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A81080 Unparalleld varieties: or, The matchless actions and passions of mankind. Displayed in near four hundred notable instances and examples. Discovering the transcendent effects; I. Of love, friendship, and gratitude. II. Of magnanimity, courage, and fidelity. III. Of chastity, temperance, and humility. And on the contrary the tremendous consequences, IV. Of hatred, revenge, and ingratitude. V. Of cowardice, barbarity, treachery. VI. Of unchastity, intemperance, and ambition. : Imbellished with proper figures. / By R.B. ... R. B., 1632?-1725? 1683 (1683) Wing C7352; ESTC R171627 176,132 257

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The Lady riding naked through Coventry Together wit the natural and artified rarities in every County in England with several curious Sculptures Price One Shlling IV. VVOnderful Prodigies of Judgment and Mercy discovered in above 300 memorable Histories containing 1. Dreadful Judgments upon Atheists Blasphemers perjured Villains c. As of several forsworn Wretches carried away by the Devit and how an horrid Blasphemer was turned into a black Dog c. 2. The miserable ends of many Magicians Witches Conjurers c. with divers strange apparitions and illusions of the Devil 3. Remarkable predictions and presages of approaching Death and how the event has been answerable with an account of some Appeals to Heaven against unjust Judges and what vengeance hath fallen upon them 4. The wicked Lives and woful Deaths of several Popes Apostates and Persecutors with the manner how K. Hen. 2. was whipt by the Popes order by the Monks of Canterbury and how the Queen of Bohemia a desperate Persecutor of the Christians was swallowed up in the Earth alive with all her followers c. 5. Fearful Judgments upon bloody Tyrants Marderers c. also how Pop●el King of Poland a cruel Tyrant his Queen and Children were devoured by Rats and how a Town near Tripoly in Barbary with the Men Women Children Beasts Trees Walls Rooms Cats Dogs Mice and all that belonged to the place were turned into perfect Stone to be seen at this day for the horrid crimes of the Inhabitants c. 6. Admirable Deliverances from imminent Dangers and Deplorable Distresses at Sea and Land Lastly Divine Goodness to Penitents with the dying Thoughts of several famous Men concerning a future state after this Life Imbelli●hed with divers Pictures Price One Shilling V. HIstorical Remarks and Observations of the Ancient and present state of London and Westminster shewing the Foundations Wills Gates Towers Bridges Churches Rivers Wards H●…s Companies Government Courts Hospitals Schools Inns of Court Charters Franchises and Priviledges thereof with an account of the most remarkable Accidents as to Wars Fires Plagues and other occurrences for above Nine hundred years past in and about these Cities and among other particulars the Rebellion of Wat. Tyler who was slain by the Lord Mayor in Smithfield and the Speech of Jack Straw at his Execution The Murder of King Hen. 6. and likewise of Edward 5. and his Brother by Richard 3. called Crook-back The Insurrection in London in King Henry 8. time and how 411 Men and Women went through the City in their shifts and ropes about their Necks to Westminster-Hall where they were pardoned by the King with several other Remarks to this Year 1681. and a discription of the manner of the Trial of the late Lord. Stafford in Westminster-Hall Illustrated with Pictures with the Arms of the 65 Companies of London and the time of their Incorporating Price One Shilling VI. The Fourth Edition of the Wars in England Scotland and Ireland being near a third part enlarged with very considerable Additions containing an impartial Account of all the Battles Seiges and other remarkable Transactions Revolutions and Accidents which have happened from the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First 1625. to His Majesties happy Restauration 1660. And among other particulars the Debates and Proceedings of the Fourforst Parliaments of King Charles The Murder of the Duke of Buckingham by Felton The Tumults at Edenburgh in Scotland upon the reading the Common-Prayer The Insurrection of the Apprentices and Seamen and their assaulting of A. B Laud's House at Lambeth Remarks on the Trial of the E. of Strafford and his last Speech The horrid and bloody Rebellion of the Papists in Ireland and their murdering above 200000 Profestants in 1641. The Death of Arch-Bishop Land Duke Hamilton Lord Capel Mr. Love Dr. Hewet and others The illegal Trial of King Charles 1. at large with his last Speech at his Suffering And the most considerable matters which happened till 1660. with Pictures of several remarkable Accidents Price One Shilling VII THe Young mans Calling or the whole Duty of Youth in a serious and compassionate Address to all young Persons to remember their Creator in the days of their Youth Together with Rmarks upon the Lives of several excellent young Persons of both Sexes as well ancient as modern who have been famous for Virtue and Piety in their Generations namely on the Lives of Isaac and Joseph in their Youth On the Martyrdom of seven Sons and their Mother and of Romanus a young Nobleman with the invincible courage of a Child of seven years old who was martyred On the Martyrdom of divers holy Virgins and Martyrs On the Life of that blessed Prince King Edw. 6. with his earnest Zeal for the Protestant Religion and his ingenious Letters to his Godfather A. B. Cranmer when but 8 years old with his last words and Prayer against Popery On the Life and Death of Queen Jane as her learned Dispute with Fecknam a Priest about the Sacrament her Letters to her Father the Duke of Suffolk to her Sister and to Harding an Apostate Protestant On the Life of Queen Elizabeth in her Youth with her many Sufferings and Dangers from bloody Bonner and Gardiner and her joiful Reception to the Crown On the Religious Life and Death of the most Noble and Heroick Prince Henry eldest Son to King James And also of the Young Lord Harrington c. With Twelve curious Pictures Illustrating the several Histories Price Eighteen Pence All sold by Nath Crouch at his shop at the sign of the Bell in the Poultry near Cheapside 1683. FINIS
up in his Gown and Shoes as he was and laying his Body by that of his Wives burnt them both together the Sepulcher of these Two is yet to be seen at Tarentum and is called The Tomb of the Two Lovers Valer Max. lib. 4. XVI And though the Female be the weaker Sex yet such has been the fidelity and incredible strength of affection in some that they have oft-times performed as great things as the most generous Men they have despised death in the most dreadful shapes and all sorts of difficulties by an invincible Love to their Hushands in the greatest extremity Of which Histories are not silent for we r●ad that Eumenes burying the dead that had fallen in the Battel of Gabine against Antigonus amongst others there was found the Body of Ceteas the Captain of those Troops that had come out of India this man had two Wives who accompanied him in the Wars one which he had newly married and an other whom he had married some years before but both of them bore an intire love to him for whereas the Laws of India require that one Wife shall be burnt with her dead Husband both these offered themselves to death and strove with that ambition as if it had been some glorious prize they sought after before such Captains as were appointed their Judges the younger Wife pleaded That the other was with Child and that therefore she could not have the benefit of that Law The elder alledged That whereas she was before the other in years it was also fit that she should be before her in Honour since it was customary in other things that the Elder should have place The Judges when they understood by Midwives that the Elder was with Child passed Judgment that the younger should be burnt which done she that had lost the cause departed rending her Diadem and tearing her Hair as if some grievous calamity had befallen her the other full of Joy at her Victory went to the Funeral Fire magnificently drest up by her Friends and led along by her Kindred as if to her Wedding they all the way singing Hymns in her Praises When she drew near the fire taking off her Ornaments she delivered them to her Friends and Servants as tokens of Remembrance they were a multitude of Rings with variety of precious Stones Chains and Stars of Gold c. This done she was by her Brother placed upon the combustible matter by the side of her Husband and after the Army had thrice compassed the Funeral Pile fire was put to it and she without a word of complaint finished her life in thell ames Diod Siculus lib. 9. XVII Arria the Wife of Cecinna Paetus understanding that her Husband was condemned to die and that he was permitted to chuse what manner of death liked him best she went to him and having exhorted him to depart this life couragiously and bidding him farewel gave