General end to all By Fire thy Holy Structures fall Through this depopulated Land Ah! how long shall our Enemies Triumph and glory in our shame How long shall they blaspheme thy Name Great God and thy slow Wrath despise Thy hand out of thy bosom draw Nor longer thy revenge withold Our God thou art our King The Old Amazed world thy wonders saw Hang'd in the Water Drawn up with a puller Brain'd on an Anvil Children cut asunder A Famine in Rochel Adm of France murdred Massacre of Paris Broken on a Cross The Persecutions and Cruelties of the Papists upon the Protestants in France with an Account of the Bloody Massacre at Paris ABout the year 1209. There were divers Learn'd men in France the Disciples of our Almericus at Paris who being taken notice of to hold other Opinions then those commonly heard of at that time Six of them were brought upon Examination who freely declared that they did believe That God was no otherwise present in the Sacramental Bread than in any other Bread That it was Idolatry to build Altars to Saints or offer incense to their Images That it was rediculous to kiss or Worship Relicks They said that the Pope was Antichrist and Rome was Babylon These being counted horrible Errors in that dark time of superstition they were perswaded to recant and upon their refusal so to do were condemned and burnt at Paris And the bones of their Master Almericus which had been buried in the Church-yard were dig'd up and buried in the Fields In the year 1524 One John Clark set up a Bill on the Church door against the Popes Pardons and called him Antichrist for which being apprehended he was ordered to be whipt several days and then burned in the fore-head His Mother a Religious Woman standing by encouraged him saying with a loud voice Blessed be Christ and welcome be these marks for his sake After this he went to Mitz and there being some Images without the City which the People used to worship once a year the Evening before John Clark abhorring their Idolatry went and brake down all their Idols the next morning when the Clergy and People came to their Worship they found their Image lye all broken on the Ground upon which there began a great Tumult and John Clark was suspected and taken who presently confessed the Fact and gave Reasons for his so doing for which he was condemned to a most cruel death His Right hand was first cut off then his Nose was violently pulled off and after that his Arms and Breasts with sharp Pincers all which he sustained with admirable Patience uttering all the while the words of the 115 Psalm Their Idols are Silver and Gold the work of mens hands Lastly he was thrown into the Fire and burnt to Ashes A while after a great number of Protestants at Paris Melda Linosin and divers other Cities and Towns in France were burnt rackt whipt beaten and otherways tormented to death At Melda one was burnt for saying That the Mass was a plain denial of the death and passion of Christ He often meditated on the word of Christ He that denies me before men him will I also deny before my Father He was burned in a slow Fire and endured much torment One Stephen Brame being condemned to be burned for the Constant Profession of his Faith when the Fire was kindled a great wind drove away the Flame from him so that he stood for an hours space instructing and exhorting the People They then brought Oyl Vessels and more Faggots yet still was the flame driven from him whereupon the Hangman struck him on the head with a staff to whom he said I am condemned to be burned and do you strike me with Staves like a Dog after which the Hangman run him through the Belly with a Pike and then threw him in the Fire and scattered his Ashes in the wind Four Protestants were condemned at Roan and were carried to the Stake in a Dung Cart at which they rejoyced saying Blessed be God we are reputed as the Excrements of this World but yet our death is a sweet savour unto God Aymond de Lavoy a Godly Minister was burnt at Burdeux and likewise one Vercote another Minister who was imprisoned in such a narrow place that he could neither stand nor lye down in which they kept him seven weeks whereas before no other Malefactor could endure that Torment above fifteen days without dying or growing mad afterwards they cut off his Tongue and lastly they were so merciful to execute him One Thomas a young man of Eighteen years old coming from Geneva to Paris rebuked one for swearing whereupon he was apprehended for a Lutheran and carried before the Inquisition who committed him to Prison and rackt him so cruelly to confess his Companions that one of the bloody Inquisitors turned back his head and wept yea the Hangman self was weary He was then carryed to be burned and was let down into the Fire by a Pully and afterward puld up again and asked if he would yet turn To whom he said He was in his way to God and desired them to let him go and so he quietly slept in the Lord. The Duke of Guise a great Instrument of Persecution committed many Barbarous Cruelties upon the Protestants and among the rest at a place called Vossy he murd ed several Hundreds of Men Women and Children who were assembled to hear a Sermon mangling their Limbs and strewing them about the Seats and Galleries of the Church and at another Town called Seulis some were beheaded some whipt some beaten others sent to the Gallys the poor women being likewise made Slaves Among the rest one Fournia a Minister was tormented by having his Thumbs strained with a small cord till the blood issued out at the ends of them and with another Cord was hoisted up by the Thumbs and then twitcht down again having great Stones tyed to his Toes and so was hanged till his Spirits failed him and then they suddenly let him fall with his Face on the hard Floor with which Barbarous Usage he in a short time dyed being near fifty years old In the year 1559 in the Reign of Henry the second of France there was one Ann du Bourg a Noble-man and of admirable wisdom and understanding who when the King came one time into his Parliament at Paris made a bold Speech before him wherein he gave hanks to Almighty God for moving the Kings Heart to be present at such a weighty matter as that of Religion which it seems was then to be debated humbly intreating him to consider well thereof it being the Cause of Christ himself which of good Right ought to be maintained by Princes but the King was so far from harkning to him that being inraged he commanded him to be committed to Prison and protested to him in these very words These Eyes of mine shall see thee burnt And a while after he was condemned to dye In the
Nicholas Belerrian a Minister in Shrop-shire John Adams a Taylor and John Lacels a Gentleman belonging to King Henry the Eighth these beholding the Invincible Constancy and patience of Mistriss Askew were thereby much incouraged in their Sufferings About the same time Sir John Blage of the Kings Privy Chamber was falsly accused to have spoken against the Mass upon which he was condemned to be burnt in Smithfield whereupon the Earl of Bedford begged his pardon of the King who Commanded it to be drawn immediately After his release Sir George coming to the King Ah my Pig said he for so he usually called him Yea said Blage if your Majesty had not been better to me than your Bishops were your Pig had been roasted before this time Presently after Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and his Confederates set forth a Cruel Proclamation in the Kings Name for abolishing the Scriptures and all other English Books that discovered the truth to the people and having obtained this they very much rejoyced therein hoping that they had now for ever suppressed the Gospel so that it should never rise again and to strike the greater terror into mens minds they made a diligent search after the Professors of the Truth of whom they took the Names of some drove away others and hereby doubted not but to attain their ends But it pleased God that in the midst of these subtil Contrivances for the destruction of his Gospel and Servants to take away King Henry the Eighth within four Months after the Proclamation and thereby all their hopes and projects were utterly disappointed King Henry the Eighth being dead his only Son Prince Edward our English Josiah ascended the Throne under whom the Protestant Religion was established and Popery and Superstition abolished for he caused all Images to be demolished and as Idolatrous to be taken out of all Churches within his Dominions the Learned men of his time he encouraged and commanded them to open and expound the Scriptures he abolished the Mass and ordered the Service to be read in the English Tongue and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be administred in both kinds to the People