by the will of my heavenly Father humbly thanking his Majesty in that hée is pleased to honor me so farre as to suffer any thing for his holy name Let us pray unto him that he would grant unto me the gift of perseverance Then looking upon the said Minister who wept This Merlin was miracylously delivered in the massacre of Paris over him Oh Master Merlin saith he what will not you comfort me Yes sir said he for wherein may you take greater comfort then in calling to mind how greatly God hath alwaies honored you in estéeining you worthy to suffer rebuke for his names sake and true religion The Admirall replied alas if God should deale with me according to my deserts he might have put mée to worse forments then these But blessed be his holy name in that he is pleased to take pity on mée his poore and unworthy servant Be of good chéere sir then said another unto him for séeing God hath spared your more noble part whole you have cause therein to magniste his goodnes In these wounds you have received from God a testimony of his love rather then of his displeasure séeing hée hath preserved your head and understanding safe Then said Merlin sir you doe well in turning your thoughts away from him who hath committed this outrage upon you in looking onely unto God for no doubt it is his hand that hath smitten you therefore for the present cease to thinke on the malefector I assure you said the Admirall I doe fréely forgive him from the bottome of my heart and those also that are his abettors being fully perswaded that none of them all could have done me the least hurt no though with violent hands they had put me to death For what is death it selfe in Gods children but an assured passage to an eternall rest and life Now as the said Minister declared how the evils which happen to the children of God in this present life doe often incite and quicken them up to poure out their prayers into the bosome of the Almighty the Admirall presently with a loud voice and ardent affection prayed thus ¶ The admirals godly and devout Prayer LOrd God and heavenly father have pity upon The admirals godly and debout prayer me for thy goodnesse and mercies sake remember not Lord the sinnes of my life past nor the offences which I have committed against thée for if thou narrowly marke our sinnes the loosenes of our behaviour and distoyalties in transgressing thy holy commandements Lord who shall stand who is able to beare the weight of thy displeasure I renounce all Idoll Gods I acknowledge thée to be the onely true God and worship thée alone O Eternall Father in thine Eternall some Iesus Christ I beséech thée for his sake that thou wouldest give unto mée thy holy spirit and therewithall the gift of patience I put my trust in thy frée mercy for therein consists the stay and prop of all my hope whether I die now at this present or live for the time to come Behold Lord here I am doe with me as it pleaseth thée having this confidence in thée that if I now depart hence thou wilt receive me into the blessed rest of thy kingdome If it please thée to lengthen out my daies here on earth O heavenly Father give me grace that I may spend the residue thereof in setting forth the glory of thy holy name and in maintaining to the utmost of my power thy pure worship and service Amen Having ended this prayer Merlin asked him The Ministers pray with him if it pleased him that the Ministers of Christ should now pray with him and for him To whom hée said yes with all my heart I pray you begion Whilest Merlin pronounced the prayer applying the same to the present occasion the Admirall with his eles looking up to heaven expressed the ardency of his affection in consenting thereunto Prayer being ended Merlin began to propound unto the Admirall the examples of the Martyrs shewing that from Abel to Abraham and consequently hitherto whosoever carried themselves in any degrée of faithfulnesse in the house of God felt at one time or other the smart of afflictions in divers kinds The Admirall answered that when hée called to minde the sufferings of the Patriarchs and Martyrs it much comforted him and helped him somewhat to allay the fartnesse of his afflicted estate The King of Naverre and the Prince of Conde having bitterly bewayled this outrags committed upon the Admirall as you heard before about two of the clocke in the afternoone the King accompanied The King Queene Mother came to visit the Admirall with the Quéene MOther his Brother and other of the Lords went to visite the Admirall The King with teares séemed to be excéeding sorry for that which was come to passe promising him with one blasphemous oath upon another to revenge the fact no lesse than if it had béen committed upon his owne person praying him to come and take up his lodging with him in the louvre for his greater security and safety Wherupon the Admirall after some discourse made to the King in secret gave him most humble thankes for so great a favour as to visite him in his owne person Upon the motion made by the King Mazilles his chiefe Physitian was called demanding of him whither the Admirall might safely be removed thence into the Louvre or no His Answer to the King was that it could not be done without danger Some of the Admirals friends thought if fitting to request a guard of souldiers to be assigned by the King unto him for his better security The King answered he liked well of that device being fully determined to provide for the admirals safety as his owne and would preserve him no lesse then the apply of his eie After this the King called for the bullet of brasse wherewith the Admirall was hurt that he might sée it asking whither hée was not put to great paine when his finger was cut off as likewise touching the dressing of his arme Now as Cornaton shewed the bullet having his sléeve all bloudy because he was appointed to hold the Admirals arme while it was in dressing the King asked if that were of the Admirals bloud and whither so much bloud issued out of his wounds adding after Cornatons answer he never saw man in his life shew greater constancy and magnanimity of spirit then the Admirall did Then was the Quéene Mother desirous to sée the Bullet saying I am glad the bullet is taken out for I remember when the Duke of Guise was killed before Orleance the Phisitian told me that if the Bullet were gotten out there was no danger of death though it were poysoned Then Cornaton answered we have foreséene that Madame for being carefull to prevent that danger the 〈…〉 him 〈…〉 the poison if 〈◊〉 any such thing should be Some good hopes of the Admirals recovery The Saturday before the Admirall was 〈◊〉 he
chamber as we call it Bish These words must be taken of our ordinary eating which is cast saving your presence after it is eaten into the draught La Grange What becomes then of this swallowed flesh Bish The formes are turned into it and the flesh of Iesus Christ is gone but these things must not be too curiously examined La Grange This answer cannot stand the accidents which you call kindes cannot be changed thereinto it is the substance which is changed But let us come to a more substantiall argument you teach That whosoever receives this Bread which you call flesh receives Iesus Christ How 1 Cor 11. 27. 29. is it then that Saint Paul saith Hee that eateth and drinketh unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himselfe c. Bish This argument hath some weight in it for thus you reason hee that receives Christ doth therewithall receive eternall life but by our Doctrine all receive Christ in the sacrament therefore they must needs have eternall life I confesse it is true according to your minor proposition that they receive him but I deny that all receive him unto life everlasting for if they receive not the flesh by the holy Ghost it profits them nothing La Grange I have taken the first part of my Iohn 11. 25. proposition out of Saint Iohn where Christ saith he is the life but séeing wée cannot receive so much as a common hearbe without the vertue of it much lesse can wee receive Christ without that life which is comprehended in him otherwise Simile we should receive a dead body without efficacy and not Iesus Christ who causeth those that eate him to live â—ternally For this sacrament was instituted of God by his sonne to manifest and set Iohn 6 51. forth his fatherly good will towards us not contenting himself to have received us once as strangers into his houshold by baptisme but as his owne Children and therefore hath ordained this Why the Lords supper was ordained We partake of Christ in the Sacrament by the effectuall working of the holy Ghost second sacrament of the holy supper that in his house wee might have wherewith to nourish and féed us continually Now as touching the holy Ghost it is by him that we eate the flesh of Iesus Christ and drinke his bloud conjoyning by his powerfull working those things together which by distance of place are severed farre off one from another causing all that is in Christ to become ours and as by a conduit pipe conveying unto us the true partaking of Christs flesh and bloud so as whosoever receives Christ hath eternall life Bishop That is if hee receive him by the holy spirit for otherwise the flesh profiteth nothing as Iohn 6. 