SECT. I.

SAcrilege is an invading, stealing, or purloining from God, any Sacred thing, either belonging to the Ma­jesty of his Person, or appropri­ate to the Celebration of his Divine Service.

[Page 2] The Etymology of the Word impli­eth the Description: for Sacrum is a holy thing; and legium à legendo, is to steal, or pull away.

The Definition divides it self apparently into two Parts; viz. Into Sacrilege com­mitted immediately upon the Person of God, and Sacrilege done upon the Things appropriate to his Divine Service.

That of the Person is, when the very Deity is invaded, profaned, or robb'd of its Glory: Of this Kind was that Sacri­lege of Lucifer, Esay 14. 14. that would, place his throne in the north, and ascend above the clouds, and be like the most High­est; similis ero altissimo: Of this Kind is all Idolatry; and therefore when the Is­raelites worshipped Baal-peor, that is, the God of the Madianites upon the Hill Pegor, al. Phagor, it is said in Jerome's Translation, Numb. 25. 18. to be Sacri­legium Phagor, the Sacrilege committed upon Mount Phagor. So when the Style of God is bestow'd upon Stocks or Stones, or living Creatures; or when Man in Pride of Lucifer will be call'd God, as Alexander, Caius Caligula, Domi­tian, Nero, and others. In this high Sin are Blasphemers, Sorcerers, Witches and Inchanters: And as it maketh the great­est [Page 3] Irruption into the glorious Majesty of Almighty God, so it maketh also the greatest Divorce betwixt God and Man.

In this Sin above all others, was Satan most desirous to plunge our first Parents Adam and Eve; that as himself by it had fallen from all Felicity, so he might draw them likewise into the same Perdition: You shall be, saith he, like God, knowing good and evil. That Divine Faculty of knowing good and evil, tickled the itching Humour of a weak Woman, and to be like God, fired her wholly with Ambiti­on, and carried her and Adam into the highest Kind of Sacrilege, committing thereby Robbery upon the Deity it self: for so it is censur'd, Philip. 2. 6. where it is declared, that to be equal with God was no robbery in the Second Adam, imply­ing by an Antithesis, that it was a Rob­bery (and so a Sacrilege) in the First Adam; who is also guilty in the other Kind of Sacrilege, by taking the forbid­den Fruit reserv'd from him, as the Priest's Portion; for Knowledge belong­eth to the Priest.

Thus the first Man that was created fell into Sacrilege several ways, and so did also the first Man that was born of a Woman. Cain bringeth an Oblation [Page 4] to God, but sacrilegiously either with­holding the best of his Fruits, and offer­ing the worst, as some conceiv'd, rectè offert, sed non rectè dividit, or doing it hypocritically, as the later expoundeth it; which soever it was (and like enough to be both ways) he robb'd God of his Honour and Divine Faculty of knowing all things: he granted him to be Omni­potent but not Omniscient; he did not think him to be [...], to know the secret Thoughts of a Man's Heart: upon which reason St. Ambrose chargeth him also with another Sacrilege ( de Para­diso, cap. 24.) in answering God, that he could not tell what was become of his Brother, when himself had murthered him; crimine Sacrilegii (saith Ambrose) quod Deo credidit mentiendum, with the Crime of Sacrilege, in that he durst lye to God's own Face: A Pattern to the Sacrilege of Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts of the Apostles.

To my Understanding Cain is yet chargeable with another grievous Sacri­lege, even the Murther of his Brother; for in it he destroy'd the Temple of God, and in that Temple the very Sacred Image of God: Do ye not know, saith St. Paul, 2 Cor. 3. 16. that you are the temple of God, [Page 5] and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? and again positively, 2 Cor. 6. 16. Ye are the temple of the living God. This Temple did Cain sacrilegiously destroy, and the Spirit of God which dwelled in it, did he also sacrilegiously deface and expell; even that holy Spirit was the very Image of God, for in the image of God created he him, Gen. 1. 27.

Thus it appeareth, that Sacrilege was the first Sin, the Master-Sin, and the com­mon Sin at the beginning of the World, committed in Earth by Man in Corrupti­on, commited in Paradise by Man in Per­fection, committed in Heaven it self by the Angels in Glory; against God the Fa­ther by arrogating his Power, against God the Son by contemning his Word, against God the Holy Ghost by propha­ning things Sanctified, and against all of them in general by invading and viola­ting the Deity. Let us now see how God revenged himself upon Sinners, in this kind, and by way of Collation apply it to our selves: for his Wisdom and Power and Justice are the same perpetually.

SECT. II.

FIrst, He punished them by disinhe­riting and casting them out of their Original Possession. Lucifer is cast out of Heaven; Adam and Eve out of Paradise; Cain (whose Name signifies a Possession) out of his Native Possession, to be a Runnagate upon Earth: All of them de­priv'd of the Favour of God, and all of them subject to a perpetual Curse. Lucifer to perpetual Darkness, Adam to perpetual Labour, and Cain to perpetual Fear and Instability: By perpetual, I mean, during their Lives; for at their Death they all meet in Eternal Damna­tion. The Life of Satan is till the Day of Judgment; so, though he liveth so long, he reigneth in Labour and Travel to work Wickedness: there is his End, and then is the time of his further and Eternal Punishment; then shall he and [Page 7] all his Angels be cast into everlasting fire, Matt. 25. 41. 46. there I leave both him and them hopeless of Mercy, which not­withstanding is graciously extended to Adam and his Posterity repenting, by the meritorious Passion of our Saviour, who to expiate the Sacrilege committed by Man, in aspiring to be like God, deba­sed himself, being God, to become a Man: And as Man would have left the Earth, and have scaled the Heaven, so He left the Heaven, and came down into the Earth, living here in Subjection to Man, when Man himself would not be subject to God: Therefore ( ut contraria contrariis curantur) as the Sacrilege was a Capital Sin, that contained in it many other specifical Sins, Pride, Ambition, Rebellion, Hypocrisie, Malice, Robbery, and many other hellish Impieties; so for a punctual Satisfaction he made himself a Capital Sacrifice, that contained innu­merable Graces, Humility, Contempt of the World, and of himself, Obedience, Sincerity, Love, Bounty, and all other Celestial Virtues.

The Contemplation of this exorbitant Mercy, which I leave to be sounded forth by the Golden Trumpets of the Church, hath led me a little forth of my Course. [Page 8] I return to Adam and his Posterity, and will go on with them safely, as I find them left in the hands of Justice, and the dint of the Curse. Adam in his Children, and they in him are all unhappy: His good Son Abel is cruelly murthered and by whom? but (to encrease his Grief) by his other Son Cain, who according to the Law of Nature ought to dy for it, as himself con­fesseth, Gen. 4. 14. and then was Adam destitute of them both. Yet so is he not­withstanding; for his Son Cain, the Mur­therer, is a condemned Person, a banish­ed Man, and a continual Fugitive to save his Life; which nevertheless was at length casually taken from him by the hand of Lamech; as St. Hierom (out of an Author (reporteth ad Damasum, p... Tom... Thus two of Adam's Sons died unnaturally, and all the rest, except Seth, living wickedly, are not therefore mentioned in Holy Scriptures. Touch­ing their worldly Affairs, all was evil, and out of course; Labour, and Sweat, and Sorrow vex their Persons; the Beasts of the Earth, and the Fowls of the Air, that formerly were subject to Adam, will rebell and become his Enemies; the Earth, that formerly gave him Sustenance of her own accord, will now yield no­thing, [Page 9] but by compulsion; and is besides unto him both false and refractory: He commits his Corn unto it, and it renders him Thistles and Weeds; he planteth his Vineyard in it, and it bringeth him Thorns and Briars: All the Works of Man are now in the sorrow of his hands, Gen. 3. 17, 18, 19. The thoughts of his heart are only evil continually, Gen. 6. 5. and the earth is corrupt before God, and full of cruelty, ver. 11.

Thus the Soul, the Body, the Mind, and the Manners of Men, the Nature of Beasts and Fowls, and the Condition of the Earth it self being wholly altered from the Original Constitution, and cor­rupted by the Contagion of Sacrilege, it pleas'd the Justice of God to bring the Flood upon the Earth, to sweep away all the Posterity of wicked Cain, in the se­venth Generation; and not to spare any either of Adam's Line, or of Righteous Seth's Generation, and his Family, as a Type of the Sacred Portion appropriated to his Worship, which those Sinners of the old World had so much corrupted. Thus for Sacrilege was the whole World destroy'd; in that Universal Destruction was nothing saved, but the Tenth Gene­ration; that out of it, as from a better [Page 10] Root, the New World might be produ­ced and replenished.

But the Coals of that old Ambition (which before the Flood, being once fir'd by Satan in the Hearts of our first Pa­rents, pricked them on in a Desire to be like Gods) came by propagation of Ori­ginal Sin, to be kindled again after the Flood, in the proud Builders of the Tower of Babel, who by their miraculous Work would also be like Gods; and by giving themselves a Name upon Earth, live (as it were) eternally; and withal, provide so against the Hand of God, as they would be no more in danger of drown­ing. Go to, (say they) let us build us a city and a towre, whose top may reach up unto heaven, Gen. 11. 4. that we may get us a name, lest we be scattered upon the whole earth. These were the Giants spo­ken of by the Ancients, that did bellare cum diis; they preferr'd their own Glory before the Honour of God, and that Cal­vin termeth— Sacrilegam audaciam quae prorumpit contra Deum ipsum, & Gigantum more coelum oppugnat: A sacrilegious Inso­lence that breaketh out against God him­self, and like the Giants assaults him. See the Punishment; Their sacrilegious Inte­rest is miraculously defeated by God's [Page 11] own immediate Hand, their Language confounded, their Society broken; they are cast out of their ancient Habitation, and that which they most feared falleth upon them; to be scattered over all the face of the Earth, and to be bereaved of their Friends and Kindred. For it is said, they understood not labium proximi sui, the Language of their Friends and Neigh­bours, and were thereby compelled to leave them, as if they had been dead, and their Familie extinct, and to associate with those whom they did understand.

Besides this, as there fell a grievous Curse upon the Posterity of Adam and Cain for their Sacrilege, so (the Divines observe) did there also upon the whole Posterity of their Children, that is, up­on the whole World. Hodiè mundus hanc calamitatem sustinet, saith Calvin, The whole World at this day, feeleth the Evil of this Curse of the Confusion of Languages; for by it the strongest Bond of Humane Society and Concord is bro­ken, the Hearts of Men alienated one from another, their Means of Commerce taken away, their Manners changed, and their Minds, Thoughts, Studies, and Di­spositions contrary for the most part, and repugnant.

[Page 12] Sacrilege, being thus got up again, bringeth forth immediately the other Branches of Impiety: for Nimrod, the proud Hunter, and chief Builder of the Tower of Babel, is not satisfied with be­ing like a God, but is adored of his Peo­ple as a God indeed, and at length so ta­ken of all the Gentiles under the Name of Saturn, or Saturnus Babylonicus. So, after him, is his Son, Jupiter Belus, whom the Scripture calleth Bel, Baal, and likewise many other of their Chil­dren and Posterity, by whom the World in a short time becometh full of Gods: And though they daily saw these their Gods to grow old and feeble, and to die like Men, and to rot and putrifie like the basest Creatures; yet such was their Stupidity, that out of Wood and Metal they framed their Images, and styling those blockish Lumps by the Names of Gods, erected Altars and Temples to them; and honouring them with the Rites of Sacrifices and Divine Worship, belonging only to the True Living God, did thus bring the Abomination of Idola­try over all the World.

How fearfully God punished this high Kind of Sacrilege, appears abundantly in the Book of Josuah and other Scriptures: [Page 13] all the Kingdoms of Canaan, where it first began to spread it self, were so univer­sally devour'd with Fire and Sword, as never any under the Sun were like unto them. Yea, when there were strange Gods in the House of Jacob, both against his Will, and perhaps without his Know­ledge, yet the Hand of God was so up­on his House, as that his Daughter Di­nah is ravish'd, his Sons Simeon and Levi commit a cruel Murther on the Siche­mites; Jacob thereby liveth in Grief and Fear of his Neighbours, his Wife Rachel dieth in Child-bed, and his Son Reuben committeth Incest with his Concubine Bilhah, Gen. 34. 2, 26. & 35. 19, 22.

What should I tell of the 30000 slain at once, about the Golden Calf, Exod. 32. 28. How for Solomon's Idola­try his Issue lost the Kingdom of Israel, 1 Kings 12. 20. How Israel it self was carried Captive into Babylon, 2 King. 17. 4. How Manasses is taken Prisoner by the Assyrians, 2 Chron. 35. 11. his Son Amon slain by his Servants, 2 Kings 21. 23. his Grand-Child Josias, a good King, yet al­so slain, 2 Kings 23. 3. and his Eldest Son, Jehoahaz, reigning after him, taken Prisoner by Pharaoh Nechoh, and dying in Egypt; his second Son, Jehoiakim, suc­ceeding, [Page 14] taken also Prisoner by Nebu­chadnezzar; Jerusalem spoiled, and he, his Princes, People, Treasure, and Golden Vessels of the Temple all carried to Ba­bylon, and all for Idolatry, 2 King. 24. 2. 25. 1. For Jehoram's Idolatry Jerusalem is taken, he with his Wives and Treasure; and all his Sons, save the Youngest, slain; and himself, after a long tormenting Dis­ease, hath his Guts fall out, 2 Chron. 21. 17, 18, 19. So Amaziah seeth Jerusalem defaced, the Temple spoiled, his Treasure carried away, and himself a Prisoner; and being restored, driven out by Trea­son, and slain at last, 2 Chr. 25. 14, &c.

I will wade no farther in this Kind of Sacrilege, which is never pass'd over in Scripture, but with some Remarkable Punishments: Our Country, I hope, doth not at this Day know it.

SECT. III.

I Come now to the second Part, which indeed is that, which the Schoolmen and Canonists only call Sacrilege, as tho' the former were of too high a Nature to be express'd in this Appellation: so exorbitant a Sin, as that no Name can properly comprehend it. [...], a Warring against God, and [...], a direful Violence upon Divine Majesty, a superlative Sacrilege.

The other and common Kind of Sa­crilege, is (as was said) a violating, mis-using, or a putting away of things consecrated or appropriated to Divine Service, or Worship of God: It hath ma­ny Branches, Time, Persons, Function, Place; and materially, Omne illud (saith Th. Aquinas) quod ad irreverentiam rerum sacrarum pertinet, ad injuriam Dei perti­net, & habet Sacrilegii rationem, 2 ^a2 ^ae. [Page 16] qu. 99. art. 1. This Description of Sacri­lege may well enough be extended further than Aquinas did perhaps intend it, to the former or superlative Kind.

Sacrilege of Time is, when the Sabbath, or the Lord's Day, is abused or profaned: This God expresly punish'd in the Stick­gatherer. Some Canonists seem not to rec­kon this under the common Kind of Sacri­lege, Soto, de justitia & jure, lib. II. qu. 4. fol. 50. 6. So that in all that followeth we shall run the broken Way of the Schoolmen and Canonists.

SECT. IV.

SAcrilege against the Person is, when Priests or Ministers of God's Divine Service, are either violated, or abused: Again; Fear the Lord, and honour his Priests, Ecclus 7. 29, 31. For he beareth the iniquity of the congregation, to make an atonement for them before the Lord, Deut. 8. 17. For the Levite is separate to the Lord, to minister unto him, to bless thee in his name, Deut. 10. 8. therefore when [Page 17] Micah had got a Levite into his House, he rejoiced, and said, I know that the Lord will be good unto me, seeing I have a Levite to my priest, Judg. 17. 13. Touch not mine anointed, nor do my prophets no harm, Psal. 105. 15. Mine anointed, that is, not my Kings, nor my Priests; and Deut. 12. 19. Beware that thou forsake not the Levite, as long as thou livest upon the earth; Beware, saith God, as intimating Danger and Pu­nishment to hang over their head, that offered otherwise; and what? not for wronging the Levite, (a thing too impi­ous) but for not loving and cherishing him all the days of thy Life. I must here note, as it cometh in my way, the remarkable Justice and Piety of Pharaoh towards his Idol Priests; that when by reason of the Famine he had got and bought unto himself all the Money, Cat­tle, Lands, Wealth, and Persons of the Egyptians, yet stretched he not forth his Thoughts to the Lands or Persons of his Priests; but, commiserating their Neces­sity, allowed them a ... at his own Charge, that they might both live and keep their Lands, Gen. 47. 22. Muscu­lus hereupon infers, Quantum sacrilegium est in nostris principibus, negligi legitimos probos (que) sacrorum ministros? How great [Page 18] a Sacrilege is it in our Princes, that the good and lawful Ministers of Holy things are thus neglected? It is to be noted, That as Micah expected a Blessing from God, for entertaining an Idolatrous Levite into his House; so Pharaoh's Piety towards his Priests, wanted not a Blessing from God upon his House, though God hated both the Idolaters and Idolatry it self.

Let us see how Sacrilege in this Kind hath been punished. The Benjamites of Gibeah wronging a Levite villainously, in abusing his Wife, Judg. 19. 25. Gibeah is therefore destroyed with Fire and Sword, above 26000 valiant Men of the Benjamites slain, and the whole Tribe al­most wholly rased out of Israel, with their Cities and Castles, Ch. 20.

Jeroboam making Golden Calves dri­veth the Priests of the Lord out of Israel, and makes himself other Priests, not of the Tribe of Levi: for this he is over­thrown by Abiah King of Judah, and 500000 of his Men slain, his Son taken from him, and his Posterity threatned to be swept away like Dung; and those of them that died in the city, to be eaten of dogs, those in the fields, by the fowls of the air, 2 Chron. 13. 9. 1 King. 14. 10. Jeroboam also stretched but out his hand [Page 19] against the Prophet to have him appre­hended, and it is presently withered, 1 Kings 13. 4.

Joash commanded Zacharias, Son of Je­hoiada the Priest, to be slain in the court of the Lord's house: this done, he is over­come the next Year following by the A­ramites; all his Princes are slain, his Treasure and the Spoil is sent to Damascus, himself left afflicted with great Diseases, and at last murthered in his bed by his ser­vants, 2 Chron. 24. 21, &c.

Zedekiah King of Judah casteth Jeremy the Prophet first into Prison, then for a season into the Dungeon, and useth him harshly, Jer. 32. 3. 37. 21. 38. 9. He and those that counselled him to it, are overthrown by Nebuchadonosor, Jerusalem taken, his Sons slain before his Eyes, and then his Eyes put out, and the People car­ried captive to Babylon: but Jeremiah him­self is set at liberty, and well intreated by his Enemies the Chaldaeans, Jer. 39. 1, &c.

SECT. V.

SAcrilege of Function is, when those that are not called to the Office of Priesthood or Ministry, do usurp upon it. So Gideon made an Ephod, (that is a Pon­tifical Ornament of the Tabernacle) not at Shilo, but in his own City Ophra, where­by the Israelites fell to worship it: or, as others think, that he made all the things of the Tabernacle, whereby the People were drawn to worship there, and not to go to Shilo, where the Tabernacle was. This (saith the Text) was the Destructi­on of Gideon and his House; for his Son Abimelech, rising against his Brethren, slew 70 of them upon a Stone, and then with a Stone cast upon him by a Woman, himself was first brained, and after by his own Commandment, thrust through by his Page, Judg. 8. 27. and 9. 6.

Saul takes upon him to offer a burnt Offering to God in the Absence of Samuel. [Page 21] The Kingdom therefore is cut from his Family, 1 Sam. 8. 9. and nothing after prospers with him, but he runneth into other Sins, as that of sparing Agag and the Cattle. He is overthrown by the Philistines, himself and three of his Sons are slain by them, 1 Sam. 3. 6. Ishbosheth, a fourth Son, by Treachery, 2 Sam. 4. 6. and seven more are hang'd for appeasing of the Gibeonites.

Vzzah being no Levite, stretched forth his hand and stayeth the Ark from fal­ling: It seemed a pious Act, yet God presently struck him dead for it, 2 Sam. 6. 6, 7.

Vzziah the King, in spight of the Priests, goeth into the Sanctuary, and would burn Incense, which belonged on­ly to the Priest's Office. This (saith the Text) was his Destruction, for he trans­gressed against the Lord, therefore whilst he was yet but about it, having the In­cense in his hand to burn it, the leprosie presently rose in his forhead; so that he was not only constrained to haste himself pre­sently out of the Temple, but to live all his Life after sequestred from the Compa­ny of Men; and, being dead, was not buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers, [Page 22] but in the Field there a-part from them, 2 Chron. 26. 16, &c.

Let those that have Impropriations con­sider, whether these Cases concern not them; for, like Vzzah, they stretch out their hands to Holy Things, (but would God it were to no worse intent) like Gideon, they bring them into their own Inheritance, and like Saul and Vzziah they take upon them the Priest's Office: For they are Parsons of the Pa­rish, and ought to offer up Prayers for the Sins of the People.

SECT. VI.

SAcrilege of the Place, is, when the Temple or the House of God, or the Soil that is consecrated to his Honour is either violated or profaned. When God was in the fiery Bush at Horeb, the place about it was presently sanctified, so that Moses himself might neither come near the Bush, nor stand a-loof upon the [Page 23] holy Ground with his Shooes on, but in Reverence of the Place must be bare­footed, Exod. 3. 5. So when God de­scended upon Mount Sinai, his Presence made the Place round about it Holy. He commanded therefore that Marks should be set upon the Border, to distinguish it from the other Ground; and that if Man or Beast did but touch it, they should be either stoned, or thrust through with a dart, Exod. 19. 21.

Thus afore the Law; when the Law was given, first the Tabernacle, and then the Temple were full of Sanctification, both by the Presence of God, and by the Decree of his Mouth, as appeareth abundantly in Scripture, Ex. 40. 34, 35. 1 King. 8. 10, 11. Therefore grievous Punishments were al­ways inflicted upon such as did violate them in any thing. If any man (saith the Geneva Translation) destroy the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, 1 Cor. 3. 17. The Greek is much more copious, and doth not restrain it to them only that destroy the Temple, but extendeth it to all that either destroy or abuse it in any sort; [...]. The vulgar Latin doth well express it; Si [Page 24] quis templum Dei violaverit, disperdet eum Deus, &c. for the word [...], is cor­rumpo, vexo, calamitatem infero, perdo, de­floro, violo, vitio; so that it contains as well the lesser Injuries done to the Tem­ple, as that great and Capital Crime of destroying it: but because the Apostle useth one word in both Places, [...], and [...], they likewise in the ... would have one word in both places ... Upon the word destroy, which to my understanding is too particular, and might have been better expressed by a word of more general Signification; as to say, If any Man spoil the Temple of God, God shall spoil him; that is to say, If he spoil the Temple, either by destroying it, or defacing it, or violating it in any Course, as by robbing, stealing, or taking from it any Ornaments, ... Goods, Rights, ... Means of Maintenance, or by abusing it in any manner whatsoever, God shall spoil him in one sort or other, as of his Patrimony, Lands, Goods, Liberty, Plea­sures, Health, and Life it self; Children, Family, and Posterity; and not so only, but by casting also upon him divers fear­ful Visitations and Misfortunes, more or less, as in his Wisdom shall soon... The word destroy is not properly said of [Page 25] any Punishment that tendeth only to work Amendment: and God doubtless often spoileth a Man of the things he de­lighteth in, not to his whole Destruction, but to awaken him to Amendment.

Let us see in what manner God hath punished this kind of Sacrilege among the Jews.

In the time of the Law, though fre­quent Examples are not to be expected, for that there was but one Temple of God in both the Kingdoms of Judah and ... namely, that of Jerusalem, built by Solomon, and for the most part, p... preserved in after Ages. Another there was at Samaria which...builded upon Mount Gerizim, like to that of Jeru­lem, by Licence of Alexander the Great, and being afterward destroy'd by Hyrca­nus, King of Judah, gave occasion to the Samaritan Woman to say unto Christ, John 4. 20. Our Fathers worshiped in this Mountain—. A third also for the dis­persed Jews in Aegypt built by Onias Son of Onias the High-Priest, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, Joseph. Antiq. l. 12. c. 14. & de Bello Judaico, c. 7. But these two being against the Command­ment of God (who would have no Tem­ple but at Jerusalem) I meddle not with, [Page 26] nor with the Synagogues of the Jews be­ing many in every City, 480. in Jerusa­lem instituted for Strangers, as the Tem­ple was for the Citizens, and erected of later time without any mention of them in the Old Testament or Books Apocry­phal: Let us see, I say, Examples of this kind.

Nadab and Abihu, Sons of Aaron, pol­luted the Tabernacle, by neglecting the sanctified Fire of the Altar, and offering Incense by strange and common Fire; they were therefore devoured by strange Fire sent upon them by the Lord him­self.

