to God The same year there was an Ancient Religious man that had lain long in the Inquisition who was at last brought forth and condemned after which the Fryars brought a Crucifix to him importuning him to kiss and adore it He seeing their importunity said to them If you take not this Idol out of my sight I shall spit upon it The Fryars hearing this sent him away immediately to the Fire where with great Courage and Constancy he resigned up his Spirit to God Of the Spanish Inquisition Since mention is often made of the Spanish Inquisition It may not be amiss to give a brief Account of the Original and Practice thereof Ferdinando and Isabella King and Queen of Spain having expelled the Moors or Turks out of the Kingdom of Granada who had inhabited there Seven Hundred Seventy Eight years they resolved to Reform Religion and granted the Conquered Moors Liberty to continue there and enjoy their Goods if they would turn Christians and because there were many Jews that had likewise continued there ever since Titus conquered Jerusalem they had also leave to remain there upon the same Conditions but all that refused were commanded presently to go out of Spain Yet afterwards observing that those who staid were only Christians in name and had submitted meerly to save their Estates instead of providing Religious men who with Gentleness and meekness might instruct and reduce them from their Errors they by the advice of the Dominican Fryars erected a Court of Inquisition whereby the poor wretches instead of Instruction were robbed of all their Estates and either put to most cruel deaths or else suffered intolerable whippings and other Tortures and spent the rest of their lives in shame and misery neither was this only Inflicted upon such as blasphemed Christ but for observing the least Jewish or Moorish Ceremony or holding the smallest Error in the Christian Religion But this Holy Inquisition as they call it which was first erected against Jews and Moors was afterwards turned against the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ and for suppressing the Gospel and the True Professors thereof and thus you have briefly the Original of it let us a little observe the Method of their proceeding therein As soon as Information is given against any Person they do not presently cite the party to appear before them but send one of their Informers who taking opportunity to meet with him usually greets him thus Sir I was yesterday by Accident at my Lords Inquisitors who said that they had occasion to speak with you about certain Affairs and therefore they command me to summon you to appear before them to morrow at such an Hour The party not daring to refuse goes to the place and sends in word That he is come to attend them and being called in the Inquisitors ask him What suit he hath to them and when he Answers That he is come upon Summons they enquire his Name For say they we know not whether you be the man but since you are come if you have any thing to inform the Court of either concerning your self or any other you may let us hear it for the discharge of your Conscience Now in this Case it is the safest way constantly to deny that he hath any thing to declare to them For if through simplicity 〈◊〉 man doth accuse himself or any other they rejoyce as having attained their desires and so presently commit him to Prison If any chance to make his escape they have many devices to fetch him and find him again one of them is by making his Picture to the Life and sending it about by their Apparitors and Promoters who are commonly the greatest Villairs in the Countrey and will swear any thing against the Prisoner After the Prisoner has been six or eight Months in Gaol he is brought before the Inquisitors who tell him that they have deeply considered his case and have found that he doth not declare the whole Truth and therefore they are resolved he shall be rackt that they may draw from him by force what by fair means he will not acknowledge and then they advise him rather to confess voluntarily and thereby avoid that pain and danger that attends him but whether he confess or not it is the same thing for to the rack he must go to be compelled to confess more Then is the poor Prisoner led into a deep and dark Dangeon under Ground where the Rack standeth passing through many doors before he come to it because the terrible cryes and schreiks of the tormented should not be heard Then the Lords Inquisitors set themselves upon a Scaffold hard by the Rack and the Torches being lighted the Hangman or Tormenter comes in all clothed from Head to Foot in black Canvas and a long black hood likewise which covereth his Face having only two holes in it to look out at which sight doth many times very much affright the poor Soul to see one in the likeness of a Devil come to Torment him The Inquisitors being seated near him again perswade him to confess freely and Voluntarily and then with very sharp words command him to be stript stark naked yea though it be the modestest Virgin or chastest Matron in the Countrey whose grief is not so much the pain as to be seen naked by so many persons and yet these wicked Villains without any regard