cast into several prisons yet remained chearfull praising God for accounting them worthy to suffer for his truth and after a few dayes they were all brought forth before the Magistrates who speaking to Robert Oguire said We hear that you never come to Masse That you disswade others from it That you keep Conventicles in your house where erroneous doctrine is preached c. Robert answered I indeed refuse to go to Mass because the death and precious blood of Christ is utterly abolished there and troden under foot c. And I cannot deny but there have met together in my house honest people fearing God Not with intention to harm any I assure you but for the advancement of Gods glory and the good of many c. Then one demanded what they did when they met together To which Baudizon ansvvered When vve meet together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to hear the Word of God vve first falling on our knees before God in the humility of our spirits do make confession of our sins before his Divine Majesty then we pray that the Word of God may be rightly divided and purely preached then we pray for our Soveraign Lord the Emperour that the Common-wealth may be peaceably governed to the glory of God yea we forget not you whom we acknowledge our Superiours intreating our good God that you may maintain this City in tranquillity c. Thus you hear what we do in our Assemblies and if you will not be offended to hear the summe of our prayers I am ready to recite the same unto you One of the Magistrates wished him to go on whereupon kneeling down he prayed before them all with such fervency of affection and ardency of zeal that it forced the Magistrates to break forth into tears Baudizon rising up said Your Masterships may hereby take a scantling how we are imployed in our meetings Being further examined every one of them made an open Confession of his faith and so were returned to prison again And not long after they were tortured upon the Rack to make them confesse who they were that met at their house but they would discover none but such as they knew were at that time out of their reach Four or five dayes after the men were again convented before the Magistrates who asked them if they would submit themselves to the will of the Magistrates Robert and Baudizon said they would but Martin the younger sonne said he would not submit thereto but would accompany his Mother and so he was sent back to prison and the Father with his eldest son were presently adjudged to be burnt alive Sentence being pronounced one of the Judges said This day shall you go to dwell with all the Divels in hell fire Then were they returned to prison praising God and by their patience and constancy conquerred the rage and fury of their enemies In prison there came some Friars to them telling them that the hour was come wherein they must finish their dayes They answered Blessed be the Lord our God who now delivering our bodies out of this vile prison will receive our souls into his glorious and heavenly Kingdom Then said one of the Friars Father Robert thou art an old man I intreat thee in this thy last hour think of saving thy soule and if thou wilt give ear to me I le warrant thee thou shalt do well Robert answered Poor man how darest thou assume that to thy self which belongs to God alone and so rob him of his honour c. Another wishing him to pity his soul he said Dost thou not see what pity I have on it when for the name of Christ I am willing to give my body to the fire hoping to day to be with him in Paradise c. Then said a Friar Out Dog thou art not worthy the name of a Christian thou and thy sonne are resolved to damne your soules with all the Divels in hell Then would they have severed the Father from his son which Baudizon perceiving said Pray you let my Father alone he is an old man hinder him not from receiving the Crown of Martyrdome Another Friar said Away Varlet thou art the cause of thy Fathers perdition Whilst Baudizon was stripping and fitting himself to be sacrificed some of the Friars had fastned a Crucifix in the old mans hands perswading him that it would please the People and that for all that he might lift up his heart to God c. But so soon as Baudizon saw it he said Alasse Father what do you now will you play the Idolater at your last hour and so pulling the Idol out of his hand he threw it away At the place of execution they were set upon a Scaffold and Baudizon desired leave to make a Confession of his faith answer was made that he might confess himself to a Friar if he would which he refusing was readily haled to the stake where he began to sing the 16. Psalm then said a Friar Do you not hear what wicked errors these Hereticks sing to beguile the people withall Baudizon hearing him replyed Thou simple Idiot callest thou the Psalms of David errours but no marvel for thus are ye wont to blaspheme against the Spirit of God Then seeing them about to chain his Father to the stake he said to him Be of good courage Father the worst will be past by and by Then did he often breath forth Oh God Father everlasting accept the sacrifice of our bodies for thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ his sake A Friar cryed Out Heretick thou liest God is none of thy Father the Divel is thy Father Baudizon fixing his eys upon heaven said to his Father Behold I see the heavens open and millions of Angels ready to receive us and rejoycing to see us thus bearing witness to the truth in the view of the world Father let us rejoyce and be glad for the joys of heaven are opened to us Then said a Friar I see Hell open and millions of Divels are ready to carry you thither A poor man in the croud cryed out Be of good comfort Baudizon stand to it thou fightest in a good quarrel I am on thy side which words so soon as he had spoken he departed and so hastened himself from danger The fire being kindled Baudizon oft said to his Father Yet a very little while and we shall enter into the heavenly mansions the fire encreasing the last words which they spake were Jesus Christ thou Sonne of God into thy hands we commend our spirits and so they sweetly slept in the Lord. After the death of these worthy champions of Christ many of the Popish rabble were sent if possible to seduce the Mother and son remaining in prison and coming to them the first subtilty they used was to separate them asunder then they set upon the woman as the weaker vessel and so wrought upon her
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
