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
fear'd an Hour 2. But let Confusion seize on those Who would destroy to Shame expose Be suddain in their overthrows 3. Let those with Infamy return Dejected and unpitied Mourn Who would thy Gospel overturn 4. Who love thy name with Joy Invest Let them in Shades of safety Feast And ever say The Lord be Blest 5. But we are poor and full of need Hast Lord deliver us with Speed Our strength our help from thee proceed Jeremiah Chap. 10. HEar the word of the Lord which speaketh to you O House of Israel Thus saith the Lord Learn not the way of the Heathen and be not dismayed at the Signs of Heaven for the Heathens are dismayed at them For the Customs of the people are vain for one Cutteth a Tree out of the Forest the work of the hands of the Workman with the Axe They deck it with Silver and with Gold they fasten it with Nails and with Hammers that it move not They are upright as the Palm Tree but speak not they must needs be born because they cannot go be not afraid of them for they cannot do evil neither also is it in them to do good For as much as there is none like to thee O Lord Thou art great and thy name is great in Might who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain for as much as among all the Wise Men of the Nations and in all the Kingdoms there is none like unto thee But they are altogether Brutish and Foolish the Stock is a Doctrine of Vanities Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish and Gold from Vphaz the work of the Workman and of the hands of the Founder Blew and Purple is their Cloathing they are all the work of Cunning Men. But the Lord is the True God he is the Living God and an Everlasting King at his Wrath the Earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his Indignation Jeremiah Chap. 10. Ver. 11. THus shall ye say un-to them The Gods that have not made the Hea-vens and the Earth even they shall pe-rish from the Earth and from un-der these Hea-vens He hath made the Earth by his Pow-er he hath E-sta-blish-ed the World by his Wise-dom and hath stretch-ed out the Hea-vens by his dis-cre-ti-on When he ut-te-reth his Voice there is a Mul-ti-tude of Wa-ters in the Hea-vens and he cau-seth the Va-pours to As-cend from the ends of the Earth he mak-eth Light-nings with Rain and bring-eth forth the Winds out of his Trea-sures E-ve-ry Man is Bru-tish in his Know-ledge e-ve-ry Found-er is Con-found-ed by the Gra-ven I-mage for his Mol-ten I-mage is fals-hood and there is no Breath in them They are Va-ni-ty and the Work of er-rors in the time of their Vi-si-ta-ti-on they shall Pe-rish Those helpless Gods Ador'd in popish Lands Are Gold and Silver wrought by Humane Hands Blind eyes have they Deaf Ears still silent Tongues They draw no Breath from their Unactive Lungs Who make them are like to them such are those Who in these Senseless Stocks their hopes Repose O praise the Lord you who from Israel Spring His praises O you Sons of Aaron Sing You of the house of Levi praise his Name All you who God Adore his praise proclaim From Sion praise God only Good and Great Who in Jerusalem hath fixt his Seat I. Kings 18.21 ANd E-li-jah came un-to all the Peo-ple and sayd How long halt ye be-tween two O-pi-ni-ons 2. If the Lord be God fol-low him but if Ba-al then fol-low him and the Peo-ple an-swer-ed him not a Word Then said E-li-jah un-to the Peo-ple I e-ven I on-ly re-main a Pro-phet of the Lord but Ba-al's Pro-phets are four Hun-dred and Fif-ty Men. Let them there-fore give us two Bul-locks and let them chuse one Bul-lock for them-selves and cut it in pie-ces and lay it on Wood and put no Fire un-der and call ye on the Name of your Gods and I will call on the Name of the Lord and the God that an-swe-reth by Fire let him be God and all the Peo-ple an-swer-ed and said It is well spo-ken And E-li-jah said un-to the Pro-phets of Ba-al Chuse you one Bul-lock for your selves and dress it first for ye are ma-ny and call up-on the Name of your Gods but put no Fire un-der And they took the Bul-lock which was gi-ven them and they dres-sed it and cal-led on the Name of Ba-al from Mor-ning un-til Noon say-ing O Ba-al hear us but there was no Voice nor any that answered and they leapt up-on the Al-tar which was made And it came to pass that at Noon E-li-jah Mock-ed them and said Cry a-loud for he is a God ei-ther he is talk-ing or he is per-su-ing or he is in ajour-ney or per-ad-ven-ture he sleep-eth and must be a-wa-ked And they cry-ed a-loud and cut them-selves af-ter their man-ner with Knives and Lan-ces till the Blood Gush-ed out up-on them And it came to pass when Mid-day was past and they Pro-phe-sy-ed un-till the time of the Of-fering of the E-ve-ning Sa-cri-fice that there was nei-ther Voice nor a-ny to an-swer nor a-ny that re-gard-ed 1 Kings 18.30 ANd Elijah said unto all the People come neer unto me and all the People came neer unto him and he repaired the Altar of the Lord that was broken down and Elijah took Twelve Stones according to the Number of the Sons of Jacob unto whom the Word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy Name And with the Stones he Built an Altar in the Name of the Lord and he made a Trench about the Altar as great as would contain two Measures of Seed and he put the Wood in order and cut the Bullock into Pieces and laid him on the Wood and said Fill four Barrels with Water and pour it on the burnt Sacrifice