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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B11843	The tragedies of tyrantes Exercised vpon the church of God, from the birth of Christ vnto this present yeere. 1572. Containing the causes of them, and the iust vengeance of God vpon the authours. Also some notable comfortes and exhortations to pacience. Written by Henrie Bullinger, and now Englished.; Von der schweren, langwirigen Verfolgung der heiligen Christlichen Kirchen. English	Bullinger, Heinrich, 1504-1575.; Twyne, Thomas, 1543-1613.	1575 (1575)	STC 4078; ESTC S106917	68,333	200

and at length confirmed with their bloud For after manie and diuerse torments they were slayn with the sworde by Decius the Romane lieutenant that dwelte in the castle of zuirick And these most holly Germans haue left vnto vs the most holly and precious treasure of the Gospell and Christian fayth These our Apostles or rather teachers sent vnto vs from heauen are farre more auncient then y counsailes These liued and taught and are blesledly departed this life béefore the Papisticall Churche was establyshed in forme and manner as it is for at theyr time there was not that Papacie which afterwarde ensued there were then no Images in Churches there was no sacryfice of Mas no inuocatiō of saints no Munks no institutiōs or foūdations of Abbeies for they lyued in those yeres after Christe whiche wée haue before noted so that the Christyan fayth hath contynued amongst vs and also the auntient Congregation of Zuirick aboue 1270. yeares whiche I praye God alwayes with his grace to preserue But when this losse whiche the Churche had sustayned and this token of the wrath of God against his people had mooued but fewe in the Churche to repentaunce the more parte remaynynge carelesse and impenitent and alwayes procéedynge farther in theyr vnthankefulnesse God also increased the correction suffryng the Churche to bée oppressed with a moste sharpe persecution For in the .xix. yéere of Dioclecian which was the. 306. after the birth of Christe in the month of March euen on Easter day were published euery where edictes from y emperours againste the Christians wherin was charge giuen that Churches and Oratories of the Christians shoulde bée plucked downe to the grownd the Bibles and all bookes of holly scripture burned and whosoeuer of the Christians hée were that were in any honour office and dignite should bée disgraded and made imfamous with many other commaundmentes of that sorte Shortly after it was commaunded by another edict from the emperours that in euery place the bysshops and ministers of the Church should bée apprehended and constrained to do sacrifice to the Gods if anie spake against it they should be enforced therto or slaine Héerevpon ensued a miserable and cruell slaughter For the christian byshops doctours and ministers of the Churches were thicke and thréefolde led and drawn to the temples of Idols to do sacrifice and manie times those that lead them mooued with certein compassion exhorted them whom they lead to holde their peace and if they woulde but dissemble as though they dyd sacrifice they woulde then lette them departe But they declared with a loude voyce that they neither had Sacrificed neither woulde Sacrifice but that they were the seruantes and ministers of Christe wherfore vnaccustomed and new tormentes and diuerse tortures and punishments were laid vpon the Christians in execution wherof the tormenters and officers were more wery in appliyng then the Christians in suffringe them For they through thée goodnes of God continnued constant in the Christian faith vnto death notwithstandinge certen through feare and greatnes of paine and torment renounced their faith to the wounderfull sorowe and greif all the godlie At Nicomedia in Bythynia when the emperours commaundement and proclamation was openly set abroade and both emperours at that present soiurned at Nicomedia a certen noble citizen and of great dignitie in that city rent downe the emperours edict and tore it all to péeces wherfore with out delaye hée was brought vnto the emperours Who after that hée had confessed that hée was a Christian and that whiche hée had doone hée did it on a feruent zeale hée was deliuered vnto the hangemen and Iurmagantes who tormented him with sundrie torments vntill hée died But amonge the outragious tormentes wherewith they martyred him there neuer appéered any one sygne of sorrowe in his countenaunce At the same tyme were tormented and slayne the chéeife Prynces and nobles of the Emperours householde amonge whom Peter after sundrie vexations and tortures was layde vpon a Gridyron and roasted with this moste cruell