who remembring his old Friend the Smith to whom he alwaies carried a Reverend Respect for the good that he had received by him sent to know whether he was not imprisoned also and finding that he was not desired to speak with him when he came asked his Advice whether he thought it comfortable for him to remain in Prison and whether he would incourage him to burn at a Stake for his Religion To whom the Smith answered That his Can 〈◊〉 was good and he might with comfort suffer for it but for my part saith he I cannot burn But he that could not burn for his Religion by God's Just Judgment was burned for his Apostacy for shortly after his Shop and House being set on fire whilst he over-earnestly endeavoured to save his Goods himself was burnt Acts and Monum XXVI In the year 1617. Marcus Antonius De Dominis Archbishop of Spalato though he was old and corpulent and thereby unfit for Travel being almost at his Journeys end by nature came into England leaving Italy his own Country as he pretended for Religion and writ several Reasons thereof whereupon being entertained he preached and writ against Rome extolling the Protestant Religion so that he became Dean of Windsor and Master of the Savoy which he enjoyed for some time but whether he had higher hopes at home or the humour and fancy altering after five years stay here he retracted all that he had said and written which so incensed King James that he commanded him within three daies at his peril to depart the Realm who thereupon went to Rome and there inveighed as bitterly against the Protestants as he had done in England against the Papists hoping at least for Pardon if not for preferment But notwithstanding his Recantation according to the Law of the Inquisition having once revolted though now returned he suffered the death of an Heretick and an Apostate though not the shame and had the punishment of a Martyr though not the Honour being publickly Burnt at Rome yet not Burnt alive for dying in Prison and then buried it is said his Body was afterward taken up and burnt Bakers Coronicle XXVII One James Latomus a Divine of Lovain sometimes a Professor of the Gospel but afterwards an Apostate being one time got into the Pulpit to Preach before the Emperour Charles the Fifth at Brussels was at that very instant so amazed and astonished that no body could understand him so that he was laughed to scorn by the Courtiers seeing himself thus disgraced he returned to Lovain where in his publick Lecture he fell into such grief and sorrow of mind for the dishonour he had got that at length it turned into an open frenzy and madness uttering such words of Desperation and blasphemous Impiety that by other Divines present he was carried away raving and shut up in a close Chamber from which time to his last breath he cryed out That he was damned and rejected of God and that there was no hope of Salvation for him because that wittingly and against his knowledge and of meer malice he had resisted and withstood the manifest Truth of the Word of God and soon after died in this miserable condition Beards Theatre XXVIII It is recorded of Trebellius the First King of the Bulgarians that he with his People being converted to the Christian Faith that he might more quietly apply his mind and Soul to the Exercises of Religion he resigned up his Kingdom to his Eldest Son who when he was King renounced the Christian Religion and worshipped the Gods of the Heathen whereupon the Father not only deprived him of his Royal Dignity but likewise caused his Eyes to be put out fora punishment of his Apostacy and bestowed the Kingdom upon his other Son shewing thereby That he who abandoneth and forsaketh the True Light of Salvation is not worthy to enjoy the comfortable Light of the World Beards Theatre XXIX Peter Castellon Bishop of Maston having attained great Riches and Renown by means of the Gospel yet notwithstanding he afterward turned his back upon the Protestant Faith and mightily inveighed against the Profession of that Religion in his Sermons at Orleance endeavouring to demonstrate that he had not only abjured and denied it but likewise that he was a profest Adversary thereunto This Man sitting one time in his Chair fell into a strange Disease which no Physician had ever seen or could find the cause or remedy thereof for one half of his Body was extream hot and burned like Fire the other extraordinary cold and frozen like Ice and in this Torment with horrible cryes and groans he ended his Life Cardinal Pool an English-man had sometimes professed himself a Protestant yet afterward was a zealous Papist and a cruel Persecutor in Queen Maries daies but he died within two or three daies after the Queen in horrible grief and terrour of Conscience without any visible token of Repentance Beards Theatre XXX But among all the Examples we read of there is none more terrible than that of Francis Spira a Lawyer of Cittadella in the Territories of Venice a man of great Credit and Authority in his Country who imbraced the True Religion with extraordinary Zeal and made open profession of the same teaching the Doctrines thereof first to his Family and then to his Friends and Familiar Acquaintance which he continued to do about six years whereby he stirred up the malice of the Popish Clergy against him so that they complained to the Pope's Legate thereof which when Spira understood foresaw the danger wherein he was like to fall after he had long debated and disputed the matter in his own Conscience the Counsel of the Flesh and worldly Wisdom prevailing he resolved at last to go to the Legate and by doing whatever he should command him to appease his Anger and coming accordingly to Venice being over-ruled with immoderate fear he subscribes to a Catalogue of all the pretended Errours which the Legate had drawn up together with his Confession annexed which he promised to declare in his own Town and to acknowledge the whole Doctrine of the Church of Rome to be True and Holy and to abjure the Opinions of Luther and all such Hereticks As he was going home to this purpose he began to consider how wickedly he had denied Christ and his Gospel at Venice and what he had promised to do in his own Country whereupon being confounded with fear and shame he thought he heard a voice thus speaking to him Spira what dost thou here Whither goest thou Hast thou unhappy man given thy Hand-writing to the Legate yet see thou do not seal it in thy own Countrey Dost thou think Eternal Life so mean a thing as to prefer the present life before it Remember Man that the sufferings of this present Life are not comparable to the Glory that shall be revealed If thou suffer with him thou shalt also Reign with him Thou canst not answer what thou hast already
