Heaven O might my Days be lengthned so that I Might sing of thy great deeds before I die See how all things do their Joy and Gladness shew For that Age which is ready to ensue The Thracian Orpheus should not me o'recome Nor Linus though his Parents heard the Son If Pan Arcadia Judging strive with me Pan should Arcadia Judging Conquered be CHAP. XIII Of Prophets WE have frequent mention made of Prophets and Prophecying in the New as well as the Old Testament by which Divines do generally understand Preachers and Preaching and I believe they are partly in the right But I Query if or no the common Notion be deep and extensive enough For with an humble Deference to my Superiors and Betters I am of Opinion that Preachers cannot otherwise with any Propriety of Speech be call'd Prophets than as they are Authorized and Enabled by God Almighty to foretel their respective Flocks and particular Members of the Church they are concerned with what is like to be their future Doom in this partly but especially in the other World And this from their deep Contemplations of God's revealed Decrees their Study of Sacred Scriptures and the Refinedness and Soundness of their Judgments and withal if Men of a Sincere Piety and Devotion from the especial Communications of the Spirit of Grace And if there be any Probability in this 't is no wonder if we find Prophecying not quite ceased amongst us 1. Valentine the Emperor being slain in France and Eugenius nominated Emperor in his room Theodosius the Elder being very sorry and considering how dangerous a War lay before him yet thinking it a great Dishonour to suffer such an Action to go unpunished he muster'd up his Army and with all possible Speed marched against the Conspirators but as a good and holy Christian he first betook himself to Fasting and Prayer seeking unto God the Giver of Victory for Success in his Enterprize requesting the Prayers of other Holy Men also whereof one oâ— them sent him Word that he should have the Victory but should die in Italy and never return again to Constantinople He obtained the Victory fixed himself afterwards at Millain where he lived for some Years and there died Clark in his Life 2. Anno Christi 1279. there lived in Scotland one Thomas Lermouth a Man very greatly admired for his foretelling of Things to come He may justly be wondred at for foretelling so many Ages before the Union of the Kingdom of England and Scotland in the Ninth Degree of Bruce's Blood with the Succession of Bruce himself to the Crown being yet a Child and many other things which the Event hath made good The day before the Death of King Alexander he told the Earl of March that before the next Day at Noon such a Tempest should blow as Scotland had not felt many Years before The next morning proving a clear day the Earl challenged Thomas as an Imposter he replied That Noon was not yet past about which time a Post came to inform the Earl of the King 's sudden Death and then said Thomas This is the Tempest I foretold and so it shall prove to Scotland as indeed it did Spotwood's Hist of Ch. of Scotland l. 2. p. 47. Clark's Mir. c. 101. p. 467. 3. Duncan King of Scots had two principal Men whom he employ'd in all Matters of Importance Mackbeth and Banquho these two travelling together thro' a Forest were met by three Witches Weirds as the Scots call them whereof the first making Obeysance unto Mackbeth saluted him Thane that is Earl of Glammis the second Thane of Cander and the third King of Scotland This is unequal Dealing said Banquho to give my Friend all the Honour and none unto me to which one of the Weirds made answer That he indeed should not be King but out of his Loyns should come a Race of Kings that should for ever rule the Scots And having thus said they all vanished Upon their Arrival to the Court Mackbeth was immediately created Thane of Glammis and not long after some new Service requiring new Recompence he was honour'd with the Title of Thane of Cander Seeing then how happily the Prediction of the three Weirds fell out in the two formea he resolved not to be wanting to himself in fulfilling the third He therefore first killed the King and after by reason of his Command amongst the Soldiers he succeeded in his Throne Being scarce warm in his Seat he called to Mind the Prediction given to his Companion Banquho whom hereupon suspecting as his Supplanter he caused to be killed together with his whole Posterity only Fleance one of his Sons escaping with no small difficulty into Wales freed as he thought of all Feat of Banquho and his Issue he built Dunsinan Castle and made it his ordinary Seat afterwards on some new Fears consulting with his Wizzards concerning his future Estate he was told by one of them that he should never be overcome till Bernane-Wood being some Miles distant came to Dunsinan-Castle and by another that he should never be slain by any Man which was born of a Woman Secure then as he thought from all future Dangers he omitted no kind of Libidinous Cruelty for the space of eighteen Years for so long he tyranniz'd over Scotland But having then made up the Measure of his Iniquities Mackduffe the Governour of Fife with some other good Patriots privily met one Evening at Bernane-Wood and taking every one a Bough in his Hand the better to keep them from Discovery marched early in the Morning towards Dunsinan-Castle which they took by Storm Mackbeth escaping was pursued by Mackduffe who having overtaken him urged him to the Combat to whom the Tyrant half in Scorn returned That in vain he attempted to kill him it being his Destiny never to be slain by any that was born of a Woman Now then said Mackduffe is the fatal end drawn fast upon thee for I was never born of a Woman but violently cut out of my Mother's Belly which so daunted the Tyrant tho' otherwise a Valiant Man that he was easily slain In the mean time Fleance so prosper'd in Wales that he gain'd the Affection of the Prince's Daughter of the Country and by her had a Son call'd Walter who flying Wales return'd into Scotland where his Descent known he was restored to the Honours and Lands of his House and preferr'd to be Steward of the House of Edgar the Son of Malcoline the Third sirnamed Conmer King of Scotland the name of Stewart growing hence hereditary unto his Posterity From this Walter descended that Robert Stewart who succeeded David Bruce in the Kingdom of Scotland the Progenitor of nine Kings of the Name of Stewart which have reigned successively in the Kingdom Heylin's Cosmogr pag. 336. 4. Walter Devereux Earl of Essex having wasted his Spirits with Grief fell into a Dysentery whereof he died after he had requested of such as stood by him that they would admonish
They brought to me the Man himself and when we ask'd him how he dared to sin again after such a Warning he had no Excuse But being a Person of Quality for some special Reason of Worldly Interest I must not name him Hist Disc of Apparitions and Witches p. 60. 27. Mr. William Rogers an Apothecary of Crancbrook in Kent exceeding much given to Drinking and Sabbath-breaking though a Young Man of a sweet and pleasing Temper was often admonished and perswaded by Mr. Robert Abbot Minister of the Place to come to Church but had often promised and failed But one Lord's-day in the Morning when he said he was ready to come he was taken sick and betook him to his Bed but it proving only an Ague next Morning he betook him to his old course again Next Week the Messenger of Death came in earnest Mr. Abbot addressed himself to him in his Chamber with these words Oh! how often have you deceived God your own Soul and me and what is now to be done I fear you will die and then what will become of you His Sickness prevailed and there was too great a Fire kindled in his Breast to be smothered it burned in his own Soul and it lightened from his Heart and Lips into the Ears and Hearts of those about him One while he cries out of his sins saying I have been a fearful Drunkard pouring in one Draught after another till one Draught could not keep down another I now would be glad if I could take the least of God's Creatures which I have abused I have neglected my Patients which have put their Lives in my hands and how many Souls have I thus murdered I have wilfully neglected God's House Service and Worship and tho' I purposed to go God strikes me thus before the day of my Promise comes because I am unworthy to come among God's People again Another while he falls to wishing Oh! that I might burn a long time in that Fire pointing to the Fire before him so I might not burn in Hell Oh! that God would grant me but one Year or a Month that the World might see with what an heart I have promised to God my Amendment Oh! that God would try me a little but I am unworthy Another while to his Companions Be warned by me to forsake your wicked ways lest you go to Hell as I must do Calls his young Servant tells him that he had been a wicked Master to him But be warned by me saith he you have a Friend that hath an Iron Furnace which burns hot a long time but if you give your self to my sins you shall be burned in the Furnace of Hell an hotter Furnace Millions of Millions of Ages The Minister propounding to him the Gospel-Promises of the largest size he cried It is too late I must be burned in Hell He pressed him with Tears not to cast away that Soul for which Christ died c. He answered He had cast off Christ and therefore must go to Hell In short at last in idleness of Thoughts and Talk he ended his miserable Life See the Narrative published by Mr. Abbot the Minister Or A Pamphlet called A Warning-piece to Drunkards p. 31 32. 28. Nathanael Butler was first addicted to Drunkenness Gaming Purloining and Fornication before he committed that Murder upon his Friend John Knight in Milk-street London 1657. for which he was afterwards condemned to the Gallows and executed 29. Tho. Savage used to spend the Sabbath at an Ale-House or a Base House and was that very Morning made Drunk by his Harlot with burnt Brandy when perswaded to Murder his Fellow-Servant for which he was executed at Ratcliff 1668. CHAP. CXXIV Divine Judgments upon Uncleanness Inordinate Love c. BIshop Latimer is said to have presented King Henry the VIII a new Testament wrapp'd up in a Napkin for a New Year's Gift with this Poesie about it Fornicators and Adulterers God will judge 'T was boldly done and the Admonition tho' very biting and pungent yet had the Word of God for its Basis and Foundation For to touch a little upon the History of this Sin 1. Eli's Sons 1 Sam. 2. David 2 Sam. 11. The two Women 1 King 3.16 may go for Scriptural Examples all faulty this way and all punished yea Solomon himself no doubt paid dear for his Polygamy and Concubinage not to except Jacob among the Patriarch's who was most crossed in his Children of any as I have noted before in this Book 2. Henry the VIII and our late King Charles the II. may be worthy of the Reader 's Remark 3. A. C. 1544. Henry Duke of Brunswick had for his Wife the Sister of Vlrick Duke of Wirtemberg who had for one of her Wairing-Maids one Eve Trottin with whose Beauty the Duke was so desperately smitten that after some Sollicitations he had several Children by her But after some time unknown to his Wife and her Friends he shut her up in his Castle of Stauffeburg and appoints two Women to lay a wooden Image representing her in her Bed giving out that Eve was sick at last this Image was laid up in a Coffin and it was pretended that Eve was dead The Counterfeit Corps was carried forth to be buried with all the usual Pomp and Ceremonies of a Funeral Prayers and Sacrifices The Dutchess and her Maids and other Companies of Virgins were present at the Solemnity all in mourning Apparel In the mean time Eve was kept in the Castle and the Duke had seven Children by her afterwards But at last the Imposture was brought to light to the perpetual Shame and Ignominy of the Duke with what ill Consequences more I cannot inform my self Sleidan's Commentar l. 15. 4. Childeric King of France was so odious for his Adulteries that his Nobles conspired against him and drove him out of the Kingdom Clark's Exampl Vol. I. c. 2. 5. Sir Robert Carr made afterwards Viscount Rochester a Minion of King James the I. and one of the Privy-Council falling in Love with the Countess of Essex who being married with Robert Earl of Essex both at Twelve Years of Age had lived above Ten Years without any carnal Knowledge one of another to make way for a Marriage with the same Countess procures the Commitment of Sir Tho. Overbury to the Tower because he discouraged Rochester from the said Match and at last his Death Upon which followed a Divorce between the Countess and the Earl her Husband a Creation of Rochester Earl of Somerset a Consummation of the Marriage between Rochester and the Countess of Essex a Celebration of the Wedding with the presence of the King Queen Prince and a great Confluence of Bishops and Nobles a gallant Masque of Lords and afterwards another Masque of the Princes Gentlemen which out-did this a Treat afterwards at Merchant's-Hall where the Mayor and Aldermen in their Gowns entertained the Bride and Bridegroom with the Attendance of the Duke of Lenox the Lord Privy-Seal the Lord-Chamberlain
then the Bravery of the Vniverse in one entire Eternal Scene Infinite Glory display'd in Paraphrase You shall see then what a God is and what he can do And when ye have seen the Beauty Order and Excellence of it you shall believe and wonder and say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomon's House the Reports you heard of Heaven in the lower World were far short of the Truth Chrysostom says It were worth the while 't would quit Costs to suffer daily Torments yea to endure Hell itself for some time to see Christ come in his Glory and joyn himself to the Number of his Saints For my part I am very sensible that the outward Court of this World is strew'd with variety of Comforts very pleasant to Flesh and Blood to the Sensitive part of Man but I do firmly believe that if we had but a sight of the inner part of Heaven were the Curtains drawn and could we look within the Veil 't would be a Sight worth all this World and more The Cherubims over the Mercy-Seat were enough to put a Sinner into Rapture and Extasie Glorious Things are spoken of thee thou City of GOD. Thus having told you the Joys of Heaven are great now I am to tell you they are certain And all the Arguments I have used already to prove the Joys great are of some validity and tendency to prove them certain If the Preparation for it hath been so long a making from Eternity to the present Time by Decree Creation Providence Redemption Sanctification variety of Dispensations c. If the wisest and best of Men have taken such Pains for it if it be the Purpose of Almighty God whose Power nothing is able to resist then to shew forth the Greatness and Excellency of his Glory we may safely conclude that God will certainly accomplish his whole Will and will not be frustrate in any of his Decrees and that the wisest and best of Men in the World cannot be all mistaken in a Point of so great moment and if they should be so yet it were the safest way to err in such Company But be it how it will with some I am very confident some will be as willing to have it certain as I to prove it so and for the sake of those I go on 1. God hath promised it Dan. 12.2 3. Mat. 5.8 Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom c. 