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
to insnare and amuse them at present till they had by degrees incensed the Mobile against them to diminish the horror they naturally have to Cruelty to which end several young Priests were sent about the Kingdom to inflame the multitude in their Sermons and Orations and by publishing Scandalous Satyrs and Lyes against them And for those of greater Quality some Volumes were written against Calvinism and the Reformation one of whom affirmed highly That the Catholick Faith must be planted by Fire and Sword alledging for proof thereof the example of a King of Norway who converted the Nobles of his Countrey by threatning them to slay their Children before their eyes if they would not consent to have them baptiz'd and to be baptized themselves The Protestants were very sensible of these things and that further mischief was designed against them and therefore presented frequent Addresses to the King wherein they exposed their grievances with all humility and submission the last-being presented to the King himself by their Deputy General in March 1684. Exprest in Terms most capable of moving pity yet produced no other effect but the hastening what they had long before resolved on which was the using of open force to accomplish their ruine which was effectually done some months after in a manner so terrible and violent that there are few in Christendom who have not heard the report of it At first they quartered Souldiers in all the Provinces almost at the same time but chiefly Dragoons the most desperate Troops in the Kingdom Terror and Dread marched before them and all France was filled with the news That the King would no longer suffer any Protestants in his Kingdom and that they must resolve to change their Religion or else suffer the utmost cruelty that could be inflicted upon them They first summoned the Cities and Commonalties and affembling the Inhabitants of the Reformed Religion told them It was the Kings pleasure they should without delay become Catholicks and if they would not do it freely they must force them The poor people surprized at the proposal answered They were ready to Sacrifice their Estates and Lives to the King but their Consciences being Gods they could not in the same manner dispose of them Such answers immediately brought the Dragoons who were near hand upon them who instantly seized on all the Gates and Passages of the City where they placed Guards who came off with their Swords in their hands crying Kill Kill or else be Catholicks They lay upon the Protestants at free quarter strictly forbidding any to go out of their Houses or to conceal any of their Goods or Estates under great penalties the Papists were fordid to receive or any way relieve them the first days were spent in consuming all the Provisions the house afforded and Robbing them of Money Rings Jewels or any thing of Value After this they seized of all their goods in general inviting the Papists to come and buy them Lastly they fell on their Persons wherein they forbore no wickedness nor Villany to oblige them to change their Religion Amidst a thousand hideous cryes and blasphemies they hung Men and Women up by the hair of the head or by the Feet to the Roofs of their Chambers or else to 〈◊〉 Hooks within the Chimneys smoaking them with wâ—â—ps of wet straw till they were no longer able to bear it and when they were taken down if they would not recant their Religion they immediately hung them up again They threw them into great fires purposely provided and pulled them not out till half roasted They tyed Ropes under their Arms and plunged them up and down into Wells from whence they would not take them till they had promised to turn Papists They tyed them as Criminals to the Rack and with a Funnel poured Wine down their Throats till the fumes of it deprived them of their reason and then made them say they would be Catholicks They stript them stark naked and after a thousand indignities they larded or stuck them with pins from head to foot They cut them with Penknives and pluckt them by the Nose with Red hot Pincers and dragged them about the Rooms till they promised to be Catholicks or that for weariness they let the poor wretches go They beat them with Staves and dragged them all bruised to the Churches where their forced presence was reckoned their abjuring the Protestant Religion They kept them from sleeping seven or eight nights and days together relieving one another to keep them waking They threw buckets of Water on their Faces and tormented them several ways by holding kettles over their Heads turned downwards whereon they made a continual noise till these poor creatures had even lost their sences If they found any sick in bed they had the cruelty to bring several Drums sounding an Alarm about their beds for whole weeks together without intermission till they had promised to recant In some places they tyed Fathers and Husbands to the bed-posts and ravished their Daughters and Wives on the bed before their eyes In other places Rapes were publickly permitted for many hours together They pluckt off the Nails from the hands and toes of others with most intolerable pain They burnt the feet of others They blew up men and women with bellows even till they were ready to burst If after these horrid Usages any refused to turn they imprisoned them in Close Dark and Stinking Dungeons exercising on them all