such I call so as are found professing Christianity in words but deny it in works as some that professed in Words they knew God but in Works they denyed him so they that profess to be Christians and live in all manner of Unchastity they by their Works deny that which they profess in words and so are not worthy to be called Christians while they are found in that which is against or contrary to Christianity in which thousands of persecuting false Christians are found and therefore do I call such Antichristians How the Ancient Christians suffered by the Heathen and how true Christians now suffer by the same Spirit of Enmity and Persecution which is entered into the false Christians alias Antichristians The First Persecution WHen that the Jews were bereaved of their Power by the Heathen and that the time was expired wherein they had so cruelly used the People of God nevertheless the Christians were not therefore freed from suffering for they were therein exercised under the Heathens Power and Nero was said to be the first Tyrannical Emperour that persecuted the Christians it was called the first Persecution because it was under the Emperors Power and it began in the year 66 after the Birth of Christ and at that time was chiefly within the City of Rome About that time did People begin to accuse the Christians with all manner of Wickedness and to esteem them as Reprobates because they did not honour the Gods Note Have not the true Christians suffered in England under the sundry Powers that have been of late even as the Antient Christians suffered under the Iewes And it appears that when the Iewes were deprived of their Power then did the Heathens Persecute the Christians And did not both Protectors and Parliaments persecute the Innocent when they were in Authority but since they have been deprived of the power and turned out as the Iewes were when the Gentiles came to have the preheminence hath not the King himself become Guilty of their Sin in persecuting or suffering the Innocent to be persecuted within his Dominions And hath not all manner of Evil been spoken of them and they been accounted unfit to live in either Kingdom or Commonwealth and that chiefly because they could no more honour that Proud and Ambitious Spirit which is gotten up in the hearts of Men then the Antient Christians heretofore could honour the Gods of the Heathen The Second Persecution IN the Year of our Lord 93. did the second Persecution begin under the Emperour Domitianus under whom several were put to Death and about the same time was the Apostle Iohn Banished unto the Island Pathmos where he Wrote his Revelation In those days the Christians were so little esteemed that the People called them Cobler Weavers Combers of Wool Illiterate and exceeding Rustick or Clownish yea such as knew no good fashions Note Have not some of the true Christians been put to death of late in New England and have not many of them suffered the spoiling of their Goods and their Bodies to be cast into Prison to be Whipt and shamefully intreated by the Anti-Christians and that about their Religion And have not many of the true Christians been in derision called Coblers Taylers Weavers Plowmen c. So little esteem have the true Christians now among the Children of this World as the Antient Christians heretofore have had among the Children of Men. The Third Persecution IN the Year 102. did the third Persecution begin under the Emperour Trajanus who tho' he was called a good Emperour did nevertheless Persecute the Christians out of Humility to the Gods in which Persecution several Bishops were put to Death as the Bishop of Rome the Bishop of Ierusalem c. And at that time the Bishop of Antioch testified That Sufferings made us like unto Christ who had suffered for us himself preparing a way through suffering unto Eternal Life About the same time did a Governour Write unto the Emperour in the Christians behalf whereupon the Emperour wrot That they should seek no more of them but those they had in Prison should they put to Death Note Without Controversie the Bishop or Pope of Rome must needs be much degenerated from that State in which those Bishops then were forasmuch as he now by that Power through which they were put to death doth put others to Death about their Religion for which they then suffered Martyrdom From hence it may be observed that the Bishops now which persecute tender Consciences about Religion are found rather in the Footsteps of the Heathen then in the condition of those Bishops that suffered Martyrdom Moreover in these latter days the Lord hath stirred up some at times to speak a Word or to Write a few Lines in the behalf of the true Christians unto them in Authority whereby their hearts have been so far moved and reached that they have done something in order to the mitigating of the Sufferings of the Innocent who at this day share with their Brethren in the Fellowship of the Suffering of the Gospel The Fourth Persecution IN the year 164. was the fourth Persecution of the Christians which arose under the Emperour Marcus Aurelius and Lucias