punishment for the truth which I have professed I esteem not of this world nor the treasures of it more than for my necessary uses and the rest to bestow in the propagation and maintenance of the Gospel And I beseech God daily upon my knees for my wife and children that they may all continue in this quarrel even to the death And when he came to his execution he patiently and comfortably slept in the Lord. At the same time there was also brought forth one John Gonsalvo formerly a Priest but by his diligent study of the Scripture it pleased God to reveal his truth to him so that he became a zealous Preacher of it labouring in all his Sermons to beat into mens minds the true way and means of our Justification to consist in Christ alone and in stedfast faith in him for which he was apprehended and cast into prison where he endured all their cruely with a Christian courage At last with two of his Sisters he was condemned His mother and one of his brothers were also imprisoned with him for the truth and executed shortly after When he with his sisters went out at the Castle gate having his tongue at liberty he began to sing the 106. Psalm before all the People who had oft heard him make many godly Sermons He also condemned all hypocrites as the worst sort of People Whereupon they stocked his tongue Upon the stage he never changed countenance nor was at all daunted When they all came to the stake they had their tongues loosed and were commanded to say their Creed which they did chearfully when they came to those words The holy Catholick Church They were commanded to adde Of Rome but that they all refused whereupon their necks were broken in a trice and then 't was noised abroad that they had added those words and died confessing the Church of Rome to be the true Catholick Church There was in Sivil a private Congregation of Gods people most of which the Inquisitors consumed in the fire as they could discover any of them amongst others that were apprehended they took four women famous above the rest for their holy and godly conversation but especially the youngest of them who was not above one and twenty years old who by her diligent and frequent reading of the Scriptures and by conference with godly and learned men had attained to a very great measure of knowledge so that whilst she was in Prison she non-plus'd and put to shame many of those Friars that came to seduce her Another of these women was a grave Matron whose house was a School of vertue and a place where the Saints used to meet serve God day and night but the time being come wherein they were ripe for God they together with other of their neighbours were apprehended and cast into prison where they were kept in dark dungeons and forced to endure all the cruel and extream torments which are before mentioned At last they were condemned and brought forth to the scaffold amongst other Prisoners The young maid especially came with a merry and cheerful countenance as it were triumphing over the Inquisitors and having her tongue at liberty she began to sing Psalms to God whereupon the Inquisitors caused her tongue to be nipped by setting a Barnacle upon it After sentence read they were carried to the place of execution where with much constancy and courage they ended their lives Yet the Inquisitors not satisfied herewith caused the house of the Matron where the Church used to meet to be pulled down and the ground to be laid waste and a pillar to be erected upon it with an inscription shewing the cause There was also apprehended another worthy member of the same Congregation called Ferdinando he was of a fervent spirit and very zealous in doing good A young man but for integrity of life very famous He had spent eight years in educating of youth and had endeavoured to sow the seeds of Piety in the hearts of his Scholars as much as lay in him to do in a time of so great persecution and tyranny being at the last apprehended for a Lutheran he was cast into prison and terribly tormented upon the Jeobit and in the Trough whereby he was so shaken in every joynt that when he was taken down he was not able to move any part of his body yet did those cruel tormentors draw him by the heels into his prison as if he had been a dead dog But notwithstanding all his torments he answered the Inquisitors very stoutly and would not yield to them one jot During his imprisonment God used him as an instrument to recal and confirme a Monk who had been cast into prison for confessing the Gospel openly But by means of the Inquisitors flatteries and fair promises he had somewhat relented Gods Providence so ordering it that Ferdinando was cast into the same prison and finding the Monk wavering he rebuked him sharply and afterwards having drawn him to a sight of and sorrow for his sinne he at last strengthned him in the promises of free grace and mercy Hereupon the Monk desired a day of hearing where before the Inquisitors he solemnly renounced his recantation desiring that his former confession might stand whereupon the sentence of death passed against them both after which the Inquisitors asked Ferdinando whether he would revoke his former heresies to which he answered That he had professed nothing but what was agreeable to the pure and perfect Word of God and ought to be the profession of every Christian man and therefore he would stick to it to the death Then did they clap a Barnacle upon his tongue and so they were burned together There was also one Juliano called The little because he was of a small and weak body who going into Germany was there conversant with divers learned and godly men by which means he attained to the knowledge of the truth and became a zealous Professor of it and earnestly longing after the salvation of his Countreymen he undertook a very dangerous work which was to convey two great dry Fat 's full of Bibles printed in Spanish into his own Countrey In this attempt he had much cause of fear the Inquisitors had so stopped every Port and kept such strict watch to prevent the coming in of all such commodities but through Gods mighty protection he brought his burden safely thither and which was almost miraculous he conveyed them safe into Sivil notwithstanding the busie searchers and catch-poles that watched in every corner These Bibles being dispersed were most joyfully and thankfully received and through Gods blessing wrought wonderfully amongst Gods people to ripen them against the time of harvest But at last the matter broke out by the means of a false brother who going to the Inquisitors played the Judas and betrayed the whole Church to them So that there
