stood amazed thereat Acts Monu XXXIV Felix Earl of Wurtemburg one of the Captains of the Emperor Charles the Fifth being at Supper at Ausburg with many of his Companions they breathed out horrible threatnings of what Cruelty they intended to exercise upon the poor Protestants and the Earl swore before them all That before he died he would ride up to his Spurs in the blood of the Lutherans but it happened the same night that vengeance overtook him for he was strangled and choaked in his own blood before morning and so he did not ride yet bathed himself not up to the Spurs but up to the throat not in the Blood of the Lutherans but his own blood and so miserably ended his life Flaccius Illyricus John Martin of Piedmont continually boasted how he would root out the Protestants and in much Gallantry cut off a Ministers Nose of Angrogne but immediately after he himself was set upon by a Wolf which bit off his Nose as he had abused the Minister whereupon he grew mad and died miserably which strange Judgment was much discoursed of by all the Country round about because it was never known that this Wolf had done any hurt to any Man before Acts Monu XXXV The Lord of Revest who was President of the Parliament at Provence and by whose means many innocent Protestants were Martyred was a while after put out of his Office and returning to his own house he was visited with so dreadful a sickness accompanied with such mad and furious fits that his Wife nor Friends durst never venture to come near him and so like a furious Mad-man he in a solitary inraged humor ended his wrerched Life About the same time there happened a very strange Judgment upon one John Cranequin an Antient Lawyer of Bruges who was so violent and furious in the Popish way that he turned Promoter against the Protestants informing Ovy one of the cursed Inquisitors against them whereby many were taken and martyred But Divine Justice struck him with a very strange Phrensy insomuch that whatsoever his Eyes beheld seemed in his Judgment to be crawling Serpents and though all manner of means and Medicines were used for curing him yea though they used the help of wicked Conjuration and Sorcery yet his Senses were quite benummed and he was bereaved of his Reason and so miserably died Beards Theatre XXXVI John Morin a cruel Enemy to the Professors of the Truth who busied himself continually at Paris in apprehending and accusing the Protestants whereby he caused multitudes daily to be sent to the High-Court of the Pallace This Man himself soon after died in most grievous and horrible torture and the Chancellor Prat who gave out the first Commissions to destroy them died swearing and blaspheming the Name of God his stomach being most strangely gnawn in pieces and consumed with Worms Poncher Archbishop of Tours pursuing with all violence the burning of the Protestants was himself surprized with a Fire from Heaven which beginning at his heel could never be quenched till one Member after another was cut off whereby he miserably died Gaspard of Renialine one of the Magistrates of the City of Anvers in France having condemned certain poor faithful Souls to be burned received ere he moved out of the place the terrible Sentence of God's Judgment against himself falling immediately into desperation and was led home to his house half distracted where roaring out That he had condemned and destroyed the blood of the Innocent he presently died French Hist XXXVII Lambert a Frier in Leige a very cruel Persecutor one of the bloody Inquisitors for Religion whilst he was one day bitterly inveighing against the Protestants he was on a sudden in the midst of his Sermon struck speechless so that he was fain to be carried out of the Pulpit to his Cloister in a Chair and was shortly after found drowned in a Ditch Albertus Pighius a great Enemy to the Gospel insomuch that he was called The Lutherans Scourge being at Bulloigne at the Coronation of the Emperor to behold the Pomp and Glory thereof it happened that the Scaffold whereon he stood fell down with the weight of the People and Pighius came tumbling headlong amongst the Guard that stood below and fell upon the points of their Halberds which ran quite thorow his Body the rest of the Company escaping without any great hurt French Hist XXXVIII In the Reign of King Henry the Eighth one Adam Damlip a very worthy Protestant Preacher was condemned to be Executed as a Traitor pretendedly though in truth for nothing but defending the Christian Religion against Popish Superstitions Now there was one Sir Ralph Ellaker Knight Marshal of Calice who was to see him Executed there and was a very great Enemy to him so that he would not permit him to make any Confession of his Faith nor the