the Pope he Alighted from his Horse to receive him and held the Popes Stirrup while he Alighted also but it seems he mistook the Left Stirrup instead of the Right at which the Pope seemed to be very much offended which the Emperour observing he smilingly told the Pope That he desired to be excused since he was not accustomed to hold Stirrups with which acknowledgment the Pope seemed to be satisfied After this there happened some difference between the Pope and the Emperour whereupon the Pope curseth him and sends his Letters out against him to all the Princes of Christendom declaring that he was an accursed person and ought to be avoided and cast out of all Christian company He likewise stirred up his Subjects in Rebellion against him The Emperour then marched to Rome to chastise his pride but the Pope fled to Venice and the Venetians being required to send him to Frederick refused it whereupon the Emperour sent his Son Otho against him with men and Ships very well furnished but withal charged him by no means to attempt any thing against the Venetians till he himself came But the young man being full of heat and desire of glory ventured to ingage the Enemy and was by them overthrown and himself taken prisoner Upon this misfortune the compassionate Father to release his Son from captivity and misery was forced to submit to whatever Conditions of Peace the Pope should demand whereby it was at last agreed that the Emperour should come into S. Marks Church at Venice and there kneeling down at the Popes feet he should receive Absolution and forgiveness This the Emperour performed and the proud Pope setting his foot upon the Emperours Neck said that verse in the Psalm Thou shalt tread upon Lyons and Adders the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou trample under foot which the Pope applied to the Emperour but the Emperour answered Not to thee but to Peter this power is given The Pope replied Both to me and to Peter The Emperour fearing further quarrels durst say no more but was absolved and his Son was restored to his liberty III. Not long after this that is in the time of that famous King Henry the Second one Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury was by his extraordinary pride and insolence the occasion of very great disturbance to the King and Kingdome for the King calling his Nobles and the Clergy together desired that some Clergy-men might be called to answer for some Villanies by them committed for it was proved that several persons had been murdered by their means This Thomas Becket would not consent unto without a Clause of seeing this Order which very much displeased the King but by the perswasion of his Brethren Becket afterward consented yet being incouraged by the Pope he again fell off and repented of what he had done which the more inraged the King against him This quarrel continued many years and the King was so tormented by this proud Prelate that he once passionately cryed out Will no body avenge me of this Becket These words were spoken in the Hearing of some Gentlemen who thereupon guessing at the Kings mind four of them presently went to Canterbury and finding the Archbishop in the Cathedral there they fell upon him and kill'd him upon the Stairs of the Altar every one striking him over the head with his Sword and then made their escape This Murder was charged upon the King by the Popes Legate and though the King swore that he was neither aiding nor consenting to his death yet he was forced to kiss the Legates Knee and submit to such Penance as he should appoint him one part whereof was that he should absolutely submit to the Pope in all spiritual matters And it is likewise recorded that King Henry coming out of France went to Canterbury and as soon as he was in fight of Thomas Beckets Church he got off his Horse and pulling off his Shoes and Stockins he went barefoot o Beckets Tomb the ways being so sharp and stony that his feet bled as he passed along and when he came there every Monk in the Cloister whipt the Kings Back with a Rod which shews saith the Historian what slavery Kings and Princes were at that time brought into by the Popes Clergy The same year the City of Canterbury was almost burnt down and Beckets Church was utterly consumed This Becket was afterward Canonized for a Saint but a Popish Historian saith of him That he was worthy death and damnation for being so obstinate against Gods Minister his King IV. King John the Son of Henry the Second was likewise made sensible of the danger of offending the Pope for in the year 1205. the King being incensed against the Clergy who possessed great Benefices and yet neglected their Charge he endeavoured to rectifie this and some other great miscarriages about Electing Bishops and several other things But the Pope fearing he would intrench upon his privileges and gain stirred Heaven and Earth against him Excommunicating and cursing him giving his Kingdome to the French King and stirring up his own Nobility and people against him so that the King being compassed about with Enemies on every side was forced to submit to the Pope promising to do whatever he should command him Nay the King took his Crown off his head and kneeling upon his knees in the midst of all his Lords and Barons he gave it to Pandulphus the Popes Legate saying Here I resign up the Crown of the Realm of England to the hands of Pope Innocent the Third and lay my self wholly at his mercy and appointment Pandulphus took the Crown from King John and kept it five days and the King giving then all his Kingdomes to the Pope to be held in Farm from him and his Heirs for evermore his Crown was restored again King John engaging to pay seven hundred Marks a year for England and three hundred for Ireland half of it at Easter and half at Michaelmas as Rent for the said Kingdomes This King John was afterward poysoned by a Monk which was judged such a Meritorious Act that the Murderer had a Mass appointed to be said for his Soul for ever after by his Fellow-Monks V. Pope Celestine the Third standing upon the Stairs of S. Peters Church in Rome he there received an Oath of Henry the Sixth Emperour of Germany and then had him into the Church and anointed him and sitting in his Pontifical Chair held the Crown of Gold between his feet and the Emperour bowing down his head to the Popes feet received the Crown the Empress likewise was Crowned in the same manner The Crown being thus put on the Pope immediately kickt it off the Emperour's Head with his foot to the ground declaring thereby that if he pleased he could depose him again Then the Cardinals took up the Crown and again put it on his Head VI. Nay to such a height did the Popes at last arrive that they governed all things Emperours