that his dream had nothing in it he returns both to his bed and sleep when the same Person appears to him the second time all bloody and requested him earnestly That seeing he had neglected him as to the preservation of his life yet at least â—e would not be wanting to him in the revenge of his death declaring That he was murdered by his Host and that at this very time he was carried out in a Cart toward the Gate of the City covered over with Dung The Man overcome with these intreaties of his Friend immediately runs out to the Gate where he finds the Cart he had seen in his dream which he seizes and searching it finds there the body of his Friend and drags the Inn-keeper to his deserved punishment Dr. More Immortal Soul XII Mr. Morison an English Gentleman in his Travels gives this Relation whil'st I lived at Prague and had sate up very late one night drinking at a Feast early in the morning the Sun-beams glancing on my Face as I lay in my Bed I dreamed that a shadow passing by me told me That my Father was dead at which awaking all in a sweat and affected with this dream I arose and wrote the day and hour and all circumstances thereof in a paper book which book with many other things I put into a barrel and sent it from Prague to Stode thence to be conveyed into England And now being at Newemburgh a Merchant of a Noble Family well acquainted with me and my Relations arrived there who told me that my Father dyed some months past I design not to write any lies but that which I write is as true as strange when I returned into England some four years after I would not open the Barrel I sent from Prague nor look into the paper book in which I had written this dream till I had called my Sisters and some other Friends to be witnesses where my self and they were astonished to see my written dream answer the very day of my Fathers death Morisons Travels p. 1. XIII The night before Heury the Second King of France was slain Queen Margret his Wife dreamed That she saw her Husbands Eye put out there were Justs and Turnaments at that time into which the Queen besought her Husband nor to enter because of her dream but he was resolved and there did great things when all was almost now done he would needs run a tilt with a Knight who refused him his name was Montgomery but the King was bent upon it whereupon they broke their Launces to Shivers in the encounter and a splinter of one of them struck the King so full into the Eye that he thereby received his deadly wound It is observed of this King That one Ann du Bourg a Noble Councellor and a man of singular understanding and knowledge making a Speech before him a little before his Death in defence of the Protestant Religion and against persecuting the Professors thereof he therein rendred thanks to Almighty God for moving the King's heart to be present at the decision of so weighty a Cause as that of Religion was and humbly entreated him to consider thereof it being the Cause of Christ himself which of good Right ought to be maintained by Princes c. But the King instead of hearkning to his good Advice was so far incensed against him that he caused him to be apprehended by the Count of Montgomery Constable of France and to be carryed to Prison protesting to him in these words These Eyes of mine shall see thee burnt and presently after he sent a Commission to the Judges to make his Process In the mean time great Feasts were preparing in the Court for Joy of the Marriages that should be of the King's Daughter and Sister The day whereof being come the King imployed all the Morning in examining the President and other Councellors of the Parliament against Du Bourg and other of his Companions who were charged with the same Doctrins intending to glut his Eyes in seeing his Execution but that very Afternoon he received that fatal blow in his Right Eye which so pierced his head that his brains were perished which wound dispising all means of cure killed him within eleven daies whereby his hope of seeing Du Bourg burned was frustrated Clarks Martyr P. 231. XIV There was one who dreamed that he was bitten to death by a Lion of Marble that was set at the entrance of the Temple and being the next morning to go to that Temple and beholding the Marble Statue of the Lion he jeastingly told his dream to those that went with him and putting his hand into the Lions mouth he said laughing Bite now my valiant Enemy and if thou canst kill me He had scarce spoke the words when he was stung to death with a Scorpion that there lay hid and thereby unexpectedly found the Truth of his dream Crescentius the Popes Legate at the Council of Trent 1552 was busie writing Letters to the Pope till it was late in the night whence arising to refresh himself he saw a black Dog of a vast bigness flaming Eyes and Ears which hung down almost to the ground enter the room which came directly toward him and laid himself down under the Table frighted at the sight he called his Servants in the Antichamber and commanded them to look for the Dog but they could find none The Cardinal hereupon fell Melancholy and afterward sick dying in a short time at Verona crying out on his death-bed Drive away the Dog that leaps upon the Bed Wanly Hist Man XV. In the year 1154. Frederick Aenobardus being Emperour of Germany Henry Archbishop of Mentz a pious and peaceable man but not able to endure the dissolute Manners of the Clergy under him determined to subject them to sharp censure but while he thought of this he himself was by them before-hand accused to Pope Eugenius the Fourth The Archbishop sent Arnoldus his Chamberlain to Rome to make proof of his Innocency but the Traitor deserted his Lord and instead of defending him traduced him there himself The Pope sent two Cardinals as his Legates to Mentz to determine the cause who being bribed by the Canons and Arnoldus deprived Henry of his Bishoprick with great scorn and ignominy and substituted Arnoldus in his stead Henry bore all patiently without appealing to the Pope which he knew would be to no purpose but openly declared That from their unjust Judgment he made Appeal to Christ the Just Judge there said he will I put in my Answer and thither I cite you The Cardinals jeastingly replyed When thou art gone before we will follow thee About a year and an half after the Archbishop Henry died upon the hearing of his death both the Cardinals said Lo he is gone before and we shall follow after But their Jeast proved in earnest for both of them died in one and the same day one in an House of Office and the other gnawing off
