horrible blasphemies they murthered him and then plundred his house About the Ramparts of the wall inhabited many of the Religion amongst whom all night was heard nothing but shooting of guns and pistols breaking open of doors fearful out-cries of the men women and children that were massacred trampling of horses rumbling of Carts that carried the dead bodies away and the cryings out of the murtherers that went up and down howling out Kill kill them all and then take the spoile This Massacre continued all the week long the bloody beasts crying out to those whom they murthered Where is now your God What is become of all your Prayers and Psalms now Let your God whom you call'd upon save you if he can Others sang in scorn to them the 43. Psalm Judge and revenge my cause O Lord. Others Have mercy on me O God c. Yet notwithstanding all these taunts the faithful died couragiously In this Massacre the Papists boasted that they had slain above twelve thousand men besides women and children some of them said eighteen thousand On Tuesday night some of these murtherers came and knocked at the door of a Doctor of the Civil Law and when he opened it to them they told him that he must die whereupon he fell to Prayer with such ardency and affection that they being amazed and over-ruled by a divine power only robbed him and went away The next day came some Scholars to his house desiring to see his Library which he shewed them then they asked some one book some another which he gave them yet they told him they were not satisfied but they must kill him whereupon betaking himself to prayer when he had done he desired them to kill him there which they refused forcing him out into the streets leading him by the schools and there he again desired them to kill him in that place where he had taught so long but they still refused and when they had led him a little farther they knockt him on the head Others meeting with an Apothecary who had brought Physick to a Patient cut off one of his armes and then had him forth into the market-place where they murthered him A Cook that had hid himself three dayes was at last through hunger forced to come forth and so was slain And to fulfil the measure of their cruelty such Protestants as through fear revolted to them they placed them in the fore-front of their companies putting weapons in their hands compelling them to give the first onset crying Smite them smite them are they not your holy brethren and sisters and if any refused they presently slew him In Lyons Mandolet Governour thereof hearing of the Massacre at Paris presently caused the City gates to be shut raised forces commanding them that if any of the Protestants came out of their houses though but with swords they should presently kill them but the Protestants seeing a storme coming which they knew could not arise without the special providence of God set themselves to bear it with invincible patience The day following if any of them did but go abroad about their necessary occasions they were presently clapt up in prison and when night came the murtherers entred their houses which they rifled and plundred and pretending to carry the Protestants to prison some they stabbed in the streets others they threw into the river whereof some were carried down the stream half a mile below the City by which means they escaped The day after Proclamation was made by sound of Trumpet that all of the Religion should appear at such a place to know the Kings pleasure concerning them many went but so soon as they came they were sent to several prisons and the night following every corner and part of the City was full of lamentable cries and shreekings partly of such as were massacred in their houses partly of such as were but half murthered and so haled to be thrown into the river and from that time there were such horrible murthers committed in the City as if the Divels in the likenesse of men ran roaring about to do mischief The Sabbath morning following those that had hitherto escaped massacring were then dispatched In the Arch-bishops house there were three hunded and fifty Prisoners shut up and a bloody crue of cutthroats were appointed to murther them to whom the keyes were delivered and they rushing into the great Court gave notice to the prisoners with a loud voice that they must die then having first taken all the Prisoners purses they fell upon them with barbarous cruelty hacking and hewing them in a furious manner so that within an hour and an half they were every one cut in pieces The prisoners were all slain with their eyes and hands lift up to heaven whilst their hands and fingers were cut off There was a Merchant called Francis de Bossu that had two sonnes the father seeing the horrible Massacres said to his sons Children we are not now to learn that it hath alwayes been the portion of believers to be hated persecuted and devoured by unbelievers as Christs sheep of ravening wolves if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him let not therefore these drawn swords terrifie us they will be but as a bridge whereby we shall passe to eternal life we have lived long enough amonst the wicked let us now go and live with our God let us joyfully go after this great company that is gone before us c. When he saw the murtherers come he clasped his armes about his two sons and they theirs about him as if they strove mutually to ward off the blows each from other who were afterwards found dead in these mutual imbraces The murtherers went up and down the City boasting that they had died their white doublets red in the blood of the Huguenots one bragging that he had killed an hundred and some more and some lesse when the people went into the Arch-bishops house and saw the slaughter that had been made there though they were Papists yet they said that surely they were not men but Devils in the habit of men that had done this The dead corpses were carried out and lay spread like dung upon the face of the earth and when they were about to throw them into the river an Apothecary told them that much money might be made of their grease whereupon all the fat bodies were sought out ripped up and their grease sold for three shillings a pound which being done after many jears bestowed upon the dead carcasses some were tumbled into a great pit others thrown into the river The Countries which lay below upon the river were amazed to see such multitudes of dead bodies to come down the streame some with their eyes pulled out others their noses eares and hands cut off stabbed into every part of their bodies so that some had no part of humane shape remaining Shortly after
