hundred persons in and about London either died in prison or were burnt in Smithfield In the Year 1541. Damlip Dod Saxy were Slain One Henry at Colchester Kerby and Clark at Ipswich and Bury were burnt In the Year 1546. Mistriss Ann Askew one of the Ladies belonging to Queen Katherine Parr because she would not confess any other Ladies was put upon the Rack and the Lord Chancellor himself being more Cruel he acted then the Executioner ordered her to be racked to the utmost she was afterward Burnt in Smithfield and at the same time and place were likewise Burnt Nicholas Belerrian a Minister iâ— Shropshire John Adams a Tailor 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 mâ—n of his time he encouraged and commanded them to open and expound the Scriptures 〈◊〉 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 Northumberland and the Lady Jane the Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk whose mother being then alive was Daughter to Mary King Henry the Eighths 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 choose a pious Successer 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 always 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 Mayor and Aldermen of London 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 Hartfordshire 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 dutiful 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 always 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 Protestations 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 seek 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 setled 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◠〈◊〉 Bonner who was
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
be so sensible that he made a publick Declaration of it at St Germains in 1652. And every one endeavoured to proclaim loudest the merits of the Protestants the Queen Mother her self acknowledging That they had preserved the State Though to shew the little faith is to be given to men of that Religion the Kings Ministers instilled into his mind That since the Protestants were so potent to set up the King they night likewise upon another occasion remove him again From this Diabolical reasoning it was resolved they must be suppressed and ruined and therefore when the Kingdom was setled in peace three Protestant Towns Rochel Montauban and Millan which had shewed the greatest zeal 〈◊〉 the Kings Service were plundered by the Souldiers and otherwise impoverisht These were the forerunners of that general destruction designed against these innoâ—ent People which were every day succeeded by others â—n order to their utter extirpation They first condemned their Churches and Exercises of Religion by establishing Commissioners who pretended the Protestants had exceeded the grants that were allowed them though their Proceedings herein were so very unjust that the Judges often received order to condemn them when by the great evidence of their right they declared they could not in Conscience do it Yea in civil affairs and controversies about Lands Houses or Debts Religion was always urged the Monks Priests and the rest of that Crew crying out in Courts of Justice I plead against an Heretick against an Enemy to the State and to the Kings Religion whom he would have to be destroy'd So that the Judge durst not declare in their favour though never so much wronged lest he should be counted a Favourer of Hereticks And upon complaint the Protestants were told You have your remedy in your own hands why don't you turn Catholicks After this succeeded Processes to all the Cities Towns and Parishes in France to impower the Curates and Church-Wardens to inquire exactly what had been said or done for twenty years past by the Protestants about Religion or any other matters and to inform the Justices of the place who were to punish them with the utmost severity whereby the Prisons were soon fillâ—d there being no want of false witnesses and which was most horrible though the Judges were very sensible they were perjured villains yet they countenanced and incouraged them in swearing things that they knew were absolutely false whereby many innocent and virtuous persons were whipt and sent to the Gallies for Slaves But the Ministers suffered most thereby who seldom preached a Sermon but that a Troop of Priests and Monks were present as Informers and Observators who charged them with things they never thought of by turning them into a contrary meaning Yea pretended to divine their thoughts and make them criminal For if a Minister spake of Egypt Pharaâ—h the Israelites or of good and bad people These Spies report that by Egypt and the wicked they meant the Catholicks and by the Israelites the Protestants Yea the Judges and Ministers of state incouraged these Rascals so that they filled the Jayls with poor Protestants where they were kept whole years together and sometimes suffered corporal punishment They then proceeded to deprive Protestants of all Publick Offices and Imployments directly contrary to the Edict of Henry the great who made an express Article to the contrary Yea to hinder them from excercising several Arts and Trades whereby to maintain their Families This was in 1669 and in 1680 and 1681. all Lords and Gentlemen were ordered to discharge all their Protestant Officers and Servants Nay they would not suffer any Protestant Mid-Wives to do their Office but expresly ordained that no Women should receive any assistance in that condition but from Popish Mid-Wives by these strange and unheard of Methods many thousand Persons and Families were reduced to misery and ruin But because