Verus in which Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna was put to Death who had been a Disciple of John and had been many years in the service of the Lord as he himself acknowledged About the same time was Iulianus put to death at Rome in whose time the Christians were accused for having a Fleshly conversion one with another which he marked to be Lyes by their willingness to Die and thereby he coming to be Converted became an Eminent Teacher of the Christians At Lyons in France did there go forth a Proclamation That the Christians might not dwell in their Houses nor that they must not converse upon the Streets nor shew their Faces which being Impossible for them to perform their sufferings became exceeding great and in the mean time some of the Slaves gave out that the Christians lived in filthy Lasciviousness among themselves In this Persecution there was one Lucius put to Death for reproving the Judge for puting the Christians to crueller Deaths then any other Transgressors Note Though the true Christians now are Vilified and Falsly accused by Anti-Christians as the ancient Christians were in former Ages yet wise men can see their Innocency and therefore do they love them in their Hearts and some time some have been Convinced by beholding the Patience Long-suffering and Innecency of the Innocent in these latter days who now some time do suffer the loss of their Liberty and the spoyling of their Gods if not Banishment either by vertue of Proclamations or of Decrees or of corrupt Laws which true Christians now can no more observe and obey then the antient Christians observed the aforesaid Preclamation of the King and this hath been evident that sundry of the true Christiant in these later days
but he received it not saying In so much that we have forsaken our own How can we receive other Mens The Second BOOK OF EUSEBIUS Tiberius approved of the Doctrine of Christ but so did not the Senate THE Emperour Tiberus would have had Christ Canonized in the Number of the Gods in whose time the Christian Name was spread abroad in the World and when this Doctrine was signified to him he communicated the same unto the Senate declaring withal that this Doctrine pleased him right well but the Senate rejected it because they had not allowed the same but he persevered in his Opinion threatning them Death that would accuse the Christians The Jews would not allow of carved Images The Jews formerly judged it an hainous Offence that any carved Image should be erected in the City yea so great was their Indignation against Pictures that upon a certain time when the Pictures of Caesar were conveyed by Night into Jerusalem they that were nearest unto them at the sight thereof when the Day appeared stamped them with their Feet as if they had been abrogated Laws i. e. Laws abolished or disannulled The Death of Pilate Pilate that was President in the time of Christ under Cajus fell into such misery that necessity constrained him to use Violence upon himself so that he became his own Murtherer Of the Martyrdom of James the Apostle When King Herod stretched forth his Hand to vex certain of the Church he slew James the Brother of John with the Sword and it is recorded that he which drew him before the Tribunal-Seat when he saw that he would willingly suffer Martyrdom was therewith moved and voluntarily confessed himself to be a Christian then were they both brought together but he in the way requested James the Apostle to pardon him which after he had paused a little upon the matter turning unto him answered Peace be unto thee and kissed him and so they were both beheaded together How Herod was smitten Upon a certain time King Herod put on a Silver Robe wonderfully wrought which yielded so gorgeous a Glistering to the Eye that the shining thereof seemed terrible and intollerable almost to the Beholders Flatterers forthwith one one thing and another another thing bolt out such Sentences as turned in the end to his Confusion and saluting him as God they added therewith all be gracious for though hitherto we have feared thee as Man yet henceforth we confess thee to be above all mortal Nature These things the King rebuked not neither repelled this impious flattery but after he was smote of an Angel and then he said I which seemed to you a God and was saluted Immortal am now constrained to end the race of this Life For we have lived not miserably but in that prosperous Estate which is termed blessed Of Theudas the Sorcorer There was a certain Sorcerer named Theudas of whom the Scripture makes mention Acts 5. who perswaded a great Multitude to follow him unto the River Jordan bringing with them their whole Substance for he reported himself to be a Prophet and that at his Commandment the Rivers should divide it self parting in the midst yielding unto them free Passage through and in so saying he seduced many who afterwards were suppressed and Theudas being taken was Beheaded and his Head was brought to Jerusalem Of Simon Magus Simon Magus was esteemed and accounted in the City of Rome for a God and honoured as a God with a