But it pleased God in a short time to take him to himself for in the Seventh Year of his Reign and the seventeenth Year of his age he was taken with a lingring sickness during which time a Marriage was concluded between the Lord Guilford Dudley eldest Son to the Duke of Northumbereand and the Lady Jane the Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk whose mother being then alive was Daughter to Marry King Henry the Eighth's second Sister The Marriage being finisht and the King every day more sick than other so that he seemed past Recovery the Duke of Northumberland being ambitious to advance his Family perswaded the King that the Church and the True Religion would be in great danger if he did not chuse a pious Successor and that it was the part of a good Prince to set aside all other respects when the Glory of God and the good of his Subjects were concerned The King partly for his great desire to have the Protestant Religion confirmed and partly for the intire love which he bore to his Cousin the Lady Jane signed Letters Patents under the Broad Seal to appoint the Lady Jane to succeed him in the Kingdom although her Title were excluded by the Lady Mary who was alwaies a zealous Papist and the Lady Elizabeth This was afterwards confirmed by the Nobility and Chief Lawyers of the Kingdom and was subscribed to by all the Kings Council the Lord Maior and Aldermen of Lndon who upon the Death of King Edward which happened in a short time after proclaimed the Lady Jane Queen in London and Westminster The Lady Mary being in Hartford-shire and hearing of it presently sent to the Lords of the Council commanding and requiring them to Proclaim her Queen which if they refused to do she threatned to recover her Right by force of Arms. The Lords returned answer That the Lady Jane was invested and possessed of the Crown by just Right and Title both by the Ancient Laws of the Land and by Letters Patents signed and sealed by the late King before his death and therefore they declared they would adhere to her and to none other requesting the Lady Mary that she would not upon any pretence endeavour to disturb the peace of the Kingdom promising her that if she would carry her self as a dutifull Subject they would be ready to do her any service The Lady Mary having received this answer withdrew further from the City and the Council being sensible of her stout and unquiet disposition they raised an Army which was commanded by the Duke of Northumberland The Lady Mary went into Suffolk and Norfolk gathering such aid of the Commons as she could and kept her self in Framingham Castle to whom the Suffolk men first resorted who being alwayes forward in promoting the Gospel promised her their aid and assistance provided she would make no alteration of the Protestant Religion as it was established by her Brother King Edward To this she readily agreed and confirmed it with such Vows and Ptotestations that none could suspect her whereupon they joined with her and thus by the help of the Protestants she vanquished the Duke of Northumberland and his Army and was settled in the Kingdom but she soon forgot her promises for these very Suffolk men observing that Popery would be re-established they Petitioned to her to perform her word to them at which she was extreamly displeased and told them Forasmuch as you who are Members desire to rule your Head you shall one day find that Members must obey not se k to rule Yea one of the chief of these men Mr. Dob by name she caused for the Terror of others to be set in the Pillory several times and divers others that presented Supplications to her not to set up Popery she caused to be sent to prison Queen Mary being settled in the Kingdom the Lady Jane her Father the Duke of Northumberland and her Husband the Lord Guilford Dudley were soon after Beheaded and the Queen soon discovered her disaffection to the Protestant Religion by displacing all the Orthodox Bishops as Poinet Ridley Scorie Hooper Coverdale and by releasing out of the Tower Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester whom she made Lord Chancellor of England and Bonner who was made Bishop of London Then the Queen publisht a Proclamation that she was resolved to observe and maintain the Catholick Religion wherein she was bred up requiring all her Subjects quietly to embrace the same A while after this Bonner and Gardiner begun a cruel and bloody persecution upon the Protestants and made them fall in heaps For Mr. Hooper Mr. Rogers Mr. Taylor Mr. Bradford Mr. Saunders all famous men were condemned and burned for Heresie In the year 1555. Thomas Tomkins whose hand B. Bonner burnt in prison to try his constancy was afterward burnt in Smithfield
man miscarry if he will part with his Silver to save his Soul so that it is fitted for a most wicked and licentious life since men may sin at the highest rate and not endanger their souls for if they have money the Popes Pardon clears them from the greatest Villanies so that though they are never so guilty they can with their last breath solemnly call God to witness that they are as Innocent as the Child unborn Qu. Since the Popish Religion is such a compound of Humane Policy and framed to make men depend upon the Pope and be subject to his power though against their Sovereigns Interest we may wonder that so many Princes do with one consent joyn their power to support his Throne Ans This indeed seems to be a very strange infatuation and we can give no other reason for it but that it is the secret Judgment of God to give them thus up according to what was foretold in Rev. 17.17 For God hath put it into their heart to agree and give their power to the Beast until the words of God be fulfilled for else there is nothing more destructive to their Power and Interest than such a Spiritual Sovereign as the Pope pretends to be Qu. How doth it appear that the Popish Religion is so destructive to the power of Princes and the Interest of their Kingdomes Ans It is undeniably clear from their own Doctrines and Principles 1. They assert that the Pope may dethrone Kings and give their Kingdomes to others that he can absolve and free their Subjects from all Duty and Allegiance to them yea he can bind and loose their Consciences at his own pleasure 2. It is such a Religion as expresly frees and exempts all Ecclesiastical persons from the Laws of their Natural Prince so that they cannot be judged for the most horrid and notorious Crimes that can be committed by them 3. It makes the Princes and Rulers of the world to execute with a blind obedience whatsoever the Pope commands them not leaving them the liberty to judge whether it be right or wrong 4. It strikes at the very Foundation of all Religion and Piety which is the greatest security to Government and the strongest obligation to all Civil and Moral Duties for if a man commit the most horrid acts of wickedness such as Murther Adultery Incest Rape Sodomy c. yet an ordinary Priest by the Almighty power of the Pope can dispense with them all the price of them being rated and appointed which being paid the Priest can give full pardon and absolution for the same 5. It is a Religion that expresly teaches that a man is not bound to repent presently of the most heinous sin it being sufficient if it be done before the last moment of his life 6. It destroys truth righteousness and honesty among men since it allows and warrants Equivocation and Perjury both in Oaths and words and that a man may swear in such doubtful terms as may be directly contrary to the intent of him that gives the Oath whereby an Oath cannot be an end of Controversie Lastly it is a Religion which in its Principles is destructive to Humane Society for it triumphs delights and glories in those monstrous Prodigies of mischief Blood and Cruelty which we would think Humane Nature would tremble at and which seem rather to have been acted by Devils transformed into the shape of men than by any who have the least pretence to the name of Christians witness the Massacres of France and Ireland and the bloody Persecutions in the Netherlands Germany Spain Piedmont and most Countries in Europe Therefore from such a Religion and all the cursed effects thereof let us beseech Almighty God to deliver us and our Posterity for ever Amen PSALM 64. THou great Protector hear our cry Save from our dreadful Enemy O vindicate From their close hate Who for our Souls in ambush lye From their blind rage protect Who Truth and thee reject Who whet their tongues more sharp than Swords Their Arrows draw even bitter words To wound th' upright With fierce delight When time to their desire accords They on a sudden shoot Nor fear Divine pursuit Confirm'd in skilful malice they Conspire and Nets in secret lay And say what eye Can