to Remember his Oaths Promises and solemn Vows and Protestations that they should have the free Exercise of their Religion and withal told the King That he might do as he pleased with their Bodies and Estates but their unspotted Souls were in the hands of God and that they were resolved to remain stedfast in their Religion though with the loss of their lives which answer so inraged the King that he called the Prince of Conde Rebel and the Son of a Rebellious Person horribly threathing him That if within three days he did not obey his Command he should dye for it and then with a furious Countenance left them with these three Terrible VVords Death Mass or the Bastile Many Gentlemen that were attendants upon them as likewise their School-Masters and Tutors were thrust out of the Chamber among the Murtherers that is among the Kings Guard of Switzers who stood in two Ranks with their Swords drawn ready for Blood and Cruelty These Gentlemen crying out of the Kings Oaths Promises and Fidelity were yet by the Kings Command and in his own Sight unmercifully hewen and cut in pieces In this Butcherly Massacre at Paris there were above four Thousand Houses robbed and plundred and above Five Hundred Barons Knights and Gentlemen who were chief Officers in the VVar with abundance of Noble young Gentlemen Ladies and Gentlewomen Inhumanely murthered who little expected such a bloody Fate for they came from all parts to rejoyce in honour of the marriage of the King of Navar and instead of Jollity and pleasures they here met with an untimely death from Bloody and Cowardly Papists who murther like Devils but dare not fight like men The King and his Confidents fearing that this Massacre would not end the Quarrel but rather stir up the Protestants in other places to stand upon their own defence He therefore sends Messengers by Poast to all parts of the Kingdom often shifting Horses for more speed with express Commands to the Governours of all other Towns and Cities in France to follow the Example of Paris and to destroy and kill all the Protestants which were amongst them and yet at the same time the King writes other Letters wherein he laid the fault of the murder of the Admiral and the rest upon the Duke of Guise As soon as this Command was published and that the Kings Letters came the Papists fell with all imaginable fury upon all the Protestants at Meaux Troys Orleans and other places murthering them without any matter of pity and Compassion And among the rest Mounsier De la Place President of the Court of Requests being in his house a Captain came to him and told him that the Duke of Guise had killed the Admiral by the Kings Appointment and many other Hugonots but however he was willing to secure him but desired to see his Gold The Lord De la Place observing his Impudence asked him whether he thought there were a King or no the Captain blaspheming bid him go to know the Kings pleasure The Lord De la Place thinking there was danger neer went from him to secure himself and the Captain thereupon plundred his House The poor Gentleman seeking shelter in three Houses for his life was denied and was at last forced to return home again where finding his wife very sorrowful he rebuked her and discourst with her of the Promises of God telling her That through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God and then calling his Family together he made an Exhortation to them went to prayer and then read a Chapter in Job with Calvins Exposition and then praying again he resolved by Gods assistance to suffer all Torments rather than to fly for it Presently after the Provost of the Merchants comes to his House with many Archers and an Order to bring him to the King and would not admit of any Excuse whereupon the Lord supposed what would happen and therefore embracing his Wife he desired her never to forsake the truth of God And so going toward the Palace some Murtherers waited for him and Immediately stab'd him with their Daggers so that he fell down dead and then stripping him cast his Body into the River After this there followed the like Cruelties and Murders upon the Protestants in the Cities of Lyons Tholouse Burdeux Angiers where the Protestants were most barbarously kild and destroyed as likewise in most other Cities and Towns so that in a few Months there were murdered above threescore Thousand Protestants in France for no other Crime but only for being Protestants Yet in the midst of these dangers it pleased God to provide some places of refuge for them as Rochel Montalbon Wismes Saucerre Privas c. whither many Protestants fled from other places In the year 1573 the Town of Saucerre was besieged by the Lord of Chastre who with his Canon played incessantly upon the place so that the Stones Pavements and Splinters of Timber flew about continually and yet it pleased God that only one young VVoman was slain thereby though sometimes the Coats Breeches and Hats of the Inhabitants were shot thorough The Siege being long there was great scarcity insomuch that the People were forced to eat Horses Asses and Mules which lasted a Month Afterwards they eat all the Dogs Cats Rats Mice and Moles that they could get and then they were forced to eat Parchments Horses and Beasts-Hoofs Horns Lanthorns Halters Girdles of Leather Herbs wild Roots and Furniture for Horses this being all spent and no bread in the City they made bread of Linseed Herbs mixt with Bran Straw-Meal Powder of Nut-shells yea Slates Sewet Old Ointments and other Grease served to make Pottage and therewith they likewise fryed the the Excrements of Horses and Men which they eat yea the very filth in the Streets was not spared During this Extremity a labourer and his wife were put to death for eating the Head Intrials and Brains of their own Child a Girl of three years old who died with Famine having likewise dressed the rest of her body to eat at other times Those that went out of the City VValls were forced to live upon the Spriggs of Vines Black-beries Snails and Herbs and many of them were killed by the Enemy And among other lamentable Spectacles a poor man and his Wife were found dead among the Vines and two of their Children crying by them the youngest being not above Six weeks old whom a Charitable Widow took home and relieved c. Many dyed of this terrible Famine in their Houses and others fell down dead in the Streets Most of the Children under Twelve years old dyed and most lamentable it was to see their poor Fathers and Mothers lamenting their misery and yet could not relieve them yet most of them did wonderfully encourage themselves in Gods help and assistance as may appear by this strange Example A Boy about five years old being famisht for Hunger running along the Streets fell down for dead
and Princes have been forced to kneel and kiss their Toes nay they asserted that all Kings were Slaves and in subjection to them and that all must be judged by the Pope but he by no man Psalm 88. LOrd sit not still as deaf unto our Cries For lo Our Enemies in Tumults rise Even those who thy Omnipotence deny And hate thy Name advance their Priests on High Dark Councils take and secretly contrive Our slaughter whom thy mercy keeps alive Come say they let us with incessant strokes Hew down this Nation like a Grove of Oaks Till they no longer be and Israel dye Both in his Race and Ruin'd Memory They all in one Confederacy have made A solemn League supply d with forreign Aid Hence Idumeans who in Gomades stray And Shaggy Ishmaelites that live by prey Th' incestuous race that bred are on the Lake Of salt Asphaltes savage Thieves who take Their Name from servile Hagar they who dwell In Geba Ammonites who peace expel Oh! say they let 's these Israelites destroy And all the Cities of their God enjoy O! let them like a Wheel be worried round Like chaff which whirlwinds ravisht from the Ground As Woods grown dry with Age imbrac'd with Fire Whose Flames above the singed Hills aspire So in the Tempest of thy wrath pursue And with thy Storms thy troubling Foes subdue O fill their Hearts with Grief their Looks with shame Till they invoke thy late blaphemed Name Confound them with eternal Infamy That they through anguish of their Souls may dye That Men Jehovah's wonders may rehearse The Great Commander of the Universe Mens Brains fryed eaten Children torn in Peices Infants thrown to the dogs swine Woemen Carried on Piks Rosted alive Some tyed and slain Hang'd by the Privitie Burnt in a barn A Brief and True Account of the Cruelties and Persecutions Committed by the Papists upon the Waldenses and Albingenses and other Protestants in Piedmont Savoy and the Valtoline from the Year 1160 To the Year 1656. VVHen by the just Judgment of the Almighty All the World wondred after the Beast and the Kings and Princes of Christendom established the Authority of the Pope and Church of Rome appointing to slaughter and destruction such as denied the horrid Blasphemies and Errors maintained by them It occasioned many good Christians to detest their Superstitions as unknown to the Apostles and the Primitive Church And the first we read of was one Berengarius who boldly and faithfully published the True Religion contained in the Scripture and discovered the falseness of the Romish He lived about the time of William the Conqueror his coming into England about which time his Followers being taken notice of as dissenting from many of the Common received Opinions of those times they were branded with the odious Name of Hereticks About Twenty years after this one Peter Bruis was a famous Preacher among them who taught them publickly a long time at Tholouse in Savoy In a short time after they were grown to so great a multitude that the Popes of Rome were resolved if possible by any means to extirpate and destroy them To which end they at first incited several of the most learned of their Party to write against them and warned divers Princes to have a care of them and to banish them out of their Territories The first then that flung away the Spiritual Keys and began valiantly to brandish the bloody Sword of Persecution against them was Pope Alexander the third who began therewith to hack hew and murder the poor Waldenses so named from Peter Waldo or Waldo of Lyons in France who appeared very couragious in opposing the many Corruptions of the Romish Church as Holy Oyl Consecrated Images Popes Indulgences Candles Merits Auricular Confession the Supremacy of the Pope false Miracles Purgatory Praying for the Dead Prayers to Saints extream Unction and many other Fopperies of the Popish Communion This Persecution of Waldo and his Followers who were encreased to a very great number began in France in the Year 1060. Waldo being compell'd to fly into the Mountains of France among the Savage Inhabitants to whom he taught his Doctrine others fled into Picardy from whence they were called Picards several into Flanders and Alsatia and thereby for the safety of their Lives they spread their Doctrine into all places King Philip of France being incited by the Ecclesiasticks raised Arms against them and destroyed Three Hundred Gentlemens Houses and likewise several Walled Towns And those that fled into Flanders escaped little better for they were persued and many of them for their Religion put to Death And the Bishops of Mayence and Strasburgh raised great persecutions against those which fled thither there being Five and Thirty Citizens of Mayence burned in one Fire and Eighteen in another who suffered Death with very great constancy and at Strasburgh at the instance of the Bishop Fourscore were likewise burnt for professing the same Truth and yet by the exhortations constancy and patience of these Martyrs there were such multitudes who entertained their Doctrines that in a few Years after in the County of Passau and in Bohemia there were above Fourscore thousand persons that made profession of the same Faith Some of them likewise fled into England for shelter but were more barbarously and cruelly put to death at Oxford by the Papists there than ever any Christians were before that time for matters of Religion and Three years after Pope Alexander the Third made a Decree in the Council of Tours in France that these Gospellers and all their Favourers should be Excommunicated and that none of them should buy or sell according as it was foretold in Revel 13.17 At Colen in Germany Four Men and Two young Women were discovered hid in a Barn and the Papists not being able to diswade them from the Truth The Men were all tyed to the Stake to be burnt but the Romanists pretending to pity the young Women perswaded them to recant but they perceiving their design got out of the hands of those that held them and voluntarily leapt into the Fire where they were burned with them about this time a Proclamation was published in Aragon whereby it was made Treason to relieve these poor Christians or to suffer them to live in that Country and liberty was given to all people to abuse them at pleasure without being punished for the same But these people still encreasing the Pope was resolved to suppress them by all means possible and therefore about the Year 1201. He set up the Bloody Inquisition which with its Racks Tortures Fire and all manner of Cruelty hath destroyed an innumerable company of Good and Holy Men. And in the same Year a noble Knight called Eunandus and one of the Waldenses was burnt at Paris and the persecution still continuing the people of Daulphine flying from their barbarous Enemies sheltred themselves in the Caves upon the Mountains but their cruel Adversaries having notice thereof persued