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 2. But if ye dare not take his Word he hath sworn by his Life and Being that if the Future Glory be not ours it shall not be by his default he will not be wanting to do his part As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked Ezek. 33.11 3. He hath entred into a very solemn Covenant with us by Baptism and hath confirmed it too in the Lord's Supper and therein hath avowed to us before Witness that he will be our God and do what is fit for a God to do in order to the saving of us Thus have I briefly proved that the Joys of Heaven are very great and very certain with such Arguments as I cannot answer myself and I suppose nor you neither such as are enough to make a lame Man run a Coward fight a Sinner repent and the heaviest Sluggard rouze up shake himself and be Religious in earnest Enough to make the Sinner leave his wicked Courses the Miser his Bags and the Martyr his Body Oh that Joy O my God when shall I be with thee The Saying of the young Lord Harrington To sit on Thrones with Robes of White and Crowns of Glory To live like Angels to see God Face to Face To sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven To shine as the Sun in the Firmament To feel no Hunger Thirst Pain Sickness Death more To have our Bodies glorified and our Natures refined and all our Faculties perfected and we safe in the full Enjoyment of God to all Eternity To be made free to Rivers of Pleasure and Joys unspeakable for evermore What Soul not clogg'd with Flesh and Blood and bewitched with Sin would not leap at these Tidings and scorn to truckle any longer to the Moon and Clouds and little Vanities of this World Those soft effeminate Souls that sleep out their Life in a Golden Dream of Happiness and awake anon in Everlasting Burnings shall sadly find too late that Heaven was worth more than a cold Wish I would fain Reader Is it not possible to awaken myself and you into a posture of Work and Resolution When you find yourself declining into a Slumber look up and remember what lies beyond the Stars and then gird your Loyns put on Courage and scorn to keep pace with an ill-natur'd sluggish drowsie World put on with Courage and fear no Colours Heaven is before you i. e. Joy so great as you cannot conceive enough to make amends for all the Travel foul Way and Charges of your Journey A Compleat HISTORY Of the Most Remarkable Providences Both of Judgment and Mercy which have happened in this Present Age. Extracted from the best Writers the Author 's own Observations and the Numerous Relations sent him from divers Parts of the Three Kingdoms To which is added Whatever is Curious in the Works of Nature and Art The Whole digested into one Volume under proper Heads being a Work set on Foot Thirty Years ago by the Reverend Mr. Pool Author of the Synopsis Criticorum and since Undertaken and Finish'd by William Turner M. A. Vicar of Walberton in Sussex Recommended as useful to Ministers in Furnishing Topicks of Reproof and Exhortation and to Private Christians for their Closets and Families Together with the Names of those Modern Authors and persons of Note from whose Printed Works or Manuscripts the aforesaid Author has received great Assistance in the Compiling of this Book The CONTENTS PART I. COntaining The History of Divine Providences to which is Prefixt A Practical Introduction to this Work being the Author's Meditations On The Being of a God On The Works of Creation and Providence On The Existence of a separate Soul On The Ministry of Angels and On The Future State c. Chap. 1. Of the Appearance and Manifestation of God Himself in the World p. 5 Chap. 2. Of the Appearance of good Angels p. 7 Chap. 3. Of the Appearance of bad Angels or Daemons p. 16 Chap. 4. Of the Appearance of separate Souls with several late Instances of that nature p. 34 Chap. 5. Revelation of secret or future Things by express Voice p. 40 Chap. 6. The discovery of things secret or future by signs common sounds and voices p. 43. Chap. 7. Discovery of things secret or future by Prodigies Comets Lights c. p. 44. Chap. 8. Discovery of things secret or future by Dreams
and out of the Town and heard a mighty noise like the Discharging of Canons Two years after which General Wallestein Assaulted this Town with Souldiers and great Guns but was so stoutly entertained by those within that after the loss of a great many of the Imperialists he was forced tho he had besieged it above Twenty Months to break up his siege and depart Surprizing Mirac of Nature p. 108. 2. In King Henry the VIII's Days there was one Mr. Gresham a Merchant of London setting Sail homewards from Palermo where dwelt at that time one Antonio called the Rich who had at one time two Kingdoms Mortgaged to him by the King of Spain and being Crossed by contrary Winds Mr. Gresham was constrained to Anchor under the Lee of the Island off from Bulo where was a Burning Mountain Now about the Midday when for a certain space the Mountain forbore to send forth Flames Mr. Gresham with eight of the Sailors ascended the Mountain approaching as near the Vent as they durst where amengst other Noises they heard a Voice cry aloud Dispatch dispatch the Rich Autonio is a coming Terrified herewith they hasted their return and the Mountain presently broke out in a Flame But from so dismal a place they made all the haste they could and desiring to know more of this matter the Winds still thwarting their course they returned to Palermo and forthwith enquiring for Antonio they found that he was Dead about the very Instant so near as they could guess when that Voice was heard by them Mr. Gresham at his return to London reported this to the King and the Mariners being called before him confirmed the same upon Mr. Gresham this wrought so deep an Impression that he gave over all his Merchandizing distributed his Estate partly to his Kinsfolk and partly to good uses retaining only a Competency for himself and so spent the rest of his days in Solitary Devotion Sands Relat. 248. 3. Knocking 's Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubrey Esq Mr. Baxter's Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits A Gentleman formerly seeming Pious of late Years hath fallen into the Sin of Drunkenness and when he has been Drunk and slept himself Sober something Knocks at his Beds-head as if one knock'd on a Wainscot when they remove the Bed it follows him besides loud Noises on other parts where he is that all the House heareth It poseth me to think what Kind of Spirit this is that hath such a care of this Man's Soul which makes me hope he will recover Do good Spirits dwell so near us Or are they sent on such Messages Or is it his Guardian Angel Or is it the Soul of some Dead Friend that suffereth and yet retaining Love to him as Dives did to his Brethren would have him Saved God keepeth yet such things from us in the Dark Three or four Days before my Father died as I was in my Bed about Nine a Clock in the Morning perfectly awake I did hear three distinct Knocks on the Beds-head as if it had been with a Ruler or Ferula Mr. Hierome Banks as he lay on his Death Bed in Bell-yard said Three Days before he died that Mr. Jennings of the Inner-Temple his great Acquaintance Dead a Year or two before gave Three Knocks looked in and said Come away He was as far from believing such things as any man 4. Mr. Brograve near Puckridge in Hertford-shire when he was a young man riding in a Lane in that Contrey had a Blow given him on his Cheek or Head He look'd back and saw that no body was near behind him anon he had such another Blow I have forgot if a Third He turn'd back and fell to the Study of the Law and was afterwards a Judge This Account I had from Sir John Penrudock of Compton-Chamberlain our Neighbour whose Lady was Judge Brograve's Neice 5. Newark has Knocking 's before Death And there is a House near Covent-Garden that has Warnings 6. At Berlin when one shall Die out of the Electoral House of Brandenburgh a Woman Drest in white Linnen appears always to several without speaking or doing any harm for several Weeks before This from Jasper Belshazer Cranmer a Saxon Gentleman Thus far I am beholding to Mr. Aubrey's Collect. CHAP. VII Discovery of Things Secret or Future by Prodigies Comets Lights Stars c. HERE I propound only to shew how God Almighty when he is doing or going to do any thing extraordinary in the World to put Nature out of its usual Course and make some greater and more remarkable Steps in his Providence He often hangs out some Flag makes some Flame of Fire his messenger or so Ruffles the Elements of the Visible World in such an unusual manner as is enough to startle Men not out of but into their Wits and make them serious and inquisitive into the Counsels of Heaven and their own Merits and Behaviour towards God and so to Humble them into Sorrow and Penitence when they see the Hand of God thus lifted up or concern'd for them 1. Before the Destruction of Jerusalem there was often seen in the Air Armies of men in Battle-array seeming to be ready to charge each other the Brazen Gate open'd of it self without being touched by any Body Joseph de Bell. Jud. l. 7. Gaffarella Part 2. c. 3. 2. A little before the time that Xerxes cover'd the Earth with his million of men there appear'd horrible and dreadful Meteors as Presages of the Evils that afterwards happened as there did likewise in the time of Attila who was call'd Flagellum Dei God's Scourge Gaffarrel unheard of Curios Part 2. Ch 3. 3. When Ambrose was a Child a Swarm of Bees settled on his Face in the Cradle and flew away without hurting of him whereupon his Father said Si vixerit infantulus ille aliquid magni erit viz. If this Child live he will be some great man Clark's Mart. of Eccl. Hist 4. In the time of Gregory the Great A. C. 600 c. The River Tsber swell'd to such an unmeasurable height that it ran over the Walls of Rome and drowned a great part of the City and brake into many great Houses overthrew divers antient monuments and Gravaries belonging to the Church carrying away many thousand measures of Wheat Presently after which Innundation came down the River an innumerable Company of Serpents with one monstrous great one as big as a Beam which when they had swam into the Sea were there choaked and their Carcasses being all cast upon the Shoar there rotted which caused such an Infection of the Air that presently a great Plague followed at Rome so that many thousands died of it Yea Arrows were visibly seen to be shot from Heaven and whosoever was stricken with them presently died amongst whom Pelagius was one then Bishop of Rome Ibid. p. 97. What the consequences of those Prodigies were I leave to the Consideration of the ingenious Reader who may easily find in Church-History
against Heresies saith That some in his time had the spirit of Prophecy to foreknow things to come they saw Divine Dreams and Visions Ibid. 3. Cyprian in his 4th Epistle sets down this Vision with a Respect to the Persecution then raised by Aemilianus President of Egypt Paternus c. There was saith he an aged Father sitting at whose Right Hand was a young Man very Pensive and Sorrowful with his Hand on his Breast on the other Hand another Person with a Net in his Hand as threatning to catch those Men that were about him Whilst Cyprian was wondring hereat he seem'd to hear a Voice saying unto him The young man is sorrowful because his Precepts are not observed he on the Left Hand danceth and is merry for that hereby occasion is given him from the Antient Father to afflict Men. This was long before the Persecution happened Ibid. Cyprian faith he was by another Vision admonished to use a Spare Diet and he sparing in his Drink Ibid. 4. Valens the Emperor fully purposing to drive Basil out of Cesarea was warn'd by his Wife to desist for that she had been troubled with dreadful Dreams about him and their only Son Gallates was desperately ill at that time in the Judgment of the Physitians and this she imputed to the ill Design of the Emperor against Basil Valens hereupon sent for Basil saying thus to him If thy Faith be true pray that my Son die not of this Disease To whom Basil answer'd If you will believe as I do and bring the Church into Vnity and Concord your Child shall doubtless live The Emperor not agreeing to this Basil departed and the Child presently died Ibid. 5. Antonius Physitian to Augustus was admonished in a Dream by a Daemon that appeared to him in the form of the Goddess Pallas that altho' Augustus was sick yet he should not fail to be present in the Battle which was next day to he given by Brutus and Cassius and that he should there abide in his Tent which he would have done but by the Physicians deep Perswasions to the contrary For it came to pass that the Enemy's Soldiers won the Tents where questionless they had slain Augustus if he had been present there So upon this Dream he prevented his Death won the Day and remain'd sole Monarch of the Roman Empire and under his Reign was born the Saviour of the World Mexico's Treasury of Antient and Modern Times Book 5. C. 25. 6. Quintus Curtius declares in the Life of Alexander That when he laid Siege to the City of Tyre he being intreated for Succour of the Carthaginians who said they were descended of the Tyrians concluded to raise his Siege as despairing of ever surprizing it But in a Dream a Satyr appear'd to him after whom he follow'd as he fled before him into a Chamber his Interpreters told him that it was a sure Sign he should take the City if he pursued and continued the Siege which fell out to be true Idem ex Qu. Curtio 7. Katherine de Medicis Queen of France and Wife to King Henry the II. dream'd the day before the said King was wounded to Death That she saw him very sickly holding down his Head as he walked along the Streets of Paris being followed by an infinite number of his People that lamented for him Hereupon she most earnestly intreated him with wringing Hands and bended Knees not to adventure in the Rank of Tilters on that Day But he giving no Credit to her words the last Day of Feasting for the Marriage of Madam Margaret his Sister to Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy entred the Lists of Honour and running to break the Lance against a bold and worthy Knight the Count of Montgomery happened to be wounded of which wound the King died soon after Aged about 40. leaving his Kingdom sadly mourning for him Ibid. l. 5. c. 25. 8. His Son King Henry the third three days before he was murdered at St. Clou beheld in a Dream all his Royal Ornaments viz. his Linnen Vesture Sandals Dalmatian Robe Mantle of Azure Sattin Crowns Scepter and Hand of Justice Sword and gilt Spurs all bloody and soil'd with the Feet of Religious Men and others and that he was very angry with the Sexton of St. Dennis And though good Advice was given him to stand upon his Guard yet so it fell out that he could not avoid the fatal Chance Ibid. 9. Calphurnia Wife to the Adopted Father of Caesar having dreamed That she beheld Caesar slain and massacred gave him notice thereof but he in despite of the Dream went jocundly to the Senate next day where he found the sad Effect and Consequence of this Dream Ibid. Mr. Chetwind in his Hist Collections gives us the Account more at large thus viz. Caesar in the fifty sixth year of his Age was slain in the Senate Seventy of the chief Senators conspiring his Death he having the Night before when a Question was asked What Death was best answered The suddain and not propensed His Wife dreamt that Night That he lay dead in her lap and Spurina warned him to have heed to the Ides of March and a Note was given to him going to the Senate discovering the Conspiracy which he began to read but was interrupted and died with it in his hands 10. Bradwarain in his Preface to his Learned Book de Causa Dei tells us of a Dream he had in the Night when he was about his Book in Confutation of Pelagius he thought he was caught up into the Air and Pelagius came and took hold of him to cast him down head-long upon the Earth but he prevailed against him after much strugling and cast down Pelagius so that he brake his Neck and he lay dead upon the Earth Whereby he faith he was much comforted and strengthened Mr. Barkers Flores 11. Thomas Wotton Esq of Bocton Malherb in Kent Father to the Famous Sir H. Wotton a little before his death dreamed That the Vniversity-Treasury was Robbed by Townsmen and poor Scholars in number Five and wrote this Dream the next day by way of Postscript in a Letter to his Son Henry then of Queens Colledge The Letter dated 3 days before out of Kent came to his Son's hands the very Morning after the Robbery was committed The Letter being Communicated by Mr. Wotton gave such Light to this Work of Darkness that the Five guilty Persons were presently discovered and apprehended Dr. Plat's Nat. Hist of Oxfordsh c. 8. p. 47. 12. Astyages last King of the Medes saw in his Dream a Vine springing forth from the Womb of his only Daughter and at last so Flourish and Spread out it self that it seemed to overspread all Asia The Sooth-sayers being Consulted about it answered him That of his Daughter should be born a Son that should seize on the Empire of Asia and divest him of his Tertified with this Prediction he bestowed his Daughter on Cambyses an obscure Person and a Foreigner When his
