and whilst they aggravated i. e. made things worse and worse by Words these thing viz. Contention Threatnings mutual i. e. that which passeth one from another Hatred and Enmity and every one proceeded in Ambition i. e. Pride or immoderate Desire of Soveraignty much like Tyranny it self then I say the Lord according to the saying of Ieremiah made the Daughter of Sion obscure and overthrew from above the Glory of Israel and remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his Wrath. Of Dioclesians Proclamations against the Christians In the nineteenth Year of Dioclesian's Reign was there Proclamations published in which it was commanded That the Churches should be made even with the ground the holy Scriptures by burning them should be abolished i. e. disannulled or destroyed such as were in Honour and Estimation should be contemned and such as were of Families if they retained or held the Christian Faith should be deprived of their Freedom And such were the Contents of the first Edict But in the Proclamations which immediately followed after it was added That the Pastors i. e. Shepherds throughout all Parishes first should be imprisoned next with all means possible constrained to Sacrifice Afterwards some endured bitter Torments others fainted for Fear and at the first onset or first violent assault were quite discouraged Some were tortured and launched with more intolerable pain some failed of the purposed End some were found constant and perfect Yet the Enemies of Truth triumphed and laboured to bring their purpose to effect Concerning the Persecution The Persecution against the Christians grew so exceeding great that some after many Torments endured were broiled to death some were hanged and some were beheaded And about that time some of the Emperour's Palace hapned to be on fire and when the Christians were taken in suspicion to be the Authors thereof by the Emperors commandment the whole Troop generally of all the godly there at that time was executed whereof some with the Sword were beheaded others burned with fire others carried in a Boat and thrown into the deep Sea And such were the practices in the beginning of the Persecution at Nicomedia Afterwards the Emperor commanded all the Pastors throughout every Church to be imprisoned and kept in hold multitudes were inclosed or shut up and the Prisons of old appointed and ordained for Murderers diggers of Sepulchres and riflers of Graves were then replenished with Bishops Ministers Deacons c. so that there was no room in Prison for such as were condemned for hainous Offences Again when the former Edicts had taken place there followed others by virtue of which such as sacrificed were set at liberty and such as resisted were commanded to be tormented with a thousand kind of Torments Concerning the Roman Empire Before the Roman Empire waged Battel against us saith Eusebius in the space the Emperors favoured us and maintained Peace it may not sufficiently be declared how prosperously the Commonwealth flourished and abounded with Goodness c. And whenas the Empire after this sort increased without offence and daily was enlarged they had no sooner removed Peace from among us but they stirred up Battels as could not be reconciled Not fully two years after this Hurlyburly i. e. tumult or stir there was such a change happened unto the whole Empire which turned all upside down For no small Disease overtook the Chief Emperour and bereaved i. e. deprived him of his Wits Afterwards the Empire was divided into two parts the which was never remembred to have come to pass before that time Not long after Constantius the Emperor passing all others throughout his Life-time in Clemency and Goodness towards his Subjects when he died his Son Constantine supplied his room In his Life he was most benign among all the Emperors who alone of all the Emperors in our time governed most gloriously and honourably during the whole term of his Reign shewing humanity and bountifulness unto all Men c. The Dissimulation of Maxentius Maxentius who exercised Tyranny at Rome in the beginning of his Reign dissembled our Faith egregiously i. e. some time basely creeping into Credit by flattering the People of Rome and therefore he commanded his Commonalty or vulgar People to cease from persecuting of the Christians whereby he might pretend a show of Piety i. e. Godliness and seem tractable and more benign i. e. favourable than his Ancestors that went before him But in process of time he was not indeed found the same which Men took him for and hoped he would be for he fell into all kind of Enormities i. e. he went out of rule or measure omitting no heinous Offence how detestable and lascivious soever it was unessayed i. e. untried wherefore all both high Primates i. e. Archbishops and inferiour People trembling for fear of him were oppressed with his intolerable Tyranny yet neither by silence neither by suffering this grievous servitude i. e. bondage or base estate could they be free from the bloody slaughter and imbrued murther of this Tyrant Concerning Maximinus and his Proclamation in the behalf of the Christians It seems his Behaviour towards the Christians was very cruel and the Persecution long and tedious in his day which continued for 12 years He exceeded many in Hypocrisie Superstition Idolatry Oppression Prodigality in Drunkenness Lechery c. wherefore a plague lighted on him which took root in his Flesh and afterwards proceeded even unto his Soul At length being thus tormented and lying in this miserable condition he began to ponder with himself the rash Enterprises he had practised against the holy Worshippers of God Wherefore returning unto himself first he confessed his Sins unto God next calling unto him such as then were about him he gave commandment that with all speed they should cease from persecuting the Christians and that by the Commandment and Decree of the Emperor they should build again their Churches c. And his Proclamations were published throughout the Cities containing a Reâ—…antation of these things formerly prejudicial unto the Christians In the third Year of our Persecution under the Reign of Maximinus the second Hurly-burly was raised against us and the Tyrants Letters were then first of all brought to Urbanus charging all the People of what Degree or calling soever that they should Sacrifice unto their Gods the Magistrates also throughout every City busily applying themselves to the same and that the Beadles throughout all the City of Câ—…sarea should by virtue of the Presidents Edict summon the Fathers the Mothers and their Children to appear at the Idols Temple and that the Tribunes should likewise out of a Scroll i. e. a piece of Paper or Parchment which might be called a Bill call every one by his Name by reason whereof there was no where but heaviness sobbing and sighing And Apphianus went cheerfully unto the President as he was sacrificing and boldly took hold on his right hand and stayed
of this a litteral knowledge may in part be obtained of the Fruits Doctrines Principles and Practises of the Apostatized Christians after their degeneration of their Synods and Counsels and what they Decreed of the temptations and provocations which they had who retained their integrity both from the Heathen and from the false Christians and how sad and lamentable their conditions were that did not continue faithful which may serve for examples to such among you beloved as are inconstant and of a doubtful mind let them look upon Origen and hear what he saith in his lamentation after his fall and let them consider the Faith and patience of such as chuseth rather to die than they would swear or sacrifice renounce the faith or deny their Lord and Master and therefore were some torn in pieces of wild beasts some Crucified some beheaded some stoned to death some stifled some fryed or Rosted some burned to ashes some hanged some brained some had their eyes pulled out and the empty place seared with a hot Iron some were drowned in the Sea some fettered and famished to death in noysome Prisons and dungeons Oh the torments that they endured are hard to be uttered and that about the exercise of their Conscience and the worship of their God And truly I must tell you O beloved that I was constrained to lay those things before you that if peradventure they might in any wise tend to the Confirming and strengthening of the faith of some to the forewarning of others of shrinking in the