A Breviary of All the Greatest Persecutions
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This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
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Logan West
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www.puritansearch.org
Brachy-Martyrologia: OR, A BREVIARY Of all the greatest PERSECUTIONS Which have befallen the Saints and People of God From the Creation to our present Times: PARAPHRAS'D, By Nicholas Billingsly, Of Mert. Col. Oxford.
Psal. 44. 22. For thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughters.
Nil crus sentit in nervo, cum animus est in coelo.
Tertul.
Tertul.
Naz. contra Ar. p. 113. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .
LONDON, Printed by J. Cottrel, for Tho: Johnson, at the Key in Paul 's Church-yard. 1657.
To the Right Worshipful,
JEREMY MARTIN
Doctor of Physic in Bristol,
-
All
-
Internal
-
External
-
Eternal
-
Happiness.
- Internal
- External
-
Eternal
- Happiness.
Honoured Sir,
I Am not ignorant that we now live in as censorious an age as even the Sun shined on; wherein there are not a few that will snap and snarl at the politest lines, and refined'st inventions whatsoever; (when perhaps the matter is too deep, for the short line of their Judgments to sound the bottom of:) What hard measure then I am like to have, for suffering this my naked and incult Muse to venture abroad on the open stage, I am not a little sensible of. But yet, because private benefits, do often call for public acknowledgements, I will not be ashamed to let the world know, I am exceedingly engaged to you; nor could I be contented till I had made some part of amends for your received favors; Presuming that your Heroic mind, sweet nature, and generous disposition, will respect more ( Artaxerxes -like) the inward Affection, then the outward Action. Be pleased therefore, Noble Sir, to persist still in your wonted goodness, and favourably accept of that in the birth, which your encouragements furthered in the conception. The subject I confess is Divine (as treating of a Bush all in a flame, yet not consumed; enough to dazzle our eyes with its astonishing glory) and therefore deferves to be better handled, by a more Graphical Paraphrast then my self: And if my jangling toll in better ringers, I shall be glad of it; In the mean, I will let my green fruits ripen under the Sun-shine of your judicious Eye: and though my lines (like old Pewter) seem dull for want of scouring; yet may they receive a gloss from your resplendent Name. Pythagoras was of opinion, that two things (and they from above) made a man truly glorious; the one was, To conceive aright of things; the other was, To know how to be beneficial to others. Sweet Sir, I will not flatter you (for I am confident you do not desire it, choosing rather to be too modestly spoken of, then to be mounted on the wings of Popular applause) but I dare say, you are endowed with both: You have affected to be acquainted with the natures of most (may I say all?) diseases; and have effected (God making your undertakings succesful) as rare cures as ever any, I will except none. I cannot stand to specify them; this one shall serve for all: Your eminent skill in recovering Epileptical maladies, is sufficiently known to many. What shall I say of my self in particular? am not I bound to bless God, since first I had the happiness to be acquainted with you? Have not I great cause to admire (and, if I may so say, adore you for) your profound judgment, your excellent ability, and singular care, so oportunely exercised towards me your Patient, in the raising up of my infirm body, even then, when I had passed the sentence of death upon myself, and was thought, in the eyes of all, irrecoverable? I were unworthy to live, if I did not.
Theodoricus, an Archbishop of Colen, being demanded by Sigismund the Emperor, of the directest course to Happiness; Perform (said he) when thou art well, what thou promisedst when thou wast sick. This puts me in mind of a double engagement which I made in the time of my calamity; First, to God Almighty, That I would endeavor, if he but pleased to spare me my life, to devote myself wholly to his fear, and walk more obediently before him, then I had formerly done: Next to you, as the only instrument in the hand of God, for the repairing of the ruinous walls of my fleshly Tenement, I promised to agnize it, so long as I lived. I beseech God, that these promises may be the prodromes of seconding performances▪ I pray Sir, give me leave to tell you, you are the only man living, whom I superlatively honor, not only for your learning and knowledge (though that were enough to convince me) but for your inestimable Virtues; as Temperance, Humility, &c. which are as so many sparkling Ornaments, and Orient Pearls, to enrich and illustrate the very place you come in. To speak nothing of your Piety, that only will commend you in the eyes of God. I might say, and say truly, that you are such a common good to your Country, that good men love you, and all men admire you: but I will not gild Gold; neither may I think that bright Phaebus beams can be the more increased by the presenting of a silly Taper: nay, I am somewhat conscious to myself of eclipsing the great Luminary of your serene worth, with the obumbration of a Timanthaean veil.
If I have herein offended, it is against my will; I am sorry for it; and I hope your ingenuity will pardon me, laying the fault on the defects of my Youth, as being not over-burdened with Ciceronian Eloquence. But what though I cannot clothe my mind in such fine airy garments, nor adorn my Paper with such Rhetorical jewels as others can? yet may I as deeply engrave you on the Marble Tablet of my fidelious breast, as any, while I am,
Sir,
The eLeVenth Day of March MDCLV.Your Honors very humble, thankful, and much obliged servant, Nich: Billingsly.
To the Reader.
Courteous Reader,
THey that cannot have leisure to take a full survey of Countries themselves, may yet see somewhat to their content, in the Geographical Maps and descriptions of others. Thou hast here presented to thy view, the Book of Martyrs in a little room; which is already extant, though in a larger extent. Now if the Tyrannie of thine affairs are so imperious, or the Weakness of thy purse so injurious, as to impede thy perusal of the History of the Church (which is absolutely the best (save one) in the Christian world,) either in the voluminous works of the Laborious (now with God) Mr. Fox; or in the conciser Collections of that Reverend Divine and Famous Martyrologist (still with us) Mr. Clark (out of whose Garden I have gathered this Posy of flowers:) Thou mayest (if it please thee) accept of this Breviary, which will not cost much money in the buying, and but a little time in the reading. Herein thou mayest see (though briefly, yet not obscurely) the goodness of God, in maintaining and preserving to himself throughout all Ages, a peculiar People, zealous of good works, notwithstanding all their confronting enemies whatsoever: and though boisterous gusts of Temptation, have ever tossed the Saints up and down, on the raging billows of Persecution; Yet have they always held up their heads above water: The more these Grapes have been pressed, the more Wine have they yielded; Juniper burnt smells savouriest, so do they; Chamomile trod, grows fastest, so do they; pounded Spices smell sweetest, so do they. Affliction is God's furnace; the Saints are Gold put into it, not to be consumed, but to return more glorious. That saying, Veritas premi potest, opprimi nunqam, Truth may be blamed, but never shamed, herein is verifi'd. Though Antiochus commanded the Book of God's Law to be burnt in the fire, and cut in pieces, making it death for any man to keep it by him: Though Dioclesian caused them to be burned in the streets, and made the Churches and houses of God even with the ground (as Euseb. Lib. 8. Cap. 4. hath it) the more it hath been suppressed, the more it hath spread and increased, to the spiritual edification of the house of God, whereof Jesus Christ is the Corner-Stone. Jerome in his Epistle to Cormatius, reports, That in an whole years space, there passed not one day (the Calends of January excepted) wherein five thousand Christians were not made away with. And—But I will not detain thee (Gentle Reader) in my Porch like a stranger, lest I be thought churlish. Well then, in a few words (for I will not now stand to strain complements with thee) I have made no great preparation for thee: And if thou wilt be pleased to accept of such poor entertainment as my Muse is able to afford thee, she gives thee an invitation, Come in, fall to, eat freely with a good will, and thou art heartily welcome: But if thy dainty palate be so nice, as to make thee hanker after the most exquisite dishes and costli'st viands that can be got for love or money; I tell thee truly (friend) I have not it for thee, thou hadst best go where such is to be had; and that is all the harm I wish thee; and so I bid thee
Farewell.
In Amici sui charissimi NICH O LAI BILLINGSLY Brachy-hagio-Martyrologiam Distichon Panegyricum.
Hîc magnum in parvo; veterū Monument a virorū, Et Mortem & Mores (candide Lector) habes.
IT skills no less large Tomest' Epitomize,
Then at the first the same for to devise.
'Twas
Homers
praise his Iliads to indite,
Another's in a Nut-shell them to write.
Like worth belongs to thee, & to thy book;
Wherein (as in an Optick) if we look,
We may at once more briefly far behold,
What
Fox,
and others, have at large us told,
Touching such Martyrs as did live and die
I'th' faith of Christ; whose sacred memory
Thou doest receive, that they on earth again
May live with us, we'n heaven with them
may reign.
God grant us this; and so to make an end,
Thou them, I thee, cannot too much commend.
Aug. 11. 1656.
T. C. de Ospringe Cleri •
DEO Opt. Max.
GReat God, who grasp'st in thine eternal fists
The world, & boundest with appointed lists
The swag'ring billows; thou who hast enroll'd
Thy Marble Gallery with studs of Gold,
Whose throne the face-veild Seraphims on high
Advance above the Porph'ry-Arched sky;
Who all things didst, and do' st, and wilt fulfill,
According to the counsel of thy will:
O show thy power in thy servant weak,
Rouze my dull Muse, enable her to speak
Divinely of thy Saints, that in this story
The World (as in a glass) may see thy glory.
Finish this work, this work in thee begun,
And make it live, when I am dead and gone.
Those looser Poets who begin betimes
To please vain fancies with lascivious Rhimes,
Thinking there by to eternize their name,
What do they leave but Monuments of shame?
Their works shall rot; while such as have a sure
Foundation, shall eternally endure.