manner of inhumanity In the mean time they demolished their Houses destroyed their hereditary Lands cut down their Woods and seized their Wives and Children to imprison them in Monasteries When the Souldiers had consumed and destroy'd all in the House the Tenants of their Lands furnisht them with subsistance to whom they likewise sold the Lands If any endeavoured to escape by flight they were pursued and hunted in the Fields and Woods and Shot at like Wild Beasts The Justices and Magistrates rode about the highways stopping all without exception and using them like Prisoners of War Neither fell this Storm only on the common sort Noblemen and Gentlemen were not exempted from it who had Souldiers also quartered on them that plundred their houses wasted their Goods razed their Castles cut down their Woods yea their very Persons were exposed to the insolence and barbarity of the Dragoons as well as others which to avoid many Ladies and Persons of Quality hoped to find some retreat in Paris or at the Court not imagining the Dragoons would come to seek them so near the Kings presence but they soon found their mistake for immediately there was an Order of Council commanding them to leave Paris in fifteen days and return without delay to their own dwellings prohibiting all persons to entertain or lodge them in their houses And some addrossing to the King with complaints of such cruel usage and beseeching his relief had no other answer but being sent Prisoners to the Bastile It is observable
of Angrognea Bobio Villaro Valguicharda Roras Tagliacetto and divers others in all which most of their Inhabitants are Protestants and had been long indulged in their Religion by the Princes of Savoy to whom they were Subjects but in the year 1565. a cruel Edict was published that all such as would not comply with the Church of Rome and go to Mass should within ten days be banished from their Country and Habitation but by the Intercession of the French King and the Elector Palatine of the Rhine this Edict was recalled and they continued quiet till the year 1655. wherein that late horrible Massacre was committed upon them for the sake of their Religion The Papists had all along by many cunning Plots and contrivances endeavoured their subversion by using all Arts to stir them up to Rebellion and by planting Jesuits Colledges among them which like Goads in their sides still annoyed them and prov'd a great trouble and affliction to them for they often procured some cruel and harsh Edict or Proclamation by their Complaints and Lyes which they raised in the Duke of Savoys Court against them As in the year 1602. they got an Edict for banishing all private and publick Protestant Schoolmasters as Enemies to the Government and disturbers of the Peace and likewise another Edict 1622. that no strangers either Ministers or others should be entertained among them In 1634. an Edict came out that all the Protestants of Compiglione should be banished and in 1654. the same was done against those of Martino and Perosa These Missionary Fathers behaved themselves among them more cruelly than Turks or Barbarians But at last resolving utterly to root out the Protestants from among them and throughly to perform the will of their Unholy Father the Pope they procured an Order in the midst of Winter that is January 25. 1655. which is very sharp in those Countries for the banishing of all Protestants out of the Valleys of Lucerna Lucernetta and seven other places within three days after publication unless they would turn Roman Catholicks and this extended to all in general none being excepted of what Rank Degree or Condition soever they were And thus these poor Creatures were forced in compliance with this cruel Edict to fly for the security of their Lives and Consciences in the depth of the Snow and when all the Valleys were covered with water there being among them some Women with-Child others newly delivered young children crying and lamenting old women and decrepit men leaning on their Staves all dragged over the lce through Rain Snow Waters and a thousand inconveniencies and hardships 〈◊〉 that it would have grieved the heart of a 〈◊〉 to have seen them leaving their Goods behind them or selling them for little to the Papists who took no pity of their bitter tears sighing wringing of Hands beating of Breasts mourning complaining and lamenting but all these calamities were but as the bleating of Sheep or the lowing of Oxen to Popish Ears and they rather rejoyced at than commiserated the condition of these poor Wretches They were no sooner gone but their Houses were pillaged rifled and ransackt of all that was left and then pull'd to the ground yea the Trees were cut down and such havock and devastation made as all was turned into a Wilderness This cruel Edict was put in execution by one Gustaldo and others but this was not all the Design was for the utter extirpating and rooting out Hereticks as they called these Religious Souls it would not satisfie them to have banished these few and the poor Protestants could have no redress at Court for all their humble Petitions and Remonstrances could not be heard The Papists had yet more wicked and bloody Designs against them and to that purpose they imployed some Romish Agents who had great influence over the Duke and Dutchess of Savoy It is next to impossible to reckon up the variety of Cruelties and Murders committed up 〈◊〉 â—hese poor