that she began to waver and let go her first faith this the adversaries much rejoyced in and the poor flock of Christ in that place hearing of it were as much afflicted with the news but God left them not in this mournful condition long For a Monk one day going to her perswaded her to draw her sonne Martin to the same recantation with her self which she promised to do but when they came together Martin perceiving the grievous Apostacy of his Mother bewailed it with many tears saying to her Oh Mother what have you done have you denied him that redeemed you Alas what injury hath he done you that you should requite him with so great an injury and dishonour Now am I plunged into that woe which I most feared Ah good God that I should live to see this which pierceth me to the very heart His mother hearing his pittiful complaints and seeing him drowned in tears for her sake began again to renew her strength in the Lord and with tears cryed out Oh Father of mercies be merciful to me miserable sinner and cover my transgression under the righteousnesse of thy blessed Son Lord enable me with strength from above to stand to my first confession and make me to abide stedfast therein even to my last breath Presently in came the seducers hoping to finde her in the same minde that they left her but she no sooner saw them but cryed Avoid Satan get thee behind me for henceforth thou hast nether part nor portion in me I will by the help of God stand to my first Confession and if I may not sign it with ink I will seal it with my blood and so after this time through Gods gracious assistance she grew stronger and stronger Then were they both condemned to be burnt alive and their ashes to be sprinkled in the aire When the sentence was passed as they returned to prison they said Now blessed be God who causeth us thus to triumph over our enemies This is the wished hour our gladsome day is come let us not therefore forget to be thankfull for that honour that God doth us in thus conforming us to the image of his Sonne Let us remember those that have troden this path before us for this is the high-way to the Kingdom of heaven c. Hereupon some of the Friars being ready to burst for anger said unto Martin that was most valiant We see now Heretick that thou art wholly possest body and soul with a Divel as were thy father and brother who are now in hell Martin answered As for your railings and cursings God will this day turn them into blessings in the sight of himself and all his holy Angels When they came into prison there came to them two persons of great quality of whom one of them said to Martin Young man I have compassion on thee if thou wilt be ruled by me and return to the Church of Rome thou shalt not only be freed from this shameful death but I will also give thee an hundred pounds Martin presently replyed Sir you present before me many temporal commodities But alas do you think me so simple as to forsake an eternal Kingdome for the enjoyment of a short temporal life No Sir it s now too late to speak to me of worldly commodities I will hearken to no other speech but of those spiritual commodities which I shall enjoy this day in Gods Kingdome c. Soon after Martin and his mother were carried to the place of their Martyrdome and being bound to the stake the woman said We are Christians and that which we now suffer is not for murther nor theft but because we will believe no more than the Word of God teacheth us The fire being kindled the heat of it did nothing abate the fervency of their seal but they continued crying Lord Jesus into thy hands we commend our spirits and so they blessedly slept in the Lord. A Friar at Gaunt called Charles Coninck being through Gods mercy converted to the truth left his Friars weed and joyned himself to the brethren for which he was apprehended and remaining constant was condemned then came a special friend perswading him to recant and he would procure him a Cannonship To whom Charles answered Sir I thank you for your good will and kind offer but I cannot accept them without offending God and that rest is no true rest and quietnesse which is obtained against the peace of a good conscience Shortly after his death one of his adversaries which had the greatest hand in procuring of it fell into grievous terrour and horrour of conscience whereof within a few dayes he died The Persecution of the Duke de Alva in the Netherlands WHen the light of the Gospel was much spread abroad in the Netherlands King Philip of Spaine sent the Duke de Alva with a great Army to root out the Professors of it who exercised unparalell'd cruelty against all sorts of persons both of the Nobility and Commons permitting his souldiers to ravish honest Matrons and Virgins many times causing their husbands and Parents to stand by and behold it This Duke on a time boasted at his own table that he had been diligent to root out heresie for that beside those which he had slain in war in the space of six years he had put into the hands of the common hangman above eighteen thousand persons His sonne also Don Frederick being sent by him to Zutphen was re-received by the Bourgers without any opposition yet was he no sooner entred but he fell to murther hang and drown a number of the inhabitants with infinite cruelties shewed upon wives and virgins yea not sparing the very infants From thence marching to Naerden in Holland the inhabitants made an agreement with him and he entred the town peaceably but never did Turks or Scythians or the most barbarous and inhumane Nations in the world commit more abominable cruelties than Don Frederick did in this town for when the Bourgers had given the best entertainment that they could to him and his souldiers he caused it to be proclaimed that they should all assemble themselves together in the Chappel of the Hospital where they should be made acquainted with such Laws according to which they should hereafter govern themselves but when these poor people were thus assembled he commanded his souldiers to murther them all without sparing any one the men were massacred the women were first ravished and then murthered most cruelly the children and infants had their throats cut and in some houses they tied the inhabitants to posts and then set fire on the houses and burnt them alive so that in the whole town neither man wife maid nor child old nor young were spared and then the town was wholly razed to the ground without pity or mercy After this Don Frederick besieged Harlem which held out against him for a long time