Let no man deck with
Apollinean
Bayes
My brows; thine be the Glory, thine the Praise.
THE PERSECUTIONS Mentioned in the Old Testament.
SECT. I.
The Persecution of the Church in the first Ages of the World, and so forward till Christ's Incarnation.
ADam
being left unto his own free-will,
Satan the Primo-genitor of ill,
Maligning his so prosperous estate,
Did exercise his Diabolick hate,
Under the hood of friendship, to o'rethrow
Both root, and branch at one pestiferous blow.
With large-pretending promises, his suit
He varnish'd thus; if the forbidden fruit
And full as wise as their Creator be.
Thus Satan's Engines played, till in conclusion
He took the Fort, by his so smooth delusion.
Poor man made shipwreck of his Innocence,
Thwarting his God-required Obedience:
Thus
Adam
fell, and by his hapless fall,
Hath lost his happiness, his God and all,
For ever; Ah! he cannot anymore
Enjoy those blessings he enjoyed before
In his first state; and all that he can win,
Is death, Death is the Wages due to sin.
But what of that? yet hath it pleased the High'st
To give eternal life through Jesus Christ
Our blessed Lord: whoever do believe
In him alone, are certain to receive
A glorious Crown: O see what God hath done,
To save poor sinners, he hath sent his Son,
His only Son, who willingly came down,
To bear the cross, that we might wear the Crown.
Strange condescension! the great God above
Is pleased toembrace us in the arms of love.
O groundless depths! O love beyond degree!
The guiltless dies, to set the guilty free!
Nor ceased the malice of the black-brow'd Prince
Of the Low-Countries, hell; forever since
Mans forfeiture of his heaven-granted lease,
He hath been active to molest the Peace
Of Christ-confiding Saints, and like a Lyon
Hath seized on those who bear good will to
Siont
Amongst the wheat, he sows seditious tares;
And setteth men together by the ears.
Nay more unnatural then that, one brother
He instigates to persecute another:
To heaven for vengeance cried, and cried aloud:
(A graceless branch, sprung from a righteous stock.)
And must the new-born Males be stifled by
The Mid-wives? O unheard-of cruelty!
And if these fail, may they not live a while?
From thy enslaving hands, but bear the print
Years not a few the
Isra'lites
were drudges
Unto th' I dolatrous and self-law'd Judges;
In dens and caves, from persecuting Elves:
The
Philistines
thirty four thousand slay
A Smith in
Israel
could not be found
Did
Shimei's
railing accusations bear.
And took the treasures from the house of God.
And (which is strange) good
Asa's
spirit risen
His reign, the Church of God was stormed at.
Elisha
suffers; in
Jehor ams
reign
Thousands of
Judah
slew, did thousands bring
By th'
Edomites, Assyrians, Philistines.
And
Jeremiah
after slandrous mocks,
Then was he (liberty denied him) flung
Nebuchanezzar
in a rage doth throw
Into the furnace hot: By wicked men
And a decree procures, that in one day
God's people should be killed murth' rously.
Judah's
disturbed and opposition's found
When they would raise God's Temple from the ground:
SECT. II.
The Persecution of the Church from Nehemiah to Antiochus his time; and also under Antiochus Epiphanes, before the nativity of Christ, about 168 years.
ELiashib
the High Priest being dead,
Judas
his son succeeded in his stead;
And
John
the next, who in the Temple slew
Jesus
which sought to wrong him of his due,
No sooner had
Bagoses
heard the News,
But with a potent force, he kept the Jews,
(The Jews enclosed within
Jerus' lems
walls)
Till sev'n years ended, under slavish thralls;
Compelling them to lay down fifty Drachmes
For every Lamb that fed their daily flames.
Jaddus (John
dead) succeeded, who b'ing told,
Of
Alexander's
acts, and how he would
Come shortly, he in's Priestly robes array'd,
For God's direction and protection prayed.
The King fell down, the Jews did in a ring
Encircle him, and said, God save the King.
He checked, replied, I do not (that were odd)
Adore the High Priest, but the High-Priests God.
Then leave to live after their Ancient orders
He grants the Hebrews, and deserts their borders.
Antiochus Epiphanes
did go
Unto
Jerusalem:
nor friend nor foe
Escap'd his fury; he the Temple spoiled
Of all her Ornaments, and it defiled:
Yea, he inhibited the godly Jews
Those daily sacrifices they did use;
And having made their goodly structures void,
He led some captive, many he destroyed,
Forced others to forsake God, and adore
Those Idols he himself fell down before:
But they that minded not his menacings,
Were whipped and maim'd, had cruel torturings;
Some crucified; they hanged the female sex,
And hung young Children at their parents necks.
What books of Sacred Writ they found, the same
Were cast into the all-devouring flame.
Upon a Sabbath day these merc'less slaves
Did stifle thousands hid in unclos'd caves.
And now
Mathias
pious and devout,
Led forth the Christians 'gainst this impious rout,
Destroy'd their Altars; Providence did bless
All his endeavors with desired success.
His sons,
Mathias, Judas,
and the rest
Did scour their country, and their foes suppressed.
SECT. III.
The Martyrdom of the Maccabees, under the same Antiochus.
ONias
acts with a religious care
His High-priests office, and may therefore fear
Degrading; nay,
Antiochus
is bent
To turn him out: the moving Argument
Drawn from the Justness of
Onias
cause,
Subjects
Onias
to th'Imperious Laws
Of willful Tyranny, by whose compunction,
This good man leaves his Sacerdotal function,
For one that least deserved it: no other
Might take it up, but his false-hearted brother:
Who now but
Jason! Jason
is the man
Must drive on the design;
Jason
began
To force the people to renounce the true
And old Religion, to embrace a new;
T'abjure their Temples, to extruct them baths:
To quit their beaten and accustomed paths,
For prosecution of more choice delights,
And abrogate their ceremonial Rites;
To drink in Greekish customs, and betimes
Train up their striplings to unlawful cimes.
But mark th'event, a sin-provoked God
Doth flame in fury, making them a rod
(Whose Laws were studiously observed,) to scourge
Those Mimick emulators, who would urge
So good a God; their friends become their foes,
T'inflict on them innumerable woes.
For an edict is forthwith by the King
Set forth, and sealed with his Royal Ring;
The sense is this,
Whoever of the Jews,
Or Hierosolymitanes, refuse
To offer up a Sacrifice unto
The gods, he without anymore ado
(Besides those beatings he was like to feel)
Should have his members Racked on a wheel.
Antiochus
perceiving this Edict
Was little prevalent, although so strict,
So rigorous, but that a many chose
Rather to die, then their Religion lose;
He took th'advantage of an em'nent place,
And summoning the Jews, his graceless Grace
Caus'd sacrificed swine's flesh be given about
To every man. Amongst the mixed rout
Stood
Eleazar
honored for his age,
Reverend, Pious, Virtuous and sage,
In whom the graces all in one combined;
Indeed he had an heaven-enamel'd mind:
To whom
Antiochus
doth break the chains
Of silence thus: Old man, avoid those pains
Wait on the obstinate, for once b'advised
By me, and eat what here is sacrificed:
Cherish thy rev'rend age, and do not scorn
The benefit of life: what though th'art born
A Jew? yet eat: no wise man will refuse
That meat which nature hath ordained for use:
Why should this beast be more abominable
Then other beasts? canst tell? sure th'art not able:
Why was it made, if not to be enjoy'd?
And gifts unus'd, what are those gifts but voy'd?
Admit your Laws are just, yet may coaction
Excuse thee; 'tis no voluntary action.
To whom this
Nestor
(whose undaunted breast
Was flam'd with zeal) an answer thus expressed:
We, O
Antiochus,
love not vain shows
But true Religion; nor Racks, nor blows, (chains,
Nor breast all gor'd with darts, hands worn with
Nor ease exchanged for a thousand pains;
Famine nor sword, nor all, should make us smother
Our loved Religion, to embrace another:
Know then Proud King, I nothing weigh thy threats,
As to profane my lips with profane meats:
Ple joy to suffer for a righteous cause,
Rather then violate those Heaven-made Laws:
'It is but a death at most, if I fulfil not
Thy will; and disobey my God I will not:
Urge me no more, for do it I will never;
This I resolve, and will herein persevere.
Expose me to the ravenous Lions paw,
Yet I will not make a rupture in the Law;
Rip up my Entrails, do; and when that's done,
Fling, fling m'into an hate-light Dungeon:
Pluck out these eyes with Pinsers; let the flame
Burn me to cinders, I will be still the same.
Think not that I will recant because I am old
And feeble no; torments shall make me bold:
I am content to suffer for my God,
And patiently sustain his chastening rod:
The zeal I bear is not a zeal that founds
It's happiness on such unstable grounds,
As once to move me or to make me totter;
No, Tyrant, were thy fury ten times hotter.
I will laugh death in the face, when I lay down
This life, to take up an immortal Crown.
Blest I shall be, although by thee accurst;
Tyrant I challenge thee, do, do thy worst.
With that the soldiers hale him to the place
Of torment, strip him, whip him, and do lace
His back with stripes, till bloody streams out-gush,
And in the face of the tormentor blush:
While he was under the afflicter's hand,
One stood, and cried, Obey the Kings command:
But patiently this worthy man endured
A world of wounds, too dang'rous to be cured:
And darting up his venerable eyes,
He knew for whom he was a sacrifice;
In whom he did believe: then casts a look
On his afflicted self, and sees a brook,
A bubbling brook, with uncontrolled tides,
Crimson their passage from his mangled sides:
And when his sufferance over-flowed the banks
Of torment, he admired, gave God the thanks.
