General end to all By Fire thy Holy Structures fall Through this depopulated Land Ah! how long shall our Enemies Triumph and glory in our shame How long shall they blaspheme thy Name Great God and thy slow Wrath despise Thy hand out of thy bosom draw Nor longer thy revenge withold Our God thou art our King The Old Amazed world thy wonders saw Hang'd in the Water Drawn up with a puller Brain'd on an Anvil Children cut asunder A Famine in Rochel Adm of France murdred Massacre of Paris Broken on a Cross The Persecutions and Cruelties of the Papists upon the Protestants in France with an Account of the Bloody Massacre at Paris ABout the year 1209. There were divers Learn'd men in France the Disciples of our Almericus at Paris who being taken notice of to hold other Opinions then those commonly heard of at that time Six of them were brought upon Examination who freely declared that they did believe That God was no otherwise present in the Sacramental Bread than in any other Bread That it was Idolatry to build Altars to Saints or offer incense to their Images That it was rediculous to kiss or Worship Relicks They said that the Pope was Antichrist and Rome was Babylon These being counted horrible Errors in that dark time of superstition they were perswaded to recant and upon their refusal so to do were condemned and burnt at Paris And the bones of their Master Almericus which had been buried in the Church-yard were dig'd up and buried in the Fields In the year 1524 One John Clark set up a Bill on the Church door against the Popes Pardons and called him Antichrist for which being apprehended he was ordered to be whipt several days and then burned in the fore-head His Mother a Religious Woman standing by encouraged him saying with a loud voice Blessed be Christ and welcome be these marks for his sake After this he went to Mitz and there being some Images without the City which the People used to worship once a year the Evening before John Clark abhorring their Idolatry went and brake down all their Idols the next morning when the Clergy and People came to their Worship they found their Image lye all broken on the Ground upon which there began a great Tumult and John Clark was suspected and taken who presently confessed the Fact and gave Reasons for his so doing for which he was condemned to a most cruel death His Right hand was first cut off then his Nose was violently pulled off and after that his Arms and Breasts with sharp Pincers all which he sustained with admirable Patience uttering all the while the words of the 115 Psalm Their Idols are Silver and Gold the work of mens hands Lastly he was thrown into the Fire and burnt to Ashes A while after a great number of Protestants at Paris Melda Linosin and divers other Cities and Towns in France were burnt rackt whipt beaten and otherways tormented to death At Melda one was burnt for saying That the Mass was a plain denial of the death and passion of Christ He often meditated on the word of Christ He that denies me before men him will I also deny before my Father He was burned in a slow Fire and endured much torment One Stephen Brame being condemned to be burned for the Constant Profession of his Faith when the Fire was kindled a great wind drove away the Flame from him so that he stood for an hours space instructing and exhorting the People They then brought Oyl Vessels and more Faggots yet still was the flame driven from him whereupon the Hangman struck him on the head with a staff to whom he said I am condemned to be burned and do you strike me with Staves like a Dog after which the Hangman run him through the Belly with a Pike and then threw him in the Fire and scattered his Ashes in the wind Four Protestants were condemned at Roan and were carried to the Stake in a Dung Cart at which they rejoyced saying Blessed be God we are reputed as the Excrements of this World but yet our death is a sweet savour unto God Aymond de Lavoy a Godly Minister was burnt at Burdeux and likewise one Vercote another Minister who was imprisoned in such a narrow place that he could neither stand nor lye down in which they kept him seven weeks whereas before no other Malefactor could endure that Torment above fifteen days without dying or growing mad afterwards they cut off his Tongue and lastly they were so merciful to execute him One Thomas a young man of Eighteen years old coming from Geneva to Paris rebuked one for swearing whereupon he was apprehended for a Lutheran and carried before the Inquisition who committed him to Prison and rackt him so cruelly to confess his Companions that one of the bloody Inquisitors turned back his head and wept yea the Hangman self was weary He was then carryed to be burned and was let down into the Fire by a Pully and afterward puld up again and asked if he would yet turn To whom he said He was in his way to God and desired them to let him go and so he quietly slept in the Lord. The Duke of Guise a great Instrument of Persecution committed many Barbarous Cruelties upon the Protestants and among the rest at a place called Vossy he murd ed several Hundreds of Men Women and Children who were assembled to hear a Sermon mangling their Limbs and strewing them about the Seats and Galleries of the Church and at another Town called Seulis some were beheaded some whipt some beaten others sent to the Gallys the poor women being likewise made Slaves Among the rest one Fournia a Minister was tormented by having his Thumbs strained with a small cord till the blood issued out at the ends of them and with another Cord was hoisted up by the Thumbs and then twitcht down again having great Stones tyed to his Toes and so was hanged till his Spirits failed him and then they suddenly let him fall with his Face on the hard Floor with which Barbarous Usage he in a short time dyed being near fifty years old In the year 1559 in the Reign of Henry the second of France there was one Ann du Bourg a Noble-man and 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 hanks to Almighty God for moving the Kings Heart to be present 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 harkning to him that being inraged 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 dye In the