63. saint Iohn saith La Grange Sir the place you alledge makes against you for Christ there reproves his disciples for thinking they should eate his flesh after a carnall manner as it appeares by the words following for the words said hée which I speake to you are spirit and life If then wee are so wise as to observe that the Sunne sending downe its substance on earth by the beames thereof doth after a sort cause the hearbes to spring forth and Simile grow shall not the influence of the spirit of Christ be of much more efficacy to bring us to the true participation of his flesh and bloud Bishop Then the Bishop was desirous to bée gone saying it grew late and so for want of time our conference ended The Bishop commended me to God and then tooke his leave of the company This is the summe of our communication so farre as I can remember By this briefe recitall we may observe what holy boldnesse mixed with meekenesse the Lord had indued this his worthy servant with even in the flower of his age being drawne from his studies and from the place of his birth to preach the Gospell to the Valencians and at length to seale up the same with his bloud A short narration of the life and death of these two valiant Champions of Christ Guy de Brez and Peregrin de La Grange Ministers and martyrs NExt to the pure preaching of the word nothing so much commends those whom the Lord culls out to give their lives for the same as doth an holy and blamelesse conversation continued unto their happy departure out of this world It remaines then in few words that we set forth the conversations of these two holy personages that thereby the mercies and graces of the Lord be stowed upon them may have the greater lustre Guy de Brez borne in Mons in Hainault béeing in his younger yeares much addicted to Popish superstitions came by continually reading of the Scriptures to taste the swéetnes of Christian Religion which knowledge brought forth no smal fruit in him in due season Yet so as it could by no meanes be relished or received by them of his Nation Whereupon he departed from Mons and having learned the art of painting Glasse came to London whilest good King Edward the sixth raigned who gave persecuted strangers leave to have harbour within his realme of England After his abode there a while and understanding that the preaching of the Gospell obtained some entertainment in the Low-Countries he went over to give his assistance to those of his owne Country The first fruits of his labours were most an end in bestwong some exhortations in such places where he found any willing to give him audience though never so few in number But above all he clave to them of the City of Lisle because he found there a great number of beléevers who desired nothing more than to heare the Gospell publiquely preached unto them At that time began also an holy conflict * Against which this godly man published a learned confutation in French which booke I have in my hands against the pestilent sect of the Anabaptists which as cockle mingled it selfe amongst the good corne In this city he continued untill the flock of Christ wer dispersed by reason of persecution and then went to Gaud where hée wrote his booke called the Staffe of Faith extracted out of the ancient Fathers After that béeing desirous to profit more and more in the knowledg of such things as were requisite to be in a Minister of the Gospell hée travelled towards Lausanna and thence to Geneva to furnish himselfe with the tongues and thence withdrawing himselfe into the Low-countries hée there established the churches of Lisle Tournay and of the Valencians in which cities God so prospered his labours that he was preserved by his divine providence as it were in the middest of the fiery flames from falling into the hands of his enemies And not to stand longer in relating the paines and travels of this faithfull servant of Christ not onely the reformed Churches of the said country can testifie but also these of Diex Mondidier and Amiens also which hée was an happy instrument to support whilest the
from it and to cleave wholly to the Doctrine of the Gospell Then leaving them he went into another roome and called for a brush to brush his hat and cloake causing his shooes to be blacked For now said he I am bidden to the mariage of the Lambe where I am to feast with him for ever and ever Going thence some of the prisoners came to him and finding him sitting in the entry of the prison upon a bench with bread and wine set before him which was brought him for his breakefast they asked him if he went to suffer with those shackles on his héeles I would I might said hée yea and that they would bury them with mee to that they might manifest the inhumanity of my adversaries And as those brethren comforted him he replyed that he felt such joy of the holy Ghost in his heart that he could neither with mouth nor tongue expresse it adding That God shewed him a thousand times more favour to take him after this manner out of this transitory life than if he had let him die in his bed by sicknesse for now saith he I shall dye with enjoying the benefit of all the powers of my soule praying the Lord to have mercy upon me Then every one taking his leave of him they retyred and forthwith Guy and La Grange were led to the towne hall to receive the sentence of death namely to be hanged for transgressing the Kings commandement given at the Court of Bruxels And so not medling at all with any of the points of Doctrine which they had preached they especially insisted upon the administration of the Lords Supper against an expresse charge given them to the contrary To be short La Grange being brought to the place of execution and now upon the ladder hée protested with a loud voice notwithstanding the noise which the soldiers kept about the gibbe◠that he died onely for preaching to the people the pure truth of God taking heaven and earth to witnesse the same with him Then was Master Guy brought thither who knéeling downe to have made his prayer at the foot of the ladder was not suffered to make an end for lifting him up they made him by and by to ascend the ladder Being thereon he fastned his féet in the rundles exhorting the people to carry themselves with all due respect towards the Magistrates shewing how some had overshot themselves in that behalfe Then Master Guy exhorted them to stand stedfast in the doctrine which he had taught them avouching that it was the undoubted truth of God He could not finish his spéech fully because the Commissioners gave a signe to the Executiooner to hasten and make an end He was no sooner turned off the ladder but there fell out such a tumult among the souldiers being in armes in the market place that they ran up and downe the City shooting off their pieces against such as they met shooting off their pieces against such as they met as well Papists as others yea killing one another in a grievous manner so as some fell downe dead among many others that were wounded and hurt And thus were they smitten with great feare without any ground thereof at all ¶ Notes touching the estate of the Faithfull in the City of Venice and of some executed there for the Truth in the yeare 1566. IT pleased God for a long space to frée this noble City from being subjected to the cruell Inquisition of the Pope by reason whereof the face of a Church was to be discerned there from the yeare 1530 to the yeare 1542. They enjoyed such fréedome of conferring and scanning of the points of Religion there that they came in a manner to make profession thereof publiquely so as many strange nations came to take notice thereof But the Father of lies observing this began to bestirre himselfe by setting his Lieutenant on worke who hath his seat at Rome to disturbe these good beginnings for it came to passe that whilst multitudes of good Christians flocked thither from other parts in processe of time such a course was taken by Antichrists supporters that many of them were imprisoned and afterward sent thence to Rome The rest by a new found execution never till then heard of were cast into the sea and drowned in the bottome of the same The manner of it was thus After they had received sentence an yron chaine was fastened about their middle with a stone of great weight tyed thereto and then were they laid upon a planke betwéene two wherries which being come to the place appointed the wherries parting asunder the Martyrs were forthwith drowned Yet for all this many ceased not still to assemble together in a place appointed for that purpose to talke and discourse of heavenly matters yea and to make some collections for reliefe of the poore so as in the yeare 1566 the called to them a minister of the Gospell to establish constitute a church among them having also the Supper of the Lord administred to them But some false brethren créeping in under pretence of making the same profession with them betrayed them Then began the Popish Inquisition to be erected there with the greatest cruelty that might be towards the maintenance whereof the Pope sent every yeare a certaine summe of money to those holy Fathers to be distributed among such as were appointed to be spies and revealers of such secrets as they could come to the knowledge of Thus were many cast into the sea and drowned some were sent to Rome others were detained Anno 1567. so long in prisons which were like graves that they rotted there ¶ Master Anthony Ricetto Martyr AMongst others who were condemned to bée drowned there was one Master Anthony Ricetto of Vincence having a sonne about twelve yeares old who comming to visit his father according to the discretion of children besought him with teares to yéeld to those who had condemned him and to save his life that he might not be left fatherlesse A true Christian said his father is bound to forgoe goods children yea and life it selfe for the maintenance of Gods honor and glory For which cause he was now ready and resolved to lay it downe the Lord assisting him The Lords of Venice offered to restore unto him his patrimony which was partly morgaged and sold if he would submit himselfe to the Church of Rome But he refused whatsoever conditions they this way tendred unto him Some that wer prisoners with him namely one M. Iulius Ferlan hath reported much of the abstinence patience and holinesse of this excellent man so farre as to parallel him to another Iohn Baptist On the fiftéenth day of Fegruary 1565. which according to our computation is 1566. Captain Clairmont came unto him and told him that Francis Sega was resolved to recant To which Ricetto * This Sega was his fellow prisoner of whom see more hereafter by and by replyed What tell you me of Sega I will