They loathsome liquor int' his nostrils pouring,
Did then commit him to the flames devouring:
Yet when his nat'ral life began to fail
And his approaching death would take no bail;
Having his wasting eyes on Heaven laid,
His dying breath breathed forth these words, & said,
Thou O my God art he who bringest down
To th'grave, givest life, and with that life a Crown;
Behold (dear Lord) I am swallowed by deaths jaws,
For the strict keeping of thine own-made Laws.
Sweet Father hear me; O be pleased to keep
Thy bosom Nation, suffer not thy Sheep,
To be devoured by Wolves, that are too bold
To worry them, or scare them from their fold:
O let my death conclude all misery,
And grant in dying I may live to thee.
Now I am found in thee, can I be lost?
He ceased, and ceasing yielded up the Ghost.
The Kings displeasure waxing now more strong,
Sent for sev'n Hebrew children, who being young,
He thought them weak, unable pains to bear,
He therefore either by entreats, or fear,
Presum'd he should induce them to abjure
Their Law, and eat what by their Law's impure.
The crafty Tyrant ambushing his guile,
Beholdeth them with a dissembling smile,
And thus revealed himself: Admir'd young men,
I wish your good, O do not madly then
Shun my Behests; prevent the torments due
Unto the refractory, not to you;
As for my part, I desire nothing more
Then to advance you, and increase your store:
Contemn your superstitious vanities,
And come along our tracts, if you be wise:
It is no such crime if you your Law fulfil not.
If you neglect ours (as I hope you will not)
With ling'ring deaths I will study to torment you;
You may it may be then too late repent you.
Am I a King? and shall contempt accrue
To me a King, from such low worms as you? (Racks,
Bring forth those Wheels Rods, Cauldrons, Hooks &
Grid-irons, Cages; here's not all, here lacks;
Let's see the Engines to torment the hands,
Gauntlets, Auls, Bellows, Brass-pots, Frying-pans.
Obey, young men; if I enforce a fact
Not good, 'tis not your voluntary act,
You do not sin; be prudent then, I say,
Not actively but passively obey.
The zeal-inflamed young men do vilify
His threats, intreats, retorting this reply,
Speak Tyrant say, say, why art thou so bent
To persecute us that are innocent?
We will observe, for all afflictions rod,
What
Moses
taught us from the mouth of God;
Know, we detest your sense-deluding shows,
Nor will we be seduced by words or blows:
No Tyrant, no, do thou the best you can
To do thy worst, we will fear God, not man:
Our cause is God's, and death is our desire;
Heaven is our portion, yours eternal fire.
Th'enraged Tyrant after one another
Lop'd off these hopeful sprouts: the eldest brother,
Named
Macchabons,
first was stretched out
Upon a Rack, and beaten round about
His naked ribs, with a Bulle-pizle, till
His wearied tormentors had their fill
Of long continued strokes, and did desire
Rather to leave, then he did them require:
Nor was this all; fresh tort'rers have extended
Him on a wheel, weights at his heels appended:
While yet his sinews and his entrails brake,
He called on God, then to the Tyrant spake:
Blood-guilty wretch, who labor'st to disthrone
God's Majesty itself; know, I am one
Am for the cause of God a sufferer,
And no witch, nor inhuman murderer.
When the afflicter with compassion swayed,
Bid him submit unto the King, he said,
Accursed ministers of Tyranny,
Your wheels as yet, are not so sharp, that I
Should thereby be enforced to abjure
Heaven, wherein is my foundation sure.
See, tyrant, see how resolute I am;
Wind off my flesh with pinsers, do, and cram
Young Vultures with the bits before mine eyes:
Put, put me to the worst of cruelties:
Rost (if you please) by a soft fire my flesh,
And if that will not serve, invent a fresh:
Inflict, inflict, till there cannot be fonnd
A place, whereon toinflict another wound.
So said, thus racked, into a fire he's thrown,
And now his wasting bowels stared on
The Tyrants face; yet with an unmov'd breast
He to his brethren thus himself expressed:
Beloved brethren, learn by my example
To scorn the worlds alluring baits, and trample
All torments underfoot; obey God rather
Then this proud Tyrant: God's a gracious father;
And when him pleases, with a smile or frown,
Can raise the humble, strike the lofty down.
This torment's not enough to end his pain,
For he is snatched out of the fire and flame
Alive; his tongue was plucked out and then
His life he ended in a frying pan:
And now his soul enjoyed what he desired,
His friends rejoiced, and his foes admired.
Then was the second brother,
Aber
called,
Who with the tort'ring Engines unappal'd,
Refus'd to eat, chains did his hands restrain:
His skin (the garment of his flesh) was flain
From head to knees; the tort'rer did devest
His entrails peeping from his unglaz'd breast,
Too grievous to behold; and him at last
Unto a famine-pined Leopard cast:
The beast (though truculent) did only smell,
And went her way, forgetting to be fell,
Nor was sh' injurious to him in the least.
The Kings displeasure but the more increased,
And
Aber
grown more constant by his pain,
Thus, thus his dying voice did loudly strain:
How sweet! How pleasant is this death to me!
Yea 'tis most welcome, for I am sure to be
Rewarded by my God; the cross I bear
On earth, in heaven a glorious Crown to wear;
I thank my God, that I am more content
To suffer, Tyrant, then thou to torment.
And yet is not this misery of mine
In suff'ring, so exorbitant as thine
Is by inflicting; keeping of the Laws
Thus aggravates my pains, and thou the cause
Shalt by the justice of the Holy One
Be banished from thy usurped throne,
And be reserved for those horrid chains
Of utter darkness, and eternal pains.
He said no more; his soul forsook his breast,
To take possession of aye-lasting rest.
Machir
the third son's brought, who was not quelled,
But angrily their counsel thus repeli'd:
One Father us begat; one Mother bore us;
Protract no time, for I am not so weak
To yield; I come to suffer, not to speak:
What care I though I drink the brim-filled boul
Of thy displeasure? twill not hurt my soul.
A Globe was brought, his woes must b'aggravated,
And bound thereon; his bones were dislocated;
They flaid his face, and while a crimson river
Flow'd from him, thus he did himself deliver:
O Tyrant, we, what we endure, endure
For the pure love of God: thou shalt be sure
To rove in Sulph'ry flames, and be tormented
Eternally, unpity'd, unlamented.
His tongue b'ing taken out, this good young man
Departed in a red-hot Frying-pan.
Judas
is next, whom neither menacing
Nor flattries, could induce toobey the King:
Your fire (said he) shall me attract more near
God's holy Law, and to my brethren dear:
I tell thee Tyrant, thou shalt be acurs'd,
And true believers blest: thou that art nurs'd
By cruelty itself: I bid thee try me,
And see if God will not also stand by me.
Hereat the Tyrant in a hot displeasure
Hastily left his chair toafflict by leisure;
He charged his tongue to be cut out, in brief;
T'whom
Judas
thus; Our God is not so deaf
As you imagine; his attentive ear
Hears the dumb language of his servants pray'r:
He hears the heart, not voice; our thoughts he sees
A distance off; distongue me if you please:
Divide me limb from limb, do Tyrant, do,
But know, thou shalt not long scape Scot-free so.
He's tongueless, and with ropes ends beaten sore,
Which he with much admired patience bore:
At last upon the Rack his life was spent,
And to his brethren (gone before) he went.
Then
Ahaz
the fifth brother unaffraid
To hug grim death, disclos'd his lips, and said,
Tyrant, behold, I come for to prevent
Thy sending for; and know that I am bent
To die courageously, my mind is steady;
Thou art to hellish flames condemned already,
By my dear bretherens effused gore,
And I the fifth shall make thy grief the more.
What isit that we have done? what other cause
Canst thou allege, but this, We keep God's Laws?
And therefore in the midst of torturing
We joy O'tis an honorable thing! (wrongs,
Though each part suffer, heaven will right our
And fill your mouths with howlings, ours with songs.
Then was he in a brazen mortar pounded,
Nay th'less he said, Those favors are unbounded
With which thou crown'st us (though against thy will)
We please our God, rage thou, and rage thy fill:
If thou shouldst pity me, I should be sorry;
Death's but the prologue to immortal glory.
So said, he made a stop and stopping died.
Now the sixth brother
Areth
must be tried,
Honor and dolour's put unto his choice;
But grieving at it, with a constant voice
He shot forth this reply: I weigh not either;
As we like brethren lived, we'll die together
In God's fear; and the time which in exhorting
Thou hast a mind to spend, spend in extorquing,
His down-ward head unto a pillar tied,
Antiochus
rosts him by a soft fires side;
And that the heat might enter to the quick,
And multiply his pains, sharp Auls must prick
His tender flesh; about his face and head
Much blood like froth appeared; yet thus he said,
O Noble fight! O honorable war!
Glad grief! O pious! and O impious jar!
My brethren are gone, and I ally'd
To them in blood, would not that death divide
Our love united souls: invent, invent
More horrid pains endeavor to torment
This flesh with greater torments; study, study
New ways toafflict me, more severe, more bloody:
I thank my God, these are overcome already;
Let thousands worser come, I will be steady.
We young men have been conqu'rours of thy power;
Thy fire is cold, nor can thy rage devour
Our faith-fenc'd souls; we have a greater joying
In suffering, then thou hast in destroying:
As God is just, so will he right our wrongs.
These words scarce out, a pair of heated tongs
Eradicate his tongue; then being cast
Into the Frying-pan, he breathed his last.