time of tryal and to the strengthening of the hands of the weak and feeble against their Persecutors who also hereby may see what judgment and misery came upon sundry of their Persecuting fore-fathers so that in my judgment it may be of use not only to you who are persecuted but also to your oppressors and persecutors who now persist in their wickedness and impiety as if they should never come to judgment for the same well my dearly beloved be not you discomforted and cast down in your spirits because the wicked is set up and the ungodly prospers in his ways and the workers of iniquity they are counted happy yet it was not thus in the beginning neither shall it allways so continue for the Lord our God in his due time will strik the hook into the jaw of the Leviathan so that he shall be Restrained and the pure and upright in heart shall be delivered out of his paw and snare into the glorious liberty of the Children of God wherefore let none be afraid who are called to follow the lamb in this Notable day for I am perswaded that Tribulation nor Persecution Exilment nor Banishment Fire nor Sword things present nor things to come though all these do come shall not be able to seperate us from that love which we are made partakers of in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom I bid you farewel my dearly beloved A GENERAL EPISTLE FOR Young Schoollars and LITTLE CHILDREN Dear Children REmember Your Creator and the end wherefore you were Created now in the day of your Youth before you grow Old in Sin and take rooting in corrupt ground of Unighteousness incline your hearts to Holiness and to the Fear of the Lord that you may abound in wisdom and knowledge learn you to know a tender principle in your hearts to teach and instruct you to withhold and restrain you from Folly and Wantonness from frivolous or vain Gaming and Sporting your selves with idle Toyes and unprofitable Playes which do not only strengthen that which is thereunto addicted in your selves but doth toyle and weary your tender bodies And when you sit down at night some times hungry and often weary consider then what you have reaped by your Playes Sports and Pastimes have you not thereby some time provoked your Tutors to Wrath and Anger against you for neglecting of your Books and Learning have you not also offended and grieved your Parents by your neglect of your business and imployment And then you being sencible of your Fault and Transgression the shew of your Countenance that witnesseth against you and inwardly you are perplexed and terrified partly through fear of your Tutors and partly through fear of your Parents when through your Folly you have procured their Displeasure and then are you afraid of Chastisement now if for the time to come you would be freed from this fear do that which is good by being diligent and keeping in the fear of the Lord and then shall you obtain Praise and Commendation both of your Parents and Tutors Again O Children when you are together whether in Families Schools or else where be not Wild Rude Brutish nor provoke not one another to Folly and Wantonness but be Sober Gentle Meek and Civil and let the Fear of the Lord be before your eyes least you sall into Condemnation And you that are of a Mild Gentle and Tender Nature who seel something in your Hearts restraining you from the Evil which abounds among your fellows if you cannot get dominion over it while you are with them then separate your selves from them at convenient seasons and pertake not with them in their Wantonness in their Folly Plays Sports and Pastimes but rather betake your selves to your Books or in some retired place to wait upon the Lord And if they that be Wild and Wanton through their play and wantonness do get Recreation to their Bodies you through your stillness and waiting upon the Lord shall get Refreshment to their Souls in which you shall have joy and pleasure when they shall be ashamed of their folly and have trouble and sorrow for the same When I was A School boy I was for many years as much inclined to wantonness and play as my Fellows though sometime I was enticed and drawn by them into things which I knew then certainly to be evil and contrary to the tender principle of God in my Conscience yet rather than I would be behind them in their wonton childish follies and thereby have come to have been jeered and derided by them I chused rather at that time to run with them to the same excess of vanity though I knew for certain I ought not to have done it and when for the same I came to be corrected by my Tutor and judged of the Lord I was made to confess that it was just and that I had justly deserved the same Afterwards through the mercy and goodness of the Lord I came to be farther Illuminated or enlightned before I left the School And come to have a perfect sense of true judgment being set up in my heart And then I came to be filled with Sorrow and Heaviness for the loss of my mispent pretious time and the Sins of my Youth even while I was yet a youth were brought exceeding fresh into my remembrance and became in those daies my great burthen and withal in those daies my study and learning became also burthensome and not
down out of the Wagon and afterwards he was brought upon the Theatre or Stage and when the Multitude saw him they were in a great Rage The Proconsul or Deputy-Counsel demanded of him whether he were that Polycarpus beckning that he should deny it and saying Tender thy Years with such like perswasions Swear by the fortune of Caesar repent thee of that is past say Remove the Wicked But Polycarpus beholding with unmoveable Countenance the Multitude round about the Stage pointing with the Hand Sighing and looking up to Heaven said Remove O Lord these Wicked When the Proconsul urged and said Swear and I will let thee go Blaspheme and defie Christ Polycarpus answered fourscore and six Years have I served him neither hath he ever offended me in any thing And how can I revile my King which hath thus kept me The Proconsul still urged him and said Swear by the Fortune of Caesar. To whom Polycarpus said if thou requirest this vain Glory that I protest the Fortune of Caesar as thou sayest feigning thou knowest me not who I am hear freely I am a Christian and if thou desire to know the Doctrine of Christianity appoint the Day and thou shalt hear it Afterwards the Proconsul said I have Wild Beasts to devour thee unless thou repent Polycarpus answered bring them forth For it is determined among us not to pass from the better unto the worse by Repentance but we count it a thing commendable to turn from the thing that is evil to that which is good and just Again the Proconsul said I will quiet thee with Fire if thou regard not the Beasts nor repent To whom Polycarpus answered Thou threatnest Fire for an Hour which lasteth a while and quickly is quenched but thou art ignorant of the everlasting Fire at the Day of Iudgment and endless Torments reserved for the Wicked But what lingerest thou Dispatch as it pleaseth thee So the Proconsul being amazed commanded the Beadle in the midst of the Theatre thrice to cry Polycarpus confesseth himself a Christian. At which saying the Multitude both of the Jews and Gentiles inhabiting Smyrna shouted with a great Rage this is that Doctor of Asia the Father of the Christians the overthrower of our Gods who hath taught many that our Gods are not to be adored And they craved of the President that he would let loose a Lion to devour him and when he would not do that then they cryed with one Voice that Polycarpus should be burned quick And in a short while all things necessarily required for the Execution were applyed And when as they would have nailed him to the Stake he said Nay suffer me even as I am for he that gave me patience to abide this Fire will give me also an unmoveable mind to persevere within the fiery Pale without your Provision in fastning my Body with Nails Cencerning the Expressions of Justinus the Martyr Iustinus who Reprehended or reproved the Philosophers as Gluttonous and Deceiptful Persons was by the Malicious means of Crescens the Philosopher Martyred which he foresaw and signified in his Apology i. e. defence or speech in these words I look for no other thing then this said he that I be betrayed by some one of them called Philosophers It is not indeed requisite to call him a Philosopher which ignorantly reporteth that the Christians are Impicus and Irregulous to the end he may