subtilty allured to him three or four holy men that had been Confessors Then he entised three weak Bishops that lived in Italy to come to Rome and there perswaded them by imposing hands upon him to make him Bishop for which fact two of them afterwards were suspended and the third upon his repentance vvas re-admitted Novatus being thus made a Bishop grew proud and sought by all means to with-draw the people from Cornelius to himself yea he made many of them to swear that they would not leave him to go to Cornelius But the holy Confessors before mentioned vvhen they perceived the crafty subtilty of Novatus left him and much grieving for their sin were reconciled to Cornelius again Novatus held this opinion that they which once renounced the faith and for fear of torments had offered incense to the Idols although they repented yet could never be re-admitted into the Church of Christ again To suppress this error there was a Synod called at Rome of sixty Bishops Anno 255. who condemned it Cyprian also relates of Aurelius a godly and valiant young man who for his constancy in the cause of Christ suffered great and many torments and afterwards was banished And of Mappalicus who the day before he suffered in the midst of his torments told the Proconsul Videbis cras agonem to morrow you shall see the running for a Wager and accordingly the next day being brought forth to his Martyrdom he with no less constancy then patience endured faithfull unto the death But Decius the Author of this persecution escaped not the revenging hand of God for warring against the Goths and being overcome by them lest he should fall into their hands he leaped vvith his horse into a whirlpit where he was drowned and his body was never found after Yea God avenged the blood of his Saints upon the whole Roman Empire by sending a general plague of pestilence upon it which continued ten years together and Dionysius saith that in Alexandria vvhere he vvas Bishop there vvas scarce any house clear and though some Christians died in this plague yet it fell most heavy upon the Gentiles The Christians also in this plague shewed much brotherly love each to other by visiting comforting and relieving one another Whereas the Idolaters being stricken with extream fear of the plague none considered his Neighbour but every man shifted for himself and of those that were infected some they cast out of doors half dead to be devoured of dogs and wild beasts some they let die in their houses without all succour others they suffered to lie unburied and durst not come near them notwithstanding vvhich the pestilence followed them whithersoever they vvent and miserably consumed them so that the most part of the Inhabitants were consumed by it in every Country especially in those Provinces where had been the greatest persecutions raised against the Christians After the death of Decius there succeeded Gallus and Volusianus in the Empire Anno Christi 255. who continued this persecution against the Christians which fell most heavy upon the Pastors and Ministers of the Congregations for about this time Cyprian and many other Ministers were banished others were put into the mettal Mines to whom Cyprian wrote an Epistle consolatory wherein he writes thus Wounds and scars are an Ornament to a Christians brest such as bring not shame but honoureth them before the Lord and though in the Mynes there be no beds for their bodies to rest on yet they have rest in Christ and though their weary bones lie on the cold ground yet it 's no pain to lie with Christ. Their feet are fettered with chains but he is bound of man whom the Lord Christ doth loose he lies tied in the stocks whose feet thereby are made swifter to run to heaven neither can any man tie a Christian so fast but he runs so much the faster for his garland of life They have no garments to save them from cold but he that puts on Christ is sufficiently clothed Doth bread fail to their hungry bodies Man lives not by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Your deformity shall be turned to honour your mourning to joy your pain to pleasure and felicity infinite And if this grieve you that you cannot serve God in your places as formerly yet your daily sacrifice ceaseth not which is a contrite and humble heart and though your travel be great yet shall your reward be greater for God beholding them which confess his name approveth their willing minds in their strivings helpeth them in their victory crowneth them rewarding that in us which he hath performed and crowning that which he hath in us perfected Again he tells them that they are now in a joyfull journey hasting apace to the mansions of the Martyrs there to enjoy after darkness durable light and comfort above all their sufferings c. About the same time also Lucius Bishop of Rome was banished After the death of Gallus and Volusianus there succeeded Valerianus who ceased the persecution and carried himself exceeding friendly to the Christians so that his whole Court was replenished with holy Saints and servants of Christ whereby his house seemed a Church of God But the Devil envying the peace of the Church by the means of an Egyptian Enchanter who was hindred from doing his feats by the presence of the Christians stirred up the Emperor against them who grew to such impiety himself that he sacrificed young infants to his Idols quartered their bodies divided the Entrails of young Children new born c. as hereafter follows CHAP. XIV The eighth Primitive Persecution which began An. Christi 259. VAlerianus being seduced by the Egyptian Inchanter as is before related stirred up the eighth persecution against the Church of Christ concerning which Cyprian writeth thus We must confess that this great calamity which hath wasted for the most part all our Churches and still dayly consumes us ariseth chiefly from our own wickedness while we walk not in the way of the Lord nor observe his precepts as we ought whilst we are full of lucre pride emulation dissention void of simplicity and faithfull dealing renouncing the world in word but not in deed every man pleasing himself and displeasing others and therefore we are thus worthily scourged For what stripes do we not deserve when the Confessors themselves do keep no Discipline c. Concluding Non venissent fratribus haec mala si in unum fraternitas fuisset animata These evils had not happened to the brethren if they had joyned together in brotherly unanimity A little before this persecution began God by a vision revealed it to Cyprian saying to him Be quiet and of good comfort for peace will come albeit a little stay there is for a while for that some remain yet to be proved and tried c. The crimes and accusations that were laid
them to undergo Romanus answered Thy sentence O Emperour I willingly embrace I refuse not to be sacrificed for my brethren and that by as cruel torments as thou canst invent c. The Captain being much enraged with this his stout Answer commanded him to be trussed up and his bowels drawn out whereupon the Executioners said Not so Sir this man is of noble parentage and therefore he may not be put to so ignoble a death Scourge him then quoth the Captain with whips with knobs of lead at the ends but Romanus sang Psalms all the time of his whipping requiring them not to favour him for nobilities sake Not the bloud of progenitors saith he but the Christian profession makes me noble then did he earnestly inveigh against the Captain and derided their Idoll gods c. but this further enraged the Tyrant so that he commanded his sides to be lanced with knives till the bones were laid open yet still did the holy Martyr preach the living God and the Lord Jesus Christ to him then did the Tyrant command them to strike out his teeth that his speech might be hindered also his face was buffeted his eye-lids torn with their nails his cheeks gashed with knives the skin of his beard pulled off by litle and little c. yet the meek Martyr said I thank thee O Captain that thou hast opened to me so many mouths as wounds whereby I may preach my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ look how many wounds I have so many mouths I have lauding and praising God The Captain astonished at his constancy bad them give over tormenting him yet he threatned to burn him reviled him and blasphemed God saying