that she began to waver and let go her first faith this the adversaries much rejoyced in and the poor flock of Christ in that place hearing of it were as much afflicted with the news but God left them not in this mournful condition long For a Monk one day going to her perswaded her to draw her sonne Martin to the same recantation with her self which she promised to do but when they came together Martin perceiving the grievous Apostacy of his Mother bewailed it with many tears saying to her Oh Mother what have you done have you denied him that redeemed you Alas what injury hath he done you that you should requite him with so great an injury and dishonour Now am I plunged into that woe which I most feared Ah good God that I should live to see this which pierceth me to the very heart His mother hearing his pittiful complaints and seeing him drowned in tears for her sake began again to renew her strength in the Lord and with tears cryed out Oh Father of mercies be merciful to me miserable sinner and cover my transgression under the righteousnesse of thy blessed Son Lord enable me with strength from above to stand to my first confession and make me to abide stedfast therein even to my last breath Presently in came the seducers hoping to finde her in the same minde that they left her but she no sooner saw them but cryed Avoid Satan get thee behind me for henceforth thou hast nether part nor portion in me I will by the help of God stand to my first Confession and if I may not sign it with ink I will seal it with my blood and so after this time through Gods gracious assistance she grew stronger and stronger Then were they both condemned to be burnt alive and their ashes to be sprinkled in the aire When the sentence was passed as they returned to prison they said Now blessed be God who causeth us thus to triumph over our enemies This is the wished hour our gladsome day is come let us not therefore forget to be thankfull for that honour that God doth us in thus conforming us to the image of his Sonne Let us remember those that have troden this path before us for this is the high-way to the Kingdom of heaven c. Hereupon some of the Friars being ready to burst for anger said unto Martin that was most valiant We see now Heretick that thou art wholly possest body and soul with a Divel as were thy father and brother who are now in hell Martin answered As for your railings and cursings God will this day turn them into blessings in the sight of himself and all his holy Angels When they came into prison there came to them two persons of great quality of whom one of them said to Martin Young man I have compassion on thee if thou wilt be ruled by me and return to the Church of Rome thou shalt not only be freed from this shameful death but I will also give thee an hundred pounds Martin presently replyed Sir you present before me many temporal commodities But alas do you think me so simple as to forsake an eternal Kingdome for the enjoyment of a short temporal life No Sir it s now too late to speak to me of worldly commodities I will hearken to no other speech but of those spiritual commodities which I shall enjoy this day in Gods Kingdome c. Soon after Martin and his mother were carried to the place of their Martyrdome and being bound to the stake the woman said We are Christians and that which we now suffer is not for murther nor theft but because we will believe no more than the Word of God teacheth us The fire being kindled the heat of it did nothing abate the fervency of their seal but they continued crying Lord Jesus into thy hands we commend our spirits and so they blessedly slept in the Lord. A Friar at Gaunt called Charles Coninck being through Gods mercy converted to the truth left his Friars weed and joyned himself to the brethren for which he was apprehended and remaining constant was condemned then came a special friend perswading him to recant and he would procure him a Cannonship To whom Charles answered Sir I thank you for your good will and kind offer but I cannot accept them without offending God and that rest is no true rest and quietnesse which is obtained against the peace of a good conscience Shortly after his death one of his adversaries which had the greatest hand in procuring of it fell into grievous terrour and horrour of conscience whereof within a few dayes he died The Persecution of the Duke de Alva in the Netherlands WHen the light of the Gospel was much spread abroad in the Netherlands King Philip of Spaine sent the Duke de Alva with a great Army to root out the Professors of it who exercised unparalell'd cruelty against all sorts of persons both of the Nobility and Commons permitting his souldiers to ravish honest Matrons and Virgins many times causing their husbands and Parents to stand by and behold it This Duke on a time boasted at his own table that he had been diligent to root out heresie for that beside those which he had slain in war in the space of six years he had put into the hands of the common hangman above eighteen thousand persons His sonne also Don Frederick being sent by him to Zutphen was re-received by the Bourgers without any opposition yet was he no sooner entred but he fell to murther hang and drown a number of the inhabitants with infinite cruelties shewed upon wives and virgins yea not sparing the very infants From thence marching to Naerden in Holland the inhabitants made an agreement with him and he entred the town peaceably but never did Turks or Scythians or the most barbarous and inhumane Nations in the world commit more abominable cruelties than Don Frederick did in this town for when the Bourgers had given