this discry First counsel take and then betray On mischief set their hearts Pursu'd by wicked Arts. But God shall let his Arrows fly Wound in the twinkling of an eye Each shall be stung By his own Tongue And with that fatal poyson die The Image Of Antichrist The Image of ANTICHRIST Or The Vsurpations of the Pope and Church of Rome over Kings Emperours c. ABOUT Five Hundred Years after the death of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ one Phocas who had Murdered his Master Mauritius Emperour of Constantinople and his Children first Advanced the Bishops of Rome to be Universal Bishops and Heads of the Church at which time they were endowed with these large Possessions and Donations which they call St. Peters Patrimony and which they falsly assert to be the Gift of Constantine the Great After this the Church of Rome growing Great Mighty Rich and Proud at once lost its Humility and Purity of Religion and assumed Politick and Tyrannical Principles which caused her Defiled hands to lay afide the Sword of the Spirit and to make use of the Temporal Sword which she used to the Deposing and Murthering of divers Kings Princes and Emperours I. For after they had once tasted the Sweetness of Wealth Ease and Prosperity the Popes began to swell in Pride and Pomp and the more they Flourished in this World the more the holy Spirit of God forsook them so that in a short time those Bishops who were Poor Mean indigent persecuted and wanting all things began to Triumph over Princes to tread upon the Necks of Emperours and to bring the heads of Kings under their Usurped Authority They were carryed upon Mens Shoulders in all manner of Magnificence as if the earth were not good enough to bear them they were honoured as Gods on earth and Sovereign Princes Dukes and Lords c. went Bare-headed before them And not only so but through their Pride and Ambition they grew so great Apostates from Christians that of being Persecuted they became Persecutors of others and at last were so Great enemies to God and Religion that the Pope may now be justly Reckoned and Accounted the Antichrist or Man of Sin so long before spoken of by St. Paul in Thessalonians 2.2 II. This pride and insolency of the Pope and his Clergy appeared in several Instances which might be given of it but out of the Multitude we shall only Collect some few to shew what Slavery and Bondage both Princes and people were formerly subject to under this Antichristian Yoke About the Year 1158. Frederick Emperour of Germany Marching into Italy the Pope hearing of it went with his Clergy to meet him As soon as the Emperour saw
France and that the Signal for the General Massacre would be the ringing of the Bell in the Kings Pallace which would be about break of day and that the Murderers should have a white handkerchief tyed about their Arms and a white Cross in their hats and Candles to be lighted in every house At the time appointed the Bell rung and the Duke of Guise hasted to the Admirals Lodgings with his Cut-throats and knocking at the Door he that opened it was murdered the Admiral hearing the noise got out of his Bed and there being a Minister in the Room they both went to Prayers and the Admiral fervently commended his Soul to God and then said to those about him It is long since I disposed my self to dye save your selves if it be possible for you cannot save my life I commit my soul into the hands and mercy of God The Minister and the rest of his attendants got up to the top of the house and crept out of the Windows to save themselves yet most of them were slain in the next House Presently seven or eight men broke into the Admirals Lodgings and one of them set his Naked Sword to his Breast saying Art thou the Admiral To whom with a Christian Constancy he answered I am called so and withal said young man thou oughtest to consider my Age and the weak condition I am now in but do what thou wilt for thou canst not shorten my life but a very little But the Wretch blaspheming God thrust him through the Breast and afterward strook him on the head another shot him with a Pistol and a third wounded him in the Thigh so that he lay gasping for life the Duke of Guise was below and with a lowd voice cryed Have you done It was answered Yes the Duke replyed Our Chevalier which was the Kings Bastard Brother will not believe it unless he see it which being done his Face was all bloody which the Duke of Guise wiping said Now I know it is he and then kicked him on the Face with his Foot whom all the Murtherers of France feared so much when he was alive Then the Duke and his bloody Train went into the Streets crying Arm Arm we have had good success and a happy beginning Let us now proceed to the rest for it is the Kings Command which words he repeated often This is the Kings Commandment this is his Will this is his express pleasure therefore courage my Fellows Then the great Bell of the Pallace which was the bloody token of the General Alarm began to ring out alowd and presently a Report was spread That the Protestants had conspired against the King Queen and Court and were just going to Execute their Design After this the Admirals head was cut off and sent to the King and Queen Mother and being by them preserved with Spices it was sent to the Pope and the Cardinal of Lorrain at Rome as a very grateful present The Pope when he first heard the News of the Massacre appointed a day of Publick Thanksgiving to God where Te Deum was sung for joy in the Church of St. Lewes He likewise Published a Bull of Pardons and extraordinary Indulgence to such as should pray for the Heavenly assistance to the King and Kingdom of France for rooting out of Hereticks The Rascally Rabble cut off the Hands and Privy Members of the Admiral dragging his mangled body besmeared with blood and filth through the Streets three days together and then hanged it by the Feet upon the Gallows All the Attendants of the King of Navar and Prince of Conde which lay in the Kings Pallace were murdered and likewise all the Lords and Gentlemen about the Admiral 's Lodgings and among the rest his Son Teligny and then through all the City and Suburbs were the poor Protestants Massacred with all manner of Cruelties Nothing was then to be heard but the Terrible noise of Horses and Arms Guns and Pistols mingled with the doleful sad and woful Schreeches and miserable complaints of Men VVomen and Children Rich and Poor crying for mercy to these bloody Hell-hounds howling and lamenting at their miserable Condition to bet hus wretchedly murdered for they knew not what And all this intermixt with the groans of the dying and the merciless shouts of the Cruel Murtherers continually crying kill kill for the King commands it that it seemed as if Heaven and Earth had met together or as if the Heavens had rent with Thunder So that in that night and the Two next days there was slain in Paris above Ten Thousand Persons of both Sexes and all Ranks and Ages the bloody Papists not sparing the Children in the Cradle nor the Infants in their Mothers wombs insomuch that the Streets Market-place and Rivers were dyed with Blood and the Murtherers boasted that they had in a few days put an end to that Quarrel that neither Pen Paper decrees of Justice nor open VVar could accomplish in Twelve years This horrid Massacre was committed on St. Bartholomews day being the 24. of August 1571. which was the Sabbath day and is made famous for ever by the Effusion of so much precious Innocent blood as no Age nor time can parallel for there were at this time in Paris Threescore Thousand men with Pistols Poinards Swords Knives and such other Bloody Instruments who ran up and down swearing and blaspheming the Sacred Majesty of God cruelly massacring all they met so that the Streets were covered with mangled Bodies and the Gates and Doors defiled with blood the Lords and Gentlemen were Inhumanely murdered some in their Beds others on the top of their Houses and in all other places where they were found and such a multitude of dead Bodies were thrown into the River Se-Sin that the water was dyed Red with their Blood In the Hellish Assembly wherein this bloody Massacre was concluded on it was debated whether the King of Navar and Prince of Conde should not be destroyed with the rest the Duke of Guise pleaded for it but others were against it and argued how abominable it would be to destroy two young Princes of the Blood in the Flower of their Age and one of them in the imbraces of his young Bride and the Kings own Sister and therefore it was concluded That they should be threatned violently with death and all manner of Torments if they would not turn Papists And thereupon the King commanded them to be brought into his presence and told them That now he had cut off all the Instruments of the late Civil Wars which he hoped would prevent future troubles for by his Command the Admiral was slain and all the rest of the Hereticks and that the like should be Executed in all other places throughout the Kingdom and that if they would now save their Lives they must turn Catholicks for he was resolved to have but one Religion in his Kingdom The King of Navar and the Prince of Conde humbly beseeched his Majesty