them to undergo Romanus answered Thy sentence O Emperour I willingly embrace I refuse not to be sacrificed for my brethren and that by as cruel torments as thou canst invent c. The Captain being much enraged with this his stout Answer commanded him to be trussed up and his bowels drawn out whereupon the Executioners said Not so Sir this man is of noble parentage and therefore he may not be put to so ignoble a death Scourge him then quoth the Captain with whips with knobs of lead at the ends but Romanus sang Psalms all the time of his whipping requiring them not to favour him for nobilities sake Not the bloud of progenitors saith he but the Christian profession makes me noble then did he earnestly inveigh against the Captain and derided their Idoll gods c. but this further enraged the Tyrant so that he commanded his sides to be lanced with knives till the bones were laid open yet still did the holy Martyr preach the living God and the Lord Jesus Christ to him then did the Tyrant command them to strike out his teeth that his speech might be hindered also his face was buffeted his eye-lids torn with their nails his cheeks gashed with knives the skin of his beard pulled off by litle and little c. yet the meek Martyr said I thank thee O Captain that thou hast opened to me so many mouths as wounds whereby I may preach my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ look how many wounds I have so many mouths I have lauding and praising God The Captain astonished at his constancy bad them give over tormenting him yet he threatned to burn him reviled him and blasphemed God saying thy crucified Christ is but a yesterdaies God the gods of the Gentiles are of greatest antiquity But Romanus taking occasion from hence declared to him the eternity of Christ c. withall saying Give me a child of seven years old and thou shalt hear what he will say hereupon a pretty boy was called out of the multitude to whom Romanus said Tell me my pretty babe whether thou think it reason that we worship Christ and in Christ one Father or else that we worship infinite gods the child answered that certainly what we affirm to be God must needs be one which with one is one and the same and inasmuch as this one is Christ of necessity Christ must be the true God for that there be many gods we children cannot beleeve The Captain amazed at this said thou young villain and traitor where and of whom learnedst thou this lesson of my mother said he with whose milk I sucked in this lesson that I must believe in Christ The mother was called and she gladly appeared the Tyrant commanded the child to be horsed up and scourged the standers by beholding this mercilesse act could not refrain from tears the joyfull and glad mother alone stood by with dry cheeks yea she rebuked her sweet babe for desiring a cup of cold water charging him to thirst after the cup that the babes of Bethlem once drunk of She willed him to remember little Isaac who willingly proferred his neck to the â—int of his fathers sword c. Then did the cruell tormentor pull off the skin hair and all from the crown of the childes head the mother crying Suffer my child anon thou shalt passe to him that will adorn thy head with a crown of eternall glory thus the mother councelleth and encourageth the childe is encouraged and receiveth the stripes with a smiling countenance The Captain seeing the childe invincible and himself vanquished commands him to be cast into the stinking prison whilest the torments of Romanus were renewed and encreased Then was Romanus brought forth again to receive new stripes upon his old sores the flesh being torn and the bare bones appearing yet the cruell Tyrant raging like a mad man quarelling with the tormentors for dealing so mildely with him commanding them to cut prick and pounce him and then he passed sentence upon him together with the childe to be burned to death to whom Romanus said I appeal from this unjust sentence of thine to the righteous throne of Christ that upright Judge not because I fear thy cruell torments and mercilesse handling but that thy Judgements may be known to be cruell and bloudy When they came to the place of execution the tormentors required the childe of his mother for she had carried it in her arms from the prison She kissing it delivered it to them and as the executioner was striking off his head she said farewell my sweet childe All laud and praise with heart and voice O Lord we yeeld to thee To whome the death of all thy Saints We know most dear to be The childes head being cut off the mother wrapt it in her garment laid it to her brest and so departed Then was Romanus cast into a mighty fire which being quenched with a great storm the Tyrant commanded his tongue to be cut out and afterwards caused him to be strangled in the prison Gordius a Centurion in Caesarea in the heat of