and was afterwards sent for to Rome by the Pope where many endeavours were used to tempt him to desert and deny the Truth which not prevailing he was Condemned to be burnt alive which he constantly suffered to the Admiration of all that saw him In the year 1559. John Aloysius a Minister being sent from Geneva to Calabria was sent for to Rome by the Pope where he suffered Martyrdom and at that time James Bovellus a worthy Minister was Martyred by the Popes Order at Messina Pope Pius the Fourth ralsed in hot persecution against the Protestants in all he Territories of the Church of Rome which was the destruction of many faithful Christians yea the Persecution was so hot in the Kingdom of Naples that many Noblemen and their Wives with divers others were slain And a Papist writing to a Noble Lord about the Cruelties shewed to some Christians â—n Calabria in the year 1560 hath these expressions When I think upon it I verily quake and tremble for their manner of putting to death may be fitly resembled to the slaughter of Calves and Sheep for Fourscore and Eight of them being thrust up together in one House as in a Sheepfold the Executioner cometh in takes one and blindfolds him and then leading him forth to a larger place commands him to kneel down and then cuts his Threat and leaving him half dead he takes his Butchers Knife and Muffler all goâ—e blood and fetches the rest and so one after another dispatches them all How sad this spectacle was I leave to your Lordship to Judge for my own part I cannot but weep to think of it neither were there any Spectators who seeing one to die could endure to behold another But truly so humbly and patiently they went to their deaths as is almost incredible to believe All the Aged Persons went more cheerfully the younger were something more timorous I tremble and shake to remember how the Hangman held his bloody Knife between his Teeth and his bloody Muffler in his hand and his Arms all gore blood up to the Elbows going to the Fold and taking every one of them one after another by the hand and so dispatching them all no otherwise than a Butcher doth his Calves and Sheep The City of Venice kept it self free a long time from this Plague of the Inquisition so that multitudes of Christians flocked thither from other places but in the year 1542 the Pope so far prevailed as to introduce it there likewise and then began a Terrible Persecution of the poor protestants there and they found out a new kind of death for them â—hich was to drown them in the bottom of the 〈◊〉 in the manner following when they â—ere condemned to die by the Inquisitors â—here was an Iron Chain fastened round their waste and a heavy stone was tyed thereto then they were laid upon a Plank between two Boats and so rowed to an appointed place in the Sea where the Boats parting asunder the Person immediately sunk into the Sea and was drowned notwithstanding which divers good Christians met together and had a Minister who preached the Gospel Administred the Sacrament to them but some false brethren creeping in among them betrayed them upon which many of them were apprehended and cast into the Sea others were imprisoned at Rome till they died Among others who were condemned to be drowned at Venice there was one Seignior Anthony Ricetto To whom after his condemnation his son of about Twelve years of Age came and with Tears beseeched his Father to recant for the saving of his own Life and that he himself might not be left fatherless To whom his Father answered A good Christian is bound to forgo Children goods yea and Life it self for the maintenance of Gods Honour and Glory for which cause said he I am now resolved with Gods assistance to lay down my Life When he came to the place where he was to suffer the Stone and Chain were fastned to him whereupon lifting up his Eyes to Heaven he said Father forgive them they know what they do Lord Jesus into thy hands I do commend my Spirit And so he ended his Life in the Sea A while after one Francis Spinola was apprehended and committed to Prison and being called before the Inquisitors he boldly reproved the Popes Legate and the other Judges in that contrary to their Consciences they persecuted the Truth of God and told them they were the Off-spring of the Pharisees c. Whereupon he had sentence passed upon him That he should be drown'd as an Heretick to whom he answered I am no Heretick but the Servant of Jesus Christ At which words the Popes Legate bid him be silent and told him that he lied The night after he was conveyed into the Sea and there drowned blessing and praising God with invincible Constancy In the year 1595 There was a young English Protestant at Rome who going into a Church and seeing their gross Idolatry he was so moved that he could not endure the sight of those