And now the youngest brother's only left,
Jacob;
who coming forth, compassion cleft
The Tyrants heart, who took aside the child
By th'
•
and and spake, and as he spake, he smiled:
Thy brethren may teach thee to expect
The worst of ills, if thou my will neglect:
Thou shalt, if thou wilt of thyself be free,
A Ruler, Gen'ral, and my Counc'ller be.
This not prevailed, he thus the mother dons;
O worthy woman, where are now thy sons?
Yet thou hast one, turn him, lest thou be rest
Of him likewise, and so be childless left.
The mother bowing to the king, bespake
Her child in Hebrew; Pity, for Christ's sake,
And cheer thy woeful mother: O despise
These pains, and be a willing sacrifice,
As were thy brethren; that in the day
Of grace, in heaven receive you all I may.
Unbound, he forthwith to the torments ran,
And with a serene countenance began;
Blood-wasting wretch, what dost thou but add fuel, thee
To make hell botter, by persisting cruel?
Worm that thou art, who crowned thee? who gave
Those Purple robes thou wearest? wasit not he
Whom thou in us dost persecute? but die
Thou must at last, for all thou perk'st so high:
I crave no favor at thy hands, but will
Follow my brethren, and be constant still.
Torments ensue: through mouth and nose he bled;
His mothers kind hand held his fainting head:
His arms cut off,
Lord take my soul,
he cried;
Distongu'd, he ran into the fire, and died.
Now
Salomona
(all her children dead)
Enflam'd with zeal, came to be Martyred;
Herein excel'd them all, in that sh'endured
Sev'n painful deaths, before her own's procured,
She tearless could abide to see them spurn'd,
And racked, and torn, and beat, and flaid, and burned:
And knowing well, death cutteth off our days
By Fluxes, Agues, and a thousand ways;
That pains were momentary, she exhorted
Them thus in Hebrew, ere they were extorted:
Most choice fruits of my womb, let's hasten hence,
And fear not, heaven will be our recompense:
Shall's bear what
Eleazar
undergon?
You know good
Abram
sacrificed his son:
Remember
Daniel,
in the Lions den;
And cast your eyes on the three children.
The restless Tyrant caused her to be stripped,
Then hanged up by the hands, and soundly whipped,
Her paps pulled off: she while her body sryes,
Lifts up her hands and eyes, and prays, and dies.
SECT. IV.
The Persecution of the Church from Christ's time to our present age; and first of those mentioned in the New-Testament.
HEROD the Great
having intellegence
That there was born unto the Jews a Prince
At
Bethlehem;
a band of men he sent,
To do full execution as they went,
On smiling babes, throughout
Judea's
land:
(Supposing
Jesus
might not scape his hand;)
Snatch'd from the breast, the pretty little ones
Were tost on Pikes, and dashed against the stones.
The Tyrant, after this, distracted grew,
And's wife, his children, and familiars slew.
With sickness struck, he knew not where to turn,
What course to take; for a slow fire did burn
Was unsuffic'd; his lungs corrupted quite;
His bowels rot; his secrets putrefy'd;
Consum'd with worms, he miserably died.
Herod the Less
incestuously wedded;
Preach'd Christ, and were imprisoned for the same.
Against th' Apostles, cast them into prison:
But in the night, an Angel of the Lord
Op'ning the doors, their liberties restored:
A gen'ral persecution breaking out
At
Solyma,
the Saints disperse about
The
Judean
and the
Samarian
borders:
A persecting
Saul
the Church disorders.
The Jewish fury, new-converted
Saul
Against the Church, he was devoured by worms.
Peter
enlarged by an Angel was:
Sosthenes, Silas Paul,
and
Barnabas
Were beaten, whipped, and forced several times
To leave their Country, and seek other climes.
But God revived him; he took
Derbe-way:
Much he endured abroad, and much at home,
And in the end was Martyred at
Rome.
James, Jesus
brother, from a Pin'cle cast,
Recov'ring on his knees, thus spake his last:
Father (thee on my bended knees I woo)
Forgive them: for, they know not what they do.
A Cameles knees were said to be more soft
Then his, by reason that he kneel'd so oft.)
Vespasian
did to him the Jews subject;
Titus Jerus'lem
and the Temple sacked.
Andrew
and
Philip's
crucified: rough blows
Kill
Barthol'mew; Thoumas as
a dart o' rethrows.
Matthew's
thrust through:
Simon Zealots
dead
Upon the cross.
Mathi as
loft his head:
And
Judas
(brother unto
James
) not mist
A murth'rous stroke:
Mark
the Evangelist
Went up to heaven in a fi'ry Car:
One of the Deacons named
Nicanor,
Did with two thousand Christians lay down
This life, to take up an immortal crown.
THE Persecution of the Church Under the Heathen ROMAN Emperors.
SECT. V.
The first Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi, 67.
DOmitius Nero,
while in sheets of fire
The Roman City caper'd, sang tohis Lire
The incendiums of
Troy,
and from a Tow'r
Feasted his eyes, to see the flames devour
Those goodly structures, and high Tow'rs of state,
Which startled the beholders eyes of late:
The
Circus
fell, the ponderous beams and stones,
Crushing to pieces many thousand ones;
The fire burns others, and the flame and smoke
Nine days continued, a great number choke.
Thus
Nero
on himself an
Odium
brought;
And to excuse himself, transferred the fault
Upon the harmless Christians: it was they
Had done it out of malice; no delay
Detards his hasty feet from shedding blood:
Where e're he comes, he makes a crimson flood
Flow down the streets: in wild-beasts skins he wraps
Christians, and throws them to dogs worr'ing chaps.
In paper stiffened with molten wax,
He packs up some; and puts on others backs
A searcloth-coat, and bolt upright them bound
To axle-trees, first pitched in the ground,
Then at the botom fired: these constant flames
Afforded light to
Nero's
nightly games
Kept in his garden: other some he takes,
And goars in length upon erected stakes.
This persecution through th'whole Empire spread;
So that the Cities were replenished
With slaught'red carcases; the old, the young,
And naked women, altogether flung.
Such was his rage, a Christians loathed name
He strove toextirpate wheresoe're he came.
At four years end, this direful blast expires
In
Paul
and
Peter,
two bright-shining fires.
Peter
(as he desired) was crucified
With his head downward; so a Martyr died.
And
Paul,
his faith's confession having spoke,
Yielded his neck unto the fatal stroke.
SECT. VI.
The second Primitive Persecution, which began Anno 96.
DOmitian
his brother
Titus
slays,
And doth the second persecution raise:
(For whilst
Vespasian
and his son remained,
The Church with golden links of Peace was chained)
He flew the Roman Nobles; and decreed
The extirpation of
David's
seed,
John,
the beloved Disciple, boil'd in oil,
One
Simcon
Bishop of
Jerus'lem,
died
Upon the cross: a number more beside
Of Christians he impoverish'd, and sent
Them out, to lead their lives in banishment.
The Roman Senate passed this decree,
That Christians should not have their liberty
When brought before the Judgment-seat, unless
They deviate from their Religiousness.
The Heathenish Idolaters devise
Against the Saints abomniabile lies,
And envious slanders; That they were seditious,
Incestuous, rebellious, and pernicious
Unto the Empire; none could them importune,
By any means, to swear by
Casars
fortune.
If famine, plague, or war amongst them came,
The Christians were the Authors of the same.
And look what accusations they related,
Domitian
was the more exasperated;
And used what e're man's wicked wit invents;
Stripes, Rackings, Scourgings, and Imprisonments,
Deep dungtons, Stoning, Strangling, the Gridiron,
Cibbet, and Gallows, red-hot plates toenviron
The tendrest parts; the teeth of salvage bears;
The horns of Bulls, and sticking up on spears, &c.
Thus killed, a lawful burial was denied them:
Pil'd up and tear-throat dogs were left beside them.
Though Christians sufferings were very sore,
Yet still the Church increased more and more,
In the Apostles doctrine deeply grounded,
And with the blood of Martyred Saints surrounded.
Good
Timothy,
Religious from his youth,
Was stoned, as a witness to the truth,
By those that worshipped
Diana
bright:
One
Dionysius
th'
Arcopagite
Was slain at
Paris
by a treach'rous villan.
Protasius
and
Gervasius
fell at
Milan.
SECT. VII.
The third Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 108.
DOmitian
being by his servants slain,
Nerva
succeeded; in whose gracious reign
(Which was but thirteen months) the Saints enjoyed
A peaceful season, and were not destroyed.
Trajan,
next him, the Roman crown put on;
He 'twas raised the third Persecution,
Worse then the former were; which did incite
I'th' Christians behalf, to
Trajan
showing,
That whereas many thousands in his viewing
Were killed; yet, contraite the Roman Laws
None did, which might such Persecution cause;
Saving that every morn by break of day,
They to a God called
Christ
did sing and pray:
In other things they were to be commended.
Trajan
returns this answer: he intended
To search them out no more; but if they were
Brought and convicted, them he would not spare.
And yet would have them punished as offenders.
The rage was by this act a little curbed:
Yet ill-disposed men the Peace disturbed;
Especially, if new commotions flam'd
Amongst them, then the Christians must be blamed.
Trajan
commands the lineage of
David,
Which could be found, should by no means be saved
He
Phocas, Pontus
Bishop, cast in's wrath,
First int'a lime-kiln, next a sealding bath.