Cause for which he died but still cryed out to the Hangman Dispatch the Knave make an end not sufering him to speak a word in his own defence nor clear himself from the Treason with which he was charged but not proved against him yea this bloody wretch swore That he would not stir till he saw the Traitors heart out A while after there happened a skirmish between the English and French at Bulloigne where this Sir Ralph was slain with divers others whose death only sufficed not his Enemies for after they had stripped him stark naked they cut off his Privy Members and pluckt the heart out of his body and so left him a terrible Example to all merciless and bloody Men for there was no cause ever known why they should use him so more than the rest but only to discover the Just Judgment of Heaven upon him Beards Theatre XXXIX James the Fifth King of Scotland by the Instigation of the Popish Bishops was a great Persecutor of the Protestants the Light of the Gospel breaking forth in his time and gave Commission to Sir James Hamilton his Treasurer to prosecute all Persons which should be found guilty of Heresie and to inflict punishments upon them the King being also heard to say That none of that sort should expect any favour at his hands nay not his own Sons if they should be found guilty But this continued not long for Sir James Hamilton was accused of a Design against the King's Life for which he was shortly after Executed And a War afterward breaking out with England the King found his Nobility very averse in assisting him therein which much discontented him These thoughts with some fearful Visions which he had by night much terrified him and altered his Mind from those Extremities which the Clergy had put him upon For one night as he lay at Linlithgow it seemed to him that Thomas Scot Justice Clerk came to him a with Company of Devils crying Woe worth the day that ever I knew thee or thy service for serving thee against God and against his Servants I am now Judged to Hell
wherefore thou hast undeservedly put me to this bitter and unworthy death The Duke received this Summons with laughter and unappalled and unconcerned made answer Well go thou before and I will then present my self the year being almost spent the Duke fell in to a light Feaver and remembring the appeal said to the standers by The time of my death does now appreach and I must go to Judgment and so it happened for he died soon after Dinoth lib. 8. XXII Ferdinand the fourth King of Spain was a great Man both in Peace and War but somewhat rash and rigid in pronouncing Judgment so that he seemed to incline to cruelty About the year 1312. he commanded two Brothers Peter and John of the Noble Family of Carvialii to be thrown headlong from an high Tower as being suspected guilty of the death of Benavidius a noble Person of the first rank and though they with great constancy denyed they were guilty of any such crime yet it was to small purpose when therefore they perceived that the Kings Ear was shut against them they openly cryed out they died innocently and since they found the King had no regard to any Plea or defence they could make they did appeal to the Divine Tribunal and turning themselves to the King bid him Remember to make his Appearance there within the space of thirty days at the furthest Ferdinand at that time made no reckoning of their words but upon the thirtieth day after his servants supposing he was asleep found him dead in his Bed in the flower of his Age for he was but twenty four years and nine months old Wanly Hist Man 34. Lambertus Schasnaburgenss an excellent writer as most in these times tells that Buchardus Bishop of â—aâ—berstadt in the year 1059 had an unjust controversy with the Abbot of Helverdense about some Lands in Saxony which the Bishop by force without Law sought to make his own it was to small purpose to make any resistance against so powerful an Adversary but the injured Abbot some few days before his death sent to Frederick Count Palatine and intreated him to bear these his last words to the Prelate That being too weak to contend though the Law was on his side he gave place and was also departing this life but that God would be the Judge unto whom he made his Appeal that therefore both of them should prepare to order their cause before his Tribunal where favour and power set aside only Justice should prevail In a short time the Abbot died of a Feaver and not long after him the Bishop also for as he was one time mounting his Horse he fell down as one stricken with a Thunderbolt and his last words were That he was hurried away to the Judgment Seat of God there to be Judged Delrio Disquisit l. 4. XXV Francis Duke of Brittain cast his Brother Aegidius into