kynde of deathe endynge his lyfe Lykewyse Dorotheus and Gorgonius Gentilmen of the Emperours Chamber after the bitter taste of sundrie tormentes were laste of all hanged Anthimus also bysshop of Nicomedia was at that time slayne with the sword and with him a great numbre of cityzens as shéepe followynge their sheapheard through tormentes and death with a most constant faith In Nicomedia at that time there arose a great fire suddeinly within the kinges palace as who should say that God ment to punishe the extreame crueltie of the emperours and the heathen people which had burned and broiled so manie innocent and godlie men But the same chaunced which befell at Rome in the time of Nero for like as hée imputed the cause of burninge the citie vnto the giltlesse Christians beeinge cause therof himselfe so these emperours published new commaundementes wherby they strayghtly charged y the Christians should bée extinguished with fier sword in euery place In Syria likewise the faithfull Doctours noble and vnnoble men and women younge and ould were drawen by heapes into prison in so mutch that the prisons and common places of the citie were full of prisoners and but few men there were that walked abroade the place resemblyng the shew of a forlorne wildernesse Wherof when the Emperours were aduertised they willed that sutche as would do sacrifice to the gods should bée released the residew that continued in the christian béeléefe should bée put to death with moste cruell kindes of tormentes The people of Tyrus also in the land of Palestine whole flockes as it were of men and women in places of common resorte for shewes were thrown vnto wylde beastes and when the wild beastes were more gentyl towards the Christians then the men neither forced vpon them to teare them yea rather teare their kéepers and maisters that egged them to others notwithstanding these faithlesse tyrants crueller then all beastes ranne vpon the miserable christians woundyng them stabbyng them and cruelly without all pittie murtheryng them A strainge kynde of crueltye also the vngodly in Egipt and Thebais practized against the faithfull wherwith they slew infinite numbers of them They vsed in certayne places to bend downe two Trées and to bynde the faithfull vnto eche trée by the legge then to let them rise agayne and so tearyng the men in péeces And Vspurgensis reporteth how at the same time in one monethes space were seuentéene thousand men martyred and slayne Eusebius in the. 9. and. 10. Chapters of the 8. booke describeth the strange torments and punishments of many christians which he himselfe dyd beholde amonge whom he mentioneth one Phileas a worthy man who was a Martir himselfe and had wroten of Martirs There was also in Phrigia a certen famous Citie wherein all the people highest and lowest young and old professed the Christian faith The same Citie the Emperours army beseidged round about and set it on fire burninge

all these things patiently and ouercame them and continued alwaies constant vnder y crosse The cause why the Iewes were enemies to Paul to y church surely was none other then y wherwith being before mooued they persecuted Christ y apostles as we haue declared before Moreouer hystories beare recorde that the twelue Apostles in all their life time and durynge the tearme of their administration in the gospel sustayned gréeuous afflictions and were all of them for Christe and his woords sake persecuted and put to death Although all writers doo not agrée of their kinds of death yet they al cōstanly affirme y thei were miserably slain Peter and his brother Andrew were both crucified Iames the elder as wée haue shewen before was béeheaded by Herod surnamed Agrippa Whose brother Iohn the Euangelist the béeloued disciple of Christ only of them al is reported to haue died a naturall death Notwithstandyng hée was apprehended and brought bounde out of Asia to Rome and conuented béefore Domitiā th'emperour and there as Tertullian writeth plunged ouer head and eares in hot boylinge oyle But after that the lorde graciously prouiding for him this cruell déede nothing indamaged his life hée was banished into y Isle Pathmos Phillip was nayled to a crosse there hangynge was stoned to death Barthelmew thei say was by his enemies most horribly flayne and afterward béeheaded Othersome say hée was burnt The enemies of Christe thrust Thomas through with a sworde and so as it is reported they dealt with Mathew Iames the younger the pastor doctor of the church of Ierusalem was throwne downe headlonge from an high place and afterwarde slayne beinge buffeted with stones vntill hée died Likewise both Apostles Simon and Iudas Thaddaeus ended their liues