Christ or no. And being asked the question denied playnly that he was not Christ nor Helias neyther that Prophet whome they dreamed so much vppon but onely the voyce of a cryer in the wildernesse to make streight the waye of the Lorde For I doe Baptise sayth Iohn in water onely but there is one nowe come among you who although he came after mée was before mée whose shooe latchet I am not woorthye to vnbuckle and he it is that shall Baptise you with the holye Ghost Iohn was a constant man and liued aunsterely His garment was course cloth made of Camels hair His meate was locustes and wilde hony He was a Prophet and as Christ reporteth more than a Prophet For Iohn prophecied 7. d. c. Christ to be come pointing him with his finger vnto the people saying Beholde the Lambe of God which taketh awaye the sinnes of the worlde where as all the other Prophets dyd but prophecie of his comming long before he came Finally Iohn vsing his libertie in Math. 14. a. rebuking vice without any acception of persons reprooued King Herode for kéeping his brother Philips wyfe for the which he was cast into prison and soone after lost his heade Reade the story of Herode the Tetrarch and of Herodias Math. 4. d. Iohn the Euangelist was the sonne of Zebede and brother to Iames and called from his fisher boate to be an Apostle of Christ and was of all other most entierly Iohn 13. c. beloued of Iesus who commended his mother vnto 19. c. 21. f. him at the houre of his death ¶ He wrote his Gospel agaynst Cerinthus and other Heretikes and chieflye agaynst the Ebionites which dyd affirme that Christe was not before Mary whereby he was constrayned to set foorth the diuine birth of Christ In the tyme of the Emperor Domitian he was exiled into an Isle called Pathmos where he wrote the Reuelation and after the death of Domitian in the time of Pertinax he returned to Ephesus remayning there till the time of Traianus and dyd rayse vp set in order many Churches in Asia and died thrée score yeares after the death of Christ and was buried at Ephesus S IOANNIS EVANGELISTA IN PATMOS APOCALYPSIS cap. 18. 14. ET VIDI ET ECCE AGNVS STABAT SVPRA MONTEM SION Act. 12. d. Iohn Marke When Paule and Barnabas had béene at Ierusalem to destribute the Almes sent by the Antiochians in their retourne they brought this man Iohn surnamed Marke with them to Antioche And when the holy Ghost had seperated Paule Barnabas from the other Disciples to the intent that they shoulde go and spreade abroade the Gospel among the Gentiles and those that were farre of they tooke this Iohn Marke with them to be their Minister companion who bare them company from Antioche vntill they came to Pamphilia Act. 13. b. c. and farther woulde he not go but left them there and returned to Ierusalem agayne notwithstanding the Apostles went foorth and fulfilled their office And when it came in their minds to go visite these places agayne wherein they had sowed the worde of God Barnabas gaue counsell to take Iohn with them which had béene their minister before to whose minde Paule woulde not consent forasmuch as Iohn of his owne accorde had forsaken them at Pamphilia before they had finished theyr worke And so reasoning and disputing about this matter the contencion was so sharpe betwéene these two holy men that the one forsooke the others companie And so Barnabas taking Iohn Marke with him sayled into Cypres 2. Reg. 13. a. Ionadab was the sonne of Simeah Dauids brother and a worldly wise man He loued Ammon his vnkle Dauids sonne aboue the reast of all his brethren Of the counsell he gaue to Ammon concerning his Sister Thamar Reade the story of Ammon ¶ Ionadab Voluntarie or Willing Ionas 1. cap. Ionas the sonne of Amithay was an holy Prophet commaunded of God to go to Niniue that great Citie 4. Reg. 14. d. to tel the people of their wickednesse who * The mother of this prophet was the poore wydowe of Sarepta whose Meale and Oyle Elias encreased restored hir sonne from death to life agayue notwithstanding perswaded himselfe by his owne reason that he shoulde nothing profite there séeing he had so long Prophecied among his owne Countrie men the Iewes and done no good at all Wherefore he minding to flye to Tharsus got him to Ioppa where he found a ship ready payed his fare and went with them And being on the sea a tempest rose so vehemently that the Mariners were sore afrayde crying euery man vnto his God and to lighten the shippe they cast all the wares into the Sea which nothing auayled Then went the maister of the ship downe vnder the hatches and finding Ionas fast a sléepe awoke him saying O thou sléeper what meanest thou arise and call vpon thy God that we perishe not And when no remedy coulde be had they agréed to cast lottes that thereby they might knowe for whose cause they were troubled and so dooing the lot fell on Ionas They séeing that sayde Tell vs for whose cause we are thus troubled And what thine occupasion is And what thou art And whence thou commest whither thou goest And what Country man thou art of what nation I am sayde Ionas an Hebrue borne and feare the Lord God of Heauen which made both the Sea and drye land and am fled from his presence And when they heard that they were more afrayde than before sayde what shall we doe vnto thée that the Sea may cease from troubling of vs Take me quoth Ionas and cast me into the Sea and ye shall haue rest for I wote it is for my sake that this euill is come vpon you Neuerthelesse the men being loth to committe such a déede assayed with rowyng to bring the ship to lande And when they sawe the Sea so troublous against them that it woulde not be they cryed vnto the Lorde and sayde O Lord let vs not perishe for this mans death neyther lay thou innocent bloude vnto our charge For thou O Lorde hast done euen as thy pleasure was And so they tooke Ionas and cast him into the Sea which incontinent was calme and still And a certayne great fishe prepared of the Lord receyued Ionas and swallowed him vp into his body where he laye in prayer thrée dayes and thrée nights And being then cast out agayne on drye lande The Lorde commaunded him eftsoones to go to Niniue and doe as he had charged him And when he came to the citie was entered a dayes iourney in the same he cryed out saying There are yet fourtie daies and then shall Niniue be ouerthrowne But when his Prophecie came to none effect by reason of the peoples great repentaunce he was sore displeased and in his prayer sayde O Lorde was not this my saying I praye thée when I was yet in my
Hesron bare vnto him thrée sonnes Ieser Sobab and Ardon 4. Reg. 11. ca. 2. Par. 22. ca. Athalia was the daughter of Amry and wife to Ioram King of Iuda When Ioram dyed hir sonne Ahaziahu Athalia in the 4. Reg. ca. 8. is called both the daughter of Achab and the daughter of Amrye which sayth Lyra is meÌ„t thus After the death of Amry hir naturall father shee was brought vp with Achab hir brother and so in processe called his daughter or else by immitating hys maners in all kind of Idolatrie succéeded whome she entysed to all wickednesse and after his death she ruled and killed all the reast of the séede of Ioram onely Ioas excepted which was stolne awaye and hyd from hir And when she had ruled the lande most cruelly vj. yeare In the vij yeare Ioas was brought forth by Iehoiada the Priest and proclaymed King She hearing that ranne into the Temple of the Lorde with hir clothes rent crying out treason treason But at the commaundement of Iehoiada the Captaynes and souldiers tooke hir out of the Temple and slue hir ¶ Athalia Time for the Lorde Azaria the sonne * 4 Re. 15. a. b of Amaziahu King of Iuda began his reigne in the xxvij yere of Ieroboam King of Israel was xvj yere old when he was made king And so long as he gaue eare to Zacharias the Prophete and walked vprightly so long did the Lorde prosper him with great victories both of the Philistines and Arabians and made the Ammonites also tributories vnto him He ‡ Azaria is in the same chapter called also Vziah repaired Ierusalem He loued well husbandrye and had great plenty of Cattell At length he became so mightie that in his strength his heart arose to his destruction For in his pryde he went into the Temple of the Lord to burne incense which although he séemed to doe it of a zeale and good intent yet forasmuch as he vsurped the Priests office he was iustlye resisted of Azariahu the Priest and plagued of God who smote him with such a Leprosie that he went out of the Temple a Leper and so remayned all the dayes of his lyfe He reygned .lij. yeares and was buried in a part of the same fielde where his Predecessors lay but not in the same Sepulchres bicause he was a Leper ¶ Azaria Helpe of the Lorde B. BAal the sonne of Reaia was a Prince of the Rubenites and caried away with other his kinred into the lande of Assiria by Thiglath Pilneser King of the Assirians Baanah with his brother Rechab the sonnes of Rimmon were two Captaynes in the hoste of Isboseth King of Israel who when Abner their chiefe Captayne was dead went into the house of Isboseth séeming saith Lyra they had gone to fetch wheate for the King sayth he had great store of wheate which he solde to Merchants a farre of wherefore these two disguysed themselues lyke Merchants that came to buye and so entring into the house they founde where their Lorde and maister lay vpon his bed in the heate of the day fast a sleepe and slue him and tooke his heade and caryed iâ— to Dauid thinking for the same to haue had a great rewarde But for their most shamefull and trayterous acte they were both put to death and their quarters hanged ouer the poole in Hebron Baasa the sonne of Ahia conspired against 〈◊〉 King of Israel and reygned in his steade In the thirde yeare of Asa King of Iuda began Baasa to reygne ouer Israel and walked most wickedlye in all the wayes of Ieroboam whose house and posteritie notwithstanding he vtterly destroyed and left not one aliue for so it was propheried that God woulde stirre him vp one which was this Baasa for that purpose And now for as much as Baasa whome God had exalted euen out of the dust woulde styll mayntaine Ieroboams ydolatrie and cause his people to sinne he sent him worde by the Prophete Iehu that as he had rooted out the whole posteritie of Ieroboam so shoulde his be serued likewise Great warre was betwéene â–ª Baasa and Asa King of Iuda And for to stoppe the passage of Iuda that none shoulde passe out nor in safely Baasa went to builde a strong holde called Rama which he was sayne at length to leaue vnfinished and to lâ—â—se all his â—ost and traueyle to go agaynst Benhadid which had broken couenaunt with him He reygned .xxiiij. yeares and was buried in Thirza which was a place where the King remayned leauing Ela his sonne to succéede him in whose dayes the foresayde Prophecye of the rooting out his posteritie tooke place Bachides was a man of great power in the dominion of Demetrius the sonne of Seleucus And beyng the Kings faythfull friende he sent him with a great host agaynst Iudas Machabeus to reuenge him of the iniurie he had done vnto his people and in the ende slue him After whole death â–ª many of the wicked Iewes turned to Bachides whereof he made some Lordes and rulers of the lande which of enuy vttered the friendes of Iudas brought them into great veration and trouble When Bachides had giuen this ouerthrow to Iudas he sought howe he might kill Ionathas also whom the Iewes had 〈◊〉 in his brothers 〈◊〉 And méeting with Ionathas about the border of Iordan there was a great battell stricken betweene them in the which Bachides lost a thousande of his men After which conflict Bachides by occasion of Alcimus the wicked Priests death departed for that tyme so that Ionathas laye at rest two yeares after tyll a sort of vngodly men conspired against him howe they might bring Bachides vppon hym vnwares which matter being betwéene them and him concluded Bachides returned with a great power but or he came Ionathas had gotten knowledge of the Treason and put certayne of the chiefest Conspirators to death Then when Bachides came and had besieged the Citie of Bethbessen long and sawe he was not able to resist the power of Ionathas he was marueylously displeased with those wicked counsaylers which had caused him to traueyle in vaine and made him ready to depart againe whereof Ionathas hauing knowledge he sent Ambassadors to Bachides to make peace with him to the which he gladly consented and restored to Ionathas all his prisoners which he had taken in the land of Iuda and so returned home and neuer vexed Israel more Balaam the sonne of Beor or Bosor as S. Peter sayth was a couetous Prophet and for lucre sake went to the King of Moab to curse the hoste of Israel which thing God woulde not suffer him to doe but turned hys curse into a blessing Yea he was so farre ouercome with couetousnesse sayth S. Peter that he coulde not sée hys iniquitie when the tame beast speaking in mans voyce rebuked him and forbade his madnesse He caused the Israelites thorowe his counsell to commit
whoredome wyth the daughters of Moab and to worship Baal Peor their false God and was slayne among the Madianites whome Israel sâ—bdâ—ed Balac the sonne of Ziphor King of Moab was so afrayde of the children of Israel which were pitched in the fieldes of Moab all about his countrey that he thought he coulde neuer be able to ouercome them vnlesse they were cursed of God wherefore he sent for Balaam the Prophete promising to promote him to honor and dignitie so that he woulde come and curse his enimies And when the Prophet was come Balac brought him vp to the hye place of Baal where he might sée and discerne the vttermost parts of the Israelites that he myght be sure to curse them all But when the Prophet went about his purpose God woulde not suffer him to curse his people but rather to blesse them Then sayde Balac did not I sende for thée to curse this people and why hast thou blessed them I tolde thée quoth Balaam that I coulde speake nothing but that which the Lord woulde haue me to speake Well sayde Balac I will bring thée where thou shalt sée but a portion of them and not all I praye thée curse that part for my sake But notwithstanding the Prophete blessed them agayne Then sayde Balac neyther curse them nor blesse them at all Well yet quoth Balac I will bring thée once more to an other place peraduenture it shall please God thou mayst curse them there for my sake But when he sawe in no place the Prophet woulde curse the people of God he tooke an anger with him and sayde I sent for thée to curse myne enimies and thou hast blessed them nowe thrée tymes therefore get thée quickly out of my sight for the Lorde hath kept thée backe from promotion and so he departed Balthasar was the sonne of Nabuchodonosor and the last King of Babilon This Prince on a time made a great banket to all his Lordes and great estates in the which he so abused the holye vessels in the Temple of the Lorde which his father had brought from Ierusalem making them common vessels for all his guests to drinke in that God was sore displeased with him And as he sate at his banket praysing his goddes of Golde Siluer Copper Iron Stone and Wood he sawe the Palme of an hande wryte vpon the wall before him which thing so disquieted him that all the ioyntes of his bodye shooke And being in that great anguishe he sent for all the charmers and Coniurers in Babilon to knowe the meaning thereof but none of them all coulde reade it neyther yet tell what it ment Then was the King so sore afrayd that his colour began to chaunge and his body to be sore vexed for the which the Lordes and all the estate present were sore opprest with heauinesse to sée the King in that case Then the olde Quéene his Grandame hearing of all that was happened came vp to the feast and cheared the King bidding him to take no thought for the matter so long as Daniel was in his kingdome sende for him quoth she and he will tell thée what the writing meaneth Then was Daniel sent for And being come he tolde the King that forasmuch as he neyther remembred the fall of his father who for his pryde and hie stomacke was turned from the shape of a man to the shape of a beast for certaine yeares neyther woulde submitte his heart but magnifie himselfe aboue the Lorde of heauen and had abused the vessels of the house of God and set his loue vpon Idols which neyther hearde sawe nor vnderstoode more than vpon God in whose hande consisteth thy breath and all thy wayes therfore had God sent thys hande in token of his great displeasure towardes hym And these be the wordes sayd Daniel to the King which the hande hath written Mane Thetel Phares And this is the meaning Mane God hath numbred thy kingdome and brought it to an ende Thetel Thou art weyed in the Balaunce and art founde to light Phares Thy kingdome is dealt in partes and giuen to the Medes and Perses And the same night was Balthasar slayne and his kingdome remooued to Darius king of Medea whose sister was Balthasars mother Balthemus or Béeltethmus looke Belemus Banaiah or Bananiahu the sonne of Iehoiada was a valiant man and ruler ouer the Cherethites and Pelethites He slewe two strong men in the Countrie of Moab and slewe a Lion in the midst of a pyt in the time of snow He fought also with an Egyptian whose speare was lyke a Weauers beame and slewe him with his owne weapon And for these Actes and such like he gate him a name among the Worthies He was one of Dauids Counsaylers and proclaymed Salomon King at Dauids commaundement He slewe Adoniah at Salomons commaundement also Ioab into whose rowme he was promoted Barnabas called also Ioses was a Leuite borne in the Countrie of Cypers who of a liberall minde solde his lande in Cypers and brought the whole pryce therof and layde it downe at the Apostles féete with whome he was of such credite that when he brought Paule vnto them after his conuersion and declared howe boldly he had done at Damascus in the name of Iesu they receyued him as a brother of whome before they were afrayd This man being full of the holy ghost and faith was sent to Antioch to preach and to stablish them in the fayth of Christ From thence he departed to Tharsus to seeke Saule and brought him to Antioch where they two continued togithers one yeare And bicause of a great dearth which was prophecied to be thoroweout all the worlde the Antiochians made a collection for the poore brethren in Iewrie which they sent by the handes of Barnabas and Paule at whose returne to Antioch agayne they brought a Disciple with them called Iohn Marke After this by the mynde of the holy Ghost they were sent to preach among the Heathen where by the power of God they did woonders and turned many to Christ And being taken at Lystra for Goddes bicause God working in them they had made a lame man to go they rent their clothes and woulde not suffer themselues to be called by that name Finallye when Barnabas and Paule had bene long Companions togither and workers in the Lordes vineyarde they chaunced to fall at variance for one Iohn Marke who had bene their Minister before And bicause Barnabas woulde now in this iourney going to visite their brethren agayne haue had him with them and Paule refused him bicause he forsooke them at Pamphilia the dissencion was so sharpe that the one brake from the other And so Barnabas tooke Marke with him and sayled into Cypers hys owne natyue Countrie Barrabas was a notable robber which for a certayne insurrection he had made and in the same committed murther was cast in prison It was
a custome among the Iewes to haue a prisoner deliuered vnto them at the feast of Easter wherfore when Pilate sate in iudgement vpon Iesus he asked of the Iewes whether they woulde haue Barrabas or Iesus and they by the counsell of the great Priestes sayde Barrabas And so was the théefe and murtherer deliuered and the innocent put to death Barsabas surnamed Iustus was one of the twoo Disciples appoynted to be chosen in the rowme of Iudas the Apostle And when the lottes were cast the lot fell on Mathias hys fellowe Barthelmew was one of the twelue Apostles Mar. 10. g. * Bartimeus the sonne of Timeus was a certayne blinde begger which sate begging by the hye wayes side * The other Euangelists mention two but Marke nameth him that was most knowne of the people as they went by And when he heard Iesus of Nazareth passe that waye he began to crie and saye Iesus the sonne of Dauid haue mercy vpon me and the people rebuked him to holde his peace but the more he was rebuked the more he cryed Then being called and comforted of the Apostles he threwe away his cloke for ioye and came to Iesus who demaunded of him what he woulde haue him to doe Mayster sayde he that I maye haue my sight and sée Go thy way sayde Iesus thy faith hath saued thée and by and by this blynde Bartimeus receyued his sight and followed Iesus ¶ Bartimeus a Blynde sonne or the sonne of blindnesse Iere. 36. cap. Baruch the sonne of Neriah wrote in a booke at the mouth of Ieremie the Prophete as he did indite all the curses agaynst Iuda and Israel which booke he read first to the Common people and after to the Rulers who being astonied at the wordes thereof caused Baruch to hide * The godly amonge the Princes gaue this counsell himselfe out of the way till they had shewed the booke vnto Ieohakim the King who when he had hearde thrée or fower leaues thereof caused the booke to be cut in péeces notwithstanding the great intreatie that certaine of hys Lordes made for the preseruation of the same and cast in the fire and brent Then Baruch wrote another booke at the mouth of Ieremie wherein was much more added than was before ¶ Baruch Blessed Gen. 22. d. 28. a. Bathuel was the sonne of Nahor his mothers name was Milca the daughter of Aran brother to Nahor and Abraham This Bathuel was Father to Rebecca and Laban ¶ Bathuel the Sonne begetting of God the Measure of God. Gen. 36. d. Bela the sonne of Beor reigned in Edem after whose death Iobab the sonne of Serah succéeded him 1. Par. 1. d. ¶ Bela Swalowing downe or destroying Num. 26. c â–ª Bela the sonne of Beniamin whose sonnes were Ard and Naaman and in the first booke of Chronicles 7. b. These are sayde to be the sonnes of Bela Ozban Ozi Oziel Ierimoth and Iri And in the. 8. chapter these Adar Gera Abiud 3. Esd 2. c. Belemus Mithridates Tabelius Rathunius Beeltethmus and Semellius the Secretarie with other mo wrote a sore complaint to Artaxerses King of Persia against the Iewes which were a building of the temple at Ierusalem through the which they were commaunded to cease and to builde no more Reade Artaxerses and Rathumus Sum natu minimus Beniaminus ex Cananea Mater in enixu est morte perempta Me scriptura LupuÌ„ natuÌ„ consumere proedaÌ„ In matutino tempore uera uocat Beniamin was the yoongest sonne of Iacob Gen. 35. c. hys mother was Rachel who dyed in traueyle and therfore Of the sonns of Beniamin Reade Gene. 46. c. 1. Par. 7. b. 8. a. called his name Benoni the sonne of sorrow But Iacob his father called him Beniamin sonne of the ryght hande His brothers name of father and mother was Ioseph who loued Beniamin aboue all the reast of his other brethren as in his storie appeareth ¶ Beniamin Sonne of the right hande Act. 13. b. Beriesus which by interpretacion is as much to saye as the sonne of Iesus was a Iewe borne and a great sorcerer which name he had taken vpon him to deceyue the people where as his right name was Elymas which worde in the Sirians language betokeneth an Enchaunter and a false Prophet also This false Sorcerer was got into the Citie of Paphos and there beyng crept into fauour with Sergius Paulus Ruler of the Countrie wythstoode the doctrine of Barnabas and Paule séeking by all meanes to turne the Rulers heart from the sayth in Christ But Paule being full of the holy ghost perceyuing the deuilishe and subtile craft of this sorcerer looked stedfastly vpon him and sayde O full of all subtiltie and mischiefe the chylde of the Deuil and enimie of all righteousnesse wylt thou not cease to peruert the streyght wayes of the Lorde Now therfore beholde the hande of the Lorde is vpon thée and thou shalt be blinde and not able to sée the Sunne for a season And when Paule had pronounced these wordes the Enchaunter was stricken with blyndenesse so that he as one amazed wandred vp and downe séeking for some man to leade him by the hande ¶ Beriesus an Ensorcerer or Coniurer 2. Reg. 17. g. Berzelai was a Gileadite borne who considered the necessitie of Dauid so much being flâ—dde out of hys owne Realme for feare of his owne sonne Absalon into the wildernesse of Mahanaim that he brought all things necessarie for â—eddes meate drinke and cloth out of Roglim to refreshe him and his men prouided so for him all the whyle he lay there that he lacked nothing and at his returne agayne he holped also to conuey both the King and all his men ouer Iordan Then Dauid séeing the great kyndenesse of Berzelai was much desirous to haue hym home with him to Ierusalem promising that all the dayes of his life he shoulde eate and drinke wyth him at his owne boorde and fare no woorse than he fared to whome Berzelai being a verye olde man sayde O my Lorde I am a man of foure score yeares of age and cannot discerne betwéene good and euill neyther yet taste any thing that I doe eate or drinke wherfore if I should then go with my Lorde the King I shoulde be but a burthen vnto him Therefore I beséech thée let thy seruant turne backe agayne that I may die in myne owne countrie and be buried in the graue of my father But here is thy seruant Chimeam my sonne let him go with my Lorde and doe vnto him whatsoeuer it shall please thée And so Dauid and Berzelai kissed eche other and departed but Chimeam went with Dauid who did not onely recompence his fathers kyndenesse in him so long as he liued but at the day of his death declared to Salomon his sonne the great fidelitie he had founde with Berzelai in the tyme of his exyle charging him therefore to shewe no
sonnes of Eli which 1. Reg. 4. c. d. wayted vpon the Arke of God were both stayne and the Arke taken and possessed of straungers Then Eli being at that time 99 â–ª yeares of age and also blinde hearing of the Arke to be taken of the Philistines was stricken into such a sodaine feare that he fell backeward of his stoole and brake his necke after he had iudged forty yeares ¶ Eli my God. 1. Reg. 16. b. Eliab was the eldest sonne of Isai and so goodly a man of stature and personage that when all the sonnes of Isai were brought before the Prophete Samuel to choose out a King among them Samuel thought Eliab to be the méetest for that office but God refused him and accepted Dauid his yongest brother who séemed to haue more skill in kéeping of shéepe than of warre notwithstanding after that hée prooued a better Warriour than Eliab or all the rest of his brethren when he fought with Goliah and slue him And for that great enterprise of Dauid Eliab being with King Saule in the hoste 17. d. was sore offended and began to rebuke Dauid saying wherefore art thou nowe come hither with whom hast thou left thy shéepe in the wildernesse I know thy pride and the malice of thine heart well ynough and that of an hautie stomack thou art come hither to sée the battell and with such tauntes and checkes he reprooued his brother Dauid for taking vpon him to beate the Philistine whome he nor none of all his fellowes durst looke in the face ¶ Eliab God my Father or the God of my Father Helias proplieta pasâ—itur à coruis pane et carne bis die mane nempe et vespere M. V. V. H. van Luyck excu 3. Reg. 18. ca. After this he was commaunded by God to go shew himselfe to Achab. And when the King sawe Eliah he saide Arte thou he that troubleth Israel Nay sayde the Prophete it is not I that haue troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers house in that yée haue forsaken the commaundements of God and serued Baal Therefore let all the people of Israel with the Prophets of Baal be brought before me to mount Carmel and I will tell thée what the Lorde saith And when the King had called the people togithers The Prophete sayde vnto them how long will yée hault betwéene two Opinions If the Lord be God followe hym But if Baal be God then go after him And nowe to know who is the true God sayde the Prophet let there be two Bullocks brought and giue the one to mée which am but one Prophete of the Lords and the other to Baals prophets which are 450. let them dresse the one with woode and no fire vnder it and I will dresse the other likewise And call yée on the name of your God and I will call on the name of my God then the God that answereth by fyre let hym be god To this the Prophets of Baal agreed and dressed there Oxen which Eliah mocketh the prophetes of Baal being done they crye to their God Baal but they cried so long without aunswere againe that Eliah mocked them saying Crye out alowde for it may be that your God is busie in talking or occupyed in following his enimies or is in his iourney or else fallen a sléepe and must be waked with your crye And so they cryed on still from morning to night cutting themselues as their maner was with kniues and launces till the bloud dyd follow and yet their god woulde not aunswere Then Eliah tooke his Bullocke and dressed it and layed it vpon the woode and made a ditch rounde about the alter whereon the sacrifice was layed and powred water vpon the Sacrifice vntill the ditch was full And assoone as he had called on the name of the Lorde fyre fell downe from Heauen and consumed the brent Sacrifice the woode the stones the dust and all the water that was in the pit And when the people sawe that they turned to Eliah and fell vpon all the Prophets of Baal and slue them at the Brooke Kyson 3. Reg. 19. ca. ¶ Nowe when Eliah had thus destroyed Baal and his prophets he durst not abide the manacing of Iezabell but fled to the wildernesse of Bethsabe And hauing gone a dayes iourney therein he sate him downe vnder a Iuniper trée and desired God that he woulde take his lyfe from him And as he fell a sléepe vnder the trée The Angell of God touched hym and bade him aryse and eate wherewithall he awaked And séeing a Baken cake and a pot of water standing at his head he refreshed himselfe therewith and layde him downe agayne to sléepe The Aungell touched him once more and bade hym aryse and eate telling him that he had yet a great iourney to go then he arose and dyd eate agayne and with the strength Eliah fasteth fortie dayes and fortye nightes of that meate he walked fourtie dayes fourtie nights till he came to Horeb the mount of God and hiding himselfe in a Caue all night the voyce of the Lorde came to him and asked him what he dyd there I haue sayde he béene very ielous for the Lorde God of hostes For the Children of Israel hath forsaken thy couenaunt broken downe thine Alters and slayne thy Prophets with the sworde and I onely am left and they séeke my lyfe to take it away Then the Lord commaunded hym to come out of the Caue and sent hym to annoynt Hazael King ouer Siria And Iehu King of Israel and Eliseus in his rowme Reade more of this Prophete in the stories of these thrée aforesayde in Achab Ahazia and Obedia and Elizeus ¶ Eliah God the Lorde Iudith 4. cap. Eliachim was the hye Priest among the Iewes at what tyme Holofernes went aboute to subdue them which sent letters all about to the Iewes to take in the mountaynes and to stoppe all the wayes and passages to Ierusalem that their enimies the Assirians might haue no recourse thither That done he exhorted the people to earnest prayer and fasting assuring them that the Lord woulde heare their peticions if they continued stedfast in the same and giue them such power to ouerthrowe the Assirians as he gaue to Moses the seruaunt of God which ouerthrew the Amalechites trusting in their owne strength not with weapon but with holy prayer ¶ Eliachim The Resurrection of God or Gods affirmacion or the God of resurrection or the God of strength Ruth 1. a. b. Elimelech was an Ephraite borne dwelling in the Citie of Bethleem Iuda in whose dayes there fell such a dearth in the lande of Iuda that he with his wyfe and twoo sonnes the one Mahalon the other Chilion went into the lande of Moab where in processe he and his twâ— sonnes died ¶ Elimelech My God the king or the Counsell of God. Gen. 36. â— Eliphas was the sonne of Esau and his mothers name was
and hored And put their wyne into olde bottels all to rent and torne and shodde themselues with olde clouted shooen and put on their backes olde garments and so sent them forth to Iosua to obtayne peace And when Iosua looked vppon them and behelde their simple state he asked what they were and from whence they came They aunswered from a farre countrey are thy seruauntes come for the name of the Lorde thy God for we haue hearde of hys fame and power and what he did in the lande of Egypt and in all other places till nowe And long haue we trauailed to come hither as ye may sée for this our foode the day we came forth was hote our bottels shooes and garments all newe and nowe are they olde and torne and our breade hored and mouled wherefore we shall desire your fauour and peace Then Iosua beléeuing it had bene so swore vnto the Gibeonites and made a couenaunt of peace with them and let them go Within thrée dayes after it fortuned the Israelites to come to the Citie of Gibeon thinking to haue destroyed it But when they sawe that they were the people which a little before had obtayned peace at their handes woulde not slea them bicause of their othe but went to Iosua and tolde him Then Iosua sent for them and demaunded wherefore they had so deceyued him They aunswered it was tolde vs that God commaunded Moses to giue you this lande and to slea all the inhabitants therof and therfore were we forced to make this prouision for our liues And nowe we be in your hands to dâ—e with vs as shall please you Wâ—ll sayde Iosua for our othe sake ye shall haue your liues But for as much as ye haue so craftilye deceyued vs the Lorde hath determined that ye shall be in bondage vnder Israel all the dayes of your liues and be hewers of woode and water drawers for the congregation and house of God continually And so the Israelites tooke their Cities but saued their lyues After this the Kings of the Amorites hearing how the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel came vpon them and besieged Gibeon which was the greatest Citie in all the kingdome of the Amorites wherevpon the Gibeonites were constrayned to sende to Iosua for his ayde who came from Gilgal with a great power rescued them and tooke the Kings of the Amorites which were fiue in number and hanged them on fiue seuerall trées and destroyed all their people and countries Thus the Gibeonites continued in bondage vnder the Israelites with their liues vntill the time of King Saule who then for a zeale he had to the children of Israel and Iuda slue a great number of them which déede God punished in the dayes of King Dauid at what time he sent an hunger vpon the lande which continued by the space of thrée yeares for when Dauid enquired at the Lorde the cause of that plague aunswere was made him of God that it was for Saule and the house of bloud who had killed the Gibeonites which Gibeonites were none of the séede of Israel but a remnant of the Amorites with whome the children of Israel had made a bonde of peace Then Dauid asking the Gibeonites what he shoulde doe for them and wherewith he shoulde recompence them they sayde we will neyther haue siluer nor golde of Saule nor of his house nor that any man of Israel be killed for our sakes but the man that hath consumed vs and imagined to bring vs to naught him will we destroy Therefore let his seauen sonnes be deliuered vnto vs that we maye hang them vp before the Lorde Then Dauid caused the two sonnes of Rizpa Saules Concubine and the fiue sonnes of Michol whome she bare to Adriel to be deliuered vnto the Gibeonites who tooke and hanged them vp on an hill before the Lorde And thus were the Gibeonites reuenged on Saule Giliad was the sonne of Machir and his chyldren were these Hiezer Helech Asriel Sechem Semida and Hepher Godolia looke Gedalia Golias was a mightie strong Gyant whome the Philistines had brought with them to battell agaynst the hoste of Israel His stature was sixe cubites and a span His helmet vpon his heade was of brasse and the Bootes on his legges of the same His coate of Fence weyed 5000. sicles The shaft of his Speare which he bare in his hande was lyke a Weauers beame And the heade vpon the same weighed 600. sicles of yron This man beyng thus armed came out from the Philistines one bearing his shielde before him and standing betwéene the twoo hostes in a valley he cryed to the hoste of Israel saying Why are ye come to set your battell in aray am not I a Philistine and you the seruauntes of Saule choose you out a man and let him come downe to me And if he be able to fight with me and to kill me then will we be your seruants and if I can ouercome him and kill him then shall ye be our seruants and serue vs Thus came he day by day defying the whole hoste of Israel the space of fortie dayes long wherewith the Israelites were sore afrayde and discomsited and durst not abyde his sight But God who by his secret prouidence had appoynted out a man to match him caused Isai to send his yong son Dauid to the hoste of Israel to sée his brethren howe they did And as he stoode with them and hearde the despytefull wordes of Golias which he spake against the holye hoste of Israel The spirit of God euen at that instant smote such a courage into the hart of Dauid that he slipt away from his brethren vnto the people whome he sawe in great feare and sayde What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and taketh away the shame from Israel and what is this vncircumcised heathen that he shoulde thus reuyle the hoste of the lyuing god Dauid vttering this bolde maner of speach once or twyse he was at the last brought before King Saule to whome he sayde on this wyse Oh King let no mans heart fayle him or be afrayde this daye for I thy seruaunt will go and fight with yonder Philistine Thou art not able to stande in his handes quoth the King for he is a man brought vp all the dayes of his lyfe in feates of warre and thou art yet but a chylde without experience or knowledge thereof Then Dauid to strengthen the weake fayth of the King sayde thus vnto him As thy seruaunt was kéeping his fathers shéepe there came a Lion and a Beare likewyse and tooke a shéepe out of the flocke Then I not fearing the force of these twoo cruell beastes ranne out first after the Lion and tooke the pray out of his mouth and in spite of his bearde I slue him Likewyse I serued the Beare Wherefore I haue no doubt but as the Lorde did ayde me then so wyll he nowe against this bragging Philistine that hath so rayled
