before they did and to set his mind about seeking out the truth of Religion and the way to true happinesse To this purpose he began to reade the Scriptures euery day being perswaded that truth of Religion and soundnesse of wisedome was to be drawen out of that fountaine and that the high way to heauen was thence to be sought And further all his acquaintance and familiarity did he turne into such company as out of whose life and conferences he was perswaded he might reape the fruit of godlinesse and pure Religion And thus farre in this short time had the Lord wrought with him by that Sermon as first to considerwith himself seriously whether he was right or no secondly to take vp an exercise continuall of reading Scripture thirdly to change his former company and make choice of better And this was done in the yeare one thousand fiue hundred fortie and one and in the foure and twentieth yeare of his age CHAP. IIII. Of the strange censures the world gaue of his conuersion and how the better sort reioyced at it BVt when this sudden alteration of this noble and yong Galeacius was seene and perceiued in Naples it can be scarce set downe how greatly it amazed his old companions which as yet cleaued to the world and to the affections of the flesh many of them able to render no cause of it could not tell what to say of it some iudged it but a melancholicke passion others thought it plaine follie and feared he would become simple and doting and that his wit began by some meanes to be empaired Thus euery one gaue his verdict and censure of him but all wondred and doubted what it would turne to But the better sort of men and such as feared God and had their mind enlightned with some knowledge of Religion as they wondred no lesse to see so great a change in so great a man so likewise they were surprized with exceeding ioy to see it for they were perswaded that God had some great and extraordinary work in it that a yong gallant a noble man of such wealth and honor as he was liuing in such delight and pleasures in so general a corruption of life both in court and countrey but especially this age nobility wealth and honour being ioyned with the wanton deliciousnes of the courtly life I say that such a man should bee indued with the spirit of holinesse and so farre affected with repentance as that he should contemne all those in respect of heauen they esteemed of it as it was indeed a rare matter and seldome seene in the world and therefore they greatly reioyced at it and praised the Lord on his behalfe Amongst those men that thus reioyced at his conuersion was one Marcus Antonius Flaminius a scholar of great name and an excellent Poet as his Paraphrase on the Psalmes and other very good Poems do sufficiently testifie Galeacius about this time receiued a letter from this Flaminius wherein he did congratulate and reioyce with him for the grace and gift of God which was besto wed on him in his conuersion This letter I thought good to insert into the bodie of this story as being worthy of no lesse to the end that it might be a witnes in times to come of the good opinion which such men had conceiued of him who knew the foundatiō of true Iustification thogh they were yet possessed with other errours as about the Sacraments and of the Masse c. which alas as yet they were not able to discerne of as after by the greater grace of God this Galeacius did The copy of the letter is this CHAP. V. Marcus Antonius Flaminius a great scholar in Italie writeth to Galeacius and congratulateth with him for his holy and happy change To the right honourable Galeacius Caracciolus RIght noble Lord when I consider seriously these words of Paul * Brethren you see your calling that not many noble not many wise according to the flesh not many mightie are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and weake things to confound the mightie and base things in the world and things not accounted of and things that are not to bring to nought things that are When I say I consider of these words so often I admire at that rare blessing of God which he hath vouchsafed to you a noble and mighty man namely that he should grace you with that true and incomparable nobility which is attained by true faith in Christ Iesus and a holy life As much greater as this blessing is so much the more holy and sincere ought your life to be and so much the more vprightly are you to walke with your God lest that your thornes that is riches pleasures and honours should choke the seede of the Gospell which is sowne in you For this I am sure of that God hath begun some great worke in you which he will finish to the glory of his owne name and will bring to passe that as heretofore you had care so to liue a noble man amongst noble men that you might obserue the decorum and maintine the dignity of nobilitie so hereafter that you may employ your whole selfe in this that you may defend and vphold the honor dignity of the children of God whose duety it is to aime at the perfection of their father with al endeuors and in their life vpon the earth to resemble that holy heauenly life which they shal lead in the world to come Call to mind continually my good Lord in all your words and deedes that we are graced with this honour to be made the sonnes of God by Iesus Christ for that mediation will by the helpe of the holy Ghost worke this care in vs that we neuer commit any thing vnworthy of that holy name of Christ by which we are called And yet alas such is our estate as that if we do endeuour to please Christ we are sure to displease men and must bee content to contemne the vaine glory of the world that we may enioy heauenly and eternall glory with God for it is impossible as Christ saith for him to beleeue in God which seekes the honour and praise of men I meane of the men of this world which as the kingly Prophet saith are lighter and vainer then vanity it selfe And therefore their iudgement is little worth and lesse to be esteemed but rather the iudgement of God who seeth not all our actions onely but euen our most hidden thoughts and purposes Which being so were it not folly and madnesse to displease such a God to please so fond a world It were a shamefull thing if a wife should endeuour to please other men rather then her husband How much more then vnworthy is it if our soules should rather ayme to please the vaine world then their most holy spouse Christ Iesus If the onely sonne of God was content not only to be