were murdered without distinction of Age Sex or Quality neither Old Bed-rid nor the diseased in Hospitals being spared In Masion the bloody Papists apprehended an honest Godly Minister whom they carryed along the Streets with a Thousand Scoffs and Scorns and beating and abusing him and then they made Proclamation That whosoever would hear this Holy man Preach should come to the Slaughter House At which place they abused him two hours together He then desired that before his death they would permit him to pray to God upon which a Villain stept to him and cut off half his Nose and one of his ears saying Now pray as long as thou wilt and then we will send thee to all the Devils And then this holy man kneeling down prayed with such zeal and fervency of Spirit as drew sighs from some of the Murderers and afterwards speaking to him that had cut off his Nose he said Friend I am now ready to suffer what thou hast to inflict upon me but I intreat you and your Companions to consider seriously of the Mischiefs and Outrages committed by you against this poor City for there is a God in Heaven before whose Tribunal you must shortly give an Account of these your Cruelties Just then a Captain passing by cryed send that wretched man to the Devil which one of them hearing took him by the hand pretending to lead him to the River to wash off his blood but when he came thither he threw him into the water and then battered him with Stones till he was drowned In the year 1571. after the end of the third Civil VVar in France great means were used to draw the chief of the Protestants to Paris under the pretence of a Marriage that was between the King of Navar who was a Protestant and the Lady Margaret Sister to the French King but in the mean time several Protestants were murdered in the City of Roan as they came from a Sermon which seemed very much to displease the King and divers were Executed for the Mutiny then were the Articles of Marriage agreed upon at Paris the Admiral Coligni was invited to the VVedding and those that belonged to the Family of the Duke of Guise were forbid the Court which was very acceptable to the Protestants as judging it an assured pledg of the Kings fidelity since he declared much satisfaction in the Marriage saying That it was not so much for the Wedding as that it was a strong knot of Peace and would be for the good of the whole Nation The Admiral for his security was allowed to bring with him fifty Gentlemen armed and being come to Paris he was honourably received of the King who called him Father and protested that in his whole life he had not been better pleased as judging this day would end all his troubles and settle firm peace and quietness in his Kingdom Notwithstanding this the Admiral had several Intimations of some Treachery intended against him but though very wise yet he took little notice of it The Queen Mother likewise entertained him with great favour and the King sent him One Hundred Thousand Franks out of his Treasury for the loss which he had received in the VVars And the King to delude the People spake publickly That he did not give his Sister in Marriage to the King of Navar only but as it were to the whole Church of the Protestants to joyn with them in an indissoluble union and as a tye to their peace and safety The Seventeenth of August the King of Navar and the Lady Margaret were married with great Solemnity before the great Church of Paris on a Scaffold in the sight of all the People by the Cardinal of Bourbon the King of Navars Unkle and the VVedding was solemniz'd with Banquets Dancing and Masques with a strange mixture of Protestants and Papists together after which the Bride was led into the Church to hear Mass with great solemnity but the King of Navar her Bridegroom the Prince of Conde and other Protestant Noblemen walked without the Church door till her return as misliking their Religion and Ceremonies In the mean time the Queen Mother and her bloody Councellors together with the Duke of Anjou and Guise contrive the Murder of the Admiral and the dividing the Protestants The Admiral after the Marriage moved the King for his departure home but the continual complaints of the Protestants still detained him at Court and going some days after th ther in his return home while he was reading a Petition with divers Noblemen and Gentlemen about him He was shot by a Harquebuzie the Bullet taking off the fore-finger of his right-hand and hurting him in the left Arm he feeling himself shot said without alteration of Countenance It came through yonder Window what kind of Treachery is this The door of the House being broke open they understood that he which shot presently mounted upon a Spanish Jennet at a back door and made his escape leaving his Gun behind him and upon Examination it was found that the Harquebuz was brought to the house the day before by one Chally Steward of the Kings House and an acquaintance of the Duke of Guise The King having notice of this Villany seemed to be extreamely concerned causing all the Gates of Paris to be presently shut and swore to the Admirals Friends that those that had committed this horrid Fact should not escape the Queen Mother likewise seemed much discontented at it The King went to visit the Admiral assuring him of his love and care over him However the King of Navar Prince of Conde and other Protestants had private advice to depart speedily out of Paris and to look upon this but as the beginning of the Tragedy which was to follow but they trusting to the Kings word would not go The Dukes of Guise and Anjou imployed some to go to every house and bring them a Catalogue of all the Protestants and the King set a Guard of Fifty Harquebuzies at the Admirals Gate and abundance of Arms were sent into the Kings Pallace of the Louvre and in the Evening of the same day all the Papists were in Arms the Protestants observing all this many of then assembled at the admirals Lodgings where it was advised that the Admiral should be Immediately conveyed out of Paris and the rest should change their Lodgings but this was again refused they still relying upon the Kings word who promised them Justice In the Evening divers Protestant Gentlemen offered to watch with the Admiral but he refused it and the same night the Duke of Guise sent for the Captain of the Switzers and shewed him his Commission to kill the Admiral and the rest of the Protestants and exhorted him and his Souldiers to be couragious in shedding their blood At midnight the Provost Sheriffs and Captains of every Ward had the same Orders given them with assurance that the like should be Executed upon the Protestants through the whole Kingdom of
which Sentence she willingly and cheerfully underwent In the year 1628. The City of Rochel was again besieged with a great Army by the French King whereby the Inhabitants were in such extremity for want of Victuals that rhey eat Horses Dogs Cats Rats and Mice and after that the poor Protestants lived Two Months upon Cow-hides and Goat-skins boyled They likewise eat old Gloves and whatsoever was made of Leather yea the poor people cut off the buttocks of the dead and eat them young Maids of Fourteen or Sixteen years old looked like old Women of an Hundred years old a Bushel of Wheat was sold for Twenty Pound a Pound of Bread Twenty Shillings a Quarter of Mutton above six Pound An Egg eight shillings An Ounce of Sugar Half a Crown a dryed Fish Twenty Shillings a Pint of Milk Thirty Shillings After a while the City was taken and some English that were therein when they came aboard looked like Anatomies or dead Bodies And since that to this very day the Protestants have suffered very great hardships and Persecutions in France by having their Churches pulled down by Fires and Imprisonments and Banishments by being excluded from all Officer and Imployments of Trust or Profit and by all manner of discouragements whatsoever and that only upon the Account of their Religion and all this contrary to Oat hs Protestations Edicts and Proclamations which have been solemnly made and granted to them for the free Exercise of the Protestant Religion Psalm 68. LEt God arise let his Enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him As smoak is driven away so drive them away as wax melteth before the Fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of the Lord. But let the righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce Sing unto God sing praises to his Name extoll him that rideth upon the Heavens by his Name J A H and rejoyce before him A Father of the Fatherless and a Judge of the Widow is God in his Holy Habitation God setteth the solitary in Families he bringeth out those that are bound with chains but the Rebellious dwell in a dry Land To him that rideth upon the Heaven of Heavens which were of old lo he doth send out his Voice and that a mighty Voice Ascribe the strength unto God his Excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the Clouds O God thou art terrible out of the holy places the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his People blessed be God Psalm 94. GReat God of Hosts revenge our wrong On those who are in Mischief strong Upon thy Foes Inflict our woes For Vengeance doth to thee belong Judge of the world prevent The Proud and Insolent How long shall they the just oppress And Triumph in their Wickedness How long supplant Ah! how long Vaunt And Glory in their dire success Thy Saints they kill and break And Insult o're the weak They Strangers and poor Widows kill And Blood of wretched Orphans spill And say can he Or hear or see Doth God regard what 's good or ill Brute Beasts without a mind O Fools in knowledge blind Shall not the Almighty see and hear Who form'd the Eye and fram'd the Ear VVho Nations slew Not punish you For he all knows to him appear Dark Councils secret Fires Vain hopes and vast desires One burnt for throwing down the Chest P Orange murdered Rack't the Inquisition Tortur'd in the Inquisition 80 had their Throats Cut Some beheaded Some stond to Death Others thrown upon Pikes The Cruelties of the Papists in Italy Spain Portugal and the Low-Countreys LEt us next proceed to look into Italy which being under the Inspection of the Pope it may well be supposed not to harbour many Protestants at least such as dare openly appear to be such by reason of the Inquisition which was first Instituted against the Moors and Jews in Spain but is now only used for the discovery and Tormenting of good Christians yet not withstanding all this there have been divers who have owned the Gospel even in the City of Rome it self and several other places in Italy For in the time of Pope Adrian the Fourth who was an Englishman one Arnald of Brixia came to Rome and preached publickly and boldly against the Corruptions of the Romi h Church and found great favour among the Senators and People insomuch that when the Pope commanded them to drive Arnal out of the City for an Heretick they resisted his command and defended Arnald upon which the Popo thundred out an Excommuncation against the whole City of Rome so that upon the importunity of the Clergy they were forced to send him away but he was entertained by the Lords of Campania who were subject to the Emperour of Germany with whom he remained and preached the Gospel to them The Emperour coming afterwards into Italy to be Crowned the Pope desired him to deliver up Arnald into his hands whereupon the Emperour seized upon one of the Lords of Campania which so terrified the other that he delivered up Arnald who being sent to the Pope he used him most cruelly and then ordered him first to be hanged and then burnt as an Arch Heretick His Chief Heresies were That he preached against the Pride and Covetousness of the Monks and Clergy that he inveighed against the Errors in the Sacrament that he expounded the Scriptures c. In the year 1546. there was one Eucenas or Driander a Spaniard born who being bred up in Rome yet came at last to the knowledge of the Truth and having discovered his dislike of the false Doctrine of Popery he was betrayed by his own Countreymen and Acquaintance and being brought before the Cardinals he was committed close Prisoner and was afterwards brought forth to declare his Judgment where he gave a Notable Testimony to the Truth upon which when he refused to recant the same he was condemned to be burnt and suffered Martyrdom with great patience and constancy In the year 1550 One Faninus of Ferrara in Italy being by the Grace of God and reading of good books converted to the Gospel and began to Instruct others privately therein but this coming to the ears of some of the Popes Blood-hounds they seized him and committed him to Prison where by the earnest Importunities of his VVife Children and Friends he was perswaded to deny the Truth and was thereupon released out of Prison He had not been long at liberty but he was extreamly troubled in mind for preferring the Love of his Relations and Friends before the service of Jesus Christ neither could he by ny means be free from these Tortures till he had fully resolved to venture his Life for the Gospel Being thus inflamed with holy Zeal he went about the Countrey teaching and Instructing the People wherever he came VVhereupon he apprehended and cast into Prison and was condemned to be burnt but he told his Judges That his
Boots with boiling Oyl and put them upon their Legs over a soft fire Thus he tormented many but at last Francis the French King being informed of his Hellish cruelty sent to the Parliament of Provence to apprehend him who condemn him but he having notice of it fled to Arragon where a while after he was robbed of all he had by his own servants and then fell into an horrible disease unknown to the Physitians being intollerably tormented with pains all over his body so that he had not one minutes rest and no creature was able to endure him for the intollerable stink which proceeded from him nor he himself for his body was full of nasty sores and ulcers which swarmed with Vermin and rotted away from the bones by piece-meal In the midst of his torments he would in a great rage cry out Oh! who will deliver me who will rid me out of these intollerable pains which I now suffer for oppressing and tormenting those poor men endeavouring several times to kill himself but had not power and in this horrible anguish and despair he fearfully died no man being able to bury him for some time by reason of the loathsome smell proceeding from him till at last a poor man with an Iron Hook dragg'd his Carkass into a Hole he had digg'd for him During this Persecution the Bishop of Aix with some other Bishops walking with some of their Wenches through the Streets of Avignion they saw a man selling bawdy Pictures Images and Songs which they presently bought up but going a little further they found a man selling of French Bibles at which being extremely enraged they askt him how he durst be so bold to sell such Merchandize in that Town the Bookseller answered Is not the Holy Bible as good as these goodly Pictures you have bought for the Gentlewomen The Bishop of Aix said I renounce my part in Paradise if this Fellow be not a Lutheran The Attendants cryed out a Lutheran a Lutheran to the fire with him to the fire with him one giving him a blow with his Fist others pulled him by the Hair and Beard so that the poor man was all embrued in blood before he came to Prison The next day he was brought before the Judge where by the instigation of the Bishops he was burned the same day with two Bibles tyed about his Neck one before and another behind where he made a most Christian end This long and bloody Persecution of these Waldenses lasted near five hundred years in