please and flatter such as are overshadowed with the mist of Errour and Darkness for if he Impugne or resist the Doctrine of the Christians having neither read nor known the same then is he full of Malice and far worse than Idiots i. e. Fools that sometime beware they reason not of unknown matters least they speak falsly or if he hath read them he understandeth not the Mistery and Majestical meaning thereof or if he do understand them he doth this that he be not taken for such an one and then is he again far more Wicked and Spiteful the Bondslave of vain Glory and Brutish fear What Justinus Reehearsed in his Apology The aforesaid Iustinus makes mention of a certain Woman that had been given unto Lasciviousness and Lewdness but when she learned the Doctrine of Christ she repented of her former Life and Imbraced Chastity and she exhorted her Husband likewise to repent but he continuing still in his former Lewdness by his unlawful actions alienated his Wife from him for she said that it was thence forth unlawful for her to use company at Bed and Board with that Man who contrary to the law of Nature beyond all right and reason sought means to satisfie his filthy Lusts and therefore would she have been divorced from him But through the Perswasion of her Friends who counselled her a little while quietly to live together that there was yet hope at length of his repentance she revoked her Sentence changed her Mind refrained her self and continued with him in Wedlock but he accused her for being a Christian but having no other Colour nor Cloak to accuse her his Malice turned against Ptolomaeus who instructed his Wife in the Christian Faith and after he had suffered much in Prison he was examined whether he was a Christian or no whose Conscience bearing him witness of no Crime but in a just Cause confessed that he had preached the true and heavenly Doctrine of Christ. For he which denieth himself to be that he is either condemneth that which is in him by denial or knowing himself unworthy and estranged from the matter refuseth to confess whereof neither is found in a true Christian and when Urbitius commanded that he should be brought forth one Lucius that was also a Christian seeing the Sentence given contrary to all reason said to Urbitius what reason is it O Urbitius that thou shouldst condemn this Man for confessing the Name of Christ which hath comitted neither Adultery neither Fornication neither Man-slaughter neither Theft neither Robbery neither any wicked Offence that he may justly be charged withal Urbitius answered nothing to these things but said to Lucius and thou seemest to me to be such a one Lucius answered I am so and he commanded him to be brought forthwith to the place of execution Of the spite that was in the Jews The aforementioned Iustinus wrote a Dialogue i. e. a Communication betwixt two or more against the Jews wherein he declared their spite against the Doctrine of Christ saying you have not only hardned your selves from repentance but have sent chosen Men from Ierusalem which should pass throughout the World and pronounce that there was a certain Christian Heresie sprung up slandering us as the rest do which know us not so that hereby you proved your selves Authors of Falshood not only to your own People but to all other Nations He writeth also that unto his time the Gift of Prophecy flourished in the Church Of Hereticks among the Christians and
that their outward Countenance bewrayed their inward Apostacy i. e. their revolting or falling from the True Religion for the former went cheerfully with great majesty and grace their Fetters becoming them as the skirts of the new-married Spouse garnished with sundry Colours and laid over with Gold and withal yielding a Christian fragrant i. e. sweet-smelling smell so that many supposed their Bodies to have been outwardly perfumed But the other all sad and mournful as vile ond abject caitified i. e. base naughty mis-shapen Creatures full of all deformity derided of the Gentiles themselves deserving death as degenerating Cowards destiture of the most precious glorious and lively Name of Christianity with the sight hereof many are confirmed so that suddenly being apprehended without stay they professed their Faith A little after in the same Epistle it is shewn how that Maturus Sanctus and Blandina were led unto the brute Beasts in the popular and publick spectacle of the heathenish Inhumanity even at the day appointed of set purpose where Maturus and Sanctus were diversly tormented with sundry sorts of punishment as if they had suffered nothing before and whatsoever the outragious multitude craved and commanded that they suffered but above all they patiently suffered the Iron Chair wherein their Bodies boiled as in a Frying-pan yet could they get no other Sentence of Sanctus save that Confession which he cried at the first And because Caesar had commanded that such as confessed themselves Christians should be executed and such as renounced should depart the frequented Solemnity which by reason of the concourse of the Gentiles from every Country was at the beginning very populous he brought forth from Prison the blessed Confessors for so it seems the Christians were sometimes called into the open Spectacle or View and Presence of the People to be scornfully gazed upon and when he had again made Inquisition them as many as he to wit the President found to be priviledged Persons of Rome those he beheaded the rest he threw to be torn asunder of wild Beasts But Attalus was burned in the Iron Chair and being demanded what Name God had he answered God is not called after the manner of Men. And after these things Blandina together with Ponticus a young Man of fifteen years of Age was brought forth and compelled to swear by their Idols Names But they constantly persevered in their Opinion and contemning their Idols set the multitude in such a rage against them that they neither pitied the years of the young Man nor spared the Womankind but plagued them with many Torments used in their Theaters i. e. certain Places made for People to sit and behold solemn Games and Plays urging them now and then to swear which when they could not bring to pass Ponticus being encouraged of the Sister in presence of Pagans i. e. Heathens or Infidels who then beheld how she exhorted and confirmed the young Man after he had suffered many Torments yielded up the Ghost And Blandina was afterwards wrapped in a Net and tumbled before a wild Bull who fanned and tossed her with his Horns to and fro yet it is said she had no feeling of these things her Mind being fixed and wholly set upon the Conference which she had with Christ and finally she was beheaded The Rage and Cruelty of the Gentiles did not herewith cease against the Christians for as many as were choaked up with the noisome stink of the Prisons were thrown to be devoured of Dogs and a continual watch set day and night that none of them should be buried and some fretted and fumed at them with the gnashing of their teeth seeking further revengement of them others derided and scoffed them magnifying their Idols as Causers of the Chrishians Calamity And such as were of a milder Nature and somewhat sorrowed at our Sufferings upbraided us i. e. cast them in the teeth and said Where is their God and what profited them this Religion which they preferred before their Lives And after they had kept the dead Bodies six days unburied at length were burned to ashes the ashes also they gathered and scattered in the River Rhoanus which passed by so that no jot or relick thereof should longer remain upon Earth This they did to the end they might overcome God and hinder the reviving of the Saints lest that as they said there should be any further hope of the Resurrection whereof say they the Christians being fully perswaded bring among us a strange and new Religion They contemn i. e. despise punishment and hasten themselves cheerfully unto death Now let us see whether they can arise and whether their God can help and deliver them from our hands Of Attalus's Revelation In the aforesaid Epistle there was a certain Narration contained concerning one Alcibiades who lived miserably feeding only on Bread and Water when he had determined with himself to live in Prison It was revealed to Attalus after his first Conflict on the Theater that Alcibiades did not well in that he used not the lawful Creatures of God and also gave an occasion of doubting unto others