impieties and therefore as the Procession passed by him he stept to him that bare the Host and Sacrament and plucking it out of his hands threw it on the Ground saying Ye wretched Idolaters do ye fall down to a Morsel of Bread This so provoked the People that they were like to have torn him in Pieces but he escaped death was sent to Prison complaint thereof being made to Pope Clement the 8th he was so inraged that he commanded him to be burnt the same day but his Cardinals advised to have him kept in Prison and Examined with Exquisite Tortures who set him on This they accordingly practised tormenting him with the utmost severity but could get nothing from him but these words Such was the will of God Then was he adjudged to be led from the Capitol naked to his middle and to wear on his head the form of a Devil his breeches to be painted over with Flames of Fire and so to be carried all about the City and then burnt alive This was Executed upon him and as he passed through the Streets he was mocked and derided of the People but he prayed fervently to God and at last uttered something against the debauched Lives of the Cardinals which so inraged them that they gagged him When he came before the Church where he threw down the Idol his Right hand was cut off by the Hangman and set upon a Pole in the Cart to which he was tyed Then two Tormentors with flaming Torches scorcht and burnt his Flesh all the way so that his body was all over blistered and bloody having no part free but his head then was he taken from the Cart and went himself to the stake kissing the Chains that should bind him The Fryars urged him to worship an Idol but he turned away his Face and shew'd his Detestation of it and when the Fire seized on him he bowed his head and quietly resigned up his Spirit
Beasts and so were turned out into the Woods where they were ravished and abused and then had their Hair and Ears cut off and disfigured In Pomeren they forced the people to eat their own Excrements and if they refused them they thrust them down their Throats till they were choaked They cram'd the secret parts of several women with Gunpowder and so setting fire to it most barbarously tore their Bellies and Wombs Divers were hung up by the privy parts they plained the faces of others with Chisels others they caused to draw on Boots filled with scalding Oyl and so roasted their legs over the fire some men they gelt in the presence of their wives and children others had their bodies hung up by Cords and by tying great weights to their limbs all the joynts of their body were put out of joynt some had Gags put in their mouths and had stinking water and piss poured down their Throats through a Tunnel till their bellies swelled like a Tun whereby they died in most cruel torment They sawed off the legs of some alive and one Minister they bound upon a Table and placing a great Cat upon his belly so provoked the Cat that she scratcht his guts out of his belly withher Teeth and Nails till he miserably died At Magdenburg they ravished the Wife and Daughter of a famous Minister before his face and then violently snatcht a sucking Infant from its Mothers breast and stuck it on the top of a Lance and when they had tormented his Eyes and Heart with these horrid Spectacles they brought the Minister into the Street and burnt him with his own Books Yea such was their abominable filthiness in Pomeren that they ravished the fairest Virgins before their Parents faces forcing them to sing Psalms the while one beautiful young woman they ravished and then cut to pieces hanging up her quarters in the Church Girls of ten years old and under they ravished and abused till they killed them nay so monstrous beastly were they that they committed filthiness with the dead Corps of those women whom they had murdered At Bastl and Friburg they did the like neither pitying old nor young men women nor innocent Babes whom sometimes they most barbarously used to eat even when other meat might be had yea such inhumane cruelty they used that in many places they left none remaining alive to relate the sufferings of those that were murdered Thus these Massacres and bloody murders defiled the whole Land and Germany groaned under the oppression till the peace of Munster and Osnaburg in the year 1648. which put a stop to this cruel Persecution the Papists being compelled thereto by Gods bringing in the King of Sweden who over-ran Germany in a short time and thereby revived the Protestant Cause which was almost over-born and dâ—stroyed by so many thousand violences and miseries as it had lain under for many years These bloody Tyrants vented their rage and fury not only in Germany but also in Hungary and other Countries for they committed the same Villanies in all places where they had power the