Innocent Souls we shall therefore only give a brief Abstract of some remarkable passages that happened therein Upon the seventeenth of April 1655. whilst the Protestant Deputies were detained at Turin and delayed with hopes of redress some Souldiers were sent on purpose to fall unexpectedly upon the Protestants who peaceably attended the issue of their Petitions which caused some bustle for the poor people being prompted by the Law of Nature stood upon their defence and the Papists lost fifty men the Protestants only two Wednesday April 22. The Marquess of Pianessa the Popish General came to the Valley of Lucerna and promised them there should be no violence offered to them provided they would but quarter a few Souldiers as a Token of their Obedience which the well-meaning people consented to but no sooner were these Troops entred but they put all to Fire and Sword slaying all they met with that had but the likeness of Mankind and that in the most barbarous manner they could possibly devise There joyned immediately to this Army a great number of Out-laws Prisoners and other Offenders who thought to have saved their Souls and filled their Purses by killing Heretioks Six Regiments of French besides Irish likewise helped them in this good work the Country being promised to the 〈…〉 cleared of Protestants With 〈…〉 other Troops of Highway-men and Vagabonds by the Licence of their General and the encouragement of Popish Priests and Monks the most unheard-of Villanies were committed upon the poor Protestants So that there was nothing to be seen through the Protestant Vallies but Churches burning Towns smoaking Houses flaming Men Women and Children Missacred and Murthered nothing to be heard but the confused cries of people flying the piercing groans of others dying and the horrid shrieks of others that were tormented and indeed so dreadful was their usage that it is scarce to be expressed In one place they most cruelly tormented an hundred and fifty Women and Children and afterwards chopped off the Heads of some and dashed out the Brains of others against the Rocks they took multitudes of Prisoners and such of them who were fifteen years of Age and upwards if they refused to go to Mass some of them were hanged up others had their Feet nail'd to Trees with their Heads hanging down all which they constantly endured A Franciscan Fryar and another Priest set fire to all the Churches and Houses at S. Giovanni La Toure and other places so that they left not one standing In these Desolations the Mother was bereaved of her sweet Child the Husband of his dear Wife those that were richest among them 〈…〉 to beg their Bread yea they lay weltring in their own blood and the pretence for all those bloody Massacres and Cruelties was that they were Rebels to their Princes Commands in not performing an absolute impossibility by immediately departing from their Habitations in so short a time and likewise for their frequent Petitioning to the Duke to take pity upon them The truth is
to God The same year there was an Ancient Religious man that had lain 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 resolved 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 that 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 come upon Summons they enquire his Name For say they we know not whether you be the man but since you are come if you have any thing to inform the Court of either concerning your self or any other you may let us hear it for the discharge of your Conscience Now in this Case it is the safest way constantly to deny that he hath any thing to declare to them For if through simplicity 〈◊〉 man doth accuse himself or any other they rejoyce as having attained their desires and so presently commit him to Prison If any chance to make his escape they have many devices to fetch him and find him again one of them is by making his Picture to the Life and sending it about by their Apparitors and Promoters who are commonly the greatest Villairs in the Countrey and will swear any thing against the Prisoner After the Prisoner has been six or eight Months in Gaol he is brought before the Inquisitors who tell him that they have deeply considered his case and have found that he doth not declare the whole Truth and therefore they are resolved he shall be rackt that they may draw from him by force what by fair means he will not acknowledge and then they advise him rather to confess voluntarily and thereby avoid that pain and danger that attends him but whether he confess or not it is the same thing for to the rack he must go to be compelled to confess more Then is the poor Prisoner led into a deep and dark Dangeon under Ground where the Rack standeth passing through many doors before he come to it because the terrible cryes and schreiks of the tormented should not be heard Then the Lords Inquisitors set themselves upon a Scaffold hard by the Rack and the Torches being lighted the Hangman or Tormenter comes in all clothed from Head to Foot in black Canvas and a long black hood likewise which covereth his Face having only two holes in it to look out at which sight doth many times very much affright the poor Soul to see one in the likeness of a Devil come to Torment him The Inquisitors being seated near him again perswade him to confess freely and Voluntarily and then with very sharp words command him to be stript stark naked yea though it be the modestest Virgin or chastest