France and that the Signal for the General Massacre would be the ringing of the Bell in the Kings Pallace which would be about break of day and that the Murderers should have a white handkerchief tyed about their Arms and a white Cross in their hats and Candles to be lighted in every house At the time appointed the Bell rung and the Duke of Guise hasted to the Admirals Lodgings with his Cut-throats and knocking at the Door he that opened it was murdered the Admiral hearing the noise got out of his Bed and there being a Minister in the Room they both went to Prayers and the Admiral fervently commended his Soul to God and then said to those about him It is long since I disposed my self to dye save your selves if it be possible for you cannot save my life I commit my soul into the hands and mercy of God The Minister and the rest of his attendants got up to the top of the house and crept out of the Windows to save themselves yet most of them were slain in the next House Presently seven or eight men broke into the Admirals Lodgings and one of them set his Naked Sword to his Breast saying Art thou the Admiral To whom with a Christian Constancy he answered I am called so and withal said young man thou oughtest to consider my Age and the weak condition I am now in but do what thou wilt for thou canst not shorten my life but a very little But the Wretch blaspheming God thrust him through the Breast and afterward strook him on the head another shot him with a Pistol and a third wounded him in the Thigh so that he lay gasping for life the Duke of Guise was below and with a lowd voice cryed Have you done It was answered Yes the Duke replyed Our Chevalier which was the Kings Bastard Brother will not believe it unless he see it which being done his Face was all bloody which the Duke of Guise wiping said Now I know it is he and then kicked him on the Face with his Foot whom all the Murtherers of France feared so much when he was alive Then the Duke and his bloody Train went into the Streets crying Arm Arm we have had good success and a happy beginning Let us now proceed to the rest for it is the Kings Command which words he repeated often This is the Kings Commandment this is his Will this is his express pleasure therefore courage my Fellows Then the great Bell of the Pallace which was the bloody token of the General Alarm began to ring out alowd and presently a Report was spread That the Protestants had conspired against the King Queen and Court and were just going to Execute their Design After this the Admirals head was cut off and sent to the King and Queen Mother and being by them preserved with Spices it was sent to the Pope and the Cardinal of Lorrain at Rome as a very grateful present The Pope when he first heard the News of the Massacre appointed a day of Publick Thanksgiving to God where Te Deum was sung for joy in the Church of St. Lewes He likewise Published a Bull of Pardons and extraordinary Indulgence to such as should pray for the Heavenly assistance to the King and Kingdom of France for rooting out of Hereticks The Rascally Rabble cut off the Hands and Privy Members of the Admiral dragging his mangled body besmeared with blood and filth through the Streets three days together and then hanged it by the Feet upon the Gallows All the Attendants of the King of Navar and Prince of Conde which lay in the Kings Pallace were murdered and likewise all the Lords and Gentlemen about the Admiral 's Lodgings and among the rest his Son Teligny and then through all the City and Suburbs were the poor Protestants Massacred with all manner of Cruelties Nothing was then to be heard but the Terrible noise of Horses and Arms Guns and Pistols mingled with the doleful sad and woful Schreeches and miserable complaints of Men VVomen and Children Rich and Poor crying for mercy to these bloody Hell-hounds howling and lamenting at their miserable Condition to bet hus wretchedly murdered for they knew not what And all this intermixt with the groans of the dying and the merciless shouts of the Cruel Murtherers continually crying kill kill for the King commands it that it seemed as if Heaven and Earth had met together or as if the Heavens had rent with Thunder So that in that night and the Two next days there was slain in Paris above Ten Thousand Persons of both Sexes and all Ranks and Ages the bloody Papists not sparing the Children in the Cradle nor the Infants in their Mothers wombs insomuch that the Streets Market-place and Rivers were dyed with Blood and the Murtherers boasted that they had in a few days put an end to that Quarrel that neither Pen Paper decrees of Justice nor open VVar could accomplish in Twelve years This horrid Massacre was committed on St. Bartholomews day being the 24. of August 1571. which was the Sabbath day and is made famous for ever by the Effusion of so much precious Innocent blood as no Age nor time can parallel for there were at this time in Paris Threescore Thousand men with Pistols Poinards Swords Knives and such other Bloody Instruments who ran up and down swearing and blaspheming the Sacred Majesty of God cruelly massacring all they met so that the Streets were covered with mangled Bodies and the Gates and Doors defiled with blood the Lords and Gentlemen were Inhumanely murdered some in their Beds others on the top of their Houses and in all other places where they were found and such a multitude of dead Bodies were thrown into the River Se-Sin that the water was dyed Red with their Blood In the Hellish Assembly wherein this bloody Massacre was concluded on it was debated whether the King of Navar and Prince of Conde should not be destroyed with the rest the Duke of Guise pleaded for it but others were against it and argued how abominable it would be to destroy two young Princes of the Blood in the Flower of their Age and one of them in the imbraces of his young Bride and the Kings own Sister and therefore it was concluded That they should be threatned violently with death and all manner of Torments if they would not turn Papists And thereupon the King commanded them to be brought into his presence and told them That now he had cut off all the Instruments of the late Civil Wars which he hoped would prevent future troubles for by his Command the Admiral was slain and all the rest of the Hereticks and that the like should be Executed in all other places throughout the Kingdom and that if they would now save their Lives they must turn Catholicks for he was resolved to have but one Religion in his Kingdom The King of Navar and the Prince of Conde humbly beseeched his Majesty
and Disport but being resolved in the midst and heat of the Battel to live and dye amongst you all to lay down for my God and for my Kingdom and for my People my Honour and my Blood even in the dust I know I have the Body but of a weak and feeble Woman yet I have the Heart and Courage of a King and of a King of England too and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain or any Prince of Europe should dare to invade the Borders of my Kingdom to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me I my self will take up Arms I my self will be your General Judg and Rewarder of every one of your Virtues in the Field I know that already for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and Crowns and we do assure you in the Word of a Prince they shall be duly paid you In the mean time my Lievtenant General Leicester shall be in my stead than whom never Prince commanded a more Noble or worthy Subject not doubting but by your obedience to your General by your concord in the Camp and Valour in the Field we shall shortly obtain a Famous Victory over these Enemies of my God of my Kingdom and of my People A Prayer for the Morning BLessed and Glorious Lord God thy Mercies are Infinite and thy long suff ring and patience is exc eding great else had not I poor wretched miserable sinner been spared so long