beinge by the heathen slain in a certen temple of Idols Some also say that Mathias was crucified others say hée was stoned and béeheaded Al these bare witnes of Christe not with their mouth and doctrine only but with ther blood also and for the trueth of the gospell which they preached were contented to die with wel willing and moste valient courage Now for as mutch as all the Apostles were slayn by the enimies of God who obtayned the souerainitye ouer them as apperteyninge to the bodye shall wée therfore say that superstitions of Gods enemies were right and the Apostles religion and doctrine false and erroneous who shall accuse God bycause hée deliuered not his seruantes from a reprochfull death but that hée gaue to the worst men in the whole worlde sutch power agaynst his holly Apostles Who although they were ministers of the trueth and innocent men yet were they put to death for the greatest enemies of God as malifactours and wicked persons for sutche were they accused to bée and therefore at this our age in the lyke cause wee must iudge so of their beléefe doctrine who ar shamefully executed for christs sake as indéede the trueth standeth in the sight of Christe ¶ Of the. 6. Tragicall Acte or persecutiō which was vnder Nero and of the seuenth which was vnder Domitian and of the eight vnder Vlpius Traian Emperours Chapter VI. PAulus Orosius an olde historician who liued in the time of Austine and wrote vnto hym seuene bookes of Storyes beginneth the recitall of the persecutyon of the Christian Churche from the persecution whiche Nero had moued which hée accounteth the first whose order the later Historicians also insued And we lykewise in describing the Tragedies persecutions committed against the Church wyll follow the same order as consequently they follow one another But since it is manifest y the fiue aboue recited persecutiōs were before these as the scriptures do shew that which Orosius maketh the firste we make the sixt although the matter be of no great importāce in this respect Orosius writeth that Nero firste that is to say among the Roman Emperours gaue forth commaundement that at Rome and in al other prouinces belonging to the Roman Empire the Christians shoulde bee molested and slayne And y this was his determination to roote oute the Christian faith all Christians wheresoeuer they were The causes that moued Nero to persecute y Christians are not so dilygentlye set downe by christian historicians as they are by prophane writers Suetonius Tranquillus in the lyfe of Nero and Cornelius Tacitus in the. 15. booke of the lyues of the Emperours Nero y emperour was y sinke of al beastly sinfulnesse fulnesse chiefly of lechery and vnspeakable incest defilyng himselfe against al course of nature so y in all Histories of you shal not finde his match This horrible wickednesse he openly committed at Rome without al shame in sight of y Senate and people But there was no man that durste speake against hym mutch lesse to reproue him or assay to punish hym but euery man winked at hym the most filthy beast in the meane time doyng what he list Wherfore God being offended with the citie of Rome punished it with fire as he did Sodome Gomorrha euen by Nero himself when as for his Sodomitical beastlinesse hée deserued to be burned himself And séeing Rome winked at his naughtinesse and did not y which it ought to haue done the horryble Sodomite Nero caused the citie to be set on fire For being certen places in the cittie wherewith Nero mislyked and the streates and passadges there verye narrow he caused the houses to be sette on fire that after they were brent they might be builded againe more faire and sumptious He himselfe beheld the fire out of Mecoenas tower saying that he much desired to se the burning of Troy which he beheld now som what resembled by that burning of the citie singing therwhiles the destruction of Troy and delighting himselfe with beholdyng the great fire Suetonius reporteth that from that time that Rome was firste built it neuer sustayned so much hurte by fire for it continued alwayes burnning the space of six dayes and so manye nights The same is also diligentlye described by Tacitus But when the fire through the wrath of God had brent farther then Nero had thought it shoulde and indamaged the Citie with an vnrepayrable losse and hinderaunce the citizens which had sustained so great harme were very much moued and ●ffended Wherefore the Emperour Nero to the intent that hee might put ouer from himself the 〈◊〉 of the déede raised a rumour among the commons that this whole mischeif was long of the Christians that they were aduersaries to the Gods and Religon of the Romans and wicked burners of cities and townes who also in that sort had defaced the citie And that this report might séeme to carie some trueth and auctoritie hée cast manie Christians into prison and examined them by tortures and tormentes that they should confesse how the citie was set on fire by them And in dede there were some fownd who not beinge able to abide tormentes