Hophni and Phinehas, the Sons of Eli, made a Sacrilegious Rapine upon the Of­fering of the Lord, upon the Fat, and upon the Flesh, and upon the Holy Por­tion: polluting also the Sanctified Place, with sacrilegious Adultery, 1 Sam. 2. 12. God termeth this a dishonouring himself, and saith ( ver. 30.) Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me, shall be despised. Hereupon, he threatneth, First, To cut off the arm of Eli's Father's house, (i. e. the Authority and Honour of the Priesthood;) which was perform­ed when Solomon cast out Abiathar ... of Eli, out of the Priest's Office, [Page 27] and bestowed it on Zadock, being of ano­ther Family, 1 King. 2. 26. Secondly, That all of his Family should die before they came to be old; which himself did partly see in his own Sons. Thirdly, That his sons Hophni and Phinehas should die both in one day. Fourthly, That he should see his enemy possess his office, and that the remnant of his family should crouch, and be sui­tors to him for relief and favour. All which undoubtedly came to pass: And yet with all this was not the Wrath of God appeased; but spreading it self into a further Agony of Indignation, fell not only upon the whole People of Israel, but also upon the holiest Monuments of the Glory of God. The Word of the Lord became rare and precious: There was no manifest Vision: The Army of Israel is beaten by the Philistines, and about 4000 of them slain in one Battle, and 30000 in another: The Ark of God taken Prisoner, and carried Captive into the House of Dagon, the Philistines Idol: Hophni and Phinehas died: Eli falleth backward and breaketh his Neck: The Wife of Phinehas falleth untimely into Travail, and dieth with Grief, (1 Sam. chap. 2. 3, 4.) Fourscore and five Priests of Eli's House are, at Saul's Command­ment [Page 28] tyrannously slain all in one Day. Nob the City of the Priests, with the Men, Women, Children, Sucklings, Oxen, Sheep, and Asses all destroyed (22. 18.) And finally, to cut the Priesthood for ever from the House of Eli, Solomon cast Abiathar out of it (being the fourth in Succession after Eli), and brought in Za­dock of another Family, (1 Chron. 6. 8.) Oh the dreadful Justice of Almighty God! But such of old was the Fruit of Sacrilege; and such Effects it still produ­ceth.

Joash stoned Zachariah in the Court of the Temple. This double Sacrilege of Person and Place, was punished by the Slaughter of his People, Loss of his Trea­sure, Diseases of his Body, and Murther of his Person, as we have already clear­ed in Sacrilege of the Person.

So Vzziah entering the Sanctuary by force, and attempting the Priest's Office in burning Incense, committed Sacrilege of Place and Person, was punished as we have cleared.

Ahaz committeth Idolatry, and spoileth the Temple of the Treasure, and some o­ther Ornaments. He is first given into the hands of the Azarites or Assyrians; then Pekah King of Israel slayeth 120000 of his [Page 29] Soldiers, all in one day, and taking 200000 Women and Children Prisoners, took away also much Spoil, which they brought to Samaria. The Edomites also beat him, and captivated his People; and the Philistines took and inhabited many of his Cities. In this Affliction he far­ther spoileth the Temple of the Vessels, and shutteth it up; and, dying an Idola­ter and Sacrilegious, is not buried in the Sepulchre of his Father, but a-part in Jerusalem, 2 Chron. 28.

Nebuchadonosor, otherwise called Nebu­chadnezzar, spoileth the Temple, carri­eth thence all the Treasure and Holy Vessels, 2 King. 24. 13. slayeth those that were fled thither for Safety; after by his Servants burnt it, 2 Chron. 36. 17. He is stricken with Madness, cast out of his Kingdom, liveth among Beasts, and like a Beast, feedeth upon Grass till his Hairs were grown like Eagles Feathers, and his Nails like Birds Claws, Dan. 4. 3. And in the Days of his Grand-Child was his Family clean extinguished, and his great Empire taken from him by Force, and given to the Persians, Dan. 5.

Antiochus Epiphanes, Son of Antiochus the Great, King of Syria, entereth into the Sanctuary, and taketh away the Gol­den [Page 30] Altar, and the Treasure of the Tem­ple, even 1800 Talents. Presently his Posterity and Glory altereth, his Cap­tains are slain, his Armies beaten, and all his Affairs were so unfortunate, that calling his Friends unto him, con­fesseth, that he was fallen into that Adversity and Flood of Misery, for that Evil he had done at Jerusalem, For I took, saith he, all the Vessels of Gold and Silver that were in it, ... and I know that these Troubles are come upon me for the same Cause; and behold I must die with great Sorrow, in a strange Land. Thus in Passions of Grief he ended his Days, cap. 6. 11. Yet did not this end his Tragedy, He had a violent Fall out of his Chariot, and he was termented with an horrible Disease; Worms came out of his Body, and his flesh fell off for pain, and no Man could endure his Stink, 2 Maccab. 9. 7, 8, &c. for his Son Antiochus Eupater was depriv'd of his Kingdom by his Uncle Demetrius, and put to Death: and altho' Alex­ander Epiphanes, his other Son, a Brother of Antiochus Eupater, recover'd the King­dom, and slew Demetrius, and fortified himself by the Marriage of Cleopatra, Daughter of Ptolemy King of Aegypt, to his great Happiness, as he thought, yet God turned it to his own Destruction; for Ptolemy took both her and the King­dom from him, and gave them to his [Page 31] Enemy Demetrius Nicanor; and whilst he fled to save his Life, to his Friend Zab­diel the Arabian, he struck off his Head, and sent it to Ptolemy, 1 Maccab. 11. 9. notwithstanding this, his Son Antiochus Theos, being but a Child, by the Help of Tryphon, was restored to his Father's Kingdom, and overthrew Demetrius Ni­canor, Cap. 11. 54. who flying, is impri­soned by Arsaces King of Persia, Cap. 14. 2. and after slain: so that Antiochus seemeth not secure, but the Hand of God is still upon the Posterity of Antiochus Epipha­nes the Sacrilegist; for even now doth Tryphon himself murther his Grand-child Antiochus Theos, Within 30 Years after the Sacri­lege. and, ending that Line, usurpeth the Kingdom, 1 Maccab. 33. 31. Read 2 Maccab. 9. 7.

Touching the Sacrilegious Attempt made by Antiochus and some of his Sol­diers, upon the Temple of ... (or Diana, as Lyra taketh it) in Persia, and the terrible Destruction that fell imme­diately upon them, mentioned, 2 Macc. 1. 16. I pass it over, as not belonging to this place.

Heliodoras the Treasurer of King Se­leucus, is sent by his Master to fetch the innumerable Money that was in the Tem­ple of Jerusalem, not belonging to the [Page 32] Provision of the Sacrifices, but deposited there in safety, for Widows and Orphans. The high Priest Onias declareth to him, that there was not above 400 Talents of Silver, and 200 of Gold: and both he and the rest of the Priests, and the rest of the City, prayed instantly to God to preserve the Treasury; notwithstanding Heliodorus and his Souldiers approach unto it, and presently there appeared a terrible Man on Horse-back, richly barb­ed, between two young Men of notable strength, and the Horse running fiercely upon him, struck him on the Breast with his Fore-foot, and the young Men scourged him continually with many sore stripes: so that Heliodorus falling to the Ground, and covered with great Darkness, was carri­ed away in a Horse-Litter, desperate of Life, till by Entreaty Onias prayed for him, and thereupon the young Men ap­pearing again to Heliodorus, willed him to give Onias thanks, because God for his sake had spared his Life. Seleucus, after this, would have sent another, but Heli­odorus advising him to send his Enemy he gave it over, 2 Macc. 3. 38, 39. If thou hast an enemy or traytor send him thither, and thou shalt receive him well scourged: for in that place, no doubt, there is an especial [Page 33] power of God: for he that dwelleth in hea­ven hath his eye on that place, and defend­eth it, and he beateth and destroyeth them that come to hurt it.

Lysimachus, a Man of great Power in Jerusalem, Brother and Deputy to Menelaus the High Priest, purloineth much of the Golden Vessels, and in the Geneva Tran­slation is termed a Church Robber. He falleth into hatred of his Country-Men, the Jews, and having about Three thou­sand for his Guard, is notwithstanding in a Tumult of the People oppressed with Clubs, Dust, and Stones, and in that Manner slain near unto the Treasury with some of his Company, many others of them being wounded, 2 Macc. 4. 39.

Callisthenes who had set fire upon the holy Gates flying after into a Cottage, the same was also set on fire and he burned in it, 2 Macca. 6. 33.

Menelaus having obtained by Money the High-Priesthood stealeth certain of the Golden Vessels out of the Temple, giving part away, and selling part unto the Tyrians and others, 2 Maccab. 4. 32. he is afterwards accused to Antiocbus Eu­pater to have been the Author of the e­vils in Judaea, and for the Sacrilege com­mitted by him about the Holy Fire and [Page 34] Ashes of the Altar, he is put to death at Beraea, by an Engine upon the Top of an high Tower, ordained for the Punish­ment of Sacrilege, and other great Offen­ces, by overwhelming the Offenders with Ashes; and, being dead, he must not be buried, for that he was a Sacrilegist, 2 Maccab. 13. 4. Let those Clergy-Men that defraud their Churches of their Lands or Goods consider this Example.

Nicanor, Governour of Judaea under Eupater, (stretching forth his Hand to­ward the Temple) sweareth, That if Judas Maccabaeus were not delivered unto him Prisoner, he would make it a plain Field, and break down the Altar, and erect an ... Temple to Bacchus. At the next Encounter Judas with a small Power slayeth 35000 of Nicanor's Army, and among them, unwittingly, Nicanor himself, whose Head, and the Hand with the Shoulder, that he had stretched forth against the Temple, he caused to be cut off, and carried to Jerusalem, and shewed there to the Priests and others; and cut out the Tongue, and minced it, and cast it to the Birds, and set the Head on the Castle, 2 Macc. 14. 33. and 15. 27.

[Page 35] Thus touching Local Sacrilege, I have gone through the Canonical and Apochry­phal Books of the Old Testament; be­fore I enter into the New, (which will be very short) I desire to remember one that happen'd in the mean time.

Pompey the Great (whose Glory and Conquest some in Plutarch compare with Alexander the Great) by help of Hyrcanus taketh Jerusalem, and battering down a wall of the Temple, maketh there a great slaughter, not only of the Jews, but of the Priests themselves, that even then were at the Sacrifices; and chused rather to die, than to intermit the same; and then en­tring with his Soldiers into the Sanctua­ry, did behold those Sacred things, which a profane eye never saw before, the gol­den Table, the Candlestick, the Sacri­ficing Instruments, and what might tempt a wastful General, 2000 Talents of holy Treasure, which Pompey not­withstanding, to the Glory of his Hea­then-piety would never touch, but com­manded that the Ministers should cleanse the Temple presently, and continue their daily Sacrifices, making Hyrcanus now High-Priest. Josep. Antiqu. lib. 14. §. 8. Hitherto all Glory and Fortune attended [Page 36] Pompey his Servants, three times he tri­umpheth, and is as well Conqueror of the Hearts of his Nation, as of their Persons whom he subdued. Some in Plutarch, where his Conquests are recited, compare them with Alexander the Great; but af­ter this Sacrilege (to my knowledge ob­serve it) nothing doth prosper with him, but as conducing to his hurt: Oh, (said Plutarch, p. 70.) would God he had dyed while his fortune was yet like Alexander's: for in the rest of his Life his prosperities were hateful, and his miseries bitter. He hasteth home into Italy to enjoy the plea­sures of his family and country, where he findeth that his wise Mutia had played the harlot, and therefore divorceth her; that the Senate one while slight and de­ride him, another while magnify him and use him for necessity, but always suspect him, in great opposition with the Princi­pal Men; and when he had Married Ju­lia, the Daughter of Caesar to be reconcil­ed with him, she became abortive of her first Child, and dyed of her second, and the Child also, all in a short space. Then runneth the dissension between Caesar and him, which groweth to Arms on both sides, and when Caesar at first had the advantage, yet he offereth Pompey [Page 37] Conclusions of Peace; which Pompey (ordained to destruction) refuseth, and having at last by the confluence of Sena­tors and active Men unto him more than double the Army of Caesar, besides an in­vincible Navy to secure him, he joyneth Battle with great hope and probability of Victory near Pharsalia in Thessaly, but is overthrown, and flying to his great Friend Ptolemy in Aegypt, is there Barba­rously murthered at his landing, in the sight of his Wife and Son his Head struck off, and his Body cast upon the shore. Plutarch in his Life admiring whence this change of fortune should come, supposes it to be for mis-governing the Common-wealth; I by the precedent Examples impute to his Sacrilege, which after that manner wrought still upon his posterity to the extirpation of his Family. For his Son Cneus Pompeius overcome in Spain by Caesar, is slain also in fight, App. lib. 2. And his other Son Sextus Pompeius driven out of Aegypt into Asia, is there slain by the commandment of Antonius. App. lib. 4.

Thus when Pompey the Great entred into the Temple, and saw the great Riches thereof, he did forbear to spoil or pillage any part thereof, which makes for the [Page 38] commendation of his heathenish piety. Joseph. Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 8.

But when Crassus the Roman General entered Jerusalem and the Temple, he did not forbear, but took away Eight Thousand Talents: Which prosper'd ill with him; for marching forward with his Army into Parthia, there his Sacri­legious Money and he perished together. Joseph. lib. 16. Cap. 12.

This lar­ger Account of Crassus's Sacrilege, was found in a loose Paper, writ­ten with Sir Hen. Spel­man's own Hard. Marcus Crassus being the second time Consul with Pompey the Great, had now by lot the charge of Syria; and marching with a mighty Army against the Parthi­ans, he came to Jerusalem, and seeing the Treasure of the Temple (which Pompey forbare to meddle with) he took away Two Thousand Talents of Money, and all the Gold, amounting to Eight Thousand and besides this, the Golden Beam weighing 750 l. whereon the Veils did hang. To say truth, the Gol­den Beam was deliver'd to him by Eleazar the Priest, as a ransom for all the rest, Crassus swearing to take nothing else. But having the one, he would not leave the other. The Beam he broke, and coin'd it into Money for payment of the Soldiers.

The success was this. Many grievous Tempests of Thunder and Lightning op­pos'd [Page 39] his Army; a violent Wind brake the Bridge he made for his passage; his Camp was twice stricken with Light­ning; and divers other such Prodigious events are noted by Plutarch. Joining Battle with his Enemy, his dear Son was first slain in his own sight, with the Flower of his Cavalry, and then all the Roman Army slaughter'd or discomfited. Himself, though Surenas the General would have sav'd him, was also slain. Being dead, his Head and his Hand, (that committed the Sacrilege) like Ni­canor's in the Maccabees, were stricken off, and with other Monuments of the Ro­man Glory, most contemptuously abused and derided, in Triumphs, Plays, and Publick Meetings. It is noted to be one of the greatest Overthrows that ever the Romans had. Joseph. Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 13. Plutarch. in M. Crasso. Appian. de Bell. Parthic.

Some report, that the Parthians, in derision of his Avarice, poured molten Gold into his Mouth; and say also, that he slew himself, by thrusting his riding-Wand into his own Brains through his Eye. But, I take it, he that thus killed himself, was Pub. Crassus Nucianus, Brother to the Grand-Father of this [Page 40] M. Crassus, overthrown also in the Par­thian Wars by Aristonicus.

It is much to be admired, that none of the Heathen-Emperours of Rome, af­ter Titus, (many of them being notori­ously wicked and prodigal) nor Gense­ricus and his Vandals, did not convert such goodly rich Vessels of Gold and Sil­ver, as those of the Temple were, into Ready Money, for the Maintenance of their great Armies, and other publick Necessities of State; but that they should suffer them to be preserv'd without any Loss or Imbezelling, for the Space of 500 Years together. But the Providence of God is very remarkable in preser­ving them, until they came to the great Christian Emperour Justinian, who di­sposed them to Christian Churches, as is shewed.

The Learned Mr. Fuller in his Pis... lib. 3. pag. 438. thinks that it is unknown what became of these Vessels, after Titus carried them to Rome. But it appeareth he is mistaken in this; though not in his Opinion, That the Holy and Holy of Ho­liest remain'd entire and untortur'd, till all was destroy'd at the Captivity of Ba­bylon; though the outward Courts and Chambers had been often plunder'd. [Page 41] And if this be true, as it is very proba­ble, hence may we well consider, and admire the wonderful Providence of God, in defending the Temple in the principal Parts of it, for the Benefit of his own Worship and Glory, though he suffered the outward to be plunder'd oftentimes, for the Sins and Wickedness of the Peo­ple. Though at last, when God resol­ved to put an end to the Jews State and Religion, then he suffer'd the Temple to be burnt and destroyed utterly; never suffering it to be built again, though it were attempted divers times.

But yet the gold and silver Vessels of the Temple, (which were moveable things, that might be carried away to another Country, and at one time or other might serve for some good Use and Purpose) God preserv'd in all the Changes and Transmigrations that hapned, till he brought them at length to the Hands of a Religious and Pious Emperour, who bestow'd them upon Christian Churches, even at Jerusalem, from whence they came.

Shortly after this our Saviour Christ cometh into the World; and though re­proving it of all Kinds of Sins, he pu­nisheth [Page 42] not one, save only Sacrilege. He refuseth to be Judge in parting the Inhe­ritance between the two Brethren, and he would give no Sentence against the Woman taken in Adultery; but in case of Sacrilege, himself makes the Whip, himself punisheth the Offenders, himself overthrows the Money-Tables, and drives out the Prophaners of the Temple, with their Sheep, and their Oxen; not suffer­ing the innocent Doves to remain, tho' all these were for Sacrifices, and put in the Court-Yard, John 2. 14. Such was his Zeal in this Kind of Sacrilege, that he refus'd not to be the Accuser, the Judge, and the Executioner, and this not only once, but twice; at the beginning of his Ministry, recited by St. John, and the last near the Conclusion thereof, menti­oned Matth. 21. 11.

As for the Sacrilege of Judas and Pilate, the one in robbing the sacred Purse of our Saviour, the other of risling the holy Treasure of the Temple; they are such petty things in respect of their unexpres­sible Crimes about the Death of our Sa­viour, as I dare not apply their Punish­ment hither. But Judas hanged himself, Matth. 27. and throwing himself down head-long, burst asunder in the midst, [Page 43] all his Bowels gushed out, Act. 1. 18. Pilate in the displeasure of Caius the Em­perour, about the Money of the Tem­ple, is by him banished to Lions in France; and there, distracted with Grief and Misfortune, slayeth himself with his own Hands, Euseb. l. 2. c. 7.

So Herod is deposed by Caius from his Tetrarchy, and perpetually banished also to Lions, with his Wife Herodias, and dies miserably; their Goods confiscate by Caius, and given to Agrippa, Joseph. Ant. lib. 8. cap. 14. who also noteth, That within an hundred Years all his Proge­ny, except a very few of the Multi­tude, were consumed and extinct, lib. 18. cap. 11.

SECT. VII.

SAcrilege of the Things and Materials, I call that which is done upon things properly settled in holy Places, or belonging unto them: Of this sort seem­eth the very Ark it self, whiles it travel­led up and down, and remained not ei­ther at the Tabernacle at Shilo, or the Temple at Jerusalem.

The Citizens and Borderers of Ashdod, overthrowing the Children of Israel, took in Battle the Ark of God; they use it with all Reverence, and place it in their Tem­ple, by their God Dagon; but the next Morning their God Dagon was fallen down on his Face, (as adoring the Ark) [Page 45] his Head and his Hands were stricken off, and such a Destruction and Death was upon the People, that the very Cry of the City went up to Heaven, and those that were not slain were smitten with Emrods, 1 Sam. 5. 4. besides a Plague of Mice that was upon them; consulting therefore with their Priests, they not on­ly send back the Ark, with all Honour, but with a Sin-Offering also, of Golden Emrods, and Golden Mice, to be a per­petual Monument of their Penance and Punishment, 1. Sam. 6. 1.

The Bethshemites (whilst the Ark was among the Philistines) presumed to look into it; God for this Attempt slayeth of the People 50070 Men. And the Peo­ple lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the People, with a great Slaughter. And the men of Beth­shemesh said, Who is able to stand be­fore this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us? 1 Sam. 6. 19. So for touching it with unsanctified hands (tho' to save it from falling) was Vzzah slain, as we said before, in the Sacrilege of Fun­ction, 2 Sam. 6. 7.

Achan, in the Destruction of Jericho, stealeth 200 Shekels of Silver, and a [Page 46] Wedge of Gold, from the rest of the Gold and Silver and Metal, that, by the Commandment of God, Jos. 6. 9. was to be consecrated and brought into the Treasury of the Tabernacle, and did put it even with his own stuff, saith the Text, vers. 11. This Offence of this one Man, brought a Punishment in ge­neral upon the whole People: In the Assault at Ai, they are overthrown, and can no more stand before their Enemies (as God himself tells them), till this Sa­crilege be punished and purged, Cap. 7. 12. Therefore not only Achan himself, but his Sons, and his Daughters, his Oxen, his Asses, his People, and his Tent, and all that he had, were both stoned and burnt together, Jos. 7.

Of this Sort is the Sacrilege of Spoil­ing God of his Tithes and Offerings, Spo­ken of, Malachi 3. 8. where likewise the Penalty is declared by God's own Mouth, Ye are cursed with a Curse, even the whole Nation.

Of this Sort also is the Sacrilege of Ananias and Sapphira, in the Acts of the Apostles, whereof we shall speak anon.

[Page 47] A Multitude of Examples there be of this Kind, but for the most part they fall as well under the Title of Local Sacrilege, as under this of Holy Things: I will therefore refer the Rea­der to that which hath been already delivered, and will here close up the Books of the Holy Scripture, for Mat­ters done before the Passion of our Sa­viour.

SOME ADDITIONS UPON THE Former Discourse: BY JEREMY STEPHENS.
SECT. VIII.

THE pious Author of this Discourse intended to have added something concerning the Sacrilege of Ananias and Sapphira, and other places of the New Testament; but since he did not finish his Purpose, here shall follow, to supply that Defect, some Annotations, that may, [Page 49] in part, make some Recompence of that Omission.

And first the late Annotations upon the Bible published Ann. Dom. 1646. by some Divines called Presbyterians, deserve to be censured for their Omissions, and dangerous insinuations: for in their expli­cation of some remarkable Texts and Ex­amples concerning Sacrilege, they do ve­ry unworthily discharge their parts; in that they never mention the principal offence and Sin of Sacrilege, which is ex­presly charged in the Text, and by all Expositors both Ancient and Modern so approved. As touching the Sacrilege of Achan in the 6. and 7. Chapters of Josua, which is so fully and remarkably set forth by the Holy Ghost, and Achan so fear­fully Punished and Condemned for it, as might well strike a Terrour, not only in­to the People of that time, but of all Men in succeeding Ages: for as the Apostle saith, 1. Cor. 10. These things are writ­ten for our Admonition, upon whom the ends of the World are come. Yet these Divines pass all over in general Terms, not mentioning Sacrilege to be the great Sin for which Achan and his family, and also the People were so severely Punish­ed, [Page 50] as is manifestly to be observ'd through­out these two Chapters.

Next for the Sacrilegious offence of Bel­shazzar in taking the Holy Vessels of the Temple to drink wine in them at his great feast, they so blanch it over in their Notes Dan. 5. 2. as if the principal Sin had been drinking excessively; not profa­ning the holy Vessels, whereas the Text doth not charge him or his Nobles for ex­cessive drinking (though at so great a feast some might perhaps offend therein) but for the abuse of the Vessels, which were not to be employed to any Com­mon or Prophane use, as they were not all the time since Nebuchadnezzar his Grand-Father took them from the Tem­ple at Jerusalem, and put them into the House of his Gods at Babylon—Cum antehac in Beli Templo aliquam adhuc sancti­moniam retinuissent (ut not at Hieronymus in Dan. 5.) Quod tunc piaculum fuit Sacra profanare, nunc & principum & profanorum lusus est, & adhuc quaerimus, cur bellis tam atrocibus vastitas passim fiat? melius cavit sibi Justinianus qui vasa Templi secundi, à Vespasiano Romam portata, à Genserico Romae expilatore Carthaginem, cum per victoriam nactus esset, non in suos vertit usus, sed in sacram basilicam misit, quae erat [Page 51] Hierosolymis, narrante Procopio. Thus the learned Grotius doth observe in his Annotations upon this Text; and so Calvin formerly, who saith expresly in his Commentary, Profectò ista profanatio indignissimum fuit Sacrilegium. So also Rolloc and Willet in their Commentaries upon Daniel, are very clear to this pur­pose, all which might have directed them who collected the Notes.