Picture between two Bridges upon the River Tibris having this Roman Superscription Simoni Deo Sancto to Simon the holy God and in manner all the Samaritans and certain also of other Nations did worship him acknowledging him for the chief God he is said to have been the first Author of Heresie they that have followed his Heresie have much overflowed in Filthiness and Obscenity i. e. silthy Talk for it is said of them that whatsoever may be imagined more foul than any Filthiness the same hath their damnable Heresie surpassed and poor wretched Women they have deluded with a heap of all kind of Evils Of the Gospel written by S. Mark It is said that the Romans were not satisfied with hearing Peter once nor yet sufficed with the unwritten Doctrine that he had delivered and therefore did they injoyn S. Mark whose Gospel is now spread abroad that he would leave in writing unto them the Doctrine which they had received by Preaching neither ceased they until they had perswaded him and so given an occasion of the Gospel to be written which is now after Mark. What the Christians were called The Christians were called Worshippers either because like cunning Physitians they cured and heald such as came unto them of their malicious Passions or that religiously they Worshipped the Celestial God-head with pure and sincere worship it is said they renounced their Substance and that they which professed Philosophy abandoned that is forsook or cast of their own proper Goods and severed themselves from all the Cares of this Life And forsook the Cities and lived solitary in Fields and Gardens Further he saith they did contemplate that is behold in their Minds or think upon not only Divine things but they made grave Canticles or Songs and Hymns unto God c. Moreover saith he they placed Continency that is Chastity in the Mind as a certain Foundation next they built there upon other Vertues And among them there were divers elderly Virgins to be found who despised corporal Lust c. What Sedition was among the Priests about Tythes The aforesaid Eusebius relates something out of Josephus concerning a Dissention that was between the High-Priests and the Inferior-Priests and chief of the People at Jerusalem they skirmished among themselves saith he they vexed one another they slinged one at another yea so Impudent and past all Shame saith he were the High-Priests become that they stuck not to send and take away from the Barn-floors the Tythes due unto the Inferior-Priests so that in the end it fell out that the Priests were seen to perish for Poverty Of the Martyrdom of James who was called the Brother of Jesus James the Brother of Christ was termed a just and perfect Man it is said that he took in hand the Government of the Church after the Apostles and when many of the Princes were perswaded there arose a Tumult of the Jews Scribes and Pharisees saying it is very dangerous least the whole People look after this Jesus as though he were Christ. And being gathered together they said to James We pray thee stay this People for they err in Jesu as though he were the true Christ we pray thee perswade this People concerning Jesu for we all obey thee yea we and all the People testifie of thee that thou art just and respectest not the person of any Man stand therefore upon the â—…innacle of the Temple that thou mayest be seen aloft and
who could not bow to the Gods of the Heathen no more then the true Christians now can bow to the corrupt wills of Ambitious and unreasonable men and though the Innocent suffer therefore for the present yet for their sakes will the Lord shorten the days of the Wicked as he did the days of that Persecuting Emperour The Seventh Persecution IN the year 253. did the Seventh Persecution arise under the Emperour Decius who with Excessive Cruelty did Persecute the Christians In this Persecution several of the Bishops were put to death and such as were the chief among the Christians did they torture with many Torments and the Houses of the Christians they Plundred and that which the Plunderers did not esteem that they burned In this Persecution many suffered Martyrdom some being Burned some Beheaded Women so well as Men some being whipt to death and some Souldiers for Incouraging these Martyrs in their Suffering were put to death In this Terrible Persecution several departed from the Faith for fear of the Torments yet afterwards came to be restored again the Suffering of the Christians was great under this Emperour but his days were also shortened for he had not Raigned two years but was caught in a Whag of Mire where he met with a check or Reproof for his cruelty Note Thus it appears that the Christians that lived Godly in Christ-Iesus suffered Persecution according to what the Apostle hath said 2 Tim. 3 12. And many now that live Godly and Righteously do suffer not only the Imprisonment of their Bodies but also the Spoyling of their Goods which have been Spoyled both by Priests and People who have sometime as it were Plundred their Houses for their dishonest gain and they have shewed themselves in their carriage and