and want Christ Iesus CHAP. VIII Of the grieuous combats betwixt the flesh and the spirit when he resolued of his departure NOw heree by the way it may not be omitted what kind of cogitations he hath often said came into his mind as he was deliberating about this great matter For first of all as often as he looked on his father which he did almost euery houre who decrely loued him and whom againe he respected in all duety and reuerence so often doubtlesse he was striken at the heart with vnspeakeable griefe to thinke of his departure his mind no doubt often thinking thus What and must I needes forsake my deere and louing fathr and cannot I else haue God my Father O miserable and vnhappy father of my body which must stand in comparison with the Father of my soule And must I needes faile in duety to him if I performe my duety to God O miserable old man for what deeper wound can pierce him then thus to be depriued of the onely staffe and comfort of his old age Alas shall I thus leaue him in such a sea of troubles and shall I bee the onely meanes to strike into his heart the deepest wound of griese that yet euer pierced him in all his life This my departure is sure to make my selfe the obloquy of the world yea to breede reproch and shame to the Marquesse my father and to my whole stocke and kinred How is it possible that the good old man can ouercome or indure so great a griefe but rather he must needs be swallowed vp of it so with woe and misery end his life Shall I then be the cause of death to my father who would if neede had beene redeemed my life with his owne death alas what a misery is this like to be either to me or him or vs both yet must I care lesse for bringing his gray head with sorrow vnto the graue then for casting my owne poore soule with horror into hell And no lesse inwardly was he grieued in respect ofhis noble wife Victoria for hauing no hope that she would renounce Popery and go with him therefore he durst not make known vnto her the purpose of his departure but rather resolued for Christs sake to leaue her and all and to follow Christ Shee was now as he was himselfe in the prime of youth a Lady of great birth faire wise and modest but her loue and loyalty to her husband surpassed all How was it possible patiently to leaue such a wise so that his perplexed mind discoursed on this fashion when he lookt on her And shall I so yea so suddenly and so vnkindly leaue and forsake my wife my most deere and louing wife the onely ioy of my heart in this world my companion and partner in all my griefe and labour the augmenter of my ioy the lessener of my woe And shal I leaue her not for a time as hertofore Idid when the Emperors seruice called me from her but for euer neuer againe to enioy her yea it may be neuer to see her And shall I depriue my selfe of her thereby depriue my selfe ofal others also of al the comfort of the coniug all life married estate And shal I so leaue her desolate alone in that estate age whereof she is Alas poore Lady what shal she doe what shal become of her and of her litle ones when I am gone How many dolefull dayes without comfort many waking nights without sleep shal she passe ouer What wil she do but weep waile pine away with grief And as he cast these things in his mind he thought he euen saw his wife how she tooke on with her self sighing sobbing and weeping yea howling crying running after him with these pitifull out-cries Ah my deere Lord and sweete husband whither will you goe and will you Ieaue me miserable woman comfortlesse and succourlesse What shal become of me when you are gone what can honors pompes riches gold siluer iewels friends company all delights and pleasures in the earth what can they all do to my comfort when I want you And what ioy can I haue in my children without you but rather my griefe to be doubled to looke on them And how can I or the world be perswaded that you care for them and for my selfe Is this the loue that thou hast so often boasted of Ah miserable loue which hath this issue either neuer didst thou loue me else neuer had true loue so strange an end as this of yours hath And yet which is worse then all this you neuer shewed me cause of this your strange departue had I knowen cause it would neuer haue grieued mee halfe so much But now that the cause is not knowen what will the world iudge but that the fault is in me at least if they cannot condemne me for it yet how reprochfull will it be to me when euen euery base companion dare lay it in my dish and point at me with their fingers when I go by and say this is that fond woman who married him with whom she could not liue and whom her husband disdained to liue withall This is that simple foole who is desolate hauing a husband and a widow her husband yet beeing aliue Either shall I be counted wicked which haue caused thee to leaue me or foolish miserable and vnhappy who chose so fondly as to take him whom I could not be sure of when I had him In a word I shall be depriued of thee yea of all possibility of hauing any other and so hauing a husband I shal liue in al misery altogether without a husband These two cogitations of his