conscience As touching his carriage and behaviour if it pleased him he said to make enquiry thereof among the Merchants of Ast they could all resolve him as touching his honest dealing who also hee knew would witnesse with him that hee had wronged none in all that time hee had conversed among them And inasmuch as he was a Merchant traffiquing in and about his lawfull calling he ought to be dismissed and to be no further molested For if it were lawfull for Iewes and Turkes to trade in Faires and Markets and to use commerce throughout Piemont that favor ought much more to be permitted unto him who was a Christian And as touching the matter of Religion whereabout he was accused he medled not at all therewith for his owne particular but had questions propounded to him concerning the same by others in which regard leave was granted him to answer and to yéeld a reason of his faith in any place to any whomsoever they were that should aske what he thought of the same yea liberty was granted even by his Excellency to those of the Valleyes of Vandoyes to answer any man to a question demanded provided that hee procéeded not to teach and instruct others The Bishop regarded none of these allegations but commanded he should be put into prison The next day the Bishops Secretary came to visite Copin testifying how much good will hee bore him advising him as a friend that if he acknowledged not his fault he was in great danger of his life Copin answered that his life was in the hands Psal 89. 47 48. of God and that he would never séeke to save it to the prejudice of Gods glory also that he had not above two or thrée turnes to fetch here in this world before he arrived in heaven and therefore prayed God so to assist him by his grace that hee might never leave the strait way which leadeth thereto A few dayes after hee was examined by a Monke who was an Inquisitor in the presence of the Bishop who vexed him a long while with his sugred discourse and by faire words endeavoured to draw him to abjure his Religion But Copin resisted him still by the holy Scriptures shewing that if he should now be ashamed of Christ Mat. 8. 38. and deny him Christ might justly be ashamed of him and utterly deny him before his heavenly father The Monke finished his dispute with this dogged farewell Away thou cursed Lutherane thou shalt goe to all the Devils in hell and when thou commest to be tormented amongst those uncleane spirits then wilt thou remember these holy admonitions which wee have tendred unto thee for the saving of thy soule but thou haddest rather goe to hell than to reconcile thy selfe to thy holy Mother the Church It is not long since said Copin that I was reconciled to the true Church After many violent assaults they gave way for his wife to come unto him and with her one of his sons promising them to set him at liberty to goe home with them if hee would make amends for his fault committed by acknowledging the same They gave his son and wife leave to this purpose to stay supper with him in prison during which time he used many exhorâ—ations tending to patience albeit the wife should depart to her house without an husband or the child without his father for be you well assured said her that God will be a better husband and a father unto you than ever I was or can be For his owne part he said he was not bound to love wife or children more then Christ besides they had cause to rejoyce and to think him happy that God would honor him so farre as to beare witnesse to his truth with the losse of his life and hoped hee said that God would be so favorable to him as to support him under any torments he was to endure for his glories sake In conclusion hee commended his sonne and one daughter to his wives care which God had given them in the married estate charging her againe and againe to sée them brought up vertuously and in the feare of God He charged his sonne to obey his mother so should he be made partaker of the promised blessing He intreated them both to pray for him that God would fortifie him against all temptations And thus having blessed his son and taken leave of his wife they were conducted out of the prison and he shut up as hee was before The woman and her son were dissolved into teares sighing and crying out that it would have moved the stoniest heart to compassion but this holy man not contenting himselfe with that hee had said to them by word of mouth writ unto his wife this Letter ensuing the originall whereof she hath exhibited to us written and signed with the hand of the said Copin the inscription thus following ¶ To my wel-beloved wife Susanna Copin from the Tower of Lucerna DEare yoke-fellow I received much consolation by your comming to this place and by so much the more as it was beyond my expectation and I suppose you also were not a little comforted that you had such an opportunity offered you as to sup with me the last night being Saturday the fiftéenth of September 1601. I know not well what they aymed at in permitting you so to doe But God ordereth all these things But as farre as I can ghesse it shall be the last time that ever we shall sup together in this life and therefore pray to God that hee will not cease to be a comfort unto you Trust you still in him for hee hath promised never to leave nor forsake those that put their trust in him God hath endued you with wisedome governe your owne family in such sort that our children Samuel and Martha may be obedient unto you whom in the name and authority of God I command that they obey you for so the blessing of Almighty God shall light upon them Deare wife be not over pensive for mee for Anno 1605. if God hath ordained me now to attaine unto the end of my race and that I must render into the hands of the Almighty my soule which so long time he hath lent me my hope is that of his holy and divine mercy he will receive it into his Kingdome for his owne beloved Sonnes sake Iesus Christ our Lord through whom I beléeve that my sinnes are forgiven for the onely merit of his holy death and passion Also my praier is that he will assist me by the power of his holy spirit unto my last breath Be fervent in praier and in all other parts of Gods worship and service for this is the way to true blessednesse Take no care about sending any thing unto me for these thrée wéeks and then I pray you send me some money if you thinke good to give the Iaylor and somewhat more for mine owne necessaries if it please God I live so long Also I pray you call
finding kinder entertainment among strangers than in their owne countrey We had perished said he if we had not perished So may we say That did not our naturall life perish here by persecutions we had never been saved in the kingdome of heaven Run we then my brethren with patience the race that is set before us let us not be ashamed with Simon the Cyrenian to carry the reprochfull Crosse of Christ and seeing we must die once let us desire rather to die gloriously for righteousnesse sake than ignominiously by shunning it If Princes had rather die in a breach than in their bed and to lose their life in the field than an eye at tilt or tourney let us imitate them in this our spiritual conflict-earnestly intreating the Lord if it be his blessed will that we may fight and die valiantly in the defence of his Truth and for the honour of his sonne If worldly minded men can and will suffer many hard adventures some for their honour others for their profits and pleasures though but vaine and temporary with what longing should we aspire to that certaine and eternall happinesse rest and glory wherewith all those shall be crowned who fight manfully and constantly for the cause of Christ But the world and worldings smile at this wisedome counting it foolishnesse the flesh also joyning therewith thinks all we have said to be either idle phantasies or meere paradoxes and no marvell for both of them being from the earth can savour nothing but what is earthly as Christ saith Betweene the judgement of the Church and that of the World there is a broad difference when the question is of determining what is true honour profit or pleasure whence it is that in a manner the one scornes that which the other admires and adores So as they never consent in approving or condemning with one voice that which is questioned for the belly hath no eares If therefore we meane to be ruled aright either in the matter of faith or outward manners let us not bee guided therein either by the worlds judgement or yet that of the flesh for the world is poreblinde and the belly as we have said hath no eares Ponder we then these things that so wee may be prepared to obey the will of God let us not wilfully râ—sh into dangers onely if God shall call us forth to suffer purposing thereby to conforme us to our Head and so to accompany that great cloud of witnesses through the narrow way that leads to his kingdome yeeld wee our neckes to beare the sweet and easie yoke of Christ Be it that Satan and his confederates doe persecute the Church of Christ yet hath she an assured hiding place The faithfull may be imprisoned but in the meane while they leave the world in a worse prison viz. shut up under the wrath of God They may be in bonds yet is not that so bad as to lie bound in the bonds of iniquity they are oft shut up in darke and unsavoury places but how can darknesse be grievous to them who are the children of light especially when God shines upon them with the light of his countenance Stinking holes and odious smels cannot so offend and annoy them but that the sweet savour of a good conscience purified by faith surmounts all They may be put into dungeons in the world yet being chosen of God out of the world they have their conversation in heaven Be it that they lose a few commodities here it is but as if they forsook counters to receive gold things terrestriall for celestiall A Christian may suffer but he cannot die he may lose his life but hee cannot lose Christ when he leaves the world he goes to God Wherefore let us then put on the whole armour of God and as good souldiers of Eph. 6. 