which time the Gospel spread into Bohemia Austria Germany Flanders England Poland Italy Spain Dalmatia Croatia Solavonia Salmatia Bulgaria and in other places to which they were driven where they were tormented and persecuted according to the power and influence that the Pope and his Agents had over the Princes and Governours of those Countries The Albingenses were the same with the Waldenses professing the same Doctrines and Principles and differing only in name their Country being called Albi the chief Preacher among them being one Arnold from whom they were sometimes called Arnoldists Pope Alexander the Third began with them condemning them for Hereticks and Pope Innocent the Third raising a War against them calling it the Holy War giving the same Pardons and Indulgences and promising Paradise to all that would fight against the Hereticks with the same encouragement as those which went to the Holy Land against the Turks and Sarazens In this War he so thundered out Excommunications and used Temporal Arms against Reymond Earl or Prince of Tholouse that he was forced to submit and his Nobility were much astonished to see their Lord not only divested of his Possessions but led to the Church to be reconciled to it where the Popes Legate commanded the Earl to strip himself stark naked all but his Linnen Drawers they then put a Rope about his Neck and led him nine times round the Grave of one Peter an Hermit who was kill'd in that War scourging him with Rods all the while of which the Earl complaining the Legate told him That he must submit if he would be reconciled to the Pope yea he must be thus scourged before his Earls Barons Marquesses Prelates and all the people He made him likewise swear to be obedient to the Pope and Church of Rome all his life and to make irreconcileable War against the Albingenses The Legate then acts the part of a General and besieges Bezier and the Albingenses desiring to come to Terms the Legate would admit of nothing but the renouncing of their Religion and imbracing Popery which they absolutely refused upon those Conditions saying That God was able to defend them but if he would please to honour them to die for his sake they would rather displease the Pope than God Almighty In a short time the City was taken by Storm being assaulted by above an hundred thousand Papists the Enemy entring and slaying a great multitude killing all they m t without distinction the Popes Legate-bidding them kill all both Catholicks and Hereticks for the Lord knoweth who are his So that there were threescore thousand persons slain in this City the Priests and Fryars going about the Streets in the mean time with Crosses and Banners and singing Te Deum Laudamus after which they set the whole City on fire and burnt it to Ashes They marched next to a Town called Carcasson which these bloody Villains who called themselves Holy Pilgrims took by Storm likewise killing burning and destroying all before them as they had done before at Beziers They next proceeded to the City of Carcasson which was about two miles from the Town and was defended by the Earl of Pezâ—ers when they offered to capitulate the Legate would grant no other Conditions but that the Earl and twelve more should come forth with their Baggage but all the rest both Men Women Maids and Children should come forth stark naked without any covering either of Shirt or Smock and humble themselves before him but the Earl disdained such unworthy Conditions upon which the Legate assaulted the City but they that were within threw down Stones Fire Pitch Brimstone and Scalding Water from the Walls which so galled the Legates Souldiers that the Earth was covered and the Ditch filled with their dead bodies The Legate sinding Force would not avail used Policy and therefore upon pretence of Parley he perswaded the Earl to come out of the City with great Oaths and Execrations for his safe return but having him in possession they kept him Prisoner and then instantly stormed the City to the amazement of the poor Citizens who expected nothing less but there being happily discovered a Vault in the Town which went to a Castle some miles from thence the Citizens in the Evening began their Flight with their Wives and Children carrying Victuals with them only for some few days the next morning they arrived at the Castle and from thence dispersed themselves some one way some another leaving
greatest abhorrency and indignation for some of them were stoned to death others hanged upon a Beam and with a soft fire made under them were roasted to death others were cut piece-meal One Minister they laid on his back and ramming his mouth full of Gunpowder set fire to it and blew his head all to pieces Another they hanged up by the Privy Members being seventy years old and burnt his own Books under him and at last shot him to death after he had endured all manner of torment and pain In the year 1621. all the Ministers were banished out of the Kingdom of Bohemia and all the Provinces thereunto belonging never more to return and it was made death to harbour or conceal any of them About the same time twenty one Ministers were banished from Cuttenburg A Popish Captain caused a Ministers hand first to be stricken off and then his head his bowels to be taken out and wrapt in his shirt and his four quarters to be set upon four Stakes and his head on another At the same time likewise fifty of the Nobility were condemned some to death some to banishment and others to perpetual imprisonment twenty seven were executed who all died with great constancy of mind and fervency of spirit sealing the Protestant Cause with their blood the heads and right hands of some of them were hung upon the Tower of the Bridge but when the Valiant Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden came into Germany their heads and hands were by his Order taken down and solemnly buried Not long after there was an Edict published in Bohemia for the banishing of all Protestants in general and that their Children should be taken from them that they might be brought up in the Popish Religion Another Edict was published that all Protestant Women who had married Popish Husbands should be banished and removed away from them unless they would turn Papists and likewise that no Papists should have any Commerce with Protestants And upon this there followed a cruel Persecution so that there was scarce a City Town or Village in the whole Country but the poor Protestants suffered very great torments and barbarities In one City they slew the Mayor together with sixteen hundred men women and children and suffered their bodies to lye unburied several days in the dirt and mire and the remainders of the Citizens they cast into Prisons where they lay in a miserable condition Bibles and all manner of Religious Books were prohibited and likewise Marriages Burial and Baptism were denied to all that would not turn Papists Some Protestants were thrust into Dungeons and Vaults full of Snakes Toads and other filthy Vermin others were put into places full of Iron Spikes so that they could neither sit nor stand others were laid upon narrow Beams over deep waters that if they did but stir their bodies they were in danger to be drowned They put Gags into the mouths of some and then thrust their Host or Wafer Cake