began his raigne ouer Israel after his brother Ahazia in the eyghtene * In the first Chapter of the fourth booke of Kings it is sayd that this man began his reygne in the seconde yeare of Ioram the sonne of Iosaphat whiche is thus to bee vnderstande Iosaphat going to battell agaynst the Sirians made his son Ioram King in the .xvii. yeare of his reygne and in the .xviii. yere which was the seconde yeare of hys sonne thys man began his reygne yeare of Iosaphat King of Iuda and wrought euill in the sight of the Lorde but not like vnto his father for he tooke away the Image of Baal which his father had made neuerthelesse he sacrificed to the golden Calues still which Ieroboam had made The King of Moab was woont yerely to render to the King of Israel an hundred thousand lambs and so many Rammes with the wooll bycause he now refused to pay this tribute to Ioram he warred agaynst him hauing to take his parte Iosaphat the King of Iuda and the King of Edom by whose helpe and chiefelye Eliseus reade the place in his storie he ouercame the Moabites Also the Sirians coulde lye no where but Ioram had knowledge by Eliseus who tolde him of all their secrete lurking places by which meanes Ioram euer saued him selfe Wherefore the King of Siria sent and bèsieged the towne rounde about where the Prophet Eliseus laye And as his seruaunt was going foorth in the morning about his maisters businesse and saw the towne so compassed with enimiâ—s he ranne ‡ 6. cap. in agayne crying Alas maister what shall we doe for the Sirians are come vpon vs Feare not quoth Eliseus for they that be with vs are me than they that be with them And by and by the eyes of his seruaunt were so opened that he saw the mounteynes lye full of horses and fyrie Charrettes to defende his maister And now when the SiriaÌ„s were come to Eliseus and thought themselues most surest of hym they were at his prayer smitten with such blindnesse that they coulde not knowe the Prophete when he spake vnto them saying that that was not the towne where the man laye which they sought but followe mée quoth he and I will bring you to the place where he is and so hée ledde them foorth and brought them into the Citie of Samaria where Ioram laye who séeing now his enimies to be in his daunger sayde to Eliseus Father shall I smite them No sayde he Smite those which thou takest with thine owne swoorde and bowe but rather set bread and water before them that they maye eate and drinke and so departe to their maister Then the King prepared a great refection for the Sirians and filled their bellyes well and sent them home againe for the which gentle intreatie of Ioram the King of Siria neuer troubled hym more After this when Benhadad King of Siria had besieged Samaria so long till women were constrayned to rate their owne children Ioram tooke such displeasure with Eliseus laying the cause vpon him that in his furye he sent to take away his heade Which thing being reuealed to the Prophet he sayde to his friends that were with him in his house Sée yée not how these murtherers sonne hath sent to take awaye my heade Take héede and be circumspect when the Messenger commeth and kéepe him at the dore for the sounde of his Maisters féete is behinde him which was euen so for the Kinges minde altered he followed the Messenger and came to the Prophet himselfe saying This euill is of the Lorde and what more shall I looke for of hym No more sayde the 4. Reg. 7. a. Prophet For to morow this tyme shall a bushell of fine flower be solde for a sicle and twoo bushels of Barley for another sicle in the gate of Samaria which came so to passe the next daye for the great hoste of the Sirians at the sounde of the féete of foure lepers were runne away and had left all their tentes behinde them Finally to fulfill 9. c. f. the worde of the Lorde concerning the destruction of Achabs posteritie Ioram was slayne with an arrowe â—hot of by Iehu and his bodie cast into a platte of ground that was Nabothes the Iesraelite after he had reygned twelue yeares 4. Reg. 8. d. Ioram the sonne of Iosaphat was twoo an thirtie 2. Par. 21. cap. yeare olde when he began to reygne ouer Iuda He maryed King Achabs daughter whose wicked steppes he followed He slue all his owne brethren with diuers of his nobles The Edomites which had béene subiect from Dauids tyme hitherto rebelled nowe agaynst Ioram Also Libna which was a certayne Citie in Iuda giuen to the Leuites Iosua â–ª 21. b. woulde no more be vnder his hande bycause he had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers The Prophetes letter Finally the Prophet Eliseus to admonishe him of his wickednesse wrote to Ioram on this wise The Lorde sayth bycause thou hast not walked in the wayes of Iosaphat thy father nor in the wayes of Asa thy Graundfather but in the wayes of the Kinges of Israel and hast made Iuda to go a whoring after the house of Achab and hast also slayne thy brethren euen thy fathers house who were better men than thy selfe Therefore with a great plague will the Lorde smite thy folke thy children thy wyues and all thy goodes And thou shalt be diseased in thy bowels which day by daye shall fall out of thy bodie And so the Lord styrred vp agaynst Ioram the Philistines the Arabians with the blacke Moores which wasted his Countrey and caryed awaye his substaunce his wyues and al his sonnes saue Ahaziahu the yoongest and smote him with an incurable disease in his bowels which helde hâ—m two yeares till all his gutts fell out and so died after he had reygned eyght yeares ¶ Ioram the bighnesse of the Lorde Filius accrescens aspectu pulcher Ioseph Faemineo e turri conuitio petâ—â—â—â— Inuideam mihi cotraxit mea uita pudica Quodque manus leuibê° sit mihi proÌ„â—â—â— Gen. 30. d. 37. cap. Ioseph the sonne of Iacob and Rachel was in hys youth of his father aboue all other beloued in so much that he made him a coate of many colours But his brethren hated him bicause his dreames signified vnto them that he should be Lorde ouer them all and they his seruantes And being at the age of .xvij. yeares he was sent to them with victualles where they laye with their shéepe at Dothan who seeing him come a farre of began to deryde and mocke him saying Beholde where the Dreamer commeth and counsayled togithers to kyll him but Ruben the eldest brother woulde not consent to that Wherfore at his comming they stripped him out of his coate and cast him into an emptie pit And as certaine Ismaelites passed by they solde Ioseph to them for twentie pence of siluer and tooke his Coate and dipt it in Goates bloude and had
fasting hearing what promise Osias had made to the people sent for him and all the Elders of Bethulia and sayde How happeneth this that yée haue promised to deliuer the Citie to the Assirians vnlesse within these fiue dayes the Lorde turne to helpe you what men are yée that yée tempt the Lorde your deuise obtayneth no mercy of God but rather prouoketh him to wrath and displeasure Will yée set the mercy of the Lorde a time and appoint him a daye at your will exhorte the people to repentaunce prayer and put them in remembraunce of this That with much tribulasion the friendes of God are tryed and that all these things which we now suffer are farre lesse than our sinnes haue deserued And that this correction is come vpon vs as to the seruauntes of God for the amendement of our lyues and not for our destruction Nowe heare my deuise I praye you and beséeche the Lorde to bring it to good ende Yée shall stande this night in the gate of Bethulia I will go foorth with Abra my Mayden Praye yée vnto the Lorde that within the dayes that yée haue promised to deliuer vppe the citie he will visite Israel by my hande But inquyre not of mée the thing I haue taken in hande for I will not declare it tyll God haue finished the acte Then euery man went their wayes and Iudith departed home to hir secret closet where she made hir harty prayers vnto God for the peoples deliueraunce Which being done she cast of hir mourning garments decked hir selfe most brauelye to allure the eyes of all men that shoulde beholde hir which she dyd not for anye voluptuousnesse or pleasure of the fleshe but of a right discrecion and vertue And so going foorth of hir house with Abra hir Mayde she came to the gate of the Citie where the Elders stoode wayting hir comming And as they behelde hir woonderfull bewtie which God at that present had giuen hir they were marueylously astonished She then commaunding the gates to be open tooke hir leaue of the people who most hartily besought the Lorde to be hir defence well to performe the deuise of hir heart that they might safely and ioyfully receyue hir presence agayne And so committing hir to God shut the gates and looked ouer the walles after hir so long as they could sée hir And as she was going downe the mountaynes the first watch of the Assirians tooke hir demaunding what she was and whither she went I am quoth she a daughter of the Hebrues and am fled from them bycause I knowe that they shall be giuen vnto you to be spoyled Wherefore I am going to the Prince Holofernes to tell him all theyr secretes and howe he shall winne the Citie without the losse of one man And when the men had pondered hir wordes and considered well hir bewtie they put hir in good comfort of hir lyfe brought hir to Holofernes whose Maiestie so abashed Iudith that she fell downe as one almost dead for feare But being reuyued agayne Holofernes demaunded the cause of hir comming to whom she made aunswere on this wise saying O my Lord if thou wilt receyue the wordes of thine handmayden and doe thereafter the Lorde shall bring thy matter to a prosperous effect For as thy seruaunt Achior gaue counsell vnto my Lord to make search whither they had sinned agaynst their God or no It is manifest and plaine that their God is so wrath with them for their sinnes that he hath shewed by his Prophetes that he will giue them ouer into the enimies hande Wherefore they are sore afrayde and suffer great hunger and at this present for lacke of water are in a manner as dead menne and in this extremitie brought to kill theyr cattell and drincke the bloude And also purposed to consume all the Wheate Wyne and Oyle which are reserued and sanctified for the Priests and not lawfull for the people to touch Wherefore I thy handmaide knowing all this am fled from their presence for God hath sent mée to woorke a thing wyth thée that all the earth shall woonder for thy seruaunt feareth the Lorde and woorshippeth the God of heauen day and night And nowe let me remayne with thée my Lorde and let thy seruaunt go out in the night to the valley and I will praye vnto God that he may reueale vnto mée when they shall committe their sinnes that I may shewe them vnto thée and than mayest thou surely go foorth with thine armie for no man shall resist thée I will bring thée to Ierusalem in such safetie that there shall not so much as one dogge barcke against thée Nowe was Holofernes so well pleased with the wordes of this woman and so farre in loue with hir bewtie that he commaunded hir lodging to be made in the Tent where his treasure laye and to prepare hir diet of the same that he himselfe dyd eate and drincke of but notwithstanding she tolde the King that she might not eate of his meate least she should offende hir God but I can satisfie my selfe quoth she with such thinges as I haue brought Then how shall we doe quoth Holofernes if these thinges that thou hast brought doe sayle where shall we haue the like to giue thée As truely as the soule of my Lorde liueth quoth she thine handmayde shall not spende all that I haue tyll God haue brought to passe in my hande the thing that I haue determined And so being licensed to go out and in euery night at hir pleasure to praye she went thrée nightes togither into the valley of Bethulia calling vpon God to prosper hir deuise for the deliueraunce of his people and at eche time returned to hir Tent againe And vppon the fourth daye as it happened Holofernes by Gods prouidence to make a great Banket vnto his Lordes he sent Vago his Chamberlayne to Iudith to counsell hir to come and kéepe Companye with hym that night for it were a shame for vs quoth he if we shoulde let such a woman alone and not talke with hir we will allure hir least she doe mocke vs And when the messenger had done his message brought Iudith to Holofernes his spirite by and by was mooued and rauished with hir bewtie Sit downe now quoth he and drincke with vs and be mery I will drincke nowe my Lorde quoth she and reioyce bycause my state is exalted more than euer it was before And so she eate and drancke before him of such things as hir Mayde had prepared then Holofernes reioyced so much in Iudith that he dranke more wyne at that time than euer he had done in one daye before Nowe when the euening was come and euery man departed and gone to their lodging Vago the Kinges Chamberlayne shut the chamber doore and went his waye to bedde leauing none but Iudith in the chamber with Holofernes for hir Mayde was cōmaunded to stande without the Chamber doore to wayte hir Mistresse cōming
Citie as he came he was honourably receyued according to Alexanders commaundement And being his father in lawe was nothing suspected of treason But Ptolomy meaning nothing else left in euery Citie whereinto he was receyued certayne men of warre to fortifie and kéepe the same And when he had gotten the Dominion of all the Cities vpon the Sea coast he ioyned himselfe in league with Demetrius and tooke his daughter from Alexander and gaue hir to Demetrius Raysing vp a slaunder vppon Alexander howe he went about to kill him And so his malice and vnsaciable couetousnesse being openly knowne he got him to Antioche where he set twoo Crownes vpon his heade the crowne of Egipt and Asia Then Alexander who at that tyme laye in the Countrey of Cilicia hearing of all that his Father in lawe had done returned home and made warre agaynst him But Ptolomy being the stronger chased him into the Countrey of Arabia where the King of that lande smote off his heade and sent it to Ptolomy which pleasure he dyd not long enioye for within thrée dayes after Ptolomy dyed himselfe After whose death his men of warre which he had left in the Cities were all slayne Ptolomy the Sonne of Abobus maryed with the daughter of Symon brother to Machabeus And being made Captayne of the hoste at Iericho he began thorow his great aboundaunce of Golde and Siluer to waxe prowde and hygh minded imagining howe he might destroye Symon his Father in lawe and his sonnes and so to conquere the lande And being in this minde it chaunced Symon as he was going thorow the Cities of Iewrye caryng for them to come downe to Iericho with Mathathias and Iudas his sonnes where this Ptolomy receyued him vnder the coloure of great friendship into a strong Castle of his named Douch and in the same made him a great banket at the which he most trayterouslye slue Symon his Father in lawe with both hys sonnes This done he wrote to Antiochus to sende hym an hoste of men and he would deliuer the lande of Iewry into his hande And further he sent certayne men to Gaza to kyll Iohn the thirde sonne of Symon and wrote to the Captaynes to come vnto hym and he woulde rewarde them with Siluer and Golde But Iohn hauing knowledge of all the treason slue the Messengers which came from Ptolomy and so disappoynted hym of all his purpose Ptolomie surnamed Macron being made a Ruler purposed to doe Iustice vnto the Iewes for the wrongs that had bene done vnto them and went about to behaue himselfe peaceably with them for the which he was accused of his friendes to Eupator and was called oft tymes Traytour bicause he had left Cypres that Philometor had committed vnto him and came to Antiochus Epifanes Therefore séeing that he was no more in estimation he was discouraged and poysoned himselfe and dyed Publius was a certayne man dwelling in the I le called Melite and the chiefest man in all the I le who receyued Paule with all the rest that had escaped the seas very gently and lodged them thrée dayes in his house whose father which lay sicke of an Ague and of a bloudy flyxe Paule healed Putyphar was a great Lord in the lande of Egipt and Stewarde of King Pharaos house He bought Ioseph of the Ismaelites and founde him a lucky man And when he sawe that God did prosper all things vnder his hande he made him Ruler and gouernour of all that he had and God did blesse his house for Iosephs sake But in the ende thorowe the false accusation of his wyfe he cast Ioseph in prison R. RAchel the yongest daughter of Laban the sonne of Nahor was a beawtifull yoong woman and Iacobs wife She being long barren at the last brought forth a sonne and called his name Ioseph And at hir departing from Laban hir father wyth Iacob hir husbande into the lande of Canaan she stole awaye hir fathers Images from him for the which he made no little adooe with Iacob whome he followed and ouertooke at Mount Gilead And when hir father had searched Iacobs tents and could not finde his Idols he came into Rachel his daughters tent who had hyd them in the Camels lytter and sate vpon them And as hir father was rysling about the place where she sate she sayd O my Lorde be not angry that I cannot ryse vp before thée for the custome of women is come vpon me and so the thing was not knowen Finallye Rachel in traueyling of hir seconde sonne whome she called Ben Omy the sonne of my sorrowe she dyed and was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethleem where Iacob caused a stone to be set vpon hir graue which was called Rachels graue stone Raguel was a certaine man dwelling at Rages a Citie of the Medes whose sister was wyfe to olde Toby This Raguel had a daughter called Sara which had bene marryed to seauen men one after another which men were all slayne the first night of their marriage by the Deuill Asmodius To this Sara God had appointed yong Tobie which feared God to be hir husbande and made his holy Aungell Raphell to bring him to Rages and so to Raguels house his mothers brother where they were ioyfully receyued And when Raguel had looked vppon yong Toby and behelde him well he sayde vnto his wyfe howe lyke is this yoong man to my sisters sonne And then to knowe who they were he sayde whence be yée my good brethren We be sayde they of the Trybe of Nephtaly and of the captiuitie of Nimue Knowe ye sayde he Tobias our kinseman Yea sayde they we knowe him well and this yong man sayde the Aungell is his sonne With that Raguel bowed himselfe and with wéeping eyes tooke him about the necke and kyssed him and bade his wyfe prepare in all haste for dinner Naye sayde Tobie I will neyther eate nor drinke here this day except thou graunt mée my peticion and promise to giue me thy daughter Sara Then was Raguel sore astonied and began to feare least it shoulde happen vnto him as it did to the other seuen And while he stoode in doubt what aunswere to make the Angell sayd feare not to giue him thy daughter for vnto this man that feareth God belongeth she and to none other I doubt not sayde Raguel but God hath accepted my prayers and teares in his sight and I trust he hath caused you to come vnto me for the same intent that this daughter of mine might be maryed in hir owne kinrede according to the lawe of Moses And nowe doubt thou not my sonne but I will giue hir vnto thée And with that he tooke the right hande of his daughter and gaue hir into the right hande of Toby saying the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob be with you ioyne you togyther and fulfill hys blessing in you And when the Mariage all was ended Raguel
olde and was not able to beare the burden he made his twoo sonnes Ioel and Abia Iudges ouer Israel thinking that they woulde imitate his steppes But contrarywise they were so couetous that for lucre sake they peruerted all true iustice wherevpon the Elders of Israel perceyuing Samuel to be olde and his sonnes giuen all to coueteousnesse went to Samuel desiring of him that they might haue a king to raygne ouer them as other nations had Then Samuel hearing them speake of a king was sore displeased But neuerthelesse at the Lordes commaundement who bade him make them a King hée first declared to them the office and authoritie of a King and than annoynted Saule to be their King and gouernour whome he sent to Gilgal commaunding Saule to tary him there seauen dayes and then he woulde come and tell him what he shoulde doe And on the seauenth day when Samuel came to Saule and sawe he had offered before he came he asked him what he had done Mary quoth Saule when I sawe the people begin to scatter from mée and that thou taryedst so long I offered burnt offerings least the Philistines shoulde come vpon me before I had made my supplicasion vnto the Lorde Nowe sayde Samuel thou hast played the foole For if thou haddest hep to the Lordes commaundement hée woulde haue stablished thy Kingdome for euer But now it shall not continue For the Lorde hath sought him out a man after his owne heart which shall rule the people and so Samuel departed to his house at Gibea After this when Saule had broken the Lordes commaundement in sauing Agag King of the Amalachites alyue and had made a sacrifice vnto the Lorde of their best shéepe and Cattell which hée reserued Samuel came whereof the Kinge was verye glad and tolde hym that he had fulfilled the Lordes commaundement But what meaneth then quoth Samuel the bleting of the shéepe and noyse of Oxen that I heare There are quoth he the best shéepe and Oxen that the people hath spared to sacrifice vnto the Lorde but the reast haue we destroyed Then sayde Samuel Did not the Lord when thou wert little in thine olvne eyes make thée King ouer Israel and gaue thée a charge vtterly to destroy those sinners the Amalachites And wherefore hast thou obeyed the people and not the Lorde I haue quoth he done all that the Lorde commaunded mée and saued none but Agag Hath the Lorde quoth Samuel as great pleasure in burnt sacrifices and offeringes as when the voyce of the Lorde is obeyed Beholde to obey is better than sacrifice and to harcken is better than the fat of Rammes for rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft and stubbornesse is as the wickednesse of Idolatrie And bicause thou hast cast away the worde of the Lorde therefore hath the Lorde cast away thée from being king Then sayde Saule I haue sinned and gone further than the saying of the Lord therefore take awaye my sinne 〈◊〉 turne againe with me that I may worship the lord Nay quoth Samuel I will not returne with thée for thou hast cast awaye the Lorde and he hath cast away thée And as Samuel was turning himselfe to haue gone away Saule â—aught him by the lap of his garment and it rent Then sayde Samuel the Lorde hath rent the kingdome of Israel from thée this day and giuen it to a neyghbour of thine better than thy selfe Neuerthelesse thorowe great intreatie of Saule Samuel went with him And when they had worshipped the Lorde Agag was brought to Samuel who tooke and hewed him in péeces and so departed to Rama where he mourned so long for Saule till the Lorde reprooued him for it and sent him to Bethleem to annoynt Dauid Which thing done he went home agayne to Rama where he remayned vntill he dyed Sanabalat the Heronite when he hearde of the graunt that Nehemias had obtayned of Artâ—â—erses for the building of the Temple at Ierusalem he was marueylously grieued therewith and sought by all meanes howe to let the Iewes of their purpose Saphira the wyfe of Ananias being of his Counsell in kéeping awaye part of the pryce of a possession which they had solde came vnto Peter about a thrée houres after hir husbande ignorant of that which was done vnto whome Peter sayde Tell me Saphira solde yée the lande for so much yea quoth she for so much Why haue ye quoth Peter agréed togither to tempt the spirite of the lord Beholde the féete of them which haue buried thy husbande are at the doore and shall carye thée out And with that she fell downe and gaue vp the ghost And the Officers came and caried hir out and buried hir beside hir husbande Saule the sonne of Cis of the Trybe of Beniamin was a goodly tall yoong man who on a tyme as he was séeking his fathers Asses and coulde not finde them happened by the prouision of God to go and séeke but Samuel to wit of him some tydinges of hys Asses And as he was going towarde the Citie it was tolde him of a great offering that shoulde be there and howe the people wayted for Samuels comming to blesse the same And when Saule was come into the middest of the Citie he met Samuel comming against him going vp to the hill And as Samuel behelde Saule the Lorde sayd vnto him this is the man which I tolde thée yesterdaye I woulde sende this daye vnto thée to be King of Israel Then Samuel tooke him vp with him to the hyll and set him in the chiefest seate amonge his guestes and made him eate with them And the feast being done he went and annoynted Saule King and told him what he should doe after his departure from him And going from Samuel the Lorde gaue him another maner of heart than he had before So that he prophecied among the Prophetes and was so greatly honoured of all men that after he had deliuered the Citie of Iabes out of the handes of Nahas King of the Ammonites the people renued his kingdome which God woulde haue stablished for euer if he had not disobeyed his commaundement in taking vpon him to offer burnt sacrifice before Samuel came and also to saue Agag whom he was commaunded to destroy And for this his disobedience the Lorde tooke hys spirite from Saule and gaue it to Dauid and gaue vnto Saule an euill spirit to vexe him withall Then Saule séeing the spirit of the Lord departed from him and gone to Dauid he sought by all meanes to destroye him but neuer coulde come to his purpose Finally Saule being sore cumbred with the Philistynes he went to an Enchaunter notwithstanding he had expelled all of that Arte before to rayse him vp Samuel who being raysed vp tolde hym that for as much as hée had disobeyed the Lorde and not executed his fierce wrath vppon the Amalachytes therefore had God forsaken hym and rent his Kingdome out of his
to vse a little Wine Act. 19. b. Tyrannus was a certayne schoolemayster in Asia in whose schoole Paule disputed dayly by the space of two yeares ¶ Tyrannus Commaunding or a Prince a Tyrant 2. Cor. 2. c. Titus was S. Paules disciple whome for the excellent giftes that were in him Paule looued as if he had 7. a. 8. b. d. bene his owne naturall sonne And made him the chiefe ouerséer or as ye woulde say Archbishop of the Christian Tit. 1. a. b. congregation in the noble I le of Crete And in euery Citie within the I le Titus ordeyned an ouerséer which we call a Bishop for the which cause Paule prescribed vnto him the true forme of a Bishop or shepehearde of Christes flocke ¶ Titus Honorable Tob. 1. Toby was a godlye man of the Tribe and Citie of Nephtaly And being brought into great captiuitie in the dayes of Salmanasar king of Assiria yet woulde he not forsake the way of truth nor worship the golden Calues as other did neyther yet defyle himselfe with the Heathens meate but alwayes kept his heart pure vnto god For the which the Lorde gaue him such fauour in the sight of Salmanasar the King that Toby had power to go where he woulde and to doe whatsoeuer him lyst Then Toby hauing this libertie went about comforting all those that were in prison both with his goodes and godly exhortacions Such was his dayly exercise to feede the hungrye to cloth the naked and to burie the deade with such like déedes of Charitie And when the time came that Sennacherib which hated the children of Israel reygned in his fathers steade and in his wrath slue many of them Toby buried their bodies for the which the King commaunded to sley him and to take away his goodes who neuerthelesse thorowe friendshippe escaped and fled And after the Kings death being slayne of hys owne sonnes within .xlv. dayes after Toby returned and was restored to his goodes agayne and called his kinred and friendes togither and made a great feast And sitting at the Table with his guestes one tolde him there lay an Israelite slayne in the stréete who then immediatly lept from the boorde and went fasting to the deade corse and brought him home to his house where he hidde him priuily vntill the Sunne was downe and then buryed hym For the which déede his friendes reprooued him bicause he had bene in daunger but a little before euen for the lyke matter But neuerthelesse Tobias fearing God more than the King woulde take the slayne and hyde them in his house and bnrie them at midnight Insomuch that one tyme he was so weary with burying the deade that he got him home and layde him downe beside a wall for wearynesse where he fell on sléepe And so lying there fell downe vpon his eyes warme dung out of a swalowes nest which tooke awaye his sight that he coulde not sée agaynst the which plague of blindnesse he neuer grudged but remayned steadfast in the feare of God giuing him thankes as well for that as other gifts of health And this temptacion God suffered to fall on Toby for an example of pacience to all that should come after Finally of his great pacience déede of charitie and other godlye exhortacions his booke is full He lost his Tob. 14. a. sight at the age of sixe and fiftie yeares And was restored at thrée score so that he remayned blind about a foure yeare And lyued after he had receyued his sight twoo and fourtie yeares and so he dyed at the age of an hundred and twoo yeares and was honourably buryed in the Citie of Niniue ¶ Tobiah the Lorde is good Tob. 5. cap. Toby the sonne of Toby being brought vp in the feare of God followed the vert uous steppes of his father in all thinges He was sent to the Citie of Rages to one Gabelus for certayne money which his father had lent him And after many daungers by the waye was by 6. a. Goddes prouision whose Aungell was his guide maryed 7. a. there to the daughter of Raguel whose name was Sara And when he had taryed with his father and mother in lawe about a twoo wéekes he returned home with much 8. d. substaunce to the great consolation and comfort of olde Toby his Father and Anna his Mother After whose 11. cap. death when he had remayned at Niniue the space of two 14. d. and fourtie yeares he departed with his wyfe and seuen sonnes to the Citie of Rages where he founde his Fatheir and mother in lawe both lyuing in great age on whom he tooke the care vntill they died and was heyre to all there goodes And when this Toby had lyued .xcix. yeares he dyed and was buryed After whose death his posteritie continued in such an holye conuersacion of life that they were belooued and accepted both of God and man. 2. Esd 2. a. Toby the Ammonite and sonne in lawe to Sechania was one that conspired with Sanabalat to hinder the buylding of Ierusalem For when Sanabalat sayde in derision of the Iewes What doe these weake Iewes will they fortifie themselues Will they sacrifice Will they finish it in a day Will they make the stones whole agayne out of the heapes of dust séeing they are burnt Then Toby which stoode besyde hym sayde Although 6. d. they buylde yet if a Fore go vp hée shall euen breake downe their stonye Wall. This Toby wrought all the wayes he could both by letters and false Prophets hyred for money to feare Esoras from the worke but coulde not preuayle Rom. 16. b. Triphena and Triphosa were certayne godly women to whom Saint Paule for their deligent labour in the Gospell sendeth gréetinges saying Salute Triphena and Triphosa which women laboured in the Lord. ¶ Triphena a fyne nice or delicate woman 1. Mac. 11. e. cap. Triphon was a certayne great man which tooke part with King Alexander agaynst King Ptolomy And when Alexander was dead Triphon founde the meanes to get his yong sonne Antiochus out of the handes of Emascuel the Arabian who had brought him vp to reigne in his Fathers streade And when he had got the gouernaunce of the yoong King he conceyued treason agaynst hym which he thought coulde neuer be well brought to passe so long as Ionathas whome the King had made hygh Priest was his friende wherefore he sought to kill Ionathas that he might come the easyer by his wicked purpose So Triphon went to a place called Bethsan 12. c. cap. at the which place Ionathas met hym with fourtie thousande men Then Triphon perceyuing the great hoste that Ionathas brought was afrayde and thought it not best to meddle with him at that time but to vse some policie howe to betraye hym And so commaunding all his souldieurs to be as obedient to Ionathas in all thinges euen as they woulde be vnto himselfe he receyued hym honorablye