her self a stab into the Breast with a Knife she had hid for that purpose under her Cloaths then drawing the Knife out of the wound and reaching it to Paetus she said The wound I have made Paetus smarts not but that only which thou art about to give thy self Camer Spare hours Whereupon Martial hath an Epigram to this purpose When Arria to her Husband gave the Knife Which made the wound whereby she lost her life This wound dear Paetus grieves me not quoth she But that which thou must give thyself grieves me XVIII The Prince of the Province of Fingo in the Kingdom of Japan in the East-Indies hearing that a Gentleman of the Country had a very beautiful Woman to his Wife got him dispatched and having sent for the Widow some days after her Husbands death acquainted her with his desires she told him she had much reason to think her self happy in being honoured with the Friendship of so great a Prince yet she was resolved to bite off her Tongue and murder her self if he offered her any violence but if he would grant her the favour to spend one month in bewailing her Husband and then give her liberty to make an entertainment for the Relations of the Deceased to take her leave of them he should find how much she was his Servant and how far she would comply with his affections it was easily granted a very great Dinner was provided whither came all the Kindred of the deceased the Gentlewoman perceiving the Prince began to be warm in his Wine in hopes of enjoying her promise she desired liberty to withdraw into an adjoyning Gallery to take the Air but as soon as she was come into it she cast her self headlong down in the presence of the Prince and all her dead Husbands relations and so put an end to her life Mandelsloes Travels XIX In the Reign of the Emperor Vespasian there was a Rebellion in France the chief Leader of which was Julius Sabinus they being reduced the Captain was sought after to be punished but he had hid himself in a Vault or Cave which was the Monument of his Grand-father he caused a report to be spread of his death as if he had voluntarily poysoned himself and the better to persuade men of the truth of it he caused his House to be set on fire as if his body had therein been burnt he had a Wife whose name was Eponina she knew nothing of his safety but bewailed his death would not be comforted there were only two of his freed men who were privy to it they pitying their Lady who was determined to die and in order thereunto had abstained from all manner of meat for three days together thereupon they declared her purpose to her Husband and besought him to save her that loved him so well it was granted and she was told that her Sabinus lived she came to him where they lived with secrecy and undiscovered for the space of nine years together she conceived and brought forth Children in that solitary Mansion at last the place of their abode came to be known they were taken and brought to Rome where Vespasian commanded they should be stain Eponina producing and shewing her Children Behold O Caesar said she these I have brought forth and brought up in a Monument that thou mightest have more suppliants for our Lives O cruel Vespasian that could not be moved with such words as these well they were both led to death and Eponina joyfully died with her Husband who had been before buried with him for so many years together Lipsius Monitor lib. 2. XX. Portia the Daughter of Cato and Wise of Marcus Brutus when she conjectured by the fleepless and disturbed nights of her Husband that he had conceived some great thing in his mind and concealed it from her in suspition of her weakness she to give her Husband an instance of her Constancy and Secrecy made her self a deep wound in her Thigh with a Razor upon which there followed a stream of blood weakness and a Feaver When Brutus
before his Father who had also a Father in Heaven by whom he hoped to be forgiven and if he would please to grant him his life he would assure him to be ever after a Loyal and Obedient Son who lived and would continually live in a constant forrow for what was past and if he intended to deal otherwise with him he yet desired him to remember That he was his own flesh and blood and that though the offence were only his yet the just Father must needs bear a part of the punishment inflicted upon the guilty Son but that in shewing mercy no inconvenience could ensue and that if he should be inexorable he should lose the most Obedient Son that ever Father had having ended these and many other words to the same effect he with great humility prostrated himself upon the Earth expecting his Fathers Sentence either of Life or Death this struck so great an impression into the Emperors heart to hear and see his Son shew such humility and to shed so many tears that he could not forbear to do the like and commanding him to arise from the ground with joy mixed with tears both from himself and his Attendants he immediately pardoned him and restored him to his Grace and Fatherly love and to the same Offices and Dignities he had before and from thence forward the Son continued constant in that Loyalty and Duty which he owed to his Father and Soveraign Lord so long as they lived together Imperial Hist p. 423. XXXVII A Son of the Lord Montpensier an Italian going to Puzzuolo to visit the Sepulcher of his Father was so overcharged with Passion that after he had washed all the parts of his Monument with his lamentable Tears he fainted and fell down dead upon the Sepulcher of his Father Guichardine Ital. Hist p. 261. XXXVIII Decimus Emperor of Rome had a purpose and earnest desire to set the Crown upon the head of his Son Decius out he utterly refused it saying I fear lest being made an Emperor I should forget that I am a Son I had rather be no Emperor and a dutiful Son than an Emperor and such a Son as hath forsaken his due obedience let then my Father bear the Rule and let this be my Empire to obey with all humility whatsoever he shall command me By this means the Solemnity was put off and the young Man was not Crowned unless you will say that his signal Piety towards his Parent was a more glorious Crown to him than that which consisted of Gold and Jewels Valer. Maxim lib. 4. XXXIX In the Civil Wars of Rome between Augustus and Mark Anthony as it often falls out that Fathers Sons Brothers Brothers take contrary part so in that last Battel at Actium where Augustus was Conqueror when the Prisoners as the Custom is were counted up Metellus was brought to Octavianus whose face tho much changed by anxiety and imprisonment was known by Metellus his Son who had been on the contrary part withtears therefore he runs into the imbraces of his Father and then turning to Augustus This thy Enemy said he hath deserved death but I am worthy of some reward for the service I have done thee I therefore beseech thee instead of that which is owing me that thou wouldst preserve this man and cause me to be killed in his stead Augustus moved with this piety though a great Enemy gave to the Son the life of the Father Lonic Theat 273. XL. Demetrius the King of Asia and Macedonia was taken Prisoner in Battel by Seleucus King of Syria after which Antigonus his Son was the quiet possessour of his Kingdom yet did he change the Royal Purple into a mourning habit and in continual tears sent abroad his Ambassadours to the Neighbouring Kings that they would interpose in his Fathers behalf for the obtaining of his Liberty he also sent to Seleucus and promised him the Kingdom and himself as an hostage and security if he would free his Father from Prison after he knew that his Father was dead he set forth a great Navy and went out to receive the body of the deceased which by Seleucus was sent toward Macedonia he received it with such mournful Solemnity and so many tears as turned all men into wonder and compassion Antigonus stood in the Poop of a great Ship built for that purpose cloathed in black bewailing his dead Father the Ashes were inclosed in a golden Urn over which he stood a continual and disconsolate Spectator he caused to be sung the Virtues and Noble Atchievements of the deceased Prince with voices form'd to Piety and Lamentation the Rowers also in the Gallies so ordered the stroaks of their Oars that they kept time with the mournful voices of the others in this manner the Navy came near to Corinth so that the Rocks and Shores themselves seemed to be moved to mourning Plutarchs Lives Thus far of Paternal and Filial Love let us proceed to that between Brethren XLI It is usually counted rare to see Brothers live together in mutual love and agreement with each other and it is likewise commonly observed that their Animosities have been managed with greater rancour bitterness than if they had been the greatest Strangers on the other side where this Fraternal Love has rightly seated it self in the Soul it has appeared as real and vigorous as any other sort of Love whatsoever of which there want not very remarkable Instances In the