behaviour to be liker unto the Heathen then the suffering Christians who suffered their Houses to be Plundred but we do not Read that they then Plundred the Houses of any but with patience suffered the Plundring of their Goods and in this patience and long Suffering are the Christians that are so not in Name only but in Nature found in these Perillous times Again have not some Souldiers been turned out of their places yea and brought into suffering for countenancing and favouring the Sober Innocent true Christians among whom some for fear of Suffering may in some respect desert the Truth as some faithless ones among the ancient Christians did yet we know certainly there are a Remnant that cannot bow their knee to Baall but would chuse rather to die the death which many ancient Christians suffered then they will forsake the Lords Truth or Transgress his Righteous Law by breaking his commands The Eighth Persecution IN the year 259. did the eighth Persecution arise under the Emperour Valerianus who put forth a Proclamation against the Christians wherein he forbad their Meetings and when this Proclamation or Order was not observed then did there follow a great Persecution of the Christians in which there was very many put to death and some were Banished and they converted of the Heathen in the place to which they were Banished but the Emperour under whom the Christians thus suffered did not go unreproved for his cruelty for he was taken Prisoner by the King of Persia who made use of him for a Foot-stool when he got up upon his Horse c. Note Hath it not happned so in England that by the Kings Proclamation the Meetings of the true Christians have been forbidden And when that they observed the Kings Proclamation no more then the antient Christians observed the Emperours hath not a great Persecution followed have not many of the Prisons he silled with them partly because they could not Swear and partly because they continved their Meetings when they were forbidden by the Kings Proclamation as the Religion of the Christians was forbidden by the Laws of the Heathen and therefore did the Heathen with much rigour pronounce these words unto the Christians Your Religion is forbidden by the Laws c. And did not Anti-christians the like when they abused them in their Meetings and broke them up with much Violence did they not also pronounce these words with much Rigour Your Meetings are forbidden by the Kings Proclamation c. And forasmuch as the true Christians now have chused rather to suffer Bonds and Imprisonment yea the spoyling of their Goods and what not then they would renounce the Faith deny their Religion or forsak the Assembling of themselves together it doth therefore appear that the same mind is found in them now which was heretofore in the antient Christians who chused rather to suffer the loss of their Lives then to forsake him for whose cause they suffered yet we see their Persecutors did not always go unreproved Oh! that other Kings Princes and Magistrates would take warning from that which happened to these Persecuting Emperours The Ninth Persecution IN the year 273. did the ninth Persecution arise under the Emperour Aurelianus but this Persecution was not so great as the other because he was cut off by death soon after he had determined the same yet in this Persecution was Felix the Bishop of Rome put to Death with several others here and there in divers places Note Often doth the Lord frustate the purposes and Determinations of such as conspire Mischief against his People yea have we not seen sundry Powers overturned in England and Parliments broken up and Councels if not Committees also shattered to pieces when they have been determined to do Wickedly so that sometime they have not had power to bring that forth which they had Conceived and brought to the Birth so mightily hath the Lord confounded their Conspiracies and brought their devices to nought and this the true Christians have concluded to be the Lords doing which they have beheld and which thing hath been indeed marvelous in their Eyes The Tenth Persecution IN the year 302. begun the Tenth Persecution which was so great that it exceeded all that had been before it not only in cruelty but in continuance for it continued 12 Years Eusebius who lived at that time Writes of it at large in his Eclesiastical History saying it was occasioned through the freedom of the Christians who were come into great Reputation and were put in places of Office to Rule in Countrys and Cities but through their prosperity and voluptuousness Brotherly Love came to decrease Haughtyness and Pride got up and in stead of the worship of God an insolent authority begun to get up in the Church of the Christians And at that time the Emperour Diocletianus gave forth a Proclamation wherein he commanded that all the Christian Churches should be pulled down and the Holy Scriptures Burned and that the Christians should be turned out of their places with other such like things After that there came another Order that they should cause the chief of of the Church to offer unto Idols or else they were to be put to