dare say nothing to the purpose for fear of angring the Inquisitors only he chears up his Client and bids him tell the truth in any case as the only way to prevail in that Court and then is the Prisoner sent back again who hopes that now his cause will be heard and his businesse dispatched whereas usually these good fathers let him lie two three or four years in prison without ever calling for him again and if through loathsomnesse and intolerablenesse of the prison any sue to come to hearing it may be with much ado he obtains it but usually that favour is denied him yet at length when they please they call for him to hear the depositions of the witnesses against him which yet is not done till the poor Prisoner by his grievous imprisonment is brought so low as that they think he will rather choose death than such a life and therefore will be willing to tell all that so he may be rid out of his misery Then between rebuking and a gentle admonition they tell him that though he hath stood out so long yet at length they would have him wiser to confesse the truth but if he yet refuse to be his own accuser then the Fiscal produceth the depositions which are delivered to the Prisoner but they are drawn up so intricately and ambiguously that he knows not what to make of them and this they do to conceal the witnesses lest he should except against them and to set him on guessing that so if he chance to reckon up any others to whom he spake any thing about any of those matters they may thereby get more grists to their mill For they presently out-law such persons as favourers of hereticks for suffering an heretick to sow such pestilent seeds amongst them without complaining thereof to the Inquisitors The Keeper of the Prison also is examined what he hath seen and observed of him in the Prison and his testimony is as good as two witnesses to take away the Prisoners life They have also Promoters to bring in accusations who are admitted though frantick Bedlams or the veriest Varlets that be and in their informations if they chance to want words of weight the Inquisitors will help them out and prompt them word by word Then after three or four dayes the Prisoner is called again to put in his answer to the depositions but in the interim his Advocate never comes at him to assist or direct him but he is left to himself without all help save of God alone His answer being viewed he is remanded to prison again with this Item that if he confesse not the truth they will extort it out of him by extremity After two or three moneths more he is called for once again and required to speak what he hath for himself or else they must draw to an end and if he still shrinks not but stands firme in his own Justification they proceed to other dealings in comparison of which all their former proceedings are not only sufferable but seeme very reasonable and full of gentlenesse For their future actions farre exceed all barbarousnesse the Devil himself being not able to go beyond them in their monstrous tyranny For not long after the Prisoner is called in before the Inquisitors who tell him that they have deeply considered his whole case and found out that he doth not declare the whole truth and therefore they are resolved that he shall be racked that by force they may draw from him what by fair means he will not acknowledge and therefore they advise him rather to do it voluntarily and thereby to avoid the paine and peril that yet attends him yet whether he confesse or not confesse all is one for to the Rack he must go Then is he led into the place where the Rack standeth which is a deep and dark dungeon under ground with many a door to passe through ere a man come to it because the shreekes and cries of the tormented should not be heard then the Inquisitors set themselves upon a scaffold hard by the Rack and the torches being lighted the Executioner comes in all araied from top to toe in a sute of black canvas his head is covered with a long black hood that covereth all his face having only two peep-holes for his eyes which sight doth more affright the poor soul to see one in the likenesse of the Devil to be his tormentor The Lords being set in their places they begin again to exhort him to speak the truth freely and voluntarily Then with sharp words they command him to be stripped stark naked yea though the modestest maid or chasest Matron in the City whose grief in regard of the Rack is not half so great as to be seene naked in the presence of such manner of persons For these wicked villains without any regard of honesty will not by any Prayers of godly Matrons or chast Maidens forbear one jot of that barbarous impudence as if a shirt or smock could hinder the violence of the Rack from sufficiently tormenting them The Party being thus stripped the Inquisitors signifie to the Tormentor how they would have him or her ordered The first kind of torment is the Jeobit or Pully but first one comes behind him and binds his hands with a cord eight or ten times about the Inquisitors calling upon him to strain each harder than other they cause also his thumbs to be bound extream hard with a small line and so both hands and thumbs are fastened to a Pully which hangs on the Jeobit then they put great and heavy bolts on his heels and hang upon those bolts between his feet certain weights of iron and so hoise him or her up from the ground and whilst the poor wretch hangs in this plight they begin to exhort him again to accuse himself and as many others as he knows of Then they command him to be hoised up higher to the very beam till his head touch the Pully Having hung thus a good while they command him to be let down and twice so much weight to be fastened to his heels and so hoised up again and one inch higher if it may be Then they command the hangman to let him up and down that the weights of the iron hanging at his heels may rent every joynt in his body asunder With which intolerable pains if the Party shreek or cry out they roare out as loud to him to confesse the truth or else he shall come down with a vengeance Then they bid the hangman suddenly to slip the rope that he may fall down with a sway and in the mid-way to stop then give him the Strappado which being as soon done it rends all his body out of joynt armes shoulders back legs c. by reason of the sudden jerk and the weights hanging at his legs If he yet remain constant they adde more weight to his heels the third time and the poor wretch already half