Prison who was one of his Council and falsely accused him of Treason where when Aegidius was almost famished perceiving that his fatal hour approached he spied a Franciscan out of the window of the Prison and calling him to confer with him he made him promise That he would tell his Brother that within fourteen days he should stand before the Judgment Seat of God The Franciscan having found out the Duke in the Confines of Normandy where he then was told him of his Brothers death and of his Appeal to the high Tribunal of God the Duke terrified with this message immediately grew ill and his distemper increasing he expired upon the very day appointed Drixelius Oper. The Genoways sent out their Gallies against the Pyrates and in the way took a small Ship of Sicily together with the Mr. of it whom in contempt of the Sicilians they hanged up the poor man pleaded he suffered unjustly since he had never done any the least injury to them but perceiving all his plaints to be in vain he appealed unto God for Justice and cited the Admiral of the Genoese to make his Appearance at his Bar within six months within which time he that was thus cited died Wanly Hist Man XXVI Master Patrick Hamilton of an Antient and Honourable Family in Scotland left his own Country and went into Germany where he became acquainted with those worthy Men Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon then at the famous University of Wittenburg from thence he went to the University of Marpurg which was then newly erected where he was intimate with other learned Men and by reason of his Learning and Integrity of life he was had in admiration of many however he could not rest till he had returned into his own Country where the Doctrine of the Reformation began then to break forth as well in publick as in private which so disturbed the Popish-Clergy that James Beaton Archbishop of St. Andrews sent for Mr. Patrick Hamilton to St. Andrews where after divers days conference he had his Freedom and Liberty the Bishop seeming to approve his Doctrine acknowledging that in many things there needed a Reformation in the Church but withal searing that their Kingdom of Darkness should be endamaged they persuaded the King who was then young and much led by them to go on Pilgrimage to St. Dothess in Ross that so by reason of his absence no application might be made to him for the saving the life of this innocent Gentleman who not suspecting their malice remained like a Lamb among Wolves the King being gone one night Mr. Hamilton was seized upon by the Bishops Officers and carried to the Castle and the next day was brought forth into Judgment and Condemned to be burnt upon several Articles about Pilgrimages Purgatory Prayers to Saints c. After Dinner the fire was prepared and being tyed to the Stake he cryed out with a loud voice Lord Jesus receive my Spirit how long shall darkness overwhelm this Realm and how long wilt thou suffer the Tyranny of these Men The fire was slow and therefore put him to the greater torment but that which most troubled him was the clamour of some wicked Men set on by the Fryers who continually cryed Turn thou Heretick call upon our Lady say Salve Regina c. To whom he answered Depart from me and trouble me not thou Messenger of Satan and speaking to one Alexander Campbell a Fryer with whom he had conferred about matters of Religion and who had informed against him and was now the Ringleader who roared against him to recant Mr. Patrick with great vehemency said to him Wicked Man thou knowest the contrary and hast confessed the contrary to me I appeal thee before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ After which words he resigned up his Spirit unto God in the year 1527. Campbell was troubled at these words and from that very day was never in his right mind but soon after died mad Clarks Martyr Thus Though the Fool hath said in his heart there is no God and because Justice is not presently inflicted upon Sinners
men harden themselves in Rebellion and Wickedness against Heaven yet we find that many times The Lord is known by the Judgments which he executeth upon Impenitent Unjust and Profligate Wretches as by the foregoing examples doth sufficiently appear CHAP. IV. The Wicked Lives and Woful Deaths of several Popes and likewise of Apostates and Desperate Persecutors AFter the Bishops of Rome had tasted the sweetness of Power Wealth and Prosperity they at once lost their Humility and Purity of Religion and assumed Politick and Tyrannical Principles laying aside the Sword of the Spirit and defiling their hands in the blood of Emperours Kings Princes and all sorts of People and hereby Apostatizing from Christianity the Popes their Successors wallowed in all