father and his wife greatly tormented him and the more because hee laboured to keepe close this fire which burned and boiled in hisheart namely to conceale his departure lest by being knowne it might haue beene hindred which he would not for a world Yet there was a third and speciall care that pinched him and that was for his children which were sixe in all goodly and towardly children and worthy of so noble parents the more griefe was it in that they were so yong as that they could not yet conceiue what it was to wanta father the eldest was scarce fifteene and the yongest scarce foure yeares old hee loued them with most tender and fatherly affection and was againe loued and honoured of them It is wonderfull to thinke how when his wife the Lady did giue into his armes his yongest childe to play withall as oftentimes wiues vse to doe how it were possible for him and what a do he had with himselfe to containe from floods of teares especially because his eyes seeing them and his hands holding them and his heart taking delight and pleasure in them his minde could not but discourse on this manner And shall I within these few daies vtterly forsake these sweete babes and leaue them to the wide and wicked world as though
renued daily His body pined away buthis minde and soule grew from strength to strength and as a by-stander feeles not the paines of him that is tormented or racked before his eyes so his soule and mind stood as it were a farre off beholding the paines and vexations of the body and being vntoucht it selfe did as it were laugh at Satan sinne death and damnation who by all their ioynt power could doe no more but onely to vex and racke this poore carcase with bodily disease but were not able to touch the soule to vexe the minde or wound the conscience If any man aske the reason why his mind and conseience were so quiet in this so great torment of the body the reason was for that his mind was imployed in holy meditations as of the singular loue of God his father vnto him in Christ Iesus whereby he assured himselfe vndoubtedly of saluation of the manifold holy graces wherewith God had adorned him by the force whereof he said he had borne off so many buffets of Satan had passed so many pikes of troubles and come away conquerer in so many fearefull fights as had opposed themselues against him in his conuersion These gifts and graces of God he weighed with the crosses of his sicknes and found them far heauier and he compared these momentany and light afflictions with that exceeding and eternall weight of glory which he said he knew was laid vp for him in heauen These and such like meditations cheered vp his spirit more then the force of his sickenes could appall him But aboue al things he felt vnspeakable comfort and sweetnes in his prayers to the Lord which he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feruently and with a zealous and faithfull heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often say that in the midst of his prayers his soule seemed to him to be euen rauished out of himself and to taste of the blessed ioyes of heauen So that the saying of the blessed Apostle was verified in him As the suffrings of Christ abounded in us so consolation by Christ abounded much more In his sickenes he wanted no helpe of the Physitions for they came to him out of all parts of the citie and willingly did they all do their diligence about his body whose soule they knew had Christ Iesus to be the Physition for it His friends also continually visited him who were of the chiefe men in the citie and they were all welcome to him rich and poore and it is hard to say whether he receiued more comfort by them or they more spirituall edification by him his speeches and behauiours were so full of patience and so well seasoned with all grace All his friends performed to him what duety soeuer was in their power but especially his worthy wife did then shew her selfe most louing and loyall for she was neuer from about him and saw that he wanted nothing which the world could yeelde for the recouery of his health But all was in vaine for the time of his dissolution was at hand and he had runne the royall race of a most holy Christian life and now nothing remained but a blessed death He might say as the Apostle did with much ioy of heart I haue run my race I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith from henceforth is laid vp for me a crown of righteousnes which Christ the righteous Iudge will giue to me and to all such as wait for his appearing After few daies the violence of his sickenes was such as it ouercame all power of physicke so that it was manifest that that blessed houre approched wherin the Lord had appointed to accomplish his owne good worke in him therefore he sequestred himself altogether from any more care of his body and from al worldly cogitations he renounced the world and all in it he tooke his farewell of his wife and all his Christian friends and said hee should lead them the way to heauen Hee fixed all his thoughts vpon his soule and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ixed on the Lord in heauen and cried to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hat as he had sought him al his life so he would â—â— him and acknowledge him for his owne And thus as all his friends sat about him and as the Preachers and Ministers were occupied in holy praiers and reading of the Scriptures and applying to him the heauenly consolations of God word in the performance of these exercises he ended his dales wherein hee had taken delight all his life long and as hee reioyced to haue them in this life so it pleased the Lord that he should haue them at his death And so in the midst of all his friends in the presence of the Ministers euen in the fight of them all