shalt suffer eternal torments though thou art above others yet he that made other men made thee also of the same nature for all are born and must die alike He that kils another sheweth that he himself may be killed thou tearest and tormentest thine own Image all in vain In thy fury thou killest him whom God created like thy self c. thou pullest out our tongues tearest our bodies with flesh-hooks and consumest us with fire but they that have already suffered have received everlasting joyes and everlasting punishments attend thee Think not that I expect any favour I will follow my brethren and remain constant in keeping Gods Law The Tyrant herewith inraged caused him to be tormented but his mother comforted him and with her kind hands held his head when through violence of the torturers the blood issued out of his mouth nose and privy parts the tormentors not ceasing till his life was almost spent but then giving over God gave him strength to recover and to endure more then any of his brethren had done At last his hands and arms being cut off with his eyes lift up to heaven he cryed O Adonai be mercifull unto me and receive me into the company of my brethren c. Then was his tongue pulled out and he of his own accord going into the fiery frying pan to the great admirarion of Antiochus died The mother seeing all her Children dead was inflamed with a holy zeal to suffer Martyrdom also and despising the Tyrants threats she offered her motherly brest to those torments which her Children had suffered before her Indeed herein she excelled them all in that she had suffered seven painfull deaths before she came to suffer in her own person and feared in every one of them lest she should have been overcome She alone with dry eyes did look upon them whilst they were torn in pieces yea she exhorted them thereunto rejoycing to see one torn with flesh-hooks another racked upon the wheel a third bound and beaten a fourth burned and yet she exhorted the rest not to be terrified thereby and though her grief in beholding their torments was greater then that which she had in child-birth yet did she frame a chearfull countenance as if it had been one triumphing wishing rather the torments of their bodies then of their souls for she knew that nothing was more frail then our lives which are often taken away by Agues Fluxes and a thousand other ways Therefore when they were first apprehended she thus exhorted them in the Hebrew tongue O my most dear and loving Children let us hasten to that Agony which may credit our profession and be rewarded by God with eternal life Let us fearlesly present our bodies to those torments which aged Eleazer endured Let us call to mind our father Abraham who having but one only son willingly sacrificed him at Gods command and feared not to bring him to the Altar whom with many prayers he had obtained in his old age Remember Daniel the three Children c. Antiochus being enraged against her caused her to be stripped naked hanged up by the hands and cruelly whipt then were her dugs and paps pulled off and her self put into the red hot frying pan where lifting up her eyes and hands to heaven in the midst of her prayers she yielded up her chast soul unto God But God suffered not the cruel Tyrant to escape unpunished for in his wars against the Persians the Lord struck him with madness his intrals were devoured with worms and stinking like a Carrion in the extremity of his torments he gave up the ghost Concerning this Antiochus Daniel chap. 8.9 10. c. saw in the vision that there came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great towards the south and towards the East and towards the pleasant Land and it waxeth great even towards the host of heaven and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them Yea he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of the Sanctuary was cast down And an host was given him against the daily Sacrifice by reason of transgression and it cast down the truth to the ground and it practised and prospered Which afterwards is thus interpreted by the Angel unto Daniel verse 23. c. In the latter time of their Kingdom when the Transgressors are come to the full a King of fiery countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up and his power shall be mighty but not by his own power and he shall destroy wonderfully and shall prosper and practise and shall destroy the mighty and holy people And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand and he shall magnifie himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many He shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes but he shall he broken without hand Collected out of Josephus and the Books of the Maccabees Here place the first Figure CHAP. VI. The Persecution of the Church from Christs time to our present Age and first of those mentioned in the New Testament HErod the great hearing by the wise men of one that was born King of the Jews and being informed by the chief Priests and the Scribes that the place of his birth should be Bethlehem of Judah he sent forth souldiers and slew all the Children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under hoping thereby to have destroyed Christ for which cruel fact the Lord gave him over to such a spirit of phrensie that he slew his own wife his Children and nearest kins-folks and familiar friends And shortly after Gods heavy Judgement fell upon him by a grievous sickness which was a slow and slack fire in his inward parts and withal he had a greedy appetite after food and yet nothing sufficed him he had also a rotting in his Bowels and a greivous flux in his fundament a moist and running humour about his feet and the like malady vexed him about his bladder his privy members putrified engendring abundance of worms which continually swarmed out He had a short and stinking breath with a great pain in breathing and through all the parts of his body such a violent cramp as humane strength was not able to endure Yet longing after life he sent for Physitians from all parts by whose advice he went to the hot bathes of Calliroe but finding no ease thereby his torments still encreasing he sought to lay violent hands upon himself if he had not been prevented by his friends and so in extream misery he ended his wretched life Then Herod the less having married the daughter of Aretas King of Arabia put her away and took Herodias who had forsaken her husband Philip brother to Herod for which incestuous and adulterous marriage John Baptist