of honesty will not by the utmost prayers or Intreaties of the most virtuous Women or Maidens be perswaded to forbear one jot of this barbarous Impudence As if a Shirt or Shift could hinder the Rack from cruelly tormenting them The party being stript naked the Lords Inquisitors signify their pleasure how they will have him Tormented and the first kind of Torment is usually the Gibbet or Pully First one comes behind him and binds his hands together with a Cord Eight or Ten times about and then his Thumbs in the same manner the Inquisitors bidding him every time to bind them harder than other and then both hands and Thumbs are fastned to a Pully which hangs to the Gibbet they then fasten great and heavy bolts to his heels and hing upon those bolts divers Iron weights and so hoise the poo◠wretch up from the ground Having continued thus for some time they let him down and hang twice as much more to his heels and then hoising him up they let him slip half way dow◠of a sudden which rends and tears Arms Shoulders Back Leggs and all his whole body out of joynt by reason of the sudden Jirk and the weights hanging at his heels If the party schreik or cry out they roar out as fast and call him Heretick Rogue and Dog and if in his cruel pangs he call upon Jesus Christ for his aid and assistance they mock and deride him saying Why callest thou on Jesus Christ Let Jesus Christ alone and tell us the Truth c. After they have tormented him about three hours the Inquisitors ask the
the horrible Murderers of the Admiral shewing his Sword which he said he brought from that exploit to slash the Rochellers but upon Tryal his heart failed him and he ran away and one of the Rochellers pursuing him slew him stript him and left his body in the Field and before next morning the dogs had torn his Face In one Months space the Papists discharged above Thirteen Thousand Shot against the Town and made many assaults but always came off with loss The Siege continued two Months and the Famine much increased upon them but by Divine Providence when all other Provision failed them there came a multitude of small Fishes into the Haven which were never seen there before and was a very great relief to them who continued during the siege but presently after the publishing the Edict of Peace they went away and were never seen more A while after the Rochellers were likewise freed from the siege by means of the Poland Ambassdors and enjoyed their former Priviledges It is very remarkable that most of those Persons which were employed in the Massacre of Paris and other Places were killed at this siege for there were slain before this Town three Masters de Camp divers Lords and Gentlemen above Threescore Captains as many Lieutenants and Ensigns and above Twenty Thousand Common Souldiers The next year after the King himself who was at least the Countenancer of all these horrible Massacres being in the prime of his Youth not above Twenty five years old fell sick of a languishing disease his Physicians let him blood and purged him to no purpose for he consumed away so strangely as astonished many He long strugled against his disease but at last betook himself to his Bed for about fourteen days before his death and was sore tormented with a great effusion of blood which issued from all parts of his body and one time to the terror of those about him he rouled himself in his own blood A while before he died he desired his Mother to pursue his Enemies to the utmost repeating the same with great cagerness and saying Madam I pray you heartily to do it and so expired May 30. 1574. And it was observed that the rest of the Chief Agents were strangely cut off The Duke of Anjou the Kings Brother afterwards King Henry the Third was stabbed by a Jacobine Monk in the same Chamber where he sate in Council for contriving the late Tragedies The Duke of Guize was murdered in the Kings own Chamber Five and Forty Persons waiting with Swords and Daggers to do it The Queen Mother broke her heart and died the first of January after And in short it hath been observed by a good Author that since the year of our Lord 1560 of a Thousand Murderers that remained unpunished by men there was not ten who escaped the Divine hand of God but came to deserved and wretched Ends suitable to their bloody and wicked Lives At a Town called Sansay in France in the year 1593 one Margaret Pieron was by her maid accused to the Jesuits for not going to Mass and for keeping a Bible in her house who complaining thereof to the Judges they sent for her and said Margaret are you not willing to return home to your house and there enjoy your Husband and Children Yes said she if it may stand with the good will of God Then said they If thou wilt do but a small matter thou shalt be set at Liberty If said she it be not contrary to Gods glory and my own Salvation you shall hear what I will say to it No such thing said they for all that we require is but this That a Scaffold being set up in the chief part of the Town you shall there crave pardon for offending the Law and a fire being made you shall burn your Bible in it without speaking a word I pray you my Masters said she tell me is my Bible a