some could still sustain themselves there was an Order of Council that the New-Converts as they call them that is those who turned from Protestants to Papists should not be obliged to pay their debts in three years which fell heavily upon the Protestants who were generally concerned with them and hereby they found the secret to recompence the Apostates at the charge of those who continued constant who were likewise prohibited to sell or alienate their Estates to support themselves the King making void all contracts of that kind Yea to add to their misfortunes they were forbid by divers Edicts under severe penalties not to go out of France to get their Bread in other Countrys which reduced them to the horrible necessity of dying with hunger in their own Country Their Cruelty ceased not here for they laid unreasonable and severe Taxes upon the Protestants so that he who before was charged at Forty or Fifty Livers was now raised to seven or eight hundred which if not instantly paid they quartered Dragoons upon them till they had discharged the utmost farthing In 1681 an Edict came out that Children at seven years of age might abjure the Protestant Religion forcing their Parents to give them yearly allowances above their ability which occasioned the seducing of many young people and brought ruin to a multitude of Families yea they took Children from their Parents and put them into Covents with strict charge not to let their Fathers or Mothers see them even Persons of the best Quality were so â—â—ed the ancient Duke De la Force having seven of his Chilâ—ren taken from him the eldest not exceeding twelve years and the like was done to other Noblemen a barbarity never heard of in the most Savage Nations They prohibited the Protestant Ministers to be School-Masters and suppressed three Universities which were absolutely granted by the Edict of Nants They forbid Papists to marry Protestants or Ministers to hinder their people directly or indirectly from imbracing the Roman Religion These and a murtitude of Grievances more they groaned under when the Elector of Brandenburgh being pleased to intercede on their Behalf the King assured him He was very well satisfied with the behaviour of his Protestant Subjects and that so long as he lived no wrong should be done them And yet at the same instant according to the usual perfidy of that party he gave order for demolishing several of their Churches and shut up others imprisoning their Pastors and using divers manifest injustices against those he pretended to protect Yea in 1682. When they had much advanced the work of their destruction the King declared That he had not the least intention to infringe the Edict of Nantes but would most religiously observe it Though at the same time he had treacherously resolved in Council to Ruin and Destroy it And accordingly in 1684. He absolutely concluded to cancel and make void that Edict and to banish all their Ministers out of the Kingdom yet still declaring That other Protestants might live peaceably till it should please God to enlighten and convert them Which was only designed
the Beast and the Kings and Princes of Christendom established the Authority of the Pope and Church of Râ—mâ— 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 Apâ—stles and the Primitive Church And the first we reâ—d 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 all 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 murther 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 pursued 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 Revelat. 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 disswade them from the Truth The Men were all tyed to the Stake to be burnt but the Râ—manists 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 thâ—m 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 Emandus and one of the Waldenses was burnt at Paris and the persecution still continuing the people of Dat phine flying from their barbarous Enemies sheltred themselves in â—he Caves upon the Mountains but their cruel Adversaries having notice thereof pursued and destroyed many of them and the rest fled higher into the Mountains which were all covered with Snow together with their Wives and Children the Mothers carrying some in their Arms and others in Cradles and the Night coming on and having no means to make a Fire for their tender Infants they were so benummed with cold that in the morning above Fourscore of them were found dead in their Cracles and most of their Mothers died likewise Many also were burnt in the same Country of Dauphin and the Fire of Persecution raged through the whole Land so that there was scarce a Town or City in Pâ—edmont but many were put to death therein and at Turin one of them had his Bowels taken out of his Bâ—lly and put into a Bason and was afterward cruelly Martyred One Gerrard being at the Stake to be burnt requested the Hangman to give him Two or Three Stones which he at first refused thinking he would have thrown them at some body but afterwards did and Gerrard taking them up into his hands said When I shall have eaten up these Stones then shall you see an end of our Religion for which you now put me to death and then throwing them on the Ground he chearfully died These Countries being so hot with the Fire of Persecution many of these poor People fled into Calabria where they began to plant build Towns as Saint Xist La Gard and divers others where they continued till the year 1560. at which time they were most grievously persecuted by Pope Pius the Fourth and were forced to leave their Houses and Habitations and to fly into the Woods for the saving of their Lives but being there pursued by order from the Vice-Roy of Naples most of them were cruelly and barbarously murdered by the Souldiers and some flying into fortified places were so straitly besieged that they died with Famine And at the same time one Charlin was rackt in so horrible a manner that his Guts came out of his Belly Another was tormented upon the Rack Eight hours together to force him