Hereof when Alcibiades was perswaded he used all things indifferently and praised God For they were not destitute of the Grace of God but had the Holy Ghost for their Director What Irenaeus wrote concerning the Holy Scriptures Eusebius relates what Irenaeus hath writ concerning the Four Evangelists i. e. the Bringers of good Tidings saying Matthew delivered unto the Hebrews the History of the Gospel written in their own Tongue When Peter and Paul had preached at Rome and planted the Church aftheir departure Mark the Disciple and Interpreter of Peter also delivered us in writing such things as he had heard Peter preach And Luke accompanying Paul comprised in one Volume the Gospel preached of him After these Iohn the Disciple of our Lord which also leaned on his Breast published a Gospel unto the Posterity remaining at Ephesus Moreover in the same Chapter it is said That in the Captivity of the Iews under Nebuchadnezzar the Scriptures were perished the Iews returning into their own Region i. e. Country after seventy years in the time of Artaxerxes King of Persia he inspired Esdras the Priest of the Tribe of Levi that he restored again all the Sayings of the former Prophets and delivered unto the People the Law given by Moses Apollinarius concerning Montanus It is now a great while ago well-beloved A. M. since thou didst enjoin me this Task that I should publish some Book against the Followers of the Heretick Montanus whereupon I doubted unto this day what was best to be done Not because I was not able to confure their Falshood and give Testimony unto the Truth but that I feared greatly lest by writing I should seem to add something to the Doctrine of the New Testament whereto nothing may be added and wherefrom nothing may be taken away by him that
hainous offences he should become Fortunate so that he became a deadly foe unto the Catholick i. e. Universal or General Christian Faith under which was raised the Eighth Persecution against the Christians Of Dionysius constancy and fidelity in the time of Tryaly of his Banishment and Suffering In as much saith Dionysius as it is commendable to conceal the secrecy of the King and Glorious to publish abroad the Works of God forthwith then will I shew the willfulness of Germanus a Bishop who at times Backbited Dion I came unto Aemilianus with some of the Brethren And Aemil. said not unto me specially raise no Conventicle i. e. a small Assembly commenly for Evil for this would have been Superfluous i. e. that which is too much And the last of all he having recourse unto that which was first his speech was not of making no Conventicles but that we should be no Christians at all and commanded me to cease henceforth from Christianity For he thought that if I altered mine Opinion divers others would follow me I made him answer neither unreverently nor tediously That we ought to obey God rather than Man Yea I spoke with open protestation I worshiped God which is only to be worshiped and no other neither will I be changed neither cease henceforth from being a Christian This being said he commanded us to depart to a certain Village adjoyning upon the Desert called Cephro afterwards Dionysius with others were brought forth and Aemilianus sat in the Presidents room and said I have here signified by word unto you the Clemency i. e. gentleness or mercy of our Liege and Lord the Emperours towards you They have granted you Pardon so that you turn unto that which Nature it self doth bind you unto so that you Adore i. e. Worship the Gods which guard the Empire and forget the things which Repugn i. e. Resist Nature What answer make you unto these I hope you will not Ungratefully i. e. Unthankfully refuse their Clemency insomuch as they Counsel you to the better Dionysius answered All men do not worship all Gods but several men do worship several Gods whom they think good to be worshiped But we Worship and Adore the one God the Worker of all things c. Then Aemilianus the President said What lett is there I beseech you but that naturally you adore that your God insomuch as he is a God together with these our Gods Dionysius said We Worship no other Gods To whom Aemili the President said I see you are altogether unthankful you perceive not the Clemency of the Emperour wherefore you shall not remain in this City but shall be sent into the Parts of Lybia unto a place called Cephro this place by the Commandment of the Emperour I have picked out for you It shall not be lawful for you and others to frequent Conventicles neither to have recourse as they call them unto Church-Yards If any of you be not found in that place which I have appointed for you or in any Conventicle let him under his peril There shall not want sufficient Provision depart therefore whither you are commanded So he commanded me saith Dionysius although sickly to depart with speed not deferring no not one day Afterwards he wrote thus Truly we are not absent no not from the corporal Congregation of the Lord i. e. from some that were of or belonging to the Body for saith he I gather such as are in the City as if I were present being indeed absent in the Body but present in the Spirit And there continued with us in Cephro a great Congregation partly of the Brethren which followed us from out of the City and partly of them which came out of Egypt and there God opened to me a door unto his Word that was in the place to which he was banished yet at the beginning we suffered persecution and stoning but at the length not a few of the Painims i. e. Country-men forsaking their carved Images were converted For unto such as before had not received then first of all we preached the Word of God and insomuch as therefore God had brought us among them after that the Ministry was there compleat he to wit Aemilianus removed us unto another place which was thought to be more rough I hearing we must depart from thence and knowing not the place whither we were commanded to go neither remembred I that ever afore I heard it named for all that took my Journey willingly and cheerfully Yet here I will accuse my self for at the first I fretted and took it very grievously If Places better known and more frequented had fallen unto our Lot it should never have grieved me but that Place whither I should repair was reported to be destitute of all Brotherly and Friendly Consolation subject to the troublesome Tumult of Travellers and violent Invasion i. e. assault of Thieves Moreover he relates how Germanus peradventure gloried of many Confessions and could tell a long Tale of the Afflictions which he endured But what can be repeated on our behalf Sentences of Condemnation Confiscations i. e. Forfeiture of their Goods to the Emperor or King's use Prescriptions i. e. Banishment or open sale made of their Goods spoiling of Substance deposition of Dignities i. e. deprivation of Honour no regard of worldly Glory contempt of the Praises due unto Presidents and Consuls threatning of the Adversaries the suffering of Reclamations i. e. Gainsayings Perils Persecutions Errors Griefs Anguishes and sundry Tribulations c. Yea there were Men Women young Men old Men Virgins and old Women Souldiers and simple Men of all sorts and sects of People whereof some after stripes and fire were crowned Victors i. e. Conquerors some after Sword some other in small time sufficiently tried seemed acceptable Sacrifices unto the Lord. And yet to this day said he the President ceaseth not cruelly to slay some that are brought forth to tear in pieces othersome with Torments to consume other with imprisonment and Fetters commanding that none come nigh them and enquiring daily if any such Men be attainted i. e. convicted or proved guilty of some great Crime Yet for all that GOD refresheth the Afflicted with chearfulness and frequenting of the Brethren How Persecution ceased When Valerianus's Son got the Supremacy i. e. chief Place Rule or Authority he wrote unto the Bishops as followeth The Emperor Caesar P. L. c. unto D. P. D. together with the rest of the Bishops sendeth greeting The Benefit of our gracious Pardon we command to be published throughout the whole World that they which are detained in Banishment depart the Places inhabited of Pagans i. e. Heathens For the execution whereof the Copy of this our Edict i. e. Proclamation or Decree shall be your discharge lest any go about to molest you And this which you now may lawfully put in ure i. e. use was granted by us long ago Marinus a Souldier suffered