and shortly after three Suns appeared in the Heavens In the beginning of April Anno 1619. and Anno 1621. in March in the same Country of Austria were two Armies seen in the Heavens by clear day-light fighting furiously together with great thundering of Ordnance and Canons In the same Country Anno 1623. in the moneth of January just over the City of Lintz two swords were seen one over against the other and two great Armies fighting a pitched battel together which caused great terrour to the beholders At Heidleberg in February Anno 1622. were seen three Suns and three Rainbows Shortly after which that City was besieged by the Inperialists and at last taken where a grear slaughter was made of the Imhabitants and in Neckergemund three miles off all the inhabitants Men Women and Children were put to the sword In April Anno 1622. In the Country of Darmstad were trees whose leaves drop't blood and the year after in the same Country in divers Towns and Villages were seen bloody signes on Houses and stone-walls About Meyenfield and Malants as men were reaping their Corne their Hands and Sickles were all bloody In July Anno 1622. In the Dukedome of Wittemburgh it rained so much blood that it fell upon the hands and cloaths of people in the fields and was seen upon Trees Stones and other places May the twelfth Anno 1624. in the Dukedome of Anhalt there appeared a strange prodigie in the Heavens which continued from six till eight a clock at night First there came out of the clouds an Ancient-bearer After him came forth a grave man in the same habit then came forth a Chariot drawn with two particouloured Horses Then another Chariot with four armed Horses Then suddenly there brake out of the Clouds an infinite number of people like a swarm of Bees After them followed a man sitting on horseback with a long Robe putting the people before him A quarter of an houre after came forth another Army consisting of many horse and foot c. The two Armies fought till one of them was routed and presently after all vanished away Anno 1624. In May a strange tempest happened at Ratisbone The weather being very calme with little raine two dark clouds met together which suddenly belched out a great wind mingled with fire which raised such a tempest that near to the City it tore up trees by the roots and in a moment drave them into divers places and thence extending it self to the City it overturned above two hundred houses in the Towne and Suburbs not leaving a Chimney standing nor a roof to cover an house The Church of Emerans besides the shattered windows had one of the steeples laid flat to the ground and the other broke off in the middle two other of the chiefest steeples in the City were also broken down This tempest lasted not above a quarter of an hour nor extended beyond the City neither were there above four men slain by it Anno 1625. Near Troppash a great multitude of Jack-dawes met in the aire where they fought a great battel and that with so great eagernesse that many of them fell down dead so that the Countrey-men gathered up whole sackfuls of them Anno 1628. In Pomerland the heavens seemed to open and an Army came forth of the Northern part the Avauntguard consisting of Pioneres Musqueteres then followed great peeces of Ordnance and in the Reare came the Cavalry Another Army came forth on the other side and betwixt them there became a cruel battel The victory inclining to the Northern Army And at last a fiery beame followed upon the Northern Conquerour which continued for the space of some hours Anno 1631. At Hall in Saxony the water was turned into blood to the great astonishment of the inhabitants During the siege of Magdenburg a Captains wife being in travel when she could not be delivered and was near death she desired that when she was dead her body might be opened which being done there was found in her womb a boy almost as big as one of three years old with an head-piece and breastplate upon him great boots after the French fashion and a bag by his side with twoo things in it like musket bullets June the nineteenth Anno 1631. In the lower Saxony two great Armies appeared in the aire one in the North the other in the South which fought a great battel together After long fighting the Northern Army obtained the victory After the battel was ended there appeared a man in a long coat bearing a bow with which he shot at and overthrew the Commander of the Southern Army In the same Countrey a woman having bought a loafe of bread when she came home was dividing it and in the cutting of it there came forth blood Anno. 1633. In the Countrey of Altenburgh a fish-pond was turned into blood which stank so extreamly that if any Passengers did but touch it they could not wash off the stink thereof in three days space Anno 1634. At Berlin in Brandenburg it rained blood and brimstone Anno 1635. In Hessen there met two armies of strange birds which fought a set battel And not far off about that same time a multitude of dogs had their Randevouz which fought so eagerly that they would not be reconciled and when the Governour of a neighbour Garrison sent out four companies of Musqueteers against them they seeing a common enemy joyned together and in despight of their guns beat them away and devoured nine of them Here place the eighth Figure CHAP. XXXIII The Persecution of the Church in France which began Anno Christi 1524. ANno Christi 1209. There were certain learned men in France disciples of one Almericus at Paris whose names were Master William a sub-deacon of Poictiers well studied in the Arts and Divinity Bernard another sub-deacon William Goldsmith Steven a Priest Steven of the Seller and one John a Priest who upon examination held That God was no otherwise present in the Sacramental bread than in any other bread That it was Idolatry to build Altars to Saints or to cense their Images They mocked those that kissed the Reliques They said that the Pope was Antichrist and Rome Babylon That God was not seene in himself but by his creatures For which when they could not be drawn to recant they were condemned to be burnt at Paris which accordingly was executed Bzorius out of Caesarius And Almenneus who had been their Master had his body digged up in the Church-yard and was buried in the field And all French books of Divinity were for ever condemned and burned Anno Christi 1524. At Melden in France there was one John Clark who set up a Bill upon the Church-door against the Popes pardons lately come thither wherein he called the Pope Antichrist for which being apprehended he was adjudged three several days to be whipt then to have