down their Throats others were beaten on the Calves of their Legs so that they could not stand nor go but were forced to fall down on their knees that they might adore their Host And thus briefly of the multitude of cruelties committed by the Papists on the Protestants in Bohemia the whole whereof would not be contained in a large Volume The next Theater where we may behold these bloody Papists acting their Tragedies is GERMANY which was miserably torn and rent to pieces by their cruelties they endeavouring by all manner of severity to have extinguished the light of the Gospel which was discovered by Martin Luther and others who were stirred up of God to expose the corruptions and superstitions of the Romish Church whereupon in the year 1523. the Pope excited the Emperour Charles the Fifth to destroy all the Protestants as Hereticks and allowed him two hundred thousand Crowns toward the raising of Souldiers to that purpose the Pope likewise further engaging to raise twelve thousand Foot and six hundred Horse at his own charge for carrying on the work and thus he began with the Sword that he might end with the Faggot The Duke of Saxony and the Lansgrave of Hessen stand up for the Protestants and are taken Prisoners in the year 1547. And where ever the Papists got the better all sorts of cruelties murders racks tortures fire and faggots followed upon the Protestants so that all Germany was as it were in a flame and combustion at once all places being in a lamentable condition some flying and others suffering death on every side for their Conscience and Religion At a Town called Meldorp they took a godly Minister named Sutphen out of his Bed and forced him to go miles on foot in Frost and Snow upon the Ice bare-footed and bare-legg'd beating cutting and flashing him and pricking him forward with their Halberts and at last they barbarously roasted him to death Many were drowned at Vienna and put to several sorts of death Ladies and Gentlewomen were yoakt together like 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 powred down their Throats through a Tunnel till their bellies swell'd 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 with her Teeth and Nails till he miserably died At Magdenbur 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 Basil 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-run and destroyed 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 Country and then set the Dogs upon him who tore and rent his flesh till he died 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 Kingdome of Poland which was wholly laid in ashes being three whole days in flames erre 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 to most exquisite tortures One Mr. Samuel Cardus a Minister they used with extreme cruelties first putting out his eyes and leading him about as a miserable Spectacle then they pull'd off his fingers with Pincers and powred 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 Dembuick 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 bloody 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 powred 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 numbered It was counted a great mercy and kindness to be shot beheaded or killed out-right without any other torment The Wives and Daughters of the Protestants were every where ravished their Houses and Goods burnt and destroyed all their Country and their Churches laid wast 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 the Streets of Towns and Cities and those that were left alive and escaped the slaughter were banished their Country for ever The Ministers were chiefly aimed at and always cruelly tormented among the rest one Adrian Chilmiskie who was famous for his great Piety and Learning and likewise for his Reverend Age was by these barbarous wretches roasted alive and this they did leisurely with a few Chips and Straw that he might be the longer in torment In another place above forty suffered death by several sorts of tortures Near Vilna the chiefest City in Lithuania one Smolskie and his Son both Ministers had their Heads cruelly sawed off with a Sickle Another Minister had his flesh sliced off by piece-meal till he died-And to conclude this Field of Blood there were no less than fifteen hundred poor Protestants Ministers as well as others who were bound to Stakes on the tops of Mountains in the Winter and there miserably starved to death with hunger and cold In a word no Age nor History can parallel all the several tortures and miserable deaths which these poor Protestants suffer'd from the hands of bloody Papists for no other Crime but professing and asserting the Truth and Gospel of Jesus Christ Psalm 74. Lord why hast thou abandoned O why for ever shall thine Ire Consume like a devouring Fire The Sheep within thy Pastures fed Come O! come quickly and Survey What Spoyl the Barbarous Foe hath made Lo all in heaps of Ruin laid Thy Temple their accursed Prey Like Lyons with Sharp Famine whet They in the Sanctuary roar All Purple in thy Peoples gore And there their Conquering Ensigns set It was esteem'd a great renown With Ax to square the Mountain Oaks Now they demolish with their strokes And hew the Carved Fabrick down Who lo with all-infolding Flame The Beauty of the Earth devour Profanely Prostrate on the Floor That Temple sacred to thy Name Now said they with a sudden hand We 'l give a
canst The Popish Priests that were present stuffed his Mouth and likewise his wounds with the Leaves of his Bible crying Preach the Truth of thy God and call upon him now to help thee In a place called Agen many were massacred and two young Children were rosted In the Castle of Rheims there was great Cruelty used many young Children being murthered in their Mothers Arms and the Mothers also shamefully abused and afterward killed Above five hundred men were hanged upon Gibbets among whom was a grave Counsellor in his long Gown and square Cap. In the City of Blois the Murtherers hearing there was a Sermon brake violently into the house thinking to have taken the Minister but being disappointed they dragg'd several Women that were there by the hair of the head and beating them severely threw them into the River but by the Providence of God they had so much skill as to swim safely to an Island but presently after some VVatermen finding them there stript them stark naked and threw them again into the River yet still they endeavoured to save themselves and Swum toward the Suburbs of a Town called Vienne and were they cruelly knocked on the head by the bloody Papists The French General having taken several Protestants Prisoners he hanged most of them but especially the Ministers among the rest there was a Captain called La mothe to whom the General gave divers stabbs with a Dagger and thrust him thorough with a Sword saying Villain thou shalt dye in despight of God But he proved a Lyar for the Captain was carryed away and though extreamely wounded yet was wonderfully cured and lived afterward Many horrible Murthers were likewise committed upon the Protestants and amongst others one of their Practices was to throw them down from the top of St. Michaels Abby which was built upon an high Rock under which there ran a deep and swift River and by the way there was another Rock which stood far out