thy crucified Christ is but a yesterdaies God the gods of the Gentiles are of greatest antiquity But Romanus taking occasion from hence declared to him the eternity of Christ c. withall saying Give me a child of seven years old and thou shalt hear what he will say hereupon a pretty boy was called out of the multitude to whom Romanus said Tell me my pretty babe whether thou think it reason that we worship Christ and in Christ one Father or else that we worship infinite gods the child answered that certainly what we affirm to be God must needs be one which with one is one and the same and inasmuch as this one is Christ of necessity Christ must be the true God for that there be many gods we children cannot beleeve The Captain amazed at this said thou young villain and traitor where and of whom learnedst thou this lesson of my mother said he with whose milk I sucked in this lesson that I must believe in Christ The mother was called and she gladly appeared the Tyrant commanded the child to be horsed up and scourged the standers by beholding this mercilesse act could not refrain from tears the joyfull and glad mother alone stood by with dry cheeks yea she rebuked her sweet babe for desiring a cup of cold water charging him to thirst after the cup that the babes of Bethlem once drunk of She willed him to remember little Isaac who willingly proferred his neck to the â—int of his fathers sword c. Then did the cruell tormentor pull off the skin hair and all from the crown of the childes head the mother crying Suffer my child anon thou shalt passe to him that will adorn thy head with a crown of eternall glory thus the mother councelleth and encourageth the childe is encouraged and receiveth the stripes with a smiling countenance The Captain seeing the childe invincible and himself vanquished commands him to be cast into the stinking prison whilest the torments of Romanus were renewed and encreased Then was Romanus brought forth again to receive new stripes upon his old sores the flesh being torn and the bare bones appearing yet the cruell Tyrant raging like a mad man quarelling with the tormentors for dealing so mildely with him commanding them to cut prick and pounce him and then he passed sentence upon him together with the childe to be burned to death to whom Romanus said I appeal from this unjust sentence of thine to the righteous throne of Christ that upright Judge not because I fear thy cruell torments and mercilesse handling but that thy Judgements may be known to be cruell and bloudy When they came to the place of execution the tormentors required the childe of his mother for she had carried it in her arms from the prison She kissing it delivered it to them and as the executioner was striking off his head she said farewell my sweet childe All laud and praise with heart and voice O Lord we yeeld to thee To whome the death of all thy Saints We know most dear to be The childes head being cut off the mother wrapt it in her garment laid it to her brest and so departed Then was Romanus cast into a mighty fire which being quenched with a great storm the Tyrant commanded his tongue to be cut out and afterwards caused him to be strangled in the prison Gordius a Centurion in Caesarea in the heat of this persecution left his charge living a solitary life in a wilderness for a long time at last when a solemn feast was celebrated to Mars in that city and multitudes of people were assembled in the Theatre to see the games he came and gat up into a conspicuous place and with a loud voice said Behold I am found of those which sought me not c. the multitude hereupon looked about to see who it was that spake this and Gordius being known he was immediatly brought before the Sheriff and being asked who and what he was and why he came thither he told him the whole truth professing that he believed in Christ valued not their threatnings and chose this as a fit time to manifest his profession in then did the Sheriff call for scourges gibbets and all manner of torments to whom Gordius answered that it would be a losse and damage to him if he did not suffer divers torments and punishments for Christ and his cause the Sheriff more incensed hereby commanded all those torments to be inflicted on him with which Gordius could not be overcome but sang The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do unto me and I will fear no evill because thou Lord art with me c. then did he blame the tormentors for favouring him provoking them to do their uttermost then the Sheriff not prevaling that way sought by flattery to seduce him promising him preferment riches treasures honour c. if he would deny Christ but Gordius derided his foolish madness saying that he looked for greater preferment in heaven then he could give him here upon earth then was he condemned and had out of the city to be burnt Multitudes followed him and some Kissing him with tears entreated him to pity himself to whom he answered Weep
Kings Court To whom the lad answered You shall not get me from the fellowship of these holy men who bred me up with whom I lived in the fear of God and with whom I desire to die and with whom I trust I shall obtain the glory to come And so being all put into the ship they were burned together After the death of Hunrick Gundabund succeeded in the Kingdom who continuing in the steps of his cruel predecessors afflicted the Christians grievously by sundry kinds of persecution during the space of twelve years at the end whereof he died and Thrasamund succeeded him a man that excelled all his Predecessors in magnanimity and courage His manner was by perswasions flatteries promises and rewards to seek to draw the Christians to his Arrian Heresie but they which would not be prevailed with hereby he no way punished or molested them In his time there were great Wars between the Moors and Vandals the Moors had one Cabaon for their General who commanded all his souldiers to use abstinence in their diet and to abstain from women and from all Injury and wrong-doing The women he enclosed within trenches by themselves commanding that under pain of death no man should have access to them Then did he send forth a certain company of Moors commanding them privately to follow the Camp oâ— the Vandals and that wheresoever the Vandals profaned any Church of the Christians presently after their departure they should follow and purge the same For saith he if the Christians God be a good God then will he assist them that are devoted to him and punish the Blasphemers These men in counterfeit base attire followed the Vandals Camp and whereas the Vandals where ever they came took up the Christians Churches for their Horses and Beasts of burthen carrying themselves very insolently against God and his House beating and abusing the Ministers and Church-Officers making them to attend upon them as their slaves After their departure the Moors on the contrary cleansed the Churches carried out the dung kneeled down to and reverenced the Ministers and distributed money to the poor and thus they did continually Then did Cabaon prepare to give his enemies battel and whereas the Vandals were all Horse-men and very well mounted their Horses were so afrighted at the sight of the Moors Camels that they were presently put into disorder and the Moors with darts and arrows did so pelt them that they put them to flight and slew many of them whereupon Thrasamund shortly after died of grief Then did Ilderick the son of