to Remember his Oaths Promises and solemn Vows and Protestations that they should have the free Exercise of their Religion and withal told the King That he might do as he pleased with their Bodies and Estates but their unspotted Souls were in the hands of God and that they were resolved to remain stedfast in their Religion though with the loss of their lives which answer so inraged the King that he called the Prince of Conde Rebel and the Son of a Rebellious Person horribly threathing him That if within three days he did not obey his Command he should dye for it and then with a furious Countenance left them with these three Terrible VVords Death Mass or the Bastile Many Gentlemen that were attendants upon them as likewise their School-Masters and Tutors were thrust out of the Chamber among the Murtherers that is among the Kings Guard of Switzers who stood in two Ranks with their Swords drawn ready for Blood and Cruelty These Gentlemen crying out of the Kings Oaths Promises and Fidelity were yet by the Kings Command and in his own Sight unmercifully hewen and cut in pieces In this Butcherly Massacre at Paris there were above four Thousand Houses robbed and plundred and above Five Hundred Barons Knights and Gentlemen who were chief Officers in the VVar with abundance of Noble young Gentlemen Ladies and Gentlewomen Inhumanely murthered who little expected such a bloody Fate for they came from all parts to rejoyce in honour of the marriage of the King of Navar and instead of Jollity and pleasures they here met with an untimely death from Bloody and Cowardly Papists who murther like Devils but dare not fight like men The King and his Confidents fearing that this Massacre would not end the Quarrel but rather stir up the Protestants in other places to stand upon their own defence He therefore sends Messengers by Poast to all parts of the Kingdom often shifting Horses for more speed with express Commands to the Governours of all other Towns and Cities in France to follow the Example of Paris and to destroy and kill all the Protestants which were amongst them and yet at the same time the King writes other Letters wherein he laid the fault of the murder of the Admiral and the rest upon the Duke of Guise As soon as this Command was published and that the Kings Letters came the Papists fell with all imaginable fury upon all the Protestants at Meaux Troys Orleans and other places murthering them without any matter of pity and Compassion And among the rest Mounsier De la Place President of the Court of Requests being in his house a Captain came to him and told him that the Duke of Guise had killed the Admiral by the Kings Appointment and many other Hugonots but however he was willing to secure him but desired to see his Gold The Lord De la Place observing his Impudence asked him whether he thought there were a King or no the Captain blaspheming bid him go to know the Kings pleasure The Lord De la Place thinking there was danger neer went from him to secure himself and the Captain thereupon plundred his House The poor Gentleman seeking shelter in three Houses for his life was denied and was at last forced to return home again where finding his wife very sorrowful he rebuked her and discourst with her of the Promises of God telling her That through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God and then calling his Family together he made an Exhortation to them went to prayer and then read a Chapter in Job with Calvins Exposition and then praying again he resolved by Gods assistance to suffer all Torments rather than to fly for it Presently after the Provost of the Merchants comes to his House with many Archers and an Order to bring him to the King and would not admit of any Excuse whereupon the Lord supposed what would happen and therefore embracing his Wife he desired her never to forsake the truth of God And so going toward the Palace some Murtherers waited for him and Immediately stab'd him with their Daggers so that he fell down dead and then stripping him cast his Body into the River After this there followed the like Cruelties and Murders upon the Protestants in the Cities of Lyons Tholouse Burdeux Angiers where the Protestants were most barbarously kild and destroyed as likewise in most other Cities and Towns so that in a few Months there were murdered above threescore Thousand Protestants in France for no other Crime but only for being Protestants Yet in the midst of these dangers it pleased God to provide some places of refuge for them as Rochel Montalbon Wismes Saucerre Privas c. whither many Protestants fled from other places In the year 1573 the Town of Saucerre was besieged by the Lord of Chastre who with his Canon played incessantly upon the place so that the Stones Pavements and Splinters of Timber flew about continually and yet it pleased God that only one young VVoman was slain thereby though sometimes the Coats Breeches and Hats of the Inhabitants were shot thorough The Siege being long there was great scarcity insomuch that the People were forced to eat Horses Asses and Mules which lasted a Month Afterwards they eat all the Dogs Cats Rats Mice and Moles that they could get and then they were forced to eat Parchments Horses and Beasts-Hoofs Horns Lanthorns Halters Girdles of Leather Herbs wild Roots and Furniture for Horses this being all spent and no bread in the City they made bread of Linseed Herbs mixt with Bran Straw-Meal Powder of Nut-shells yea Slates Sewet Old Ointments and other Grease served to make Pottage and therewith they likewise fryed the the Excrements of Horses and Men which they eat yea the very filth in the Streets was not spared During this Extremity a labourer and his wife were put to death for eating the Head Intrials and Brains of their own Child a Girl of three years old who died with Famine having likewise dressed the rest of her body to eat at other times Those that went out of the City VValls were forced to live upon the Spriggs of Vines Black-beries Snails and Herbs and many of them were killed by the Enemy And among other lamentable Spectacles a poor man and his Wife were found dead among the Vines and two of their Children crying by them the youngest being not above Six weeks old whom a Charitable Widow took home and relieved c. Many dyed of this terrible Famine in their Houses and others fell down dead in the Streets Most of the Children under Twelve years old dyed and most lamentable it was to see their poor Fathers and Mothers lamenting their misery and yet could not relieve them yet most of them did wonderfully encourage themselves in Gods help and assistance as may appear by this strange Example A Boy about five years old being famisht for Hunger running along the Streets fell down for dead
Son of Joseph Which was the Son of Mat-ta-thi-as which was the Son of A-mos which was the Son of Na-um which was the Son of E-li which was the Son of Nag-ge which was the Son of Ma-ath which was the Son of Mat-ta-thi-as which was the Son of Se-me-i which was the Son of Jo-seph which was the Son of Ju-da Which was the Son of Jo-an-na which was the Son of Rhe-sa which was the Son of Zo-ro-ba-bel which was the Son of Sa-la-thiel which was the Son of Ne-ri which was the Son of Mel-chi which was the Son of Ad-di which was the Son of Co-sam which was the Son of El-mo-dam which was the Son of Er. Which was the Son of Jo-se which was ehe Son of Eli-e-zer which was the Son of Jo-rim which was the Son of Mat-that which was the Son of Le-vi Which was the Son of Ma-thu-sa-la which was the Son of E-noch which was the Son of Ja-red which was the Son of Ma-le-lâ—-el which was the Son of Cai-nan which was the Son of E-nos which was the Son of Seth which was the Son of Ad-am which was the Son of God St. Matthew Chap. 24. AND Iesus answered and said unto them Take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name Saying I am Christ and shall deceive many and ye shall hear of Wars and Rumors of VVars see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet For Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and there shall be Famines and Pestilences and Earthquakes in divers places All these are the beginning of Sorrows Then shall they deliver you up to be Afflicted and shall Kill you and ye shall be hated of all Nations for my Names Sake