was with Child of him she dreamed that she had a little white and barking Dog in her Womb which a Religious Person Interpreted thus An excellent Dog indeed for he shall be a Keeper of God's House and shall incessantly bark against the Adversâ—â—ies of it and as a famous Preacher shall cure many with his Medicinal Tongue Idem ex Heidfeld in Sphing c. 37. 25. Francis Petrarch had a Friend so desperately ill that he despaired of his Life wearied with Grief and Tears he fell into a slumber and seemed to see his sick Friend stand before him and tell him that he could not now stay any longer with him for there was one at the Door would interrupt their Discourse to whom he desired that he would recommend his weak Estate and that it he should undertake him he should be restored Presently a Physician enters Petrarch's Chamber who came from the sick as having given him over for a dead Man to comfort him Petrarch recounts his Dream to him with Tears and prevails with him to undertake his Friend who thereupon in a short time recovered Idem ex Fulg. l. 1. c. 5. 26. Arlotte Mother of William the Conqueror when great with Child of him dreamed that her Bowels were extended over all Normandy and England Bakers Chron. p. 28. 27. Whilst I lived at Prague saith an English Gentleman and one Night had sate up very late a drinking at a Feast early in the Morning the Sun-beams glancing on my Face as I lay in my Bed I dreamed that a shadow passing by told me That my Father was dead At which awaking I rose and wrote the Day and Hour and all Circumstances thereof in a Paper-Book which Book with many other things I put into a Barrel and sent it from Prague to Stode thence to be carried into England And now being at Nuremberg a Merchant of a Noble Family well Acquainted with me and my Relations arrived there who told me that my Father was dead about two Months ago I list not to write any Lies but that which I write is as true as strange When I returned into England some Four Years after I would not open the Barrel I sent from Prague till I had called my Sisters and some other Friends to be Witnesses where my self and they were astonished to see my written Dream answer the very day of my Father's Death Morison's Itin. p. 1. c. 1. A.B. Annot. on Relig. Med. p. 294. Wanley's Wonders of the Little World l. 6. c. 1. 28. The same Gentleman saith thus also I may lawfully swear that which my Kinsmen have heard witnessed by my Brother Henry whilst he liv'd that in my Youth at Cambridge I had the like Dream of my Mother's death where my Brother Henry lying by me early in the Morning I dreamed that my Mother passed by with a sad Countenance and told me That she could not come to my Commencement I being within 5 Months to proceed Master of Arts and she having promised at that time to come to Cambridge when I related this Dream to my Brother both of us awaking together in a Sweat he professed to me That he had dreamed the very same and when we had not the least knowledge of our Mother's sickness neither in our youthful Affections were any whit affected with the strangeness of this dream yet the next Carrier brought us word of our Mother's death Iâ—id 29. I cannot omit the Dream and Revelation of Joan d' Arke a Virgin who dreamed that she her self should be the only means to put Charles the 7th in possession of his Kingdom After she had acquainted her Father and Mother with her Dream she is brought to the Lord Baudricate and habited like a Man is presented to the King The Matter seemed ridiculous to the King he takes upon himself the Habit of a Country-man this Maid being brought into the Chamber goeth to the King and salutes him with a modest Countenance and delivered to him the Charge which she had received of the God of Heaven and told him That she should be the means to place the Crown upon his head and relieve Orleance that was Besieged by the English The King was persuaded to give her a Troop of 100 and a good Horse She puts her self into a Man's Habit and like a valourous Captain goeth towards Orleance and relieveth the Town with Victuals without resistance After she was in Orleance she sends a Letter to the King of England and his Troops and wisheth them to depart without shedding any more innocent Blood Joan d' Arke a second time relieveth Orleance and brings in fresh Provision she makes choice of 1500 Men and enters the Fort of Saint Loope the Virgin in the foremost of the Ranks crying Saint Denis the next Day they took two other Forts on the third Day the English made the French recoil but the Virgin incouraging her Men and marching couragiously was shot in the Arm Tush saith she this is a favour nothing amazed she takes the Arrow in one hand and her Sword in the other and enters the Fort. In these three Days the English lost 8000 Men and the French not one hundred and as a remembrance of their Victories the Statues of Charles the Seventh and Joan d' Arke are placed upon the Bridge of Orleance kneeling before a Crucifix Charles the Seventh is Crowned at Rheins all Champaigns yield unto him and the King that was in great danger of losing his Kingdom is now an absolute King The Divine Dreamer p. 15. 30. Cicero among other Dreams relates this A certain Man dreamed that there was an Egg hid under his Bed The Sooth-sayer to whom he applied himself for the Interpretation of the Dream told him That in the same place where he imagined to see the Egg there was Trensure hid Whereupon he caused the place to be digged up and there accordingly he found Silver and in the midst of it a good quantity of Gold and to give the Interpreter some testimony of his acknowledgment he brought him some pieces of the Silver which he had found but the Sooth-sayer hoping also to have some of the Gold said And will you not give me some of the Yolk too Amyrald Dis of Div. Dreams p. 22. 31. Monsieur Pâ—irese Councellor of the Parliament of Provence going from Mohrpellier to Nismes lay all Night in an Inn which is the mid-way betwixt these two places he had in his Company one James Rainier Citizen of Aix who in that Journey lodged in the same Chamber with him As that great Man slept Rainier observ'd that he talk'd and mutter'd something in his Sleep otherwise than was usual with him whereupon he wakened him and ask'd what was the matter Oh! said he you have made me lose a most excellent and pleasant Dream for I was dreaming That I was at Nismes and that a Goldsmith shew'd me a Golden Medal of Julius Caesar which he would sell me for four Crowns and as I was ready to
a very beautiful young Gentleman did win her Love so that notwithstanding her Promise aforesaid she married him She married at South-wrax-hall where the Picture of Sir Walter hung over the Parlour-door as it doth now at Dracot As Sir Fox led his Bride by the Hand from the Church which is near to the House into the Parlour the string of the Picture brake and the Picture fell on her Shoulder and crack'd in the Fall 53. The Night before the Fight in Glinsuly in Ireland a Woman of uncommon Stature all in white appearing to the Bishop of Clogher admonished him not to cross the River first to assault the Enemy but suffer them to do it whereby he should obtain the Victory That if the Irish took the Water first to move towards the English they should be put to a total Rout which came to pass Ocahan and Sir Henry O Neal who were both kill'd there saw severally the Apparition and disswaded the Bishop from giving the first Onset but could not prevail upon him 54. Near the same place a Party of the Protestents had been surpriz'd sleeping by the Popish Irish were it not for several Wrens that just wakned them by dancing and pecking on the Drums as the Enemy were approaching For this reason the wild Irish mortally hate these Birds to this day 55. When King James II. first entred Dublin after his Arrival from France 1689. one of the Gentlemen that bore the Mace before him stumbled without any rub in his way or other visible occasion The Mace fell out of his Hands and the little Cross upon the Crown thereof stuck fast between two Stones in the Street Thus far I 'm beholding to Mr. Aubrey's Collections 56. Of Fatalities of Families and Places Extracted from the Miscellanies of John Aubrey Esq The L. Chancellor Bacon says As for Nobility in particular Persons It is a reverend thing to see an antient Castle or Building not in Decay or to see a fair Timber Tree sound and perfect how much more to behold an ancient Noble Family which haâ—h stood against the VVaves and VVeathers of Time For new Nobility is but the Act of Power but ancient Nobility is the Act of Time But Omnium rerum est vicissitudo Families and Places have their Fatalities according to that of Ovid Fo rs sua cuique loco est 57. Sturton the Seat of the Lord Sturton was belonging to his Family before the Conquest They say that after the Victory at Battaile William the Conqueror came in Person into the West to receive their Rendition that the Lord Abbot of Glastenbury and the rest of the Lords and Grandees of the Western Parts waited upon the Conqueror at Stourton-House where the Family continues to this Day 58. Sir William Batton of Tockenham Baronet the Father told me that his Ancestors had the Lease of Alton-Farm 400 l. per Annum in Wilts which anciently belonged to Hyde-Abby juxta Winton four Hundred Years Sir William's Lease expired about 1652. and so fell into the Hands of the Earl of Pembrooke 59. Clavel of in the Isle of Purbec in the County of Dorset was in that place before the Conquest as appears by Dooms-day Book The like is said of Hamden of Hamden in Bucks Their Pedigree says that one of that Family had the Conduct of that County in two Invasions of the Danes Also Pen of Pen in that County was before the Conquest as by Dooms-day Book 60. Contrariwise there are several places unlucky to their Possessors e. g. Charter-house on Mindip in Somersetshire never passed yet to the Third Generation The Manner of Butleigh near Glaâ—enbury never went yet to the Third Generation 61. Bletchington in Oxfordshire continued in the Family of the Pauures for about 300 Years 62. Fatality of proper Names of Princes e. g. John hath been an unfortunate Name to Kings All the Second Kings since the Conquest have been unfortunate 63. London-derry was the first Town in Ireland that declared for the Parliament against King Charles I. and for the Prince of Orange against King James II. It was closely besieged both times without effect The King's Party were once Masters of all the Kingdom except London-Derry and Dublin and King James had all in his Power but London-Derry and Iniskilling 'T is certain that there are some Houses unlucky to their Inhabitants which the Reverend and Pious Dr. Nepier could acknowledge 64. The Fleece-Tavern in Covent-Garden in York-street was very unfortunate for Homicides there have been several kill'd three in my time It is now 1696 a private House 65. A handsome Brick-House on the South side of Clerken-well Church-yard hath been so unlucky for at least Forty Years that it was seldom Tenanted and at last no body would adventure to take it Also a handsome House in Holbourn that looked towards the Fields the Tenants of it did not prosper several about six 66. Periodical Small-Poxes The Small-Pox is usually in all great Towns But it is observed at Taunton in Somerset-shire and at Shirbourne in Dorsetshire that at one of them at every Seventh Year and at the other at every Ninth Year comes a Small-Pox which the Physitians cannot master This Account I had from Mr. Tho. Ax. It were to be wish'd that more such Observations were made in o ther great Towns Platerus makes the like Observations in the second Book of his Practise P. 323. He practised at Basil 56 Years and did observe that every Tenth year they died of the Plague there See Capt. J. Graunts Observations of the Bills of Mortality at London indeed written by sir William Petty which in a late Transaction he confessed for the Periodical Plagues at London which as I remember are every Twenty-fifth year Thus far I am beholding to Mr. Aubrey's Collections 67. Corps Candles in Wales Part of a Letter to Mr. Baxter Sir I am to give you the best satisfaction I can touching those Apparitions Corps Candles which do as it were mark out the way for Corpses to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes before the Parties themselves fall sick and sometimes in their Sickness I could never hear in England of these they are common in these three Counties viz. Cardigan Carmarthen and Pembrooke and as I hear in some other Parts of Wales These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Language we call Canhwyllan Cyrph i. e. Corps-Candles and Candles we call them not that we see any thing besides the Light but because that Light doth as much resemble a material Candle-light as Eggs do Eggs saying that in their Journey these Candles be modo apparantes modo disparantes especially when one comes near them and if one come in the way against them unto whom they vanish but presently appear behind and hold on their Course If it be a little Candle pale or bluish then follows the Corps either of an Abortive or some Infant if a big one them the Corps of some one come to Age If there be seen two or three
of it Catesby and the rest posted into Warwickshire and began an open Rebellion being joyned with about Eighty more and so Trooping together broke open the Stables belonging to Warwick-Castle and took thence some great Horses Thence into Worcestershire and so to Staffordshire where they rifled the Lord Windsor's House of all the Armour Shot Powder c. But being pursued by the high Sheriff of Worcestershire and his Men who rush'd in upon them both the Wrights were shot through and slain with one Musquet-Bullet the rest being taken were carry'd Prisoners to London being all the way gaz'd at revil'd and detested by the common People for their horrid and horrible Treason and so at last they receiv'd the just Guerdon of their Wickedness See a fuller Account in Bishop Carleton's Thankful Remembrance of God's Mercy III. In the Reign of King Charles the First 1. Sir John Temple Master of the Rolls and one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council within the Kingdom of Ireland and who was Father of the present Sir William Temple relates in his History of the Irish Rebellion in 1641. and which History was first Printed in London in 1646. there in P. 16 17 and 18 sets down that the first Plot for the Rebellion carried on with so great Secresie as none of the English had Notice of it before it was ready to be put in Execution and that on the 22d of October 1641. In the very Evening before the Day appointed for a Surprizal of the Castle and City of Dublin Owen O Conall a Gentleman of an Irish Family but one who had been bred a Protestant and who had been drinking that Evening came to the Lord Justice Parsons there about Nine of the Clock and acquainted him with a Conspiracy for the seizing upon His Majesty's Castle of Dublin and the Magazine therein the next day but he did then make such a broken Relation of a Matter that seem'd so incredible in its self as that his Lordship did then give but very little Belief to it at first in regard it came from an obscure Person and one he conceived somewhat distemper'd in Drink but in some Hours after O Conall being somewhat recover'd from his said Distemper was examin'd upon Oath before the Lords Justices and his Examination gave such a particular Account of the Conspiracy and the Conspirators therein that caused the Lords Justices to sit up all that Night in Consultation for the strengthning of the Guards in the Castle of Dublin and likewise of the whole City and for the seizing of the Persons of the Conspirators that the Execution of the Plot was thereby prevented and otherwise the Castle of Dublin had been the next day in the Possession of the Rebels of Ireland and all the Protestants in Dublin had been the next day massacred The Papists planted the Soveraign Drug of Arminianism here in England on purpose to promote Divisions among us and endeavoured to Advance Arbitrary Power and inflame the Puritans as the Author of the History of Popish Sham-Plots from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth tells us out of a Letter sent to the Rector of Brussels And Cardinal Richlieu sent over one Chamberlain hither who for four Months had Consultations with the Jesuits how to stir up the Scots and foment our Broils as may be seen in Dr. Heylin's Life of Archbishop Laud and Habernfeild's Plot c. Or to speak in the very Words of the late Learned Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Barlow When King James slept with his Fathers and was Translated to a better Kingdom out of the reach of Popish Conspirators their Designs slept not they prosecuted their Plots and Conspiracies to Ruin our Church and Establish'd Religion as much in Charles the First as in his Father's time and at last it came to this Issue that other