good Book or no Yes said they we confess it is only to please the Jesuits we would have thee throw it in the Fire Imagine it to be but Paper and then you may burn it and you may buy another at any time and thereby you may secure your Life They spent two Hours in perswading her that she might commit a less Evil to do a greater good But she couragiously answered them That by the help of God she would never do it Will not the People say said she This is a wretched Woman indeed that burns the Bible wherein all the Articles of Christian Religion are contained I will certainly burn my Body rather thaâ— I will burn my Bible Upon this shâ—wâ—s committed to Prison and fed only with bâ—ead and water and her Friends forbid to come to her but continuing stedfast in the Truth she was thereupon condemned to be set upon a Sâ—â—ffold to have the Bible burnt before her Face her self to be strangled and her body to be dragged through the Streets to a Dunghil which Sentence she willingly and cheerfully underwent In the year 1628. The City of Rochel was again besieged with a great Army by the French King whereby the Inhabitants were in such extremity for want of Victuals that they â—at Horses Dogs Cats Rats and Mice â—nd after that the poor Protestant's lived two Months upon Cow-hides and Goat skins boylâ—d They likewise eat old Gloves and whatâ—ever was made of Leather yea the poor peoâ—le cut off the buttocks of the dead and eat â—hem young Maids of Fourteen or Sixteen â—ears old looked like old Women of an â—undred years old a Bushel of Wheat was sold â—r Twenty Pound a Pound of Bread Twenty â—hillings a Quarter of Mutton above six â—ound An Egg eight shillings An Ounce of â—ugar Half a Crown a dryed Fish Twenty â—illings a Pint of Milk Thirty Shillings After a while the City was taken and some English that were therein when they came aboard looked like Anatomies or dead Bodies And since that to this very day the Protestants have suffered very great hardships and Persecutions in France by having their Churches palled down by Fires and Imprisonments and Banishments by being excluded from all Offices and Imployments of Trust or Profit and by all manner of discouragements whatsoever and that only upon the Account of their Religion and all this contrary to Oaths Protestations Edicts and Proclamations which have been solemnly made and granted to them for the free Exercise of the Protestant Religion The Persecutions of the Protestants in Italy Spain Portugal and the Low-Countries With an Account of the Original Progress and Cruel Torments of the Spanish Inquisition LET us next proceed to look into Italy which being under the Inspection of the Pope it may well be supposed not to harbour many Protestants at least such as dare openly appear to be such by reason of the Inquiâ—tim which was first Instituâ—â—d against the Moors and Jews in Spain but is now 〈…〉 the discovery and Tormentâ—◠〈…〉 Christians yet notwithstanding 〈…〉
and drown them some Wives were forced to help to hang their Husbands in one Town they caused a young Man to murther his own Father and then hanged him up in another place they forced a Woman to kill her Husband and then caused her Son to kill his Mother and then immediately hanged her Son and their cursed malice was thereby shewn that they might as much as in them lay destroy Soul and Body together Yea so detestable was their Cruelty that they taught Irish Children to kill English Children and two Boys boasted that they had at several times murthered and drowned thirty six English Women and Children The Irish Women followed this Army of Murtherers and provoked the Men to Cruelty crying out Kill them all spare neither Man Woman nor Child and many of them stoned the English Women and their Children to Death and cryed Slay them all the English are fit meat for Dogs and their Children are Bastards Yea so Implacable was their malice that one of them was very angry with her Husband because he did not bring the Grease of a Fat Gentlewoman whom they had slain for them to makes Candles of which was commonly practised by them in other places Yea they boasted that the day was their own and that ere long they would not 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 sind themselves so suddenly surprized and that without remedy What Schrieks Cries 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 woful 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 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 The Cruelties Plots and Treasons of the Papists against the Protestants in England 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 betterthan our Neighbours Englishmen are generally accounted to be of a merciful nature and pitiful disposition apt to be touched with the miseries of others are not in their own natures bloody barbarous or Cruel what then may be the cause of those dreadful marks of Rage and Fury that have been seen among us How has this Fair Island been made an Accldama a Field of Skulls and Martyrs bones All this we shall sind 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 very good men if their Religion had not hindred 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 invenom the Soul instead of being Meek 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 Governours 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 swing 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 Churchâ— 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 an 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 testify 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 Mathematican 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