It is not impertinent to note further what became of these Vessels afterwards, because some do think it is unknown; for in regard they were Consecrated to the Service of God, it appears that they were preserved wonderfully by the spe­cial Providence of God, both in the first spoil of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and also in the final destruction by Titus: For Nebuchadnezzar having taken them, did not put them into his Treasury, nor convert them to private Uses, but placed them in the House of his Gods at Baby­lon; and at the return of the Jews from the Captivity, all the Vessels were re­stored to the Temple, as appears in Ezra and Daniel. So Titus also did not con­vert them to any private Use, but car­ried them to Rome, where they conti­nued many Years in the Capitol, until [Page 52] Gensericus the Vandal Sacked Rome, and from thence among other Treasures car­ried them to Carthage, and there also they were preserved till Bel, the great Ge­neral under Justinian the Emperor, con­quered Carthage; and among the Riches and Plunder that they won there, when Gelimer the Fourth King, a Successor after Gensericus, was taken, and other Riches and great Spoils, he took and recovered the Holy Vessels of the Temple, and brought them to Constantinople to the Emperor Justinian. When Justinian had them he was informed by a Jew and some others, that they were the conse­crated Vessels of the Temple, and that they would not prosper in any Man's custody; and that for detaining of them formerly Rome was conquered by Gense­ricus; and note again Carthage was over­come for the same Offence, as Procopius relates lib. 2. de bello Vandalico. And Baronius [...] of him A. Ch. 534. Ju­stiniani 8. ... also Paulus Diaconus, quem ex Codice Palatino edidit Janus Gru­terus ... ‘ quatuor decim interim dies secura & libera direptione omnibus opibus suis & miraculis Roma est evacuata, in quibus erant Ecclesiastica [...] sola ex auro & lapidibus pretiosis ornata, & vasa [Page 53] Hebraica, quae Titus Vespasianus post cap­tivitatem Hierosolymitarum Romam de­liberat, multa Millia captivorum cum regi­na Hadoxia, quae Gensericum ad hoc fa­cinus invitaverat, duabus (que) ejus filiabus Carthaginem abducta sunt.’

When thus the Vessels were brought to Constantinople, and presented to Ju­stinian the Emperor, he greatly feared, and was very unwilling to convert them to any private Use, or to his own Trea­sury; but upon advice sent them to Chri­stian Churches at Jerusalem, and so clear­ed himself of them, and would not be guilty of any suspicion of Sacrilege. Thus we may see in those Days there was some Piety in the Hearts of Men more than ... They took Example by the Calamities of others, not to be too bold with things Consecrated to God: In a doubtful matter Justinian resolved rather to imploy to some pious Uses, than to enrich his own Coffers with them; but had they come into the Hands of Presbyterians in these times, and had any such Men been in those Days, they would have melted them into Money to pay Souldiers.

Likewise upon Acts 5. the Sacrilege of Ananias and Sapphira, in defrauding [Page 54] God of a part of that which they had Consecrated to him, the Divines in their Annotations omit the main Sin, and dwell upon the Circumstances only, as Hypocrisie, Vain-glory, Lying, Cove­tousness, and the like. But we must di­stinguish between Ananias his Fact, and the Manner and Circumstance thereof. The Fact was Sacrilege in the manner of doing, other Crimes attended as Handmaids: It will be plain if we ask but these two Questions; First what Ananias did? The Text will make Answer, he purloined of the holy Money; this was his Fact. Ask Secondly, How and in what manner he purloined? The Story will tell us, dissembling and hypocriti­cally, making an appearance to the con­trary. This then was but the Manner and Circumstance of his Fact, and so the Species of the Fact was to be placed therein, as Mr. Mede doth fully shew in his Discourse upon this Text, and doth further instance the Particulars accurate­ly, to whom therefore I refer the Rea­der.

These two terrible Examples of God's Judgments and Severities against Sacri­lege: The first of Achan, in the begin­ning of the Church of Israel, at their [Page 55] first entrance into the Land of Canaan: The other of Ananias, in the beginning of the Christian Church, are so remark­able, and so punctually urged by the Holy Ghost, that they may well affright­en all Men in succeeding Ages from ta­king away, or seizing upon any part, or parcel of that which is given and conse­crated unto God, and to his Service in any kind. The learned Grotius saith well in his Annotations upon Cassander (ad Artic. 16.) ‘Quod verò dicit Cassander, Imperatorum & Regum hoc quo (que) esse of­ficium, ut leges divinas & canones conser­vent, verissimum est: debent enim Chri­sto servire etiam quà Reges. Sed cavere sibi debent, ne Schismati dent causam: sed ita se norint ecclesiarum sui regni esse tuto­res, ut simul meminerint Ecclesiae univer­sitatis se esse filios. Pessimè autem offici­um hic implent principes, qui ea, quae olim Deo, id est, piis usibus, data sunt, ad suos & quidem profanissimos saepe usus vertunt, hoc sub praetextu, quod nimis multa possi­deant Episcopi: si nimium multa habeant Epis. detur quod superest Presbyteris & Diaconis; detur Ecclesiis aedificandis aut instaurandis; detur pauperibus popularibus; & si ei desint externis, sicut olim ab A­chaiâ & Macedoniâ missae sunt in Judae­am [Page 56] pecuniae; redimantur qui apud barbaros sunt captivi, quam ob causam multi Epis. vasa Ecclesiae etiam jam consecrata ven­didêre, quidam semetipsos dedêre pignori: Miror non terreri eos, qui vetus testamen­tum legunt Achanis, qui novum Ananiae exemplo: & haec res praecipua causa est cur tam diu bella durent, non tantum quia propter ista utrin (que) bellatur, verum etiam quia Deus contemptum sui sic ulcisci­tur.’

Leviticus 23. 33, 34. God commands that the Fields of the Suburbs of the Le­vites Cities should not be sold, for it is their perpetual Possession. The Fields belonging to their Forty eight Cities, were the Glebe-lands belonging to them to keep their Cattle, therefore God com­manded that these Fields should not be sold upon any terms; which Calvin doth truly expound in his Commentary, say­ing, ‘ Hoc non modo in eorum gratiam sta­tuitur, sed quia totius populi interfuit, dispositos esse quasi in excubiis, ubi locum ipsis Deus assignaverat. Quod ad Subur­bia spectat, vel agros pecoribus alendis de­stinatos, vetat Deus alienari, quia hoc modo relictâ propriâ statione subinde aliò migrâssent, hanc verò disceptationem non accidere totius populi interfuit.’ The [Page 57] same Reason is good at this Day; for the Ministers of the Gospel must have Houses to live in, and some Glebe-lands for the maintenance of their Cattle, o­therwise they cannot subsist and attend their Duties. But our Presbyterian Di­vines do say in their Notes, there was something in practice contrary to this; as if a bad practice, contrary to the express Commandment, were sufficient to excuse the Fault: The thing that they mean, and mention is the particular Example of Barnabas the Levite of the Countrey of Cyprus (Acts 4. 37.) Having Land sold it, and laid the Money at the Apostles feet. But it is easily answered, that Barnabas had that Land in the Countrey of Cyprus, as Tyrannus saith, of which Countrey he was: For many Jews that were dispers­ed and dwelt in other Countries, and had Estates there, and yet came over at the solemn Feast at Jerusalem for to wor­ship, as now Barnabas did: And if the Lands which he sold were in Judaea, yet then it might be sold, because the Jews Polity was at an end, and the old Law of Moses did not bind any longer; Lex quae Hebraeos certis finibus continebat, jam soluta erat, as Oecumenius and Chrysostom say upon x. 5.

[Page 58] In the Four last Chapters of Ezekiel, Ezek. 45. 1. the Prophet doth there publish a remark­able Prophecy concerning the Christian Church and State (it being never to be fulfilled in the State and Church of Is­rael.) There is appointed by God a Division to be made of Land into three Parts, whereof the first is an Holy Portion of the Land as an Oblation to the Lord, which should be imployed for the build­ing of the Temple, and for the habita­tion of the Priests and Levites: The length whereof shall be 25000 Yards, and the breadth shall be 10000. This shall be Holy at the Borders thereof round about. A second Part for the City and People; and a third for the Prince. But for the Holy Portion for the Temple and Le­vites, God commandeth expresly, That it should not be alienated, exchanged, or sold upon any pretence, Chap. 48. 14. These Four Chapters of great concernment to the Christian Church are passed over in silence, and the principal Scope of them altogether neglected: No marvel they pass over the Apocryphal Books, wherein are remarkable Examples a­gainst Sacrilege, as is already set forth in this Discourse out of them. And tho' the Books themselves are not accounted [Page 59] Canonical equal to the rest, yet for the Historical Truths, concerning the Perse­cutions and Sufferings of the Jews, there is no question made of their Credit.

The Authors therefore of the Annota­tions, though in their Preface they pro­mise all Sincerity and Fidelity, yet have they failed in both very grosly; ‘They solemnly attest the Divine Omniscience, and profess with the blessed Apostle St. Paul, that they are not of those that corrupt the word of God, 2 Cor. 2. 17. or who handle it deceitfully, Chap. 4. 2. nor who wrest any part of it to the Patronage of any Error of what deno­mination soever; nor have we added to it (say they) any of our own precon­ceived Opinions to imprint a partiality in our Expositions, nor taken from it, or smothered the least tittle of sacred Truth contained in it, nor yet have we subtilly passed over any difficult place with silence, as if it had no need of an Annotation to clear it.’

But let the Reader judge whether it appears not by these few Observations touching Sacrilege (which is the crying Sin of this Age) that they have dealt very slightly and subtilly in passing over [Page 60] such remarkable Places with silence, and smothering the Truth, which might have been confirmed and inforced from these pregnant Texts. They have plain­ly discovered their Double-dealing, Dis­sembling and Forbearance to denounce the Judgments of God against such a no­torious Sin, so raging and predominant at this time. They have done like the false Prophets of old that did sow Pil­lows, and flatter the People in their evil Courses; whereas Sacrilege is account­ed one of the most hainous Sins of these Days by the best Divines, and other learned Men that have written thereof.

The Apostle saith, Rom. 2. 22. Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sa­crilege? The Presbyterians are very zea­lous against all sorts of Idols, Images, Pictures, and Crosses; but for Sacrilege (unless it be for that of the Sabbath) they are very sparing and silent. But for the Apostles words; 'tis true (as one doth well infer upon them) these words are spoken as to the Person of an uncon­verted Jew, and may be therefore thought to aim only at those Sins, which were described in the Law of Moses: But do but view St. Paul's way of Ar­guing, [Page 61] and you will quickly find they come home to us Christians. He there­fore tells the Jew, that he taught others those things which he would not do him­self, and he strives to make this good by three several Instances. First, Thou that preachest a Man should not steal, dost thou steal? Secondly, Thou that sayest a Man should not commit Adultery, dost thou commit A­dultery? In both these it is plain, that the Jew he dealt with did the same things he reprehended: And streight­way the third comes, Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacrilege? So that hence it will follow (if St. Paul's words have any Logick in them) that these two Sins are of the self same Nature too; and that to commit a Sacrilege is a breach of the same Law, as to commit an Ido­latry; so that the Crime will appear, without all doubt, a plain Robbery of God: For he that steals from Men, yea though a whole Community of Men, though bona universitatis, yet he sins but against his Neighbour, 'tis but an Of­fence against the Second Table of the Law, in these words, Thou shalt not steal. But Sacrilege lays hold on those things which the Latins Laws call bona [Page 62] nullius, it strikes downright immediate­ly at God; and in that regard no Ido­latry can out-do it: As this is, 'tis a breach of the First Table of the Law, and both these Crimes are equally built upon the self same contempt of God: The Offenders in both kinds, the Idola­ter and the sacrilegious Person both think him a dull sluggish Thing. The first thinks he will patiently look on, whilst his Honour is shared to an Idol: The other imagines he will be as sottishly tame, though his Goods be stollen to his Face.

[Page 63] XERXES having Ten hundred thousand Men in his Land-Army, and as many, by Estimation, in his Na­vy; intendeth to make an absolute Con­quest of Greece, pag. 13. and spoiling all Phocis, leaveth a part of his Army a­mong the Doreans, commanding them to invade Delphos, and to fire the Temple of Apollo, and to bring away the Sacred Riches of it. The Soldiers marching toward it, came to Pronoea, a place not far from Delphos, where a wonderful Tempest of Rain and Lightning sudden­ly came upon them; and rending down part of the Mountains, overwhelmed many of the Army; and so amaz'd the rest, that they fled away immediately, in all the haste they could, fearing to be consumed by the God, who by this pro­digeous Miracle thus preserv'd his Tem­ple. In memory hereof a Pillar was erected in the Place, with an Inscription to relate it, pag. 12.

But this seemed not a sufficient Re­venge for so horrible a Design, accom­pany'd with other acted Sacrileges. No­thing therefore prospereth with Xerxes: His invincible Navy is overthrown in a [Page 64] Sea-Battle at Salamis, by Themistocles; his Land-Army at Plateos, by Pausani­as; where Mardonius (Xerxes's General) that destroy'd the Houses sacred to the Gods, was also slain. Both these great Victories beyond human Expectation, sell against him in one day; and beaten thereby out of Europe, with the Loss of ... thousand of his Men, he forti­fieth the rest of his Navy and Army at Mycale, a City of Ionia in Asia; where Leotychidas the Lacedaemonian General, ob­taining as admirable a Victory of him as the other, slayeth above Forty thou­sand of his Men, putting the rest to flight: Which struck such terror into the Heart of Xerxes, as upon report thereof he fled also to Ecbatan; and in this man­ner ended his Wars with inestimable Loss, Derision and Shame. Vengeance not­withstanding still pursued him; so that after many Years, Artabanes the Captain of his Guard (aspiring to the Kingdom, though he obtain'd it not) murthered both him and his eldest Son Darius. Dio­dor. lib. 11. pa. 15, 23, 28, 53.

Imilco, a famous General of the Car­thaginians, for their Wars of Sicily, in the time of Dionysius, the Tyrant, prevail­ed very fortunately in all his Enterprizes, [Page 65] till that taking the Suburbs of Archadina, he spoil'd in it the Temple of Ceres and Proserpina. This Sacrilege (saith Dio­dorus) brought a just Punishment upon him; for in the next Encounter, the Sy­racusans overthrew him. And being ar­rived in his Camp, Fears and Tumults rise amongst his Soldiers in the Night time, and sudden Alarms as if the Ene­my had been upon his Trenches. Be­sides this, a grievous Plague at last ... in his Army, accompany'd with many fierce Diseases that drave his Men into Frenzies and Forgetfulness; so that run­ning up and down the Army, they flew upon every Man they met with. And no Physick could help them; for they were taken so suddenly, and with such Violence, as they dy'd within five or six days, no Man daring come near them, for fear of the Infection. Hereupon en­sued all other Calamities: their Enemies assail them both by Sea and Land; they invade their Forts and their Trenches, fire their Navy, and (to be short) make a general Confusion of the whole Army. An hundred and fifty thousand Carthagi­nians lie dead on the Ground. Imilco himself, who lately possess'd all the Ci­ties of Sicily, (except Syracuse, which he [Page 66] also accounted as good as his own) flieth by Night back into Carthage, and fear­eth now the losing of it. This great Commander (saith Diodorus) that in his Haughtiness plac'd his Tent on the Tem­ple of Jupiter, and preverted the Sacred Oblations to his prophane Expences, is thus driven to an ignominious Flight, chusing rather to live basely, and con­temn'd at home, than to expiate his wicked Sacrilege by a deserved Death. But he came to such Misery, that he went up and down the City in a most loathsome Habit, from Temple to Tem­ple, confessing and detesting his Impi­ety: and imploring at length some Ca­pital Punishment for an Atonement with the Gods, ended his Life by the extremity of Famine. Diodor. Sicul. Hist. lib. 14. p. 285. & seqq. A. M. 3576.

Cambyses, the Son of Cyrus the Great, being at Thebes in Aegypt, sent an Army of 50000 Men, to spoil the Ammonians, and to burn the Temple and Oracle of Jupiter Hammon. Himself, with the rest of his Forces, march'd against the Aethiopians. But 'ere ever he had gone the fifth part of his Journey, his Victu­als so fail'd him, that his Men were for­ced to eat their Horses and Cattle. And [Page 67] whilst like a Man without Reason, he still forc'd them to go on, and to make a shift with Herbs and Roots: Coming to a Desart of Sand, divers of them were constrained to tithe themselves, and eat the tenth Man; whereby his Voyage was overthrown, and he driven to re­turn. His other Army, that went to spoil and fire the Oracle, after seven Days travel upon the Sands, a strong South Wind raised the Sands so violent­ly upon them, as they were all over­whelmed and drowned in them. Hero­dotus in Thalia, lib. 4. pag. 167, and 168.

Cambyses, after this, in despight to the Egyptians, wounded the sacred Calf Apis (which they worshipt for their God) with his Sword upon the Thigh: ( Her. pag. 169.) Derided the Image of the God Vulcan, and entring the Temple of the Cabitans, where none might come but the Priest, burnt the Images of their Gods, ( pag. 147.) Pre­sently, upon wounding Apis, he fell Mad, and committing divers horrible Facts; as he mounted upon his Horse his Sword fell out of the Scabbord, and wounded him in the same part of the Thigh wherein he had wounded Apis, [Page 68] and thereon he died, having Reigned but seven Years, and leaving no Issue Male or Female to succeed him in the great Empire of his Father Cyrus, for securing of himself and his Posterity, wherein he had formerly murther'd his Brother Smerdis. Herod. Thalia, lib. 3. pag. 183. & seq.

A Rich Citizen of Egypt, longing to eat of a goodly Peacock that was con­secrate to Jupiter, hired one of the Mi­nisters to steal it; who going about to do it, was at the first interrupted by a Serpent; and the second time the Pea­cock (that had lived by report an Hun­dred Years) flew towards the Temple, and resting a while in the mid way, was after seen no more. The practice being discover'd by a brable between the Parties about the Hiring Money, the Minister was justly punished by the Ma­gistrate for his Treachery; but the Citi­zen that long'd to eat of the sacred Fowl, swallowed the Bone of another Fowl, was choaked therewith, and died a very painful Death. Aelian. de Animal. l. 11. c. 33.

Dionysius, the elder, rose by his own Prowess from a private Man to be King [Page 69] of Sicily; and in performing many brave Exploits both in Italy and Greece, com­mitted divers Sacrileges upon the Hea­then Gods, and defended them with Jests. Having conquer'd Locris, he spoil­ed the Temple of Proserpina, and sailing thence with a prosperous wind, Lo! (quoth he) what a fortunate Passage the Gods give to sacrilegious Persons.

Taking the Golden-Mantle from Ju­piter Olympius, he said it was too heavy for Summer, and too cold for Winter, and gave him therefore one of Cloath.

So from Aesculapius he took his Beard of Gold, saying it was not seemly that the Son should have a Beard, when his Fa­ther Apollo himself had none at all.

With such Conceits he robbed the Temples of the Golden Tables, Vessels, Ornaments, and things of price Dedica­ted to the Gods. Whereupon ensued a change of his Fortunes; for afterwards he was ordinarily overcome in all his Battles, and growing into contempt of his Subjects, was murthered by them at last. ( Jus. lib. 20. in fine, pa. 184.) His Son, named as himself, succeeds in the Kingdom, and ordain'd as it were to extirpate the Family of his Father, put [Page 70] his Brethren and their Children to death. He groweth Odious also to his Subjects, and falling into Civil War with them, is thrice overcome by them; and after va­rious Events, is at last driven out of his Kingdom irrecoverably. He seeth the Death of his Sons, his Daughter violent­ly ravish'd, his Wife (who was his Si­ster) most villanously abus'd, and in fine, murther'd with his Children. His Days he consum'd in Exile among his Enemies; where he lived not only Despised, but O­dious to all, consorted with the basest Peo­ple, and in the vilest Manner; and so end­ing his Tragedy, gave Plutarch occasion to say, That neither Nature nor Art did bring forth any thing in that Age so wonderful as his Fortune. Just. lib. 21. pa. 187. Plut. in Timoleon, p. 240.

Antiochus, the Great King of Syria, being overcome by the Romans, and put to a great Tribute, not knowing how to pay it, thought that necessity might ex­cuse his Sacrilege; and therefore in the Night spoils the Temple of Didymaean Jupiter. But the Countrey People rising upon the Alarm of it, slew both him and his whole Army. Just. lib. 32. pa.

Q. Fulvius Flaccus Pontifex, spoiled the Temple of Juno ... One of his Sons [Page 71] dies in the War of Illyricum; and the o­ther lying desperately Sick, himself be­tween Grief and Fear falleth Mad, and hangeth himself. Liv. Dec. 5. lib. 2. pa. 47. a.

Divers that had spoil'd the Temple of Proserpina, at Locris, were by Q. Minu­tius sent fetter'd to Rome. The Romans sent them back again to the Locrians to be punish'd at their pleasure; and caused the things taken out of the Temple to be restor'd, with Oblations besides for an Atonement. Liv. Dec. 4. lib. 2. p. 44. b.

Agathocles, surprizing the Lipareans, imposeth a Ransom of Sixty Talents of Silver upon them: They made as much toward payment of it as they could, and desired Day for the rest, saying, That they had never upon any necessity med­led with that which was consecrated to the Gods. Agathocles would none of that Answer, but enforced them to bring him that Money, it being Dedicated part to Aeolus, and part to Vulcan. Having it, he departed; but in his return Aeolus raised such a Tempest, that many thought him sufficiently reveng'd; and Vulcan after burnt him alive. Diodor. Sicul. lib. 20. p. 828. A. M. 3608. circ. pa. 817.

But that which we shall now deliver [Page 72] is most remarkable, both for the exces­sive Sacrilege and Punishment. And be­cause the Relation perhaps shall not be un­pleasing, I will presume to be a little the longer in it. The General Senate (of the chiefest part of Greece) called the Amphictyon, imposed a grievous Fine up­on the Phoceans; for that they had taken a piece of the Ground Cirrhaea, being con­secrate to Apollo, and had profaned it to works of Husbandry; adding further, that if the Fine were not paid to the use of Apollo, their Territories should be consecrate unto him. The Phoceans nettled with this Decree, as not able to pay the Fine, and chusing rather to die than to have their Countrey proscribed; by the Counsel of Philomelus, they protest against the Decree of the Amphictyones, as most Unjust, that for so small a piece of Ground so excessive a Fine should be im­posed; and pretend that the Patronage of the Temple of Delphos it self (where the famous Oracle of Apollo was) did of Antiquity and Right belong unto them; and Philomelus undertaketh to recover it. Hereupon the Phoceans make him their General; he presently draweth into his Confederation the Lacedaemonians (whom the Amphictyones had bitten with the like [Page 73] Decree) and with an Army on the sud­den invadeth and possesseth the Temple of Delphos, slaying such of the City as re­sisted him. The same hereof flew far and wide; and upon it divers Cities of Greece undertake in their Devotion a sa­cred way against the Phoceans and Philo­melus.

First, They of Locris give them Bat­tle, and are overcome. Then the Boeo­tians prepare an Army for their Aid; but in the mean time Philomelus, the bet­ter to defend his Possession of the Temple, encloseth it with a Wall: And though he had formerly publish'd through Greece, that he sought nothing but the Patronage; yet seeing many Cities to joyn in force against him, he now falleth apparently upon spoiling of the Temple for sup­porting of his War, taking from it an infinite Wealth in precious Vessels and Oblations. Nor did the progress of his Fortune suddenly teach him to repent it; for he prevail'd still against the Lo­crians, Boeotians, Thessalians, and other their Confederates, till the Boeotians, at last, overthrew his sacriligeous Army, and slaying a great part thereof, drove himself to that necessity, that to avoid the Tortures incident to his Impiety, he [Page 74] threw himself headlong down a Rock, and so miserably ended his wicked Pa­geant.

Onomarchus (his Partner in the Sacrilege) succeedeth in his room of Command and Impiety; and after variety of Fortune, his sacrilegious Army is overthrown by King Philip of Macedon; and by his Com­mand the Soldiers, that were taken Pri­soners, were drown'd, and Onomarchus himself, as a Sacrifice to his Sacrilege, hang'd.

Then Phayllus, the Brother of Ono­marchus, is chosen General; who rotting by little and little whilst he lived, died at length in most grievous Torture for his Sacrilege, pag. 437.

After him succeeded Phaloecus, Son of Onomarchus, who beyond all the former Sacrilege (wherein some accounted that as much was taken, as the whole Treasure was worth that Alexander the Great brought out of Persia) added this, That hearing there was an infinite Mass of Gold and Silver buried under the Pavement of the Temple, he with Philon, and other of his Captains began to break up the Pavement near the Tri­pos; but frighted suddenly with an Earthquake, durst proceed no further, [Page 75] pag. 453. Shortly after, Philo is accused for purloining much of the Sacred Mo­ney committed to his Dispensation; and being Tortur'd nameth many of his Con­sorts, who with him are by the Phoceans themselves all put to terrible Death, ( pag. 452.) And the Boeotians, by the aid of king Philip, put to flight divers Troops of the Phoceans, whereof 500 fled for Sanctuary into a Chapel of Apol­lo's, seeking Protection under him, whose Temple they had so violated. But the Fire they left in their own Tents fired their Cabbins; and then taking hold of Straw that lay near the Chapel, burnt it also, and in it them that were fled into it. For the God (saith Diodorus) would give them no Protection, though they begged it upon their Knees, p. 45, 3.