us one Master instructed us c. Therefore no longer prolong the time in vain I came to suffer not to speak use all the Tyranny that possibly you can against my body yet have you no power over my soul. This so moved the Tyrant that he devised new torments beyond the reach of humane wit and commanding a globe to be brought he caused him to be tied about it in such sort that all his bones were put out of joint hanging one from another in a most pitifull manner yet was the holy Martyr nothing dismaid then the skin of his head and face was pulled off and then was he put upon the wheel but he could be racked no worse for all his bones were dislocated before the blood issuing from him abundantly he said We O Tyrant endure this torment for the love of God and thou the Author of such cruelty shalt be punished with everlasting pain Then was his tongue cut out and he being put into a fiery frying pan resigned his spirit unto God Next followed Judas the fourth brother whom all the people perswaded to obey the King But he said Your fire shall not separate me from the Law of God nor from my brethren To thee O Tyrant I denounce destruction but to such as believe salvation Try me thou cruel wretch and see if God will not stand by me as he did by my three brethren now in glory c. The cruel Tyrant hearing this was so inraged that he leaped down from his chaire to torment this Martyr himselfe He commanded also his tongue to be cut out to whom Judas said Thy cruelty will nothing avail thee our God needs not by voice to be awaked c. he heareth such as call upon him with their hearts and know's our thoughts afar off c. Cut out my tongue if thou please would thou wouldst so sanctifie all the parts of my body c. and think not that thou shalt long escape unpunished Then was his tongue cut out and he bound to a stake was beaten with ropes ends which torments he bore with admirable patience After which he was put upon the wheel where he ended his life and went to the rest of his brethren Then spake Achas the fift brother Behold O Tyrant I come to be punished before thou commandest me therefore hope not to alter his minde that desireth to be tormented The bloud of my innocent brethren hath condemned thee to hell I shall make up the fift that by it thy torments may be increased What offence have we committed that thou thus ragest against us c. All that thou canst alledge against us is that we honour God and live in obedience to his Laws and therefore we esteem not punishment which is an honour to us though no part of us be left untormented yet we shall be the more rewarded by God Then at the command of the Kings the executioner cast him into a brazen pot where he was prest down with his head to his feet and afterwards he sufferred all the torments inflicted on his brethren but he was so far from being discouraged that suddenly starting up he said Cruel Tyrant how great benefits dost thou though against thy will bestow upon us yea the more thou ragest the more acceptable to God shalt thou make us therefore I shall be sorry if thou shewest me any mercy by this temporall death I shall go to everlasting life And having thus finished his sufferings he died Then was Areth the sixt brother brought to whom the Tyrant proferred the choise of honour or punishment But he being grieved at this profer said O Tyrant though I be younger in years then my brethren yet the constancy of my minde is not inferiour as we have lived so we will die together in the fear of God Hasten therefore thy torments and what time thou wouldest spend in exhorting me spend it in devising torments for me Whereupon Antiochus in a rage commanded him to be tied to a pillar with his head downwards Then caused he a fire to be made at such a distance as might not burn but rost him Then he made them prick him with awles that the heat might pierce the sorer In these torments much bloud like froth gathered about his head and face yet said he O noble fight O valiant warre O strife between piety and impiety My brethren have past through their Agonies whose crown of Martyrdom is the punishment of their Persecutors I willingly follow them that as by blood I am conjoyned to them so by death I may not be separated from them Devise O Tyrant some new torment for I have overcome these already O Master of cruelty enemy of piety and persecutor of Justice we young men have conquered thy power thy fire is cold and heateth not thy weapons are bended and blunted in our bodies our God giveth us more courage to suffer then thou hast to punish c. As he thus spake they pulled out his tongue with an hot pair of tongs and lastly frying him in a frying pan he gave up the ghost There being now only the youngest brother left called Jacob he presenting himself before the Tyrant moved him to some compassion wherefore he called the Child to him and taking him aside by the hand he said By the example of thy brethren thou seest what to expect if thou disobeyest me therefore deliver thy self from these torments and I will give thee what honour my Kingdom can afford thou shalt be a Ruler Generall of my Army my Counceller c. But when this prevailed not he called his mother who coming and standing by her son the Tyrant said to her O worthy woman where now are all thy Children yet thou hast one remaining advise him therefore not to ruine himself and to leave thee childless by his obstinacy c. The mother bowing her self to the King said to her child in Hebrew that she might not be understood of others Pity and comfort thy sorrowfull mother O my son who bare thee nine moneths in my womb gave thee suck with my brests three years and with great care have brought thee up hitherto I pray thee dear son consider the heavens and earth and remember that God created them all of nothing c fear not therefore these pains and torments but imitate thy brethren and contemn death that in the day of mercy I may receive thee with thy brethren again in heaven Then did he desire to be unbound which being granted he immediately ran to the torments and coming where was a frying pan red hot he said to the King Cruel Tyrant I now know thee not only to have been cruel to my brethren but even cruelty it self Wretch that thou art who gave thee these purple robes who exalted thee to thy Kingdom Even he whom thou in us dost persecute whose servants thou tormentest and killest for which thy self
