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
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
swallowed but of purpose to shut up their mouths who otherwise might perhaps despightfully upbraide them with these old offences which truely they have no more reason to doe than those irreligious tongues who audaciously talking of the blessed Apostles call Saint Peter the denyer of his Master Saint Paul the Persecutor Saint Matthew the Publican for if wee should be esteemed as we have beene what were we other than the children of wrath but by the grace of God we are as we are and I beseech Christ his grace may not be voyd in us And now verily it is with great applause to be received that it hath pleased God to make the royall lines of these three severall people to meete in the Center of his Majesties person For of the first I meane the Britaines he is come by his last and best knowne descent out of our Country to wit the daughter of Henry the seventh whose Grandfather Owen Theoder was of their Princely blood For the second as cleere as the Sunne hee is by due originall lawfull King of Scotland and for the third it is knowne to those who have any experience in antiquities thaâ— Margaret from whom all the Kings of Scotâ—land have these fivâ— hundred yeeres issued was the onely true in heritrice unto her great Vncle Edward the Confessour and her Grandfather Edmund Ironside and in one word to all the Saintly Saxon Kings of England so as a lineall right hath from that time hitherto remained in Scotland although William the conquering Norman did by the sword as especiall descider of kingdomes not onely obtaine the actuall possession of the Realme but also ever since leave the same unto his posteritie And yet moreover that none of the Norman race may in his Majesties enjoying of the Kingdome finde themselves agrieved God in his wisedome also disposeth as to the whole realme it is most apparent that he likewise rightly deriveth his title from the off-spring of the Conquerour Yea and that the Danish too if any now remaine who were planted here by their puissant Lords may have no cause to repine behold the Queene his Majesties Wife and their Sonne our Prince or exceeding hope are come of the Danish among whom that renowned Canatus was sometimes King of this Land in whom it is hard to determine whether his devotion to God his great conquests or his generall clemeney deserved highâ—st commendation In all which is to be considered hovv God of his goodnesse hath in one man conjoyned these mighty houses vvhich were not onely for descent and Country sometimes so diverse but also in deadly hatred so far disagreeing and in bloody wars so violent and contentious not unlike the frame of a perfect body which is contrived of the foure contrary and repugnant elements and also that those people which since the confusion of Babylon were ever severall should as loving brethren be now united in his Majesties Kingdome even as the Rivers which arising from contrary regions of North and South doe notwithstanding fall into one maine Sea and are made in the end one mighty water For as you shall perceive in this ensuing treatise the Britaines and Saxons were not onely sundry Nations but also in discord most dissenting to number the battailes that were fought betweene them were an endlesse labour they confronted either others many hundred yeeres in continuall hatred three Languages were most different their lawes customes divers the Britaines distressed and dispossessed of their noble fertile and Native soyle and driven by the power of their adversaries to live poorely in the barren mountaines of Cambria or Wales the English invaders raigned and disposed freely of all the rest of the Land untill it pleased the God of peace to make an end of all controversies The English in time having overcome them received the Britaine into the body of their Common-wealth and kingdome they never excepted at the diversitie that had beene betweene their lawes and ours they saw how in this very realme the Normanes had agreed before under one selfe-same rule and regiment with the Kentish Saxons notwithstanding their legall customes were of another fashion For as by skilfull Musitians is made of sundry instruments one delightfull consort and as by Lapidaries of diverse coloured stones one most rich Iewell and as of the Starres which vary in severall motions proceedeth the perfect harmony of the heavens So of these sundry Countries and customes of Britaines Saxons Danes and Normans is now framed one most excellent Commonwealth Neither yet was it objected that the Britaines having beene long starved with oppressing povertie would greedily raven on the English riches and Possessions for they were then neerer the time of Christ and so more perfectly instructed with his Charity who received the needy and sometimes prodigall child to bee partaker with his wealthy elder brother who rewarded him that entred into his worke at the latter end of the day with as large hire as the other who laboured from the morning who accepted into his favour as well the Gentiles as the Iewes And what insued hereupon hath any English-man beene hereby deprived of his profit No surely but although there have reigned 5 Kings and Queenes successively descended of the Britaine Nation although wee have had Generalls Councellours Iudges and Magistrates of that Country there was never as yet any Welchman as we