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 either 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 Unholy 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 lce through Rain Snow Waters and a thousand inconveniencies and hardships 〈◊〉 that it would have grieved the heart of a 〈◊〉 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 wringing 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 at 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 rooting 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 up 〈◊〉 â—hese 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 the most barbarous manner they could possibly devise There joyned immediately to this Army a great number of Out-laws Prisoners and other Offenders who thought to have saved their Souls and filled their Purses by killing Heretioks Six Regiments of French besides Irish likewise helped them in this good work the Country being promised to the 〈…〉 cleared of Protestants With 〈…〉 other Troops of Highway-men and Vagabonds by the Licence of their General and the encouragement of Popish Priests and Monks the most unheard-of Villanies were committed upon the poor Protestants So that there was nothing to be seen through the Protestant Vallies but Churches burning Towns smoaking Houses flaming Men Women and Children Missacred and Murthered nothing to be heard but the confused cries of people flying the piercing groans of others dying and the horrid shrieks of others that were tormented and indeed so dreadful was their usage that it is scarce to be expressed In one place they most cruelly tormented an hundred and fifty Women and Children and afterwards chopped off the Heads of some and dashed out the Brains of others against the Rocks they took multitudes of Prisoners and such of them who were fifteen years of Age and upwards if they refused to go to Mass some of them were hanged up others had their Feet nail'd to Trees with their Heads hanging down all which they constantly endured A Franciscan Fryar and another Priest set fire to all the Churches and Houses at S. Giovanni La Toure and other places so that they left not one standing In these Desolations the Mother was bereaved of her sweet Child the Husband of his dear Wife those that were richest among them 〈…〉 to beg their Bread yea they lay weltring in their own blood and the pretence for all those bloody Massacres and Cruelties was that they were Rebels to their Princes Commands in not performing an absolute impossibility by immediately departing from their Habitations in so short a time and likewise for their frequent Petitioning to the Duke to take pity upon them The truth is
Beasts and so were turned out into the Woods where they were ravished and abused and then had their Hair and Ears cut off and disfigured In Pomeren they forced the people to eat their own Excrements and if they refused them they thrust them down their Throats till they were choaked They cram'd the secret parts of several women with Gunpowder and so setting fire to it most barbarously tore their Bellies and Wombs Divers were hung up by the privy parts they plained the faces of others with Chisels others they caused to draw on Boots filled with scalding Oyl and so roasted their legs over the fire some men they gelt in the presence of their wives and children others had their bodies hung up by Cords and by tying great weights to their limbs all the joynts of their body were put out of joynt some had Gags put in their mouths and had stinking water and piss poured down their Throats through a Tunnel till their bellies swelled like a Tun whereby they died in most cruel torment They sawed off the legs of some alive and one Minister they bound upon a Table and placing a great Cat upon his belly so provoked the Cat that she scratcht his guts out of his belly withher Teeth and Nails till he miserably died At Magdenburg they ravished the Wife and Daughter of a famous Minister before his face and then violently snatcht a sucking Infant from its Mothers breast and stuck it on the top of a Lance and when they had tormented his Eyes and Heart with these horrid Spectacles they brought the Minister into the Street and burnt him with his own Books Yea such was their abominable filthiness in Pomeren that they ravished the fairest Virgins before their Parents faces forcing them to sing Psalms the while one beautiful young woman they ravished and then cut to pieces hanging up her quarters in the Church Girls of ten years old and under they ravished and abused till they killed them nay so monstrous beastly were they that they committed filthiness with the dead Corps of those women whom they had murdered At Bastl 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-born and dâ—stroyed 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 Countrey and then set the Dogs upon him who tore and rent his Flesh till he dyed 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 Kingdom of Poland which was wholly laid in ashes being three whole days in flames ere 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 by most exquisite tortures One Mr. Samuel Cardus a Minister they used with extream cruelties first putting out his Eyes and leading him about as a miserable Spectacle then they pull'd of his Fingers with Pincers and poured 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 Dembnick 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 bloudy 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 poured 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 numbred It was counted a great mercy and kindness to be shot beheaded or killed outright without any other torment The Wives and Daughters of the Protestants were every where ravished their Houses and Goods burnt and destroyed and their Countrey and their Churches laid waste 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 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