Ignatius,
and many thousands more
Exposed to the wild beasts to devour:
Nor did in
Adrian's
reign this fury slake,
Ten thousand suffered for the Lord Christ's sake.
In
Ararath
thousands were crucified,
Crowned with thorns, and thrust into the side
With needle-pointed darts, in imitation
Of Christ, our blessed Lord and Savior's passion.
Faustiu us, Zenon,
and
Eustachius,
Saw how the Saints did bear afflictions rod,
He cried out, Truly, great's the Christians God:
For which he apprehended, did become
Partaker likewise of their Martyrdom.
Symphorissa,
a fair and virtuous dame,
Hang'd up by th'hair, was scourged for Christ's name,
And then made fast unto a ponderous stone,
Into the bosom of a river thrown:
Seven sons she had, all stak'd, racked, and at last
Thrust thorough, were into a deep pit cast.
Adrian
b'ing come to
Athens,
sacrificed
After the Greekish manner; authorized
Any that would, to persecute, abuse
Whoever in contempt should it refuse.
Quadratus,
an Athenian Bishop, hence
Did out of zeal in the' Christians defense
Write learned Tractares:
Serenus
did do
The like; and famous
Aristides
too;
Declaring that'twas neither right nor reason
In harmless persons; and no other fault
Should bring their lives in danger, at th'assault
Of th'hair-brained rabble; th' Emperor hereat
Grew mild, and pity'd their afflicted state.
After him
Antonius Pius
swaid
And he this persecuting storm allayed.
God's word's fulfilled, the wicked's rod shall not
SECT. VIII.
The fourth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 162.
NOw
Antoninus Verus, Pius
son,
(Who dead) raised the third persecution.
Germanious, Pionius, Metrodore,
Polycarp, Carpus,
and a number more
In
Asia
burned.
Felicit as
at
Rome,
With her seven children suffered Martyrdom.
Scourg'd was her eldest Son; and after, pressed
To death with leaden weights, attained true rest.
The two next had their brains knocked out with mauls:
The 4th thrown headlong down a prec'pice, sprawls
With his broke neck: The three that do remain,
Must lose their heads. In fine, the Mother's slain.
Concordus
suffered; who in disgrace,
Did spirit out spittle in the Idols face.
In
France
the Christians under went all wrongs;
As Scourgings, stonings, and the spatt'ring tongues
Of railing
Rabshakeh's:
at home, abroad,
Their backs must tolerate afflictions load:
Yet well they knew, that griefs were transitory,
If but compared to eternal glory.
Sanchis
the Bishop of
Vienna,
stood
Unmov'd, under such pains, as flesh and blood
Could not endure to bear:no torments could
Prevail to make him to let go his hold.
When he was asked, where he was born and bred;
He,
I am a Christian,
only answered:
And when another did demand his name,
Urging it much, his answer was the same:
A third inquired, whether he were a man,
Or bond, or free;
I am a Christian,
He still replied: no torments could divorce
His constant lips from using that discourse.
When there were plates of candent Brass applied
I'his tendrest parts: O how did he abide
That scorching heat! nor was he seen to shrink,
As did his body: while his tort'rers think,
With new supplies to force his recantation,
He quite contrary to their expectation,
Was so restored, that what he did endure
These latter times, did prove his Sovereign cure.
At last placed in a red-hot iron chair,
His spir'e (with others) vanished into Air.
Thus were the holy Saints, from morn to night,
A spectacle unto the people's sight.
Biblides
in the midst of pains spake thus,
Ah! how should we (as you report of us)
We Christians, think you, of our babes make food?
When we not taint our lips with bestial blood.
Attalus
frying, thus Your selves do eat
Mans flesh: and as for us, we loath such meat.
B'ing asked what he called their God by name;
He answered, Man's and his was not the same.
Then let your God, if that a God he be
So powerful (said they) come set you free.
Pont'cus
a youth of fourteen years of age,
Perpass'd the utmost of the fo-men's rage.
Wilde beasts are put to
Blandina,
but they;
More merciful then men, would go their way.
Whipped she is, then broyl'd and thrown on ground
For Bulls to tear: from every gaping wound
Blood gushes forth, and runneth out afresh
From th'u
•
stop'd chinks of her bemangled flesh.
She felt no pain, by reason she was filled
With spir'tual joy: she at the last was killed.
The bodies of the Saints were made a mock,
A scorn, a by-word, and a laughing-stock
I'th' open streets, till thrice two Suns were down,
Then burned their ashes in the river thrown.
Th' Apostatized Christians, which came
Unto their trials, did confess their shame
By down-cast looks, and sorrow-boding faces;
The Gentiles pulveriz'd them with disgraces,
As persons too degenerous, addicted
To vice, deserving what should be inflicted:
But they which constant to the last remained,
Went with a cheerful brow, and entertained
An obvious death; and, as it were combined
Their glorious rays, and like to
Phoebus
shined.
So have I seen a fair and comely Bride,
Richly attir'd, with what a decent pride
She quits her conclave, or interior room,
Who drawing near, about her neck doth fall,
And seals his favors on her lips withal.
Faith as an ornament the soul endows;
Christ is the Bridegroom, and the Church the Spouse
Prepares to meet him, and direct her paces,
They he may hug her with entwin'd embraces.
They meet; Christ & his following Spouse do clamber
Up by steep stairs; heaven is the Bridal Chamber:
Where, with Unknown delights, they are possessed
Of sweet reposes, and eternal rest.
Marcus Aurelius,
and
Antonius
go
To war against the
Quades
the
Vandals
too:
Their Army by innum'rous foes beset,
Were so put toit, the soldiers could not get
The least of water, their thirst to allay:
With that, a Christian Legion fell to pray,
(Withdrawing from the rest) the heaven disburst
Abundant show'rs; the Romans quenched their thirst:
Against their enemies, such lightnings flash'd,
As made them fly discomfited and dashed.
The Emp'rour pleased hereat, commands that none
Kill Christians more, whose God such things had done:
And his (which was not long in force) decree
Burn'd the accusers, set th'accused free.
SECT. IX.
The fifth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 205.
WHen Peace-maintaining
Pertinax
was dead,
Servere
Severus
reigned in his stead;
By envious rumors, and through false suggestion,
The Christians lives were daily brought in question.
The King commands; his willing Subjects strive
To bringit about, that none be left a live.
In Sun-burnt
Afric, Cappadocia,
In
Carthage
and in
Alexandria.
So that the aumber slain was numberless;
Origen's
father, with whom
Origen
His son had died, had not his mother been
An hindrance, in that she did convey,
The night before, his shirt and clothes away;
Hereat, he not for fear of Martyrdom,
But shaming to be seen, remained at home.
Tertullian, Irenaus, Andoclus,
Urbanus, Satyrus, Secundulus,
Perpetua, Felicit as,
and
Rhais,
Did by untimely deaths conclude their days.
Caspodius,
a Divine, dragged up and down
The streets; at last was into
Tiber
thrown.
Cecilia
Idolatry contemned,
And therefore by the Judge must be condemned;
The Sergeants minding how she did behave her,
How fair she was; solicit her, to favor
Her self, and not to cast herself away;
She was but young, and many a merry day
Might live to see: but she discreetly sent
Such gracious words, as caused them to relent,
And unto that religion yield their hearts
'Gainst which they threw their persecuting darts.
Which, when perceived, leave gained, she runs her home
and for
Urbanus
sends:
Urbanus
come,
He grounds them in the faith so highly prized.
Four hundred do believe and are baptized.
This holy Martyr afterwards was shut
Twice twelve hours in a Bath; at last they cut
Her head off from her shoulders: thus she ended
Her days, and up into the clouds ascended.
Agapetus,
of fifteen years of age,
Was scourged, then hanged up by the feet: in rage
He scalded was; unto the wild beasts roast;
But they not hurting him, his head he lost.
Pamachius,
a Roman Senator,
With's wife, his children, and near forty more,
All in one day beheaded were; their pates
Fixed on high, over the City gates,
As Bug-bears to affright and scare the rest
From Christianity, which it professed.
Potamiena,
(boiling Pitch being poured
Upon her naked flesh) the flames devoured.
And
Zepherinus;
after him
Urbanus,
Both Roman Bishops; good
Valerianus,
Tybartius
too, two Noble men of
Rome,
For their Religion suffered Martyrdom.
Gainst
Narciss,
three false witnesses suborn'd;
Th'one lost his eyes, the fire a second burned;
The third lay languishing: thus we may see
Th'accusers suffer, the accused go free.
Antiochus
fell down, and having cried,
His bowels burned within him, sadly died.
SECT. X.
The sixth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 237.
MAximinus (Severus
dead and gone)
Stirr'd up the twice-third Persecution:
Disliv'd the Teachers, Leaders, and the best;
By this means thinking to seduce the rest.
Thousands were Martyred, whose names are lost
About this time
Natalius,
a Priest,
(Who much had suffered for the cause of Christ,)
Seduced was by
Asclepiodot
And
Theodore,
who promised to allot
A hundred and fifty silver Crowns
To him each month, if he would but renownce
The Christian God, and give to theirs respect:
He did, and was a bishop of their sect:
But God (whose mercy would not have him lost,
Who had so much endured, so oft been crossed)
Admonished him by a vision plain,
T'ad join himself to the true Church again:
Which the good man, b'ing for the present blinded
With gain and honor (as he ought) not minded.
He the night after b'ing by Angels scourged,
Did put on sackcloth in the morn, and purged
His soul with tears: with doleful lamentation,
He runs in hast to th'Christian congregation:
Of all loves, and for Jesus Christ his sake,
Humbly entreating them, once more to take
Him into their society, and quire,
Accordingly they granted his desire.