call him boulstred out by their authority to afflict the English with any injuries The coÌ„modities that flowed from this blessed union were many first the charitie betweene both Nations a thing most acceptable in the sight of God the enlarging of the kingdome with the addition of so worthy a people the enriching of the same by making the marches and borders of the Country which heretofore lay waste by reason of the warre now subject to industrious husbandry the incorporating of that Land as a limbe now of England which was not onely sometimes a continuall adversary but also ever ready to entertaine and assist any forraigne invasion the fortifying of the power of the realme with the forces of those vvho deteined them before vvith discord at home from augmenting their dominion abroad the finishing of the unspeakeable charges of vvarre and expenses in maintaining garrisons on the fronteyres the stincking of all spoyle and stuffe and the ending of the effusion of Christian blood And novv if it bee easier to imitate a former example than bee the beginner of any action vvhy then doe not the English and Scottish seeing this vvith farre more readinesse conjoyne in one If discorde hath heretofore raigned betweene them the like hath also raged betweene the Saxons and Britaines if the Lawes of the one are diverse from us the Lawes of the other have beene as different if the discommodities of warre with the Britaines have beene so great and grievous no lesse have also beene those with the Scottish if the commodities of peace betweene the Britaines and us are so great and gracious why
led to death and forbeare not to redeeme them who are murthered because as the same Prophet saith Riches shall not profit in the day of wrath but justice delivereth from death And If the just truely be hardly saved where shall the wicked and sinner appeare If thou scornest us and all these the darkesome flood of hell shall without all doubt eternally drowne thee in that deadly whirlepoole and those most terrible fiery streames that shall ever torment and never consume thee and then shall the palpable knowledge of these paines and sorrow for sinnes bee altogether to late and unprofitable unto him who as now in this acceptable time and day of Salvation deferreth his conversion unto the righteous way of of life And here truely if not before was this so dolefull and lamentable an history of the miseries of our time to have received a conclusion that our mouth might no further discourse of the workes of men But that we may not be esteemed fearefull or overwearied whereby we might the lesse carefully avoyde that saying of Esay which is Woe be unto them who call good evill and evill good placing darkenesse for light and light for darkenesse bitter for sweete and sweete for bitter who seeing see not and hearing heare not whose heâ—rts are overshadowed with a certaine thicke and blacke cloud of vices We will breefely set downe what and how great threatnings are denounced against these five aforesayd lascivious horses the franticke followers of Pharaoh through whom his army is wilfully urged forward to their utter destruction in the red sea and also against such others by the sacred Oracles with whose holy testimonies as with a faire roofe the frame of this our little worke may be most assuredly covered that it be not subject to the showres of the envious which otherwise would be mainely powred thereupon Let therefore the holy Prophets who have beene unto mortall men the mouth in a sort of God and the Organ of the holy Ghost forbidding evils and favouring goodnesse answere for us as well now as in that before against the stubborne and proud Princes of this our age that they may not say we menace them with such threates and so great terrors onely of our owne invention and over-busie talking rashnesse For to no wise man is it doubtfull how farre more grievous the sinnes of this our time are than those of the first age the Apostle saying Any one transgressing the law being convicted by two or three witnesses shall dye how much worser punishments thinke ye then that hee deserveth who shall trample under his foote the Sonne of God And he first of all appeareth before us Samuel by the Commandement of God the stablisher of a lawfull kingdome dedicated to God before his birth undoubtedly knowne by admirable signes to bee a true Prophet unto all the people from Dan even to Bersheba out of whose mouth the Holy Ghost thundreth to all the Potentates of the world by denouncing unto Saul the first king of the Hebrews onely because he did not accomplish some matters commanded him from our Lord in this sort Thou hast done foolishly neither yet hast thou kept the Commandements of our Lord thy God that he hath given thee in charge which if thou hadst not commited even now had our Lord prepared thy raigne over Israel for ever but thy kingdome shall no farther arise And what did hee commit adultery or any abhominable murder like to the offences of this time No truely but broake in part a Commandement because as well one of ours noteth The question is not of the quality of the sinne but of the violating of the precept Also when he endeavored to answere as hee thought the objections and after the fashion of men wisely to make defences for his offences on this wise Yea I have heard the voyce of our Lord and walked in the way through the which hee hath sent me with this reprehension was he