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Show en Ae ae Toai tir: +05? aaa he Preface. The Preface. ddent feare their ownefaults.GO.D S indgements vponthe greater greateft appeare by enident proofe,than by affeseration,That ill doing bath alwaies beene Hanie\beene left to\po/terity ;firftsby thofe happy. hands whichthe Holy Ghoft bath guidedsand feconlly;by thesr cvertue,who banegathered the aéts and ends ofmen, attended withillfucceffe, I will bere; by way of Preface, run ouerfome examples. ; which the worke enfuing hath not reached, the \conuerfion of wAngellsinto Dewills , for Ambition: Or of the greateft and moftglorious Kingssho hanegnawne thegraffe ofthe earth with beafts forpride olence of the Norman Conque/t, than we encounter witha fingular and moft re. mighty and remarkeable in the world. Nowto poynt farre off,and to' fpeake of and ingratitude towards.G O:D: Or ofthat wife working of Pharaoh, when he fluethe Infants of Mftael, ere they had recouered their (sradles: Qrof. the policy of lezabel;incouering the murder of Naboth by a tryallof the Elders, accor ding to the Law,with many thonfands ofthe like:what wereit otber,than to make awhopeleffeproofe thatfarre-offexamples: would notbe left tothe fame farre-off respects as heretofore? For who hath not obferued, what labour, \prattice,perill, bloudfhed , and cruelty, the Kings and Princes ofthe world haue undergone, exercifed,takenon them; and committed ; tomake themfelues and their iffues ma- frersof the world 2 Andyet bath Babylon,Perfia,Egypt,Syria, Macedon, Car- thage,Rome,@ the rest,nofruitpoflower,gra/snorleaf[pringing vpontheface of the earthof thofe feeds: No,their very roots & ruines do hardly remaine.Omnia que manu hominum facta funt, vel manu hominum euertuntur, vel ftando & durando deficiunt:All that the hand ofman can make,is eyther ouerturndby the hand of man, or atlength by ftanding and.continuing confumed. The rea/ons of whofe ruinesare diner[ly ginen by thofe that ground their opinions on fecondcaufes. All Kingdomes ex States hauefallen (.fay the Po- liticians)by outward we forrainforce, or by inward negligence a diffenfion, or by athird caufe arifing from both.Others objerue,That thegreatet hane funk downe vniler their own weightyofwhich Liuie hatha touch:eo crevit, vt magnitudine laboret {ua : Others, ‘Thatthe divine prouidence (which Cratippus objected to-Pompey) hath fer downe the date and period of enery Eftate ; before their - foundationand erection. But hereof Iwillgine my. felfe a day ouerto reine. For feeingthefirft bookes ofthe followingtory, hauevndertaken the difcour/e -hake Aims ~aan sand that yt 4s impofsibleforthe fhort life of 4 SibfetipetreenaesiSs pisicklookeieae by our own ings <7 their Neii Brinct:: oi honesboli thinathered Jucceffe of infidelity jininflice tecete ba ee soa ; the famepatterne, - ftanding) planted after True'ivis, that the iudgements of all.men are not agreeable nor: (which « is Prange) the affection of any onesman firred cup azlike swith examples» of like nature :But enery one is touched molt,' with that which mokt neerely' feemeth to touch bis owne priuate ; Or ‘otherwife best futeth with) bis appre pprebbenfi on,n. enfio fen geab chan tartlea ; neyther is B But the iudg i ements of GOD ¢ , yun hee syed by 5 the-longyproceffe of~Sa time ega , nra and tog wonto i fsingim one age, tothat which be bath curfed.in another. Wherefoe ye that are wife, or whofe wifedome if it bee not great yet 4s as oy well are ; will beable to difcerne the bitter fruites ofirreligitak ys _- sinong thofe examples that are: found in ages remoued Jrom the prefe nt ; as inthofe of lattertimes. And that itmay no leffe appeare Among our Kings of the Normanrace, we haue nofooner paffed ouer the Ue markableexample ofGods Iuftice,wponthe children ofHenrythefir/t., For that King,whenboth byforce, craft and crueltybehad difpoffestouerreachtand laftlymade blinde'and deftroyed his elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy,to make his oiwnefonnes Lords of this Land:G OD caft themall,Male and Female, Nepbewes and Neeces (Maudexcepted) into the bottome of the Sea,with aboue abundred andfifty others that attended them,whereofagreat many were Noble, and ofthe King dearly beloned. Ze ote y Topaffeouerthe reft,till we come to Edward the Second, itis certaine, that af, ter the murderofthat King,the iffue of bloud thenmade,thoughst badfome times offtay and toppingdid againe breake out , and that fo often and in [uch aboundance,as all our Princes of the Mafculinerace (very few excepted) dyed of the Samedifeafe. And althoughtheyongueyeares of Edward the Third, made his knowledgeofthat horrible fast no more thanfufpicious :yet in that he afterwards caufed bis owne Vncle the Earle ofKent to dado no other offence than the defire ofbis Brothers xedemption , whom the Earle as then fuppofed tobe lining; the King making thattobe treafon in hisVncle, which was indeede treafon in hima Self, (bad his Vncles intelligence been true)this Ifay made it manife/tthat be was not ignorant of what badpaftnorgreatlyde/irous to haue had it otherwifesthough he caufed Mortimertodie for thefame. This cruelty the fecretand cunfearchable indgement ofGOD renenged onthe Grand-child ofEdward the Third: andfoitfell out,enen to the laft of that, line, that in the fecondor third:defcent they were all buried under the ruines of thofe buildings,of which the Mortar had beene tempered with innocent bloud. For Richard the Second, who [aw, both his Treafurers, his Chancellor, and his Ste« ward; with diners others of bis Counfailours,fome ofthemflaughtered by the people,others in-his abfence executed by bis enemies ; yet bee alwaies tooke himfelfe for oner-wife,to be taught by examples.\, The Eayles ofHuntingdon and Kent, Montatiu Spencer,who thought themfelues asgreat Politicians in thofe dates as others haxe done in thefe : hoping to pleafe the King, andtofecure themfelues, by the Murder ofGloucefter; diedfoone after, with many other their adherents, bythe like-vialent hands ; andfarre more fhamefully than did that Duke. And as for the King himfelfe (whoinregard of many deedes , vnworthy of his Greate néffe.cannot be excused, as the difauowing himfelfe by breach ofFaith,(harters, Pardonsand Patents :\) Flee was in the primeofbisyouth depofed,and murdered by bis Cofen Germane and vaffall, Henryof Lancafter, afterwards Henry the Fourth. 5 This King,whofe Title was weake,¢o his obtaining the Crowne traiterous:who brake faith with the Lords atbis landing, prote/ting to intend onely the recouery of his proper inheritance, brake faith with Richatd himfelfe ;and brake faith withall the Kingdome in Parliament,to whom hee {wore that the depofed King fhouldline, After that he had eniryed this Realme fome few yeares, and mn that time had beenefet vpanon all fides ‘by bis Subiedts , and neuer free from A 3 cOn~ |