Sects among the Jews Egesippus wrote how that after Iacobus Iustus was martyred in such sort as Christ himself was put to death his Uncle Simon Cleophas was chosen Bishop and then they called the Church a pure Virgin for as yet saith he the Devil had not sown there any corrupt Seed of False Doctrine But Thebulis because that he was not chosen Bishop went about to corrupt the same being one of the Seven Hereticks among the People He writes of many more Hereticks as of Simon â—…cobius Dosithaeus Gortaeus Machotaei Menendâ—…anises Carpocratians Valetinians Basilidians and Saturnians whereof every one saith he hath set abroach a proper and a several Opinion Of these saith he further sprang the false Christs the false Prophets the false Apostles rending asunder the Church with their false Doctrine directed against God and Christ The same Author describeth likewise the old Heresies of the Jews saying there were in the time of the Circumcision sundry Sects among the Children of Israel varying in Opinions and set opposite against the Tribe of Iudah and Christ namely these the Esseans the Galileans the Hemerobaptists the Masbotheans the Samaritans the Sadducees and Pharisees And by Occasion the aforesaid Egesippus reasoning of the Scriptures called Apocrypha that is hidden doubtful or unknown he said that in his time divers of them were published by Hereticks that is such as make choice of themselves what points of Religion they will believe and what they will not Of Dionysius Epistle to the Romans Moreover there remaineth an Epistle of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth unto the Romans as Eusebius saith wherein it is thus written It hath been your accustomed manner saith he even from the beginning diversly to benefit all the Brethren and to send Relief throughout the City supplying the Want of the Poor by refreshing them in this sort and especially the Want of the Brethren appointed for slavish Drudgery and digging of Metals The same Author reporteth of his own Epistles that they were patched and corrupted in these Words When I was entreated of the Brethren to write I wrote certain Epistles but the Messengers of Satan have sown them with Tares pulling away some things and putting to other some For whom Condemnation is laid up No marvel then saith he though some endeavour to corrupt the sacred Scriptures of God whenas they went about to counterfeit such Writings of so small Authority Concerning the Christians Sufferings Melito the Bishop of Sardis in his Apology to the Emperour reporteth some of the things practised against the Christians writing thus The godly People were grieved by reason of new Edicts which were published throughout Asia and never before practised now suffer Persecution For impudent Sycophants that is Tale-bearers or Slanderers and greedy Gapers after other Mens Goods having gotten Occasion through these proclamations openly to rob and spoil day and night such as commit no Trespass at all And after a few Lines he saith The Emperour that is just never putteth in Practice any unjust thing and we willingly will bear away the Honour of this Death yet this only we will crave of you that you after Notice and Tryal had of the Authors of this Contention do justly give Sentence whether they are worthy of Death and Punishment or Life and Quietness Of the Encratits and their Heresie Out of the School of Syternius and Marcion sprang the Hereticks whom they call Encratits that is te say contient or chast persons who taught that Marriage was to be aborred contemning the ancient Shape and Mould of Man framed of God And so by Sequel or consequently reprehending him that made the Generation of Mankind again they have commanded Abstinence from living Creatures for so they call them shewing themselves ungrateful towards God who made all things for the Use of Man After that Iustinus was martyred Tatianus fell from the Chureh and being puffed up with presumptuous Estimation and Self-opinion of Doctrineship as though he passed all other invented a new Form of Doctrine He dreamed of certain invisible Worlds with the Valentinians Some report that he presumed metaphrastically i. e. by a Metaphor to change one Word from its natural Sence into another Sence like unto it to alter the Words of the Apostle correcting as it were the order of the Phrase The Fifth BOOK OF EUSEBIUS The Servants of Christ inhabiting Vienna and Lions Cities of France unto the Brethren throughout Asia and Phrygia having with us the same Faith and Hope of Redemption Peace Grace and Glory from God the Father and Iesus Christ our Lord be multiplied WHEN they had premised certain things by way of Preamble they prâ—…ceed in these Words The Greatness of this our Tribulation the fury of the Gentiles against the Saints and what things the blessed Martyrs had suffered we are not able exactly to express by Word or Comprehend in Writing for we are not only banished our Houses Baths and common Market-places but altogether every one one of us are straitly charged not to shew our Faces And many have born