considering my manifold provocations a-against thee Blessed be thy Name that thou hast been graciously pleased to preserve me the night past and that thou hast once more vouchsafed me the Light of the morning O Lord preserve me this day and keep me in all my ways give unto me the repose of a quiet Conscience and the clear Light of the Gospel Turn mine eyes away from Vanity and strengthen me in thy ways Protect and defend our Soveraign Lord the King Bind up his soul in the bundle of Life and let no weapon form'd against him prosper Preserve thy Church and the True Protestant Religion and discover more and more the snares of death and Popish Treachery and let us never fall into the hands of those men whose mercyes are cruel Bless my Relations kindred and friends and all others whom I am bound to pray for All which I humbly beg in the Name and through the Mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son our Saviour Amen A Prayer for the Evening MOst Gracious God and merciful Father I wretched sinner do beseech thee to look upon me with the eyes of thy mercy and let thy Holy Spirit work in me such a serious Repentance as that I may with Tears lament my sins past with grief of heart be humbled for my sins present and with all my endeavours resist them for the time to come And now O Lord I bless thee for my health food and raiment and that thou hast defended me this day now past from all dangers and Perils and as thou hast ordained the day for man to Travel in and the night for him to take his rest so I beseech thee sanctify unto me this Nights rest that being refreshed with moderate sleep I may be the better enabled to serve thee and 〈…〉 in the profession of thy True Religion and 〈…〉 Gracious Soveraign preserve him as the Apple 〈…〉 hide him under the sha low of thy wings 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 with shame and let them never prevail against him Protect thy Church and these Kingdom from Popery Superstition and Idolatry and unite our hearts in the profession of the True Religon which thine own right hand hath planted amongst us Bless the whole People of this Land and be merciful to all our Kinsfolks Families and Neighbours These and all other blessings we beg of thee for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose blessed Name and words we further pray Our Father c. Grace before meat LOrd lift up our hearts to look unto thee for a blessing upon our meats that we may comfortably use thy Creatures as pledges of thy Favour through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen After meat AS thou hast filled our Bodies O Lord with thy good Creatures far above our desert so be pleased to endue our Souls with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Before meat MOst gracious God and Loving Father we humbly beseech thee to forgive us all our Sins and Bless thy good Creatures provided for us and give us Grace to receive them as from thine hand and to use them soberly as in thy sight to thy Glory and our Comfort through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen After meat ETernal Thanks and Praise be ascribed unto thee O Blessed Lord who hast opened thy hand at this time and made us partakers of thy Benefits Lord let us never cease to Offer unto thee the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen FINIS
The Protestant School-Master CONTAINING Plain and Easie Directions for spelling and Reading English with all necessary Rules for the True Reading of the English Tongue TOGETHER WITH A Brief and True Account of the Bloody Persecutions Massacres Plots Treasons and most inhumane Tortures committed by the Papists upon Protestants for near six hundred years past to this very time in all Countries where they have usurped Authority to exercise their Cruelties That is The Persecutions of the Protestants in Piedmont Bohemia Germany Poland Lithuania France Italy Spain Portugal The Low Countries Scotland Ireland and England With a Description of the Variety of their Tortures curiously Engraven upon Copper Plates And several other useful Particulars By Edw. Clark B. D. LONDON Printed by T. B. And are to be sold by John How at the Rose and Crown in Sweetings Alley near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1680. The Protestant School-Master CONTAINING Plain and Easie Directions for spelling and Reading English with all necessary Rules for the True Reading of the English Tongue TOGETHER WITH A Brief and True Account of the Bloody Persecutions Massacres Plots Treasons and most inhumane Tortures committed by the Papists upon Protestants for near 600 Years past to this very time in all Countries where they have usurped Authority to exercise their Cruelties That is The Persecutions of the Protestants in Piedmont Bohemia Germany Poland Lithuania France Italy Spain Portugal The Low Countries Scotland Ireland and England With a Description of the Variety of their Tortures curiously Engraven upon Copper Plates And several other useful Particulars By Edw. Clark B. D. LONDON Printed by T. B. And are to be sold by Enoch Prossor at the Rose and Crown in Sweetings Alley near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1680. TO THE Protestant Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of ENGLAND SINCE we may Daily observe That the Romish Foxes both Jesuits Priests and Layity do lay out the utmost of their strength and Policy to introduce their cursed Principles and Practices into this Kingdom it concerns every Man to be upon his Guard and to endeavour as much as possible to secure and forewarn all Protestants of the danger of the return of that medly of Non-sence Blasphemy and Slavery And young Persons especially ought to be truly informed thereof since the design of these Sons of Belial is to debauch the Youth of this Nation and therefore upon all occasions you shall hear them vilifying all Religion and abusing the Holy Scriptures there being none fitter to be Roman Catholicks as they non-sensically call themselves than Atheists because they find little or no difference between the Popish Religion if it deserves that Name and none at all since Treasons Rebellions Murders Rapes Burnings and all manner of the most Horrid Cruelties Hell it self can invent are so far from being Crimes or Sins that they are many times counted meritorious and a Man shall deserve Heaven for committing them according to the Doctrine of that Church there being no sin unpardonable but that which they falsly call Heresie or the true Worship of God according to the Scriptures and for this it is that they would have murdered our Gracious Sovereign turned our Land into Blood Slaughter and Confusion For this they would have overthrown our Religion enslaved our Consciences or else have burnt our Bodies to Ashes as they did our Ancestors It is difficult to give a draught of this bloody Beast of Rome it would be a horrid sight to draw him in his full proportion yet take a short view of him so as to tremble at the thoughts of what others have suffered and what he yet hopes to inflict upon us if Divine Providence prevent him not though no doubt but the Almighty will save and deliver us out of his Hands His Eyes are Flames that have consumed the Bodies of many Thousand Martyrs His Mouth is like Hell gaping for his Prey Blood gushes out of his Jaws like Rivers his bloody