dead is hoisted up the third time and to encrease his misery they raile upon him calling him Dog and Heretick telling him that he is like there to make his end And if the poore creature in his pangs call upon Christ intreating that he would vouchsafe to aid and assist him thus miserably tormented for his sake Then they fall to mocking and deriding him saying Why callest thou on Jesus Christ Let Jesus Christ alone and tell us the truth what a crying out upon Christ makest thou c. But if the Party desire to be let down promising to tell somewhat that 's the â—eady way to make him to be worse used for now they think that he begins only to broach the matter for when he hath done they command him to be haled up again and to be let down as before so that usually these torments are exercised upon him for three hours together Then they ask the Jailor if his other torments are ready to affright the poor soul the Jailor answereth that they are ready but he hath not brought them with him Then the Inquisitors bid him to bring them against the morrow for say they we will try other ways to get the truth out of this fellow and so turning to him that lies in miserable pain having all his joynts out How now Sirra say they how like you this gear have you enough of it yet Well see that you call your wits to you against to morrow or look to die then for what you have yet felt is but a flea-biting in comparison of what is behind and so they depart Then the Jailor plays the bone-setter so well as he can setting his joynts and so carries him back to prison or drags him by the armes or legs most pitifully If they mean to rack him no more after two or three dayes they send for him again and cause him to be brought by the Rack where the hangman stands in the likenesse of a Devil as before the more to affright him When he comes before the Inquisitors they fall a perswading him to confesse the truth at last and if he confesse any thing he may chance to go to the Rack again whereby they hope to extort more and when indeed they intend to rack the Party again then at three dayes end when the ach in his joynts is most grievous and painful to him they send for him requiring him to declare all his heresies and to peach all such as he hath had conference with about them and all such as he knows to be of that minde or else he must prepare himself for the Rack and if he continue constant he is again stripped of his cloths and hoisted up with weights at his heels as before besides which as he hangs at the Pully they bind his thighs together and legs about the calf with a small strong cord and with a short piece of wood they twist the cord till it be shrunk so deep in the flesh that its past sight which is an extream and terrible torment worse than any that he hath yet endured and in this plight they let the poor soul lie two or three hours the Inquisitors in the mean time not ceasing to exhort perswade threaten and scoffe at him Yea sometimes they proceed to another kind of torture called the Aselli which is after this manner There is a piece of timber somewhat hollowed on the top like a trough about the middle whereof there is a sharp barre going a crosse whereon a mans back resteth that it cannot go to the bottom it s also placed so that his heels shall lie higher than his head then is the naked Party laid thereon his armes thighs and legs bound with strong small cords and wrested with short truncheons till the cords pierce almost to the very bone Then they take a thick fine lawn cloth laying it over the Parties mouth as he lies upright on his back so that it may stop his nostrils also then taking a quantity of water they pour it in a long stream like a threed which falling from on high drives the cloth down into his throat which puts the poor wretch into as great an Agony as any endure in the pains of death for in this torture he hath not liberty to draw his breath the water stopping his mouth and the cloth his nostrils so that when the cloth is drawn out of the bottome of his throat it draws forth blood with it and a man would think that it tore out his very bowels This is iterated as oft as the Inquisitors please and yet they threaten him with worse torments if he confesse not and so he is returned to his prison again Yet many times after he hath lain there a moneth or two he is brought again to the rack and used as before yea sometimes five or six times even as oft as they please for their lust is a law And yet they have another torment with fire which is no whit inferiour to the former They take a Pan of burning charcole and set it just over against the soles of the Parties feet just before he goes to the Rack and that the fire may have the more force upon them they bast them with lard or bacon But if all the extremity of torments wil not force him to confesse what they desire nor to deny the truth they use other means by subtil interrogatories and frequent questionings to draw him into some snare or other Yea if yet they cannot prevaile then some one of the Inquisitors comes to him in private and shews himself much affected with his misery weeps with him comforts him gives him advice seems to impart such a secret to him as he would scarce impart to his father or dearest friend alive and this they use most with women whereas they are but faire baits upon deadly hooks whereby they seek to destroy them whereof we have this example At Sivil there were apprehended a godly Matron two of her daughters and her Neece who all of them underwent the forementioned torments with manly courage and Christian constancie because they would not betray each other nor other godly Persons in that City Then one of the Inquisitors sent for the youngest maid oft to his chamber pretended much compassion towards her spake much to comfort her told her what a grief it was to him to see her torments then used familiar and pleasant communication to her then told her that he would advise her the best way to free her self mother and sister from these troubles That he would undertake the ordering of their businesse and then perswaded her to disclose the whole truth to him and he bound himself with an oath that he would stop all further proceedings against them and procure their dismission Having thus outwitted the poor maid who gave too much credit to him she told him of some points of Religion which they had wont to