And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another And many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many And because Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold But he that endureth unto the end shall be Saved VVhen ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the Holy place who so readeth let him understand Then let them that be in Judea Flee unto the Mountains For then shall be great Tribulation such as was not since the Beginning of the VVorld to this time no nor never shall be and except those days should be shortned there should be no Flesh Saved but for the Elects sake those daies shall be shortned Then if any Man shall say unto you lo here is Christ or lo there believe it not for there shall arise false Christs False Prophets and shall shew great Signs and VVonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. Beloved I have told you before PSALM 74. Great God of Gods forget not those Who thee Reproachfully Despise Remember Lord the Blasphemies Cast on thee by Frantick Foes O! to the wicked Multitude Surrender not thy Turtle Dove Nor from thy tender care remove The Poor by pow'rful Wrong persu'd Thy Covenant bound by Oath Maintain For Darkness overspreads the Face Of all the Land in every place Destruction Rape and Slaughter Reign Let not th' Opprest return with shame But Crown thee with Deserv'd Applause O Patronize thy proper cause Remember Fools Revile thy name O! Let their Sorrows never cease Who blast thee with their Calumnies The Tumults of their Pride who rise Against thee every day Increase The Protestant Instructed and the Errors of Popery Discovered Question WHat ought to be the great Design of all Men in this World Answ So to Serve and Honour God in this Life that we may for ever enjoy eternal happiness in the World to come Quest This indeed is the Interest of every man but since there are so many Religions in the World which of these do you profess Answ The Christian Religion which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and which is commonly called the Protestant Reformed Religion Quest Why is it called the Protestant Religion Answ It is called the Protestant Religion from a solemn Protestation of several Princes and Cities of Germany against the errors and Usurpations of the Roman Church but yet it is no new Doctrine brought into the VVorld but the truth of Christianity Confessed Asserted and purged from the Corruptions of Popery and hath the very same grounds to prove the Truth thereof which the Christian Religion it self hath Quest How do you prove that the Protestant Religion professed at this day is the pure and Ancient Christian Religion Answ 1. Because of its exact Conformity to the Scriptures and the genuine and clear sense thereof 2. In that the Protestant Religion is the very same and exactly agrees with the Faith of the Christian Church in the first three hundred years after the death of our Saviour 3. From the confession of the Papists themselves who own that there have been some in all Ages even in the darkest times of Popery who have Owned Asserted and Died in Defence of the same Doctrines which we now profess as the Waldenses Albingenses Berengatians and others Quest Hath not the Romish Church the Decrees Canons Councils and the Pope himself as their Head to prove the Truth and Certainty of their Religion Answ Though they boast very much of Infallibility yet 1. They never were agreed nor are ever like to agree who this Infallible Judge is whether in a General Council or the Pope himself 2. They have no Rational Certainty of what they believe since they willfully neglect the Holy Scriptures and with a Biind Obedience intrust their Souls with those Men whose Credit and Testimony a Man would hardly trust with a Sum of Money without better Security 3. They have no Bible nor other Authentick Record to prove their Religion but a Mass of dead Traditions that have no Voice nor Sound to be understood untill the Romish Clergy put a sense upon them So that a Man can hardly embrace Popery except he first turn Atheist yea quit all his Religion and Reason at once Quest But do not the Papists damn all the World but themselves confidently affirming that Rome is the Catholick Apostolick Church out of which there is no salvation Answ Their confidence is not at all to be wondred at since it is one of the greatest Arguments they use to prove the most ridiculous Assertions but that the Romish Church can have no possible claim to their being only saved is unanswerable from these Arguments 1. Because we know of no Church which consisteth of all Christians Subjected to one Humane Head nor do we read that our Subjection to the Pope is made a condition of Salvation 2. It is evident that in the Apostles time and for divers Ages since there was a Christian Catholick Church which had no dependence upon the See of Rome 3. There are a greater number in the World who embrace
and Princes have been forced to kneel and kiss their Toes nay they asserted that all Kings were Slaves and in subjection to them and that all must be judged by the Pope but he by no man Psalm 88. LOrd sit not still as deaf unto our Cries For lo Our Enemies in Tumults rise Even those who thy Omnipotence deny And hate thy Name advance their Priests on High Dark Councils take and secretly contrive Our slaughter whom thy mercy keeps alive Come say they let us with incessant strokes Hew down this Nation like a Grove of Oaks Till they no longer be and Israel dye Both in his Race and Ruin'd Memory They all in one Confederacy have made A solemn League supply d with forreign Aid Hence Idumeans who in Gomades stray And Shaggy Ishmaelites that live by prey Th' incestuous race that bred are on the Lake Of salt Asphaltes savage Thieves who take Their Name from servile Hagar they who dwell In Geba Ammonites who peace expel Oh! say they let 's these Israelites destroy And all the Cities of their God enjoy O! let them like a Wheel be worried round Like chaff which whirlwinds ravisht from the Ground As Woods grown dry with Age imbrac'd with Fire Whose Flames above the singed Hills aspire So in the Tempest of thy wrath pursue And with thy Storms thy troubling Foes subdue O fill their Hearts with Grief their Looks with shame Till they invoke thy late blaphemed Name Confound them with eternal Infamy That they through anguish of their Souls may dye That Men Jehovah's wonders may rehearse The Great Commander of the Universe Mens Brains fryed eaten Children torn in Peices Infants thrown to the dogs swine Woemen Carried on Piks Rosted alive Some tyed and slain Hang'd by the Privitie Burnt in a barn A Brief and True Account of the Cruelties and Persecutions Committed by the Papists upon the Waldenses and Albingenses and other Protestants in Piedmont Savoy and the Valtoline from the Year 1160 To the Year 1656. VVHen by the just Judgment of the Almighty All the World wondred after the Beast and the Kings and Princes of Christendom established the Authority of the Pope and Church of Rome appointing to slaughter and destruction such as denied the horrid Blasphemies and Errors maintained by them It occasioned many good Christians to detest their Superstitions as unknown to the Apostles and the Primitive Church And the first we read of was one Berengarius who boldly and faithfully published the True Religion contained in the Scripture and discovered the falseness of the Romish He lived about the time of William the Conqueror his coming into England about which time his Followers being taken notice of as dissenting from many of the Common received Opinions of those times they were branded with the odious Name of Hereticks About Twenty years after this one Peter Bruis was a famous Preacher among them who taught them publickly a long time at Tholouse in Savoy In a short time after they were grown to so great a multitude that the Popes of Rome were resolved if possible by any means to extirpate and destroy them To which end they at first incited several of the most learned of their Party to write against them and warned divers Princes to have a care of them and to banish them out of their Territories The first then that flung away the Spiritual Keys and began valiantly to brandish the bloody Sword of Persecution against them was Pope Alexander the third who began therewith to hack hew and murder the poor Waldenses so named from Peter Waldo or Waldo of Lyons in France who appeared very couragious in opposing the many Corruptions of the Romish Church as Holy Oyl Consecrated Images Popes Indulgences Candles Merits Auricular Confession the Supremacy of the Pope false Miracles Purgatory Praying for the Dead Prayers to Saints extream Unction and many other Fopperies of the Popish Communion This Persecution of Waldo and his Followers who were