and stabbed himself into the breast his Friends observing him to shrink down and the water discoloured with his blood ran to him took him up carried him to the next house and searched his wound but whil'st they were busie about him he espied a knife by one of their sides whereupon he plucked it forth and suddenly stabbed himself into the heart whereby he miserably died Acts Monuments XXI The Chancellor Oliver having against his Conscience renounced the Protestant Religion in France was restored to his former Estate and afterward became a very violent Persecutor shedding much innocent blood but such a fearful Judgment was denounced against him by those innocent Souls whom he condemned as struck him into so great dread and terrour that he presently fell sick and was surprized with such extream melancholy that sobbing out deep sighs and murmurings continually against God he so afflicted his half dead body that he was like a distracted Person yea his fits were so vehement that he would shake the Bed as if he had been young and strong and when a certain Cardinal came to visit him in his extremity he could not abide his sight his pains increasing thereby but cried out That it was the Cardinal who brought them all to damnation When he had been long tormented in this manner at last in extream anguish and terrour he gave up the Ghost Beards Theatre XXII King Henry the Fourth of France who had all his life time before been a Protestant yet after he came to the Crown of France when he had almost subdued all his Enemies which opposed him therein suddenly turned Papist not long after as he was taking his leave of his Nobles to begin his progress one John Castile influenced by the Jesuits intended to have stabbed him into the Body with a Knife but the King at the same instant stooping down to take up one of his Lords who was on his knees before him the blow happened upon his upper Jaw cutting out one of his Teeth and somewhat wounding his Tongue it is reported that in his Progress a Protestant Minister in private conference said unto him Sir you have denied God with your Tongue already and have now received a wound in the same take heed of denying him with your heart lest you receive a wound in that also which afterward proved a true Prophecy for riding abroad in his Coach to refresh himself as he passed through a narrow Street one Ravillack watched 〈…〉 portunity and with a Dagger stabbed him first into the left Pap and with a second blow struck him between the fifth and sixth Rib cutting asunder the vein which leads to the heart of which wound he immediately dyed De Serres Fr. Hist XXIII Among those who were most cruel in persecuting the poor Protestants at Valence in France at the same time when two Ministers of that City suffered Martyrdom there was one Lambespine a Councillor of the Parliament at Grenoble and one Porsennas the Kings Attorney who had formerly been Protestants but were now very active against them but they were both made dreadful Examples of Divine Vengeance for Lambespine falling in Love with a young Woman was so extreamly passionate therein that he left his Estate and Imployment to follow her up and down whithersoever she went and still seeing his love and labour despised and slighted he pined away with grief and grew so neglectful and careless of himself that multitudes of Lice bred and fed upon him so that he could no way be freed from them for they continually increased and issued out from all parts of his Body in such great numbers as Worms upon a rotten Carkass so that seeing his own misery feeling Gods heavy vengeance upon him he began to despair of mercy and was therefore desperately resolved to starve himself to death which purpose the Lice seemed to further for they clustered so thick in his Throat as if they would have choaked him every moment neither could he suffer any sustenance to pass down by reason of them and when some of his Friends being moved with compassion were resolved to force him to eat providing broths to that purpose he refused and strove against them so that they were forced to bind his Arms and put a Gag into his Mouth to keep it open while they poured in the food and being thus Gagged he died like a mad Beast the abundance of Lice that went down his throat choaking him which was so terrible an example that the very Papists themselves said As he had caused the Ministers of Valence to have Gags thrust into their mouths and so to be put to death so likewise he himself died with a Gag in his mouth Hist Fr. Persecut XXIV As for Porsennas commonly called Bourreel who was indeed a very Butcher to the poor Protestants After he had sold his own Estate and likewise his Wives and Friends to raise money to buy his Place hoping soon to get a great deal more by his accursed Office he found himself mightily disappointed whereby he shortly after fell into despair of God's Mercy and likewise into a strange and unknown Disease neither could those whom he had put to death depart out of his mind but he still imagined they presented themselves before him so that as one deprived of his reason he denied and defied the Almighty and called upon the Devil in a most horrible manner which his Clerk hearing he discoursed to him of the Mercies of God out of several places of Scripture to comfort and restore his decayed senses but instead of Returning to God by Repentance and Prayer he continued more obstinate and called to his Clerk saying Stephen Stephen Thou art black so I am and it please you quoth he but I am neither Turk nor Moor but a Gascoigne with red Hair No no said he not so but thou art black with sin That is true quoth he but I hope in the bountiful mercy of God that for the Love of Christ who died for me my black sins shall not be imputed to me Upon which he being more inraged called his Clerk Lutheran Hugonot Villain c. desiring his Friends who rushed in at the noise that Stephen should presently have bolts clapt on his Legs and be burnt for an Heretick In brief his Rage and Fury increased so much that in a short time he died a fearful death with horrible howlings and outcryes his Creditors scarce giving time to draw his Carcass out of his Bed before they seized upon all his Goods not leaving his poor Wife and Children so much as a Bed of Straw to lye on so grievous was the Curse of God upon him and his House Hist Persecut XXV A Smith in King Edward the Sixth's Time called Richard Denson was a zealous Professor of Religion and by his Christian Instructions the happy Instrument of converting a Young Man to the Faith Afterward in the Reign of Queen Mary this Young Man was cast into Prison for his Religion
