alledged Whereby upon that which he heard and knew is confessed that he is verily persuaded Hacket menat her Majesty should have been deprived both of Kingdom and Life which he also gathered by Coppinger's Letters albeit he denieth that he was ever made acquainted by what special means it should be done Thus having in some part described the Qualities Persuasions in Opinion Familiarity Inducements unto mutual crediting one of another Exercises and Designments of these Persons It resteth to go on with the Narration of the rest of the Action for better perfiting up of this History Hacket on a time recounting up unto the other two his Torments which he pretended to have endured told how amongst others one Pigg a Preacher did so beat him with Rods at a place in Hartfordshire whilst he lay bound there in a Sink-hole that this cost him the said Hacket more dear than all the rest of his Torments because thereby he was enforced to suffer for all Hypocrites also adding thereunto that all their best Preachers so they term such as thirst after and persuade Innovations were no better in very truth than Hypocrites nevertheless he They account their Puritanical Preachers Hypocrites and Idolaters for their conformity to the Laws of the Church would he said daily hear them preach Hereupon Arthington took occasion to tell him that he could prove all such Preachers to be Hypocrites and Idolaters both albeit of ignorance because they do yield in some sort to the Commandments of the Governors and unto the Laws of this Church that they may be tolerated to preach This pleased Hacket so exceedingly well as that he began highly to esteem of Arthington and hereby the rather he thought good that Arthington should be made acquainted with their Letters For about ten days before their rising Arthington saith that Coppinger did greatly importune him to read the Letters which he and Hacket had written if it were but to see the stile assuring him they tended to nothing else but to make a way to acquaint her Majesty with their Secrets So that when Arthington saw so great Counsellors so resolutely thereby charged with matter of so high quality by Coppinger especially her Majesty's sworn Servant he was induced to believe it and to think they had some very good ground thereof Arthington also with great contentment unto Hacket framed certain Syllogisms I believe in a lewd Mode and in an unperfect and fond Figure to prove forsooth one of the said honourable Counsellors whom he and Coppinger villanously afterward proclaimed Traitors to be such as they do charge him to be This worthy work of Syllogisms therefore being first finished his other Treatise to prove those Preachers to be Hypocrites and Idolaters was straightway set upon the stocks and began to be built on the Monday before their rising after they all had for obtaining good success in this and the rest of their business humbled themselves on the Lord's day Fasting and Prayer on the lord's-Lord's-day before the Insurrection afore in fasting and prayer for so be their words This latter Treatise Arthington finished up the Thursday morning next after and termed it A Prophecy of Judgments against England whose skill in this precipitate kind of Pistling the other two so magnified as that they termed him by a Title mentioned in a Psalm viz. The pen of a ready writer Whereas wiser men think they might have looked a little lower and he have better compared it as the Wiseman doth the like where he saith A word in a fool's mouth is like an arrow in a dog's leg because he will never leave wrinching and fisking till he have got it out In this Prophecy he first setteth down Arthington's Prophecy the Third Commandment inferring what Plagues shall light on himself if he offend therein Then cometh he to his nine several Assertions adding to every one of them The Lord to confound him viz. that if he think not himself to be the vilest sinful Wretch living If he take not himself to be the most ignorant in God's Book of any man that hath professed the Gospel so long If he acknowledge not himself most unfit and unworthy of all men to serve the Lord Jesus If nevertheless he be not extraordinarily called to do the Message of God more faithfully than any Preacher in England hitherto hath done If the Scripture do not justify extraordinary Callings before the ends of the World If he know not two Persons within the City of London that have greater extraordinary Callings than himself videlicet Edmund Coppinger and William Hacket If the former be not a Prophet raised up of the Lord to bring a Message of great Mercy to the Land if all the People truly repent of their Sins If the latter be not the holiest Man and of the greatest power to bring fearful Judgments upon the whole Earth that ever was born Christ Jesus excepted If the said Hacket as the Messenger of God's Vengeance where mercy is refused do not bring such great Plagues upon this Realm of England the like whereof was never seen In these and in every of these several Cases he prayeth the Lord to confound His dreadful Imprecations him Whereupon he inferreth that having thus denounced so many fearful Woes against his own Soul as would sink it into the bottomless Pit of Hell if he were guilty in any one of them Then thereupon with chearfulness he cometh to declare his Message to England accusing it to be the most rebellious though it have been most blessed of all other Nations Then he affirmeth the City of London and the Courts of Justice at Westminster and the counterfeit Worship of God with Cross and Surpless to be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah or the Purple Whore of Rome or else desireth to be confounded Nay he preferreth Rome before London because at Rome they sin only of ignorance Of her Majesty he saith she is least guilty of the common Sins but most abused of any Prince that ever was by those whom she hath most advanced Then he speaks to three great Counsellors C. C. T. daring them to protest for their innocencies against themselves as deeply as he hath done and then if they be not swallowed up quick he is contented to be hanged up in Chains at Paul's-Cross Then he threatneth them that they three shall be otherwise Note detected ere long and all those that are their Partakers when her Majesty shall reign and live to see better days if God give her true repentance Then he saith he will leave all other of the Clergy as sufficiently detected already save such as pretend to seek Reformation who he saith are as guilty in two points as any of the other The first point for not crying out continually against Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons and others as wicked Usurpers in the House of God The second for not crying out against the wicked Magistrates of this Land because they keep out the Elderships
Note Coppinger ' s Letter to Cartwright about some special service to God and his Church he fancied himself call'd for of the Letter unto T. C. is in mine Opinion meet to be here inserted in many respects viz. Right Reverend Sir I have with much grief been put back from doing some special service to God and to his Church which I hope time will manifest that I am appointed for Which if it had been done by Enemies it should not much have troubled me But being done by Persons as much regarded by me as flesh and blood can regard men it goeth near unto me From you I received this Message That I should attempt nothing but by advice of those whom you would procure to counsel me This was done from you in the name of the Lord of Heaven and Earth and therefore I obey it with great care and conscience expecting at your hands that Monday being the day appointed for conference that it may hold that I may be justified in my course or condemned The danger that Note some stand in for their lives is not unknown And if I had not been letted I durst have ventured my life to have procured their release ere now God help us I see Wisdom Zeal Courage and Love are seen but in few and those who would gladly use those Graces and Gifts which God hath given them cannot But God seeth what is best to be done and he will by contrary effects bring to pass whatsoever pleaseth him If you will answer my last Questions there may much use be made of them I desire them as much in regard of others as my self who are resolved of divers things whereof I crave to be resolved which I do to good purpose And as you commanded me in the name of God to be wise and circumspect and to deal by counsel so as I may I command you in the name of God that you advise the Preachers to deal speedily and circumspectly lest some blood of the Saints be Note shed which must needs bring down vengeance from Heaven upon the Land Return this Letter I beseech you to me that I may shew it amongst other things when the meeting shall be and commend me and my Purposes to God in your holy Prayers that they may so far be blessed as himself is the director of them God keep us ever his this 14th of February There is also this Postscript I am so full of worldly business as I have no time to attend this weighty Action but do only weight upon God for the direction of his Spirit saving my heart and soul are still