corrected by him What will our Lord have burnt offerings or oblations and not rather that the voyce of our Lord should be obeyed Obedience is truely better than oblations and to hearken unto him better than to offer the fat of Rammes Because as the sinne of Southsaying so is it to resist and as the offence of Idolatry not to obey in regard therefore thou hast cast away the Word of our Lord hee hath also cast thee away that thou be not King And a little after Our Lord hath this day rent the Kingdome of Israel from thee and delivered it up to thy neighbour a man better than thy selfe The triumpher of Israel truely will not spare and will not be bowed with repentance neither yet is hee a man that he may doe pennance supposed ever upon the hard stony hearts of the wicked Wherein it is to bee noted how he saith that to be disobedient unto God is the sinne of Idolatry Let not therefore our wicked transgressors while they doe not openly sacrifice to the gods of the Gentiles flatter themselves that they are not Idolaters so long as they treade like swine the most precious pearles of Christ under their feete But although this one example as an invincible affirmation might abundantly suffice to correct the wicked Yet that in the mouthes of many witnesses all the offences of Britaine may bee approved let us passe to the rest What chanced to David for numbring his people the Prophet Gad speaking unto him in this sort Thus saith our Lord. The choise of three is offered thee Elect to thee one of these which thou wilt that I may execute it upon thee Either shall there befall thee a famine for seaven yeares or three monethes shalt thou flye thine enemies and they pursue thee or certainely there shall be three dayes Pestilence in thy land For being brought into great streights upon this condition and willing rather to fall into the hands of God who is mercifull than into those of men he was humbled with the slaughter of LXX thousand of his subjects and unlesse with the affection of an Apostolike charity he had desired to dye himselfe for his Country-men that the Plague might not further consume them by saying I am the same person that have offeÌ„dâ—d I the sheepheard have dealt unjustly these who are sheepe what have they sinned Let thy hand I beseech thee be turned against mee and against the house of my Father He should have purged the unadvised pride of his heart with his owne death For what doth the Scripture afterwards declare of his Sonne And Solomon wrought what was not pleasing before our Lord and he did not supply in his place that hee might as his Father follow our Lord. And our Lord said unto him Because thou hast thus behaved thy selfe and not observed my covenant and precepts which I have commanded thee breaking it asunder I will divide thy Kingdome and give the same unto thy Servant
examine your actions and sift your thoughts For that when ye were ministers of his kingdome ye have not judged uprightly nor kept the law of Iustice nor yet walked according to his will It shall dreadfully and suddenly appeare unto yee that a most severe judgement shall be given on them who governe For to the meaner is mercy granted but the mighty shall mightily sustaine torments For he shall have no respect of persons who is the ruler of all nor yet shall he reverence the greatnesse of any one because he himselfe hath made both small and great and care alike he hath of all but for the stronger is at hand a stronger affliction Vnto yee therefore O Kings are these my speeches that yee may learne wisdome and not fall away from her For who so observe what things are just shall be justified and who so learne what things are holy shall be sanctified Hitherto have we discoursed no lesse by the Oracles of the Prophets than by our owne speeches with the Kings of our Country being willing they should know what the Prophet hath spoken saying As from the face of a Serpent so flye thou sinnes If thou shalt aproach unto them the teeth of a Lyon will catch thee their teeth are such as kill the soules of men And againe How mighty is the mercy of our Lord. and his forgivenesse to such as convert themselves unto him And if wee have not in us that Apostolicall zeale that wee may say I did verily desire to he amathematised by Christ for my brethren Notwithstanding we may from the bottome of our hearts speake that Propheticall saying Alas that a soule perisheth And againe Let us search out our wayes and seeke and returne unto our Lord Let us lift our hearts together with our bands to God in heaven And also that of the Apostle We covet that every one of yee should bee in the bowels of Christ. And how willingly truely as one tossed on the waves of the sea and now arrived in a desired haven would I in this place make an end blushing shame forbidding me further to proceede did I not behold such and so great mountaines of malice advanced against God by Bishops or other Priests or clearkes yea some of our owne order whom as witnesses my selfe must of necessity first of all stone accordiâ—g unto the Law with the hard blowes of words least I should be otherwise reproved of partiality towards persons and then afterwards the people if as yet they keepe their decrees must pursue with their whole powers the same execution upon them not to their corporall death but to the death of their vices and their eternall life with God Yet as before I have sayd I doe crave pardon of them whose lives