Ministers were generally banished and put to death and the same Picture of their cruelties which has been represented to you in Germany was acted over again in this Kingdom which we have not room to insert only a new sort of death was invented there they tyed Hens Geese Ducks and Hares to the naked Body of a worthy Minister in that Countrey and then set the Dogs upon him who tore and rent his Flesh till he dyed You have beheld many sad and doleful Spectacles and Reader if thou art a Christian thy heart must almost bleed at the relation of them we will therefore Epitomize the bloody cruelties of the Papists in POLAND All the same things or worse if it be possible which we have related to be done in other places were likewise acted in Poland many thousand Protestants and good Christians have been destroyed in that Kingdom and especially at Karmin Dumbuick Shochy Carienzin and Lesna all which Cities and Towns were destroyed and burnt to the ground for the cause of Religion The City of Lesna was one of the most ancient and flourishing Cities in all the Kingdom of Poland which was wholly laid in ashes being three whole days in flames ere it was consumed in which there perished many hundred Protestants besides inestimable wealth and treasure no man resisting or opposing the fire Here they pulled off the Noses of some and put out the Eyes of others and cut off the Tongues Hands and Feet of divers giving Quarter to none but killing and destroying all that came in their way They cut off the Hands of a pious Matron of Lesna and then murdered three of her Children before her Face cutting off their Heads and laying one at each Breast and the other by her side Another Woman having her Hands and Feet cut off and her Tongue cut out they sowed up in a Sack and so left her for two days in which she lived making a most miserable lamentation In the Lower Poland a multitude suffered whole Families were butchered and Men and Women Young and Old murdered without distinction And in the year 1654. there was an horrible slaughter amongst them the Papists putting to death all the Protestants they could meet with by most exquisite tortures One Mr. Samuel Cardus a Minister they used with extream cruelties first putting out his Eyes and leading him about as a miserable Spectacle then they pull'd of his Fingers with Pincers and poured melted Lead down his Throat and while he was yet half alive they put his Neck between two folding doors and so violently severed his Head from his Body They used the Minister of Dembnick and another Minister very barbarously for after they had several ways tormented them they cut their Throats with a Razor and while they were breathing flung them into a Pit and covered them with filth and dung The same Cruelties the barbarous and bloudy Papists acted against the Protestants in LITHUANIA in the year 1648. slaughtering all that were not Roman Catholicks without distinction of Age or Sex Here many had their Skins flead off while they were alive others their Hands and Feet cut off some their Bowels taken out alive others had their Shin-bones bored through they poured melted Lead into the wounds of some whom they had cut in the Head and other parts of their Bodies Some had their Eyes pulled out and those that were hanged up in all places were such a multitude that they are hard to be numbred It was counted a great mercy and kindness to be shot beheaded or killed outright without any other torment The Wives and Daughters of the Protestants were every where ravished their Houses and Goods burnt and destroyed and their Countrey and their Churches laid waste so that there was nothing to be seen in every place but Murders and Massacres and the Blood of the poor Suffering Protestants ran like Streams through
of admirable wisdom and understanding who when the King came one time into his Parliament at Paris made a bold speech before him wherein he gave thanks to Almighty God for moving the Kings Heart to be prefent at such a weighty matter as that of Religion which it seems was then to be debated humbly intreating him to consider well thereof it being the Cause of Christ himself which of good Right ought to be maintained by Princes but the King was so far from bearkening to him that being in raged he commanded him to be committed to Prison and protested to him in these very words These Eyes of mine shall see thee burnt And a while after he was condemned to die In the mean time great Triumphs were preparing for the Marriage of the Kings Sister Daughter the day being come he spent all the morning in Examining matters against Du Bourg and some others charged with the same Doctrines intending to glut his Eyes with their Execution and then went to Dinner After Dinner the King ran at Tilt near the Prison where Du Bourg was and