Hunrick succeed in the Kingdom who was equally mild and gentle both to the Vandals and Christians and one that kept very fair correspondence with the Emperour Justinian But Gilimer a cunning and ambitious man deposed him and usurped the Kingdom to himself Whereupon Justinian sent against him that brave and gallant General Billisarius who overcame him in several battels took him prisoner freed the Christians from persecution and subverted the Empire of the Vandals in Africk after they had reigned there for the space of ninety years wherein for the most part they had been cruel persecutors of the true Church of God Salvian who was Bishop of Masilia and lived at the same season complaineth that before these brutish Vandals came into Africk the Church of God there was much degenerated from its ancient purity and the power of Godliness was much decaid insomuch as they which lived exactly according to the Rule of Gods Word were hissed at as they went in the streets as if they had been monsters Whereupon saith he the passage of the Vandals into Africk was not to be imputed to Gods rigour but to the Africans wickedness c. Collected out of a Book written by Victor Bishop of Utica who lived at the same time and was himself a Sufferer under this persecution Here place the fifth Figure THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH UNDER THE PAPACY CHAP. XXI The Persecutions of the Waldenses which began Anno Christi 1160. WHen the darkness of Popery had overspread the Christian world so that Kings and Princes imploied their Authority to establish the Romish Idolatry appointing to slaughter such as denied Transubstantiation Adoration of the Host bowing the knees before it c. this occasioned many Christians to detest this superstition as unknown to the Apostles and primitive Church And first of all God raised up Berengarius presently after the year one thousand who boldly and faithfully preached the Truth and against the Romish Errors continuing his Ministry till about the time that William the Conqueror came into England whereupon the Gospellers were called Berengarians till about the year 110. At which time common notice being taken of their separation from the Church of Rome and their disagreeing from so many of their Tenents they were branded with the odious name of Hereticks And twenty years after when they were grown into a very great multitude they had one Peter Bruis for their most famous Preacher who taught long and publickly at Tholouse under the protection and favour of a noble Earl called Hildephonsus whereupon in those parts they were called Petro-Brusians For Peter Bruis Anno Christi 1120. published their Tenents in a book called Anti-Christ wherein he declared both the ground of their Doctrine and the causes of their separation from the Romish Church Twenty years after this they were grown into a mighty multitude about Anno Christi 1140. whereupon the Popes of Rome now began to lay about them for their Extirpation For which end he stirred up his most learned followers to write against them and warned Princes to take heed of them and to banish them out of their Territories Anno Christi 1147. they had Henry of Tholouse for their most eminent Preacher whereupon they began to be called Henericians and because they were well red in the Scriptures especially in the Epistles of St. Paul whom by way of eminency they called the Apostle alleadging Texts out of him nnd would admit of no Testimonies for the proof of Religion but only out of Scripture they were called Apostolicks And shortly after God raised up Peter Valdo a Citizen of Lions in France who shewed himself most couragious in opposing the Popish inventions withal taxing divers other innovations which were crept into the Church of Rome and he was the more eagerly hearkened unto because he was in high esteem for his Learning and Piety and his liberality to the poor for besides the nourishing of their bodies he did also feed their souls by exhorting them to seek Jesus Christ and salvation by him The Arch-Bishop of Lions being informed that Valdo used thus to instruct the people boldly taxing the vice luxury and pride of the Pope and his Clergy forbad him the same upon pain of Excommunication and proceeded against him as an Heretick Valdo replied that he could not be silent in a cause of so great importance
and Tailleret The lesser part went towards Villars the people seeing their enemies approaching called upon God with fervent prayer then set upon their enemies slew some hurt others and the rest fled The other company going towards Tailleret they of that place were but few in number yet making their prayers to God and commending their cause to him they set valiantly upon their enemies during which bickering they of Villars encouraged by their late success came to help their friends and set so lustily upon their enemies that they put them to flight but in the pursuit of them they fell into an ambush and were environed by their enemies yet through Gods mercy they all escaped without the losse of one man on the enemies side there were so many slain that they were laid together by whole Cart-loads Another party of the enemies going to spoil a rich mans house some of his neighbours not being above seventy set upon them put them to flight took away their Drum and recovered their booty from them Then did the Lord of Trinity send to them telling them how much the Duke and his Dutchesse favoured them and promised himselfe to mediate for them that they might live in peace But whilest by these pretences he sought to make them secure he sent part of his Army to get the hill of Tailleret and another part had already gotten the way that led to the meddow of Tour whereby the Angrognians might have been easily enclosed but they perceiving it immediatly sent some to encounter with their enemies who gat the victory pursued them to their camp and slew very many of them without the losse of one man The Lord of Trinity cunningly excused this attempt and sent to them to draw up a supplication to the Duke which was accordingly done wherein they promised to render all honour and reverence unto God according to his Word and all due obedience to the Duk c. But in the mean time Trinity grievously vexed them of Tailleret upon pretence that they had not presented themselves to treat of this agreement taking their arms from them and causing them to ask pardon on their knees But presently after news was brought them that the enemies had gotten to the top of the mountaine and had taken all the passages whereat they were sore amazed and ran with all speed to defend their wives and children some they saved but the most of their goods were already in the enemies hands who at this time did them much mischiefe Yet after this the Lord of Trinity sent word again to them that were fled that if they would return he would receive them to mercy The poor people most of them trusting to his promise returned but the next morning the enemies came to apprehend them and their Ministers besetting the place on every side Then they that were swift of foot escaped all the rest were taken yet God miraculously delivered them for an old man that could not run so fast as the other was espied by a souldier who ran with a naked sword to have slain him the old man seeing the iminent danger caught him by the legs overthrew him and drew him by the heels down the hill the souldier cryed Help help this villain will kill me hereupon his fellows