this persecution left his charge living a solitary life in a wilderness for a long time at last when a solemn feast was celebrated to Mars in that city and multitudes of people were assembled in the Theatre to see the games he came and gat up into a conspicuous place and with a loud voice said Behold I am found of those which sought me not c. the multitude hereupon looked about to see who it was that spake this and Gordius being known he was immediatly brought before the Sheriff and being asked who and what he was and why he came thither he told him the whole truth professing that he believed in Christ valued not their threatnings and chose this as a fit time to manifest his profession in then did the Sheriff call for scourges gibbets and all manner of torments to whom Gordius answered that it would be a losse and damage to him if he did not suffer divers torments and punishments for Christ and his cause the Sheriff more incensed hereby commanded all those torments to be inflicted on him with which Gordius could not be overcome but sang The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do unto me and I will fear no evill because thou Lord art with me c. then did he blame the tormentors for favouring him provoking them to do their uttermost then the Sheriff not prevaling that way sought by flattery to seduce him promising him preferment riches treasures honour c. if he would deny Christ but Gordius derided his foolish madness saying that he looked for greater preferment in heaven then he could give him here upon earth then was he condemned and had out of the city to be burnt Multitudes followed him and some Kissing him with tears entreated him to pity himself to whom he answered Weep
and so kneeling down and praying unto Christ the executioner with his bloudy hand finished her hope Basil in one of his Orations relates a story of one Jullitta from whom one of the Emperours officers tooke all her goods lands and servants contrary to all equity whereupon she complained to the Judges and a day of hearing was appointed where the spoiled woman lamentably declared her cause But the wicked villain that had robbed her said that her Action was of no force for she was an outlaw for not observing the Emperours gods and that she was a Christian His allegation was allowed incense was prepared for her to offer to the gods which if she refused she should neither have protection nor benefit of the Emperours Laws nor continue her life She hearing this in the mighty strength of God said Farewell riches welcome pouerty farewell life welcome death All that I have were it a thousand times more would I lose rather then speak one wicked word against God my Creator I yield thee most hearty thanks O my God for this gift of grace that I can contemn and despise this frail and transitory world esteeming the profession of Christ above all treasures And thenceforth when any question was proposed to her her answer was I am the servant of Jesus Christ. Her kindred and friends earnestly sollicited her to change her minde but she constantly refused with detestation of their Idolatry Then did the cruel Judge condemn her to be burnt which sentence she embraced joyfully as a thing most sweet and delectable and so she addressed her self to the flames in countenance gesture and words declaring the joy of her heart coupled with singular constancy and so embracing the fire she sweetly slept in the Lotd Barbara a noble woman in Thuscia after miserable imprisonment sharp cords and burning flames put to her sides was as last beheaded together with many others Here place the fourth Figure CHAP. XVII The Persecution of the Christians in Persia under Sapores about the same time THE Idolatrous Magicians in Persia taking counsell together against the Christians accused them to Sapores for keeping correspondence with and favoring the Roman Emperour which was Constantine the Great The King being much moved herewith took occasion to oppress them with taxes and tributes to their utter undoing and killed there Ministers with the sword Then he called before him Simeon their Bishop who remaining constant and valiant he commanded him to be led forth to torment yet did he neither shrink for fear nor make any humble suit for pardon which the King being offended at required him either to worship him after the countrey manner or else he would destroy him and all other Christians in his land But Simeon neither allured with promises nor terrified with threatnings could be induced to the Idolatrous worship for which cause he was sent away to prison and as he was going there was sitting at the Court-gate an Eunuch an old Tutor of the Kings named Usthazares once a Christian but now fallen from his profession who seeing Simeon led by rose up and did him reverence Simeon on the contrary rebuked him crying out against him for revolting from his profession Whereupon the Eunuch burst forth into tears layd aside his costly apparell and put on black mourning weeds and sitting at the Court-gate weeping he said to himself Wo is me with what face hereafter shall I look upon God seeing Simeon disdaineth with one gentle word to salute me This being carried to the Kings ears he was exceeding angry and sending for him he first with gentle words and large promises spake him fair and asked him why he mourned Whether there was any thing in his house that was denied him c. Whereunto Usthazares answered that there was nothing in that earthly house that was detained from him Yea said he O King would God any other grief or calamity in the world had happened to me rather then this for which I justly sorrow For this is my grief that I am alive this day who should have