the best entertainment that they could to him and his souldiers he caused it to be proclaimed that they should all assemble themselves together in the Chappel of the Hospital where they should be made acquainted with such Laws according to which they should hereafter govern themselves but when these poor people were thus assembled he commanded his souldiers to murther them all without sparing any one the men were massacred the women were first ravished and then murthered most cruelly the children and infants had their throats cut and in some houses they tied the inhabitants to posts and then set fire on the houses and burnt them alive so that in the whole town neither man wife maid nor child old nor young were spared and then the town was wholly razed to the ground without pity or mercy After this Don Frederick besieged Harlem which held out against him for a long time
condemned to be burnt but he told his Judges that his time was not yet come and so it fell out for shortly after he was removed to Ferrara where he continued in prison two years Then was he again condemned by the Popes Inquisitors and yet his time being not come he remained a good while after in prison in which time many godly people came to visit him which caused the Pope to commâ—â—d him to be kept more strictly Then was he kept close Prisoner for eighteen moneths wherein he endured many and great torments After this he was brought into another prison where were many Nobles great Lords and Captains for stirring up sedition who when they first heard him speak set him at naught and derided him and some of the gravest of them supposing it to be but a melancholy humour exhorted him to leave his opinion c. Faninus gave them thanks for their friendly good will but withal modestly and plainly he declared to them that the doctrine which he professed was no humour nor opinion of mans braine but the pure truth of God held forth in his Word which truth he was fully resolved never to deny c. With which instructions they were through the mercy of God clean altered in their carriage and judgement highly admiring and honouring him now whom a little before they derided and contemned Then did he proceed still to impart the Word of grace to them declaring that though he knew himself to be a miserable sinner yet through faith in Jesus Christ and his grace he was fully perswaded that his sins were forgiven assuring them likewise that if they did repent and believe on our Lord Jesus Christ they also should have their sinnes remitted unto them There were in that prison also some that having formerly lived very delicately could not now endure the hardship of prison to whom he administred much comfort in this their distresse insomuch as they rejoyced in â—hese their sufferings by which they had learned a better kind of liberty than ever they had before His Kinsfolk hearing of his imprisonment his wife and sister came to him pitifully weeping and intreating him to consider and remember his poor family c. To whom he answered that his Lord and Master had commanded him not to deny his truth for his families sake and that it was too much that once for their sakes he had fallen into that Cowardise which they knew of Therefore he desired them to leave him and not to solicit him any further in that kind for he knew that his end now drew near and so he commended them to the Lord. Presently after the Pope sent a command that Faninus should be executed whereof when an officer brought him word he much rejoyced at it thanking the Messenger Then did he begin to make a long exhortation to his fellow-prisoners about the felicity of the life to come He had life proffered him if he would recant and he was put in mind what a sad condition he would leave his wife and children in whereupon he answered that he had committed them to an Overseer that would sufficiently care for them and being asked who that was he answered Even the Lord Jesus Christ a faithful Keeper of all that are committed to him the next day he was removed into the common Prison and delivered to the secular Magistrate In all his words gestures and countenance he shewed such modesty constancy and tranquillity of mind that they which before extreamly hated him and thought that he had a devil began now favourably to hearken to him and to commend him yea with such grace and sweetnesse he spake of the Word of God that many of the Magistrates wives which heard him could not abstain from weeping yea the Executioner himself wept As he was going to execution one that saw him so merry and chearful asked him what was the reason of it whereas Christ before his death sweat blood and water To whom he answered that Christ sustained all the sorrows and conflicts with hell and death that were due to us that by his sufferings we might be freed from the sorrow and fear of them all At the place of execution after he had made his most earnest prayers to the Lord he meekly and patiently went to the stake where he was first strangled and afterwards burned And during the time of his burning there came a most fragrant and oderiferous smell to the Spectators the sweetnesse whereof did so delight and refresh their senses as his words would have done if they had heard him speak There was also one Dominicus sometimes a souldier under Charles the fifth in Germany where he received the first taste of the Gospel of Jesus Christ after which by his confâ—rence with learned men he much increased in knowledge insomuch as he was able to instruct others whereupon he returned into Italy and in the City of Naples he taught the Word of God to many Anno 1550. From thence he went to Placentia where