than Lyons There died therefore of the Famin a wonderful many of the Ierusalemites so that the Iews could not find place to bury them in they were so many in every place of the Town Many cast their dead folks into their Wells and tumbled afterwards in themselves and died Many also made themselves Graves and went into them alive where they tarried Day and Night and died unmourned for for all mourning and accustomed lamentation for the dead was left off because of the unmeasurable Famin which was so great that it cannot be told and I cannot relate the thousandth part of the mischief that followed of the hunger Titus seeing the innumerable Carkasses of the dead that were cast into the Brook Cedron like dung was wonderfully amazed with fear At that time certain wicked Persons of Ierusalem slandered Amittai the Priest falsly saying to Captain Schimeon Behold Amittai the High-Priest who did let thee into the City goeth about to flee to the Tents of the Romans Thou hast Experience of his great Wit and Wisdom hovv he also knoweth the secret ways into the Tovvn Temple and Sanctuary and who can tell vvhether he vvill bring the Romans some Night at Mid-night into the City therefore Schimeon sent certain Persons to fetch Amittai and his four Sons unto him They that vvere sent brought Amittai and but three Sons for one vvas fled to the Romans and come to Ioseph When Amittai and the others vvere brought to Schimeon's Presence he besought him he might not live but be put to death immediately lest said he I should live to see the death of my Children But Schimeon was hard-hearted and would not be intreated for it was God's Will that Amittai should be punished because he was the Bringer of Schimeon into Jerusalem and therefore fell he into his Hands which for good rewarded him with evil Schimeon commanded a sort of Murderers to place Amittai upon the Walls in the sight of the Romans and said unto him See'st thou Amittai Why do not the Romans deliver and rescue thee out of my Hand Thee I say who would'st have fled unto them Amittai answered nothing to this but still besought him before his Death he might kiss his Sons and bid them farewel but Schimeon utterly denied him his Request Wherefore Amittai vvept aloud saying to his Sons I brought Dear Children this Thief into this Tovvn vvherefore I am counted novv for a Thief my self all the Mischief vvhich is come upon me and you it is mine ovvn doing because I have brought this seditious Villain into this Holy City I thought then peradventure he vvill be a help to the Tovvn but it is proved contrary for he has been a most cruel Enemy to the same It was not enough for us to keep one seditious Person Jehochanan I mean who took unto him Eleazer the first beginner of Sedition but I must bring in also this wicked Schimeon who conspires with our Foes to our Destruction Indeed I never brought him in for any Love I bear unto him but all the Priests and the whole Multitude of the People sent me to fetch him notwithstanding I am worthy of this Judgment of God because I took upon me such an Embassage What should I speak of thee thou most wicked Schimeon for whithersoever thou turnest thee thou bringest all things out of frame I indeed thou dealest justly with me because I have sinned unto God to his People and his City in that I have brought thee in to be a Plague to it wherefore I am worthy to be stoned notwithstanding it had been thy part thou wicked Murderer to deliver me and my Sons from the hands of the other Seditious for I have done good howbeit our God will not alter nor change his Judgment which is that I should fall into the Sword of thy hand for that I made thee to enter into this City wherein I offended God grievously If I had purposed to flee unto the Romans could not I have done it before I brought in thee For at that time beared'st thou no Rule over us and before we called in thee Jehochanan with his Sedition was an offence to this City wherefore we perswaded all the Ancients of the Town that thou should'st be an Aid unto us to drive out our Foes but thou in whom we put our trust art become our Enemy yea thou hast been worse than they for the other put Men to death privily but thou dost it openly Who is he that hath strengthned the Power of the Romans Art not thou he who killed the Souldiers of God in the midst of the City of Jerusalem For few have been slain without Titus would have made Peace with us taking pity upon us but thou did'st let and hinder it every day moving new Wars and stirring new Battels Titus gave charge to his Souldiers to lay no hand upon the Temple but thou hast defiled and polluted the Temple of the Lord shedding Blood without measure in the midst thereof Titus went back from us from the holy-day of the Lord and so Amittai went on in a very pathetick and touching Harangue exclaiming against the Cruelty of the Seditious and animating his Sons to suffer patiently after which Schimeon gave Commandment to four Cut-throats of his that three of them should kill Amittai's three Sons before their Father's Face and the fourth should kill Amittai himself and so the blood of the Sons was mix'd with the blood of their Father Afterwards Schimeon's Servant took the Body of Amittai and laid it upon the Bodies of his Sons as his Desire was then tumbled them over the Walls after that Schimeon commanded that Chanachus the High Priest should be put to Death whose Body was cast to the Bodies of Amittai and his Sons Aristus also the Scribe one of the Noble-men of Ierusalem was killed at the same time and ten just Men more of his Kindred and House because they mourned for the Death of Aristus It happened while Schimeon was killing of those Men certain substantial rich Men passed by and were wonderfully amazed when they saw the thing saying one to another How long will God suffer the Malice of Schimeon and will not search out the Blood of just Men nor revenge them Certain seditious Persons hearing this told it unto Schimeon who commanded them to be apprehended and murthered the same day After this there passed by eleven of the Noble-men of Jerusalem which seeing forty two Innocents put to death by Schimeon they lift up their Eyes to the Heavens and said O Lord God of Israel How long wilt thou hold thy hand and not execute Anger against these Transgressors of thy Will Which when Schimeon heard of he commanded them to be apprehended and killed them with his own hand Eleazer the Son of Ananias the Priest seeing the Malice and Wickedness of Schimeon to be great and that he destroyed the just and godly Men of the City and that there was no hope left he betook himself to the