their sentence which is pronounced upon such as are to be burned they use this abominable hypocrisie They bequeath him to the secular power with this humble request to them to shew the Prisoner as much favour as may be and neither to break any bone nor pierce the skin of his body This shews their great impudence that having already given sentence on him to be burned they yet should pretend such mercy and clemency towards him whom all along themselves have used with such extream cruelty They use also this trick further that in reading the crimes for which he is condemned they do not only misreport such things as he confessed upon his examination but they devilishly father upon him such things as he never spake or thought of in all his life and this they do to disgrace him and to make him and his opinions more abhorred of all men and to encrease their own estimation and credit as being necessary officers to rid the world of such pestilent persons and all this while the Prisoners tongue hath a cleft piece of wood upon it to his intolerable pain and grief that he cannot answer for himself nor gainsay that they charge him with All these things being finished the Magistrate takes them into his hand and conveys them presently to the place of execution with divers instruments of Satan about them calling and crying to them to forsake the truth and when they cannot prevail after the Prisoner is tied to the stake they break his neck in a trice and then they report amongst the common people that they recanted their heresies at the last houre and so came home to the Church of Rome and therefore they felt no pain in the fire at all which made them take it so patiently Such as are not condemned to die are carried back to prison and the next day brought out to be whipt after which some of them are sent to the Gallies others kept in prison all their life time but all have this special charge given them that they never speak of any thing that they have heard seen or felt during their imprisonment in the Inquisition for if the contrary be ever proved against them and that they utter any of their secrets they shall be taken for persons relapsed and be punished with greatest severity their judgement being death without Redemption and hereby they keep in all their Knavery and Tyranny close and secret to themselves And if any of them be released because their faults were but small they are yet so careful lest their cruelty should come to light that they inhibit them the company or conference with any other than such as they shall appoint and allow them neither will they suffer them to write to any friend except they first have the perusing of their letters Sometimes also after they have imprisoned men in such a miserable state for a year or two and can extort nothing out of them by their torments nor prove any thing against them by witnesse so that they must necessarily dismisse them they then call them into the Court and begin to flatter them and tell them what a good opinion they have of them and that they are resolved to send them home for the which fatherly favour extended towards them in saving their lives goods they are to account themselves much beholding to their Lordships c. And so at last they dismisse him with special charge of silence and when he is gone they have special Spies abroad to see how he takes the matter and if they find that he complains of his punishments or discloses their secrets they presently commence a new suit against him On a time the Inquisitors at Sivill apprehended a noble Lady the cause was for that a Sister of hers a very vertuous Virgin who was afterwards burned for Religion had confessed in the extremity of her torments that she had sometimes had conference with this her sister about matters of Religion This Lady when she was first apprehended was gone with child about six months in respect whereof they did not shut her up so close at first nor deal so severely with her as they did with others But within foure dayes after she was brought to bed they took the child from her and the seventh day â—fter they shut her up in close prison and used her in all things as they did other Prisoners the only worldly comfort that she had in her misery was that they lodged her with a vertuous maiden that was her fellow-Prisoner for a time but afterwards burned at the stake This maid whilst they were together was carried to the rack and so sore strained and torn thereon that she was almost pulled in pieces then was she brought back and thrown upon a bed of flags that served them both to lie on the good Lady was not able to help her yet shewed singular tokens of love and compassion towards her The maid was scarce recovered when the Lady was carried out to be served with the same sauce and was so terribly tormented in the trough that by reason of the strait straining of the strings piercing to the very bones of her armes thighs and shins she was brought back half dead to her prison the blood gushing out of her mouth abundantly which shewed that something was broken within her but after eight dayes the Lord delivered her from these cruel Tygers by taking her mercifully to himself Upon one of their dayes of triumph there was brought out one John Pontio of a noble Family a zealous Professor of the truth and one of an holy and blamelesse life and well learned he was eminent also in works of charity in which he had spent a great part of his estate Being apprehended for the Profession of the Gospel he was cast into Prison where he manfully maintained the truth in the midst of all their cruel dealings with him At last they cast into prison to him one of their flyes who by his subtilty and craft so wrought upon him that he drew from him a promise to yield obedience to the Romish Church But though God suffered him to fall a while to shew him his frailty yet afterwards in much mercy he raised him up again with double strength to that which he had before and before his execution he manfully defended the truth against a subtil Friar The things which he was condemned for were these That he should say that from his heart he abhorred the idolatry which was committed in worshipping the Host That he removed his houshold from place to place that he might shun coming to the Masse That the Justification of a Christian resteth only in the merits of Jesus Christ apprehended by faith c. That there was no Purgatory That the Popes pardons were of no value c. And for my self saith he I am not only willing but desirous to die and ready to suffer any