mindful hereof and to morrow by God's grace I will humble my self before his Majesty in fasting and prayer and hope that God will stir up some other to join with me in spirit though few or none in person do only one I am assured of the Prisoners know it I leave it to them to join or Note not as God moves them but if ever men will fast and pray I think it is now more than time to do it The Superscription was this To my very loving and reverend Friend Master C. He dealt also about this matter with another Gentleman of the Laity in one of J. T. a Lay Gentleman his Letter to Coppinger intimating caution about some singular Course or special Practice whose Letters written in answer to Coppinger's the 18th of the fifth Month meaning thereby May I find these words of some mark I confess saith he I heard some buz abroad of a sole and singular course that either you or some other had plotted in his head And a little after thus I would wish you and all that bear good will to the holy Cause in this perilous Age of ours to take both your eyes in your hands as they say and to be sure of your ground and Strive to put in execution warrant before you strive to put in execution Besides these and some others he instanted both by word and Letters in Easter Term last about this business a certain Gentleman In his first Letter to the said Gentleman dated the 19th of May last Coppinger promiseth to him in the name of the Coppinger comforteth a Gentleman censured in Star-chamber for the Cause Lord a recompence in the life to come for that in the Star-chamber he feared God more than Man in such a glorious Action so pleasing to God so behoveful to his Church which shall also remain of record here to all posterity And a little after thus If after your own holy private Prayer you find any desire of speech with me let me intreat you either to send this Letter to M. Cartwright or rather if you can carry it unto him c. The second Letter which he writ to the said Lawyer the 21st of May they having in the mean time conferred together was thus word by word Let thy Spirit O gracious Father direct us now and for ever in all our ways especially in those whereby greatest honour may redound to thy glorious Majesty most benefit to thy Church and most danger to thine Enemies Good Sir and my loving Brother in the Lord though such as are admitted to consult with God and have by prayer and meditation much familiarity and acquaintance with his holy Majesty need not doubt of good success in all things which he setteth them a work in though Satan and his Vassals cross their course and hinder their labour by all the means they can yet is it also necessary that while we remain in the fellowship and communion of the Saints that we communicate one with another that as loving Children we may all join together to help each other to be doers of our heavenly Father's will here on Earth as the Angels do it in the Heavens The conscience which I had hereof enforced me to write unto you lately and the like moved you to speak with me upon that Letter And truly I did observe many things in that little time we spent together were said and done which might move either of us to praise our good God and to cheer us up to further so holy an Action as now is in Note hand which must needs speed well in the end because it is the Lord 's own work And if we adventure our selves to do him service here he will reward elsewhere You may be bold for you have the warrant of the Word the allowance of the State and you walk in your own Calling But I am to be fearful and circumspect because the Dangers I enter into be infinite my Course misliked though unknown because it is extraordinary which Callings be ceased in all mens opinion of judgment and have not of long time been heard of or to be hoped for but where the Word is not preached at all or the Church in a great waste which no body dare affirm our Church of England to be Wherefore it seemeth that every step that I shall
foris collocatur sic contra pacem Christi ordinationem atque unitatem Dei rebellatur The First fruits of Hereticks and the first Births and Endeavours of Schismaticks are these to admire themselves and in their swelling Pride to contemn any that are set over them Thus do men fall from the Church of God thus is a foreign unhallowed Altar erected and thus is Christ's Peace and God's Ordination and Unity rebelled against For mine own part I neither have done nor do any thing in these Matters which I do not think my self in conscience and duty bound to do and which her Majesty hath not with earnest Charge committed unto me and which I am not well able to justify to be most requisite for this Church and State whereof next to her Majesty though most unworthy or at the least most unhappy the chief care is committed unto me which I will not by the grace of God neglect whatsoever come upon me therefore Neither may I endure their notorious Contempts unless I will become Aesop ' s Block and undo all that which hither to hath been done And how then shall I be able to perform my Duty according to her Majesty's Expectation It is certain that if way be given unto them upon their unjust Surmises and Clamours it will be the cause of that Confusion which hereafter the State will be sorry for I neither care for the Honour of this Place I hold which is Onus unto me nor the largeness of the Revenue neither any worldly thing I thank God in respect of doing my Duty neither do I fear the displeasure of Man nor the evil Tongue of the uncharitable who call me Tyrant Pope Knave and lay to my charge things that I never did nor thought Scio enim hoc esse opus Diaboli ut Servos Dei mendaciis laceret opinionibus falsis gloriosum nomen infamet ut qui conscientiae suae luce clarescunt alienis rumoribus sordidentur For I know that this is the work of that Accuser the Devil that he may tear in pieces the Servants of God with Lies that he may dishonour their glorious Name with false Surmises that they who through the clearness of their own Conscience are shining bright might have the filth of other mens Slanders cast upon them So was Cyprian himself used and other Godly Bishops to whom I am not comparable But that which most of all grieveth me and is to be wondred at and lamented is that some of those which give countenance to these Men and cry out for a learned Ministry should watch their opportunity and be Instruments and means to place most unlearned Men in the chiefest Places and Livings of the Ministry thereby to make the state of the Bishops and Clergy contemptible and I fear saleable This Hypocrisy and dissembling with God and Man in pretending one thing and doing another goeth to my heart and maketh me to think that God's Judgments are not far off The day will come when all mens hearts shall be opened In the mean time I will depend upon him who never faileth those that put their trust in him Thus far his Letters 57. After this he linked himself in a After which he is in strict league with Sir Christopher Hatton by means of Dr. Bancroft firm league of friendship with Sir Christopher Hatton then Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen's Majesty and by the means of Dr. Bancroft his then Houshold Chaplain and afterwards Lord Archbishop of Canterbury had him most firm and ready upon all occasions to impart unto the Queen as well the Crosses offered him at the Council-Table as also sundry impediments whereby he was hindred from the performance of many good Services towards her Majesty and the State He had always the Lord Burley then Lord Treasurer Burley his firm Friend Lord Treasurer of England his firm and constant Friend and one that would omit no opportunity for his advancement who prevailed so far that when the Earl of Leicester one of those honourable Personages afore-mention'd was in the Low-Countries the Archbishop The Archbishop sworn of the Privy Council and the Lord Cobham were first sworn Counsellors of State and Thomas Lord Buckhurst was sworn the day after whereat the Earl was not a little displeased The Lord Buckhurst was joined Lord Buckhurst his faithful Friend in like affection to the Archbishop as the other two were and continued after he came to be Lord Treasurer his faithful and loving Friend to the time of his death 58. When the Archbishop was thus established in friendship with these Noble Personages as aforesaid their Favours and his Place wrought him free He has free access to the Queen access to the Queen and gracious acceptance of his Motions in the Church's behalf His Courses then at the Council-board His Oppositions abated were not so much crossed nor impeached as heretofore but by reason of his daily attendance and access he then oftentimes gave impediment to the Sir Thomas Bromeley Lord Chancellor died April 12. 1587. Earl's Designments in Clergy Causes 59. About this time Sir Thomas Bromely the then Lord Chancellor died whereupon it pleased her Majesty The Queen disposed to make the Archbishop Lord Chancellor to discover her gracious Inclination to have made the Archbishop Lord Chancellor of England But he excusing himself in many respects that he was He excuses himself and recommends Sir Christopher Hatton grown into years and had the burthen of all Ecclesiastical Businesses laid upon his back which was as much as one man could well undergo considering the troubles with so many Sectaries that were then sprung up desired to be spared and besought her Highness to make choice of Sir Christopher Hatton who Sir Christopher Hatton made Lord Chancellor Ap. 29. 