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 burnt for Heresie In the Year 1555 Thomas Tomkins whose hand B. Bonner burnt in Prison to try his constancy was afterward burnt in Smithfield William Hunter was cruelly handled and then burnt Mr. Higbed and Mr. Causton were burnt in Essex William Piggot Stephen Knight and John Lawrence were examined before Bishop Bonner and then burnt in several places in Essex Dr. Farrar Bishop of St. Davids was burnt there and Rawlins White was burnt at Cardiff George Marsh at Chester William Flower at Westminster John Cardmaker a godly Minister in Smithfield and with him John Warn About this time came a Letter from King Philip and Queen Mary to Bishop Bonner that Hereticks were not prosecuted with such severity as they ought to be which easily prevailed with Bonner who was ready enough for Cruelty and thereupon condemned John Symson and John Ardeley of Essex who were burnt there Thomas Hawks Thomas Watts Thomas Osmund William Bamford Thomas Osburn all of Cogshall in Essex being sent up to Bonner for not receiving the Sacrament at Easter they were condemned and burnt in several places in Essex John Bland Nicholas Shetterden Humfrey Middleton John Frankesh were all burnt And a few days after Nicholas Hall Christopher Wade John Harpole and Margery Boley were burnt in Kent Dirick Carver John Launder Thomas Iveson James Abbies John Denley John Newman Patrick Packingham Richard Hook and John Newman were likewise burnt for Hereticks The Prisons were now full in every place and six men were Condemned and burnt at Canterbury and no thing but Cruelty and Oppression was to be seen through the whole Land Whereupon the Queens Commissioners for the more quick dispatch took out ten of the Prisoners whom they sent to B. Bonner and being examined by him about the Sacrament they constantly adhering to the Truth were condemned and burnt in several places Robert Samuel a Minister suffered Martyrdom at Norwich two others at Ipswich five more in the Diocess of Canterbury the famous Ridley and Latimer at Oxford and Mr. Philpot in Smithfield In the year 1556. their wicked and bloody rage still continued the Land was all in a Flame and Blood and Cruelty reigned in every place For there were seven burnt in Smithfield in one fire four more in Canterbury and Dr. Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury was burnt in Oxford And to conclude though the Reign of Queen Mary was the shortest of any Prince since the Conquest except King Richard the Third yet in her days there was more Christian blood spilt for Religion than in any Kings Reign whatsoever since Lucius the first Christian King established Christianity in this Land for in the five years of her Reign there perished in the consuming Flames for the Profession of the Protestant Religion no less than two Hundred seventy seven persons of all Ages and both Sexes there suffered five Bishops and Archbishops twenty one Divines eight Gentlemen four Tradesmen an hundred Husbandmen Servants and Labourers twenty six Wives twenty Widows and Virgins two Boys and two Infants one in the Isle of Guernsey who springing out of his Mothers Womb as she was burning at the Stake was most inhumanely thrown in again and burnt for a young Heretick And besides these there were sixty four persecuted for their Religion whereof seven were whipt sixteen perished in Prison twelve were buried in Dunghills and many more lay condemned but were saved by the Death of Queen Mary The Succession of Queen Elizabeth put a stop to the cruel rage of the Papists for the Power and Authority of the Pope vanished and Peace Rest and Liberty for all the good People of the Nation ensued But the Papists out of their extreme Loyalty to the Pope thought it a sin to live peaceably under an Heretical Prince Especially when two Popes had thundered out Excommunications against her cursing her and freeing her Subjects from their Allegiance towards her and threatning them under danger of the Wrath of God not to assist her but to imploy all their Power to bring her to condign punishment and promising rewards to all persons who should lay hands upon this proscribed Woman which was to be paid out of the Treasury of the Church together with a full pardon of all their sins who should engage against her But when the Pope and his Accomplices saw that all this would not effect their desires the Queens Subjects being too faithful to engage in any such villanous designs they then proceed to secret Plots and Attempts against her As that wherein the Duke of Norfolk and Robert Biddulph were engaged in the year 1566. and for which Northumberland Suffered at York and after that Leonard Daves designed mischiefs against her with