kinds of wickedness as Usurpation Sodomy Conjuration and all manner of Oppressions and thereby from being poor persecuted Bishops they became Persecutors of others But Divine Justice hath oftentimes inflicted severe Vengeance both upon them and their Instruments since Apostacy is thought to be the sin of the Holy Ghost the Apostle sayes It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame Heb. 6.4 5 6. therefore God hath not left himself without witness against them but hath made them Examples of his Severity in this world as the following Instances plainly demonstrate both as to wicked Popes Apostates and Persecutors I. Pope John the Thirteenth was accused of Witchcraft and Using Magick and was given to all manner of Debauchery Perjury and Villany he dismembred divers of his Cardinals for taking part with Otho against him plucking out the Eyes of some cutting off the Hands and gelding others He made Deacons in his Stables among his Horses and for Money made Boys Bishops he lay with Reynora a Widow his Fathers Concubine and Anna another with her Neice put out the Eyes of his Ghostly Father Benedict brake windows in the night set houses on Fire drank an health to the Devil would say Mass and not communicate for which and other intolerable Rogueries he was deposed by Otho in a Council and Leo the Eighth put into his place but his Whores and other Friends as soon as Otho had turned his back soon got him in again From this Gallant our St. Dunstan with a round sum of Money purchased a Prohibition of Priests Marriages which caused no small disturbance in England at that time At last being taken in the Act of Adultery with a resolute mans Wife he received such a deadly gash from the Husband as in eight daies sent him packing into another world Prideaux Introduct II. Pope Alexander the Sixth was a cruel Tyrant and a scourge of God to all Italy and plagued especially that corrupt Colledge of Cardinals who had chosen him not for his Virtues but for the heaps of Gold which he had distributed among them he was void of Sincerity Faith Truth or Religion unquenchably covetous unreasonably ambitious and more than barbarously cruel and had a burning desire to advance his Bastards whereof he had many He set Benefices and Promotions to sale He poisoned John Michael Cardinal of Venice that he might obtain his Gold and Treasures In Magick he was very learned and therefore very wicked He poisoned his own Father And likewise Zemes Brother to the great Turk being hired thereto for two hundred Duckets after he had sworn to him that he would secure him he procured Aid of the Turk against the French King He caused the Tongue and Hands of Anthony Manrivil a learned and wise Man to be cut off for making an Oration in reproof of his wickedness In Adulteries he was most filthy and abominable and committed Incest with his own Daughter Lucretia the Wife to three Prinâ—es upon whom these Verses are extant Hic jacet in Tumulo Lucretia nomine sed re Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nurus Ergone te semper rapiet Lucretia Sextus Heufatum dici nominis hic Pater est Sextus Tarquinius Sextus Nero Sextus iste Semper sub Sextis Perdita Roma fuit Lucrece by name here lies but Thais in life Pope Alexander's Child Spouse and Sons Wife And must a Sextus Lucrece alwaies ravish Curst name but here 's a Father that 's most knavish Tarquinius Nero this a Sextus too Sextus was ever born Rome to undo This Pope never attempted any thing but he first consulted the Devil to whom he gave himself and who at length fetched him for being accustomed to poison any whom he disliked he had prepared some poisoned Wine to dispatch some of his Cardinals which his Butler through a mistake put into his own hand and he drinking it off with horrible cryes and groans immediately died his Son Caesar Borgia as murdering a Villain as himself drinking of it likewise whereby he fell into a sharp and dangerous disease Symson Hist Church III. Sylvester the Second was a French man born and bred up a Conjuring Fryer in the Abby of Floriack were Necromancy at that time was held an eminent piece of Learning to perfect his skill that way he goes to a Saracens in Sivil and couzens him of his chief Conjuring Book by being inward with the Magicians Daughter then he contracts with the Devil to be wholly his upon condition he would conduct him back to France and fit him with promotions in order to his advancement to the Popedom Upon his return to France he became admirable for his deep Learning and amongst others of great State had several Scholars in the Black Art by the help of whom and his other Arts he became first Bishop of Rheims then Archbishop of Ravenna and thence to be Pope in which Seat he concealed