leisurely upon his Head and filled the Cloth up to his Mouth and Nostrils that he could not draw Breath but that he must suck in Water and so continued till it forced his inward Parts to come out at his Nose Eyes and Ears stifling him and choaking him into a Swoon or Fainting but being taken down they made him vomit out the Water and so somewhat recovered they torture him again four or five times his Body swollen three times bigger his Cheeks like Bladders his Eyes staring out beyond his Brows One Colson thus tortured did still deny the accusation whereupon they burn'd him under the Paps Arm-holes Elbows Hands and Feet till the Fat dropped out their Torches then they lodged him in a Dungeon where his Flesh putrefied and Maggots ingendred in it to a horrid and loathsome condition till at the end of eight dayes they were executed March 1623. At which instant there was a sudden Darkness and a Tempest which forced two Dutch Ships out of the Harbour which were hardly saved The Dead were all buried in one Pit and one Dunkin their Accuser stumbled at their Grave and fell stark mad and died so within three dayes after also a Sickness followed at Amboyna of which divers Dutch died The names of the English thus inhumanely dealt with were Captain Towerson Thompson Beaumont Collins Colson Wibber Rampsey Johnson Ford and Brown CXXXV In the Reign of King Edward the Sixth upon the alteration of Religion there was an Insurrection in Cornwal and divers other Countreys wherein many were taken and executed by Marshal Law the chief Leaders were sent to London and there executed The Sedition being thus suppress'd it is memorable what cruel Sport Sir William Kingston made by vertue of his Office which was Provost Marshal upon Men in Misery One Boyer Mayor of Bodmin in Cornwal had been amongst the Rebels not willingly but enforced to him the Provost sent word that he would come and dine with him for whom the Mayor made great Provision A little before Dinner the Provost took the Mayor aside and whisper'd him in the ear That an Execution must be that day done in the Town and therefore required that a pair of Gallows should be set up against Dinner should be done The Mayor failed not of his Charge presently after Dinner the Provost taking the Mayor by the hand entreated him to lead him to the place where the Gallows was which when he beheld he asked if he thought them to be strong enough Yes said the Mayor doubtless they are Well then said the Provost get you up speedily for they are provided for you I hope answered the Mayor you mean not as you speak In faith said the Provost there is no Remedy for you have been a busie Rebel and so without respite or defence he was hang'd to death Near the same place dwelt a Miller who had been a busie Actor in that Rebellion who fearing the approach of the Marshal told a sturdy Fellow his Servant that he had occasion to go from home and therefore bad him that if any came to enquire after the Miller he should not speak of him but say that he was the Miller and had been so for three Years before So the Provost came and called for the Miller when out comes the Servant and saith He was the man The Provost demanded how long he had kept the Mill These three Years answered the Servant Then the Provost commanded his men to lay hold on him and hang him on the next Tree at this the Fellow cried out that he was not the Miller but the Miller's Man Nay Sir said the Provost I will take you at your Word If thou be'est the Miller thou art a busie Knave if thou art not thou art a false lying Knave and howsoever thou canst never do thy Master better Service than to hang for him and so without more ado he was dispatched CXXXVI King John of England was a great Oppressor On a time a Jew refusing to lend this King so much Money as he required the King caused every day one of his greatest Teeth to be pulled out by the space of seven days and then the poor Jew was content to give the King ten thousand Marks of Silver that the one Tooth which he had left might not be pulled out CXXXVII To which I will add an Instance or two of cruel Massacres In the Year 1506. in Lisbon upon the tenth day of April many of the City went to the Church of St. Dominick's to hear Mass On the lest side of this Church there is a Chappel much reverenced by those of the Country and called Jesus Chappel Upon the Altar there stands a Crucifix the Wound of whose side is covered over with a piece of glass Some of those that came thither to do their Devotions casting their Eyes upon this Hole it seemed to them that a certain kind of gilmmering light came forth of it then happy he that could first cry a Miracle and every one said That God shewed the Testimonies of his Presence A Jew that was but lately become a Christian there denied that it was any Miracle saying It was not likely that out of a dry piece of Wood there should come such a Light Now albeit many of the Standers by doubted of the Miracle yet hearing a Jew deny it they began to murmur calling him wicked Apostate a detestable Enemy to Jesus Christ and after they had sufficiently reviled him with Words all the Multitude foaming with Anger fall upon him pluck off the Hair of his Head and Beard tread upon him trail him into the Church-yard beat him to Death and kindling a great Fire cast the dead Body into it All the residue of the People ran to this mutinous Company there a certain Fryar made a Sermon wherein he eagerly egged on his Auditors to revenge the injury our Lord had received The People mad enough of themselves were clean cast off of the Hinges by this Exhortation Besides this two other Fryars took and held up a Cross as high as they could crying out Revenge Revenge Heresie Heresie down with wicked Heresie and destroy the wicked Nation Then like hungry Dogs they fall upon the miserable Jews cut the Throats of a great number and drag them half dead to the Fires many of which they made for the purpose They regarded not Age or Sex but murdered Men Women and Children they brake open Doors rush into Rooms dash out Childrens Brains against the Walls they went insolently into Churches to pluck out thence little Children old Men and young Maids that had taken hold of the Altars the Crosses and Images of Saints crying Misericordia Mercy there they either so murdered them presently or threw them out alive into the Fire Many that carried the port and shew of Jews found themselves in great danger and some were killed and others wounded before they could make proof that they had no Relation to them Some that bare a Grudge