11. 2 Tim. 23. Rev. 2. 10 Iesus Christ enure our selves to endure hardnesse So shall it come to passe that continuing faithfull in this spirituall Warfare unto the death we shall at length receive the crowne of eternall life THE HISTORY OF FOVRE MARTYRS BVRNT AT LILE IN FLANDERS IN THE YEARE 1556. WHOSE NAMES ARE ROBERT OGVIER AND HIS WIFE BAVDICON AND MARTIN their two Sonnes THe example which is set before us in this so godly a Family may well serve for an entrance to the Continuation of the History of forrein Martyrs in that weâ— may thence learne what those true ornaments are wherewith both parents and their children ought to bee decked and adorned namely with such a light shining forth from the sound knowledge of the Gospell as whereby the Church of God may be edified and confirmed in seeing them to hold the profession of their faith coustantly even unto the death THe City of LILE may Anno 1556. well bee placed in the first ranke of those Cities of Merchandise in the Low-countrey of Flanders Artols and Haynault upon which the Lord hath multiplâ—ed his blessings not so much of worldly good things as of his spirituall graces yea in so abundent measure that even under the tyraumy of Antichrist in the Countries aforenamed few places can be named where the Gospell in that time was more fréely published and preached or with greater zeale received than there For for thrée yeares together the Gospell was secretly taught among them sometime in houses then in woods in fields and in caves of the earth not without the haâ—arding of their dearest life if they had béen discovered yet could not these apparent dangers under such tyranny coole or abate the burning zeale which almost consumed the heart of this people hungring and thirsting after the spirituall food of their soules What was among them preached was accordingly practised workes of mercy and charity were there exercised not onely towards those of the houshold of Faith but even towards them which were without so as many by means hereof were drawn and brought on to the knowledge of Christ They ordained in their assembly certaine Deacons to receive the almes which were given men fearing God being well approved of who went wéekely from house to house to collect the abnes of such as they knew to be faithful admonishing every one how to carry themselves themselves in their vocations and of their duty in contributing towards the reliefe of the poore Saints And thus each one according to his place endevoured to expresse and manifest his faith by the fruits thereof namely good works In a very short space of time the Lord by the Ministry of his Word though preached in secret erected here a flourishing Church so as the Congregation consisted of a competent number of men women and children not onely of the city but out of foure or five Willages besides bordering nigh unto it who came also with an eager appetite to be instructed In the meane while you may conceive that satan and his adherents ceased not to storm and rage hereat not being able long to endure these their holy méetings but
when his will is he will also deliver mee out of thy hands being more afflicted with the blasphemies which this varlet uttered then with all the torments which she endured on her body He having bemauled her shinnes with the pattents shée wore upon her féet shée told him his cruelty farre excéeded that of the Turkes and Infidels Whereupon he calling her a Huguenot whore told her That these were but the beginnings of her sorrowes so as if she did not disclose unto him her seven hundred pieces of gold hée would draw her chéeks and breasts with Lard and then fasten her to a forme and burne her quicke and after mount her up to the highest stéeple in the City and cast her thence downe headlong Well said she though my body fall never so low that shall not let my soule from being carried up into heaven This Captaine being herewith more inflamed with ire than before séeing that none of these cruelties could shake the faith and constancy of this poore woman he said unto her eat this Sugar taking loame or mortar from off the wall causing her to open her mouth with his dagger and to swallow it downe But not contenting himselfe herewith the villaine forced her to drink a glasse of Vrine which himselfe had made in her presence and then threw the glasse with what remained therein in her face Lastly he caused her to passe along through the troups of souldiers with intention to have had her slaine among them yet compassion moving them to spare her he brought her into his lodging where this inraged Wolfe by strange cruelties would have caused her to lose her life had not some of the inhabitants by giving him ten crownes redéemed her and so conveyed her to her owne house where within a short time after she finished her dayes One buried alive PEter Roch servant to the Lievtenant of Dignes being met withall in the countrey was buried alive they constrained him to dig his owne grave himselfe and so try whether it were large enough or no unto which he was compelled by Bartholomew Chause-grosse and his complices Provence Two women crowned with thornes THe wife of Andrew Renaud being brought through Saint Martins of Castillon was stripped stark naked and resisting such as would have violated her chastity she was whipped outragiously Anno 1566. then wounded with swords crowned with thornes then cast into the river and lastly shot to death with harquebuses Iannenta Calvin of the place of Cella being of the age of eighty yeres brought into the city of Brignole with a crowne of thornes platted upon her head being whipped till the bloud came excéedingly was first stoned and then burned alive Mascon THe Murtherers in this city having seised upon the body of Bonnet Bor in Mascon one of the most noble houses of the same a man of great learning and of an unblameable life who in other places had served in the Ministry twenty yeares having béen ransommed thrée severall times was carried along with a thousand scoffes and frâ—nps smitten with fists through the corners of the stréets with crying That whosoever would heare this devout and holy man preach should come to the slaughterhouse Whither having brought him they buffeted and mocked him two full houres Hée onely requested before hée died that they would permit him to make his prayers to God Whereupon cutting off the one halfe of his nose and one of his eares they said Now pray as long as thou wilt and then wee will send thee to all the Devils Then he knéeled down and lifting up his eies to Heaven prayed with such fervency of spirit that hée caused some of his murtherers to sigh within themselves Then directing his spéech to him who had cut off his nose he said Friend I am here ready to suffer what thou hast yet further to inflict upon me But this I intreat of thee and thy companions to bethinke you well of the outrages committed by you against this poore city for know there is a God before whose Tribunall you must give an account of these your cruelties At these words the bloud issued so fast out at his nose that it hindred him from procéeding on in that hée was about to have said A Captaine passing by cryed to the souldiers Send this wretched man to the Devill Which one of them hearing tooke him by the hand and brought him to the brimme of the river Saone somewhat above the slaughter house pretending to wash and cleanse him from the bloud wherwith his visage was besmeared conducting him to a boat for this purpose into which he was no sooner entred but he there presently turned him over into the river wherein he striving for life and crying to God for mercy these tyrants battered him with stones till he sunke under the water and so died Sée here in part saith the Historiographer the lamentable estate of the poore churches of France during the first troubles which ended with the end of the Duke of Guise the principall actor therein who was slaine at the siege of Orleance not without the immediate hand of God in the yeare 156â— by a poore gentleman whose name was Iohn Poltrot a man very desperate but of small stature and therefore commonly called the little Spaniard who shooting the Duke into the shoulder with a pistoll as he was riding to his tent in an evening uaon a little negge was for the same fact adiudged to be drawne in pieces by foure horses his head to be cut off and his torne body to be burnt to ashes ¶ A very comfortable Letter written by Wouter Oom Prisoner and Martyr in the City of Antwerpe and full of consolation against the feare of persecution directed to a Brother and Sister of his Grace and peace from God the Father and from his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen WElbeloved brother and sister whom I love dearely for the truths sake and for your faith in Christ Iesus These are to certifie you that I am in bodily health and enjoy the comfort or a good conscience I praise my Lord God therefore who is able to increase the same more and more by the powerfull operation of his holy spirit Whosoever they be that will forsake this present evill world and become followers of their Captain Christ must make account to méet with many persecutions and afflictions for Christ hath told us aforehand that we should be hated persecuted Mat. 10. 12. and banished out of the world for his names sake And this they will doe saith he because they have neither knowne the father nor Iohn 16. 3. me But be not afraid saith he for I have overcome the world Saint Paul also witnesseth the 2 Tim. 3. 12. same thing saying all that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution And again to you it is given for Iesus Christ not onely to beléeve in him but also to suffer for his sake And Phil. 1. 24. Mat. 5. 11 12.