Matron in the Countrey whose grief is not so much the pain as to be seen naked by so many persons and yet these wicked Villains without any regard of honesty will not by the utmost prayers or Intreaties of the most virtuous Women or Maidens be perswaded to forbear one jot of this barbarous Impudence As if a Shirt or Shift could hinder the Rack from cruelly tormenting them The party being stript naked the Lords Inquisitors signify their pleasure how they will have him Tormented and the first kind of Torment is usually the Gibbet or Pully First one comes behind him and binds his hands together with a Cord Eight or Ten times about and then his Thumbs in the same manner the Inquisitors bidding him every time to bind them harder than other and then both hands and Thumbs are fastned to a Pully which hangs to the Gibbet they then fasten great and heavy bolts to his heels and hing upon those bolts divers Iron weights and so hoise the poo◠wretch up from the ground Having continued thus for some time they let him down and hang twice as much more to his heels and then hoising him up they let him slip half way dow◠of a sudden which rends and tears Arms Shoulders Back Leggs and all his whole body out of joynt by reason of the sudden Jirk and the weights hanging at his heels If the party schreik or cry out they roar out as fast and call him Heretick Rogue and Dog and if in his cruel pangs he call upon Jesus Christ for his aid and assistance they mock and deride him saying Why callest thou on Jesus Christ Let Jesus Christ alone and tell us the Truth c. After they have tormented him about three hours the Inquisitors ask the
Hangman whether the rest of his Instruments of Torment are ready who to affright the Prisoner answers they are but he hath not brought them with him they then bid him bring them to morrow and so turning to the poor wretch which lyes in miserable pain the Inquisitors cry How now Sirrah how do you like this well consider of it against to morrow â—r else you die for what you have felt is but a flea biting to what remains behind Then the Gaoler plays the Bone-setter as well as he can three days after brings him to the Rack again when his joynts are most sore and sometimes they have another Torment with the Trough where the Person is laid with his feet higher than his head bound hand and foot in the Trough and then laying a thick Cloath over his Mouth and Nostrils they pour water thereupon with a long stream which falling from on High drives the Cloath down his Throat with miserable Torture and pain and being drawn out again from the bottom of his Throat it draws forth blood with it and seems as if it tore out his bowels They have another Torment with Fire which is no whit inferior to the former and that is by holding the Prisoners Feet over a pan of burning Charcoal and that the Fire may have the more force they baste their Feet with Lard and Bacon If after all these and divers other cruel Tortures they continue constant they are then condemned to death Then he is clothed in a Sambernetto or long Garment painted over with ugly Devils he hath on his head a high Crown'd Hat whereon a man is painted burning in the Fire with many Devils about him plying him with Fire and Faggot upon his Tongue a piece of cleft Wood is put to hinder his speaking a Cord about his neck and his hands fast tyed hehind him All things being finished they are delivered by the Inquisitors into the hands of the Magistrate who presently conveys him to Execution where several Fryars swarm about him earnestly perswading him to deny the Truth and when they cannot prevail upon him he is tyed to the Stake and in an Instant the Hangman breaks his neck without being perceived and then they report among the Common People that he recanted at his last hour and returned to the Church of Rome and therefore he felt no pain in the Fire but took his death so patiently without any motion or crying out And though by the Terrors of the Inquisition the Professors of the Gospel in Spain have been but few they having been so wickedly industrious as to crush all appearances of Truth in the bud yet in the year 1545. several Protestants at St. Lucar Valedolia Sevil and other places in Spain suffered death no less than thirty being martyred at one time and five years after divers more likewise were put to death as one Francis Romanes a Merchant De 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 Gonsalvo a Priest Juliano Leon Arias Losada a Physician together with a Lady and several Women 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 William Burgate and about the same time William Burgess 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 there likewise suffered for the Gospel and among others William Garaner an English-man whom they put to death with most eâ—quisite 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 died 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 than 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 Wendelmuta 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 Women 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 died 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 Manket-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 frons 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 waste 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 than Eighteen thousand Persons And to compleat this sad Catastrophe we may also