ran to his rescue but in the mean time the old man escaped and the rest seeing what the old man had done though they had lost their weapons yet took heart of grass and with stones and slings drave away their enemies and thereby they all escaped The next day the souldiers went again to Tailleret robbing spoiling and carrying away all that they could find but most of the people were retired towards Villars Then did the souldiers range all about and took divers prisoners whom they used cruelly and one souldier bit off one of their ears saying I will carry the flesh of this wicked Heretick with me into my Country They found also two women the mother and the daughter in a cave whom they wounded to death and in another cave an old man of an hundred years old with his grand-daughter of eighteen years old that fed him the man they slew the maid they would have ravished who flying from them tumbled down the mountains and died About the same time there was one John Martin that made his boasts every where that if he could meet with the Minister of Angrogne he would slit his nose but shortly after a wolf met him and setting upon him bit off his nose whereupon he ran mad and died miserably A certain souldier promised the Lord of Trinity to bring to him the Minister of Tailleret and accordingly never ceased till he found him but as he was pursuing of him some out of the mountains rescued the Minister and slew the souldier with stones These souldiers were so extream abusive to women that many Papists that lived by sent their daughters into the mountains to the Waldenses to preserve their chastity Then did the Lord of Trinity promise that if they would pay him eight thousand Crowns he would with-draw his Army and be gone They being desirous of Peace sold their Cattel to raise the money but when he had received it he continued his Army there still Then did the Lord of Trinity require them to send away their Ministers till the matter were determined before the Duke or else by his Army he would force them to it whereupon by mutual consent they agreed that the Ministers should with-draw for the present till the Army was retired which was not done without great sighs and lamentations and tears At that time there fell an extraordinary snow so that the people with great difficulty were fain to make way for their Ministers to pass But the Army hearing that the Ministers were gathered together they sent out a company of harquebushers to apprehend them who came but one hour too late to have taken them Then did they search every cave house and chest to seek them whereby they robbed the poor people of all their best things Then did they beset the Ministers house of Angrogne to whom the Lord of Trinity had promised safety but it pleased God that he escaped the souldiers pursued him into the mountains but could not overtake him whereupon they plundred his house burnt his books and writings and so returned The next morning command was given to the Rulers of Angrogne within twenty four hours to deliver up their Minister or else Angrogne should be put to fire and sword They answered that they knew not where he was for the souldiers had driven him over the mountains Then did the souldiers burn houses break the mils spoil the people and do all the mischief they could and so departed The Lord of Trinity left Garisons in the Fortresses and caused the poor Waldenses to maintain them who not content with their wages pillaged and robbed all about them and
departure the popish Bishops Clergy and Nobles began to vex his Subjects for Religion contrary to that assurance which the King had given to them They attempted also the like in Prague the Jesuites daily threatning that their Liberty in Religion should not last long Then did they strictly prohibit the Protestants from printing any thing unlesse licensed by the Chancellor of the Kingdom themselves in the mean time divulging their own slanderous pamphlets and dangerous writings against the Protestants Then instructions were given to the Captains and Judges that they should suffer no meetings in Churches except themselves were present and except they had a Popish Priest to administer only in one kinde Then the Burgrave who had the custody of the Crown and priviledges of the Kingdom was apprehended because in the late Parliament he had stood for the free election of a King and delivered prisoner to one of the bitterest enemies of the Protestants In other places they destroyed the Churches of the Protestants In the begining of the year 1618 The Governors of the University and Consistory met together having formerly had power given them so to do and choosing six persons two Barons two Knights and two Citizens to consult what was best to be done in this time of their enemies insolency there presently came an injunction in Caesars name to inhibit them to call any together and that if any man was called he should not dare to appear upon the pain of high Treason Notwithstanding which the major part of the States met and when as new prohibitions and threats were spread abroad and the States were informed that those thunderbolts came not from the King but from the castle of Prague their abused patience was turned into severity and being guarded with a great Troop they went to the Castle and apprehended two of the chief Authors of these troubles and threw them headlong out of the Castle windows together with their Secretary that was privy to all their designs but God intending to preserve them to be the Bohemians scourges they caught no hurt in the fall falling upon the grasse and greate store of papers Hereupon a great tumult was raised in Prague but the States appeassed it the first thing they did was to banish the Jesuits out of Bohemia as the chief contrivers of these mischiefs then did they write to Caesar that they had no intention against his Royall Majesty but only to bring to punishment the disturbers of the publick peace being authorized thereto by his Majesties Letter and bound by their protestation yet he resolved to revenge this Treason as he called it by force of Arms and the Bohemians on the other side resolved to defend themselves and for that end they chose thirty Directors and the Moravians and Silesians resolved to joyn with them when they perceived Religion to be the cause of the quarrell And indeed this was that which the enemies aimed at and therefore they provoked the Bohemians by all waies that so they might make a conquest of Bohemia and for this end an Imperial Army presently entred the Kingdom under Dampier and a Spanish Army under Bucquoy In the mean time the States resolved not to admit Ferdinand to be their King who was so open an enemy both to their Religion and Liberties and who was obtruded upon them without a due election They sent also Embassadors to Franckford where the Electors were met together to choose a new Emperour desiring that Ferdinand might not be admitted amongst them as King of Bohemia notwithstanding which he was admitted and chosen Emperour The Bohemians in the mean time choosing Frederick Elector Palatine for their King This more enraged their enemies so that they sent another Army under Maximilian of Bavarie which took two Protestant Towns by storm and put all to the sword and every where made great slaughter of the Protestants Then the Imperiall Armies came to Prague which being struck with a Pannick fear the Protestant Army being overthrown in a set battell under the wals and their new King