Tuskes are the Racks and tormenting Engines wherewith he grinds the Bones of Gods Saints His Tail is Armed with the stings of Scorpions wherewith he lashes Kings and Kingdoms from his Throat he belches forth Curses and Excommunications and denounces Judgments and Death upon all that oppose him It is this Monster of Persecution and Cruelty that the Slaves of Rome endeavour to advance in all places where they have Power and Authority and by this you may Judge of their Principles and Religion by these evil Fruits you may Judge of the Tree and what Spirit they are of their hopes are very great and their confidence mighty but we trust Heaven will blast their designs and overthrow their Machinations and yet save his People So that we may have cause to bless the Lord of Heaven and Earth and to praise him in the Congregation Let us therefore have no disagreement among Protestants but let us as one Man by all justifiable and lawful methods in our several Places and Stations oppose this armed Beast of Persecution And let us instruct our Youth both in their Principles and Practices that so they may avoid and fly from them as from that which will certainly ruine Soul Body and Estate for ever This is the design of this little Book which will give a brief Account of the Mischiefs and Villanies committed by that Man of sin upon the Servants of God ever since he appeared in the World the like of which were never acted by Heathens Turks or Infidels and since they make so ill use of Pictures upon many accounts I have endeavoured to draw in Picture some short strokes of the variety of their Tortures practised upon Protestants a Volume not being able to contain the whole of their Horrid Massacres and Inhumane torments Here are likewise Rules for teaching young people to read English so that this may serve instead of any other Book of this kind and youth may at the same time reap both profit and Delight and thereby learn in time to read their Bible that Great Enemy to the Popish Church and which they formerly have and would again burn as well as our Bodies if it were in their power Therefore let us Conclude in the words of the Royal Psalmist Psalm 5. Destroy thou the wicked and mischievous Persecutors O God let them fall by their own Councils Cast them out in the multitude of their Transgressions for they have rebelled against thee but let all those who put their Trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for Joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name be Joyful in thee For thou O Lord wilt bless the Righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a Shield Amen So Prays he who is an hearty Well-wisher to the Protestant Religion Edw. Clark The Alphabet of several sorts of Letters Roman small Letters a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s s t u v w x y z Italick small Letters a b c
man miscarry if he will part with his Silver to save his Soul so that it is fitted for a most wicked and licentious life since men may sin at the highest rate and not endanger their souls for if they have money the Popes Pardon clears them from the greatest Villanies so that though they are never so guilty they can with their last breath solemnly call God to witness that they are as Innocent as the Child unborn Qu. Since the Popish Religion is such a compound of Humane Policy and framed to make men depend upon the Pope and be subject to his power though against their Sovereigns Interest we may wonder that so many Princes do with one consent joyn their power to support his Throne Ans This indeed seems to be a very strange infatuation and we can give no other reason for it but that it is the secret Judgment of God to give them thus up according to what was foretold in Rev. 17.17 For God hath put it into their heart to agree and give their power to the Beast until the words of God be fulfilled for else there is nothing more destructive to their Power and Interest than such a Spiritual Sovereign as the Pope pretends to be Qu. How doth it appear that the Popish Religion is so destructive to the power of Princes and the Interest of their Kingdomes Ans It is undeniably clear from their own Doctrines and Principles 1. They assert that the Pope may dethrone Kings and give their Kingdomes to others that he can absolve and free their Subjects from all Duty and Allegiance to them yea he can bind and loose their Consciences at his own pleasure 2. It is such a Religion as expresly frees and exempts all Ecclesiastical persons from the Laws of their Natural Prince so that they cannot be judged for the most horrid and notorious Crimes that can be committed by them 3. It makes the Princes and Rulers of the world to execute with a blind obedience whatsoever the Pope commands them not leaving them the liberty to judge whether it be right or wrong 4. It strikes at the very Foundation of all Religion and Piety which is the greatest security to Government and the strongest obligation to all Civil and Moral Duties for if a man commit the most horrid acts of wickedness such as Murther Adultery Incest Rape Sodomy c. yet an ordinary Priest by the Almighty power of the Pope can dispense with them all the price of them being rated and appointed which being paid the Priest can give full pardon and absolution for the same 5. It is a Religion that expresly teaches that a man is not bound to repent presently of the most heinous sin it being sufficient if it be done before the last moment of his life 6. It destroys truth righteousness and honesty among men since it allows and warrants Equivocation and Perjury both in Oaths and words and that a man may swear in such doubtful terms as may be directly contrary to the intent of him that gives the Oath whereby an Oath cannot be an end of Controversie Lastly it is a Religion which in its Principles is destructive to Humane Society for it triumphs delights and glories in those monstrous Prodigies of mischief Blood and Cruelty which we would think Humane Nature would tremble at and which seem rather to have been acted by Devils transformed into the shape of men than by any who have the least pretence to the name of Christians witness the Massacres of France and Ireland and the bloody Persecutions in the Netherlands Germany Spain Piedmont and most Countries in Europe Therefore from such a Religion and all the cursed effects thereof let us beseech Almighty God to deliver us and our Posterity for ever Amen PSALM 64. THou great Protector hear our cry Save from our dreadful Enemy O vindicate From their close hate Who for our Souls in ambush lye From their blind rage protect Who Truth and thee reject Who whet their tongues more sharp than Swords Their Arrows draw even bitter words To wound th' upright With fierce delight When time to their desire accords They on a sudden shoot Nor fear Divine pursuit Confirm'd in skilful malice they Conspire and Nets in secret lay And say what eye Can this discry First counsel take and then betray On mischief set their hearts Pursu'd by wicked Arts. But God shall let his Arrows fly Wound in the twinkling of an eye Each shall be stung By his own Tongue And with that fatal poyson die The Image Of Antichrist The Image of ANTICHRIST Or The Vsurpations of the Pope and Church of Rome over Kings Emperours c. ABOUT Five Hundred Years after the death