the like ill success In the year 1578. the Invasion of Ireland at the great charges of the Pope was happily prevented The next year James Fitz-morris is sent into Ireland with Saunders who carried consecrated Banners to them The next year after San Joseph was likewise sent thither with seven hundred Spanish and Italian Souldiers and the Popes promise of ten hundred thousand Crowns to carry on the work of Rebellion and to them joined the Earl of Desmond and his Brothers but they were all happily defeated But these projects likewise failing they conspire the death of the Queen and make several Attempts to murther her first by one Somervile and Hall Priests and one of them being condemned was found secretly murdered for fear he should discover others After this followed the practices of Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador here with Throgmorton and Parry who had Letters of plenary Indulgence Pardon Remission of all their sins sent them by the Pope for killing the Queen And the same year Savage made the like vow to murder the Queen being instigated thereto by Gifford and Hodgson two Popish Priests A while after Babington upon the same principles ergaged to commit the like wicked act by the procurement of one Ballard a Jesuit but being happily discovered divers of them were condemned and justly executed for the same and were registred for Saints and Martyrs in the Romish Calender Yet by the means of the French Ambassador one Stafford and Moody were dealt withal to commit the like Villany Moody proposing to lay a bag of Gun-powder under the Queens Bed-Chamber But this like the rest being happily prevented the Pope stirs up his Dear Son Philip the Second King of Spain openly to invade England which he did in the Year 1588. who though in Queen Marys time he pretended great kindness to the Queen yet now in hopes
good Protestant who after his Majesty 's repeated Proclamations for the discovery and apprehension of the Plotters after the Execution of so many of the Conspirators upon the clearest Evidence imaginable and after the Votes and Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament thereupon shall in the least doubt of the reality of this horrid and damnable Popish Plot as it is fully exprest in the Vote of both Houses March 15. 1679. Resolved Nemine Contradicente by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament Assembled That they do declare that they are fully satisfied by the Proofs they have heard that there now is and for divers years last past hath been an horrid and treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion for the Murdering of his Majesties Sacred Person and for Subverting the Protestant Religion and the Ancient and Established Government of this Kingdom John Brown Cleric Parliam NOtwithstanding the clear and plain discovery of these Popish Intrigues yet the Papists and their adherents were still resolved if possible to stifle their horrid Plot and many Arts and Tricks were used to suppress it and several sham Plots were set up to ensnare and ruin the soberest part of the Kingdom For the better managing whereof witnesses were raked out of Prisons and Jails to swear against Persons the freest both in reputation and life from the suspicion of all such crimes as were laid to their charge and Juries were likewise tampered with so that innocent people were frighted thereat since villains were so easily credited if they swore against any that stood in the Papists way upon this account fell the Noble L. Russel Coll. Sydney Mr. Cornish and several others so that every man was afraid of another and men durst hardly converse with each other After this followed the seizing of the Charter of London and divers others in the chief Cities and Towns in England The Bishops were imprisoned for Petitioning Maudlin Colledge had its legal Possessors turned out and was filled with none but Papists and divers other outragious acts were committed against all Law and Right in order to the perfecting the great work of converting these three Kingdoms to Popish superstition and reducing them to slavery and arbitrary Government But the People of England haâ—ing suffered these and many other indignities they at length were so extreamly provoked that they resolved if possible to free themselves from the Chains they say prepared for them and therefore the principal Nobility and Gentry sent an invitation to his Highness the Prince of Orange to intreat him to come to their assistance who accordingly landed in England and with his preserce only by the Almightys help put all our Popish Enemies to flight and restored to us our former state of happiness and tranquillity for which the whole Nation by their Representatives made it their humble request that his Highness with his Royal Consort would be pleased to accept of the Crown and they were accordingly Proclaimed King and Queen with all manner of Joy and satisfaction Feb. 13. 