fled they delivered up the City to them the Conqueror promising to keep Articles agreed upon but performing nothing lesse For they did more mischief to the Church of Christ by their subtile and slow proceedings then lately by their outragious fury when the sword fire and wheel were the instruments of their rage against the faithfull For a little before when it was debated at Rome how they should deal with the Bohemians and Germans after the Conquest it was agreed that seeing their former strong purges which they had used to expell Hereticall humours had not proved effectuall they therefore resolved not to put them to death wherein they did glory as in Martyrdom but rather to weary them and to change the hatefull name of Inquisition into the milder name of Reformation And whereas there was a debate amongst the Imperialists at Prague whether all the protestants should be presently banished the negative was resolved on because they would then carry much away with them and so spoil the Province and indure their banishment with greater ease therefore they concluded that they must first be squeezed and deprived of their goods and for this end the souldiers at Prague were authorrized to plunder the houses of Noblemen and Citizens yet this was done at several seasons and mostly in the night by which meanes as the enemies boasted they took from the Protestants some millions of gold For indeed hither were all their riches brought in the time of war as to a place of the greatest security But as this fell to the Commanders shares so the neighbouring places were exposed to the fury of the rest the common souldiers robbing and spoyling Villages Towns and Churches burning and killing without any restraint The souldiers that were placed in Garrisons would not only have Free-quarter but extorted mony from their Landlords every day Then were Comissions sent abroad promising security to those Noblemen Knights Corporations and Ministers that would bring in a good Sum of money to pay the Army which yet they would not receive as a free gift but only desired to borrow it Caesars protection was also promised to those that were liberall the rest were threatned to be plundred by the souldiers They set down also what sums they expected from every one within such a time they promised also that when that was paid the Souldiers should be removed which made every one to bring in their Plate Money and Jewels the more willingly Then were Commissioners sent to require certain Cities that belonged to the Protestant Noblemen to mantaine the standing Forces of the Kingdome and to contribute corn for their publicke granaries but whilest they were fed with a vaine hope of lessening and removing the souldiers there were more listed which raised the taxes so high as was impossible for the people to pay
make him more carelesse of himself that they may undo him before he be aware But if the Party be a stranger or one that is like to make an escape or that they hope to gain any thing by his confession they presently clap him up in prison in which prison great numbers die either starved with hunger or by extremity of racking of them c. If any one that is accused chance to make an escape they have many devices to finde and fetch him again They have store of searchers to whom besides the common signes they give his lively picture whereby they may easily know him An Italian at Rome having wounded an Apparator fled to Sivil the Familiars were sent to seek him and when they had found him though they had his counterfeit yet by reason that he had altered his habit they were doubtful whether it was he or no the rather because he had changed his name whereupon they followed him only upon suspicion but one day as he was walking and earnestly talking with some Gentlemen two of these Familiars suddenly called him by his old name The Party earnest in talk and not minding it looked behinde him and made answer whereupon they presently apprehended him clapt him in irons for a long time then whipt him and condemned him to the Gallies during his life So soone as any is arrested by the Familiars they take from him all the keyes of his locks or chests whatsoever and then they take an Inventory of all his goods leaving them with some man that will undertake to be accountable for them but in the sequestring and rifling the houses if they have any gold silver or Jewels these Familiars which usually are bawds theeves shifters and the vilest of people will be sure to filch some of it and the reason of this sequestration is that if the Party be condemned the holy Inquisition may enjoy his whole estate As soone as the Prisoner is entred within the first gate of the Prison the Jailor asketh him if he have a knife about him or money or ring or Jewels and if a woman whether she hath knives rings chains bracelets or other ornaments and all these the Jailor strips them of as his fee And this is done that the poor prisoners may have nothing to relieve themselves with during their imprisonment They search them also to see whether they have any writing or book about them which likewise they take from them then they shut them up in a Cabin like to a little-ease where they have little room for cleanlinesse and but little light Some are thus kept all alone for two or three moneths some as long as they live others have company as the Lords Inquisitors please When the Party hath been in prison a week or two the Jailor perswades him to petition for a day of hearing telling him the sooner the better and that it will much further his cause and bring it to some good effect c. whereas it were farre better for him to stay till he be called for for then he hath nothing to do but to answer their objections But the poor Prisoner not knowing this mystery is usually ruled by his Keeper intreating him to stand his friend to procure him a day of hearing whose suit is easily heard and the Prisoner is brought into the Consistory Then do the Inquisitors ask him what is his request the Prisoner answereth that he would gladly have his matter heard then they labour by threatning him with worse usage if he conceal the truth to cause him to confesse the thing whereof he is accused and if they can but draw him to this they have their desires for usually they draw more from him than they could have proved against him Then they advise him to let it come from himself promising that if he acknowledge his faults he shall presently be released and sent home If yet he stand mute they then charge him to disburthen his conscience and in the mean time to return to his prison till he hath better bethought himself and then he may sue for a new day of hearing and so they dismisse him Then after some dayes they call for him again asking him he be yeâ— determined to confesse ought but whether he plead his innocency or confesse some little they still urge him to disburthen his conscience perswading him that they advise him for the best and in love and compassion to him but if he now refuse the favour proffered he shall finde them afterwards sharp Justices c. and so send him back again to prison The third time he is called for they use the like subtilty to draw him to confession telling him that if he refuse they must use extremity and do what they can by law by which word they mean extream tormenting and mangling of him Then if the Party confesse any thing Nay say they we are not yet satisfied we have not all you can say you keep back something on purpose