remember that William of Nassaw Prince of Orange 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 Burgundian who standing behind the Pillar in a Room shot the Prince dead as he past by The Persecutions of the Papists upon the Protestants in Scotland and Ireland AS most Kingdoms in Europe felt the rage and fury of Romish Cruelty and Persecution so Scotland though in the frozen north was not insensible thereof For in the Year 1572. Mr. Patrick Hamilton of an Ancient and Honourable Family and called Abbot of Fern left Scotland and went into Germany where conversing with Luther and Melancthon he greatly increased in godly knowledge and learning and returning home he publickly Preached concerning Faith and good works and against the Superstitions and Idolatry of the Papists This so enraged James Beaton Arch bishop of St. Andrews that in the absence of the King Mr. Hamilton was seized upon by the Bishops Officers and carried to the Castle and the next day he was brought forth to Judgment and Condenmed to be Burnt for the Testimony of God The Articles charged against him were about Pilgrimages Purgatory Praying to Saints and for the Dead After Dinner the Fire was prepared which some thought was only to terrifie him but it pleased God to strengthen him against the fear of Death and so he was tied to the Stake giving his Garments to his Servant and saying thus to him These will not profit in the Fire they will profit thee After this thou canst receive no benefit by me except the Example of my Death which I pray thee to remember for though it be bitter to the Flesh and fearful before men yet it is the entrarce into eternal Life which none shall possess who deny Jesus Christ before this wicked Generation And the Fire being kindled he cried with a loud voice Lord Jesus receive my Spirit how long shall Darkness overwhelm this Realm and how long wilt thou suffer the Tyranny of these men A Fryar troubling him by crying out Turn thou Heretick call upon our Lady say Salve Regina c. he replyed Depart from me and trouble me not thou Messenger of Satan and speaking to one Campbel the chief among them he said Wicked man thou knowest the Contrary and hast confessed the contrary to me I appeal thee before the Tribunal Seat of Jesus Christ after which words he resigned up his Spirit to God and within a few days after the Fryar died in a Frenzy and Desperation The Archbishop of St. Andrews likewise called before him two Gentlemen David Straton and Mr. Normand Gomlay Mr. Straton being accused for Heresy was much troubled at it and thereupon frequented the company of Religious men and hearing that Text read He that denieth me before men or is ashamed of me in this wicked Generation I will deny him before my Father and his Holy Angels he stedfastly lift up his eyes and hands to Heaven and burst forth into these words O Lord I have been wicked and justly mayest thou withdraw thy Grace fâ—â—â—â— me but Lord for thy Mercy sake let me never deny thy Truth for fear of Death or Corporal pain Being afterwards together with Mr. Norman brought to Judgment in Holy Rood-House where the King himself was present they were both condemned to the fire and in the afternoon were first Hanged and then Burnt which they chearfully suffered There was likewise one Dean Thomas Foret who used to Preach to his Parishioners every Lords day out of the Epistles and Gospels as they came in order for which being complained of to the Bishop of Dunkeldon he reproved him for it telling him that it was too much to preach every Sunday since the People might think they ought to do so likewise and says the Bishop Is it not enough for you when you find a good Epistle and Gospel to set forth and preach the Liberty of Holy Church and let the rest alone Dean Thomas replyed That he had read them all over and knew no bad ones among them But said he when your Lordship shews me any such I will pass them by The Bishop anwered I thank God I never knew what the Old and New Testament was but go your ways and â—â—pent of these fancies ere it be too late The Dean answered My cause is good and just 〈◊〉 the presence of God and therefore 〈…〉 〈…〉 but he 〈…〉 Cardinal Beton by whom he was condemned and Burned for an Heretick The Year after Jerom Russel and Alexander Kennedy who was not above eighteen years old â—ere brought before the Archbishop and his Associates who railed upon them and called â—hem Hereticks Jerom Russel replyed This your hour and power of darkness now sit ye as judges and we are wrongfully accused but the day will come wherein our Innocency will appear â—nd ye shall see your own blindness to your everlasting confusion go forward and fulfil the measure of your Iniquity A while after they were sentenced to die and as they went to Execution Jerom comforted Kennedy saying Brother fear not greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World the pain we are to suffer is short and shall be light but our joy and consolation shall never have an end let us therefore strive to enter into our Master and Saviours Joy by the same straight way which he hath taken before us Death cannot hurt us for it is destroyed by him for whose sake we now suffer And in this manner past reason they joyfully gave up their Souls unto God in the Flaming Fire In the year 1543. Cardinal Beton coming to Edenburgh caused several Religious persons to be brought before him and when he could prove nothing else against them