year 1585. the Portugal Ship called St. Jago was cast away upon the Shallows near St. Lawrence and towards the Coast of Mosambique here it was that divers Persons had leapt into the great Boat to save their lives and finding that it was overburdened they chose a Captain whom they swore to obey who caused them to cast Lots and such as the Lot fell upon to be cast overboard there was one of those that in Portugal are called New Christians who being allotted to be cast overboard into the Sea had a younger Brother in the same Boat that suddenly rose up and desired the Captain that he would pardon and make free his Brother and let him supply his place saying My Brother is elder and of better knowledge in the World than I and therefore more fit to live in the World and to help my Sisters and Friends in their need so that Thad rather die for him than live without him at which request they saved the elder Brother and threw the younger at his own desire into the Sea who swum at least six hours after the Boat and though they held up their hands with naked Swords willing him that he should not once come to touch the Boat yet laying hold thereon and having his hand half cut in two he would not let go so that in the end they were constrained to take him in again both these Brethren I knew saith my Author and have been in company with them Linschotens Voyages p. 147. XLII When the Emperor
with many and cruel blows and threatned to be beheaded to which he answered You worship such Gods as will perish like dung upon the Earth but as for me come life come death I will worship none but the God of Heaven and Earth Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. XXVI St. Origen when he was but seventeen years old his Father being carried to Prison had such a fervent mind to suffer Martyrdom with him that he would have thrust himself into the Persecutors hands had it not been for his Mother who in the night time privately stole away his Cloths and his very shirt also whereupon more for shame to be seen naked than for fear of death he was forced to stay at home yet he writ thus to his Father Pray Sir be sure you do not change your Resolution for my sake Clarks Mar. XXVII Valence the Emperor being an Arrian sent Messengers to St. Basil to persuade him to imbrace that Heresy they gave him good words and promised him great Preferment if he would do it but he answered Alas Sir these Speeches are fitter to catch little Children that look after such things than such as me who being taught and instructed by the Holy Scriptures had rather suffer a thousand deaths than that one syllable or tittle of Gods Word should be altered the Governor being in a rage threatned him with confiscation of his Goods Torments Banishment and Death Basil replied He need not fear Confiscation that had nothing to lose nor Banishment to whom Heaven only is a Country nor Torments when his Body may be dashed in pieces by one blow nor Death which is the only way to set him at liberty and I wish it would fall out so well on my side that I might lay down this Carcase of mine in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ and in the defence of his Truth The Praefect told him that he was mad I wish said he that I may be for ever thus mad Clarks Examples XXVIII The same Emperor Valence coming to the City of Edessa perceived that the Christians did keep their Assemblies in the Fields for their Churches were pulled down and demolished whereat he was so inraged that he gave the President Methodius a box on the Ear for suffering such their Meetings commanding him to take a Band of Soldiers and to scourge with Rods and knock down with Clubs as many as he should find of them this his order being proclaimed there was a Christian Woman who with a Child in her Arms ran with all speed toward the place and was got amongst the ranks of those Soldiers that were sent out against the Christians and being by them asked whither she went and what she would have she told them That she made such hast lest she and her little Infant should come too late to be partakers of the Crown of Christ amongst the rest of those that were to suffer When the Emp. heard this he was confounded desisted from his enterprize and turned all his fury against the Priests and Clergy Wanly Hist Man p. 214. XXIX St. Chrysostom stoutly rebuked the Empress Eudoxia for her Covetousness telling her That she would be called a second Jezabel and when she sent him a threatning Message Go tell her said he I fear nothing but Sin and when she confederating with his other Enemies had procured his banishment as he went out of the City he said None of these things trouble me for I said before within my self if the Queen will let her banish me the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof if she will let her saw me asunder the Prophet Isaiah was so used if she will let her cast me into the Sea I will remember Jonah If she will let her cast me into a burning fiery Furnace or to the wild Beasts the three Children and Daniel were so dealt with If she will let her stone me or cut off my head I have St. Stephen and John the Baptist for my blessed Companions If she will let her take away all my goods and substance naked came I out of my Mothers Womb and naked shall I return thither again He was so beloved that on a time when he was like to be silenced the people cried out we had better want the shining of the Sun then the Preaching of Chrysostom Clarks Lives p. 78. XXX In the persecution of the Church under the Arrian Vandals who committed all manner of Cruelties upon the true Christians there were a great number condemned to be burnt in a Ship to which they were accompanied by a multitude of their Brethren being led like innocent Lambs to the Sacrifice and looking upon their weighty Chains and Irons wherewith they were loaded as rare Jewels and Ornaments they went with all cheerfulness and alacrity to the place of Execution even as though they had gone to a Banquet singing praises with one voice unto the Almighty as they went along the Streets saying This is our desired day more joyful to us then any Festival behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation when for the faith of our Lord God we suffer death that we may not lose the Garment of Faith and Glory The People likewise with one voice cried out Fear not O Servants of God neither dread the Threats of your Enemies die for Christ who died for us that he might redeem us with the price of his saving blood Amongst them was a little Boy to whom a subtle Seducer said why hastest thou my pretty Boy unto death let them go they are mad take my Counsel and thou shalt not only have life but great advancement in the Kings Court to whom the Lad answered You shall not get me from the fellowship of these Holy Men who bred me up and with whom I have lived in the fear of God and with whom I desire to die and with whom I trust I shall obtain the Glory to come and so being all put into the Ship they were burnt together Clarks Martyr XXXI Among others who were terribly tormented they tortured Women and especially Gentlewomen stark naked openly without all shame and particularly a young Lady called Dyonisia whom they saw bolder and more beautiful than the rest they first commanded her to be stripped stark naked and made ready for the Cudgels who spake stoutly to them saying I am assured of the love of God vex me how you will only my Womanhood disclose you not But they with the greater rage set her naked upon an high place for a publick spectacle then did they whip her till the streams of blood did flow all over her body whereupon she boldly said Ye Ministers of Satan that which you do for my reproach is to me an honour And beholding her only Son that was young and tender and seemed fearful of Torments checking him with a Motherly Authority she so incouraged him that he became more constant than before to whom in the midst of his terrible Torments she said Remember O my