and so they remand him to prison Having thus excruciated him day by day if they can yet get nothing out of him they then require an oath of him and hold a Crucifix oâ— Crosse before him whereby the poor Christian must at last neeeds shew himself for knowing that he ought to swear by God alone who hath reserved his honour to himself he must refuse the oath which if he do then they read a large enditement against him wherein they lay to his charge things that never no man accused him of and which it may be himself never thought of and this they do to amaze him and so to try if he will confesse any of these misdemeanours or if they can trip him in his answers and so catch him in their net Then they put him to answer to every article particularly ex tempore without any time of deliberation Then they give him pen ink and paper requiâ—â—ng him to set down his answer in writing to see if they can find any difference betwixt his former answer and this and if the Partie chance to confesse ought then thâ—y enquire of whom he learned it and whether he hath spoken of it before others and who they are and hereby many are brought into trouble for whether they liked it or not they are sure to be questioned because they did not come and declare it to the fathers Inquisitors Then pretending to shew him favour they appoint him an Advocate to blind the peoples eyes as if they proceeded according to the rules of Justice but this Advocate dares not tell his Client any point of Law that may do him good for fear of angring the Inquisitors neither may he speak privately with his Client but either before an Inquisitor or a Notary Two or three dayes after the Party hath had the Copy of his accusation he is called into the Court where his Advocate is as if he intended to defend his cause but indeed he
horrible blasphemies they murthered him and then plundred his house About the Ramparts of the wall inhabited many of the Religion amongst whom all night was heard nothing but shooting of guns and pistols breaking open of doors fearful out-cries of the men women and children that were massacred trampling of horses rumbling of Carts that carried the dead bodies away and the cryings out of the murtherers that went up and down howling out Kill kill them all and then take the spoile This Massacre continued all the week long the bloody beasts crying out to those whom they murthered Where is now your God What is become of all your Prayers and Psalms now Let your God whom you call'd upon save you if he can Others sang in scorn to them the 43. Psalm Judge and revenge my cause O Lord. Others Have mercy on me O God c. Yet notwithstanding all these taunts the faithful died couragiously In this Massacre the Papists boasted that they had slain above twelve thousand men besides women and children some of them said eighteen thousand On Tuesday night some of these murtherers came and knocked at the door of a Doctor of the Civil Law and when he opened it to them they told him that he must die whereupon he fell to Prayer with such ardency and affection that they being amazed and over-ruled by a divine power only robbed him and went away The next day came some Scholars to his house desiring to see his Library which he shewed them then they asked some one book some another which he gave them yet they told him they were not satisfied but they must kill him whereupon betaking himself to prayer when he had done he desired them to kill him there which they refused forcing him out into the streets leading him by the schools and there he again desired them to kill him in that place where he had taught so long but they still refused and when they had led him a little farther they knockt him on the head Others meeting with an Apothecary who had brought Physick to a Patient cut off one of his armes and then had him forth into the market-place where they murthered him A Cook that had hid himself three dayes was at last through hunger forced to come forth and so was slain And to fulfil the measure of their cruelty such Protestants as through fear revolted to them they placed them in the fore-front of their companies putting weapons in their hands compelling them to give the first onset crying Smite them smite them are they not your holy brethren and sisters and if any refused they presently slew him In Lyons Mandolet Governour thereof hearing of the Massacre at Paris presently caused the City gates to be shut raised forces commanding them that if any of the Protestants came out of their houses though but with swords they should presently kill them but the Protestants seeing a storme coming which they knew could not arise without the special providence of God set themselves to bear it with invincible patience The day following if any of them did but go abroad about their necessary occasions they were presently clapt up in prison and when night came the murtherers entred their houses which they rifled and plundred and pretending to carry the Protestants to prison some they stabbed in the streets others they threw into the river whereof some were carried down the stream half a mile below the City by which means they escaped The day after Proclamation was made by sound of Trumpet that all of the Religion should appear at such a place to know the Kings pleasure concerning them many went but so soon as they came they were sent to several prisons and the night following every corner and part of the City was full of lamentable cries and shreekings partly of such as were massacred in their houses partly of such as were but half murthered and so haled to be thrown into the river and from that time there were such horrible murthers committed in the City as if the Divels in the likenesse of men ran roaring about to do mischief The Sabbath morning following those that had hitherto escaped massacring were then dispatched In the Arch-bishops house there were three hunded and fifty Prisoners shut up and a bloody crue of cutthroats were appointed to murther them to whom the keyes were delivered and they rushing into the great Court gave notice to the prisoners with a loud voice that they must die then having first taken all the Prisoners purses they fell upon them with barbarous cruelty hacking and hewing them in a furious manner so that within an hour and an half they were every one cut in pieces The prisoners were all slain with their eyes and hands lift up to heaven whilst their hands and fingers were cut off There was a Merchant called Francis de Bossu that had two sonnes the father seeing the horrible Massacres said to his sons Children we are not now to learn that it hath alwayes been the portion of believers to be hated persecuted and devoured by unbelievers as Christs sheep of ravening wolves if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him let not therefore these drawn swords terrifie us they will be but as a bridge whereby we shall passe to eternal life we have lived long enough amonst the wicked let us now go and live with our God let us joyfully go after this great company that is gone before us c. When he saw the murtherers come he clasped his armes about his two sons and they theirs about him as if they strove mutually to ward off the blows each from other who were afterwards found dead in these mutual imbraces The murtherers went up and down the City boasting that they had died their white doublets red in the blood of the Huguenots one bragging that he had killed an hundred and some more and some lesse when the people went into the Arch-bishops house and saw the slaughter that had been made there though they were Papists yet they said that surely they were not men but Devils in the habit of men that had done this The dead corpses were carried out and lay spread like dung upon the face of the earth and when they were about to throw them into the river an Apothecary told them that much money might be made of their grease whereupon all the fat bodies were sought out ripped up and their grease sold for three shillings a pound which being done after many jears bestowed upon the dead carcasses some were tumbled into a great pit others thrown into the river The Countries which lay below upon the river were amazed to see such multitudes of dead bodies to come down the streame some with their eyes pulled out others their noses eares and hands cut off stabbed into every part of their bodies so that some had no part of humane shape remaining Shortly after