Paint and Yellings for twenty four hours None but the King and Priest may enter these Houses where the Images of Devils and their Kings are kept Instead of saying Grace at Meat they fling the first Bit into the Fire and when they will appease a Storm they cast Tobacco into the Water sometimes they sacrifice Children to the Devil XVIII In Hispaniola they worshipped the Sun and Moon which they say at first shined out of a Cave and their Tradition is That out of two Caves came Mankind the biggest men out of the greatest Cave and the least men out of the lesser Cave They worship also divers Idols with ugly Shapes by which the Devil useth to speak to them these they call Zermes to which they kept divers Festivals In these they had their publick Dances with the Musick of Shells tyed about their Arms Thighs and Legs The King fits drumming when the People present themselves having their Skins painted with divers Colours of Herbs When they sacrifice they use with a sacred Hook to thrust down their Throats to turn up their Stomachs then they sitdown in a Ring cross-legged and wry-necked about the Idol praying their Sacrifice might be accepted In some places the Women dance about their Idols and sing the Prayers of their ancient Kings then both Sexes on their Knees offer Cakes which the Priests cut and give to every one a piece this each Man keeps as a Relick against Dangers If any fall sick the Priests impute this to their neglect in the Idol's Service therefore exhort them to build a Chappel or dedicate a Grove to their God they think the Ghosts of the dead walk who assault such as are fearful and vanish from them who are not afraid XIX In Malabar they have a Pagod or Idol which they worship seated upon a brazen Throne and crowned with a rich Diadem From his Head issue out four Horns from his Mouth four Tusks his Eyes fiery like a Glow-worm his Nose flat and ugly his Visage terrible his Hands like Claws his Legs and Thighs like those of a Lion in a word we cannot paint the Devil in a more ugly Figure than they do their God Unto this Pagod or his Priest they offer the Virginity of all their Daughters the Pagod having in the place of his Privy Parts a Bodkin of Gold or Silver upon which the Bride marryed most commonly at ten or twelve years of Age is forcibly set the sharpness of it being such that it forceth out the Blood in great Abundance and if she prove with Child that Year it is said to be of his begetting and the more esteemed Others with more Humanity instead of torturing their Daughters on this wretched Idol paralel almost to the offering their Sons to Moloch amongst the Syrians present them to the Bramini or Idol-Priest to be defloured the first Night of the Wedding and without one of these two Handsels no man is suffered to enjoy the use of his Wife not their Kings themselves More priviledged yet than many VVomen neighbouring on them in that they are not compelled to burn themselves with their Husbands Bodies but may have many Husbands either successively or at once as they list themselves and if at once she sends her Children to that Husband as we know who did who she thinks to have the best right to them XX. The former Story brings to mind a Custom amongst the Scots which took beginning as the Scottish Historians affirm in the Reign of Ewen the Third who is the fifteenth King in their Catalogue after the first Fergus This Ewen being a Prince much addicted or wholly rather given over unto lasciviousness made a Law that himself and his Successors should have the Maiden-Head or first Nights Lodging with every VVoman whose Husband held Land immediately from the Crown and the Lords and Gentlemen of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers This was it seems the Knights Service which men held their Estates by and continued till the days of Malcolm Commor who at the Request of his VVife Margaret she was the Sister of Edgar Atheling abolished this Law and ordained That the Tenants by way of Commutation should pay unto their Lords a Mark in Money which Tributes the Historians say is still in force XXI In Loango a Country under the Line they worship Idols and are circumcised Every Tradesman appeaseth his God with such things as belong to his Trade the Husband-man with Corn the VVeaver with Cloath c. At the Death of their Friends they kill Goats to the honour of their Idols and make divers Feasts in memorial of the dead They will rather dye than touch any Meat which is prohibited by their Priests At Keaga the Sea-Port of Loango there is an Idol kept by an old VVoman which is once a Year honoured with great Solemnity and feasting There is another Idol at Morumba thirty Leagues Northward where Boys are sworn to serve this God and are initiated with hard Diet ten days Silence Abstinence from certain Meats and a Cut in their Shoulder the Blood of which is sprinkled at the Idol's Feet Their Tryals of Life and Death are in the Presence of this Idol At Anzichi they are circumcised worship the Sun and Moon and each man his particular Idol In some of these neighbouring Countries the People are Man-eaters and worship the Devil to whom they offer Sacrifice which they continue from Morning till Night using charming Vociferations dancing and piping XXII Gentilism is likewise professed in Guinea for they adore strawen things instead of God of whom they speak blasphemously calling him evil black and the Author of their Miseries and that they are no ways beholding to him for what they enjoy but to their own Industry They put within their Rings Wheat Water and Oyl for their God to feed upon such Rings are worn by many as Preservatives against Danger Their Priests use to preach to them on Festival days and after Sermon to besprinkle the Infants with Water in which a Newt doth swim They consecrate to their Idol the first Bit and Draught of their Meat and Drink But I believe this black God they rail against is the Devil whom their cunning Priests represent to that ignorant People in some black and ugly Shape sometimes of a black Dog If they paint themselves with Chalk they think they do good Service to their God When he is angry with them they use to bribe the Priest with Gold so their Fishermen are use to do when they have no success at Sea the Priest with his Wives walk in Procession knocking his Breasts and clapping his Hands then hanging some Boughs from their Necks and playing on a Timbrel the Priests fling Wheat into the Sea to appease the angry God They have certain Trees in great Veneration consulting with them as with Oracles using divers foolish Ceremonies They worship a certain Bird which hath Feathers like Stars and a voice like a Bull. The Tunny is