of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ one Phocas who had Murdered his Master Mauritius Emperour of Constantinople and his Children first Advanced the Bishops of Rome to be Universal Bishops and Heads of the Church at which time they were endowed with these large Possessions and Donations which they call St. Peters Patrimony and which they falsly assert to be the Gift of Constantine the Great After this the Church of Rome growing Great Mighty Rich and Proud at once lost its Humility and Purity of Religion and assumed Politick and Tyrannical Principles which caused her Defiled hands to lay afide the Sword of the Spirit and to make use of the Temporal Sword which she used to the Deposing and Murthering of divers Kings Princes and Emperours I. For after they had once tasted the Sweetness of Wealth Ease and Prosperity the Popes began to swell in Pride and Pomp and the more they Flourished in this World the more the holy Spirit of God forsook them so that in a short time those Bishops who were Poor Mean indigent persecuted and wanting all things began to Triumph over Princes to tread upon the Necks of Emperours and to bring the heads of Kings under their Usurped Authority They were carryed upon Mens Shoulders in all manner of Magnificence as if the earth were not good enough to bear them they were honoured as Gods on earth and Sovereign Princes Dukes and Lords c. went Bare-headed before them And not only so but through their Pride and Ambition they grew so great Apostates from Christians that of being Persecuted they became Persecutors of others and at last were so Great enemies to God and Religion that the Pope may now be justly Reckoned and Accounted the Antichrist or Man of Sin so long before spoken of by St. Paul in Thessalonians 2.2 II. This pride and insolency of the Pope and his Clergy appeared in several Instances which might be given of it but out of the Multitude we shall only Collect some few to shew what Slavery and Bondage both Princes and people were formerly subject to under this Antichristian Yoke About the Year 1158. Frederick Emperour of Germany Marching into Italy the Pope hearing of it went with his Clergy to meet him As soon as the Emperour saw
were murdered without distinction of Age Sex or Quality neither Old Bed-rid nor the diseased in Hospitals being spared In Masion the bloody Papists apprehended an honest Godly Minister whom they carryed along the Streets with a Thousand Scoffs and Scorns and beating and abusing him and then they made Proclamation That whosoever would hear this Holy man Preach should come to the Slaughter House At which place they abused him two hours together He then desired that before his death they would permit him to pray to God upon which a Villain stept to him and cut off half his Nose and one of his ears saying Now pray as long as thou wilt and then we will send thee to all the Devils And then this holy man kneeling down prayed with such zeal and fervency of Spirit as drew sighs from some of the Murderers and afterwards speaking to him that had cut off his Nose he said Friend I am now ready to suffer what thou hast to inflict upon me but I intreat you and your Companions to consider seriously of the Mischiefs and Outrages committed by you against this poor City for there is a God in Heaven before whose Tribunal you must shortly give an Account of these your Cruelties Just then a Captain passing by cryed send that wretched man to the Devil which one of them hearing took him by the hand pretending to lead him to the River to wash off his blood but when he came thither he threw him into the water and then battered him with Stones till he was drowned In the year 1571. after the end of the third Civil VVar in France great means were used to draw the chief of the Protestants to Paris under the pretence of a Marriage that was between the King of Navar who was a Protestant and the Lady Margaret Sister to the French King but in the mean time several Protestants were murdered in the City of Roan as they came from a Sermon which seemed very much to displease the King and divers were Executed for the Mutiny then were the Articles of Marriage agreed upon at Paris the Admiral Coligni was invited to the VVedding and those that belonged to the Family of the Duke of Guise were forbid the Court which was very acceptable to the Protestants as judging it an assured pledg of the Kings fidelity since he declared much satisfaction in the Marriage saying That it was not so much for the Wedding as that it was a strong knot of Peace and would be for the good of the whole Nation The Admiral for his security was allowed to bring with him fifty Gentlemen armed and being come to Paris he was honourably received of the King who called him Father and protested that in his whole life he had not been better pleased as judging this day would end all his troubles and settle firm peace and quietness in his Kingdom Notwithstanding this the Admiral had several Intimations of some Treachery intended against him but though very wise yet he took little notice of it The Queen Mother likewise entertained him with great favour and the King sent him One Hundred Thousand Franks out of his Treasury for the loss which he had received in the VVars And the King to delude the People spake publickly That he did not give his Sister in Marriage to the King of Navar only but as it were to the whole Church of the Protestants to joyn with them in an indissoluble union and as a tye to their peace and safety The Seventeenth of August the King of Navar and the Lady Margaret were married with great Solemnity before the great Church of Paris on a Scaffold in the sight of all the People by the Cardinal of Bourbon the King of Navars Unkle and the VVedding was solemniz'd with Banquets Dancing and Masques with a strange mixture of Protestants and Papists together after which the Bride was led into the Church to hear Mass with great solemnity but the King of Navar her Bridegroom the Prince of Conde and other Protestant Noblemen walked without the Church door till her return as misliking their Religion and Ceremonies In the mean time the Queen Mother and her bloody Councellors together with the Duke of Anjou and Guise contrive the Murder of the Admiral and the dividing the Protestants The Admiral after the Marriage moved the King for his departure home but the continual complaints of the Protestants still detained him at Court and going some days after th ther in his return home while he was reading a Petition with divers Noblemen and Gentlemen about him He was shot by a Harquebuzie the Bullet taking off the fore-finger of his right-hand and hurting him in the left Arm he feeling himself shot said without alteration of Countenance It came through yonder Window what kind of Treachery is this The door of the House being broke open they understood that he which shot presently mounted upon a Spanish Jennet at a back door and made his escape leaving his Gun behind him and upon Examination it was found that the Harquebuz was brought to the house the day before by one Chally Steward of the Kings House and an acquaintance of the Duke of Guise The King having notice of this Villany seemed to be extreamely concerned causing all the Gates of Paris to be presently shut and swore to the Admirals Friends that those that had committed this horrid Fact should