upon which their bodies falling were dasht and torn to pieces Among the rest there was a young man who seeing they were resolved to murther him requested that he might thus cast himself from the top of the Abby and if it pleased God to preserve him in the fall he might escape with Life this they promised whereupon having made his Prayers to God he fetched a leap from the top of the Abby and flew so far that missing the Rocks under him he fell into the River and endeavoured to swim out for his life but these perfidious Villains knockt him on the head and killed him A Captain and his Souldiers entring the House of a Religious VVidow they bound her with Cords and then put a Rope about her neck whereby she was halled up and down till she was almost strangled they then asked her How often she had played the whore with those of her Religion she answered That in the Christian Meetings there were no such Villanies committed The Captain then dasht her head against the walls till he had almost beaten out her brains and required her to give him Seven Hundred pieces of Gold which she had hidden she told him she was a poor woman and had only one French penny this inraged him the more and he thereupon applyed hot burning Coals to her Arm-pits till they were all blistred bidding her in derision to cry to her Father which was in Heaven She replyed I will not cry aloud for thee and yet my God can hear me well enough and when his pleasure is he will deliver me out of thy hand This made him swear and blaspheme extremely which more afflicted the poor VVoman than her pains or sufferings and then he called her Hugonote whore saying that these were but the beginning of her sorrows and except she fetcht him out her Gold he would draw her Cheeks and Breasts with Lard and roast her alive and afterwards throw her body head-long from the highest Steeple in the Town well said she if you throw my body never so low that shall not hinder my Soul from ascending into Heaven This her courage did further inrage him and thereupon he opened her Mouth with his Dagger and crammed Lime down her Throat and afterwards forced her to drink a glass of Urine which he had made before her throwing the remainder with the glass in her Face they then carryed her to their Quarters and threatned to kill her with strange Cruelties but some pitying her condition redeemed her for ten Crowns and conveyed her home where she soon dyed Some of these Hell-Hounds constrained one Peter Roch to dig his own Grave and then bid him try how it fitted him which whilst he was doing they buried him alive They stript a Gentlemans VVife stark Naked and would have abused her but she resisting they cruelly whipt her crowned her with Thorns wounded her with their swords and then shot her to death In another Town six of the chief men had their heads struck off and others were divers ways put to death In Tholouse some Councellors made Proclamation that they should kill and destroy all those of the Protestant Religion and spare none since they were Licenced to do it both by the King and the Pope This soon spread through all the Villages and the Papists rang the Bells to the slaughter and there presently began a most horrible Massacre in those parts There were above Thirty Thousand Protestants in the City of Tholouse so that the Prisons were Immediately filled and many knockt on the Head because they would hold no more the River was quickly covered with murdered bodies some Protestants got into the Town-house and made an agreement to depart quietly but the perfidious Papists destroyed most of them At a Town called Carcasson they pulled out their Eyes and cut off their Ears and Noses They took one and blacked his Hands Face and Feet and then said he had a Devil afterwards they hanged him and threw his body to the Dogs One being commanded to blaspheme God upon refusal was presently hewen to pieces A Blacksmith because he would not give himself to the Devil they laid his head upon his own Anvil and beat out his brains with hammers A young Woman was found hid in a house with her Husband whom they ravished before his Face and then forced her to take hold of a Rapier wherewith one of the Villains thrusting her Arm made her kill her own Husband In Foix and Aurang some had their hands and legs cut off and were afterwards beheaded others were carried upon Halberts some were burnt in Churches some had their Privities cut off Girls of Five and Six years old were Ravished and spoiled In Cisterno the men being fled the Papists fell upon the VVomen and Children and slew Three or Four Hundred of them Some VVomen with Child were ript up and many buried alive some had their Throats cut like Sheep others were drawn through the Streets and beaten to death with Clubs and in brief the Protestants
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 and 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 dyed 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 fartherless 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 not 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 c ntrary 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 lyed 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 indure 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 and was sent to Prison and complaint thereof being made to Pope Clement the Eight 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 practiced 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 carryed 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 blistred 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 to God The same year there was an Ancient Religious man that had layn long in the Inquisition who was at last brought forth and condemned after which the Fryars brought a Crucifix to him importuning him to kiss and adore it He seeing their Importunity said to them If you take not this Idol out of my sight I shall spit upon it The Fryars hearing this sent him away immediately to the Fire where with great Courage and Constancy he resigned up his Spirit to God Of the Spanish Inquisition Since mention is often made of the Spanish Inquisition It may not be amiss to give a brief Account of the Original and Practice thereof Ferdinando and Isabella King and Queen of Spain having expelled the Moors or Turks out of the Kingdom of Granada who had inhabited there Seven Hundred Seventy Eight years they res lved to Reform Religion and granted the Conquered Moors Liberty to continue there and enjoy their Goods if they would turn Christians and because there were many Jews that had likewise continued there ever since Titus conquered Jerusalem they had also leave to remain there upon the same Conditions but all that refused were commanded presently to go out of Spain Yet afterwards observing that those who staid were only Christians in name and had submitted meerly to save their Estates instead of providing Religious men who with Gentleness and meekness might instruct and reduce them from their Errors they by the advice of the Dominican Fryars erected a Court of Inquisition whereby the poor wretches instead of Instruction were robbed of all their Estates and either put to most cruel deaths or else suffered intolerable whippings and other Tortures and spent the rest of their lives in shame and misery neither was this only