brake many Spears against the Count Montgomery and others and all thinking he had done enough desired him to give over with praise But the King being inflamed with their Commendations would needs run another course with Count Montgomery who upon his knees begg'd his Majesty pardon but the King being resolved commanded him to do it upon his Allegiance Montgomery being compel'd addrest himself to it and the King and he meeting broke their Spears and the Kings Helmet falling down at the same Instant one of the Splinters of Montgomeries Spear entred just into his right eye and so pierced his head that his brains were perished which wound being incurable he died thereof within Eleven days after whereby his great hopes of seeing the Death of Du Bourg were frustrated And the Execution of Du Bourg was deferr'd for six Months longer all which time persevering constantly in the truth he was first degraded and then accompanied with six or seven hundred Horse and Foot well arm'd he was guarded to Execution being first hang'd and then burnt to Ashes At Amiens in France all the Bibles Testaments and â—salm Books were burnt the Ministers Pulpit and several Men and Women At Abbeville they slew the Lord of Harcourt and dragg'd some along the Streets with their their faces in the Kennel At Meux above Four hundred Religious Citizens were slain the Women and Maids were openly ravished in the Streets and Market-places Men Women and Children were Massacred the very Popish Priests themselves slaying divers with their own hands At a place called Bar the same if not worse Villanies were committed for the Papists pull'd out the hearts of these poor Protestants and most barbarously gnawed them with their Teeth rejoycing that they tasted of an Hugâ—nots heart At another place seven Hundred Protestants were inhumanely massacred and their naked Bodies thrown into the River Their Houses and Church being likewise plundered and Burnt At Angies they murthered a Godly Minister and many others and finding a Fair Bible gilt they hung it upon an Halbert and carried it in procession blasphemously crying Behold Truth hang'd the Truth of the Hugonots The Truth of all the Devils behold the Mighty God behold the Everlasting God will speak and when they came to the Bridge they threw it into the River crying louder Behold the Truth of all the Devils drown'd At Tours an hundred and forty were murdered and cast into the River and neither Man Woman nor Child spared nay the President of the City being only suspected to be a Favourer of the Protestants was first beaten with Staves then stript to his shirt hang'd up by one Foot his Head in the Water up to the Breast and whilst he was yet alive they ript up his Belly pluckt out his Guts threw them into the River and sticking his heart on a Lance they carried it about saying This is the Heart of the President of the Hugonots A Poor Woman whose Husband was a while before drown'd having a young Infant sucking at her Breasts and a beautiful Daughter of about sixteen years old in her hand these bloody Villains drove them to a River and taking the Daughter aside some of the Rascals endeavoured to seduce her to Popery and one of them who was finer than the rest promised to marry her so that the poor Maid began to doubt which her Mother who was just going to be thrown into the River perceiving she earnestly exhorted her Daughter to persist in the Truth whereupon the Daughter cryed out I will live and die with my Mother whom I know to beâ—d Virtuous Woman and as for your Threats and Promises I regard them not do with me what you please Before the Mother was quite drowned the Daughter was likewise thrown in who making toward her Mother they mutually embraced each other and so yielded up their Souls into the hands of God In the same City of Tours there was a very Religious Woman who being brought before the Captain she there gave an Account of her Faith which she confirmed by Scripture insomuch that the Fryers who discoursed with her could not return any answer but only told her That she was in a damnable condition It seems so indeed said she being in your hands And being then committed to prison she declared her mind freely and comforted the other Protestant Prisoners she was afterward condemn'd to be hang'd and the Rope being put about her neck she kneeled down praising and magnifying the name of God in shewing her so much mercy as by that death to deliver her out of this wretched world and that she was so far honoured as to die for the Truth and to wear Gods Livery as she reckoned the halter to be she then brake her fast with the rest of the Company and exhorted them to be of good courage and to trust in the free mercy of God to the end As she went to Execution one of her kindred brought her own little Children to see