and the Wood. And he said do it the second time and they did it the second time and he said Do it the third time and they did it the third time And the Water ran round the Altar and he filled the Trench also with Water And it came to pass at the time of the Offering of the Evening Sacrifice that Elijah the Prophet came near and said Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy Servant and that I have done all these things at thy Word Hear me O Lord hear me that this People may know thou art the Lord God and that thou hast turned their heart back again Then the Fire of the Lord fell and Consumed the burnt Sacrifice and the Wood and the Stones and the Dust and licked up the Water that was in the Trench And when all the People saw it they fell on their Faces and they said The Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God And Elijah said unto them Take the Prophets of Ba-al let not one of them escape and they took them
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
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
greatest abhorrency and indignation for some of them were stoned to death others hanged upon a Beam and with a soft fire made under them were roasted to death others were cut piece-meal One Minister they laid on his back and ramming his mouth full of Gunpowder set fire to it and blew his head all to pieces Another they hanged up by the Privy Members being seventy years old and burnt his own Books under him and at last shot him to death after he had endured all manner of torment and pain In the year 1621. all the Ministers were banished out of the Kingdom of Bohemia and all the Provinces thereunto belonging never more to return and it was made death to harbour or conceal any of them About the same time twenty one Ministers were banished from Cuttenburg A Popish Captain caused a Ministers hand first to be stricken off and then his head his bowels to be taken out and wrapt in his shirt and his four quarters to be set upon four Stakes and his head on another At the same time likewise fifty of the Nobility were condemned some to death some to banishment and others to perpetual imprisonment twenty seven were executed who all died with great constancy of mind and fervency of spirit sealing the Protestant Cause with their blood the heads and right hands of some of them were hung upon the Tower of the Bridge but when the Valiant Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden came into Germany their heads and hands were by his Order taken down and solemnly buried Not long after there was an Edict published in Bohemia for the banishing of all Protestants in general and that their Children should be taken from them that they might be brought up in the Popish Religion Another Edict was published that all Protestant Women who had married Popish Husbands should be banished and removed away from them unless they would turn Papists and likewise that no Papists should have any Commerce with Protestants And upon this there followed a cruel Persecution so that there was scarce a City Town or Village in the whole Country but the poor Protestants suffered very great torments and barbarities In one City they slew the Mayor together with sixteen hundred men women and children and suffered their bodies to lye unburied several days in the dirt and mire and the remainders of the Citizens they cast into Prisons where they lay in a miserable condition Bibles and all manner of Religious Books were prohibited and likewise Marriages Burial and Baptism were denied to all that would not turn Papists Some Protestants were thrust into Dungeons and Vaults full of Snakes Toads and other filthy Vermin others were put into places full of Iron Spikes so that they could neither sit nor stand others were laid upon narrow Beams over deep waters that if they did but stir their bodies they were in danger to be drowned They put Gags into the mouths of some and then thrust their Host or Wafer Cake down their Throats others were beaten on the Calves of their Legs so that they could not stand nor go but were forced to fall down on their knees that they might adore their Host And thus briefly of the multitude of cruelties committed by the Papists on the Protestants in Bohemia the whole whereof would not be contained in a large Volume The next Theater where we may behold these bloody Papists acting their Tragedies is GERMANY which was miserably torn and rent to pieces by their cruelties they endeavouring by all manner of severity to have extinguished the light of the Gospel which was discovered by Martin Luther and others who were stirred up of God to expose the corruptions and superstitions of the Romish Church whereupon in the year 1523. the Pope excited the Emperour Charles the Fifth to destroy all the Protestants as Hereticks and allowed him two hundred thousand Crowns toward the raising of Souldiers to that purpose the Pope likewise further engaging to raise twelve thousand Foot and six hundred Horse at his own charge for carrying on the work and thus he began with the Sword that he might end with the Faggot The Duke of Saxony and the Lansgrave of Hessen stand up for the Protestants and are taken Prisoners in the year 1547. And where ever the Papists got the better all sorts of cruelties murders racks tortures fire and faggots followed upon the Protestants so that all Germany was as it were in a flame and combustion at once