he instructed the People also in many of the fundamentals of Religion promising that he would next speak to them of Antichrist whom he would paint out in his colours but when he came the next day he was apprehended by the Magistrate whom he readily obeyed saying that he wondered the devil had let him alone so long and being asked whether he would renounce his doctrine he answered that he maintained no doctrine of his own but the doctrine of Christ which also he was ready to seal with his blood giving hearty thanks to God for accounting him worthy to suffer for his name Then was he committed to a filthy and stinking prison where he remained some moneths and was often solicited to revoke his opinions or else he must suffer death but through Gods mercy nothing could remove him from his constancy being therefore condemned to death he was brought forth into the market-place where he most heartily prayed for his enemies instructed the People and then was hanged resting in peace in the Lord. In Saint Angelo there was an house of Augustine Friars to whom there often resorted a Friar from the City of Pavia who was a man very expert in the Scriptures and of godly conversation by whose labours not only divers of the Friars but other Townsmen were brought to the knowledge and love of Gods Word and amongst the rest one Galeacius Trecius a Gentleman of good quality very wealthy and bountiful to the poor was wrought upon to embrace the truth and was afterward much confirmed and strengthened by Caelius Secundus who being persecuted from Pavia came to this place After some time Galeacius having much profited in knowledge was inflamed with a godly zeal to promote and propagate the knowledge of the truth unto others But a light shining in such darknesse could not be long hid Insomuch as Anno 1551. he was apprehended and carried before the Bishop
sent me He hearing these things first as in a maze stood still lost his courage cast down his weapons then trembled and vvept bitterly and coming to the old man he embraced him with many tears only his right hand he kept hid and covered Then the Apostle after he had promised and assured him that he should obtain pardon of our Saviour falling upon his knees he prayed for him kissing his murthering right hand vvhich for shame he durst not shevv before and then brought him back to the Congregation where he fasted and prayed continually for him comforted and confirmed him with many Scripture-promises and left him not till he had restored him to his former Office and made him a great example of Gods Mercy to repentant sinners In this Persecution Simeon Bishop of Jerusalem after many torments was crucified to death and an innumerable company of Martyrs suffered for the like testimony of the Lord Jesus amongst whom vvas Flavia the daughter of Flavius Clemens a Roman Senator and Consul vvho amongst many others vvas banished into the Isle of Pontia This Lavv also vvas made by the Roman Senate Non debere demitti Christianos qui semel ad tribunal venissent nisi propositum mutent that Christians should not be let go that vvere once brought before the Tribunal seat except they renounced their Religion Yea that vvhich stirred up the Emperor more to persecute the Christians vvere those abominable lies and malicious slanders raised against them by the Heathen Idolaters as that they were a people that lived in incest that in their nightly meetings putting out the Candles they ran together in all filthy manner that they killed their ovvn Children and used to eat mans flesh that they vvere seditious and rebellious and refused to svvear by the fortune of Caesar and vvould not adore his Image in the Market place and in brief that they were pernicious to the Roman Empire yea whensoever any thing happened amiss to the City of Rome or to her Provinces either by famine pestilence Earth-quakes Wars unseasonable Weather c. it vvas presently imputed to the Christians Besides also there vvere a number of vvicked Promoters and Accusers that for lucre's sake to have the possessions of the Christians accused and persecuted them to the death Also vvhen the Christians vvere brought before the Magistrates they gave them an Oath requiring them to declare the truth vvhether they vvere Christians or no and if they confessed then by the Lavv sentence of death vvas passed against them Yet vvere not these Tyrants content by death to destroy their bodies but the kinds of death vvere divers and horrible vvhatsoever the cruelty of mans vvitty and vvicked invention could devise for the punishment of mans body vvas practised against the poor Saints of God Imprisonments Stripes Scourgings Rackings Tearings Stoning plates of iron burning hot laid to the tenderest parts of their bodies deep Dungeons strangling in Prisons the teeth of wild Beasts Gridirons Gibbits and Gallows Tossings upon the Horns of Bulls c. And when they were thus killed their bodies were laid on heaps and dogs left to keep them that none might come to bury them neither could any prayer or entreaty obtain leave that they might be interred Notwithstanding all which horrible punishments the Church of Christ daily increased being deeply rooted in the Doctrine of the Apostles and Apostolical men and watered plenteously with the blood of the Saints Also in this persecution Protasius and Gervasius were martyred at Millaine Timothy was stoned to death at Ephesus by the Worshippers of Diana Dionysius Areopagita was slain with the sword at Paris c. CHAP. IX The third Primitive Persecution which began Anno Christi 108. DOmitian being slain by some of his own servants Nerva succeeded him who was a good and mercifull