1688. For which unspeakable blessing let us conclude with the Thanksgiving of the Church of England set forth by Authority upon the discovery of that Hellish Popish Plot called the Gunpowder Treason in 1605. NOT unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be ascribed all honour and glory in all Churches of the Saints â—roughout all Generations for thou Lord hast discovered the Snares of Death thou hast broken them and we are delivered be thou still our mighty Protector and scatter our Cruel Enenies which delight in Blood Infatuate their Counsel and root â—â—t that Babylonish and Antichristian â—ect which say of Jerusalem Down with it down with it even to the Ground and to this end strengthen the hands of our Gracious King the Nobles â—â—d Magistrates of the Land with Judgment and Justice to â—ut off these workers of Iniquity whose Reliâ—ion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction whose Practice is Murthering of Souls Bodies and to root them out of the Consines and Limits of this Kingdom that they may never prevail against us and Triumph iâ— the ruin of thy Church And give us grace by true and seriâ—us Repentance to avert these and the like Judgments from us This Lord we earnestly crave at thy merciful hands together with the continuance of thy powerful Protection over our Dread Soveraign the whole Church and these Realms and the speedy confusion of our Implocable Enemies And that for thy dear Son's sake our only Mediator and advocate Amen An Abslract of the late Persecutions and Inhumane Oppressions of the Protestants in France in 1686 and 1687. THough the barbarous cruelty and Treachery of of the Romanists is already sufficiently demonstrated and the World thereby fully convinced that Popish Treaties are not to be relled on yet their new and horrid Barbarities in France since the Massacre at Paris and those other Violations of the most Sacred Oaths and Ingagements may convince the most obstinate that they make it a point of Religion to destroy Protestants over whom that Church pretends to have a Soveraign and Absolute Dominion of which Thousands of French Protestants now in England confirm the truth who having felt the smart of a severe Persecution in France are fled from thence to avoid the extream fury and insupportable violence thereof But though the generality may have heard much discourse of the French Persecutions and have been very bountiful in relieving these miserable People yet I suppose few know the particular Barbarities and Inhumanities which they have suffered from their merciless Enemies To inform them therefore I have thought fit to make a brief abstract of some notorious Villanies committed by the Papists against them since a large Volume would not contain the innumerable Cruelties they have exercised upon these innocent Souls It is known to all intelligent Persons that for the great Services which the Protestants performed to Henry the Fourth called the Great King of France and Grandfather to the present King in asserting his Rights to the Crown against the Papists who were then in Rebellion against him that great Prince being willing to demonstrate his gratitude to them confirmed to them an entire Liberty of Conscience by a Law called the Edict of Nants whereby they were to enjoy all mâ—nner of Liberty and Priviledges both in Religious and Civil matters with his other Subjects which he declared should be perpetual and inviolable and which was confirmed by his Son Lewis the 13th and likewise by the present King at their coming to the Crown Lewis the 14th was very young when he ascended the Throne and soon after the Prince of Conde raised a Civil War in the Kingdom against him being assisted by the Papists but the Protestants by their Signal Loyalty to him overthrew the designs of his Enemies and setled that Crown on his head which he wears to this day and of which he pretended then to
was never in arms yet he was prepared for death esteeming himself most happy to sâ—ffer for the name of Jesus Christ At length the Monks and Friers found out Judges though many refused to be concerned who were willing enough to condemn him to death The day he was executed his Sentence was pronounced in the presence of many Monks which he received with a Christian resignation without any emotion fear or trouble in his countenance The Monks would not leave him though he oft desired them but accompanied him to the Scaffold where he made an excellent Prayer and died so edifying a Death that they themselves were forced to avouch he died like a Saint In fine all the Heathenish and Popish Barbarities of former Ages were revived and acted over again upon these blessed Martyrs that it is scarce possible to believe those who bear the name of Christians should be so inhumane whereby above Eight Thousand Persons have expired and a multitude more even all the Protestant Inhabitants of those once flourishing Valleys of Piedmont driven into banishment though kindly received by the Switzers and those of Genevâ— who with Christian compassion treated them with all manner of kindess and tenderness Let us all who have been so lately delivered from the like treatment which was designed for us never forget so wonderful a Salvation but be truly thankful to God and our most gracious King and Queen whom the Almighty hath been pleased to make the glorious Instruments of our redemption from Popery and Slavery To which let all good