up his eyes to heaven said twice or thrice Lord God heavenly father into thy hands I commend my spirit And then againe Lord forgive their sin who have put us to death Iames and the maide made the like prayer But because Iames was last strangled and the people moved with compassion began to stir the hangman kindled the fire upon Iames being but halfe strangled The people séeing him to die in the midst of the fire were yet more moved so as the tormentor being in a maze got a staffe out of a Boat headed with iron and smote the Martyr twice or thrice on the right side to make an end of him These thrée having a while lien in the fire they were carried thence in a cart to the gibbet where being put apart upon thrée poles they were afterward taken downe and buried Nicaise of Tombe born in Tournay Martyr Whose constancy is to be imitated and followed of every good Christian in suffering for the truth of the Gospell NIcaise dwelling in Tournay and following the trade of Say-making towards the end of his life was then by the mercy of God brought to the knowledge of true religion Now that he might be the more throughly instructed therein he went with his wife and family into the City of Wesell in base Almaine In which City there was at that time an assembly of strangers and especially of those who are called Wallons exercising themselves in hearing the word of God purely preached and in receiving the holy sacraments But Satan the mortall enemy of Gods children envying their happinesse soon after troubled this assembly in such wise with sundry questions that some retyred to Frankfort others to Strausburg and some to other places Nicaise returned to Tournay whence he came not to communicate there with the superstitions and abhominations in which he had formerly béen inwrapped but to joyne himselfe to the Christian assembly which met together in that place to manifest the truth of that heavenly knowledge which he had received out of the word of God Where notice being taken of him they received him into their society amongst whom he carried himselfe in so Christian a sort as they well perceived him to be a man of an holy conversation joyned Anno 1566. with an earnest desire to advance the glory of God and the kingdome of Christ in the edification of his Church Now forasmuch as affliction 2 Thes 2. 9. 10. is the true touchstone whereby the faithfull are discerned from Hypocrites Nicaise then shewed outwardly what he was within For being importuned to take an oath from those who were deputed thereunto by the King of Spaine to live according to the custome of the Romish Church and to observe the traditions invented by her he notwithstanding the threats and injuries done unto him constantly held out against the said oath not casting how deare it might cost him in the end Some of his kindred wished him at leastwise to withdraw himselfe aside for awhile into another City till the urging of this oath was over as also that his wife should change her lodging in his absence To this counsell he consented but the Lord who governes all our intentions and purposes had otherwise determined of him namely to set him forth as an example of constancy unto others and to beare witnesse so farre to the truth of the Gospell as to seale the same with his bloud by staying him at that time in the City For being ready to take his journey a néere neighbour of his being an enemy of the Gospell accused him to the commissioners for one that neither had nor would take the oath according to the forme appointed Nicaise requiring to heare the tenour of the oath before he would make them an answer they told him that he must sweare to kéep observe all antient customes to receive in the sacrament of the altar his creatour thrice in the yeare and on Sundaies and Holidaies to heare Masse morning and evening As soone as hée had understood their meaning hée told them hée intended not at all to take any such oath nor to wound his conscience in consenting to things so manifestly contradicting the word of God therewithall yéelding them the reasons of this his resolution accusing as well them for urging such an oath as those also who gave their consents thereto Upon this he was committed and laid amongst fellons in the Gaole called Pipigne untill Friday the twelfth of November on which day he received sentence of death namely to be bound and so led into the Market place of the City and there upon a Scaffold to be burned and consumed to ashes Having heard this sentence as he rose up hée said now praised be God and as he was about to have spoken more at large the Procurer fiscall bing present prevented him and thrusting him forward bad him march on By and by they brought him to the place of execution and as it well fell out having no Priest accompanying him when he was come downe to the Market place a néere friend of his comming to him commended him to God and so they kissed each other Being come nigh to the * Which is a watch tower standing bofore the City hall where the Clocke is Befroy of the City séeing there a great multitude of people who were assembled together to sée him passe by lifting up his voice he spake thus O yee men of Tournay open your eyes awake ye that sleepe and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give you light He also prayed all whom he had any way offended to forgive him as he for his part was ready to forgive all the world The people hearing him say so began to be moved and to make a great muttering The multitude also that were come together were so many that the souldiers who incompassed the Patient being now ready to suffer could neither march nor kéep ranke so as they were about to shoot Which the people perceiving began to be moved so much the more so as there had like to have béen a great tnmult But going on they drew nigh to the place where the scaffold was Nicaise all the while spent the time in prayer unto God and being at the place of execution hée uttered these words Lord they have hated mee without a cause and ascended up joyfully to the scaffold where the Tormentors readily received him and led him to the stake and as they were fastening him to it he said Eternall Father have pitty and compassion upon me according as thou hast promised to all that aske the same of thee in thy sonnes name Other prayers he made there to his God and so continued to his last gaspe And albeit the multitude made such a noise and the beating of the drummes hindred his words from being all fully heard yet he so often pronounced and that with such vehemency the word Iesus that it notwithstanding might plainly be understood as long as the breath
thee to wrath by our infinite sinnings against thee yea by our rebellions which now testifie against us For alas Lord our life hath no way béen answerable to that perfect obedience which thou in thy holy Law justly requirest at our hands which we from day to day do transgresse and therefore doe here cast downe our selves at this time before thy glorious presence unfeignedly acknowledging our misery and wretchednesse from the very bottome of our hearts Yet Lord mercy is with thee and because thou art our father therefore thou desirest not the death of sinners but rather that they should convert and live For this cause we now fall downe before the throne of thy grace with confidence of obtaining thy wonted mercy which thou hast promised to such as call upon thee in truth beséeching thee which art the Father of mercies to haue compassion on all such whom thou hast humbled under thy mighty hand by any of thy rods and chastisements but more especially this thy servant the Quéene who lieth here before thee sicke of a dangerous disease that as thou hast righteously afflicted her for her sinnes which she also doth with us acknowledge so it would please thee in pardoning them all unto her for thy beloved sone sake to grant that she may profit by this thy correcting hand for the time to come Above all give her a swéet sense yea a full assurance of thy eternall loves that so she may with the greater patience take downe this bitter potion ministred unto her from thy hand and that the sole desire of enjoying thy presence may cause her to forget all worldly greatnes and magnificence knowing that they are nothing in respect of the glory which is now set before her Endure her also with méekenesse of minde to beare the tediousnesse of her affliction for howsoever the spirit be willing yet the flesh is weake yea full of resisting and unbeliefe that so receiving all things from thee as from as father she may the more willingly submit her will unto thine And because O good God thou hast made her hitherto an happy instrument for the advancement of thy glory and the defence of thy poore afflicted people we pray thee if it may stand with thy good pleasure restore her to health againe that so the excellent work which thou hast by her means begun may not be left unperfect but by vertue of this her deliverance she may with renewed forces undertake the same in better sort than ever heretofore especially for the well educating and training up the children which thou hast given her But Lord if thou have a purpose now to call her home to thy selfe who are we that we should contradict thy holy will onely we pray thee that thou wouldst confirme her more and more in the knowledge of thy blessed Gospell and thereby also in the certainty of her salvation which thou hast given her by faith in thy sonne Jesus Christ that thus she may not cease to sanctifie and call upon thy holy name unto her last breath And as touching our selves who are here by thy good providence gathered together about her being in bodily health give us to know the uncertainty and brevity of our life that so according to our duty we may behold the same in this mirrour which thou hast set before us as knowing that even the greatest in the world are subject to the same calamities as well as the small that so our chiefe care may be to imploy the remainder of our time to thy honor and service all