done yet the Gate of Mercy is not quite shut heap not sin upon sin lest thou repentest when it is too late Now was Spira in a Maze not knowing which way to turn and when he came home he acquainted his Friends with what he had done at Venice and what he had promised to do there and how the terrours of God on the one side and the terrours of the World on the other did continually torment him they without more ado advised and by divers Arguments persuaded him to do what he had promised whereupon going to the Mayor he offered to do what was enjoyned him by the Legate but all that night the miserable Man was vexed with restless cares without a minute of sleep yet the next morning he gets up and desperately went into the publick Congregation and in the presence of the whole Assembly he recited his infamous abjuration of the Protestant Profession after which he was fined thirty pieces of Gold and so restored to his Dignities Goods Wife and Children As soon as he was departed he thought he heard this dreadful Sentence Thou wicked wretch thou hast denied me thou hast renounced the Covenant of thine Obedience thou hast broken thy Vow hence Apostate bear with thee the Sentence of thine Eternal Damnation Spira trembling and quaking afflicted in body and mind fell down in a swound and from that time forward he never found any ease or peace in his mind but professed That he was captivated under the revenging hand of the Almighty God that he continually heard the Sentence of Christ the just Judge against him when his Friends brought him able Physicians he said Alas poor men how far are you wide it is neither Plaister nor Drugs that can cure a wounded Soul cast down with the sense of Sin and the Wrath of God it 's Christ only that must be the Physician and the Gospel the sole Antidote he was about fifty years of Age his understanding active quick of apprehension witty in discourse above his ordinary manner he refused nourishment which his Friends forcing upon him he was very angry crying out You strive to make me tire out this misery I would fain be at an end O that I were gone from hence that some body would let out this weary Soul One asked what he conceived to be the cause of his disease upon which he brake out into a lamentable discourse of the passages formerly related and that with such passionate expressions as made many weep and most tremble his Friends minded him of several promises out of the Scripture and of many examples of Gods Mercy My Sins saith he are greater than the Mercy of God for I am one of those damned Reprobates whom God would not have to be saved since I willingly and against my knowledge denied Christ and I feel that he hardens me and will not suffer me to hope one time seeing a knife on the Table he snatched it up to have mischieved himself had not his Friends prevented it whereupon he said I would I were above God for I know that he will have no mercy upon me in this condition he lay about eight weeks in a continual burning neither desiring nor receiving any thing but by force and that without digestion was like an Anatomy vehemently raging for drink ever pining and yet fearful to live long dreadful of Hell yet coveting Death in a continual Torment yet his own Tormentor and thus consuming himself with Grief and Horrour Impatience and Despair like a living Man in Hell he represented an extraordinary example of Gods Justice and Power and thus he ended his miserable life Clarks Mirrour XXXI It is observable that most or all of those Roman Emperors who raised those ten horrid Persecutions against the Christians came to very untimely ends neither hath Divine Justice spared others since who have set themselves to destroy poor innocent Christians meerly upon the account of their Religion of which Histories give many remarkable instances and among the rest these that follow A Councillor of the Parliament of Provence in France was so furious against the poor Protestants that the sooner to dispatch them to the fire he usually staid in the Judgment Hall from morning till night causing his meat and drink to be brought him thither but whilst he was thus wickedly industrious in these Affairs there began a little sore to rise upon his Foot which at first was no more than if a Wasp had stung the place yet increased so extreamly the first day with redness and pain that his whole foot was inflamed therewith so that it was judged incurable unless he would cut off his foot and thereby save the rest of his Body which he not yielding to the next day his whole leg was infected the third day his thigh and the fourth his whole body was inflamed of which he presently died his Corps being all parched as if rosted by a Fire thus he that was so hot in burning poor Christians was himself by the secret flame of Gods Wrath burnt and consumed to death as if it had been by a fierce and tormenting fire Hist France lib. 2. XXXII John Mesnier Lord of Oppede was another chief instrument against the Protestants in France and led his murthering Army against them where they committed such horrid Cruelties and Barbarities as the most outragious Heathens in the world would have blushed at insomuch that abundance of complaints were made against him and he accordingly summoned to appear personally before the Parliament at Paris there to answer those Murders Extortions Robberies and other Villanies laid to his Charge but being Convicted and found Guilty thereof he was not only released but restored to his former Estate but though he escaped the hands of Men yet he was overtaken by the hand of God for when he was in the height of worldly prosperity and busier than ever in persecuting the distressed Protestants even then a flux of blood came through his privy parts which engendred a carnosity and thickness of flesh therein and thereby hindered his Urine so that with horrible outcries and raving speeches he gave up the Ghost feeling as it were a burning fire broyling his Intrails from his Navil upwards and an extream infection putrifying his lower parts and beginning to tast even in this life as it were that vengeance of Eternal Fire both in Soul and Body which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels Hist France XXXIII The Cardinal of Lorrain a Principal Pillar of the House of Guise in France and a crafty and cruel Persecutor of the Protestants as he was coming from Rome with a design to stir up the Kings of France and Poland utterly to root them out of their Dominions it pleased God for the deliverance of the Christians to strike him stark mad at Avignion by the way where he died in the flower of his youth at the instant of whose death there happened such an horrible Tempest that all the People