Means failing the King and Arch-Bishop must be taken away This was discover'd by an Honourable Person Andreas ab Habernfeild to the English Embassador Sir W. Boswel at the Hague and by him to the Arch-Bishop and by him to the King and the Original Copy of the Discovery being found in the Arch-Bishop's Library after his Death was then publish'd and is in print in many Hands and among others in mine In the mean time adds my Author the Civil Wars began and our Popish Conspirators are first in Arms and the bloody Rebellion and in Ireland murder'd above 100000 Protestants in cold Blood without any Provocation given but to kill Hereticks which according to them was Lawful and Meritorious And farther when in Process of that fatal Rebellion carry'd on by English and covertly by Popish Rebels that good King was taken and a Council of Priests and Jesuits sitting in London signified the Condition of Affairs here to a Council of their Confederates at Paris and they transmitted the Case to Rome from whence Directions and Commands were return'd back again to London in short it was determined that it was for the Interest of the Catholick Cause that the King shculd die and accordingly their Council of Priests and Jesuits in London voted his Death This saith the same Reverend Author is now notoriously known to be true and in print publish'd to the World by Reverend and Learned Person who if any shall call him to Account for it is so convinced of the Ttuth of what he writ that he publickly offers to make it good viz. Dr. Du-Moulin Canon of Canterbury in two Books written to the same purpose See more in Bishop Barlow's Book called Popish Principles c. inconsistent with the Safety of Protestant Princes The Irish Papists when they had promised to furnish his Majesty with 10000 Men for the helping of him against the Parliament did not but endeavour'd to cut off the King's Army there by Force and Treachery and employ'd Commissioners to Rome France Lorrain and Spain to invite a Foreign Power into England See Fowles Hist of Rom. Treasons and the Lord Orcery 's Answer to Peter Welsh About 30 Priests or Jesuits were met together by a Protestant Gentleman between Roan and Diep to whom they said taking him to be one of their Party they were going to England and would take Arms in the Independant Army to be Agitators The Romish Priest and Confessor is known who when he saw the fatal Stroke given to the King flourish'd with his Sword and said Now the greatest Enemy we had in the World is gone When the Murder was cried down as the greatest Villany the Pope commanded all the Papers about the Queen to be burnt Many intelligent Travellers told what Joy there was in the English Convents beyond Seas and the Seminaries upon Tidings of the King's Death Benedictines were afraid lest the Jesuits should get their Lands and the English Nuns contended who should be Abesses the Fryars of Dunkirk were jealous lest the Jesuits should engross all the Glory to themselves Du-Moul Answer to Plul. Angl. And tho' the Papists during the Civil Wars flock'd to the King's
Army it was because the Parliament rejected them They are the Words of one of their own Party that most of the Romanists that seem'd to be of the old King's side only fled to his Garrisons for shelter and not to take up Arms to offend the Parliament Christ Moderator par 2. p. 12 29. Several of them boasted they were able to make appear their Faithfulness and good Affection to them the Rump See the Petitions of Sir R. Talbot and Garret Moor Esq See more on this Subject in Dr. Stillingfleet 's Idolatry of the Church of Rome p. 301 c. IV. In the Reign of King Charles II. 1. There was a Design carry'd on all along to alienate the Affections of Protestants one from another as plainly shew'd it self first of all at the King's Return who being put hard to it by the several Obligations he had contracted upon himself and Promises made of shewing Favour to each considerable Party in England For he had at his Coronation in Scotland promised and swore by the Eternal and Almighty God who lives and reigns for ever to rule the People committed to his Charge according to the Will and Command of God revealed in his Word and according to the lowable Laws and Constitutions of that Realm no ways repugnant to the said Word and to procure to the utmost of his Power to the Kirk of God and whole Christian People true and perfect Peace in time coming c. See the Form and Order of his Coronation printed by Robert Dowglas Minister at Edinburgh and reprinted at London 1660. p. 20. c. After this Engagement to the Kirk of Scotland he made as kind a Promise to the Papists at Breda as I remember that upon Condition they would assist him in Recovery of his Father's Throne he would do what he could to promote the Interest of the Catholick Cause in England And he could do no less but oblige himself as faithfully to the Church of England who had been faithful Sticklers for his Father as long they were able and afterwards applied to the Son with such a Courage and Resolution that they never left him till they had brought him safe to his long-desired Home In this Distraction of Mind he came to his Throne and any one may easily guess what Difficulties he must needs encounter in his following Reign What Endeavours were used to hinder the Puritans or Protestant Dissenters from obtaining Favour with the King as that they were ready with Forces raised to oppose his Majesty c. See the Account of the Sham-Presbyterian-Plot the Papists devised then in Yarraton 's Discovery p. 4 5 6 8 16. What Metheds were taken to widen the Differences between the Church-men and Dissenters is too plain to need a Descant and too fresh to be forgotten 2. Another Plot in this King's Reign was the Burning of London in 1666. For it was not enough with our Adversaries to enkindle a Fire of Passion and Discord in the Minds of People they proceeded next to kindle a material Fire in our most stately Buildings and nothing less would serve than the Metropolis of the Nation the great Mart of these three Kingdoms For the Proof whereof I shall insist only upon these seven Particulars 1. Strange Provincial of the Jesuits Gray Pennington Barton Jesuits c. and Keimask a Dominican Fryar pretending to be Fifth-Monarchy-Men prevailed with one Green a Fifth-Monarchy man but poor by lending him 30 l. to be an Instrument in firing London Green brought in eight other Fifth-Monarchy-men as Assistants but deferring to do it presently they were discovered tried and executed only Green died in Prison the Jesuits were not discovered because not known to be such 1665 6. as appears by Oates's Nar. Art 34. compared with the publick Gazet Apr. 30. 1666. 2. Several Persons were taken with Fire-Balls brought before the Magistrates and Committed to Custody but rescued by the Favour of the D. of Y. 3. One Hubbard was Executed who confessed that he began the Fire with one Pie-de-loup a French-man who came over on that Design with 23 other French-men 4. Several Letters were produced from beyond Sea enquiring whither London was Burnt hearing date some Days before the Fire began 5. Several words which the Papists had cast out here to the same purpose were proved as may be seen in the Depositions and Informations before the Committee in the House of Commons in Sept. 1666. of which Sir Robert Brokes was Chair-man 6. The Benedictines boasted to Mr. Bedloe that they had a hand in it and shewed him several Letters about it and told him that they resolved to Burn it again and tampered with Mr. Bedloe about it 7. Groves with Three Irish-men Fired Southwark 8. Doth any man begin to doubt said the Lord Chancellour in his Speech at the Lord Stafford's Condemnation how London came to be Burnt And is it not apparent by those Instances that such is the Frantick Zeal of some Bigotted Papists that they resolve no means that may serve to advance the Catholick Cause shall be left unattempted tho' it be by Fire and Sword 9. If all this will not serve to convince my Incredulous Reader I refer him to the Monument in London Erected in Perpetuam hujus Neferie actionis Memoriam Where the dead Stones witness the Truth of it with a voice loud enough to be heard to the utmost parts of the World POSTSCRIPT 3. A third Plot in King Charles the II. Reign was that which is commonly known and called by some in way of Derision Oates's Plot which yet I am perswaded in my own breast was no sham for these Reasons following 1. Because March 25. 1679. it was resolved nemine contradicente by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament Assembled That they do declare that they are fully satisfied by the Proofs they have heard that there now is and for diverse Years last past hath been a Horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy continued and carried on by those of the Popish Religion for the Murthering of His Majesty's Sacred Person and Subverting the Protestant Religion and the Ancient and Established Government of the Kingdom Joh. Brown Cleric Parliament 2. Because hereupon ' the King himself Issued out two several Proclamatins for a general Fast the first in these words CHARLES R. WHereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this Parliament Assembled being deeply sensible of the Sad and Calamitous Condition of this our Kingdom occasioned chiefly by the Impious and malicious Conspirary of a Popish Party who have not only Plotted and intended the Destruction of our Royal Person but the total Subdersion of our Government and of the true Protestant Religion c. have besought Vs that a Day might be set apart we have to this their humble Request most readily inclined Given at White-Hall Mar. 28 1679. 3. Because several Persons gave Testimony to the Truth thereof who were of their own party as Dr. Oates Capt. Bedloe
Vineyard where are two American Churches planted which are more famous than the rest over one of which there presides an ancient Indian as Pastor called Hiacooms John Hiacooms Son of the said Indian Pastor also Preacheth the Gospel to his Country-men In another Church in that place John Tockinosh a Converted Indian Teaches in these Churches ruling Elders of the Indians are joyned to the Pastors the Pastors were chosen by the People and when they had Fasted and Prayed Mr. Eliot and Mr. Cotton laid their Hands on them so that they were solemnly Ordained All the Congregations of the Converted Indians both the Catechumens and those in Church-Order every Lord's Day meet together the Pastor or Preacher always begins with Prayer and without a Form because from the Heart when the Ruler of the Assembly has ended Prayer the whole Congregation of Indians Praise God with Singing some of them are excellent Singers After the Psalm he that Preaches Reads a place of Scripture one or more Verses as he will and expounds it gathers Doctrines from it proves them by Scriptures and Reasons and infers Uses from them after the manner of the English of whom they have been taught then another Prayer to God in the Name of Christ concludes the whole Service Thus do they meet together twice every Lord's-Day they observe no Holy-days but the Lord's-Day except upon some extraordinary Occasion and then they solemnly set a part whole Days either in giving Thanks or Fasting and Praying with great Fervor of Mind Before the English came into these Coasts these barbarous Nations were altogether ignorant of the true God hence it is that in their Prayers and Sermons they used English Words and Terms he that calls upon the most holy Name of God says Jehovah or God or Lord and also they have learned and borrowed many other theosogical Phrases from us In short there are six Churches of Baptized Indians in New-England and eighteen Assemblies of Catechumens professing the Name of Christ Of the Indians there are Four and Twenty who are Preachers of the Word of God and besides these there are four English Ministers who Preach the Gospel in the Indian Tongue I am now my self weary with Writing and I fear lest if I should add more I should also be tedious to you yet one thing I must add which I had almost forgot that there are many of the Indians Children who have learned by Heart the Catechism either of that famous Divine William Perkins or that put forth by the Assemblies of Divines at Westminister and in their own Mother Tongue can answer to all the Questions in 〈◊〉 But I must end I salute the famous Professors in your University to whom I desire you to communicate this Letter as Written to them also Farewel worthy Sir the Lord preserve your Health for the Benefit of your Country his Church and of Learning Yours ever Increase Mather Boston in New-England July 12th 1687. Mr. Hammond in his Sermon in the Casuistical Morning Exercise gives us out of Ecclesiastical History two remarkable Passages of the Promotion of the Gospel by private Christians 1. THE one is related by Ruffinus who gives this account of the Conversion of the Kingdom of the Iberians to the Faith There was saith he a certain poor Woman who had been taken Captive and lived among them she was at first taken notice of for her Sobriety and Modesty and then for her spending so much time in Prayer these raised a great admiration of her in the Minds of the Barbarians At last they brought to her a sick Child which upon her Prayers was restored to Health This spread her Fame abroad so that the Queen of the Country was brought to her and by her Prayers recovered Whereupon the King and Kingdom were won over to Christ and the King sent to Constantine the Great for some to instruct them farther in the Christian Religion Ruffin Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 10. The holy Conversation and the ardent Devotions of private Chistians are excellent means to recommend the Gospel and to represent it as most amiable and desireable 2. The other is of Frumentius Aedecius These being Christians were left young in one of the Kingdoms of the inner India and were after some time for their excellent Parts and unspotted Life honoured and employed by the Queen of the Country during the Minority of her Son In Process of time some Roman Merchants came to Traffick among them then Frumentius understanding that there were some Christians among them invited them to reside with him and provided a place for them where they might offer up their Prayers to God after the Christian manner and himself having obtained leave of the Queen went to Athanasius in Alexandria requesting him to send some Bishop to that Kingdom to promote the farther Entertainment of the Gospel among them to which they were well inclined and disposed for the reception of it Athanasius ordained Frumentius himself who returned and by God's Blessing met with wonderful Success Ruffin Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 9. Socrat. Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 15. Sozomen l. 2. c. 23. If Providence says my Author shall bring these Lines to the view of Christian Travellers Merchants and Mariners who come among the poor Heathen let the Examples laid before them excite and encourage them to use their Endeavours to bring them to the Knowledge of Christ and the Entertainment of the Gospel The Reverend Mr. Annesly whose non-such Zeal in promoting the Gospel has been so successful in this part of the World gives the following Account of the Reverend Mr. Brand in the Narrative of his Life wherein he seems to have been actuated by a double Portion of the same Spirit whilst he writes the Story of that is Friend He tells us His Zeal for promoting the Gospel was so extensive that besides his constant weekly Catechising where he resided he promoted the constancy of it in all Schools and places to which he was a Benefactor and engaged all Ministers to whose support he Contributed to be diligent in it often examining the Conduct and Success of those he trusted with it And besides these again he hired several other Persons in distant places to catechise Children and all others willing to Learn and once a Month or oftner rode to visit and catechise them himself And to encourage them to do well and especially those who were Old and yet Ignorant and therefore ashamed to come to frequent those Exercises he gave them Books or Money according to their Quality And to allure Masters and Parents to send their Children or Servants he would also present them with Books curiously bound and Guilt and to such as were Poor he would give more Money than they could earn in the time spent in Learning His Discourse with Parents and Masters themselves was Catechistical and yet not disparaging All his Questions to all sorts so instructively Worded that they could not miss a right Answer and his whole