all the Vexations that the Multitude have laid upon them as Examinations Scourgings Draggings Spoiling Stoning Fettering and the like whatsoever the heady savage Multitude accustomed to practise against their professed Enemies Next being had unto the open Market-place and Examination had they were condemned in the Presence of the People by the Tribune that was a certain Officer that ought to have defended their Liberty and the other chief Potentates of the City and were cast into Prison until the Presidents coming After that when they were brought before the President which had exercised all kind of extream Cruelty against us Vetius Epagathus one of the Brethren whose Conversation was so perfect that he was thought comparable with Zachary the Priest allowed not of the Sentence unjustly pronounced against us but with vehement Motion required that Audience might be given him to plead for the Brethren alledging that we had committed no Impiety which being denied him of such as compassed the Tribunal that is the Iudgment-Seat and the President rejecting this just Petition only demand whether he was a Christian Which he confessed with a loud Voice and so he was received unto the Fellowship of the Martyrs And was called the Advocate that is one which pleadeth for another in a Consistory or in a Iudgment place of the Ghristians There was certain found unready and as yet weak not of abillity to bear the Burthen of so weighty a Combate in number Ten which fell through the Frailty of the Flesh to our great Heaviness and sorrowful Lamentation quailing the Chearfulness of others which were not as yet aprehended but accompanied the Martyrs what Torments soever befell them and severed not themselves from them then Trembled we all for fear and that greatly because of the uncertainty of Confessions being not terrified with any Torments but careful for the end least
against which Pope Leo IX held two Synods in the year 1050 one at Rome and another at Vercle in which the opinion of these two were Condemned In the year 1126 did Peter de Brusius teach against Infants Babtizm Transubstantiation praying for the dead and such like things which he Preached near upon twenty years and finally because of this Doctrine was he Burned for then was the Pope begun to follow the Foot steps of the Arrians in Persecuting men to death for their Religion though it was not the practise of the Apostles In the year 1139 did Arnaldus teach against Infants Babtism Transubstantiation and other things but the Pope Innocentus the Second commanded him to be Silent fearing least he should spread this Doctrine much There was one Peter Abailardus of the same opinion And to this opinion many of the Clergy were brought insomuch that three Popes had enough to do one after another to reduce them to their Superstition Afterwards this Abailardus was apprehended and Burned to ashes in Rome Moreover there arose some who suffered themselves to be called Apostolical because they said they walked in the footsteps of the Apostles They rejected Infants Babtism the Purgatory praying for the dead and calling upon the Saines with other of the Romish Ceremonies they also rejected the priests that led a Sinful Life These were called Unlearned Blockish Clowns In the year 1176 There was a People raised up in the province of Albi in France whose opinion was as Baronius writes That Infants Babtism was not necessary to Salvation That an unworthy Sinful Priest could not administer the Sacrament that none should be Bishops except they were unreprovable that men should build no Churches to the Honour of God nor to the Honour of the Saints and that it was unlawful to Swear neither would they receive the Doctors Interpritations These people saith Baron were taken into the protection of some Princes and Rulers against whom the Pope made War because they would not Persecute them and expel them out of their Country In the year 1178. The King of France and the King of England observing how these People did daily increase They concluded together per force of Arms to expel them out of their Coasts But changing their mind they first laboured to convert them by the Clergy And to that end was there many Bishops and learned men sent to convert these whom they juged to be Heriticks by their Sermons but withal they sent several men with their Clergy that in case they with their Sermons reasons and Arguments could not overcome them that then the other should fall upon them and drive them out And when the Bishops with their Traine were come to the City Toulous where the aforesaid People were They ingaged the Citizens by an Oath to discover them they knew to be of this People And among the rest there was one Peter Moranus discovered and being examined he made a confession of his Faith freely and therefore was he presently condemned for a Heritick and all his goods were Confiseated with his sumpteous House in which he had holden Meetings and part of it was demolished But this Faithless Peter when he saw this Storm begun to fear and begun to be sorrowful seemingly and begged forgiveness And it