her and perswaded her to recant and save her life to provide for these Innocent Babes This was a very great Temptation and wrought so upon her Motherly affection as drew plenty of Tears from her Eyes But a while after resuming her former Courage and Constancy she said I love my Children dearly yet neither for love to them nor for any thing else in this World will I renounce my God or his Truth God will be a Father to these my Children and will provide better for them than I could have done and therefore to his providence and protection I commend and leave them After which she went cheerfully to the place of Execution and having there prayed to and praised God she quietly resigned up her Spirit to him A while after the City of Roan was besieged and two of the Forts taken wherein they put all the Protestants to the Sword and the Queen Mother being at
He caused four men to be hanged upon suspicion that they had eaten a Goose upon a Friday And a Woman with a Child sucking at her breast was drown'd for refusing to pray to the Virgin Mary Many others were likewise Banished and Imprisoned for the Gospel and among the rest John Rogers a learned and godly Minister whom he caused to be murthered in Prison and then thrown over the Wall giving it out that by attempting to make his escape he broke his neck In the year 1546. Mr. George Wisheart a famous Minister was sent for to appear before Cardinal Beton and the other Bishops at St. Andrews where a Priest was ordered to curse him who called him Renegade Traitor Thief c. However Mr. Wisheart gave them an account of his Faith and Doctrine but they not being able to answer him immediately condemned him to be Burnt and presently a Fire was prepared over against the Castle and Velvet Cushions were laid in the Castle-windows for the Cardinal and the rest of the Prelates to see him suffer and for fear he should be rescued by his friends all the Castle Guns were mounted against the place of his Execution by the Cardinals order then with a Rope about his Neck and a Chain about his middle he was fastned to the Stake and having earnestly prayed and exhorted the People and forgiven his enemies and persecutors he said thus I Beseech you Brethren Exhort your Prelates to learn the Word of God that they may be ashamed to do evil and learn to do good or else there shall come upon them the Wrath of God which they shall not eschew Then the Hangman upon his knees said Sir I pray forgive me for I am not the cause of your Death Mr. Wisheart called him to him and kissing his Cheek said Lo here is a token that I forgive thee My heart do thine Office and so he was tyed to the Stake and the fire kindled The Captain of the Castle came to him and bid him be of good Courage to whom Mr. Wisheart said This fire Torments my Body but no whit abates my Spirits then looking towards the Cardinal he said He who in such State from that high place feeds his eyes with my Torments within few days shall be hanged out at the same Window with as much shame and ignominy as he there leans with Pride then his Breath being stopt with the Flames he gave up the Ghost This Prophecy was fulfilled in a short time after for the people being generally discontented at the Cruelty used against Mr. Wisheart several persons conspired against him and killed him in the Castle and the Provost raising the Town came to the Castle Gates crying What have you done with my Lord Cardinal where is he To whom they answered from within Return to your Houses for he hath received his reward and will trouble the World no more But they cryed We will never depart till we see him Then was he hanged out at that very window to satisfie them he was dead and so the people departed Shortly after one Adam Wallace was Burned likewise and Henry Forest suffered the same Cruel Death upon Account of Heresie One Walter Will was accused for Heresie and being bid to recant he said I am Corn and not Chaff I will not recant the Truth and being thereupon condemned to the Fire and all things made ready to that purpose they commanded him to go to the Stake No said he by the Laws of God I am forbidden to lay hands on my my self therefore do you put me in the Fire and you shall see my resolution Having then made his Prayer unto God he spake thus to the people Although I have been a Great Sinner yet it is not for that but for Gods Truth contained in his Word of the Old and New Testament that I now suffer and God out of his abundant Mercy doth honour me so far as to make me among other of his Servants to seal his Truth with my Blood Dear Friends as you would escape Eternal Death be no more seduced with the Lies of Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors c. but trust only in God After he had thus spoke he was tyed to the Stake and the Fire being kindled he quietly slept in the Lord and was the last person that died for the Protestant Religion in Scotland In the year of our Lord 1641. there brake forth a most horrid and Bloody Rebellion and Massacre of the Irish Papists committed on the English in Ireland a Nation famous for the Birth of divers worthy persons therein but none more renowned than that Excellent Learned and Religious Person James Usher late Ld. Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Primate of Ireland who amongst many other extraordinary Gifts and Graces which it pleased the Almighty to bestow upon him was wonderfully endued with a Spirit of Prophecy from which among many other things he foretold this bloody Rebellion forty years before it came to pass in a Sermon which he preached at Dublin in the Year 1601. where from Ezekiel 4.6 discoursing concerning the Prophets bearing the Iniquity of Judah forty days the Lord therein appointing a day for a Year he made this direct application in relation to the Connivance at Popery at that time From this Year says he will I reckon the sin of Ireland that those whom you now embrace shall be your Ruin and you shall bear your Iniquity which Prediction proved exactly true for from that time 1601. to the year 1641. was just forty years in which it is notoriously known that the Rebellion and destruction of Ireland happened and which was acted by those Popish Priests Jesuits and other Papists which were then connived at For the Jesuits Priests and Friars were the chief Instigators to this horrid Massacre by continually incensing and stirring up the Popish Gentry and Commonalty to shew the utmost of their Zeal therein and this without any provocation given by the English for it was observed that they had all the Liberty they could reasonably desire and that there was not any reason for such Cruel Proceedings against the English but only for that damnable and unpardonable sin of being Protestants And the Popish Clergy the more to engage the deluded Papists to murther them every where loudly declaimed That they were Hereticks and not fit to be suffered any longer amongst them that it was no more sin to kill one of them than to kill a Dog and that it was a mortal and unpardonable sin to relieve or protect any of them And when their business was so fixt that they did not fear any miscarriage the success of this Great Design was recommended in their Publick Prayers as tending very much to the advancement of the Catholick cause and they likewise maliciously represented to the People the severe proceedings against the Papists in England All things being in a readiness they proceeded to the Execution of this Damnable Contrivance but their proceeding therein was various some
and drown them some Wives were forced to help to hang their Husbands in one Town they caused a young Man to murther his own Father and then hanged him up in another place they forced a Woman to kill her Husband and then caused her Son to kill his Mother and then immediately hanged her Son and their cursed malice was thereby shewn that they might as much as in them lay destroy Soul and Body together Yea so detestable was their Cruelty that they taught Irish Children to kill English Children and two Boys boasted that they had at several times murthered and drowned thirty six English Women and Children The Irish Women followed this Army of Murtherers and provoked the Men to Cruelty crying out Kill them all spare neither Man Woman nor Child and many of them stoned the English Women and their Children to Death and cryed Slay them all the English are fit meat for Dogs and their Children are Bastards Yea so Implacable was their malice that one of them was very angry with her Husband because he did not bring the Grease of a Fat Gentlewoman whom they had slain for them to makes Candles of which was commonly practised by them in other places Yea they boasted that the day was their own and that ere long they would not leave one Protestant Rogue living but would utterly destroy every one that had but a drop of English Blood in him yea they vowed they would not leave one English beast alive nor any of their breed Alas who can comprehend the Sighs the Groans the trembling and astonishment of these poor Innocent Souls to sind themselves so suddenly surprized and that without remedy What Schrieks Cries and bitter Lamentations were there of Husbands Wives Children Servants and Friends howling and weeping finding themselves without all hope of deliverance from their present woful Miseries and Calamities For by these and all manner of Cruelties and Barbarities which Hell it self could invent the Irish and English Papists murdered and destroyed in a few Months near Three Hundred Thousand Protestants as it is commonly computed without any manner of provocation but