Horse-torn
Hippol'tus
died: the Martyred
By sixties in a pit were buried.
SECT. XI.
The seventh Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 250.
DEcius,
that cruel Emperor, begun
The seventh bloody persecution:
Of which
Niceph'rus
thus; Can any tell
The sands? they may the Martyred saints as well.
Fabian,
that kept a Bishopric at
Rome,
And the Kings treasures, suffered Martyrdom.
Babilas
died in prison; and a train
Of forty Virgins were in
Antioch
slain.
The Alexandrian Christians are bereft
Of all their goods; yea, they have nothing left:
Yet they rejoice, and are therewith content,
Knowing their substance is more permanent.
When
Apollinea's
teeth had dashed out been,
A fire was made; they threat to throw her in:
She paus'd a while, (refusing to be turned)
And gave a leap into the fire and burned.
Julian, Epimachus,
and
Alexander,
The flame consumed: many (poor souls) did wander
In the deserted deserts; others lives
Lay open, to the raging cut-throat's knives.
A certain Minister with pains oppressed,
And fearing death, desired to be released:
For mortal eyes, appearing, did unfold
His angry lips: What would you have me do?
You dare not bear, and out you will not go.
Because chaste
Theodora
a did refuse
To sacrifice, they sent her to the stews;
Where lust-enflam'd young men for entrance pressed:
But
Didymus
slip'd in before the rest,
Having the habit of a soldier on,
He changed for hers; and she in his is gone.
Didymus
stays behind: b'ing found a man,
Confessing th'whole state of the matter; so
He was condemned, and must to torment go:
Which
Theodora
a having understood;
To save the shedding of innocuous blood,
Comes to the Judge, and said, I bear the guilt;
And lo I am here, condemn me if thon wilt:
As for that man, I pray let him go free,
Let not your fury light on him, but me.
She was not heard; both for their lives were tried,
Condemned both, Beheaded both, both died.
No torments that the Praetor could devise,
Could force
Nicetas
tooffer sacrifice:
He therefore him into a garden brought,
With all variety of pleasures fraught:
There laid him down upon a bed of Down,
(A silken net softly upon him strown,)
Among the Lilies, and the fragrant Roses,
Neer murm'ring streams inviting sweet reposes;
To the sweet whistling of the leaves moved by
A gentle gale, he left him: presently
In comes a Strumpet garishly, attir'd,
And in a wanton dialect, desired
The non-denial of her earnest suit,
To use her body lowly prostitute.
Nicetas,
(fearing he should be by folly
Conqu'red, and led to do what was unholy,)
Bites off his tongue, and with a certain grace,
He spits it out into her whorish face;
So by this smarting wound he did prevent
Sins sting, and consequently punishment.
Nichomacus
most sensible of pain,
I am no Christian,
cried; so was not slain:
He had no sooner put his hand to evil,
But was possessed with an unclean devil,
And thrown with violence upon the ground,
Bit off his tongue, and died of the wound.
Many A postates were possessed, and some
Suddenly struck, (were ever after) dumb.
Though some thus fell away, others stood fast,
Remaining glorious Martyrs to the last.
But
Decius
not long securely slept:
For conquered by the
Goths,
with's horse he leapt
Into a whirlpool, and therein was drowned;
Nor was his body ever after found.
Yea, God throughout the Roman Empire spread
A ten-years plague, toavenge the blood was shed.
Brotherly love the Christians showed toeach other,
By visiting, relieving one another:
But the Idolaters fled from, neglected,
Cast out, not succor'd, those that were infected:
Shift only for themselves, go where they will,
This spreading punisment pursued them still.
Gallus
succeeding (
Decius
being dead)
This persecution continued:
The weight of his displeasure fell most heavy
Upon the shoulders of the Tribe of
Levi.
He banished
Cyprian,
and more Divines,
Condemned others to the Metal-Mines:
T'whom
Cyprian
wrote letters cons'latory
Showing, affliction is the Saints true glory;
Deep wounds and scars are to a Christian breast
As Ornaments to bring them in request
With God himself; to multiply their fame,
And not as marks of stigmatized shame.
And though the naked Mines afford no beds,
Can they want ease that lay in Christ their heads?
What if their aking bones lie o'th' cold floor?
Isit pain to lie with Christ? say they are poor,
Yet are they rich in faith: suppose their hands
Be manacled, put ease coacted bands
Hold their worn seat: Can he be said to be
Fetter'd with chains, whom the Lord Christ doth free?
He lies tied in the stocks, thereby whose feet
To run a heavenly race become more fleet.
Nor can a Christian be bound so fast,
But his life's crown, adds wings unto his hast.
They have no clothes, cold weather to resist:
Can he be naked who hath put on Christ?
Do they want bread? Christ is the bread of life,
That cometh down from heaven, in him is rise:
Man by the word which doth from God proceed,
Is said to live, and not alone by bread.
What matter isit though you deformed seem?
You shall be honor'd, and of great esteem:
Your God will turn your miserable days
To peace; your mournings into songs of praise:
You sail through troublous Seas, to be possessed
Of heaven, the haven of eternal rest,
And do not grieve, because you are forbid
To serve the Lord, (as formerly you did)
In your Parochial places, God's inclined
T'accept th' endeavors of a willing mind:
The daily sacrifices you impart,
God loves; a broken and a contrite heart
His soul takes pleasure in: he doth regard,
His servants tears, and will at last reward
Fidelious breasts, which do confess his name:
Promis'd he hath, and will perform the same.
SECT. XII.
The eighth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 259.
VAlerian
next adds fuel to the fire,
And blows the flames of persecution higher;
By an Egyptian Sorcerer beguile'd,
He now is cruel, who before was mild.
The Christians are banished his Court,
Where lately he allowed them to resort;
Nor was this all; young men, maids, husbands, wives,
All sorts, and ranks, must lose (dear hearts!) their lives.
Three hundred souls, then by the President
Of
Carthage
were into a lime-kiln sent.
Three Virgins first had Vinegar and gall
Forced down their throats; then scourged, then racked and all
Besmeared were with lime: then broil'd, then cast
To wild beasts, and beheaded at the last.
When
Cyprian
long had born afflictions yoke,
His neck submitted to the fatal stroke.
Sixtus
a Bishop of the City
Rome,
And his six Deacons, suffered Martyrdom.
Laurence
the seventh, as along he went
With
Sixtus
going to his punishment,
Complain'd he might not (seeing he had rather
Suffer then live) die with his Rev'rend father.
Sixtus
replied, before three days were out
He should come after: go and give about
I'th' interim thy treasures to the poor:
Th' observing Judge supposing he had store
Of wealth crock'd up, commanded him to bring
All that he had: For to effect which thing,
Laurence
craved three days respite; in which stock
Of time, he gath'red a poor Christian flock
Into a ring; the fourth day doth afford
New light, and he must now make good his word.
Being enforced by a severer charge,
Couragious
Laurence
doth his arms enlarge
Over the needy throng, and said, These be
The precious Jewels of the Church: see, see,
Here treasure is indeed; here Christ doth dwell.
But Oh! what tongue sufficiently can tell
The raving fury which the Tyrant acted;
How he did stamp, did stare like one distracted?
His eyes did sparkle, his gnash'd teeth struck fire,
And's mouth all in a foam, thus wreak'd his ire:
Kindle the fire; Faggots on Faggots fling:
What, doth the villain thus delude the King?
Away, away with him; whip beat him sore;
Jesteth the Traitor with the Emperor?
Pinch him with red-hot tongs; let candent plates
Engird the Raskals loins; heat, heat the grates;
And when y'have bound the Rebell hand and foot;
On with him, roast him, broil him: look you doit,
On pain of our displeasure; toss him, turn him;
I charge you, do not leave him till you burn him,
And that to cindars too: each man fulfill
His office quick, and execute my will.
Revenge finds nimble hands; the tort'ters lay
Him on a soft Down-bed; I will not say,
A fi'ry iron one: God made it so,
That it afforded
Lanrence
ease, not woe.
Valerians
heart burns,
Laurence
flesh doth roft;
'It is doubtful whether was tormented most.
Then
Laurence
thus:
Tyrant, this side's enough: turn up the rest;
Or roast or raw, try which thou likest best.
SECT. XIII.
The ninth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 278.
CLaudius,
and after him
Quintilian, (
reign
)
(Both which but one and thrice three years did
Maintain'd the Churches Peace: while they endured,
The Saints were happy, and their lives secured.
Aurelian,
nat'rally severe and cruel,
Succeeds; his rage fomented by the fuel
Of mis-informing sinister suggestions,
Prov'd Tyrannous; his Nephew's life he questions;
And questioning, abrepts: then he begun
To stir up the ninth persecution.
But thus it happ'ned: while he went about
To seal the Edict that was issuing out,
There did a Thunder-bolt so near him fall,
That he was killed, 'twas the consent of all.
The Emp'rour strake with such astonishment,
Gave over his Tyrannical intent.
He after six years reign was murdered:
And the Church forty four years flourished
Under a various Emp'rour. O what peace
Doth crown the Christians brows! what large increase
Of honor doth betide them! they resort
Unto the Court, who lately were a sport
T'insulting foes: and they that were a prey,
Are praised and prized: who now more great then they?