Inflicted upon such as blasphemed Christ but for observing the least Jewish or Moorish Ceremony or holding the smallest Error in the Christian Religion But this Holy Inquisition as they call it which was first erected against Jews and Moors was afterwards turned against the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ and for suppressing the Gospel and the True Professors thereof and thus you have briefly the Original of it let us a little observe the Method of their proceeding therein As soon as Information is given against any Person they do not presently cite the party to appear before them but send one of their Informers who taking opportunity to meet with him usually greets him thus Sir I was yesterday by Accident at my Lords Inquisitors who said than they had occasion to speak with you about certain Affairs and therefore they command me to summon you to appear before them to morrow at such an Hour The party not daring to refuse goes to the place and sends in word That he is come to attend them and being called in the Inquisitors ask him What suit he hath to them And when he Answers That he is
Cacalla a man of Excellent Learning and one Rochus a skilful Graver of Images who turned Protestants and died for the same also one John Pontio Gónsalvo a Priest Juliano Leon Arias Losada a Physician Together with a Lady and several VVomen and Virgins who were burnt at several times in divers places and Twenty others besides who were burnt in one Fire after they had endured all the horrid torments of the Rack the Pully the Trough the Barnacle the Twisting Cord and the rest of the barbarous Tortures and Inventions of the cursed Inquisition Nay divers English men being betrayed by the Insinuation of wicked Informers were likewise burnt in Spain as Nicholas Burton Merchant of London was burnt at Sevil and another English man with him and not long after two more named John Baker and Villiam Burgate and about the same time William Burges Master of an English Ship was burnt there likewise and one William Hooker a youth of about sixteen years old was stoned to death for the bold profession of the Truth As Portugal is but a little Kingdom and the power of the Pope and his Clergy very considerable there as well as in Spain they have wonderfully supprest the power of the Truth with their Tortures yet some have their likewise suffered for the Gospel and among others William Gardner an English man whom they put to death with most exquisite Tortures at Lisbon in the year 1552 for taking the Host out of a Cardinals Hand and stamping it under his Feet He boldly asserting to the King himself That he did it out of Conscience as not being able to endure to see the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper irreverently used to so great Idolatry and although all manner of cruelty was used toward him yet he dyed with extraordinary Constancy singing Psalms in the Flames to the very last moment of his life The Rage and Fury of Papists in the Low-Countreys or Netherlands was no less then in other places For the Inquisition being introduced there it was accompanied with all manner of cruelty At Antwerp one Nicholas an Holy good man was bound up in a Sack and drown'd In Holland a Learned Preacher called Pistorius was burnt being carryed to the stake with a Fools Coat on his back Wendel muta a Widow likewise suffered death with much Constancy Several Ministers were beheaded among the rest one George Scherter who after his head had been cut off for some time and his body lying on his Belly he turning himself on his Back and crossing his Right Foot over the left and his right hand over the left continued so to the great admiration of the Spectators and the Conversion of many Several were drowned others were made away in Prisons others shut up in dark and noisom places and none suffered to come at them being fed only with Bread and Water till they were famished At Lorain several were Martyred some by Fire others beheaded There was a very great Persecution all over Flanders about the year 1544 so that there was hardly a Town or City in all the Countrey wherein some were not banished beheaded or condemned to perpetual Imprisonment neither was there any respect either to Age or Sex but especially at Gaunt many of the chief Persons were burned for being Protestants and several others in Brabant and Artois insomuch that Two Hundred Men and VVomen were cruelly destroyed at one time some of them being drowned some burned alive and some privately murdered so that the Hangman began to be tyred and wearied out with such continual Executions At the Town of Mecklin Dornick and Delden several were put to death and among the rest two Noble Virgins who were Sisters and likewise a Mother and her three Sons who all dyed owning the Gospel and zealously exclaiming against the Cruelty and Idolatry of the Papists And about the same time they miserably tormented one Bertrand for trampling the Host under his Feet whom they thrice put to the Rack and because he would not recant in the Market place of Dornick they put a Ball of Iron into his Mouth to keep him from speaking and then crushed his Right hand between two flat Red hot Irons till the form of it was changed and then did the like by his Foot which he endured with admirable patience then tying him round the wast by a Pully and making a Fire underneath they hoisted him up and down till he was burnt to Ashes which they cast into the River There were several Martyred at Valence and Lisle and one of the Judges pronouncing sentence against these good People said This Day you shall go to dwell with all the Devils in Hell Fire But the greatest Instrument of the Devil in those Countreys was the Duke of Alva who was sent by the King of Spain to Root the Protestants out of the Low-Countreys This Duke boasted one time at his own Table That he had been diligent to root out Heresie for besides those he had slain in the Wars He had put into the hands of the Common Hangman to be Executed within the space of six years no less then Eighteen Thousand Persons And to complete this sad Catastrophe we may also remember that William of Nastaw Prince of Orang was shot by a Villain called Joanville who was encouraged by a Jacobine Fryar to do it the Rascal was thrust through with an Halbert and the Fryar was hang'd But this wound not proving mortal they hired one Gerard a Burgundion who standing behind the Pillar in a Room shot the Prince dead as he past by PSALM 105. WE nothing can of merit claim Not for our sakes thy aid afford But for the Honour of thy Name Thy Mercy and unfailing Word Why should th' insulting Heathen cry Where 's now the God they vainly Praise Our Lord inthron'd above the Sky All underneath at pleasure swayes Their Gods but Gold and Silver be Made by a frail Artificer For they have eyes that cannot see Dumb Mouths and Ears that cannot hear Fools on their Altars Incense throw Who nothing smell their feet are bound Nor have they Power to move or go Their throats give Passage to no sound Their hands can neither give nor take Unapt to punish or defend As senseless they who Idols make Or to their carved Statues bend Your hopes in God O Israel place He is your help and strong defence Be he you Priests of Aarons Race The Object of your Confidence In him all you that fear him Trust He shall protect you in destress The Lord is of his Promise Just And will his Faithfull Servants Bless He in the Heaven of Heavens resides And over all his Creatures reigns Among the Sons of men divides The Earth and all that Earth contains Who sleep within the Vaults of Death No Offerings to his Altars bring O Praise his Name while we have Breath And loudly Halelu-jah sing Mr. Wischard burnt A 1000 drown in a River Candles made of Mens fatt Irish Children Kill