have died in Prison as some did in the aforesaid Persecution where they-Sealed their Testimony with their Blood as many have done before them And sometimes it hath hapened that Affliction hath been added to the Bonds of some of the true Christians when they have told a Judge or an Inferior Officer that Malefactors have had more freedom and liberty then they and more favour shewn them by such as were in place of Trust and this hath been manifest enough in many parts of the Nation as is well knowd to many The Fifth Persecution IN the year 201. did the fifth Persecution begin under the Emperor Severus which was hence in part occasioned to wit when the Emperor had a War and had gotten the Victory the Christians kept themselves Still without making tokens of Joy with Fires or May-polls or other Triumphs according to the manner of the Heathen Whereupon they accused the Christians out of Envy as if they had despised and hated the Emperour and the rather because the Christians would not Swear by his Fortune Again they reported that the Christians blew out their Candles in their Meeting in the Evenings and that they did behave themselves unseemly one towards another so that the Christians were despised of almost all Something to this purpose Tertullian rehearseth saying The Heathen accused the Christians of Meeting together to Sacrifice a Child and after they had taken away his Life in a Barbarous Superstition that then they committed Incest i. e. Carnal knowledge betwixt near Kindred they also added That the Christians had Doggs which served to overthrow the Candles and loosing all shame in taking the Lights from them and covering their Actions under the vaile of Darkness Emboldened them to seek the use of Ungodly and Sacrilegious i. e. Abominable pleasures Again said he The Christians were accused of Sacriledge i. e. an abusing of Sacraments or Holy Misteryes for they did not Solemnize with the Heathen the days they Feasted on in Honour to the Emperours with all kind of Beastly Ceremonies Repugnant i. e. contrary to the Christians Modesty Chastity and Purity In those days it was a manner among the Christians not to go to any Comedies or Stage-Plays for they understood that if they did forsake the Devil and all his Works with the World that then they must forsake Comedies and Stage-plays Moreover the Christians said We renounce i. e. resign or refuse your Shews as we condemn their divers Originals by the knowledge we have that they are effects of Superstition and Idolatry c. Note Doth it not from hence plainly appear that the Tokens of Triumph which are used by Anti-Christians in England are Heathenish Inventions and Traditions in which many have been found of late who profess themselves to be Christians Did not many of our English People who glory so much of Christianity make Bone-fires so called set up May-poles and In and With such like Heathenish Inventions Tryumph when the King was Proclaimed when he came to London and when he was Crowned And did not then the true Christians that Feared the Lord keep themselves Still and Quiet like unto the antient Christians And were not they judged to be Enemies to the King and Despisers of him because they did not run with the Multitude to the like excess of Vanity But renounced their Idolatrous Superstitious Shewes which many did not only produce upon the times before mentioned but which are produced by Popishly affected Anti-christians upon their Popish Holy but rather Prophane Days and upon their Mayor Days even like unto the Heathen whose manner was to set forth such vain Shews upon the days on which they Feasted in whose practise the Anti-Christians are now found who also are offended as the Heathen were when they that fear the Lord do not observe their days and times which they or the Heathen have appointed to be Solemnized which sometime they spend in Voluptuousness Fulness and Excess with all kind of Beastly Ceremonies as Tertullian well calls them which are now indeed as disagreeing and contrary to Christians Modesty Chastity and Purity as the Ceremonies were which the Heathen joyned the Christians to observe Moreover the true Christians have been the rather supposed to be Evilly affected to the KING and to be despisers of him because they can no more take the Oaths of Allegance i. e. Obedience of a Subject to his Prince and Supremay i. e. chief Authority then the Christians heretofore could swear by the Emperours Fortune for the true Christians now are of Basilides mind who said It did not become him to swear because he was a Christian neither would it become them now to do that which their Lord and Master hath forbid who said Swear not at all Again Have not the true Christians been also upbraided with such false Accusations as if they put out their Candles and did behave themselves uncivilly in the Evening Meetings but let such as have thus falsly accused them see in whose steps and practise they are found Moreover it appears that it was the practise of the Heathen to have Comedies or Stage-Playes but the Christians manner then was not to go to them and behold it is not the manner now of Antichristians to have Comedies but the manner of the good Christians is not to come at them except it be to bear a Testimony against them wherefore may not even little Children judge that they who have their Comedies for their pastime at set times and appointed places that such are in the nature and practise of the Heathen who derided the Christians and said Their pleasures were not the Christians and therefore they had Reason to reject the things which pleased them as they said even as Anti-Christians now reject Piety and Godliness which pleaseth the true Christians who have pleasure in the Lord and not in Unrighteousness in which the Apostatized Christians now take pleasure as the Heathen herefore have done The Sixth Persecution IN the year 237. did the Sixth Persecution under the Emperour Maximinus arise who partly out of Envy to his Kinsman Alexander who had been favourable to the Christians did persecute the Christians In which persecution there were many put to death For the Heathen in those days were so spiteful against the Christians that when there was an Earth-Quake or a storm or the like they laid the blame upon the Christians saying Their Gods were Angry because their Honour went to nothing through the Christians This Emperour did not Raign very long therefore did this Persecution cease the sooner Note The same spirit of Envy which was in the Heathen hath often appeared in the Anti-Christians against the true Christians in these latter days who have boren a faithful Testimony against the vain Honour of false Christians which must be brought to nothing by the Power and People of God even as the Honour of the Gods of the Heathen was brought to nothing by the Antient-Christians
who could not bow to the Gods of the Heathen no more then the true Christians now can bow to the corrupt wills of Ambitious and unreasonable men and though the Innocent suffer therefore for the present yet for their sakes will the Lord shorten the days of the Wicked as he did the days of that Persecuting Emperour The Seventh Persecution IN the year 253. did the Seventh Persecution arise under the Emperour Decius who with Excessive Cruelty did Persecute the Christians In this Persecution several of the Bishops were put to death and such as were the chief among the Christians did they torture with many Torments and the Houses of the Christians they Plundred and that which the Plunderers did not esteem that they burned In this Persecution many suffered Martyrdom some being Burned some Beheaded Women so well as Men some being whipt to death and some Souldiers for Incouraging these Martyrs in their Suffering were put to death In this Terrible Persecution several departed from the Faith for fear of the Torments yet afterwards came to be restored again the Suffering of the Christians was great under this Emperour but his days were also shortened for he had not Raigned two years but was caught in a Whag of Mire where he met with a check or Reproof for his cruelty Note Thus it appears that the Christians that lived Godly in Christ-Iesus suffered Persecution according to what the Apostle hath said 2 Tim. 3 12. And many now that live Godly and Righteously do suffer not only the Imprisonment of their Bodies but also the Spoyling of their Goods which have been Spoyled both by Priests and People who