he peaceablie and quietly yeelded vp his spirit and rendred his soule into the hands of his mercifull God and faithfull Creator of whom he had receiued it who immediatly by the ministery of his holy Angels receiuing it at his hands and washing it pure in the blood of Iesus Christ crowned it with the crown of eternal heauenly happines And thus this holy man was translated from a noble man on earth to be a noble Saint in heauen and of a Marquesse on earth in bare name and title he was aduanced to be a glorious triumphing King in heauen where he now raignes in glory with that God whom he so faithfully serued on earth That God and mereifull father grant that all we that reade this admirable story may be allured to take vpon vs the same most holy profession that this thrice noble Marquesse did and may renounce and cast off what euer in this world we see doth hinder vs from the holy fellowshippe of Christ Iesus and strengthen vs that we may be faithful to the end that so we may obtaine the crowne of life in that glory where this noble Galeacius and all the heauenly host of Gods Saints do wait for vs. Amen This was his life this was his end let thy life be like his and thy heart walke in the same way then shall thy soule die his death and thy latter end shall be like his O Lord how glorious art thou in thy Saints FINIS Genes 47. Heb. 11. a The very yeare when Luther began to preach the Gospell * That is Pope Paul the fourth See how the first step of a mans conuersion from popery is true and sound mortification of carnall lusts and a change of life See also how the first meanes to bring a man out of error to the truth is study of holy Scriptures 1. Cor. 1. 26 27. Iohn Psal Psal Psalme Psalme 1. Chron. 28. Ieremy Phillip Hieronymus Fracastorius Sinus Adriaticus His seruants but two His attire plaine but comely His humilitie and lowly minde Euidences of nobility shining in his actions and behauiours How greatly he was esteemed in Geneua They stil called him by the title of Marquesse He was alwaies visited by strangers and trauellers especially Princes and noble men His company and conuersation His courtesie and affabilitie His rare perfections His eloquence and ability of speech His mildnesse to his inferiors His charity to the poore His good workes and charitable deedes His ordinary exercises of Religion publike and priuate His particular and personall calling His courage and iustice His loue of peace and continuall ending of contentions and setting men at vnity that were at variance
they had neuer beene my children nor I their father Yea happy had I bin if I had either neuer had them or hauing them might enioy them To be a father is a comfort but a father of no children and yet to haue children that is a misery And you poore Orphans what shal become of you whē I am gone your hap is hard euen to be fatherlesse your father yet liuing and what can your great birth now helpe you for by my departure you shall lose all your honour all your liuing and wealth and all dignity whatsoeuer which otherwise you had bin sure of nay my departure shall not onely depriue you of al this but lay you open to all infamy reproch and slander and bring vpon you all kind of misery and thus miserable man that I am shall the time be cursed that euer they had me to their father And what can your wofull mother doe when she looketh on you but weepe and wring her hands her griefe still increasing as she lookes vpon you Yet thus must I leaue you al confounded together in heaps of griefe weeping and wailing one with another and I in the meane time weeping and wailing for you all Many other griefes temptations and hinderances assaulted him though they were not so weighty as these formerly named yet which might haue beene able to haue hindred any mans departure being in his case as to leaue the company of so many gallant noblemen and gentlemen his kinred and acquaintaince to lose so honourable an office and place as he bare in the Emperours Court to leaue for euer his natiue soile the delicate Italy to depriue himselfe and his posterity of the noble tittle and rich liuing of a Marquesdome to vndertake a most long and tedious iourney to cast himselfe into exile pouerty shame and many other miseries without hope of recouery for euer to change his former pleasant life into all hardnesse and to giue a farewel to al the delicacies of Italy wherein he was brought vppe to leaue that goodly garden of his father the Marquesses which once should be his owne the goodliest garden almost in all Italy or all Cristendome which was furnished with plants of all sorts and these not onely of all such as grow in Italy but euen such as were to be got out of all other countries this garden and Orchard was so exquisite both this way and in diuers other sorts of elegancies that a great number of men of all qualities resorted daily out of all countries to see it But this and all other the pleasures and delicacies of this present life could doe nothing with him to remooue him from his purpose but he renounced them all and resolued to leaue them all to follow Christ so strong and admirable was the constancy of this noble Gentleman CHAP. IX How after all the temptations which flesh and blood laid in his way to hinder his departure he consulted with the Lord and from him receiued grace to ouercome them all BVt it may be asked whereupon was grounded so great vnmoueablenesse of this purpose or whence came it If we aske the world and common iudgement they will answere that doubtlesse melancholike humours preuailing in him spoiled the man of his iudgement and naturall affections and empaired common sense and reason and thence proceeded this obstinate and desperate purpose as the world iudgeth of it But if a man lift vp his eyes higher and behold the matter more seriously