Child that we are Baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity let us not lose the Garment of our Salvation lest it be said cast them into utter darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for that pain is to be dreaded that never endeth and that life to be desired that always lasteth The Youth was so incouraged hereby that he persevered patient in all his sufferings till in the midst of his Torments he gave up the Ghost and many by this Ladies Exhortations and Example were converted to Christianity and animated in their sufferings Not long after Cyrillus the Arrian Bishop of Carthage stirred up Hunrick the Tyrant against the Christians telling him That he could never expect to enjoy his Kingdom in peace so long as he suffered any of them to live hereupon he sent for seven eminent Christians to Carthage whom he first assaulted with flattery and large promises of Honour Riches c. if they would imbrace his Faith but these Servants of Christ rejected all his offers crying out One Lord one Faith one Baptism saying also do with our Bodies what you please torment them at your will it is better for us to suffer these momentary pains than to indure everlasting Torments Before this Hunrick sent his Commissioners to impose the following Oath upon them under the utmost penalty You shall swear that after the death of our Lord the King his Son Hilderick shall succeed him in the Kingdom whereupon some cryed out we are all Christians and hold the Apostolical and only True Faith and seeing further into the subtlety of this Oath refused it other well meaning men offered to take it whereupon they were divided asunder and committed to custody the names of both Parties and of what Cities they were being taken in writing and soon after the King sent them this Message As for you that would have taken the Oath because you contrary to the rule of the Gospel which saith swear not at all would have sworr the Kings Will is that you shall never see your Churches nor Houses more but be banished into the Wilderness and there shall till the ground But to the refusers of the Oath he said Because you desire not the Reign of our Lord the Kings Son you shall therefore be immediately sent away to the Isle of Corse there to hew Timber for the Ships Clarks Martyr XXXII In the eighth Primitive Persecution under Valerianus Sixtus Bishop of Rome with his six Deacons were accused for being Christians whereupon being brought to the place of Execution they were all beheaded St. Lawrence also another Deacon following Sixtus as he went to Execution complained that he might not suffer with him but that he was secluded as the Son from the Father to whom the Bishop answered That within three days he should follow him bidding him in the mean time to go home and if he had any Treasures to distribute them among the Poor the Judge hearing mention of Treasures supposing that Lawrence had great store in his Custody commanded him to bring the same to him Lawrence craved three days respite promising then to declare where the Treasure might be had in the mean time he caused a great number of poor Christians to be gathered together and when the day of his answer was come the Persecutor strictly charged him to make good his promise but valiant Lawrence stretching out his Arms over the poor said These are the precious Treasures of the Church these are the Treasures indeed in which Christ hath his Mansion But O what Tongue is able to express the fury and madness of the Tyrants Heart how he stamped stared raved like one out of his wits his Eyes glowed like Fire his Mouth foamed like a Boar he grindeth his Teeth like an Hell-hound and then he bellows out Kindle the fire make no spare of Wood hath this Villain deluded the Emperor Away with him whip him with Scourges jerk him with Rods buffet him with Fists brain him with Clubs what doth the Traytor jest with the Emperor Pinch him with fiery Tongs gird him with burning Plates bring out the strongest Chains and Pireforks and the grate of Iron set it on the fire bind the Rebel hand and foot and when the grate is red hot on with him rost him broyl him toss him turn him upon pain of our high displeasure do every man his Office O ye Tormentors Immediately his command was obeyed and after many cruel Tortures this meek Lamb was laid I will not say upon a Bed of fiery Iron but on a soft down Bed so mightily did God work for his Servant and so miraculously did he temper this Element of Fire that it was not a Bed of consuming pain but of nourishing rest unto Lawrence so that the Emperor and not Lawrence seemed to be tormented the one broyling in the flesh the other burning in his heart when this Triumphant Martyr had been pressed down with Fire-forks for a great while in the mighty Spirit of God he spake thus to the Tyrant This side is now roasted enough Turn up O Tyrant Great And try whether roasted or raw Thou thinkst it's better meat By the couragious Confession of this worthy and valiant Deacon a Roman Soldier was converted to the same Faith and desired to be Baptized whereupon he was called before the Judge Scourged and afterward be headed Acts and Mon. XXXIII In the Arrian Persecution in Africa there was one Saturus a Nobleman eminent for Piety whom the Tyrant much laboured to withdraw from the Christian Profession but he refusing the King told him that if he presently consented not he should forfeit his House his Lands his Goods and his Honours that his Children and Servants should be sold and his Wife should be given to his Camel-driver or one of the basest of his Slaves but when threats prevailed not he was cast into Prison and when his Lady heard her doom she went to her Husband as he was praying with her Garments rent and her hair dishevel'd her Children at her heels and a sucking Infant in her Arms and falling down at her Husbands feet she took him about the Knees saying Have compassion O my sweetest of me thy poor Wife and of these thy Children look upon them let them not be made Slaves let not me be yoaked in so base a Marriage consider that what thou art required to do thou dost it not willingly but art constrain'd thereunto and therefore it will not be laid to thy charge But this valiant Soldier of Christ answered her in the words of Job Thou speakest like a foolish Woman thou actest the Devils part If thou truly lovedst thy Husband thou wouldst never seek to draw him to sin that may separate him from Christ and expose him to the second death know assuredly that I am resolved as my Saviour Christ commands me to forsake Wife Children House Lands c. that so I may enjoy him and be his Disciple And accordingly he was
which the Kings Book was stuffed neither is it any wonder if I contemn and bite an earthly King when as he feared not at all in his writings to blaspheme the King of Heaven and to prophane his Truth with virulent Lies When Luther came to die the Will which he made concerning his Wife and Child was as follows O Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent Person upon Earth I have neither House nor Land nor Possessions nor Money to leave thou Lord hast given me Wife and Children them Lord I give back to thee nourish instruct and keep them O thou Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widows do to them as thou hast done to me When he was ready to die Justus Jonas and Caelius said to him O Reverend Father do you die in the constant confession of the Doctrine of Christ which you have hitherto Preached to which he answered Yea which was the last word he spake He made this verse some time before his death Pestis eram vivus moriens ero mors tua Papa I living stopt Romes breath And dead will be Romes death One saith of him that Luther a poor Fryar should be able to stand against the Pope was a great Miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace was the greatest of all Clarks Mirror XXXIX Mr. Woodman a Martyr in Queen Maries Reign speaks thus of himself When I have been in Prison wearing Bolts and Shackles sometimes lying upon the bare ground sometimes sitting in the Stocks some times bound with Cords that all my Body hath been swoln and I like to have been overcome with pain sometimes forced to lie about in the Woods and Fields wandring too and fro sometimes brought before the Justices Sheriffs Lords Doctors and Bishops sometimes called Dog Devil Heretick Whoremonger Traytor Thief Deceiver c. yea and they that did eat of my Bread and should have been most my Friends by Nature have betrayed me yet for all this I praise my Lord God that hath separated me from my Mothers Womb all this that hath happened to me hath been easy light and most delightful and more joyful Treasure than ever I possessed Acts and Mon. XL. Archbishop Cranmer by the wily subtilties and large promises of the Papists was drawn to subscribe to a Recantation yet afterward by Gods great mercy he recovered again and when he was at the stake and the fire kindled about him he stretched out his right hand wherewith he had subscribed and held it so stedfastly and unmoveably in the flame saving that he once wiped his face with it that all men saw his hand burned before the fire touched his Body he also being replenished by the Holy Spirit did abide his burning with such constancy and stedfastness that always standing in the place his body moved no more than the stake to which he was bound Acts and Mon. XLI Henry Prince of Saxony when his Brother George sent to him that if he would forsake his Faith and turn Papist he would leave him his Heir but he made him this Answer Rather than I will do so and deny my Saviour Jesus Christ I and my Kate each of us with a staff in our hands will beg our bread out of his Countries Luth. Colloq p. 248. XLII Mr. James Bainham being at the stake in the midst of the burning fire his Legs and Arms being half consumed spake thus to the standers by O ye Papists behold you look for Miracles and here now you may see one for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a Bed of Down and it is to me as a Bed of