1587. shortly after was made Lord Chancellor in the Archbishop's House at Croydon thereby the rather to grace the Archbishop His advancement did much strengthen the Archbishop and his Friends and withal the Earl of Leicester and his Designments came soon after to an end For the Year following taking his Journey to Kenelworth he died in the way at Cornbury Park whereby the Archbishop took himself The Earl of Leicester died Sept. 4. 1588. freed from much opposition 60. Upon the death of the said Earl the Chancellorship of Oxford being Oxford desire the Archbishop for their Chancellor in the Earl's room void divers of the Heads and others of the University made known unto the Archbishop their desire to chuse him their Chancellor although he was a Cambridge man To whom he returned this Answer That he was already their Friend whereof they might rest assured and therefore advised them to make choice of some other in near place about the Queen that might assist him on their behalf And both at the Council-board and other Places of Justice right them many ways both for the benefit of the University and their particular Colleges And
into many lewd dangerous and traiterous Attempts For first having conceived mortal hatred against two great and worthy Counsellors of this Estate who they thought would not a little stop the course they had taken and hinder the purpose which they pursued Coppinger therefore by Hacket's advice directed Coppinger having hatred to two Counsellors of State pretends to impeach them of Treason several Letters unto some Honourable Personages whereby he signified that certain Treasons were intended even against her Majesty's own Sacred Person meaning after to appeach those two thereof and hoping by this means either to take them away or at least their Credits with her Majesty until he and his Complices might bring their Purposes to some better pass or else by this colourable Pretence having access and opportunity to have executed some wicked Practice against her Royal Person The discovery avouching and proof of these supposed Treasons Hacket and he did take especially upon themselves The first two Letters that I find Coppinger He writes a Letter to them with one inclosed to the Queen writ to the said honourable Personages about this pretended matter of Treason to be discovered was the third day of June last both to this purpose To have them acquaint her Majesty that intelligence was given unto him of some Treason intended against her own Sacred Person but naming no particular In the one of them he inclosed a Letter of his to her Majesty and certain Petitions which he would have had to be offered up to her Highness being to this effect That he might have leave to entertain the Action of such discovery that as matters should come to light he might resort to a certain worthy Counsellor by him there named to acquaint him therewith and to have his Counsel and direction That he the said Coppinger might confer and examine Jesuits and all Prisoners suspected or condemned of Treason about these matters in the presence of certain others That for better furtherance of his Service he might have this favour to stay judgment or at least execution against condemned Persons for Crimes capital or smaller until her Majesty might have account given of the cause of his so doing That he might be pardoned for so bold an Attempt if in over-much fear of danger to her Sacred Person he had or afterward should go too far and not effect that in the end which he hoped to do And lastly That this matter might be concealed from all men But the said honourable Personage finding this to be an unlikely and strange Course to be yielded unto as may be gathered by the Answer and by the other Letters directed him to a more sound way viz. To learn first the grounds perfectly to acquaint none other with the matter and to do it speedily Hereupon the 8th of the said His second Letter to them with one of Hacket's inclosed animating him to do the Lord's business June he addressed another Letter to the same Personage enclosing therein a Letter written to him from Hacket and dated the last day of May and another Letter of his own to her Majesty to have been delivered unto her Highness His Letter to the said honourable Personage is to commend the Writer of that Letter inclosed not naming him for Coppinger had raced out both Hacket's Name and the Name of Oundell from whence it came as a Man able and willing to do her Majesty some principal service to offer their attendances to come before her Majesty and to urge the delivery of the Letters for that the matter he said admitted no delays The Letter from Hacket is nothing but an inciting and animating of Coppinger to perform the Lord's business he had in hand by many holy and devout words and hypocritical Allusions to certain Stories of the Scripture Coppinger's Letter to her Majesty Coppinger sends another Letter to the Queen and presseth to get to her Presence pretending some special service commendeth the Inditer of that inclosed for a Man beloved of God and fearing him unfeignedly and one enabled by God to do her Highness some special service He also humbly desireth thereby that they two might appear before her own Princely Person in the presence only of two certain Lords and one Lady But the said honourable Personage sent Hacket's Letter again unto Coppinger as of no moment for that purpose and stayed the delivery of his Letter to her Majesty till some particular intelligence might be had to be first delivered to her Highness The same day Coppinger also writ two several Letters to the same two Lords in whose presence he and Hacket desired to come before her Majesty and to deliver their Intelligence this he did to advertise them hereof aforehand That which is written to the one of them mentioneth a Supplication which Coppinger sent the day afore unto his Lordship to make passage to some better service to her Majesty which he hoped should be done shortly to her Highness's good liking and to his Lordship's great honour for that he should be the chief Actor therein Upon some answer returned Coppinger j alous that what he had to reveal would be slighted writes to Hacket for more important Intelligence from the Lady afore-mentioned craving some Particulars of that which they meant to discover Coppinger writ to Hacket being in London to urge him unto some more special point of Intelligence Whereunto Hacket the said 8th of June answering by Letter to small purpose and subscribing his Letter thus As you find me so call me Coppinger therefore returned in answer another Letter presently unto him whereby he signified that Hacket must manifest somewhat more plainly of some practice worth the revealing otherwise they both should worthily fall into her Majesty's indignation for that which he had then writ would not satisfy her Majesty and the State concerning the danger which Hacket supposed to be coming upon the Land and wherewith he seemed to be acquainted Upon such overture as afore is touched made to one of the said Lords he had the Both of them are examin'd by one of the Lords who finds little in their Information so shakes them off said two Appeachers before him on the 10th of June but finding Hacket's demeanour of himself very strange and their Imputations as frivolous he dismissed them as is said without further ado to their great discontentment Hereupon Coppinger in stomach so far as he durst writ another Letter to the said Nobleman the 11th of June Hereby he signified That were it not that he had been before acquainted with the Graces and Gifts of the Holy Ghost which he did assure himself to be in Hacket in an extraordinary manner he should have esteemed of him by his behaviour as his Lordship did Therefore what trouble or danger soever might come to himself by it he was resolute to abide it and further chargeth the said Nobleman in God's name to deliver the Letters and Copies there inclosed to her
