is to be noted that God joyneth not in workemanship with the unwise when they build their house upon the deceitfull uncertainty of the sands according unto that saying They have made Kings unto themselves and not by me Semblably that which followeth soundeth in like sort speaking thus And the Gates of hell whereby the infernall sins are to be understood shall not prevaile But of your fraile and deadly frame marke what is pronounced The floods came and the winds blew have mainely dashed upon that house and it sell and great was the ruine thereof To Peter and his successors our Lord doth say And I will give unto thee the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven But unto ye I know yee not depart from me ye workers of iniquity that being separated with the goates of the left hand ye may together with them go into eternall fire It is also promised unto every good Priest What soever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be likewise loosed in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth shall be in like sort bound in Heaven But how shall ye loose any thing that it may be loosed also in Heaven since your selves for your sins are severed from Heaven and hampred in the bands of your owne hainous offences As Solomon saith With the cords of his sins every one is tyed And with what reason shall ye binde any thing on this earth that above this world may be likewise bound unlesse it be your only selves who intangled in your iniquities are so detained on this earth as ye cannot ascend into Heaven but without your conversion unto our Lord in this life will fall downe into the miserable prison of hell Neither yet let any Priest flatter himselfe upon the knowledge of the particular cleannenesse of his owne body since their soules over whom he hath government shall in the day of Iudgement be required at his hands as the murtherer of them if any through his ignorance â—loth or fawning adulation have perished because the stroke of death is not lesse terrible that is given by a good man then which is inflicted by an evill person Otherwise would the Apostle never have said that which he left unto his successors as a fatherly Legacy I am cleare and cleane from the blood of all for I have not forborne to declare unto ye al the counsell of God Being therefore mightily drunken with the use and custome of sinnes and extreamely overwhelmed with the waves as it were of encreasing offences seek ye now forthwith the uttermost endeavours of your mindes after this your shipwrake that one borde of pennance which is onely left whereby ye may escape and swimme to the land of the living that from yee may be turned away the wrath of our Lord who saith I will not the death of a sinner but that he may bee converted and live And the same Almighty God of all consolation and mercy preserve his few good Pastors from all evill and the common enemy being overcome make them free inhabitants of the heavenly City of Ierusalem which is the congregation of all Saints grant this O Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to whom be honor and glory world without end Amen FINIS The cause why Gildas alledgeth almost only the Scriptures Gildas citeth Scriptures not after the vulgar Translation The reasons why Britaine was at this time so defiled with vices The excuse of the invective of Gildas against the Scottish and Irish. The excuse of his seveare censuring of the English How the Kings Majestie is descended of the blood royall of these three Nations How the Saxons and Britaines are united in this Realme How other Kingdomes have increased by Vnions How united nations have beene called by one generall name How conveniently the name of Britaine agreeth to the Kingdome of the whole Island The Conclusion * Moses Num. 20.12 * Levit. 10.1 * Num. 14.28 * Exod. 14.22 * Exod. 16.14 * Exod. 17.6 * Exod. 17.11 * Num. 21.6 * Num. 14.45 * Deut. 1.45 * Num. 11.1 * Iosu. 3.16 * Ios. 6.20 * Ios. 21.24 * 2 Sam. 21.1 * Ieremies foure Lamentations written with the order of the Hebrew Alphabet * Thren 1.1 * Thren
but a famine in hearing the word of God and waters shall be mooved from sea even to sea and they shal run over from the North even unto the East seeking out the word of our Lord and yet shall not find it Let holy Micheas also pierce your eares who not unlike a certaine heavenly trumpet soundeth shrilly forth against the deceitfull Princes of the People saying Hearken now yee Princes of the house of Iacob is it not for yee to know judgement who hate goodnesse and seeke after mischiefes who plucke their skinnes from off men and their flesh from their bones Even as they have eaten the flesh of my people and flâ—yed of their skins from them broken their bones to peeces and hewed them small as meate to the pot they shall cry to God and he will not heare them and in that season turne his face away from them even as they before have wickedly behaved themselves in their inventions Thus speaketh our Lord of the Prophets who seduce my people who bite with their teethes and preach against them peace and if a man giveth nothing to stoppe their mouthes they raise and sanctifie a war upon him Night shall therefore be unto yee in place of a vision and dâ—rkenesse unto ye in lâ—we of divination and the sunne shall set upon your Prophets and the day shall waxe darke upon them and seeing