vice and wickedness you never said word to me but now for savouring and favouring the Word of God you seek my blood Then did they examine him about sundry Articles of Religion to which whilst he was making a full answer they cut him off bidding him answer in two words Yea or No Whereupon he said If you will not give me leave to answer fully to things of such importance send me again to my dungeon amongst the Toads and Frogs who will not interrupt me whilst I talk with my Lord my God Shortly after he was condemned to be burned and having a bag of powder hung about his neck when the fire came to it it gave a crack whereupon the Friars told the People that the Divel came out of him and carried away his soul to hell A tyrannous Prince in Germany apprehended a godly Minister and for his constancy in the truth put out both his eyes and kept him a long time in prison afflicting him with divers kinds of torments Then did he cause him to be degraded shaving the skin off his head and rubbing it with salt till the blood ran down his shoulders and paring off the ends of his fingers so that four days after he patiently yielded up the Ghost Not long after there was a godly Minister in Antwerp called Christopher Fabri that was betrayed by a woman who pretended a great zeal to Religion and was cast into prison where he lay for a long time and endured much misery at last he was brought forth and condemned to be burnt alive And when the Margrave brought him forth to execution the people having first sung Psalmes fell to casting of stones against the Executioner so as the poor Prisoner being bound and fire set to him the Margrave durst stay no longer but ran away and so did the executioner but before he fled by the command of the Margrave he took a hammer and beat out Fabrie's brains and stabbed him into the back with a dagger so that the people running to save him from the fire found him dead after which by the command of the Margrave he had a great stone tied about his neck and was thrown into the river Anno 1549. One Nicholas and Barbara his wife and one Austin and Marrian his wife Germans by birth went to Geneva where they lived for a space then returning through Germany they intended to go into England but having passed through Dornick they were discovered to the Lieutenant thereof who speedily pursuing them overtook them yet at that time God delivered Austin out of their hands but Nicholas and the two women were apprehended and carried back by the souldiers Coming to an Inne by the way at table Nicholas gave thanks whereat the wicked Captain swearing grievously said Let us see thou lewd Heretick if thy God can deliver thee out of my hand Nicholas replyed Hath Christ ever offended you that by your blasphemous swearing you thus tear him in pieces Pray you if you have any thing against Christ rather wreak your anger upon this poor body of mine and let the Lord alone Then did he bind them hands and feet and carried them to Burges and cast them into the dungeon Divers Friers coming to them Nicholas in disputing with them so confounded them that they went away ashamed saying that he had a divel crying To the fire with the Lutherane Afterwards the Magistrate sought to pump out of Nicholas what acquaintance he had in that City but not prevailing with him he went to his wife and by flattering speeches and fair promises he wrought so upon her weaknesse that he gat out all that she knew whereupon ensued a great persecution Shortly after Nicholas was condemned to be burned at the hearing of which sentence he blessed the Lord who had counted him worthy to be a witnesse in the cause of his dear and wel-beloved Son Jesus Christ At the place of execution hew a commanded not to speak to the People for if he did he should have a woodden ball thrust into his mouth yet as he was binding to the stake forgetting the command he cryed out O Charles Charles how long shall thy heart be hardned With that one of the Souldiers gave him a great blow Then he said Ah miserable People who are not worthy that the Word should be preached to you The Friars crying out that he had a Divel he answered them in the words of David Depart from me all ye wicked for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping and so commending his spirit into the hands of God he ended his life in the midst of the flames Marrian was condemned to be buried quick and when some earth was thrown upon her the hangman stamped upon her with his feet till she died Afterwards Austin that had before escaped was apprehended and being examined though by nature he was a very timorous and weak man yet did he stand to the defence of the truth valiantly and answered his adversaries very boldly Being condemned to be burnt as he was going to execution a Gentleman drank to him in a cup of wine exhorting him to pity himself at least not to destroy his soule Austin thanked him saying What care I have of my soule you may see by this in that I had rather give my body to be burned then to sin against my conscience Being tyed to the stake and fire set to him he heartily prayed to the Lord and so patiently departed Anno 1551. The Emperour Chales the fifth having obtruded the Interim upon Germany many godly Ministers were persecuted and driven from their places for opposing the same as may be seen in my first part of Lives The city of Magdenburg also for refusing it had an army sent against it which besieged it for a whole year together whereby many of the godly Citizens lost their lives and others endured great miseries But at last Gods providence so ordering of it warre arose betwixt the Emperour and the King of France whereupon peace was granted unto Magdenburg upon good terms and the inhabitants enjoyed their former Religion quietly Anno 1555. There was one Hostius born at Gaunt who for some time was a member of the French Church here in London in King Edwards days but in the beginning of Queen Maries reign he went vvith his family to Norden in Frizeland and aftervvards having some businesse to Gaunt he went thither where he instructed many of his friends in the truth and hearing that a Friar used to preach good doctrine he went to hear him but the Friar that day defended transubstantiation which so grieved him that he could scarce refrain from speaking till the Sermon was ended When the Friar was come down from the Pulpit he charged him for preaching false doctrine perswading the people by the Scripture that the bread was but the Sacrament of the