Majesty signifying that what punishment should in that respect be allotted to him or unto Hacket they would undergo it and not depart the City till they might further understand what God would do therein Sure it is that being thus shaken They thus slighted grow malicious against him Coppinger writes another Letter in Hacket's name to the Queen threatning dreadful Judgments from God and offers a Sign off by him they grew extremely malicious also against the said worthy Nobleman I find also a Copy of a Letter written in Coppinger's hand but meant to be sent as from Hacket unto her Excellent Majesty wherein amongst other things he desireth he may enjoy that which God hath appointed him and then lewdly and falsly accuseth and revileth two great and worthy Counsellors In the end he saith That if he should tell her the judgments of God that lie at her Gate which the Lord hath shewed him they would be over-fearful for her to endure or to hear of And if she doubted of his sending from the Lord he willeth her to ask a Sign and if he give it not let him die A second course taken by them besides the former Appeachments was a Conspiracy They conspire the death of some Lords of the Council in case Judgment be given against some of their Preachers then Prisoners for Misdemeanors of the death of certain of the Lords of the Council when they should be at the Star-chamber in case they should give any Judgment against certain that were sometime Preachers and are now Prisoners for Misdemeanors perillous to the peaceable state of the Realm as is intended That this devilish Purpose was rise amongst them may appear by a Letter sent by Coppinger in Trinity Term last unto the aforenamed Lancaster In which was contained to this effect That if the Lords should give a hard censure against those Parties the next day if God shewed not such a fearful Judgment against some of those Lords as that some of them should not go alive out of that place then never trust him And albeit some that saw this Letter could not pick any further matter out of it than Coppinger's Conceit that God without some speedy and miraculous Judgment from himself alone would not suffer such men to be punished yet Lancaster to whom it was directed justly suspected some further meaning and that the concealing of it might be both accounted undutiful and further also dangerous unto him and therefore asked counsel of some more skilful than himself whether he might safely suppress it and tear the Letter in pieces Another Device they also had for preparing as is supposed of the minds of the People and to stir them up to be in readiness which was by certain Seditious Letters They scatter Seditious Letters among the People that were purposely scattered five or six Nights afore in many of the Streets of London by some of these Actors or by their Complices and Favourers Likewise there was found in Wigginton's Chamber in the Great numbers of Printed Libels found in Wigginton's Chamber Prison where he remaineth about a thousand printed Pamphlets of two sorts the one of Predestination the other carrying an odd and needless Title to every man that knoweth but the Author For it is entitled on the first side in great Letters thus viz. The Fools bolt And immediately under that Title this Sentence is set down worthy to be duly considered with all his Circumstances now apparent viz. Such as do surmise the complaint of Innocency to be revenge and the report of Truth to be slander shall never want the due reward of their gross Error whilst Innocency and Truth shall endure On the other side of the Sheet the Title is A Fatherly Exhortation to a certain young Courtier The matter thereof is conceived into an halting Rime roving lewdly not only at the Governors Ecclesiastical and at other Ministers but also at sundry having Civil Authority and high Places Amongst the rest the first two Staves and last Stave are most perillous if ye respect the present Action these Persons had in hand their Opinions of this State and the base Condition and State of the chief of them The first are these viz. My Son if thou a Courtier sue to be In flower of youth this Lesson learn of me A Christian true although he be a Clown May teach a King to wear Scepter and Crown And in the last Stave are these viz. For God will sure confound such as devise His Ordinance or Church to tyrannize c. These Papers Wigginton by the means and help of one Brown procured privily to be printed at Whitsontide last and being examined Wigginton confesseth that they were all to be sent to Women and by them to be dispersed touching them by her Majesty's Council and others he confessed That they were all to be sent to Women the weaker Vessels viz. to Mistress L. Mistress B. and to I know not how many Mistresses by them to be dispersed abroad to the intent that every one to whom they might come should conceive of them as the Spirit should move them And Hacket also confessed that a part of certain Writings which Wigginton and Coppinger framed was that a Clown might teach a King to wear a Crown Now that Wigginton held intelligence in Wigginton in the Conspiracy for advancing the Discipline these matters with the Conspirators and that there was mutual and ordinary correspondence betwixt him and them in all Plots for advancing of their Discipline per fas nefas besides that which in this behalf hath been touched afore is made also manifest by the confession of Arthington who saith That about the 15th of July or not long before he heard Hacket singing of certain Songs who then wished that Arthington had also some of them For it was a very special thing and said he M. Wiggington hath a great many of them Also Coppinger had once conference with Wigginton in the presence of Arthington touching his extraordinary Calling At what time it is pretended that Wigginton refused to be made acquainted with the manner of Coppinger's Secrets and that he used these Speeches to Coppinger viz. You are known to be an honest Gentleman and sworn to the Queen and therefore I will not be acquainted with those things which God hath revealed unto you for the good of your Sovereign And his Opinion of such extraordinary Callings set down under his own hand doth elsewhere appear whereby is argued that he was made a common Oracle for such Fantasticks That he knew the matter in generality which by Coppinger was to be wrought upon the Queen to bring her forsooth to repentance howsoever he refused to know the particular manner of such Secrets That he acknowledged it to be good for the Queen and yielded it without scruple to be revealed unto Coppinger from God so that it could not be but that Coppinger hereby was much animated to go forward in his
of to bring them to pass which they hoped to stir up by their pretence of so great holiness with calling the Realm to repentance in the open Streets of London by offering joys and mercy to the Penitent and by their Proclamation also then made in Cheapside as hereafter cometh to be declared Now that these their two last Purposes were indeed the principal and main ends which they propounded to themselves besides that which by the way is noted already and that which comes hereafter to be mentioned let these few Proofs ensuing suffice First for the alteration of the whole Government Ecclesiastical and erecting of the new Discipline It is confessed that Coppinger Coppinger and Arthington two false Prophets their words to Wigginton the day before the Insurrection and Arthington the two Counterseit Prophets on the 16th of July last being Friday and the self-same day that they arose in Cheapside told Wigginton in the morning these words amongst many others viz. That Reformation and the Lord's Discipline should now forthwith be established and therefore charged Wigginton in the Lord's name to put all Christians in comfort that they should see a joyful alteration in the state of Church-Government shortly To which words Wigginton made no reply nor further demand as of any matter strange unto him how it was so shortly to be compassed Wherein may also be observed that these kind of Persons do reckon and term only those Christians that will take comfort and joy at such an Alteration So that by their Opinions it skilleth not what be attempted or done against all others being but as Heathens and Paynims or at least Idolaters Thus much with their seditious Purposes Their Seditious Purposes appear in Coppinger's Letter to Udal then condemned for writing the Demonstration of Discipline also is plainly implied in a dangerous Letter written by the said Coppinger since Easter last unto one John Udal a condemned man for Felony in the White Lyon in Surrey for writing of the Book termed the Demonstration of Discipline That Letter beginneth thus Right Reverend Sir my forbearing to visit you and the rest of the Saints who suffer for Righteousness sake do give you all cause to think that I have forsaken my first Love and have embraced the God of this World But my Conscience beareth me witness of the contrary The Reasons of my absence being so great and so weighty that hereafter when they shall be examined by your selves who are endued with the spirit of wisdom and discerning of Spirits I doubt not but Note you will allow of my not coming which might bring you into more trouble and danger than it would do me good or breed me comfort And afterward thus You have care and conscience to further the building of the Lord's House which lieth waste and to seek the final overthrow of Antichrist's Kingdom which being the Lord 's own work he will bless it and all the Actors in it And this I dare be bold of mine own knowledge to report that in this great Work he hath divers that lie hid and are yet at liberty who are hammering their heads busying their brains and spending their spirits in prayers to God as much as you or any of you that are in Prison Note and hope in short time to be brought forth into the sight of their and your Enemies to defend the Cause you stand for And again afterward in this wise I beseech you cheer up your selves in the Lord for the day of our