died long since and that I see this sun which dissemblingly to pleasure you I have seemed to worship for which I have deserved a double death First for dissembling with you secondly for that thereby I have denied Christ withall vowing that he would never hereafter forsake the Creator to worship the creature c. Sapores was much astonished hereat and doubted whether to use him gently or with rigour but at last in his mood he commanded him to be beheaded But as he was going to execution he requested an Eunuch that attended on the King to desire him for all the old and faithfull service that he had done to his father and him that he would cause it to be proclaimed openly at his death that he was beheaded not for any treachery against the King or Realm but for that he was a Christian and would not deny his God this the King yielded to and so it was performed and this he desired because by his former Apostacy he dad discouraged many Christians and therefore he sought by his profession and example to encourage them to the like sufferings Simeon in prison hearing of his death much rejoyced and praised God for it and the very next day he with above an hundred more Christians were beheaded likewise There was present at their Martyrdom one Pusices an officer to the King who beholding an aged Minister to tremble when he saw the others beheaded before him said unto him O father shut thine eys for a little moment and be strong and shortly thou shallt see God in glory Hereupon Pusices was apprehended and carried before the King in whose presence he made a bold confession of his faith for which cause they made a hole in his neck and pulled out his tongue backward and so he was put to death together with one of his daughters that was a virgin The year after when the Christians were met together to celebrate the memoriall of Christs passion Sapores sent forth a cruel Edict that all they should be put to death that professed the Name of Christ and this he did at the instigation of the wiâ—ked Magicians whereupon an innumerable company of Christians both in Cities and Towns were slain by the sword some being sought for others offering themselves willingly least they should seem to deny Christ In this Persecution many of the Kings own Court and houshold-servants suffered Martyrdom amongst whom was Azades an Eunuch whom the King entirely loved insomuch as hearing that he was slain he was so offended and grieved that he commanded that thenceforth no more Christians should be slain but only the Doctors and Teachers of the Church About this time the Queen fell very sick upon which occasion the wicked Jews and Magicians accused two of Simeons sisters which were godly virgins that by charms and
the effecting of it but as soon as the men were in Arms it pleased God by the death of King Francis to put an end to that design whereby the Waldensian Churches in Dauphine enjoyed peace and were well furnished with godly Pastors who held them in the exercise of religion though they were in continuall danger of being persecuted to the death for the same The Waldenses in Dauphine many years before being multiplyed so that the countrey could not feed them dispersed themselves abroad into divers parts whereof some went into Piedmont who lived in great love with those of Daâ—phine and though they were alwaies oppressed with troubles yet with hearty love and charity they ever-succoured one another not sparing their lives and goods for their mutuall conservation The first Persecution in Piedmont were occasioned by the Preists who complained to the Arch-Bishop of Turin that these people lived not according to the manner and belief of the Church of Rome that they offered not for the dead cared not for Masses Absolutions or to get any of theirs out of the pains of Purgatory c. Hereupon the Arch-Bishop persecuted them complaining of them to their Princes to make them odious But the Prince enquiring of their neighbours heard that they were of a good conversation fearing God without deceit or malice loving plain dealing alwaies ready to serve their Prince with alacrity c. He therefore purposed not to molest them But the Priests and Monks gaining nothing by their belief charged them with an infinite number of calumnies and ever and anon catching one or other of them they delivered them to the Inquisitors and the Inquisitors to the executioners so that there was scarce a Town or City in Piedmont wherein some of them had not been put to death At Turin one of them had his bowels torn out of his belly and put into a bason before his face and then was he cruelly martyred At Revel in the Marquisat of Saluces one Catelin Girard being on the block whereon he should be burnt requested his Executioner to give him two stones which he refused to do fearing least he would throw them at some body but he protesting the contrary at last they gave him two stones which he held in his hands and said When I shall have eaten these stones then shall you see an end of our Religion for â—hich you now put me to death and so he threw them on the ground and died cheerfully Thus they burnt many of them in the fire till Anno 1488. and then they resolved to assault them by open force because they saw that otherwise they should never be able to extirpate them besides their constant sufferings converted many to the faith Hereupon they levied an Army of eighteen thousand men besides many inhabitants of Piedmont who ran to the pillage from all parts These marched all at once to Angrogne Lâ—cerne La Perouse c. They raised also forces in Dauphine where with they over-ran the Valley of Pragela so that they being put to defend themselves could not assist their friends in