man stayed the persecution against the Christians called them home from banishment so that the Church enjoyed peace in his time but he reigning only thirteen moneths Trajan a Spaniard succeeded him who in the tenth year of his reign raised the third persecution against the Church which was far more cruel then either of the former inasmuch as Plinius Secundus an heathen Philosopher seeing the lamentabte slaughter of the Christians moved with pity he wrote to Trajan concerning the same that whereas there were many thousands of them daily put to death there were none of them which did any thing contrary to the Roman Laws worthy of persecution saving that they used to gather together in the morning before day and sing Hymns to a certain God that they vvorshipped called Christ in other things they were godly and honest and for proof hereof saith he I caused two Maidens to be laid on the rack and with torments to be examined about the same but finding nothing in them but only lewd and immoderate superstition I resolved to surcease further enquiry till I received further instructions from you about this matter c. Trajan having read this Epistle returned answer that it was his mind that the Christians should not be sought after but if they were brought and convicted that then they should suffer execution whereof Tertullian speaking saith O confused sentence He would not have them sought for as men innocent and yet would have them punished as men guilty Now though upon this act the rage of the persecution was somewhat abated yet many evil disposed men and cruel Officers there were vvhich ceased not to afflict the Christians in divers Provinces especially if any commotion was raised in any of them then presently were the Christians blamed for it Trajan sent a command to Jerusalem that whosoever could be found out of the stock of David should be enquired for and put to death hereupon some Sectaries of the Jewish nation accused Simeon the son of Cleophas to come of Davids line and that he was a Christian of which Accusers it happened that some of them were taken to be of the stock of David and so most righteously were executed themselves who sought the destruction of others In this Persecution suffered Phocas Bishop of Pontus whom Trajan because he would not sacrifice to Neptune caused to be cast into a hot lime-kilne and afterwards to be put into a scalding bath where he ended his life in the cause of Christ As also Sulpitius Servilianus and Nereus and Achilleus suffered Martyrdom in Rome Sagaris in Asia Then also Ignatius Bishop of Antioch was apprehended and sent to Rome where he was devoured of wild beasts and besides these many thousand others After the death of Trajan succeeded Hadrian who continued this third persecution against the Chrstians at which time Alexander Bishop of Rome with his two Deacons as also Hermes and Quirinus with their families suffered Martyrdom Also about this time Zenon a noble man of Rome with above ten thousand more were slain for Christs sake Also
trust in my God that he will graciously accept my contrite spirit When upon the Scaffold the Jesuites exhorted him he listned not to them but turned from the Crucifix and falling down on his knees he prayed softly Then looking up towards heaven he cried They can take away the body but they cannot take away the soul O Lord Jesus I commend that unto thee and so he ended his life being fifty six years old The next was an aged man about seventy years old that had been long lame his crime was that he had assisted Frederick with his counsel and wealth at the time of his death he said O Lord Jesus who being innocent didst undergo death grant that I may die the death of the righteous and receive my soul into thy hands The next was the Lord of Rugenia a man of excellent parts and full of zeal for God when he was iudged to die he said that it was more welcome to him then if the Emperour had given him life and restored him to his estate with addition of more afterwards he said to the Minister God is our witnesse that we fought for nothing but the Liberty of Religion and in that we are overcome and condemned to die we acknowledge and finde that God will not have his truth defended by our swords but by our bloud c. When he saw divers called out before him he said What is the matter my God thou knowest that I resign my self wholly unto thee Ah do not despise thy servant but make haste to take me away and when the Sheriff came for him he rejoyced and said Praised be my God that I shall now be taken out of the world that I may be with Christ and so he went to meet him On the Scaffold he comforted himself with that promise Father I will that where I am my servants may also be to behold that glory which thou gavest me Therefore said he I make haste to die that I may be with Christ and see his glory and so he suffered Martyrdom couragiously The next was Valentine Cockan of about sixty years old During his imprisonment he was full of heavenly discourse and at the Scaffold he said Grant me O God to passe through this valley of death that I may presently see thee for thou knowest my God that I have loved thy word bring me O God through the paths of life that I may see fulnesse of joy in thy presence and kneeling down he said into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit and so holily ended his life The next was Toby Steffick a man of a composed temper and sincere in Religion he spent most of the time of his imprisonment in silent sighs and tears Before his Execution he said I have received many good things of the Lord all my life long shall I not therefore receive this cup of affliction