Redemption is at hand and pray that the Hand of the Lord may be strengthened Note in them whom he hath appointed to take part with you in this Cause and beseech him that blessing may be upon Sion and confusion upon Babel Pardon my long Letter I beseech you and impart mine humble suit to all the rest to whom I neither dare write nor offer to see I neither put to my Name nor make Subscription The Bringer can report who sendeth the Letter and let that suffice Furthermore that they hated deadly and maligned her Majesty as a principal Obstacle to their Innovation and Kingdom and therefore sought to deprive her Highness of her Sovereignty and Life may be gathered by their own Words and Actions For Hacket confessed before the other two that They usually attend Egerton a Preacher in Black-Frairs at a Sermon of one Egerton's preach'd in the Black-Fryars whither they usually resort he the said Hacket remained uncovered all the Sermon time until the Preacher came to pray for her Majesty but then he said that he put on his Hat And when Arthington demanded why he did so Coppinger streightway answered thus There is a matter in that Likewise when as in their private Prayers amongst themselves Arthington used to pray for the Queen Coppinger Coppinger and Hacket forbear to pray for the Queen would sundry times tell him that his so doing did much grieve Hacket adding that in the beginning himself did also pray for her but Hacket had now drawn him from it saying there was a cause why which Arthington knew not but should know hereafter For saith he you do not know this man meaning Hacket who is a greater Person than she and indeed above all the Princes in the World And whenas on the very Sunday before their rising for so themselves have since termed that Action it happened that Arthington prayed again for the preservation of the Queen's Majesty Hacket not digesting this suddenly with indignation turned his face away from him but when he prayed for other matters then Hacket cast his countenance towards him again which he perceiving that Arthington also marked by him and purposing as it seemeth to salve up this matter again left Arthington happily might yet have fallen from them therefore when they had ended their Prayers Hacket took him with his Arms about the middle in very kind sort affirming that he loved the Queen as well as either of them and desired him not to be offended for the Lord had commanded it Adding further that there was a matter in it that Arthington as yet knew not Hereupon Coppinger being in hearing thereof said that she might be prayed for in general terms but not so specially as Arthington did whereby Hacket was grieved nor yet to be prayed for as a Sovereign For said he she may not reign as Note Sovereign but this man Hacket and yet saith he she shall live better than ever she did albeit she must be governed by another thereby also meaning Hacket And to the intent they might the more assuredly retain Arthington without suspicion of their poisonful malice wherein they boiled against the Queen's Highness Hacket himself once after this time very subtilly prayed for her Majesty For proof that they also meant to deprive her of life the several Confessions of Arthington Arthington confesseth that Hacket and Coppinger design'd the Queen's deprivation of Government and Life at sundry Examinations may be
those whom he served to entrap him with Women His attempting them in dishonest manner but with purpose only as he there pretendeth to learn of them the Practices against him The like Snares laid for him by some of better place and credit than the former Of his affliction in mind that he endured because he so behaved himself toward Women and yet could not learn out by them the plot laid against him Of his going into Hampshire to have been placed there How he was in a place there for the most part of 20 days beat with a Bostonado and into what pitiful state of Body he was thereby brought That this was done partly for his avouching that Christ was Head of the Church against the Pope and for saying That as certain Earthen Pots were there by him broken so should all Papists be broken in Hell and confounded so many as rose up against him in Earth How he was forced to use the Deputy-Lieutenant of Hampshire his Aid to be safely conveyed out of that Country lest he should be murthered by his Enemies That he came thence to one M. Paul Wentworth's House where he remained a Month and was used most Christianly and where he was most deeply exercised in the Spirit How as he passed by the way out of Hampshire he told a Gentleman in company that was privy to his Enemies Complots of a great Practice intended against him and to be done in a Chamber by certain Persons whom he then named aforehand Insomuch as the said Gentleman being made privy to such purpose and knowing that he said true affirmed surely he could conjure or else it had not been possible to tell such things as he did where indeed he saith the Lord in the midst of his former Afflictions revealed it unto him and further shewed him a Place which he had appointed for him and how he would bring all his Enemies Practices to confusion How in performance of that which was so revealed he was afterward in a certain Place in Hartfordshire bound first in a Chamber and then chained in a Sink-hole of a Seller and most grievously many ways afflicted there for 20 days together That in the greatest extremity thereof which was greater than he could express a Cross came upon his Breast as he lay and always when his Torments were at the greatest the Lord unloosed his Feet and Hands from his Fetters and Bands nevertheless he lay still till his Tormentors came and bound him again How the Lord then appeared to him and assured him that he would establish the Gospel by him and shewed him all the Whoredom of Rome in the person of a great Personage since deceased as it were in Candle-light with a great Bell full of iniquity That during that time the Lord shewed him a terrible Famine which he would bring upon a Land but whether this Land or not was not declared That Christ then shewed him his Wisdom and Providence in governing the Seas and all other Waters in their Courses And further shewed him the Man that should sit on Christ's Right hand to judge both the quick and the dead whose Name he well knoweth That then he made his Petition unto the Lord who answered him by a Voice thus What he would how he would and when he would How by the extremity of his Torments his Eyes were fallen down and his Tongue thrust out of his Head so as he could not pull it in again one Barley-corn's breadth but the Lord in that extremity shewed him that he would keep his Body from hursting and that one hair of his Head should not perish That being loosed by his Wife's importunity soon after in a very rainy-Rainy-day he his Wife one Richard Dickens and one Palmer rid altogether thence toward Oundell thirty Miles that day and albeit it rained all the day very fore so that great floods came upon it yet never a one of them had any drop thereof fall upon their Clothes That being at Oundell and foreseeing he should be exercised again he prayed his Wife that no man might come at him for he would keep his Chamber And then the Lord appeared unto him and shewed him in what danger the Land was by reason of foreign Enemies at the Sea and commanded him to go round about the Town and that should be a defence to the Land round about That after this he kept himself in his Barn about eight days reasoning with the Lord touching Predestination and Reprobation continually begging of him that he would save all those that fought ignorantly against the Truth or otherwise sinned through want of knowledge How after this betaking himself to his Chamber again the Lord he saith forced him to cry out against two great Subjects and Counsellors in this Land That he was again bound and tormented there other twenty days in eight whereof he neither did eat nor drink and was continually watched for that they knew the Lord would come and loose him if they left him That during this time Witches used their Sorcery strongly upon him That the Lord then told him that he would harden his own heart against Hacket's Tormentors How then also four or five Angels night by night stood by him and watched over him like unto Doves and one night Spirits innumerable And that a white Hand came from the Almighty and took him by the hand whereby all Venome Poison Uncleanness and Corruption departed from him for a time whereupon the Lord shewed him three Heavens together and all the dwelling places contrived in one of them but the highest Heaven was shewed to be without end which glory he was not able to behold but was made able to look upon the Blood of the Saints which was made round like a Wax Cake in very great breadth but the glory which therewith appeared he could not look upon so that he was forced to turn his face upon the Pillow How the Lord also shewed him the murthering of the Wicked even like the slaying of Swine the Father murthering the Son and the Mother the Daughter and every one another all the day long and no man took pity upon them That there was then revealed unto him a very strange fire from Heaven the length whereof he did see consuming all things from the Heaven to Hell mouth but he did not see the breadth thereof Also that he then did see the breadth of the tormenting place of the Damned and what was therein but neither the bottom nor length of the place That he also supposed he saw his Liberty begged by two honourable Personages Notwithstanding which deliverance that he dreamed of he telleth that he was carried afterward to Northampton Gaol where he remained 17 Weeks as afore is remembred Furthermore there is declared That in his Torments the Lord shewed him how he would confound all his Adversaries that were guilty in any practice against him and that one thing which they went about they should never bring to pass for he let