I doe not onely prayse but also preferre before all earthly treasure and of the which if it may be yet before my death I desire and thirst to be a partaker and so having both my sides defended with the double shields of Saints and by those meanes invincibly strengthned to sustaine all that arise against me arming moreover my head in place of an helmet with the helpe of our Lord and being most assuredly protected with the sundry assistances of the Prophets I will boldly proceede notwithstanding the stones of worldly rioters flye never so fast about me IT is very aptly said that sinne creepeth on as a Cancker for no man in a moment becommeth absolutely evill but even like the Sea that making his entry first at a little hole and afterwards enlarging his passage in the end breaketh downe the bancke and overwhelmeth the whole land so vice hath her progresses in depraved mindes the lamentable example whereof we may in the history of Britaine apparantly behold Our Authour hath already declared the infection of Heresie the corruption of infidelity the disorders of warre and the dissolution of manners that distempered the body of the Iland he laid open the sores of the temporall governors to the end that medicines might have beene the better applyed for their remedies and here now he beginneth to discover the grievous imperfections of the Clergy which are truely so much the worse by how much their lives ought to be more vertuous and exemplar and yet would I have you to know that these were defects not of Religion but of life such as those offences of the Priests Scribes and Pharisees so often in the word of God recited whose sins although too foulely they soiled their owne soules yet could they never staine the immaculate Church of God committed unto their charge Neither yet did Gildas as another Elias complaine that there was not one left but himselfe alone who worthily served God since in sundry places he sheweth how many were yet here in this land whose holy lives deserved most high commendation even as our Lord spake to the same Elias saying There remained seven thousand in Israel who never bowed their knees to Baal But suppose Britaine had beene wholly drowned in the deepe Seas of offences yet did Italy Greece and Gall. with many other mighty Provinces of the Christian world flourish at the selfe same time both in vertuous Life and true Religion not unlike the Kingdome of Iudah which in that season when Elias so complained of Israel did notwithstanding openly maintaine the true worshipping of God but this insueing Treatise telleth us that in the field of our Lord there sprung up Cockell and in his barne of purest Corne there was found chaffe and among his wisest Virgins foolish ones all which in this world cannot be separated but remaine untill the day of judgement to be severally divided thus doth he set before our eyes the beginning and proceeding of the wickednesse of Britaine whose blessed soule possessed with a true zeale to God departed to receive a Crowne of eternall glory before the conclusion of this tragedy of sinne for as ye shall reade in venerable Bede presently after the decease of Gildas they fell to open errors and then to disobedience of the Church in withstanding the authority of Saint Augustine the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury although within a while afterwards it pleased God of his singular mercy to recall them backe into his Catholike fold againe Neither let any man imagine I have Translated this worke to disclose the faults of Pastors and Superiours For I had rather with Sem and Iaphet conceale then with Cham reveale the imperfections of spirituall Fathers But having Englished the former part of Gildas I did also because I would not leave the worke maimed and unperfect adventure upon this latter wherein I would wish the Readers to consider that if this flame of sinne did scorch the Cedars of Libanus no doubt but it may burne the lesser silly shrubs if it infected I say the spiritualty it may assuredly unlesse wee be ware consume us of the Laity BRitaine hath Priests but some shee hath that are unwise very many that Minister but many of
burnt sacrifice of a sucking lambe drave away the feare of the Philistians raised unexpected thunder-claps and showring clouds established without flattery a King deposed him when he displeased God and annointed another his better in his place and Kingdome when he shall give to the people his last farewell shall constantly appeare in this sort saying Behold I am ready speake ye before our Lord and his annointed whether ever I tooke away the Oxe or Asse of any man If I have falsely accused any one if I have oppressed any body if I have received a bribe from the hands of any Vnto whom it was answered by the people Thou hast not wrongfully charged us neither yet oppressed nor taken any thing from the hands of any Which of them like the famous Prophet Elias who consumed with heavenly fire the hundred proud men and conserved the fifty that humbled themselves and afterwards denounced without fawning dissimulation unto the unjust King that sought not the Counsell of God by his Prophets but of the Idoll Accaron his imminent death hath utterly overthrowne all the Prophets of Baal which are interpreted worldly senses ever bent as we have already sayd to envie and avarice with the lightning sword which is the Word of God and as the same Elias moved with the zeale