I imbrace the will of God who by this ignominious death makes me conformable to his son and by a narrow way brings me to his heavenly Kingdom I praise God who hath joyned me undeservedly to these excellent men that I might receive with them the crown of martyrdom When he was called to die he said My Saviour being about to die said Father not as I will but as thou wilt thy will be done Shall I therefore who am but a worm yea dust and a shadow contradict his will far be it from me yea I come willingly my God only have mercy on me and cleanse me from my sins that no spot or rinckle may appear in me but that I may appear pure in thy sight and so he lifted up himself full of sighs yet full of hope and as he was praying he rendered up his spirit unto God Then was Jessenius a Doctor of Phisick called forth a man famous for piety and learning all over Europe Having hard his sentence he said You use us too cruelly and disgracefully but know that our heads shall be buried which you ignominiously expose for a spectacle which afterwards came to passe Anno 1631. when the King of Sweden with his Army took prague and caused the Martyrs heads to be taken from the Tower and solemnly and honourably buried When the Hangman required his tongue to cut it off he willingly put it out and falling upon his knees as he was praying his head was cut off his body quartered and set upon four stakes The next was Christopher Chober who much encouraged his fellow-Martyrs and then cited the words of Ignatius I am Gods corn and shall be ground with the teeth of wilde beasts So we saith he are Gods corn sown in the field of the Church and that we may be for our Masters use we are now to be torn by beasts but be of good chear the Church is founded in bloud and hath ever encreased by bloud God is able to raise up a thousand worshippers of himself out of every drop of our bloud for though truth now suffers violence yet Christ reigns and no man shall throw him from his Throne Being called to execution he said I come in the name of my God neither am I ashamed to suffer these things for his glory for I know whom I have beleeved I have fought the good fight of faith and finished my course c. then praying into thy hands Lord I commend my spirit he received the Crown of Martyrdom John Shultis was next who on the Scaffold said Why art thou so sad O my soul Hope thou in God for thou shalt yet praise him c. The righteous seem to die in the eyes of fools but indeed they go to their rest Lord Jesus thou hast promised that whoso comes to thee thou willt not cast off Behold I now come look on me pity me pardon my sins and receive my soul to thy self then kneeling down he said Come come Lord Jesus and doe not tarry and so he was he headed The next was Maximillian Hostialick a learned and pious man after his condemnation he was sadder then the rest and being asked by the Minister the reason of it he said The sins of my youth doe now come into my minde for though I know that nothing remains to condemn them which are in Christ Jesus yet I know that God exerciseth justice as well as mercy towards his own Being called to death he said Look upon me O Lord my God and lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death and lest mine enemies say We have prevailed Afterward repeating the words of Simeon Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation he was beheaded The next was John Kutnaur who when the Jesuites began to speak to them said Pray you trouble not our consciences we are sufficiently furnished against the fear of death we need none of your help and when they would have proceeded
imprisoned and whipt Some godly persons being met together with a Minister in a private Chappel two Colonels with some troops came upon them encompassed the Church rusht in with their drawn swords took the Minister from the Communion-table stript off his cloaths and sent him away to prison then they cast the bread upon the earth poured out the wine and trampled upon it Then they fell upon the people stripping men and women naked it being fâ—â—st and snow so that many of them died some were wounded others so affrighted that they fell into diseases Modestly forbids to tell how they used the women even in the Church Then came out an Edict that whosever refused to turn Papist whether men or women young or old bond or free their names should be returned to the Council of State who would give instructions what should be done with their persons and estates Marriage Buriall and Baptism were forbidden to the Protestants and if any did it privately they were imprisoned and not dismissed without Apostasie or a great fine Then was all trading inhibited or means of getting their living and at last buying of food so that the poor people being oppressed with hunger and want were either forced to fly or to Apostatize The countrymen they fetched out of their houses yea out of their beds by troopes of souldiers driving them like beasts before them in the sharpest cold and filled the common prisons towers cellers stables yea and hogsties with them where they were killed with hunger cold and thirst A godly Chirurgion with others was cast into a place full of snakes Another company was thrust into a stable and all the windows stopt up that the were almost stifled for want of breath In some places they shut them up in privies that they might be poisoned with the stink In some places they mad holes and knockt them full of iron spikes wherein those that were shut could neither sit nor stand but bending and crooked It was not possible that any man could endure this posture above two or three hours their sinews in the mean time