And when his course came to burne incense euening morning according to the lawe he went into the Temple And as he was in prayer an Angell appeared vnto him saying Feare not Zachary for thy prayer is hearde And thy wyfe Elizabeth shall beare thée a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iohn c. Whereby sayde Zachary shall I knowe this for I am olde and my wyfe olde also I am Gabriel quoth the Aungell which am sent vnto thée to shew thée these glad tydinges And beholde thou shalt be dumme and not able to speake vntill the day that these things be performed And so Zachary remayned speachelesse vntill the tyme came that his wyfe brought him foorth a sonne And when the childe shoulde be circumcised great controuersie was there about his name Some woulde haue him called Zachary some by one name some by an other and his mother woulde haue him called Iohn but to that woulde none agrée bycause there was none of the kinred so named Then they made signes to Zachary how he woulde haue his sonne called And he calling by signes for writing tables wrote therein His name is Iohn Whereat they all marueyled And immediatly the mouth of Zacharye was opened so that he spake and sayde Praysed be the Lorde God of Israel for he hath visited and redéemed his people c. Zacharia the sonne of Ieroboam King of Israel began his raygne in the eyght and thirtie yeare of Azaria King of Iuda and walked in the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat as dyd other before hym Hée had not raygned sixe monthes or that Sallum conspired against him and slue him euen in the face of the people raigned in his steade This Zacharia was the fourth and the last King of the generacion of Iehu which the Lord had promised shoulde sit on his seate after hym when he sayde Thy children vnto the fourth generacion after thée shall sit on the seate of Israel Zarah was one of the twoo twynnes which Thamar bare vnto Iuda at one birth who proffering to come forth before his brother put foorth his hande when the Mydwyfe had knit a redde thréede about it he pluckt in hys hande agayne and than his brother came out first whom they called Phares and than he with the redde thréede about his hande whome they called Zarah Zacharia the sonne of Iehoiada was an holye Prophet And when he sawe Ioas King of Iuda whome his father had trayned from his youth vp in the feare of god with all his people declined from the Lorde to the woorshipping of Idols and woulde not heare the Lordes admonicion sent by his prophets to call them home againe he stoode vp before the people sayde Why transgresse yée the commaundementes of the Lorde surelye it shall not prosper bycause yée haue forsaken the Lorde he also hath forsaken you For the which the King not regarding the kindnesse of Iehoiada his Father commaunded the people to stone him to death in the court of the house of the Lorde And as he suffered his martyrdome he desired the Lorde to reuenge his death and to requyre his bloude at their handes Zachy was a Publican and chiefe receyuer of the Kinges Tribute among them He was a very lowe man of stature And being much desirous to sée Iesus what maner a man he shoulde be made great meanes to sée him And when he sawe the prease so great that he coulde not he ranne before knowing which waye he woulde come and clymed vp into a wilde Figge trée And when Iesus saw him in the trée he sayde Zachy come downe at once for to day I must abyde at thy house And Zachy came downe receyued him ioyfully And shewing foorth the true fruites of repentaunce sayde Beholde Lorde the halfe of my goodes I giue to the poore and if I haue done any man wrong I restore him foure folde To whome Iesus sayde agayne This daye is saluacion come to this house forasmuch as thou art also become the sonne of Abraham Zaruia was Dauids sister Hir thrée Sonnes were Ioab Abisai and Asael Zedekia the fourth sonne of Iosia was one twentie yeare olde when Nabuchodonosor made him King of Iuda in the steade of Ieoacin his brothers sonne And made him take an othe of the Lorde faythfullye and truelye to serue the Chaldeis in token whereof hée chaunged hys name from Mathania to Zedekia This King suffered sinne and wickednesse so much to raygne in his lande as well among the heade rulers and Priestes as among the common sorte that God was forgotten his worde despised and his Prophets misused Wherefore the Lord styrred vp the Chaldeis with whom he had broke his league which came and destroyed the Citie of Ierusalem and the holy Temple of God with fyre as the Prophet Ieremie had sayde and tooke Zedekia the King his army being dispersed abrode in the playne of Iericho and brought him to the King of Babilon who first destroyed both his sonnes before his face and then pulled out the eyes of Zedekia and so caryed him to Babylon bounde with twoo chaynes where he dyed his people remayning in bondage vntill the dayes of Cyrus which was about thrée score and ten yeares Zedekia the sonne of Canaana was one of the false Prophets which deceyued Achab. And when Micheas the true Prophet of God spake agaynst them this Zedekia smote him on the Chéeke saying When went the spirit of the Lorde from mée to speake vnto thée Well sayde Micheas Thou shalt sée in that daye when thou shalt go from Chamber to chamber to hide thée Zelaphead the Sonne of Hepher the sonne of Gilead the Sonne of Machir the Sonne of Manasses the sonne of Ioseph had fiue daughters who forasmuch as their father dyed in the Wildernesse without male issue and was none of those that rebelled agaynst the Lorde in the Congregacion of Chore They requyred of Moses to haue a possession among their fathers brethren least the name of their Father shoulde be vtterlye taken awaye from among his kinred Whose request God alowed and bade Moses giue them a possession among their brethren and to make a law that whosoeuer dyed without a sonne his inheritaunce should turne to his daughter If he haue no daughter to his brethren If he haue no brethren to his Fathers brethren If his father haue no brethren than it shoulde turne to the next of the kinne And also to stabishe their inheritaunce that it should not be remooued thorow mariage into an other Tribe an order was taken that no Tribe shoulde marry with an other Tribe but euery Tribe shoulde mary with whom he lyst among his owne Tribe and kinred And so the daughters of Zelaphead were maryed to their Fathers brothers sonnes which were of the kinred of Manasses the Sonne of Ioseph by which meanes their inheritaunce remayned styll in the Tribe and kinred of their Father Zenas was
make him the lyke against his comming home who being such a minister as was content to serue the Kinges turne made it with all spéede on the which Aultar the King at his comming home offered to those Idolles abolishing all the holye lawes and ordinaunces of God to stablyshe his owne wicked and vngodlye procéedings which turned to hys vtter confusion He reygned sixtene yeares and was buryed in the Citie of Dauid but not among the sepulchres of Kings leauing Hezekia his godly sonne to enioy his place Ahazia the sonne of Achab began his reigne ouer Israel in the xvlj yeare of Iosaphat king of Iuda and followed the steppes of that wicked Idolatour Achab his father in all thinges for the which the Lorde punished him two maner of wayes First the Moabites rebelled agaynst him refusing to pay any tribute Seconde as he walked vpon his house for his recreation he fell downe at a grate of the same which was made to gyue light beneath And being sore brused with the fall and in perill of death he sent to Belzebub the God of Ekrom to enquire of him whether he shoulde recouer or no. And as the Messengers were going Elia the Prophete by the prouidence of God met them and sayde is there no God in Israel to aske counsell at but your Maister must send to Belzebub returne and tell him he shall not liue The Messengers returned and tolde the king Who perceyuing by all the markes and tokens of the man that it was the Prophete Elia sent forth a Captaine with fiftie Souldiers to bring him with violence if otherwise he woulde not come And when the Captaine came to the Prophet he sayde Thou man of God come away the King hath sent for thée If I be the man of God quoth the Prophet fyre come downe from heauen and consume thée and all thy men which wordes were no sooner gone out of his mouth but fire fell downe from heauen and destroyed them all The King sent againe and they were likewyse destroyed Then went the thirde who fell downe before the Prophete and sayde O thou man of God let my life I pray thée and the life of these thy fistie seruants be precious in thy sight With this man the Prophet went boldly to the King and tolde him plainly be shoulde not recouer and so he died in the seconde yeare of his reygne and for lacke of issue his brother Iehoram succéeded Ahasuerus otherwise called Artaxarzes King of Persia reigned ouer an hundreth and twentie seauen Prouinces This King in the thirde yeare of hys reigne made a feast royall in the Citie of Susan to all his Princes and Nobles which continued an hundreth and foure score daies And these days expired he made another feast to all the people great and small for the space of seauen dayes and in the seauenth and last daye of the feast the King being mery and pleasantly disposed sent diuers of his Chamberlaines to fetch the Quéene named Vasthy and to bring hir to him with the Crowne Imperiall vpon hir heade that the people might sée hir bewtie But for so much as she woulde not come at the Kinges commaundement it was decréed that the King shoulde put hir awaye and take another at his pleasure And according to the same decrée the King was diuorsed from Vasthy and tooke Ester in hir place for whose sake he shewed great pleasure to hir nation the Iewes promoting Mardocheus which had preserued him from the danger of Treason and put downe Aman whome he had aboue all exalted Ahimaaz the sonne of Sadoch with Ionathas the sonne of Abiathar stoode wayting without the Citie of Ierusalem at the Well called Rogell to beare such newes to Dauid as they shoulde heare from their fathers being within with Absalom And when they were instructed of all thinges by a certaine Mayde sent from their fathers what they shoulde doe and saye vnto Dauid they departed with spéede But being espyed by a certaine yong man who went and tolde it to Absalom Messengers were sent forth in post haste which followed them so sore that they were constrayned to slip into a certaine mans house in Bahurim which had a Well in his yarde into the which they were conueyghed and being hid in the Well the wife of the house spred a Couerlet ouer the Welles mouth and strawed corne thereon whereby the Well was not séene Then Absaloms men comming into the house demaunded of the wyfe where the two men were which came in before them They be gone sayde she ouer the brooke of water The men beleuing the woman went after and sought and when they coulde not finde them returned home againe Then Ahimaaz and Ionathas were let out of the Well who went to Dauid and did their message as they were commaunded After this when Absalom was slaine Ahimaaz desired of Ioab the Captaine that he might beare newes to the King of Absaloms death Nay sayde Ioab thou shalt be no messenger this daye bicause the Kings sonne is deade but Chusy shall go Then I pray thée quoth Ahimaaz let me go with Chusy And wherfore quoth Ioab art thou so desirous to go séeing for thy tydings thou shalt haue no rewarde whatsoeuer I haue quoth he I pray thée let me go Then go sayd Ioab And so Ahimaaz ran a nearer way than Chusy and was euer before him And as they were comming the watch man spied them and sayde to the King I sée two men running hytherwarde and me thinke the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the sonne of Sadoch Oh sayd the King he is a good man and bringeth good tydings And so Ahimaaz came to the King before Chusy and fell downe before him and sayd Blessed be the Lorde thy God which hath shut vp the men that lift vp their handes against my Lorde the King is the yong man Absalom safe sayde the King Ahimaaz aunswered When Ioab sent Chusy and me thy seruaunt I sawe much a doe but I wote not what it was Well sayde the King stande still Then Chusy came and sayd Good tidings my Lorde the King for the Lorde hath deliuered thée this day out of the handes of all that roâ—e against thée Is the yong man Absalom safe quoth the King The enimies of my Lorde the King sayde he and all that rise against thée to doe thée hurt be as that yong man is And so the King departed and mourned for his sonne Ahimelech the sonne of Ahitob the sonne of Phiâ—ehes the sonne of Eli was Priest of the Citie of Nob in whose tyme it chaunced Dauid being persecuted of king Saule to flye vnto him for succour at whose comming with so fewe wayting on him Ahimelech was sore astonied and asked him wherefore he came so alone Then Dauid bearing him in hande that the King had sent him of a secrete businesse which might not be knowne desired Ahimelech to giue him of such thinges
as he had in store that he and his men might be refreshed and go about the Kinges affaires Then Ahimelech beléeuing that all had bene well betwene the King and Dauid tooke him of the halowed breade bicause he saw his necessitie great and had no common breade vnder his hande Then Dauid desired Ahimelech to lende him eyther speare or sworde for I brought quoth he neyther weapon nor harnesse the Kinges businesse required such haste and by and by he fet out the sworde of Goliah and gaue it to him Nowe for this great kindenesse which Ahimelech had shewed to Dauid Doeg a seruant of King Saules accused him to his Lorde of Treason And being brought before the King with all the Priestes of the Lorde it was obiected agaynst him howe he had conspired with Dauid the Kinges enimie and asked counsell of God for him and ayded him both with vittayle and weapon To the which Ahimelech aunswered and sayde Oh King who is so faythfull among all thy seruantes as Dauid is or had in more honor in all thy house is he not the Kings sonne in lawe and doth whatsoeuer thou commaundest him haue I not at other tymes as well as nowe asked counsell of God for him Let not my Lorde the King impute anye such wickednesse in me or in my fathers house for truely thy seruaunt knewe nothing of all this that thou layest to my charge eyther lesse or more Well quoth the King thou shalt surely die And so was this innocent man put to death with lxxxiiij Priestes mo and the Citie of Nob destroyed Ahijah was a Prophete borne in Silo and chauncing to méete with Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat without the Citie of Ierusalem in the playne fieldes hauing a new cloake vpon his backe he caught the cloake from him and rent it in twelue péeces deliuering ten péeces thereof to Ieroboam saying Thus will the Lorde rent the kingdome out of the handes of Salomon bicause he hath forsaken the Lorde and serued straunge Gods and gyue ten Tribes vnto thée Therefore take héede when thou arte King that thou walke in the wayes of the Lorde thy God for so long as thou kéepest his statutes and holy commaundements so long will the Lorde prosper thée in the kingdome Reade more of this Prophete in the storie of Abia the sonne of Ieroboam The father of king Baasa was called Ahijah of the house of Isachar Aholah and Aholibah were twoo Sisters vnder whose names is set forth the fornication that is to saye the Idolatrye of Samaria and Ierusalem Aholibama was the daughter of Ana and wife to Esau who brought him forth children which became great men in the worlde Aioth the sonne of Gera was the seconde Iudge of the Hebrues a man of great strength and valiant of courage and had equall strength and aptnesse in both hys handes He slewe Eglon king of the Moabites on thys wise when Eglon had long warred on the Iewes and taken from them diuers Cities and kept them in much miserie this Aioth came to him to Iericho bringyng vnto him certaine presentes which lyked him well and desired to speake wyth him priuily which was graunted and all other being commaunded to auoyde Aioth stroke Eglom to the heart twise The last tyme with such puissaunce that the knyfe with the hyltes remayned in the wounde and so leauing him deade departed without suspicion and came vnto his people declaring what he had done who being glad armed them and fell vppon the Moabites and slewe of them ten thousande and braue all the residue out of their countrie And so the Iewes being deliuered by the wisedome and vertue of Aioth after made hym their Iudge and Prince Who gouerned them .lxxx. yeares in peace and died a very olde man in much honor Alexander the sonne of Philip King of Macedonia slewe Darius king of the Persians and Medes and conquered the moste part of all the worlde in lesse than twelue yeares space whereof he became so prowde that God was displeased with him And being visited with sickenesse so sore that he must néedes die he called all his Lordes and Princes before him and departed his kingdome among them So that they after his death were crowned and reygned as Kings euery one seuerally in his owne dominion as was to them appointed He reigned .xij. yeares Alexander the sonne of Noble Antiochus tooke the Citie of Ptolomais and after that mooued warre against Demetrius who to preuent Alexander sent Ambassadours to Ionathas gouernour of the Iewes to haue his friendshippe promising him as many fayre and large offers as he coulde deuise But forasmuch as Ionathas had experience of his deceytfull dealings and howe cruell an enimie he had alwayes bene vnto the Iewes nation he refused the offer of Demetrius and ioyned in league with Alexander knowing him to be a faythfull Prince and euer his friende And so Alexander hauing the Iewes ayde stroke battayle with Demetrius in the which conflict Alexander slewe Demetrius and ouercame all his hoste Nowe when Alexander had conquered the lande and was set in the Trone of his progenitours a mariage was concluded betwéene him and Cleopatra the daughter of Ptolomie King of Egypt which was finished at the Citie of Ptolomias at the which triumph Alexander made Ionathas a Duke and partener of his dominion and after that for his worthinesse gaue him the Citie of Accaron Alexander nowe lying at Antioch and hearing howe the Cilicians had rebelled against him marched towarde them with a great power to suppresse the rebellion And being there occupied with his enimies Ptolomie in the meane season defeated him of his kingdome and toke his daughter Cleopatra gaue hir to Demetrius the sonne of Demetrius in mariage Alexander hearing of this returned home with all his host but Ptolomy being to strōg for him chased Alexander out of his Realme who for succor fled into Araby where the king of that land against al law of arms smote of his heade and sent it to Ptolomie for a present Alexander a Iewe borne and a ruler at Ephesus what time as Demetrius the Siluersmith mooued sedition in the Citie against Paul for the goddesse Diana was in the rage drawne out of the Common Hall and going forwarde beckonned with his hande to haue spoken but till the Towne Clarke had ceased the noyse which lasted two houres he coulde not be hearde And then to pacifie the people more by worldly wisedome than for any respect he had to Religion he sayde Ye men of Ephesus what man is he that knoweth not howe that the Citie of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddesse Diana and of the Image which came from Iupiter Seing then that no man sayeth hére against ye ought to be content and to doe nothing rashely For yée haue brought hyther these men which are neyther robbers of Churches neyther yet despysers of your goddesse Wherefore if Demetrius
here was a counsayler ready at hande I will tell thée sayde Ionadab what thou shalt doe lay thée downe vpon thy bedde and feigne thy selfe sicke and when Dauid thy father commeth to visite thée desire him to let Thamar thy sister come and dresse thée such meate as thou hast a lust vnto Ammon did so and when Thamar was come and had dressed him meate and brought it into his Chamber he commaunded all to auoyde and neuer rested vntill he had by force gotten his pleasure which done he fell into such an excéeding hatred of Thamar that he coulde not suffer hir to be in his sight but caused his seruaunt to thrust hir out of his house and to bolt the doores after hir For this shamefull incest of Ammon Absalom two yeares after at a banket slewe him Lot had a sonne called Ammon which was borne him of his yongest daughter of him came the Ammonites Amon the sonne of Manasses was .xxij. yeare olde when he began his reigne ouer Iuda and walked not in the wayes of the Lord but gaue himselfe more to wicked Idolatrie and worshipping of stincking Idols than euer his father did and woulde neuer turne vnto god Wherfore at last certaine of his owne men conspired against him and slewe him which conspirators the people of the lande notwithstanding put to death and made Iosiah his sonne King in his steade Amos was an heardeman or shepehearde of a poore Towne called Thieme and one of the twelue Prophetes which God raysed vp to admonishe the Israelites of their wickednesse and Idolatrie and to threaten them with his plagues and punishments if they did not repent Reade of his death in the storie of Amasiah The father of Isai Dauids father was called Amos and there the worde signifieth Strong Amram the sonne of Caath the sonne of Leuy tooke Iochebed his fathers Sister to wife who bare vnto him two sonnes Aaron and Moses and also a daughter called Miriam He liued an hundreth and thirtie eyght yeres Amraphael was King of Sinhar and one of the foure Kings which fought against fiue other Kinges in the valley of Syddin where he and his partie had the victorie Amry was the chiefe Captaine and gouernour of the whole armie of Ela the sonne of Baasa king of Israel And lying at the siege of Gibbethon a Citie of the Philistines the whole hoste there hearing of the death of Ela constituted Amry King in his steade But the residue of the Israelites which abode at home and were not with Amry at the siege made Thebni the sonne of Gineth king So that the people were deuided and in great contention for their King which continued for the space of thrée yeares till Thebni chaunced to dye and then the whole multitude receyued Amry for their King who began his reigne in the .xxxj. yeare of the reigne of Asa king of Iuda and reigned most wickedly of all others before him .xij. yeares and dyed leauing his sonne Achab to succéede him Anah the sonne of Zibeon as he fedde and kept hys fathers Asses in the wildernesse was the first that founde out the monstrous generation of Mules betwéene the Asse and the Mare He had a Sister also called Anah whose daughter Aholibamah was wyfe to Esau the sonne of Isaac Ananias was a certayne man who to be counted one of the Christian religion solde his possession with his Wiues cōsent and notwithstanding kept away part of the price therof and brought the rest and layd it downe at the Apostles féete whose dissembling hypocrisie being reuealed vnto Peter he sayde vnto him Ananias howe is it that Sathan hath filled thyne heart that thou shouldest lye vnto the holy Ghost and kéepe awaye part of the price of the possession Perteyned it not vnto thée onely and after it was solde was it not in thine owne power howe is it that thou hast conceyued this thing in thine heart Thou hast not lyed vnto men but vnto god And when Ananias hearde these wordes he fell downe and dyed Ananias the Disciple of Christ dwelling at Damascus had a vision appeared vnto him saying Ananias arise and go into the stréete which is called Straight and séeke in the house of Iudas for one Saul of Tharsus for beholde he prayeth and hath séene a vision a man named Ananias comming vnto him and putting his hands on him that he might receyue his sight Then sayd Ananias Lorde ▪ I haue hearde by many of this man howe much euill he hath done to thy Saintes at Ierusalem and here he hath aucthoritie of the hye Priestes to binde all that call vpon thy name ▪ Well sayd he go thy wayes for he is a chosen vessell vnto me to beare my name before the Gentyles and Kings and the children of Israel For I will shewe him howe great things he must suffer for my names sake Then Ananias went to Saule and layde his handes on him and sayde Brother Saule the Lord that appeared vnto thée in the way as thou camest hath sent me that thou mightest receyue thy sight and be filled with the holy ghost And so by the handes of Ananias Saule receiued his sight agayne There was another Ananias who being hye Priest commaunded Paule to be smitten on the mouth as he was aunswering for himselfe before the Counsell Andrewe a poore Fisher man ▪ was called with his brother Peter to be an Apostle When Christ demaunded of his Disciples where they might buye breade to satisfie the people that followed him Andrewe made answere and sayde there is a little boye here which hath fiue Barley loaues and two fishes but what is that among so many Andronicus being a man of aucthoritie and in great fauour with Antiochus King of Siria was left in Iewrie and made Lieutenaunt ouer the Iewes vntill the returne of the King who was gone to pacifie a certayne commotion made by the Tharsians and Mallacians And in the meane time being corrupt with bribes rewardes of that vngracious man Menelaus to dispatch the good and godly man Onias whom he so hated out of the way he went to Onias who for his safegarde had taken the benefite of Sanctuarie and with fayre wordes perswaded him to come forth binding himselfe with an othe he should haue no harme And when he sawe that Onias suspected him he fell vpon him incontinently and without any regard of righteousnesse slewe him Whose innocent death so offended the people that they made a grieuous complaint of Andronicus to the King at his comming home who caused that wicked murderer to be stripped out of his purple clothes and led most villanously thorow the Citie to the place where he had committed his vngracious acte and to suffer most shamefull death Andronicus the faythfull Disciple of Christ to whome Paule sendeth commendations on this wise Salute Andronicus and Iunia my Cosins and felowe
prisoners with me which are well taken among the Apostles and were in Christ before me Aner Mamre and Eschol were thrée brethren which when Lot was taken Prisoner among the Sodomites and caried away by Kadorlaomor and other Kinges that tooke his part ioyned themselues with Abraham in the rescuing of Lot his brothers sonne for the which their faithfull assistance at that present Abraham delt liberallye with them in the parting of the spoyle wonne at that voyage Anna the wyfe of Elkana was long barrayne and without childe which barrainnesse hir companion and Mate Phenenna did daily cast in hir téeth to hir great reproche Wherefore Anna was so full of heauinesse that God had made hir such a rayling stocke that she coulde eate no meate And being thus tormented and troubled in hir minde she gat hir into the Temple making there hir hearty prayers to God to giue hir a man chylde And as she prayed it fortuned Eli the Priest as he sate in the Temple to marke hir mouth and perceyuing hir lippes to mooue and no voyce hearde thought she had bene drunken saying Thou woman how long wilt thou be drunken put awaye thy drunkennesse from thée Nay my Lorde quoth she I am a woman troubled in spirite and haue drunken neyther wyne nor strong drinke but poure out my soule before the Lord count not thine handemaide to be a daughter of Belial for out of the abundance of my heauinesse and griefe haue I spoken hitherto and so desiring Eli to praye for hir she departed chearefully home to hir house and shortly after conceyued by Elkana hir husbande and bare him a sonne whose name she called Samuel And when she had brought vp the chylde and weaued it she prepared a sacrifice and went to the Temple presenting both it and hir chylde to Eli the Priest putting him also in remembrance that she was the same woman which stoode before him of late and prayed vnto God for that chylde and that now according to hir promise she was come to dedicate him vnto the Lorde And so after prayse and thankes giuing she departed leauing the chylde with Eli to minister in the Temple of god And euery yeare after woulde Anna make a little cote for Samuell hir sonne and bring it vp when she came with hir husbande to offer the yearely sacrifice And thus God tooke awaye hir rebuke of barrainnesse and blessed hir with children so that after Samuell she had thrée sonnes mo and two daughters Anna the Wife of olde Tobie hir husbande beyng blynde and in pouertie tooke weauing worke of women and laboured sore for hir liuing And when on a tyme she sent home the worke to the owners one sent hir a Kidde more than hir wages which she had earned And when Tobie hearde the Kidde bleate he sayde to Anna from whence came that Kydde is it not stollen restore it to the owners agayne for it is not lawfull to eate any thing of theft Then was Anna angry with Tobie and rebuked him as one whose trust in God was all in vaine After this it fortuned olde Tobie to sende yong Tobie his sonne to the City of Rages to receiue certaine money which in his prosperitie he had lent to one Gabelus Then Anna being full of heauynesse for the departure of hir sonne burst out and sayd to Tobie Oh what hast thou done why hast thou sent our sonne away I woulde to God that money had neuer bene required of vs but that we had bene content with our pouertie and kept our sonne at home What ayled vs to sende him into a straunge Countrey which was the only staffe of our age and comfort of our life and the hope of our generation Then sayd Tobie leaue thy wéeping and be not discomforted for the man that went with our sonne is so faythfull that he will bring him to vs againe safe and sounde Yet coulde not Anna with this be perswaded but woulde daily go out to the toppe of an hill and sit there to spie his comming And when at the last she sawe where he came a farre of she ranne home with great reioycing and folde hir husbande And so wayting to receyue hir sonne she wept for ioy when she sawe him Anna the daughter of Phanuel of the Tribe of Aser was a Prophetesse and had bene maried to an husbande seuen yeares and after continued a widow fourescore and foure yeares seruing God in the Temple with fasting and praying day and night And when Christ was brought into the Temple she came forth at that present praysing the Lorde and prophecied of that childe to all them that looked for the redemption of Israel Anna the wife of Raguel was Mother to Sara the wife of yong Tobie Annas had the first examination of Christ and sent him from him to Caiphas his sonne in lawe who was hye Priest for that yeare Antiochus the great being King of Siria and of such puissaunce and strength that he thought himselfe inuincible was at last ouercome of the Romaines and faine to relinquishe to them all his interest in Europa and Asia and to leaue his sonne Antiochus in hostage and so departed being contented with those countries that were left him till at last of a couetous minde he went to Perfide the chiefe Citie of Persia thinking there to haue robbed the Temple and to haue had great treasure therein And as he himselfe with a fewe mo was in the Temple about his businesse the Priestes at a priuie doore came in vpon him and cut him in small péeces and cast him out to be deuoured of the birdes and fowles of the ayre Antiochus Epifanes the sonne of Antiochus the great being stablished in his kingdome warred against Ptolomie king of Egypt vntill he had brought hys lande in subiection And hauing so good successe there he went against Israel and at last tooke and spoyled the Citie of Ierusalem and robbed the sanctuarie of all the precious Iewels and treasure therin subuerted all the holy lawes of God compelling the Iewes to worship Idols and to doe as the heathen did in all things he burned the bookes of the Lawe and whosoeuer had a booke of the Testament or were founde to be a fauourer thereof did suffer death Thus this vngracious and wicked subuerter of all true religion and godlynesse persecuted the true people of God and so long persisted in his great tirannie that God at last smote him with an incurable disease in his body which was so eaten with wormes and vermine that they fell quicke out of his flesh wherof ensued so great a stink that neyther he himselfe nor none that were about him might abyde the smell And so this wicked Tormentour of other was iustly recompenced with a miserable ende Antiochus Eupator the sonne of Antiochus Epifanes being but yong and vnder the gouernance of Lisias went into Iewrie with a great armie to subdue the Iewes
who so manfully resisted Antiochus that he was fayne considering the decrease of his people and the strength of the place besieged to offer them peace and to graunt them libertie to liue according to their owne lawes whose couenants being receyued the Iewes came out of the castle of Sion to giue place to Antiochus who notwithstanding his othe when he saw the defence therof commaunded the walles round about to be cast downe and destroyed from thence departed to Antioch where he fought with Philip which was come out of Persia and wanne the Citie out of his handes And lying there Demetrius the sonne of Seleuchus came to Antioch and tooke Antiochus and Lisias and put them both to death Antiochus the sonne of Alexander being but a child was first vnder the gouernance of Emascuel the Arabian and remoued from him to the tuition of one Triphon of whome he was most traiterously murthered Antiochus the sonne of Demetrius for as much as Triphon had bene his fathers vtter enimye made a couenaunt of friendship with Simon the hye Priest and Prince of the Iewes that he might the better ouercome Triphon whome he persecuted and droue to the Citie of Dora lying by the sea side which Citie he besieged with an hundred and twentie thousand footemen and viij thousande horsemen And lying there Simon sent him two thousande chosen men with siluer and golde and much furniture to helpe him Who notwithstanding his bonde of loue he had made with Simon before refused nowe his friendshippe and fell at defiaunce wyth him and all the Iewes and was euer after that their continuall enimie Antipas was a faythfull Martyr of Christ 1. Mac. 12. b. 14. c. Antipator the sonne of Iason first by Ionathas and after by Simon was sent Ambassadour to Rome to renue the olde friendshippe betwéene the Iewes and Romaines ¶ Antipater For the Father or against the Father 3. Esd 4. c. Apame was Daughter to that famous King Bartacus and Concubine to a certayne great King who was of such power and might that all landes stoode in awe of him And where as no man durst presume to lay handes vppon this King yet Apame sitting by his side vpon the right hande tooke of his Crowne from his head and set it vpon hir owne heade and smote the King with hir left hand who in the meane time did nothing but gape and looke vpon hir if she laughed vpon him he laughed if she were angrie then he flattered to winne hir fauour agayne ¶ Apame Expelling or driuing forth Rom. 16. b. Apelles was a faythfull Christen brother and one as it séemeth that had sustayned trouble for the Gospell sake For Saint Paule sending salutacions to the Christians at Rome sayth thus Salute Apelles approoued in Christ ¶ Apelles Expelling or driuing away 1. Mac. 3. a. Appolonius the Gouernour of Siria came against Iudas Machabeus with a great hoste of the heathen and in th ende was slayne Whose sworde pleased Iudas so well that he kept it for a memorie and vsed it for his weapon all the dayes of his life in tyme of warre ¶ Appolonius Vndooing or destroying 2. Mac. 4. a. 5. d. Appolonius the sonne of Thersa Gouerneur of Celosiria and Phinches a man set all vpon tirannie was sent to Ierusalem agaynst the Iewes whome he hated with an armie of twâ—ntie thousande men and commaunded by the King Antiochus to kyll all that were of perfit age and to sell the Women Maydens and Children who at his first comming to the citie made a shewe of peace and laye still till the Sabboth daye And then knowing the Iewes woulde not breake their lawe to make resistance he fell vpon them and did his commission with all extremitie Act. 18. d. Apollos was an eloquent man a Iewe borne at Alexandria and well instructed and had but as yet the first principles of Christes religion which was the Baptime or doctrine of Iohn onely The same being somewhat entred in the way of the Lord began to be feruent in the spiritc and to speake boldly at Ephesus where Aquila and Priscilla chaunced to heare him and perceyuing he was not fully instructed in the preceptes of the Gospell they * This great learned and eloquent maÌ„ disdayned not to bee taught of a poore crafts man. tooke him home with them and expounded vnto him the way of the Lorde more perfitely which was the way to saluation And when he was christened in the name of Iesus and had receyued the holy Ghost he was desirous go into Achaia where at Corinth he did valiantly set forth the Gospell confounding the Iewes with plaine euident Testimonies of Scriptures that Iesus was the same Messias whome the Iewes had so many hundreth yeares looked for Act. 18. cap. Aquila was a certaine Iewe borne in Ponthus lateiy come out of Italie with his wyfe Priscilla to Corinth bicause the Emperour Claudius had commaunded all Iewes to depart from Rome His Craft was to sowe togither skinnes to make Tentes and Pauilions withall Paule who was of the same occupation when he came to Corinth lodged in this mannes house and wrought with him And after a yeare and a halfe departed from Corinth and went togithers to Ephesus where Aquila and Priscilla made their aboade And remayning there behynde Paule who had taken his iourney towards Ierusalem it fortuned Apollos an Alexandrian borne an eloquent man and well learned to come to Ephesus and preached Christ so much as he had learned of him by Iohns Baptime for more he knewe not And when Aquila and Priscilla had hearde his preaching and perceyuing him not to be as yet fullye instructed in the knowledge of Christ tooke him home with them and seuerally taught him more perfitely the mysteries of the Gospell ¶ Aquila an Egle. Gen. 11. d. Aran was the sonne of Terah brother to Nahor and Abraham and father to Lot and the first man that scripture maketh mention of that by the course of nature died before his father ¶ Aran an Hill or hilly Math. 2. d. Archelaus was the sonne of Herode king of the Iewes In whose time Ioseph * This king reigned .ix. yeares ouer the Iewes and finallye was banished into France thorowe his insolencie with Glasira his brother Alexanders wydow whoÌ„ he had maryed Lanquet returned out of Egypt with the chylde Jesus to go into the lande of Israell But when he hearde that Archelaus did reigne in Iewrie in his fathers steade fearing least he had succéeded in his fathers cruelnesse lyke as in hys kingdome durst not go thither but turned aside into the parties of Galilie and dwelt there in a Citie called Nazareth ¶ Archelaus a Prince of the people Archippus was the * Col. 4. d. instructour of the Colossians and admonished by Paule to take diligent héede to the office which was committed vnto him to perfourme it whereof he shoulde yéelde