to go into a lime-kiln whereupon by mutual consent they all chose the lime-kiln in which with the smoak of the lime they were smothered In another part of Africk three godly Virgins had first vinegar and gall given them to drink then were they scourged then tormented upon the gibbet and rubbed with lime then were they scorched upon the fiery grid-iron then cast to the wild beasts which would not touch them therefore lastly they were beheaded In Italy a godly man was first tormented with the rack then cast to the wild beasts which not hurting him he was burned in the fire Fructuosus a Bishop in Spain with his two Deacons having witnessed a good confession were all of them burned in the fire But this cruel Emperor Valerian who thus persecuted the Saints of God shortly after felt the revenging hand of God for in an expedition that he made against the Persians he was taken prisoner by Sapores the King who made a foot-stool of him every time that he gat upon his horse and at last by the command of the King he was flaied alive powdered with salt and so ended his wretched life Also Claudius a President and Minister of his persecutions was possessed by the Devil and biting off his tongue in small pieces he ended his wretched life Also there were great terrible Earth-quakes and many commotions and Rebellions in sundry parts of the Empire insomuch as Galienus the son of Valerian and his fellow Emperor began to relent towards the Christians and set forth some Edicts in their favour notwithstanding which some there were that suffered in sundry places amongst whom was one Marinus a noble man and valiant Captain in Caesarea who stood for an honourable office which of right fell to him but his Competitor to prevent him accused him to the Judge to be a Christian. Hereupon the Judge examined him of his faith and finding that indeed he was a Christian he gave him three hours to advise and deliberate with himself then the Bishop of the place finding that he stood doubtfull in himself what to do took him by the hand and led him into the Church and laid before him a sword and a New Testament bidding him take his free choice which of them he would have Marinus immediately ran to the New Testament and chose that and so being animated by the Bishop he presented himself boldly before the Judge by whose sentence he was beheaded About the same time there was in Caesarea Asyrius a noble Senator of Rome and a Christian and whereas the Gentiles in that place used to offer sacrifice by a fountain side which sacrifice by the working of the Devil used suddenly to vanish out of their sight to the great admiration of the deluded multitude Asyrius pitying their miserable ignorance came amongst them and lifting up his eyes to heaven prayed to God in the name of Christ that the people might no longer be thus seduced by the Devil whereupon the sacrifice was seen to swin upon the fountain and ever after that false miracle ceased After the death of Galienus there succeeded Claudius a quiet Emperor and after him Quintilianus his brother both which reigning nineteen years the Church enjoyed peace in their time Here place the third Figure CHAP. XV. The ninth Primitive Persecution which began An. Christi 278. AFter the death of Quintillian succeeded Aurelian in the Empire who was by nature severe and rigorous and a strict punisher of dissolute manners so that it grew into a Proverb That he was a good Physitian saving that he gave too bitter Medicines In the beginning of his reign he was a moderate and discreet Prince and no great disturber of the Christians whom he neither molested in their Religion nor in their Councels But afterwards through sinister suggestions of those which were about him his nature being before inclinable to severity he was altered to plain Tyranny which he first shewed in the death of his own sisters son and afterwards he raised the ninth persecution against the Church of Christ but when he was about to sign a Proclamation or Edict for that persecution it pleased God that a thunderbolt fell so near him that all men thought he had been slain and the Emperor was so terrified thereby that he gave over his Tyrannical purpose so that he rather intended then moved persecution Having reigned about six years he was slain After whose death divers other Emperors succeeded in whose time the Church had peace for about the space of forty four years During which time it did mightily increase and flourish Yea the more the Christians had suffered the more they were honoured Insomuch as some of the Emperors did singularly favour them preferred and made them Governors of Provinces Dorotheus with his Wife Children and whole family were accepted and highly advanced in the Emperors Court Yea Gorgonius and divers others for their Doctrine and Learning were with their Princes in great estimation The Bishops were also in great favour with the Rulers and Presidents where they lived so that innumerable multitudes and Congregations assembled together in every City and there were great concourses of such as daily flocked to the publick places of prayer But through this great prosperity the Christians by reason of the corruption of their natures and the temptations of Satan began to degenerate and to grow idle and delicate striving and contending amongst themselves upon every occasion with railing words bespattering one another in a despitefull manner Bishops against Bishops and people against people moving hatred and sedition each against other Besides cursed hypocrisie and dissimulation increased more and more by reason whereof Gods Judgements brake forth against them which began first to fall upon those Christians which were souldiers but that touched the other very little neither did they seek to appease Gods wrath nor to call for Mercy but thinking that they should escape well enough they heaped iniquities daily more and more one upon another The Pastors being inflamed with mutual contention each against other Then did the Lord raise up adversaries against his people that rased their Churches to the ground burnt the sacred Scriptures in the open Market places made the Pastors of the Church to hide themselves and some with great shame were taken Prisoners and were mocked of their enemies and put to open reproach CHAP. XVI The tenth Primitive Persecution which began Anno Christi 308. DIoclesian and Maximian having many wars associated to themselves two Caesars Galerius who was sent into the East against the Persians and Constantius who was sent into Britain where he married Helena the daughter of King Coel a Maiden excelling in beauty and no less famous for her Studies and Learning by whom he had Constantine the Great These two Emperors having obtained many victories were so puffed up with pride that they ordained a solemn Triumph at Rome After
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