was possessed with a diuell railinge and reprochinge his doctrine which they could in no wise abide béecause it was quighte contrarie vnto theirs For they spake litle or nothinge of faith but of woorkes only how wée were iustified by the lawe or obseruing the law but specially by sacrifice likewise they taught litle of Charitie but applied all to their auarice makinge of the lordes house a verie shoppe of Merchandize For in the temple were shéep and Dxen and doues to bée sold for sutch as offred sacrifice and for their farther gaine they had set vp tables for vserie and exchange But Christe making a scourge of small cordes draue them all out of the temple as well the shéepe oxen and doues as those that sold them as also the bankers and exchangers and all that sold religion for monie Wherfore for this cause only they dayly persecuted Christe goinge about to stone him or kill him and hée oftentimes conuaid himself away flying out of Iudea in to Galile and sustained paciently sundrie afflictions reproches and traueyles And last of all hée was béetraid and sold by one of his owne disciples apprehended and brought into the ecclesiasticall iudgment of the priestes and by Pontius Pilate the Romane Lieutenant condemned to the death of the crosse for no other cause but for that as indéede he was hée affirmed himselfe to bée the verie sunne of the liuinge God the trew Messias or Christe the only and eternall sauiour of al the world But before that he was brought vnto the Lieutenant the seruāts and ministers of the priests shamefully mocked misused him in the high bishops hal they blindfolded him spet in his face buffeted him reprochfully and disdainfully intreating his diuine wisdom and maiestie In the morning when they brought him before the lieutenant they falsly accused him to bee a seductor of the people a seditious fellow well worthye to be hanged on the Crosse But Pilate when he had diligently examined all the matter vnderstanding the cause sundrye times pronounced that hee was not guiltie and that hee could not condemne him by lawe and notwithstanding that hee was innocent yet was he handled dispightfullye For he was led vnto Herod by him contemptuously abused flouted of his courtiars and galantes with all scornfull demeanure He was compared vnto Barrabas the most notorious théefe and murtherer of that age whom the Jewes preferred before Christ supposinge that hée was woorse then that wicked villayn whome all the worlde hated Hée was scurged also and crowned with a crowne of wreathed thorns and being in this sorte miserably handled and tormented was brought foorth into the sight of the vnthankfull people But for al this there was no grace nor pardon to bée found specially amonge the preistes egginge the Lieutenant to cōdemne the innocent and the hée shoulde permit them to leade him to execution to crucifie him béetwen two théeues And when hée was in moste gréeuous paines and the very panges of death he was moste outragiously intreated with blasphemous frumps scornes and reprocheful vsages For the préestes with many other mo walking before the crosse vttred foorth sundrie horrible and gréeuous woords against him which are by S. Mathe diligently set downe in writinge Amongst which most gréeuous temptations and iniuries in the midst of these sorowes Christe yéelded vp the ghost vpon the crosse Whilst Christe suffred these thinges his disciples were miserably dispersed and all the faythfull conceaued wounderfull and incredible sorowe for the passion and death of Christe Manie fearfully doubted least at that time the doctrine of the Gospell were wholy extinguished So that this persecution which was against christe both touched and troubled the whole Church and all the faithfull And although the enemies of Christ hoped that they had gotten the conquest and destroyd the doctrine of the Gospell notwithstandynge their victorie made not the pharisaicall doctrine one iote the better nor the doctrine of the Gospell the woorser For it is no good consequent the Pharises put Christe to death wherefore their doctrine is true and Christes false The cause which moued the Pharises and al other enemies of Christ to persecute him surely was none other then the they were desierous to retaine their owne erronious doctrine oppresse the gospell w the followers therof wherby they might