not escape the Queen Mother likewise seemed much discontented at it The King went to visit the Admiral assuring him of his love and care over him However the King of Navar Prince of Conde and other Protestants had private advice to depart speedily out of Paris and to look upon this but as the beginning of the Tragedy which was to follow but they trusting to the Kings word would not go The Dukes of Guise and Anjou imployed some to go to every house and bring them a Catalogue of all the Protestants and the King set a Guard of Fifty Harquebuzies at the Admirals Gate and abundance of Arms were sent into the Kings Pallace of the Louvre and in the Evening of the same day all the Papists were in Arms the Protestants observing all this many of then assembled at the admirals Lodgings where it was advised that the Admiral should be Immediately conveyed out of Paris and the rest should change their Lodgings but this was again refused they still relying upon the Kings word who promised them Justice In the Evening divers Protestant Gentlemen offered to watch with the Admiral but he refused it and the same night the Duke of Guise sent for the Captain of the Switzers and shewed him his Commission to kill the Admiral and the rest of the Protestants and exhorted him and his Souldiers to be couragious in shedding their blood At midnight the Provost Sheriffs and Captains of every Ward had the same Orders given them with assurance that the like should be Executed upon the Protestants through the whole Kingdom of
to Remember his Oaths Promises and solemn Vows and Protestations that they should have the free Exercise of their Religion and withal told the King That he might do as he pleased with their Bodies and Estates but their unspotted Souls were in the hands of God and that they were resolved to remain stedfast in their Religion though with the loss of their lives which answer so inraged the King that he called the Prince of Conde Rebel and the Son of a Rebellious Person horribly threathing him That if within three days he did not obey his Command he should dye for it and then with a furious Countenance left them with these three Terrible VVords Death Mass or the Bastile Many Gentlemen that were attendants upon them as likewise their School-Masters and Tutors were thrust out of the Chamber among the Murtherers that is among the Kings Guard of Switzers who stood in two Ranks with their Swords drawn ready for Blood and Cruelty These Gentlemen crying out of the Kings Oaths Promises and Fidelity were yet by the Kings Command and in his own Sight unmercifully hewen and cut in pieces In this Butcherly Massacre at Paris there were above four Thousand Houses robbed and plundred and above Five Hundred Barons Knights and Gentlemen who were chief Officers in the VVar with abundance of Noble young Gentlemen Ladies and Gentlewomen Inhumanely murthered who little expected such a bloody Fate for they came from all parts to rejoyce in honour of the marriage of the King of Navar and instead of Jollity and pleasures they here met with an untimely death from Bloody and Cowardly Papists who murther like Devils but dare not fight like men The King and his Confidents fearing that this Massacre would not end the Quarrel but rather stir up the Protestants in other places to stand upon their own defence He therefore sends Messengers by Poast to all parts of the Kingdom often shifting Horses for more speed with express Commands to the Governours of all other Towns and Cities in France to follow the Example of Paris and to destroy and kill all the Protestants which were amongst them and yet at the same time the King writes other Letters wherein he laid the fault of the murder of the Admiral and the rest upon the Duke of Guise As soon as this Command was published and that the Kings Letters came the Papists fell with all imaginable fury upon all the Protestants at Meaux Troys Orleans and other places murthering them without any matter of pity and Compassion And among the rest Mounsier De la Place President of the Court of Requests being in his house a Captain came to him and told him that the Duke of Guise had killed the Admiral by the Kings Appointment and many other Hugonots but however he was willing to secure him but desired to see his Gold The Lord De la Place observing his Impudence asked him whether he thought there were a King or no the Captain blaspheming bid him go to know the Kings pleasure The Lord De la Place thinking there was danger neer went from him to secure himself and the Captain thereupon plundred his House The poor Gentleman seeking shelter in three Houses for his life was denied and was at last forced to return home again where finding his wife very sorrowful he rebuked her and discourst with her of the Promises of God telling her That through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God and then calling his Family together he made an Exhortation to them went to prayer and then read a Chapter in Job with Calvins Exposition and then praying again he resolved by Gods assistance to suffer all Torments rather than to fly for it Presently after the Provost of the Merchants comes to his House with many Archers and an Order to bring him to the King and would not admit of any Excuse whereupon the Lord supposed what would happen and therefore embracing his Wife he desired her never to forsake the truth of God And so going toward the Palace some Murtherers waited for him and Immediately stab'd him with their Daggers so that he fell down dead and then stripping him cast his Body into the River After this there followed the like Cruelties and Murders upon the Protestants in the Cities of Lyons Tholouse Burdeux Angiers where the Protestants were most barbarously kild and destroyed as likewise in most other Cities and Towns so that in a few Months there were murdered above threescore Thousand Protestants in France for no other Crime but only for being Protestants Yet in the midst of these dangers it pleased God to provide some places of refuge for them as Rochel Montalbon Wismes Saucerre Privas c. whither many Protestants fled from other places In the year 1573 the Town of Saucerre was besieged by the Lord of Chastre who with his Canon played incessantly upon the place so that the Stones Pavements and Splinters of Timber flew about continually and yet it pleased God that only one young VVoman was slain thereby though sometimes the Coats Breeches and Hats of the Inhabitants were shot thorough The Siege being long there was great scarcity insomuch that the People were forced to eat Horses Asses and Mules which lasted a Month Afterwards they eat all the Dogs Cats Rats Mice and Moles that they could get and then they were forced to eat Parchments Horses and Beasts-Hoofs Horns Lanthorns Halters Girdles of Leather Herbs wild Roots and Furniture for Horses this being all spent and no bread in the City they made bread of Linseed Herbs mixt with Bran Straw-Meal Powder of Nut-shells yea Slates Sewet Old Ointments and other Grease served to make Pottage and therewith they likewise fryed the the Excrements of Horses and Men which they eat yea the very filth in the Streets was not spared During this Extremity a labourer and his wife were put to death for eating the Head Intrials and Brains of their own Child a Girl of three years old who died with Famine having likewise dressed the rest of her body to eat at other times Those that went out of the City VValls were forced to live upon the Spriggs of Vines Black-beries Snails and Herbs and many of them were killed by the Enemy And among other lamentable Spectacles a poor man and his Wife were found dead among the Vines and two of their Children crying by them the youngest being not above Six weeks old whom a Charitable Widow took home and relieved c. Many dyed of this terrible Famine in their Houses and others fell down dead in the Streets Most of the Children under Twelve years old dyed and most lamentable it was to see their poor Fathers and Mothers lamenting their misery and yet could not relieve them yet most of them did wonderfully encourage themselves in Gods help and assistance as may appear by this strange Example A Boy about five years old being famisht for Hunger running along the Streets fell down for dead