Protestants and Englishmen say Amen Gods Judgments upon Popish Persecutors discovered in some eminent Examples 1. FRom the First plantation of the Christian Religion in this Nation under King Lucius there was never any King or Queen of England in whose Reign so much Christian blood was spilt as in four years space during the Reign of Queen Mary But as she was prodigal of the Lives of the best of her Subjects and a Persecutor of the Gospel so it pleased God to follow her with Plagues and Judgments all her life for nothing prospered which she took in hand of which we shall give some few Instances The fairest and greatest Ship she had called the Great Harry was burnt by Lightning from Heaven the Christian World at that time not affording such another Then she would needs marry Philip King of Spain thereby Subjecting England to Strangers yet with her utmost endeavour she could never set the English Crown on his head Then did she attempt the Restitution of Abby Lands and had all the assistance that the Pope could give her therein yet she was utterly crost also in that Design Then she lost Calice in France which had been in the possesion of the English during the Reign of eleven Kings that is from the Reign of King Edward the third with which loss she was so afflicted that she told some of her Courtiers If they opened her body when she was dead they would find Calice written in her heart She was reported to be with Child but it came to nothing Her beloved Husband left her in whom she placed her greatest felicity and content So that now she could neither enjoy him nor marry another About the same time the Land was grievously afflicted with horrible Tempests Famines Plagues mortal Diseases and burning Agues so that between October and December there died seven Aldermen in London that had been Lord Mayors and the mortality was so great that much Corn was lost in the Fields for want of men to gather it whereby great scarcity ensued and many poor people lived upon Accorns And lastly she was struck with a lingring and pining sickness whereof she died having only reigned Five years and Five monthâ— a shorter time than any of the Kings of England enjoyed since the Conquest Richard the Third only excepted 2. In the next place let us consider Gods Judgments upon some other Instruments of Cruelty and among the rest Stephen Gardiner who was a most Cruel Persecutor of the Protestants In King Heary the Eighths time he was a great stickler for the divorce from the Lally Katherine of Spain and was therefore made Bishop of Winchester In King Edward the sixths time he seemed a Friend to the Gospel and preached it up but in Queen Mary's days he was the greatest and most inveterate enemy against it and the professor thereof and continued so to his dying day For the same day that Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer were burnt at Oxford the old Duke of Norfolk came to dine with Gardiner The Bishop deferred his Dinner till about four a Clock in the Afternoon at which time came one of his Servants posting to tell him that fire was put to these Servants of God which when he was certified of he came out rejoyeing to the Duke and said Now let us go to dinner The Table was presently set and the Bishop began to eat merrily but as soon as he had earen a few bits he was on a sudden struck very sick and being carried from the Table to Bed he there continued in such intolerable Anguish and Torment that he could void nothing either by Stool or Urine His Tongue was black and swoln so big that his mouth could not contain it and his body violently Inflamed In this sad condition he lay fifteen days and then ended his miserable life In the beginning of his sickness Dr. Day Bishop of Chichester coming to see him began to speak to him about the merciful Promises of God and free Justification by the blood of Christ To whom he answered What my Lord will you open that gap now then farewell all together Open this window to the People and farewell all together And being by another Person put in mine of St. Peters denying his Master and that he ought not to despair He answered I have denied Christ with Peter but I never repented with Peter 3. Bloody Bonner though he died in his bed yet lay under the Spiritual Judgment of Impenitency and as he had been a Persecutor of the Light and a Child of Darkness so in darkness and at midnight his Carkass was tumbled into the Earth And as himself had been a Murderer so was he laid among Thieves and Murderers a place by Gods Judgment fitly appointed for him 4. Dr. Whittington Chancellor having condemned a Godly Religious woman to be Burnt at Chipping Sadbury a multitude of People came to see her Suffer and among the rest Whittington himself At the same time there was a Butcher in another place of the Town killing a Bull who was fast bound with a Rope ready to be knockt on the head the Butcher missing his stroke the Bull broke loose just as the people were coming from the Execution of this Holy Martyr the people seeing him coming severed themselves and made a Lane for him the Bull passed through them without hurting man woman or child till he came to the place where Whittington was against