all places being in a lamentable condition some flying and others suffering death on every side for their Conscience and Religion At a Town called Meldorp they took a godly Minister named Sutphen out of his Bed and forced him to go miles on foot in Frost and Snow upon the Ice bare-footed and bare-legg'd beating cutting and flashing him and pricking him forward with their Halberts and at last they barbarously roasted him to death Many were drowned at Vienna and put to several sorts of death Ladies and Gentlewomen were yoakt together like Beasts and so were turned out into the Woods where they were ravished and abused and then had their Hair and Ears cut off and disfigured In Pomeren they forced the people to eat their own Excrements and if they refused them they thrust them down their Throats till they were choaked They cram'd the secret parts of several women with Gunpowder and so setting fire to it most barbarously tore their Bellies and Wombs Divers were hung up by the privy parts they plained the faces of others with Chisels others they caused to draw on Boots filled with scalding Oyl and so roasted their legs over the fire some men they gelt in the presence of their wives and children others had their bodies hung up by Cords and by tying great weights to their limbs all the joynts of their body were put out of joynt some had Gags put in their mouths and had stinking water and piss powred down their Throats through a Tunnel till their bellies swell'd like a Tun whereby they died in most cruel torment They sawed off the legs of some alive and one Minister they bound upon a Table and placing a great Cat upon his belly so provoked the Cat that she scratcht his guts out of his belly with her Teeth and Nails till he miserably died At Magdenbur they ravished the Wife and Daughter of a famous Minister before his face and then violently snatcht a sucking Infant from its Mothers breast and stuck it on the top of a Lance and when they had tormented his Eyes and Heart with these horrid Spectacles they brought the Minister into the Street and burnt him with his own Books Yea such was their abominable filthiness in Pomeren that they ravished the fairest Virgins before their Parents faces forcing them to sing Psalms the while one beautiful young woman they ravished and then cut to pieces hanging up her quarters in the Church Girls of ten years old and under they ravished and abused till they killed them
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
leave one Protestant Rogue living but would utterly destroy every one that had but a drop of English Blood in him yea they vowed they would not leave one English Beast alive nor any of their breed Alas who can comprehend the Sighs the Groans the trembling and Astonishment of these poor Innocent Souls to find themselves so suddenly surprized and that without Remedy What Shrieks Cryes and bitter Lamentations were there of Husbands Wives Children Servants and Friends howling and weeping finding themselves without all hope of deliverance from their present wofull Miseries and Calamities For by these and all manner of Cruelties and Barbarities which Hell it self could invent the Irish and English Papists murdered and destroyed in a few Months near Three Hundred Thousand Protestants as it is commonly computed without any manner of provocation but only because they were Protestants whose deaths the Divine Vengeance in a short time after recompensed upon several of the chief Murtherers many thousands perishing by the Sword and the Plague that followed it and the rest without doubt unless they heartily repent will receive the reward of their wickedness PSALM 54. LOrd for thy Promise sake defend And thy All-saving Shield extend O hear our Cries Which with wet eyes And sighs to thee ascend For Cruel men our lives pursue And who thy Statutes never knew Suppress our Foes O favour those Who to our Souls are True With Vengeance recompense their hate And in an instant ruinate Then will we bring Our Offering And thy great Acts relate Thy name for ever Praised be Who from those snares hast set us free For lo Our Eyes Our Enemies Desir'd Destruction see Spanish Invasion Martyrs burnt Burning of London Gunpouder Treason Sr. Godfry murderd Traytors Executed The Cruelties Plots and Treasons of the Papists against the Protestants in England with a brief account of the late Horrid Plot. AFter having briefly epitomized the bloody Cruelties and slaughters of this Monster of Rome and his Vassals throughout Europe let us now return home and see if our own Countrey has escaped better than our Neighbours Englishmen are generally accounted to be of a mercifull nature and pitifull disposition apt to be touched with the miseries of others and are not in their own natures bloody barbarous or Cruel what then may be the cause of those dreadfull marks of Rage and Fury that have been seen among us How has this Fair Island been made an Acheldama a Field of Skulls and Martyrs bones All this we shall find proceeds from corrupt principles of Religion I doubt not says a worthy Divine but Papists are made like other men nature hath not generally given them such Savage and Cruel Dispositions but their Religion hath made them so I am loth to say it and yet I am confident it is true that many Papists would have been excellent Persons and verie good men if their Religion had not hindered them if the Doctrines and Principles of