While thus the Christians bath'd themselves in quiet,
Their natures drew them to excessive riot,
T'indulge to idleness, to scold, and brawl
For very trifles, or nothing at all;
With railing words bespatt'ring one another,
Moving sedition against each other:
Bishops with Bishops; and the vulgar train
Do with the vulgar altricate for gain:
Thus, thus their sins increased every day,
Till God's wrath came, where sin chalk'd out the way:
And now the Christians enemies abound,
Laying their Churches level with the ground;
Burn sacred Writs. I'th'open market-places;
Pursue their Priests, and load them with disgraces:
Slanders and contumelious opprobries,
Abhorred their Doctrine, and their words despise.
SECT. XIV.
The tenth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 308.
TWo Tyrants,
Dioclesian
in the West
And
Maximinian
in the East, distress'd
The Saints of God: the foe-men overcome,
They instituted solemn games at
Rome,
As glad memorials of their b'ing victorious:
Nay
Dioclesian
was so vain-glorious,
He needs would be a god, and be adored
By every bended-knee, as supreme Lord:
Nor did he stick to say, that he was brother
Unto the Sun and Moon, as was no other.
His shoes adorned with gold and Precious stones,
The people kneeling on their marrow-bones
He bid to kiss his seat, (O height of pride!)
He persecution raised; at Easter tide
Places of Divine worship he or'eturn'd;
And in contempt the Sacred Scripture burned,
Some Elders of the Church were torn in sunder;
The rest variety of deaths went under.
Sylvanus
Bishop, with him thirty nine,
Ended their sorrows in a Mettle-Mine.
The Tyrian Christians (none this fury spares)
Were cast to Lions, Leopards, and Bears
Kept hungry for that purpose: male-content,
The beasts not touched them; their claws were bent
At other preys; they vehemently rage
'Gainst those which brought the Christians on the stage,
And seized on them; who though they thought they stood
Out of harms way, became the wild beasts food.
And afterwards, these holy Martyrs slain,
Were soon committed to the foaming main.
The Syrian Pastors lay in prison chained;
Zenobius
a Physician, Brick-bats brained.
Yea good
Serena Dioclesians
wife,
Was for religions sake deprived of life.
The Martyrs blood ran like a flowing tide,
Such an innumerable number died.
Upon a Christmas-day
Maximinus
fired
A Church whereto the Christians retired,
To celebrate that joyful day, wherein
Jesus
was born to save them from their sin.
He also did a Phrygian City burn,
And all th' inhabitants which would not turn.
Forty young Gentlemen of good repute,
Confess'd their faith, and boldly did refute
False ways: their names up to the Marshal gave,
Who seeing them so gallantly behave
Themselves, admit'd, and stood in a quandary,
What course to take; his anxious thoughts did vary:
Resolved, he tried what fair words would do;
Proff'ring them money, and preferment too:
They answered thus; We nothing do desire,
But Christ alone; the wheel, the cross, the fire,
Are easy pains. His eyes the Marshal casts
Upon a pond exposed to northern blasts;
Bids them be stripped unto their naked skin;
'Twas winter weather, yet they must go in,
There stay all night. We put not off our clothes,
Say they, but our old man, which God so loathes.
The pond received them, and the nipping frost
Stiffened their members; breath not fully lost
When day appeared unto the wakened world,
They were took out, and burned; their ashes hurled
Into the gliding streams.—
In
France,
in
Colen Italy,
and
Spain,
Were many millions of Christians slain,
As witnessed unto the truth: in
Trevers
The brooks of blood discolored ample Rivers.
This persecution run along, and came
Into our
Britain,
where the Christians flame.
Besides the kinds of deaths, the torments were
So great, that they unutterable are;
As whippings, scourgings, rackings, hackings, manglings,
Hangings, bangings, prickings, kickings, stranglings,
Smoakings, choakings, rostings, scorchings, spoylings,
Cuttings, guttings, flayings, fryings, broylings:
Some manded to the mines, others were quartered;
In brief, there were seventeen thousand Martyred
In one months space; yet still the Christians joy'd,
And still increased, the more they were destroy d.
Galerius
invading
Antiech,
Romanus
runs, and tells the Christian flock,
That wolves, which would devour them up, were near:
But therewithal, exhorts them not to fear
The greatest perils, but that young and old
Would be courageous, resolute and bold,
To hazard life and limb, for to maintain
God's cause and theirs. With that, an armed train
Pour'd in upon them; but the Christian throng
Arm'd with the staff of faith, were too too strong
For them to grapple with then: speedy word
Was sent their Captain, that no power of sword
Could e're prevail; it was in vain to strive
Against the stream
Romanus
yet alive.
The ireful Captain, in a sum, commands
Romanus
be delivered to his hands.
Romanus
comes; thus did the Captain say,
And art thou then the Author of this fray?
Art thou the cause why thus so many fall?
By
Jove
I swear that answer for them all
Thou shalt; and that e're thee and I do part,
I will make thee undergo the self-same smart
Thou doest encourage others to abide.
Galerius
ceased:
Romanus
thus replied;
Tyrant, I hug, and willingly embrace
Thy sentence; know, I count it no disgrace
To be for my dear breth'ren sacrificed,
By worst of torments that can be devised.
Galerius
raging at this answer stout,
Commands his men to truss him and draw out
His bowels. Th' executioners defer
Such horrid deeds, and say, Not so good Sir,
He is of noble Parents, and his breath
May not be stopped by an ignoble death.
Scourge him then soundly, let your yerking lashes,
Weighty with leaden knobs, cut wounds, and gashes.
To whom
Romanus
used this expression;
Not my descent, but Christian-like profession
Nobilitateth me; be not therefore
More favorable, but inflict the more:
Your Idol worship I detest, despise,
And all your superstitious fooleries.
With that his sides, his naked sides, were lanc'd
This bones; yet still this blessed Saint advanced
The living God, and Christ, whom he hath sent:
Then were his teeth struck out, for this intent
He might not speak so audibly: his face
Was buffeted, his cheeks were slic'd; nor was
This all; nails tear his eyelids: from his chin
They plucked his beard, and with his beard the skin:
Yet this meek Martyr said, I give to thee
O Captain, thanks, for opening wide to me
So many mouths, whereby to show the power
Of God, and Jesus Christ my Savior:
Look Tyrant look, upon my various wound;
So many mouths have I, God's praise to sound
The Captain wond'ring at his constancy,
Ceased to exercise more cruelty:
Yet menaced to burn him, and did say
Thy cru'fi'd Christ is but of yesterday,
The Gentiles gods of longer standing are.
Romanus
takes occasion to declare
Th' eternity of Christ: of seven year old
Give me a child (said he) what he will unfold
Listen unto: From out the gazing throng
A pretty boy is picked:
Romanus
tongue
Bespeaks him thus; My Lamb, ought we not rather
To worship Christ, and in this Christ one Father,
Then a plurality of Deities?
Speak, 'tis a good boy, speak: the Child replies,
There needs must be but one God we conceive;
That there are more, we children cannot believe.
Th'amazed Captain said, Young villain, where,
And of whom learn'dst thou this? my mother dear,
He answered, taught it me; this from her breast
I sucked in with my milk, that I must rest
My faith in Christ alone, and in no other.
In comes rejoicingly the sent-for mother;
The child's hors'd up and scourged, the standers by,
With wat'ry eyes behold this cruelty;
While the glad mother, a tear-less Spectator
Chides her sweet babe, for asking for cold water:
After that cup she chargeth him to thirst
The babes drank of, which were in
Bethlehem
nurs'd:
Upon my blessing,
I saac
record,
Proff'ring his neck unto his father's sword.
Then did the barbarous tormentor pull
The hair, the skin, and all, from the child's scull.
The mother cries, This pain will soon be gone;
Suffer, my child, my sweet-sac'd child, anon
Thou'lt pass to him, who will adorn thy head
With an eternal crown, a crown indeed!
Thus doth the mother cheer the child: the child
Takes heart to grass, and in his pains he smiled.
The Tyrant seeing how the Child stood fast,
Himself subdued, commands him to be cast
Into a stinking Dungeon, whilst that pain
Unto
Romanus
was renewed again.
Romanus
is dragged forth, to have a fresh
Supply of stripes, on his bemangled flesh.
Discovering the bare bones, a second smart
Augmenteth each already-wounded part.
Nor was this yet enough; cut, pricked, and pounc'd
He suddenly must be; then was denounced
A final sentence 'gainst him, and the child;
Both must be burned, their torments were too mild;
The tort'rers did too favourably deal.
Romanus
boldly said, I do appeal
From this ungodly sentence of thine own,
To Christ his righteous Tribunal Throne,
Who is an upright Judge; not that I fear
Thy merc'less handling; no, I more can bear
Then thou canst lay upon me; but that I
May show thy judgments to be cruelty,
The child's demanded of his mother; she,
Embracing it, delivered it to be
Bereav'd of life; and when the fatal stroke
Was given, Farewell, sweet child, Farewell, she spoke:
All praise O Lord, with heart and word,
Unto thy name we render:
The Saints that die, are in thine eye
Most precious, dear, and tender.
The child's head's off, the mother tender-hearted
Enwrap'd it in her lap, and so departed.
Romanus
then into the fire is flung:
A storm extinguished it; and now his tongue
Must take a farewell of his head; his neck
Becomes the subject of a halters check.
One
Gordius
having lived a certain time
In deserts, counted it at last a crime
Not to endure; he therefore when a game
Was celebrated unto
Mars,
forth came,
And up in a conspicuous place b'ing got,
He said, I am found of those that sought me not:
Then apprehended, he his faith confesses;
And in the midst of torment this expresses:
God's my adjutor, Ah! why should I than
Fear in the least the Tyranny of man?