thousand villanies women and maids were ravished in the open market-place and streets some were beaten and hailed to Masse children were re-baptized others married again houses were pillaged and plundred Some that fled into the field died with hunger and cold Many men women and children were massacred and drowned infants were dashed against the walls and some others were hanged The Executioners running into divers places committed a world of mischief and divers Priests amongst them slew some of the Protestants with their own hands At Troys Bibles and Divinity-books were rent and torn in pieces They of the Religion were murthered and their houses sacked Eighteen men were hanged women were dragged through the streets and cast into the river and Infants were pulled from their Mothers breasts and re-baptized At Bar the Popish enemies entring the Town committed such cruelties as never were seen especially against women and little children Some of their breasts they cut open pulled out their hearts and gnawed them with their teeth rejoycing that they had tasted of an Huguenots heart A young Counsellor they hanged at the request of his own father with most horrible blasphemies they ravished women and girls Mounsieur de St. Esteen with his two brothers were cruelly stabbed by their own Cousin germane their wives were spoiled of all they had and led away prisoners The Pesants in some places committed infinine murthers and mischiefs against those of the Religion Monsieur de Vigney with his wife and servants they massacred in his own house which afterward they pillaged and spoiled In Crant the Pesants entring the Town murthered many one young child together with his father they burnt In Sens one hundred Protestants were cruelly murthered and their naked bodies thrown into the River one hundred houses were plundered the Church where they preached was defaced At Auxerre one Cosson was barbarously massacred a faire young Gentlewoman was stabbed and cast into the River many other outrages and robberies were committed At Nevers the Ministers were cast into prison whereof one perished miserably there Another miraculously escaped Children were re-baptized marriages reiterated and many houses plundred The Popish party entring Chastillon left no kind of cruelty un-exercised neither upon Women nor Children old nor young yea not sparing the women with childe that were ready to be delivered At Guyen they used all the cruelty that possibly could be invented and some Italians in hatred of the Religion cut an infant in two pieces and eat his liver At Montargis there lived the Lady Rene Dutchesse Dowager of Ferrara and daughter to King Lewis the twelfth The Duke of Guise sent thither one Malicorn a Knight of the Order who entring the Town murthered some of the Religion and committed other outrages Then he proceeded so far as to threaten the Lady to batter her Castle with Canon-shot if she would not deliver up those of the Religion which were with her To whom the Princesse bravely answered I charge you look what you enterprize for no man in the Realm can command me but the King only and if you proceed to your battery I will stand in the breach to try whether you dare kill the daughter of a King neither do I want means or power to be revenged on your boldnesse even to the infants of your rebellious race This stout answer made Malicorne to pull in his hornes and depart At Monlius Monsieur de Montare used all extremity against the Protestants and without any form of Law he hanged up two Artificers drave others out and plundred their houses and murthered many At Mans two hundred persons were put to death men women and children the houses of the Protestants were pillaged such as were fled were executed by their pictures their goods confiscated and their children made uncapable of their offices and estates yea of inheriting their Lands Some they beheaded Others they hung up Others they massacred and being half dead threw them into the River Above one hundred and twenty men women and children were murthered in the neighbouring Villages One Captain threw above fifty persons into his fishpond to feed his Pikes and above as many more were thrown into Ditches One godly man a Weaver had his throat cut and his moutastuffed with leaves of a New Testament which they found bouth him At Anger 's they murthered a godly Minister cast many into prison robbed the houses of others and slew such as they found therein In a Merchants house finding many books of the holy Scriptures they openly burnt them in the middle of the Town One fair guilt Bible they hung upon an Halberd and carried it in Procession saying Behold truth hanged the truth of the Huguenots the truth of all the Divels Behold the mighty God behold the everlasting God will speak and when they came to the Bridge they threw it into the River crying louder Behold the truth of all the Divels drowned Above eighty other persons were executed An aged Gentlewoman of the age of seventy years was beaten to death with their pistols then drawn through the dirty streets and thrown into the River terming her the mother of the Divel that preached to the Huguonets A Counsellors wife that lay bed-rid was murthered women and maids were ravished Two young maids were ravished before their Fathers face who was forced to look on the while All that were but suspected to be of the Religion were massacred and their houses pillaged A valiant Captain contrary to their faith given to him they broke upon a Crosse and so they left him hanging in great misery till he died Anno 1562. a Decree was made by the Parliament of Paris commanding all Catholicks presently to rise in Armes to sound the Bells in every place to destroy all those of the Religion without respect of quality sex or age to spoyle their Houses and utterly to root them out This encouraged all sorts of rascals to rise up in Armes forsaking their Vocations and to march against the Protestants In Ligueul they hanged up some put out the Ministers eyes and then burnt him in a small fire In other places they committed infinite villanies One young man they flayed alive The Village of Aze they burnt down and massacred thirty persons therein A godly Minister was drowned called John de Tour at seventy five years old At Tours one hundred and forty were murdered and cast into the River divers others were drowned sparing neither man woman nor child The President being suspected to favour them of the Religion was beaten with staves stript to his shirt hanged up by one foot his head in the water up to the breast and whilst he was yet living they ript up his belly pluck't out his guts and threw them into the River and sticking his heart upon the point of a Lance they carried it about saying It was the heart of