was granted him with this condition that one Bishop with another man should whip him he going naked and barefoot towards the Church and that three years long he must go Pilgrimage to Ierusalem which then was become a fashion among the Apostazed Christians and when the three years were expired he was to have his Confiseated Goods again Now others of the aforesaid people observing this begun somewhat to fear and some seemed to recant but when there was an Oath required of them they refused to take it whereupon they were rejected as Heriticks and afterwards were Banished And it was commanded that all the Catholicks should shun them and that all Princes should expel them out of their Countrys In the year 1199 the the aforesaid people begun to be dispersed in many Citys and Countrys and their Doctrine begun to spread exceedingly yea through the most part of Europe That the Popes with the assistance of the Princes and secular powers had enough to do to root out the same First they endeavoured by disputing and afterwards by Banishment and lastly by all manner of Torturing Burning Hanging and cruell Bloodsheding so that the whole World seemed to be as in an uproar And this was all about Religion When that the Christians had gotten the power into their own Hands I mean the secular or earthly Power then did they by that power Persecute as they had been persecuted Compel as they had been complled and put men to Death about their Relegion as their Bretheren had been put to Death for their Religion And with this thing the Church of Rome hath not only corrupted her self but the most of the Sects that have come out of her when they got the carnal Sword in their Hands then did they endeavour to defend their Sect their Religion their Worship and their Discipline with that Sword which may kill the Body but connot slay nor destroy the Spiritual Wickedness in the Body which at this day abounds among Anti-Christians who are yet Persecuting about Worship Faith Religion and things of this Nature as their forefathers the Arrians did in whose steps most of the professors have been found who wrestle with flesh and blood And when that their Clargy could not prevail with their Original with their Philosophy with their quirks of Logick nor with their strong reasons and Arguments then were they to have the help of the Civil Magistrate unto whom they have cryed for help as the Jews did unto the men of Israel and often have they combined together for to kill and destroy that which God had made alive yea and to extinguish that which he had kindled as appears from what I have rehearsed And the same Spirit of enmity which hath been in the World since the beginning hath appeared often against the work of God and his Instruments as it now hath appeared against the true Christian-Quakers who are found in the footsteps of the suffering but not of the Persecuting Christians I might here add very much concerning the terrible and redious Persecution in Iermany and in the Low-Countrys which begun in the year 1524. And continued untill the year 1641. About the beginning of which the Emperour put forth a Proclamation wherein it was contained That all such as were found stained or polluted with the cursed Sect of Anabaptism for so he called it of what state or condition soever they were their adhaerents and compliences were to forfeit both their Lives and Estates and were to be brought to the utmost punishment without any delay especially those that continued constant and that had Baptized any likewise they that had the name of Prophets Apostles or Bishops
indicting himself for this Fact and pleading Guilty when the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the Raiment of them that Slew him Acts 22. 20. God chiefly inspects the Heart and if the Vote be passed there writes the man Guilty though he stur no farther in all moral Actions God values the will for the deed the storm thus increased apace and a violent persecution began to arise in which our Apostle was a prime Agent and Minister Raging about in all Parts with a mad and ungoverned Zeal searching for the Saints beating some imprisoning others and procuring them to be put to death indeed he was a kind of Inquisitor imployed to hunt and find out these upstart Hereticks accordingly took a Warrant and Commission to go down to Damascus in fury and a misguided Zeal whether many of those persecuted Christians had fled for shelter but God who had designed him for a work of another nature and separated him from his Mother's womb to the Preaching of the Gospel stopt him in his journey as Acts 22. 