Roses Acts and Mon. XLIII The Earl of Morton a Religious and Prudent man who was sometimes Regent in Scotland in King James his Minority when the King had taken the Government into his own hand was falsly accused and unjustly condemned by his crafty and malicious adversaries the morning before he suffered Mr Lawson and two or three other Ministers of Edenburgh came to visit him asking him how he had rested that night To whom he answered That of a long time he had not slept more soundly now I am said he at the end of my Troubles Some nights before my Tryal I was thinking what to answer for my self and that kept me from sleep but this night I had no such thoughts When he came to the Scaffold he exhorted the People to continue in the profession of the true Religion and to maintain it to the utmost of their power intreating them to assist him in their Prayers to God then going couragiously to the block he laid down his head and cried aloud Into thy hand O Lord I commit my Spirit Lord Jesus receive my Soul Which words he repeated till his head was severed from his Shoulders A. B. Spotswood Hist Scotland p. 314. XLIV The Lord Henry Otto being condemned at Prague for the Protestant Religion at the place of Execution he said I was lately troubled but now I feel a wonderful refreshing in my heart And lifting up his hands to Heaven he added I give thee thanks O most merciful Saviour who hast been pleased to fill me with so much comfort O now I fear death no longer I shall die with Joy About the same time two Dutchmen were taken at Prague and accused by some Monks of Lutheranism for which they were condemned to be burnt as they went to the place of Execution such gracious words proceeded out of their mouths as drew Tears from the Spectators Eyes when they came to the stake they exceedingly incouraged each other one of them saying Since our Lord Christ hath suffered such grievous things for us let us chearfully suffer for him and rejoice that we have found so much favour with him that we are accounted worthy to die for the Word of God The other said In the day of my Marriage I found not so much inward Joy as I now do When the fire was put to them they said with a loud voice Lord Jesus thou in thy sufferings didst pray for thine Enemies therefore we also do the like Clarks Martyrol p. 177. XLV In the year 1555. there was one Algerius a Student of Padua in Italy a young man of excellent Learning who having attained to the knowledge of the Truth ceased not by instruction and example to teach others for which he was accused of Heresy to the Pope by whose command he was cast into Prison at Venice where he lay long and during that time he wrote an excellent Letter to the afflicted Protestants wherein among many other divine expressions he thus writeth I cannot but impart unto you some portion of my Delectations and Joys which I feel and find I have found Honey in the intrails of a Lyon who will believe that in this dark Dungeon I should find a Paradise of Pleasure For in the place of sorrow and death
comforted not only in Spirit but also in Body for he received a certain Tast of the Holy Communion of Saints whilst a most pleasant refreshing did issue from every part of the Body to the seat and place of the Heart and from thence to all the parts again Clar. Mar. p. 94. LIII Bishop Latimer being brought before the Privy Council was there entertained with many scoffs and scorns and from thence was sent Prisoner to the Tower where God gave him such a valiant Spirit that he did not only bear the terribleness of his Imprisonment with admirable patience but he derided and laughed to scorn all the doings and threats of his Enemies Ibid. p. 528. LIV. Mr. John Philpot having lain for some time in the Bishop of Londons Cole-house the Bishop sent for him and among other questions asked him why they were so merry in Prison Singing saith he and rejoicing in your naughtiness as the Prophet speaks whereas you should rather lament and be sad Mr. Philpot answered My Lord the mirth that we make is but in singing certain Psalms as we are commanded by St. Paul to rejoice in the Lord singing together Hymns and Psalms for we are in a dark comfortless place and therefore we thus sollace our selves I trust therefore your Lordship will not be angry seeing the Apostle saith If any be of an upright heart let him sing Psalms And we to declare that we are of an upright mind to God though we are in misery yet refresh our selves with such singing After some other discourse saith he I was carried back to my Lords Cole-house where I with my six Fellow-Prisoners do rouze together in the straw as cheerfully I thank God as others do in the Beds of Down And in a Letter to a Friend he thus writes Commend me to Mr. Elsing and his Wife and thank him for providing me some ease in my Prison and tell him that though my Lords Cole-house is very black yet it is more to be desired of the Faithful than the Queens Pallace the World wonders how we can be so merry under such extream miseries but our God is Omnipotent who turns misery into felicity believe me there is no such joy in the world as the People of God have under the Cross of Christ I speak by experience and therefore believe me and fear nothing that the world can do unto you for when they imprison our Bodies they set our Souls at liberty to converse with God when they cast us down they lift us up when they kill us then do they send us to everlasting life what greater glory can there be then to be made conformable to our Head Christ and this is done by Affliction O good God what am I upon whom thou shouldst bestow so great a mercy This is the way though it be narrow which is full of the Peace of God and leadeth to eternal bliss oh how my heart leapeth for Joy that I am so near the apprehension thereof God forgive me my unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great Glory I have so much Joy that though I be in a place of darkness and mourning yet I cannot lament but both night and day am so full of Joy as I never was so merry before the Lords name be praised for ever our Enemies do fret fume and gnash their Teeth at it O pray instantly that this Joy may never be taken from us for it passeth all the delights in this world this is the peace of God that passeth all understanding this peace the more his chosen are afflicted the more they feel it and therefore cannot fail neither for fire nor water Ibid. p. 534. LV. Thus the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda puts into his Servants his own Spirit from whence proceeds their transcendent zeal and courage for the Truth from this Spirit it was that John Rabeck a French Protestant being required to pronounce Jesu Maria and to join them together in one Prayer answered That if his Tongue should but offer to pronounce those words at their bidding himself would bite it asunder with his Teeth Another Martyr said If every hair of my head were a man I would suffer death in the Opinion and Faith I am now in This Spirit was in St. Athanasius Ambrose Favel and that noble Army of Martyrs one of them told the Persecutors That they might pluck the Heart out of his Body but could never pluck the Truth out of his Heart another said That the Heavens should sooner fall than he would turn a third said Can I die but once for Christ Thus did they undervalue life and despise death through that Divine Valour wherewith they were inspired though death in itself is the King of Terrours and very dreadful to man naturally as by the following Example is demonstrated with which I shall conclude this particular LVI A Christian King in Hungary being on a time very sad his Brother a Jolly Courtier would needs know of him what ailed him O Brother said he I have been a great sinner against God and I know not how to die nor to appear before God in Judgment These said his Brother are melancholy thoughts and withal made a jest at them the King replied nothing for the present but the custom of the Country was that if the Executioner came and sounded a Trumpet before any mans door he was presently to be led to Execution the King in the dead time of the night sends the Hangman to sound his Trumpet before his Brothers door who hearing it and seeing the Messenger of Death flies pale and trembling into his Brothers presence beseeching him to tell him wherein he had offended O Brother replied the King you have never offended me and is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful and shall not I that have greatly and grievously offended God fear to be brought before the Judgment Seat of Christ Clarks Mirrour p. 138. LVII Thus far we have seen the excellent effects of Natural and Christian Magnanimity Courage and Faithfulness there is yet another sort of Fidelity which is exceeding Praise-worthy which is the Faithfulness of some men to their Engagements and the Trust reposed in them the Syrians were looked upon as men of no Faith and not fit to be trusted by any man and that besides their curiosity in keeping their Gardens they had scarce any thing in them that was commendable The Greeks also laboured under this imputation as being as false as they were Luxurious and Voluptuous It is strange that those who were so covetous after all other kinds of improvement and knowledge should in the mean time neglect that which sets a fuller value upon man than a thousand other accomplishments namely his fidelity to his Promise and Trust LVIII Ferdinand the first King of Spain left three Sons behind him Sanctius Alphonsus and Garcius amongst whom he had also divided his Kingdoms but they lived not long in mutual Peace for soon after the death of their Father Sanctius