he might haue manifestly seene that it came to passe by the mercifull blessing and strong hand of God who from al eternity had predestinate him that hee should stand so vnmoueable against all temptations and continue in one tenour steady and stedfast vntill he had made voyde all the attempts of Satan and remoued all the stumbling blockes which his flesh and blood and carnall reason could cast in the way for the which purpose the spirit of God enabled him to reason with himselfe on this sort Thou Lord art hee who drew and deliueredst me out of the thick and misty darknes of ignorance and hast enlightned my mind with the light of thy holy spirit and with the heauenly knowledge of thy truth thou hast made knowen to me the way of saluation and hast ransomed me to thy selfe by the blood of thy Sonne Now therefore good Lord and holy father I am wholly thine and consecrated to thy glory and as I am thine I will follow thee and obey thee and walke in the way of thy will whithersoeuer thou shalt call me Not my father nor my wife nor my children nor my honours nor my lands nor my riches nor all my delicacies and pleasures shall hold or hinder me one houre from following thee I denie my selfe O Lord and I deny this whole world for thee and thy sake O Lord thou knowest me and the readinesse of my mind to wait vpon thee and how that my heart is inflamed with the fire of thy loue yet thou seest againe how many enemies compasse mee how many hinderances lie in me way and how many temptations and impediments lie vpon me so that I am scarce able to moue or lift vp my head vnto thee O Lord I am now in the depthes of those troubles out of which the holy Prophet Dauid once cried to thee as I doe now O Lord haue mercy on me and deliuer my soule And although Satan and my owne flesh doe affright me in this my purpose whilst they set before my eyes the crosse and the infamy and the pouerty and so many miseries which I am like in this my new profession to vndergoe notwithstanding O Lord I lift vp my selfe in the contemplation and beholding of thy infinite Maiesty and therein I see and confesse that that crosse and affliction is blessed and glorious which makes me like and conformable to Christ my head and that infamy to be honorable which sets me in the way to true honour and that pouerty to be desired which depriuing a man of some temporall goods wil reward him with an heauenly inheritance then which there is nothing more pretious I meane O Lord with thy owne selfe and thy glory O euerlasting God and that by thy onely son Iesus Christ that so I enioying thy glorious presence may liue for euer with thee in that heanenly society O blessed and happy these miseries which pull me out of the worlds vanities and sinke of sinne that I may be made heire of an euerlasting glory Welcome therfore the crosse of Christ I wil take it vp O Lord and wil follow thee With these such like holy meditations other holy meanes he ouercame at last all the attempts of Satan al his owne natural and carnal affections yea and the world it selfe and verified that in himselfe which Paul affirmeth of Gods true elect that they that are Christs haue crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts that is haue crucified their soules for Christ who crucified himselfe
wheresoeuer he would without any molestation to be offred him about his Religion or conscience His father tels him that if he doe this this will bee a greater solace to his olde age then his departure and absence hath beene griefe vnto him besides all this the good old man most earnestly intreated him though hee was the father and spake to the sonne that hee would gratifie him in this his request and added many beseechings who in any lawfull thing might by his authoritie haue commanded him and euery word that he spake was so seasoned as comming from the affection of a father and at last with many strong reasons perswaded him not to reiect this so extraordinary a fauor offered him by the Pope in so speciall and rare clemency whereby he might without hurt of his conscience liue more commodiously then euer afore and be restored to his former honour and place and estate and recouer the former loue and estimation of all his friends yea and of many strangers who hearing of this his obedience to his father would loue him for it vnto which obedience to me saith the father to his sonne thou art bound both by the bond of nature and by the law and word of God which thou so much talkest of and vrgest to me therefore saith he if there be in thee either sparke of naturall affection or any Religion and conscience of thy duety thou wilt yeelde vnto me in this especially seeing thou maist doe it without hurt or endangering of thy conscience and Religion This talke and request of the Marquesse diuersly affected Galeacius for the thing he requested and the reasons he vrged seemed to be such as he could with no good reason contradict them and yet he durst not presently entertaine the motion besides that the presence authority and reuerent regard of his father the vehemency and affection of his mind and especially the naturall bond and obligation wherein the son stands tied to the father in things law full and indifferent especially when by that obedience no violence is offred to good conscience all these did greatly moue him Also naturall and carnall reason for their parts assaulted him no lesse violently with such kind of arguments as for the most part preuaile with all men For his father offred him yearly reuenues competent and fit for his estate the solace of his children and society of his wife which two things he desired aboue all other in the world So that to this motion and request of his father the Marquesse Galeacius knew not well what to answere on the sudden but stood for a time musing