Now after ten Years this sacred War came to an end. Phaloecus, not able to subsist against Philip and the Boeotians, compoundeth with him for Licence to depart, and to carry the Soldiers he had about him with him.

The Phoceans, without all means to resist, are by a New Decree of the Am­phictyons, or Grand Council, adjudged to have the Walls of three of their Cities [Page 76] beaten to the Ground; to be excluded from the Temple of Apollo, and the Court of the Amphictyons (that is, to be Excommunicate and Out-lawed;) to keep no Horses nor Armour, till they had satisfied the Money, sacrilegiously taken, back to the God; that all the Phoceans that were fled, and all others that had their Hands in the Sacrilege, should be duly punish'd, and that every Man might therefore pull them out of any place; that the Graecians might de­stroy all the Cities of the Phoceans to the Ground, leaving them only as Villages of fifty Houses a-piece, distant a Fur­long the one from the other to inhabit; that the Phoceans should retain their Ground, but should pay a yearly Tri­bute of Sixty thousand Talents to the God, till the Sum mentioned in the Re­gisters of the Temple, at the beginning of the Sacrilege were fully satisfied, pag. 455.

The Lacedaemonians also and Athenians, who aided the Phoceans, had their part (and justly) in the Punishment. For all the Lacedaemonian Soldiers that were at the spoil of the Oracle, were after­wards slain by the Lucans, (pag. 458.) [Page 77] and all others universally (saith Diodo­rus) not only the principal Agents in the Sacrilege, but even they that had no more than their Finger in it, were pro­secuted by the God with inexpiable Pu­nishment, pag. 456.

Nor did Phaloecus escape it, though he compounded with Philip, and lived long after. For his long Life was no Happiness unto him, but an extension of his Tor­ture, living perpetually in Wandring up and down, perplexed with restless Fears, and variety of Dangers; till at last, be­sieging Cydonia, and applying Engines to batter it, Lightning falling upon them consum'd both them and him, and a great part of his Army: Yet others say, that he was slain by one of his Soldiers, pag. 485. Diodor. lib. 16.

The residue of his Army, that esca­ped the Fire, were by the exil'd Eleans hired to serve against their Countrey­men of Elis; but the Arcadians joyning with the Eleans overthrew their Exiles, and this their Army of sacrilegious Sol­diers; and having slain many of them, divided the rest (being about 4000) between them. Which done, the Arca­dians sold their part to be Bond-men; [Page 78] but the Eleans, to expiate the spoil of Delphos, put all their part to the Sword. Many also of the noblest Cities of Greece (that had aided the Phoceans) being afterwards overcome by Antipater, lost both their Authority and Liberty. And besides all this, the Wives of the prime Men of Phocis, that had made them­selves Jewels of the Gold of Delphos, were also punished by an immortal Hand: For she that had got the Chain, offer'd by Helenes, became a common Strumpet; and she that adorn'd her self with the Attire of Eriphyle (taken thence) was burnt in her House by her eldest Son, stricken Mad, and firing the same.

These fearful Punishments fell on them that were guilty of misusing sa­cred Things: Whereas on the other part, Philip the King (that at this time had nothing but Macedon) by de­fending the Cause of the Temple and Oracle, came after to be King of all Greece, and the greatest King of Eu­rope, as Diodorus Siculus noteth, lib. 16. pa. 458. A. M. 2626.

[Page 79] In the next Age after this, Brennus the Gaul (or, as our Chroniclers say, the Britain; for the Eastern Nations did of old account the Britains under the Name of the Gauls, as they do at this day un­der the French,) raising a mighty Army of Gauls, invaded Greece, and prosper­ing there victoriously, came at length to Delphos, with an Hundred and fifty thousand Foot, and Fifty thousand Horse; where his Army endeavouring to spoil the Temple standing upon the Hill Par­nassus, was in scaling of it valiantly re­sisted by Four thousand Citizens. But suddenly an Earthquake tearing off a great part of the Hill, threw it vio­lently upon the Gauls, who being so di­spersed, a Tempest of Hail and Light­ning followed, that consumed them. Brennus, astonished at the Miracle, and tormented at the Wounds he had re­ceiv'd, slew himself with his Dagger, Just. l. 24. p. 233.

Another of the Captains, with Ten thousand of the Soldiers that remain­ed, made all the haste they could out of Greece: but their Flight was little Benefit unto them. For in the Night they durst come in no Houses, and in [Page 80] the Day they wanted neither Labour, nor Dangers. Abundance of Rain, and Frost, and Snow, and Hunger, and Weariness, and the extreme Want of Sleep, consumed daily this miserable Remnant: and the Nations they pass'd through, pursu'd them as Vagabonds to prey upon them. So that of that numerous Army, which of late in the Pride of their Strength despised and spoiled the Gods, none was left to re­port their Destruction.

Thus Justin affirmeth: but Strabo saith, That divers of them returned in­to their Country (being Tolouse in Pro­vence) and that the Plague there falling amongst them, the Sooth-sayers told them, they could not be deliver'd from it, till they cast the Gold and Silver they had gotten by their Sacrilege, into the Lake of Tolouse.

About Two hundred and forty Years after, Q. Servilius Cepio, the Roman Con­sul, taking the City of Tolouse, took also this Treasure, (then being in the Tem­ple, as seemeth by Aul. Gellius, lib. 3. cap. 9.) and much encreas'd by the Ci­tizens, out of their private Wealth, to make the Gods more propitious unto [Page 81] them. The Gold (saith Strabo) amoun­ted to a Hundred and ten Minas, and the Silver to One thousand Pound in Weight. In truth (saith Strabo) this Sacrilege was the Destruction both of Cepio himself and of his Army; and Gellius addeth, That whosoever touch'd any of that Gold, perished by a mise­rable and torturing Death. Hereupon came the Proverb, which this Day is so usual among Scholars, Aurum habet To­losanum; spoken (saith Erasmus) of him that is afflicted with great and fa­tal Calamities, and endeth his Life by some new and lamentable Accident. See more in Strabo.

A Soldier of Antoninus Verus, the Em­peror, cutting by chance a Golden-Cabi­net ( Arculam) in the Temple of Apollo at Babylon, there issued such a pestilent Breath out of it, as infected both the Parthians, and all other parts of the World wheresoever they came, even to Rome. Jul. Capitolin. in Aug. Hist. To. 2. pa. 120.

It were endless to sail in this Stream, the Heathen Authors are so Copious in it. But for a Corollary to that hath [Page 82] been spoken, I desire to add a Fable of Ovid's ( Lib. 8. Metam. pag. 331.) wherein he sheweth what Opinion the World then had of Sacrilege, and what Fatalities it brought upon the Offenders in it. Erisicthones profaning the Grove of Ceres, cutteth down her sacred Oak, and contemning his Superstition that of­fer'd to hinder it, cleaveth his Head with an Hatchet. Ceres striketh him with an unsatiable and perpetual Hun­ger; nothing doth satisfie him, nothing fills him, nothing thrives with him; all his Wealth is consumed on his Bel­ly: And when all is gone, then he is driven to dishonest Shifts, and forbear­eth no Wickedness. Her trans­mutation into these Shapes is thus ex­pounded. He prostitutes his own Daughter to one for an Horse, to another for a Bird, to a third for an Ox, to a fourth for a Deer. And when this is also devoured, his Hunger, at last, compelleth him to tear his own Flesh with his Teeth, and by consuming himself in this horrible manner to finish his Days most miserably.

[Page 83] DIoclefian and Maximianus having di­vided the Empire between them, Euseb. l. 8. cap. 1. & seqq. this enjoying the West, and the other the East, they united themselves again in raising the greatest Persecution that ever was against the Christians, putting Priest and People to death, Seventeen thousand Persons by sundry Torments, Oros. l. 7. c. 25. in thirty Days, Carion. in Ann. 288▪ confiscating their Goods, burning the Books of Holy Scripture, rasing and utterly subverting their Churches, Al­tars, and Places of Prayer, and Divine Worship. Having continued in this Fu­ry about 1. Twelve Years, they grew at last to be troubled in Mind; and in one day Maximianus at Millan, in the West, and Dioclesian at Nicomedia, in the East, of their own accord renounc'd the Em­pire, and betook themselves to a private Life; Dioclesian chusing Galerius for his Successor, and Maximianus, Constan­tius. Constan­tine for his. Carion. in Ann. 288. But Maximian afterward repenting, Resumed the Purple. endeavour'd to have brought his Son Maxentius into the Government, and was therefore by the Commandment of Constantine, put to death; and Dio­clesian, after long Discontentment, slew [Page 84] himself. Yet for a further Revenge of the horrible Persecution and Sacrilege, God sent a grievous Plague and Fa­mine, lib. 9. c. 8. as Eusebius reporteth, over all the World.

Certain Arians, Ann. 356. by an Edict of Con­stantius the Emperour, attempt to expell Athanasius from the Bishoprick of Alex­andria; and in rifling the Church, a young Man laboureth to pull down the Bi­shop's Seat there, when suddenly a Piece thereof falling upon him, rent out his Guts, that he died the next Day save one. Another bereav'd of his sight and Sence for the present, was carried forth, and recovering about a Day after, re­member'd nothing of what he had done or suffer'd. But these Accidents stay'd the rest from proceeding farther. Epist. Constantii Imp. ad Alexand. apud Athanas. Apol. 1. Bar. in An. 356. 35.

Julianus, Am. 362. President of the East Part of the Empire, and Uncle to Julian the Emperour, (both Apostates) with Felix the Treasurer, and Elpidius, Keeper of the Privy Purse, all Persons of high Dig­nity, come to Antioch, by Commission from the Emperour, to carry from thence the Sacred Vessels to the Empe­rour's [Page 85] Treasury. They enter that good­ly Church, and Julian going to the Ho­ly Communion-Table, maketh water against it; and because Euzoius offer'd to hinder him, he gives him a Box o'th' Ear; saying, ‘That God regarded not the Things of Christians.’ Felix also beholding the Magnificence of the Sa­cred Vessels, (for Constantine and Constan­tius had caused them to be sumptuously made) ‘Lo, (quoth he) in what State the Sun of Mary is serv'd!’ Present­ly the Guts of Julian rotted in his Body, and the Dung which formerly went downwards, now passeth upwards thro' his blasphemous Mouth, and so ending his Life. Felix is stricken suddenly with a Whip from Heaven, casteth his Blood day and night, from all parts of his Body out at his Mouth, and for want of Blood so dieth presently. Theod. Eccl. Hist. lib. 3. cap. 11, 12.

Chrysostom saith that Julian burst a­sunder in the midst ... and Ammia­nus, lib, 33. ... that Felix died suddenly ( profluvio sanguinis) of a gush­ing out of Blood.

What became of Elpidius, Theodoret doth not mention, but Nicephorus, lib. 10. [Page 86] cap. 29. reporteth, that though the third Blasphemer was not so suddenly punish­ed, yet being at length apprehended amongst them that aspir'd to the Go­vernment, ( tyrannidem) he was stripp'd of all he had, and suffering much Mi­sery in Prison, dy'd loathsomly, account­ed as a cursed and detested Person. Bar. Ann. 362. 110.

Divers Bond-men of a great Person, Ann. 433. not enduring the Severity of their Ma­ster, fly into the Church at Canstantino­ple, and with their Swords do keep the Altar, refusing to depart from it, and do thereby hinder the Divine Service di­vers Days together; but having kill'd one of the Clerks, and wounded ano­ther, they at last kill'd themselves. Socr. lib. 7. cap. 33. v. Niceph. lib. 14. cap. 34, 35. Evag. lib. 1. cap. 3, 45. This hap­ned a little before the Council of Ephe­sus, Ann. 433. where Nestorius was condemn'd, and was a Praeludium to those Evils, as it is said in Socrates, ibid, that then followed in the Church.

[Page 87] In the time of Childebertus, King of Paris, and Son of Clodover the First, his Brother Theodoricus besiegeth Montclere, the chief City of Avernia, which Chil­debertus, his Brother, had taken from him. A Knight then hearing that divers Ci­tizens had carried their Goods into the Church of St. Julian, leaveth the Siege, and with his Followers, breaking open the Doors, taketh all away. But God, the just Revenger of Sacrilege, struck them all incontinently with Madness. Gaguin. in Childeberto, fol. 13. where he admonisheth Soldiers, by this Example, to take heed of Sacrilege; and there­upon addeth another Example.—

Siginaldus (saith he) Governour of the Avernians, found this to be true; for puffed up with a desire of enlarging his Patrimony and Dominion; after he had wrung many things from the In­habitants, he took also from the Church of St. Julian, the Town of Bulgrate, which Tetradius had given unto it; and being presently strucken Mad, reco­vered not his Senses till he had left the Town again unto them, and made a re­compence for that he had taken. Idem, tit. ibid. Chilbert began to reign An. 515. and died about 560.

[Page 88] Some of the Burgundians, An. 508. with a great Power, besiege Brivatensem Vicum, the Town of Brivat, killing many, and taking many Prisoners, doe also carry away Ministerium Sacrosanctum, the Im­plements of the Church. Passing over the River, as they were dividing the Captives, one Hellidius coming from Vel­lavum, suddenly upon them with his Com­pany, slew them all save four, and rescued the Captives. The four that escaped car­ried with them into their Country a Dish, and a Pitcher, or Water-pot ( urceum) cal­led Anax. The Dish they divided amongst themselves into four parts, but the Pitcher they presented Gundebard, their King, for his Favour. The Queen finding the Silver they had brought, sent it back to the Place from whence it was taken, with other Presents added unto it. Gre. Turon. Glor. Mar. lib. 2. cap. 78. Short­ly after this Gundebard, and the Burgun­dians are overthrown by the Franks and Goths, and their Countrey divided amongst their Enemies. Bar. An. 508. 33, 34.

Whilst King Chramnus was at Averne, An. 556. five of his People brake by Night into the Oratory of the House of Juacen, and stole from thence the Ornaments of [Page 89] the Ministery, and flying into the Ter­ritory of Orleans, there divided them: Shortly after four of them were slain in Tumults; and the fifth, having all the Goods in his House, as Survivor, was stricken Blind with an Humor of Blood that fell upon his Eyes; which touching him with Repentance, it plea­sed God to have Mercy on him; so that recovering his Sight, he carried back the Ornaments, and restored them. Greg. Turon. de Gloriâ Martyr. 166. Bar. 556. 42.

Chilperic, Circ. 570. King of Suessons in France, who flourished Anno 570. sent his Son Theodebertus with an Army to waste Normandy, and the other Territories of his Brother Sigebert. Theodebert, in do­ing it, forbare not the Christians, but spoil'd them also. At last part of his Army come to Lota, a Monastery of St. Martins; and twenty of them (the rest refusing) entered into a Bark, and passing over the River, sack'd the Mo­nastery, slew some of the Monks, and carried the Prey into their Bark. Ha­ving lost their Oars, they were constrain­ed to use their Spears in rowing them­selves back, and coming into the midst [Page 90] of the River the Bark sunk, and they falling down upon their Spears, were both slain and drown'd, one excepted. The Monks recovering their Goods from the Water, buried the Bodies of them that were drown'd. Theodebert himself, and all his Army, falling after into an Ambush laid for them by Sige­bert, were also slain. Aimone de Gest. Franc. lib. 3. c. 12.

The Leaders of King Guntheranus's Army hearing that Gundebaldus, An. 576. dislodg­ing with his Forces from the side of the River Garonna, was gone to the Ci­ty Convenica; they in pursuit having swam over the River, and drown'd some of their Horse, came with the rest to the Church of St. Vincent, which is near the Borders of the City Argen; ... and finding that the Inhabitants of that part had carried all their Wealth into the same Church, as supposing the Sanctity of that place should preserve it, they set the Doors on fire, being fast lock'd, and so consuming them, enter­ed the Church, and carried away all the Substance of the Inhabitants, and what else belong'd to the Divine Ser­vice, which by the work of God was [Page 91] presently punish'd: For the Hands of most of them were Divini­tus. strangely burn'd, and made a smoak as things use to do that are set on fire; some were carried away by the Devil. Many after they were Semoti. departed wound themselves with their own Weapons, and some of the rest stragling abroad are slain by the Inhabitants about Conven. Greg. Turo. Hist. lib. 7. c. 35.

This Author (as Sigebertus saith) was made Bishop of Tours, in the Year 571. is much Honour'd generally for his Life, Gravity and Fidelity; yet must I note, that he hath deliver'd this Sto­ry somewhat differingly in his Book, De Gloriâ Mart. lib. 1. c. 105. though to the same effect (Memory in all Men being sometime stronger, sometime wea­ker.) There he saith, that the Soldi­ers could not of long time, and with much labour make the Church Doors take fire; and that at last they were fain to use the help of Hatchets, and to chop them in pieces; that being enter­ed, they took both the things that were there, and slew all the People that were fled thither for safety: That this was not long unpunished, for some were [Page 92] Alii à Daemone correpti. rapt away by the Devil, some drown­ed in the River Garumna, many lying in the cold got divers Diseases, in divers parts, that vexed them grievously: For, my self, saith he, did see in the Terri­tory of Tours many of them, that were Partners in his Wickedness, grievously tormented, even to the loss of this pre­sent Life, with intolerable Pains. Bar. 476. 4.

Chilperic, the greatest Man with Si­gebert King of Mees, or Austrasia, claim­eth wrongfully a Town from Franco Bishop of Aquis pretending that it be­long'd to the publick Revenue, and ju­dicially, before the King and other Judges, doth recover it with Three hundred Crowns ( aureos) Damages. The Bishop, in great anguish of Mind, goeth to the Church, and falling down at the Tomb of St. Metrias, Patron of the Church, prayeth for Vengeance, and threatneth the Saint, that there should be neither Lights nor Singing in that Church, until he were revenged of his Enemy, and the Things restored that were taken away from it so wrongful­ly. And laying Thorns upon the Tomb, he shut the Church Door, laying others [Page 93] there also (for that was a Type that the place was forsaken.) Presently here­upon Chilperic, that had done this wrong to the Church, falleth sick of a Fever, and continueth so for a whole Year, eating little and drinking little, save Water in the heat of his Fit; but per­plexed in his Mind, and Sighing much, yet Relented not in that he had done. In the mean time all the Hair, both of his Beard and Head, came wholly off, and all his Head became bare and na­ked: Then he bethinks him of the wrong he had done to the Church, and restoreth the Town with Six hundred Crowns, for the Three hundred he had received; hoping so to recover his Health, by the means of the Saint, but dy'd notwithstanding. Greg. Turon. De Glor. confes. ca. 71. Bar. An. 579. 15. This happened in the time of King Si­gebert, who was this Year murdered by the practice of his Brothers Wife Frede­gundis.

Ruecolenus, An. 579. with a Power of the Ce­nomanians, wasteth all about the City Tours, so that the Houses and Hospital of the Church were without hope of Sustenance. He demandeth also of the [Page 94] Church-men there, that they should de­liver unto him some that had taken Sanctuary in the Church, and threat­neth to fire all if they refused. St. Gre­gory of Tours, being then Bishop there, and that writ this Relation with his own Hand, goeth to the Church; and pray­ing for aid ( Beati auxilia flagitamus) a Woman that had twelve Years been contracted with the Palsie, was made streight: But Ruecolenus himself being now come to the other side of the Ri­ver, was presently strucken with the King's Evil, and with the Disease of King Herod; and the fiftieth Day after dy'd, all swollen of the Dropsie. This Greg. Turon. himself (as I find) re­porteth, De Mirac. S. Mart. lib.—c. 17. Baron. 579. 18.

Certain Servants, An. 596. or Officers of Eg­bright the third King of Kent after Ethelbert, had done great Injury to a Noble Woman, called Domneva (the Mother of St. Mildred); in Recompence whereof the King promised, upon his Honour, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. She begged upon this so much Ground of him to build an Abbey on, as a tame Deer (that she [Page 95] had nourished) would run over at a Breath. The King had presently granted it, but that one of his Council, named Timor, standing by blamed his incon­sideration, that would upon the uncer­tain Course of a Deer depart with any part of so good a Soil. But presently (saith the Author, William Thorne, a Monk of St. Augustin's) the Earth o­pen'd and swallowed him up alive; in Memory whereof the place till this time was call'd Timor's Lease. It may be the Monk hath aggravated the matter, and that Mr. Lambard justly doth count it Fabulous; but it seems some notable Misfortune followed upon Timor, hin­dring, in this manner, the propagation of Religion in the beginning of our Church. Yet no learned Man, I think, doubteth but that in the first Conversi­on of Heathen People, God was plea­sed to shew some Miracles upon sacri­legious Impediments. The Story goes on, that the King moved with the E­vent, granted Domneva's Petition; and that the Hind being put forth, run the space of Forty eight Plough-lands be­fore it ceas'd. In which Precinct this Lady, by the King's help, builded the [Page 96] Monastery for Nuns, called Minister-Abbey, in Tenet. Lambard Itin. in Tenet. pag. 99.

Egfrid, An. Dom. 684. Bed. l. 4. c. 26. King of Northumberland, send­eth an Army into Ireland, under the Conduct of Bert; and wasting misera­bly that harmless Nation, which then was Friend to the English, spared nei­ther Churches nor Monasteries. The Inhabitants resisted as they could, but rested not to call upon God with con­tinual Curses for Revenge. And tho' those that be accursed cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, yet it is to be thought that those that are justly cur­sed for their Iniquity, that the Venge­ance of God doth therefore fall the sooner upon them: For this same King, this next Year after, in a Voyage a­gainst the Picts, was drawn into streights, and both himself and most of his Army slain.

And in the eleventh Year of King Ino (saith Huntington) the Earl Berutus felt the Curses of the Irish People, Lib. 4. p. 337. l. 14. whose Church he had destroyed, as his Master had done before: For as King Egfrid entring into the Land of the Picts, was there slain; so he entring it also to re­venge [Page 97] his Masters Death, was likewise slain by them.

Osred, An. 710. circ. King of Northumberland, be­ing but eight Years old when he began to reign, and Reigning but eleven Years; even thus young broke the Monasteries, and deflower'd the Nuns, with much o­ther Wickedness; for which the just Hand of God being upon him, as Boni­facius, Archbishop of Mentz, and other Bishops assembled after in a German Council, do testifie by their Epistle to Aethelbald, he was murder'd by his Kins­men, Kenred and Osrick, and his King­dom Usurped by Osrick, contrary to Os­red's meaning, who had Decreed it to Ceolwulfe, Brother of his Father, as Beda reporteth, lib. 5. ca. 24. who saith far­ther, that his whole Reign abounded with so many Crosses of Fortune, that no Man knew either what to write of them, or what end they would have. Vid. Epis. apud Malmes. de gest. Reg. lib. 1. p. 28. Sed fusiùs apud Baron. in An. 745. nu. 5.

Ceolred, An. 712. circ. King of the Mercians, or Mid­land England, was guilty also of spoiling Monasteries, and defiling of Nuns; and was the first, with Osred, before na­med, that since the entrance of Austin, [Page 98] brake the Privileges granted by the Saxon Kings unto Monasteries, and for these sins, saith Boniface, and the other Bishops in the said Epistle, Justo judicio Dei damnati de culmine regali hujus vitae abjecti, & imma­turâ & terribili morte praeventi, &c. For Ceolred (as those that were present did testifie,) being at a great Feast among his Earls, that Evil Spirit which before had mov'd him to do such wickedness, struck him there with Madness, and in that case he dy'd Impenitently, the same Year, that Osred, his fellow in Sacrilege, was murder'd, viz. An. 716. Epist. praedict. & Beda in Epit. It seemeth his Line was also extinct.

Ethelbald the next Successor of Ceolred in the Kingdom of Mercia, Circ. Ann. 742. succeeded him also in his wicked Courses. He forbear­eth lawfull Marriage, but liveth Adul­terously with the Nuns, and breaking the Privileges of Churches and Monasteries, taketh away also their Substance, which gave the occasion that Boniface Arch-bi­shop of Mentz, and other German Bishops wrote the foremention'd Epistle unto him, desiring him to mend his course, and the wrongs he had done, which like a good King he willingly did; and at a Council holden at Clovesho, now call'd Cliff, in [Page 99] Kent, acknowledging his Sin, did also by his Charter restore what he had taken or broken, with an Overplus, and foun­ded the Monastery of Crowland; yet so was the hand of God upon him, that in a War unwisely begun, he was treache­rously Slain by Bartred, alias Beornred, and the Kingdom by him usurp'd Epist. praedict. & Stow, pag. 88. & Bar. 742, nu. 16.