a Staff only And now he is greatly increased in Strength feeds moderately sleeps well and his Intellects and Faculties are become exceeding clear and strong His Wife behaved herself toward him all the while he lay under this great Affliction with great Care and Affection and by an honest and industrious course of Life supported him and his Children Attested by Rich. Parr D. D. of Camerwel Tho. Gale D. D. Will. Perry M. A. N. Paget M. D. Elias Ashmole And. Needham Curate of Lambeth c. 6. In the Year 1676 about the thirteenth or fourteenth of this Month October in the Night between one and two of the Clock Jesch Claes being a Dutch Woman of Amsterdam who for fourteen Years had been Lame of both legs one of them being dead and without feeling so that she could not go but creep upon the Ground or was carried in peoples Arms as a Child being in Bed with her Husband who was a Boatman she was three times pulled by her Arm with which she awaked and cryed out O Lord What may this be Hereupon she heard an Answer in plain Words Be not afraid I come in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Your Malady which hath for many Years been upon you shall cease and it shall be given you from God Almighty to walk again But keep this to your self till further Answer Whereupon she cryed aloud O Lord that I had a Light that I might know what this is Then had she this Answer There needs no Light the Light shall be given you from God Then came Light all over the Room and she saw a beautiful Youth about ten Years of Age with curled yellow Hair Clothed in White to the Feet who went from the Beds-head to the Chimney with a Light which a little after vanished Hereupon did there shoot something or gush from her Hip or diffuse it self through her Leg as a Water into her great Toe where she did find Life rising up felt it with her Hand crying out Lord give me my Feeling now which I have not had in so many Years And further she continued crying and praying to the Lord according to her weak Measure Yet she continued that Day Wednesday and the next Day Thursday as before till Evening at six a Clock at which time she sate at the Fire dressing the Food Then came as like a rushing Noise in both her Ears with which it was said to her Stand your going is given you again Then did she immediately stand up that had so many Years crept and went to the Door Her Husband meeting her being exceedingly afraid drew back In the mean while she cryed out My dear Husband I can go again The Man thinking it was a Spirit drew back saying You are not my Wife His Wife taking hold of him said My dear Husband I am the self-same that hath been Married these thirty Years to you The Almighty God hath given me my Going again But her Husband being amazed drew back to the side of the Room till at last she claspt her Hand about his Neck and yet he doubted and said to his Daughter Is this your Mother She answered Yes Father this we plainly see I had seen her go also before you came in This Person dwells upon Princes Island in Amsterdam This Account was sent from a Dutch Merchant procured by a Friend for Dr. R. Cudworth and contains the main Particulars that occur in the Dutch Printed Narrative which Monsieur Van Helmont brought over with him to my Lady Conway at Ragley who having enquired upon the spot when he was there at Amsterdam though of a genious not at all credulous of such Relations found the thing to be really true As also â—hilippus Lambergius in a Letter to Dr. Henry Moor sent this Testimony touching the Party cured That she was always reputed a very honest good Woman and that he believed there was no Fraud at all in that Business Glanvile's Saducism Triumph p. 427. 7. In this place may be accounted the strange way of curing the Struma or Scrophula commonly called the Evil which took its Derivation first of all from King Edward the Confessor and hath in after Ages been effected by the Kings of England and of France Concerning which take only this Story discoursing upon a time with Mr. Philip Caryll of Shipley in Sussex a Roman Catholick concerning Miracles done in this last Age in this Nation he produced this for an Instance That his Son being affected with that Distemper he having no Faith in the case was earnestly perswaded to address himself to King Charles the Second for a Touch of his Hand which having procured his Son was restored to perfect Health which he declared to me calling his Son into company and shewing him perfectly healed 8. Galen had a Man in Cure that had an Artery in his Ankle-bone half cut in sunder whereby he lost all his Blood before any Remedy could be applyed to him He writeth That he was advertised in his Sleep by some God or Angel that he should cut the Artery quite in sunder and the Ends would retire to each side and so lock together again When he awaked he executed what his Dream had represented to him and by that means cured the Man Treas of Ancient and Modern Times l. 5. p. 475. 9. A young Woman Married but without Children had a Disease about her Jaws and under her Cheek like unto Kernels and the Disease so corrupted her Face with Stench that she could scarce without great shame speak unto any Man This Woman was admonished in her Sleep to go to King Edward and get him to wash her Face with Water brought unto him and she should be whole To the Court she came and the King hearing of the matter disdained not to undertake it but having a Basin of Water brought unto him he dipped his Hand therein and washed the Womans Face and touched the diseased Part oftentimes sometimes also signing it with the Sign of the Cross When he had thus washed it the hard Crust or Skin was softned the Tumors dissolved and drawing his Hand by divers of the Holes out thence came divers little Worms whereof and of corrupt Matter and Blood they were full The Kings still pressed it with his Hand to bring forth the Corruption and endured the Stench of it until by such pressing he had brought forth all the Corruption This done he commanded her a sufficient Allowance every day for all things necessary until she had received perfect Health which was within a Week after and whereas she was ever before Barren within one Year she had a Child by her Husband This Disease hath since been called the Kings Evil and is frequently cured by the Touch of the Kings of England Stew's Annals p. 98. 10. Sir John Cheeke was once one of the Tutors to King Edward the Sixth afterwards Secretary of State much did the Kingdom value him but more the King for being once desperately
two Guises the Duke and Cardinal were Assassinated by Command of King Henry the III. The Queen a few Days after them died of Grief lamented of none but hated by every Body as the Bishop of Rhodez affirms and the Duke of Anjou who after the King's Decease came to the Crown under the Name of Henry the III. was slain by a Stab from a Jacobin Friar Author of the Interests of Princes and States 6. Philip King of Spain the II. having once escaped a great Danger at Sea at his Arrival in Spain appointed two Days of Thanksgiving one at Validolid the other at Sevil whither he caused those in Prison for Religion to be brought from several Places of his Kingdom Upon which Days Scaffolds being made which a Distinction of Seats for Spectators according to their Quality the Prisoners were with triumphant Ceremonies and dress'd in Antick manner led to the Fires and burnt before them c. The King also himself put to Death his eldest Son Charles partly upon Suspicion of being a Favourer of them but he died also of Blood issuing from all the Passages of his Body with a continual Vomiting of Vermin as the Bishop of Rhodez in his History of Henry the IV. relates Ibid. 7. George Eagles Martyr hang'd at Chelmsford in Essex was cut down before he was dead and sadly mangled by the Bailiff William Swallow his Body opened his Heart pulled out and his Quarters set up in several Places But shortly after Swallow's Hair fell from his Head his Eyes were so closed that he could scarce see the Nails fell off from his Fingers and Toes a Leprosie overspread his whole Body and his Estate so wasted that he soon fell into Beggery and died wretchedly Fox's Martyrol 8. One Robert Baldwyn a Neighbour having searched the House of Will. Seaman and finding him at home very unneighbourly carried him to Sir Jo. Tyrrel in order to the Prosecuting of him but on the way a strange Light fell from Heaven betwixt them upon which Baldwyn though then in the Flower of his Age was so struck that he pined away till he died Ibid. 9. Mr. Swingfield a Deputy in Thames-street with three others carried one Mrs. Angel a Midwife from a Woman in Labour her self being with Child too to Bishop Bonner who put her into Lollard's Tower but within ten Weeks Swingfield and his three Companions were all dead Ibid. 10. Burton Bailiff of Crowland in Lincolnshire a Protestant in King Edward's Time a Papist in Queen Mary's goes to Church speaks to the Curate then Reading the English Service Sirrah will you not say Mass Buckle your self to it you Knave or by God's Blood I 'll sheath my Dagger in your shoulder Shortly after riding with a Neighbour over Fen-Bank a Crow flew over his Head with her usual Note voided her Excrements on his Nose which ran down upon his Beard and set him so a Vomiting that he hastened home and to Bed where he continued Vomiting Swearing and Cursing at the Crow till at last he died Ibid. CHAP. CX Divine Judgments upon Uncharitableness Covetousness c. WITH what Measure ye mete it shall be meted to you again saith our Saviour and 't is but just and reasonable that those People who shut up their Bowels and Streams of Charity from their Neighbours should suffer by a Retaliation Sometimes Man himself and sometimes God Almighty in a more immediate way remembers and recompenseth the Vnkindnesses of these Men and repays them in their own Coin As they sowed sparingly they shall reap so too and as themselves were not merciful so they shall find no mercy 1. John Cameron Bishop of Glasgow was a very Covetous Man given to Violence and Oppression especially towards his poor Tenants and Vassals but God suffered it not long to go unpunished For the Night before Christmas-day as he lay asleep in his House at Lockwood seven Miles from the City of Glasgow he heard a Voice summoning him to appear before the Tribunal of Christ and give an Account of his doings Whereupon he awaked and being greatly terrified he called to his Servants to bring a Light and sit by him he himself also took a Book in his Hand and began to read But the Voice calling the second time struck all the servants into an Amazement The same Voice calling the third time far louder and more fearfully the Bishop after a heavy groan was found dead in his Bed his Tongue hanging out of his Mouth A fearful Example of God's Judgment against the sin of Covetousness and Oppression Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland See the Story of Gresham and Rich. Antonio under the Chap. of Discov of things secret by Omens c. Of Hatto Archbishop of Mentz under the Chap. of Divine Judgments upon Murder 2. Sir Walter Rawleigh a Man otherwise of Excellent Parts and a great Soul yet not being able to look Poverty in the Face when he was set at Liberty out of the Tower procures a Commission from King James to make a Voyage to Guiana in hopes of finding there Mines of Gold to enrich both the King and himself though at that time in the 76th Year of his Age sets out for the Indies where the Spaniards having notice before-hand had raised several Fortifications he with Sir Nicholas Kemish and others finding things otherwise than they expected Sir Nicholas kills himself and Sir Walter Storms the Town of St. Thomas where he lost his Son Walter returns home disappointed finds the Court disgusted the King offended and notwithstanding his Commission from the Royal Hand Anno 1618. Octob. 28. after some Months Imprisonment lost his Head Detection of the Court and State of England during the four last Reigns p. 56 57. 3. Cromerus an Author of good Credit tells us of a certain rich Man a Polonian who was very Covetous much given to Rapine and Oppression who falling Sick and being like to die was admonished by his Friends to sue to God for Mercy which he refused to do saying That there was no hope of Salvation for him no place of Pardon left No sooner had he thus spoken but immediately there was heard of the standers by a noise of most vehement Stripes and Blows which appeared manifestly upon the Body of this dying Wretch who presently gave up the Ghost to the great Terror and Amazement of all who were many then present Eye-witnesses of this Tragical Story Clark's Examples Vol. I. p. 115. Anno Christi 1570. at Rye in Sussex there was a strange Example of God's Judgment upon a Covetous Gentleman who living near the Sea had a Marsh wherein upon Poles Fishermen used to dry their Nets for which he received of them Yearly a sufficient Sum of Money But at length being not content with it he caused his Servants to pluck up the Poles not suffering the Fishermen to come upon his Ground any longer except they would compound at a larger Rate But it came to pass the same Night that
〈◊〉 King James 3. A certain Drunkard whom I knew very well saith mine Author a Godly Minister when he was in Drink quarrelled with his Fellow-Servant and after a few words knock d him down with his Flail and killed him at one blow Yet when he came to his Tryal by the help of Friends he made a shift to escape the Halter and came home again and there he used to Swear and Curse and Drink at as high a rate as ever But at last when he was in the same Yard where he committed the aforesaid Murther he fell down dead in a moment And I was saith he one of the first that saw him 4. In the Year 940. Hatto Archbishop of Mentz assembled certain poor Beggars together into a great Barn not to relieve their wants as he might and ought but to rid them of their Lives as he ought not but did For he set on Fire the Barn wherein they were and consumed them all alive comparing them to Rats and Mice that devoured good Corn but served to no other good Use But God that had regard and respect unto those poor wretches took their Cause into his Hand to quit this proud Prelate with just Revenge for his Outrage committed against them sending towards him an Army of Rats and Mice to lay Siege against him with the Engines of their Teeth on all sides which when this cursed Wretch perceived he removed into a Tower that standeth in the midst of the Rhine not far from Bing whither he presumed this Host of Rats could not pursue him but he was deceived For they swam over the Rhine thick and three-fold and got into his Tower with such strange Fury that in a very short space they had consumed him to nothing in Memorial whereof this Tower was ever after called The Tower of Rats And this was the Tragedy of that Bloody Arch-Butcher that compared poor Christian Souls to brutish and base Creatures and therefore became himself a Prey unto them as Popiel King of Poland did after him in whose strange Examples the Beams of God's Justice shine forth after an extraordinary and wonderful manner to the Terror and Fear of all Men when by the means of small Creatures they made room for his Vengeance to make entrance upon these execrable Creature-Murtherers notwithstanding all Man's Devices and Impediments of Nature For the Native Operation of the Elements was restrained from hindring the passage of them armed and inspired with an invincible and supernatural Courage to fear neither Fire Water nor Weapon till they had finished his Command that sent them And thus in old time did Frogs Flies Grashoppers and Lice make War with Pharaoh at the Command of him that hath all the World at his beck Beard 's Theater p. 196. Munster's Cosmogr c. 5. Anno 1346. Popiel King of Poland amongst many of his particular kinds of Cursings and Swearings whereof he was no niggard used ordinarily this Oath If it be not true would Rats might devour me Prophesying thereby his own Destruction for he was devoured by the same means which he often wished for as the Sequal of his History will declare The Father of this Popiel feeling himself near Death resigned the Government of his Kingdom to two of his Brethren Men exceedingly reverenced of all Men for the Valour and Vertue which appeared in them He being deceased and Popiel being grown up to Ripe and Lawful Years when he saw himself at full Liberty without all Bridle of Government to do what he listed he