lesse fauour to the sonnes of Berzelai for their fathers sake than euer he himselfe had done ¶ Berzelai Made of yron or as harde as yron 2. Reg. 11. ca. Bethsabe was the daughter of Eliam and wyfe to Urias which was with Ioab in the Kings warres On a tyme as Bethsabe was washing hir selfe in hir priuye garden alone It chaunced King Dauid to looke out at a window in his palace saw hir whose bewty so rauished the King that forthwithall he sent for the woman and committed adulterie with hir and so sent hir home againe Then shortly after she perceyuing hir selfe with chylde sent the King worde thereof who then partly to hide his owne fault and partly to saue the woman from daunger of the lawe sent for Urias to come home But when Dauid sawe that Urias woulde not company with his wyfe Bethsabe he returned him backe againe to Ioab with a letter which caused Urias quickly to be dispatched out of his lyfe after whose death Bethsabe became Dauids wyfe and brought forth the chylde conceyued in adulterie which liued not long but dyed After that she 12. f. conceyued agayne and brought forth Salomon Lastly when Dauid was fallen into extréeme age and that she sawe Adonia the son of Agith begin to aspire to the kingdome of his father yet liuing she went by the counsell of Nathan the Prophet who had taught hir hyr lesson vnto Dauid hir husbande And making hir humble obeysance vnto the King as he sate in his Chamber and Abisag the Sunamite ministring vnto him he sayde vnto hir what is the matter She aunswered my Lorde thou swarest by the Lorde thy God vnto thine handmayde saying assuredly Salomon thy sonne shall reigne after me and he shall sit vpon my seate And behold now is Adonia King and thou my Lord the king knowest it not He hath offred Oxen fat Cattell and many shéepe and hath called all the Kings sonnes and Abiathar the Priest and Ioab the Captaine of the hoste But Salomon thy seruant hath he not bidden And nowe my Lorde O King the eyes of all Israell wayte on thée that thou shouldest tell them who ought to sit on the seate of my Lorde the King after him for else when my Lorde the King shall sléepe wyth his fathers I and my sonne Salomon shall be sinners The Quéene had no sooner ended hir tale but the Prophet Nathan came and confirmed hir wordes Wherevpon the King assured Bethsabe that Salomon hir son shoulde be that daye proclaymed to reigne in his steade The Quéene then humbling hir selfe with thankes desired of God that hir Lorde King Dauid might liue for euer Looke more in the historie of Adonia ¶ Bethsabe The seauenth daughter or the daughter of an Othe Exo. 31. a. 35. d. 36. 37. and 38. cap. Bezaleel the sonne of Uri of the Tribe of Iuda and Ahaliab of the Tribe of Dan were two cunning workemen most speciallye endued with the spirite of God to worke all maner curious worke that was to be wrought in Golde Siluer Brasse Woode Stone or with Néedle worke so that by these two the Tabernacle of wytnesse with all things pertayning therevnto was most artificially made ¶ Bezaleel in the shadowe of God. Gen. 29. f. 30. a. 35. d. Bilha was a yong Damosell which serued Laban the father of Rachel and when Rachel shoulde be maried to Iacob Laban gaue Bilha his mayde to Rachel his daughter to be hâ—â— seruaunt And when Rachel perceyued she coulde bâ—â—re Iacob no children she gaue Bilha hir mayde vnto him to be his wyfe who conceyued by Iacob and brought him forth two sonnes the one Dan and the other Nephtaly ¶ Bilha Olde or fading Gen. 14. a. b. Birsa was one of the foure Kinges that fought agaynst fiue other Kings in the vale of Siddim ¶ Birsa in Euill or in iniquitie or condemned or a sonne that looketh back Reade Arioch Ruth 2. 3. 4. Boos the sonne of Salomon was a great rich man dwelling in a Citie called Bethléem within the lande of Iuda Who on a tyme going to the fieldes to looke vpon his Reapers and finding there a yong Damosell a leasing demaunded of his workemen â–ª what she was To whome answere was made she was a straunger come with Naomie out of the Countrie of Moab Then went Boos to the Mayde and sayde hearest thou my daughter Here is a notable example for all riche Farmers which bee so vnmercifull y they wil not suffer their needy neyghbour to lease in their grouÌ„d wheras Boos was so mercifull to this straunger whose nation were enimies to gods people go to no other fielde a leasing I charge thée so long as Haruest tyme endureth but to myne tary here by my Maydens and gather as much as thou wilt and spare not for no man shall let thée neither yet hurt thée And when thou art hungry and a thirst go with my Maidens and eate and drinke such as they haue for they shall not denie thée And so departing from hir he went to his men seruants commaunding them to intreate hir gentlye and to leaue some sheaues on the grounde for the nonce for hir to take vp without shame Nowe after this it chaunced Boos to haue knowledge that this yong Damosell was his kinsewoman and that it was his lot to marrie hir which he was well content to doe considering hir to be a woman of good report and of much vertue But yet for as much as he knewe another to be more neare of kinne to hir than he he could not defraude him of his right therefore to knowe what he woulde doe in this matter he went and called his kinseman before the Congregation and sayde Sir we haue here a kinswoman lately returned out of the lande of Moab one Naomie and she will sell a péece of lande which was our brother Elimelechs If thou be disposed to buie it doe if not then tell me for there is none to challenge it saue thou and I next vnto thée Then sayde he to Boos I will purchase it Well sayde Boos looke what day thou buyest the lande of Naomie thou must also take * He woulde haue the land but not the woman Ruthe the Moabite to wyfe to rayse vp the name of the deade vpon his enheritance Then he reuoking his worde agayne sayde that he coulde not purchase it for marring of his owne inheritance Therefore take thou my right and purchase it and so drew of his * The maner of purchasing â–ª shooe and gaue it to Boos for that was the custome of olde in Israel concerning purchasing and chaunging of inheritaunce to plucke of his shooe and giue it to his neyghbour in witnesse that the thing betwéene them was truely bought and solde Then Boos hauing his kinsemans shooe sayd vnto the people ye are witnesses all this day that I haue bought all that was Elimelechs all that pertayned to his two sonnes *
Chilion perfect or all like a Doue Chilion and Mahlon of the hand of Naomie and also haue purchased Ruth the Moabite the late wyfe of Mahlon to be my wyfe to stirre vp the name of the deade vpon his inheritance that his name be not put out among his brethren And all the people witnessed the same praying vnto the Lorde for Ruth to make hir as fruitefull as he did both Rachel Lea and Thamar And so Boos maryed Ruth who in processe conceyued and bare him a Sonne called Obed. ¶ Boos in Power or strength C. CAath was the sonne of Leuy had foure sonnes whereof the eldest was Amram the father of Moses and Aaron He liued 133. yeares Cain was the first sonne that Adam and Eue brought forth betwéene them and of an vnhappy disposition giuen to all vngraciousnesse He was the first tyller of the grounde and woulde alwayes offer the woorst and the vilest of the fruites of the earth vnto god Wherefore the Lorde had no respect to his offering And because God preferred his brother Abels offering before his he was so stirred with malice and enuie agaynst him that he fell vpon him in the fieldes and slue him Wherfore the Lord promised to withdrawe the increase of the grounde from Cain and so being in desperation he wandred about like a vagabonde in euery corner with much feare and treambling least any man shoulde kill him and at last Lamech slue him Caiphas was sonne in lawe to Annas and the hye Bishop in the time of Christes apprehension of whome he prophecied that it was expedient for one man to dye rather than all the people shoulde perishe Which thing he spake not of himselfe but God made him at that time euen as he made Balaam to be an instrument of the holye ghost And Christ being sent from Annas to him bounde to be examined was so caried from him to Pilate that he by the Temporall lawes might iudge hym to death Caleb was the sonne of Iephun otherwyse called Kenes of the Tribe of Iuda and one of those whom Moses sent out to search the lande of Canaan what maner of Countrie it was at the which time of going out he was about the age of .xl. yeres And when he and his companie had vewed the lande and were returned home agayne certaine of the explorators made an euill report to their brethren of that good land saying it was a countrey of strong and fierse people and such a lande as did eate vp the inhabiters thereof and with lyke perswasions made them both astonied and afrayde and to murmur grudge agaynst Moses and Aaron saying they woulde make them a Captayne and go into Egypt agayne Then Caleb and Iosua séeing their brethren so discomfited rent their clothes for sorrow and sayde Oh deare brethren be ye not discouraged at these false surmised tales neyther yet rebell agaynst the Lorde for we haue séene the lande as well as they that haue discouraged you and knowe it to be a better lande than they report a lande that floweth with milke and hony And as for the people therein feare them not for they be but breade for vs their shielde is departed from them and God is with vs therefore plucke vp your hearts and feare not With these and the like comfortable sayinges Caleb and Iosua withdrew the furie of the multitude which were ready to destroye them and also ceased their murmuring which murmuration of the people so gricued the Lorde that he swore to Moses that not one of them all shoulde sée that good lande saue Caleb and Iosua although their children shoulde sée it But first sayde God to Moses they shall wander in the wyldernesse fortie yeares and suffer for their fathers whoredome vntill their fathers carkasses be wasted a yeare for a daye according to the number of dayes in searching the lande which was fortie dayes And bicause Caleb followed the Lorde continually God swore to Moses that Caleb and his séede shoulde inherite that lande which came so to passe for after xlv yeares Caleb then being at the age of .lxxxv. yeres and as lusty as he was when Moses sent him first to search the lande required of Iosua his heritage who appoynted out vnto him the Citie of Hebron with the Countries thereabout out of the which Citie he droue out the thrée sonnes of Enach This Caleb had a yonger brother called Othoniel to whome he gaue his daughter Acsah to wyfe for taking of a certayne Citie called Kariasepher Carpus was a certayne godlye man dwelling at Croada with whome Paule left his Cloake with certaine bookes which he desired Timothie to bring with him when he came to him agayne Cendebius was Captayne Generall of Antiochus hoste And when he had done much harme in the lande of Iewrie and builded vppe Cedron and fortified it wyth men of warre he was at the last by the sonnes of Simon discomfited and put to flight Cereas was brother to Timotheus and Captayne of a strong Castle called Gazar into the which Timotheus being ouercome of Iudas Machabeus was fayne to flie for succor Nowe Cereas and they that were wyth him in the Forte trusted so much to the strength of the place that they fell to rayling and cursing of their enimies without who notwithstanding set so manfully vppon the holde that at last they wanne it and tooke the blasphemers and burnt them quicke slue this Cereas and his brother Timotheus with another famous Captaine called Appollophanes Cetura looke Ketura Chodorlaomor looke Kedorlaomor Cis was the sonne of Abiel of the Tribe of Beniamin and father to King Saule â–ª Whose Asses on a time being strayed abroade he sayde vnto Saule his Sonne Take one of the Laddes with thée and go and séeke out mine Asses that are lost This Cis is called also the sonne of Ner. 1. Par. 8. c. Cis the sonne of Abi Gibeon his mother was called Maacah Cis the sonne of Mahly sonne to Merari His brothers name was Eleazar Whose daughters he being deade the sonnes of this Cis tooke to their Wyues Claudia was a certaine godly brother who being with Paule at Rome sent as other mo did gréetings to Timothie in Paules letter Claudius was an Emperour in whose tyme the fourth yeare of his reygne was a great dearth thorâ—â— out all the worlde whereof Agabus the Prophet prophâ—cied aforehande Cleopatra the daughter of King Ptolomie was maried to Alexander the sonne of noble Antiochus And agayne for displeasure taken from Alexander hir lawfull husbande and giuen to Demetrius the sonne of Demetrius Cleophas was the husbande of Mary sister to Mary the mother of Christ and one of the two Disciples which after the death of Christ went to the towne of Emaus talking and reasoning togithers of all things that had happened to Iesus and as they were
farre excéeded all other in wysedome and learning that Salomon was compared vnto them Darius in taking of Babilon slue King Balthasar and possessed his kingdome In the seconde yeare of his raigne he graunted the same licence vnto the Iewes to builde againe the Citie of Ierusalem and the house of God that King Cyrus had graunted to them in the first yeare of his raigne And for so much as the worke had béene much hindered from the first yeare of Cyrus vnto the seconde yeare of this King Darius he gaue a strayte commaundement that whosoeuer dyd from hencefoorth hinder or let that worke a Beame shoulde be taken from that mans house and he hanged thereon and his house made a dunghill And so the buylding went forwarde with spéede and was perfectly finished in the sixte yeare of his raigne Dathan and Abiram were the sonnes of Eliab and two of the chiefe Captaynes with Chore in the insurrection against Moses on whom God tooke such vengeance that he caused the earth to open and swallow them vp quick Reade the story of Chore. Dauid was the yoongest sonne of Isai and by Gods commaundement annoynted King of Israell Saule yet raigning of the Prophet Samuel Wherefore Saule fearing that Dauid would defeate him of his kingdome vexed hym with continuall persecution during the which tyme Dauid shewed notable examples both of pacience and true obedient seruice to Saule his soueraigne Lorde And first to shew his obedient and faithfull heart to his Prince and loue he bare to his countrey he put himselfe in daunger to fight with that great monster Goliah and slue him of whome the king and all the host of Israell stoode in great feare And after this act also when Saule of enuie that the women in their daunce had giuen to Dauid more prayse than to him threwe his Iauelin at Dauid as he stoode and played on his Harpe before him to haue nayled him fast to the wall Dauid auoyded and armed himselfe with pacience and neuer sought other meanes to reuenge In so much that when Saule by the prouidence of God came into the Caue to ease himselfe in the which Caue Dauid lay hid for feare of Saul he woulde not being prouoked put foorth his hande to hurt his mayster But cut of a péece of the hemme of his coate in token that he might haue killed him And yet after that it sore repented him that he had done so much injury vnto his soueraigne Lorde and maister although he was his most gréeuous enimy and euery houre sought his death Also when he came into the host of Saule and founde the King and his men fast a sléepe he woulde not for his owne priuate cause though Iehu slue two Kinges at Gods commaundement lay his hand vpon the Lords annointed but onely that he shoulde know that Dauid was there might haue béene reuenged tooke his speare and pot of water which stoode at his heade and went hys waye Finally when it pleased God to deliuer him of his enimie in battaile against the Philistines one to get thanke of Dauid brought vnto him Saules crowne and the Bracelet that he wore on hys arme certifying him of the Kings death and that he with his owne handes had killed him whose acte dyd so much abhorre Dauid that he thought the man not woorthy to lyue but put him to death by and by Read more of Dauids pacient suffering and obedient seruice in the story of Michol Ionathas Ahimelech Achis and Absalon his sonne Nowe when Saule was dead Dauid was admitted king and reigned ouer Iuda .vij. yeares after which time expired he reigned both ouer Israel and Iuda .xxxiij. yeares And dyd that which was good in the sight of God and put his trust confidence in the Lord God of Israel so that before nor after him was not his like He cleaued so vnto the Lord that God of him bare witnesse that he had founde a man according to his hearts desire To him God made a promise that Christ shoulde come of his séede for the which cause Christ of the Prophets is called the sonne of Dauid To this holy Prophet God gaue many victories and excellent giftes which are touched in other stories and yet among all his vertues he suffred him to fall into the abhominable vice of adulterie and homicide and most gréeuously punished him for the same who notwithstanding after earnest repentaunce was receyued agayne into the fauour of God and neuer after offended in that sinne more Finally after many conflictes with his enimies he died after he had reigned .xl. yeares leauing Salomon his sonne to succéede him Debora the wyfe of one Lapidoth was a Prophetesse and the fourth Iudge and gouernour of the people of Israel who by the power and pleasure of God and helpe of Barack the Captayne of hir armie deliuered them from the Tyrannie of King Iabyn and of Sisera his Captaine generall putting the king to a great foyle in flying of his Captain Sisera Thorow the which victorie the Israelites were restored to libertie and their enimies the Cananites vtterly confounded She iudged Israel .xl. yeares Demas was Christes Disciple a great while and a faythfull minister to Paule and neuer shranke from him nor his doctrine so long as all things prospered well with Paule But when he saw Paule cast in pryson and in daunger of his life for the Gospels sake He forsooke both him and his doctrine and imbraceing the worlde conueighed himselfe to Thessalonica Such there be that so long as pleasure profite fauour honour glory or riches doe followe the worde of God so long will they fauour the same But when affliction persecution losse of goods riches landes possessions or such like aduersities doe come then they doe as Demas dyd forsake the Gospel and followe the worlde Demetrius the sonne of Sceleucus came from Rome with a small company of men to a certaine Citie of his owne lying vpon the Sea coast and prepared an armie to go to Antioche the Citie of his Progenitours where he founde Antiochus and Lisias which both he caused to be slayne and being stablished in his kingdom he began through the wicked counsell of Alcimus whom he had made hye Priest to séeke the destruction of the Iewes sending foorth diuers armies against them in the which he spedde diuersly Finally the sonne of noble Antiochus mooued warre agaynst hym and in battell slue him Demetrius the sonne of Demetrius being in the lande of Creta at his fathers death made haste homewarde to take possession of his Kingdome And being stablished therein he began to waxe mightie â–ª â—y reason that Ptolomy King of Egipt had withdrawne his fauour from Alexander his sonne in law and taken his daughter Cleopatra from him and giuen hir to Demetrius And also for as much as Ptolomy and Alexander lyued not long after the strife
begun betwéene them Demetrius for a space had great rest The Captaine of Demetrius hoste was Appolonius a great enimie of the Iewes whom Ionathas discomfited at the first conflict betwéene them Upon the which Demetrius perceyuing Ionathas power to be strong was content to be at peace with him and to make all Iewry frée Which being done all the lande was in such quietnesse that Demetrius sent away his hoste all saue a fewe straungers whereat the hoste was displeased Then Triphon who had béene a foretime on Alexandâ—â—s partie perceyuing Demetrius hoste to murmour agaynst hym mooued Antiochus the sonne of Alexander to warre agaynst Demetrius who being nowe in great feare of the men of Antioche with whom he had somewhat to doe sent to Ionathas to haue his ayde who sent hym thrée thousande of such picked men that deliuered Demetrius out of daunger and slue an hundred thousand of the Antiocheans so that the reast were fayne to cast downe their weapons to yéelde them to Demetrius who notwithstanding the great fidelitie of Ionathas and the benefite he had done hym after he was at rest agayne dyd not rewarde him according but most deceytfully dissembled and withdrew himselfe from Ionathas and vexed him and the Iewes very sore After this came Tryphon with all the hoste which Demetrius had put away and fought against Demetrius and put hym to flight and made hym fayne at the last to go into Medea to séeke ayde and helpe where Arsaces King of the lande tooke him and kept him in warde as a prisoner during his life Demetrius This man was a Siluersmyth by his occupasion dwelling at Ephesus which made siluer Shrynes and Tabernacles for Diana the goddesse And forasmuch as Paule by the space of twoo yeares had preached there against Images made with mans hande saying that they were no goddes He least his profite should decay called togithers all such as had aduantage by making Images of Diana and all craftes men of the same occupacion whome he knew woulde fauour his cause and began to saye vnto them on this wyse Maisters yée knowe that by this Craft we haue vauntage moreouer yée sée and heare that not onely at Ephesus but almost thoroweut all Asia this Paule hath perswaded and turned away much people saying That they be no goddes which are made with handes So that not onely this our Craft commeth into perill and to be set at naught But also that the Temple of the great goddesse Diana should â—e despised and hir magnificence destroyed which all Asia and the world woorshippeth With this sedicious Oracion made by Demetrius the people were in such a furie that they cryed out saying Great is Diana of the Ephesians and with that rushed into the common Hall with one assent where they missing of Paule caught two of his companions in the which rage some cryed one thing and some another and were so farre out of order that the most part knowe not the cause of their concourse togithers so that with great difficultie the matter was pacyfied Reade the storie of Alexander the Iewe borne in the same place Demetrius This was a faithfull Christen man hauing for a testimonie thereof a good reporte as well of Paule himselfe as of all other to be an earnest fauourer of the Gospel of Christ Denis or Dionysius was a certayne Senatour whome Paule conuerted at the Citie of Athens and instituted him Bishop thereof ¶ In Fasciculâ—s temporum it is written that this Denis was martyred in Fraunce whereby it may euidentlye be gathered that the Gospel of Christe our Sauiour was preached in Fraunce in the Apostles time or very nye vnto their Tyme Diana was a Goddesse whom the Ephesians most supersticiouslye dyd woorship Reade Demetrius the Siluersmyth and Alexander the Iewe. Diotrephes was so wicked a man and so malicious an enimie vnto the Christian brethren that hée coulde not say well of them nor yet abyde to heare other giue them good report he woulde neyther receyue them himselfe nor suffer those that would but thrust them out of the Church Diues the riche and coueteous Glutton so much delited and gloried in his great abundaunce of treasure fine and costly apparell sumpteous and delicious fare eche day that his whole selicitie and pleasure was onely in pampering vp of hymselfe hauing no compassion were his miserie neuer so great on the poore and néedy as it dyd appeare by Lazarus the Begger lying at his gates and looking for some reléefe of the scraps that fell from his boord But when this glutton was dead and his body with pompe brought to his graue and his soule also in the torments of hell He than lifting vp his eyes and beholding Abraham a great way of and the Begger with him in ioye cryed out to Abraham requesting him that Lazarus might nowe come downe and dip the tip of his finger in water to slake the great heate of his tongue for I am sayth he most gréeuously tormented in this Ardent flame But to this his other most vayne and fantasticall request he made for his brethren to haue them admonished by one that came from the dead Abraham made aunswere and sayde That for so much as he had consumed and spent away the tyme of his life volupteously in the pleasures and delights of the worlde and woulde at no tyme repent he therefore was nowe most iustly condemned to suffer parpetuall payne in the fire of hell Doeg an Edomite borne was King Saules seruaunt and the mayster of them that kept his cattell When Dauid came to Ahimelech the Priest of Nob and had receyued the shewe breade with the sworde of Goliah This Doeg was there present the same day tarying to worship before the Lorde and sawe and hearde all things that was done betwéene them And when he was returned home and had wayted his time when he might best pleasure the King hée vp and accused Ahimelech of all that he had done vnto Dauid And when the King had iudged that good and godlye man to dye this Doeg at the Kings commaundement all other resusing that wicked déede fell vpon Ahimelech with his sworde and slue both him and all the Priestes of the Lorde to the number of 85. Dorcas was a certaine godly woman and a Disciple of Christ dwelling at Ioppa who in hir lyfe time had bene vertuously occupied and specially in the works of mercy relieuing the poore and néedie And whyle Peter was preaching and doing his office at Lydda which was not farre from Ioppa it was hir chaunce to fall sicke and die And when hir friendes had done with wasshing the deade corps and laid it forth in an vpper chamber to he annoynted they sent for Peter to come vnto them who being come they had him vp to the Chamber where the deade Corse lay where the Wydowes came about him wéeping and laying forth the Coates and other garmentes which
she had prepared in hir life time for the poore before him Then Peter put them all forth of the Chamber And being alone knéeled downe and prayed and turning him to the bodie sayde Tabitha aâ—â—se at the which worde she arose and looked vpon 〈◊〉 who then gaue hir his hande and lift hir vp and called the Saints and Wydowes and restored Dorcas vnto them aliue Dositheus was a certayne Noble Captayne with Iudas Machabeus who by the helpe of Sosipater another Captayne defended the Iewes manfullye agaynst Timotheus and slue tenne thousande of his men which were left in a strong holde and after that tooke Timothie himselfe in battell and notwithstanding let him go agayne vppon his promise made vnto them that he would restore al the Iewes home againe which he had in prison thinking that the best and most surest way to saue the liues of their captiue brethren After this it chaunced Dositheus a mightie man on horsebacke to encounter with Gorgias another great Captayne and enimie of the Iewes and tooke him entending to haue caryed him away aliue But an horseman of Thracia fell vpon him and smote off his arme and so Gorgias escaped and fled into Moresa Drusilla was a Iew and wyfe to Felix by whose counsell sayth the Note in Geneuaes Bible he called for Paule and heard him of the fayth in Christ E. EBer was the sonne of Selah of the generation of Sem. He had twoo sonnes the one Peleg in whose dayes the earth was diuided and the other Ioktan This Eber liued before and after he begat Peleg 464. yeares Of Eber came the Ebrues which were afterwarde called Israelites of Israel which was Iacob And Iewes of Iuda bicause of the excellencie of that Tribe Ela the sonne of Baasa began his reigne ouer Israel in the .xxvj. yeare of Asa king of Iuda and walked in all the wicked wayes of his father before him In the seconde yeare of his reigne or there about Zimri his seruant and Captaine of his Charets conspired against him and finding him drunken in the house of Arza the Kings Stewarde he fell vpon him and slue him Elam was the sonne of Sem. Exod. 6. d. Eleazar the sonne of Aaron was constituted hye Priest after the decease of his father and so was the seconde Num. 20. d. Bishop ouer the Iewes He tooke to wyfe one of Iosua 24. g. the daughters of Putuel which bare him a sonne called Phinehes Finally he dyed and was buryed in a hyll that pertayned to Phinehes his sonne which hyll was giuen him in Mount Ephraim ¶ Eleazar the helpe of God. 1. Mac. 6. â— Eleazar the sonne of Saura was a woorthy Captayne with Iudas Machabeus what tyme as Antiochus Eupater came into Iewrie with a mightie strong army both of men and Olephants which beastes being .xxxij. in number were strongly fenced and surely harnessed and well exercised to battell And when the hostes were ioyned togither Eleazar beholding one of the Olephants deckt with royall harnesse and farre excelling all the other beastes he supposed the King himselfe had bene vppon him wherefore he ieoperded himselfe to delyuer hys people and with a good courage ranne to the Olephant in the middest of the hoste slaying all about him as he went and at last came vnto the beast and gat himselfe vnder his féete and smote him in the belly and slue the Olephant The weight of whose deade body crushed Eleazar in péeces and so he dyed 2. Mac. 6. c. d. â— Eleazar was one of the principall Scribes among the Iewes and an aged man of a welfauoured countenance who when that cruell King Antiochus had sent his Commissioners to compell the Iewes to transgresse the lawes of their God was constrayned to gape wyth open mouth and to eate Swynes fleshe but he desiring rather to dye grieuously than to liue with hatred offered himselfe willingly to the torment and spit it out Then they that had the charge of the Kings wicked acte for the olde friendship of the man tooke him aside priuilye and prayed him that he woulde take such fleshe as was lawfull to eate and dissemble as though he had eaten euen of the things appointed by the King euen the fleshe of the sacrifice that in so dooing he might be deliuered from death and that for the olde friendship that was among them he woulde receyue this fauour But he began to consider discretely and as became his age and the excellencie of his ancient yeares and the honor of his gray heares wherevnto he was come and his moste honest conuersation from his childehoode but chiefly the holye lawe made and giuen by God therefore he aunswered them consequently and willed them streyght wayes to sende him to the graue for it becommeth not our age sayde he to dissemble whereby manye yong persons might thinke that Eleazar being 90. yeares olde were nowe gone to another maner of lyfe And so thorowe mine hypocrisie for a little time of a transitorie life they might be deceyued by me and I shoulde procure malediction and reproch to mine olde age For though I were nowe deliuered from the torments of men yet coulde I not escape the hande of the Almightie neyther aliue nor dead Wherfore I will now chaunge this lyfe manfully and will shewe my selfe such as mine age requireth And so will leaue a notable example for such as be yong to die willingly couragiously for the honorable holy lawes and when he had sayde these wordes immediately hée went to torment And as he was readye to giue vp the ghost he sighed and sayde The Lorde that hath the holy knowledge knoweth manifestly that whereas I might haue bene deliuered from death I am scourged and suffer these sore paynes of my bodie but in my minde I suffer them gladly for his religion Thus this man ended his lyfe leauing his death for an example of a noble courage and a memoriall of vertue not onely vnto yoong men but vnto all his nation 1. Reg. 1. b. 2. c. â— Eli was the next Iudge after Sampson that iudged Israel and the hye Priest descended from Aaron He had twoo sonnes the one called Hophni the other Phinehes which were so wicked that euerye man complained on them And bicause that Eli did not punishe them according to their desertes God sent him worde by his Prophete that for as much as he had not ministred due correction vnto his sonnes for their great offences he woulde surely remooue the hye Priests office from his house for euer and stirre him vp a * Meaning Sador who succeded â—biathar and was the figure of christ faithfull Priest which shoulde doe according to his hearts desire And this shall be to thée sayd he a signe and token that shall come vpon thy two sonnes euen in one day they shall both die And so it came to passe for when the Philistines went out to battell agaynst Israel the twoo