by the neighbours who starting out of their beds and breaking open the doors found them in the very act before the body was cold for which they were apprehended and laid in Prison Fettered with heavy Chains After their condemnation for this horrid fact the morning before the time appointed for Execution the Father strangled himself and the Mother was carried by the Devil out of the Dungeon in the Prison and her body was found dead in a stinking ditch with her neck broken asunder Beards Theater p. 72. XXX In 1620 There was a young Gentleman whose name was Duncomb that fell in love with a Gentlewoman to whom he vowed his heart and promised Marriage but her fortune not answering his Fathers humour he threatned to disinherit him if he married her and the better to alienate him from her he sent him as a Souldier in the Earl of Oxfords Regiment into Germany hoping that time and absence might wear out those Impressions that his present fancy had fixed upon him charging him at his departure never to think of her more lest with the thoughts of her he lost him for ever The young man being now long absent from her and having his heart full with the remembrance of her could not contain himself but let her know that no threats or anger of Parents should ever blot her memory out of his thoughts which he illustrated with many expressions of love and affection but the careless young man writing at the same time to his Father superscribed his Fathers Letter to his Mistriss wherein he renounced her and his Mistrisses Letter to his Father wherein he admired her the Father swoln with rage and anger against his Son sent him a bitter Letter back again full of threats and whether that or the shame for his mistake that she should see he renounced her whom he professed to Love did overcome his reason is not known but he hereupon killed himself to the great grief of all the English there and by this example Parents may see what it is to be too rigid to their Children for it was not the young mans hand but the old mans hard heart that killed him Hist Great Brit. p. 140. XXXI There was a Peasant a Macedonian by Nation named Rachoses who being the Father of seven Sons perceived the youngest of them played the little Libertine and unbridled Colt he endeavoured to reclaim him by fair words and reasons but finding him to reject all manner of good Counsel he bound his hands behind him carried him before a Magistrate accused him and required that he might be proceeded against as an Enemy to Nature The Judges who would not discontent this incensed Father nor hazard the life of this young man sent them both to the King which at that time was Artaxerxes The Father went thither with a resolution to seek his Sons death where pleading before the King with much earnestness and many forcible reasons Artaxerxes stood amazed at his Courage But how can you my Friend said he endure to see your Son die before your face he being a Gardiner by Trade As willingly said he as I would pluck away Leaves from a rank Lettice and not hurt the root The King threatned the Son with death if his Carriage were not better and perceiving the old mans zeal to Justice of a Gardiner made him a Judge Causins H. Court p. 112. XXXII Epaminondas the Theban being General against the Lacedemonians it fell out that he was called to Thebes upon the Election of Magistrates at his departure he commits the care and government of the Army to his Son Stesimbrotus with a severe charge that he should not fight till his return The Lacedemonians that they might allure the young man to fight reproach him with dishonour and Cowardice he impatient of these Contumelies contrary to the commands of his Father ingages in a Battel wherein he obtained a signal Victory The Father returning to the Camp adorns the Head of his Son with a Crown of Triumph and afterward commanded the Executioner to take it off from his Shoulders as a violator of Military Discipline Plutarch XXXIII Philip the Second King of Spain out of an unnatural and bloody zeal suffered his eldest Son Don Carlos to be murthered by the Fathers of the Hellish Inquisition because he favoured the Protestant Religion which when the Pope heard of he abusively applied that Text of Scripture to him He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all Acts and Monum XXXIV One of the Sons of Pyrrhus King of Epyrus being but a Boy asked his Father one day to which of his Sons he would leave his Kingdom to whom Pyrrhus answered To him that hath the sharpest Sword an answer not much unlike that Tragical Curse of Oedipus toward his Children Let them for me divide Both Goods and Rents and Lands With glittering Swords and bloody blows By force of mighty hands XXXV In the year 1551. at a Town called Weidenhasten in Germany Nov. 20. A cruel Mother inspired by the Devil shut up all her doors and began to murder her four Children in this manner she snatcht up a sharp Ax and first set upon her eldest Son being but eight years old searching him out with a Candle behind an Hogshead where he had hid himself and immediately notwithstanding his lamentable Prayers and Complaints clove his Head in two pieces and chopped off both his Arms next she killed her Daughter of five years old in the same manner another little Boy of three years seeing his Mothers madness hid itself poor innocent behind the Gate whom as soon as this Tyger espied she drew out by the hair of the head into the floor and there cut off his Head the youngest lay crying in the Cradle but half a year old him she without all compassion pluckt out and murdered in the same manner these Murders being committed this Devil incarnate for surely no Humanity was left in her to take punishment of her self for the same cut her own Throat and tho she lived nine days after and confessing her horrid Crimes died with abundance of Tears and great repentance yet we see how it pleased God to arm her own hands against her self as the fittest Executioner of Vengeance Beards Theat p. 225. XXXVI Fausta the Wife of Constantine the Great fell in love with Constantine her Son in Law whom when she could not persuade unto her Lust she accused unto the Emperor as if he had solicited her Chastity for which this innocent young man was condemned and put to death but the truth being afterward discovered Constantine ordered her to be put into an hot Bath and suffered her not to come forth till the heat had choked her revenging upon her own head her Sons death and her own Unchastity Idem p. 225. XXXVII Robert de Beliasme delighted much in Cruelty an Example whereof he shewed on his own Son who being but a Child and playing with him the Father for
had given commandment to all his Servants as well to my self as others we should only move him to confess himself and dispose of his Conscience but never to mention nor sound in his Ear that dreadful word Death knowing that he should not be able patiently to bear that cruel Sentence His Physician aforementioned used him so very roughly that a man would not have given his Servant such sharp language as he usually gave the King and yet the King so much feared him that he durst not command him out of his presence for though he complained to divers of him yet he durst not change him as he did all his other Servants because this Physician said once thus boldly to him I know that one day you will command me away but swearing a great Oath he added you shall not live eight daies after it which word put the King into so great a fear that he ever after flattered him and bestowed such gifts upon him that he received from him in five months time Fifty four thousand Crowns besides the Bishoprick of Amiens for his Nephew and other Offices and Lands for him and his Friends Philip Comines Hist IX Mecenas the great Friend and Favourite of Augustus was so soft and effeminate a Person that he was commonly called Malcinus he was so much afraid of death that saith Seneca he had often in his mouth this saying All things are to be endured so long as life it continued Of whom these Verses are to be read Make me lame on either hand And of neither foot to stand Raise a Bunch upon my back And make all my Teeth to shake Nothing comes amiss to me So that life remaining be X. Heraclides writes of one Artemon a very skilful Engineer but withal saith of him that he was of a very timerous disposition