and destroyed many of them and the rest fled higher into the Mountains which were all covered with Snow together with their Wives and Children the Mothers carrying some in their Arms and others in Cradles and the Night coming on and having no means to make a Fire for their tender Infants they were so benummed with cold that in the morning above Fourscore of them were found dead in their Cradles and most of their Mothers died likewise Many also were burnt in the same Country of Dauphin and the Fire of persecution raged through the whole Land so that there was scarce a Town or City in Piedmont but many were put to death therein and at Turin one of them had his Bowels taken out of his Belly and put into a Bason and was afterward cruelly Martyred One Gerard being at the Stake to be burnt requested the Hangman to give him Two or Three Stones which he at first refused thinking he would have thrown them at some body but afterwards did and Gerard taking them into his hands said When I shall have eaten up these Stones then shall you see an end of our Religion for which you now put me to death and then throwing them on the Ground he chearfully died These Countries being so hot with the Fire of Persecution many of these poor People fled into Calabria where they began to plant and build Towns as Saint Xist La Gard and divers others where they continued till the year 1560. at which time they were most grievously persecuted by Pope Pius the Fourth and were forced to leave their Houses and Habitations and to fly into the Woods for the saving of their Lives but being there pursued by order from the Vice-Roy of Naples most of them were cruelly and barbarously murdered by the Souldiers and some flying into fortified places were so straitly besieged that they died with Famine And at the same time one Charlin was rackt in so horrible a manner that his Guts came out of his Belly Another was tormented upon the Rack Eight hours together to force him to confess what they pleased against himself and others which yet he refused to do Some were stript stark naked and whipt to death with Rods of Iron others were drawn through the Streets and burnt with Firebrands some thrown down from an High Tower and some cut to pieces with sharp Knives By order of the Inquisitor Panza Fourscore persons had their Throats cut as Butchers do Sheep and then causing them to be divided into Four Quarters he made their Limbs to be set upon Stakes for the space of Thirty Miles as a bloody spectacle A young Man was thrown from an High Tower because he would not confess himself to a Priest and the Vice Roy passing by at the same time and hearing him implore Gods Mercy not being quite dead he kick'd him on the Head and said Is the Dog yet living Take him and cast him to the Hogs Threescore Women were so cruelly rackt that the Cords pierced their Arms and Legs to the Bones and then being cast into Prison all there dyed except Nine of the handsomest who being delivered to the Fathers of the Inquisition were never heard of afterward Many more were delivered to the Secular Power to be burnt and if any interceded for them they were presently put on the Rack as Favouters of Hereticks One of their Ministers was famished in Prison another was carried to Rome and burnt the Pope and Cardinals being present at that pleasing spectacle but the Minister spake so many things out of Gods word against them that the Pope gnashed his Teeth for Anger and afterward promised the Marquess of Butiana to make his Son a Cardinal if he would clear Calabria of these Waldenses which was then no hard matter for the Inquisition and the Vice Roy of Naples did by all manner of Cruelties destroy Man Woman and Child so that in a short time they were utterly rooted out of that Country The Waldenses who fled out of Piedmont into Provence increasing daily and their Habitations being near to Avignion many times the Popes Seat he soon raised an horrid Persecution against them but the greatest was in the Year 1360. In the time of Lewis the Twelfth wherein many suffered which continued for some time more and less furious to the Year 1540. About which time the Inhabitants of Merindol Cabriers Posin and other places in Piedmont were by means of the Popes Agents cruelly Burned Massacred and Destroyed The Towns were fired and laid wast and the Country round about made desolate The poor People were slain the young Virgins ravished and barbarously abused Children were pull'd alive out of their Mothers Bellies the Breasts of many cut off so that the Infants died of Famine There were only Threescore and six weak men left in the Town of Cabriers who offered to deliver it up so that they might go to Geneva or Germany but the Enemy entring caused them all to be brought into a Field and cut to pieces the Souldiers striving who should shew the best Manhood in cutting off Legs Arms c. The Women they put into a Barn with their young children and some great with Child and then firing a great quantity of Straw they were barbarously burnt together and some endeavouring to escape through the flames were knockt on the head by the bloody Papists many fled into Caves and Cellars who being brought forth stark naked into the Fields were there slain others being bound back to back were in sport run through with one Sword As soon as any were found the Villains cryed Kill kill destroying all they met with so that above a thousand men women and children were slain in this place some desired leave to depart to some other place but one Opede a chiefe Commander amofig the Papists said That he would send them to dwell in Hell among the Devils At Costa another Town they committed great slaughter and many of the Inhabitants flying into an Orchard the Souldiers ravished divers of the Women and Virgins and abused them in so filthy a manner for a day and a night that the women with-child and younger Maidens died immediately after Many more were the outrages committed by the Souldiers in this Country but the Tremendous Justice of God did not suffer some of the most violent persecutors to go unpunished For Opede the Commander of these Villains was struck with a strange kind of bleeding in the lower parts that he was not able to make any Urin so that his Guts rotted within him and Worms bred in his bowels which continually gnawed him and so he lay raging and blaspheming saying that he felt a fire within him which burnt him from the Navel upwards which was accompanied with a most filthy stink from his lower parts and in this miserable manner he ended his wretched life There was likewise one John de Roma a Monk who used horribly to torment these poor Protestants and among the rest he would fill
greatest abhorrency and indignation for some of them were stoned to death others hanged upon a Beam and with a soft fire made under them were roasted to death others were cut piece-meal One Minister they laid on his back and ramming his mouth full of Gunpowder set fire to it and blew his head all to pieces Another they hanged up by the Privy Members being seventy years old and burnt his own Books under him and at last shot him to death after he had endured all manner of torment and pain In the year 1621. all the Ministers were banished out of the Kingdom of Bohemia and all the Provinces thereunto belonging never more to return and it was made death to harbour or conceal any of them About the same time twenty one Ministers were banished from Cuttenburg A Popish Captain caused a Ministers hand first to be stricken off and then his head his bowels to be taken out and wrapt in his shirt and his four quarters to be set upon four Stakes and his head on another At the same time likewise fifty of the Nobility were condemned some to death some to banishment and others to perpetual imprisonment twenty seven were executed who all died with great constancy of mind and fervency of spirit sealing the Protestant Cause with their blood the heads and right hands of some of them were hung upon the Tower of the Bridge but when the Valiant Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden came into Germany their heads and hands were by his Order taken down and solemnly buried Not long after there was an Edict published in Bohemia for the banishing of all Protestants in general and that their Children should be taken from them that they might be brought up in the Popish Religion Another Edict was published that all Protestant Women who had married Popish Husbands should be banished and removed away from them unless they would turn Papists and likewise that no Papists should have any Commerce with Protestants And upon this there followed a cruel Persecution so that there was scarce a City Town or Village in the whole Country but the poor Protestants suffered very great torments and barbarities In one City they slew the Mayor together with sixteen hundred men women and children and suffered their bodies to lye unburied several days in the dirt and mire and the remainders of the Citizens they cast into Prisons where they lay in a miserable condition Bibles and all manner of Religious Books were prohibited and likewise Marriages Burial and Baptism were denied to all that would not turn Papists Some Protestants were thrust into Dungeons and Vaults full of Snakes Toads and other filthy Vermin others were put into places full of Iron Spikes so that they could neither sit nor stand others were laid upon narrow Beams over deep waters that if they did but stir their bodies they were in danger to be drowned They put Gags into the mouths of some and then thrust their Host or Wafer Cake down their Throats others were beaten on the Calves of their Legs so that they could not stand nor go but were forced to fall down on their knees that they might adore their Host And thus briefly of the multitude of cruelties committed by the Papists on the Protestants in Bohemia the whole whereof would not be contained in a large Volume The next Theater where we may behold these bloody Papists acting their Tragedies is GERMANY which was miserably torn and rent to pieces by their cruelties they endeavouring by all manner of severity to have extinguished the light of the Gospel which was discovered by Martin Luther and others who were stirred up of God to expose the corruptions and superstitions of the Romish Church whereupon in the year 1523. the Pope excited the Emperour Charles the Fifth to destroy all the Protestants as Hereticks and allowed him two hundred thousand Crowns toward the raising of Souldiers to that purpose the Pope likewise further engaging to raise twelve thousand Foot and six hundred Horse at his own charge for carrying on the work and thus he began with the Sword that he might end with the Faggot The Duke of Saxony and the Lansgrave of Hessen stand up for the Protestants and are taken Prisoners in the year 1547. And where ever the Papists got the better all sorts of cruelties murders racks tortures fire and faggots followed upon the Protestants so that all Germany was as it were in a flame and combustion at once all places being in a lamentable condition some flying and others suffering death on every side for their Conscience and Religion At a Town called Meldorp they took a godly Minister named Sutphen out of his Bed and forced him to go miles on foot in Frost and Snow upon the Ice bare-footed and bare-legg'd beating cutting and flashing him and pricking him forward with their Halberts and at last they barbarously roasted him to death Many