seven Acres of Ground within the Walls and sixty three Acres three Roods without besides eighty nine Parish Churches the most spacious Cathedral of St. Paul the Royal Exchange the Great Guild-hall the Custom House Many magnificent Halls of Companies several principal City Gates and other publick Edifices which was accompanied with the loss of vast quantities of rich Household-stuff and Goods of all sorts but especially four or five that is Books of which alone were lost near the value of an hundred and fifty thousand pound Tobacco Sugar Wines and Plumbs being heavy goods So that the whole loss is computed by an Ingenious Person to be Nine Millions and nine hundred thousand pounds and yet not above six or eight persons through Gods Providence were burnt in this vast desolation Upon the Eighteenth of September the Parliament met and the Commons appointed a Committee to examine into the Causes of the fire and to take Informations concerning it and in a short time so many and such very considerable Informations were brought in that it was no longer doubtfull but the Papists were the Contrivers and Managers of this dreadful Fire For among other things it plainly appeared that divers of the Popish Party were made acquainted with it before it happened for Mr. Light of Ratcliff deposed That being in discourse with Mr. Richard Langhorn since Executed for High Treason in February before the Fire concerning Religion Langhorn took him by the hand and said to him You expect great things in sixty six and think that Rome will be destroy'd but what if it be London A French man told one Elizabeth Styles in April before the fire that the English Maids would love the Frenchmen better when there was not an house left standing between Temple-Bar and London-Bride to which she replyed She hopes his eyes would never see that he said This will happen betwixt June October Dr. Oats in his Narrative pag. 22. says That in July 1678. being in discourse with one Strange a Jesuit Strange told him that they had got fourteen thousand pound by the Fire of London in 1666. and that they spent seven hundred fireballs to effect their Villany and that when the Fire-Merchants were at work then other Papists both men and women were imployed by them to plunder what they could that they had a Warehouse in Wild-street where some of their stollen Goods were laid and other Goods they concealed in Somerset-House as Hollands Cambricks Fine Cloth and some considerable quantities of Plate and a Box of Jewels Dr. Oats asked Strange How the King came to escape for it seems his death was designed then Strange replyed Indeed they were resolved to have cut him off but seeing him so Industrious about Quenching the Fire they could not find in their hearts to do it Strange said there were about Fourscore and six employ'd in it and John Grove since Executed for high Treason told Dr. Oats that he fired Southwark and that the Society of Jesuits got two thousand pound by that Fire Robert Hubert a French Papist of Normandy began this Fire in London being Hired thereto by Stephen Peidelow likewise a papist and Hubert observing the Ruin and desolation that followed could not be quiet till he had freely discovered the whole matter Affirming that by Peidelows directions he put a Fire-ball to the end of a long pole and lighting it with a piece of Match put it into the Bakers window and stayed till the house was in a Flame A French Merchant went to Hubert in the White Lyon Prison in Southwark and told him He did not believe him Guilty of what he had confessed Hubert replyed Yes Sir I am guilty of it and have been brought to it by the instigation of Mr. Peidelow but not out of any malice to the English Nation but from a desire of reward which he promised me upon my return into France A while after Hubert was Tryed and Executed for this horrid Fact owning and acknowledging to the last his doing thereof by the Instigation of Piedelow But this not doing their work they took divers other methods for carrying on their designs which they had very near brought to perfection in the year 1678. had not the Divine Providence most eminently made use of Dr. Titus Oats in the discovery thereof who notwithstanding the reproaches of his Popish adversaries was liberally Educated in St. John's Colledge in Cambridge where he took his Degree and afterward proceeded Doctor in Divinity at Salamanca in Spain no contemptible University In the year 1672. he was Vicar of Bobbing in Kent but the Air not agreeing with him he left it and was for some time Minister near Chichester in Sussex and afterwards came to be Chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk with an ample testimony of his sober Life and Conversation and whilst he was there he overheard some whisperings among the Popish Priests who were very conversant in that Family that there was some Great Design in hand but could not learn the particulars He had heard from his Protestant Friends and had read in Sir Hamond L'Stranges History of King Charles the First and other Judicious Authors That the Papists had for many years carried on a design to Introduce Popery once more into these Kingdoms which made him desire to know the bottom thereof and if it were possible to prevent it To this end he more freely conversed with that Party than he formerly used to do and seemed dissatisfied in some things concerning our Church and desired to discourse with some Jesuits who are accounted the most learned Men of the Popish faction This upon some Cautions he obtained and after divers Conferences with them in which he suffered himself to be overcome he was formally reconciled to the Church of Rome and a while after seeming to aspire to a higher degree of Perfection he desired to be admired into the Order of the Jesuits which after three dayes consideration they consented to and because he was a man of years being about Twenty eight they would not imploy him as a Novice but made him a Messenger of the Society This being the mark he aimed at they sent him with Letters to Valedolid in Spain which he judging to contain something of their Hellish contrivances dexterously opened by the way and thereby made some discovery of their wicked Intentions however he managed their Affairs with so much satisfaction that in a short time they made him privy to their most secret Consultations and keeping short Notes of all things of Concernment he was thereby in a capacity to give an account of so many several particulars as he has discovered which have had the happiness to be confirmed by other Circumstances and Evidence and have not the least contradicted one another nor those other Papers which have been found elsewhere nor differed from the Informations that have been given in by Mr. Bedlow Mr. Dugdale Mr. Jennison Mr. Mowbray Mr. Baldron and others whom God hath since raised