which we craâ—e of thee in the name of Jesus Christ thy son our only Mediator and Advocate Amen Thus we have as néere as we could gathered the summe of the prayer During which she ceased not with hands and eies stedfastly lifted up to heaven to fetch many déep sighes especially when mention was made of that mercy of God in Christ which he extendeth towards poore sinners So as there was not any there present that might not evidently perceive that her heart and affections were joyned to the prayer which we pronounced in her presence And while she thus lay she still continued in her godly resolution to depart hence that shee might be with Christ taking great delight in the holy and Christian exhortations which were usually made unto her by many godly and learned men who came in to visit her to whom shee also manifested no small testimony of that faith and hope which she had in God touching the salvation of her soule by her holy and Christian spéeches which for brevities sake are here omitted Yea albeit the Lord exercised her much with the sense of her inward disease yet could you not at any time discerne any spéech lavouring of discontentment or impatience to procéed out of her mouth nay scaâ—sely a groane which not only those of her owne family but many others can testifie even the Quéene Mother with others also who now and then came in to see her But if at any time she felt any refreshings from the violence of her disease there being no malady so vehement which hath not some intermission and breathing time she manifested to all her willingnesse to obtaine the recovery of her former health refusing to that end no good meanes prescribed for her by the learned Physitians Againe when she perceived her sicknesse to encrease upon her and that she grew worse and worse she was no whit appalled thereat but shewed her selfe to be armed with an invincible Anno 1568. constancy to undergooe the utmost that death could doe against her preparing her selfe willingly for that last conflict Moreover séeing her Ladies and Gentlewomen wéeping about her bed she would forthwith rebuke them saying I pray you wéep not for me forasmuch as you sée God doth now by this sicknesse call me hence to enjoy a better life and to enter in at the desired haven towards which this fraile vessel of mine hath for a long time béene stéering only she shewed her selfe somewhat grieved that she lacked opportunity to reward them and many more of her family and train which had done her faithful service as she could have wished excusing her selfe with these words unto them that it was not for want of good will but by being overtaken and so prevented by this her unexpected sicknesse But saith shée I will not faile to give order concerning the same to my uttermost ability In the end féeling her strength to decay more and more she gave order to have her last will and testament made wherin she above all wished that her children might have but the grace to honor and feare the Lord exhorting them constantly to continue in the profession of the Gospell in which they had béen trained up from their youth ordaining especially that her daughter the Princesse should be educated and instructed therein by the foure Ladies which she had appointed and brought with her out of Bearne for that end and purpose And being come
to age her desire was that she might be joyned in marriage to some Prince of the same religion by the counsell and advice of the Cardinall of Bourbon and Gasper Count of Colligny Admirall of France whom she made Executors and overséers of her said Testament But here it may not be omitted briefly to relate another conference which she had with a Minister of the Gospell before her departure The eighth of Iune which was the day before her death she caused a Minister of the Gospel to be called for and finding that she was drawing nigher unto her end than before she willed him to speake somewhat largely of such temptations as Satan is wont to assaile Gods elect withall in their last conflict To which the Minister answered that then was the houre indéed wherein that sworne enemy of all the faithfull did most busily bestir himselfe if he could to deprive them of the comfort of their salvation not sparing at that time especially to set upon them with might and maine but yet even then the Lord is not nor will be wanting to his filling their hearts with such joy and comfort of the holy Ghost as shall make them through the same more than conquerours The first engine then which satan useth against the Saints to cause them to despaire is to present before their eyes the innumerable heapes of their sins and pollutions wherewith they have any way béen defiled in their whole life and then presents unto them Gods justice before which no flesh can be able to subsist unlesse it be pure and spotlesse whence he infers that miserable sinners can expect and looke for nothing but an horrible desolation and condemnation But against these assaults in the first place must be opposed as David doth in the one and fiftieth Psalme the infinite multitudes of Gods compassions which doe infinitely surpasse the multitudes of our sins And as touching the justice of God we confesse that no creature that is defiled with sin can in any sort abide to be strictly examined by it if he shall call the same to a severe account but we also know that God will never enter into judgement with those that beléeve in his son but allowes unto them that righteousnesse and obedience which was accomplished in him which is only sufficient for us being imputed unto us to oppose against the judgement of God therefore in it alone they expect to stand before his face and not by their owne dignity or worthinesse Indéed if they were to appeare before the throne of Iustice to receive thence what they have deserved they had good reason to be overwhelmed in utter despaire as off as they thinke upon or looke on the same but turning their eyes upon him who being the eternall Son of God hath clothed himself with our humane nature to beare in the same the punishment due to our sins and therein acquitted us then Gods justice doth no way affright us but rather yéelds us assured comfort because they make this their full resolution that forasmuch as God is just he cannot require the same debt twice Having therefore received full and perfect satisfaction of him whom he hath ordained to be our surety and paid our debts for us thence we gather assurance that he wil no more require them of us To which purpose these sentences are to be well observed It is Christ who hath borne our griefes and carried our sorrows That the chastisement Isa 53 4. 5. of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed That we all like shéep have gone astray and have turned every one to his owne way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all Christ is our peace and the propitiation for our sins The Lambe of God which taketh Eph. 2. 14. 1 Iohn 2. 2. Iohn 1. 29. away the sins of the world These with many the like sentences the Minister propounded by way of answer to this vertuous Ladies demand concluding the same thus that Gods justice ought not to terrifie those that beleeve in Christ of whose 1 Cor. 1. 30. righteousnes and redemption they are partakers knowing that Iesus Christ who knew no sinne was made sin that is to say an oblation for sin 2 Cor. 5. 21. for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him I grant saith he that these things belong not to all indifferently but only to such as beléeving in the Son of God doe wholly rest themselves satisfied in the merit of his death and passion which Acts 4 12 merit of his as Saint Peter witnesseth sufficeth for their salvation After these matters premised he asked her whether she placed whole confidence on Christ crucified who dyed for her sins and rose againe for Rom. 4. 25. her justification To which the noble Princesse answered that she neither expected salvation righteousnesse nor life from any else then from her only Saviour Iesus Christ being assured that his only merit abundantly sufficed for the full satisfaction of all her sins albeit they were innumerable This being your Faith Madam said the Minister you cannot come into condemnation but Iohn 5. 24. are passed from death to life Then taking an occasion again to resume her former spéech that she had no cause to be afraid of Gods Throne of Heb. 4 16. Iustice séeing it was turned into a Throne of Grace and Mercy unto her and that the houre of death should now be excéedingly welcome to her séeing it could be nothing else but a swéet passage into a far better life as also the time in which all Phil 1. 23. Rev. 21. 4. feares should be wiped away from her eyes He likewise shewed that she should doe well continually to be thinking on that excellent sentence Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord because Rev. 14. 13. from thenceforth they rest from their labours and their workes follow them For then said he the time approacheth wherein she should enjoy the visible presence and society of her husband Christ and have fellowship with the blessed Angels and celestiall spirits with the holy Patriarkes Prophets Apostles and Martyrs Anno 1572. of the Son of God to partake with them of the same felicity and glory The Minister minding yet further to sound her whether she were loth to leave this life used these words And now good Madam said he if it should please God by this your sicknesse to put an end to this wearisome pilgrimage of yours where yet you remaine with us and to call you home to himselfe whereof he gives us to sée some evident signes and tokens are you willing I beséech you to goe unto him To which this excellent Princesse with great magnanunity and courage without any astonishment replyed Yes I assure you Then he once againe added good Madam open the eyes of your Faith and behold Iesus your great Redéemer sitting at the right hand of his Father reaching