of sheding the blood of that notable Instrument of God Master George Wisheart who though he was consumed by the fire before men yet cries it for vengeance upon thee and we from God are sent to revenge it for here before my God I protest that neither the hatred of thy person the love of thy riches nor the feare of any hurt thou couldst have done me moveth me to strike thee but onely because thou hast been and still remainest an obstinate enemie against Jesus Christ and his holy Gospel and so he thrust him through the body who falling down spake never a word but I am a Priest I am a Priest Fie Fie all is gone The death of this Tyrant was grievous to the Queen Mother with whom he had two much familiarity as with many other women as also to the Romanists though the people of God were freed from their fears in a great measure thereby Anno 1550. There was one Adam Wallace a man that had no great learning but was zealous in Godlinesse and of an upright life him the Bishop of Saint Andrews caused to be apprehended and carried to Edenburgh where after a while he was brought to judgement before Duke Hamilton Huntly and divers others The Bishops and their instruments accused him First that he took upon him to preach to which he answered that he never judged himself worthy of so excellent a Vocation and therefore never took on him to preach yet he denyed not that in private places he used to read the Word and out of it to exhort such as were willing to hear him Knave quoth one What have you to do to meddle with the Scriptures I think said he it s every ones duty to labour to know the will of God and to get assurance of his salvation which is to be found in the Old and New Testament What then said another shall we leave to the Church-men to do To whom he answered their work is publickly to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to feed the flock which he hath redeemed with his own blood as all true Pastors are commanded to do c. The Bishops being angry hereat caused his charge further to be read as that he denyed Purgatory praying to Saints and for the dead c. To which he answered that he had oft read over the Bible and yet found no mention of Purgatory nor command to pray to the Saints or for the dead Therefore I believe said he they are but meer inventions of men devised for covetousnesse sake Then did they ask him what he thought of the Masse He answered I say as my Lord Jesus Christ said That which is greatly esteemed before men is abomination before God Then cryed they all out Heresie Heresie and so and so adjudged him to the fire which he patiently underwent the same day upon the Castle-hill Anno 1553. Henry Forrest was accused of Heresie but when they brought him to trial nothing could be proved against him whereupon they sent him to Friar Langius to be confessed The Friar amongst other questions asked him what he thought of Patrick Hamilton who had been formerly burned for Religion He answered that he was a good man and that his Articles were to be maintained This wicked Friar discovered his Confession which was taken as a sufficient proof against the poor man who thereupon was condemned to be burnt As he went to the place of execution he complained of the Friar who had betrayed him saying Let no man trust the false Friars after me They are despisers of God and deceivers of men and so in the flames he resigned up his spirit unto God Anno 1558. Andrew Oliphant accused one Walter Mill formerly a Priest who being at Prayer Oliphant said to him Rise up Sir VValter But when he had ended his prayers he said My name is VValter I have been too long one of the Popes Knights Then said Oliphant Thou keepest my Lords too long here therefore make an end He answered I must obey God rather than men When he was brought forth to judgement they asked him concerning Priests marriage he answered It is Gods Ordinance that they which cannot abstain should marry But you abhor it vowing chastity which you cannot keep but take other mens wives and daughters Then they asked him if there were not seven Sacraments he answered Give me two and take you the rest after other questions they asked him if he would recant He answered I am corn and not chaffe I will not recant the truth Then they commanded him to go to the stake but he said By the law of God I am forbidden to lay hands on my own self therefore do you put me into the fire and you shall see my resolution Having made his Prayer to God he said to the people Although I have been a great sinner yet it is not for that but for Gods truth contained in his VVord of the Old and New Testament that I now suffer and God out of his abundant mercy doth honour me so farre as to make me amongst other of his servants seale his truth with my blood Dear friends as you would escape eternal death be no more seduced with lyes of Archbishop Bishops Abbots Priors c. but only trust in God and so he quietly slept in the Lord and was the last man that died for Religion in Scotland Collected out of the History of the Reformation in Scotland CHAP. XL. The Persecution of the Church in Ireland Anno Christi 1642. THough the barbarous cruelty used by the Irish against the English go usually under the name of Rebellion yet I rather look upon it as and chuse to call it a persecution because their cruelties were exercised upon Protestants only so farre as ever I could hear neither were the English Papists murthered yea they joyned with the Irish in murthering of their brethren Besides the Jesuites Priests and Friars were the chief instigators to these murthers stirring up continually all sorts both of the Gentry and Communalty to shew the utmost of their zeal therein and when their designe was so surely laid that they thought it impossible to be prevented they did in their publick devotions recommend by their Prayers the good successe of a great designe tending much to the advancement of the Catholick cause and that they might stir up the people with the greater animosity and cruelty to put it in execution they everywhere declaimed loudly against the Protestants saying That they were Hereticks not to be suffered any longer to live amongst them that it was no more sin to kill one of them than to kill a dog and that it was a mortal and unpardonable sin to relieve or protect any of them They also with much acrimony represented the severe courses taken by the Parliament of England to suppresse the Romish Religion and utterly to extirpate the Professors of it They told