were drowned at Vienna and put to several sorts of death Ladies and Gentlewomen were yoakt together like Beasts and so were turned out into the Woods where they were ravished and abused and then had their Hair and Ears cut off and disfigured In Pomeren they forced the people to eat their own Excrements and if they refused them they thrust them down their Throats till they were choaked They cram'd the secret parts of several women with Gunpowder and so setting fire to it most barbarously tore their Bellies and Wombs Divers were hung up by the privy parts they plained the faces of others with Chisels others they caused to draw on Boots filled with scalding Oyl and so roasted their legs over the fire some men they gelt in the presence of their wives and children others had their bodies hung up by Cords and by tying great weights to their limbs all the joynts of their body were put out of joynt some had Gags put in their mouths and had stinking water and piss powred down their Throats through a Tunnel till their bellies swell'd like a Tun whereby they died in most cruel torment They sawed off the legs of some alive and one Minister they bound upon a Table and placing a great Cat upon his belly so provoked the Cat that she scratcht his guts out of his belly with her Teeth and Nails till he miserably died At Magdenbur they ravished the Wife and Daughter of a famous Minister before his face and then violently snatcht a sucking Infant from its Mothers breast and stuck it on the top of a Lance and when they had tormented his Eyes and Heart with these horrid Spectacles they brought the Minister into the Street and burnt him with his own Books Yea such was their abominable filthiness in Pomeren that they ravished the fairest Virgins before their Parents faces forcing them to sing Psalms the while one beautiful young woman they ravished and then cut to pieces hanging up her quarters in the Church Girls of ten years old and under they ravished and abused till they killed them
time was not yet come and so it happened for he was removed to Ferrara where he continued in Prison for Two years and afterwards Eighteen Months in another Prison and was again condemned by the Popes Inquisitors but still his death was one way or other prevented His Wife and Sister came to him in Prison and weeping pitifully intreated him to remember and consider his poor Family To whom he answered That his Lord and Master had commanded him not to deny the Truth for his Families sake and that it was too much that for their sakes he had once fallen already and therefore desired them not to sollicite him any more in that matter for he knew his end drew neer and therefore he commended them to the Lord. In a short time after the Pope sent word Faninus should be burnt at which he very much rejoyced and thanked the Messenger Being still offered Life if he would recant and thereby prevent the misery of his Wife and Children He said He would leave them to a careful and sufficient Overseer and being asked who that was he answered even the Lord Jesus Christ a faithful Keeper of all that are committed to him As he was going to Execution one that saw him so merry and cheerful asked him what the reason of it was since Jesus Christ before his death sweat Water and Blood To whom he answered That Christ sustained all the sorrows and conflicts with Hell and Death which were due to us that by his sufferings we might be free from the sorrow and fear of them all At the place of Execation after having earnestly prayed to God he went patiently to the stake and was first strangled and then burnt There was likewise one Dominicus a Souldier under Charles the First in Germany who having received the Gospel grew so much in knowledg in a short time that he able to instruct others whereupon he returned into Italy and taught the People in Naples Placentia and several other places In a little time after he was apprehended and readily obeyed the Magistrate saying That he wondred the Devil had let him alone so long And being asked whether he would renounce his Doctrine He said That he maintained no Doctrine of his own but the Doctrine of Christ which he was also ready to seal with his blood Being therefore condemned to death he was brought into the Market-place where he most heartily prayed for his Enemies Instructed the People and then was hanged resting in peace in the Lord. In the City Paria in Italy one Galleacius Trecius a Gentleman of good Quality very rich and bountiful to the poor embraced the Gospel for which being presecuted he fled from thence but being afterwards apprehended he was brought before the Lords Inquisitors where he boldly and couragiously asserted the Truth whereupon he was condemned to be burnt next morning he was bound to a stake in the Market place where he continued till noon to be gazed at by the People during which time many of his Friends perswaded him to recant but nothing could alter the firm mind of this constant Martyr and Fire being put to him be quietly slept in the Lord. A little before his Execution he heard there were some Differences between the Bishop and the Mayor of the Town who should be at the cost of wood to burn him but to end the Quarrel he sent them word he would be at the cost out of his own Goods In the year 1553 one John Mollius a famous Preacher was hanged and burnt for preaching the Gospel and the next year Francis Gamba was condemned upon the same account and because he made adm rable discourses to the People his Tongue was bored through and he was first strangled and then burnt undergoing death with great patience and Constancy The next year after there was one Algerius a Student in Padua a young man of Excellent Learning who having attained the knowledge of the Truth he endeavoured by Example and Instruction to bring in others for which being accused of Heresie he was apprehended at Venice and was afterwards sent for to Rome by the Pope where many endeavours were used to tempt him to desert and deny the Truth which not prevailing he was Condemned to be burnt alive which he constantly suffered to the Admiration of all that saw him In the year 1559. John Aloysius a Minister being sent from Geneva to Calabria was sent for to Rome by the Pope where he suffered Martyrdom and at the same James Bovellus a worthy Minister was Martyred by the Popes Order at Messina Pope Pius the Fourth raised an hot persecution against the Protestants in all the Territories of the Church of Rome which was the destruction of many faithful Christians yea the Persecution was so hot in the Kingdom of Naples that many Noblemen and their Wives with divers others were slain And a Papist writing to a Noble Lord about the Cruelties shewed to some Christians in Calabria in the year 1560 hath these expressions when I think upon it I verily quake and tremble for their manner of putting to death may be fitly resembled to the slaughter of Calves and Sheep for Fourscore and Eight of them being thrust up together in one House as in a Sheepfold the Executioner cometh in takes one and blindfolds him and then leading him forth to a larger place commands him to kneel down and then cuts his Throat and leaving him half dead he takes his Butchers Knife and Muffler all gore blood and fetches the rest and so one after another dispatches them all How sad this spectacle was I leave to your Lordship to Judge for my own part I cannot but weep to think of it neither were there any Spectators who seeing one to dye could endure to behold another But truly so humbly and patiently they went to their deaths as it almost incredible to believe All the Aged Persons went more cheerfully the younger were something more timerous I tremble and shake to remember how the Hangman held his bloody Knife between his Teeth and his bloody Muffler in his hand and his Arms all gore blood up to the Elbows going to the Fold and taking every one of them one after another by the hand and so dispatching them all no otherwise then a Butcher doth his Calves and Sheep The City of Venice kept it self free a long time from this Plague of the Inquisition so that multitudes of Christians flocked thither from other places but in the year 1542 the Pope so far prevailed as to introduce it there likewise and then began a Terrible Persecution of the poor protestants there and they found out a new kind of death for them which was to drown them in the bottom of the sea in the manner following when they were condemned to dye by the Inquisitors there was an Iron Chain fastened round their wast and a heavy stone was tyed thereto then they were laid upon a Planck between two Boats and so rowed to an appointed
come upon summons they enquire his Name For say they we know not whether you be the man but since you are come if you have any thing to inform the Court of either concerning your self or any other you may let us hear it for the discharge of your Conscience Now in this Case it is the safest way constantly to deny that he hath any thing to declare to them For if through simplicity a man doth accuse himself or any other they rejoyce as having attained their desires and so presently commit him to Prison If any chance to make his escape they have many devices to fetch him and find him again one of them is by making his picture to the Life and sending it about by their Apparators and Promoters who are commonly the greatest Villains in the Countrey and will swear any thing against the Prisoner After the Prisoner has been six or eight Months in Gaol he is brought before the Inquisitors who tell him that they have deeply considered his case and have found that he doth not declare the whole Truth and therefore they are resolved he shall be rackt that they may draw from him by force what by fair means he will not acknowledge and then they advise him rather to confess voluntarily and thereby avoid that pain and daanger that attends him but whether he confess or not it is the same thing for to the rack he must go to be compelled to confess more Then is the poor Prisoner led into a deep and dark Dungeon under Ground where the Rack standeth passing through many doors before he come to it because the terrible cryes and schreiks of the tormented should not be heard Then the Lords Inquisitors set themselves upon a Scaffold hard by the Rack and the Torches being lighted the Hangman or Tormenter comes in all cloathed from Head to Foot in black Canvas and a long black hood likewise which covereth his Face having only two holes in it to look out at which sight doth many times very much affright the poor Soul to see one in the likeness of a Devil come to Torment him The Inquisitors being seated near him again perswad him to confess freely and Voluntarily and then with very sharp words command him to be stript stark naked yea though it be the modestest Virgin or chastest Matrone in the Countrey whose grief is not so much the pain as to be seen naked by so many persons and yet these wicked Villains without any regard of honesty will not by the utmost prayers or Intreaties of the most virtuous Women or Maidens be perswaded to forbear one jot of this barbarous Impudence As if a Shirt or Shift could hinder the Rack from cruelly tormenting them The party being stript naked the Lords Inquisitors signify their pleasure how they will have him Tormented and the first kind of Torment is usually the Gibbet or Pully First one comes hehind him and binds his hands together with a Cord Eight or Ten times about and then his Thumbs in the same manner the Inquisitors bidding him every time to bind them harder then other and then both hands and Thumbs are fastned to a Pully which hangs to the Gibbet they then fasten great and heavy bolts to his heels and hung upon those bolts divers Iron weights and so hoise the poor wretch up from the ground Having continued thus for some time they let him down and hang twice as much more to his heels and then hosing him up they let him slip half way down of a sudden which rends and tears Arms Shoulders Back Leggs and all his whole body out of joynt by reason of the sudden lirk and the weights hanging at his heels If the party shreik or cry out they roar out as fast and call him Heretick Rogue and Dog and if in his cruel pangs he call upon Jesus Christ for his aid and assistance they mock and deride him saying Why callest thou on Jesus Christ Let Jesus Christ alone and tell us the Truth c. After they have tormented him about three hours the Inquisitors ask the Hangman whether the rest of his Instruments of Torment are ready who to