the grounde and he smote thrice and ceassed Then was the Prophet angry that he had smitten the grounde no oftener for if sayde he thou had smitten fiue or sixe times thou hadst smitten Siria vntill thou hadst made an ende of them where nowe thou shalt smite them but thryce and so Eliseus dyed and was buried The same yeare came the Moabites into the lande of Israel and as some of the Israelites were burying of a man and had spyed the Souldiers they cast the man into the sepulchre where Eliseus the Prophet was buried and when the deade man was rolled downe and touched the bodye of Eliseus he reuiued and stoode vp vppon his féete as liuely as euer he was Luk. 1. c. d. e. f. Elizabeth was the wife of Zacharie the Priest and came of the daughters and posteritie of Aaron She was long barren but at last shée conceyued by Zacharie hir husbande according as the Angell of God had sayde vnto him And being great with chylde Marie the wife of Ioseph which was also conceyued by the holy ghost came to visite Elizabeth hir cosin who had no sooner hearde the salutacion of Marie the Mother of God but the Babe sprang in hir belly wherewith she was filled with the holy ghost and cried out with a lowde voyce saying Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruite of thy wombe And whence happeneth this to me that the mother of my Lorde should come to me For behold as sone as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine eares the Babe sprang in my belly for ioye And blessed is she that beléeued for those things shall be perfourmed which were tolde hir from the Lorde And when the time was come that Elizabeth shoulde be deliuered she brought forth a sonne which hir neyghbours and kinsefolkes woulde haue named Zacharie after his father but Elizabeth woulde none of that but sayde his name shoulde be Iohn ¶ Elizabeth the Othe of God or the fulnesse of God. 1. Reg. 1. a. b. c Elkana the sonne of Ieroham an Ephraite borne had two wiues the one named Anna and the other Phenenna By his wyfe Phenenna he had children But by Anna he had none It was his maner euerye Feastfull daye to go vp and praye And to offer vnto the Lorde of hostes in Silo where the Arke of the Lorde was at that time and in one solemne feast day among all other as he offered vnto the Lorde he gaue vnto Phenenna hys wife and to hir sonnes and daughters portions but vnto Anna whome he loued he gaue a portion with an heauie cheare And on a time when he sawe his wife Anna wéepe in the house of the Lorde for sorrowe she could haue no childe he sayde Anna why wéepest thou and why is thy hart so troubled that thou canst not eate Am not I better to thée than ten sonnes as though he should say is it not inough for thée that I loue thée no lesse than if thou hadst children This he sayde to comfort hir And at the last God gaue him a Sonne by hir named Samuel after whose birth he went vp to offer vnto the Lorde and to giue him thankes But Anna would not go with him vntill she had weyned hir sonne ¶ Elkana the Zeale of God and the possession of God. Phil. 2. d. Epaphroditus was a certayne godlye Brother whome the Philippians sent to Paule being in bondes at Rome with their charitable reliefe Who being there ministred vnto him in his néede and was so faithfull a fellow souldier with Paule in setting forth the Gospell of Christ and put himselfe in such hazarde that he fell sicke and was like to haue dyed Nowe Paule to comfort the Philippians which were full of sorrowe and heauinesse for Epaphroditus their Apostle bicause they hearde he was sicke was the more desirous after his recouerie to sende him home againe in the company of Timotheus with his Epistle that they might be the lesse sorrowfull and reioyce the more at his comming willing them to receyue him with a louing Christian affection in all ioyfulnesse and not to make much on him onely but on all such as were like vnto him ¶ Epaphroditus Pleasant Collo 4. d. Epaphras was a faithfull seruant by whose labour and preaching the Colossians hearde the Gospell and beléeued it and being in prison with Paule at Rome prayed for those Colossians that they might be perfite and filled in all the will of God after true knowledge He bare a feruent minde to them of Laodicia and them of Hierapolis ¶ Epaphras Frothing Rom. 16. a. Epenetes was the first that Paule brought to Christes religion among them of Achaia vnto whom Paule had him saluted ¶ Epenetes Worthy of prayse Iesaias sub figura editissimi montis describit augustissimum Christi regnum M. van Valckenb inven C. van de Pas sculp H. van Luyck excud Gen. 23. cap. Ephron the sonne of Zoar dwelt among the Hethites hauing a péece of lande which Abraham had a mynde to buye to burie Sara his wyfe therein And when the matter was broken to Ephron by Abraham to sell hâ—s grounde for so much money as it was woorth Ephron willingly offered to giue it him fréely to burye his deade and to doe withall what he woulde But notwithstanding Abraham forced him so much to know the price thereof that Ephron sayde My Lorde the lande is woorth foure hundreth * The coÌ„mon Sicle is about the valew of twentie pence Sicles but what is that betwéene thée and me take it fréely I beséech thée and burie thy deade at thy pleasure And so he receyued of Abraham for his lande the somme aforesayde ¶ Ephron Dust or lowe on the grounde Gen. 38. a. Er the eldest sonne of Iuda the sonne of Iacob was maried to a woman called Thamar and for his great wickednesse the Lord slue him ¶ Er Watchfull and making bare or pouring forth Act. 19. d. Erastus was the Chamberlaine or Receyuer of Rom. 16. d. the Citie of Corinth and one of Paules ministers whom 2. Tim. 4. d. he sent from Ephesus into Macedonia with one Timotheus intâ—nding him selfe to follâ—we after to gather mens almes for the relieuing of such as were néedye and poore at Ierusalem ¶ Erastus Amiable Esay the sonne of * Amos was the father of Esaye was brother to Azariah king of Iuda â–ª and Esay was father in lawe to Manasses who put him to death Amos was an holy Prophete of Esay 1. a. 42. the Tribe of Iuda in whome was such abundance of the a. b. 43. b. 53. cap. spirite of Prophecie that he prophecied so much of Christ that he séemed rather to be an Euangelist than a Prophet He was of such holynesse that in the time of King Ezechias when a Citie was besieged he by his prayer obtayned of God that water sprang vp in little quantitie so that
the people did not perishe for lacke of water and when the enimies had woon the Citie and besieged Seloum as often as the Iewes came for water the water ranne out of the earth abundantly and they tooke water But the straungers when they came could not finde it This holy man for his libertie of speach in rebuking of the sinne of the Princes the people and for the prophecying of the vengeance of God vpon that countrey and people was cut in twoo péeces with a Sawe and buried vnder an Oke but afterwarde he was translated and buryed by the sepulchre of Kings He was before the comming of Christ 800. yeres Eliote ¶ Esay The health of the Lorde Gen. 25. d. Esau was the eldest sonne of Isaac borne with hys brother Iacob at one birth of their mother Rebecca Iacob Of Esau came the Edomites Esau was called Edom that is red bicause hee sold his birth right for a messe of red pottage was smooth of body and Esau rough and heary who became a great hunter wherefore his father lâ—ued hym the better bicause nowe and then he did eate of his Venison On a time comming from hunting he was so wearie and faynt for hunger that he was almost deade And seing his brother Iacob to hane sod a pot of pottage he prayed him to giue him a fewe thereof to â—ate Sell me nowe thy birthright quoth he and I will. Then Esau estéeming more his belly than the benefite of his birth-right solde it to Iacob for a messe of pottage And when he had filled his belly well he went his waye and passed forth till he came about the age of fortie yeares And 26. g. then he tooke him twoo wiues the one Iudith the daughter of Bery and the other Basmoth the daughter of Elon both which women were disobedient to their father and mother in lawe After this his father being olde and 27. cap. blinde for age he went out to kill some Venison for hys father that he might eate thereof and blesse him before he dyed But when he had dressed it and brought it for his father to eate Iacob had preuented Esau and gotten his blessing from him for the which he hated Iacob and threatened to kyll him wherefore Iacob was sent away 28. a. b. into Mesopotamia partly to auoyde the malice of Esau and partlye to get him a wyfe there bicause his father would not haue him marry with the Cananites Then Esau perceyuing that the daughters of Canaan displeased Isaac he to please his father tooke to wyfe the daughter of Ismael Abrahams sonne And so these two brethren being thus seperated the one from the other in processe became both very rich And in the ende when by the prouidence of God they met togithers agayne God had so altered and chaunged the minde of Esau that he most louingly embraced his brother Iacob ministring to him such kindenesse as though he had neuer borne him any displeasure at all And so in fine departed as louing friendes Iacob towarde Succoth and Esau to Mount Seir his owne possession ¶ Esau Working Gen. 14. c. d. Eschol was brother to Mamre and Aner which thrée were Abrahams confederates and his pertakers in the rescuing of Lot his brother out of the handes of Kedorlaomor ¶ Eschol a Cluster 1. Esd 7. a. 8. cap. Esdras the sonne of Saraia was a notable Scribe in the lawe of Moses and long in captiuitie at Babilon but at last by the licence of Artaxerses he came from Babilon to Ierusalem agayne with the Iewes to repayre the lawe and Citie of God and to teache the people the right waye of the Lorde He gathered and brought in order all the bookes of the lawes of God which were by the Chaldeys scattered and destroyed This mans liuing 9. and. 10. cap was so vpright and holy and so estéemed among the people that when they had offended the Lorde in contracting themselues with the Gentyles at his godlye preaching and counsell they repented and put away theyr straunge Wyues and turned to the Lorde agayne ¶ Esdras an Helper Ester 2. cap. Ester the daughter of Abian a Iewe borne was a goodly yong Damosell And after the death of hir father and mother nourished and brought vp in the house of Mardocheus hir fathers Vncle During which tyme Vasthi for hir disobedience to Ahasuerus the King was deposed from hir Princely state And then to haue another placed in hir roume certaine fayre yong Damosels and Virgins among which Ester was one were taken vp by Commission and brought to the Court and there founde at the Kings charges for the space of .xij. moneths with all maner of sumptuous deckinges to the ende the King might choose one of them whome he fancyed best to be his Quéene And when the time of choosing came he lyked Ester aboue the reast and made hir Quéene in the roume of Vasthi It happened after this a mischiefe to Ester 3. cap. be deuised against the Quéenes nation the Iewes by one in great authority about the King called Haman and being certifyed thereof by Mardocheus hir Vncle she was so sore astonied that she wilt not what to doe for no helpe in that matter was to be had but onely in the King to 4. cap. whom she durst not go bicause he had giuen a commaundement that whosoeuer shoulde presume to come vnto him before they were called shoulde suffer death Wherfore Ester not being called in thirtie dayes before was afrayde of the daunger Neuerthelesse she considering with hir selfe that eyther she must put hir lyfe in hazard or else to suffer the whole Nation of the Iewes to perish cast all feare aside and went to the King And presenting 5. cap. hir selfe before him he put forth his golden Scepter in token of his speciall fauour towards hir demaunding what she woulde haue Nothing quoth she but that it woulde please your Maiestie and Haman to come to the banket which I haue prepared To the which he went and being there demaunded of Ester what thing it was she required Oh quoth she if it shall please your Highnesse to giue me my peticion and to fulfill my request Then let my 7. cap â–ª soueraigne Lorde and Haman come agayne to morrow and I will certifie your Grace of all And on the morrow when the King was come he sayde to Ester Now what is thy request I pray thée saye Then spake Ester and sayde If I thy poore handemayde haue founde so much fauour in thy sight O King to haue my peticion graunted then I most humbly beséech thée to graunt mée my lyfe and the lyues of all my people the Iewes which are not onely solde to be bonde seruauntes for I woulde to God it were so but to bée slayne and vtterlye destroyed all in one daye Who is he sayde the King that dare presume to doe such a déede Oh sayde Ester and if it shall please
your Maiestie to knowe the truth our great enimie and aduersarie that hath conspired our deaths is euen this wicked Haman whom your Grace hath exalted so hye Vpon the which complaynt of Ester the Kinges indignation was kindled so sore agaynst Haman that he was hanged and the Iewes restored for Esters sake Reade the storie of Mardocheus ¶ Ester Hydde 2. Tim. 4. d. Eubolus was one of the faythfull congregation at Rome with Paule when he sent his Epistle to Timothie ¶ Eubolus Wyse or of good Counsell 4. Reg. 25. g. Euilmerodach was Nabuchodonosors sonne And being King after him he deliuered Iehoakim King of Iuda out of prison wherein he had lyen by the space of thirtie yeares and exalted him aboue all the Princes in Babilon assigning him a certayne portion euery daye from his owne table as long as he liued ¶ Euilmerodach Bruising or beating in peeces the fooles bitternesse A foole bitterly bruised or contryte 2. Tim. 1 ▪ a. Eunica was the daughter of Lois and the Mother of Timothie which women both the mother and the daughter are highly commended of Paule for their sinceritie of fayth which he desireth Timothie earnestly to followe ¶ Eunica a good victorie or Conquest Phil. 4. a. Euodias was a certayne faythfull Preacher of Christ to whome Paule sent commendations desiring him and Sintiches to agrée in one true concorde of myndes in promoting the Gospell of Christ ¶ Euodias a good sauour or well smelling Act. 20. b. c. Eutichus was a certaine yoong man which when the Disciples were gathered togithers vpon one of the Sabbothes days as their custome was to breake bread that is to say to celebrate the Lordes supper gat him vp into one of the windowes of an vpper Chamber where were many lightes set bicause it was night to heare Paule preach who continued his preaching so long that the yong man wared sléepy and at the last sléepe came so sore vpon him that he fell out of the wyndow downe to the grounde thrée floores high And when the people ranne to take him vp they founde him deade and brought him into the house when Paule perceyued that he was dead he went downe to the yong man and embraced him and sayde to the Disciples Be ye not troubled with thys chaunce for there is lyfe in him And so Paule went vp agayne and made an ende of his Sermon And in the morning after Paules departing the yoong man was brought vp into the chamber alyue to the great comfort of all them that were there ¶ Eutichus Fortunate Ezechiel propheta Hierosolymam depingit et eius euersionem proedicit Eze. 1. a. Ezechiel the sonne of Buzi the Priest was a Prophete of the countrie Sareta in Siria and of the lyne of Bishops He had many reuelations and visions And by him God shewed many great myracles for in the time of a great scarcitie he by prayer obtayned of God abundance of fishe whereby the people were sufficiently refreshed This storye is drawn out of Mayster Gliots Dictionary with the storie of Esay before Also when the people were oppressed he stoode and made their enimies so abashed with myracles and woonderfull sightes that they ceased of their enterprice Being in the countrie of Chalde he tolde the people of manye thinges done in the Temple of Ierusalem He brought the people out of Chalde to Ierusalem to the reproch of the Infidels He being in Babilon iudged the Trybe of Dan and Gad for that they had wickedly done against the Lord in persecuting them which beléeued on the Lawe And he shewed vnto them a terrible token for Adders deuoured their children and all their cattell At the last he was slaine at Babilon by the Duke of the people who caused him to be drawne with wild horses which bet out his braines bicause he reprooued him of ydolatrie and he was buryed in the fielde Manre in the Mount of Sem and Arphaxad progenitours of Abraham He prophecied of the returne of the children of Israel and also of the comming of Christ He lyued afore the incarnation of Christ 617. yeares ¶ Ezechiel Strength of the Lorde F. FElix was the hie President at Cesarea vnder the Emperor to whom Lisias the hie Captaine sent Paule prisoner to be examined before him And when he had brought Paul forth before his accusers heard his accusation made by one Tartullus an orator Felix beckened to Paul that he should answere for himselfe when he had heard Pauls answere he deferred the examination of the matter vntill another time saying vnto Paules aduersaries that for as much as Lisias the hye Captaine did knowe the whole matter as it stoode he woulde at his comming heare them further And so gaue commaundement vnto his vnder Captayne that he shoulde in the meane season kéepe Paule in warde but yet so that he might be gently ordered and be sometime at libertie that his familiers might fréely repayre vnto him and bring vnto him such things as he lacked It was not long after this or that Felix being returned to Cesarea againe with his wyfe Drucilla a Iewe borne called forth Paule being desirous to haue further knowledge of him as concerning the sect that he professed And as Paul preached vnto him of Righteousnesse of Temperance and of Iudgement to come Felix trembled for feare and sent him away for that tyme saying that at a conuenient leysure he would sende for him agayne This corrupt Magistrate gaped for brybes and rewards to loose Paul and therefore called him the oftener thinking that Paule woulde haue giuen him a péece of money to be deliuered but when he sawe that none woulde come and Portus Festus was sent from Nero the Emperour to succéede hym in his roome then willing rather to shew the Iewes a pleasure than to deliuer Paule left hym in prison bounde Festus Portius by Nero the Emperour was made President in the roume of Felix Which Festus within thrée dayes he came to his Prouince ascended from Cesarea to Ierusalem where the hye Priestes and Elders of the Iewes enformed him of Paule desiring his fauour against him and that he would sende for him to haue the matter pleaded there Whose request if Festus had graunted they were fully bent to haue slayne Paule in the way comming to Ierusalem But Festus made answere that the prisoner shoulde remayne at Cesarea vntil his comming whither sayde he I entende shortly to repayre and if there be any among you that is able to accuse him let them go downe with me and they shall be hearde And so when Festus was come to Cesarea the next day after he sate in iudgement vpon Paule Against whome the Iewes layde many sore matters to his charge which they were not able to prooue so long as Paule aunswered for himselfe Then Festus willing to doe the Iewes a pleasure sayde vnto Paule wylt thou go vp to Ierusalem and
rebell agaynst the Lorde or to swarue from his lawes and ordinaunces in any poynt but rather for this consideration to be a witnesse betwéene vs and you and our generations after vs least it shoulde chaunce another daye your children to say vnto ours what haue ye to doe with the Lorde God of Israel yée children of Ruben and of Gad the Lorde ye sée hath made Iordan a border betwéene vs and you and therefore ye can haue no part in the Lorde with vs and so shoulde your children make our chyldren cease from fearing the Lorde And therefore to preuent such an inconuenience we tooke aduisement and made this Aultar that if any such kynde of talke shoulde be ministred of your children to ours in time to come that then our children might aunswere and say agayne Beholde the facion of the Aultar of the Lorde which our fathers made neyther for burnt offerings nor sacrifices but for a witnesse betweene vs and you that our part is in the Lorde as well as yours And when Phinehes and the other Lordes had hearde their aunswere they were well content and returned and so the matter ended They called the Aultar our witnesse that the Lorde is God. Gad the Prophet came to Dauid lying in the lande of Moab saying abyde not in holde but depart and go into the lande of Iuda At another tyme when Dauid had offended the Lord in numbring his people Gad was sent vnto him to giue him choyse of thrée thinges whether he woulde haue seauen yeares hunger or thrée monthes to flie before his enimies or but thrée dayes pestilence in the lande Gaius a certaine faythfull brother dwelling in Derba was one of Paules companions and in great ieoperdie of his lyfe at Ephesus thorowe the sedition of Demetrius the Siluersmith but after the businesse was ended he accompanied Paule into Asia To this man S. Iohn wrote his thirde Epistle Gallio was Proconsull of Achaia to wyt the Lord Deputie vnder Cesar the Emperour in the countrey of Achaia In this tyme it happened the Iewes which had made a conspiracie agaynst Paule to bring him before the place of iudgement where Gallio sate as Iudge accusing Paule vnto him of newe learning But when Gallio perceyued the controucrsie betwéene the Iewes and Paule was concerning Iewishe religion he sought to ridde his handes of them and preuenting Paule which was ready to speake in his owne defence sayde Dye Iewes if it were a matter of wrong or an euill déede reason woulde that I shoulde heare you but if it be a question of wordes of names or of your lawe looke vnto it your selfe for I will be no Iudge in such matters And so caused them to auoyde the place Gamaliel one of the auncient Pharisies was Paules Schoolemaister and in high estimation among the people both for his excellent knowledge in the lawe and for his singuler wisedome When the Apostles were brought and other of the Counsell for preaching in the name of Christ whose lyues he perceyued the Counsell sought he desired that for a whyle the Apostles might depart out of the Counsell house And when they were gone he sayde ye men of Israel take héede to your selues what ye intende to doe as touching these men for before these dayes rose vp one Theudas boasting himselfe to whome resorted a number of men about 400. who was slaine and they all which beléeued him were scattered abroade and brought to naught After this man rose vp one Iudas of Galile in the time when Tribute began who drewe away much people after him he also perished and all that obeyed him were scattered abroade And nowe I say vnto you refrayne your selues from these men and let them alone For if this Counsell or this worke be of men it will come to naught but if it be of God ye cannot destroye it least ye be founde to stryue against God. Gedalia the sonne of Ahicam was a great Captaine vnder Nabuchodonosor whome he made gouerneur of the lande of Iuda to rule the rascall people which he had left behinde him at the destruction of Ierusalem who intreated the people so gently and so friendly that all the Iewes which were scattered about in the lande hearing of his gentlenesse resorted vnto Gedaliah and founde great fauour at his hande for the which they bare vnto him their heartie good willes Insomuch that when Baal King of the Ammonites had sent one Ismael vnder pretence of friendship to slea him The Captaynes of the Iewes hauing knowledge thereof were so sore afrayde of Gedaliah least any misfortune shoulde chaunce him that they tolde him of Ismaels conspiracie And one among the reast named Iohanan offred himselfe to dispach Ismael out of the way so secretly that the déede shoulde neuer be knowne But Gedaliah not crediting their wordes neyther yet mistrusting Ismael woulde suffer nothing to be done vnto him And so forsaking the counsell and admonition of his friendes and trusting to much to Ismael he was of him in fine most guylefully slaine within his owne house Gedeon the sonne of Ioas was of the Tribe of Manasses To whome the Aungell of the Lorde appeared as he was threshing of Wheate saying The Lorde is with thée thou valiant man Then sayde Gedeon if the Lord be with vs why is all this cuill come vpon vs we haue heard by our fathers of all the miracles which the Lorde did for his people in Egypt and nowe hath he forsaken vs and giuen vs ouer into the handes of the Madianites Well sayde the Aungell go thy waye in this thy might and strength which I haue giuen thée for thou shalt deliuer Israell out of the hande of their enimies Oh Lorde quoth Gedeon wherewith shall I saue Israel séeing my kinred is but poore and I the least of all my fathers house With my helpe sayth the Lorde shalt thou saue Israel for I will be with thée and thou shalt smyte the Madianites as if they were but one man Then I beséech thée O Lord quoth Gedeon shewe me a signe that thou talkest with me depart not hence tyll I come agayne with myne offering which offering being brought and dressed accordingly the Angell had no sooner touched it with the ende of his rodde but fire came out of the stone whereon the sacrifice lay and consumed it altogither and so the Aungell vanished out of sight The same night following at the Lordes commaundement Gedeon went and destroyed the Altar of Baal which his father had made and cut downe all the Groue about it for the which déede the people hauing knowledge thereof woulde haue stoned him to death Then Ioas to saue Gedeon his sonne sayde vnto them what will ye doe will ye pleade Baals cause or will ye be his defenders If Baal be a god let him reuenge his owne cause vpon him that hath done the déede And from that day forth Gedeon was called
warre with Ioram King Achabs sonne was a cruell aduersarye to Israel all the dayes of his lyfe Helkia was the hye Priest in the dayes of Iosias who in repayring the Temple of the Lorde chaunced by the prouidence of God to finde the booke of the lawe the which he sent to the King by Saphan the Scribe which he readde vnto him 2. Mac. 3. cap. Heliodorus being in great fauour with Seleucus King of Asia and Stewarde of his house was sent to Ierusalem to fet awaye the treasure out of the Temple which one Symon the gouernour thereof had betrayed vnto the king And being come to Ierusalem he was louingly receyued of Onias the hye Priest into the Citie But when Heliodorus had vttered the cause of his comming and that his commission was to bring the money vnto the King there was no small feare thorowout the whole citie For then all men from the hyest to the lowest were so oppressed with sorrowe and heauynesse that they wyste not what to doe but fell to prayer lifting vp their eyes to Heauen and calling vpon him which had made a lawe concerning stuffe giuen to kéepe that he woulde safely preserue the same which was there committed in custodie And whyle the Priestes and people were thus lamenting and crying vpon god And on the other side Heliodorus personally with his men of warre about the treasury There appeared an horse with a terrible man sitting vpon hym decte in harnasse of golde which horse smote at Heliodorus with his fore féete to beate him from the place Also there appeared twoo fayre and bewtyfull yong men in goodly apparell which stoode on eche syde of Heliodorus and scourged hym so long that he fell downe to the grounde as dead so was caryed out of the Temple without speache or hope of lyfe whereby the great power of God was manifest and knowne Then certayne of Heliodorus friendes besought Onias to call vpon God to giue him his lyfe which was euen at that time giuing vp the ghost Then Onias least the King shoulde suspect the Iewes had done him some harme called vpon God and obtayned his lyfe And being reuiued to health agayne the twoo yong men which had scourged hym before appeared and sayde Thanke Onias the hye Priest for thy lyfe at whose prayer the Lord hath restored thée and nowe that God hath scourged thée for thine offences giue him prayse and thankes and make his might and power manifest and open to all men And when the men had spoken these wordes and were vanished awaye Heliodorus made his oblacion to God and gaue heartye thankes to Onias for his lyfe and so returned home agayne to the King declaring vnto hym the great and manifest workes of God that were done vppon him The King after this being yet desirous of the treasure that was in the Temple asked of Heliodorus whome he thought méete to sende once agayne to Ierusalem for the money He aunswered saying Oh King if thou hast any enimie or traytour vnto thy Realme sende hym thyther and thou shalt be sure to haue him well punished and hardly to escape with his lyfe For doubtlesse sayde he In that place there is a speciall power and working of God for he that dwelâ—eth in heauen visiteth and defendeth that place and none escapeth vnpunished or plagued that commeth to doe it harme Thus dyd Heliodorus magnifie the power of God and would no more enter into such daunger ¶ Heliodorus the Gift of the Sonne Gen. 5. â— Henoch the sonne of Iared at the age of .65 yeres begat Mathusalâ—h and after that he liued 300. yeares and begat both sonnes and daughters and walked alwayes before the Lorde in an vpright and godlye lyfe And when he had liued 365. yeares the Lord * To inquire where Henoch became is meere curiositie tooke him away that he was no more séene ¶ Henoch Taught or dedicate Rom. 16. c. Herman was a faithfull Christen man vnto whom Paule sent commendations from Corinth to Rome ¶ Herman A proppe or vpholder or an earing 2. Tim. 1. d. Hermogenes was a faynt hollowe hearted Gospeller of the countrie of Asia which forsooke Paule and gaue him ouer whose vnfaythfulnesse Paule pronounceth to Timothie ¶ Hermogenes Begotten by Mercurie or the generation or increase of lucre or the refuge Math. 2. cap. Herode was an Idumean borne and the first stranger that reigned ouer the Iewes In whose time Christ the sauiour of the worlde by the will of God came into this worlde of whose birth he had first knowledge of the Mages or wise men which came from the East to Ierusalem demaunding there for him that was borne king of the Iewes saying that they had séene his Starre and were come to worship before him Which newes troubled Herode so sore that he sent for all the chiefe Priests and Scribes of the people to knowe of them where Christ shoulde be borne And being of them perfitely enformed that he shoulde be borne in the Citie of * For there is an other Bethleem in the Tribe of â—abulon Bethleem in Iewrie he sent for the wysemen and after inquisition made what time the starre appeared vnto them he bade them go to Bethleem and make diligent search for the chylde and when they had founde him to bring him word againe that he might go and worship him also But when they had found the childe and had made their offering they were warned of God to breake their promise with Herode and to returne home another waye Which thing being * Eusebius sayeth that Herode for this slaughter done would haue killed himselfe but being let by his seruaunt he dyed wythin fiue dayes when he had reigned 37. yeares tolde to Herode he fell into such a rage for being so mocked that in hys madnesse he sent forth ministers to Bethleem which killed al the Infants that were in the Citie and in the coastes thereof of the age of two yeares or vnder for whose great crueltie shewed vpon those Innocentes God payed him home soone after ¶ Herode the glorie of the skinne or boasting and glorying in skinnes Math. 14. a. b Herode the Tetrarch of Galile was brother to Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and being reprooued of Iohn Luke 3. 2. Baptist for kéeping his brother Philips wyfe he cast Iohn in prison where he remayned vntill Herodes birth daye was come in the which solemne feastfull daye it chanced the daughter of Philip and Herodias to daunce before Herode and pleased the King so well that he sware vnto hir that whatsoeuer shée woulde aske him it shoulde be graunted not thinking she woulde haue asked Mar. 6. cap. Iohn Baptistes heade for as S. Marke sayth Herode knowynge Iohn to bée a iust and an holye man did both feare and reuerence him and hearde his preaching and did many things thereafter and was very sorye the Mayde had asked none
other thing But neuerthelesse for kéeping his Othe which he had made before so many Noble men he caused the innocent mans heade to be cut of and giuen to the Wench This Herode and Pylate Lieutenant of Iewry had bene long at variaunce And for the pleasure that Pilate shewed to Herode in sending Iesus bounde vnto him to be examined he was at one with him againe For Herode had long desired to sée Iesus And hoping nowe to haue séene some myracles done by him he demaunded many questions of Iesus to the which he woulde make no answere at all Then Herode perceyuing that Iesus woulde neyther speake nor doe any thing at his pleasure he began to despyse and râ—uyle him and in mockery arayed him in a long whyte garment and sent him to Pylate agayne Act. 12. cap. Herode Tâ—is man was a great persecutour of the Apostles He beheaded Iames the brother of Iohn and This Herode was called Agrippa the sonne of Aristobolus he was nephew vnto Herode the great and brother of Herodias séeing that déede to content and pleasâ— the Iewes well he tooke Peter also and cast him into prison intending after Easter which was at hand to haue him put to death â–ª also Finally vpon a certaine day appointed to shewe himselfe in his pompe glory he made such an Oration before the assemblye that for the pleasauntnesse of hys speach the common people at the ende thereof gaue a mightie shoute saying it was the voyce of a God and not of a man And bicause he gloryed in their boasting and tooke that honour vnto himselfe which he ought to haue giuen to God he was immediatly smitten with the Wormie sickenesse whereof he most miserably dyed Rom. 16. b. Herodian was Paules kinseman vnto whome he sent commendations from Corinth on this wise Salute Herodian my kinseman ¶ Herodian the song of a yoong Virgin or of a woman conquering Math. 14. â— Herodias was wyfe to Philip Herodes brother to whome she brought forth a * Whiche daughter as Iosephus wryteth was called Salomen daughter This woman being more familiar with Herode than honestie required grew into such fauour with him that he contrarye to the lawe of Moses married hir his brother being alyue Against which vnlawfull marriage Iohn Baptist spake so much to Herodes reproofe that shée fearing least that Iohn woulde make Herode breake of the incest marriage counsayled hir daughter which daunced before him to aske the heade of Iohn Baptist And so by the wicked deuyce of this vnchaste woman Iohn lost his heade ¶ Herodias signifieth that that the woorde Herode before doth Gen. 46. b. Hesron was the sonne of Ruben and of hym came Num. 46. a. the kindred of the Hesronites ¶ Hesron the Arrowe of reioyeeing 1. Par. 2. c. Hesron the father of Caleb being come to the age of thréescore yeares tooke to wyfe the daughter of Machir who bare vnto him a sonne called Segub 4. Reg. 18. and. 19. cap. Hezakia the sonne of Ahaz was .xxv. yeares of age when he began his reygne ouer Iuda He was the godlyest Prince that euer reigned before or after among the Kings of Iuda He clensed his Countrie from all ydolatrie and brake downe the brasen Serpent which Moses had set vp as soone as he sawe it abused He brought in againe the true honouring of God and renued the Passeouer He had such a sure trust and confidence in God that at his prayer the Angell of the Lorde slue in one night of the Assirians which were come to destroye Ierusalem an hundred fourescore and fiue thousande and smote the rest into such a feare that they ran away 20. cap. After this he fell sicke and was admonished by the Prophete Esay to set his house in order for he shoulde surely dye Then he turned his face to the wall and made his peticion to God saying Oh Lord remember I beséech thée howe I haue walked before thée in truth and with a perfect heart haue done that which is good in thy sight and speaking these wordes â–ª hée * He wept not so much for his owne death as for feare that ydolatrie shuld be restored which he had destroyed wept verie sore The Lorde than mooued with his teares returned the Prophete agayne to comfort him with these newes that he shoulde receyue his health and be able the thirde day to go vp to the house of the Lorde and that he had added to his dayes .xv. yeares mo and to assure him of this his promise he woulde cause the Sunne to returne his course ten degrées backewarde At this tyme Berodach surnamed Baladad King of Babilon sent to Hezakia ambassadours to signifie vnto him howe glad and ioyfull he was of his recouery which kindenesse was so greatly estéemed of Hazakia that he thought he could not doe them to much pleasure but made them priuie to all his treasure siluer and golde and whatsoeuer he had in his house or in any other parte of his Realme he * Bicause he was mooued with ambicion and vayne glorie and semed also to reioyce in the friendship of him that was Gods enimy the Lorde was displeased shewed it freely vnto them Wherefore the Lorde not content therewith commaunded Esay the Prophet to go and tell Hezakia That forasmuch as he had made the messengers of Babilon priuie to all the commodities of his lande The dayes shoulde come that all thinges which he had in his house and whatsoeuer his Fathers had layed vp in store before him shoulde be caryed to Babylon Then Hezakia knowing the Prophete to be the true messenger of God humbled himselfe and saide Thy worde O Lord is welcome vnto mée but yet I shall desire thee not to sende those cuils in my dayes but rather peace and truth He raigned .xxix. yeares and died ¶ Hezakia the strength of the Lorde or the Lordes holding 1. Tim. 1. d. Hymeneus after he had tasted of the worde of God and béene a professour of the same he fell awaye and became an vtter enimie and a spitefull rayler agaynst the doctrine of the Gospel of Christe denying the chiefest point and foundacion of the Gospel which is that the resurrection 2. Tim. 2. c. is past wherewith he destroyed the fayth of many persons For the which errour and other his rayling and ieastinges agaynst the truth of Gods woorde Paule excommunicated him that he thorowe correction might be ashamed of his faulte and tourne agayne to Christ ¶ Hymeneus a Maryage song or Bride song 2. Reg. 5. b. Hyram King of Tyre fauoured Dauid so much that he hearing that Dauid went about to builde hym an house sent hym both Tymber Workemen to finish the same Also when Salomon after the death of Dauid 3. Reg. 5. cap. 9. b. c. d. his Father sent to this King for woodde and Timber to buylde the Lordes Temple he praysed God