and doubtfull what to say and the rather for that he then wanted his speciall friend faithfull Caluine with whom he might consult in so waighty a cause It seemed to him impious and vngodly not to yeeld to his father in so lawfull and reasonable a request and he saw no way how he might denie it but he must needes incurre and vndergoe his fathers extreame displeasure and yet how hee might yeelde to it with safety of conscience he much doubted for he feared that more danger to his profession and Religion and consequently more hurt to his soule might hereupon insue then he could presently perceiue so that he stood altogether vnresolued in his owne reason what to doe therefore in this extremity he denied himselfe and renounced his owne wit and in humble and feruent prayer betooke himselfe in this difficulty to the blessing and direction of his God and Sauiour the author and true fountain of wisedome and constancy humbly crauing of the Lord to assist him with his holy spirit that in this extreamity hee might aduise and resolue of the best and safest course for Gods glory and his owne sound comfort O how truely sung that sweete singer of Israel King Dauid when he said How happy and blessed are they that feare God for God will teach them the way they should walke Galeacius found it most true in his owne experience for vpon this his submission and prayer the Lord from heauen resolued him in this sort That seeing the Pope did Antichrist-like directly oppose himselfe to Christ and his Religion and Church that therefore he might by no meanes sue for or accept any fauour at his hands nor be by any meanes beholden to him at all Because what shew of seruice soeuer was done to him by the enemy of Christ seemed to bee taken from Christ himselfe Further Gods spirit perswaded him it caried too great a shew of Apostasie or backsliding to forsake the company of godly professors and the fellowship of Christs Church and to liue amongst Idolaters in the midst of all abominations The same spirit of God set before his eyes that scandall and offence which this fact of his would breed in the minds of the faithfull which would thinke that he had taken his farewel at Religion and would now shake hands again renue his acquaintance with his old friend the world that he had lightly esteemed the spirituall blessings heauenly iewels of graces which God distributeth daily in his Church and would now betake himself again to the olde affections of his flesh The same spirit resolued him that thus to forsake the ordinary meanes and depriue himselfe of the true vse of the word and Sacraments and to liue in a place where was nothing but Idolatrie was to tempt God in the highest degree God likewise opened his eyes that he perceiued the sleight of Satan by this his fathers dâ—â—t namely to entangle him againe in the net of worldly cares to wrappe his mind in the snards of Italian pleasures and so to dazle his eies with the honours and pleasures and sensuall delights which once he had bin brought vp in that his Religion might decay by little and little and that all godlinesse might by the heat of these new pleasures fall and melt away like as waxe before the fire and lastly the Lord vpon his prayer granted him the wisedome of his holy spirit to answere al his fathers obiections and confute all his arguments And amongst many other he earnestly intreated his father that he would not do that vnto him which afterward hee would repent that euer hee had done namely that he would not be a meanes to make him a prey to the Papists which had confirmed for a law and ratified it by many examples that promise faith nor oath is to be kept with any man whom they call heretikes Whereupon said he it is better for me and more ioy to you to liue as I doe with this poore estate then with hope of better to endanger my life and so our whole posterity By these and such like perswasions it pleased God so to worke vpon the Marquesse that hee was ouercome in this sute wherein he supposed to haue preuailed and therefore he yeelded against his will and so with a sorrowfull heart he returned to Naples And as he went he certified the Pope the obstinacy
beene such a husband to her so good and kind and euery way so well deseruing that she loued him as her owne eyes therefore more was she to blame that she esteemed him not as the light of her eyes but though this troubled her sore yet it moued her not to her duety so good a scholar was she in this Popish learning that she would rather incur her husbands yea Gods displeasure then her Confessors and rather breake their commandements so holy and iust then his which was so vngodlie and so vnreasonable and it also lesse preuayled with her because she imagined he would not so doe though he spake so but onely did it to feare her and so in feare hereof to make her yeeld vnto him CHAP. XXII Seeing he could not reclaime his Ladie he resolued to returne to Geneua and of the greeuous temptations he endured where he tooke his last farewell of his father wife children and friends and of his heauenly courage in bearing and passing thorow them all WHen therefore the good gentleman saw all things so farre amisse that euen his wife was against him of all other and gaue him a deeper wound then all other his friends denying him that societie and fellowship which the bond of marriage yeeldeth seeing that the time passed without any good doing but rather to the increasing of griefe on all sides hee theerfore resolued to depart and so calling his wife Victoria againe he iterated vnto her his former protestation and so bad her take it as his last warning The dolefull day of his departing being come hee held on his purpose and so entred into the chamber of his father the Marquesse to do his duetie vnto him and to take his leaue Who seeing