stood amazed thereat Acts Monu XXXIV Felix Earl of Wurtemburg one of the Captains of the Emperor Charles the Fifth being at Supper at Ausburg with many of his Companions they breathed out horrible threatnings of what Cruelty they intended to exercise upon the poor Protestants and the Earl swore before them all That before he died he would ride up to his Spurs in the blood of the Lutherans but it happened the same night that vengeance overtook him for he was strangled and choaked in his own blood before morning and so he did not ride yet bathed himself not up to the Spurs but up to the throat not in the Blood of the Lutherans but his own blood and so miserably ended his life Flaccius Illyricus John Martin of Piedmont continually boasted how he would root out the Protestants and in much Gallantry cut off a Ministers Nose of Angrogne but immediately after he himself was set upon by a Wolf which bit off his Nose as he had abused the Minister whereupon he grew mad and died miserably which strange Judgment was much discoursed of by all the Country round about because it was never known that this Wolf had done any hurt to any Man before Acts Monu XXXV The Lord of Revest who was President of the Parliament at Provence and by whose means many innocent Protestants were Martyred was a while after put out of his Office and returning to his own house he was visited with so dreadful a sickness accompanied with such mad and furious fits that his Wife nor Friends durst never venture to come near him and so like a furious Mad-man he in a solitary inraged humor ended his wrerched Life About the same time there happened a very strange Judgment upon one John Cranequin an Antient Lawyer of Bruges who was so violent and furious in the Popish way that he turned Promoter against the Protestants informing Ovy one of the cursed Inquisitors against them whereby many were taken and martyred But Divine Justice struck him with a very strange Phrensy insomuch that whatsoever his Eyes beheld seemed in his Judgment to be crawling Serpents and though all manner of means and Medicines were used for curing him yea though they used the help of wicked Conjuration and Sorcery yet his Senses were quite benummed and he was bereaved of his Reason and so miserably died Beards Theatre XXXVI John Morin a cruel Enemy to the Professors of the Truth who busied himself continually at Paris in apprehending and accusing the Protestants whereby he caused multitudes daily to be sent to the High-Court of the Pallace This Man himself soon after died in most grievous and horrible torture and the Chancellor Prat who gave out the first Commissions to destroy them died swearing and blaspheming the Name of God his stomach being most strangely gnawn in pieces and consumed with Worms Poncher Archbishop of Tours pursuing with all violence the burning of the Protestants was himself surprized with a Fire from Heaven which beginning at his heel could never be quenched till one Member after another was cut off whereby he miserably died Gaspard of Renialine one of the Magistrates of the City of Anvers in France having condemned certain poor faithful Souls to be burned received ere he moved out of the place the terrible Sentence of God's Judgment against himself falling immediately into desperation and was led home to his house half distracted where roaring out That he had condemned and destroyed the blood of the Innocent he presently died French Hist XXXVII Lambert a Frier in Leige a very cruel Persecutor one of the bloody Inquisitors for Religion whilst he was one day bitterly inveighing against the Protestants he was on a sudden in the midst of his Sermon struck speechless so that he was fain to be carried out of the Pulpit to his Cloister in a Chair and was shortly after found drowned in a Ditch Albertus Pighius a great Enemy to the Gospel insomuch that he was called The Lutherans Scourge being at Bulloigne at the Coronation of the Emperor to behold the Pomp and Glory thereof it happened that the Scaffold whereon he stood fell down with the weight of the People and Pighius came tumbling headlong amongst the Guard that stood below and fell upon the points of their Halberds which ran quite thorow his Body the rest of the Company escaping without any great hurt French Hist XXXVIII In the Reign of King Henry the Eighth one Adam Damlip a very worthy Protestant Preacher was condemned to be Executed as a Traitor pretendedly though in truth for nothing but defending the Christian Religion against Popish Superstitions Now there was one Sir Ralph Ellaker Knight Marshal of Calice who was to see him Executed there and was a very great Enemy to him so that he would not permit him to make any Confession of his Faith nor the Cause for which he died but still cryed out to the Hangman Dispatch the Knave make an end not sufering him to speak a word in his own defence nor clear himself from the Treason with which he was charged but not proved against him yea this bloody wretch swore That he would not stir till he saw the Traitors heart out A while after there happened a skirmish between the English and French at Bulloigne where this Sir Ralph was slain with divers others whose death only sufficed not his Enemies for after they had stripped him stark naked they cut off his Privy Members and pluckt the heart out of his body and so left him a terrible Example to all merciless and bloody Men for there was no cause ever known why they should use him so more than the rest but only to discover the Just Judgment of Heaven upon him Beards Theatre XXXIX James the Fifth King of Scotland by the Instigation of the Popish Bishops was a great Persecutor of the Protestants the Light of the Gospel breaking forth in his time and gave Commission to Sir James Hamilton his Treasurer to prosecute all Persons which should be found guilty of Heresie and to inflict punishments upon them the King being also heard to say That none of that sort should expect any favour at his hands nay not his own Sons if they should be found guilty But this continued not long for Sir James Hamilton was accused of a Design against the King's Life for which he was shortly after Executed And a War afterward breaking out with England the King found his Nobility very averse in assisting him therein which much discontented him These thoughts with some fearful Visions which he had by night much terrified him and altered his Mind from those Extremities which the Clergy had put him upon For one night as he lay at Linlithgow it seemed to him that Thomas Scot Justice Clerk came to him a with Company of Devils crying Woe worth the day that ever I knew thee or thy service for serving thee against God and against his Servants I am now Judged to Hell