watred all hir shéepe Which done he kissed the Damosell and wept for ioy And when the Mayde had knowledge what he was she ranne to hir father and tolde him who beyng ioyfull thereof went to the man and brought him into his house Nowe when Iacob had opened the cause of his comming to Laban it was agréed that Iacob shoulde serue Laban seauen yeares for Rachel his daughter But when the daye of Mariage came Lea the elder was put in hir steade for so much as it was not the custome that the yonger shoulde be first married as Laban alleaged Then Iacob taryed seauen dayes and tooke Rachel vppon condicion that he woulde serue other seauen yeares for hir which being fulfilled he desired Laban that he might depart with his Wyues Children into his owne countrie againe Nay tarie sayd Laban for I perceyue that the Lorde hath blessed me for thy sake appoynt thy wages and I will giue it thée Thou knowest quoth Iacob what seruice I haue done thée and in what taking thy cattell hath bene vnder me for the little that thou hadst before my comming is nowe increased to a multitude But when shall I traueyle make prouision for mine owne house also Well what shall I giue thée sayd Laban Then Iacob hauing knowledge aforehande by the Angell of the Lord what his wages should be said Thou shalt giue me nothing at all if thou wilt doe this thing for me I will go agayne and feede thy shéepe and kéepe them will seperate all the shéepe of thy flocke one from another and so many as be blacke speckled or of partie colour let that be my wages and whatsoeuer I take of the reast vnspotted let that be counted theft with me Content quoth Laban Then went Iacob and tooke out all the males and females of the shéepe and goates that were blacke spotted or of partie colour and put them in the kéeping of his sonnes which lay thrée dayes iourney of from Iacob and the reast which were whyte and of one colour Iacob kept himself And when he had made this diuision of Labans shéepe he tooke roddes of gréene Populer of Hasell and of Chesnut trées and pilled whyte strakes in them Which roddes in the conceyuing time he layed before the shéepe in the gutters and watring troughes when they came to drinke And the shéepe that conceyued before the roddes brought forth Lambes straked spotted and partie coloured so that Iacobs flocke increased excéedinglye whereat the sonnes of Laban grudged and made so heynous a complaynt to their father on Iacob that Laban began to disfauour him Then Iacob perceyuing Labans countenance to be chaunged he sent for his wyues and sayde I sée your fathers countenance that it is not towardes me as it was woont and yet ye knowe that I haue serued your father truely which hath deceyued mée and chaunged my wages ten tymes but God suffered hym not to hurt me For when he sayde the spotted shoulde be my wages then the shéepe brought foorth spotted And when he sayde the partie coloured should be my rewarde then the shéepe brought foorth partie coloured And thus hath God taken away your fathers shéepe and giuen them to me which thing he shewed me in a dreame shoulde euen so come to passe and hath nowe commaunded me to depart out of this Countrie into the land where I was borne The women sayde we haue not portion in our Fathers house séeing he counteth vs but euen as straungers and hath solde vs and eaten vp our money And nowe that God hath taken away our fathers riches and made it oures and our childrens doe whatsoeuer God hath sayde vnto thée Then Iacob assoone as he had prepared all things for his iourney he fled from Laban his Father in lawe towardes the lande of Canaan to Isaac his Father and being pursued of Laban .vij. dayes and at last ouertaken at mount Giliad he layed manye things to Iacobs charge whereof he discharged himselfe of all and in the ende sayde This twentye yeares haue I serued thée .xiiij. yeares for thy daughters and sixe yeares for thy shéepe which hath not béene barren and yet in all that space haue I not eaten one Ram of thy stocke but whatsoeuer was stolen or torne of beastes I made it good vnto thée Thou chaunged my wages ten tymes and wâ—ulde surely haue sent mée away with nothing if God which sawe my tribulation and the labour of my handes had not béene the better vnto mée which rebuked thée yesterdaye Then Laban made a bonde with Iacob and so departed Iacob then going foorth on his iourney came into the lande of Sâ—ir and hearing of his brother Esaus being there was sore afrayde of him least he had continued still in his malice towardes hym wherefore he sent messengers before vnto him with thrée great droues of Cattell for a present trusting thereby to mitigate his wrath And as Iacob himselfe taryed behinde to set his wyues and children in order to méete his brother Esau an Angel wrastled with him all night and at last smote him vnder the Thigh and brake the sinewe of his legge whereon he haulted euer after Yet neuerthelesse Iacob which had wrasteled with the Angel vntill the breaking of the daye woulde not let the Angell depart before he had blessed hym who called his name Israel for as a Prince sayde he to Iacob hast thou wrasteled with God and with man and preuailed And so after the brotherly méeting of Iacob and Esau and the great amitie shewed the one to the other Iacob tooke his iourney into the lande of Canaan where he remayned vntill he was of the age of an 130. yeares And then went downe into Egipt withall his householde which were thrée score and sixe soules to sée his sonne Ioseph where he continued .xvij. yeares And then dyed being 147. yeares of age and from thence was conueyghed to the lande of Canaan where he was by his children sumptuouslye buried Iachtan was the sonne of Heber and this brothers name was Peleg Iael was the wife of one Haber the Kenite which was of the Children of Hobab Moses father in law And when she had hearde of the great ouerthrowe of Sisera and how he fled she went and mette him saying Turne in my Lorde turne in to mée and feare not And being come into hir house he asked hir a little water to quench his thirst and she brought hym a bottell full of Milke and when he had well droncken thereof he layed hym downe to sléepe as she was couering him with cloths He prayed hir to go and stande at the dore of hir tent and whosoeuer doth come and aske for any man say there is no man here And so when Sisera was fast a sléepe Iael went sostly vnto him with an hammer in the one hande and a nayle in the other smote him thorowe the Temples of his heade and nayled hym fast to the
reason of kinred to haue had some succour of them he was not regarded but suffered to perishe in a straunge land no man mourning for him nor putting him into hys graue ¶ Iason He that maketh whole a Phisition Iecksan looke Iocsan 4. Reg. 23. f. Iehoahas the sonne of Iosias was .xxiij. yeare olde when he began to reygne ouer Iuda and had not reygned thrée moneths or that Pharao Necho King of Egipt came and put him downe and set vp his brother in hys steade And put the lande to a tribute of an hundred Talents of Siluer and one of Golde and caryed Iehoahas away into Egypt where he dyed ¶ Iehoahas The possession of the Lorde 4. Reg. 23. g. 24. a. Iehoakym the sonne of Iosias was .xxv. yeares of age when he began to reygne ouer Iuda and dyd that which was euill in the sight of the Lorde His name was chaunged from Eliakim to Iehoakym by Pharao Necho King of Egypt which came and deposed his brother This Kyng dyed in the way as they led him prisoner into Babilon Reade Ieremie 22. e. Iehoahas and made him King in his steade and mersced the lande as before is sayde in Iehoahas For the payment of which money Iehoakym taxed the land and leuyed of euery man according to his habilitie and payde the money to Pharao After this came Nabuchodonosor King of Babilon and besieged Ierusalem to whome Iehoakym yéelded and serued Nabuchodonosor thrée yeares and then rebelled agaynst him into whose hande the Lorde deliuered him so that the King of Babilon tooke him and bounde him in twoo chaynes and caried him and all the vessels of the Lordes house into Babilon This King reigned a .xj. yeares ¶ Iehoakym the Rysing or aduenging of the Lorde * He is called also Iechonias Math. 1. b Iehoachin 4. Reg. 24. b. c. d. was the sonne yof Iehoakm who at the age of xviij yeares began to reigne ouer Iuda and did euill in the sight of the Lorde as his fathers before him He had not reygned thrée moneths or that the King of Babilon came and deposed him making Mathania his fathers brother King in his steade chaunging his name from Mathania to Zedekia and caryed Iehoachym away into Babilon where he remayned in pryson xxxviij yeares after euen vntill the comming of Euilmerodach King of Babilon after Nabuchodonosor hys father who had such a mynde to Iehoachym that he deliuered him out of prison and exalted him aboue all the Princes in Babilon and fedde him at his owne table all the dayes of his lyfe ¶ Iehoachin the Resurrection of the Lorde 4. Reg. 13. a. b. c. Iehoahas the sonne of Iehu began his reygne ouer Israel in the .xxiij. yeare of the reygne of Ioas the sonne of Ahaziahu King of Iuda and walked so wickedly in the sinnes of Ieroboam by worshipping the Calues which he had erected that God deliuered him into the handes of Hazael and his sonne Benhadad Kinges of Siria which destroyed the people of Israel and vexed them so sore that they made the Israelites like threshed dust yet neuerthelesse when Iehoahas humbled himselfe and besought the Lord he hearde him and had such pitie compassion on the misery of Israel that he deliuered him out of the Sirians subiection which had brought him so lowe that they had left him but fiftie horsemen ten Charets and ten thousande footemen He reygned xvij yeares and then dyed and was buryed in Samaria leauing behinde him his sonne Ioas to reigne in his steade ¶ Iehoahas Apprehending possesing or seeyng 4. Reg. 11. ca. Iehoiada was the hye Byshop and Priest in the dayes of Ahaziahu King of Iuda whose daughter he maryed named Iehosabeth He preserued Ioas the yongest sonne of Ahaziahu his father in lawe sixe yeares in the Lordes house and in the seauenth yeare he brought him forth and proclaimed him king And being his gouernour and protectour trayned him vp in all godlynesse and vertue So that so long as Iehoiada liued the King 2. Par. 24. d. walked in all the wayes of the Lorde from the which he swarued after the death of this good Bishop Iehoiada Who liued 130. yeares and for his faythfulnesse towardes God and his people was most honorablye buried in the Citie of Dauid among the Kings ¶ Iehoiada the Knowledge of the Lorde 4. Reg. 11. a. Iehosabeth was the daughter of Ahaziahu King of Iuda and wyfe to Iehoiada the hie Bishop of the Iewes 2. Par. 22. d. And when Atthalia hir Graundmother went about to destroy the Kings séede shée stole awaye Ioas hir yoongest brother from among the Kings sonnes and hid both him and his Nurse in hir owne Chamber with hir husbands consent the space of .vj. yeares and so preserued him that he perished not with the reast of hir brethren ¶ Iehosabeth the fulnesse of the Lorde 4. Reg. 9 ca. Iehu the sonne of Nimsi was annoynted King ouer Israel by Eliseus the Prophet for to destroye the house of Achab his mayster And being commaunded to go about it with spéede he began first with Ioram which lay at Iezrael to be healed of his wounds which the Sirians had giuen him And as Iehu was comming thitherward the watchman espying a company comming toward the Citie tolde the King who then sent out an horseman to méete them and to knowe whether they came peaceably or no. And when the Messenger came to Iehu he sayde The King woulde knowe whether it be peace or no What hast thou to doe with peace quoth Iehu turne thée behinde me and so the messenger turned behynde Iehu and went backe no more and likewyse the second Then the watchman tolde the King that he thought by the dryuing of the Charret it shoulde be Iehu that was comming for he driueth quoth he as he were mad The King hearing that he made him readye to warre and tooke Ahaziahu King of Iuda with him and went toward Iehu and met him in the furlong of Naboth saying is There was a Prophete also called Iehu the sonne of Hanani which prophecied of the destruction of Baasa King of Israel and his posterity Read. 3. Reg. 16. a. b. it peace Iehu or no What peace should it be quoth he so long as the whooredomes of thy mother Iezabel hir witchcrafts are so great and so in the Battell Iehu shot Ioram to the heart with an arrow killed him And fell vpon Ahaziahu and slue him also And so procéeding forth to Iezrael he came thither and found Iezabel looking out at a windowe And as he demaunded of the companye about hir who was on his side and woulde for his sake cast hir downe two or thrée of hir Chamberlaines threw hir out at the windowe and brake hir necke notwithstanding bicause she was a Kings daughter he caused hir to be buryed Then he sent his letters to Samaria 10. cap. commaūding those which had the gouernance of Achabs seauentie sonnes
heauen in the likenesse of a Doue and lighted vppon him and also the voyce of the father was heard from heauen saying This is my welbeloued sonne in whome I am well pleased heare him And after he had finished the legacie of his father and opened the Doctrine of eternall life to the people and confirmed the same with myracles he was at the age of .xxxiij. yeares or there about betrayed of his owne disciple Iudas Math. 26. b. and by the Iewes his owne peculiar people most cruellye put to death at what tyme of his passion was a great earthquake and at sixe a clocke of the daye such a terrible Eclipse of the Sunne that for darckenesse it séemed to be very night The thirde day hée arose agayne 28. a. from death to lyfe In token he conquered sinne death and Satan And on the fourtie daye to declare himselfe Act. 1. b. to be a mightie a puissant Conquerour he ascended into heauen where he sitteth at the right hande of the Father And the fiftie day according to his promise he sent downe the true comforter the holy Ghost which shoulde leade the Apostles into all truth At the ende and last day of the world he shall come agayne with glorye to Iudge the quicke and the dead He suffered his passion the yeare after the creation of the Worlde 3994. or there about ¶ Iesus A Sauiour Eccl. 1. cap. Iesus the sonne of Sirach being among the Captiues in Egipt in the tyme of King Ptolomy Energets got libertie to reade and write many good things which Iesus his Graundfather had gathered and left them with Sirach his sonne which thinges this Iesus tooke and put in order in a booke which is called Ecclesiasticus or the wisedome of Iesus the sonne of Sirach Coll. 4. c. Iesus otherwise called Iustus was a Iewe borne and one of Paules workefellowes in preaching and setting foorth the Kingdome of God whome he commended to the Collossians desiring them that if he or anye such dyd come vnto them they shoulde receyue and entreate them with all gentlenesse Exod. 4. c. 18. cap. Iethro the Priest of Madian had seauen daughters of the which one was called Zephora whome he maried to Moses And when that Iethro had hearde of all the mightie déedes which God had done for Moses and howe he had deliuered the children of Israel out of Egipt from the bondage of Pharao and brought them thorow the red Sea he mette Moses in the Wildernesse and brought to him his wife and twoo children which he had sent backe before at whose comming Moses was excéeding glad Then as Iethro abode with Moses and sawe the great paynes he tooke in iudging the people from morning to night he sayde vnto him what is this that thou doest vnto the people Why sittest thou thy selfe alone and all the people stand about thée from morning vnto euen When the people quoth Moses haue any matter they come vnto mée and I iudge betwéene one and an other and declare vnto them the statutes and lawes of god Thou doest not well quoth Iethro for thou both wearyest thy selfe and the people that is with thée The thing is of The counsell of Iethro Moses father in lawe more weyght than thou arte able to performe alone Therefore heare my counsayle God shall prosper thée Be thou for the people to God warde and report the causes to him Admonish them of the ordinances and lawes and shewe them the waye wherein they must walke and the worke that they must doe Moreouer séeke out among the people men of courage and such as feare God true dealing men hating couetousnesse and appoint them to be rulers ouer thousands ouer hundreds ouer fiftie and ouer ten And let them iudge the people at all seasons and euery great matter let them bring it to thée But al small causes let them iudge themselues and so shall it be easier for thée when they shall beare the burthen with thée If thou shalt doe this thing and God so commaund thée thou shalt be able to endure and all the people shall go quietly to their place ¶ Iethro Excellent or remayning or searching foorth or a little corde 2. Reg. 2. cap. Ioab was the sonne of Zerniah Dauids Sister and the chiefe Captayne of all Dauids hoste In the first battell he made against Abner King Saules Captayne he was the victor and put Abner to flight and of malice afterwarde by treason slue him for â—he which déede Dauid 3. d. e. was fore offended that he besought God to auenge it on Ioab and that his house and posteritie might alwaies be plagued with the bloudy flixe leprosie feblenesse of bodie the swoorde or famine for the death of Abner Ioab also was the death of Absalom and slue him as he 18. d. hanged by the haire of his heade vpon the twist of a trée And when it was tolde him of the great lamentacion the King made for Absalom his sonne he went vnto him and saide Thou hast this day shamed the faces of all thy seruaunts 19. a. b. which this day haue saued thy lyfe and the liues of all thy sonnes and daughters the lyues of thy wiues and Concubins in that thou louest thine enimies and hatest thy friendes For thou hast declared this daye that thou regardest neither thy Princes nor seruants Therefore I doe perceyue that if Absalom had lyued and all we had bene slayne this day that then it had pleased thée well Nowe therefore vp and come out and speake comfortably vnto thy seruaunts for I sweare by the Lorde except thou come out there will not tary one man with thée this night and that wil be woorse vnto thée than all 20. cap â–ª the euill that fell on thée from thy youth hitherto Also in persecuting of Seba which had made a new insurrection against Dauid he mette Amasa his Auntes sonne by the way and * Lyra supposeth that Ioab slue Amasa of enuy bicause Dauid had made an othe in the Chapter before that Amasa shuld be his Captaine in Ioabs steade slue him and leauing him dead on the ground he followed Seba and besieged him in a Citie called Abell where the Gouernesse of the Citie being a wise woman cried vnto Ioab demaunding why he went about to destroy that Citie which was a Mother in Israel and to deuour the inheritance of the Lorde before he had offered peace To whome he aunswered saying That he went about no such matter but I come quoth he for Seba the sonne of Bichri deliuer me him and I will be gone and as soone as the heade of Seba was throwen ouer the wall to Ioab he departed Finallye after the death of Dauid who had ordeyned Salomon to reigne in hys steade Ioab tooke part with Adonia Salomons brother which vsurped the kingdome and went about with all his power to stablishe him in Dauids seate But when he hearde Salomon proclaimed
But when Menelaus was come to the King he so craftily handled the matter with flatterie and fayre promises that he both defrauded the King of his money and Iason of his office which when he had obtained returned with an hye stomacke more lyke a cruell tyrant and the wrath of a wylde brute beast than any thing that beséemed a Priest But when the King had knowledge of all his deceyte and falshoode he discharged him agayne putting Lysimachus hys brother in hys roume Then Menelaus being thus thrust out of office wayted hys tyme to be reuenged And when he had spyed the King about his weightie affayres as in the suppression of certayne Kebels leauing Andronicus behinde him to be his Lieutenaunt and supposing then to haue a conuenient tyme he went and stole out of the Temple certayne vessels of golde and gaue them to Andronicus And after he had made him his assured friende he ministred such wicked counsell both to Andronicus and Lysimachus his brother that the one murdred Onias and the other spoiled and robbed the â–ª Temple of god Wherfore the King at his returne againe caused Andronicus to be put to death and the other the people furiouslye fell vpon him and killed him And forsomuch as Menelaus â–ª was greatlye suspected to be the chiefe causer of all this murther a Court was called and many sore complaintes layde against him Then Menelaus perceyuing himselfe in the Kings displeasure and daunger of his lawes went to Ptolomie one of the thrée Ambassadours and with money made him his friende who went to the King and so laboured the matter that he brought Menelaus into such fauour with the King againe that he was quite â–ª discharged from all accusations and his accusers condemned to death Thus thorow couetous Magistrates Menelaus remayned still in authoritie Being nowe more malicious vnto the Iewes his owne nation than euer he was As it appeared afterwarde what time as he ayded Antiochus and was his guyde to the spoyling of the Temple But at the last his falshoode came to a foule ende for Lysias which was Lorde Steward to Antiochus and chiefe Ruler of all his matters so enformed the King of his vngraciousnesse that he commaunded â–ª Menelaus who had done so much mischiefe against the Aultar of God whose fire and ashes were holy to be cast into a tower of fiftie cubites hye heaped vp with ashes and so miserably ended his lyfe Merob was the eldest Daughter of King Saule who promised hir in mariage to Dauid But or the time came that Dauid shoulde enioy hir Saule gaue hir to an other man named Adriel by whome she conceyued and bare him fiue sonnes 4. Reg. 3. cap. Mesa the King of Moab was a great Lord of shéepe And where as the Moabites had of long time payed tribute vnto the Kings of Israel euery yeare one hundred thousand Lambes with so many Rammes or Wethers in the Wooll with their fléece vpon their backes Thys King woulde paye none to Ioram the sonne of Achab for the which Ioram made warre agaynst him and ouercame him ¶ Mesa Health or the water of health or looking vpon the water Iudic. 17. cap. Micah was a certaine man dwelling in Mounte Ephraim whose mother made him an Idoll of siluer which he set vp in the house of his goddes and made an Ephod and consecrated one of his owne sonnes to be his Priestes and so continued vntill it chaunced a yong Leuite to come from Bethleem Iuda to séeke seruice Which Leuite Micah hyred for tenne siluerlings by the yeare two garments and meate and drinke And when he had hyred the Leuite he was glad saying Nowe am I sure that God will looue me séeing I haue a Leuite to my Priest At this time the Tribe of Dan forasmuch 18. cap. as the portion which Iosua gaue them was not sufficient for all their Tribe went to seeke them a place to dwell in And as they were going to the Citie of Lays they came by the house of Micah And being enformed by those men whome they had sent before to spye out the lande howe there was in the house of Micah a grauen and a molten Image they turned in thither and saluted him peaceably but at their departing they tooke hys Idols against the Leuites will perswading him that it was not so good to be a Priest vnto the house of one man as it was to be a Priest vnto a whole Tribe or kinred in Israel and so tooke him away with them also And being gone Micah made a great outcrie and followed after the children of Dan with all the power he coulde make to rescue his goddes but being perswaded to be content and to get him home least a woorse thing did happen he then perceyuing he was not able to make his partie good returned backe againe Reade the Storie of Dan. ¶ Micah who lyke our God or pouertie or the lowlynesse of the Lorde or the Lorde striking Michael the sonne of Israhia ¶ Michael who is 1. Par. 7. â— lyke the Lorde Dan. 10. c. Michael one of the chiefe Princes that was sent to comfort Daniel Iude. Michael the Archaungell which stroue agaynst the Deuill and disputed about the body of Moses Apoc. 12. b. Michael and his Aungels that fought agaynst the Dragon 3. Reg. 22. ca. Micheas the sonne of Imla was a Prophete in This was not that prophete that wrote the booke of prophecies but another of that name the dayes of King Achab and â–ª for bicause he woulde not flatter the King as the foure hundred false Prophetes had done but prophecied plainly of the Kings death he was smitten and cast in prison ¶ Micheas Poore or lowe and base 1. Reg. 18. â— f. g. Michol was the seconde daughter of King Saule whome he gaue to Dauid to be his wyfe that she might be a snare to bring him into the hands of the â–ª Philistines But Michol loued Dauid so well â–ª that he coulde not haue 19. c. his purpose that waye For when he sent men to watche his house and to sley him Michol tolde â–ª Dauid â–ª saying Except thou saue thy selfe this night to morrowe thou wilt be slayne wherefore to saue the lyfe of Dauid she let him downe at a backewindowe and layed an Image in his bedde â–ª with a pillow vnder his heade stuffed with Goates heaire and couered it with a cloth And when the men came into the house in the morning and asked for Dauid Michol sayde he was sicke â–ª The Messengers then thinking to haue caryed hym bedde and all to the King as he had commaunded went into Dauids chamber and when they came there and founde nothing else in the bedde but a blocke they were ashamed and so returned to Saule and tolde hym Thon Michâ—â— being demaunded wherefore she had so derided hym and sent his enimie awaye made hir excuse that if she had not let hym go he woulde haue
kylled hir After this hir father tooke hir from Dauid and gaue hir to * Loke in the hystorie of Psaltei howe he vsed Michol Dauids wyfe Psaltei the sonne of Lays to wyfe with whome she remayned tyll the death of Saule and then was restored agayne to Dauid by Abners meanes Finally when Dauid came dauncing before the Arke of God in his shyrte â–ª to the Citie of Dauid it chauncâ—d Michol to looke out at a window and beholding the King how he leaped and daunced before the Arke she began to despise hym in hir heart â–ª and méeting him after all thinges were done she sayde O how glorious was the King of Israel this daye which was vncouered to day in the eyes of the Maydens of his seruaunts as a foole vncouereth himselfe And for thus despising of Dauid the seruaunt of God the Lorde plagued hir with Baraynesse that she neuer â–ª had Childe ¶ Michol who is perfect 2. Reg. 4. b. Miphiboseth the sonne of Ionathas was lame in his féete by reason his nurse by misfortune in his infancie let him fall to the grounde out of hir armes and was brought vp and nourished after the death of his father 9. cap. in the hâ—uie of Machir tyll Dauid comming to his Kingdome tooke him from thence and restored him to all the lande of King Saule making Ziba his seruaunt chiefe ouerséer and nâ—câ—yuâ—r of the landes and to sée Micah his maysters sonne well brought vp and cherished for so much as Miphiboseth shoulde remayne with hym and eatâ— and drincke at his owne boorde â–ª Now after this when Dauid was brought into so great affliction trouble by reason of Absalom his sonnâ— Miphiboseth remayned still at Ierusalem and neuer â–ª remooued But Ziba 2. Reg. 16. â— his seruaunt went after Dauid with a present and by false report of Miphiboseth his mayster got hys lande from hym â–ª And when the King was returned and come to Ierusalem â–ª agayne then Miphiboseth who had neyther 19. â— washed his féete nor dressed his bearde nor washed his clothes from the tyme the King departed vntill he returned in peace went out to méete him and when the King sawe him he sayde Wherefore wentest thou not with mée Miphiboseth He aunswered My Lorde O King my seruaunt deceyued mée for thy seruaunt sayde I woulde haue myne Asse sadled to ryde thereon for to go with the King bycause thy seruaunt is lame Therefore Ziba hath falsely accused thy seruaunt to my Lorde the King but my Lord the King is as an Angell of God Doe therefore what it pleaseth thée for all my Fathers house were but deade mâ—n before my Lord the King and yet dydst thou set thy seruaunt amonge them that dyd eate at thine owne table What right haue I to cry any more vnto the King Then sayde Dauid â–ª why speakest thou yet in thine owne cause I haue sayde Thou and Ziba deuide the lande betwéene you Yea sayde Miphiboseth let him take all séeing my Lord the King is come home in peace ¶ Miphiboseth shame or confusion from the mouth â— Reg. 21. b. Miphiboseth the sonne of Rizpa King Sauls Concubine was of the Gibeonits with his brother Armony hanged for their fathers offence Exo. 6. c. Miriam was the daughter of Amram Iochebed and sister to Aaron and Moses When hir brother Moses 15. c. had brought the children of Israel thorow the redde Sea Miriam the Prophetesse tooke a Tymbrell in hir hande with other women following in like sorte and began ioyfully to sing and daunce their song was this Sing yée vnto the Lorde for he hath triumphed gloriously The horse and ryder hath he ouerthrowen in the Sea. After this she grudged agaynst Moses because he had taken a Num. 12. cap. woman of Inde to his wyfe wherefore the Lorde smote hir with Leprosie Then Moses partly for pittie and partly at the intercession of Aaron his brother besought the Lorde to heale hir who made hym aunswere saying If hir father in anger had spitte in hir face shoulde she not haue béene ashamed seauen dayes Let hir be shut out of the hoste seauen dayes which being doone she was restored and receyued in agayne Finallye when 20. 2. Moses and the children of Israel were come to Cades there she dyed and was buryed ¶ Miriam exalted or reaching Dan. â— b. 3. ca. Misach first called Misael was one of Daniels companions and one of the thrée which was cast into the whote burning Ouen and myraculously preserued ¶ Misach prolonging or drawing to him or compassing the waters or hedging 3. Esd 2. b. Mithridatus was King Cyrus treasurer at whose commaundement he deliuered all the holye vessels of golde and siluer pertayning to the house of the Lorde to Salmanasar the Deputie in Iewrie The number of which vessels was fiue thousand eyght hundred and thrée score ¶ Mithridatus dissoluing the lawe Act. 21. d Mnason was a certayne godlye man and a Cyprian borne who had of long tyme beléeued the Gospell in whose house Paul was hosted at Ierusalem ¶ Mnason a searcher out or promising or remembring Exod. 2. cap. Moyses the sonne of Amram and Iochebed was myraculously preserued at his byrth For where as Pharao the King of Egipt had straightly commaunded the Moses signifieth preserued from the water Mydwyues that whensoeuer they saw an Hebrue bring soorth a man chylde they shoulde cast it into the ryuer yet Moses being borne a proper childe was notwithstanding the Kinges commaundement kept secretlye thrée monthes And when his parents coulde hide him no longer they closed him in a basket made of réede or Bulrushes dawbed with slyme and pitch and layd him in the ryuer And as the childs sister stoode looking what should become of him it came to passe that King Pharaos * Hir name was Termuth daughter came awalking by the ryuer syde who séeing the basket â—leting vppon the ryuer caused one of hir folkes to take it vp â–ª And when she had opened the basket and sawe the Childe she had pittie vpon it and caused the Mayde his sister to fet hir a Nurse who went and brought his owne mother And so the childe being nursed brought vp in Pharaos house was instructed from his Childehoode in all maner cunning and wisedome of the Egiptians and became mightie in wordes and déedes Howe that Moyses impediment of speach came The king on a time for his daughters sake tooke the childe in hys armes and set the crown vppon hys heade which Moses as it were chyldishly playing hurled to the grounde and with hys foote spurned it At the whiche the Priest cryed out saying that this was he of whome it was prophecied that he should destroy Egipt Then Termuth excused the chylde alleaging his infancie and sacke of discretion And for proofe thereof caused burning coales to be put to hys mouth which the child with his tongue licked
vpon hym to raygne in his steade Nahas was King of the Ammonites And as hys predecessours afore tyme had made a claime to the lande of Israel so he now purposing the same went and besieged the Citie of Iabes in Gilead And when the men of Iabes perceyued themselues in great daunger of theyr lyues they desired the King to make a couenaunt with them and they woulde be his seruaunts Then sayde Nahas If yée will suffer mée to thrust out all your right eyes to bring Israel to shame I shal be content to make peace with you Then sayde they Giue vs respite seuen dayes and if none doe come to helpe vs in that space we will come out vnto thée Then Nahas thinking that none burst come to ayde them agaynst him graunted their request Vpon the which they sent messengers into all the coastes of Israel which newes was so heauy tydinges to them that they fell a wéeping And as they were mourning and lamenting their case it chaunced Saule by the prouidence of God to come out of the fielde following the Cattell And beholding the people what a doe they made he demaunded wherefore they mourned And when they had tolde hym the tydinges of the men of Iabes his heart was so mooued by the spirit of God that he tooke out twoo of his Oxen and hewed them in péeces and sent them thorowe all the coasts of Israel saying whosoeuer commeth not foorth after Saule and Samuel so shall his Oxen be serued And the people were stricken in such a feare that they came out to Saule as they had béene but one man to the number of thrée hundred thousande of Israel beside thirtie thousand of the men of Iuda And then Saule sent woorde by the messengers to the men of Iabes that the next morrowe they shoulde haue helpe They being glad of that sent woorde vnto Nahas saying To morow we will come foorth vnto you and yée shall doe vnto vs whatsoeuer pleaseth you And so on the morow Saule came vpon the Ammonites and slue them Nahor when he was nyne an twentie yeares of age begot Terah And lyued after he had begotten him an hundred and twentie yeares Naomy was the wyfe of a certayne man called Elimelech dwelling in the lande of Iuda in a Citie called Bethleem And for bycause of the present dearth which was ouer all the lande of Iuda She went with hir husbande and hir twoo sonnes into the Countrey of Moab to sogeourne Where in processe hir husbande died And hir twoo sonnes being maryed to twoo of the Moabitishe Damosels dyed there also So that Naomy which had dwelt in the lande of Moab ten yeares was left desolate both of hir husbande of hir sonnes Then Naomy hearing how the Lorde had visited hir countrey agayne with plentie retourned from Moab homewardes agayne hir twoo daughters in lawe bringing hir on the waye And when she saw they had gone a good way with hir coueted not to retourne she sayde vnto them Go nowe my Daughters and returne eche of you vnto your mothers house and the Lorde deale as kindlye with you as yée haue delt with the deadde and with mée And the Lorde giue you that yée maye finde rest eyther of you in the house of hir husbande and so kyssed them to haue bid them farewell But when she sawe that they would not depart from hir she sayde vnto them agayne Returne my Daughters I praye you for what cause will yée go with mée Are there any mo children within my wombe to be your husbands Turne agayne therefore I say for I am to olde to haue an husbande And if I dyd take one this night and had all ready borne children woulde yée tary for them tyll they were growne and refrayne from taking husbandes so long Not so my daughters it grieueth mée much for your sakes that the hande of the Lord is gone out agaynst mée Then they wept all togithers and Orpha kyssed hir mother in lawe and returned into hir owne lande agayne but Ruth abode still And so when they came to Bethleem Iuda which was about the beginning of Barley harnest the women which saw Naomy sayde Is not this Naomy Nay sayde she call me not Naomy which is as much to say as bewtyfull but call me Mara that is to saye bitter for the Almightie God hath made mée verye bitter I went out full and the Lorde hath brought mée agayne emptie why then call yée mée Naomy séeing the Lorde hath humbled mée and the Almightie hath brought mée vnto aduersitie And so Naomy remayned in Bethleem Iuda where or it were long God gaue hir a Sonne by the wombe of Ruth hir daughter in lawa who was maryed to Boos a kinsman of Naomyes which Childe being borne the women sayde vnto Naomy Blessed be the Lorde the which hath not left thée without a kinsman to haue a name in Israel and that shall bring thy lyfe agayne and cherishe thyne olde age for thy daughter in lawe which loueth thée hath borne vnto hym and she is better vnto thée than seuen sonnes And Naomy tooke the Childe and layed it in hir lap and became nurse vnto it being glad that a sonne was borne vnto hir in hir olde dayes Nathan the Prophet what tyme as King Dauid was minded to buylde God an house to dwell in was sent of the Lorde to forbid him not to meddle withall for Salomon his sonne shoulde doe it Agayne what tyme as Dauid had committed adultery with Vrias wife Nathan came to hym and sayde There were twoo men in one Citie the one riche and the other poore The riche man had excéeding many shéepe and Oxen but the poore had none at all saue one little Shéepe which hée had bought and nâ—urished vp And it grew vp with him and with his Children also and did eate of hys owne meate and drancke of his owne Cuppe and slept in his bosome And was vnto him as his daughter Nowe there came a straunger vnto the rich man who refused to take of his owne shéepe and Oxen to dresse for the straunger but tooke the poore mans shéepe dressed it for the man that was come to hym Then Dauid was excéeding wroth with the man and sayde As surely as the Lord lyueth he that hath done this is the Childe of death He shall restore the lambe foure folde bycause he dyd it without pittie Then sayde the Prophet thou art the same man thus sayth the Lord God of Israel I annointed thée king ouer Israel and deliuered thée out of the hands of Saule and gaue thée thy Lordes house and his wyues into thy bosome and gaue thée the house of Israel and Iuda and woulde if that had béene to little haue giuen thée much more Wherefore then hast thou despised the commaundement of the lord to do euil in his sight Thou hast kilde Urias the Hethite with the swoorde hast taken his wife to be thy wyfe and