their Church had not spoiled their natural Disposition Good God! that any thing that is called Religion should so presently strip men of all Humanity and transform the mild and gentle Race of Mankind into Wolves and Tigers It is Popery that alters the Nature of Englishmen and makes them act like Turks Infidels or Barbarians its principles infect the Blood and invenome the Soul instead of being weak and humble it makes them Proud and Arrogant instead of performing the Commands of Christ it makes men obey the Pope though never so contrary to Religion If our Blessed Saviour says Hurt no man pray for your Persecutors submit to Magistrates and Governours The Pope and his Doctrines say Kill every man that is not of your Religion Curse those that disobey your Commands Kill Stab or depose your Kings or Govenours This is the Doctrine and these are the Principles and Commands of the Romish Church It is some hundreds of years since this Bloody Beast of persecution began to shew his Fangs and armed Claws in this Kingdom and it was almost as soon perceived and testified against by some good men in those times For in the Year one Thousand Two Hundred John of Salisbury declared against the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Romish Church and plainly discovered the oppression of the burden of the Pope and his Ravenous Clergy and after him John Grostead Bishop of Lincoln wrote to the Pope and admonished him for which he had like to have lost his life yet the Pope did only hitherto shew his Teeth and could not take his full swinge in Blood and Murther which he afterward attained to But since the Papists impertinently urge against us the Newness of our Religion and that it was not known before Martin Luthers days we shall produce much more early Testimonies against the Errors and abuses in the Romish Church For we find in the Year 884. John Patrick Erigena a Britan who was ordained the first Reader in Oxford by King Alfred was afterward Condemned and Martyred by the Pope for writing a Book concerning the Sacrament And in the year 960. many Ministers and Divines wore the mark of the Beast in their faces being by the Popes order Branded in the Faces with hot Irons for Dissenting in many things about the Mass Purgatory Monkery and the like and for saying that Rome was Babylon and that Cloisters were the Nurses of Sodomy In the year 1126. one Arnold and Englishman and a Preacher of the Gospel was Butchered at Oxford for Preaching against the Pride of the Prelates and the wicked lives of the Priests In the Year 1160. the poor Persecuted Waldenses came hither for succour but instead thereof they were Persecuted Condemned Burnt Whipt and stigmatiz'd for their Religion both at Oxford and other places After which almost in every Year it pleased God to raise up several Learned and worthy men to testifie against the Horrid Corruptions of Rome both by Speaking Writing and Disputing against them As in the Year 1170. Gualo and Gilbert Foliot Doctors of Divinity and after them Silvester Gerald Alexander a Divine Gualter Maxes Arch Deacon of Oxford Sebald Archbishop of York William Stringham Doctor of Divinity Roger Bacon Fellow of Merton Colledge a Divine and Mathematician John Scotus the Great Scotch-man and about the same time Doctor John Wickliff Jeoffery Chaucer William Wickham Bishop of Winchester and many other Learned men All these gave ample Testimonies by their publick Writings against the many Corruptions evil Doctrines and Superstitious Worship of the Romish Church with the hazard of their Lives Honours Liberties Estates and Fortunes so that many were persecuted and some were burnt in the Reign of King Henry the second 1174. and in the Year 1380. Vtred Bolton and John Ashwerly endured Persecution and a while after John Ashton Walter Bruce John Pateskul and Doctor Crump were persecuted and William Sawtree a Divine of Oxford was martyred and William Swinderly was Burnt in Smithfield In the Year 1407. William Thorp was Burnt and Lawrence
seven Acres of Ground within the Walls and sixty three Acres three Roods without besides eighty nine Parish Churches the most spacious Cathedral of St. Paul the Royal Exchange the Great Guild-hall the Custom House Many magnificent Halls of Companies several principal City Gates and other publick Edifices which was accompanied with the loss of vast quantities of rich Household-stuff and Goods of all sorts but especially four or five that is Books of which alone were lost near the value of an hundred and fifty thousand pound Tobacco Sugar Wines and Plumbs being heavy goods So that the whole loss is computed by an Ingenious Person to be Nine Millions and nine hundred thousand pounds and yet not above six or eight persons through Gods Providence were burnt in this vast desolation Upon the Eighteenth of September the Parliament met and the Commons appointed a Committee to examine into the Causes of the fire and to take Informations concerning it and in a short time so many and such very considerable Informations were brought in that it was no longer doubtfull but the Papists were the Contrivers and Managers of this dreadful Fire For among other things it plainly appeared that divers of the Popish Party were made acquainted with it before it happened for Mr. Light of Ratcliff deposed That being in discourse with Mr. Richard Langhorn since Executed for High Treason in February before the Fire concerning