him see that they were all as drunken men and Fools without wit That in the end they should throw all their Books away and be at a great confusion one with another That afterward viz. about the beginning of Easter Term last the Lord brought him to London and how he was made acquainted with Coppinger at that time as hath been afore declared How after his departing out of the City from Coppinger he could not but remember him in his Prayers desiring the Lord to reveal himself extraordinarily to him so that he might be encouraged to go forward in the Action Whereupon as the said Coppinger affirmed he had two extraordinary Seals in very short space after Hacket ' s departure and was wonderfully strengthened to proceed in the Cause Then is told how the Lord commanded him to go from one place to another in and about the City for two days space and how he was commanded to rail against the said two great Counsellors in divers places where he came How being in that time commanded to see the Lyons in the Tower he took the fiercest of them by the Head and had none harm Then is told what Preachers in the City he heard and that going to hear one he saw a Surpless lie in the Church whereupon he would not stay there That he went to certain Preachers in Prison to command them to deal faithfully in the Lord's business And how he was commanded by God to deface the Arms of England in Kaye's House in Knight-Rider's-street Lastly It is said that God hath appointed two others to deal for and with Hacket whom it will stand upon to deal faithfully for the Lord for they know what Hacket is and what shall follow if their Counsels and Directions be not followed Now if any shall marvail how such an absurd and ridiculous lying Legend should seduce men of any consideration so earnest for a supposed Reformation and so exercised in praying and fasting let him remember not only the effectual but the efficacy it self of illusion and the spirit of slumber falling by God's secret yet always just Judgment upon the Children of disobedience such as be wise in their own conceits and not wise with sobriety that they might believe Lies because they have not believed the Truth And that they might ask and not obtain because they ask not as they ought After Arthington On Thursday morning had ended his aforesaid Treatise of Prophecy being the very day before their rising Coppinger told him that God the night before had enlightned him the said Coppinger who they all three were saying that Arthington had unawares prophesied truly for he was the greatest Prophet of God's Judgments against the whole World that ever was but that they both were greater than he for Coppinger himself was he said the greatest that ever was and last Prophet of mercy and that he must describe the new and holy Jerusalem with the several places of joy that the Elect should enjoy after this Life and that they the said Coppinger and Arthington were ordained to separate the Lambs from the Goats before the Lord Jesus at the last day Whereat it is said they were both astonished considering their own unworthiness and unfitness crying out against themselves and their Sins yet submitting themselves to the direction of God's Spirit which they were assured should sufficiently furnish them to do him that service which himself did command Then Coppinger proceeded to tell further That Hacket was greater than either of them and that they two must obey him in whatsoever he commanded but told not then what nor how great he was other than King of Europe which Title was afore this time concluded of amongst them Hereupon according to Coppinger's commandment Arthington offered to honour Hacket with his Title of the King of Europe and to demean himself toward him accordingly But Hacket himself herein dispensed with him until the time should come that he was to honour him before others bidding him withal to be of good cheer for faith he I serve a good Captain who makes so dear accompt of me that all the Devils in Hell nor Men in Earth cannot take my life from me Then Coppinger for confirmation of the like unto them two also said that Arthington and himself were possessed not only with Prophetical but also with Angelical Spirits which Arthington taking to be true by a great burning that he felt in himself after that time did thereupon fancy to himself that no power in Earth nor Hell could hurt either of them because they had the spirit of Angels and they were subject to no Power but to God alone And that God being the master of the whole Work all things should prosper with them they only seeking his glory which he faith he vowed with himself and to deal throughly in his Office to rebuke the World of Sin and to denounce Judgments against whomsoever the Spirit should move him without fear or favour of Men or of Devils in Hell which Spirit he faith then moved him according to his hatred afore conceived against them and his opinion that they were Trayors against the Queen's Majesty to utter and to declare his detestation he had against the aforesaid three worthy Counsellors being by their places the greatest Subjects in the Land But herein may be said with the Poet Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes Verrem de furto Who can with any patience indure such Seditious Companions as these to appeach others of Treason but especially so Loyal Honourable and Worthy Counsellors as they three are known to the World to be By the way we may note the subtil managing and carriage of this Action by Hacket and Coppinger in this one principal Point which Arthington himself also now observeth Videlicet in that they opened not at any time Hacket's chief pretended Office unto Arthington videlicet to represent and to participate with Jesus Christ's Office of severing with his Fan the good from the bad until the very time they were to go into the Streets to do the Message that Hacket enjoyned them For hereby they prevented a doubt of driving Arthington back who seemed a Man so serviceable for their purpose as that he was worthy to be still retained by them and the rather for that he had not yet finished the writing up of Hacket's History that was to be annexed to the Prophecy until late that Thursday night which was afore their rising for they might have feared if leisure had served him to have considered of it and examined it at full how this could be lest it might have made him at least to stagger and be doubtful of it Besides Hacket kept as Arthington now gathereth that honour wholly to himself to proclaim it to them both together as it were by a Voice from Heaven at that very instant when they should receive their charge of him and thereby have no time to reason against it being straightway to go forward as
dismayed and yet not sought to be revealed by Wigginton unto any Magistrate till upon his examination it was found out Lastly I observe the Coggery of the 6 Reporter or else the lewd lying and contradiction to himself of that wretched Seducer Hacket For in his Answer to the fifth and sixth Articles he knows no degrees of glory in Heaven and yet in his Answer to the eighth he assigneth more honour and higher places in Heaven unto some few that are the most forward than he doth unto others But let us go on with the Narration of the principal Action interrupted by occasion of the Conferences had with Wigginton and of his report of them From Wigginton's Lodging the said Coppinger Hacket ' s History continued and Arthington came directly to Hacket's Chamber in Walker's House at Broken Wharf and there found the Beast in Bed after Eight of the Clock Where being enflamed they say with zeal out of all measure Coppinger began to pray at the Bed's feet and Arthington joined with him wherein they stood much upon their own unworthiness c. but yet offered their obedience to do as the Lord should direct them by his Spirit having already done so much as was enjoined them Whereupon Hacket came out of his Bed and prayed with them in his Shirt twice that the Spirit might direct them and they likewise obey the same in all things to the glory of God only After Hacket's latter Prayer Coppinger offered to go on in his Prayer but the Devilish Spirit moved Arthington to interrupt him and to charge him in the Name of the Lord Jesus to arise and anoint the King with the Holy Ghost Whereupon Coppinger straightway rose up and three times kissed the Boards under his feet rising up after every time