a sacred Fish with them and not to be touched so are the Mountains whose Tops they daily feed or the Priests rather with Meat and Drink When one dieth the Priest makes Gods of Straw to accompany the Dead into the other World Wine and good Chear are sent with him and Servants with his Wives if he be the King these are slain to wait upon the King and their Heads advanced upon Poles round about the Grave They hold it a Sin to spit on the Ground The Tuesday is their Sabbath They use Circumcision and some other Turkish Ceremonies XXIII The Goths believed That the Dead went into a pleasant place where their God Tamolxines ruled to him they used still to send a Messenger chosen out among themselves by Lot who in a Boat of five Oars went to supplicate for such things as they wanted Their manner of sending him was thus They took him Hand and Foot and flung him upon the points of sharp Pikes if he fell down they concluded that the God was well pleased with that Messenger if otherwise they rejected him as an unworthy Envoy therefore they chose another to whom they gave Instructions before he died what he should say to their God and so having slain him upon their Pikes committed the dead Body in the Boat to the mercy of the Sea The Lithuanians used to burn their chief Captives to their Gods The Lusitanians ripped open the Bowels of their Captives in their Divinations and presented their right hands being cut off to their Gods The Sclavonians worshipped an Idol called Suantovitus whose Priest the day before he sacrificeth makes clean the Chappel which none must enter but he alone and whilst he is in it he must not draw his Breath but hold his Head out of the Window lest with his mortal Breath he should pollute the Idol The next day the People watching without the Chappel door view the Idol's Cup if they find any of the Liquor which was put there wasted they conclude the next years Scarcity but otherwise they hope for Plenty and so they fill the Cup again and pray to the Idol for Victory and Plenty then pouring out old Wine at the Idol's Feet and offering to him a great Cake they spend the rest of the day in gormondizing it is held a sin and dishonour to the Idol not to be drunk then Every one payeth a piece of Money to the Idol's maintenance to which also is paid the third part of all Booties taken in the War To this purpose the Idol maintaineth three hundred Horse whom the Priest paid being the Idol's Treasurer In Lithuania Russia and the adjacent places the Rusticks offer a yearly Sacrifice of Calves Hogs Sows Cocks and Hens about the end of October when their Fruits are all gathered in to their Idol Ziemiennick they beat all these Creatures to death then offer them with Prayers and Thanksgivings which done they fall to eating and drinking flinging first pieces of Flesh into every Corner of the House XXIV The ancient Brittains worshipped Mercury in the first place as being the God of High-ways Journeys Gain and Merchandizing After him they worshipped Apollo Jupiter Mars and Minerva They and the Germans were wont to sacrifice Men sometimes so did the ancient Britains which with the Gauls had the same Religion and Priests called Druides from the Oaks under which they used to teach and sacrifice for they expounded all Religious Mysteries taught the Youth decided Controversies and Suits in Law ordained Rewards and Punishments and such as obeyed not their Decrees they excommunicated debarring them from all Divine Exercises and all Commerce with Men. These Druides had one chief over them whose Successor was always elected they were free from paying Taxes from serving in the Wars and had many other Priviledges They committed not the mysteries of their Religion to Writing but to the Memory of their Disciples who spent many years in learning by heart their Precepts in Verse They believed the Immortality of Souls they read Philosophy to their Scholars It is thought by some that Diana's Temple stood where St. Paul's Church in London stands now and Minerva had her Temple at Bath and Apollo in Scotland near Dalkeith The Saxons worshipped the seven Planets among which Thor the same with Jupiter was chief from him Thursday was denominated Next was Woden or Mars Wednesday is so called from him Frea or Frico was Venus to whom Friday was dedicated as Tuesday to Tuisco the Founder of the German Nation but the Germans at first had neither Images nor Temples but abroad worshipped the Sun Moon and Stars Mother Earth was in chief Esteem among them to her they dedicated a Chariot in a Grove which was lawful only for the Priest to touch He was never to leave the Chariot which was always covered with Cloth and was drawn by two Oxen in Procession then Holy-Days were appointed at the end of her Journey she with the Chariot and Cloth were washed in a certain Lake but the Ministers who performed this Work were never seen any more but were swallowed by the Lake and the Goddess restored again by her Priest to her Grove XXV The old Saracens worshipped the Sun under the shape of a half naked Man set upon a Pillar whose Head and Face was all beset with fiery Rayes holding on his Breast a flaming Wheel by which they signified the Sun's Heat Light and Motion They worshipped the Moon under the form of a Woman with a short Coat and a Hood with long Ears with the Picture of the Moon before her Breast they gave her also piked Shoos the reason whereof might possibly be this if I may have leave to conjecture They gave her a short Coat to shew the swiftness of her Motion for a long Coat signifieth a slow Motion therefore they painted Saturn whose motion is the slowest of all the Planets with a long Coat The Hood or Chapron with long Ears was to represent her Horns or else to shew that Sounds are heard afar off in the Night which is the time of her Dominion Her piked Shoos may also resemble her Horns But now having gone through all the Idolatries of all Nations of the World both Ancient and Modern it is now high time to give some account of Christianity and it's Division into several Schisms Sects and Superstitions XXVI Christianity which is the Doctrine of Salvation delivered to Man by Christ Jesus the Son of God who assuming our Nature of a pure Virgin taught the Jews the true way to Happiness confirming his Doctrine by Signs and Miracles at length sealed it with his Blood and so having suffered Death for our Sins and rose again for our Justification he ascended to his Father leaving twelve Apostles behind him to propagate this Doctrine through the World which they did accordingly confirming their Words with Miracles and their own Blood and so this Light of the Gospel scattered all the Fogs and Mists of Gentile Superstition at the