affright the Prisoner answers They are but he hath not brought them with him they then bid him bring them to morrow and so turning to the poor wretch which lyes in miserable pain the Inquisitors cry How now Sirrah how do you like this well consider of it against to morrow or else you dye for what you have felt is but a flea-biting to what remains behind Then the Gaoler plays the Bonesetter as well as he can three days after brings him to the Rack again when his joynts are most sore and sometimes they have another Torment with the Trough where the Person is laid with his feet higher then his head bound hand and foot in the Trough and then laying a thick Cloth over his Mouth and Nostrils they power water thereupon with a long stream which falling from on High drives the Cloth down his Throat with miserable Torture and pain and being drawn out again from the bottom of his Throat it draws forth blood with it and seems as if it tore out his bowels They have another Torment with Fire which is no whit inferiour to the former and that is by holding the Prisoners Feet over a pan of burning Charcoal and that the Fire may have the more force they bast their Feet with Lard and Bacon If after all these and divers other cruel Tortures they continue constant they are then condemned to death Then he is cloathed in a Sambernetto or long Garment painted over with ugly Devils he hath on his head a high Crown'd Hat whereon a man is painted burning in the Fire with many Devils about him plying him with Fire and Faggot upon his Tongue a piece of cleft wood is put to hinder his speaking a Cord about his Neck and his hands fast tyed behind him All things being finished they are delivered by the Inquisitors into the hands of the Magistrate who presently conveys him to Execution where several Fryars swarm about him earnestly perswading him to deny the Truth and when they cannot prevail upon him he is tyed to the stake and in an Instant the Hangman breaks his neck without being perceived and then they report among the Common People that he recanted at his last hour and returned to the Church of Rome and therefore he felt no pain in the Fire but took his death so patiently without any motion or crying out And though by the Terrors of the Inquisition the Professors of the Gospel in Spain have been but few they having been so wickedly industrious as to crush all appearances of Truth in the bud yet in the year 1545 several Protestants at St. Lucar Valedolid Sevil and other places in Spain suffered death no less then thirty being Martyred at one time and five years after divers more likewise were put to death as one Francis Romanes a Merchant De
Cacalla a man of Excellent Learning and one Rochus a skilful Graver of Images who turned Protestants and died for the same also one John Pontio Gónsalvo a Priest Juliano Leon Arias Losada a Physician Together with a Lady and several VVomen and Virgins who were burnt at several times in divers places and Twenty others besides who were burnt in one Fire after they had endured all the horrid torments of the Rack the Pully the Trough the Barnacle the Twisting Cord and the rest of the barbarous Tortures and Inventions of the cursed Inquisition Nay divers English men being betrayed by the Insinuation of wicked Informers were likewise burnt in Spain as Nicholas Burton Merchant of London was burnt at Sevil and another English man with him and not long after two more named John Baker and Villiam Burgate and about the same time William Burges Master of an English Ship was burnt there likewise and one William Hooker a youth of about sixteen years old was stoned to death for the bold profession of the Truth As Portugal is but a little Kingdom and the power of the Pope and his Clergy very considerable there as well as in Spain they have wonderfully supprest the power of the Truth with their Tortures yet some have their likewise suffered for the Gospel and among others William Gardner an English man whom they put to death with most exquisite Tortures at Lisbon in the year 1552 for taking the Host out of a Cardinals Hand and stamping it under his Feet He boldly asserting to the King himself That he did it out of Conscience as not being able to endure to see the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper irreverently used to so great Idolatry and although all manner of cruelty was used toward him yet he dyed with extraordinary Constancy singing Psalms in the Flames to the very last moment of his life The Rage and Fury of Papists in the Low-Countreys or Netherlands was no less then in other places For the Inquisition being introduced there it was accompanied with all manner of cruelty At Antwerp one Nicholas an Holy good man was bound up in a Sack and drown'd In Holland a Learned Preacher called Pistorius was burnt being carryed to the stake with a Fools Coat on his back Wendel muta a Widow likewise suffered death with much Constancy Several Ministers were beheaded among the rest one George Scherter who after his head had been cut off for some time and his body lying on his Belly he turning himself on his Back and crossing his Right Foot over the left and his right hand over the left continued so to the great admiration of the Spectators and the Conversion of many Several were drowned others were made away in Prisons others shut up in dark and noisom places and none suffered to come at them being fed only with Bread and Water till they were famished At Lorain several were Martyred some by Fire others beheaded There was a very great Persecution all over Flanders about the year 1544 so that there was hardly a Town or City in all the Countrey wherein some were not banished beheaded or condemned to perpetual Imprisonment neither was there any respect either to Age or Sex but especially at Gaunt many of the chief Persons were burned for being Protestants and several others in Brabant and Artois insomuch that Two Hundred Men and VVomen were cruelly destroyed at one time some of them being drowned some burned alive and some privately murdered so that the Hangman began to be tyred and wearied out with such continual Executions At the Town of Mecklin Dornick and Delden several were put to death and among the rest two Noble Virgins who were Sisters and likewise a Mother and her three Sons who all dyed owning the Gospel and zealously exclaiming against the Cruelty and Idolatry of the Papists And about the same time they miserably tormented one Bertrand for trampling the Host under his Feet whom they thrice put to the Rack and because he would not recant in the Market place of Dornick they put a Ball of Iron into his Mouth to keep him from speaking and then crushed his Right hand between two flat Red hot Irons till the form of it was changed and then did the like by his Foot which he endured with admirable patience then tying him round the wast by a Pully and making a Fire underneath they hoisted him up and down till he was burnt to Ashes which they cast into the River There were several Martyred at Valence and Lisle and one of the Judges pronouncing sentence against these good People said This Day you shall go to dwell with all the Devils in Hell Fire But the greatest Instrument of the Devil in those Countreys was the Duke of Alva who was sent by the King of Spain to Root the Protestants out of the Low-Countreys This Duke boasted one time at his own Table That he had been diligent to root out Heresie for besides those he had slain in the Wars He had put into the hands of the Common Hangman to be Executed within the space of six years no less then Eighteen Thousand Persons And to complete this sad Catastrophe we may also remember that William of Nastaw Prince of Orang was shot by a Villain called Joanville who was encouraged by a Jacobine Fryar to do it the Rascal was thrust through with an Halbert and the Fryar was hang'd But this wound not proving mortal they hired one Gerard a Burgundion who standing behind the Pillar in a Room shot the Prince dead as he past by PSALM 105. WE nothing can of merit claim Not for our sakes thy aid afford But for the Honour of thy Name Thy Mercy and unfailing Word Why should th' insulting Heathen cry Where 's now the God they vainly Praise Our Lord inthron'd above the Sky All underneath at pleasure swayes Their Gods but Gold and Silver be Made by a frail Artificer For they have eyes that cannot see Dumb Mouths and Ears that cannot hear Fools on their Altars Incense throw Who nothing smell their feet are bound Nor have they Power to move or go Their throats give Passage to no sound Their hands can neither give nor take Unapt to punish or defend As senseless they who Idols make Or to their carved Statues bend Your hopes in God O Israel place He is your help and strong defence Be he you Priests of Aarons Race The Object of your Confidence In him all you that fear him Trust He shall protect you in destress The Lord is of his Promise Just And will his Faithfull Servants Bless He in the Heaven of Heavens resides And over all his Creatures reigns Among the Sons of men divides The Earth and all that Earth contains Who sleep within the Vaults of Death No Offerings to his Altars bring O Praise his Name while we have Breath And loudly Halelu-jah sing Mr. Wischard burnt A 1000 drown in a River Candles made of Mens fatt Irish Children Kill
man miscarry if he will part with his Silver to save his Soul so that it is fitted for a most wicked and licentious life since men may sin at the highest rate and not endanger their souls for if they have money the Popes Pardon clears them from the greatest Villanies so that though they are never so guilty they can with their last breath solemnly call God to witness that they are as Innocent as the Child unborn Qu. Since the Popish Religion is such a compound of Humane Policy and framed to make men depend upon the Pope and be subject to his power though against their Sovereigns Interest we may wonder that so many Princes do with one consent joyn their power to support his Throne Ans This indeed seems to be a very strange infatuation and we can give no other reason for it but that it is the secret Judgment of God to give them thus up according to what was foretold in Rev. 17.17 For God hath put it into their heart to agree and give their power to the Beast until the words of God be fulfilled for else there is nothing more destructive to their Power and Interest than such a Spiritual Sovereign as the Pope pretends to be Qu. How doth it appear that the Popish Religion is so destructive to the power of Princes and the Interest of their Kingdomes Ans It is undeniably clear from their own Doctrines and Principles 1. They assert that the Pope may dethrone Kings and give their Kingdomes to others that he can absolve and free their Subjects from all Duty and Allegiance to them yea he can bind and loose their Consciences at his own pleasure 2. It is such a Religion as expresly frees and exempts all Ecclesiastical persons from the Laws of their Natural Prince so that they cannot be judged for the most horrid and notorious Crimes that can be committed by them 3. It makes the Princes and Rulers of the world to execute with a blind obedience whatsoever the Pope commands them not leaving them the liberty to judge whether it be right or wrong 4. It strikes at the very Foundation of all Religion and Piety which is the greatest security to Government and the strongest obligation to all Civil and Moral Duties for if a man commit the most horrid acts of wickedness such as Murther Adultery Incest Rape Sodomy c. yet an ordinary Priest by the Almighty power of the Pope can dispense with them all the price of them being rated and appointed which being paid the Priest can give full pardon and absolution for the same 5. It is a Religion that expresly teaches that a man is not bound to repent presently of the most heinous sin it being sufficient if it be done before the last moment of his life 6. It destroys truth righteousness and honesty among men since it allows and warrants Equivocation and Perjury both in Oaths and words and that a man may swear in such doubtful terms as may be directly contrary to the intent of him that gives the Oath whereby an Oath cannot be an end of Controversie Lastly it is a Religion which in its Principles is destructive to Humane Society for it triumphs delights and glories in those monstrous Prodigies of mischief Blood and Cruelty which we would think Humane Nature would tremble at and which seem rather to have been acted by Devils transformed into the shape of men