Nicholas Belerrian a Minister in Shrop-shire John Adams a Taylor and John Lacels a Gentleman belonging to King Henry the Eighth these beholding the Invincible Constancy and patience of Mistriss Askew were thereby much incouraged in their Sufferings About the same time Sir John Blage of the Kings Privy Chamber was falsly accused to have spoken against the Mass upon which he was condemned to be burnt in Smithfield whereupon the Earl of Bedford begged his pardon of the King who Commanded it to be drawn immediately After his release Sir George coming to the King Ah my Pig said he for so he usually called him Yea said Blage if your Majesty had not been better to me than your Bishops were your Pig had been roasted before this time Presently after Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and his Confederates set forth a Cruel Proclamation in the Kings Name for abolishing the Scriptures and all other English Books that discovered the truth to the people and having obtained this they very much rejoyced therein hoping that they had now for ever suppressed the Gospel so that it should never rise again and to strike the greater terror into mens minds they made a diligent search after the Professors of the Truth of whom they took the Names of some drove away others and hereby doubted not but to attain their ends But it pleased God that in the midst of these subtil Contrivances for the destruction of his Gospel and Servants to take away King Henry the Eighth within four Months after the Proclamation and thereby all their hopes and projects were utterly disappointed King Henry the Eighth being dead his only Son Prince Edward our English Josiah ascended the Throne under whom the Protestant Religion was established and Popery and Superstition abolished for he caused all Images to be demolished and as Idolatrous to be taken out of all Churches within his Dominions the Learned men of his time he encouraged and commanded them to open and expound the Scriptures he abolished the Mass and ordered the Service to be read in the English Tongue and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be administred in both kinds to the People But it pleased God in a short time to take him to himself for in the Seventh Year of his Reign and the seventeenth Year of his age he was taken with a lingring sickness during which time a Marriage was concluded between the Lord Guilford Dudley eldest Son to the Duke of Northumbereand and the Lady Jane the Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk whose mother being then alive was Daughter to Marry King Henry the Eighth's second Sister The Marriage being finisht and the King every day more sick than other so that he seemed past Recovery the Duke of Northumberland being ambitious to advance his Family perswaded the King that the Church and the True Religion would be in great danger if he did not chuse a pious Successor and that it was the part of a good Prince to set aside all other respects when the Glory of God and the good of his Subjects were concerned The King partly for his great desire to have the Protestant Religion confirmed and partly for the intire love which he bore to his Cousin the Lady Jane signed Letters Patents under the Broad Seal to appoint the Lady Jane to succeed him in the Kingdom although her Title were excluded by the Lady Mary who was alwaies a zealous Papist and the Lady Elizabeth This was afterwards confirmed by the Nobility and Chief Lawyers of the Kingdom and was subscribed to by all the Kings Council the Lord Maior and Aldermen of Lndon who upon the Death of King Edward which happened in a short time after proclaimed the Lady Jane Queen in London and Westminster The Lady Mary being in Hartford-shire and hearing of it presently sent to the Lords of the Council commanding and requiring them to Proclaim her Queen which if they refused to do she threatned to recover her Right by force of Arms. The Lords returned answer That the Lady Jane was invested and possessed of the Crown by just Right and Title both by the Ancient Laws of the Land and by Letters Patents signed and sealed by the late King before his death and therefore they declared they would adhere to her and to none other requesting the Lady Mary that she would not upon any pretence endeavour to disturb the peace of the Kingdom promising her that if she would carry her self as a dutifull Subject they would be ready to do her any service The Lady Mary having received this answer withdrew further from the City and the Council being sensible of her stout and unquiet disposition they raised an Army which was commanded by the Duke of Northumberland The Lady Mary went into Suffolk and Norfolk gathering such aid of the Commons as she could and kept her self in Framingham Castle to whom the Suffolk men first resorted who being alwayes forward in promoting the Gospel promised her their aid and assistance provided she would make no alteration of the Protestant Religion as it was established by her Brother King Edward To this she readily agreed and confirmed it with such Vows and Ptotestations that none could suspect her whereupon they joined with her and thus by the help of the Protestants she vanquished the Duke of Northumberland and his Army and was settled in the Kingdom but she soon forgot her promises for these very Suffolk men observing that Popery would be re-established they Petitioned to her to perform her word to them at which she was extreamly displeased and told them Forasmuch as you who are Members desire to rule your Head you shall one day find that Members must obey not se k to rule Yea one of the chief of these men Mr. Dob by name she caused for the Terror of others to be set in the Pillory several times and divers others that presented Supplications to her not to set up Popery she caused to be sent to prison Queen Mary being settled in the Kingdom the Lady Jane her Father the Duke of Northumberland and her Husband the Lord Guilford Dudley were soon after Beheaded and the Queen soon discovered her disaffection to the Protestant Religion by displacing all the Orthodox Bishops as Poinet Ridley Scorie Hooper Coverdale and by releasing out of the Tower Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester whom she made Lord Chancellor of England and Bonner who was made Bishop of London Then the Queen publisht a Proclamation that she was resolved to observe and maintain the Catholick Religion wherein she was bred up requiring all her Subjects quietly to embrace the same A while after this Bonner and Gardiner begun a cruel and bloody persecution upon the Protestants and made them fall in heaps For Mr. Hooper Mr. Rogers Mr. Taylor Mr. Bradford Mr. Saunders all famous men were condemned and burned for Heresie In the year 1555. Thomas Tomkins whose hand B. Bonner burnt in prison to try his constancy was afterward burnt in Smithfield