in hys booke of the Reuelation .ij. Chapter reprooueth Nymrod was the sonne of Chus sonne of Cham the seconde sonne of Noe. He was the first that tooke on him to reigne ouer men and became a cruell oppressor and tyrant He was called a mightie hunter for that he was a deceyuer of soules and oppressor of men He attempted to builde the great towre of Babel intending to haue raysed it aboue the Clowdes thinking thereby to haue escaped if any floude shoulde eftsoones haue happened Noe was the sonne of Lamech and fiue hundreth yeares of age before he begat Sem Cham and Iaphet And being a iust and perfite man he founde such fauour in the eyes of God that when all fleshe had so corrupt his way vpon earth that God threatened the destruction of the worlde yet to saue Noe and to declare it vnto him 120. before it came he bade him prepare an Arke of Pine trées which shoulde conteyne in length thrée hundreth cubites in bredth fiftie cubites and in déepenesse thirtie Nowe when Noe had made the Arke and was sixe hundreth yeares of age the Lorde tolde him that after seauen dayes the deluge shoulde fall wherefore Noe at the Lordes commaundement got him into the Arke with his wyfe and thrée sonnes with their wyues prouiding in the meane space all things necessary for them And when Noe was in the Arke sodeynly by the power of God and not of mans bringing there came into the shippe two and two togither of euery kinde of beast and soule the male and the female And when they were all in the Lorde shut the doore of the Art◠and opened the windowes of heauen so that the raine fell continuallye fortie dayes and fortie nightes wherevpon the waters preuayled and rose aboue all Mountaines .xv. cubites So that all liuing creatures dyed except fishe and such as might endure in the bowels of the earth And after the waters had preuayled a hundred and fiftie dayes They decreased againe and in the seauenth day of the seauenth month which was October the Arke stacke vpon the Mountaines of Armeny Then Noe opened a windowe and sent forth a Crowe which returned agayne After seauen dayes he put forth a Doue which came againe at night bringing a braunch of Oliue with gréene leaues in hir mouth Neuerthelesse he remayned seauen other dayes and put forth the Doue againe which neuer returned Then Noe after he had continued one yeare in the Arke and sawe the earth drie he at the commaundement of God issued out of the Arke and incontinent builded an Aultar wherevpon he offered a sacrifice vnto the Lorde of euerye cleane beast and of euerye cleane foule which sacrifice was a swéete smell vnto the Lorde and pleased him so well that he made a promise to Noe that he would neuer more destroy the world with water for the confirmation thereof gaue the Rainebowe for a sure token betwéene him and man Noe was the first inuenter of Wine and therewithall was made drunke He liued after the fludde 350. yeares O. OBed the sonne of Boos and Ruth begat Isai the father of King Dauid Obed Edom the sonne of Ieduthun had the Arke of God remayning in his house thrée monthes for the which the Lorde blessed him and all his house And when it was tolde to Dauid that the house of Obed Edom was blessed bicause of the Arke of God he remooued it thence and brought it into the city of Dauid with great triumph and ordeyned Obed Edom and his brethren which were Leuites to kéepe the doore of the Arke Obedia notwithstanding hée was chiefe gouernour of all King Achabs house yet he was a man that feared God greatly Insomuch that when Iezabel destroyed the Prophetes of the Lorde he tooke an hundred Prophets and hidde them fiftie in one Caue and fiftie in another prouiding all things necessary for them On a time as Obedia was going about the lande at Achabs commaundement to searche for water and grasse for their cattell which were almost ouercome with drouth he chaunced to méete Elia the Prophete And when he saw him he fell downe and sayde Art not thou my Lord Elia yea quoth he go tell thy Lorde that I am here O quoth Obedia what haue I sinned that thou wouldest deliuer thy seruant into the handes of Achab to be slaine As truly as the Lord thy God liueth there is no nation or kingdome whither my Lorde hath not sent to séeke thée And when they sayd he is not here he tooke an othe of the kingdome and nation if they had not founde thée And now thou sayest go tell thy Lord that Elia is here And when I am gone from thée the spirite of the Lorde shall cary thée into some place that I doe not knowe and so when I come and tell Achab and he cannot finde thée then will he kill me But I thy seruaunt feare the Lord from my youth was it not tolde my Lorde what I dyd when Iezabel slue the Prophets of the Lorde howe I hid an hundred men of the Lordes Prophets by fifties in a Caue and fed them with breade and water And nowe thou sayest go and tell thy Lorde beholde Elia is here that he maye sley mée Well sayde Elia as truely as the Lorde of hostes lyueth before whom I stande I will shewe my selfe vnto him this daye Then Obedia hearing him saye so went to Achab and tolde him Oded when Pekah King of Israel had taken so manye Captyues of the Children of Iuda and caryed them to Samaria the Lord sent this Prophet vnto him saying Beholde bycause the Lorde God of your fathers is wrath with Iuda hée hath deliuered them into your handes and yée haue slayne them in your cruelnesse that reacheth vnto heauen and now yée purpose to kéepe vnder the children of Iuda and Ierusalem as bonde men and bonde women And doe yée not lade your selues with sinne in the sight of the Lorde your God Now therefore heare mée and deliuer the Captyues agayne which yée haue taken of your brethren or else shall the wrath of God be vpon you Then certayne which were the heades of the children of Ephraim being sorye for the great offence they had committed tooke the prisoners and with the spoyle clothed all that lacked shodde them and fed them with meate and drinck annoynted the woundes of such as were hurt and the féeble they caryed vpon asses and brought them to Iericho the citie of Palme trées to their brethren And leauing them there returned to Samaria agayne Og the King of Basan was a mightie great Giaunt whose bedde was made of Iron and in length nyne Cubites that is thirtéene foote an halfe And foure cubites brode that is sixe foote This Og was next neighbour to Seon King of the Amorites And hauing knowledge of all that Moses had done to Seon his neighbour made out a great Armye
agyanst Moses thinking to haue wonne his spurres in reuenging his neighbours quarell But when it came to triall he spedde no better than his neighbour had done before him Onan was the seconde Sonne of Iuda who after the death of Er his eldest brother was maryed to Thamar his brothers wife to styrre vp séede vnto his brother But when he perceyued that the séede shoulde be none of his he practised such wickednesse that the vengeaunce of God fell vpon him and siue hym Onesimus being in seruice with Philemon lyke an vnfaythfull seruaunt robbed his mayster and ranne away from him to Rome Where by hearing of Paule who at that time was in bondes he receyued the Doctrine of the Gospell and serued Paule in Prison and became so faithfull a souldiour of Christ that Paule sent him with Tichicus to the Collossians with his Epistle commending him vnto them on this wise And with Tichicus I haue sent Onesimus a faythfull and beloued brother which is one of you Finallye he sent him home to his mayster agayne beséeching Philemon not to receyue him now as a seruaunt but more than a seruaunt euen as a faythfull brother as his owne sonne whome he had in his bandes begotten to Christ offering himselfe suertye to make good whatsoeuer hurt he had done him in tyme past Onesiphorus was a faythfull godly man a great refresher of suche as were in bondes for the doctrine of Christ as Saint Paule doth testifie of him saying The Lorde giue mercy vnto the householde of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed mée and was not ashamed of my chayne But when he was at Rome he sought mée out very diligently and founde mée The Lorde graunt vnto him that he may finde mercye with the Lorde at that daye and in howe many thinges he ministered vnto mée at Ephesus thou knowest very well O Tymothy Onias the hye Priest among the Iewes was a man of such godlynesse and holinesse of lyfe that he alwayes sought the honour of the lawes and wealth of the people of god By his prayer that wicked man Heliodorus was restored to his health but notwithstanding all his vertue and goodnesse yet had he enimies For Symon a man voyde of all godlinesse neuer ceased withall slaunderous and euill reportes that he coulde deuise to Seleucus the King to bring him out of fauour which he coulde neuer doe so long as the King lyued But Seleucus being dead Onias was soone put out of office by the false deceyt and meanes of his owne brother Iason and brought in such feare thorow him and Menelaus with other his enimies that he was fayne to take sanctuary Where at the last by the counsell of Menelaus he was without all regarde of righteousnesse most trayterously slayne by the hands of Andronicus whose innocent death was so sore lamented both of the Iewes and also of Antiochus the King himselfe that at his comming home hée rewarded the malefactor according to his dédes Ooliab the sonne of Achisamec of the Tribe of Dan was a Craftes man whome the Lorde had endued with great cunning and appointed him to Moses for one of the chiefe workemen for the finishing of the Temple Oreb and Zeb were two great Captaynes among the Madianites whome the men of Mount Ephraim which had stopped the waters from Bethbarath to Iordane tooke and smote of their heades and sent them to Gedeon on the other side of Iordan Ornan was a certayne Iebusite vnto whome the Lorde commaunded Dauid after he had plagued hym with pestilence to go and reare vp an Aultar in his threshing floure At whose comming Ornan fell downe before hym and sayde Wherefore is my Lorde the King come to his seruaunt I am come quoth he to buye thy threshing floure and to make an Aultar vnto the Lorde that the plague maye cease from the people Ornan Let my Lorde the King take and offer what séemeth him good in his eyes And moreouer here be Oxen for burnt sacrifice and sleades with other instruments for woodde take them all to thée as thine owne Dauid sayde Naye not so but I will buye it for sufficient money for I will not take that which is thine for the Lorde nor offer burnt offerings without cost And so Dauid gaue Ornan for that place Sixe hundred sicles of golde by waight Orpha and Ruth were twoo Damosels of the countrey of Moab which were maryed to the twoo sonnes of Elimelech and Naomy straungers come out of the Lande of Iuda there to dwell Reade the Story of Naomy for the reast Osias the sonne of Micha of the Tribe of Symeon was one of the principall Fathers and Rulers among the Israelites what tyme as Holofernes besieged the Citie of Bethulia This man comforted Achior which had so boldlye magnified praysed the great power and strength of God before Holofernes and tooke him into his house where he made hym a great Supper to the which he called the Elders who altogithers praysed God in him Also when the people came wéeping and crying out ▪ vnto hym to giue ouer the Citie into the handes of the Assirians he sayde vnto them Oh take good hearts vnto you deare brethren and be of good cheare and let vs wayte yet these fiue dayes for mercye of the Lorde peraduenture he shall put away his indignacion and giue glorie vnto his name But if he helpe vs not after these fiue daies be past we shall doe as ye haue sayde which counsell of Osias pleased not Iudith bycause he had set the mercye of God a tyme and appointed hym a daye at his pleasure So that after this Osias remayned in prayer and followed the deuise of Iudith in all things Othoniel was the sonne of Kenes vnto whom Caleb his elder brother gaue Acsah his daughter to wyfe for winning of a certayne Citie called Kariath Sepher This man deliuered the children of Israel from the Captiuitie of Chusan Kisathaim king of Mesopotamia which had oppressed them eyght yeares and Iudged Israel fourtie yeares P. CONVERSIO SAVLI Io. Sadeley sculpt C. M. Cum priuil 1580 F. Pourbus inven Saulus Tharsensis ex itinere diuinitus prostratus Damascum Ananiae in disciplinam tradendus ducitur An. ' ab Ascenss XI II. Illustri ac Generoso D. D. Ottoni Henrico Comiti à Suuartzenberg Et̄ Sa. Cae. M. t is Consiliario supremo ausae Mareschallo Sculptor obser ergó d. d. Pekahia the sonne of Menahen began his reigne ouer Israel in the fiftie yeare of the reigne of Azaria king of Iuda and departed not from the sinnes of Ieroboam but walked therein as his father did before him He had not reygned two yeares or that Pekak his owne Captaine rose against him and slue him in Samaria and reygned in his steade Pekah the sonne of Remaliahin began his reygne ouer Israel in the .lij. yeare of Azaria King of
brought his daughter into hir Chamber and sayde Be of good chere my daughter the Lorde of heauen giue thée ioy for the heauinesse that thou hast suffered and so went to rest Then in the morning about the Cocke crowing Raguel supposing all things to haue happened to Toby as it did to the other seauen before called vp his men and went and made ready his graue which being done he bade his wyfe sende one of hir Maydens to looke if Toby were dead that he might burye him before day light And when it was tolde him they were both sounde and fast a sléepe he praysed God and caused his men to fill vp the graue agayne and made a great feast to all his neighbours and friendes And gaue to Toby the halfe of all his goodes and made him a sure writing for the other halfe that remayned to be his also after his death And at the daye of their departure deliuered the goodes taking his leaue sayde The holy Angell of the Lord be with you in your iourney and bring you forth safe and sounde that ye may finde all things in good case with your Elders and that mine eyes my sée your Children before I dye and so kissed them and let them go Rathumus with other Officers vnder Artaxerses King of Persia writeth vnto him agaynst the Iewes on this wyse Sir thy seruaunts Rathumus the story writer Sabellius the Scribe with other Iudges of the Court in Celosiria and Phinehes Be it knowne and manifested to our Lorde the King that the Iewes which are come vp from you to vs into the rebellious and wicked Citie beginne to buylde it agayne and the Walles about it and to set vp the Temple a newe Nowe if this citie and the Walles thereof be set vp agayne they shall not onely refuse to giue Tributs and Taxes but also rebell vtterly agaynst the king And for so much as they take this in hande nowe about the Temple we thought it not méete to passe ouer such a thing but to shew it vnto our Lorde the king And to certifie him thereof To the intent that if it might please the King to cause it to be sought in the bookes of old and thou shalt finde such warning written and shalt vnderstande that this Citie hath alwayes béene rebellious and disobedient that it hath subdued Kinges and Cities and that the Iewes which dwelt therein hath euer béene a rebellious obstinate vnfaythfull and fighting people for the which cause this Citie is wasted Wherefore nowe we certifye our Lorde the King that if this Citie be buylded and occupyed agayne and the Walles thereof set vp a newe thou canst haue no passage into Celosiria and Phenices And when Rathumus and the other had receyued the Kinges aunswere they got them to Ierusalem with an hoste of men and made the Iewes cease from their buylding which was not begun agayne vntill the seconde yeare of King Darius Rebecca was the daughter of Bathuel and sister to Laban As she went on a tyme with a pitcher vpon hir heade to the common Well without the Citie to draw water it chaunced Abrahams seruaunt to stande by the Well with ten Camels lying there about And when the Mayde had filled hir pot and set it vpon hir head readye to go awaye the man desired to drinke a little of hir water who foorthwithall set downe hir pot and gaue him drincke And when he had droncken she powred out the reast into the water trough and ran againe to the Well drew water for his Camels vntill they had all droncken their fill Then the man in hope the Lorde had made his iourney prosperous tooke out a Golden earing and twoo bracelets of Golde and gaue them to the Mayde demaunding whose daughter she was I am quoth she the daughter of Bathuel the Sonne of Milca which she bare vnto Nahor Then tell mée I praye thée is there rowme in thy fathers house for vs to lodge in Yea quoth she there is both rowme and lodging and also litter and prouander ynough for your beastes Blessed be God quoth he that hath delt so mercyfullye with my Mayster and hath brought me the right way to my maysters brothers house Then Rebecca hearing him speake of hir fathers brother ranne home and tolde all thinges what the man had sayde And as Laban behelde his sister and sawe the earyngs and bracelets vpon hir handes he ranne out to the man with gentle entertaynement brought him into the house and sawe his Camels drest and prouided for also set meate before him to eate But the man woulde not eate before he had declared the cause wherefore hys mayster had sent him which being done and his request graunted he eate made mery and taryed all night And on the morrow as the man made haste to go his way the Damosell was called foorth to know whither she woulde go with the man or no and being content to go with the man he woulde not tarye but tooke the Mayde and had hir to Isaac his maysters sonne whose wyfe she became And being twentie yeares without a Childe at last she conceyued with twoo and when she felt them striue within hir wombe she made hir mone to God saying Séeing it is so why am I thus with childe God made hir answere saying There are twoo maner of people in thy wombe two Nacions shal be deuided out of thy bowels And the one Nacion shal be mightier than the other And the elder shal be seruaunt to the yoonger And so when hir tyme was come to be delyuered she brought foorth twoo twynnes the one named Esau and the other Iacob Which twoo became mightie men but Rebecca looued Iacob better then Esau and to preferre hym before the other she sayde Heare mée my sonne Iacob I haue hearde thy Father saye to thy brother go and kyll some Venison and make mée meate thereof that I may eate and blesse thée before the Lorde afore I dye Now therefore my Sonne heare my voyce in that which I commaunde thée Get thée to the flocke and bring mée thence two good kyddes that I may make meate of them for thy father such as he loueth and thou shalt bring it hym to eate that he may blesse thée before his death Then sayde Iacob My brother Esau is a rough man and if my father shall happen to féele mée I shall séeme vnto him as I went about to deceyue him and so shall I bring a curse vpon mée not a blessing Well sayde Rebecca vpon mée be thy cursse my sonne onely heare my voyce and go and fetche me them And when he had brought the Kyddes and that she had drest the meate and made it readye she fette out certayne rayment of Esaus and put it vpon Iacob and couered his hands and the smoothe of his necke with Goate shinnes and put the meate in his hande to cary to his Father by which policie of Rebecca Iacob had his brothers
and was buryed in the Citie of Dauyd and his sonne Roboam succéeded ¶ Natha the Prophet called him Iedidia beloued Samgar the sonne of Anath deliuered Israel from the Philistines and slue sixe hundred of them with an Oxe goade Samson the Sonne of Manoah of the Tribe of Dan was borne in the Citie of Zaraah and became a mightie strong man On a time as he went to the Citie of Thamnath and saw a woman of the Philistins which liked him well he intreated his parents to haue hir to his wyfe Who not contented therewith reprooued him saying Is there neuer a wife among the daughters of thine owne people and brethren but thou must take a wyfe among the vncircumcised Philistines Well sayd Samson let me haue hir for shée pleaseth mée well Then his parents not knowing it was the Lordes dooing that hée shoulde séeke an occasion agaynst the Philistines went with their sonne to Thamnath to sée the woman And by the waye going Samson vnknowne to his parentes slue a Lyon which came ramping vpon him and so went foorth with them and talked with the woman And a fewe dayes after as he came agayne to receyue his wyfe he turned aside to sée the carkeys of the Lyon and founde in the bellye thereof a swarme of Bées and hony whereof he tooke in his hande and went eating to his Father and mother gaue them parte of the Hony. And when the feast day of his mariage was come he sayde to thirtie yoong men of his guestes I will put foorth a riddle vnto you and if yée can declare it mée within the seuenth day of the Feast I will giue you thirtie shyrtes and thirtie chaunge of rayment and if yee cannot then shall you giue mée the lyke The riddle is this Out of the eater came meate and out of the strong came swéetnesse And when the seuenth day was come and the men had not yet founde out the ryddle they perswaded Samsons wyfe to sucke it out of hir husbande and tell it them who neuer rested flattering of Samson and wéeping before him till he had tolde hir Then they being taught of hir went to Samson before the Sonne was downe and sayde what is swéeter than hony ▪ And what is stronger than a Lyon. Then sayde Samson If yée had not plowed with my Calfe yée had not founde out my ryddle And so he went out to the Citie of Ascalon one of the chiefest Cities of the Philistines and slue thirtie men And gaue the spoyle of them to those that had expounded his riddle and so got him home to his fathers house halfe displeased with hys wyfe After a whyle hée went to visite his wyfe with a kidde but when he came his Father in lawe had giuen hir to an other ▪ thinking that Samson had hated hir and bade hym take the yoonger which was fayrer in hir steade Then Samson hauing good occasion giuen hym agaynst the Philistines went out and caught thrée hundred Foxes and fastened tayle by tayle and put a fyre brande betwéene the twoo tayles which he set on fyre and so sent them into the Philistines Corne and brent it vp with their Vyneyardes Olyues and all The Philistines knowing that Samson had done it went and set fyre on his Father in lawes house and brent both hym Samsons wife with all that euer they had And sent thrée thousand men of Iuda who were then vnder the Philistines to Samson to binde him and to bring him to them And when by his sufferance they had bounde him brought him to the Philistines they gaue a great shoute when they sawe him wherewithall Samson brake a sundre his bandes as though they had béene but flaxe And tooke vp a rotten Iawbone of an Asse and layde so about him that he slue a thousande Philistines or euer he rested And being sore a thyrst God made water come out of a tooth in the Iawbone ▪ and so refreshed him After this he got him to the Citie of Gaza and lodged in a womans house that solde vittayles And when hée perceyued the Citizens to watch and to go about to kyll hym he got him vp about midnight and went to the gates of the Citie which hée rent off barres all and layed them vpon his shoulders caried them vp to the top of an hygh hill before Hebron ▪ Finallye thorowe his inordinate affection to Dalila his wyfe he lost Goddes excellent gift and so was betrayed to the Philistines who tooke and put out his eyes and cast hym in Prison where they made hym to grynde lyke a slaue And when the great daye of the Philistines came that they shoulde holde their feast to their god Dagon they sent for Samson out of prison to playe before them and to make them laugh The house was full of men and women so many that in the roufe of the same there was about thrée thousand to beholde Samson whyle he played before the Lords great men And as he stoode betwéene the great pyllers which bare vp all the house he called vpon God in his minde saying O Lord thinke vpon me and strengthen me at this tyme onely that I according to my vocasion executing thy iudgement may be auenged on the Philistines for my twoo eyes And with that he caught the pillers in his handes saying Let me lose my life with the Philistines so shooke the pillers with all his might and brought downe the house vpon them and killed them all Then his brethren hearing thereof came and tooke vp the bodye of Samson and buryed hym with Manoah his Father after hée had Iudged Israel twentie yeares who had béene in subiection vnder the Philistines fourtie yeares Samuel the sonne of Elkana and Anna was the next Iudge after Eli and the last that iudged Israel And bycause his mother had asked him of God therefore she called his name Samuel And when he was able to doe any ministracion in the Temple his mother brought him to Eli and gaue him vnto the Lord according to hir promise And so Samuel ministered vnto the Lorde before Eli And one daye as he layed him downe to sléepe in the Temple the Lorde called him And Samuel thinking it had béene his Mayster ranne to Eli to knowe his pleasure who sayde he called him not And at the thirde time when Samuel came to his mayster agayne Eli sayde vnto him Go and laye thée downe once more and if he call thée agayne then saye thou Speake Lorde for thy seruaunt heareth And when the Lorde had called him the fourth time and had opened vnto him all that he had determined against the house of Eli for not correcting his sonnes for their great wickednesse Samuel went to his mayster Eli and at his commaundement tolde him euery whit what the Lorde had sayde Now Samuel being the Lords Prophet iudged the people and was both loued feared of them And when he began to waxe
hande and giuen it to Dauid And moreouer sayth he to Saule the Lorde will deliuer the Israelites into the handes of the Philistines and tomorrow shalt thou and thy Sonnes be with mée And on the next day Saule being ouercome of the Philistynes and his thrée Sonnes slayne for anguishe of heart fell vpon his owne sworde and killed himselfe after he had reygned fortie yeares Sara the daughter of Aram was Abrahams wife And perceyuing that the Lorde had restrayned hir from bearing of children she gaue Abraham leaue to take Agar hir Mayden to wife But when she saw hir selfe despised of hir mayde which had conceyued she began to be so sharpe and quicke with Agar that she made hir runne awaye Neuerthelesse at the humble submission of Agar Sara receyued hir agayne Then Sara passing foorth till she came to the age of foure score and ten yeres it chaunced she hearde the Aungel of the Lorde as she stoode in hir Tent say vnto Abraham that Sara his wyfe should haue a childe which wordes séemed so impossible vnto hir that she laughed within hir selfe and sayde Is it of a surety that I shall beare a sonne Shall I now giue my selfe to lust being olde and my Lord olde also And when she had talked thus to hir selfe the Aungell of the Lorde demaunded of Abraham wherefore his wyfe dyd laugh as though it were quoth he to harde a thing for God to performe his promise Then she being asked the question denyed it for she was afrayde saying that she laughed not And so Sara iudging him faythfull which had promised brought forth a sonne at the time apointed of God and called his name Isaac And when the Childe was borne she sayde God hath made mée a laughing stocke for all that heare will laugh at mée Who woulde haue sayde to Abraham that Sara shoulde haue giuen Children sucke for I haue borne him a sonne in his olde age After this when Sara perceyued Ismael the sonne of Agar as he played with Isaac to be a mocker she sayde vnto Abraham put awaye this bonde mayde hir sonne for the sonne of this bonde woman shall not be eyer with my sonne Isaac Finally when Sara had lyued one hundred and seuen an twentie yeres she dyed in Kiriat Arba Which is also called Hebron And was buryed in the double Caue which Abraham had bought of the sonnes of Heth. Sara the daughter of Raguel had seauen husbands one after an other which men before they had lyen with hir were all slayne of the Deuill Asmodius to the great discomfort and heauinesse of the yoong woman And yet the more to aggreuate hir sorowe hir fathers Maydens when she did correct them for their faults woulde slaunder hir on this wyse saying God let vs neuer sée sonne nor daughter of thée more vpon earth thou kyller of thy husbandes wilt thou kyll vs also as thou hast done them Which woordes were so gricuous to Sara that she got hir vp to an hygh chamber of hir house where she continued thrée dayes and thrée nightes in prayer beséeching God that he woulde vouchsafe to lowse hir out of that rebuke or else to take hir out of y earth For thou knowest O Lorde that I neuer had desire vnto man and that I haue kept my soule cleane from all vncleanlye lust I haue not kept companie with those that passe there time in sporte neyther haue I made my selfe partaker with them that walke in light behauiour neuerthelesse an husbande haue I consented to take not for my pleasure but in thy feare Now peraduenture eyther I haue béene vnwoorthye of them or else were they vnméete for me for thou happily hast kept me for an other husbande And thus making hir prayers to God he hearde hir and sent yong Toby to be hir husband who being ioyned togither in Matrimonie lyued all their dayes an holy lyfe in the feare and lawes of God. Seba the sonne of Bichri assoone as Dauid was restored to his Kingdome agayne begun a new insurrection and got all Israel to followe hym saue onelye the men of Iuda which stacke fast by Dauid and as he came into the Citie of Abell to the which Ioab followed hym the Gouernesse of the citie being a woman of wisedome smote off the heade of Seba and threwe it ouer the Wall to Ioab and so the commocion ceased Sceua was a Iewe borne and the chiefe Priest among the Iewes This man had seauen sonnes who for lucre sake to purchase vnto themselues a great name thereby attempted to cast out euill spirites by inuocation of the name of the Lorde Iesus as Paule dyd saying vnto the man possessed we coniure you in the name of Iesus whome Paule preacheth that ye depart out of the man To whom the spirite aunswered and sayde Iesus I knowe and Paule I knowe but who are yée and as soone as he had spoken these woordes the man in whome the euill spirite was ranne vpon them and got the ouer hande on them In so much that they had much a doe to escape with their lyues and scarce got at the last naked and wounded out of the house And this example of the sonnes of Sceua being bruted abrode among the Iewes and Gentiles many which beléeued came to Paule and confessed their offences And besyde that diuers other which had vsed suche curious craftes of Coniurasions brought their bookes and burned them before all men the price whereof were counted at fiftie thousande Siluerlinges Sela the yoongest sonne of Iuda being growen to perfect age and not giuen to Thamar in mariage according to his Fathers promise was the occasion of Thamars playing the myswoman with Iuda hir Father in lawe Sela the sonne of Arphaxad of the generacion of Sem was the Father of Eber whome he begot when he was thirtie yeares of age and lyued after the birth of Eber foure hundred and thrée yeares Which make in the whole foure hundred and .xxxiij. yeares Sem the eldest Sonne of Noe receyued prayse of his Father bycause he couered his nakednesse as he laye vncouered in his Tent. Sem at the age of an hundred yeares begot Arphaxat twoo yeares after the floud and lyued after fiue hundred yeares .2 Ense meo cecidere uiri dum uindico stuprū Germanae fracto federe quod pepig◠Hinc pater iratus Sijmeoni dira precatus Nostraque posteritas heu masedicta fuit Sennacherib King of Assiria was a mightie prince which séeing that Salmanasar his predycessour had conquered the King of Israel and made them Tributaries thought it good to set vpon the King of Iuda who at that tyme was the godly and most noble Ezechias And when Sennacherib had gotten into his handes all the chiefe Cities of Iuda and Beniamin saue onely Ierusalem he besieged that also with such might and power that Ezechias was fayne to submit himselfe to the mercie of Sennacherib offering him tribute