than by any who have the least pretence to the name of Christians witness the Massacres of France and Ireland and the bloody Persecutions in the Netherlands Germany Spain Piedmont and most Countries in Europe Therefore from such a Religion and all the cursed effects thereof let us beseech Almighty God to deliver us and our Posterity for ever Amen PSALM 64. THou great Protector hear our cry Save from our dreadful Enemy O vindicate From their close hate Who for our Souls in ambush lye From their blind rage protect Who Truth and thee reject Who whet their tongues more sharp than Swords Their Arrows draw even bitter words To wound th' upright With fierce delight When time to their desire accords They on a sudden shoot Nor fear Divine pursuit Confirm'd in skilful malice they Conspire and Nets in secret lay And say what eye Can this discry First counsel take and then betray On mischief set their hearts Pursu'd by wicked Arts. But God shall let his Arrows fly Wound in the twinkling of an eye Each shall be stung By his own Tongue And with that fatal poyson die The Image Of Antichrist The Image of ANTICHRIST Or The Vsurpations of the Pope and Church of Rome over Kings Emperours c. ABOUT Five Hundred Years after the death of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ one Phocas who had Murdered his Master Mauritius Emperour of Constantinople and his Children first Advanced the Bishops of Rome to be Universal Bishops and Heads of the Church at which time they were endowed with these large Possessions and Donations which they call St. Peters Patrimony and which they falsly assert to be the Gift of Constantine the Great After this the Church of Rome growing Great Mighty Rich and Proud at once lost its Humility and Purity of Religion and assumed Politick and Tyrannical Principles which caused her Defiled hands to lay afide the Sword of the Spirit and to make use of the Temporal Sword which she used to the Deposing and Murthering of divers Kings Princes and Emperours I. For after they had once tasted the Sweetness of Wealth Ease and Prosperity the Popes began to swell in Pride and Pomp and the more they Flourished in this World the more the holy Spirit of God forsook them so that in a short time those Bishops who were Poor Mean indigent persecuted and wanting all things began to Triumph over Princes to tread upon the Necks of Emperours and to bring the heads of Kings under their Usurped Authority They were carryed upon Mens Shoulders in all manner of Magnificence as if the earth were not good enough to bear them they were honoured as Gods on earth and Sovereign Princes Dukes and Lords c. went Bare-headed before them And not only so but through their Pride and Ambition they grew so great Apostates from Christians that of being Persecuted they became Persecutors of others and at last were so Great enemies to God and Religion that the Pope may now be justly Reckoned and Accounted the Antichrist or Man of Sin so long before spoken of by St. Paul in Thessalonians 2.2 II. This pride and insolency of the Pope and his Clergy appeared in several Instances which might be given of it but out of the Multitude we shall only Collect some few to shew what Slavery and Bondage both Princes and people were formerly subject to under this Antichristian Yoke About the Year 1158. Frederick Emperour of Germany Marching into Italy the Pope hearing of it went with his Clergy to meet him As soon as the Emperour saw
the Pope he Alighted from his Horse to receive him and held the Popes Stirrup while he Alighted also but it seems he mistook the Left Stirrup instead of the Right at which the Pope seemed to be very much offended which the Emperour observing he smilingly told the Pope That he desired to be excused since he was not accustomed to hold Stirrups with which acknowledgment the Pope seemed to be satisfied After this there happened some difference between the Pope and the Emperour whereupon the Pope curseth him and sends his Letters out against him to all the Princes of Christendom declaring that he was an accursed person and ought to be avoided and cast out of all Christian company He likewise stirred up his Subjects in Rebellion against him The Emperour then marched to Rome to chastise his pride but the Pope fled to Venice and the Venetians being required to send him to Frederick refused it whereupon the Emperour sent his Son Otho against him with men and Ships very well furnished but withal charged him by no means to attempt any thing against the Venetians till he himself came But the young man being full of heat and desire of glory ventured to ingage the Enemy and was by them overthrown and himself taken prisoner Upon this misfortune the compassionate Father to release his Son from captivity and misery was forced to submit to whatever Conditions of Peace the Pope should demand whereby it was at last agreed that the Emperour should come into S. Marks Church at Venice and there kneeling down at the Popes feet he should receive Absolution and forgiveness This the Emperour performed and the proud Pope setting his foot upon the Emperours Neck said that verse in the Psalm Thou shalt tread upon Lyons and Adders the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou trample under foot which the Pope applied to the Emperour but the Emperour answered Not to thee but to Peter this power is given The Pope replied Both to me and to Peter The Emperour fearing further quarrels durst say no more but was absolved and his Son was restored to his liberty III. Not long after this that is in the time of that famous King Henry the Second one Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury was by his extraordinary pride and insolence the occasion of very great disturbance to the King and Kingdome for the King calling his Nobles and the Clergy together desired that some Clergy-men might be called to answer for some Villanies by them committed for it was proved that several persons had been murdered by their means This Thomas Becket would not consent unto without a Clause of seeing this Order which very much displeased the King but by the perswasion of his Brethren Becket afterward consented yet being incouraged by the Pope he again fell off and repented of what he had done which the more inraged the King against him This quarrel continued many years and the King was so tormented by this proud Prelate that he once passionately cryed out Will no body avenge me of this Becket These words were spoken in the Hearing of some Gentlemen who thereupon guessing at the Kings mind four of them presently went to Canterbury and finding the Archbishop in the Cathedral there they fell upon him and kill'd him upon the Stairs of the Altar every one striking him over the head with his Sword and then made their escape This Murder was charged upon the King by the Popes Legate and though the King swore that he was neither aiding nor consenting to his death yet he was forced to kiss the Legates Knee and submit to such Penance as he should appoint him one part whereof was that he should absolutely submit to the Pope in all spiritual matters And it is likewise recorded that King Henry coming out of France went to Canterbury and as soon as he was in fight of Thomas Beckets Church he got off his Horse and pulling off his Shoes and Stockins he went barefoot o Beckets Tomb the ways being so sharp and stony that his feet bled as he passed along and when he came there every Monk in the Cloister whipt the Kings Back with a Rod which shews saith the Historian what slavery Kings and Princes were at that time brought into by the Popes Clergy The same year the City of Canterbury was almost burnt down and Beckets Church was utterly consumed This Becket was afterward Canonized for a Saint but a Popish Historian saith of him That he was worthy death and damnation for being so obstinate against Gods Minister his King IV. King John the Son of Henry the Second was likewise made sensible of the danger of offending the Pope for in the year 1205. the King being incensed against the Clergy who possessed great Benefices and yet neglected their Charge he endeavoured to rectifie this and some other great miscarriages about Electing Bishops and several other things But the Pope fearing he would intrench upon his privileges and gain stirred Heaven and Earth against him Excommunicating and cursing him giving his Kingdome to the French King and stirring up his own Nobility and people against him so that the King being compassed about with Enemies on every side was forced to submit to the Pope promising to do whatever he should command him Nay the King took his Crown off his head and kneeling upon his knees in the midst of all his Lords and Barons he gave it to Pandulphus the Popes Legate saying Here I resign up the Crown of the Realm of England to the hands of Pope Innocent the Third and lay my self wholly at his mercy and appointment Pandulphus took the Crown from King John and kept it five days and the King giving then all his Kingdomes to the Pope to be held in Farm from him and his Heirs for evermore his Crown was restored again King John engaging to pay seven hundred Marks a year for England and three hundred for Ireland half of it at Easter and half at Michaelmas as Rent for the said Kingdomes This King John was afterward poysoned by a Monk which was judged such a Meritorious Act that the Murderer had a Mass appointed to be said for his Soul for ever after by his Fellow-Monks V. Pope Celestine the Third standing upon the Stairs of S. Peters Church in Rome he there received an Oath of Henry the Sixth Emperour of Germany and then had him into the Church and anointed him and sitting in his Pontifical Chair held the Crown of Gold between his feet and the Emperour bowing down his head to the Popes feet received the Crown the Empress likewise was Crowned in the same manner The Crown being thus put on the Pope immediately kickt it off the Emperour's Head with his foot to the ground declaring thereby that if he pleased he could depose him again Then the Cardinals took up the Crown and again put it on his Head VI. Nay to such a height did the Popes at last arrive that they governed all things Emperours
fast in the dead Mothers arms that they could hardly get it out They took another at the same place and put out his Eyes and then cut off his Privities and thrusting them in his mouth exposed him some time as a miserable Spectacle and he being yet alive they flead off his skin and hung it in the Windows of four principal houses in Lucerna after they had divided it into four pieces They took out the brains of Daniel Cardon and frying them in a Pan eat them up like Canibals and then cut open his breast also that they might eat his Heart but were frighted by some Protestant Troops that were marching that way They burned four Women of between eighty and ninety years old alive they cut divers to pieces and gave their flesh to Dogs In another place having taken eleven Protestants they heated a Furnace and forced them to throw one another into it till it came to the last man whom they threw in themselves They stabbed some with impoysoned Knives in the legs and feet and so left them in torment till they died One Gros a Ministers Son being taken by them they cut off his flesh in small Gobbets while he was alive and in the presence of his Wise and Children whom they murdered likewise before his eyes A Woman with seven Children were all barbarously murdered in their Beds One Daniel Rambout because he refused to say Jesu Maria or pray to the Virgin Mary they first cut off one finger then another till they had cut them all off then they cut off his hands and arms till after this manner they had cruelly mangled him to death Others they shut up between two Stone-walls and starved them to death And to conclude there was no manner of death no kind of cruelty or torment that these First-born of Hell could invent or devise but they were exercised with the utmost severity upon the poor miserable Protestants and it would be almost endless to give a particular account of all that we murdered drowned burnt shot starved smothered knockt on the head and cut in pieces by these barbarous Papists These horrid and inhumane practices made the rest of the Protestants fly to their Arms in the natural defence of themselves and their Families against the rage and fury of Lyons Tygers and Bears in the shapes of men But those that were so brisk at massacring and murdering such as did not resist them were meer Cowards at fighting and the Protestants