six hundred and thirty great Ordnance with Powder Bullets Match Muskets Pikes Spears Swords and all things proportionable with Knives Daggers Skeins Chains and Whips to Torment and cut the Throats of the poor English Protestants and with them came swarms of those Locusts called Capuchins Mendicants Jesuits and other Officers of the Sacred Order of the Inquisition as they prophanely call it And besides all this there lay in Flanders fifty thousand old Souldiers and two hundred eighty eight Vessels ready to transport them under the command of the Duke of Parma all the King of Spains best Souldiers even as far as America being drawn forth for this Holy War The whole of this Expedition having cost the Spaniard twelve Millions of Crowns before their setting forth the Pope likewise contributing a Million of Gold to so pious a design But the goodness and mercy of God at that time defended England from the gaping Jaws of destruction and discomfited this Mighty Armada and all its mighty preparations and sent them home full of shame loss and confusion so that of one hundred thirty four Ships that set sail out of Lisbon only thirty three returned the Spaniard losing in this Voyage Eighty one Ships and above thirteen thousand five hundred Souldiers and two thousand more taken Prisoners in England Ireland and the Low Countreys the rest of the Navy being lost and destroyed by the English the Dutch the Seas Rocks Sands and Tempests all seeming to conspire to the defeating of this proud and Insolent attempt But these sort of People will never take notice of Gods Judgments upon their wicked designs and Enterprizes and notwithstanding all this they shut their Eyes and will not see that God is against them for they no sooner recover breath but they send over new Commissions and more cursed Emissaries disguised in all shapes into England with new Plots Contrivances and designs Lopez and his Confederates Cullen York Williams Squire and Hesket all enter into a Conspiracy to kill the Queen being constantly encouraged by the Jesuits and the Spanish Ministers of State And these proving abortive in the year 1599. the Earl of Tyrone is stirred up to make a new Rebellion in Ireland having the same Pardons and Indulgences sent them as is usually given by the Popes to those that go to fight against the Turks And in the year 1601. the King of Spain sends a great Fleet of Soldiers to Kinsale in Ireland for the assistance of the Rebels But notwithstanding all these wicked and execrable designs this glorious and Heroick Queen of blessed memory having outlived four Kings and Eight Popes dyed in Peace and left her flourishing Kingdoms to her Successor King James And now the Papists being thus disappointed of their great hopes and expectations by the succession of a Protestant King to the Crown of England and thereby uniting into one Body Scotland England and Ireland one would have Imagined that all their contrivances would have been dasht since they could not well think that so long and well settled a Reformation in Church and State could very easily be broken and confounded yet still they give not over but encourage one another in their wickedness and the Pope sent over two Bulls to deprive King James of the Crown and sought to raise divisions and dissentions amongst us But God continuing to frustrate all their designs they now grew as it were desperate and entred upon the most barbarous and Hellish Plot and contrivance that ever was hatched in the Brains or Hearts of men which is that which we call the Gunpowder Treason and which we yearly commemorate upon the fifth of November they designing to act it on that day in the year 1605. This horrid design was contrived by divers Jesuits Priests and other English Papists who by undermining the Parliament-House and planting there Thirty six Barrels of Gunpowder intended by firing the same when both Houses were sitting to have blown up and destroyed not only the King as the Head of the Kingdom but with him his Queen the Prince and all the Royal Issue together with the Clergy Nobility and the chief of the Gentry of the whole Kingdom all should have perished together at one Blow and have become a Sacrifice to the enraged Lusts of these Bloody minded Papists A Plot and Villany that no Age can paralel no Country ever could produce the like and which was as miraculously prevented and detected as if it were by the immediate finger of God who discovered their treasonable practices even within their dark Vaults and Cellars when the very Train was laid and fire almost put to it and in this horrid Conspiracy Catesby Piercy Faux Digby Garnet Hall c. all Popish Priests were considerable Actors and Promoters and all sworn to secresie with Horrid Oaths and Imprecations taking the Holy Sacrament and engaging themselves one to another thereby and by their Faith in the Holy Trinity never to shrink from the Execution of this their Hellish Intention till they had performed the same They were likewise promised from abroad Ships and men and ten hundred thousand Crowns to carry on their work And though this horrid Conspiracy has been sufficiently discovered and made plain by the confession of some of the Conspirators who were executed and by writings under their own hands yet according to their usual Impudence which they learned of their predecessor Nero who when he had set Rome on Fire charged it upon the Christians the Papists intended to have laid that wicked Act upon the Puritans and since this they have endeavoured to make the world believe that it was a Contrivance of King James thereby endeavouring since they could not blow up the King with Gunpowder to blast his good Name and to make him odious to Posterity But three Kingdoms are not so easie to be deluded neither are we so horridly impious to mock God so solemnly with yearly Prayers and Thanksgivings neither need we think it so strange since Lyes and Impudence are the grand supporters of the Papal Kingdom without which such a medley of Nonsence and Foolery would be hooted out of the world And from that time to this very day the Papists have been and are the Grand Disturbers of these Nations and it is sufficiently manifested that they had no small hand in our late Troubles since which they have continually sought the ruin and destruction of all Protestants by all manner of cursed ways and methods imaginable In the year 1666. Sept. 2. about two a Clock in the morning there began a sad and lamentable Fire in a Bakers House in Pudding Lane near Fish-street-hill London which raged with extream Violence being accompanied with a strong North-east wind so that despising all means used for its extinguishing it spread far and near sometimes with and sometimes against the wind and so continued for the space of neer four days till it had burnt down thirteen thousand two hundred houses which stood upon three hundred thirty