Torments Hereupon awaking he called for Lights and causing his Servants to arise he told them what he had heard and seen The next morning by break of day word was brought him that the Justice Clerk was dead which fell out just at the same time when the King found himself so troubled and almost in the same manner for he died in great terrour of mind often repeating these words By the Righteous Judgment of God I am condemned and the manner of his death answering the King's Dream so exactly made it yet more terrible to him Another Vision he had in the same place not many nights after which did more affright him for whilst he lay sleeping he thought that Sir James Hamilton whom he had caused to be Executed came to him with a drawn Sword in his hand and therewith cut off both his Arms threatning also within a short time to return and to deprive him of his Life with which he awaked and as he lay musing what this Dream should signifie news was brought him of the Death of his Two Sons James and Arthur the one dying at St. Andrews and the other at Sterling at one and the same hour The next year which was 1542. being overwhelmed with grief he died at Faulkland in the Thirty second year of his Age a little before he died he had word brought him that his Queen was delivered of a Daughter whereupon he burst forth into a passion saying It came with a Lass meaning the Crown and will go with a Lass Fie upon it Spotswoods History of Scotland XL. Drahomira Queen of Bohemia was an implacable Enemy to the Christians and caused many of them to be slain but as she happened to pass over a place where the Bones of some godly Ministers who had been martyred lay unburied the Earth opened its mouth and swallowed her up alive together with the Chariot wherein she was and all that were in it which place is to be seen before the Castle of Prague to this day About the year 1488 some Popish Bishops in Bohemia stirred up the Queen who was then great with Child to move King Vladislaus her Husband severely to punish the Piccards as the Protestants were then called and the Queen much pleased her self in thinking what grateful Spectacles she should have when she should see some of them burnt some beheaded and others drowned in the River But it pleased God before she could see it effected she fell in Travel and could by no means be delivered of her burden whereupon the Physicians advised that the Child should be cut out of her Womb which being done accordingly the Child lived but the Mother died Two years after the Bishops by their Importunity prevailed with the King to use sharp Remedies against this growing Religion whereupon an Edict was drawn up That all the Piccards or Protestants without distinction of Age Sex K. Hen. 2. whipt by the Popes Order pa. 88 Q Bohemia swallowed up alive pa. 112 or Quality should be murdered This Edict was brought â—o the Assembly of the States at Prague to be confirmed by them Many of the Nobles opposed it but by subâ—ilty of the Chancellor and his bloody Associates it was at last carryed by the Major part The Chancellor as â—he returned from the Parliament visited a Nobleman of his Acquaintance and there with great rejoycing told him what was concluded against the Protestants The Nobleman having a Servant by who was a great favourer of them asked him how he liked this Decree The Servant answered That all Parties were not agreed the Chancellor suspecting some Conspiracy asked him who durst oppose the States of the Kingdom The Servant said There is one in Heaven who if he were not present at your Councils you have but consulted in vain The Chancellor replied Thou Knave thou shalt find that as well as the rest of you and so rising up in a fury immediately a Carbuncle arose upon his foot which turned to a Disease called Ignis Sacer of which he died soon after in much misery Clarks Martyr XLI Another who was very forward in promoting this Decree in his return homeward as he was alighting out of his Chariot to make water struck his Privy Member on a sharp Nail that was in the Boot whereby as he fell forward he drew out his Guts and Entrails along with him and not long after gave up the Ghost Another Nobleman who promoted this cruel Decree as he was Hunting his Horse threw him and one of his Arrows ran into his Thigh and came out at his Loins whereby he died a very painful death The year after two German Tradesmen were apprehended at Prague and by the Monks accused of Lutheranism for which they were condemned and burnt One of their Chief Persecutors was so violent against the Protestants that he wished they were all hanged burnt or beheaded by his hands but it pleased God in his Just Judgment that shortly after all these evils fell upon himself for being exceedingly in debt for very trouble and vexation he went and hanged himself and when his Friends had privately buried him the common people hearing of it digged up his Carkass and threw it out and by the Magistrates command it was ordered to be burnt but when the wood was consumed and the Body only scorched one came and cut off his head Clerks Martyr XLII Neither has Almighty God failed to shew his displeasure against wicked Persecutors in our own Country especially those in bloody Queen Maries Reign of which we shall only collect some few Alexander the Keeper of Newgate was a cruel Enemy to those that lay there for Religion and used to go to bloody Bonner Story Cholmly and the rest crying out Rid my Prison Rid my Prison I am too much pestered with these Hereticks the wretch dyed a miserable death his Body being so swoln that he was rather like a Monster than a Man his Intrails also were so rotten that none could abide the stink of them his Son James to whom he left a great Estate soon wasted it all saying in a jeer Ill gotten ill spent and as he went through Newgate-Market he fell down dead John Peter Son in Law to this Alexander an horrible Blasphemer who used upon every occasion to say If it be not so I pray God I may rot before I die he was likewise very cruel to the poor Christians in Prison but Divine Justice met with him for all for his Body rotted away by peice-meal and so he died miserably Robert Baulding as he was apprehending William Seaman the Martyr was stricken with Lightning and thereupon pined away and died Ralph Lardin the Betrayer of George Eagles was afterward Arraigned and hanged as he stood at the Bar he said publickly This is justly fallen upon me because I betrayed the Innocent blood of that good and just man George Eagles who was condemned by my means and I sold his blood for a little mony The like vengeance of God fell