prevail'd against them with small numbers and defended themselves against their Cruelty But at last by the Mediation of the Switzers Hollanders and other Protestant Princes and especially the English who contributed above thirty thousand pound to the relief of their wants and miseries the breach was made up but yet so made that the poor remaining Protestants live under the Tyranny of their Popish Task-masters being forbid all manner of Traffick wronged of their Estates and Goods their Ministers banished their Virgins ravished the women affronted the men beaten and abused and the Valleys are become like Dungeons in which they are kept as Slaves and secured by strong Forts and Garrisons of Papists so that they are even dying whilst they live and have cause to cry out How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood c. Rev. 6.10 〈…〉 〈…〉 Melted Lead pour'd on their heads Kil'd in a Church Mens heads cutt of with Scythes Some Heads of Men burst with Gunpouder A woman her 2 Children murdered Some flea'd alive The Persecutions and Cruelties of the Papists upon the Protestants in Bohemia Germany Poland and Lithuania THe Persecutions of the Papists against the Bohemians began very early even about 9â—7 years after the death of our blessed Saviour Pope Hildebrand otherwise called Hell-brand was the first that fell upon them and afterwards Pope Celestine and Persecution continued upon them for many years and John Huss and Jerom of Prague were burnt in defence of the Gospel at Constance notwithstanding they had the Publick Faith of the Empire of Germany given them for their security At a Town called Cuttenburgh there are many deep Metal Mines into one of which in the year 1420. the Papists threw one thousand and seven hundred persons at one time for their Religion into another one thousand thirty eight and into a third a thousand three hundred and thirty four persons In the year 1421. one Pichel a chief Magistrate of the City Litomeritia having taken twenty four of the chief Citizens and among them his Son-in-law put them in an high Tower and being there almost famished they were at last brought out and condemned to be drowned their Wives Children and Friends following them to execution with cryes and tears yea the Magistrates own Daughter came with prayers and tears to her Father beseeching him to spare her Husband but he like a hard-hearted wretch only said Cannot you have a better Husband than this To whom seeing his cruelty she answered You shall never marry me to any but this And so going along with them when she saw her Husband thrown into the River she leapt in after him and imbracing him endeavoured to save his life but being unable to do it they both perished together and the next day she was found with him fast in her Arms and they were both buried in one Grave A while after a Minister four men and four Boys were all burnt together in one fire at Prague because they received the Sacrament in both kinds and indeed many and almost innumerable were the murthers torments and inhumane barbarities committed both publickly and privately on these poor Christians About the year 1523. Martin Luther began to shine as a great light in Germany and his Doctrine soon overspread Bohemia and all the parts adjoyning which so enraged the Pope and his Clergy that they continually raised very violent persecutions against them wherein multitudes of good Christians lost their lives by means of Ferdinand the First and Charles the Fift Emperours of Germany There were no less than two hundred Ministers banished out of Bohemia at one time and the Lord of Schanow because he was a Lutheran was accused of a Conspiracy and laid upon the Rack but he couragiously cut out his own Tongue and being demanded the reason of it he wrote That it was lest the torments of the Rack should make him speak falsly against himself or others In the year 1617. Ferdinand the Second was obtruded upon the Bohemians who joyning with the Papists raised up a very terrible Persecution against the Protestants which was the cause of the Electing of Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine to be King of Bohemia upon which there followed those cruel Wars and troubles in that Country wherein many godly Ministers and other pious holy and good men suffered such barbarities and inhumanities from the Popish Souldiers that the Ears of a Christian cannot hear nor his Tongue relate them without the
mean time great Triumphs were preparing for the marriage of the Kings Sister and Daughter and the day being come He spent all the morning in Examining matters against Du Bourg and some others charged with the same Doctrines intending to glut his Eyes with their Execution and then went to Dinner After Dinner the King ran at Tilt near the Prison where Du Bourg was and brake many Spears against the Count Montgomery and others and all thinking he had done enough desired him to give over with praise But the King being inflamed with their Commendations would needs run another course with Count Montgomery who upon his knees beg'd his Majesty pardon but the King being resolved commanded him to do it upon his Allegiance Montogomery being compel'd addrest himself to it and the King and he meeting broke their Spears and the Kings Helmet falling down at the same Instant one of the Splinters of Montgomeries Spear entred just into his right eye and so pierced his head that his brains were perished which wound being incurable he dyed thereof within Eleven days after whereby his great hopes of seeing the Death of Du Bourg were frustrated And the Execution of Du Bourg was deferr'd for six Months longer all which time persevering constantly in the truth he was first degraded and then accompanied with six or seven hundred Horse and Foot well armed he was guarded to Execution being first hang'd and then burnt to Ashes At Amiens in France all the Bibles Testaments and Psalm Books were burnt the Ministers Pulpit and several Men and Women At Abbevilla they slew the Lord of Harcourt and dragg'd some along the Streets with their faces in the Kennel At Meux above Four Hundred Religious Citizens were slain the Women and Maids were openly ravished in the Streets and market-places Men VVomen and Children were Massacred the very Popish Priests themselves slaying divers with their own hands At a place called Bar the same if not worse Villanies were committed for the Papists pull'd out the hearts of these poor Protestants and most barbarously gnawed them with their Teeth rejoycing that they tasted of an Hugonots heart At another place seven Hundred Protestants were inhumanely massacred and their naked Bodies thrown into the River Their Houses and Church being likewise plundred and Burnt At Angies they murthered a Godly Minister and many others and finding a Fair Bible guilt they hung it upon an Halbert and carried it in procession blasphemously crying Behold Truth hanged the Truth of the Hugonots The Truth of all the Devils behold the Mighty God behold the Everlasting God will speak and when they came to the Bridge they threw it into the River crying lowder Behold the Truth of all the Devils drown'd At Tours an hundred and forty were murdered and cast into the River and neither Man VVoman nor Child spared nay the President of the City being only suspected to be a Favourer of the Protestants was first beaten with Staves then script to his shirt hang'd up by one Foot his Head in the water up to the Breast and whilst he was yet alive they ript up his Belly pluckt out his Guts threw them into the River and sticking his heart on a Lance they carried it about saying This is the Heart of the President of the Hugonots A Poor VVoman whose Husband was a while before drown'd having a young Infant sucking at her Breasts and a beautiful Daughter of about sixteen years old in her hand these bloody Villains drove them to a River and taking the Daughter aside some of the Rascals endeavoured to seduce her to Popery and one of them who was finer then the rest promised to marry her so that the poor Maid began to doubt which her Mother who was just going to be thrown into the River perceiving she earnestly exhorted her Daughter to persist in the Truth whereupon the Daughter cryed out I will live and dye with my Mother whom I know to be a Virtuous Woman and as for your Threats and promises I regard them not do with me what you please Before the Mother was quite drowned the Daughter was likewise thrown in who making toward her Mother they mutually embraced each other and so yielded up their Souls into the hands of God In the same City of Yours there was a very Religious Woman who being brought before the Captain she there gave an Account of her Faith which she confirmed by Scripture insomuch that the Fryers who discoursed with her could not return any answer but only told her That she was in a damnable condition It seems so indeed said she being in your hands And being then committed to prison she declared her mind freely and comforted the other Protestant Prisoners she was afterward condemn'd to be hang'd and the Rope being put about her neck she kneeled down praising and magnifying the name of God in shewing her so much mercy as by that death to deliver her out of this wretched world and that she was so far honoured as to dye for the Truth and to wear Gods Livery as she reckoned the halter to be she then brake her fast with the rest of the Company and exhorted them to be of good courage and to trust in the free mercy of God to the end As she went to Execution one of her kindred brought her own little Children to see her and perswaded her to recant and save her life to provide for these Innocent Babes This was a very great Temptation and wrought so upon her Motherly Affection as drew plenty of Tears from her Eyes But a while after refusing her former Courage and Constancy she said I love my Children dearly yet neither for love to them nor for any thing else in this World will I renounce my God or his Truth God will be a Father to these my Children and will provide better for them then I could have done and therefore to his Providence and protection I commend and leave them After which she went cheerfully to the place of Execution and having there prayed to and praised God she quietly resigned up her Spirit to him A while after the City of Roan was besieged and two of the Forts taken wherein they put all the Protestants to the Sword and the Queen Mother being at the Siege she led the young King Charles the Ninth who was then but twelve years old to shew him the Naked Bodies of several poor Women who weltred in their Blood At last the City was taken wherein all sorts of monstrous Cruelties were used massacring all they met with and divers English and Scotch Souldiers were hanged and the Sick and wounded were cast into the River In Valogues divers Persons of good Quality were massacred and among the rest a Godly Minister whose body they stripped and with many scoffs and scorns dragged it about the House and at last bringing it into a Room where he used to preach they kickt and spurn'd his Corps saying Now pray to God and preach if thou