Piedmont But the enemy by this division of his forces being weakned was every where beaten especially in the Valley of Angrogne where the VValdensians having been informed of the levies of their enemies against them prepared themselves to receive and resist them keeping the strait passages where few men might defend themselves against many They defended themselves with long Targets of wood whereby they covered themselves from the hurt of their enemies arrows Whilst they were thus bickering with their enemies the women and children upon their knees cried out O God help us The enemies made themselves merry with this fight and amongst them one Capt. Saquet who as he was imitating the woman was slain and tumbled down into a very deep valley Another Captain crying out to the women in derision was killed with the shot of an arrow in the throat Hereupon the souldiers betook themselves all to their heels and the greatest part slew themselves by tumbling down from the rocks Another providence of God was this that the enemies approaching to the stongest entrance by nature might their have fortified themselves and so made themselves masters of that Valley But God sent so thick a cloud and dark a fog that they could scarce see one another whereby they wanted opportunity to discover their advantage and therefore departed which the VValdenses seeing couragiously pursued them and by that means the enemy being dispersed and not seeing which waies they went the greatest part fell headlong down the mountains quitting their arms and booty which they had gotten at their first entrance into the Valley by which means the Waldenses recovered it again Then it pleased God to move the Princes heart which was Philip the seventh Duke of Savoy and Lord of Piedmont with pity towards these poor people saying That he would not have that people which had been alwaies true faithfull and obedient to him to be unjustly destroyed by Arms being content that twelve of the Principall should come to him to Pignerol to crave pardon for all the rest for taking arms in their own defence without his authority These he entertained lovingly forgiving all that was past during the warre And having been informed that all their children were born with black throats with foure rows of teeth and all hairy he caused some of them to be brought to him and seeing them fair and perfect creatures he was much displeased with himself for beleeving so easily the reports which were brought to him against them giving command that none should hereafter molest them but that they should enjoy all the priviledges which they rest of his subjects in Piedmont did Notwithstanding which the Monks Inquisitors daily sent out processe against them lay in wait for them and as they could aprehend any of them delievered them over to the secular power This Persecution lasted to Anno. 1532. at which time the Waldenses ordered that there exercises of religion should be performed no more in covert as formerly they had been but in publick that every one might know them and that their Pastors should preach the Gospell openly not fearing any persecution that might happen unto them The prince being advertised hereof was highly offended with them and thereupon caused one of his Commanders to hast with his Troops into the said Vallies which was performed with such diligence that he was entred with five hundred horse and Foot before they were aware ransacking plundering and wasting all before them Then did the Waldenses leave their ploughs putting themselves into passes and with their slings charged their enemies with such multitudes of stones that they were constraned to flie and to abandon their prey many remaining dead upon the ground This news was presently carried to the Prince and withall he was told that these people were not to
not altogether alone seeing the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is with me he is my exceeding great reward and will not fail to reward me so soon as I shall have laid down this earthly tabernacle Pray unto God that he will strengthen me to the end for every hour I expect the dissolution of this house of clay When he was brought forth before the Judges and examined of his faith he answered freely and proved what he said by the holy Scriptures and being asked whether he was resolved to die for the faith which he professed he answered I will not only venture to give my body but my soul also for the confirmation of it and so being condemned he was shortly after burned dying with much comfort The persecution growing hot in Flanders one Giles Annik and John his sonne removed to Emden but by reason of their sudden departure they could not take their wives with them whereupon in the year 1568. they returned back to fetch their wives who were at Renay yet in regard of the danger they durst not go into the town openly but took up their lodging in the evening at an honest mans house called Lewis Meulin Now it so fell out that that very night the enemies had appointed to make a secret search after such as professed the Gospel and so passing by this house and seeing the light of a candle in it expecting their prey they forced open the door and took these two together with their Host prisoners God having appointed them to bear witnesse to his truth After they had been in prison awhile they were all three condemned for Hereticks and presently after Giles the father was burned John the son being fetched to execution when he saw the man that first apprehended him he called him to him saying I forgive thee my death and so he with Lewis Meulin were both beheaded About the same time there was also a godly widow apprehended and cast into prison