have sometime as it were Plundred their Houses for their dishonest gain and they have shewed themselves in their carriage and behaviour to be liker unto the Heathen then the suffering Christians who suffered their Houses to be Plundred but we do not Read that they then Plundred the Houses of any but with patience suffered the Plundring of their Goods and in this patience and long Suffering are the Christians that are so not in Name only but in Nature found in these Perillous times Again have not some Souldiers been turned out of their places yea and brought into suffering for countenancing and favouring the Sober Innocent true Christians among whom some for fear of Suffering may in some respect desert the Truth as some faithless ones among the ancient Christians did yet we know certainly there are a Remnant that cannot bow their knee to Baall but would chuse rather to die the death which many ancient Christians suffered then they will forsake the Lords Truth or Transgress his Righteous Law by breaking his commands The Eighth Persecution IN the year 259. did the eighth Persecution arise under the Emperour Valerianus who put forth a Proclamation against the Christians wherein he forbad their Meetings and when this Proclamation or Order was not observed then did there follow a great Persecution of the Christians in which there was very many put to death and some were Banished and they converted of the Heathen in the place to which they were Banished but the Emperour under whom the Christians thus suffered did not go unreproved for his cruelty for he was taken Prisoner by the King of Persia who made use of him for a Foot-stool when he got up upon his Horse c. Note Hath it not happned so in England that by the Kings Proclamation the Meetings of the true Christians have been forbidden And when that they observed the Kings Proclamation no more then the antient Christians observed the Emperours hath not a great Persecution followed have not many of the Prisons he silled with them partly because they could not Swear and partly because they continved their Meetings when they were forbidden by the Kings Proclamation as the Religion of the Christians was forbidden by the Laws of the Heathen and therefore did the Heathen with much rigour pronounce these words unto the Christians Your Religion is forbidden by the Laws c. And did not Anti-christians the like when they abused them in their Meetings and broke them up with much Violence did they not also pronounce these words with much Rigour Your Meetings are forbidden by the Kings Proclamation c. And forasmuch as the true Christians now have chused rather to suffer Bonds and Imprisonment yea the spoyling of their Goods and what not then they would renounce the Faith deny their Religion or forsak the Assembling of themselves together it doth therefore appear that the same mind is found in them now which was heretofore in the antient Christians who chused rather to suffer the loss of their Lives then to forsake him for whose cause they suffered yet we see their Persecutors did not always go unreproved Oh! that other Kings Princes and Magistrates would take warning from that which happened to these Persecuting Emperours The Ninth Persecution IN the year 273. did the ninth Persecution arise under the Emperour Aurelianus but this Persecution was not so great as the other because he was cut off by death soon after he had determined the same yet in this Persecution was Felix the Bishop of Rome put to Death with several others here and there in divers places Note Often doth the Lord frustate the purposes and Determinations of such as conspire Mischief against his People yea have we not seen sundry Powers overturned in England and Parliments broken up and Councels if not Committees also shattered to pieces when they have been determined to do Wickedly so that sometime they have not had power to bring that forth which they had Conceived and brought to the Birth so mightily hath the Lord confounded their Conspiracies and brought their devices to nought and this the true Christians have concluded to be the Lords doing which they have beheld and which thing hath been indeed marvelous in their Eyes The Tenth Persecution IN the year 302. begun the Tenth Persecution which was so great that it exceeded all that had been before it not only in cruelty but in continuance for it continued 12 Years Eusebius who lived at that time Writes of it at large in his Eclesiastical History saying it was occasioned through the freedom of the Christians who were come into great Reputation and were put in places of Office to Rule in Countrys and Cities but through their prosperity and voluptuousness Brotherly Love came to decrease Haughtyness and Pride got up and in stead of the worship of God an insolent authority begun to get up in the Church of the Christians And at that time the Emperour Diocletianus gave forth a Proclamation wherein he commanded that all the Christian Churches should be pulled down and the Holy Scriptures Burned and that the Christians should be turned out of their places with other such like things After that there came another Order that they should cause the chief of of the Church to offer unto Idols or else they were to be put to
death then did they begin to Rack Torture and put to death such as resisted and some were constrained to offer This Persecution hegun as a little sparke but it spread over the whole Church and the Persecution was so hot and great that the Persecutors themselves were troubled if not wearyed In Syria there was so many of the Chritians in hold that their Prisons were filled with them and with joy they went unbound to their death Eusebius Writes how that many of the Christians had their Ears cut off and their Noses slit and other of their Members were cut off also but they who caused it to be thus done unto the Christians did not escape the Hand of the Lord For Diocletianus who had endeavoured to root out the Name of Christians did nevertheless see in his Old Age that the Christians flourished at which he was troubled and killed himself and Maximinianus another Persecutor was terribly perplexed with Pain in his Bowels and other Misery which came upon him the Hand of the Lord was heavy upon others who had Persecuted the Christians yea and some was made to confess that they had deserved the Iudgement from the Hand of the Lord. Note As the Christians were then much prejudiced by their external Prosperity and Preferment so have many Thousands been Since And it's like the most of the Sects that are yet in being among the Christians may experience somthing of this to wit that their great external liberty and Prosperity in the flesh with their Promotion and Preferment in the World hath been a great Snare unto them as it was unto the Antient Christians who afterwards felt the Chastizing hand of the Lord and if all wanton Persecuting Christians in Europe and all the World over felt the same it might I am perswaded be good for the humbling of them who have exalted themselves higher then ever the Lord exalted them and so are become Haughty and insolent the Brotherly Love being Extinguished and so have set up an Usurpation of Authority in matters of Religion concerning the Worship of God But Oh will not the Lord visit for these things will he not avenge his Soul of such Hypocritical Anti Christians who are now found Persecuting and shamefully intreating the Lambs of God with whom in those latter days Prisons have been filled and some of them have had their Ears cut off and the Lives of others have been taken away and that by professing but Persecuting Christians who have run on in their Blind Zeal in Persecuting the Innocent and Harmless Christians and sometime the remakeable hand of the Lord hath been upon their Persecutors though others have not laid it to Heart yet they that have felt it have Mourned under it and therefore true is that saying Qui ante non cavet post dolebit The Eleventh Persecution IN the year 316 did the Eleventh Persecution of the Christians arise under the Emperour Licinius who formerly had been inclining to the Christians and a favourer of them yet afterwards did he Imitate the Wickedness and Impiety of other Tyrants for he by his Injunctions gave Commandment that no Charrity should be extended to the Christians for they that shewed them favour were to be Punished like the rest In this Persecution the Bodies of some were cut in small pieces and thrown