trembling and their members quivering and their hearts ready to faint with anguish so that some were forced to promise to turn Catholiks others that refused were brought back to torture Then the devised a prison upon the water very narow and not above a cubit and an half in length wherein the prisoner could by no meanes lay himself at length and if he turned himself unawares he must fall into the water Another design was first to assault men of greatest authority to make them an example to the rest In the town of Minion the Commissioner demanded of the people a positive answer whether they would turn Catholicks And one of them in the name of the rest saying that conscience neither would nor could be forced he was presently laid upon the ground and beaten and still denying to turn Catholick when he could hardly speak he was torn in pieces The rest affrighted at this terrible spectacle promised obedience if time were given them In another place the Senator refusing to turn Apostates the cheifest of them was made to ride the wooden horse in the market-place for six hours space though he was very ancient so that he was lame and half dead when he was taken off When any desired to die raâ—her then to forsake their Religion it was answered that the Emperour did not thirst after their bloud but rather after the welfare of their souls To others they said Oh you affect the glory of Martyrdom but you are base knaves and are unworthy to have any thing to glory in There were many who would have died in the maintenance of their Christian faith but there were none that would inflict death upon them for these cruel Tyrants brought up in the devils school would not kill the body but the soul and therefore they sought by lingring and continual punishments to bring them first to stagger and then to deny the truth When any man desired to be convinced by Scripture they answered with scoffs and jears accusing the Scripture of imperfection of obscurity of ambiguity saying that it was the Fountain of Heresie the Sanctuary of Hereticks and that Laymen had nothing to do with it They called the Bible Wiblia which in the Bohemian language signifies vomit They took away all Orthodox books from the people that thereby they might be the more easily led into error In some places they shut up the people in the Church and forced them to receive in one kinde and if they would not fall down to the Host they used to beat their legs with clubs till they fell down Some they imprisoned and racked severall times to force them to auricular confession Of others they set open their mouths with gags and thrust the Host down their throates In other places they forced the people not only to abjure the Cup but to throw it down and to spit upon it and tread it under â—oot If any to avoid this Tyranny fled into the woods and secret places hunger drave them out again whereby they became a prey to their adversaries if they went to neighbouring places some or other would betray them Edicts also were published forbidding all to entertain such as fled upon pain of forfeiting a hundred pieces of silver for every nights entertainment Yet these miserable people could not go out of the Kingdom not being acquainted with any other language besides they were told that ere long the like tragedy should be acted every where Four men of Kossenberg continuing constant after long imprisonment they were first exposed to cold for five weeks together in the depth of winter Then for nine daies they were pined with hunger they having only a small portion of bread that kept life and soul together and drinking their own urine and when they were threatned harder usage if they turned not they answered We willingly imbrace all afflictions of famin hanging burning or any thing rather then we would sin against God Thereupon only twice a week there was given them a mouthfull of bread and a draught of water Then were they parted asunder one thrust into the sink of the prison another into a furnace and none permited to visit them and when nothing would prevail they set a fine upon them and banished them Others were kept in prisons and bonds till they died One was kept in a filthy prison till his feet rotted off and yet he passed away the time with singing of Psalms as if he injoyed all manner of deligths Another man being tired out with imprisonement promised to turn Catholick and was released but presently as himself wrote afterwards God chastened him for this his fault holding his conscience captive for an whole year together so that he could have no hope in Gods mercy Yet he recalled to minde former sinners who upon their
but at last their Provision being spent they made bread of Linseed of Turnups and lived upon the flesh of horses dogs cats and such like and this also in the end failing them they were enforced to surrender the town upon composition by which they were to pay two hundred and fourty thousand florins to redeem themselves and town from spoil Don Frederick having thus got the town into his hands commanded that at the tolling of the great bell all the Bourgers and Souldiers should bring their armes into the state-house that the townsmen should go into the Cloister of Zyel the women into the Cathedral Church and the souldiers into another Church this done all the Ensigne-bearers were singled out and imprisoned and whilst the poor Bourgers were guarded in the Church the perfidious Spaniards plundered their houses The next day this bloody Don Frederick caused three hundred Walloons to be hanged and headed the next day Captain Riperda and his Lieutenant were beheaded and a godly Minister called Stembach was hanged and