16. 1642. having made her believe that the Papists were compelled to contribute towards the maintenance of the Protestant Ministers with some other such like fictions upon which they obtained an Order for the Officers called Castellani to give the Missionaries all the Writings they should demand of them by means whereof they usurped power over the said Castellani and so over the poor Protestants compelling the Castellani to make most unjust Ordinances against these poor people As for example when the question is concerning their habitation the Missioners do perswade them that come to witnesse the truth that so to do is to favour the Hereticks whereby they will fall irrevocably under the censure of Excommunication whereas its a meritorious work to witnesse against them by such officious lies as are suggested to them by the Popish Clergy Nay the Judges themselves durst not passe a righteous sentence when it reflected in the least upon the Catholick party And that they may have the opportunity of negotiating with the Protestants they procure of his Highnesse every year the Assignations of Grain and other Impositions that so they of the Reformed Religion being obliged to make their payments to these Publicans they may have the advantage to shew favour and give ample rewards to such as will comply with their superstitious Idolatry and to lay heavy burdens upon the backs of those that are true to their Principles Mention might here be made of their frequent falling into the said Valleys with Troops of Armed men under pretence of quartering them there whereby they have miserably surprized and made a prey of them As likewise the cunning stratagems which they have used in all their Treaties which have been as full of Jesuitical Equivocations as of lines and sentences following therein their old Maxime that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks To this may be added their diligent search and strict enquiry after all Protestant Books and Writings which they commit to the fire with much devotion lest they should discover their rotten principles and the wickednesse of their actions to the world Another stratagem they have to allure men to revolt wherein are proffers of great rewards made and published in the Princes name as may be seen in the Dukes own letter wherein are these words To encourage the Hereticks to turn Catholicks it is our pleasure and we do hereby expresly command that all such as shall embrace the Holy Romane Faith shall enjoy an exemption from all and every tax for the space of five years commencing from the day of their conversion c. Which term of five years he hath sometimes lengthned out to ten or fifteen years whereas indeed the burden that they took off from these Revolters they laid upon the backs of those that persevered in their Religion the better to break and destroy them But as if all this were too little to compass their ends the Duke erected a Congregation for extirpating the Hereticks who were to judge concerning the rights of the Protestants Their meeting place was in the Arch-bishops house the Bishop himself being President together with the Dukes Confessor and divers others every one of them hired by the Court of Rome to undermine the liberties of the Protestant Churches by robbing them of their Ancient Priviledges under sundry pretences and upon false Informations And the better to disguise their proceedings they usually incense the Duke by grievous accusations and so procure grievous Edicts from him against the poor Protestants These were they who procured from Charles Emanuel Anno Christi 1602. An Edict wherein he enjoyns the Protestants upon pain of death to banish from amongst them all manner of Schools both publick and private as Julian the Apostate had formerly done to extirpate the Christian Religion And by another Edict of Decemb. 18. 1622. he forbade them to receive any strangers amongst them that should be either Ministers or Schoolmasters as also from sending their youth into Forreign Schools suspected of Heresie He also debarred all manner of Protestants from publick Offices either great or small In another Edict all Protestants were commanded either to go to Masse or to depart within two moneths after the publication thereof And by another Edict the same was commanded and but fifteen dayes given them Another order was given out Novemb. 18. 1634. enjoyning the Protestants of Campiglione to leave that place within twenty foure houres and that upon pain of death which was executed without mercy The same was done Anno Christi 1655. by Gastaldo who gave no longer than twenty foure houres to those of the Valleys of Saint Martino and Perosa to depart upon pain of death and to those that lived beyond Pelice but three days Many times when these Missionary Fathers could not possibly perswade his Royal Highnesse to an open Persecution against the generality of the Protestants then they usually tormented them one by one upon sundry false pretences whom they delivered up to the Inquisitors who contrary to all Forms of Justice forthwith condemned them without so much as hearing them or letting them know their accusers Anno Christi 1622. They took one Mr. Sebastian Basan and after the Inquisitors had cruelly tempted and tormented him for the space of fifteen months they burned him alive at Turin Novemb. 23. 1623. where he dyed singing the praises of God in the midst of the flames Anno 1655. These Missionary Fathers stole away very many of the Protestants children in the time of the Massacre whom they would not afterwards restore though his Highness had promised it by his Patent which practice is the most execrable of all the Turkish tyrannies Yet there is this difference that the Turks do so only to their own Subjects whereas the Popes Ministers do it to those over whom they have no right at all Two instances may be given amongst many others of the subtile insinuations of the Jesuites to withdraw men from the truth There were two Ministers the one Mr. Peter Gros the other Mr. Francis Aguit with whom they had thus prevailed But the Lord in mercy shewing them the greatnesse of their sin they made a publick Recantation in a full Congregation August 28. 29. 1655. at Pinache in the Valley of Perouse wherein they testified their extream sorrow for their defection through infirmity from the true Religion during the time of their Imprisonment at Turin together with their abjuration of Popery which they conclude thus Do not think us unworthy your holy communion although we have been an occasion of offence Suffer us to poure into your bosomes a torrent of tears to deplore our condition and to assure you in the anguish of our souls that our grief is greater than we can expresse Help us by your holy prayers to the Lord and publish our repentance in all places where you conceive our sin hath been or shall bee known that so it may be evident to all the world that from