out his hand to receive you unto him Are you are you willing to goe unto him Yes I assure you saith she most willing and much more willing than to linger here below in this world where I see nothing but vanity The minister not willing to continue longer in this kinde of discourse asked if she were pleased that they should goe to prayer declaring that godly personages there present would willingly joyne their desires with hers To which she consenting the said Minister prayed by her a good space whilest this pious Lady manifested her ardent affection to call upon God When prayer was ended the Minister discerning in her the undoubted testimonies of her repentance and of the sorrow she conceived for the offences which she had committed against God together with the assured confidence which shée had in his mercies as a Minister of the Gospell amd Embassadour of the Son of God by the authority dispensed to him having committed to him the word of reconciliation he assured her in his name that all her sins were forgiven her of 1 Cor. 5. God and that they should never come into account before his judgement Seat yea that she should no more dount thereof then if the Sonne of God from heaven should say unto her Daughter thy sins are forgiven thee And to the end that troubled consciences might the better be quieted Christ hath used these words speaking to his Ministers saying Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted Mat. 16. 14. and whose sins ye unloose they are unloosed The reason is because the word which they pronounce is not the word of a mortall man but of the immortall God being of no lesse weight than if himselfe uttered the same Then he asked of her Majesty if he accepted of so gracious a Message which assured her of the frée pardon of all her sins Yea I doe saith shee and make no doubt thereof Not long after these exhortations the Admirall comming in and with him another Minister shée also gave care to him for a good space together whose discourse tended to prepare her for death as he had done who had spoken to her immediatly before who having finished his spéech prayed also with her and for her which she heard with great attention and affection Then she requested that these two ministers might stay with her all night in her Chamber and that they would in no wise leave her The greater part of this night was spent in holy admonitions which these two ministers gave to this gracious Lady and Princesse one after another Besides these admonitions she commanding that some Chapters of the holy Scripture which were pertinent for her condition should be read unto her one of the Ministers read in her hearing certaine Chapters out of the Gospell of Saint Iohn namely from the fouretéenth to the seventéenth After he had read to her these Chapters he went to prayer which being ended the Quéene desired to take some rest but it was not long ere she commanded them to reade again whereupon the other Minister having made choise of certaine Psalmes of David full of ardent and affectionate prayers suiting to this Princesses present affliction he read them unto her and for a conclusion read the one and thirtieth Psalme Psal 31. 5. where the Prophet among other things doth there commend his spirit into the hands of God because saith he thou hast redéemed me O Lord God of truth The Quéene willed them to pray with her again and thus as I have said was the most part of the night spent in such vertuous exercises namely in exhortation in reading the holy Scripture and in prayer during all which time the ministers never discerned in any of her spéeches or behaviour the least impatiency Nay whereas some dayes before she fell sick she shewed how affectionately she was bent to provide things most magnificent for the day of her Sons marriage according as the State of so great an alliance required it was admirable to observe that after thâ—s sicknesse had seized upon her God wrought in her such aforgetfulnesse and neglect of all such matters that she never made shew of having so much as a thought thereof This night being thus passed and spent by this noble Queene she persevering in the expressions of like pious actions and ardency of Faith the next day in the morning betwéen eight and nine of the clocke she departed this life to take possession of a far better life swéetly yéelding up her spirit into the hands of God the ninth of Iune 1572. the sixth day after she fell sick in the 44. yeare of her age She had her perfect spéech alwaies even to the houre of her death shewing not only the stayednesse and soundnesse of her judgement which ever in times past she had in her care about the salvation of her soule but in her other worldly affaires also Now to avoide all jealousies and suspitions of her being wronged by poyson or otherwise in this matter of her so sudden sickenesse her body was opened by sundry expert and learned Doctors of Physick and Chirurgery with all exquisite diligence who found her heart and liver very sound and untouched her lungs only excepted which long before on the right side had béen very ill affected by reason of an extraordinary hardnesse which they had contracted and withall a great imposthume which so far as man could judge they concluded was the cause of her death But they had no command given them to open the braine and therefore finding somewhat out of frame in her body they delivered their opinions only concerning the same Thus you have with as much brevity as I could and as the merit of the thing required the true report of the manner of this vertuous Princesses sicknesse and death thus ar related unto you only my request is saith my Author that if any have a more perfect and particular knowledge of the excellent parts wherewith the Lord had adorned and beautified her they would not suffer the same to be buried in silence but to cause it to sée the light that on the one side it may serve as an example to posterity and on the other side that we may learne to blesse God for her piety and constancy ¶ An Introduction first into that which Anno 1572. leads to the death of the Admirall of France Then to the massacre at paris and so in some other Cities And first what moved the Admirall to come to Paris AFter the death of the Quéene certaine Princes were sollicited by the King to give their attendance at Paris for the folemnising the mariage of the Prince of Navarre now made king by the death of his mother according to the ceremonies which were thereto appertaining Among the rest letters were directed to the Admirall by the King himselfe to come to this marriage which were delivered unto him by Cavagues wherein the King assured him be would not tarry long after him Willing
in silence because the history requires at this time to touch only upon such things as are most remarkable and shall after follow YEt one thing ought not to be forgotten which fell out in the City last mentioned There was â—re Iohn Sarrazin of the age of seventy yeares and above who for a long time had exercised the office of a Deacon in the reformed Church the which he so faithfully performed that he was estéemed a father of the poore This good old father was set upon on Tuesday night in his owne house the fourth of September 1572. and laid at with swords by these furious murtherers who with a venerable and smiling countenance looking upon them said my friends what will ye doe with me have I ever offended any of you And if I have let him speake But nothing could any whit prevaile with these savage monsters to mollifie their stony hearts For with a more then brutish rage they fell upon this gray head and poore withered carkasse who to fence off the blowes exept under his bed where one of these rakehels his next neighbour and Godson gave him such a thrust in with his sword into the belly that his bowels issued out The poore man séeing himselfe thus wounded and perceiving who had done it said Ah Godson doe you use me thus I never hurt you but have done you good He languished of this hurt two daies two nights during which time as we have learned from his wife who gave her attendance on him all the while he ceased not with great zeale to call upon God thinking himselfe happy to have suffered that outrage for his name and so not long after yéelded up his spirit into the hands of God that gave it ¶ The horrible Massacre of the faithfull at Lyons in France ON Wednesday the seven and twentieth of August in the yeare 1572. about sixe of the clocke in the morning Sieur Mandolet governour of Lyons was advertised of the Massacre at Paris and within an houre and an halfe after a souldier passing through the stréets made it knowne to the people that the Admirall and all the Protestant Princes were slain By and by the gates of Huguenots he called them the City were shut and guards of souldiers placed here and there But lest those of the Religion should be moved with such an unwonted and an unexpected shutting in of the gates as in the time of open warre the Roman Catholiques caused it to be bruited that all was done to secure the Protestants To which report some gave too much credit for beside the ordinary guard of the governour and that of the Citadell with the thrée hundred harquebusiers of the City which amounted to about a thousand there were gathered to them many besides of the City with armes likewise with command that if they descried any troupe of those of the Religion comming abroad though but with their swords guirt unto them forthwith to cut them off with the rest also But they having enured themselves to an incredible modesty and patience gave not the least appearance of defending themselves séeing a tempest now nigh at hand which they knew could not arise without a speciall providence of God The day following notwithstanding all these faire shewes they evidently perceived that their lives were at the mercy of the Papists who had sucked the bloud of many of them in the first troubles For albeit they found no more passage for them out of the City then they did the day precedent they might not now either fréely goe out or come in upon their