into the Sea for to feed the Fish And the flattering Presidents to gratify this Tyrant Tormented such as had done no Evil even as if they had been Murtherers but when the Emperour Constantine could bear his Wickedness no longer he made War with him and overcame him then did this Persecution cease by whose means also the Christians lived in External Peace and Tranquillity but after this Peace there ensued Wars and deadly hatred among the Christians themselves Note Many were the Tribulations of the Antient Christians during the time of these Persecutions whereof I writ howbeit it is very like that then true Brotherly Love abounded among them and that they had a perfect fellow feeling of one anothers Sufferings for their Hearts was bound up in the bond of Love while they were kept in the unity of the Faith and exercised together in the fellowship of the sufferings of the Gospel But when these profitable Chastizments ceased and that they who succeeded in the places of those Persecutors became the great Friends and Favourers of the Christians so that they thereby came to enjoy external Peace ease in the Flesh and liberty in the outward How soon then did they Entertain Prejudice and Evil surmizing one against another how then did they begin to rend and tear one another and that often about their Bishopricks an Benefects How then did they run into Sects heaps and Partys and how did they weary the Emperour their special Friend with their complaints one against another and with the perpetul strife and division that superabounded among them To demonstrate these things at large would require a greater Volum then I intend to make at this time and particularly to prescribe them would ask more time then at present I have to spend about this matter yet thus much I may avouch or boldly affirm that in those days many evils crept in among Christians which unto this day could not be totally excluded root and Branch And about that very time when the Church was thought to Flourish most of all did many hurtful Weeds and degenerat Plants took rooting which have much more thriven and grown among the Anti-Christians then the Seed of the Kingdom which Seed hath been so overgrown and overtopt that that little which yet thereof remains is as hard to be found now in the Children of Men as Faith wili be to be found upon the Earth at the coming of the Son of Man The Twelfth Persecution IN the year 362 did the Twelfth Persecution arise under the Emperour Julianus the Apostate i. e. one that revolted from true Religion who had been accounted a Christian but was an Hyprocritical dissembler and counterfeated a Monkish life who being sent into France by the Emperour to make War with the Barbarians and obtaining some notable Victories was afterwards Proclaimed Emperour by the Souldiers and then did he set wide open the Temples and Idoll groves and Sacrificed to Pictures and Intituled himself an High Priest Then the Pagans at Alexandria stomaked the Christians and that the more because they went about to disclose unto the World the Pagans Pictures to the end their fond Ceremonies might be derided of all Men Whereupon they Boyled within themselves for Anger and took what first came to their Hands set upon them and Slew of them every kind of way so that some were run through with Swords some others Brained with Clubs other some Stoned to Death some Strangled with Haltors about their Necks in the end as commonly it falleth out in such hurly-burlies they held not their Hands from their dearest Friends for one Brother sought the other Brothers Life
they were to be Burned And all other sorts of people that were baptized or had entertained any of the aforesaid Anabaptists though they renounced that oppinion and were truly sorry for what they had done yet were they to be drowned And for the better manifesting of the Wederdoopers the Emperour expressly commanded all his Subjects that they manifested the same to the Officer of the place where they lived or where they were found And if any knew of them and did not manifest the same to the Officer or Officers of the place such were to be punished as Favourers of complyers with and adhaerents to the aforesaid Sect And such as did discover the same were to have the third part of the partys confiscated goods Moreover he forbad all his Subjects to re-require or further any mercy favour or forgivness for the aforesaid Wederdoopers or Anabaptists or to occasion request or shew any petition on their behalf in pain of being arbitrarily punished Forasmuch as he would not allow that any of the aforesaid people because of their Wicked oppinion as he called it should be received into mercy or favour but they should be severly punished to be made examples to the rest without any dissimulation favour or delay This was given out at Brussel and Printed the 10 day of Iuly so called Anno 1535. When this same came to be Proclaimed most terrible Persecutions did follow and great Havock was made of these People The cruelty of their Persecutors towards them the severity oâ—… their Punishments by terrible Tortures and sad Imprisonments with the sundry sorts of Cruel Deaths which they suffered in this sore Persecution would be to tedious for me now to rehearse perticulerly together with the reproach of the Wicked the threatning of Tyrants how they would not fly when they were apprehended though sometimes they had oppertunity how they were hindred from praying at the time of execution how the Rulers were devided among themselves concerning them and somtimes the wrath of the furious Magistrats was mitigared and they brought to a sence of the suffering Sufferers and laid down their Commissions comforted the Sufferers and prayed for Forgiveness And likewise how the Sufferers were prevented from Speaking sometimes with Bridles sometimes with Balls in their Mouths and sometimes with Cords or Ropes sometimes by Drums sometimes having their Tongue bound with other Inhumane Devices And what Iudgment fell upon their Persecutors These things to demonstrate at large I say would require a far greater Volume than I am now determined to publish and them to Compose Translate and Transcribe would ask more time than I can now well spare having the weight of a weightier Service upon me yet for the Reader 's better satisfaction I shall here rehearse what Articles were charged against one of them with a hint of the manner of this suffering whereby he may the better judge how and for what the rest suffered First Article THat he and his Adhaerents had done contrary to the Emperours Proclamation 2. That he had taught and believed that the Sacrament was not the Body and Blood of Christ 3. That he had taught and believed that Infant Baptisme was not profitable to Salvation 4. That he had rejected the Sacrament of Anointing with Oyle 5. That he had rejected and despised Mary the Mother of God 6. That he had said that Men should not Swear to or before the Magistrate 7. That he had begun a new and an unheard of Custome of the Lords Supper laying Bread and Wine in a Platter and hath eaten the same 8. That he was gone out of the Order and had taken a Wife 9. That he had said If the Turk came into the Country he would not resist him and that if it were lawsul to Fight he would rather drawâ—…a Sword against the Christians than against the Turks These were the Articles that were drawn up against him which were looked upon as hainous things against their Holy Faith and their Mother the Holy Church as they called it and especially the last of the nine concerning which he gave them this reason saying Den Turck is een rechten Turck ende en weet van dat Christen Geloove niet ende is een Turck mae den vleesche Maet shy wilt Christenen zijn ende veroemt u Christi maer â—…hy vervolght de broom Getuygen Christi ende zijt Curcken na den Geest Which by Interpretation is The Turk is a right Turk and knoweth nothing of the Christian Faith and so is a Turk according to the Flesh But you will be Christians and you will Glory of Christ and yet persecuted the honest or Faithful Witnesses of Christ and so are Spiritually Turks Afterwards the Magistrates laughed at his answer and reason cast their heads together and the Recorder spoke to him saying Yen thou Infamous Devil and Monk should men dispute with thee yea the Hangman shall dispute with thee believe me that Michael Sadler for so he was called said What the Lord will that shall come to pass Recorder Thou devilish Heretick I