sight of this Ark of the new Covenant the Dagon of Idolatry fell to the ground When this Lyon of the Tribe of Judah did roar all the Beasts of the Forrest that is the Pagan Idols or Devil rather hid themselves in their Dens Apollo complained that his Oracles failed him and that the Hebrew Child had stopped his Mouth When it was proclaimed at Palotci by Thanas the Egyptian Ship-Master that the great God Pan was dead all the Evil Spirits were heard to howl and bewail the Overthrow of their Kingdom Porphyri complained that the Preaching of Christ had weakned the Power of their Gods and hindred the Gain of their Priests The Bones of Babylas so hindred Apollo that he could deliver no Oracle while they were there The Delphick Temple fell down with Earth-quake and Thunder when Julian sent to consult with the Oracle Such was the irresistable Power of the two-edged Sword which came out of Christ's Mouth that nothing was able to withstand it The little Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands smote the great Image of Nebuchadnezzar and brake it in pieces To the Doctrine of twelve poor Fisher-men did the great Potentates of the World submit their Scepters Thus the Stone which the Builders refused became the head of the Corner The terrible Beast which with his iron Teeth destroyed all the other Beasts is destroyed by the weakness of preaching against which the more the Roman Empire strugled the more it was foiled and found by Experience that the blood of Martyrs was the Seed of the Church which conquered the great Conquerours not with acting but with suffering not by the Sword but by the Word and more by their Death than by their Life like so many Sampsons triumphing over these Philistines in their Death and Torments But long did it not continue in it's Splendour and Purity Heresie and Persecution did quickly break in upon it Persecution first beginning under Nero and continued with all the Barbarity imaginable under his Successors but Heresie broke forth much sooner and made way for Mahumetanism XXVII The first Heretick was Simon called Magus because he was a Witch a Samaritan by Birth and a Christian by Profession he would have bought the Gifts of the Holy Ghost for Money Act. 8.13 He deny'd the Trinity and affirmed himself to be the true God he taught that the World was made by the Angels not by God and that Christ came not into the World nor did he truly suffer he deny'd also the Resurrection of the Flesh and permitted promiscuous Marriages he likewise affirmed that the true God was never known to the Patriarchs and Prophets Besides these impious Opinions he held Magick and Idolatry lawful he gave to the Angels barbarous Names he slighted the Law of Moses as being not from God and blasphemously denied the Holy Ghost to be a Substance but a bare Vertue or Operation and caused his Disciples to worship his Whore Helena or Selena for a Goddess XXVIII 2. Nicholas of whom are the Nicholaitans was a Proselite of Antioch and one of the seven Deacons mentioned Acts 6. He had a most beautiful Wife and being upbraided by the Apostles that he was jealous of her he brought her out before them and to clear himself gave her Liberty to marry to whom she pleased neither did he afterwards marry any other but taught his Sons and his Daughters to follow Chastity But certain perverse men who boasted that they were his Followers gave themselves to all Uncleanness teaching that Men ought to have their Wives in common they scrupled not to eat of things offered to Idols at their Love-Feasts they used to put out their Lights and commit promiscuous Adulteries with each others Wives They said that not God but Angels created the World Not long did they retain this Name but were called Gnosticks from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge as if therein they excelled other Men. They taught also that in faithful Men were two Souls one holy of the Divine Substance the other adventitious by Divine Insufflation common to Man and Beasts Their Doctrine began to spread about the beginning of Domitian's Reign after Christ fifty two Years XXIX 3. Corinthus was a Jew by Birth and circumcised taught that all Christians ought to be so also he taught that it was Jesus that dyed and rose again but not Christ he denyed the Article of Eternal Life and taught that the Saints should enjoy in Jerusalem carnal Delights for one thousand Years he denyed the Divinity of Christ he owned no other Gospel but that of St. Matthew rejected Paul as an Apostate from the Law of Moses and worshipped Judas the Traytor in most things they agreed with the Ebionites so called from Ebion a Samaritan St. John would not enter the same Bath with the pernicious Heretick Corinthus but against his and the Heresie of Ebion he wrote his Gospel He spread his Heresie in Domitian's time about sixty two Years after Christ XXXI 4. Carpocrates of whom came the Carpocratians was born at Alexandria in Egypt he flourished about the Year of Christ 109. in the time of Antoninus Pius Eusebius accounts him the Father of the Gnosticks and saith That his Followers gloried of charmed love Drinks of devilish and drunken Dreams of ossistane and associate Spirits and taught That he who would attain to Perfection in their Mysteries must commit the most filthy Acts nor could they but by doing evil avoid the Rage of Evil Spirits They said that Christ was but a mere Man and that only his Soul ascended into Heaven They hold Pythagorean Transmigration but denyed the Resurrection They said not God but Satan made this World and that their Disciples should not publish their abominable Mystery they bored their right Ear with a Bodkin XXXI 5. Valentinus an Egyptian lived in the time of Antoninus Pius When Hyginus was Bishop of Rome he began to spread his Heresie He held that there were many Gods and that he that made the World was the Author of Death that Christ took Flesh from Heaven and passed through the Virgin as Water through a Pipe or Conduit He said there were thirty Ages or Worlds the last of which produced the Heaven Earth and Sea out of the Imperfections of this Creator were procreated divers Evils as Darkness from his Fear evil Spirits out of his Ignorance out of his Tears Springs and Rivers and out of his Laughter Light They have Wives in common and say that both Christ and the Angels have Wives They celebrated the Heathenish Festivals were addicted to Magick and what not This Heretick was of great Reputation in Rome from whence he went to Cyprus and thence into Egypt XXXII 6. Marcion of whom came the Marcionites was of Senope a City of Pontus or Paphlagonia being driven from Ephesus by St. John he went to Rome he was the Son of a Bishop in Pontus and by his Father exiled for Fornication being not received by the Brethren in Rome he fell in