and making great reverence with bowed knee and after the third time he came towards Hacket as he lay in his Bed who put out his hand and took Coppinger by the hand and said You shall not need to anoint me Blasphemy for I have been already anointed in Heaven by the Holy Ghost himself Then Coppinger asked him what his pleasure was to be done Go your way both said he as Arthington reports and tell them in the City that Christ Jesus is come with his Fan in his hand to judge the Earth And if any man ask you where he is tell them he lies at Walker ' s House by Broken Wharf and if they will not believe it let them come and kill me if they can for as truly as Christ Jesus is in Heaven so truly is he come to judge the world Then Coppinger said it should be done forthwith and thereupon went forward and Arthington followed so readily the said Prophet of Mercy that he had no leisure to take his Gloves with him and ere Arthington could get down the Stairs Coppinger had begun in the House below to proclaim News from Heaven of exceeding great Mercy That Christ Jesus was come c. as above is said with whom Arthington also cried the same words aloud following him along the Streets from thence by Watling-street and Old Change towards Cheapside they both adding beyond their Commission these words Repent England Repent But surely either their Commission was delivered them at one time or other more largely than the one of them now reporteth or else they went beyond and exceeded it in many other material Points besides this For after they both had thus come with mighty concourse of the common multitude as to such a novelty of hearing two new Prophets in these days arisen was likely with an uniform cry into Cheapside near unto the Cross and there finding the throng and press of People to encrease about them in such sort as that they could not well pass further nor be conveniently heard of them all as they desired therefore they got them up into an empty Cart which stood there and out of that choise Pulpit fur such a purpose made their lewd and traiterous preachment unto the People wherein they stood not only upon the words of their former cry but so near as I could learn from so common an Auditory and in so confused an Action they reading something out of a Paper went more particularly over the Office and Calling of Hacket how he represented Christ by partaking a part of his glorified Body by his principal Spirit and by the Office of severing the Good from the Bad with his Fan in his hand and of establishing the Gospel in Europe which as it seemeth they took to be all the World or else supposed that all Europe did profess Christianity and of bringing in that Discipline which they so often babble of and which they mean by the term of Reformation and the holy Cause That he was now come and all these things were presently to be performed by him telling also the People where they saw him where he lay and remained That they were two Prophets the one of Mercy the other of Judgment sent and extraordinarily called by God to assist him in this great Work and were Witnesses of these things confirming the same upon their own Salvation and wishing themselves confounded and damned for ever if these things they spoke were not true And thereupon the one of them pronounced Mercy great Comfort and unspeakable Joys to all that should repent presently be obedient and embrace this acceptable Message and opportunity offered And the other denounced terrible Judgments if they repented not which should even presently also fall upon them and especially upon that City of London affirming that all that believed them not were condemned Body and Soul This Judgment against London as Arthington the pretended Prophet of Judgment saith he gathered out of Hacket's History was that men should there kill and massacre one another as Butchers do kill Swine all the day long and no man should take compassion of them There was then and there further delivered by them or by the one of them that Hacket was King of Europe and so ought to be obeyed and taken and that all Kings must hold of him and that the Queen's Majesty had forfeited her Crown and was worthy to be deprived Which most traiterous Point amongst others Hacket enjoined them to publish as in the one of his Indictments is contained Lastly In very unmannerly and sawey terms they prayed to God to confound two great Lords of her Majesty's Counsel for these two together with a certain Knight they then and there openly and most lewdly accused in general terms of Treason This outrage was done the sixteenth day of July aforesaid about Ten of the Clock or something after in the Forenoon By which their Proclamation being laid together with their former Conferences Letters and Purposes against the Queen and Counsel and for advancing of Hacket and for altering the State with the very time when so many Soldiers were about the City it is evident to any who hath but half an eye to
continued his counterfeit vein that he had then undertaken one while crying out Jehovab Messias Jehovab Messias His extravagant Speeches going to Execution another while crying out thus Look look how the Heavens open wide and the Son of God cometh down to deliver me When he came under the Gibbet which was reared hard by the Cross in Cheapside towards the right hand of the Street as you come from Paul's and the noise being appeased he was exhorted to ask God and the Queen Forgiveness and to fall to his Prayers But he persevering in his unprofitable course of dissimulation instead thereof fell to railing and cursing of the Queen's Majesty most villanously He curses the Queen But being more vehemently urged to remember his present state and to give over all hope to do himself good by such dissembling he began to pray this most passionate blasphemous and execrable Prayer viz. O God of Heaven mighty Jebovah His blasphemous execrable Prayer Alpha and Omega Lord of Lords King of Kings and God everlasting that knowest me to be that true Jebovah whom thou hast sent send some miracle out of a cloud to convert these Infidels and deliver me from these mine enemies If not I will fire the heavens and tear thee from thy throne with my hands With other words of most execrable blasphemy against the divine Majesty of God not to be rehearsed by reason that he found not that deliverance which he fancied God to have promised Then turning towards the Executioner he said unto him Ah thou bastards chila wilt thou His words to the Hangman hang Wm. Hacket thy king The Magistrates and people detesting this subtil seditious and blasphemous humour commanded and cried to the Officers to dispatch with him or to have his mouth stopped from blaspheming but they had much ado to get him up the Ladder And when he was up he struggled with his head to and fro as well as he could that he might not have the fatal noose put over his head Then he asked them very fearfully O what do you what do you but seeing by the circumstance what they intended he began to rave again and said Have I this for my kingdom bestowed He dies horridly blaspheming upon thee I come to revenge thee and plague thee and so was turn'd off But the people unwilling that so traitorous and blasphemous a wretch should have any the least favour cried out mightily to have him cut down presently to be quartered and seemed very angry with the Officers that made no more haste therein but as soon almost as he was cut down even with a trice his heart was taken forth and shewed out openly to the people for a most detestable blasphemous Traytor 's heart Thus died the most dangerous firebrand of sedition most detestable Traytor most hypocritical seducer and most execrable blasphemous hellhound that many ages ever saw or heard of in this Land The next day after this being Thursday Coppinger having wilfully abstained Coppinger starves himself and dies next day in Bridewel from meat as is said seven or eight days together died in Bridewell and Arthington liveth yet in the Counter in Woodstreet reserved I hope unto sincere and perfect Arthington in the Counter repents and sues for Pardon repentance For immediately upon Hacket's execution he wrote a Letter unto two great Counsellors whom among others he had lewdly slandered of submission and afterwards more at large he wrote to the body of the Council the whole course as he pretendeth of this action so far as he was made acquainted therewith humbly craving their Lordships mediation unto the Queens most excellent Majesty for his pardon and acknowledging his dangerous error and devilish leduction by Hacket especially into this traiterous action This Declaration is truly taken forth of their own Letters Writings under their hands and their Confessions upon Examinations subscribed by themselves and by sundry honourable and worshipful persons of great gravity and wisdom before whom they were made and therefore may suffice to shew unto all reasonable and well-affected the lewdness and danger of the hypocritical Plots and seditious Conspiracies entred into by these persons But some there are so perversely wedded to The state slandered in these Proceedings their own wills and addicted to their fancies once conceived