her crime was for that about two years before she had suffered a Minister to preach in an out-house on the backside of her dwelling She was very charitable in relieving the poor and every way shewed forth the fruits of a true saving faith After seven moneths imprisonment she was condemned to die and a Priest coming to her to hear Confession she spake to him with such a divine grace and with a spirit so replenished with zeal that he went from her with teares trickling down his cheeks saying I came to comfort you but I have more need to be comforted of you when she was carried forth to execution she went with much boldnesse and joy of heart and having her head cut off she sweetly slept in the Lord. There was also one Christopher Gauderin that at first was brought up under the Abbat of Hename but the Abbat dying he betook himself to the weaving of linnen and quickly grew expert in his trade But having been trained up in a bad schoole when the Sabbath came he spent riotously what he had gotten all the week by his labour Now through Gods mercy it so fell out that a godly man working with him would often tell him of the danger of his present condition exhorting him rather to distribute his gettings to the poor assuring him that if he spent his money so wastfully God would call him to an account for it These with the like exhortations so wrought upon him through the grace of God that he began to change his course and in stead of frequenting Taverns he became a diligent hearer of Sermons and gave himself much to reading of the holy Scriptures so that not long after he was called by the Church to the office of a Deacon which he discharged carefully and faithfully Shortly after having occasion to go to a place called Audenard to distribute some almes to the poor there he was apprehended and the Bailiffe that had formerly seene him in the Abbats house asked him how he came to turn Heretick Nay said he I am no Heretick but a right believing Christian and what I learned of him I am now ashamed to remember In prison he had many disputes about his faith which he so maintained and defended by the Word of God that he silenced all his adversaries Some told him that he would cast away himsef in his youth being but thirty years old to whom he answered That mans life consisted but of two dayes viz. The day of his birth and the day of his death and therefore he must needs die once And for my part said he I am now willing by death to passe into eternal life When news was brought him in the evening that he must die the next day he retired himself and poured out his soul in prayer unto God till ten a clock and after his rest the like he did the next morning Having ended his Prayer he put on a clean shirt and washed himself saying to his fellow-prisoners Brethren I am now going to be married I hope ere noon to drink of the wine of the Kingdome of heaven When he came down he found three other prisoners that were to suffer with him These four exhorted and encouraged one another to suffer patiently and constantly Then came a Friar saying that he came to convert them To whom Christopher said Away from us thou seducer of souls for we have nothing to do with thee The Hangman coming to put gagges into their mouths one of them said What shall we not have liberty at this our last hour to praise God with our tongues Christopher answered Let not this discourage us the more wrong our enemies do to us the more assistance we shall finde from God and so ceased not to comfort them till himself was gagged also Their sentence was that they should be hanged for hearing Sermons and so with admirable constancy they yielded up their souls to God One of them being a woman was condemned to be beheaded because she had sung Psalms and exhorted her neighbours out of the Word of God at a womans upsitting Her body was grown very feeble so that she was caused to sit on a stool where she received three blows with a sword overthwart her teeth yet did she constantly sit still till she received the Crown of Martyrdom Anno 1568. About the same time there was in a town a mile distant from Gand a Minister whom it pleased the Lord to illuminate with the saving knowledge of his Gospel whereupon he became a diligent and faithful Preacher of it both in his life and doctrine yea he went from house to house exhorting and comforting every one as he had occasion out of the Word of God and above all labouring with them to beware of the abominable superstitions of the Papacy The Popish Clergy of Gand having intelligence hereof fearing lest by this means their doctrine and authority
with moderation he had been hardly to have been paralleld The death of so brave a Commander and the wound of Captaine Gianavel in that juncture of time did not a little startle the Protestants But necessity often puts inconsiderable men upon bold enterprizes for these poor men did not despond nor lose their courage but assembling shortly after in a Mountaine of Angrognia they descended into the plaine where twice they were assaulted with violence the last of which was by a dangeros Ambuscado where the enemies were at least six thousand and they not above one hundred But God of his infinite goodnesse so encouraged their hearts and guided their hands that they slew very many of their enemies and amongst them many principal Officers whereas the Reformed party lost onely one Michael Bertino a Serjeant of Angrognia and had but one common souldier wounded The sonne of the said Bertino seeing his father fall dead at his feet was so farre from being discouraged that he immediately stepped into his fathers place with these words Though my father be dead yet be of good courage my fellow