began to give the full swinge to his lawless and unruly desires in such sort that within few days he became so shameless that there was no Vice which appeared not in his Behaviour even to the working of the Death of his own Uncles for all their Faithful dealing towards him which he by Poison brought to pass Which being done he caused himself forthwith to be crowned with Garlands of Flowers and to be perfumed with Precious Oyntments And to the end the better to Solemnize his Entry to the Crown commanded a Sumptuous and Pompous Banquet to be prepared whereunto all the Princes and Lords of his Kingdom were invited Now as they were about to give the Onset upon the delicate Chear behold an Army of Rats sallying out of the dead and putrefied Bodies of his Uncles set upon him his Wife and Children amidst their Dainties to gnaw them with their sharp Teeth insomuch that his Guard with all their Weapons and Strength were not able to chase them away but being weary with Resisting their daily and mighty Assaults gave over the Battle Wherefore Counsel was given to make great Coal Fires about them that the Rats by that means might be kept off not knowing that no Policy or Power of Man was able to withstand the unchangeable Decree of God for for all their huge Fires they ceased not to run through the midst of them and to Assault with their Teeth this cruel Murtherer Then they gave him Counsel to put himself his Wife and Children into a Boat and thrust it into the midst of a Lake thinking that by reason of the Waters the Rats would not approach unto them But alas in vain for they swam thropugh the Water a main and gnawing the Boat made such chinks in the sides thereof that the Water began to run in which being perceived of the Boat-men amazed them sore and made them make Post-hast to Shoar where he was no sooner arrived but a fresh Muster of Rats uniting their Forces with the former encountred him so sore that they did him more mischief than all the rest Whereupon all his Guard and others that were there present for his Defence perceiving it to be a Judgment of God's Vengeance upon him abandoned and forsook him at once Who seeing himself destitute of Succour and forsaken on all sides flew into a high Tower in Chouzitze whither also they pursued him and climbing even up to the highest Room where he was first eat up his Wife and Children she being guilty of his Uncles Death and lastly gnawed and devoured him to the very Bones Ibid. 6. Anno 1056. a certain Nobleman abounding with Wealth not far from Augusta of the Vindilicians brought up in his HOuse a Young Black-a-more which Villain when his Master was from home rose up in the Night and slew not only his Lady but the whole Family excepting one little Daughter of the Nobleman's The Nobleman returning home after two days and finding his Gate shut rode nearer to the Walls of the House wondring Where the Black-a-more upon the top of the House with a fearful Countenance spake unto him these words O thou cruel Man thou rememberest how unworthily thou beat'st me not long since for no fault the memory whereof I still retain in my mind and have revenged this wrong upon thine behold here part of the Carcass of thy Wife whom I have slain with thy whole Family except this little Child which I have reserved
his Creatures that depend upon him for every bit of Bread they eat and are not able to stand a moment upon their Legs without him grow bold in confidence of their own Faculties as if they were a kind of Demi-gods upon Earth Absolute and Soveraign without any dependance upon Heaven 1. Arimazes having garrison'd a very strong and steep Rock in the Sogdian Country with Thirty Thousand Men sent to Alexander the Great who demanded it to know whether he could flee or not But the next Day he was taken together with his strong Hold and nailed to a Cross God delights to confute Men in their Confidences that they that are his way run to the Rock of Ages Isa 26.4 to that Arx roboris of his Holy Name which alone is impregnable and inexpugnable 2. The Spaniards in 1588. called their Navy the Invincible Armado but it proved otherwise and that upon St. James's Dayâ— whom they count their Patron and Tutelary Saint Trapp 3. The Lord Mordant afterwards Earl of Peterborough being a Papist and desirous to draw his Lady to the same Religion he was willing that there should be a Meeting of two Eminent Parsons of each Party to dispute what might be in Controversie between them The Lady made choice of our Lord Primate and prevailed with him though newly recovered from a long Sickness and scarce able to take such a Journey The Jesuite chosen by the Earl went under the Name of Beaumond but his true Name was Rookwood Brother to Ambrose Rookwood one of the Gunpowder Traytors The Place of Meeting was at Drayton in Northamptonshire where there was a great Library so that no Books of the Ancient Fathers were wanting upon occasion for their View The Points to be disputed on were concerning Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints Worshipping of Images and the Visibility of the Church Three Days they were in this Disputation three Hours in the Forenoon and two in the Afrernoon each Day and the Conclusion was this after the third Day 's Meeting The Lord Primate having been hitherto Opponent now the Tables were to be turned and the Jesuite according to his desire was to oppose and the Lord Primate to answer But when the time came the Jesuite was expected instead of coming he sent his Excuse to the Lord Mordant which was That all the Arguments which he had framed in his Head and premeditated so that he thought he had them as perfect as his Pater-Noster were now slipt from him and he could not possibly recover them again and that he believed it was a just Judgment of God upon him for undertaking of himself to dispute with a Man of that Eminency and Learning without a License from his Superiors The Lord Mordant seeing his Tergiversation upon some further Discourse with the Lord Primate was converted and became a Protestant and so continued to his Death One Challoner a Secular Priest afterwards writing a Book against this Beaumond by way of Scorn bids him beware of coming any more to Drayton lest he should meet with another Vsher to foil him again to the Dishonour of his Profession and himself See his Life 4. A little before the late horrid Conspiracy against the Life of our present Soveraign King William the III. in an exempt Chappel within three Miles of Norwich one preached on those Words Jer. 24.10 and near the time of the intended Assassination on Jer. 46.10 For this is the day of the Lord God of Hosts a day of Vengeance that he may avenge himself on his Adversaries and the Sword shall devour and it shall be satisfied and made drunk with their Blood for the Lord God of Hosts hath a Sacrifice in the North Country by the River Euphrates One Mr. Trinder also a noted Justice of Peace in Middlesex in the Reign of King James to his Nephew in the Earl of Arran's Regiment in a Letter dated at Paris Feb. 1695. writes thus viz. Sir Notwithstanding your great Confidence in your Hero and your great Ingratitude to your Friend your Repentance shall not be too late if the Effects of it appear within a Month after the Receipt of this Advertisement from your Friend J. T. Another great French Man in a Letter to a Friend concluded That the whole English Nation would be a miserable Field of Blood c. And the Courtiers of France and some of them bragg'd That King James was not gone to invade but to take possession of his Kingdom Nay the D. of B. was so confident of Success in this Business that he told the French King he scrupled not within three Months but he should be sent over by King James to give him Thanks in way of Embassy for all his Kindness to him since he left his Kingdoms A Declaration was drawn up printed and dispersed on purpose to cajole the People of England into false Hopes of a Relaxation of Taxes perpetual Parliaments and the Preservation of the Protestant Religion c. Transport Ships were ready and Soldiers to the number of 20000 to embark at Callis Bullen Dunkirk c. And the French King caused to be delivered 100000 Lewis ' d'ores to the late King desiring him to hasten his Departure for that all things were in readiness and so took his leave of him wishing him a prosperous undertaking promising as soon as he posted himself in England he would supply him with more Troops The Pope's Nuncio likewise pronounced a solemn Benediction upon the Enterprize and the Jesuites had begg'd Chelsea-College for themselves the Image of St. Victor was bestowed upon the Army as an auspicious Omen And yet after these Preparations and great Confidences when they thought all cock-sure the Descent was hindred by the Winds the Counsels took air in England and by Divine Providence the Authors of the Conspiracy discovered and several of them brought to condign Punishment The Impartial History of the Plots and Conspiracies against King William p. 30 31 c. CHAP. CXXXIV Divine Judgments upon Bribery and Injustice SHould any one saith Bishop Latimer in a Sermon preached at Court ask me which was the readiest way to Hell I would answer First be Covetous secondly take Bribes thirdly pervert Judgment and Justice There 's the Mother and her two Daughters I will add fourthly a Tyburn Tippet Hangum Twinum for him If saith he to his Majesty I were King and any of my Judges should thus suffer themselves to be corrupted and pervert Justice tho' he were my Lord Chief Justice himself as God shall judge me I would make Quondams of every Man of them If not in these Words yet to this purpose Sure I am God Almighty doth ring very sharp Peals of his Wrath and Vengeance by the Prophets in the Ears of his People Israel for this very Sin and there is no doubt but he is as severely angry with it in all Ages even to this Day 1. A. C. 1289. A. 16. Edw. I. upon the general Accounts made of the ill Administration of Justice in
the King's Absence these Penalties were inflicted upon the chief Officer whose manifest Corruptions the Hatred of the People to Men of that Profession who are apt to abuse their Science and Authority procured in Parliament to be thus punished Sir Ralph Hengham Chief Justice of the King's-Bench was Fined 7000 Marks Sir John Loveton Justice of the Lower Bench 3000 Sir William Brompton Justice 6000 Sir Solomon Rochester 4000 All Itenerant Justices Sir Richard Boyland 4000 All Itenerant Justices Sir Tho. Sadington 2000 All Itenerant Justices Sir Walter Hopton 2000 All Itenerant Justices Sir W. Sakam 3000 Robert Lithbury Master of the Rolls 1000 Roger Leicester 1000 Henry Bray Escheator and Judge for the Jews 1000 Sir Adam Stratton Chief Baron of the Exchequer was Fined 34000 Marks See the Relation of that memorable Parliament begun An. Regni 10. Richard II. p. 36 37. 2. Sir Francis Bacon Baron Verulam and Viscount St. Albans that Atlas of Learning suffer'd for but his Connivance at the Bribery and Corruption of his Servants and was by the Parliament put out of the Office of Lord Chancellor Ibid. 3. Judge Morgan who gave the Sentence of Death upon the Lady Jane Grey presently after fell and and in all his distracted Fits cried out continually Take away the Lady Jane Take away the Lady Jane from me and in this extream Distemper ended his Life Fox's Martyrol 4. June 24. 1678. Mr. Daniel Bachelor Minister told me of a Citizen of London to whom he was sent for in his Sickness whâ—n God had let loose Conscience upon him The Man repeated over all the Commandments and confessed the Sins be was guilty of against each Command such as Incest and Adultery lived in many Years The Chastity of his Servant he sollicited but was repulsed But his Master-Sin was Perjury taking false Oaths and hiring Met Knights of the Post as they are called frequently to do so The Devil led him into that Sin first as he said thus He wanted Proof for a Debt that was a just Debt and hired one of those who procured his Debt that was just in this unjust way By this he contracted Hardness of Heart and plunged himself in Villainies of that nature There were above an Hundred Actions against him when he died He fell sick on a Friday lay about ten Days under the horrid gnawings of the Worm that dieth not upon his Bed not in Distraction but Desperation crying out once in his presence I am damned for ever and added most fearful to hear Amen Amen Amen and had an Expression so blasphemous of the Holy and Ever-blessed God that for Horror I shall draw a Veil over it Yet some have Robb'd hard by the Gallows And this poor Wretch thus hung up in Chains by the Lord did not awaken sufficiently one of his Knights of the Post that came to see him while the Minister my Friend was present O take heed said he by my Example now I smart for what I have done and put you upon doing The Man in Health told him he was melancholick and was not moved He had a Charge to relate this woful Death of his to his Sister with whom he had been incestuously Wicked She gave a seemingly courteous Reception to him and seemed sensible of it The Minister my Friend when he had done his Errand coming down from her Chamber at the Door of which he had left his Galosho's missing them went up again and over-heard her say to a Companion of hers there The Fool thought I had been in earnest The Man though he had unjustly ravish'd Thousands out of Men died miserably poor This Relation was sent me by the Reverend Mr. Singleton now living in Hoxdon-Square near the City of London and is printed in the same Words I received it 5. It may not be altogether impertinent to take notice here what King Charles the I. applied to himself on the Scaffold that for one unjust Sentence which he had suffer'd to pass meaning the Earl of Strafford God had suffered the like unjust Judgment to be passed on him â—ee his Speech on the Scaffold 6. Sir P. P. in Letter to the Bishop of Lincoln saith That in the famous Marriage-Cause between Mrs. Isabella Jones and Sir Robert Carr in the Arches where Sir Robert Carr was claimed by her for her Husband though for want of full Proof of the Marriage Sir Giles Sweit the Dean of the Arches pronounced Sentence against the Marriage yet condemning Sir Robert Carr in 1500 Pound Costs to Mrs. Jones Which the Judge did because he was in Conscience convinced that Sir Robert Carr and Mrs. Jones were really married To this Sir Peter Pett in the aforesaid Letter adds I can saith he at any time acquaint you with the Circumstances of that Cause and give you an Account of the Remarkable Judgments of God inflicted on the Persons who tampered with the Witness in that Cause whereby the Marriage failed of Sentence Remains of Dr. Barlow Bishop of Lincoln p. 368. 7. The Emperor of Muscovy sent for a Judge who had taken a Bribe viz. a Goose with its Belly full of Gold commanded him and the other Judges to appear before him not discovering the least Displeasure They all appeared chearful he commanded the Hangman to be brought in and ask'd him if he knew how to cut up a Goose Answer being made very well Then said the Emperor take away that Judge and cut him up after the same manner which was forthwith done accordingly Smythy's Treatise of Restitution p. 19. who says he had the Relation from a Minister whose Brother was an Eye-witness CHAP. CXXXV Divine Judgments upon Lying and Slandering OVR Tongues are the Indexes of our Mind to signifie the Thoughts and Meanings thereof to the World if the one agree not to the other the Motions are false and the Wheels out of order What is a Clâ—â—k good for if it doth not tell the true Hour of the Day Lyars are shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven and deserve but little Favour upon Earth and some times meet with just Punishments Prov. 19.5 1. Alexander the Great having read a History out of Aristobulus wherein the Author had intermingled certain counterfeit Praises flung the Book into the River saying the said Writer deserved to be flung there himself Coguet's Polit. Disc p. 130. 2. The Emperor Trajan sirnamed the Good Prince took away from the Son of Cabalus the Kingdom of Dacia that is Transilvania and Valachia only because he caught him in a Lye and told him That Rome the Mother of Truth could not permit a Lyar to possess a Kingdom Ibid. 3. Cyrus told the King of Armenia That a Lye was not capable of Pardon Ibid. 4. Monstrelet writes That Popiel King of Poland who had ever in his Mouth these Words If it be not true I would the Rats might cat me that he was so assailed by Rats in a Banquet that neither his Guards nor Fire nor Water could preserve him from them Ibid.