yet alwaies privately practised his Devilish Mystery having in secret a Brazen Head which he consulted instead of a Delphick Oracle consulting with whom on a time when he should die answer was given him he should live until he said Mass in Jerusalem this made him confident of a long continuance but he was couzened by the Devil's Equivocation though he dreamed of immortality and that he should never die For it happened on a time that as he was singing Mass at Rome in a Temple called St. Gross otherwise Jerusalem which was the place assigned him to die in and not Jerusalem in Palestine as he imagined he heard a great noise of Devils who came to fetch him away even in the very time of Mass he being very much terrified and tormented therewith is said to have repented and in token thereof to have requested that his Hands Tongue and secret Members might be cut off wherewith he had offended God and his Body to be cut in four pieces and laid on a Cart and the Beasts to
and stabbed himself into the breast his Friends observing him to shrink down and the water discoloured with his blood ran to him took him up carried him to the next house and searched his wound but whil'st they were busie about him he espied a knife by one of their sides whereupon he plucked it forth and suddenly stabbed himself into the heart whereby he miserably died Acts Monuments XXI The Chancellor Oliver having against his Conscience renounced the Protestant Religion in France was restored to his former Estate and afterward became a very violent Persecutor shedding much innocent blood but such a fearful Judgment was denounced against him by those innocent Souls whom he condemned as struck him into so great dread and terrour that he presently fell sick and was surprized with such extream melancholy that sobbing out deep sighs and murmurings continually against God he so afflicted his half dead body that he was like a distracted Person yea his fits were so vehement that he would shake the Bed as if he had been young and strong and when a certain Cardinal came to visit him in his extremity he could not abide his sight his pains increasing thereby but cried out That it was the Cardinal who brought them all to damnation When he had been long tormented in this manner at last in extream anguish and terrour he gave up the Ghost Beards Theatre XXII King Henry the Fourth of France who had all his life time before been a Protestant yet after he came to the Crown of France when he had almost subdued all his Enemies which opposed him therein suddenly turned Papist not long after as he was taking his leave of his Nobles to begin his progress one John Castile influenced by the Jesuits intended to have stabbed him into the Body with a Knife but the King at the same instant stooping down to take up one of his Lords who was on his knees before him the blow happened upon his upper Jaw cutting out one of his Teeth and somewhat wounding his Tongue it is reported that in his Progress a Protestant Minister in private conference said unto him Sir you have denied God with your Tongue already and have now received a wound in the same take heed of denying him with your heart lest you receive a wound in that also which afterward proved a true Prophecy for riding abroad in his Coach to refresh himself as he passed through a narrow Street one Ravillack watched 〈…〉 portunity and with a Dagger stabbed him first into the left Pap and with a second blow struck him between the fifth and sixth Rib cutting asunder the vein which leads to the heart of which wound he immediately dyed De Serres Fr. Hist XXIII Among those who were most cruel in persecuting the poor Protestants at Valence in France at the same time when two Ministers of that City suffered Martyrdom there was one Lambespine a Councillor of the Parliament at Grenoble and one Porsennas the Kings Attorney who had formerly been Protestants but were now very active against them but they were both made dreadful Examples of Divine Vengeance for Lambespine falling in Love with a young Woman was so extreamly passionate therein that he left his Estate and Imployment to follow her up and down whithersoever she went and still seeing his love and labour despised and slighted he pined away with grief and grew so neglectful and careless of himself that multitudes of Lice bred and fed upon him so that he could no way be freed from them for they continually increased and issued out from all parts of his Body in such great numbers as Worms upon a rotten Carkass so that seeing his own misery feeling Gods heavy vengeance upon him he began to despair of mercy and was therefore desperately resolved to starve himself to death which purpose the Lice seemed to further for they clustered