and was feasting while his Enemies were in Council Fryar Conradus of Marpurg the Popes Inquisitor made terrible havock of all that professed the Gospel under the names of Hereticks whom he tryed by making them pass over red hot Irons laid at an unequal distance blindfold and those that were burnt were accounted Hereticks few escaping the hot Irons so that neither Noble nor Ignoble Clerks Monks Nuns Burgesses Citizens nor Country people escaped the Flames By means of this bloody Inquisitor Prince Lewis of France took the Town of Miramond and therein destroyed five thousand men women and children of the Albingenses And in the year 1234. many of them being fled into France the Pope caused a Crusado to be preached up against them whereby a great Army of Pilgrims assembled together and were sent against them by Pope Gregory who slew the poor Protestants with their Bishops and Ministers burnt their houses destroyed their Towns and plundered and carried away their Goods And about the same time some who had retired into Germany Millain and other parts of Italy were likewise burnt and destroyed A while after four hundred and twenty of these Albingenses were burnt at Tholouse A great Persecution was raised against the Protestants of Albi in the year 1281. so that they were almost all extirpated and rooted out and forced to fly to all parts for safety of their lives and at the same time by the Popes Order the Bones of several famous Ministers among them were digged up and burnt twenty or thirty years after they were buried In the year 1315. the Fryars Inquisitors raised an hot Persecution against these Gospellers in Pashaw and burnt many of them who died chearfully and constantly in the Faith and one of them who was burnt at Vienna confessed that there were fourscore thousand of them in Bohemia and Austria at that time In the year 1332. Lollard Walterus a famous Preacher from whom his Followers were called Lollards was taken and burnt at Collen But notwithstanding all these horrid Cruelties used by the Papists against these Saints and Servants of God yet they could never prevail to a total extirpation of them but they still encreased and revived and their Posterity profess the same Faith to this very day In the year 1620. in a Country called the Valtoline or the Grisons Country the Papists committed very great cruelties those poor people had for a long time enjoyed the Freedom of their Religion but about the time afore-mentioned when the Minister of a Town called Tell was preaching to his Congregation the bloody Papists rose in Arms and set upon them beating and killing several of them and among the rest there was an Honourable Lady who was exhorted to change her Religion if not for her own sake yet out of pity to her young Insant that she held in her Arms which otherwise together with her self should be immediately slain But the Lady with an undaunted courage answered I have not departed out of Italy my Native Country nor forsaken all the Estate that I had there to renounce the Faith of my Lord Jesus Christ No I will suffer a thousand deaths if it be possible rather than do it And why in this case should I have so much regard to my Infant since God my Heavenly Father spared not his own Son my Lord Jesus but delivered him up to death in love to me and such sinners as I am And then giving her Child to one that stood by she said Behold my Child the Lord God who hath care of the Birds of the Air is much more able to save this poor creature although it should by you be left in these wild Mountains Then unlacing her Gown she opened her Breast saying Here is the Body which you have power to kill but my Soul on which you have no power to lay your hands that I commend to my God And then these Blood-hounds presently slew her and cut her to pieces The Infant being a lovely sweet Child they spared and delivered to a Popish Nurse to be brought up These Villains carried divers Women and Children to the tops of high Mountains and if they would not promise to go to Mass they were thrown down headlong and torn to pieces One Dominico Berto a young man of sixteen years of age because he would not turn Papist was set upon an Ass with his face to the Tail and the Tail in his hand for a bridle and with many scoffs and mocks was brought into the Market place there they cut off his Nose Ears and Checks and then burnt many holes in divers parts of his body with hot Irons and thus they barbarously continued to torment him till he died They likewise seized upon a Noble young Virgin and carried her through the Streets with all imaginable disgrace They put a Miter of Paper upon her head besmeared her face with dirt and buffetted her on the Cheeks with 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 she be blessed above all women yet she is not Omniscient and therefore knows not 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 Wife 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