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CHAP. IX. Of those that persecuted the Sonne of God and his Church.
IF they who in the law injured and persecuted the Church of God, were punished according to their deserts, as we have already heard; is it any marvell then if the enemies and persecuters of our Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus, which labour by all means to discountenance and frustrate his Religion, and to oppresse his Church, doe feele the heavy and fearefull vengeance of God upon them for their very wic∣kednesse and unbelie••e? No verily, for he that honoureth not the Sonne, honoureth not the Father which sent him, and is guilty therefore before God, of impiety and prophanenesse. From this hainous crime King Herod in no wise can be exempted, that caused all the Infants of Bethlehem of two yeares old and under, to be cruelly murthered, in hope thereby to put the true Messias and Saviour of the world to death. For which deed, accom∣pained with many other strange cruelties, as by killing the ordinary Iud∣ges of the house of David, and his owne wife and children, this Caitise was tormented with sundry intolerable griefes, and at last devoured by an horrible and most fearefull death. For (as Iosephus reporteth) his body was boyled, and his bowels gnawne in two by a soft and slow fire, fretting in∣wardly, without any outward appearance of heate: besides the rave∣nous and insatiable desire of eating, which so possessed him, that with∣out chewing, his meat in whole lumps descended into his body, devou∣ring it so fast as it could be throwne into his mouth, and never ceasing to farse his greedy throat with continuall sustenance: moreover, his feet were so swolne and pust up with such a flegme, that a man might see through them; his privy parts so rotten and full of vermine, and his breath so stinking, that few or none durst approach neer unto him; yea his owne servants for sooke him. Now lying in this wretched plight, when this wic∣ked man saw no remedy could be found to asswage his griefe, hee went about to kill himselfe, and being not able to performe it, he was constrained to endure all the pangs of a most horrible, lingring, and languishing death, and at last mad and miserable bestraught of sense and reason, to end his dayes.
As for Herod the Tetrarch, sirnamed Antipas (who to please Herodias, had caused Iohn Baptist to be beheaded) when hee had likewise prepared snares for our Saviours feet, and being sent to him by Pilate, to quit himself, and gratifie him withall, had jeasted and mocked at him his belly full, behold, his reproaches and mockes (was he never so subtle) turned into his owne bosome: for first, after that his army had been discomfited by the souldiers of King Aretas, whose daughter (in regard of Herodias his brother Philips wife) he had repudiated; a further shame and dishonour befell him, even to be deprived of his Royall dignity; and not only to be brought into a low and base estate, but also being robbed of his goods, to be banished into a farre countrey, and there to make an end of the rest of his life.