his son thus past al hope of recouery quenching his fatherly affection in fury and raging madnesse like a frantike or desperate man reuiled him in most dispitefull termes and at last giues him his farewel with many a heauy and bitter curse This so strange and extraordinary persecution did this good gentleman suffer for Christs sake and it is marueile that it did not cause him to looke backe againe and turne his course But it was Gods doing that his father should vse these extreme and violent curses rather then to goe about to winne him by allurements and gentle perswasions for hee hath often vsed to tell his friends that this monstrous inhumanity and vnnaturalnes of his father did rather confirme and settle his minde his nature being rather to be ledde then drawen and rather to be wonne by friendlinesse and faire meanes then to be vrged by extremities But God would haue his seruant to be tried by both meanes namely the allurements of his wife and the minacings of his father Thus God would purge him in the fire of all kind of temptations And thus by the power of Gods grace hauing passed thorow this fire behold a hotter is to be ventured on Departing his fathers chamber with that burden of curses which the Lord turned into blessings he came into the great chamber and so into the hall where he found his wife his children his vncles sonne afore spoken of diuers noble gentlemen his kinsfolks and some his ancient familiars and domestick friends all fraught with griefe and making heauy cheere nothing was heard but sighes and sobbes and cries nothing was seene but teares and wringing of hands his wife embracing him and taking him about the necke beseeched him in most louing and most pitifull maner that be would haue care of himselfe of her and of all his children and whole house and not so wilfully to cast them all away His yong children all vpon their knees with armes stretched ou t and hands holden vp and faces swolne with teares cried vnto him to haue pitie on them his owne bowels and not to make them fatherlesse before the time His cosen and other kinsmen with heauie countenances and watrie eyes looked rufully on him and though for griefe they were not able to speake one word to him yet euery looke and euery countenance and euery gesture was a loud crie and a strong intreatie that he would stay and not leaue so ancient and noble a house in such wosull and desolate case No words can suffice to expresse the griefe of that doleful company nor that lamentable departure that there was to be seene Vnutterable was the griefe on their side and vnspeakeable was the torment temptation which the noble gentleman felt in this agonv when he must either leaue Christ Iesus or leaue all these for him But amongst aboue al there was one most lamētable sight which would euen haue wrung tears frō a hart of flint Amongst al his children he had one daughter a towardly goodly yong gentlewoman of xij yeres old who crying out amain wallowing in teares fell downe catching fast hold about his thighes and knees held him so hard as he could by no means shake her off the affectiō of a father wroght so with him as he could not offer with violence to hurt her he labored to be loose but she held faster he went away but she trailed after crying to him not to be so cruell to her his childe who came into the world by him This so wonderfully wrought with his nature he being a man of a most louing kind affection that he hath often reported he thought that all his bowels rowled about within him that his hart would haue burst presently there instantly haue died his child so hauing him fast about the legs But notwithstāding al this he being armed with a supernatural heauēly fortitude he brake thorow al these tēptations treading vnder foot whatsoeuer might hinder him frō Christ he escaped out ofthis perillous battell a glorious cōquerer so leauing that sorrowful house dolorus cōpany he came with speed to the shore where presētly taking shipping he caused them to hoist vp sailes towards Laesina with a turmoiled distressed mind one way surcharged with sorow to remēber the maner of his departure another way surprized with ioy to remēber that he had escaped And euen as a ship in a tēpestuoussea the boisterous waues tossing it vp down is thrown about somtime touching the clouds somtime plunged into the depth So no doubt the noble mind of this yong marquesse was no lesse distracted with cotrary cogitations being as it were in a labyrinth of distempered affections sometimes he could not but remēber that lamētable estate wherin he left his father wife children he often imagined he was stil amongst thē he thought he hard them cry cal vpon him thought he still felt his litle deere daughter clasping him about the legs trailing after him neither could he contain but breake out into tears neither could he for his life but often looke backe at that princely house with al those goodly orchards gardēs granges fields teritories to al which he was the only heire