that they give out they were mad and furious persons choosing therein rather to accuse the honourable Justice of the Realm and all the administers thereof than that any of their factious Crew professing desire of pretended Reformation and to bring in The Discipline as they call it should be noted with so deep disloyalty As it is not the part of any honest Christian by calumniation to charge those that be innocent so doth it not become a loyal Subject to justifie any Traytors especially with slandering of the State It therefore seemeth requisite that this point be not left uncleared whether they or any of them in these practices were indeed transported The Justice vindicated with fury besides themselves so as they needed not to have been regarded nor by Law ought to have suffered death for them In wants of understanding and reason after such time as men should naturally have them there are noted divers degrees that are also of several consideration that is to say Furor sive Rabies Dementia sive Amentia Insania sive Phrenesis Fatuitas Stultitia Lethargia Delirium And albeit the three first by sundry Writers be sometimes confounded and taken for one like as also the fourth is with the fifth and the sixth with the last yet when the diversity espied in the things themselves do drive men to a more exact consideration and distinction of the words by which those passions are to be expressed they are for the most part thus properly termed and distinguished by the best Writers Furor as it is described by Tully est mentis ad omnia coecitas an entire and full Tusc qu. li. 3. blindness or darkening of the understanding of the mind whereby a man knoweth not at all what he doth or saith and is englished madness or woodness He that is Bal In Lsed milites 〈◊〉 autem § ffide excus tuto passim alij possessed herewith is carried with fury of mind into great violences and outrages so that he neither spareth himself nor other men and is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such was the madness of Ajax as is fained by the Poets who whipped and scourged droves of beasts and cattel thinking they were the Groecians that had displeased him and afterward in that rage killed himself Dementia is described there by the same Ibidem Author to be affectio animi lumine mentis carens A passion of the mind bereaving it of the light of understanding Or as another Quintil. Declamat 348. grave and learned Author calleth it ablatus rerum omnium intellectus when a man's perceivance and
the Prophet had ended these Speeches suddenly John of Leyden John of Leyden pretends he knew this before kneeled down and lifting up his hands to Heaven said thus Brethren it is a good while agone since I first knew this and yet would not hitherto publish it abroad but now the Father hath used another Minister to bring it to pass and to proclaim it So having by this subtilty compassed to be King he first deposed the Twelve Governors and after the manner He deposeth the 12 Governors He creates Lords and wears the Robes of Majesty and ascends a Throne of other Kings did chuse and create sundry to be great Lords about him He also caused two Crowns of pure Gold to be made for himself and a Royal Robe Coller and Scepter with other Complements of Majesty He assigned also certain days wherein he would give Audience to all Complainants and Suters Whensoever he came abroad he was attended with his Officers and Gentlemen of his Court and with two young Henchmen on horseback the one on his right-hand carrying the Bible and the other on his left carrying a drawn Sword He had also a magnifical Throne prepared and set on high for him with a golden Cloth of Estate At a certain time when the King was thus set in his Majesty and Knipperdoling pretends to breathe the Holy Ghost on the People the people thronged close together about him Knipperdoling one of the Prophets got upon the peoples heads and so creeping along on his hands and feet he breathed upon them in their mouths one after another saying thus The Father hath sanctified thee receive the Holy Ghost Certain Weeks after the new Prophet afore mention'd The New Prophet summons the People to Arms. caused by sound of a Trumpet to be proclaimed That all should retire themselves in Arms unto the Church-yard of the chief Church for that the Enemy must be repelled from the Town Coming thither Five thousand of them entertained at a Supper they found a great Supper ready prepared Then there sate down to Supper as they were commanded four thousand and after these had supped one thousand more that had waited sate down The King The King and Queen serve at Table also and the chief Queen together with their Courtiers did serve at table The supper being towards an end the King gave bread unto every one of them saying Take eat and shew forth the Lord's death Then the Queen presented them with the They prophanely give them the Communion cup saying Drink and shew forth the Lord's death This being done the said Prophet got him up into a pulpit and asked them if they would obey the word of the Lord which when they had yielded unto that they would he said it was the Father's commandment 28 Teachers sent forth that eight and twenty Doctors or Teachers should be sent forth into all the corners of the world to teach the doctrine that was taught and received in that City Then he named them all and the particular place whither each of them should go So after all was done they let the said eight and twenty Preachers out of the town by night very closely for fear of those without who besieged them giving to every one above that which should defray his charges one piece of gold and commanding them to leave it at such places where their doctrine should not be received for a testimony of such peoples damnation and everlasting perdition for refusing such message and wholesome doctrine When those Preachers were come to the places assigned unto them they cried in the streets of the Towns where they came Repont repent or else you shall all quickly perish Then They preach Repentance Community of Goods and the universal Reign of Rightcousness brought to pass by King John of Leyden they spread their garments on the ground before the Magistrates and upon them they laid the pieces of Gold which were afore delivered unto them assuring them and protesting that they were sent from the heavenly Father to bring them peace and mercy and if they would receive it then they must give up all their Goods to be used in common but if they refused it then that sign and token should be a witness against them of ingratitude and rebellion against God For said they now is the time come that was spoken of afore by the Prophets in which Righteousness shall reign in the Earth universally and when the King meaning John of Leyden hath brought to pass that Righteousness shall rule in every place then Christ shall give up his Kingdom to his Father But these Preachers being hereupon apprehended they resolutely stood The Preachers apprehended they defend their wicked Practices with Scripture falsly applied in it and defended that they only held the true doctrine which they would maintain upon peril of their lives Being asked with what justice they could enter upon and possess other men's Wives Children and Goods as they did they said The time was come forespoken of by Christ that the meek should possess the earth and that God gave these unto them as he did give the Goods of the Egyptians unto the Israelites They affirmed also that King David and John of Leyden were two righteous Prophets but the Pope and Luther were both false Prophets whereof Luther was the worse Thus still persisting obstinate in their erroneous Opinions notwithstanding the Tortures which they endured they were all beheaded saving One of them escaped all the Rest put to death one of them that escaped away by slight Whilest these things were thus in doing within and abroad the City of Munster was every day more and more straitly besieged and pressed with extreme famine so that for fear lest many the chief Burgers should capitulate with the Enemy and yield the King up unto the Bishop their King therefore did chuse Twelve whom he held most faithful unto him and appointed them to be Captains of War over so many several Parts of the Town into which he did quarter it entertaining the said Twelve persons with Mountains of large Promises and telling them over what great Provinces and Dominions under him he would after A Famine increaseth in the City place them Thus the Famine still more and more encreasing in the City so that sundry died thereof albeit the King had abundance for himself and his special Favourites not only for supply of necessity but also to riot and banquet it happened that one of his Queens in commiseration of the distressed said unto the rest That she could not believe it was the Will of God that men should in that sort be suffered to die for want of food Hereupon being accused she was brought into the Market-place and being commanded to kneel down the King struck off her Head all the rest of his Queens singing dancing and giving thanks therefore to the heavenly Father But whenas the common sort had like to have