and foolishly afraid of his own shadow so that for the most part of his time he never stirred out of his house That he had alwaies two of his Men by him who held a brazen Target over his head for fear lest any thing should fall upon him and if upon any occasion he was forced to go from home he would be carried in a Litter hanging near to the ground for fear of falling Plutarch Vit. XI The Emperor Domitian was in such fear of receiving death by the hands of his followers and in such a strong suspition of Treason against him that he caused the Walls of the Galleries wherein he used to walk to be set and garnished with the stone Phengites to the end that by the light thereof he might seeall that was done behind him Suetonius Hist XII Antigonus observing one of his Soldiers to be a very valiant man and ready to adventure upon any desperate piece of Service and yet withal taking notice that he looked very pale and lean would needs know of him what he ailed And finding that he had upon him a secret and dangerous disease he caused all possible means to be used for his recovery which when it was effected the King perceived him to be less forward in Service than formerly and demanding the reason of it he ingenuously confessed that now he felt the sweets of life and therefore was loth to lose it Clarks Mirrour p. 354. XIII Caligula the Emperor was so exceedingly afraid of death that at the least Thunder and Lightning he would wink close with both Eyes and cover his head all over but if the Thunder were very great and extraordinary he would run under his Bed He fled suddenly by night from Messina in Sicily being affrighted with the noise smoak and roaring of Mount Aetna being once in a German Chariot in a streight passage where his Army were forced to march very close together and one happening to say that if any Enemy should now appear it would make a very great hurliburly he was presently so affrighted with the apprehension of the Danger that getting out of the Chariot he mounted his Horse and finding the way filled up with Slaves and Carriages he again dismounted and was from hand to hand conveyed over mens heads till he came on the other side of the water Soon after hearing of the revolt of the Germans he provided to fly and prepared Ships for his flight comforting himself in this that if the Conquerors should come into Italy and possess themselves of the City of Rome yet he should have some Provinces beyond Sea where he might still live Sueton. Hist XIV What a miserable life Tyrants have by reason of their continual fears of Death we have exemplified in Dionysius the Syracusan who finished his thirty eight years rule in this manner removing his Friends he committed the Custody of his Body to some Strangers Barbarians being in fear of Barbers he taught his Daughters to shave him when they were grown up he durst not trust them with a Rasor but taught them how they should burn off his Hair and Beard with the white films of Walnut Kernels and whereas he had two Wives Aristomache and Doris he came not to them in the night before the place was thoroughly searched and though he had drawn a large and deep moat of water about the room and had made a passage by a wooden Bridge yet he himself drew it up after him when he went in and not daring to speak to the People out of the common Rostrum or Pulpit appointed for that purpose he used to make Orations to them from the top of a Tower when he played at Ball he used to give his Sword and Cloak to a Boy whom he loved and when one of his familiar Friends had jestingly said You now put your life into his hands and the Boy smiling thereat he commanded them both to be slain one for shewing the way how he might be killed and the other for approving of it with a smile At last being overcome in Battle by the Carthaginians he perished by the Treason of his own Subjects Wanly Hist Man XV. And this introduces another particular namely the barbarity and bloody mindedness of some Persons Theodorus who was Tutor to Tiberius the Roman Tyrant observing in him while he was a Boy a sanguinary nature and disposition which lay hid under a shew of meekness and a pretence of clemency was used to call him a lump of Clay steeped and soaked in blood and this his prediction of him did not fail in the event this being that savage Tyrant who thought that death was too light and easy a punishment for hearing that Carnulius being in his disfavour had cut his own Throat Carnulius said he hath escaped me and to another who begged of him to die quickly he told him He was not so much in his favour Yet even this cursed Artist in Villany hath been since out-acted by Monsters more overgrown than himself XVI It is in this kind a memorable example that Seneca relates of Piso who finding a Soldier to return from forraging charging him to have slain
too great a freedom and liberty coming once to the House of Omulus his Friend and beholding there at his entrance divers Pillars of Porphry he inquired whence they were brought Omulus told him That it became him that set his foot into another mans House to be both deaf and dumb He meant he should not be curious and inquisitive The Emperor was delighted with this freedom so far was he from resenting it in such a manner as some others would have done Wanly Hist Man p. 204. XLVIII Such has been the invincible patience of some men that the incredible strength of their minds hath not only prevailed over the weakness of their flesh but reduced it to a temper capable of induring as much as if it had been of Brass or something that if possible is yet more insensible Of such a temper Janus Auceps a wicked Person seem'd to be who dwelt in a lone house by the highway side without the East-gate of the City of Copenhagen in Denmark this man in the night had murdered divers Persons and knocked them on the head with an Ax at last he was discovered taken and condemned to a terrible death he was drawn upon a sledge through the City he had pieces of flesh plucked off from his Body with burning Pincers his Legs and Arms were broken his Tongue was pulled out of his Mouth thongs of his skin were cut out of his back his breast was opened by the speedy hand of the Executioner his heart was pulled out and thrown at his face all this the stout-hearted man bore with an invincible courage and when his heart lay panting by his side in the midst of such torments as he yet underwent he moved his head and looked upon the By-standers with a frowning aspect and seemed with curiosity to contemplate his own heart till such time as his Head was cut off Bartholin Anat. XLIX William Collingborn Esq being condemned for making this Rhime on King Richard the Third The Cat the Rat and Lovel the Dog Rule all England under a Hog Alluding to Catesby Ratcliff and Lovel the three great Favourites of Richard in whose arms there was pictured a Hog the poor Gentleman was put to a most cruel death for being hanged and cut down alive his bowels ript out and cast into the fire when the Executioner put his hand into the bulk of his body to pull out his heart he said Lord Jesus yet more trouble and so died to the great sorrow of much people Fabians Chro. p. 519. L. When we were come within sight of Buda in Hungary saith Busbequius there came by the command of the Turkish Bassa some of his Family to meet us with divers great Officers but in the first place a Troop of young men on Horseback made us turn our Eyes to them because of the Novelty of their Equipage which was thus upon their bare heads most of which were shaven they had cut a long line in the skin in which wound they had stuck Feathers of all kinds and they were dewed with drops of blood yet dissembling the pain they rid with as much mirth and cheerfulness as if they had been void of all sense just before me there walked some on foot one of these went with his naked arms on his side in each of which he carried a Knife which he had thrust through his Arms just above the Elbow another walked naked from his Navel upward with the skin of both his Loins so cut above and below that he carried a Club which stuck therein as if it had hung at his Girdle another had fastened a Horse-shoe with divers nails upon the crown of his Head but that was done a long while the nails being so grown in the flesh that the Shoe was made fast in this pomp we entred Buda and were brought into the Bassa's Pallace in the Court of which stood these generous contemners of Pain as I chanced to cast my Eye that way What think you of these men said the Bassa Well enough said I but that they use their flesh in such a manner as I would not use my Cloths being desirous to keep them whole The Bassa smiled at this answer and dismissed us Busbequius Epist p. 226. LI. There is a notable example of tolerance which happened in our times in a certain Burgundian who was the Murderer of the Prince of Orange this man though he was scourged with rods of Iron though his flesh was torn off with red hot and burning Pincers yet he gave not so