at his Ear which he gave out to be the holy Ghost by whom he was instructed in the Law which he was to publish but this not till afterwards By Sorceries comeliness of Person and the great knowledge which he had in his Master's Business he gained so far on the Affections of his Mistris that on the Death of Abdalmutalif she made him her Husband Possessed of all his Master's Wealth he affected ease and being till then of no Religion or at best a Pagan he began to hearken to Sergius a Nestorian Monk who flying out of Syria for fear of punishment the Heresies of Nestorius being newly both revived and censured came into Arabia where he found entertainment in the House of Abdalmutalif the Master of Mahomet By his persuasions finding him a fit Instrument for the Devil to work on he began to entertain the thoughts of hammering out a new Religion which might unite all Parties in some common Principles and bring the Christians Jews and Gentiles into which the World was then divided under one Profession Resolved upon this he retired himself into a Cave not far from Mecca as if he there attended nothing but Meditation Sergius in the mean time sounding in the Ears of the People both his Parts and Piety The People being thus prepared to behold the Pageant out comes the Principal Actor with some parts of his Alcoran pleasing enough to sensual minds which he professed to have received from the Angel Gabriel And finding that this edified to his expectation he next proclaimed Liberty to all Slaves and Servants as a thing commanded him by God by whom the Natural Liberty of Mankind was most dearly tendered which drew unto him such a Rabble of unruly People that without fear or opposition he dispersed his Doctrines reducing them at last to a Book or Method The Book of this Religion he called the Alcoran that is to say the Collection of Precepts the Original whereof they feign to be written on a Table which is kept in Heaven and the Copy of it brought to Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel A Book so highly reverenced by the Mahometans that they write upon the Cover of it Let none touch this but he that is clean The Body of it as it now standeth was composed by Osman the fourth Caliph who seeing the Saracens daily inclining to divers Heresies by reason of some false Copies of Mahomet's Law and that the Empire by the same means was likely to fall into Civil Dissention by the help of his Wife who was Mahomet's Daughter he got a sight of all Mahomet's Papers which he reduced unto four Volumes and divided into one hundred twenty and four Chapters commanding expresly upon pain of death that that Book and that only should be received as Canonical through his Dominions The whole Body of it is but an Exposition and Gloss on the eight Commandments 1. Every one ought to believe that God is a great God and one only God and Mahomet is his Prophet They hold Abraham to be the Friend of God Moses the Messenger of God and Christ the Breath of God whom they deny to be conceived by the Holy Ghost affirming that the Virgin Mary grew with Child of him by smelling to a Rose and was deliver'd of him at her Breasts They deny the Mystery of the Trinity but punish such as speak against Christ whose Religion was not say they taken away but mended by Mahomet And he who in his Pilgrimage to Mecca doth not coming or going visit the Sepulchre of Christ is reputed not to have merited or better'd himself any thing by his Journey 2. Every one must marry to increase the Sectaries of Mahomet Four Wives he alloweth to every man and as many Concubines as he will between whom the Husband setteth no difference either in Affection or Apparel but that his Wives only can enjoy his Sabbath's benevolence The Women are not admitted in the time of their Lives to come into their Churches nor after Death to Paradice And whereas in most or all other Countreys Fathers give some Portions with their Daughters the Mahometans give Money for their Wives which being once paid the Contract is registred in the Cadies Book and this is all their formality of Marriage 3. Every one must give of his Wealth to the Poor Hence you shall have some buy Slaves and then manumit them buy Birds and then let them flye They use commonly to free Prisoners release Bond-slaves build Caves or Lodgings in the wayes for the Relief of Passengers repair Bridges and mend High-wayes But their most ordinary Alms consist in Sacrifices of Sheep or Oxen which when the Solemnity is performed they distribute among the Poor to whom also on the first day of every Year they are bound to give the tythe or tenth part of their Gettings in the year fore-going insomuch that you shall hardly find any Beggars amongst them 4. Every one must make his Prayers five times a day When they pray they turn their Bodies toward Mecca but their Faces sometimes one way sometimes another way believing that Mahomet shall come behind them being at their Devotions The first time is an hour before Sun-rising the second at Noon-day the third at three of the clock in the Afternoon the fourth at Sun-setting the fifth and last before they go to sleep At all these times the Cryers kept a bawling in the Steeples for the Turks and Saracens have no Bells for the People to come to Church And such as cannot come must when they hear the voice of the Cryers fall down in the place where they are do their Devotions and kiss the Ground thrice 5. Every one must keep a Lent one Month in the year This Lent is called Ramazan in which they suppose the Alcoran was given to Mahomer by the Angel Gabriel This Fast is only intended in the Bay-time the Law giving leave to frolick in the Night as they best please for they abstaine from Wine and Swines-Flesh prohibited in their Law at all times but never so punctually abstained from as in the time of their Lent 6. Be Obedient to thy Parents Which Law is the most neglected of any in all the Alcoran never any Children being so unnatural as the Turkish 7. Thou shalt not Kill And this they heep inviolated among themselves but the poor Christians are sare to feel the Smart of their Fury And as if by this Law the actual shedding of Blood only were prohibited they have invented Punishments for their Offenders worse than Death it self As first the Strappado which is hanging of them by the Arms drawn backwards when they are so bound they are drawn up on high and let down again with a violent swing which unjoynteth all their Back and Arms. Secondly they use to hoise up their Heels and with a great Cudgel to give them three or four hundred blows on the Soles of their Feet Thirdly it is ordinary to draw them naked up to the top of a