two hundred fourty seven souldiers were drowned in the sea of Harlem the next day a great number were executed and the day following three hundred more Souldiers and Bourgers lost their heads and with them a godly Minister called Simon Simonson presently after three of the principal men lost their heads and shortly after all the English and Scots were beheaded and to fill up this sea of blood all the wounded and sick were beheaded before the Hospital door In the mean time a Party of souldiers that lay without in a sconce were all starved to death Not long before the strong town of Valenciennes in Henault having set up the free exercise of the reformed Religion amongst them were presently besieged by an army under the Signior of Noircarmes the siege lasted about three months and the Citizens having no hope of relief at last treated and surrendred the City upon good conditions but Noircarmes being entred he kept the City gates shut for divers dayes and most perfidiously and barbarously hanged up all the French souldiers with all the Ministers and Protestant Merchants and confiscated their goods But besides these generals let us also view some particulars Anno 1560. There was in Flanders one John Herwin a souldier of a very dissolute life but God having a purpose to shew him mercy put it into his heart to go into England and accordingly he came to London in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reigne and by Gods good Providence was entertained in a Brewers family where both master and servants feared God His Master caused him often to go to the Dutch Church where by the Ministry of the Word he first began to tast and afterwards more and more to increase in the saving knowledge of Christ. After a while he returned back into Flanders and at Furne he was presently laid wait for by the Popish Bailiffe This occasioned his removal to Honscot and yet there also the Bailiffe being informed of him went in the night with his Sergeants and apprehended him By the way they met some drunkards in the streets whereupon the Bailiffe said We have as they say many Gospellers in this town but it little appears by these disorders Herwin hearing him said Is drunkennesse a sin Master Bailiffe The Bailiffe answered what of that Herwin replyed Why then do you not commit these men to prison seeing it is your office to punish vice and to protect them that fear God To this the Bailiffe answered not In the prison Herwin behaved himself so vertuously that every one admired him Being somewhat long before he was called before the Magistrate he was much troubled at it his heart being inflamed with an holy zeal to confesse Jesus Christ before his Judges Yet many of the brethren were very fearful of him considering what his former life had been and what a novice he as yet was in the Profession of the Gospel At last he had his hearts desire being brought before the Sheriffe there a Priest was provided to dispute with him to whose questions Herwin answered with such soundnesse of judgement and modesty that it easily appeared that he had profited well in Christs school Being asked of Christs real presence in the Sacrament he answered That the highest dwelleth not in Temples made with hands c. Whereupon he admonished his Judges to examine the doctrine of the Church of Rome by the true touchstone of Gods Word whereby they might easily see how contrary it is to the Scriptures c. And having made a free Profession of his faith he craved Justice one way or other but they still urged him to recant to which he answered My faith is not built upon mans opinion but the Lord hath taught me to eschew evil and to do good Then was he returned to prison again During his imprisonment he was dangerously assaulted by some subtile and cunning Friars who alledged the sayings of diverse of the Fathers to prove their transubstantiation but he through Gods mercy holding close to the Word of Christ overcame them In prison he used to recreate himself by singing of Psalms and the people used to flock together to the prison door to hear him This so angred the Popish Clergy that they sought to hinder him from singing and for this end they caused two desperate Malefactors to be put into the same room with him but within a few dayes these Villains brake prison and escaped leaving opportunity to Herwin to escape also but he fearing that his flight might be prejudicial to other godly persons in the City upon whom it would be charged resolved rather to remain there than to flie Presently after news was brought him that sentence of death was passed upon him whereupon he thanked God for advancing him to so high an honour as to be accounted worthy to suffer for his name Testifying the inward joy which he felt in his soul by a letter that he wrote to the brethren wherein he exhorted them to constancy and perseverance in the doctrine of the truth which they had received from God Within a few dayes after he was carried forth to hear his sentence at which time the Magistrate by earnest intreaties and large promises sought to bring him to a recantation and to worship their breaden God promising that thereupon he should be presently released but Herwin refusing their offer of life upon those termes was bound and carried into a Chappel where they celebrated the Masse at which time to shew his detestation of their idolatry he turned his back winked with his eyes and stopped his eares At the elevation of the Host one asked him if Jesus Christ was not now between the Priests hands To which he answered No he is in heaven at the right hand of his Father Then was the sentence of death read against him As he was going to