droames they shall be confounded and the diviners shall be derided and they shall speake ill against all men because there shall not be any one that will heare them but that I myselfe shall doe mine uttermost strongest endeavour in the spirit of our Lord in judgement and in power that I may declare unto the house of Iacob their impieties and to Israel their offences Hearken therefore unto these words ye Captaines of the house of Iacob and ye remnants of the house of Israel who abhorre judgment and overthrow all righteousnesse who build up Sion in blood and Ierusalem in iniquities her rulers did judge for rewards and her Priests answered for hire aâ—d her Prophets did for money divine and rested on our Lord saying And is not our Lord within us evils shall not fall upon us For your cause therefore shall Sion be ploughed up as a field and Ierusalem as a watch cabbin of a garden and the mountaine of the house as a place of a wooddy wildernesse And after some words ensuing Woe is me for that I am become as â—e that gathereth stubble in the harvest and a cluster of grapes in the Vintage when the principle branch is not left to be eaten Woe is me that a soule hath perished through earthly actions the reverence of sinners ariseth even reverencing from the earth and hee appeareth not that among men correcteth All contend injudgement for blood and every one with tribulation afflicteth his neighbour for mischiefe hee prepareth his hands Listen ye likewise how the famous Prophet Sophonias debated also in times past with your fellow banqueters for hee spake of Ierusalem which is spiritually to be understood the Church or the soule saying O the Citty that was beautifull and set at liberty the confident Dove hath not obediently hearkened to the voyce nor yet entertained discipline she hath not trusted in our Lord and to her God she hath not approached And he sheweth the reason why Her Princes have beene like unto roaring Lyons her Iudges as Wolves of Arabia did not leave towards the morning her Prophets carrying the spirit of a contemptuous despising man her Priests did prophane what wâ—s holy and dealt wickedly in the law but our Lord is upright in the middest of his people and no unjust morning will he make in the morning will he give his judgement But heare ye also blessed Zachery the Prophet in the Word of God admonishing yee For thus saith our Almighty Lord Iudge ye righteous judgement and worke yee every one towards his brother mercy and pitty and hurt yee not thorough your power the Widdoow or Orphan or stranger or poore man and let not any man remember in his heart the malice of his brother and they have beene stubborne not to observe these and have yeelded their backes to foolishnesse and made heavie their eares that they might not hearken and framed their hearts to be not perswasible that they might not listen to my law and words which our Almighty Lord hath sent in his spirit through the hands of his former Prophets and mighty wrath hath beene raised by our Almighty Lord. And againe Because they who have spoken have spoken molestations and diviners have uttered false visions and deceitfull dreames and given vaine consolations in respect hereof they are made dry as sheepe and are afflicted because no health was to bee found my wrath is heaped upon the Shepheards and upon the Lambes will I visite And within a few words after The voyce of lamenting Pastors because their greatnesse is become miserable The voyce of roaring Lyons because the fall of Iordan is become miserable Thus saith our Almighty Lord who have possessed have murthered and yet hath it not repented them and who have sold them have sayd Our Lord is blessed and we have beene enriched and their Pastors have suffered nothing concerning them For which I will now beare no sparing hand over the inhabitants of the earth saith our Lord. Heare ye moreover what the holy Prophet Malachy denounceth unto yee saying Yee Priests who despise my name and have sayd Wherein doe we despise thy name in offering on mine Altar polluted bread and yee have sayd Wherein have we polluted it In that ye have sayd The table of our Lord is as nothing and have despised such things as have beene placed thereupon because if yee bring what is blind for an offering is it not evill If ye set and apply what is lame or languishing is it not evill Offer therefore the same unto thy governour if he will receive it if he will accept of thy person saith our Almighty Lord. And now doe ye humbly pray before the countenance of your God and earnestly beseech him for in your hands have these things beene committed if happily he will accept of your persons And againe And out of your ravenous theft ye have brought in the lame and languishing and brought it in as an offering Shall I receive the same at your hands saith our Lord Accursed is the deceitfull man who hath in his flocke one of the male kinde and yet making his vow offereth the feeble unto our Lord because I am a mighty King saith our Lord of hosts and my name is terrible among the Gentiles And now unto yee appertaineth this Commandement O yee Priests if yee will not heare and resolve in your hearts to yeeld glory unto my name saith our Lord of hosts I will send upon ye poverty and accurse your blessings because ye have not setled these things on your hearts Behold I will extend out