necessary occasions if they presented themselves in the stréets they were clapt up in prison for which cause they were fain to kéep their houses Night being come they made a prioy search in their dwelling houses some they rifled others were ransomed and the rest imprisoned Many of them never comming thither were either killed in the corners of the stréetes with daggers or else cast into the river whereof some who were living when this History was in writing were saved by swimming being carried down with the current of the streame halfe a mile beneath the City On Friday after there was a Proclamation with sound of trumpets in all the chiefe places of the City the summe of which was this that those of the Religion were to appeare before the governour at his house there to be informed what the Kings pleasure was concerning them The greater part being but too credulous feared not to make their appearance at the place assigned whence soone after they were committed to sundry prisons The night following there were heard from all parts of the City lamentable cries and shréekings not onely of such as were massacred in their houses but of others halfe wounded to death whom they haled to the river From that time forwards there were such murthers and outrages committed throughout the City that it séemed hell was set open and that Devils in the likenesse of men comming forth thence ran roring to and fro in the stréets On Sunday which was the last of this moneth of August about eight of the clock in the morning the rest who were left unmassacred the Fryday before were made an end of then About one of the clocke the same day commandement was given that under every Ancient twenty five armed men with twelve Porters should be gathered to conduct them to Saint Georges gate which is by the Archbishops house in which were more then thrée hundred and fifty prisoners in which place the great Massacre was to bee executed The â—eyes of the Archbishops house wherein so many prisoners were inclosed were delivered unto this bloudy crue who joyfully offered themselves to performe so horrible a businesse The which the ordinary executioner refused and common Souldiers abhorred to undertake when the same was first propounded unto them they answering peremptorily they would never doe it The first alleadged that if according to the course of Iustice sentence of death had béen denounced against them he knew what he had to doe but for this their purpose he told them he thought they might have but too many executioners in the City to satisfie their desire The souldiers answered they thought it more then inhumane to cut the throats of such as never offended them But if the prisoners had made any Insurrection or sedition in the City they then might have some colour of reason to doe it otherwise they meant not to staine the honor of their profession which is accompanied with noblenesse of spirit with so villanous an act more besitting butchers then souldiers But Mandelot and his accomplices were not so scrupulous for within thrée houres after Clou Captaine of the Harquebusters of the City came with an enraged troupe c. the greater part wherof were furnished with short swords and hangers As soone as Le Clou entred into the great Court he gave the prisoners to understand with a loud voice that they must die and turning him
towards his slaughter men he said on on goe in and to your worke but first he forgat not to demand the prisoners purses for his booty which when he pocketted up he gat him into a Gallery there to satisfie his hellish lust in taking a view of this rufull spectacle The murtherers hegan to fall upon the poore prisoners with such barbarous cruelty hacking and hewing them in so furious a manner that within lesse than an houre they were all cut in pieces not so much as one escaped their hands All these for the most part were massacred knéeling on their knées and lifting up their eies and hands to God for mercy whilst they had their hands and fingers cut off ¶ The death and martyrdome of Francis le Bossu a merchant together with his sons AMong all those who confessed rhe name of Iesus Christ and gave their lives for his truth a certaine Merchant of hats and caps called Francis le Bossu well deserves to be set in the fore ranke with his two sonnes for whilest he trampled in the bloud of his brethren being besmeared therewith and spiriting as it were in his face he encouraged his children to take their death willingly and patiently using this spéech Children we are not to learne now that it hath alwaies béen the portion of Beléevers to bee hated cruelly used and devoured by Vnbeléevers as Christs silly Shéep of ravening wolves if wee suffer with Christ we shall also reigne with him Let not these drawne swords terrifie us they will be but as a bridge whereby we shall passe over out of a miserable life into immortall blessednesse We have breathed and lived long enough among the wicked let us now goe and live with our God let us joyfully march after this great company which is here gon before us and let us make way for them that shall follow after When he saw the murtherers come he clasped his armes about his two sonnes and they likewise embraced their father as if the father meant to be a buckler to his children and the children as if by the bond of nature which binds them to defend his life from whence they received it they meant to ward off the blowes which were comming towards their father though with the losse of their owne lives who when the massacre was ended were all thrée found dead thus embracing one another Now after this furious assault these impudent creatures went up and downe the City shewing their white doublets all besprinkled with bloud boasting that some had killed an hundred some more some lesse Forthwith the great gates of the Archbishops house were set wide open for all commers of whom surely there was none were they of the devoutest Romanists but must néeds have their hearts wounded and pierced within them to sée so hideous a slaughter And indéed some of them were heard to say when they beheld The Papists abhorre their own cruelties this so inhumane and cruell an act That certainly they were not men but devils in the habit of men that had done this The next morning which was Munday the first of September the remainder of corpses which were not cast into the water were put into great boats which being rowed over to the other side of the river of Saon were all cast on shore there the corpses being also spread upon the ground nigh to the Abbey of Esnay like dung upon the earth The Monkes would at no hand yéeld to have them buried in their Churchyard estéeming them unworthy of buriall fearing also that so many put together would be a meanes to infect the aire and therefore gave them a signe to have them throwne into the river Now as the multitude were dragging them in thither an Apothecary came and informed them that money might be made of the grease that was taken out of their bodies Then were the most corpulent bodies presently sought out which when they had ripped up a great quantity of that commodity being gotten thence was sold by these Merchants for thrée shillings the pound And then not knowing how to wrecke their malice any further upon them after many derisions and scornes which the standers by but especially the Italians had done to these poore despised carkasses they were tumbled into a great pit and the rest thrown into the river Those of Daulphine of Languedoc and Provence were amased to sée so many bodies floating upon the water some dismembred others fastned together with long poles others lying on the shore some having their eies put out others their noses eares and hands cut off stabbed in with daggers in every part of their bodies so as some among them had no humane shape remaining Yea so great a number of these mangled corpses presented themselves on the port of Tournon that the men and women of the place began to make an outcry as if the enemies had bin at their gates Not many moneths after when all these bloudy Tragedies were ended the Pope sent a Legate to the King called Cardinall Vrsin This Legat was received with great solemnity at Lyons and the stréets hung with tapestry Now having heard masse at Saint Iohns Church and returning by the same dore which he went in at the greatest number of the massacrers attended his comming there and as he passed by they all knéeled downe for his absolution But the Legate not knowing the reason why they knéeled so before him one of the principall agents knéeling there amongst them told the Legat that they were those The massacrers absolved by the Popes Legat. who had béen the actors in the massacre When the â—legate perceived that to be the cause he absolved them all with making the signe of the Crosse ¶ Persecution at Angiers in France ¶ Master Iohn Mason a learned Minister together with his wife and some others Martyrs AS soone as the massacre was begun at Paris A Protestant minister murchered in his garden a Gentleman of Paris called Monsoreau obtained a Pasport with letters to massacre those of the Religion at Anglers Who being disappointed of his prey in one place came to the lodging of a reverend and learned Minister called Master Iohn Mason sirnamed de Launay Sieur of Riviere Méeting his wife at his entrance into the house he saluted her and kist her as it is the manner in France especially among the Courtiers and asked her where her husband was She answered him that he was walking in his garden and then directed him the way unto him Monsoreau having lovingly embraced La Riviere said unto him Doe you know wherefore I am come the King hath commanded me to kill you forthwith and hath given me expresse charge to doe it as you shall know by his letters After which words he shewed him a pistoll ready charged Riviere reylyed that hee knew not wherein he had offended the King but séeing saith he you séeke my life give me a little leave to cry to God for mercy and to recommend my spirit