Grzymaltowsky with many of the Nobility to the same Gate and when the aforesaid Kolechen with another in his company had gone out to them and scarcely perswaded them that the City was forsaken and that there was no treachery they went in and when they were disposed into the next fair houses they were entertained with a noble supper which was prepared to sweeten them a little if it might be and had plenty of Wine out of Dlugosses Cellar who was a rich Senator At last when they were half Drunk they set upon Kolechen with threats and would have made him their Prisoner but that he escaped wonderfully out of their hands and saved himself by flight But they durst not stay all night in the City for fear the Swedes and Citizens should set upon them unawares out of some Ambuscado and so they returned to their own company and in the morning with many hundred Waggons they came back killing all they met and setting themselves to plunder the City Here then you might have seen strange examples of barbarous cruelty on the one side and blockish folly on the other For though no man made resistance yet like Mad Dogs they flew upon all that either came out or were drawn out of the holes wherein they had hid themselves Of some they pulled out their eyes Of some they cut off their Noses and Tongues Of others they cut off their Hands and Feet others they stabbed and slashed and so butchered them with innumerable wounds that it could not be known who they were And which was more they spared not his Highness Prince Frederick Landgrave of Hassia though dead whom they had slain half a year before at Costena and who was decently Embalmed by the Lessians and kept laid up in the Chappel of the New-Church upon a Scaffold till he might be transported to his own Country They first rifled his Coffin which was handsomely adorned taking away his silver and guilt keyes and all the silk that was about it then they set upon the Princes corps and took away his silk robe lined with Ermines and so left him once again naked and lying on the ground But after the burning of the City his body being found in the same place untouched by the fire he was cloathed again by the ancient Lesnians and put up in his Coffin and buried in a certain place where he is still honourably kept But that mad rabble shewed abundance of folly in this that whereas they might have made Lesna their nest the Swedes having Garrisoned themselves in the strongest places of the Province or at least might have gathered together the richest of the plunder for there was such abundance of victuals wares housholdstuff of all sorts and treasure that was brought hither from other places as to a place of safety that a thousand Waggons could scarce have carried it away in many dayes yet such was their over-eager desire of their destroying this hated City that the very same day yea before noon they set fire to the City and Suburbs in every street for the Waggons which they brought with them were not empty but loaded with Torches Pitch Straw and such other combustible matter and so cruelly destroyed that most pleasant City together with all that abundance of all sorts of things that was in it This fire lasted three whole dayes and there were those that took care that nothing should scape it for when the New-buildings of the New-churches did not easily take fire they brought Straw Pitch and dry wood and put under the roofs and the in-side of the steeples and so forced them to take fire And they came again upon the third day 1. May and whatsoever was left they set fire to again They burnt also the very Wind-mills whereof there were seventy about the City and a very pleasant Park of the Countesses which lay close by the Castle that every place might be filled with spectacles of cruelty and at length it might come to be said En cineres ubi Lesna fuit Where fairest Lesna stood of old Now nought but Ashes we behold The Citizens sadly beholding these flames some miles off ran thither next day by Troops whether out of a desire of quenching the fire if it were possible or else to save something out of the flames for most through fear had gone away empty handed but the Enemy came upon them and although they stoutly defended themselves and slew many of their Enemies yet many of themselves were slain and many others also on the dayes following when some Villages that belonged to the County of Lesna and were inhabited by professors of the Gospel were in like manner burnt down There perished in these flames many aged and sick people that could not get away besides such abundance of houses houshold-stuff of all sorts precious wares corn many thousand bushels whereof were brought hither libraries and other things that the loss would amount to many Tuns of gold and many thousands were thereby reduced to meer beggery But that which was saddest of all was that the Church of the faithful that was here gathered together out of divers places and Countryes to enjoy the pure worship of God was so utterly overthrown that it cannot but cry out with Sion of old when it was rased by the Babylonians Lament 1. and 3. O all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger For he hath sent a fire into my bones and it prevaileth against me he hath made me a desolation so that I am not able to rise up my children are desolate because the Enemy prevailed Sion spreadeth forth her hands and there is none to comfort her I called for my lovers but they deceived me Mine Enemies chased me sore like a Bird without cause They have cut off my life in the Dungeon Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee Thou saidst Fear not It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not It must not be concealed what wonder hapned the first day of the burning of the City about evening at Czirna which is the first Town of Silesia next to Lesna about two miles distant Some of the Lesnians went out to look upon the sad smoke of their Country and as they were looking there fell from the clouds which carried the smoke over Silesia together with the soot a leaf of burnt paper which when they took up they found to be a leaf of the Bohemian Bible containing the 6 th and part of the 7 th chapters of Matthew where those words of Christ came first to sight With what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again with many other of Christs exhortations to trust in the fatherly Providence of God This leaf was presented to the Lord of the place and a Lesnian Physitian who was there by chance that read and