with securitie enioye their raigne lustes and pleasures And likewise in our age many of the Papists do persecute the faithful for none other cause This is a comfort vnto vs that in so great afliction when the disciples were scattered Christ of all men forsaken yet only Iohn amōgst al the other discipls durst boldlye approche to the crosse of Christe and ioyne himself vnto Mary the vndefiled and perpetuall virgin the mother of our Lord and Mary Magdelen Cleophas with other moe Heere by their infirmitie the power of God is declared Likewise Ioseph and Nicodemus valiently béehaued themselues Like as at this day also it falleth out for wher as the trueth is taught to bée so greuously pressed with persecution that there séemeth to be no man that taketh regard or care therof then most times by the meanest sort and not seldome by noble and great personages there bée newe and fortunate fowndations laid wherby the trueth is wonderfully increased Wherfore wée must not in the greatest persecutions cast of our hope and comfort Here béefore althinges this is to bée obserued that wée iudge far otherwise of Christes death and passion then of the death and affliction of Iohn and other sainctes who haue suffred persecution for God and the truethes sake and with their bloude borne recorde to the heauenly trueth but wée ought far more excellently to accompt of the blood and death of Christe For as hée is the euerlastinge sunne of God and life vnto all those that béeleue in him so his blood death and passion are a clensinge sacrifice and a propitiation for the sinnes of the whole worlde For by his death wée obtayne life and by his bloodshed wée get remission of sinnes And vnto this opinion all the doctrine of the Prophetes and Apostles bear witnes specially the epistle of Saint Paule to the Hebrues Wherfore our life and forgiuenes of sinns is reposed in the deth and passion of Christe only and not in the martyrdom or passion of any sainct Since therfore Christe is the head of his Church and hée suffred so manye thinges by his example the church also learneth that it must suffer many things as it is abundantlye shewen in the writings of the Euangelists and Apostles Of the thirde Tragical Acte or persecutiō wherin the Apostles were taken and scurged Steeuen was stoned the Church and congregation of Ierusalem banished dispersed Chapter iii. THe third persecution of the church began alitle after the Ascencion of christ into heauen which is the feast of Pentecost or Witsontyde when the Apostles earnestly preached the Gospel and had gathered together great and worthye

Congregations vnto Christe The same is verye dillygentlye and copiously described in the Actes of the Apostles The Apostles preached then openlye the Gospell of Christe in Ierusalem only in the name of our Lorde Iesus Christ which was crucified and raised from the dead in whom if they béeléeued was remission of sinnes life euerlasting that al men therfore ought to béeléeue in him bée baptized and ioyne in fellowship of the church repent and liue a godly lyfe looke for saluation in none other thinge for that there is none other name vnder heuen giuen to men wherein they may be saued but the name of Iesus Christe These Sermons the Scribes and Seniours at Ierusalem coulde not abyde wherfore thei laide hand vpon the Apostles and shut them vp in Prison and brought them before the counsel where quarreyling and chidinge with them they forbid them to preach this Gospell of Iesus christ But the Apostles frankly professing that in this behalfe by no meanes they might obey them but that God must rather be obeyed then men were neuertheles much and gréeuously thretned by the Magistrats elders Vpon occasion hereof the Church being strock with great heauines prayed hartely vnto God for cōtinuance in the Gospell And when as the Apostles went forward constantly in teachyng and Christe effectually woorkinge in them confirmed the trueth of their doctrine with great miracles that a great numbre of men followed them so that the Churche was daily increased by thousandes then the magistrates officers setting vppon them a freshe cast the Apostles againe into prison intending to put them to death But by the intercession and meanes of Gamaliel the lawyer that was Pauls master they were delyuered but notwithstanding whipped and sharply forbidden that they should not preach the Gospel of Iesus Christ Who departing out of the counsell and Court praysed God that they were founde worthy to suffer reproch for his name Shortly after blessed Steeuen burning in the spirite of Christe and with great zeale disputing in the synagogs against the skilfull in the lawe and stoutly defendyng the doctrine of