Annotations upon this Chapter.

Whereas it is said that the Knight's Fees in Edward Ist. Time were found to be 67000, and that 28000 of them were in the hands of the Clergy; it is to be con­sider'd, that if the Account be rightly made, there could not be above a third part; for there is as much Land in base Tenures, that were never within the Fees; besides all Crown-lands, and Eleemosyna­ry-lands, Copy-holds, Gavel-kind, Bur­rough-English, &c.

Whereas it is said, That when the Com­mons did desire to have the Lands of the Clergy taken away, they did not design or wish that they should be otherwise employ'd than for the publick Benefit, and that all Men should be freed from Subsidies and Taxes: and they suggested also that the Lands of the Clergy would maintain a great Army to be always rea­dy, and for the Conduct thereof many Lords, Knights, and Esquires, should be maintain'd out of the Lands; and also many Hospitals provided for such Soldiers as should happen to be maim'd in the Wars.

[Page 174] And to this purpose it is fit to set down here the Words of my Lord Coke, 4 Insti­tut. pag. 44.

II. What happened to the King's Chil­dren and Posterity.

Touching his Children and Posterity, after the time that he entered into these Courses, he had two Sons and three Daughters, whereof one of each kind died Infants: the other three succeeding in the Crown without Posterity. His base Son the Duke of Richmond died also without Issue; and as the Issue of Nebuchodonosor was extinct, and his Kingdom given to another Nation the 68th. Year after he had rifled the Temple of Jerusalem, and taken away the holy Vessels; so about the [Page 192] same period, that King Henry VIII. began to sack the Monasteries, with their Chur­ches, and things dedicated to God, was his whole Issue extinct, Male and Female, base and legitimate, and his Kingdom transferred to another Nation; and there­in to another Royal Family (which is now His Majesty's singular happiness) that had no hand in the like depreda­tion of the Monasteries and Churches of that Kingdom, there committed by the tumultuous, if not rebellious Subjects. Contrary as it seems to the good liking of our late Sovereign King James, who (as is reported) said, that if he had found the Monasteries standing he would not have pulled them down; not meaning to continue them in their superstitious Uses, but to employ them, as Chorah's censers to some godly purposes. Wherein most piously he declared himself both in resto­ring (as I hear) some Bishopricks and divers Appropriations in Scotland, and al­so by moving the Universities of England to do the like, as by his gracious Letter doth appear, which shall here following be expressed in the end. So his Grand­father King James the 4th. of Scotland, when he was solicited by Sir Ralph Sadler, then Embassador from King Henry; to [Page 193] augment his Estate by taking into his Hands the Abbies; James refus'd, saying, What need I take them into mine Hands, when I may have any thing I require of them? And if there be Abuses in them I will reform them, for there be a great many good. Which was a wise answer, and if King Henry had done the like here, he might have had an immense and ample Revenue out of the Monasteries and old Bishopricks, while they enjoyed their Lands (being a third part of the King­dom, as appears by Doomsday-Book) by way of First-fruits, Tenths, Pensions, and Corrodies yearly; that he should never have needed at any time to ask one Subsi­dy of his Subjects. To return where we left off, having spoken of the extinguish­ment of the Issue of King Henry, whereof the immortally renown'd Princess Queen Elizabeth, was the golden period. Let us cast our Eyes upon the principal A­gents and Contrivers of this Business.

III. What happen'd to the Principal Agents.

The Lord Cromwel was conceived to be the principal mover, and prosecutor there­of, both before and in the Parliament of 27 and 37 Hen. VIII. and for his good [Page 194] service ( impenso & impendendo) upon the 18th of April before the beginning of the Parliament of 31, which was on the last of the Month, he was created Earl of Essex, and his Son Gregory made Lord Cromwell, yet e're the Year was past, from the end of the Parliament of 31 he fell wholly into the King's Displeasure, and in July 32 he was attainted and beheaded, professing at his Death, that he had been seduc'd, and dy'd a Catholick. His Son Gregory Lord Cromwell, being, as I said, made a Baron in the life time of his Father, and invested with divers great Possessions of the Church, supported that new risen Family from ut­ter ruine; but his Grandchild Edward Lord Cromwell wasting the whole Inheri­tance, sold the head of his Barony Oukham in Rutlandshire, and exchanging some of the rest (all that remained) with the E. of Devonshire for Lalale in Ireland, left himself as little Land in England, as his great Grandfather left to the Monasteries, and was I think the first and only Peer of the Realm not having any Land within it: by the feudal Law his Barony I doubt (if it had been feudal) had likewise gone; but by the Mercy of God, a Noble Gen­tleman now holds the Stile of it, and long may he.

[Page 195] Having sailed thus far in this Ocean, we will advance yet further (if it please God to give us a favourable passage) and take a view of the Parliament themselves, that put the wrackful Sword in the King's Hands. The chief whereof was (as we have said before) that of the 27 Year of his Reign, touching smaller Houses, and that of 31 touching the greater. I have sought the Office of the Clerk of the Upper House of Parliament to see what Lords were present at the passing of the Acts of Dissolution; but so ill have they been kept, as that the Names of 27 [ H. 8.] were not then to be found: and farther since I have not search'd for them. The other of 31 [ H. 8.] I did find, and doubt not but the most of them were the same, which also sate in the Parliament of 27, tho' some of them of 27 were either dead or not present in 31. Those that were present at the passing of the Bill of 31 I have here under mention'd in such order as I therein did find them; and will as faithfully as I can attain unto the know­ledge of them, relate what after hath be­faln themselves and their Posterity.

• [Page 196]1. The Lord Cromwell Vicegerent for the King in the Spiritualties (and having place thereby both in the Parliament and Convocation-house above the Archbi­shops) was beheaded the 28th of July, in the next Year, being the 32 of the King. Confessing at his death publickly, That he had been seduced but died a Papist.
• 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Tho. Cranmer D. D. was burnt in the Castle­ditch at Oxford, 21. March 1556, 3 Mary.
• 3. The Archbishop of York, Dr. Edw. Lee died 13th of Septemb. 1544. 36 H. 8.
• 4. The Bishop of London John Stokesley died within 4 Months after, viz. 3. Sep­temb. 1539.
• 5. The Bishop of Durham, Cuthbert Ton­stal, was imprisoned in the Tower all King Edwards time for Religion, and depriv'd of his Bishoprick, and the same inter alia Sacrilegia non pauca (saith Godwin) dis­solv'd and given to the King by Parlia­ment [Page 197] 7 Edw. VI. but the King being im­mediately taken away, Queen Mary re­stor'd both it and him, An. 1 ^o. Parl. 2. c. 3. and Queen Elizabeth again depriv'd him, and committed him to the Archbi­shop of Canterbury, where he died in Ju­ly 1559.
• 6. The Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardiner, was committed to the Tower 30: June 1548, in Edw. VI's time; for that he had not declared in his Sermon the day before at Paul's-Cross certain O­pinions appointed to him by the Council. Two Years after, because he approv'd not the Reformation, he was depriv'd of his Bishoprick, and kept in Prison all King Edward's days, but restor'd by Queen Ma­ry. He died of the Gout 12. Nov. 1555, being the 3d of her Reign.
• 7. The Bishop of Exeter, John Voisey, (alias Horman) had the Education of the King's Daughter the Lady Mary, and dis­contented with the Reformation aliened the Lands of the Bishoprick to Courtiers or made long Leases of them, at little Rent, leaving scarcely 7 or 8 Mannors of 22, and them also of the least, and leased or laden with Pensions. Nefandum Sacri­legium, saith Godwin. Being suspected of the Rebellion of Devonshire about the [Page 198] change of Religion, he was put from his Bishoprick, but restor'd by Queen Mary, and died 1555, Mar. 3.
• 8. The Bishop of Lincoln, John Long­land, the King's Confessor died 1547, 1 Edw. VI.
• 9. The Bishop of Bath and Wells, John Clerk, carried and commended in an Ora­tion to the Cardinals the King's Book a­gainst Luther with much commendation: But being afterwards sent in Ambassage to the Duke of Cleve, to shew the reason, why the King renounc'd his Marriage with the Lady Ann the Duke's Sister; for the reward of his unwelcome Message was poison'd (as they said) in Germany, and re­turning with much adoe died in England in Febr. 1540, i.e. 32 Hen. 8.
• 10. The Bishop of Ely, Thomas Goodrick, continu'd from and in 26 Hen. 8. till 1. Maii 1. Mariae.
• 11. The Bishop of Bangor, John Salcot (alias Capen) Abbot of Hide was conse­crated 19. Apr. next before this Parlia­ment, and translated to Salisbury in August following, where it seems he continu'd till Q. Mary's time.
• 12. The Bishop of Salisbury, Nic. Shax­ton, being consecrated 27 Hen 8. was put out July 1539, i. e. 31 Hen. 8. together [Page 199] with Latimer, and for the same cause, but recanted.
• 13. The Bishop of Worcester, Hugh La­timer, made 27 Hen. 8. renounc'd his Bi­shoprick in July 31 of the King, and was burnt with Dr. Ridley at Oxon. 16. Octo­ber, 1559.
• 14. The Bishop of Rochester, Nich. Heath, made 4. April before this Parlia­ment in 31 Hen. 8. and about 4 Years af­ter translated to Worcester, was depos'd by Edw. 6. but made Archbishop of York 1 Mariae afterwards, also Chancellor of England.
• 15. The Bishop of Chichester, Richard Sampson, made June 5. 1536, and 28 Hen. 8. was translated to Lichfield 12. May, 1543. To flatter the King he wrote an Apology for his Supremacy, yet in the Year of this Parliament 31. he was committed to the Tower for relieving such as were im­prison'd for denying it. But it seems his Apology was written after this Commit­ment to recover Favour: About 2 Ed. 6. he declared himself for the Pope, whom he had written against, and so after divers turnings and returnings he died 1554, 2 Mar.
• 16. The Bishop of Norwich, William Rugg, (alias Rupp) made 1536, 28 [Page 200] Hen. 8. and died 1550 about 4 or 5 Edw. 6.
• 17. The Bishop of St. David's, William Barlow, was translated hither from St. A­saph in April 1536, 28 Hen. 8. and by King Edw. after to Bath and Wells; fled into Germany in Qu. Mary's time, and 2 E­liz. was made Bishop of Chichester.
• 18. The Bishop of St. Asaph, Robert Porpey (alias Werbington or Warton) was made 2. July, 28. Hen. 8. where having sate 18 Years, and nequissimo Sacrilegio, sold and spoil'd the Lands of the Bishoprick by long Leases, he was by Qu. Mary, An. 1. translated to Hereford, where he sate al­most till her death.
• 19. The Bishop of Landaff, Rob. Hol­gate, 25. March, 1537, 28. Hen. S. and in the 36th of his Reign translated to the Archbishoprick of York, and by Qu. Ma­ry at her entrance committed to the Tow­er, where within half a Year he was de­priv'd.
• 20. The Bishop of Carlisle, Rob. Al­drich, was elected 18. July, 1537, 29 Hen. 8. and died 5 Mar. 1555.

Concerning the Bishops it doth not ap­pear how they gave their Voices; but it may well be suppos'd that divers of them were against a total suppression; and see­ing in other Acts it is recorded after that [Page 201] when a Bill was granted with an unani­mous consent of all parties, none dissent­ing, that then it was past Nemine dissenti­ente: yet it is not so recorded upon this, but although many might dissent, and that publickly, yet there was a major part of Temporal Lords present, and so carried it by Voices. It is testify'd of Bi­shop Latimer, that he much desir'd that two or three Abbies of the greater sort might be preserv'd in every Shire for pious and charitable Uses: Which was a wise and godly motion, and perhaps the occa­sion that the King did convert some (in part) to good purposes: Yet the Desola­tion was so universal that Jo. Bale doth much lament the loss and spoil of Books and Libraries in his Epistle upon Leland's Journal Leland being imploy'd by the King to survey and preserve the choicest Books in their Libraries.) If there had been in every Shire of England (saith Bale) but one solemn Library to the preservati­on of those Noble Works, and Prefer­ment of good Learning in our Posterity, it had been yet somewhat, but to destroy all without consideration, it is and will be unto England for ever a most horrible Infamy amongst the grave Seniors of o­ther Nations. Adding further, that they [Page 202] who got and purchased the Religious Houses at the Dissolution of them, took the Libraries as part of the Bargain and Booty— reserving of those Library Books, some to serve their Jakes, some to scour their Candlesticks, and some to rub their Boots, some they sold to the Grocers and Soap-sellers, and some they sent over Sea to the Book-binders; not in small num­bers, but at times whole Ship-fulls to the wondering of foreign Nations. And after he also addeth, I know a Merchant-man, which all this time shall be nameless, that bought the Contents of two noble Libraries for 40s. a piece, a shame it is to be spoken: this stuff hath he occasioned instead of Grey Paper by the space of more than these ten Years, and yet he hath enough for many Years to come: a prodigious Example is this and to be abhorred of all men who love their Nation as they should do. And well he might exclaim, a prodigious Example, it being a most wicked and detestable in­jury to Religion and Learning: Yet thus are Men often transported with Passion in the heat of Reformation, and fiery Zeal without Wisdom.

• [Page 203]1. Thomas Lord Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellour, died without Issue-male, 30. Apr. 1544, 3 ⅚ Hen. 8. Margaret his sole Daughter and Heir being first marry'd to Henry Dudley, Son of John Duke of Northumberland, slain at St. Quintins, without Issue, Anno 1557. After a se­cond Wife to Thomas Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded in June 1572. By him she had Issue, Thomas, created by King James Lord Howard of Walden and after Earl of Suffolk, and made Lord Treasurer, but put out of his place and fined in the Star-Chamber, termino ... Anno ... for miscarriage thereof, and grievously af­flicted by the wicked and odious practices of his Daughter Frances, first marry'd to the Earl of Essex, then divorc'd and mar­ry'd to the Earl of Somerset; and they both attainted and adjudg'd to death for the murther of Sir Thomas Overbury.
• 2. The Duke of Norfolk at that time, viz. in both Parliaments of 31 and 27 was Thomas Howard (the third Duke of that renowned Family) who suffering the spight of Fortune, was upon the 12th of [Page 204] December, in the 28th of the King, com­mitted to the Tower, with his magnani­mous Son and Heir apparent Henry Earl of Surrey. Upon being first arraign'd and attainted, the King lying on his Death-bed, caused [him] to be beheaded 19. Jan. and deceasing himself on the 28th of the same Month, left the sorrowfull Duke in Prison, where he remained, as I take it, till Queen Mary set him at liberty to go a­gainst Wyat, and being nothing fortunate in that imployment, the Earl of Pembroke was put in his room and had the glory of the Service. Thomas Howard, Son of Henry Earl of Surrey beheaded, and Grandchild of the last Duke was restor'd by Q. Mary and made the 4th Duke of Norfolk, but affect­ing Marriage with the Qu. of Scots was heretofore attainted and beheaded in June 1572. Philip his eldest Son was in right of his Mother, and by conveyance of the Castle and Honour of Arundel unto him, Earl of Arundel, and after restor'd in Blood 23d of Eliz. yet byfate of his Noble Family, after long imprisonment and Attainder, died in the Tower, where his most honourable Son, after restitution to his Earldom and other Dignities, with a reinvesting of the great [Page 205] Office of Earl Marshal of England, but now by God's Blessing and his own sin­gular Wisdom hath gotten the upper hand of Fortune, and is likely to leave it to a temperate and virtuous Son.
• 3. The Duke of Suffolk both in this Parliament and in that of 27 was Charles Brandon, and tho' he was not present at the passing of the Bill, yet being a princi­pal Parliament-man, the King's Brother by Marriage, and his minion in Affecti­on, it is very credible that he was a very great advancer of the business. He had four Wives, no Issue by the first, a base Daughter, and another by a second born in Wedlock. A Son Henry that was Earl of Lincoln by his 3d Wife the King's Sister and Qu. of France, and two Daughters and two Sons Henry and Charles by his fourth Wife. His Son Henry Earl of Lin­coln died without Issue in the life time of his Father the Duke. His other Son Hen­ry was Duke of Suffolk after his Father, but both he and his Brother Charles died together of the Sweating Sickness the 14th of July, 1551, without Issue. Frances his eldest Daughter by the Qu. of France was married to Henry Grey Mar­quess of Dorset, who in her Father's Title was created Duke of Suffolk, and was be­headed [Page 206] the 23d of Febr. 1 Mariae, leaving no Issue by a former Wife but three Daugh­ters by this Frances, whereof Jane, mar­ry'd to the Lord Guilford Dudley, together with her Husband were beheaded with­out Issue, 1 Mar. Catharine his second Daughter was marry'd to the Lord Her­bert, and divorced. Mary the 3d Daugh­ter, was marry'd to Martin Reyes, a Groom-porter, as I have heard, and died without Issue.
• 4. The Marquess of Dorset in this Par­liament of 31 H. 8. was Henry Grey that married Frances the eldest Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by the Qu. of France, King Henry's Sister, he had Issue by her a Son and 3 Daughters. His Son Henry Lord Harrington died be­fore him without Issue. The Lady Jane eldest Daughter, as we said before, was married to the Lord Guilford Dudley, and together with her Husband was be­headed. Catharine his second Daugh­ter ... Mary the third Daughter was married to Martin Reyes a Groom-porter, and their Father himself was also be­headed.
• 5. The Earl of Oxon was John Vere the fiftieth of that Name, whose Grand­child Edward Earl of Oxon not only ut­terly [Page 207] wasted the great and most ancient Inheritance of that Earldom, but defaced also the Castles and Houses thereof, and leaving a Son by his second Wife named Henry, the 18th Earl of that Noble Fa­mily: The same Henry died without Is­sue, and this Male Line thus failing, the Office of Great Chamberlain of England, which had ever since Hen. the 1st's time gone in this Family, was now by the La­dy Mary Sister of this Edward, being married to the Lord Willoughby of Eres­by, by Judgment of the Upper House of Parliament, Anno ... transposed to her Son and Heir the now Earl of Lind­sey.
• 6. The Earl of South-Hampton was Wil­liam Fitz-Williams, who being Lord Pri­vy Seal and Admiral of England was crea­ted Earl of South-Hampton at Hampton-Court, Anno 29 Hen. 8. He married Ma­bell Daughter of Henry Lord Clifford of Westmorland, and Sister and Heir of Henry the first Earl of Cumberland, but died with­out Issue Anno 34 H. 8.
• 7. The Earl of Arundel was William Fitz-Alam, who died 35 Hen. 8. He had a Son, and by two Wives four Daughters, which died without Issue. His Son Hen­ry Fitz-Alam, succeeded in the Earldom, [Page 208] a Man of great Dignities. He was twice married; by Catharine his first Wife he had Issue, H. Lord ... who being married died without Issue in the life of his Father, An. 1556. And so ended the Noble Family and Male line of these Earls of Arundel. But he had also by that Wife, two Daughters and Heirs, whereof Jane the eldest was married to the Lord Lumley who had Issue by her, Thomas, Charles and Mary, who died all without Issue. Mary his second Daughter and Co-heir was married to Tho. Howard the last Duke of Norfolk, and by her the Earldom, Castles and Honours of Arundel were transported to Philip Howard her Son, and so to her Grandchild Tho. Earl of A­rundel, and Earl Marshal of England now living, in whose line God hold them.
• 8. The Earl of Shrewsbury was Francis Talbott, who by his first Wife Mary Daughter of Tho. Lord Dacres of Gilsland had Issue, George his eldest Son, the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury; and Tho. who died at Sheffield without issue.Earl George had two Wives and four Sons, besides three Daughters by his first Wife; no Issue by his second. Francis Lord Talbott his eldest Son was married, but died without Issue. [Page 209] Gilbert his second Son was the 7th Earl of that Family, married and had Issue two Sons John and George, but both of them died in their Infancy without other Issue-Male of their Father; whose Heirs there­fore were three Daughters. Edward, 3d. Son of George, was the 8th. Earl, he married but died without Issue, 2 Feb. 1617. Henry the 4th's Son married and died without Issue-Male. Thus was all the Issue-Male of Francis Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the Peers of the Upper-House at the passing of the Act aforesaid utterly ex­tinct, and the Earldom translated to an­other Family of that Name, the Talbotts of Grafton descending from John Talbott the second Earl of Shrewsbury (who died Anno 39. Henry VI.) by his 3d. Son Sir Gilbert Talbott Captain of Calice. York in Tit. Shrewsbury.
• 9. The Earl of Essex, Henry Bourchier, that was a Peer of Parliament at the Act of Dissolution in 27. Henry VIII. broke his Neck by a fall from an Horse about 10 Weeks before this Parliament, viz on the 12th of March in 31. Henry VIII. and ha­ving no Issue-Male, the King gave his Earldom to Thomas Lord Cromwell, who in his Bipartite Dignity sate among the [Page 210] Ecclesiastical Peers, and first of the Rank as the King's Vicegerent in Spiritualibus; and here among the Lay-Peers, as in his own Right a Temporal Earl: and Tem­poral indeed, for not long after he was turned out of all his Offices, attainted and beheaded, as we have formerly shewed. He brought in the Bill the 3d. time, and it was expedited the 23d. of May, but within two Months following, viz 29. Ju­ly, himself was attainted in the same Par­liament and condemned, so that venge­ance fell speedily upon him.
• 10. The Earl of Darby was Edward Lord Stanley, a Peer of the Realm both in this and in 27. of the King, he had di­vers Sons and Daughters; his eldest Son Henry was Earl after him, and left two Sons Ferdinando and William. Ferdinando succeeded in the Earldom, and died without Issue-Male 1594. leaving 3 Daughters, and Heirs, who shared so deep in the Pa­trimony of his goodly Earldom, as they not only pulled the Feathers from the Wings of it, (whereby in times past it hath been so powerfull) but the Wings from the very Body.
• 11. The Earl of Worcester was Henry Somerset Lord Herbert, a Peer also in 27. This honourable Family seems more for­tunate [Page 211] than any of the precedent, for their lineal descent remains entire and without blemish, having at this day many Noble Branches. Yet was not the Issue of Earl Henry free from the Hand of God; for his 3d. Son Thomas Somersett died in the Tower of London, Francis his 4th and youngest Son was slain at Massellborough-Field, and his Son-in-Law the Earl of Northumberland, that married his Daugh­ter the Lady Anne, was beheaded at York, 1572.
• 12. The Earl of Rutland was Tho. Ma­nours, both in this Parliament and the 27th. He had 5 Sons and 6 Daughters, and died in 35. Henry VIII. his eldest Son Henry was Earl after him, and had Issue Edward the 3d. Earl of that Family, who had only a Daughter an Heir, and died without Issue-Male.
• John Brother of Edward was the 4th Earl, he had 3 Sons, Edward that died an Infant, Roger and Francis. Roger succeeded and was the 5th Earl, he had only one Daughter his sole Heir, married to Sir Philip Sydney (slain at Zut­phen) and died without Issue-Male. Francis after his Brother Roger was the 6th Earl; he was twice married; by his first Wife he had Issue only the Lady Ca­therine, [Page 212] married to the Duke of Bucking­ham, who was murthered by Felton. And two Sons by his second Wife Henry Lord Rosse, and Francis Lord Rosse of Homelake, who died both young without Issue.
• 13. The Earl of Cumberland both in 27 and 31. Henry VIII. was Henry Clifford, who died 34. of the King. He had Issue Henry the 2d Earl of Cumberland, who had Issue George the 3d. Earl, a valiant Soldier, successfull in his Enterprizes. He had Issue two Sons, Francis Lord Clifford, and Robert that died young, and a Daugh­ter the Lady Anne, married to Richard Sackvill Earl of Dorsett, who died, as did also this Earl of Cumberland without Issue-Male. Francis Brother of George was the 4th Earl, who had Issue Henry Lord Clif­ford.
• 14. The Earl of Sussex was Robert Rat­cliff created 8. Decemb. 21. Henry 8. He had three Wives, and more Sons besides Daughters, and died 28. Nov. 1541. 34. Henry 8. his Son and Heir Henry Earl of Sussex had five Sons, whereof Egremont his Son by the second Wife was attainted of Treason, Thomas the third Earl, Son and Heir of Henry had two Wives, but died without Issue.
• [Page 213] 15. The Earl of Huntington was George Lord Hastings created 21. Henry 8. He had Issue Francis the 2d. Earl, and Sir Edward Hastings whom Queen Mary made Baron of Loughborough, that died without Issue. Sir Thomas Hastings also who died without Issue. And Henry and William besides three Daughters. Francis the 2d. Earl had Issue Henry the third Earl who died without Issue, and four other Sons whereof William died without Issue. Sir George Hastings Brother of Francis succee­ded in the Earldom, and left many Male-branches, whereof Henry the Issue of his eldest Son Francis was the fifth Earl, and had Issue Ferdinando.—
• 16. The Earl of Hertford was Edward Seymour created Anno 29. Henry 8. made Duke of Somerset, &c. Edw. 6. He was committed to the Tower in the third Year of the King for divers great Offences, but then obtained a Pardon, and being ar­raigned of Treason and Felony, 1 ^o De­cemb. 5. Regis was quit for the Treason, and condemn'd for the Felony, and there­fore beheaded the 22d of July following. He had two Sons by his first Wife that died without Issue. Edward his 3d. Son or eldest by his 2d. Wife the Lady Anne, Daughter of John [Page 214] Stanhope, Esq succeeded in all his Fathers Honours for a short time, namely from the Death of his Father on 22 June 5. Edw. 6. to the End of the next Session of Parliament, which was the 25th of April following: But the Honours being en­tail'd upon him; and therefore not forfeit­ed for his Father's Attaindure for Felony. Misfortune and the Malice of his Adver­saries yet so wrought upon him; as in this Session they were all taken from him by Parliament with most of his Inheri­tance, which gracious Queen Elizabeth commiserating, restor'd him to the Earl­dom of Hertford, and Barony of Seymour. To let pass his other Off-spring his Grand­child Edward the 3d. Earl of Hertford fell into King James's displeasure by mar­rying the Lady Arabella Stuart, for which both of them were committed to the Tower.
• 17. The Earl of Bridgwater was Henry Lord Daubeney created 20 July 30. Hen. 8. He died without Issue Anno Edw. 6. and so his Name, Family and Dignity was extinct. This Earl of Bridgwater was reduc'd to that extremity that he had not a Servant to wait on him in his last sickness, nor means to buy Fire or Candles, or to bury him, but what was done for [Page 215] him in Charity by his sister Cicely, mar­ried to John Bourchier the first of that Name, Earl of Bathe.
Verba Henrici Bourchier manu sua scripta.