much as a single sigh or groan nay further when part of a broken Scaffold fell upon the head of one that stood by as a Spectator this burned Villain in the midst of all his Torments laughed at the Accident although not long before the same man had wept when he saw the curls of his hair cut off Wanly Hist Man p. 206. LII It was also an Example of great patience in this kind which Strabo mentions in his Geography that Zarmonochaga the Ambassadour from the Indian King having finished his negotiation with Augustus Caesar according to his own mind and having sent an account thereof to his Master because he would have no further trouble for the remaining part of his life after the manner of the Indians he burnt himself alive preserving all the while the countenance of a man that smiled Fulgosus Ex. p. 348. LIII Most eminent was the example of Hieronimus Olgiatus a Citizen of Millain who was one of those four that did assassinate Galeacius Sforza Duke of Millain being taken he was thrust into Prison and put to bitter Tortures now although he was not above two and twenty years of Age and of such a delicacy and softness in his habit of body that was more like to that of a Virgin than a man though he was never accustomed to the bearing of Arms by which it is usual for men to acquire vigour and strength yet being fastened to that Rope upon which he was tormented he seemed as if he sate upon some Tribunal and free from any expression of grief with a clear voice and an undaunted mind he commended the Exploit of himself and his Companions nor did he ever shew the least sign of Repentance in the times of the intermissions of his Torments both in Prose and Verse he celebrated the Praises of his Confederates being at last brought to the place of Execution beholding Carolus and Francion two of his Associates to stand as if they were almost dead for fear he exhorted them to be couragious and requested the Executioners that they would begin with him that his Fellow-sufferers might learn patience by his Example being therefore laid naked and at full length upon the Hurdle and his Feet and Arms fast bound down to it when others that stood by were terrified with the shew and horrour of that death that was prepared for him he with specious words and assured voice extolled the gallantry of their Action and appeared
unconcerned with that cruel kind of death he was speedily to undergo yea when by the Executioners knife he was cut from the shoulder to the middle of the breast he neither changed his Countenance nor his voice but with a Prayer to God 〈◊〉 ended his life Fulgo Ex. p. 365. CHAP. IV. The Tremendous Consequences of Hatred Revenge and Ingratitude Displayed in many memorable Histories HItherto we have discovered only the light side of the Cloud by shewing the extraordinary effects of Love Friendship Magnanimity Courage Fidelity Chastity Temperance and Humility Let us now consider a little the dark side thereof by giving an account of the dreadful consequences of the contrary Vices that is Hatred Revenge and Ingratitude which three will suffice to give some considerable instances in this Chapter wherein I shall observe the same method as in the former and therefore shall insist first of the extream Hatred in some Persons toward others for as amongst the kinds of living Creatures there are certain Enmities and Dissentions whereof there is no apparent reason to be given as of that betwixt the Spider and the Serpent the Ant and Weasel and the like so amongst Men implacable Hatreds are conceived many times upon undiscernible but most times upon unjustifiable grounds I. When Sigismund Marquess of Brandenburg had obtained the Kingdom of Hungary in right of his Wife it then appeared what a mortal hatred there was betwixt the Hungarians and Bohemians for when Sigismund commanded Stephanus Konth and with him twenty more Hungarian Knights to be taken and brought him in Chains as Persons that had delivered the obedience they owed him not one of all those would name or honour him in the least as their King and before either they or their Servants would change their minds they were desirous to lose their heads Pulgosus p. 1189. 2. Timon the Athenian had the Sirname of Manhater he was once very rich but through his liberality and overgreat bounty he was reduced to extream poverty in which condition he had large experience of the malice and ingratitude of such as he had formerly been helpful to he therefore fell into a vehement hatred of all mankind he was glad of their misfortunes and promoted the Ruine of all men as far as he might with his own safety when the People in honour of Alcibiades attended on him home as they used when he had obtained a Cause Timon would not as he was wont to others turn aside out of the way but would meet him on purpose and use to say to him Go on my Son and prosper for thou shalt one day plague all these People with some signal Calamity which accordingly happened some years after he built him an House in the Fields that he might shun the converse of men he admitted to him only one Apemantus a Person much of his own humour and he saying to him Is not this a fine Supper It would said he be much better if thou wert absent This Timon gave order his Sepulcher should be placed behind a Dunghill and this to be his Epitaph Hic sumpost vitam miseramque inopemque sepultus Nomen non quaeras Dii te Lector male perdant Here now I lie after my wretched fall Ask not my Name the Gods confound you all III. Hyppolitus was also of the same Complexion as he expresses himself in Euripides and Seneca if you will have a tast of his language that in Seneca sounds to this purpose I hate stie curse detest them all Cail't Reason Nature Madness as you please In a true Hatred of them there 's some ease First shall the water kindly dwell with fire Dread Gulphs shall be the Mariners desire Out of the West shall be the break of day And cruel Wolves with tender Lamb-skins play Before a Woman gain my conquer'd mind To quit this hatred and to grow more kind IV. Gualter Earl of Brenne had married the eldest Daughter of Tancred King of Sicily and as Heir of the Kingdom went out with four hundred Horse to take possession thereof by the help of these and a marvellous felicity he had recovered a great part of it but at the last he was overcome and taken Prisoner by Theobaldus Germanus at the City Sarna upon the third day after the Conqueror offered him his liberty and restoration to his Kingdom upon condition he would confirm to Theobaldus what he was possessed of therein but he in an unconceivable hatred to him that had made him his Prisoner replied That he should ever scorn to receive these or greater offers from so base a hand as his Theobaldus had reason to resent this affront and therefore told him He would make him repent his so great insolence at which Gualter inflamed with a greater fury tore his Cloths and broke the swathings and ligatures of his wounds crying out That he would live no longer since he was fallen into the hands of such a man that treated him with Threats upon which he tore open his wounds and thrust his own hands into his Bowels and after that resolvedly refusing all food and ways of cure he forcibly drove out his furious Soul from his Body and left only one Daughter behind him who might have been happier had she not had a Beast to her Father Fulgosus p. 1182. V. Who can sufficiently declare the mighty hatred which Pope Boniface the Eighth bore toward the Gibelline Faction It is the custom that upon Ash-Wednesday the Pope sprinkles some Ashes upon the heads of the chief Prelates of the Church and at the doing of it used to say Remember thou art Ashes and that into Ashes thou shalt return When therefore the forementioned Pope came to perform this to Porchetus Spinola Archbishop of Genoa and suspected him to be a favourer of the Gibellines he cast the Ashes not on his head but into his Eyes and perversely changed the use of the former words into these Remember thou art a Gibelline and that with the Gibellines thou shalt return into Ashes B. Reynolds on the Passions VI. Calvin was so odious to the Papists that they would not name him hence in their Spanish Expurgatory Index p. 204. they give this direction Let the name of Calvin be suppressed and instead of it put Studiosus quidam a certain Student or Schollar and one of their Proselites went from Mentz to Rome to change his Christian name of Calvinus into the adopted name of Baronius Chetwinds Collect. p. 90. VII This passion of Hatred Malice Anger Wrath and Envy is a very dangerous disease where-ever it prevails and like the mischievous evil Spirit in the Gospel it casts us into all kind of dangers and frequently hurries us into the Chambers of Death itself The Sarmatian Ambassadors cast themselves at the Feet of Valentinian the first Emperor of Rome imploring Peace he observing the meanness of their Apparel demanded if all their Nation were such as they who replied It was their Custom to send to him such as