so thick in his Throat as if they would have choaked him every moment neither could he suffer any sustenance to pass down by reason of them and when some of his Friends being moved with compassion were resolved to force him to eat providing broths to that purpose he refused and strove against them so that they were forced to bind his Arms and put a Gag into his Mouth to keep it open while they poured in the food and being thus Gagged he died like a mad Beast the abundance of Lice that went down his throat choaking him which was so terrible an example that the very Papists themselves said As he had caused the Ministers of Valence to have Gags thrust into their mouths and so to be put to death so likewise he himself died with a Gag in his mouth Hist Fr. Persecut XXIV As for Porsennas commonly called Bourreel who was indeed a very Butcher to the poor Protestants After he had sold his own Estate and likewise his Wives and Friends to raise money to buy his Place hoping soon to get a great deal more by his accursed Office he found himself mightily disappointed whereby he shortly after fell into despair of God's Mercy and likewise into a strange and unknown Disease neither could those whom he had put to death depart out of his mind but he still imagined they presented themselves before him so that as one deprived of his reason he denied and defied the Almighty and called upon the Devil in a most horrible manner which his Clerk hearing he discoursed to him of the Mercies of God out of several places of Scripture to comfort and restore his decayed senses but instead of Returning to God by Repentance and Prayer he continued more obstinate and called to his Clerk saying Stephen Stephen Thou art black so I am and it please you quoth he but I am neither Turk nor Moor but a Gascoigne with red Hair No no said he not so but thou art black with sin That is true quoth he but I hope in the bountiful mercy of God that for the Love of Christ who died for me my black sins shall not be imputed to me Upon which he being more inraged called his Clerk Lutheran Hugonot Villain c. desiring his Friends who rushed in at the noise that Stephen should presently have bolts clapt on his Legs and be burnt for an Heretick In brief his Rage and Fury increased so much that in a short time he died a fearful death with horrible howlings and outcryes his Creditors scarce giving time to draw his Carcass out of his Bed before they seized upon all his Goods not leaving his poor Wife and Children so much as a Bed of Straw to lye on so grievous was the Curse of God upon him and his House Hist Persecut XXV A Smith in King Edward the Sixth's Time called Richard Denson was a zealous Professor of Religion and by his Christian Instructions the happy Instrument of converting a Young Man to the Faith Afterward in the Reign of Queen Mary this Young Man was cast into Prison for his Religion
them two should first depart out of this Life should if possible give an account to the Survivor of the State of the other Life and whether the Soul be immortal or not This agreement being made and mutually sworn to they departed In a short time after it fell our that while Michael Mercatus was one morning early at his study upon a sudden he heard the noise of a Horse opon the Gallop and then stopping at the door and immediately he heard the voice of his Friend Marsilius crying out to him O Michael Micheal those things are true they are true Michael wondring to hear his Friends voice rose up and opened his Casement where he saw the back part of him whom he had heard speak in white and galloping away upon a white Horse He called after him Marsilius Marsilius and followed him with his eye but he soon vanished out of sight Michael amazed at this extraordinary accident very strictly inquired if any thing had happened to Marsilius who then lived at Florence some distance from thence where he likewise breathed his last and he found upon strict inquiry that he dyed at that very time when he was thus seen and heard by him Wanly Hist Man P. 88. IV. About the year 1060. There was a great Doctor buried at Paris at the enterring of whom when the Priest in the form then used came to the words Responde mihi Answer me the Corps sat upright on the Bier and to the amazement of all that were there cryed out Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum At the just Tribunal of God I am accused lying presently down again The attendants being astonished deferred the Funeral till the next day to see the Issue of this strange accident at which time a multitude met to observe the event when at the same words again repeated the disturbed Body riseth again and with the like hideous noise cryed out Justo Dei Judicio Judicatus sum