going up into the upper Chambers she finds this deplorable representation of immodesty and impudence but the power and influence of Prophetical integrity brought the Woman to that pass that she was drawn in to wallow in the same mire of unshamefacedness whom therefore he advised to continue always a constant adherer to the unblameable Truth Going out of the House in this posture about three of the clock the other men and Women marched barefoot after him crying out with a horrid Voice Woe woe woe the heavy wrath of God the heavy wrath of God c. In this fanatick Errour did this Hypocondriack Rabble run about the Streets making such horrid noise that all Amsterdam seem'd to shake and tremble at it as if it had been assaulted by a publick Enemy The Burghers not having the lest hint of such a strange and unlook'd for accident for this furious action happen'd in the dead of the night took up Arms and getting these People lost to all shame and Modesty up to the Palace clapt them into Prison Being so disposed of they would own no thoughts of shame or Chastity but would justifie their most white and naked truth In the mean time the Fire being smelt they brake into the House where it was and wondring at their casting of their Clothes into the Fire which had since reached the Bed they made a shift to quench it But the other distracted and mad People such as deserved to be sent to their Kindred the Savages and Heathens inconvincibly persisted in their pestiferous Opinion and so upon the fifth of May the same year they expiated their wicked Impieties with their Death Ones farewel Saying was Praise the Lord incessantly Anothers was O God revenge thou our Sufferings Others cryed out Woe woe shut thine eyes LVIII The next we will bring upon the Stage are John Reeves and Lodowick Muggleton who would perswade us that they are the two last Witnesses and Prophets of Christ sent by his Spirit to seal the fore-heads of the Elect and Reprobate that one John Robins is the last great Antichrist and Son of Perdition spoken of by the Apostle in the Thessalonians because he sheweth lying signs and wonders and assumes to himself the Titles of the only God in that he calls himself Adam and Melchisedeck and Father of Jesus Christ in saying the three Persons in Trinity are Adam that is Himself Abel that is the Son Jesus and Cain that is the Holy Ghost many such Blasphemies they ascribe to him They affirm also that Christians using the Sword of Steel are ignorant of Jesus and Enemies to his Gospel and they teach that the two uncreated Substances of Earth and Water were eternally resident in the Presence of God the Creator that Death was from Eternity that the Person of the reprobate Angel or Serpent entred into the Womb of Eve and there died but quickened in her all manner of uncleanness that there is no Devil at all without the Body of Man or Woman but what dwells within them so that the Devil spoken of so often in the Scripture is man's Spirit of unclean Reason and cursed imagination that God the Father was a Spiritual man from Eternity and that in time his Spiritual Body brought a Natural Body that if the very God-head had not died that is say they the Soul of Christ which is the Eternal Father had not died all men had perished eternally that Moses and Eliah are Angels and did represent the Person of the Father in Heaven as they did the Person of the Son on Earth that Eliah was made Protector of God when God became a Child and that he filled the Lord Jesus with those great Revelations of his former Glory which he possessed in Heaven when he was the immortal Father and that it was Eliah who spake these words This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased they say also that all the Ministry in this World whether Prophetical or Ministerial with all the Worship taught by them is a Lye and abomination to the Lord. Again they declare that whereas there are three Witnesses on Earth Water Blood and Spirit that by Water is meant the Commission given to Moses and the Prophets under the Law by Blood the Commission given to the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel and by the Spirit is meant the Commission of the two Witnesses that were to come in this last age whose Ministry is invisible and Spiritual cutting off all formal worshipping of an invisible spiritual personal God they say there is hardly a Minister in the World that confesseth an invisible God but they preach a God of three Persons that is a Monster instead of one true Personal God they say that the true God is a distinct Body or Person as a Man is a distinct Body or Person Again they say that there is no Christian Magistrate in the World that hath any Authority from Christ to set up any invisible Form of Worship and that the Spirits and Bodies of men are both mortal both begot together and both of one nature that the Spirit is nothing without the Body and that is the Spirit alone that walks and works eats and drinks and dyes for the Spirit is a natural fire of Reason they say also that the Bodies or Persons of holy men wherein they lived and died shall not appear again any more but when the Saints are glorified they are absolutely of the very same glorious nature both in Spirit and Body as God is and that Believers Spirits are of the very same Divine nature of God This is the Sum of their Divinity and Philosophy as may be seen in their transcendent Spiritual Treatise as they call it which is sull of transcendent nonsence and blasphemies for here they lay the axe to the very root of Christianity in giving a new Father to our Saviour Jesus Christ in calling the Blessed Trinity a Monster in denying the Creation whilst they make Earth and Water eternal in making Angels and mens Souls mortal in making weak man Gods Protector and Author of that Divine knowledge which was in Christ in denying the Ministry of the Gospel and the Power of the Magistrates and the outward Worship of God and making the Souls of men corporeal in denying also the Resurrection of the Flesh and transforming men into the Divine nature By these and other wicked Tenets permitted and countenanced among us at this time we see what Christian Religion is come to in this Land LIX But before I quit this Theme it will not be altogether unseasonable that I give an account of the Ranters who are a sort of Beasts who neither divide the hoof nor chew the cud that is to say unclean ones such as hold no small correspondence with the Quakers their Lives and demeanours are much alike only what the Ranters act upon the Stage by an open profession of lewdness and irreligion the other do it within the Curtain by crafty and seemingly