• 1. Audley; Then John Tonchet Lord Audley, who had Issue George Tonchet Lord Audley, who had Issue Henry Tonchet Lord Audley, who had Issue George Tonchet Lord Audley, and Earl of Castle-Haven attainted and beheaded, and the Barony of Audley being in see extinguisht.
• 2. Zouche; Was John Lord Zouche, who had Issue Richard Lord Zouche, who had Issue Edward Lord Zouche (Son of George Lord Zouche) Lord St. Maur and Cante­lupe of Harringworth in Northamptonshire, who sold his ancient Inheritance, died without Issue-Male, and his Barony extinct, 1 Caroli: His first Wife proving disloyal she was divorced from him, that he regar­ded not the two Daughters which he had, whom therefore he suffered to marry far below his Degree and Honour, as himself saith in his Will upon Record. The Eldest being married to Sir William Tate in Nor­thamptonshire, [Page 216] the other to—in Worcestershire.
• 3. De-laware; Tho. Nest Lord De-laware, Son of Tho. Lord De-laware that died the 16th. Henry 8. married Eliz. Daughter and Co-heir of John Bonvill, died without Issue. William Nest, Son of George Nest, Brother of Tho. Lord De-laware being of the Age of 18 Years, 1 Edw. 6. was dis­abled by Parliament to succeed his Uncle, as conceiv'd to have imagined his Death, and 2 or 3 of Philip and Mary was attain­ted of Treason by Commission in London. Restored in Blood as Heir to Sir George his Father about 3 or 5 Eliz. and created a new Baron, De-laware in 8. and had Issue Tho. De-laware, Father or Grandfather of him now living.
• 4. Morley; Henry Parker made Lord Morley in right of Alice his Mother, Daughter and Heir of William Lovell. Lord Morley died 27 Novemb. 4. Mar. had Issue Henry, who died in the Life of his Father, leaving Issue Hen. Lord Morley that died at Paris 1578. Had Issue Edw. Lord Morley who died April 1618, and had Issue William Lord Morley, and made Mon­tegle 1 Jacobi, and died 1622. and had Issue Henry Lord Morley and Montegle now living, and Francis.
• [Page 217] 5. Dacres: Thomas Fines Lord Dacres of the South, being in company with cer­tain Gentlemen hunting in Nicholas Po­tham's Park, there committed a Riot and Murther of Bransrigg. He was hang'd at Tyburn on St. Peters Day 33 Hen. 8. He had issue, Thomas Lord Dacres who died within age, and Gregory Lord Dacres who died without issue 1594, and his Family so extinct. Margery his Sister and Heir was married to Sampson Leonard, who had issue Henry Lord Dacres, who had issue Richard Lord Dacres Father of— now Lord Dacres a Child.
• 6. Dacres of Gilsland; William died 1563, had issue Thomas Lord Dacres, Leo­nard, George S. P. Edward, Francis George Lord Dacres Son of Thomas Lord Dacres, being but 7 Years old, and granted Ward to the Duke of Norfolk, brake his Neck by a fall from a Vaulting-horse at Charterhouse, Anno... Eliz. And his Barony and Family extinct, he dying without issue Male; his two Sisters and Heirs were married to the Dukes Sons Phi­lip Earl of Arundel, and the Lord William Howard. Thomas Lord Dacres Son of William Lord Dacres had issue, William slain at Thetford 1569, his Sisters and Heirs, Anne married to Philip Howard, [Page 218] Mary married to Thomas Howard, Eliza­beth to Lord William Howard.
• 7. Cobham: George Brook Lord Cobham (Son of Thomas Lord Cobham, who died 1529) died 1558; had Issue William Lord Cobham. He died 1597, and five other Sons, which William had Issue, Henry Brook Lord Cobham, attainted and died 1618, S. P. and Sir William Brook, S. P. and George Brook attainted and executed at Winchester, An. 1603, the Barony ex­tinct.
• 8. Maltravers: Henry Fitz-Alam Son of William Fitz-Alam the 10th Earl of Arun­del; which William died 35 H. 8. was in the life of his Father Lord Maltravers and Baron of Parliament, and after the death of his Father the last Earl of Arundel of that Name.
• 9. Ferrers: Walter Lord Devreux, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, Son of John Dev­reux Lord Ferrers, was created Vicount Hereford 1 Edward 6. had Issue, Ri­chard that died in the life of his Father, and had Issue Walter Devreux Earl of Essex, suspected to be poison'd, and had Issue, Robert Devreux Earl of Essex, at­tainted and executed 1601, and Walter Devreux slain at the Siege of Roan. Earl Robert had issue Robert restor'd 1. Jacobi.
• [Page 219] 10. Powis: Edward Grey of Northum­berland Lord Powis, Son of John Grey Lord Powis, married Anne the base Daugh­ter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and died without issue, and his Family extinct.
• 11. Clinton: Edw. Lord Clinton, whose Father died 9 Hen. 8. was made Earl of Lincoln 14 Eliz. and died 27th Eliz. and had Issue, Henry Earl of Lincoln, who had Issue Thomas Earl of Lincoln Father of Theophilus now Earl.
• 12. Scroope: John Lord Scroope of Bol­ton, Son of Henry Lord Scroope of Bol­ton; which John in Henry 8's time mar­ried the Daughter of the Earl of Cumber­land, had Issue Henry Lord Scroope, who died 1592, and had Issue, Thomas Lord Scroope, who died 1609 who had Issue E­manuel Lord Scroope, Earl of Sunderland that died without lawful Issue, and both Barony and Earldom extinct.
• 13. William Sturton had Issue Charles Lord Sturton, who for murthering Mr. Argile and his Son, was hang'd at Sal [...]s­bury 6. March 1565. He had Issue John Lord Sturton S. P. and Edw. now Lord Sturton.
• 14. Latimer: John Nevil Lord Lati­mer lived 23 Hen. 8. and had Issue John [Page 220] Nevil Lord Latimer, who died 1577, 19 Eliz. without Issue Male, and his Family and Barony extinct, notwithstanding his four Daughters.
• 15. Montjoy: Charles Blunt Lord Mont­joy who succeed his Father William Blunt Lord Montjoy, and died 38 Henry 8. had Issue James Lord Montjoy who died 1581, had Issue William Lord Montjoy S. P. 1594, and Charles made Earl of Devon 1603 and died 1606 without lawful Issue, so the Family and Barony was extinct, but for a base Son of his, Montjoy Blunt was created Lord Montjoy 3 Jacobi and after­wards Earl of Newport, Anno 4.
• 16. Lumley: John Lord Lumley marry'd Jane the eldest Daughter and Co-heir of Henry Fitz-Alam the last Earl of Arundel of that name, and had by her Charles, Thomas and Mary, who died all without Issue, so his line was extinct.
• 17. Montegle: Sir Edward Stanley crea­ted Lord Montegle 6 Henry 8. had Issue, Thomas Stanley Lord Montegle, who mar­ried Mary Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, and had issue William Stanley Lord Montegle, who died without issue Male and his Barony extinct, till King James Anno 1. conferr'd it on Willi­am Parker after Lord Morley, for revealing [Page 221] the Gunpowder-Treason, having married Elizabeth Daughter and sole Heir of the a­foresaid William.
• 18. Windsor: Andrew Windsor made 21 Henry 8. and died 33, and had issue William Lord Windsor, q. ob. 1558, who had issue Edward Lord Windsor, who died 1575, who had Fredrick Lord Windsor who died Sept. 28 Eliz. and Henry Lord Windsor who died 1605, who had issue Tho­mas now Lord Windsor, yet without issue.
• 19. Wentworth: Thomas Lord Wentworth made 21 Henry 8. had issue Thomas Lord Wentworth, who died 1590, who had is­sue William Wentworth, who died 1582, S. P. and Henry Lord Wentworth, who died 1593, who had issue Thomas Lord Wentworth, created Earl of Cleveland 1 Ca­roli, and had issue, Thomas his Son and Heir apparent.
• 20. Burrough: Thomas Lord Burrough had issue, Edward that married Qu. Cathe­rine now S. P. William who had issue, Henry eldest Son slain by Sir Tho. Hol­croft near Kingston Anno 1578, and Tho­mas Lord Burrough Deputy of Ireland, and Sir John Burrough slain by Sir John Gilbert 1594. Thomas Lord Burrough had Issue, Robert Lord Burrough that died a Child without issue 1601, and the Barony ex­tinct. [Page 222] The first Thomas had issue besides Edward and William Sir Thomas Burrough (S. P.) and Henry Father of Nicholas, who had issue Sir John Burrough (ut cre­ditur) slain at Rees.
• 21. Bray (Sir Edmund) made Baron 21 Hen. 8. and had issue, John Lord Bray, died without issue, and so the Barony and Line extinct, but he had six Sisters.
• 22. Walter Hungerford made Baron of Hatsbury 28 Hen. 8. was beheaded for Buggery, and his Barony extinct, yet he had issue Sir Walter Hungerford Knight, who died without issue Male, and so this Family extinct.
• 23. St. John: William Paulet was crea­ted Lord St. John of Basing 30 Hen. 8. and made Earl of Wiltshire 3 Edward 6. and 5 Edward 6. Marquess of Winchester, who had issue John Marquess, who had issue William Marquess, who had issue William Marquess Father of William Lord St. John that died S. P. and of John now Marquess.
• 24. Sir John Russel was made Baron 30 Hen. 8. and Earl of Bedford 3 Edw. 6. he had Woburn Abby for his Dwelling-house with the Church turned to a strange use even the Stable; he had Francis the second Earl of Bedford his sole issue, who had four Sons and three Daughters, 1. Ed­mund [Page 223] Lord Russel died without issue. 2. John Lord Russel died without issue Male. 3. Francis Lord Russel treacherously slain by the Scots in time of Truce; but left two Sons who died without issue, Edward the 4th Earl of Bedford, and then Sir William 4th Son of the first Francis, was by King James made Lord Russel of Thornhaugh, whose Son Francis is now the 5th Earl, and long may he live and pro­sper.
• 25. William Parr, made Baron Parr of Kendall 9. March, 30 H. 8. after Earl of Essex, and lastly, Marquess Nortston, had three Wives, was divorced from his first, and died without issue. York, 186.

Leonard Lord Gray, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, holdeth a Parliament in Ireland 1. Maii, 28 Hen. 8. at Dublin, wherein he passeth an Act for the suppressing of Ab­bies. Chron. of Ireland, pag. 100. In the 32 of the King he is called home and sent to the Tower, and in the 25th of June 33 he was to be arraigned in the King's Bench at Westminster, and to be try'd by a Jury of Knights, being no Lord of Parliament, but confessing the Indictment, had his Judgment, and was beheaded at Tower-Hill the third Day following; a Man of singular Valour, that had formerly serv'd [Page 224] his Prince and Country most honourably in France and Ireland. Stow, 32 Hen. 8. and 33.

Now I labour in observing the Particu­lars, seeing the whole body of the Baro­nage is since that fallen so much from their ancient lustre, magnitude and estimation. I that about 50 Years agoe did behold with what great respect, observance and distance, principal Men of Countries ap­ply'd themselves to some of the meanest Barons, and so with what familiarity infe­riour Gentlemen often do accost many of these of our times, cannot but wonder either at the Declination of the one, or at the Arrogance of the other; but I re­member what an eminent Divine once said in a Sermon; he compared Honour a­mong Dignities to Gold, the heaviest and most precious Metal, but Gold (saith he) may be beaten so thin, as the very Breath will blow it away; so Honour may be dispers'd so popularly, that the Reputation of it will be pretermitted.

To say what I observe herein, as the Nobility spoiled God of his Honour by putting those things from him, and com­municating them to lazy and vulgar Per­sons; so God to requite them hath taken [Page 225] the ancient Honours of Nobility, and com­municating them to the meanest of the People, to Shop-keepers, Taverners, Tay­lors, Tradesmen, Burghers, Brewers, Gra­siers; and it may be supposed, that as Con­stantine the Great seeing the inconvenience of the multitude of Comites of his time distinguished them, De Vitâ Const. l. 4. c. 1. as Eusebius reporteth, into three degrees making the latter far in­ferior to the former; so may it one day come to pass among these of our times; and it shall not want some precedent of our own to the like purpose. Vide, Glos­sarium in voc. Comes, pag. 109.

IV. What hath happened to the Crown it self.

It now remaineth to shew how the Lands themselves thus pulled from the Church, have thriven with the Crown, and in the Hands of the King his Heirs and Successors; truly no otherwise than the Archbishop I spake of so long since foretold. For they have melted and dropt away from the Crown like Snow; yet herein that Snow leaves moisture, to en­rich the Ground, but those nothing save dry and fruitless Coffers; for now they are all gone in a manner, and little to [Page 226] speak of remaining for them to the Trea­sury; for my own part, I think the Crown the happier that they are gone, but very unhappy in their manner of going, for as Sampson going out of Gaza carried with him the Gates, Judg. 16. the Bars and Posts of the City, leaving it thereby exposed to Ene­mies, weak and undefenced, so those Lands going from the Crown, have car­ried away with them the very Crown-Lands themselves, which were in former times, the glorious Gates of Regal Mag­nificence, the present and ready Bars of Security at all Necessities, and like im­moveable Posts, or Hercules Pillars in all the transmigrations of Crown and King­dom, had to our Time (1000 Years and upward) remained fixed and amor ... to the Scepter. These, I say, are in ef­fect all gone, since the Dissolution: the new Piece hath rent away the old Gar­ment, and the Title of terra Regis, within Dooms-day Book, was generally the Tar­gett in every County, is now a Blank, I fear, in most of them.

But his Majesty hath a great Fee-farm reserved out of the greatest part of both of them, 40000 l. a Year, they say, out of the Crown Lands, and 60000 l. out of the Church Lands: I confess it makes a [Page 227] goodly sound, yet is it but froth in re­spect of the solid Land, which is deemed to be more than ten times, if not twenty times as much, and this being but succus redditus, a sick and languishing Rent, will grow daily as our Rents of Assess have already done, to be of lesser worth, as the price of Lands and Commodities increase and rise higher; but I hear there is ... thousand pounds a Year of the Crown-lands gone, without any Reserva­tion at all, and above ... thousand likewise of the Church Lands; and to tell the truth, which my self do well know, a great proportion of the Fee-farm Rents themselves are likewise aliened already, but mihi Cynthius aurem vellit, I must launch no further.

V. What happened to the whole King­dom generally.

What the whole Body of the Kingdom hath suffered since these Acts of Confisca­tion of the Monasteries and their Churches is very remarkable; let the Monks and Friers shift as they deserv'd, the good if you will, and the bad together, my pur­pose is not to defend their Iniquities; the thing I lament is, that the Wheat pe­rish'd [Page 228] with the Darnel, things of good and pious Institution, with those that a­bused and perverted them; by reason whereof the Service of God was not only grievously wounded, and bleedeth at this day, but infinite Works of Charity (where­by the Poor were universally reliev'd thro' the Kingdon) were utterly cut off and ex­tinguish'd; many thousand masterless Ser­vants turn'd loose into the World, and many thousand of poor People which were constantly fed, clad and nourished by the Monasteries, now like young Ravens seek their Meat at God. Every Monastery ac­cording to their Ability had an Ambery (greater or little) for the daily relief of the Poor about them. Every principal Monastery an Hospital commonly for Tra­vellers, and an Infirmary, which we now call a Spittle, for the sick and diseased Persons, with Officers and Attendants to take care of them. Gentlmen and others having Children without means of Main­tenance had them here brought up and provided for, which course in some Coun­tries, and namely in Pomerland, (as I hear) is still observed, tho' Monks and Friers be abandoned. These and such o­ther Miseries falling upon the meaner sort of People, drove them into so many Re­bellions, [Page 229] as we spake of, and rung such loud peals in the King's Ears, that on his Death-bed he gave back the Spittle of St. Bartholomew's in Smithfield (lately valu­ed, saith Stow) at 308 l. 6 s. 7 d. and the Church of the Gray-Friers valued at 32 l. 19 s. 7 d. with other Churches, and 500 Marks a Year added to it, to be uni­ted and called Christ Church founded by King Henry 8. and to be Hospitals for re­lieving the Poor, the Bishop of Rochester declaring his Bounty at Paul's Cross, on the 3d of Jan. and on the 28th day fol­lowing the King died, viz, the 28 Jan.

This touching the Poor.

VI. What happened to private Owners of the Monasteries particularly.

I turn now to the richer sort, and shall not need to speak of the Clergy, whose irreparable Misery Piers Ploughman fore­saw so many Ages before, saying, That a King should come that should give the Abbat of Abingdon such a blow, as incu­rable should be the Wound thereof. Their Misery and Wrack is so notorious, as it needs no Pen to decypher it; nor will I speak of the loss that the Lay-men our Grandfathers had by this means in their [Page 230] right of Founders and Patronage, Mean­tenures, Rents-services, Pensions, Corro­dies, and many other Duties and Privi­leges, whereof some were saved by the Statutes, yet by little and little all in ef­fect worn out and gone. Those, I say, I speak not of, for that they are Wounds grown up and forgotten; but of one in­stead of all, that immortal and incurable Wound, which every day bleedeth more than other, given to us and our Posterity by the infinite number of Tenures by Knights service in capite, either newly created upon granting out of these Mona­steries and Lands, or daily raised by double Ignoramus, in every Town almost of the Kingdom. For as the Abbies had Lands commonly scattered abroad, in every of them, in some greater or lesser quantity, according to the Ability of their Bene­factors, so the Leprosie of this Tenure comes thereby as generally to be scatter'd thro' the Kingdom. And whereas before that time, very few did hold on that man­ner besides the Nobility and principal Gentlemen that were owners of great Lordships and Possessions, which from time to time descended intirely to their Heirs, and were not broken out into small parcels amongst inferiour Tenents and [Page 231] mean Purchasers. Now by reason that those Abby Lands are minced into such infinite numbers of little Quillets, and thereby privily sown (like the Tares in the Parable) almost in every Man's Inhe­ritance, very few (not having their Te­nure certain from the King by Patent) can assure themselves to be free from this Calamity. The truth is, that originally none held in Capite, but Peers of the Realm, who were therefore called the King's Barons, and such as by this their Tenure (as appears by the Council of Cla­rendon 10 Hen. 2.) had the privilege to sit in the King's House, and to hear and judge all Causes brought before the King, and to be of his great Council. And tho' afterwards the meaner of them were neg­lected, yet King John was tied by his great Charter to call them all to Parliament, where the Knights of the Shires in that respect have their place at this day.

I am too prone (you see) to run out of my way into this Discourse, but to hold me nearer to my Center, I cannot but ad­mire what mov'd the Parliament in 27 Henry 8. cap. 27. to enact, that a Tenure in Capite by Knights Service should be re­serv'd to the King, upon their granting out of their Abbies and their Lands, as tho' [Page 232] it were some singular benefit to the Com­monwealth: It may be they conceiv'd, that according to the Project of the Par­liament at Leicester in 2 Hen. 5. that the King should thereby have a perpetual means to support a standing Army, or to have it ready whensoever need required, and so ease the Subject of all Military Con­tribution. O how far was that great School of Wisdom deceived! or what hath that Art of theirs produc'd other than as if some Scholars had bound their Masters for to whip them soundly; and I suppose they have had their fill of it long e're this time.

But these Tenures by being by this means multiply'd in such excessive man­ner, the Kings former Officers, that be­fore could span their Business with their Hand, could not now fathom this with both their Arms. The greater Harvest must have greater Barns and more La­bourers, and therefore in 32 Hen. 8. cap. 46. and 33 Hen. 8. cap. 22. and 39. the Court now called of Wards and Liveries, with the Orders, Officers and Ministers thereto belonging, was erected. What is thereby fallen upon the Subject, I need not relate; heavy Experience makes it generally known, and generally felt; one while by Wardship and Marriage, another [Page 233] while by suing out Livery and Ouster se main, by Pardons of Alienation, Conceal­ments, Intrusions, respite of Homage, and other Calamities accompanying this Te­nure, almost innumerable, consuming the Fruit of the Wards Lands for many Years, and (as sometimes I have seen) for many Ages the Grandfathers, Fathers and Sons Inheritance militant together in this Court; the Mother equally lamenting the Death of her Husband, and the Captivi­ty of her Child, the Confiscation of his Lands for the 3d part of his Age, and the Ransom of his Person before he can enter into the World; the Family often­times so ruin'd and impoverish'd, as if at last it recover, yet it stands tottering and lame for a long time after. Marriage is honourable and instituted by God in Paradise; do you think that a Man by the Word of God may be compelled to pay for a Licence to marry? I doubt the Schoolmen would not so determine it; nor did any civil or moral Nation of old admit it; the Custom rose from the bar­barous Goths and Lo [...]gobards, and yet I confess not without reason, as the Genius of their Nation did then lead them, and by their Example, all others where they conquered. It was an impious manner of [Page 234] those times to hold Malice and Enmity, one Family against another, and against their Friends and Alliances from one Generati­on to another; our Ancestors called it deadly feude, the Feudists, feudam; and Tacitus in his time noteth it of Germans, saying, Inimicitias mutuo ponunt & susci­piunt. It was therefore of urgent neces­sity, that the Lord should be well assur'd that his Tenant married not unto any Fa­mily that might be either in feud with him, or in alliance with them that were: and to prevent that danger (as appears by the Charter of Hen. 1. cap. 4.) the Lord would have him bound not to mar­ry without his consent, for which in the beginning the Tenant gave his Lord some small matter, as munus honorarium; but from thence it grew afterwards to Nundi­naria gratissima. And as Bondmen used to pay to their Lords Chiefage for their Marriage, so the Tenants by Knights Ser­vice, which in the Feudal Law is called Feudum nobile, is likewise subject to this brand of Servitude, and more grievously in some respect. But I reverence the Law I live under and hath been so long re­ceiv'd and practis'd, all I aim at, is only to shew in the course of my Argument, the Evils that have either fallen newly up­on [Page 235] us, or been encreased since the Confi­scation of the Churches and Church-pa­trimony, which if it be not offensive, I may say, doth seem to be foretold 800 Years since by one Egelzedus an Hermit, who assigned three Causes of those Evils, viz. First, Effusion of Blood. 2ly, Drun­kenness, and 3ly, Contempt of the House of God, telling us farther, That we should know the time of the fulfilling this Pro­phecy, by the various fashions and mu­tability of Apparel that should be in use, the very ear-mark of the Age we live in.

How this Contempt of the House of God worketh upon the Sacrilegious In­struments thereof, is to be seen in the Par­ticulars before recited, to which if I should run higher into former Ages, or further from home in other Countries, I might tire you with thousands of Examples. But for a Conclusion mark this by the way, that as England hath not been faul­ty alone in this kind of Transgression, so other Nations offending in like manner, have likewise tasted of the same Correcti­ons, or others like them.