By the just Judgment of God I am judged The People being yet more amazed deferred the Interment one day longer when almost the whole City thronged to this strange Burial and in the presence of them all at the reciting of the same words he rose up the third time and cryed out Justo Dei Judicio condemnatus sum by the just Judgment of God I am condemned whereat as the whole City were affrighted so Bruno an eminent Doctor in that University was seriously affected and told them That as they had formerly heard so now they saw the Judgments of the Lord were unsearchable and past finding out for this Person whom we honoured for the strictness of his Life the modesty and unblamableness of his Conversation cryeth out now that he is damned by the just Judgment of God This dreadful Example he inforced upon the minds of the Auditors with so many prevailing Arguments that by the Blessing of God several of them retired themselves from the world and spent the rest of their days wholly in the service of God and preparing their Souls for an Eternal State in the world to come Dying Mens words p. 196. V. Charles the 5th Emperor of Germany King of Spain and Lord of the Netherlands after Three and Twenty Pitcht Battles six Triumphs Four Kingdoms won and Eight Principalities added to his Dominions which he ruled over Fourteen years yet at last resigned all these retired to his Devotion in a Monastery had his own Funeral celebrated before his face and left this Testimony of Christian Religion That the sincere profession thereof had in it those sweets and Joys that Courts were Strangers to And Philip the Third of Spain lying on his Death Bed in 1621 sent thrice at Midnight for Florentius his Confessor who with the Provincial of Castile discoursed to him of approaching Death exhorting him to submit to Gods will so gravely that the King himself could not chuse but weep and after some intermission from his tears and thanks for his wholsome admonition the King spake thus to him Do you not remember that in your Sermon on Ash-Wednesday you said that some of your Auditors might dye that Lent this concerns me for lo my fatal hour is now at hand but shall I obtain eternal felicity which words he uttered with great grief and trouble adding likewise to his Confessor You have not hit upon the right way of healing is there no other Remedy Which when he observed the Confessor thought he meant of his Body the King added Ah I am not solicitous of my Body nor of my temporary Disease but of my Soul The Confessor mournfully answered I have done what I could I must commit the rest to Gods providence Florentius then discoursed at large of Gods mercy remembring His Majesty what he had done for the Honour and Worship of that God to which the King replyed Ah how happy were I had I spent these Twenty three years wherein I have held my Kingdom in a retirement Florentius answered That it would be very acceptable to God if he would lay his Kingdom his Majesty his Life and his Salvation at the feet of his Crucified Saviour Jesus Christ and submit himself to his Will Willingly willingly will I do this said the Heart-sick King and from this moment do I lay all that God hath given me my Dominions Power and my Life at the Feet of Jesus Christ my Saviour who was crucified for me and then among his last words he said to Florentius Now really you have suggested to me very great comfort Fair Warning P. 160. VI. Prince Henry Eldest Son to King James and Queen Anne was most zealous in his love to Religion and Piety and his heart was bent if he had lived to have indeavoured to compound those unkind Jars and differences that were among Religious men He told the Dean of Rochester That he thought that whereaâ— he and others like him did as usual look him in thâ— face when they came first into the Pulpit their Countenance did as it were say to him Sir you must hear mâ— diligently you must have a care to observe what I say He used to say he knew no sport worth an Oath and that he knew not what they called Puritan Preaching 〈◊〉 but he loved that Preaching which went next his heart and spake as if they knew the mind of God His last words were O Christ thou art my Redeemer and 〈◊〉 know that thou hast Redeemed me I wholly depend upon thy Providence and Mercy from the very bottom of my heart I commend my soul into thy hand A Person oâ— Quality waiting on the Prince in his sickness who had been his constant Companion at Tennis and asking how he did he answered Ah Tom I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others in vain Recreation He then added Now my Soul be glad for at all parts of this Prison the Lord hath set his aid to loose thee Head Fâ—et Milt and Liver are failing Arise therefore and shake off thy