encreased to a very great number began in France in the Year 1060. Waldo being compell'd to fly into the Mountains of France among the Savage Inhabitants to whom he taught his Doctrine others fled into Picardy from whence they were called Picards several into Flanders and Alsatia and thereby for the safety of their Lives they spread their Doctrine into all places King Philip of France being incited by the Ecclesiasticks raised Arms against them and destroyed Three Hundred Gentlemens Houses and likewise several Walled Towns And those that fled into Flanders escaped little better for they were persued and many of them for their Religion put to Death And the Bishops of Mayence and Strasburgh raised great persecutions against those which fled thither there being Five and Thirty Citizens of Mayence burned in one Fire and Eighteen in another who suffered Death with very great constancy and at Strasburgh at the instance of the Bishop Fourscore were likewise burnt for professing the same Truth and yet by the exhortations constancy and patience of these Martyrs there were such multitudes who entertained their Doctrines that in a few Years after in the County of Passau and in Bohemia there were above Fourscore thousand persons that made profession of the same Faith Some of them likewise fled into England for shelter but were more barbarously and cruelly put to death at Oxford by the Papists there than ever any Christians were before that time for matters of Religion and Three years after Pope Alexander the Third made a Decree in the Council of Tours in France that these Gospellers and all their Favourers should be Excommunicated and that none of them should buy or sell according as it was foretold in Revel 13.17 At Colen in Germany Four Men and Two young Women were discovered hid in a Barn and the Papists not being able to diswade them from the Truth The Men were all tyed to the Stake to be burnt but the Romanists pretending to pity the young Women perswaded them to recant but they perceiving their design got out of the hands of those that held them and voluntarily leapt into the Fire where they were burned with them about this time a Proclamation was published in Aragon whereby it was made Treason to relieve these poor Christians or to suffer them to live in that Country and liberty was given to all people to abuse them at pleasure without being punished for the same But these people still encreasing the Pope was resolved to suppress them by all means possible and therefore about the Year 1201. He set up the Bloody Inquisition which with its Racks Tortures Fire and all manner of Cruelty hath destroyed an innumerable company of Good and Holy Men. And in the same Year a noble Knight called Eunandus and one of the Waldenses was burnt at Paris and the persecution still continuing the people of Daulphine flying from their barbarous Enemies sheltred themselves in the Caves upon the Mountains but their cruel Adversaries having notice thereof persued
their Fists and then bid her to call upon the Saints but she smiling said My trust and my salvation is only in my Saviour Jesus Christ and upon him only will I rest as for the Virgin Mary though see be blessed above all women yet she is not Omniscient and therefore knows net our requests yea she her self hath need of the Merits of her own Son without which she could not have been saved But they reviling and abusing her she couragiously said I willingly endure all this as it becomes me to do desiring no better usage since the same was done to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to his Apostles and to thousands of the holy Martyrs Upon this they carried her away and murder'd her in the Fields In one house they slew a man and his Wise and there being a little Girl in the Cradle of about three years old of a very amiable countenance the poor Child seemed to smile upon them whereupon one of these bloody Villains took her by the Heels and dashed out her Brains From thence these Wretches went to a Town called Bruse where they murthered many by shooting some drowning others burning others and grinding their very bones to powder Amongst others they found an ancient Woman of fourscore years old whom they earnestly perswaded to hear Mass and that she would respect her age to whom with a worthy resolution she answered God forbid that I who now of a long time have had one foot in the Grave should forsake my Lord Jesus Christ who hath so long preserved me in the knowledge and profession of his truth and that I should now put my trust in Creatures and should receive the Traditions of men instead of the holy Word of God Upon these words they immediately slew her The sufferings of the poor Protestants in Piedmont continued still they are under the Government of the Duke of Savoy and are the Off-spring of the old Waldenses which inhabited there and have ever since professed the same Religion they have Evangelical Churches in the several Valleys of Angrognea Bobio Villaro Valguicharda Roras Tagliacetto and divers others in all which most of their Inhabitants are Protestants and had been long indulged in their Religion by the Princes of Savoy to whom they were Subjects but in the year 1565. a cruel Edict was published that all such as would not comply with the Church of Rome and go to Mass should within ten days be banished from their Country and Habitation but by the Intercession of the French King and the Elector Palatine of the Rhine this Edict was recalled and they continued quiet till the year 1655. wherein that late horrible Massacre was committed upon them for the sake of their Religion The Papists had all along by many cunning Plots and contrivances endeavoured their subversion by using all Arts to stir them up to Rebellion and by planting Jesuits Colledges among them which like Goads in their sides still annoyed them and prov'd a great trouble and affliction to them for they often procured some cruel and harsh Edict or Proclamation by their Complaints and Lyes which they raised in the Duke of Savoys Court against them As in the year 1602. they got an Edict for banishing all private and publick Protestant Schoolmasters as Enemies to the Government and disturbers of the Peace and likewise another Edict 1622. that no Strangers ether Ministers or others should be entertained among them In 1634. an Edict came out that all the Protestants of Compiglione should be banished and in 1654. the same was done against those of Martino and Perosa These Missionary Fathers behaved themselves among them more cruelly than Turks or Barbarians But at last resolving utterly to root out the Protestants from among them and throughly to perform the will of their Vnholy Father the Pope they procured an Order in the midst of Winter that is January 25. 1655. which is very sharp in those Countries for the banishing of all Protestants out of the Valleys of Lucerna Lucernetta and seven other places within three days after publication unless they would turn Roman Catholicks and this extended to all in general none being excepted of what Rank Degree or Condition soever they were And thus these poor Creatures were forced in compliance with this cruel Edict to fly for the security of their Lives and Consciences in the depth of the Snow and when all the Valleys were covered with water there being among them some Women with-child others newly delivered young children crying and lamenting old women and decrepit men leaning on their Staves all dragged over the Ice through Rain Snow Waters and a thousand inconveniencies and hardships so that it would have grieved the heart of a Barbarian to have seen them leaving their Goods behind them or selling them for little to the Papists who took no pity of their bitter tears sighing ringing of hands beating of Breasts mourning complaining and lamenting but all these calamities were but as the bleating of Sheep or the lowing of Oxen to Popish ears and they rather rejoyced than commiserated the condition of these poor Wretches They were no sooner gone but their houses were pillaged rifled and ransackt of all that was left and then pull'd to the ground yea the Trees were cut down and such havock and devastation made as all was turned into a Wilderness This cruel Edict was put in execution by one Gustaldo and others but this was not all the Design was for the utter extirpating and roofing out Hereticks as they called these Religious Souls it would not satisfie them to have banished these few and the poor Protestants could have no redress at Court for all their humble Petitions and Remonstrances could not be heard The Papists had yet more wicked and bloody Designs against them and to that purpose they imployed some Romish Agents who had great influence over the Duke and Dutchess of Savoy It is next to impossible to reckon up the variety of Cruelties and Murders committed upon these poor Innocent Souls we shall therefore only give a brief Abstract of some remarkable passages that happened therein Upon the seventeenth of April 1655. whilst the Protestant Deputies were detained at Turin and delayed with hopes of redress some Souldiers were sent on purpose to fall unexpectedly upon the Protestants who peaceably attended the issue of their Petitions which caused some bustle for the poor people being prompted by the Law of Nature stood upon their defence and the Papists lost fifty men the Protestants only two Wednesday April 22. the Marquess of Pianessa the Popish General came to the Valley of Lucerna and promised them there should be no violence offered to them provided they would but quarter a few Souldiers as a token of their obedience which the well-meaning people consented to but no sooner were these Troops entred but they put all to Fire and Sword slaying all they met with that had but the likeness of mankind and that in