In all that conflict there were but two of the Waldenses slain and two hurt whereas they never shot at their enemies but they killed some and sometimes two at one shot The souldiers confessed that they were so astonished that they could not fight Others said that the Ministers by their prayers conjured and bewitched them It was a wonderfull work of God that shepherds and cowherds should encounter with so mighty a power of strong and brave souldiers well furnished with ammunition and themselves having nothing but slings stones and a few harquebushes and yet should beat them and in all those fights they lost not above fourteen men Shortly after a company of souldiers went to Angrogne to destroy the Vines c. and mocking the Waldenses they said that they were valiant men behinde their bulworks but if they came into the plain how they would beat them Then came thirty of the Waldenses and set upon them in the plain and fought with them a long time hand to hand slew many of them and at last forced them to run away and that with the losse of one only man of their own The night after some thought that it would have been an easie matter to take the Lord of Trinity and to have spoiled his whole Army but the Waldenses would not do it least they should offend God and passe the bounds of their vocation intending only to defend themselves Then did Trinity betake himself to his old shifts of entertaining a treaty for agreement but in the Interim he sent a company of Spaniards one way and other companies other waies to surprise the meddow of Tour. The Spaniards were entred the meddow before they were perceived but when the people spied them they betook themselves to prayer then winded their horns and so prepared for resistance The first that opposed themselves were but twelve men who yet stoped them in a Passe and others rolled down stones from the mountains upon them whereby many of the Spaniards were slain the rest were forced to retreat Shortly after the Ministers and chief Rulers of the Waldenses requested the Lord of Raconis to deliver a petition which they had drawn up to the Dutches of Savoy wherein they declared the equity of their cause protesting all due obedience c. and at last through Gods mercy they came to a good agreement and according to the promise of God all things turned to the best to those that feared him that were called according to his purpose After the death of the Duke and Dutchesse of Savoy Charles Emmanuel their son succeeded who maintained them in peace according to the treaty formerly made Yet the Inquisitors were alwaies watchfull to apprehend one or other of them and amongst others one Bartholmew Copin of Luserne being at Ast in Piedmont with his Merchandize and at evening supping with some other company one began to speak much to the disgrace of the Waldenses for their Religion Copin thought that he was bound not to be silent when he heard such blasphemies Whereupon he began to argue in their defence Are you then a Waldensian said the other to him he answered Yea. And do you not beleeve that God is in the Host No said Copin Fie upon you said the other what a false Religion is yours My Religion said Copin is as true as it 's true that God is God c. The next morning Copin was called before the Bishop of Ast who told him that he must either recant the opinions he held over night or be punished Copin said he had been provoked to that discourse yet he said nothing but what he would maintaine with his life Adding that he had some goods and a wife and children yet he had lost the affections that he bare unto those things neither were they dear to him to the prejudice of his conscience Yet said that behaving himself honestly he ought not to be molested when he came about his merchandize the Turks and Jews being permitâ—ed to come to Fairs without molestation Notwithstanding which the Bishop presently sent him to prison The next day the Bishops Secretary went to him professing great love and telling him that except he acknowledged his fault he was in great danger of his life Copin answered That his life was in the hands of God and he desired not to preserve it to the prejudice of his glory and having but a few paces to walk in his journey to heaven his hearty prayer to God was to give him grace not to turn back Some few daies after he was examined by an Inquisitor in the presence of the Bishop who exceedingly tormented him with sweet and gentle perswasions by fair words seeking to draw him to an abjuration But Copin alwaies convinced him by the word of God alleadging that if he should be ashamed of or deny Christ before men Christ would be ashamed of and deny him before his heavenly Father Then said the Monk Go thy waies thou cursed Heretick to all the devils in hell and when thou shalt be there tormented by them thou wilt remember this good and holy counsel that we have given thee c. After many violent encounters they caused his wife and son to come to him promising if he would confesse his fault he should have liberty to depart with them They suffered them also to sup together which time he spent in exhorting them to patience telling them that God would be more then a husband and father to them for his own part he was not bounde to love wife or childe more then Christ and that they should esteem it their happiness that God was pleased to do him the honour to be a witnesse to his truth with the losse of his life c. He enjoyned his wife to bring up his children in the fear of God his son he commanded to obey his mother he desired them to pray for him that God would strengthen him against all tentations and so taking leave of his wife and blessing his son he dismissed them his wife and son shedding fountains of tears and crying out in so lamentable a manner as would have moved the hardest hart to compassion The Bishop knew not well what to do with him If he let him go he feared a scandall and that many would be encouraged by his impunity If he punished him he offended against the agreement betwixt the Duke and the Waldenses And thereupon he sent his indictment to the Pope to know his pleasure Shortly after Copin was found dead in prison it appearing manifestly that he was strangled and after his death he was condemned to be burnt which was accordingly executed CHAP. XXII The Persecution of the VValdenses in Calabria ANno Christi 1370. The Waldenses of Pragela and Dauphine grew so numerous that they sent their younger people to seek some other country to inhabit In their travell they found in Calabria some wast and untilled