in the Reign of Queen Mary Dr. Sands and Dr. Cox fled both out of England in the same Ship and before the Ship was out of sight two of the Queens Guard were upon the Sea-shore to have apprehended Dr. Sands but they had so prosperous a passage that they landed safely at Antwerp and were invited to the house of one Mr Lock to Dinner as they were at Table Mr George Gilpia the English Secretary came to them and whispering Dr. Sands told him That King Philip made search for him to apprehend him whereupon he immediately rose ftom Dinner and though it rained very fast yet he went out of the Gate which leads to Cleaveland and so made his escape to Strasburg Clarks Mirrour 2.616 XXII In the year 1640. Dr. James Vsher Lord Primate of Ireland came over into England being invited thereunto by some eminent Persons wherein the special Providence of God did manifest it self for his preservation it being the year before the bloody Rebellion broke out in Ireland as if according to the Angels speech to Lot nothing could be done there till he was come hither and escaped to this Zoar. Clark's Lives To Conclude innumerable are the Examples of the Almighty's Protection and deliverance of the innocent and those that trust in him in all Ages of the world for as he punisheth the wicked with most severe Judgments so he protecteth those that fear him by the extraordinary assistance of his Holy Angels to fulfâ—â— the Truth of what the Apostles Write Heb. 1.14 That they are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation CHAP. VII Divine Goodness to Penitents with the dying Thoughts of several Famous Men concerning a future State after this Life Likewise divers remarkable Instances to demonstrate the reality and certainty thereof VVE read in the Holy Scriptures that the Almighty resisteth the proud but he giveth Grace to the humble and therefore how passionately and compassionately doth he exhort and perswade men to Repentance and Reformation declaring that whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast off yea though their Sins and Transgressions are of a Scarlet and Crimson dye even of the greatest magnitude yet if they will forsake their evil ways he will have mercy upon them and save them How vain therefore and foolish are those desperate men in our Age who having long continued in wicked and evil courses endeavour to incourage themselves therein by perswading themselves and their wretched Companions that there is no future account to be given in another world which wicked attempt is ridiculous as well as dangerous since besides the undeniable evidence of the Holy Scriptures and the Divine Providence whereby the whole world was Created and is Governed it is also very apparent that all sorts of Men of all Conditions as Emperours Kings Philosophers Statesmen c. of all Religions Heathens Jews Mahometans Christians Of all Opinions among Christians and of all Tempers whether strict and serious or loose and debauched in all Ages of the World from the Creation they have left this great Observation behind them That upon Experience they have found that what vain Thoughts soever men may in the heat of their Youth and Lust entertain of Religion yet they will sooner or later fâ—el aâ— Testimony which God hath given into every ones Breast which will one day make them serious either by the inexpressible Fears Terrours and Agonies of a Troubled mind or by the inconceivable Peace Joy and Comfort of a good Conscience and of this we have many late as well as former examples some of which may be very necessary to be here inserted to manifest the Truth thereof I. St. Augustin is a famous Instance of Repentance as we find very lively discribed in his Confessions some few of which I shall repeat in his own words In my Youth I even burnt to be satisfied in these lower pleasures and what was it I delighted in but to love and be loved yea I boiled over in my Fornications and thou heldest thy peace then wandred I still further from thee O my Joy into other and more fruitless seed-plots of sorrows with a proud dejectedness and an untyred weariness but didst thou indeed hold thy peace to me No surely for whose but thine were the words which my Mother one of thy faithful Children sang in my Ears for I will remember she privately charged me and with very much earnestness fore-warned me That I should not commit simple Fornication but especially that I should never defile another mans Wife These seemed to me no better than Womens advices which it would be a shame for me to follow but they were thy Counsels indeed and I knew it not but ran headlong with such stupid blindness that I was ashamed amongst my Equals to be guilty of less impudence than they were whom I heard to boast mightily of their Debaucheries and glorying the more the more beastly they had been Yea and I took pleasure in committing of wickedness not for the Pleasure of the Act only but for the praise and credit of it also What is worthy of dispraise if Vice be not But I made my self worse than indeed I was that I might not be dispraised and when I wanted opportunity to commit that naughtiness which should make me as bad as the worst I would pretend I had done what I never did that I might not be counted cowardly in being innocent nor faint hearted in being more chast than they Behold with what Companions I walked the Streets of Babylon and I wallowed my self in the mire of it as if I had reposed in a Bed of Spices and most precious Ointments and my invisible Enemy seduced me to the very center of sin so that I ran into all manner of dissoluteness and practised whatsoever I affected a mist in the mean time depriving my sight O my God of the brightness of thy Truth and mine Iniquity came from me as if swelling from fatness Surely thy Law O Lord punisheth Thievery yea and this Law is so written in our hearts that Iniquity it self cannot blot it out For what Thief does willingly abide a man to steal from him no not a rich Thief though his follow be driven to steal upon necessity Yet had I a desire to commit Thievery and did it compelled neither by hunger nor poverty but even through a cloyedness of welldoing and a pamperdness of Iniquity for I stole that of which I had enough of my own and much better nor when I had done cared I to enjoy the thing which I had stoln but only rejoycing in the Theft and 〈◊〉 it self A Pear Tree there was in the Orchard next our Vineyard will laden with Fruit though not much tempting either for colour or taste To the robbing of this a Company of lewd young Fellows of us went late on night having according to our idle custom continued in our Gaming Houses till that time from whence we