thee to Morrow Sigismund the Second King of Poland because of his perpetual delay and heaviness in weighty Affairs was called the King of to-morrow Such are we certainly Men of to-morrow we delay all things most willingly also if we could to put off Death it self but the business of dying admits of no delay suffers no put-offs Francis the First King of France being taken by Charles the Fifth when he had read at Madrid Charles's Impress upon the Wall Plus ultra Farther yet added thereto To day for me to morrow for thee The Victor took it not ill but to shew that he understood it wrote underneath I am a Man there is no Humane Accident but may befal me Barlaam the Hermit an Old Man of Seventy Years when Jehosaphat the King asked him how Old he was Answered Forty five at which when the King admired He reply'd that he had been absent rom his Studies Twenty five Years as if those Years which he had spent upon the Vanity of the World had been quite lost Sir Tho. Moor that no Age might delude a Person with the hopes of a longer Life gives this Admonition As he that is carried out of a Prison to the Gallows though the way be longer yet fears not the Gallows the less because he comes to it a little the later and though his Limbs are firm his Eyes quick his Lungs sound and that he relish his Meat and Drink yet this is still his Affliction that he is upon his Journey Thus are we all carried to the Gibbet of Death we are all upon the way only parted by some little Intervals The Elector of Brandenburg came to Visit Charles the Fifth being Sick of the Gout and advised him to make use of his Physicians To whom Charles replied The best Remedy in this Disease is Patience The compleat Armour of a Sick Man is Patience being so guarded he need fear neither Sickness Pain nor Death He is Proof against the blows of his Enemies and shall certainly overcome for Patience overcomes all things St. Austin Bishop of Hippo went to visit another Bishop of his Familiar Acquaintance lying in Extremity to whom as he was lifting up his Hands to Heaven to signifie his Departure St. Austin replyed That he was a great support of the Church and worthy of a longer Life To whom the sick Person made this Answer If never 't were another thing but if at any time why not now Thus Sitenus being taken by Midas and asked what was the best thing could happen to Man For a while stood silent At length being urg'd to speak he answer'd That the best thing was never to be born the next to die the soonest that might be This I must not omit very wonderful unheard-of and pleasant in the Relation Lodowick Cortusius a Lawyer of Padua forbid to his Relations all Tears and Lamentations by his Will And desir'd that he might have Harpers Pipers and all sorts of Musick at his Funeral who should partly go before partly follow the Corps leaving to every one of them a small Sum of Money His Bier he ordered to be carry'd by Twelve Virgins that being clad in green were to sing all the way such Songs as Mirth brought to their remembrance leaving to each a certain Sum of Money instead of a Dowry Thus was he buried in the Church of St. Sophia in Padua accompanied with a Hundred Attendants together with all the Clergy of the City excepting those that wore black for such by his Will he forbid his Funeral as it were turning his Funeral-Rites into a Marriage-Ceremony He died the 17th of July 1418. Admirable was the saying of St. Bernard Let them bewail their Dead who deny the Resurrection They are to be deplor'd who after Death are buried in Hell by the Devils not they who are plac'd in Heaven by the Angels Cyrus being about to die My Son said he when I am dead close up my Body neither in Silver nor in any other Metal but return its own Earth to the Earth again His last words were Be grateful to your Friends and you will never want the Power to punish your Enemies Farewel my dear Son and tell these my Words to your Mother also Wisely said Theophrastus upon his Death-Bed Many fine and pleasant things doth Life impose upon us under the pretence of Glory than the love of which there is nothing more vain Hither may be referred the saying of Severus the Emperor I was all things but nothing avails Alexander after many and great Victories overcome at length he fell not only into his Bed but into his Tomb contented with a small Coffin Peter Alphonsus reports That several Philosophers flock'd together and variously descanted upon the King's Death One there was that said Behold now four Yards of Ground is enough for him whom the spacious Earth could not comprehend before Another added Yesterday could Alexander save whom he pleas'd from Death to Day he cannot free himself Another viewing the Golden Coffin of the deceased Yesterday said he Alexander heaped up a Treasure of Gold now Gold makes a Treasure of Alexander This was their Learned Contention yet all ended in this Then he fell sick and died Lewis King of France gave these his last Admonitions to his Son Beware my Son that thou never commit any deadly Sin rather suffer all manner of Torments First chuse such about thee as will not be afraid to tell thee what thou art to do and what to beware To thy Parents give all Obedience Love and Reverence Ferdinand the Great King of Castile falling sick of his last Sickness caused himself to be carried to the great Church in all his Royal Robes where putting off all his Royal Ornaments and as it were restoring God his own he put on a Hair-Clâ—â— and casting himself upon the Ground with Tears in his Eyes Lord said he the Kingdom which thou gavest me I return to thee again seat me I beseach thee in Eternal Light Charles King of Sicily spoke these words Oh the Vain Thoughts of Men Miserable Creatures we are delighted with Honour heap up Treasure and neglect Heaven O the happy Fate of the Poor who content with little sleep in Tranquility What does now my Kingdom what do all my Guards avail me I might have been miserable without all this Pomp. Where is now the power and strength of my Empire The same necessity involves me as hampers the meanest Beggar Of so many Thousands of Clients Servants and Flatterers there is not one that will or can accompany me to the Tribunal of God Go Mortals go and swell your Breasts with great Thoughts to Day or to Morrow ye must die Farewel Earth would I could say welcom Heaven Dionysius the Areopagite being condemned to lose his Head with a Christian Generosity contemning the Reproaches of the Spectators Let the last words of my Lord upon the Cross said he be mine in this World Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit
how Happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosen sake send me Life and Death I suspect some Mistake in recording these last Words perhaps Life or Death that I may truly serve thee O my Lord God! bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy People of England O my Lord God defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and thy People may praise thy Holy Name for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake His last Words were I am faint Lord have mercy and take my Spirit He died aged 17. 108. The Lady Jane Grey by King Edward's Will proclaimed Queen of England the Night before she was beheaded sent her Sister her Greek Testament in the end whereof she wrote as may be seen under the Head of Love of the Holy Scriptures She spoke on the Scaffold thus GOod People I am come hither to Die and by a Law I am condemned to the same My Offence against the Queen's Majesty was only in consenting to the Device of others which now is deemed Treason yet it was never of my seeking but by Counsel of those who should seem to have further understanding of those things than I who knew little of the Law and much less of Titles to the Crown But touching the Procurement thereof by me or on my behalf I do here wash my Hands in Innocency before God and the Face of you all this Day and therewith she wrung her Hands wherein she had her Book I pray you all good Christian People to bear me Witness that I die a true Christian Woman and that I look to be saved by no other means but only by the Mercy of God in the Blood of his only Son Jesus Christ And I do confess That when I knew the Word of God I neglected the same and loved my self and the World and therefore this Plague and Punishment is justly befallen me for my Sins And I yet thank God of his Goodness that he hath been pleased to give me Respite to Repent in And now good People while I am alive I pray assist me with your Prayers She died 1554. aged 16. Tu quibus ista legas incertum est Lector ocellis Ipsa equidem siccis scribere non potui Fox 's Martyrol 109. Queen Elizabeth is reported upon her Death-bed but by what Author I confess I do not presently remember to complain of the want of Time Time Time a World of Wealth for an Inch of Time yet finished her Course with that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good Fight c. 110. The young Lord Harrington professed in his Sickness That he feared not Death in what shape soever it came declaring about two Hours before his Death that he still felt the assured Comforts and Joys of his Salvation by Jesus Christ And when Death approached he breathed forth these longing Expressions Oh that Joy Oh my God! when shall I be with thee And so sweetly resigned up his Spirit unto God An. 1613. aged 22. See in his Life in the Young Man's Calling and my Christian 's Companion 111. Henry Prince of Wales eldest Son to King James in his Sickness had these Words to one that waited on him Ah Tom I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others in vain Recreations Which puts me in mind of what Mr. Smith relates in the Funeral Solemnity of Mr. Moor Fellow of Gaius College and Keeper of the University Library viz. That he often lamented the Misery of our English Gentry who are commonly brought up to nothing but Hawks and Hounds and know not how to bestow their Time in a Rainy Day and in the midst of all their Plenty are in want of Friends necessary Reproof and most loving Admonition 112. The Earl of Strafford made this Speech on the Scaffold May 12. 1641. MY Lord Primate of Ireland and my Lords and the rest of the Gentlemen it is a very great Comfort to me to have your Lordship by me this Day in regard I have been known to you a long time I should be very glad to obtain so much silence as to be heard a few Words but I doubt I shall not My Lord I come hither by the Good Will and Pleasure of Almighty God to pay that last Debt I owe to Sin which is Death and by the Blessing of God to rise again through the Merits of Christ Jesus to Eternal Glory I wish I had been private that I might have been heard My Lord if I might be so much beholden to you that I might use a few Words I should take it for a very great Courtesie My Lord I come hither to submit to that Judgment which hath passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented Mind I do freely forgive all the World a Forgiveness that is not spoken from the Teeth outward as they say but from the Heart I speak it in the Presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not in me so much as a displeasing Thought to any Creature I thank God I may say truly and my Conscience bears me witness that in all my Service since I have had the Honour to serve His Majesty in any Employment I never had any thing in my Heart but the joynt and individual Prosperity of the King and People If it hath been my Hap to be misconstrued it is the common Portion of us all while we are in this Life the Righteous Judgment is hereafter here we are subject to Error and apt to be misjudged one of another There is one thing I desire to clear my self of and I am very confident I speak it with so much clearness that I hope I shall have your Christian Charity in the belief of it I did always ever think the Parliaments of England were the happiest Constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under and under God the happiest Means of making King and People happy so far have I been from being against Parliaments For my Death I here acquit all the World and pray God heartily to forgive them and in particular my Lord Primate I am very glad that His Majesty is pleased to conceive me not meriting so severe and heavy a Punishment as the utmost execution of this Sentence I am very glad and infinitely rejoyce in this Mercy of his and beseech God to turn it to him that he may find Mercy when he hath most need of it I wish this Kingdom all the Prosperity and Happiness in the World I did it living and now dying it is my Wish I do now profess it from my Heart and do most humbly recommend it to every Mâ—n here and wish every Man to lay his Hand upon his Heart and consider seriously whether the beginning of the Happiness of a People should be written in Letters of Blood I fear you are in a wrong way and I desire Almighty God that no one drop of my Blood may
her Death With some Remarkable Passages relating both to her Person and Government I Shall conclude this History of Providence with a Collection of the memorable Speeches and Sayings of our never-enough lamented Sovereign the late Queen MARY and shall here and there add some remarkable Passages relating to her Person and Government as a Noble Testimony to Religion from one whose Parts and Endowments were as high as her Dignity as if Providence would not leave the prophane Age room to say that Religion was only pretended to by the Mean and Ignorant but convince them by the Vertuous Life and Dying Breath of a Princess every way so Glorious and Great So extraordinary strict says Bishop Fowler in his Preface relating to the Queen was Her Majesty's Life even from her Youth that for the Seventeen Years of her Married State the King as he hath professed could never see any thing in her which he could call a Fault and no Man continues this Learned Author can keep a stricter Guard upon his Words than His Majesty is always observed to do Then certainly a Collection of the Memorable Speeches of such a Princess must needs be very useful and so much the more so as there are several remarkable Sayings of this Royal Person scattered in so many Books which its hardly possible for any private Person to have all of them by him and therefore a View of them all at once in a Collection from the best Authors that have writ upon this Subject may perhaps be very acceptable to the serious Reader 1. That we may begin from her Cradle The most August Queen MARY II. was born in the Sixty second Year of this Age upon the Tenth of May James then Duke of York and the Lord Chancellor's Daughter being her Parents Many and conspicuous were the Prognosticks of a true and far from counterfeited Piety that glitter'd in her and shin'd forth in the early Dawn of her Infancy For when in her tender Years she had lost an excellent Mother and under the Tuition of Persons less concern'd was deliciously bred up in a Court full of all manner of Pleasure and Voluptuousness such was always her Constancy such her Temperance and Modesty that no Example of others no Allurement of Vice no Contagion of Neighbouring-Courts could force her to go astray from the right Path. She was instructed in the Fundamentals of the true Reform'd Religion by the Bishop of London which he so happily laid and she so cordially imbib'd that she could never be shaken by any treacherous Insinuations any Promises or Threats any Punishments or Rewards choosing rather to die than never so little to recede from the Truth wherein she had been grounded After she had spent the rest of her Childhood in those Studies by which generous and illustrious Souls are rais'd to the Expectations of great Fortune and had abundantly furnish'd herself as well with Christian as with Royal Vertues in the Fifteenth Year of her Age she was auspiciously Married to William the Third of that Name Prince of Orange William marries Mary a Kinsman a Kinswoman and thus by a double Tye and a firmer Knot than hitherto the most Noble Families of all Europe are joyn'd together She for her Ancestors claims the Family of the Stuarts He the Nassavian Race She the Monarchs of Great Britain He the Governours of Germany and the Caesars themselves The Nuptial Solemnities being over the Royal Bride cross'd over out of England into these Parts together with her Husband and chose for her Seat and Residence the Hague the most pleasant and delightful place not only of Holland but almost of all Europe Where belov'd of all Men and fix'd in the Good-will of all the People propensly devoted to her for the space of some Years she so charmingly and affectionately liv'd with her Husband the best of Men and no less cordially affectionate to her not only without the least Contention or Quarrel but without the least suspicion of Lukewarmness that she might well be said to be a conspicuous Example of Conjugal Affection not only to Kings and Princes and Men in high Degree but also to private Persons After some Interval of Time when they who bare ill will to our Princes and us to Liberty and Religion and more especially to this Republick stirr'd up new Troubles in England and the Nobility of the Kingdom call'd to their Aid our Prince While he strove one way and the Winds drove another at length wafted over with favourable Gales and Wishes safely arriv'd in England and without Resistance but rather with the general Applause of the Nation and as it were born upon the Shoulders of the People came to the Royal City When afterwards he invited his dearest Consort then the Companion of his Bed now of his Kingdom to partake of the Honour offer'd him and the Dignity soon after to be conferr'd upon him and the equal share of his Fortune in the Eighty ninth Year of this Age luckily and auspiciously both Husband and Wife were declar'd King and Queen with equal Power and Authority by the common Vote and Suffrage and unanimous Consent of both Houses In the Morning she rose with the Sun and worship'd the Lord of Heaven and Earth But when she was sometimes forc'd to rise at Midnight by reason of the urgent Affairs of the State and could not afterwards sleep she commanded either the Holy Scripture or some other pious Book to be brought her If any Persons came to visit her in a Morning before she had pour'd forth her Prayers she sent them back with this Expression That she was first to serve the King of Kings If any persons were said to seek her life by Treachery and Conspiracy her Answer was That she submitted to the Will of Heaven Francius 's Oration upon the Death of the Queen 2. Such was the Sanctity of Mary's Life that King William after her Decease calling to mind her Piety towards God the Integrity of her Life and her Extraordinary Knowledge of Sacred Things brake forth into this expression That if he could believe that ever any mortal Man could be born without the contamination of Sin he would believe it of the Queen And she preserv'd herself so chast and spotless that while she resided upon Earth she liv'd the Life of the Saints even in the Hurry of the Court where there are so many Incitements to evil Grevius 's Oration on the Death of the Queen 3. We had very admirable Accounts of the late Queen from her Court at the Hague during her Abode there from most unquestionable Testimonies which made us envy our Neighbours Happiness in such a Princess who knew their Happiness as 't was impossible they should not and had an extraordinary Value and Veneration for her And since her Return to her Native Country and her Advancement to the Throne here we never knew a more eminent Exception than she was to that common Observation Minuit praesentia Famam The Fame