not to lodge in the same Chamber no not with his Sister Daughter or Daughter-in-law yea their wise Men forbid Conference with a Woman altogether LXVII But now it will be convenient to proceed to their way of Divorce and other Marriage-Ceremonies The Bill of Divorce is still practised among the Jews it must be written in twelve Lines it is therefore called Get neither more nor less and delivered to the Woman before three credible Witnesses under their Hands and Seals Then doth the Husband deliver it to her saying Lo Woman the Bill of this Divorce take it of me by it being divorced from me be thou free to another Husband The Tenor of this Bill is this The second day of the Week the eight and twentieth of the Month in the Year of the World 5363. as we here at Mentz upon Rhine use to reckon I Isaac sirnamed Eckenderf Son of R. Abr. now dwelling at Mentz of my free Will without Constraint thee Sarah sirnamed Trummerle Daughter of R. Levi which hitherto hath been my Wife have determined to free forsake and divorce and now do forsake free and put thee from me that thou mayst be thine own and at thine own free Will and Pleasure mayst depart whither thou wilt and none from henceforth for ever shall prohibit thee and thou art so freed that thou may'st marry to any other Man This Divorce may not be done in every place but they have some special place appointed noted and known scituate on some known River whereto certain chief Rabbies are called by writing if there be none there dwelling which consummate the business By the old Law a Woman might be reconciled to her Husband before the Bill of Divorce given or after The Observation of the Brother to marry the Wife of the Brother deceased without Issue or else to lose the Inheritance which was testified by pulling off his Shooe and spitting in his Face is now thus ruled by the Rabbies That none shall marry such a Widdow but rather suffer the premised Ignominy which is performed in this sort She comes before the chief Rabbi with five Witnesses where the Rabbi demands if she have been three Months a Widdow if her Husband had a Brother unmarried if the Party convented be he c. and lastly if she be fasting for otherwise she might not spit in her Brothers Face of him also the Rabbi likewise asketh like Questions and receiving a denial of Marriage there is brought a Shoo of singular Fashion for that purpose which he putteth on his right foot bare and then setteth himself against a Wall The Woman comes and disclaiming his Affinity stoopeth and with her right hand for if she want a right hand it putteth the Rabbies out of their Wits to scan whether with her Teeth or how else it may be done unlooseth the Shoo and taking it off spits in his face so that the five Witnesses may see it saying Thus shall it be done with him which will not build the House of his Brother In the time of her Uncleanness a Woman may not enter into the Synagogue nor pray nor name the Name of God nor handle any holy Book which if they observe the Rabbies promise them longer Life As soon as she knoweth of her Uncleanness she presently separateth her self from her Husband the space of seven days not touching him nor sitting on the same Seat nor eating in the same Dish or on the same Cloath nor may drink out of the same Cup nor stand against him nor speak in his Face if one will give any thing to the other one layeth it on a Bench or Table and goeth away and the other cometh and taketh it they say it procureth the Leprosie in the Children which are then gotten which they object to Christians When she hath numbred seven dayes of her Uncleanness she proceedeth to number as many of her Purification after which time finding her self pure she cloatheth her self in white and taking a Woman with her washeth her self in cold Water some in Winter put in warm Water to it which others in the coldest Season refuse and leaves not a hair of her Head unwashed as before is described Some fast till they have done it lest the flesh in the Teeth should hinder the Water from coming to them for Mouth and Eyes must be open and they must stoop that the Pap keep not the Water from the Breast and if they have a Plaister on a sore it must off and their Nails must be pared They write That if any shall exceed twenty years and not marry or if he shall marry a Wife which is barren he sinneth as much as if he had slain a Man and deserveth the Punishment of Onan whom God slew provided if he addict himself to the Study of the Law and findeth no need of a Wife but if he find Concupiscence prevail he ought to marry notwithstanding And this necessity remaineth untill he hath begotten a Son and a Daughter But having forgotten to speak of Circumcision under the Head of Religion it will not be improper to touch something upon that Point in this place The Child is first washed and laid in clean Linnen for if he be foul or defile himself while he is circumcised the Mohel or Circumciser is to suspend or interrupt his Prayer till he be washed again In the Morning of the eighth day the God-father seateth himself down in a Seat placed near the Ark and the Mohel near him twelve wax-candles are brought in to represent the twelve Tribes then two Cups of red Wine the circumcising Knife with two Dishes the one of Oyl the other of Sand. When the Child is brought to the door by the Woman the Congregation riseth up the God-father takes the Child and sits down in his Seat There is also a Seat prepared for Eliah whose coming they expect at the Circumcision The Child is then named and usually by the name of some of his Ancestors so that Luke 1.61 it was wondred at that Zachary should name his Son John seeing none of his Kindred was named with his Name The eighth day was so strictly observed that if it fell on the Sabbath the Child was then circumcised not sooner lest God should be thought to be tied to the Sacrament and because the Child the first seven days after the Birth was held legally unclean and yet remaining in his Blood Levit. 12.2 3. and 22.27 nor later lest the Parents should be longer with-held from the comforts of the Sacrament The penalty of Contempt or neglect of Circumcision was a cutting off from the People Gen. 17.14 that is by Excommunication or bodily death of the Parents Therefore God would have killed Moses for not circumcising his Son or else by the death of the Son himself when he comes to years of discretion if he be not circumcised either by himself or by his Parents or by the Judges Now the manner of the Mohel's cutting off the foreskin is that he first rubs