nay so monstrous beastly were they that they committed filthiness with the dead Corps of those women whom they had murdered At Basil and Friburg they did the like neither pitying old nor young men women nor innocent Babes whom sometimes they most barbarously used to eat even when other meat might be had yea such inhumane cruelty they used that in many places they left none remaining alive to relate the sufferings of those that were murdered Thus these Massacres and bloody murders defiled the whole Land and Germany groaned under the oppression till the peace of Munster and Osnaburg in the year 1648. which put a stop to this cruel Persecution the Papists being compelled thereto by Gods bringing in the King of Sweden who over-ran Germany in a short time and thereby revived the Protestant Cause which was almost over-run and destroyed by so many thousand violences and miseries as it had lain under for many years These bloody Tyrants vented their rage and fury not only in Germany but also in Hungary and other Countries for they committed the same Villanies in all places where they had power the Ministers were generally banished and put to death and the same Picture of their cruelties which has been represented to you in Germany was acted over again in this Kingdom which we have not room to insert only a new sort of death was invented there they tyed Hens Geese Ducks and Hares to the naked body of a worthy Minister in that Country and then set the Dogs upon him who tore and rent his flesh till he died You have beheld many sad and doleful Spectacles and Reader if thou art a Christian thy heart must almost bleed at the relation of them we will therefore Epitomize the bloody cruelties of the Papists in POLAND All the same things or worse if it be possible which we have related to be done in other places were likewise acted in Poland many thousand Protestants and good Christians have been destroyed in that Kingdom and especially at Karmin Dumbuick Shochy Carienzin and Lesna all which Cities and Towns were destroyed and burnt to the ground for the cause of Religion The City of Lesna was one of the most ancient and flourishing Cities in all the Kingdome of Poland which was wholly laid in ashes being three whole days in flames erre it was consumed in which there perished many hundred Protestants besides inestimable wealth and treasure no man resisting or opposing the fire Here they pulled off the Noses of some and put out the eyes of others and cut off the tongues hands and feet of divers giving quarter to none but killing and destroying all that came in their way They cut off the hands of a pious Matron of Lesna and then murdered three of her Children before her face cutting off their heads and laying one at each breast and the other by her side Another woman having her hands and feet cut off and her tongue cut out they sowed up in a Sack and so left her for two days in which she lived making a most miserable lamentation In the Lower Poland a multitude suffered whole Families were butchered and men and women young and old murdered without distinction And in the year 1654. there was an horrible slaughter amongst them the Papists putting to death all the Protestants they could meet with to most exquisite tortures One Mr. Samuel Cardus a Minister they used with extreme cruelties first putting out his eyes and leading him about as a miserable Spectacle then they pull'd off his fingers with Pincers and powred melted Lead down his throat and while he was yet half alive they put his Neck between two folding doors and so violently severed his head from his body They used the Minister of Dembuick and another Minister very barbarously for after they had several ways tormented them they cut their throats with a Razor and while they were breathing flung them into a Pit and covered them with filth and dung The same Cruelties the Barbarous and bloody Papists acted against the Protestants in LITHUANIA in the year 1648. slaughtering all that were not Roman Catholicks without distinction of Age or Sex Here many had their skins flead off while they were alive others their hands and feet cut off some their bowels taken out alive others had their Shin-bones bored through they powred melted Lead into the wounds of some whom they had cut in the head and other parts of their bodies some had their eyes pulled out and those that were hanged up in all places were such a multitude that they are hard to be numbered It was counted a great mercy and kindness to be shot beheaded or killed out-right without any other torment The Wives and Daughters of the Protestants were every where ravished their Houses and Goods burnt and destroyed all their Country and their Churches laid wast so that there was nothing to be seen in every place but Murders and Massacres and the blood of the poor suffering Protestants ran like Streams through the Streets of Towns and Cities and those that were left alive and escaped the slaughter were banished their Country for ever The Ministers were chiefly aimed at and always cruelly tormented among the rest one Adrian Chilmiskie who was famous for his great Piety and Learning and likewise for his Reverend Age was by these barbarous wretches roasted alive and this they did leisurely with a few Chips and Straw that he might be the longer in torment In another place above forty suffered death by several sorts of tortures Near Vilna the chiefest City in Lithuania one Smolskie and his Son both Ministers had their Heads cruelly sawed off with a Sickle Another Minister had his flesh sliced off by piece-meal till he died-And to conclude this Field of Blood there were no less than fifteen hundred poor Protestants Ministers as well as others who were bound to Stakes on the tops of Mountains in the Winter and there miserably starved to death with hunger and cold In a word no Age nor History can parallel all the several tortures and miserable deaths which these poor Protestants suffer'd from the hands of bloody Papists for no other Crime but professing and asserting the Truth and Gospel of Jesus Christ Psalm 74. Lord why hast thou abandoned O why for ever shall thine Ire Consume like a devouring Fire The Sheep within thy Pastures fed Come O! come quickly and Survey What Spoyl the Barbarous Foe hath made Lo all in heaps of Ruin laid Thy Temple their accursed Prey Like Lyons with Sharp Famine whet They in the Sanctuary roar All Purple in thy Peoples gore And there their Conquering Ensigns set It was esteem'd a great renown With Ax to square the Mountain Oaks Now they demolish with their strokes And hew the Carved Fabrick down Who lo with all-infolding Flame The Beauty of the Earth devour Profanely Prostrate on the Floor That Temple sacred to thy Name Now said they with a sudden hand We 'l give a