of the condemned persons humbly petition for their lives but answer was made that all the favour which could now be granted to them was that they should have leave to bury the corps of their friends In the evening the condemned men which were twenty seven in number had notice given them of the day wherein they were to suffer and thereforâ— they were advised to send for Jesuits or Capuchins or a Minister of the Augustine Confession for the good of their souls but they must expect no Minister of the Brethren for that would not be granted to them The Jesuits and Capuchins not staying till they were called for flocked to them using many perswasions promising life c. if they would turn but God so strengthened them that all those endeavours of Satans imps were in vaine Then were some Ministers of the Augustine Confession sent for who spent that time which remained in Religious exercises conferences prayer and singing of Psalms and lastly by administring the Sacrament to them They which were of the Brethren willingly admitted these Ministers protesting that they acknowledged them for Brethren though they differed from them in some things only two of them did not partake of the Sacrament for fear of some false accusation comforting themselves with that saying Beleeve and thou hast eaten They which were prisoners in the Majors house being called to supper the night before they were to suffer comforted themselves saying that this was their last supper on earth but to morrow they should feast with Christ in his Kingdom whereupon a great Papist flouted saying Hath Christ Cooks for you in heaven When it was told them that the Noble men were coming to the Scaffold in the Market place where they were to suffer they hasted to the windows and entertained their fellow Martyrs with singing the 44. Psalm The night after they spent in Psalms prayer godly discourse and mutuall exhortations that since it pleased God to call them before others to this honour of Martyrdom they hoped by their constancy to confound the world to glorifie Christ and to leave a good example to others and singing the 68. Psalm where in David praies to God to shew some token of good upon him one of them said Shew therefore some token of good upon us O God whereby we thy servants may be strengthened by thy goodnesâ—e and our enemies confounded And being full of faith he said further Be of good chear for even in this God hath hard your voice and to morrow he will shew some wonderfull signe whereby he will witnesse that we suffer for his cause Early in the morning they washed their faces and put on clean clothes as if they had been going to a wedding and cut off the collars of their dublets that when they came to the Scaffold there should need no new making ready Then did they earnestly pray to God that he would be pleased to confirm and strengthen both themselves and the people concerning their innocency Presently after the sun rising a beautifull bow appeared and compassed the heavens the Ministers souldiers and many others looking upon it The Martyrs looked out at the window and saw a Rainbow of an unusuall colour the heavens being very clear and no rain of two daies before whereupon falling upon their knees they lifted up their voices and hands praising God for this sign that he shewed from heaven Then presently was a Gun discharged which was a warning for their bringing forth to execution whereupon those Champions of Christ encouraged one another praying that each of them might be strengthened c. Then Troops of horse and foot came to fetch them the streets market-place and houses being filled with multitudes of spectators The Martyrs being called forth one by one went to their death with and undaunted courage hasting as if they had been going to a banquet When one was called for he thus took his leave of the rest Farwell most loving friends God give you the comforts of his Spirit patience and courage that what formerly with your mouths you have professed you may confirm by your glorious death Behold I go before that I may see the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ you will follow me that we may together see the face of our heavenly Father At this houre all sorrow departs from me and joyfull eternity shall succeed it Then did the rest answer God above to whom you are going prosper your journey and grant that you may passe happily from this vale of misery unto that heavenly Country The Lord Jesus send his Angeles to meet you Go dear brother into thine and our Fathers house and we will follow after presently we shall meet in the heavenly glory and this we are confident of through him in whom we have beleeved The first was the Lord Schlik a man of admirable parts about fifty years old When he was condemned to be quartered and his parts to be scattered here and there he said The loss of a sepulchre is easie Being exhorted by a Minister to courage he said I have Gods favour so that no fear of death doth trouble me I have formerly dared to oppose Antichrist and I dare now die for Christ. The Jesuites troubling him when he came to the Scaffold he shaked them off and seeing the sun shining bright he said Christ thou Son of righteousness grant that through the darknesse of death I may passe into eternall light and so having ended his prayers he constantly received the stroak His right hand and head were hung on the high Tower upon the Bridge The Lord Wenceslaus was next about seventy years old famous for Learning Religion and his travels through divers countries His house was formerly plundered even to his wearing apparell he only saying The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Being asked why he would engage himselfe in Fredericks cause he said My conscience pressed me to do what I did I am here my God dispose of me thy servant as seems good in thine eyes I am full of years take me out of this life that I may not see that evill that is coming on my Country Afterwards holding forth his Bible he said Behold my Paradise it never yeelded me so much Nectar and Ambrosia as now When he was sentenced he said to the Judges You have a long time thirsted after my bloud but know withall you will finde God a revenger of innocent bloud for whose cause we suffer A Frier saying to him You are deceived in your opinion he answered I rely not on opinion but on the infallible truth of God for I have no other way but him who said I am the way the truth and the life On the Scaffold stroaking his long beard he said My gray hairs behold what honour remains for you that you should be crowned with Martyrdom And so praying for the Church his Country his enemies and