souldiers for God is a father to us all Munday following they had a very sharp dispute at La Torre and about Tagliaretto where they killed and wounded a great number of their enemies without the losse of any of their own men Indeed in this time the enemies reaped their Corne in the plaines of Saint Giovanni but they could not carry it away but with the losse of many of their lives About the same time there came to them one Monsieur Andrion a Major of a Regiment of Horse with two other Gentlemen that were strangers who were followed with some Volunteers whose friendly visit of their poor afflicted Brethren and their good advice in such a juncture of time was taken as it deserved very kindly and God made it a singular means to uphold the fainting spirits of some weak Brethren who seeing others come in to the help of the Lord against the Mighty went on with a great deale more chearfulnesse and alacrity and these staid with them till the peace was concluded at Pignerâ—l July the eleventh 1655. Sieur John Leger Pastor of the Church at Saint Giovanni who deserves to be remembred for the great paines and many services performed by him in the behalf of the Churches of the Valleys having notice that the enemies were of opinion that he was come back from his journey with Armes and Money and Ammunition and thereupon presuming that they would suddenly make some notable attempt to prevent what they so much feared he went to Colonel Andrion and pressed him to put his designe in execution The poor people had as yet no standing Army but the Bands of each Commonalty were quartered at a great distance the one from the other and certainly they had been cut off every man of them within a few dayes had not their Centinels been very watchful and above all if Captaine Charforan had not on the one side timely discovered the enemy an the poor people on the other side been exceedingly heartned to the Battel by the great valour and singular conduct of the Sieurs Andrion Michelin and Leger The Enemy was very numerous having been lately reinforced with many Troops They encamped themselves within half a League of the Reformed party and early in the morning they divided themselves into four Brigades three whereof fell upon the Protestants with a marvelous Resolution in three several places at once the fourth stood still ready to succour their friends if there were need The fight continued at least four hours without intermission and was the sharpest that ever was fought in the open field and that which made the enemies more fierce was their hopes to have beaten back the Protestants from their Post called the Castelas which if they could have effected they had been certainly Masters of the Valleys Perosa Saint Martino and Lucerna But the poor people having lifted up their hearts by earnest supplications to the Lord of Hosts as they used to do upon all such occasions Major Andrion and the two other Captaines which he had brought with him gave forth such orders as were necessary encouraging their men exceedingly so that without budging a foot they kept their ground all save a few who were either quite tired or faint for want of food or that wanted powder or flints in their fire-locks But these the Sieurs Mechelin and Leger imployed in rolling down great stones upon their enemies heads as they came to attacque them which proved very successeful doing much execution upon the enemy and causing them to abate much of their fury and whereas in the beginning of the fight they cryed alwayes Advance Advance ye relicts of Jahier the Protestants now began to cry as fast Advance Advance ye relicts of Saint Secondo and withal they ran upon those murtherers as so many Lions and caused them to turn back and flie towards La Torre and Lucerna as fast as they were able leaving behinde them fifty five upon the place and about fourty that were killed in the flight besides many others who were carried either dead or dangerously wounded to Lucerna Themselves confessed that in this encounter they lost at least three hundred men amongst which were many Officers of a Bavarian Regiment When such multitudes of dead wounded and dying men were brought into Lucerna the Syndick who was indeed a Papist but not so superstitious as many others said to some Hitherto the Wolves devoured the Barbets But now the Barbets devour the Wolves which words being reported to Monsieur Marolles the Commander in chief in Lucerna he threatened to imprison him and to give him the Strappado for them which so terrified the poor man that he presently sickened and within a few dayes died Two dayes after this great fight the enemy being much enraged for their great losse spread themselves all over Angrognia and began to set the Corne on fire which being seene by the Company of La Torre who at that time were upon the Mountaine of Tagliaretto they speedily gave notice to those of Saint Giovanni and Angrognia who hasted thither and charged them so fiercely that they forced them to flie and to leave most of their Ammunition behinde them and in the meane time Captaine Belin assaulted the Towne of La Torre killed the Centinel and souldiers upon the works and gave the Towne such an hot Alarum that most of them fled towards the River of Pellice and probably if he had had a few more men with him he had at that time made himself Master of La Torre July the eighteenth the General of the Protestants gave Order to fall upon the Towne of La Torre which accordingly was put in execution Captaine Belin gave the first onset who being followed with many other Officers and Souldiers they quickly made a considerable breach in the Garden-wall next to the Convent which so encouraged the rest that they