in the presence of his Father and Mother who wept over him and felt his Arms and Legs which were as dry as a Stick To whom the Child said Why do you weep to see me dye of hunger I ask you no Bread Mother for I know you have none but since it is Gods will that I should dye in this manner I must take it thankfully Had not the Holy man Lazarus Hunger have I not read it in my Bible and saying thus he yielded up his Spirit And that which preserved the rest from perishing was because there were six Cows kept alive to give Milk to some few Infants and some Horses of service referred for extremity were killed and their flesh sold and some little Corn was brought into the Town by stealth which was sold for half a Crown a pound There dyed by the War but Eighty four Persons but the Famine destroyed Five Hundred and the rest were brought so low that they hardly recovered Divers voluntarily went out of the Town chusing rather death then such misery whereof some were slain and others Imprisoned and Executed And now when all humane help failed the King having sworn He would make them eat one another and the Papists threatning to Massacre them all it Pleased God strangely to deliver these poor Protestants For Ambassdors coming from Poland to fetch the Duke of Anjou the Kings Brother thither whom they had chosen for their King They having notice of this terrible siege obtained by their Solicitations that all the Towns in France which were molested for Religion should have their Liberty by which means the poor Saucerreans half dead with hunger obtained their fredom and were quietly suffered to depart with their Arms and Goods and those that would stay not to be questioned for what was past About the same time the Town of Rochel was likewise besieged the Townsmen often sallying out and divers hot skirmishes past among the rest a young Gentleman boasted with horrible blasphemies that he was one of the horrible Murderers of the Admiral shewing his Sword which he said he brought from that exploit to slash the Rochellers but upon Tryal his heart failed him and he ran away and one of the Rochellers pursuing him slew him stript him and left his body in the Field and before next morning the had torn his Face In one Months space the Papists discharged above Thirteen Thousand Shot against the Town and made many assaults but always came off with loss The Siege continued two Months and the Famine much increaseh upon them but by Divine Providence when all other Provision failed them there came a multitude of small Fishes into the Haven which were never seen there before and was a very great relief to them who continued during the siege but presently after the publishing the Edict of Peace they went away and were never seen more A while after the Rochellers were likewise freed from the siege by means of the Poland Ambassadors and enjoyed their ormer Privileges It is very remarkable that most of those Persons which were employed in the Massacre of Paris and other Places were killed at this siege for there were slain before this Town Three Masters de Camp divers Lords and Gentlemen above Threescore Captains as many Lieutenants and Ensigns and above Twenty Thousand Common Souldiers The next year after the King himself who was at least the Countenancer of all these horrible Massacres being in the prime of his Youth not above Twenty five years old fell sick of a languishing disease his Physicians let him blood and purged him to no purpose for he consumed away so strangely as astonished many He long strugled against his Disease but at last betook himself to his Bed for about fourteen days before his death and was sore tormented with a great Effusion of blood which issued from all parts of his body and one time to the terror of those about him he rouled himself in his own blood A while before he died he desired his Mother to pursue his Enemies to the utmost repeating the same and with great eagerness and saying Madam I pray you heartily to do it and so expired May 30. 1574. And it was observed that the rest of the Chief Agents were strangely cut off The Duke of Anjou the Kings Brother afterwards King Henry the Third was stabbed by a Jacobine Monk in the same Chamber where he sate in Councel for contriving the late Tragedies The Duke of Guize was murdered in the Kings own Chamber Five and Forty Persons waiting with Swords and Daggers to do it The Queen Mother broke her heart and dyed the first of January after And in short it hath been observed by a good Author that since the year of our Lord 1560 of a Thousand Murderers that remained unpunished by men there was not ten who escaped the Divine hand of God but came to deserved and wretched Ends suitable to their bloody and wicked Lives At a Town called Sansay in France in the year 1593 one Margaret Pieron was by her maid accused to the Jesuits for not going to Mass and for keeping a Bible in her house who complaining thereof to the Judges they sent for her and said Margaret are you not willing to return home to your house and there enjoy your Husband and Children Yes said she if it may stand with the good will of God Then said they If thou wilt do but a small matter thou shalt be set at Liberty If said she if it be not contrary to Gods glory and my own Salvation you shall hear what I will say to it No such thing said they for all that we require is but this That a Scaffold being set up in the chief part of the Town you shall there crave pardon for offending the Law and a fire being made you shall burn your Bible in it without speaking a word I pray you my Masters said she tell me is my Bible a good Book or no Yes said they we confes it is only to please the Jesuits we would have thee throw it in the Fire Imagine it to be but Paper and then you may burn it and you may buy another at any time and thereby you may secure your Life They spent two Hours in perswading her that she might commit a less Evil to do a greater good But she couragiously answered them That by the help of God she would never do it Will not the People say said she This is a wretched Woman indeed that burns the Bible wherein all the Articles of Christian Religion are contained I will certainly burn my Body rather then I will burn my Bible Upon this she was committed to Prison and fed only with bread and water and her Friends forbad to come to her but continuing stedfast in the Truth she was thereupon condemned to be set upon a Scaffold to have the Bible burnt before her Face her self to be strangled and her body to be dragged through the Streets to a Dunghil
the English Some buried alive A Girl hang'd in her mothers hair Some hang'd on tenters Bibles burnt The Persecutions and Cruelties of the Papists upon the Protestants in Scotland and Ireland AS most Kingdoms in Europe felt the rage and fury of Romish Cruelty and Persecution so Scotland though in the frozen north was not insensible thereof For in the Year 1572. Mr. Patrick Hamilton of an Ancient and Honourable Family and called Abbot of Fern left Scotland and went into Germany where conversing with Luther and Melancton he greatly increased in godly knowledg and learning and returning home he publickly Preached concerning Faith and good works and against the Supertitions and Idolatry of the Papists This so enraged James Beaton Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews that in the absence of the King Mr. Hamilton was seized upon by the Bishops Officers and carryed to the Castle and the next day he was brought forth to Judgment and Condemned to be Burnt for the Testimony of God The Articles charged against him were about Pilgrimages Purgatory Praying to Saints and for the Dead After Dinner the Fire was prepared which some thought was only to terrifie him but it pleased God to strengthen him against the fear of Death and so he was tyed to the Stake giving his Garments to his Servant and saying thus to him These will not profit in the Fire they will Profit thee After this thou canst recieve no Benefit by me except the example of my Death which I pray thee to remember for though it be bitter to the Flesh and fearfull before men yet it is the entrance into eternall Life which none shall possess who deny Jesus Christ before this wicked Generation And the Eire being kindled he cryed with a loud voice Lord Jesus receive my Spirit how long shall Darkness overwhelm this Realm and how long wilt thou suffer the Tyranny of these men A Fryar troubling him by crying out Turn thou Heretick call upon our Lady say Salve Regina c he replyed Depart from me and trouble me not thou Messenger of Satan and speaking to one Campbel the chief among them he said Wicked man thou knowest the contrary and hast confessed the contrary to me I appeal thee before the Tribune Seat of Jesus Christ after which words he resigned up his Spirit to God and within a few days 〈…〉 Fryar dyed in a Frenzy and desperation The Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews likewise called before him two Gentlemen David Straton and M Norman Gomlay Mr. Straton being accused for Heresâ— was much troubled at it and thereupon frequenteâ— the company of Religious men and hearing thaâ— Text read He that denieth me b fore men or is ashameâ— of me in this Wicked Generation I will deny him before mâ— Father and his Holy Angels he stedfastly lift up his eyâ—â— and hands to Heaven and burst forth into these word O Lord I have been wicked and justly mayest thou witâ—draw thy Grace from me but Lord for thy Mercy sake 〈◊〉 me never deny thy Truth for fear of Death or Corporal pain Being afterwards together with Mr. Norman brougâ—â— to Judgment in Holy Rood-House where the King himself was present they were both condemned to thâ— fire and in the afternoon were first Hanged and the Burnt which they chearfully suffered There was likewise one Dean Thomas Foret whâ— who used to Preach to his parishoners every Lords daâ— out of the Epistles and Gospels as they came in ordeâ— for which being complained of to the Bishop of Dâ—keldon he reproved him for it telling him that 〈◊〉 was too much to preach every Sunday since the Peâ—ple might think they ought to do so likewise and sâ— the Bishop Is it not enough for you when you find a good Epistle and Gospel to set forth and preach the Liberty of Holy Church and let the rest alone Dean Thomas replyed that he had read them all over and knew no bad ones among them But said he when your Lordship shews me any such I will pass them by The Bishop answered I thank God I never knew what the Old and New Testament was but go your wayes and repent of these fancies ere it be too late The Dean answered My cause is good and just in the presence of God and therefore I care not what follows thereupon and so went away but he was shortly after sent for before Cardinal Beton by whom he was condemned and Burned for an Heretick The Year after Jerom Russel and Alexander Kennedy who was not above eighten years old were brought before the Arch-Bishop and his Associates who railed upon them and called them Hereticks Jerom Russel replyed This is your hour and power of darkness now sit ye as Judges and we are wrongfully accused but the day will come wherein our Innocency will appear and ye shall see your own blindness to your everlasting confusion go forward and fullfill the measure of your Iniquity A while after they were sentenced to dye and as they went to Execution Jerom comforted Kennedy saying Brother fear not greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World the pain we are to suffer is short and shall be light but our joy and consolation shall never have an end let us therefore strive to enter into our Master and Saviours Joy by the same straight way which he hath taken before us Death cannot hurt us for it is destroyed by him for whose sake we now suffer And in this manner past reason they joyfully gave up their Souls unto God in the Flaming Fire In the year 1543. Cardinal Beton coming to Edenburgh caused several Religious Persons to be brought before him and when he could prove nothing else against them he caused four men to be hanged upon suspition that they had eaten a Goose upon a Friday And a Woman with a Child sucking at her breast was drown'd for refusing to pray to the Virgin Mary Many others were likewise Banished and Imprisoned for the Gospel and among the rest John Rogers a learned and Godly Minister whom he caused to be murthered in Prison and then thrown over the Wall giving it out that by attempting to make his escape he broke his neck In the year 1546. Mr. George Wischard a Famous Minister was sent for to appear before Cardinal Beton and the other Bishops at St. Andrews where a Priest was ordered to curse him who called him Runnagate Traitor Thief c. However Mr. Wischard gave them an account of his Faith and Doctrine but they not being able to answer him immediately condemned him to be Burnt and presently a fire was prepared over against the Castle and Velvet Cushions were laid in the Castle windows for the Cardinal and the rest of the Prelates to see him suffer and for fear he should be rescued by his Friends all the Castle Guns were mounted against the place of his Execution by the Cardinals order then with a Rope about his Neck and a Chain about his middle he was fastned to