only because they were Protestants whose deaths the Divine Vengeance in a short time after recompensed upon several of the Murtherers many thousands perishing by the Sword and the plague that followed it and the rest without doubt unless they heartily repent will receive the reward of their wickedness The Cruelties Plots and Treasons of the Papists against the Protestants in England AFter having briefly Epitomized the bloody Cruelties and slaughters of this Monster of Rome and his Vassals throughout Europe let us now return home and see if our own Countrey has escaped betterthan our Neighbours Englishmen are generally accounted to be of a merciful nature and pitiful disposition apt to be touched with the miseries of others are not in their own natures bloody barbarous or Cruel what then may be the cause of those dreadful marks of Rage and Fury that have been seen among us How has this Fair Island been made an Accldama a Field of Skulls and Martyrs bones All this we shall sind proceeds from corrupt principles of Religion I doubt not says a worthy Divine but Papists are made like other men Nature hath not generally given them such Savage and Cruel Dispositions but their Religion hath made them so I am loth to say it and yet I am confident it is true that many Papists would have been excellent Persons and very good men if their Religion had not hindred them if the Doctrines and Principles of their Church had not spoiled their natural Disposition Good God! that any thing that is called Religion should so presently strip men of all Humanity and transform the mild and gentle Race of Mankind into Wolves and Tigers It is Popery that alters the Nature of Englishmen and makes them act like Turks Infidels or Barbarians its principles infect the Blood and invenom the Soul instead of being Meek and humble it makes them Proud and Arrogant instead of performing the Commands of Christ it makes men obey the Pope though never so contrary to Religion If our Blessed Saviour says Hurt no man pray for your Persecutors submit to Magistrates and Governours The Pope and his Doctrines say Kill every man that is not of your Religion Curse those that disobey your Commands Kill Stab or depose your Kings or Governours This is the Doctrine and these are the Principles and Commands of the Romish Church It is some hundreds of years since this Bloody Beast of persecution began to shew his Fangs and armed Claws in this Kingdom and it was almost as soon perceived and testified against by some good men in those times For in the Year one Thousand Two Hundred John of Salisbury declared against the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Romish Church and plainly discovered the oppression of the burden of the Pope and his Ravenous Clergy and after him John Grostead Bishop of Lincoln wrote to the Pope and admonished him for which he had like to have lost his life yet the Pope did only hitherto shew his Teeth and could not take his full swing in Blood and Murther which he afterward attained to But since the Papists impertinently urge against us the Newness of our Religion and that it was not known before Martin Luthers days we shall produce much more early Testimonies against the Errors and Abuses in the Romish Churchâ— For we find in the Year 884. John Patrick Erigena a Britan who was ordained the first Reader in Oxford by King Alfred was afterward Condemned and Martyred by the Pope for writing a Book concerning the Sacrament And in the year 960. many Ministers and Divines wore the Mark of the Beast in their faces being by the Popes order Branded in the Faces with hot Irons for Dissenting in many things about the Mass Purgatory Monkery and the like and for saying that Rome was Babylon and that Cloisters were the Nurses of Sodomy In the year 1126. one Arnold an Englishman and a Preacher of the Gospel was Butchered at Oxford for Preaching against the Pride of the Prelates and the wicked lives of the Priests In the Year 1160 the poor Persecuted Waldenses came hither for succour but instead thereof they were Persecuted Condemned Burnt Whipt and Stigmatiz'd for their Religion both at Oxford and other places After which almost in every Year it pleased God to raise up several learned and worthy men to testify against the Horrid Corruptions of Rome both by Speaking Writing and Disputing against them As in the Year 1170. Gualo and Gilbert Foliot Doctors of Divinity and after them Silvester Gerald Alexander a Divine Gualter Maxes Arch-Deacon of Oxford Sebald Archbishop of York William Stringham Doctor of Divinity Roger Bacon Fellow of Merton Colledge a divine and Mathematican John Scotus the Great Scotch-man and about the same time Doctor John Wickliff Jeoffery Chaucer William Wickham Bishop of Winchester and many other Learned men All these gave