Religion Langhorn took him by the hand and said to him You expect great things in sixty six and think that Rome will be destroy'd but what if it be London A French man told one Elizabeth Styles in April before the fire that the English Maids would love the Frenchmen better when there was not an house left standing between Temple-Bar and London-Bride to which she replyed She hopes his eyes would never see that he said This will happen betwixt June October Dr. Oats in his Narrative pag. 22. says That in July 1678. being in discourse with one Strange a Jesuit Strange told him that they had got fourteen thousand pound by the Fire of London in 1666. and that they spent seven hundred fireballs to effect their Villany and that when the Fire-Merchants were at work then other Papists both men and women were imployed by them to plunder what they could that they had a Warehouse in Wild-street where some of their stollen Goods were laid and other Goods they concealed in Somerset-House as Hollands Cambricks Fine Cloth and some considerable quantities of Plate and a Box of Jewels Dr. Oats asked Strange How the King came to escape for it seems his death was designed then Strange replyed Indeed they were resolved to have cut him off but seeing him so Industrious about Quenching the Fire they could not find in their hearts to do it Strange said there were about Fourscore and six employ'd in it and John Grove since Executed for high Treason told Dr. Oats that he fired Southwark and that the Society of Jesuits got two thousand pound by that Fire Robert Hubert a French Papist of Normandy began this Fire in London being Hired thereto by Stephen Peidelow likewise a papist and Hubert observing the Ruin and desolation that followed could not be quiet till he had freely discovered the whole matter Affirming that by Peidelows directions he put a Fire-ball to the end of a long pole and lighting it with a piece of Match put it into the Bakers window and stayed till the house was in a Flame A French Merchant went to Hubert in the White Lyon Prison in Southwark and told him He did not believe him Guilty of what he had confessed Hubert replyed Yes Sir I am guilty of it and have been brought to it by the instigation of Mr. Peidelow but not out of any malice to the English Nation but from a desire of reward which he promised me upon my return into France A while after Hubert was Tryed and Executed for this horrid Fact owning and acknowledging to the last his doing thereof by the Instigation of Piedelow But this not doing their work they took divers other methods for carrying on their designs which they had very near brought to perfection in the year 1678. had not the Divine Providence most eminently made use of Dr. Titus Oats in the discovery thereof who notwithstanding the reproaches of his Popish adversaries was liberally Educated in St. John's Colledge in Cambridge where he took his Degree and afterward proceeded Doctor in Divinity at Salamanca in Spain no contemptible University In the year 1672. he was Vicar of Bobbing in Kent but the Air not agreeing with him he left it and was for some time Minister near Chichester in Sussex and afterwards came to be Chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk with an ample testimony of his sober Life and Conversation and whilst he was there he overheard some whisperings among the Popish Priests who were very conversant in that Family that there was some Great Design in hand but could not learn the particulars He had heard from his Protestant Friends and had read in Sir Hamond L'Stranges History of King Charles the First and other Judicious Authors That the Papists had for many years carried on a design to Introduce Popery once more into these Kingdoms which made him desire to know the bottom thereof and if it were possible to prevent it To this end he more freely conversed with that Party than he formerly used to do and seemed dissatisfied in some things concerning our Church and desired to discourse with some Jesuits who are accounted the most learned Men of the Popish faction This upon some Cautions he obtained and after divers Conferences with them in which he suffered himself to be overcome he was formally reconciled to the Church of Rome and a while after seeming to aspire to a higher degree of Perfection he desired to be admired into the Order of the Jesuits which after three dayes consideration they consented to and because he was a man of years being about Twenty eight they would not imploy him as a Novice but made him a Messenger of the Society This being the mark he aimed at they sent him with Letters to Valedolid in Spain which he judging to contain something of their Hellish contrivances dexterously opened by the way and thereby made some discovery of their wicked Intentions however he managed their Affairs with so much satisfaction that in a short time they made him privy to their most secret Consultations and keeping short Notes of all things of Concernment he was thereby in a capacity to give an account of so many several particulars as he has discovered which have had the happiness to be confirmed by other Circumstances and Evidence and have not the least contradicted one another nor those other Papers which have been found elsewhere nor differed from the Informations that have been given in by Mr. Bedlow Mr. Dugdale Mr. Jennison Mr. Mowbray Mr. Baldron and others whom God hath since raised