tell thee that if there were not a Hangman I would hang thee my self and think that I did God good service thereby After other words that passed betwixt them there was one that stood by M. S. and drew out a Sword that lay upon the Table saying to M. With this shall Men dispute with thee When some asked him why he did not continue a Lord in the Cloyster he answered and said That according to the Flesh he was a Lord but said he it is better to be thus After these things had passed his Sentence was read which was to this purpose That he should be delivered over to the Hangman and that he should cut out his Tongue and that afterwards he should be cast upon a Waggon and that his Flesh should be twice torn with Hot Glowing Tongues and that afterwards he should be brought withhot the Port and there Tortured and afterwards as a Heretick Burned to Ashes Thus it was done to him and so was he Martyred his Brethren were Executed with the Sword his Wife and Sisters were Drowned Anno 1527. And these were the fruits of the False Christians who were become as cruel Persecutors as the Iews and Heathen had done of the true Christians which thing I determined to manifest according to what I have in part done through the help and assistance of him that put it into my heart to undertake this matter The People that suffered in this Persecution were upbraided with Ian van Leyden his Consorts and that bloody and ambitious Insurrection which happened at Munster even as the Christian-Quakers have been upbraided with that infortunate and unhappy Insurrection which of late happened through wilful Men at London Note The Baptists themselves do confess that they are very much fallen and degenerated from that state and condition in which they were that then suffered Martyrdom How the Papists once cryed out against forcing of Conscience How Calvin was against
indicting himself for this Fact and pleading Guilty when the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the Raiment of them that Slew him Acts 22. 20. God chiefly inspects the Heart and if the Vote be passed there writes the man Guilty though he stur no farther in all moral Actions God values the will for the deed the storm thus increased apace and a violent persecution began to arise in which our Apostle was a prime Agent and Minister Raging about in all Parts with a mad and ungoverned Zeal searching for the Saints beating some imprisoning others and procuring them to be put to death indeed he was a kind of Inquisitor imployed to hunt and find out these upstart Hereticks accordingly took a Warrant and Commission to go down to Damascus in fury and a misguided Zeal whether many of those persecuted Christians had fled for shelter but God who had designed him for a work of another nature and separated him from his Mother's womb to the Preaching of the Gospel stopt him in his journey as Acts 22. 9. and he fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me and he went to Damascus another man from a Persecutor he became one of the Persecuted from hence he Traveled to Arabia and spent three years in the Ministery there and then retunned to Damascus a great and populus City from hence he went to Ierusalem and converst with Peter and Iames it was at Antioch about the beginning of Claudious's Reign ten years after Christ's Ascension where the Desiples was first called Christians being usually stiled before Nazarens from Jerusalem he set Sail to Cyprus and planted Christianity there and now the Old Spirit of the Iews did begin to hunt and persue them who coming from Antioch and Iconium exasperated and stired up the multitude and they who just before accounted them as Gods used them not only worse then men but slaves for in a mighty Rage they fell upon Paul stoned him and as they thought Dead and then drag'd him out of the City where the Christians of that place coming probable to Inter him he suddenly Revived and Rose up among them and the next day went hence to Debe and so Traveled to several places to Confirm the new planted Church he was Imprisoned and Ill-used at Phylippi His Parents were Tent Makers by Trade Preaching Christ at Jerusalem Italy Spain Labouring much among the Gentiles suffered at Rome under Nero as he was leading to Execution it is said Three of the Soulders that Guarded him seeing his Courage become Christians and suffered Death he kneeled down and his head strucken off with a Sword as some write in the 68 year of his Age and was buried with Peter The description of his Person He was a Man said to be of Low and tittle Stature and somewhat stooping his Complection fair his Countenance grave his head small his Eyes carried a kind of beauty and sweetness in them that he was Low himself plainly intimates when he tells us they were wont to say of him that his bodily person was weak and his speech contemptable in which respect he is stiled by Chrysostom a Man Three Cubits or a little more than four Foot high and yet tall enough to reach Heaven The Life of Andrew HIstory which hath hitherto been very Large and Copius in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles is hence forward very sparing in its accounts giving us only now and then a few oblique and accidental Remarks concerning the Rest and some of them no farther mentioned than the meer recording of their Names for what Reason it pleased the divine Wisdom and Providence that no more of their Acts should be consigned to writing by the Pen Men of Old is to us unknown Andrew was Born at Bethsaida a City of Galile standing upon the bank of the Lake of Genesareth Son to John or Jonas a Fisher-man of that Town Brother he was to Simon Peter he had Scythia and the Neighbouring Country primary alloted him for his Provinces first then he Traveled through Cappadocia Galatia and Bithynia and Instructed them in the Faith of Christ. Passing all along the Euxine Seas formerly called Axenus from the Barbarous and Inhospitable temper of the People who were wont to sacrificed strangers and of their Skulls make Cups to drink in at their Feasts and Banquets he was brought before the Proconsul who perswaded him that he would not foolishly destroy himself but live and injoy with him the pleasures of this Life the Apostle after many more words replyed that now he saw it was in vain any longer to deal with him a person incapable of sober Counsel and hardened in his on blindness and folly he might now do his worst and if he had one Torment greater than another he might heap that upon him the greater constancy he shewed in his suffering for Christ the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master the Procounsul first Commanded him to be scourged seven lashes successively whipping his naked body and seeing his invincable patience and constancy Commanded him to be Crucified but not to be fastned to the Cross with Nails but Cords that so his death might be the more lingering and tedious as he was led to Execution to which he went with a chearful and composed mind the People Cried out that he was an innocent and good Man being come within sight of the Cross he saluted it with this kind adress that he had long desired and expected that happy hour thus having prayed and exhorted the People to constancy and perceverance in that Relgion he was fastned to the Cross whereon he hung two days teaching and instructing the People all the time and when great importunities in the mean while was used to the Proconsul to spare his Life he earnestly begs of the Lord that he might at this time depart and seal the Truth of his Religion with his blood God heard his prayers and he immediately expired in the 9th month though in what year no certain account can be Recorded his Body being taken down and Embalmed was decently and honourably Interred by Maximilla a Woman of great Quality and Estate JAMES The Son of Zebede a Fisher-man by Birth a Galilean suppos'd to be one of the Brethren that their Mother asked that one might sit at the right hand and the other at the left hand of Jesus in his Kingdom he Preach't Christ unto the 12 Tribes some write that he came to Spain and other Western parts and also Britain Ireland he was slain with a Sword by Herod the Tetrach of the Jews in Judaea where he was buried JOHN The Brother of James by Birth a Galilean Preach't Christ in Asia coming near Rome was accused to the Emperor as an Assertor of Athesim and Subvertor of the Religion of the Empire whereupon he was sent bound to Rome and put into a Coldron