Scotland after the rasing of their Mona­steries hath had the Royal Throne removed from them and placed in another Kingdom.

[Page 236] The Low-Countries harrassed with a continued War of 60 Years and more.

The Palsgrave beaten out of his own Dominions, and living now with his Royal Wife and Children in lamentable Exile, to which may be added (as concurring with the usual Infelicity of meddling with Church Lands) that the Palsgrave having attained the Crown of Bohemia, and seiz­ing the Ecclesiastical Livings there for maintenance of his Wars (as the Report goes) he was presently cast out both of that Kingdom, and of his other Inheri­tance.

Having mentioned this unfortunate Prince, I must add also another accident that befell him in this kind. The State of the Low Countries while he lived in Exile among them, gave unto him as a place of Recreation the Abby of Regutian near Vtrecht, where intending a sumptu­ous Building, he drew out thereof such Materials of Stone and Timber, as might be usefull to his new Designs, and ma­king a Store-house of the Abby-Church, laid them up there to be in readiness. It chanc'd that the truly noble Lord Craven returning out of Italy (where my Son was very happily fallen into his Compa­ny) i e. Sir John Spelman. he went to this place to visit the [Page 237] Prince, whom they called the King of Bo­hemia. My Son seeing what the King was about, and how he had prophaned the Church by making it a Store-house, said to my Lord Craven, That he fear'd it might be ominous to the King; my Lord answer'd, I will tell him what you say; and turning to the King said, This Gen­tleman fears this that your Majesty doth will not be prosperous to you; the King answered, That was but a Conceit, and so pass'd it over. But mark what follow'd upon it. The King within a few Months after passing in a Bark with the Prince his eldest Son over the Delf of Harlam, his Boat was casually stemm'd and overturn'd by a Barge that met him in the Night, and tho' he himself with great difficulty was sav'd, yet that hopefull Prince his Son had not that wofull happiness to be drown­ed right-out, but after he was drench'd in the Water, and gotten upon the Mast of the Bark wherein they perish'd, he was there most miserably starv'd with Cold and frozen to Death. And the Father him­self while he lamented the death of his Son, was by an unusual death of Princes taken away by the Plague, laying thus the first Stone of his unfortunate Building, like that of the Walls of Jericho, in the death [Page 238] of his eldest Son, and prevented in the rest by his own death. God's Judgments are his Secrets; I only tell Concurrences.

The other German Princes persecuted with the Sword, and spoil'd of their Li­berties.

How carefull the Heathens were not to mis­use things consecrated to Almighty God.

When the Philistines had taken the Ark, they with all Reverence plac'd it in the House of their God Dagon; and fearing to keep it, return'd it back with Oblations.

So Nabuchodonosor having taken away the holy Vessels of the Temple, abused them not to prophane uses, but kept them religiously in the House of his God.

And when Belshazar and his Kingdom was by the Justice of God extinguished for abusing of them, and that thereby they came to the Hands of Cyrus in the Con­quest of Babylon; he understanding that they belonged to the Temple of God in Jerusalem, would not be owner of them but sent them back to Jerusalem: St. Je­rom notes on Dan. 5. Quam diu vasa fue­runt in idolis Babylonicis non est iratus Do­minus (videbantur enim rem Dei secundum pravam quandam opinionem, tamen divino [Page 239] cultui consecrâsse) postquam autem humanis usibus divina contaminant statim poena se­quitur, post sacrilegium.

Most remarkable is the Piety of the Hea­then King Darius, 2 Macab. 1▪ 34▪ who hearing of the Pit, wherein the holy Fire had been hid by the Prophet Jeremy, and being turn'd into Water, was after a long time taken thence by Nehemiah, (for the kindling of the Altar-Fire) he caused the very place wherein these sanctified things had once been laid, to be walled about, and as holy Ground to be for ever seque­stred from Prophanation.

Pompey the Great having taken the City Jerusalem by force, and broken into the Temple, seeing the inestimable Treasure and Riches thereof, would neither take, nor suffer any [...]hing to be taken thence, but commanded all things to be cleansed, and the Sacrifices to be continued as they were formerly.

Shouldham-Abbey.

Sir Francis Gaudy of the Justices of the King's Bench was owner of it, he married—the Daughter and Heir of Christopher Cunningsby Lord of the Ma­nour of Wallington, and having this Ma­nour and other Lands in right of his Wife, induced her to acknowledge a Fine there­of, which done she became a distracted Woman, and continued so to the day of her Death, and was to him for many Years a perpetual affliction.

He had by her his only Daughter and Heir Eliz. married to Sir William Hatton, who died without Issue-Male, leaving al­so a Daughter and Heir, who being brought up with her Grandfather the Judge, was secretly married against his Will to Sir Ro­bert Rich now Earl of Warwick.

[Page 252] The Judge shortly after being made chief Justice of the Common-pleas (at a dear Rate as was reported) was suddenly stricken with an Apoplexy, or double Palsie, and so to his great loss died with­out Issue-Male, e'er he had continued in his Place one whole Michaelmas Term, and having made his appropriate Parish-Church a Hay-house, or a Dog-kennel, his dead Corps being brought from London unto Walling, could for many days find no Place of Burial, but in the mean time growing very offensive by the Contagi­ous and ill Savours that issued through the Chinks of Lead not well soder'd, he was at last carry'd to a poor Church of a lit­tle Village there by called Runcto, and bu­ried there without any Ceremony, lieth yet uncovered (if the Visitors have not reformed it) with so small a Matter as a few paving Stones.

Sir Robert Rich now Earl of Warwick succeeded in the Inheritance (by his Wife) of this Abby, with the Impropriation, and his great Possessions amounting by Esti­mation to 5000 l. a Year, and hath alrea­dy sold the greatest part of them together with this Abbey and Impropriation unto the Family of Mr. Nich. Hare, the Judge's Neighbour and chiefest Adversary.

[Page 253] For among divers other goodly Ma­nours that Sir John Hare hath purchased of him, or his Feoffees, he hath also bought this Abbey of Shouldham, and the Impro­priation there, with the Manour belonging to the Abbey valued together at 600 l. yearly Rent.

Binham-Priory.

Binham Priory, a Cell of St. Albans was granted by King Henry 8. to Sir Thomas Paston; he left it to Mr. Edward Paston his Son and Heir, who living above 80 Years continued the Possession of it till— Caroli R. and having buried ... his Son and Heir apparent, left it then un­to his Grandchild Mr. Paston the third Owner of it, and thereby now in the Wardship to the King. Mr. Edward Paston many Years since was desirous to build a Mansion-house upon or near the Priory, and attempting for that purpose to clear some of that Ground, a Piece of Wall fell upon a Workman, and slew him, perplexed with this Accident in the begin­ning of this Business, he gave it wholly over, and would by no means all his Life after be perswaded to re-attempt it, but built his Mansion-house, a very fair one, at Appleton.

Castle-Acre-Abbey.

Sir Tho. Cecil Earl of Exeter was owner of it, and of the impropriate Personage here; he had Issue Sir William Cecil Earl Exeter, who married Eliz. the Daughter and Heir of Edw. Earl of Rutland, and had Issue by her (dying as I take it in Child­bed) his only Son William Lord Rosse.

This William Lord Rosse married Anne the Daughter of Sir Tho. Lake, and they living together in extreme Discord, many infamous Actions issued thereupon, and finally a great Suit in the Star-Chamber to the high Dishonour of themselves, and their Parents. In this Affliction the Lord Rosse dyeth without Issue, and the Eldest Male-line of his Grandfather's House is extinguished.

Sir Richard Cecil was second Son of Sir Thomas Cecil Earl of Exeter, and had Issue David who married Eliz. the Daughter of John Earl of Bridgewater, and is now in expectation to be Earl of Exeter.

His third Son was Sir Edw. Cecil Knight, his 4th and 5th Tho. Cecil and Christopher drowned in Germany.

Sir Tho. the Grandfather Earl of Exeter made a Lease of this Monastery and Im­propriation to one Paine (as I take it) by whose Widow the same came in Mar­riage [Page 255] to Mr. Humfrey Guibon Sheriff of Norfolk, Anno 38. Eliz. whose Grand-child and Heir Tho. Guibon consumed his whole Inheritance, and lying long in the Fleet, either died there a Prisoner, or shortly after.

Sir Edw. Coke Lord Chief Justice marri­ed for his second Wife the Lady Eliz. Hat­ton, one of the Daughters of the said Earl Tho. and afterwards bought the Castle of Acre with this Monastery and Impropria­tion of his Brother-in-Law Earl William Son of Earl Thomas, since which time he hath felt abundantly the Change of For­tune, as we have partly touched in Flit­cham-Abbey.

West-Acre-Abbey.

This also belonged to Sir Tho. Cecil of whom we have now spoken; he sold both it and the Impropriation of West- Acre to Sir Horatio Palvicini an Italian, that be­fore his coming into England had dipt his Fingers very deep in the Treasure of the Church.

Being in his Youth in the Low-countries (as his Son Edward affirmed to me) he there secretly married a very mean Wo­man, and by her had Issue him this Ed­ward, but durst never discover it to his Father as long as they lived together, his [Page 256] Father being dead he came into England, and here married a second Wife, by whom he had Issue his Son Toby, and for his Wive's sake disinherited him his eldest Son Edward, and conferred all his Lands with the Abbey, and Impropriation of West- Acre to Toby and his Heirs.

Edward after the Death of his Father grows into contention with his Brother Toby, and in a Petition to King James ac­cuseth both his Father and his Brother for deceiving (the one) of Q. Eliz. (the other) of K. James, of a Multitude of thousand Pounds, the Examination where­of was by His Majesty referr'd unto me among others, and the two Brethren then agreeing among themselves the Reference was no further prosecuted. But Mr. Toby Palvicini consuming his whole Estate sold the Abbey and Impropriation to Alder­man Barcham, and yet lieth in the Fleet for Debt, if not lately at liberty.

Blackborough and Wrongey-Abbeys.

These were by—granted and annex­ed to the See and Bishoprick of Norwich, where Edmond Scaulter being made Bi­shop 27 Eliz. and doing as much as well he might to impoverish the Church, made a Lease of most of the Manours and Lands thereof, and amongst them of these two [Page 257] Abbies to Qu. Elizabeth for 29 Years at the lowest Rent he might, which Bishop Goodwin in like cases termeth Sacrilege.

Queen Elizabeth assigneth this Lease to Sir Tho. he leaveth it to his Lady, after the Countess of Southampton, she set­teth her term in these Abbies with the Mannors and Lands belonging to them to one Fisher a Skinner in London, by the procurement of Wrenham her Servant.

Fisher entereth and enjoyeth them as undoubtedly his own, Leaseth them for 21 Year to Harpley at a great encreased Rent, Wrenham dieth without contradict­ing any thing; his Son John Wrenham pretending that Fisher had the grand Lease but in trust for his Father (who never paid penny for it) exhibits one Bill in Chancery against Fisher, another against his Son Sir Edward Fisher as having it from his Father, a 3d against Harpley the Under-leaser. The Lord Chancellour Egerton by an order declareth Harpley's Lease to be good, who thereupon enjoy'd it quietly and dieth, his Executrix setteth it to Sir Henry Spelman, Wrenham exhi­biteth a Bill against Sir Henry. The Suits proceed to an hearing betwixt Wrenham and the Fishers. The Lord Chancellour decreeth it against the Fishers and all [Page 258] claiming under them. The Lord Chan­cellour Egerton gives over his place, and Sir Francis Bacon placed in his room. He reverseth the Decree, and decreeth it back again to Sir Edward Fisher, and by ano­ther Decree giveth also Sir Hen. Spelman's Lease unto him without calling or hear­ing Sir Henry. Wrenham complaineth in a Petition to King James, and taxeth the Lord Chancellour Bacon of Corruption and Injustice. The King himself peruseth all the proceedings, and approveth the Lord Bacon's Decree, Wrenham is censured for his scandal in the Star-Chamber to loose his Ears on the Pillory, &c.

A Parliament followeth in Jacobi, both Wrenham and Sir Henry Spelman se­verally complain there. It is found that the Lord Chancellour Bacon had for these Decrees of Sir Edw. Fisher a Suit of Hang­ings of eight score pounds. The Lord Chancellour for this among other such crimes is deposed.

The Bishop of Lincoln is set in his room, the Suits are again in agitation before him between Wrenham and Fisher, and Sir Henry Spelman, by a Petition to the King obtaineth a Review of the Proceed­ings against him, upon which a Recom­pence is given him by Decree against Sir Edward Fisher.

[Page 259] The Bishop of Lincoln is removed by King Charles, and the Lord Coventry made Lord Keeper, by whom the other Diffe­rences are at last compounded, and the Grand Lease divided into many parcels.

Wrenham that raised this Tempest, be­sides his misfortune in the Star-Chamber, is never the richer by it, but liveth a Pro­jectour.

Sir Edward Fisher of 8000 l. (as Bodon his Servant protesteth) in the Suit is con­sumed, and not to be seen of every Man.

Sir Henry Spelman a great loser, and not beholden to Fortune, yet happy in this, that he is out of the Bryars, but e­specially that hereby he first discerned the Infelicity of meddling with consecrated places.

Sir Tho.—died without Issue Male, and his Family extinct, Mr. James out of whose Bowels his Father the Bishop hoped to raise a Family of note, hath to this day no Issue at all.

Walsingham-Abby Dedicated to St. Ma­ry, Canons regular, val. at 446 l. 14s. 4d.

One Sydney Governour of the Spittle there, as was commonly reported, when I was a Scholar at Walsingham, was [Page 260] by the Townsmen imploy'd to have bought the Site of the Abby to the use of the Town, but obtain'd and kept it to himself. He had Issue Thomas, and a Daugh­ter, Mother to Robin Angust the Foot-post of Walsingham.

Thomas by the advancement of Sir Fran­cis Walsingham Brother to his Wife, grew to great Wealth, was Customer of Linne, and about a miscarrige of that place was long harrowed in Law by Mr. Farmer of Basham, and died leaving two Sons.

Thomas the eldest having the Abby, &c. married and died without Issue.

Sir Henry succeeded in the Abby, &c. married and died without Issue.

His Lady a vertuous Woman now hath it for life, the remainder being given for names sake by Sir Henry to Robert Sydney the 2d Son of the Earl of Leicester.

Walsingham-Priory not mentioned in the Tax.

1. Owner. One Mr. Jenner was Owner of it, and had Issue Thomas, Francis and Bar­tholomew.

Francis a Lawyer of Gray's- Inn married into Kent, His 2d Son drowned. and was drowned in going thi­ther by Boat.

[Page 261] Thomas the eldest had the Priory, Two of his eldest Sons are Vaga­bonds. and 3 or 4 Sons, and a Daughter, one of his Sons (or as some say two) went up and down a begging. His eldest he disinheri­ted, settling his Estate upon his younger Son John, being my Servant, who died in his Father's life.

Then he gave his whole Estate to his Daughter, All disinhe­rited. married to Bernard Vtbarr, and a Daughter of hers, his Grandchild, with a particular Summ of Money to maintain Suit against his Son and Heir, if he claim­ed any thing after his death. Being dead, his Son enter'd and got possession of the Priory, but in fine with some little com­position was wrested out by Vtbarr; and now Vtbarr's Daughter coming to age, it is to be sold by her.

Hempton-Abby al Takenham Dedica­ted to St. Mary and St. Stephen, Black Canons, Aug. 39 l. 9 s.

If Sir Hen. Farmer had it, 1. No Issue. he died with­out Issue. 2. Without Issue-male. His Brother slain. Sir William Farmer had it and died without Issue-male. His Brother was slain at Rising-Chase by the Rebels 2 Ed. 6.

His Son Mr. Thomas Farmer had it and 3. Wasted. the Impropriation of Basham, and wasting his Estate, sold about 15 or 16 Mannors, [Page 262] leaving none but his chief House Basham.

His eldest Son Thomas died a young Man, his three Daughters unfortunate. The eldest and youngest poorly married. The middle to Mr. Barneys Son of Gunton, who disinherited by his Father was slain by Tho. Betts his Wives Uncle, of the half blood, at a Marriage at Litcham.

Nicholas Farmer younger Brother of Thomas was attainted and pardoned for Coining, His Brother attainted and drown­ed▪ and after taking a Boat to fly from the Serjeants was drowned in the Thames.

William 2d Son of Thomas, a right ho­nest Gentleman, His Son no Issue-male. still hath the Impropria­tion, and having been married about 18 Years, hath only a Daughter.

Mr. Richard Benson bought the Abby and Mannor of Pudding Norton of Mr. Tho. Farmer, 4. Ruin'd. consumed all and went into Wales.

Mr. Gossald bought the Abby of Mr. Benson, 5 Owner. and lest it to his Wife in Jointure.

Mr. Henry Gossald of Ireland his Son and Heir sold the Reversion to Sir Thomas Holland and goeth into Ireland. 6 Owner selleth it.

Mr. Nicholas Timperley bought it of Sir Tho. Holland. 7 Owner.

Malsingham-Abby not in the Tax.

It was Sir Tho. Gresham's, who died (as was said) suddenly in his Kitchin with­out Issue-male. [...] died sud­denly with­out Issue-male.

[Page 263] His Daughter and Heir was married to Sir William Read who had this Abby. 2 Owner.

Sir Tho. Read his eldest Son married Mil­dred Daughter of Sir Tho. Cecil after Earl of Exeter, His eldest S [...]n died without Issue. and died without Issue.

Sir Francis Read his 2d Son, His 2d an unthrift. an un­thrift lived much in the Gaol, if he died not there.

The Daughter of Sir William was mar­ried to Sir Michael Stanhope, 3 Owner without Is­sue-male. who died without Issue-male.

Jane the eldest Daughter of Sir Michael married to Sir William is out of her Wits, His eldest Daughter distracted. and Sir William her Husband in sore danger of his life about the slaughter of 6 or 7 Men tumultuously kill'd at—

Elizabeth the younger of his Daughters and Heirs married to the Lord Barkley, His yongest Daughter distracted. is out of her Wits.

Flitcham-Abby.

Sir Tho. Hollis had it, and was (by report) at Dinner taken out of it in Exe­cution for Debt by the Sheriff, and his Goods sold, whereof my Father bought some. Much suit there was about it be­tween one Payne and him or his Heir, but the matter being at length reserr'd to the Duke of Norfolk, he bought both their Titles.

[Page 264] He, the Duke had it, and was attainted and beheaded, and it then came to the Crown.

King James gave it in Fee Farm to my Lord of Suffolk who was fined in the Star-Chamber and put out of Treasure-ship, and suffer'd much Affliction by the At­tainder of the Lady Francis Countess of So­merset his Daughter, and of her Husband the Earl.

My Lord Cooke bought it of the Earl of Suffolk, and bought out the Fee-Farm from King James: He was put out of the place of Ch. Justice of the King's Bench, fell into great Displeasure of the King, and hath been laded with Afflictions proceed­ing chiefly from his own Wife, who liveth from him in Separation.

His eldest Son Sir Robert having been married many Years hath yet no Issue.

His Daughter the Lady Vicountess of Purbeck, the Fable of the Time, and her Husband a Lunatick.

Wendling.

Wendling-Abby differ'd from all the rest of this Circuit, for it was not dissolv'd by the Statute or by the Act of Hen. 8. but before that time by Cardinal Wolsey, and was one of the 40 small Monasteries that Pope Clement the 7th gave him licence [Page 265] to suppress for the Erection of his 2 Col­leges, Christ-Church in Oxon, and another at Ipswich.

The Cardinal employed 5 Persons e­specially in this business, whereof one was slain by another of those his Compa­nions, that other was hanged for the Fact, the third drowned himself in a Well, the fourth being a Man of good Wealth in those days, fell within three years after so poor, that he begg'd till his Death, the fifth (Dr. Allen) promoted to a Bishop­rick in Ireland, was there cruelly maimed.

The Cardinal himself fell out of favour with the King and Kingdom, and condem­ned in a praemunire, lost all his Offices, Honours, Goods, and Estate, and being called into further danger, died for grief by the way, not without suspicion of poi­soning himself.

The Pope who gave the Licence, was, by the Duke of Bourbon's Army, driven out of his City of Rome, it cruelly sack'd, and himself besieg'd in the Castle of St. An­gelo, taken Prisoner, scorned, and put to Ransom: And after all this, was at last (as some affirm) poison'd with certain of his Cardinals and Friends, by the Fume of a Torch prepared for that purpose. Stow in Anno Dom. Bale 18. 6.

[Page 266] Besides all these, Mr. Tho. Cromwell, who then was but Servant to the Cardi­nal, having a principal hand in the De­struction of these Monasteries given to his Master, had also a principal share in this Tragedy, for tho' he were after pro­moted to great Honours, yet in the end he was thrown out of them all, convicted of Treason, attainted and beheaded, as in other places heretofore we have more ful­ly related.

Now we come nearer to, and particu­larly to this Abbey, wherein, as also in others of that Nature in Cor­porations and Bodies Politick that are the Seminaries of the Church, little attention is to be expected, yet see what happened to their Tenants and Farmers, profanely abusing the consecrate places thereof.

The Cardinal did grant it to his Coll. at Christ-Church in Oxon, and to whom they first leased it I do not yet find, but Mr. Tho. Hogan of Bradenham that was Sheriff of Norfolk.

Eliz. died in his Sheriffship, and not long after him his Son Mr. Hen. Hogan, lea­ving his Son and Heir very young, who attaining near to his full Age, and falling sick, acknowledged a fine upon his Death-Bed to the use of his Mother the Lady [Page 267] Caesar that now is, and his half Sisters, and dying without reversing it, did by that means cut off his Heirs at common Law, and was the last of his Father's House in that Inheritance: This begat great Suits in the Star-Chamber, Chance­ry, and Parliament it self.

The Lease is since come to Mr. Hamon.

Nor did the Colleges for which these Monasteries were suppressed by the Car­dinal, and which he meant to make so glorious, come to good effect; for that of Ipswich was pulled down, and the o­ther of Christ-Church was never finished, as also neither that of King's College in Cambridge, rising out of the Ruins of the Priory's Aliens.

Coxford Abbey al Ratha Abbey.

Coxford Abbey after the Dissolution came to the Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded 2d June 1572, Eliz. 14.

The Queen then granted it to Edw. Earl of Oxon, who wasted all his Patrimony.

Sir Roger Townsend then bought it, who had Issue Sir Jo. Townsend, and Sir Robert Townsend: Sir Robert died without Issue, Sir Jo. had Issue Sir Robert the Bar. and Stanhope, and Ann married to Joh. Spelman; he falling into a Quarrel with Sir Mat­thew Brown of Beach-North Castle in Sur­rey, [Page 268] each of them slew other in a Duel, 1 Jac. Stanhope Townsend wounded mor­tally by in a Duel in the Low Countries, came into England and di­ed at London.

Sir Roger the Bar. intending to build a goodly House at Rainham, and to fetch Stone for the same from Coxford Abbey, by advice of Sir Nathanael Bacon his Grand­father, began to demolish the Church there, which till then was standing; and beginning with the Steeple, the first Stone (as 'tis said) in the fall brake a Man's Leg, which somewhat amazed them, yet contemning such Advertisement, they proceeded in the Work, and overthrow­ing the Steeple, it fell upon a House by, and breaking it down, slew in it one Mr. Seller that lay lame in it of a broken Leg gotten at Foot-ball, others having saved themselves by Fright and Flight.

Sir Roger having digged the Cellering of his new House, and raised the Walls with some of the Abbey-Stone Breast-high, the Wall reft from the Corner Stones, though it was clear above ground, which being reported to me by my Servant Ri­chard Tedcastle, I viewed them with mine own Eyes and found it so. Sir Roger ut­terly d [...]smayed with these Occurrents, gave [Page 269] over his begun Foundation, and digging a new wholly out of the ground about 20 Yards more forward toward the North, hath there finished a stately House, using none of the Abbey-Stone about it, but employed the same in building a Parso­nage-House for the Minister of that Town, and about the Walls of the Church-yard, &c.

Himself also shewed me that as his first Foundation reft in sunder, so the new Bridge, which he had made of the same Stone at the foot of the Hill, which as­cendeth to his House, settled down with a Belly as if it would fall.

But if there be any Offences or ominous Consequences depending upon such Pos­sessions, he hath very nobly and piously endeavoured to expiate it; for he hath given back to the Church three or four Appropriations.

Burnham Priory.

It was sometime the Southwells of St. Faith's, whose Family is either extinct or gone out of the County. It was after­wards Francis Cobbes, Gent. who likewise is gone; then Sir Charles Cornwallis Kt. wasted, and by him sold to Alderman Soame, who let the same to John Soame, Es (que) his 2d Son deceased.

Peterston.