in the presence of his Father and Mother who wept over him and felt his Arms and Legs which were as dry as a Stick To whom the Child said Why do you weep to see me dye of hunger I ask you no Bread Mother for I know you have none but since it is Gods will that I should dye in this manner I must take it thankfully Had not the Holy man Lazarus Hunger have I not read it in my Bible and saying thus he yielded up his Spirit And that which preserved the rest from perishing was because there were six Cows kept alive to give Milk to some few Infants and some Horses of service referred for extremity were killed and their flesh sold and some little Corn was brought into the Town by stealth which was sold for half a Crown a pound There dyed by the War but Eighty four Persons but the Famine destroyed Five Hundred and the rest were brought so low that they hardly recovered Divers voluntarily went out of the Town chusing rather death then such misery whereof some were slain and others Imprisoned and Executed And now when all humane help failed the King having sworn He would make them eat one another and the Papists threatning to Massacre them all it Pleased God strangely to deliver these poor Protestants For Ambassdors coming from Poland to fetch the Duke of Anjou the Kings Brother thither whom they had chosen for their King They having notice of this terrible siege obtained by their Solicitations that all the Towns in France which were molested for Religion should have their Liberty by which means the poor Saucerreans half dead with hunger obtained their fredom and were quietly suffered to depart with their Arms and Goods and those that would stay not to be questioned for what was past About the same time the Town of Rochel was likewise besieged the Townsmen often sallying out and divers hot skirmishes past among the rest a young Gentleman boasted with horrible blasphemies that he was one of 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 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 increaseh 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 Ambassadors and enjoyed their ormer Privileges 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 and with great eagerness 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 Councel 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 dyed 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 if 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 confes 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 then I will burn my Bible Upon this she was committed to Prison and fed only with bread and water and her Friends forbad to come to her but continuing stedfast in the Truth she was thereupon condemned to be set upon a Scaffold 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
leave one Protestant Rogue living but would utterly destroy every one that had but a drop of English Blood in him yea they vowed they would not leave one English Beast alive nor any of their breed Alas who can comprehend the Sighs the Groans the trembling and Astonishment of these poor Innocent Souls to find themselves so suddenly surprized and that without Remedy What Shrieks Cryes and bitter Lamentations were there of Husbands Wives Children Servants and Friends howling and weeping finding themselves without all hope of deliverance from their present wofull Miseries and Calamities For by these and all manner of Cruelties and Barbarities which Hell it self could invent the Irish and English Papists murdered and destroyed in a few Months near Three Hundred Thousand Protestants as it is commonly computed without any manner of provocation but only because they were Protestants whose deaths the Divine Vengeance in a short time after recompensed upon several of the chief Murtherers many thousands perishing by the Sword and the Plague that followed it and the rest without doubt unless they heartily repent will receive the reward of their wickedness PSALM 54. LOrd for thy Promise sake defend And thy All-saving Shield extend O hear our Cries Which with wet eyes And sighs to thee ascend For Cruel men our lives pursue And who thy Statutes never knew Suppress our Foes O favour those Who to our Souls are True With Vengeance recompense their hate And in an instant ruinate Then will we bring Our Offering And thy great Acts relate Thy name for ever Praised be Who from those snares hast set us free For lo Our Eyes Our Enemies Desir'd Destruction see Spanish Invasion Martyrs burnt Burning of London Gunpouder Treason Sr. Godfry murderd Traytors Executed The Cruelties Plots and Treasons of the Papists against the Protestants in England with a brief account of the late Horrid Plot. AFter having briefly epitomized the bloody Cruelties and slaughters of this Monster of Rome and his Vassals throughout Europe let us now return home and see if our own Countrey has escaped better than our Neighbours Englishmen are generally accounted to be of a mercifull nature and pitifull disposition apt to be touched with the miseries of others and are not in their own natures bloody barbarous or Cruel what then may be the cause of those dreadfull marks of Rage and Fury that have been seen among us How has this Fair Island been made an Acheldama a Field of Skulls and Martyrs bones All this we shall find proceeds from corrupt principles of Religion I doubt not says a worthy Divine but Papists are made like other men nature hath not generally given them such Savage and Cruel Dispositions but their Religion hath made them so I am loth to say it and yet I am confident it is true that many Papists would have been excellent Persons and verie good men if their Religion had not hindered them if the Doctrines and Principles of their Church had not spoiled their natural Disposition Good God! that any thing that is called Religion should so presently strip men of all Humanity and transform the mild and gentle Race of Mankind into Wolves and Tigers It is Popery that alters the Nature of Englishmen and makes them act like Turks Infidels or Barbarians its principles infect the Blood and invenome the Soul instead of being weak and humble it makes them Proud and Arrogant instead of performing the Commands of Christ it makes men obey the Pope though never so contrary to Religion If our Blessed Saviour says Hurt no man pray for your Persecutors submit to Magistrates and Governours The Pope and his Doctrines say Kill every man that is not of your Religion Curse those that disobey your Commands Kill Stab or depose your Kings or Govenours This is the Doctrine and these are the Principles and Commands of the Romish Church It is some hundreds of years since this Bloody Beast of persecution began to shew his Fangs and armed Claws in this Kingdom and it was almost as soon perceived and testified against by some good men in those times For in the Year one Thousand Two Hundred John of Salisbury declared against the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Romish Church and plainly discovered the oppression of the burden of the Pope and his Ravenous Clergy and after him John Grostead Bishop of Lincoln wrote to the Pope and admonished him for which he had like to have lost his life yet the Pope did only hitherto shew his Teeth and could not take his full swinge in Blood and Murther which he afterward attained to But since the Papists impertinently urge against us the Newness of our Religion and that it was not known before Martin Luthers days we shall produce much more early Testimonies against the Errors and abuses in the Romish Church For we find in the Year 884. John Patrick Erigena a Britan who was ordained the first Reader in Oxford by King Alfred was afterward Condemned and Martyred by the Pope for writing a Book concerning the Sacrament And in the year 960. many Ministers and Divines wore the mark of the Beast in their faces being by the Popes order Branded in the Faces with hot Irons for Dissenting in many things about the Mass Purgatory Monkery and the like and for saying that Rome was Babylon and that Cloisters were the Nurses of Sodomy In the year 1126. one Arnold and Englishman and a Preacher of the Gospel was Butchered at Oxford for Preaching against the Pride of the Prelates and the wicked lives of the Priests In the Year 1160. the poor Persecuted Waldenses came hither for succour but instead thereof they were Persecuted Condemned Burnt Whipt and stigmatiz'd for their Religion both at Oxford and other places After which almost in every Year it pleased God to raise up several Learned and worthy men to testifie against the Horrid Corruptions of Rome both by Speaking Writing and Disputing against them As in the Year 1170. Gualo and Gilbert Foliot Doctors of Divinity and after them Silvester Gerald Alexander a Divine Gualter Maxes Arch Deacon of Oxford Sebald Archbishop of York William Stringham Doctor of Divinity Roger Bacon Fellow of Merton Colledge a Divine and Mathematician John Scotus the Great Scotch-man and about the same time Doctor John Wickliff Jeoffery Chaucer William Wickham Bishop of Winchester and many other Learned men All these gave ample Testimonies by their publick Writings against the many Corruptions evil Doctrines and Superstitious Worship of the Romish Church with the hazard of their Lives Honours Liberties Estates and Fortunes so that many were persecuted and some were burnt in the Reign of King Henry the second 1174. and in the Year 1380. Vtred Bolton and John Ashwerly endured Persecution and a while after John Ashton Walter Bruce John Pateskul and Doctor Crump were persecuted and William Sawtree a Divine of Oxford was martyred and William Swinderly was Burnt in Smithfield In the Year 1407. William Thorp was Burnt and Lawrence