many were Famished to Death Yea the Popish Monks and Fryers exhorted them with Tears not to spare the English but utterly to destroy them nay they boasted that when they had made an end of them in Ireland they would goe over into England and would not leave the memorial of an Englishman under Heaven and their Priests told them it was as lawfull to kill an English man as to kill a Sheep or a Dog and that it was no more Pity or Conscience to take their Estates from them than to take a Bone out of a Dogs mouth The day before this Horrid Massacre began the Priests gave the people a dismission at Mass with full liberty to go out and take possession of all their Lands which they pretended were unjustly detained from them by the English although they were justly forfeited by their repeated Rebellions and Treasons against the Government They further told them that they might lawfully strip rob and despoil them of all their Goods and Chattels The Protestants being as they said worse than Dogs for they were Devils and worshipped the Devil and therefore that the Killing of such was Meritorious and an Excellent Preservative against the Pains of Purgatory since the Bodies of such Catholicks as should dye in this Quarrel would not be cold before their Souls should ascend up into Heaven so that they need not fear the Pains of Purgatory which occasioned some of these Murdering Villains to Boast after they had Massacred many of the English that if they should dye presently they should go straight to Heaven When this Horrid Rebellion first began several Irish Gentlemen pretended great kindness to some of their Protestant Neighbours and perswaded them to put their Goods and Cattel into their hands ingaging that they would secure them from the rage of the Rabble which made the Protestants so confident because of former familiarity that they gave them Inventories of all they had nay they digged up some of their best things which they had hidden in the Ground and put it into their hands whereby they got vast Quantities of Goods into their hands And yet like True Papists they cheated them of it all nay which was more Barbarous they promised the English that if they would be contented to lose their Goods they and their Wives and Children should peaceably depart the Country and yet when they had got all they had they inhumanely murthered them In one place there were no less than Twenty two Widows who were first Robbed and then stript stark naked and when in an House they had covered themselves with Straw the Bloody Papists threw in burning Straw among them on purpose to burn them together And in a while after they broke forth into such abominable Cruelties Bloody Massacres and Murders as would make the heart of any Christian to ake and his Ears to tingle at the Relation of them In the Castle of Lisgol above an Hundred and Twenty Men Women and Children were burnt together Another Castle was delivered to one of the Popish Commanders upon Condition their lives should be saved but as soon as he entred he cruelly murdered and destroyed them all without Mercy At Portendown Bridge a thousand Men Women and Children were drowned in the River and it was testified upon Oath that nine days after there was the Apparition of a man bolt upright in the water Breast-high with his hands lifted up to Heaven and that he was seen several times in that Posture from December to the end of Lent at which time some of the English Army passing that way saw it likewise after which it Vanished away One Elizabeth Price made Oath that she with other Women whose Husbands and Children were drowned in that place hearing of those Apparitions went thither one Evening at which time they saw a Woman rise out of the River Breast-high her hair hanging down which was as white as Snow and so was her skin and that she often cryed out Revenge Revenge Revenge which so affrighted them that they went away In Queens County an English-man his wife five Children and a Maid were all hanged together and then cut down and put into a hole the youngest Child though it was hanged was not quite dead when it was put in but put up its hand and cryed Mammy Mammy and yet these Villains without Mercy buried it alive They stripped a Scotch-man and knocked him down for dead but he afterwards recovering went into the Town naked whereupon they hewed him all to pieces They also ript up his Wives Belly so that the Child dropped out They likewise hanged up divers other Women with Child and ripping them up they gave their Infants to be devoured by Dogs and Swine In one place they set a Castle on fire wherein were many Protestants and then rejoycingly said among themselves Oh how sweetly do they fry In one place they burnt two English Bibles and said it was Hell fire they burnt they cut other Bibles to pieces and burnt them threatning to do the like to all English Bibles and in one place they took a Bible and laid it in a puddle of water and then stamping on it said A Plague on it this Bible hath bred all the Quarrel A Papist would have perswaded a man and his wife to have joyned with them in the Massacre but they protested That rather than they would forsake their Religion they would dye upon the Swords point then they would have had the Woman burn her Bible but she told him Rather than she would burn her Bible she would dye the Death whereupon they were both cruelly murdered These Barbarous Villains caused some Children to carry their Aged Parents to the River and drown them some Wives were forced to help to hang their Husbands in one Town they caused a young man to Murder his own Father and then hanged him up in another place they forced a Woman to kill her Husband and then caused her Son to kill his Mother and then immediately hanged her Son and their cursed malice was thereby shewn that they might as much as in them lay destroy Soul and Body together Yea so detestable was their Cruelty that they taught Irish Children to kill English Children and two Boys boasted that they had at several times murthered and drowned thirty six English Women and Children The Irish Women followed this Army of Murderers and provoked the men to Cruelty crying out Kill them all spare neither Man Woman nor Child and many of them stoned the English Women and their Children to Death and cryed Slay them all the English are fit meat for Dogs and their Children are Bastards Yea so Implacable was their malice that one of them was very angry with her Husband because he did not bring the Grease of a Fat Gentlewoman whom they had slain for them to make Candles of which was commonly practised by them in other places Yea they Boasted that the day was their own and that ere long they would not
the Pope could give her therein yet she was utterly crost also in that Design Then she lost Calice in France which had been in the possession of the English during the Reign of eleven Kings that is from the Reign of King Edward the third with which loss she was so afflicted that she told some of her Courtiers If they opened her body when she was dead they would find Calice written in her heart She was reported to be with Child but it came to nothing Her beloved Husband left her in whom she placed her greatest felicity and content So that now she could neither enjoy him nor marry another About the same time the Land was grieviously afflicted with horrible Tempests Famines Plagues mortal Diseases and burning Agues so that between October and December there dyed seven Aldermen in London that had been Lord Maiors and the mortality was so great that much Corn was lost in the Fields for want of men to gather it whereby great scarcity ensued and many poor people lived upon Acorns And lastly she was struck with a lingring and pining sickness whereof she dyed having only reigned Five years and Five months a shorter time than any of the Kings of England enjoyed since the Conquest Richard the Third only excepted 2. In the next place let us consider Gods Judgments upon some other Instruments of Cruelty and among the rest Stephen Gardiner who was a most Cruel Persecutor of the Protestants In King Henry the Eighths time he was a great stickler for the divorce from the Lady Katherine of Spain and was therefore made Bishop of Winchester In King Edward the sixths time he seemed a Friend to the Gospel and preached it up but in Queen Marys days he was the greatest and most inveterate enemy against it and the professors thereof and continued so to his dying day For the same day that Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer were burnt at Oxford the old Duke of Norfolk came to dine with Gardiner The Bishop deferred his dinner till about four a Clock in the Afternoon at which time came one of his Servants posting to tell him that fire was put to these Servants of God which when he was certified of he came out rejoyceing to the Duke and said Now let us go to dinner The Table was presently set and the Bishop began to eat merrily but as soon as he had eaten a few bits he was on a sudden struck very sick and being carryed from the Table to bed he there continued in such intolerable Anguish and Torment that he could void nothing either by stool or urine His Tongue was black and swoln so big that his mouth could not contain it and his body violently Inflamed In this sad condition he lay fifteen days and then ended his miserable life In the beginning of his sickness Dr. Day Bishop of Chichester coming to see him began to speak to him about the merciful Promises of God and free Justification by the blood of Christ To whom he answered What my Lord will you open that gap now then farewell all together Open this window to the People and farewell all together And being by another Person put in mind of St. Peters denying his Master and that he ought not to despair He answered I have denied Christ with Peter but I never repented with Peter 3. Bloody Bonner though he dyed in his bed yet lay under the Spiritual Judgment of Impenitency and as he had been a Persecutor of the Light and a Child of Darkness so in darkness and at midnight his Carkass was tumbled into the Earth And as himself had been a Murderer so was he layd among Thieves and Murderers a place by Gods Judgment fitly appointed for him 4. Dr. Whittington Chancellor having condemned a Godly Religous woman to be Burnt at Chipping Sadbury a multitude of People came to see her Suffer and among the rest Whittington himself At the same time there was a Butcher in another place of the Town killing a Bull who was fast bound with a Rope ready to be knockt on the head the Butcher missing his stroke the Bull broke loose just as the people were coming from the Execution of this Holy Martyr the people seeing him coming severed themselves and made a Lane for him the Bull passed through them without hurting man woman or child till he came to the place where Whittington was against whom he ran very furiously and thrusting his Horns into his belly ran him quite through and tearing out his Guts with his horns he trayl'd them about the streets to the great astonishment of those that saw his wretched end 5. One Burton Bayliff of Crowland in Lincolnshire seemed in King Edward the Sixths days to be a zealous Protestant but as soon as Queen Mary came to the Crown he turned Papist and being forward to set up the Mass he went to Church and the Curate being then reading the English Service he went to him and said Sirrah will you not say Mass buckle your self to it you knave or by Gods Blood I 'le sheath my dagger in your shoulder The poor Curate being affrighted betook himself to the Mass Shortly after this Burton and a neighbour riding together a Crow flew over his head and voided her Excrements upon his Nose which ran down his beard and yielded such an horrible stink that it caused him to vomit in a most violent manner whereupon he got home to bed but could eat nothing the stink and vomiting still continuing which made him with dreadful Oaths and Execrations curse the Crow that had poisoned him and so he continued in extream pain till he dyed A Prayer of King Edward the Sixth a while before his Death LOrd God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life and take me among thy chosen howbeit not my Will but thy Will be done Lord I commit my Spirit to thee O Lord thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy chosens sake send me that in Life or Death I may serve thee O my Lord God Bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy chosen People of England O my Lord God defend this Land from Papistry and maintain the True Religion that I and my People may Praise thy Holy name for thy Son Jesus Christ his sake A Speech of Queen Elizabeth to her Army at Tilbury Camp in the time of the Spanish Invasion in the year 1588 MY Loving People we have been perswaded by some that are carefull of our safety to take heed how we commit our selves to armed Multitudes for fear of Treachery but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithfull and loving People Let Tyrants fear I have alwayes so behaved my self that under God I have alwayes placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the Loyal Hearts and good will of my Subjects and therefore I am come amongst you as you see at this time not for my Recreation