of God after the taking away of the ayrie showres from the Land of the wicked who were now shut up with famine in a strong prison as it were of penury for three yeeres and sixe moneths being himselfe ready to dye for thirst in the desert hath complaining sayd They have murthered O Lord thy Prophets and undermined thine Altars and I alone am left and they seeke my life Which of them like Haeliseus hath punished his deerely beloved disciple if not with an everlasting Leprosie yet at least by abandoning him who was extraordinarily burthened with the weight of worldly coveting those gifts which his Master before although very earnestly entreated thereunto dispised to receive and which of these among us hath like him revealed unto his servant who was troubled with despaire of life and on a suddaine trembled at the warlike army of the enemies that besieged the City wherein hee was through the fervency of his prayers powred out unto God those spirituall visions so as hee might behold a mountaine replenished with an heavenly assisting army of warlike chariots horsemen who shined with fiery countenances and also beleeve that he was stronger to save then foes to offend And which of them as the afore-recited Helizeus with the touch of his body being dead truly to the world but living unto God shall raise up another course perishing and carried out with a contrary funerall of death undoubtedly to God but of life to vices so as instantly revived hee may yeeld humble thankes unto Christ for his unexpected recovery from the hellish torments of all mortall offences which of them hath his lips purified and made cleane with the fiery coale carryed by the tongues of the Cherubin from off the Altar that his sinnes may be quite wiped away with the humility of confession as it is written of Esay by whose effectuall prayers adjoyned with the ayde of the godly King Ezechias an hundred fourescore and five thousands of the Assirians Army through the stroake of one Angell without the least print of any appearing wound were overthrowne and slaine which of them like blessed Ieremy for accomplishing the Commandements of God for denouncing the threates thundred out from heaven and for preaching the truth even to such as would not heare the same hath suffered loathsome stinking prisons as momentary deaths And to be breef what one of them as the Doctor of the Gentils said hath endured like the holy Prophets to wander in mountaines in dennes and caves of the earth to bee stoned to be sawed in sunder and attempted with all kindes of death for the name of our Lord But why doe wee dwell in examples of the old Testament as if there were none in the new Let therefore them who suppose they doe without any labour at all under the naked pretence of the onely name of Priesthood enter this streight and narrow passage of Christian Religion hearken unto us while we recite and gather in one a few as the highest and cheefest flowers out of the large and pleasant meddow of the Saintly souldiers of the New Testament which of ye who rather sleepe than lawfully sit in the chaire of Priesthood being cast out of the councell of the wicked hath after the stripes of sundry rods as the holy Apostles given from the bottome of his heart thanks to the blessed Trinitie that he was found worthy to suffer disgrace for Christs true Deitie What one for the undoubted testimony of God having his braines dashed out with the Fullers â—lubbe hath as Iames the first a Bishop of the New Testament suffered corporall death Which of yee like Iames the brother of Iohn was by the unjust Prince beheaded Who like the first Deacon and Martyr of the Gospell having but this onely accusation that he saw God whom the wicked miscreants could not behold was by the ungodly hands stoned to death What one of ye like the worthy keeper of the keyes of the heavenly Kingdome being nayled to the crosse with his feete upward in regard of the reverence of Christ whom no lesse in his death than in his life he endeavored to honour hath so breathed out his last gaspe Which of yee for the confession of the true word of Christ hath like the vessell of election and chosen Doctor of the Gentiles after suffering the chaines of imprisonment sustayning of Shipwracke after the terrible scourges of whips the continuall dangers of Seas of theeves of Gentiles of Iewes and of false apostles after the labours of famine of fasting c. after his incessant care had over all the Churches after his exceeding trouble for such as scandalized after his infirmity for the weake after his admirable peregrination over almost the whole world in Preaching the Gospel of Christ through the stroke of the sword lost his head which of yee as the holy Martyr Ignatius Bishop of the City of Antioch hath after his miraculous actions in Christ for testimony of him beene broken in peeces by the jawes of Lyons as hee was sometimes at Rome whose words being now led to his passion when yee shall heare if ever your countenances were overcome with blushing ye will not onely in comparison of him esteeme your selves no Priests but not truely so much as the meanest Christians for in the Epistle which hee sent to the Church of Rome he writeth thus From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts at Land and Sea being bound and chained unto tenne Leopards the Souldiers I meane appointed for my custody who for
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