children The mouths of some they set wide open with gags and then poured down their throats stinking water urine and other liquid things till they grew sick and their bellies swelled like tuns whereby they died leasurely with greater torment Down the throats of some they violently thrust knotted clouts and then with a string pulled them up again whereby they displaced their bowels and put them to miserable torment insomuch as some were made dumb others deaf others blind and others lame If the Husband intreated for his Wife or the Wife for the Husband they would take the intercessour and torture him in the same manner before the others eyes and when any of these poor creatures in their torments or agonies of death called and cryed unto God for mercy they would command and seek to force them to pray and cry unto the devil Yea their divellishnesse proceeded so far that they studied to find out new and unheard of torments Some they bound hung up and sawed off their leggs Of others they rubbed off the flesh off their leggs to the very bones Of others they tied the armes backwards and so hanged them up by those distorted parts Many they drew through the streets of the Cities stark naked then brake and wounded them with axes and hammers and generally used them with such barbarous cruelty that many begged to be shot or slain instantly rather than to live and be partakers of such miseries In most places they took away all the corn and provision of victuals leaving the places so bare that many of the best Rank for the space of divers dayes after saw not one bit of bread but were glad to live with roots and water In other places they spoiled the inhabitants of their garments exposing them to that nakednesse that neither Man Woman nor Child had clothes to put on Hereby fruitful Countries were totally ruinated Cities Towns and Villages were spoiled and turned into pillars of fire and smoake Churches lay desolate the Woods were cut down the ground lay wast and untilled One reverend aged Divine they stripped bound him backwards upon a Table and set a big Cat upon his naked belley beating and pricking the Cat to make her fix her teeth and claws therein So that both man and Cat with hunger pain and anguish breathed their last The Crabats laboured much to teach their Horses not only to kill men but to eat humane flesh and consulted how to find out more new and exquisite torments than ever were before used At the taking of Magdenburg a godly Minister of great esteem was found in one of the Churches whom they dragged out to his own house where they ravished his Wife and Daughters before his face his tender Infant they snatched from the Mothers breast and stuck it upon the top of a Lance and when his eyes and heart were glutted with this so cruel a spectacle they brought him forth bound into the street and there burned him with his own Books Rapes and Ravishings were committed beyond all humane modesty Maids and Matrons Wives and Widdows they forced and violated without distinction yea and that in the presence of their Parents Husbands and Neighbours yea Women great with child and others in Child-bed Their beastliness was such that no pen can write it no Faith can believe it Chappels and Churches were not freed from their filthy pollutions yea Hospitals and Bedlam-houses were not spared In Hessen land they took divers poor women some mad some dumb some lame and tying up their coats about their ears so used them as a modest pen cannot expresse In Pomeren they took the fairest maids and ravished them before their Parents faces making them sing Psalms the while One beautiful maid being hid by her Parents in a dunghil they found her out had their pleasure of her then cut her in pieces and hung up her quarters in the Church Yea very girles of ten years old and under they ravished till some of them died vertuous and chast women they would threaten to kill to throw their children into the fire if they would not yield to their lusts Divers maids and women to avoid the lusts of these Hell-born furies have leaped into Rivers and Wells and some have otherwise killed themselves and that which was never before heard of they did not only violate sickly and weak maids and women till they died but committed the like filthinesse with the dead corpses The Merchants of Basil returning from Strasburg Mart were set upon by the Imperialists in their lodging and though they craved their lives upon their knees yet they killed ten of them saying they must die for that they were Hereticks the rest leaving their goods and garments escaped by flight stark-naked in the night Two Noble Countesses with their faire Daughters were rifled in their Coaches of all that they had nor sparing the very garments that covered them Neer Friburg these bloody miscreants cut in piecs a Reverend Minister a man of rare learning and piety after whose death the Dogs would not lick his blood nor touch his flesh For the common people they made not so much account of them as of Dogs murthering them upon every trifling occasion neither pitying old nor young men women nor innocent babes whom sometimes most barbarously they used to eat even when other meat might be had yea such inhumane cruelty they used that in some places they scarce left any remaining alive to relate the sufferings of the dead Many times they cut off the Noses and Ears of the living carrying them about in bravery Collected out of a Booke composed by Doctor Vincent a Divine who was an eye-witnesse of many of these things Before this great persecution befell the Church of God in Germany God gave his people warning of it by many and strange prodigies For October the 26. Anno Christi 1618. there appeared a terrible Comet with a great blazing tayle at first of a red afterwards of a pale-red colour which continued for the space of twenty seven dayes and in some places it was seen longer This fearfull and ominous Link or Torch the Lord sent to those who had long despised and sleighted his voice in his sacred Word preached by his vigilant and faithful Ministers to awaken them from their dead sleep of sin and by repentance to bring them to the reformation of their lives or otherwise to assure them that he would come suddenly upon them and plague them with all those evils and miseries which he had denounced against them by his messengers and whereof he gave them warning by this dreadfull sign Anno 1619. At Groningen in the Dukedome of Brunswick was seen a great blazing star and two Armies one in the East and another in the North fighting together till one of them was defeated and slain At Wien in Austria the water in a Dith was seen to be like blood for the space of eight dayes