and embrace his holytruth and yeeld his soule and conscience obedient to the heauenly calling and so become the seruant and childe of the most high God whereby he may aspire and attaine to the true and highest dignity which is to enioy the fauour and comfortable presence of God his holy grace to loue God and to be loued of him and so at last to be aduanced to that heauenly and eternalglory which is prepared for them who in this world do forsake themselues and their owne desires that they may in true holines serue the Lord. With these and such like holy speeches he answered the disholy and dishonest demand of this carnall Papist But for all that this importunate and vnreasonable Iesuite for he was of that sect ceased not to be troublesome to this noble and holy Gentleman still vrging him with fond and friuolous reasons and pressing him with rediculous arguments as this especially for one he promised him a huge sum of money if he would returne home which saith he lies ready at Lions for you and the Brokers and Exchangers there are prepared to pay it And he further assured him that if he would come againe into Italy they had procured him liberty of his conscience and Religion at Turing and there also he said he should find a great summe of money ready for him But when this importunatefellow presumed to presse the good conscience of this resolute Gentleman with such base arguments and began to weigh Religion in a paire of gold weights then the noble heart of this holy Christian could not but shew it selfe mooued and therefore in a holy zeale and an ardent loue of his Sauior Christ Iesus he cryed out Let their money perish with thē who esteeme al the gold in the worldworth one daies society with Iesus Christ his holy spirit cursed saith he be that religion for euer which shal wed men to the world diuorce them from God Go home therfore saith noble Galeacius take away thy siluer again make much of that drosse of the earth together with your dregs of popery lock thē vp together in the chest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as for me know it that my Lord Sauior Christ hath made me enamored of far more precious iewels and durable riches But the heauenly constancy of this holy man droue this frantike papist from his bias into an extreme choller for he according to the nature of his Popes holy religion thought that when all arguments had failed yet money would haue wonne him and therfore seeing him so highly to scorne and so disdainfully to contemne so great offers hee thought it very strange and therefore seeing all his labor lost and his best hold proue so weake he fell from mony to meere madnes and forgetting himselfe and his duty brake out into ill words and reproohfull termes But when the Magistrate was informed of it and saw that this arrogant papist durst so far abuse the patience of so honorable a man therfore by their authority they forbad him the Citie as the manner of that place is in such cafes and so this newes bringer had his pasport to be packing and to go home and count his siluer and there to bragge of his good successe for he now could say by good experience that so much money as was enough to lead an hundred popish friers to and fro whither a man would like Beares by the nose could not touch the conscience of one protestant much lesse make him a papist CHAP. XXIX Being deliuered from the importunitie of the Iesuit not long after came a Monke nimble witted and learned a kinsman of his owne who had a strong conceit that he could haue reclaimed him but he came too late the Marquesse being dead before he came AND thus it pleased God to deliuer this sick gentleman from this troublesome tempter and this messenger of Satan which came to haue buffeted him but he buffeted yea and vanquished him Satan in him and he might report at home that he found the Marquesse sicke in bodie but whole in mind yea that he neuer saw in all his life so resolute a conscience and so couragious a mind in so weake a body And thus the Lord doubtlesse did in mercy to him that being from this disquiet companion he might with more comfort and lesse griefe beare the burden of his sickenes which now grew vpon him more and more and left him not till it made him leaue the world and till it had translated him from this his pilgrimage to his eternall rest and till it had made him of a poore Marquesse vpon earth a glorious King in heauen Whose death as it was wonderfully lamented of the whole Church for the vnrecouerable losse they had of him so it was a merciful blessing and a welcome messenger of God to him for it freed and deliuered him from many stormes of new temptations which the Diuell was raising against him for within a short time after his death there came to Geneua a certaine Monke a good scholar a gentleman by birth and neere a kin to Galeacius who being puft vp with Monkish pride and a conceit of his owne ability for such an enterprise thought so farre to haue preuailed with Galeacius by his nimble wit and eloquent tongue as to haue perswaded him now at the last either to haue relinquished his Religion or at least to haue left Geneua and to haue returned into Italy where his vncle had beene lately Pope that so by his presence and countenance and the helpe of his great friends which he had both in the Popes and the Emperours Court his children might be in more possibility of those high dignities and great places in the world which they and their other friends aimed at and for the attainment whereof nothing so much hindred them as their fathers Religion and course of life But he returned home a proud foole as he came and ashamed of his proud and insolent spirit which perswaded him by his vaine babling he could haue ouercome him whom he found when he came to Geneua to haue ouercome the world and all spirituall enemies and now to be triumphing in the glory of heauen And so leauing him and all other his Popish carnall kinred gnashing their teeth for anger to see his admirable constancy let vs returne againe to our sicke gentleman whose end now hasting on will also hasten an end of this strange story CHAP. XXX His long and languishing sickenes grew and increased vpon him in such measure as his paine was most grieuous but hee bare it all with an heroicall and heauenly courage so that it might manifestly appeare that euen the Lord from heauen did lend him strength and as the torments and pangs of the disease increased so hisfaith and patience and all heauenly vertues shone in him more and more so that it was most true of him which the Apostle saith as the outward man perished so the inward man was