them two should first depart out of this Life should if possible give an account to the Survivor of the State of the other Life and whether the Soul be immortal or not This agreement being made and mutually sworn to they departed In a short time after it fell our that while Michael Mercatus was one morning early at his study upon a sudden he heard the noise of a Horse opon the Gallop and then stopping at the door and immediately he heard the voice of his Friend Marsilius crying out to him O Michael Micheal those things are true they are true Michael wondring to hear his Friends voice rose up and opened his Casement where he saw the back part of him whom he had heard speak in white and galloping away upon a white Horse He called after him Marsilius Marsilius and followed him with his eye but he soon vanished out of sight Michael amazed at this extraordinary accident very strictly inquired if any thing had happened to Marsilius who then lived at Florence some distance from thence where he likewise breathed his last and he found upon strict inquiry that he dyed at that very time when he was thus seen and heard by him Wanly Hist Man P. 88. IV. About the year 1060. There was a great Doctor buried at Paris at the enterring of whom when the Priest in the form then used came to the words Responde mihi Answer me the Corps sat upright on the Bier and to the amazement of all that were there cryed out Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum At the just Tribunal of God I am accused lying presently down again The attendants being astonished deferred the Funeral till the next day to see the Issue of this strange accident at which time a multitude met to observe the event when at the same words again repeated the disturbed Body riseth again and with the like hideous noise cryed out Justo Dei Judicio Judicatus sum By the just Judgment of God I am judged The People being yet more amazed deferred the Interment one day longer when almost the whole City thronged to this strange Burial and in the presence of them all at the reciting of the same words he rose up the third time and cryed out Justo Dei Judicio condemnatus sum by the just Judgment of God I am condemned whereat as the whole City were affrighted so Bruno an eminent Doctor in that University was seriously affected and told them That as they had formerly heard so now they saw the Judgments of the Lord were unsearchable and past finding out for this Person whom we honoured for the strictness of his Life the modesty and unblamableness of his Conversation cryeth out now that he is damned by the just Judgment of God This dreadful Example he inforced upon the minds of the Auditors with so many prevailing Arguments that by the Blessing of God several of them retired themselves from the world and spent the rest of their days wholly in the service of God and preparing their Souls for an Eternal State in the world to come Dying Mens words p. 196. V. Charles the 5th Emperor of Germany King of Spain and Lord of the Netherlands after Three and Twenty Pitcht Battles six Triumphs Four Kingdoms won and Eight Principalities added to his Dominions which he ruled over Fourteen years yet at last resigned all these retired to his Devotion in a Monastery had his own Funeral celebrated before his face and left this Testimony of Christian Religion That the sincere profession thereof had in it those sweets and Joys that Courts were Strangers to And Philip the Third of Spain lying on his Death Bed in 1621 sent thrice at Midnight for Florentius his Confessor who with the Provincial of Castile discoursed to him of approaching Death exhorting him to submit to Gods will so gravely that the King himself could not chuse but weep and after some intermission from his tears and thanks for his wholsome admonition the King spake thus to him Do you not remember that in your Sermon on Ash-Wednesday you said that some of your Auditors might dye that Lent this concerns me for lo my fatal hour is now at hand but shall I obtain eternal felicity which words he uttered with great grief and trouble adding likewise to his Confessor You have not hit upon the right way of healing is there no other Remedy Which when he observed the Confessor thought he meant of his Body the King added Ah I am not solicitous of my Body nor of my temporary Disease but of my Soul The Confessor mournfully answered I have done what I could I must commit the rest to Gods providence Florentius then discoursed at large of Gods mercy remembring His Majesty what he had done for the Honour and Worship of that God to which the King replyed Ah how happy were I had I spent these Twenty three years wherein I have held my Kingdom in a retirement Florentius answered That it would be very acceptable to God if he would lay his Kingdom his Majesty his Life and his Salvation at the feet of his Crucified Saviour Jesus Christ and submit himself to his Will Willingly willingly will I do this said the Heart-sick King and from this moment do I lay all that God hath given me my Dominions Power and my Life at the Feet of Jesus Christ my Saviour who was crucified for me and then among his last words he said to Florentius Now really you have suggested to me very great comfort Fair Warning P. 160. VI. Prince Henry Eldest Son to King James and Queen Anne was most zealous in his love to Religion and Piety and his heart was bent if he had lived to have indeavoured to compound those unkind Jars and differences that were among Religious men He told the Dean of Rochester That he thought that whereaâ— he and others like him did as usual look him in thâ— face when they came first into the Pulpit their Countenance did as it were say to him Sir you must hear mâ— diligently you must have a care to observe what I say He used to say he knew no sport worth an Oath and that he knew not what they called Puritan Preaching 〈◊〉 but he loved that Preaching which went next his heart and spake as if they knew the mind of God His last words were O Christ thou art my Redeemer and 〈◊〉 know that thou hast Redeemed me I wholly depend upon thy Providence and Mercy from the very bottom of my heart I commend my soul into thy hand A Person oâ— Quality waiting on the Prince in his sickness who had been his constant Companion at Tennis and asking how he did he answered Ah Tom I in vain wish for that time I lost with thee and others in vain Recreation He then added Now my Soul be glad for at all parts of this Prison the Lord hath set his aid to loose thee Head Fâ—et Milt and Liver are failing Arise therefore and shake off thy