with great rewardes And being mette togithers Triphon sayde to Ionathas Why hast thou caused this people to take such traueyle séeing there is no warre betwéene vs Therefore sende them home againe and choose certayne men to wayte vpon thée and come thou with mée to Ptclomais for I will giue it thée with other strong holdes for that is the onelye cause of my comming and so I must depart Then Ionathas beléeuing Triphon sent away his hoste all saue a thousande and so went with Triphon to Ptolomais And assoone as Ionathas and his men were entered the Citie the gates were shut and Ionathas put in warde all his men were 1. Mac. 13. a. b. c. d. slayne After this Triphon went into the lande of Iuda with a great hoste hauing Ionathas with hym in warde And when he had knowledge that Symon stoode vp in the steade of his brother Ionathas and that he woulde come agaynst him he sent worde to Symon that where as he kept Ionathas his brother in warde it was but for mony he ought in the Kings account and other businesse he had in hande Therefore if he woulde sende hym an hundred Talents of Siluer and the twoo sonnes of Ionathas to be their fathers suretie he would sende him home againe But Symon knewe his dissembling heart well ynough Yet neuerthelesse least he should be a greater enimie to the people of Israel and say an other daye that bycause he sent him not the money and the children therefore is Ionathas dead he sent him both the money and the Children Then Triphon hauing the money and Children kept Ionathas still and shortlye after put both the Father and his children to death Now Triphon to bring his long pretenced purpose about on a tyme as he walked abrode with the yoong King he most trayterously slue him and possessed the Realme and crowned himselfe King of Asia and dyd much hurte in the lande Finally Triphon 15. b. cap. was so behated of all men that when Antiochus the sonne of Demetrius came vpon him the most part of his owne hoste forsooke him and went to Antiochus who neuer left persecuting of Triphon till he made hym flée by shippe where he was neuer séene more ¶ Triphon a delicate and fine man. Act. 20. a. Trophimus was an Ephesian borne who went with Tichicus out of Asia to Troas to make all thinges ready agaynst Paules comming and abode there till Paule came from thence they went with Paule to Ierusalem where certaine Iewes which were of Asia mooued the people agaynst Paule complayning of hym that he 21. f. cap. had brought Gréekes with hym to polute the Temple bicause they saw Trophimus with him in the Citie whom they supposed Paule had brought into the Temple Gene. 4. c. d. Tubal was the sonne of Lamech by his wyfe Ada. And was the first that inuented the science of Musicke by the strokes and noyse of the hammers of his brother Tubalcain which was a Smith and the first finder out of Mettall and the woorking thereof Iubal was his brother by father and mother and Tubalcain onely by the Father for Zilla was his mother ¶ Tubal borne or brought or worldly ¶ Tubalcain Worldly possession V. VAsthi was a verye fayre woman and wyfe to Ahasuerus otherwise called Artaxerses King of Persia And bycause she woulde not come to the King when he sent for hir a lawe was deuised and made by the seuen Princes of Persia and Medea That forasmuch as it coulde not be chosen but that this déede of Quéene Vasthi must néeds come abrode into the eares of all women both Princes and other so dispise their husbandes and saye Thus and thus dyd Vasthi to Ahasuerus by which occasion much dispitefulnesse and wrath shoulde aryse The King shoulde therefore put hir awaye and take an other to the ende that all other women great and small shoulde holde their husbandes in more honour And so she was diuersed from the King and Hester receyued in hir place Vrban was a certayne faythfull Christian brother to whome Paule sent gréetings saying Salute Vrban our helper in Christ Vrias the Hethite was a man alwayes for the most part occupyed in the Kings warres with Ioab the Kings Captayne generall This Vrias had a fayre woman to his wyfe called Bethsabe whome King Dauid in his absence had got with childe And when the King had knowledge that the woman was conceyued he sent for Vrias to come home Who being come to the King and had tolde him of all thinges concerning Ioab and his men of warre The King bade him go home to his house and repose himselfe there a whyle with his wyfe And so Vrias being departed from the King went not home to his wyfe but laye without the Kinges gate he and all his men that night And when on the morowe the King had knowledge thereof he sent for Vrias demaunded why he went not home To whome he sayde The Arke of Israel and Iuda dwell in Tentes and my Lorde Ioab and the seruaunts of my Lorde abide in the open fields shall I than go into mine house to eate and drincke lye with my wyfe By thy lyfe and by the life of thy soule I will not doe this thing Then he was commaunded to tarye a daye or twoo more and the King wrote a letter to Ioab the Tenour whereof was this That he should set Vrias in the fore front of the battell where it was most sharpest to the intent he might be slayne And so Vrias departed from the King carying his owne death with him and was soone dispatched out of his lyfe Vriah was the hye Priest in the tyme of Ahaz King of Iuda And hauing the patterne of an Altar sent vnto hym by the King from Damasco to make hym the lyke agaynst hys comming home Vriah consented to the Kinges wicked minde and made the Altar and did whatsoeuer the King woulde haue him to doe without any regarde of the lawes of God. Vza and Ahio were the sonnes of Abinadab which wayted vpon the newe Cart whereon the Arke of God which was taken out of their fathers house to be caryed to the house of Obeth was layed And forasmuch as Vza of a good intent put foorth his hande to staye the Arke when the Oxen stumbled the Lorde smote hym for his fault that he dyed euen before the Arke Z. ZAbulon was the sixte sonne of Iacob and Lea. Of whome his father prophecied before his death saying Zabulon shall dwell by the Sea side and hée shal be an hauen for shippes his border shal be vnto Zidon Zachary was a certayne godlye Priest in the dayes of Herode King of Iewrye which came of the course or familie of Abia. And walked so perfectly in the ordinaunces and lawes of the Lorde that no man could iustly complayne on hym But he had no childe by his wyfe Elizabeth for she was barren
first an interpreter of Moses law and afterwarde became an earnest preacher of the Gospell of Christ Of whome Paule writeth to Tite Byshop of Crete that whensoeuer Zenas departed from him he shoulde bring him on his iourney with all diligence and that nothing shoulde be lacking vnto him His wordes to Tite were these Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their iourney diligently that nothing be lacking to them Zephora was the daughter of Raguel Priest of Madian and wyfe to Moses by whom she conceyued bare him twoo sonnes The one Gerson and the other Eleazer And as she went with Moses hir husbande towarde the lande of Egipt by the waye in hir Inne she tooke a sharpe knyfe and cut awaye the foreskinne of hir sonne and cast it at his féete saying Thou art in déede a bloudye husbande vnto mée she sayde a bloudy husbande bycause of the circumcision Ziba was one of King Saules olde seruauntes after whose death he belonged to Miphiboseth the sonne of Ionathas and had the ouer sight of all his maisters landes which Dauid had restored vnto hym and the gouernaunce also of Mica his Maysters sonne This Ziba intending to deceyue his mayster what tyme as Dauid fled from Absalom his sonne and was a little past the top of Mount Oliuete mette him with a couple of Asses sadled and vpon them twoo hundred loaues and one hundred bunches of Raysins an hundred frayle of dryed Figges and a bottell of Wine And when the King sawe him he sayde What meaneth thou with these Ziba They be quoth he Asses for the Kings householde to ryde on and breade and fruite for the yoong men to eate and Wyne that such as be fayntie in the Wildernesse may drincke Then sayde the King where is thy maister Miphiboseth Ziba sayde beholde he taryeth styll at Ierusalem for he sayde This daye shall the house of Israel restore me the Kingdome of my Father Then sayde Dauid to Ziba Beholde all are thine that pertayned to Miphiboseth Then sayde Ziba I doe homage vnto thée I beséeche thée I maye finde grace in thy sight my Lorde O king Thus Ziba deceyued his mayster got his lande from him But when the King was returned agayne to Ierusalem and perceyued by Miphiboseth that Ziba had wrongfully accused him he commaunded the lande to be diuided betwéene them Zimri was the seruaunt of Ela the sonne of Baasa King of Israel and Captayne of halfe his Charrettes who or his Mayster had raygned full twoo yeares conspired agaynst him and siue hym as he was in Tirzah drincking till he was droncken in the house of Arza Stuwarde of his house in Tirzah And raygned in his steade in the tyme of whose raygne which was but seuen dayes he siue all the house of Baasa leauing neyther kinsman nor friende of his alyue At this tyme had Ela the King an hoste of men lying at the siege of Gibbethon a Citie of the Philistines And when they hearde of the Treason of Zimri and that he raygned in the steade of Ela they with one consent made Amry their Captayne King who then went and besieged Zimri where he laye in the citie of Tirzah And when Zimri saw that the citie must néedes be woonne then he least they shoulde take him a lyue and put hym to a shamefull death brent himselfe and the Kinges house with fyre and so dyed Zorobabel the Sonne of Salathiel withall the Iewes which were delyuered from Babilon by Cyrus returned to Ierusalem where they repayred agayne the Citie and Temple of God and renewed their lawes though they were sometyme hindred and let by their enimies about them FINIS Exed 6. c. d. 24. d. 32. cap. Idolatrie punished Nu. 12. cap. Disobedience punished 20. d. 33. c. ¶ Aaron a Teacher Dani. 14. f. g. Abacuck died sixe hundred yeares before the incarnation of Christ Eliote ¶ Abacuck a Wrastler Abdy 1. cap. ¶ Abdy a Seruant of the Lorde Ieremi 38. b. 39. d. â—indnesse recompensed Gen. 4. a. b. Abel Delbora his sister were born both at one byrth fiftene yeares after Cain Cooper ¶ Abel Vanitie 3. Reg. 15. a. 2. Par. 13. ca. 3. Reg. 14. ca. ¶ Abia Father of the Sea. 4. Reg. 18. a. ¶ Abia The will of the Lorde 1. Reg. 22 â–ª 3. Reg. 2. ¶ Abiathar Father of the Remnant or excellent Father 1. Reg. 25. ca. Eccle. 31. d. 2. Reg. 3. a. ¶ Abigail The Fathers Ioye 1. Par â–ª 2. b. Gen. 20. cap. ¶ Abimelech The Kings Father or a Father of Counsell or the Chiefe King. Iudith 9. cap. 2. Reg. 6. a. 1. Reg. 16. b. 31. a. ¶ Abinadab A Father of a Vowe or of a free minde or Prince 3. Reg. 1. a. 2. d. ¶ Abisag The Fathers Ignorance 1. Par. 2. b. 2. Re. 16. b. â— 21. d. 23 â–ª â— â–ª ¶ Abisai The Fathers Rewarde ¶ Abner The Fathers Candell â—â—â— 11. d. 〈◊〉 â—â—â— the sonne of â—eâ—ah beâ—oâ— ten of hys seconde â—yâ—e â— because of his 〈◊〉 is counted be sore 〈◊〉 â—â—â—aâ— bornâ— of the 〈◊〉 wyfe * 1â— câ—p Abraham â—â—ught the Egiptians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13. cap. 16. cap. 17. cap. 21. a. b. 22. cap. 25. cap. Abraham dyed before the incarnatioÌ„ of Christ 1838. yeares ¶ Abraham a Father of a great Multitude 2. Reg. 3. 2. 14. f. 2. Reg. 13. ca. 14. cap. 15. cap â–ª 17. a. b. c. d. 18. a. b. c. d Rebellion neuer escapeth gods punishment ¶ Absalom A Father of Peace or the Fathers Peace or Rewarde Iosua 7. cap. ¶ Acan Troubling 3. Reg 16. g. 18 cap. 21. f. 20. cap. * Here God as he many symes doth dyd punyshe one wicked by another 3. Reg. 21. câ—â— * His repentance was not true but plaine ypocrisie 22. cap. ¶ Achab The Fathers Brother 1. Cor. 16. c. ¶ Achaicus Mourning or sadde Achaz looke Ahaz Iudith 5. cap. Iudit 6. ca. Iudith 14. a. ¶ Achior the Brothers Light. 1. Reg. 21. c. d * Here it is sayde that Dauid feined himselfe mad before Achis and in the. 34 Psalme before Abimelech which twoo were both one maÌ„ for here he is called by his proper name Achis and in the other place by his general name Abimelech * 27. cap. * 29. cap. ¶ Achis Euen so it is Gene. 4. 36. ¶ Ada a Companye or Congregation Gene. 1. ¶ Adam Man Earthly 2. Reg. 3. a. 3. Reg. 1. cap. 3. Reg. 2. d. ◠¶ Adonia the Lorde is the ruler Iudic. 1. a. b. ¶ Adonibesech the Lordes Thunder 4. Reg. 19. g. ¶ Adramelech the Kings Cloake or his greatnesse on power or the greatnesse of Counsell 3. Reg. 12. c. 2. Par. 10. d. ¶ Aduram Their Cloake or their power or greatnesse 1. Reg. 15. ca. ¶ Agag An House or sollour Act. 11. d. 21. c ¶ Agabus A Grashopper Gen. 16. cap. 21. a. b. c. ¶ Agar A Straunger 1. Esd 5. a. ¶ Aggeus Solemne festiuall or wynding and turning himselfe
Ierobaal that is let Baal pleade for himselfe bicause he hath broken downe his Aultar At this time the Madianites and the Amalakites had pitched themselues in the valley of Iezrael and the spirite of the Lorde came vpon Gedeon so that he called his people togithers to go agaynst them And for to be the better confirmed in his vocation hée tooke a fléece of wooll and layde it in the threshing place and made his request vnto God saying Oh Lorde if thou wilt let the dewe this night fall vpon the fléece only and be drie on all the grounde beside then shall I be sure that thou wilt saue Israel by my handes as thou hast sayde And on the morrowe when Gedeon came to take vp the fléece it was full of dewe and the grounde drie all about Then sayde Gedeon O Lorde be not angry that I prooue thée once more let nowe the fléece be drie only and dewe vpon all the earth and so in the morning the fléece was drye and the grounde all dewy Gedeon nowe being thus confirmed pitched his hoste to fight with his enimies But when the Lorde sawe the number of his armie he sayd to Gedeon the people that thou hast with thée are to manye therefore make a proclamation thorowout all thine hoste that whosoeuer is timerous or fearefull let him depart home agayne and there returned .xxij. thousande and ten thousande remayned Then sayde the Lorde to Gedeon the people are yet to many Bring them downe to the water side and I will appoynt them that shall go with thée So many as doe lappe the water with their tongues as Dogges doth shalt thou take with thée the reast that knéeleth downe vpon their knées to drinke shalt thou resuse as men vnméete for this purpose And when it came to tryall all knéeled downe to drinke sauing 300. which lapped water with their hands those Gedeon tooke with him and sent the rest away Then the Lord to strengthen Gedeon least he shoulde faynt in so great an enterprise bade him take Phara his seruaunt with him and go downe that night to the hoste of the Madianites and harcken what they did say And when they came neare to the hoste they hearde one man saye to another I haue dreamed a dreame and me thought a lofe of Barley bread tumbled into the hoste of Madian and came vnto a Tent and smote it that it fell and lay along on the grounde This is nothing else quoth his felowe saue the sworde of Gedeon the sonne of Ioas a man of Israel for into his handes hath God deliuered Madian and all the hoste Then Gedeon hearing this praysed God and returned to his men who were so animated with his ioyfull tydings that most couragiously they fell vpon the infinite number of the Madianites and ouerthrew them and put them to flight euery one in the which flight y Ephraims on the other side of Iordan toke Oreb Zeb two mightie Captains of the Madianites sent their heads to Gedeon who was following the chase after Zebah Zalmana Kings of Madian which two at the last he tooke and led them back to the men of Socoth Phanuel who had denyed him sustenance before and sayde vnto them Behold here be the men by whom ye vpbrayded me saying are the hands of Zeba Zalmana already in thine hands that we should giue bread vnto thy weary people I tolde you then that when the Lord had deliuered them into my handes I woulde reiurne and teare your fleshe with Thornes and Briers of the wildernesse and breake downe the tower of Phanuel And so to performe hys promise he fell vpon the men of Socoth and Phanuel and put them to most paynefull torments and death and slue Zebah and Zalmana with his owne handes Thus he deliuered Israel out of the handes of the Madianites which had kept them seauen yeares in subiection And when he had iudged them fortie yeares he dyed leauing behinde him 70. sonnes for he had many Wyues beside Abimelech which his Concubine bare vnto him in the Citie of Sichem But when Gedeon was deade the Israelites turned from God againe and went a whoring after Baalim and made Baal-bereth their God forgetting the Lorde their God which had deliuered them out of the hands of their enimies neither shewed they mercy on the house of Ierobaal according to all the goodnesse which he had shewed vnto them But contrarywife like men vnthankfull and voyde of all faithfulnesse consented to the vtter destruction of all his posteritie Gehezi wayted vpon Eliseus the Prophet and was his seruant On a time there came to his Maister out of the lande of Siria a certayne Prince named Naaman to be holpen of his leprosie The which Prince being restored to health offered to Eliseus a great reward which he refused And when Gehezi sawe the great man gone and that his Maister had receyued nothing he then being stricken with couetousnesse folowed after Naaman And when the Prince sawe the Prophetes seruant come running so fast after him he for the reuerence he bare to his Maister descended from his Charret to méete him and asked of him if all were well with his Maister or no. Yea sayde Gehezi all is well But euen nowe there is come to my Maister from Mount Ephraim twoo yoong men of the sonnes of the Prophets wherefore he hath sent me to desire thée to let him haue one Talent of Siluer and twoo chaunge of garments Then the Prince of his liberalitie gaue him twoo Talents and made his men to carie the money and stuffe after Gehezi And when the men had brought it nie vnto the place where as he would haue it he tooke if of their handes and let them depart and conueyghed it priuily into his owne chamber And as soone as Gehezi came in the presence of his Maister he demaunded where he had bene No where quoth he No said Eliseus went not my hart with thée when the man turned againe from his Charret to méete thée Is it now a time to receiue money or garments Well forasmuch as thou hast offended in this the leprosie of Naaman shal eleaue vnto thée and to thy séede for euer And so he went out from his Maister a Leper as whyte as snowe Reade more of Gehezi in the Stories of Eliseus his Mayster Gerson the sonne of Moses had a brother called Eliezer Their mothers name was called Zephora y daughter of Raguel But of Gerson the son of Leuy came the Gersonites who had the gouernance of the habitacion within the tabernacle Gibeonites The Gibeonites hearing of the great destruction that Iosua had made at Iericho and Hai were in such feare that they wyst not howe to saue their liues but by this policie When they perceyued Iosua to drawe nye vnto Gibeon They chose out certaine men among them to sende as ambassadours to Iosua and made their prouision of breade dryed vp
Countrey and the cause of my flying to Tharsus that thou wast a mercyfull God full of compassion long suffering and of great goodnesse and wouldest repent thée of the euill And now O Lord forasmuch as I am founde false in my sayings take I beséeche thée my lyfe from mée for I had rather dye than lyue And so Ionas got him out of the Citie and made him a booth on the East side thereof And as he sate vnder the shadow of his booth to sée what shoulde become of the Citie the Lord caused a wylde Vine to spring ouer his heade to giue him more shadowe to defende the heate of the Sunne from him whereof Ionas was very glad But on the next morrowe when he perceyued the Vyne withered awaye and that for lacke of the shadowe thereof he waxed faynt thorow the feruent heate of the Sunne which burned him so sore he wished in himselfe that he might die Then sayde the Lorde to Ionas doest thou well to be angrie for the wylde Vine Yea sayde he very well euen vnto death If thou than quoth the Lord hast had pittie vpon the wylde vine whereon thou bestowedst no labour nor madest it growe which sprang vp in one night and perished in an other Howe much more ought I to haue pittie vppon Niniue that great Citie wherein are sixe score thousande persons that cannot discerne betwéene their right hande and their left beside much cattell And thus was Ionas reprooued of God for his disobedience ¶ Ionas a Doue 1. Reg. 13. a. Ionathas the sonne of King Saule was a valiant man in all his actes who helped his father so mightily agaynst 14. cap. the Philistynes that at the first brunt he bette downe the strongest holde they had And after that the Philistynes being pitched in Michmas into the which passage lay two sharpe rockes He sayde to his Armour bearer come and let vs go ouer toward the Philistynes garrison peraduenture the Lorde will worke with vs for it is no harde thing with him to saue with many or with fewe we will go ouer and shewe our selues to these vncircumcised * Ionathas spake this by the spirite of Prophecie And if they saye on this wyse vnto vs Tarie vntill we come vnto you then will we stande still and not remooue But if they say come vp vnto vs then will we go vp for the Lorde hath surely deliuered them into our hands and this shall be a signe vnto vs So they went without the knowledge of Saul and shewed themselues vnto the Philistynes who when they sawe them sayde in derision sée howe the Ebrues are crept out of the holes wherein they had hydde themselues but the watchmen sayde vnto them come vp vnto vs and we will shewe you a thing Then sayde Ionathas to his Armour bearer come vp after me for the Lorde hath deliuered them into the handes of Israel And so Ionathas clammered vp the rocke vpon his handes and féete and his Armour bearer after him And when the Philistines sawe the face of Ionathas they were so sodeinly smytten with feare that they fell downe before him so that Ionathas and his man slue twentie of them and put all the reast to flight And when the watchmen of Saul saw the Philistynes scattered abrode and smitten downe as they went they tolde it to the King who caused a search to be made to knowe who was gone out of the hoste and not a man was founde lacking saue Ionathas and hys Armour bearer Then Saule with all his hoste folowed after the Philistynes charging the people which had long bene without sustenance on paine of death no man to touch any foode vntill he were that day auenged on his enimies And so the people being sore opprest with hunger and comming into a woode where much Hony laye vpon the grounde durst not for their liues comfort themselues with one droppe thereof Then Ionathas being faint and not knowing the charge of his father tasted a little hony with the ende of his rodde and was greatlye comforted and refreshed therewith And being told what daunger he had incurred for breaking his fathers commaundement he sayde My Father hath troubled the lande in making such an extreme lawe for séeing that I haue receyued my strength agayne by tasting a little of this hony howe much more shoulde the people if they had eaten of the spoile of their enimies which they found haue bene the stronger and more able to haue made a greater slaughter among the Philistynes than they haue done But neuerthelesse for this offence of Ionathas lottes were cast and Ionathas iudged to suffer death wherevpon the people cryed out to Saule saying Shall Ionathas dye which hath so mightily defended Israel God forbid as truely as the Lorde liueth there shall not one heaire of his heade fall vnto the grounde for he hath wrought with God this day And so the people deliuered Ionathas After this Ionathas fell into such loue and amitie with Dauid whome Saule his father persecuted that he made a bonde with him which was neuer dissolued betwéene them And at his first acquaintance with Dauid he put off his robe and gaue it to him with hys other garments euen to his sworde Bowe and Girdle And whatsoeuer from that day forth was sayde done or wrought by Saule his father agaynst Dauid that woulde Ionathas finde the meanes to staye and pacifie whereby many times he saued Dauid from the cruelty of Saule and so continued his faythfull friende during his lyfe Finally in battell with his father against the Philistynes he was slayne ¶ Ionathas the gift of the Pigeon or Doue 1. Mac. 2. 2. Ionathas the yoongest sonne of Mathathias and brother to Iudas Machabeus did so valiauntly behaue 9. c. himselfe in the warres that the Iewes after the death of Iudas his brother made him their chiefe gouernour who at length vanquished Bachides Whereby his 10. cap. same so encreased that both Demetrius and Alexander sought to be in league with him But forsomuch as Demetrius had vexed Israel before Ionathas mistrusting Demetrius forsooke his offer and agréed to Alexander who had alwayes bene his friende and so continued as his storie declareth After this he vanquished Appolonius Captayne of Demetrius hoste brent the Citie of Azotus with the Temple of Dagon subdued Ascalon and with great victorie returned to Ierusalem where for his worthye prowesse he receyued a coller of golde from Alexander Finallye after long prosperitie in 12. f. g. 13. c. warres he was betrayed by one Triphon in the Citie of Ptolomais and afterwarde most piteously put to death ¶ Of Ionathas sonne of Abiathar the Priest looke in the storie of Ahimaaz the sonne of Sadoch 2. Reg. 21. d. Ionathas the sonne of Simea Dauids brother encountred with a mightie Gyant who had on euery hande sixe fingers and on euery foote so many toes and slue him 4. Reg. 3. cap. Ioram the sonne of Achab
thou shalt conceyue in thy wombe and beare a sonne and shalt call his name Iesus c. Then Mary bicause she woulde be resolued of all doubtes to the ende she might the more surely embrace the promise of God sayde Howe shall this be séeing I knowe no man The holy ghost quoth the Angell shall come vpon thée and the power of the most highest shall ouershadowe thée Therefore also that holy thing which shall be borne of thée shall be called the sonne of god c. Then sayde Marâ—e Beholde the handemayde of the Lord be it vnto me according to thy word Vpon this she prepared hir selfe with spéede to go and visite hir Cosin Elizabeth with whome she remayned thrée monthes and returned home agayne And shortly after went with Ioseph hir husbande from the Citie of Nazareth to the lande of Iewrie to a Citie called Bethleem there to be taxed according to the Emperour Augustus commaundement bicause they were of the house and linage of Dauid And being forced to lye in the stable for lacke of roume in the Inne hir houre came to be deliuered and there she brought forth Christ Iesus the Sauiour of the worlde And when she was purified and had bene at Ierusalem with hir chylde and performed all things there according to the lawe she returned with Ioseph hir husbande home to the Citie of Nazareth agayne And being accustemed yearely she and hir husbande to go vp at the feast of Easter to Ierusalem shée chaunced one tyme to forget hir Sonne behinde hir and when she had turned backe and sought him out and founde him she sayde Sonne why hast thou thus dealt with vs thy father and I haue sought thée with heauye heartes Another time as she was with hir Sonne at a mariage in Cana a towne in Galile when the Wyne fayled at the feast she tolde hir Sonne that they lacked wyne and receyuing his anâ—â—ere méekely bade the Ministers to doe whatsoeuer he commaunded them Finally as shée stoode by the Crosse whereon hir sonne shedde his bloude as well for hir as all other Christians sorow â–ª pierced hir heart like a sworde according to Simeons prophecie Marie the wyfe of Cleophe was hir sister Marie Salome was a certayne godly woman who among other ministred of hir substance to Iesus and followed him from Galile and after he was erucified bought swéete odors to annoynt his body and was a witnesse of his resurrection Marie the mother of Iohn Marke into whose house Peter came after the Angell of God had deliuered him out of prison from the handes of Herode where manye were gathered togither in prayer Marie * Magdalene dwelt in Bethania and was a sinfull woman And in token of hir great repentance she went to Iesus as he sate at meate in one of the Phariseys houses with a boxe of Oyntment in hir hande falling downe at his féete wéeping and washing them with the teares distilling downe from hir eyes and wyped them with the heares of hir head and also kyssed them and annointed them with swéete Oyntment Then Iesus séeing the great fayth of the woman sayde vnto hir Mary thy fayth hath saued thée goe in peace Then Mary féeling hir selfe much bounde to Christ which had forgiuen hir so many sinnes fell in so great loue that all hir whole meditacion and studie was vppon him Insomuch that when Martha hir sister was cumbred about much seruing of Christ at the Table Marie choosing the better part sate at Iesus féete to heare his preaching And when he suffred his passion she stoode by the Crosse with Mary his mother to sée the ende And the morrowe after the Sabboth day when she came to the sepulchre and sawe the stone taken awaye from the Tombe shée ranne to Peter and Iohn and tolde them who ranne to the graue and tryed the matter and returned backe againe leauing Marie standing at the Graue wéeping And as she bowed hir selfe into the graue she sawe twoo Aungels sitting in whyte clothing who sayde vnto hir woman why wéepest thou They haue taken away my Lorde quoth she and I knowe not where they haue layde him And turning hir selfe about she sawe Iesus standing but knewe him not to whome he sayde Woman why wéepest thou whome doest thou séeke She supposing it had bene the Gardiner sayde Sir if thou hast borne him hence tell me where thou hast layde him and I will fet him Then sayde Iesus Mary with thâ— she turned hir selfe and sayd Rabbony which is to say Mayster and fell downe to the ground to haue kyssed his féete But to withdrawe hir from that Iesus sayde Touche me not but go tell my brethren that I ascende to my Father and your Father to my God and 〈◊〉 god Then went Mary to the Disciples and tolde 〈◊〉 that she had séene the Lord and what things he had 〈◊〉 vnto hir Reade the storie of Martha hir sister and of Lazarus hir brother Marke the Euaungelist is thought to haue béene Peters Disciple and to write his Gospell according as he heard Peter preache and shew euery thing by mouth and to haue planted the first Church in Alexandria where he died in the eyght yeare of the reigne of Nero in whose place succéeded Anianus Of this Marke speaketh Peter in his first Epistle the fift Chapter saying The Congregacion of them which at Babilon are companions of your election saluteth you and so doth Marke my sonne Marke otherwise called Iohn the sonne of Mary was Minister to Paule Barnabas what tyme as they were sent by the holy Ghost from Antioche to preach the Gospell vnto the heathen which Marke at Pamphilia departed backe from them agayne For the which cause Paule the next iourney that he and Barnabas made woulde not suffer Marke to go with them wherefore Barnabas departed from Paule taking Marke who was his Sisters sonne with him into Cypers Martha and Mary Magdalene were twoo Sisters dwelling in the Citie of Bethinia which twoo had a brother named Lazarus This Martha on a tyme inuyted Iesus to dinner And being cumbred about much seruing and séeing hir Sister Mary sit styll at Iesus féete sayde vnto him doest thou not care that my sister hath left me to minister alone Bid hir come helpe mée To whome he aunswered Martha Martha thou carest and arte troubled about many things verilye one is néedefull Mary hath chosen the best part which shall not be taken from hir On a tyme as Iesus was comming to Bethinia to heale hir brother Lazarus she mette him saying Lorde if thou haddest béene here my brother had not dyed Neuerthelesse nowe I know that whatsoeuer thou doest aske of God he will giue it thée Then sayde Iesus Thy brother shall ryse agayne Yea quoth Martha I know that he shall ryse agayne in the resurrection at the last daye I am sayde Iesus the resurrection and the lyfe he that beléeueth on mée yea though he were
dead yet shall he lyue and whosoeuer lyueth and beléeueth in mée shall not dye Beléeuest thou this Yea Lord quoth Martha I beléeue that thou art Christ the sonne of God which shoulde come into the worlde After this when Iesus came to the place where Lazarus was buryed and had commaūded the stone of his graue to be taken away Martha sayde Lorde by this tyme he stincketh for he hath béene dead foure dayes Sayde not I vnto thée quoth Iesus that if thou diddest beléeue thou shouldest sée the glory of god And so she saw hir brother Lazarus restored from death to lyfe to the glory of God and hir great comfort Mathathias the sonne of Simeon the Priest which was of the stocke kynred of Ioaris had fiue valyaunt men to his sonnes dwelt in Modyn remayning steadfast in the lawes of God notwithstanding the great calamities that were come vpon the people of Iuda and Ierusalem for the which Mathathias made pytteous Lamentacion crying vpon God to strengthen him and his sonnes agaynst the heathen that had so wasted the people and defyled his sanctuary And whyle he his sonnes were thus mourning in Sackcloth for the destruction of the holy Citie Antiochus the King sent certayne Commissioners to the Citie of Modyn to compell such Iewes as were thither fled to forsake their owne lawes and to serue the Idols of the heathen Who after they had turned the heart of many spake to Mathathias on this wise Thou arte sayde they a noble man of hye reputacion and great in this Citie and hast many Children and brethren Come thou first of all and fulfill the Kinges commaundement lyke as the heathen haue done and the men of Iuda with such as remayne at Ierusalem and so shalt thou and thy sonnes be in fauour with the King and greatly enriched Nay said Mathathias Though all Nations vnder the Kinges Dominion fall away euerye man from the law of their fathers yet will I my sonnes my brethren walke in the lawes of our Fathers God forbid we shoulde forsake the lawes and ordinaunces of God we will not for no mannes pleasure transgresse our religion or breake the Statutes of our Lawe And as he had spoken these woordes a certayne Iewe came foorth and openlye in the sight of all men dyd sacrifice vnto the Idols vpon the Aultar in the citie of Modyn according to the Kings commaundement which thing so grieued Mathathias that for very zeale he had to the lawes of God he start him vp and ranne vpon the Iewe and kylled both him the Commissioner that compelled him so to doe ranne his way crying thorowe the Citie and saying to the people whosoeuer is seruent in the law and will kéepe and stande by the couenaunt let hym followe mée So he and his sonnes fled into the mountayns and many other godly men with their wyues and children and all that they had got them into the Wildernesse And being there the heathen went agaynst them on the Sabaoth daye and slue man woman and Childe for on that day the Iewes would make no resistance but woulde dye in their innocencie Then Mathathias hearing of this was verie sorye and counsayling with his friends sayde If we doe as our brethren hath done and not to fight for our lyues our lawes the heathen will soone roote vs all out of the earth wherevpon they concluded that whosoeuer dyd bid them battell on the Sabaoth daye that they woulde rather manfully fight for their lawes than to dye as their brethren had done before Vpon the which conclusion came the whole Synagoge of the Iewes with all such as were fled for persecution to Mathathias And being gathered togithers they were so great an hoste that they feared not their enimies but fell vpon them and slue a great number And by their force and strength they went about the coastes of Israel and destroyed the Aultars circumcised their children and kept their lawes in spite of all their beards Finally when the tyme of his death drewe nyghe he called all his sonnes before him exhorting them to preferre the lawes and wealth of their Countrey before their owne lyues and ordayned Symon his eldest sonne to be as it were theyr Father and Iudas Machabeus to be their Captayne and so giuing them his blessing he dyed and was burned in his Fathers Sepulchre in the Citie of Modyn Mathathias the sonne of Symon was killed with his Father at a Banket which Ptolomy his brother in lawe had prepared for them in a Castle of hys called Doche. Mathathias the sonne of Absalemus stacke by Ionathas when all his men forsooke him and fled the fielde sane Iudas the sonne of Calphi S. MATTHAEVS EVANGELISTA Cap. ◠VBI EST QVI NATVS EST REX IVDAEORVM VIDIMVS ENIM STELLAMEIVS IN ORIENTE ET VENIMVS ADORAE◠Mathias was a saithful Disciple of Christ and one that had his conuersacion alwayes among the Apostles ruen from the beginning of Christs preaching to the last ende And now for as much as Iudas the Traytour was fallen from Christ he with an other godly man called Ioseph or Barsabas was appointed to stande in election which of them twoo shoulde succéede in the place of Iudas ▪ And when the Apostles had made their prayers to God and giuen fóorth their lottes the lotte fell on Mathias and so he was counted with the eleuen Apostles Mathusalah was the sonne of Henoch and lyued and hundred eyghtie and seauen yeares and begot Lamech And after that he lyued seauen hundred an eyghtie twoo yeares and ▪ begot sonnes and daughters and when he had lyued in all nyne hundred and thrée score an nyne yeares he died Melchisedech is called King of Salem and the hye Priest of the most high god When Abraham had rescued Lot his nephew out of the handes of the Assirians and was returned from the slaughter of the Kings Melchisedech met him with breade and wyne to refreshe Abraham and his souldiours and blessed him saying Blessed be Abraham vnto the hye God possessor of heauen and earth and blessed be the high God which hath deliuered thine enimies vnto thy hande And Abraham gaue him tythes of all things The Scripture reporteth Melchisedech to be without father without mother without kynne and hath neyther beginning of his dayes neither yet ende of his lyfe but is lykened vnto the sonne of God and continueth a Priest for euer Menelaus was brother to Simon and Lysimachus twoo as vngracious as himselfe This ambicious man by deceyte got the hye Priestes office from Iason on this wyse When that good and godlye man Onias had the superioritie Iason his brother found the meanes to corrupt Antiochus the King with money and so gotte the office ▪ out of his brothers handes And when the time came that Iason shoulde pay the money to Antiochus he sent it by the hande of Menelaus in whome he had great confidence