well imbib'd the Principles of the true Religion in her Infant Years that by means thereof she attain'd to the profounder Knowledge of it by degrees and made out her way to Eternal Salvation Therefore she consented to that Expedition neither willingly nor gladly but after a long Hesitation and vanquish'd at length by the most weighty Reasons of Duty and Piety while she apparently saw that had she not taken upon her to support whatever is valuable among Publick Enjoyments and which no good Man will loose but his Life all things would have gone to Rack and Ruine in her Country through the Ill-management of a Father led away by the Councels of his Priests Ibid. 53. A quick and ready Wit and fit for Government was admir'd in her by a great Number of Illustrious Ambassadors from Foreign Nations to whom she always answer'd without any Hesitation wisely and gravely concerning Affairs of greatest moment Nor will Albeville himself if I am not mistaken deny this to be true by whom when her Father after Fame had spread abroad the Report of her Mother-in-Laws being with Child would needs have perswaded his Daughter that he had not intention to disturb the legal Order of Succession in England nor to abolish the receiv'd Ceremonies of the English Church but that it should be of equal prevalency with the Roman Catholick Worship both as to Publick Exercise and equal share of Authority she is said to have return'd this Answer That she thank'd her Father for designing nothing of Innovation in the settled Succession of the Kingdom tho' she were well assur'd that by the Laws of the Land nothing of Novelty could be introduc'd in that Affair In Matters of Religion she abhorr'd all Violence and Persecution yet 't was her Opinion That Dagon and the Ark would not agree so equally and lovingly together in the same place tho' she would not then determine which Party was Dagon or which the Ark. Ibid. 54. In the General Consternation in the Y ar Ninety as if she had nothing of Female but Form prudently and in a short time got clear of all Dangers being in many places at once present with her Body every-where with her Mind She view'd the Camps and muster'd the Soldiers like another British Boadicia Those that were suspected even her own and nearest Relations she sent to the Tower For she acknowledg'd no Relation that was an Enemy to the Publick Welfare The Sea-Captains who had fail'd in their Duty and deserted our Men struggling with Multitude and Adverse Fortune she sent for up to answer for their Misdemeanours the Sea-men maim'd and wounded in the Engagement she bountifully reliev'd and no less liberal to the Widows of the Slain she sent some Thousands of Pounds into this Land to be distributed among the Relicts of those that were kill'd She confirm'd the Minds of the English and encourag'd 'em by her own Example She fortifi'd the Ports and Entrances into the Kingdom she reinforc'd the Fleet wiht Men of War Lastly She provided against all ill Accidents with a Heroic Providence so that the Enemy neither durst pursue his Victory nor attempt to Land Ibid. 55. For the most part therefore she rose betimes in the Morning and before all things dedicate her first Exercises to God then she applied herself to the Reading of such Books by which our Minds are either excited to Piety or adorn'd and enrich'd with the Precepts of Wisdom Then she dispatch'd such Business as offer'd itself and courteously thô a trouble to her admitted the Visits of such as in Duty came to wait on her and those Ceremonies being over she heard the Petitions and Requests of all that came after which she exercis'd her Body by walking in the Garden at what time she convers'd with such Bishops or Divines as were most eminent for Piety and Learning and greedily fed her Ears with their Discourses In the Afternoon she delighted herself in the Company and Converse of her Husband if his more important Occasions or the Wars would permit her the Opportunity of his Presence Sometimes she visited Ladies of highest Quality or else repaid 'em their Civilities nor would she disdain at other times with the same Royal Hands that but now wielded the Scepter to work with her Needle At what time also that she might not leave the least Minute unimprov'd she ordered the History of some Nation or other to be read to her And this not only when she was so empoly'd but when she supp'd privately in her Bed-Chamber or when she could not sleep in the Night-time as I was told by a most Noble Lady that attended upon the Queen for Nine Years together and was acquainted with her whole Course of her Life and when she was in Waiting had frequently herself read to her Ibid. 56. King James the Father of Mary when he came to the Crown employ'd all his Cares and Thoughts and made it his Business to Repeal several Acts which his Ancestors had made for the Support of the Reform'd Religion more especially to abolish the Law which enacted the taking of the Test which abjur'd all Power and Authority which the Pope or any other Mortal claim'd or could claim either in Civil or Ecclesiastical Matters within the Kingdom Mary openly declar'd That she could not approve his Conduct nor assent to those who urg'd that the English might be absolv'd from the sanctity and observance of that Oath nor that any one for the future was to be forc'd to it The King inform'd of this order'd his Envoy then at the Hague to make it out to Mary and perswade her that she had a wrong Opinion induc'd thereto by false Reasons and Grounds of her Father's Intentions and Meaning in that particular The Envoy taking a fit Opportunity held the Queen in a long Discourse upon this Subject bringing not a few nor those vulgar Arguments out of Scripture many Testimonies out of the most Ancient and most Learned Fathers of the Church and more than one Reason from the Knowledge of Things which Nature has imprinted in our Minds When the Queen had attentively heard him she did not answer him with a Laconism she so readily and so smartly of a sudden took to pieces the Envoy's Discourse and his Arguments refured all his Reasons with so much Judgment that when the Envoy was dismissed by the Queen he could not forbear testifying and acknowledging in the publick Hall of the Court before a great many Persons of high Quality and Dignity that he could never have believ'd there had been a Woman in the World endued with so much Understanding of the Christian Doctrine and of the Opinions urged to her upon the several Heads of that Doctrine or that could defend what she thought with so much strength and weight of Reason and fortifie it with so strong a Guard against all Assaults of open Hostility or treacherous Insinuation He added moreover That he was perswaded that this Princess could be mov'd by no
a Child well shap'd and as long as a Man's Finger voided by the Mouth and conceived in the Stomach of a young Woman an abominable Taylors Wife Sometimes the Testicles are Treble sometimes the Pains double c. CHAP. XI Of Pigmies PIgmies are a kind of Dwarfs but by Report of Authors there is a whole Nation and Race of them and why Mankind may not be shriveled through the Propriety of the Climate into a Degenerous and Small Dwarfish Stature as well as Horses Kine Trees c. It will not be very casie to assign a Reason That there is such a Nation as Pigmies Authors ancient and modern affirm as Philostratus out of Apollonius Homer Aristotle Sir John Mandevile in his Travels cap. 64. Jovius in Muscovitâ legatione Olaus de Gent. Septent lib. 2. The Portugals have discovered many Dwarfs in Tartary Neiremb in Hist Nat. Odoricus de rebus Indicis says he found among the Indians Pigmies of three Palms high Delrio saith that Anno 1600 in Peruvio there was found a Province of Dwarfs Gemma Frisiu◠writes of a Boat of Pigmies that were seen being driven by a Tempest to the Kingdom of Norway Photius out of Cresias saith there are Negroes in the midst of India whom he calls Pigmies who are at the most but two Cubits high and most of them but one Cubit long few exceeding the Altitude of one Cubit and an half of which the King of that Countrey entertaineth 3000 for his Guard They are very Just and use the same Laws as the Indians do They Hunt Hares and Foxes not with Dogs but with Crows Kites Rooks and Eagles Jonston p. 226. CHAP. XII Of Dwarfs c. ALL Extremes are Wonderful but those of Littleness or Defect do oftentimes dispose to Contempt and Ridicule as if Nature had bestowed her Operations and Favours in too sparing and niggardly a manner yet even in this case the want of Stature is often supplied with a Compensation by inward Endowments which are quicken'd and made more intense by a kind of Antiperistasis like the Sun-beams contracted in a Burning-glass or which comes nearer to purpose like the Animal Faculties in a little Ant or Bee or Wasp or Spider 1. Julia the Neice of Augustus had a Dwarf called Canopas he was not above two Foot and an Hands breadth in height and she had a freed Maid of the same height Plin. l. 7. cap. 16. p. 165. 2. Marcus Varro reporteth that Marius Maximus and Marcus Tullius were both but two Cubits high and yet were both Gentlemen and Knights of Rome and Pliny testifies that he saw their Bodies embalmed Pliny l. 7. p. 165. 3. In the time of Theodosius there was seen in Egypt a Pigmey so small of body that he resembled a Partridge yet did he exercise all the Functions of a Man and could Sing Tuneably he lived to the Age of 25. Niceph. Hist Ecclesiast lib. 12. cap. 37. p. 379. 4. John de Estrix of Mechlen was brought to the Duke of Parma in Flanders Anno 1592. he was Aged 35 he had a long Beard and was no more then 3 Foot high he could not go up Stairs much less could he get up a Form but was always lift up by a Servant he was skilled in three Tongues Ingenious Industrious and play'd well at Tables Plater Obs. l. 3. p. 581. 5. There was a Dwarf at the Court of Wirtemberg at the Nuptials of the Duke of Bavaria the little Gentleman armed Cap-a-pee girt with a short Sword and with the like Spear in his Hand was put into a Pie that he might not be seen and the Pie set upon the Table at last raised the Lid and breaking loose thence he stepped out drew his Sword and after the manner of a Fencer Traversed his Ground upon the Table to the equal Wonder and Laughter of them that were present ibid. 6. Anno 1610. John Ducker an English-man who was about 45 years of Age had a long Beard and was only two Foot and a half high he was of streight and thick Limbs and well proportioned ibid. 582. 7. Augustus exhibited in his Plays one Lucius a young Man he was not full two Foot high he weighed but 17 Pounds yet had he a great and strong Voice Sucton p. 81. in Augusto 8. In the time of Jamblicus lived Alipius of Alexandria a most excellent Logician and a famous Philosopher but of so small and little a body that he little exceeded the Stature of those Pigmeys who are said to be but a Cubit high such as beheld him thought he was scarce any thing but Spirit and Soul so little grew that part of him that was syable to Corruption that it seemed to be consumed into a kind of Divine Nature Zuing. Vol. 2. p. 278. 9. Caracus was a Man of exceeding small Stature yet was he the Wisest Counsellor that was about Saladine that great Conqueror of the East ibid. 10. Anno 1306. Vladislaus Cubitalis that Pigmey King of Poland Reigned and Fought more Battels and obtained more glorious Victories therein then any of his long-shank'd Predecessors Vertue refuseth no Stature but commonly vast Bodies and extraordinary Statures have sottish dull and leaden Spirits Burtons Melan. p. 2. sect 3. p. 290. 11. Cardan says that he saw a Man in Italy not above a Cubit high carried about in a Parrots Cage And a Gentleman of good Reputation told Mr. Sandys that he saw a Man at Siena not exceeding the same Stature he was a French-man of the Countrey of Limosins with a formal Beard who was also shewn in a Cage for Money at the end whereof was a little hutch into which he retired and when the Assembly was full came forth and played on an Instrument Sand. in Ovid. Met. lib. 6. p. 114. 12. Philippa French born at Milcomb in Oxfordshire Aged 36 or 37 years of perfect Symmetry and Parts wanted half an Inch of a yard in height being then married c. Dr. Plot in his Nat. Hist of Oxfordsh p. 195. One of much the same Stature is to be seen by all Travellers that pass that way at the upper end of Guilford in Surrey 13. There was one Hans a Swiss brought over into England but a few years since Aged 38 but two Foot and 7 Inches high 14. A little Woman was here at Chichester in Sussex lately whom I saw my self not above two Cubits in height but her Legs were not very perfect CHAP. XIII Persons of a Wonderful Stature Giants WE are apt in the Ideas and Conceptions we frame to our selves of Natural Bodies to set and prescribe certain bounds to them beyond which they may not exceed not considering that there are many Reasons for which Nature may extend her Dimensions and stretch her Lines in the Structure or Augmentation of Bodies beyond the Reach of our common Apprehensions either in the first Seeds of Generation or the Food and Aliment they are Nourished with or the Climate and present Constitution of the Air or some
Towns were destroyed by an Inundation of the Sea which carryed several Ships above 9 Miles into the Countrey and great numbers of People and Cattle were drowned there being found when the Water fell at one place near the Sea side above 5000 People dead and every day more were found so that no account could be given of their number 31. In 1688. a Dreadful Earthquake happened at Naples in Italy which was attended with the Rage and Roaring of Mount Vesuvius On Saturday June 5 about the 22th hour happened there a Terrible Earthquake thó it lasted not long which frightned the Inhabitants out of their Houses with the Terror of inevitable destruction they betook themselves to the Piaza's and open Publick places of the City there is scarce a Pallace or a House that has not received some considerable damage the next day there was another shook which threw down many of the Houses In The Neighbourhood of Vdico a City 16 Miles distant from hence a Mountain opened and we have an account it was all Ruined and that of 6000 Inhabitants there are but few left alive and great damages in several other places 32. In the same Year and Month we have a Dreadful Account of an Earthquake and Fire at Smyrna in a Letter from an English Gentleman at Constantinople dated July 8 1688. On June 30 Between 11 and 12 at Noon there happened at Smyrna a violent Earthquake which in a Minute threw down many and shattered all the Houses in the City it reached all the Adjacent parts and Metelone and Scio where it did but small hurt about 4 hours after a dreadful Fire broke out and consumed all the Town except the Skirts and the Houses on the side of the Hill the most moderate computation of People destroyed is 5000. 33. In December following several Earthquakes happened about Naples and Beneventum but without such infortunate Accidents which attended them some Months before nevertheless that accident being fresh in memory it is not to be imagined what a Consternation the People were in and how they fell to their Prayers in several Churches the Monks in those quarters made use of the opportunity to Preach that the end of the World was at hand and for that Reason endeavoured to give Alms but the People are not now to be imposed upon as formerly when they used such ways to rear such costly Foundations that are scattered over all Europe they resolved to keep what they had not finding the Monks to make better use of their Money then they themselves could do May not these dreadful shakings of the Earth seem plainly to presage those Convulsions that happened soon after and presignifie good as well as bad events not only the happy Revolutions in these three Kingdoms but also the horrid Ruins Devastations and Miseries which the Ambition and Barbarity of the French King has occasioned lately in Christendom and which do still continue 34. Dismal was the Calamity and Judgment which befel the Inhabitants of the Island of Jamaica in the West-Indies upon Tuesday June the 7th 1692 by a dreadful Earthquake about 11 a Clock in the Morning the Earth suffered a great Trepidation which in a Minutes time was such that several Houses began to tumble down and in 6 or 7 Minutes or a quarter of an hour at most made terrible Havock and Devastation it threw down almost all the Houses and Mountains and threw them into the Sea but Port-Royal had much the greatest share in this astonishing Judgment of God the Minister of that place relates that the same Morning he had been at Prayers in the Church which he never neglected to keep up some shew of Religion amongst a most ungodly and debauch'd People and was gone to a place near to the Church where the President of the Council was designing to Dine with one Captain Buden but his House upon the first Concussion sunk first into the Earth and then into the Sea with his Wife and Family and others that were to Dine with him the Minister staying some time with the President escaped the Danger Yet soon after they found the Ground rowling and moving under their Feet Sir says the Minister what 's this He replied very composedly It is an Earthquake be not afraid it will soon be over but it increased and they heard the Church and Tower fall upon which they ran to save themselves the Minister makes towards Morgan's Port which being a wide open place might be thought securest from falling Houses but as he came near he saw the Earth open and swallow up a Multitude of People and the Sea mounting over the Fortifications he then laid aside all thoughts of escaping resolving to make towards his own Lodgings where he found all all things safe he went to the Balcony to view the Street in which his House stood and saw never an House down there not the Ground so much as crackt the People desired him to come down and Pray with them he perswaded them to kneel down and make a large Ring which they did Pray'd with them near an Hour and after seriously exhorted them to Repentance the Earth working all the while with New Motions and trembled like the Rowling of the Sea insomuch that when he was at Prayer he could hardly keep himself when he came to the Sea he saw it had swallowed up the Wharf with all those goodly brick Houses upon it and two intire Streets beyond that he walked upon the Tops of some Houses which lay Level with the Surface of the Water from whence he got into a Canoo and then into a Long-boat which put him aboard a Ship called the Siam Merchant where he found the President safe They could not Sleep that Night for the return of the Earthquake almost every hour which made all the Guns in the Ship jar and rattle The shaking of the Earth still continued with Thunder and Lightning stormy and foul Weather The morning of this day was very fair and clear affording no suspicion of the least evil but in the space of 3 minutes about half an hour after 11 in the morning Port Royal the fairest Town of all the English Plantations was staken and shattered to pieces and sunk into and covered by the Sea as to the greatest part It is reckoned there were lost 1500 Persons From St. Anns there was News That above 1000 Acres of Wood-Land were turn'd into the Sea and carried with it whole Plantations but no place suffered like Port-Royal where whole Streets were swallowed up by the opening of the Earth and the Houses and Inhabitants went down together Some of them were driven up again by the Sea which arose in those Breaches and wonderfully escaped Some were swallowed up to the Neck and then the Earth shut on them and squeezed them to Death and in that manner several were left Buried with their Heads above-ground only some Heads the Dogs had eaten Great noises and bellowings were heard some time after in