Christe was cast into prison and brought to arainement and falsly accused Who although he clered hymselfe with sufficient wise and graue reply yet it nothyng avayled him for hee was condemned to die and stoned to death There followed not long after a very vehement and sharp persecution of the christian Church described by Luke in the Acts of y Apostles by these words There ●rose about that time a greate persecution against the Church which was at Ierusalem and they were al dispearsed through the Regions of Iudeae and Samaria sauinge the Apostles For Saul wasted the Churche entring into euery mans house haling forth Men and women deliuered them to prison Yea Paul himselfe concerning this his persecution against the church spake thus in presence of King Agrippa truli I was determined with my self to do many things against the name of Iesus of Nazareth VVherof partly I dyd somwhat at Ierusalem and many of the Saints I committed too Prison hauing receaued auctoritie of the cheef prists on whom also I gaue iudgment when they were executed I punished thē also in the Sinagogs compelling them to blasphem that is to denye the Christian faith whiche is a great blasphemie and raging against them aboue al measure I persecuted them vnto strange Cities Now as touching the cause that mooued Paule the Preistes and people of the Iewes to persecute the Church was almost none other but a sinister vnseasonable zeale affection which they bare for the lawe of Moyses and the ceremonies which being lead with errour they ment to retaine and preserue and could not therfore beléeue in christ nor his Gospel For thei supposed that thei should be iustified saued by righteousnes of the law Contrariwise the gospel teacheth vs y wee shal not be saued by works of y law but by faith in Christ At this stone y Iewes haue stumbled fallen perished as S. Paul witnesseth in these words I protest for them that they haue the zeale of god but not according to knowledge For beyng ignorant of the righteousnes before god and studeinge to establish their owne righteousnes they were not subiect vnto the righteousnes which is allowed of god For Christe is th' end of the law vnto the iustification of al that beleue Likewise in another place Israell whiche ensued the Lawe of righteousnesse attayned not to the lawe of righteousnes that is to say was not iustified because they sought it no● by faith but by workes of the lawe For they haue stumbled at the stumbling stone as it is written Beholde I lay a stumblyngstone and a rock to hurt and make men fall and who so beleueth in him shal not be ashamed In this our age likewise and for the same very cause they aboue all other haue most vehemētly and sharply persecuted the christian church y haue bin better men then the residew and lesse giuen to carnal affection Thei hate the Gospell and persecute the professours therof bicause they confesse ernestly defende that wée be iustified and saued by faith only in Christ and not by any woorkes Supposing y by this doctrine good woorkes are taken away and nothing regarded y men are made carelesse and stirred vp vnto wickednesse which is not to bée suffred in y churche But there is a far other vnderstanding in y question of good woorkes then thei either thinke or vtter nether are they cōtemned and naught set by although the glory of Iustification which apperteyneth vnto Christe only bée not ascribed vnto thē For vnto faith is iustification ascribed bicause the same dependeth on Christ only y Christe only may haue al y glory he alonly be our saluation and righteousnes as wée haue in another place declared more at large But beefore wee proceede anie farther let euerie man I béeseche yée weigh with himself how great and gréeuous this persecution was against the firste Church of Christe and how that they which were not slayn notwithstandinge receaued great sorowe through the death punishment and torments of their brethren that which Luke also hath not passed ouer with silence wrytinge after this maner The holly men caried foorth Steuen and made great sorrowe ouer him What and how great sorowe greife and miserie did they féele who although they were not slayne yet were they spoyled of all their gooddes driuen into banishment and brought to extreame pouertie and beggerie Heerewithall also let euerie man consider what Church it was that suffred so gréeuous persecution forsooth euen the most holly and moste perfecte Church of al. For of this Church Luke witnesseth writinge They were all filled with the holly ghoste And of al the multitude y beleued ther was one hart and one soule and no man called anie thinge that hee had his owne but all thinges were common amonge them nether was