9. and he fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me and he went to Damascus another man from a Persecutor he became one of the Persecuted from hence he Traveled to Arabia and spent three years in the Ministery there and then retunned to Damascus a great and populus City from hence he went to Ierusalem and converst with Peter and Iames it was at Antioch about the beginning of Claudious's Reign ten years after Christ's Ascension where the Desiples was first called Christians being usually stiled before Nazarens from Jerusalem he set Sail to Cyprus and planted Christianity there and now the Old Spirit of the Iews did begin to hunt and persue them who coming from Antioch and Iconium exasperated and stired up the multitude and they who just before accounted them as Gods used them not only worse then men but slaves for in a mighty Rage they fell upon Paul stoned him and as they thought Dead and then drag'd him out of the City where the Christians of that place coming probable to Inter him he suddenly Revived and Rose up among them and the next day went hence to Debe and so Traveled to several places to Confirm the new planted Church he was Imprisoned and Ill-used at Phylippi His Parents were Tent Makers by Trade Preaching Christ at Jerusalem Italy Spain Labouring much among the Gentiles suffered at Rome under Nero as he was leading to Execution it is said Three of the Soulders that Guarded him seeing his Courage become Christians and suffered Death he kneeled down and his head strucken off with a Sword as some write in the 68 year of his Age and was buried with Peter The description of his Person He was a Man said to be of Low and tittle Stature and somewhat stooping his Complection fair his Countenance grave his head small his Eyes carried a kind of beauty and sweetness in them that he was Low himself plainly intimates when he tells us they were wont to say of him that his bodily person was weak and his speech contemptable in which respect he is stiled by Chrysostom a Man Three Cubits or a little more than four Foot high and yet tall enough to reach Heaven The Life of Andrew HIstory which hath hitherto been very Large and Copius in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles is hence forward very sparing in its accounts giving us only now and then a few oblique and accidental Remarks concerning the Rest and some of them no farther mentioned than the meer recording of their Names for what Reason it pleased the divine Wisdom and Providence that no more of their Acts should be consigned to writing by the Pen Men of Old is to us unknown Andrew was Born at Bethsaida a City of Galile standing upon the bank of the Lake of Genesareth Son to John or Jonas a Fisher-man of that Town Brother he was to Simon Peter he had Scythia and the Neighbouring Country primary alloted him for his Provinces first then he Traveled through Cappadocia Galatia and Bithynia and Instructed them in the Faith of Christ. Passing all along the Euxine Seas formerly called Axenus from the Barbarous and Inhospitable temper of the People who were wont to sacrificed strangers and of their Skulls make Cups to drink in at their Feasts and Banquets he was brought before the Proconsul who perswaded him that he would not foolishly destroy himself but live and injoy with him the pleasures of this Life the Apostle after many more words replyed that now he saw it was in vain any longer to deal with him a person incapable of sober Counsel and hardened in his on blindness and folly he might now do his worst and if he had one Torment greater than another he might heap that upon him the greater constancy he shewed in his suffering for Christ the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master the Procounsul first Commanded him to be scourged seven lashes successively whipping his naked body and seeing his invincable patience and constancy Commanded him to be Crucified but not to be fastned to the Cross with Nails but Cords that so his death might be the more lingering and tedious as he was led to Execution to which he went with a chearful and composed mind the People Cried out that he was an innocent and good Man being come within sight of the Cross he saluted it with this kind adress that he had long desired and expected that happy hour thus having prayed and exhorted the People to constancy and perceverance in that Relgion he was fastned to the Cross whereon he hung two days teaching and instructing the People all the time and when great importunities in the mean while was used to the Proconsul to spare his Life he earnestly begs of the Lord that he might at this time depart and seal the Truth of his Religion with his blood God heard his prayers and he immediately expired in the 9th month though in what year no certain account can be Recorded his Body being taken down and Embalmed was decently and honourably Interred by Maximilla a Woman of great Quality and Estate JAMES The Son of Zebede a Fisher-man by Birth a Galilean suppos'd to be one of the Brethren that their Mother asked that one might sit at the right hand and the other at the left hand of Jesus in his Kingdom he Preach't Christ unto the 12 Tribes some write that he came to Spain and other Western parts and also Britain Ireland he was slain with a Sword by Herod the Tetrach of the Jews in Judaea where he was buried JOHN The Brother of James by Birth a Galilean Preach't Christ in Asia coming near Rome was accused to the Emperor as an Assertor of Athesim and Subvertor of the Religion of the Empire whereupon he was sent bound to Rome and put into a Coldron