About the latter Years of Q. Eliz. was Rich. Mansers, Gent. who had much suit and Quarrel with Firmine Gray about a Lease of it, and died without Issue, dis­posing it by a Will (as was reported) to one Roger Manser his Brother; but they were of it by Ar­miger of Creake who married Richard Man­ser's Sister, and left it to William Armiger his Son and Heir, who sold it to my Lord Cooke to secure the Title.

Carbrocke, a Monastery of Hospital­lers of St. John of Jerusalem.

Sir Richard Southwell, Knight, (a great Agent in spoiling the Abbeys) was Own­er of it; he married Thomasin the Daugh­ter of Sir Roger Darcy of Dambury, and living together had no Issue by her, but in the mean time he had by Mary Darcy, Daughter of Tho. Darcy also of Dambury, Richard Southwell of St. Faiths, and Tho. Southwell of Mowrton; Mary and Dorothy all born in Adultery, and Katherine mar­ried to Tho. Audeley of Beer-Church in Es­sex, Cousin and Heir Male to the Lord Audley (born, as it seems, after the Death of Thomasin his Wife) by the said Mary, who then and before was by Sir Richard married to one Leech, a Swallow­man [Page 271] of Norwich, that had been his Servant, and now his Lady dying, he took this Mary from Leech her Husband, and mar­ried her himself, alledging that she could not be Leech's Wife, for that he had ano­ther former Wife then living; hereupon a great Suit ensued in the high Commissi­on Court, where Sir Richard prevailed and enjoyed her with shame enough.

Sir Richard dieth without other Issue than by this Mary, leaving the Abbey of St. Faiths to his base born Son Richard, and Mowrton to his base Son Thomas.

His Son Richard marries Bridget Daugh­ter of Sir Roger Copley, Knight, and had Issue by her Richard, Thomas, and Robert. This last Richard married the Daughter of Sir Tho. Cornwallis, and having Issue by her Sir Tho. Southwell, and 2 or 3 other Sons, dyeth in the life-time of his Father, who for his 2d Wife marrieth his Maid, the Daughter of one Styles Parson of El­lingham, and by her had Issue Sir Henry Southwell, and Dunsarry Southwell, now owner of Mowrton, and some Daughters, whereof Ann was in London And this Richard the Father having wasted his Estate, and sold the Abbey of St. Faiths to the Lord Chief Justice Hobart, died a Prisoner in the Fleet.

[Page 272] Tho. Southwell the other base Son of Sir Richard dieth without Issue, and having given by his Will the Mannor of Mowrton to his Sister Audley for Life, the Remain­der to Thomas her younger Son. Sir Tho. Southwell, Nephew of the Testator, seek­eth to overthrow the Will, and to have the Mannor as Heir at common Law to Thomas the Testator; hereupon the Heir of Leech strikes in against them both, la­bouring with Sir Thomas to falsifie the Will against Mrs. Audley, and excluding Sir Tho. by alledging bastardy against him in Ri­chard his Father, for that Mary Darcy the Mother of this Richard was Wife to the Father of this Leech, when Richard and Thomas the Testator was born.

This brought all the filthiness aforemen­tioned to be raked over again, and when all were notoriously defamed by it, they all sit down without any recompence.

Tho. Audley that was in remainder died without Issue in the Life of his Mother, whereby Mowrton came to his Brother Sir Henry Audley.

Anthony Southwell and Southwell Brothers of Sir Thomas were in the Rob­bery of Mrs. Grave, and fled into Ire­land.

[Page 273] Sir Henry Southwell married the Daugh­ter of the Lord Hor in Ireland without Issue.

After the Death of Sir Richard South­well, his Nephew Sir Robert succeeded in the great Inheritance, and the Hospital of Carbrock, he married the Daughter of the Earl of Nottingham, and died in the Flow­er of his Age, leaving his Son the now Sir Thomas an Infant, who about his full Age had a base Daughter by Dr. Corbett's Maid, and marrying her privily, liveth now in dis—of her, and keepeth the Daugh­ter of one Eden in a poor House at Notton, and hath consumed the greatest part of his Estate.

His Sister, Mrs. Eliz. Florence liveth at Florence in Adultery with Sir Robert Dud­ley, having another Wife before he mar­ried her, and both of them still living.

Marham.

Sir Nicholas Hare, Knight, and John Hare Citizen and Mercer of London 3 Jul. Anno 38, H. 8. purchased of the King... totum fitum, circuitum, ambitum & praecinctum nuper Monasterii sive domus

De Marham in ac totum sun­dum, situm & terram, Ecclesiam, Campani­le, domus aedificiorum &c. ... necnon mane­rium nostrum de Marham cum omnibus terris ... &c.

[Page 274] Sir Nicholas Hare married the Daugh­ter and Heir of Bassingbourn, and had Issue Michael that died without Issue, Robert that died without Issue, and Richard that died without Issue; and his Inheritance went away to his two Daughters, the one married to Rouse, Quere, Whether these two Daughters of Sir Nich. are of his Son Micha­el or other Son. the other to Tim­perley. See more of this Sir Nicholas in the Speaker of Parliament, Anno 31 H. 8. where he prophesied this ruin of his Fa­mily.

John Hare the Citizen had Issue Nicho­las the Lawyer, that died without Issue, Ralph that died without Issue, Edmund Lu­natick, at a Lodge in Enfield-Chase, Hugh that died without Issue, Rowland and John that had Issue, and Thomas of Oxford that married and died without Issue.

Richard the elder married Eliz. Daugh­ter of ... and had Issue Sir Ralph Hare, Slew Black­well, and obtain'd a Pardon with 1200. Knight of the Bath, and he mar­ried ... the Daughter of Alderman Hambden, and John Son of John and Bro­ther of Richard, was Clerk of the Court of Wards, and had Issue Nicholas, who was Lu­natick, and died without Issue, and Hugh now Lord Colrane in Ireland.

Sir Ralph Hare to expiate this Sin of his Family, gave the Parsonage impropriate of Marham worth 100 l. yearly to St. [Page 275] John's College in Cambridge, Anno 16 and died, leaving one only Child, Sir John Hare, who married Sir Thomas Coventry the now Lord Keeper's Daughter, and hath by her, she not being ... Years old ... Sons and Daughters, with hope of a numerous Posterity, God bless them.

Crab-House.

I have yet gotten little Intelligence of this Abbey; but I hear that it was not long since John Wright's of Wigen-Hall in Marse­land, and that he had two Sons, whereof ... his eldest Son consumed his Estate, and sold the Abbey with the greatest part of the Land and died without Issue.

It came after to Mr. William Guybon of Watlington, and is now in the hands of his Son and Heir.

Bromill Abbey.

Sir Thomas Woodhouse of Wapham, 38 H. 8. Wapham 1st no Issue. 2d ruined. 3d litigi­ous, and no Issue Male. purchased Bromill Abbey of the King, he died without Issue, and Sir Hen­ry Woodhouse his Nephew succeeded, who utterly consumed his whole Estate, and selling the Abbey to John Smith, Esq Suits arose thereupon, which lasted many Years, till the Death of Sir Henry in Nov. 1624.

Mr. Smith hath only Daughters and no Son, so that the Abbey is not like to con­tinue in his Name.

Ex inform. ipsius, Jo. Smith, 11 ^o. Nov. 1624.

The Impropriation of Besthurst in Lan­cashire, as I take it, is worth 1600 l. per Annum, being Sir Vrion Lea's.

Dereham Abbey.

Tho Dereham in the 33 H. 8. bought it of the King: shortly after he was fetch'd out of it to the Tower about the Treason of his Brother Francis Dereham who was executed.

Thomas at length was delivered out of Prison; he had Issue Thomas, Robert, John and Baldwin, and a Daughter.

Thomas married . . . and died with­out Issue Male; Robert and John died with­out Issue.

Baldwin a decayed Merchant of London, had Issue four Sons, Thomas Dr. of Divini­ty, John, and Martha a Daughter non com­pos mentis.

Thomas succeeded his Uncle in the In­heritance, and is now Knighted, having Issue Thomas.

Thomas, eldest Son of Sir Thomas, mar­ried . . . daughter of . . . Scot, Es (que) of . . . in Kent; she fell Lu­natick in Child-Bed upon the Death of her Son . . . 1623, and so continueth having yet only a Daughter.

Thetford.

Hitherto I have kept my self within my Circle; let us see for our further satisfacti­on, whether the like fortune haunted the Monasteries without it; we will begin with Thetford.

The Monastery of the Black Nuns of St. Gregory in Thetford, being the Bene­dictines, was the Duke of Norfolk's, whose Misfortunes are here before in other pla­ces too often mentioned.

He sold the same to Sir Richard Ful­marston, Knight, who died without Issue Male, leaving it to his Daughter, and her married to Sir Edward Clark, Knight.

Sir Edward Clark had two Sons by her, and a Son by his second Wife.

Sir Edward Clark Knight of St. Micha­el the eldest Son, spent most of his Life in one Prison or other, had Issue a Son Sir Henry Clark, Baronet, that died without Issue Male in the Life of his Father, who consuming his whole Inheritance, sold the chief Seat of his Blickling to the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir Henry Hobart; and this Monastery upon Exchange and Money to Mr. God­salve for Buckingham-Ferry, which he ...

Mr. Godsalve put over the Monastery, among other Lands, to Mr. John Smith [Page 278] and Owen Shepheard, and having consu­med all his Estate, went beyond Sea.

Mr. Smith and Mr. Shepheard, had a long and chargeable Suit about Mr. God­salve's Estate, and sold the Monastery to Sir William Campion who now hath it, but with Suit and Trouble.

Sir Edw. . . . the elders second Son Francis died without Issue. This great and eminent Family is wholly extinct, as those also of Fulmarston's, Godsalve's, and Smith's for Smith hath no Issue Male.

I must here note that this Sir Edward ... the Elder, was one of the greatest Hunters, by way of Concealment, after Church Goods and Lands, that was in his time, and that sowing these unfortunate Pieces of new gotten Cloth into the Gar­ment of his old Inheritance, the new hath not only rent away the old Garment, but the Family it self to which it served.

Pentney Priory.

Pentney Priory was purchased of the K [...]ng Anno 37 H. 8. by Thomas Mildmay the Auditor, whose Son Sir Thomas sold it to Francis Windham, one of the Justices of the King's-Bench, he entailed it first up­on his own Issue, then to his Brother's Roger and Thomas, the Dr. after to his Si­ster Coningsby, and after that to Edmund, [Page 279] and Edmund's natural Brothers, all which dying without Issue, it came to Thomas Windham Esq Son of Sir Henry Windham, who in Anno 1622 sold it to Sir Richard Ballache Knight, and he in Anno 1631 to Judge Richardson.

The Abbey of Radegundis at Bradefalk in Kent by Dover is now Sir Tho. Edolph's Knight, Kent. who did lately build a fair House upon the Site of the Monastery, and it hath fallen down three times; his two Brothers lunatique.

Ex relat. Mrs. Meares qui duxit Vxorem Edw. Pegton Baronet.

St. Lawrence-Abbey by Canterbury now in the hands of Edolph lunatique, whose Grandfather was also lunatique; his Grand­father first purchased the Abbey.

Shirburn.

Shirburn-Abbey (some time a Cathe­dral-Church) Dorsetshi▪ yet belonging to the Bi­shop of Salisbury, saith Cambden, p. 214. impres. 1610.

Sir John Horsey having no Issue, left for Name sake to Sir Ralph Horsey of Cam­bridgeshire, the Monastery and Parsonage of Shirburn, who wasting much his Estate, sold them to Mr. Stikles, and he to my Lord Digby about 1620.

[Page 280] The Castle and the Manner was assign­ed from the Bishop of Salisbury to Queen Elizabeth, and by her to Sir Walter Raw­leigh after beheaded, then it came to Prince Henry, who died shortly after, then it came to the Earl of Somerset, who being attainted, the King granted it to my Lord Digby.

The Bishoprick being void, Toby Mat­thew should have had it, but would not take it upon Sir Walter Rawleigh's conditi­ons, but Henry Cotton accepting and per­forming them, his Son was born blind, who notwithstanding was made a Mini­ster, had 3 or 4 Parsonages, and was Ca­non in Salisbury, yet died a Beggar.

Hale's-Abbey.

Hale's-Abbey and Manour for the most part ( viz. 500 Acres) granted to the Lord Admiral ( Seymor) in fee 19 Aug. 1. Edw. 6. Glocester­shire. He beheaded, Val. l. s. d. 65 14 8. it returned to the King Edw. who 12 June reg. 4. granted all with the 500 Acres to the Lord Mar­quiss, Val. l. s. 99 16. who 16 June eodem Anno, leased it to Hodgkins for 21 Years at 159 l. 16 s. but as it seems came again to the Crown, for Q. Eliz 18 July reg. 7. leased it again to Hodgkins for 21 Years at 159 l. 16 s. Woods, Regalities, &c. excepted ut vide­tur.

[Page 281] Hodgkins had three Sons, all died poor­ly, but he gave his Estate to his Daugh­ter married to Hobby.

St. Ousey given by King Edward to Tho­mas Lord Darcy, and ... slain at St. Quintins. John had Issue Thomas Lord Darcy, whose Issue-Male of his Father and Grandfather failing, his Daughter is mar­ried to Sir Thomas Savage.

At the latter end of Q. Mary's days, Callis being taken, Sir Hugh Paulett took down the Bells of the Church of Jersey, and send­ing them to St. Malo's in Britain 14 of them were drowned at the Entry of the Harbour; and at this day it is a By-word in those Parts, when a strong [...]ast-Wind bloweth there, that the Bells of Jersey ring.

Ex relatione Mri. Bandivell Decani, ib.

Traveling through Cambridgeshire, and passing through a Town there called An­glary, I saw certain ruinous Walls, which seemed to have been some Monastery, hereupon I asked one of the Town, if it had not been an Abbey? he answered me, yes; I demanded of him whose it was, he said one Mr. Foulkes; I asked him further, how long he had had it? he said his Father a Londoner bought it; then I desired to know of him what Children he had? the Man answered me none; saying further [Page 282] that he had a Son, who displeasing him once as he was grafting, threw his graf­ting Knife at his Son, and therewith kil­led him.

Passing also another time through Suf­folk, I fell in company of a Gentleman­like Man, who by way of Discourse, there had been in the Parts we there were, a­bout 20 Justices of Peace, when he was young, and that at the present time there were not above three. He named also di­vers of the Families decayed, some in E­state, others for want of Issue-Male, and some by Misfortune. I having a jealous Eye upon it, asked if they were not set­led upon Church-land, he answered me, yes; as Sir Michael Stanhope at Oxford-Abbey, Sir Anthony Wingfield at Levering­ham-Abbey, both which died, one with­out Issue, the other without Issue-Male. Sir Anthony Playford at Playford-Abbey, Mr. Brown at Lawson-Abbey, where he was murthered by his Wife, she burnt, and her Man hanged. Mr. Ford at Batley-Abbey, who disinherited his eldest Son, &c. saying further, that that Part was Church-land belonging to the Abbey of St. Edmundsbury, and called it St. Ethel­reds Liberty. 30 Sept. 16▪ 9.

In the Sermon of John Bishop of Ely, at the Funeral of Dr. Andrews Bishop of Win­chester, 11 Nov. 1626, at the Church of St. Saviours in Southwark.

Now before I come to his last End, give me leave to tell you, that private­ly he did much find fault and reprove three Sins too common and reigning in this latter Age.

1. Vsury, &c.

2. Symony, &c.

3. The third and greatest was Sacrilege, which he did abhorr as one principal Cause among many of the foreign and civil Wars in Christendom, and Invasion of the Turks; wherein even the reformed, and other­wise the true Professors and Servants of Christ (because they took God's Por­tion, and turned it to publick profane Uses, and to private Advancements) did suffer just Chastisement and Correction at God's Hand. And at home, it had been observ'd; and he wish'd that some Man would take the pains to collect, how many Families that were rais'd by the Spoils of the Church, were now vanish'd, and the Place thereof knows them no more.

Of Sacrilege touching Bells.

‘It is reported in our Histories, and I have spoken of it before in the proper place, that King Edgar leading his Ar­my into the parts of Glamorgan, for sup­pressing a Rebellion of the Welshmen, some of his Soldiers, among other spoil, took away the Bell of St. Ellutus, and hanged it about an Horse's Neck. And it is noted upon this, that King Edgar sleeping in the Afternoon, saw one in a Vision that smote him on the Breast with a Spear, and that thereupon he re­stored both the Bell and the other spoil; yet died within nine days folowing.’ ( Holl. p. 161.) If the Vision be fabulous, I maintain it not: tho' we have a Prece­dent for it in the Ecclesiastical Histories, about the Death of Julian the Apostate. But the Mythology may be, that Edgar (abounding with Devotion) was stricken in Conscience with the Spear of Repen­tance for this Sacrilege; and that notwith­standing his Restitution, his Life was ta­ken from him very shortly after.

I shall make a great Leap from thence to these latter Ages; but I can go no fur­ther, than where Authors and my reading [Page 285] carry me. Only for our Fathers times, I shall report what I have faithfully recei­ved by Tradition.

When I was a Child (I speak of about threescore Years since) I heard much talk of the pulling down of Bells in every part of my Country the County of Nor­folk, then common in Memory. And the summ of the Speech usually was, that in sending them over Sea, some were drown'd in one Haven, some in another, as at Lyn, Wells or Yarmouth. I dare not venture upon Particularities; for that I then hear­ing it as a Child, regarded it as a Child. But the truth of it was lately discover'd by God himself; for that in the Year ... he sending such a dead Neipe (as they call it) as no Man living was known to have seen the like, the Sea fell so far back from the Land at Hunstanton, that the people going much further to gather Oy­sters than they had done at any time be­fore, they there found a Bell with the Mouth upward, sunk into the ground to the very Brim. They carried the News thereof to Sir Hamon le Strange, Lord of the Town, and of Wreck, and Sea-rights there, who shortly after sought to have weighed up and gained the Bell; but the Sea never since going so far back, they hitherto could [Page 286] not find the place again. This Relation I receiv'd from Sir Hamon le Strange him­self, being my Brother-in-law.

Such other Reports I have often in times past heard, touching some other parts of that Kingdom; but (as I said) I then regarded them not, and will not therefore now speak any thing of them.

But dining one day at Lambeth, with the most Reverend Father in God, George the late Archbishop of Canterbury; it pleased his Grace, in way of Discourse, to tell me, That being in Scotland, and lodg­ing at his first entrance in Dunber, he viewed the Church there, and understand­ing that there was never a Bell in the Steeple, demanded the reason of the Mi­nister. Who not pleas'd with the Questi­on, answer'd somewhat scornfully, That it was one of the Reformed Churches; implying thereby, that the Reformed Churches had no Bells. Then going to Edinborough, he found no Bell in all the City, save one only in the Church of St. Andrew; and enquiring there also of the reason, it was told him, ‘That the rest were pull'd down and shipp'd to be carried into the Low-Countries, but were all drowned in Leigh Haven.’ Such havock in pulling down Bells and [Page 287] defacing otherwise of Churches, had no doubt proceeded furiously throughout all England, if Queen Elizabeth in An. 2. of her Reign, had not by her Proclamations and course of the Star-Chamber, very se­verely prevented the same.

At the end of Qu. Mary's days ( Callis being taken) Sir Hugh Paulett pull'd down the Bells of the Churches of Jersey, and sending them to St. Malo's in Britain, fourteen of them were drowned at the en­trance of that Harbour. Whereupon, it is a by-word at this day in these parts, when any strong East-wind bloweth there, to say, The Bells of Jersey now ring. (Ex re­latione M. Bandinell Decani ibidem.

More to this purpose may appear in the Discourse next following; which lying now at my hand, I thought good to in­sert, not only for coherence of the matter, but also to shew the Opinion, Piety, and Tenderness herein, of the greatest Father and Magistrate of our Church (under the King) at that time living.

Dining yesterday at Lambeth with my Lord of Canterbury, Nov. 13. 1632. his Grace falling ca­sually into a Discourse of Spanish matters, and the Wealth of their Churches, said, That he had heard that the very Lamps of Spain were worth half the Treasure of that [Page 288] Kingdom. And calling to him Mr... Barkley of ... who had been a great Traveller and long in Spain, demanded his Opinion herein. Mr. Barkley answer'd, That he thought it to be true, and gave a reason; for that every body for their de­livery from any notable danger, either of Sickness or otherwise, used to present a Saint by way of gratuity with a Lamp to burn before it, and commonly of Silver. So that before some one Saint, there were 4 or 5 thousand Lamps: His Grace sug­gested St. James of Compostella. And Mr. Barkley affirm'd it of St. James; but ad­ded, That the Bells in Spain and in other places of France and Italy, were few and small, yet holden to be very powerfull for driving away the Devils and Evil-spi­rits. I upon this recited out of Gregorius Turonensis, the History of Lupus Bishop of Swessons, who by sudden ringing of Bells drave away the Pagan Army of Nor­mans besieging that City, having never heard of a Bell before. Much being then said of the Nature and Office of Bells, his Grace esteem'd the Bells of England com­paratively with the Lamps of Spain; and condemning the pulling of them down, complained of the Deformity they had thereby brought upon the Churches of [Page 289] Scotland; saying, That at his being there, and lodging first at Dunbar, he went to see the Church, which being shew'd unto him by a crumpt unseemly Person the Mi­nister thereof, he asked him how many Bells they had there? The Minister an­swer'd, None. His Grace thinking that somewhat strange, demanded how it chanced? The Minister thinking that Question as strange, reply'd, It was one of the Reformed Churches. From thence his Grace went to Edinborough, where he found accordingly no Bell in all the City, save one only in the Church of St. Andrew. And enquiring, What became of all the rest? it was told him, That they were shipp'd to be carried into the Low-Coun­tries, but were drowned in Leigh Haven—I said, That it was reported, that Queen Elizabeth hearing that Sir John Shelton for want of other Prey, had brought a Bell from the sacking of Cales, was highly offended at it, and said, By God's death she would make him carry it thither again. I might have added, that that Peerless Prin­cess was so far against defacing the Monu­ments in Churches, and the pulling down of Bells and Lead from them, as in the second Year of her Reign she caused ma­ny Proclamations not only to be printed, [Page 290] but signed them also with her own Hand, and sent them in that manner (the more to manifest her Zeal and restrain the Sa­crilege) about into the Counties. But be­cause I had spoken of sending the Bell back again, his Grace then requited me with this Relation.

A Gentleman (quoth he) of great de­scent, richly married, and of fair Estate (yet not naming him) shewed me on a time a piece of Unicorns Horn, Sea Uni­corn, as much as the Cover of a great Salt-celler (which was then standing up­on the Table before Dinner) was about at the bottom; the piece of Unicorn's Horn having a Crucifix graven upon it, and a gapp in one of the Quarters, where part had been cut or scrap'd away for cu­ring Infirmities. I desired to know of him where he had it; but he refus'd to tell it me; till after some pressure he discover'd to me, That in his Travels beyond the Seas, he came to a Nunnery, where the Nuns in courtesie shewing him the Re­licks of their House, he whilst they heed­ed him not, slipt this into his Pocket and brought it away. His Grace reproving him for it, told him, It was Sacrilege, and that although it were superstitiously us'd, yet it was dedicated unto God, advising [Page 291] him to use some means for sending it back again; saying, that the Nuns no doubt suffer'd great Displeasure from their Ab­bess, upon the missing of it. The Gentle­man notwithstanding (quoth his Grace) refus'd my Counsel; but I observ'd (said he) that he never prosper'd after, and at length having consumed his Estate, died Childless.

It came not then to my Mind upon the sudden; but I might very truly have added the like of Sir John Shelton, That having married the Daughter of Henry Lord Cromwell, he died very little or no­thing worth, and without any Issue (as I take it) but certainly without any Issue-male to continue his Family.

[Subscrib'd] Henry Spelman.

I Jeremy Stephens being then present, do testify the truth of this Relation.

Having made mention of Cales and Queen Elizabeth; I will add further what was lately told me by a Knight of worth (who was himself in the Voyage) much conducing to the Honour of that renown­ed Princess, and to the scope also of this our Discourse. It is said, That when she set forth her Expedition for Cales, or [Page 292] other Spanish Towns, she gave particular and streight Instructions that in no Case any Violence should be offered to any Church or consecrated thing. This not­withstanding, Sir Coniers Clifford, upon the taking of Cales, fired and burnt the Ca­thedral-Church there; and Sir Charles Blunt (in the return from thence) the Cathedral-Church of Pharos in Portugal. It followed, that Sir Coniers Clifford ne­ver after prospered in any thing, and was at last slain by the Natives in Ireland, lea­ving no Son to continue his Nominal-line; and that Sir Charles Blunt, about 2 Years after the Fact, was drowned at Sea in pas­sing for Ireland. (Ex relat. Will. Slingsby Mil. 22. Nov. 1634.)