Nothing shall me dismay, that can fall out;
Thou Lord art with me, fencing me about
With Bullwarks of thy love; thy favor still
Surrounds me: Ah! how can I then fear ill?
These torments are but light, which I endure;
Let heavier come. Tormentors, pray procure
Substantialler then these; these are too small:
Gibbits? and racks? as good have none at all.
When foul means could not shake his faith in Christ,
He was by specious promises entic'd:
But
Gordius
said, I do expect in heaven
Greater preferments, then on earth are given.
Now for this good man going to be burned,
How many tender-hearted persons mourned!
To whom he thus; Let not your brimfill'd-eyes
Weep showers for me, but for God's enemies;
Who make a fire for us, But in conclusion,
Purchase a greater to their own confusion:
O weep for them, or none; good people curb
Those gliding streams, and do not thus disturb
My calmed mind: for truly I could bear
A thousand deaths for Christ, and never fear.
Some pity'd him, while others, standing by,
Perswade him to deny Christ verbally,
And to himself reserve his conscience.
My tongue, said he, will under no pretence
Deny its donor: unto righteousness
Our hearts believe, but 'tis our tongues confess
Unto salvation; O let me excite
You all to suffer for a cause so right:
Good folks, fulfill a dying man's desire.
So said, he ceased, and leap'd into the fire.
One
Menas,
an Egyptian born and bred,
Leaving his temporal subsistence, led
A solitary life, in desert places;
Where he might wholly exercise his graces,
In fasting, prayer, meditation, fit
And dil' gent reading of the sacred Writ.
At last returned to
Cot is,
when the crowd
Were at their pastimes, he proclaimed aloud
Himself to be a Christian: then surprised,
His faith in God more boldly he agniz'd.
Torments ensu'd; no torments could revoke
His mind, but thus he confidently spoke:
In my mind, nothing comparable is
To the enjoyment of eternal bliss:
Nay, all the world, if put into one scale,
Is lighter then one soul: Who can prevail,
To disunite us from the love of Christ?
Can tribulation? anguish? he's the high'st;
To him will I look up; he bids me fear not
Those that can kill me bodily, but are not
Able to hurt the soul: but fear him who
Hath power to slay the soul and body too,
And fling them into hell. Having received
The final sentence, up to heaven he heav'd
His eyes, hands, heart, and said: O Lord my maker,
Thanks be to thee, in that I am partaker
Of Christ his precious blood: thou hast not let
My foes devour me, but hast beset
My heaven-fixed soul with such true constancy,
That in the faith I lived, for that I die.
The lift up axe, upon his neck falls down,
And so he lost his head, but found a Crown.
In
Portugal
a Noble Virgin named
Eulalia,
of twelve years old, enflam'd
With holy zeal, most earnestly desired
To suffer death, and heartily required
The blest assistance of God's willing arm,
And faith all her corruptions to charm:
Her godly Parents, fearing she should come
T'antimely death, did keep her close at home;
But she (not brooking long delay) by night
Stole out of doors, by that time it was light
She came into the City, and appearing
Before the Judge, spake boldly in his hearing:
What, no Shame in you? will you still be bent
To shoot your arrows at the innocent?
Never have done (because no power controuls)
To break their bodies, and afflict their souls?
Are you desirous what I am to know?
I am a Christian, and an open foe
Unto your diabolick sacrifices:
As for your Idols, them my soul despises:
I do acknowledge, with my voice and hert,
Th'all-powerful God: Hangman, in every part
Come cut and mangle me, dishead me, burn me;
What ever thou canst do, shall never turn me.
Alas! alas! my flesh is too too weak,
And may be conquered; thou mayest ease'lie break
This brittle Casket: but my inward mind
A jewel is which thou shalt never find.
Then thus the angry Judge; Here Hangman, take her,
Drag her out by the hair, to torments; make her
Be sensible of what our God's can do,
And we: But yet before thou undergo
A miserable end, O sturdy girl,
I'd fain have thee recant; life is a pearl
Too precious to lose: call but to mind
Thy Noble Birth, and be not so unkind
To thine own self as to neglect thy fortune;
Methinks the glist'ring Bride-bed should importune
Thee to preserve thy life: bar not thine ears,
But be entreated by thy Parents tears,
Not to contemn th' Aurora of thy time;
The flower of thy youth is in its prime,
And wilt thou slight it now? well, if thou wilt,
Know, that to make thee answer for thy guilt,
Engines are ready; if thoulit not be turned,
Thou shalt beheaded be, or racked, or burned:
What a small matter isit, not worth this strife,
To strew incense? yet that shall save thy life.
Eulalia
not replied, but spurn'd abroad
The incense heaps, and did with spittle load
The tyrants face: the Hangmaa having retch'd her;
With wild-beasts talons to the hard bones scratch'd
But she ceased not to praise the Lord, and prize (her.
Th' attainment of these sublime dignities.
With th' iron grate her mangled body's gor'd;
Her breasts, with flaming torches are devoured;
Her long hair set on fire: she opened wide
Her mouth, and sucked in the flame, and died.
The Judge told
Agues,
if she did refuse
To sacrifice, there was a common stews,
And in she should: the chaste religious maid
Unto the flocked-lascivious youngsters said,
Christ will not suffer this (I tell you true)
This spotless soul to be defiled by you
By you base slaves to lust: then was she placed
Naked i'ch'street, and publicly disgraced:
Amongst the rest, one scoffing at her shame,
A flame like to a flash of lightning came
And struck out both his eyes; he falling down,
Did wallow in the dirt, while she did crown
Her soul in praising God: the Judge sends word
To th'executioner to sheath his sword
In her warm bowels;
Agnes
maketh hast
To meet with him; she cannot run so fast.
O this (said she) this, this is he whom I
Am taken with: I long, I long to die:
My breast stands fair; thrust soldier, if thou wilt,
Thy glitt'ring rapier up unto the hilt.
Dear Father open wide the gates of heaven
To entertain my soul: her life's bereaven.
SECT. XV.
The Persecution of the Christians in Perfia, under Sapores, about the same time.
ANd now the Persian Magicians bring
In accusations, to
Sapores
King,
Against the Christians, for their adhering
To
Constantine the Great,
(a crime past clearing.)
The King incensed herewith, with taxes, fines,
Oppress'd them sore, and killed their Divines:
Simeon
their Priest was into prison sent,
For slighting Idol-gods; and as he went,
Usthazares
(a Christian of late,
Since sall'n away) who at the Court-gate sat,
Espying him led by, obeisance did him:
But
Simeon
for Apostatizing chid him.
The conscious Eunuch suddenly let fall
A briny shower; his costly garments all
Laid by, he mourned, and with dejected face,
Deplored thus his lamentable case:
Ah me! with what a brazen brow shall I
Look upon God, see'ng
Simeon
doth deny
His kind salute? He to the King must go,
Who gently asked him why he mourned so?
If in my Palace thou want'st anything
Speak man, and by the honor of a King
It shall be thine: that tolerable were;
But Ah! who can a wounded spirit bear?
'It is this (said he) that acerbates my woe;
I live, who should have died long ago;
This Sun I see, to which I seemed to bow
Thereby denying Christ, to pleasure you;
I will take a solemn vow, for to adore
The great Creator, not the Creature more.
The King adjudged him to lose his head;
And at his death at his request 'twas spread,
Here's one that suffers not for any treason,
But for religion, and no other reason.
The Christians which disheartened had been
By his Apostasy he sought to win
By his profession and example too,
To take new courage, and to undergo
The like if need required. Good
Simeon
Rejoyc'd, and praised the Lord for what was don.
When the next Sun had raised them from their beds,
He and a hundred more all lost their heads.
The King decreed, no mercy should be used
To them which to adore the Sun refused.
The sword rang'd over all the Persian bounds;
Devour'd whole Cities, and unpeopled towns.
In brief, in all, during
Sapore's
reign
Were more then sixteen thousand Christians slain,
SECT. XVI.
The Churches Persecution under Julian the Apostate, Anno Christi 365.
NO sooner was
Constantius
deceased,
Julian
his nephew, of the West and East
Is made sole Emperor: he from his youth
Was well instructed in religion's truth:
His good behavior and ingenious parts,
Made him a Load-stone to attract all hearts.
In brief, he had (what's difficult to find)
The rare endowments of a virtuous mind.
But he Apostatiz'd: Satan his tutor,
Learn'd him to be the Churches persecutor:
He op'd the Idol-
Fanes,
locked up before;
And when the Christian faith grew more and more
By torments, he was pityful and mild,
And by his gifts and flatteries beguile'd
The weaker sort, who avarous of gaia,
Were drawn aside: he also did ordain,
That none professing Christianity,
Master of any Art should dare to be,
Or any Officer: he did suborn
Jesters, to load them with contempt and scorn:
Himself put none to death; yet did the crew
Of Heathenish Idolaters imbrew
Their hands in Christian gore, brained them with stones,
And tore the flesh from off their naked bones;
Drench'd some in scalding water; some were stipp'd
Stark naked; others had their bellies rip'd
And stuff'd with barley, for the greedy swine
To champ upon; while some with famine pine,
Some smear'd with honey up against the Sun,
In baskets hung, for Wasps to feed upon.
The children neither spared father nor mother,
Nor parents chil'ren; no nor brother brother.
The flesh-deprived bones of some were mixed
With asses bones: here hangs on crucifix'd,
And there's one dragged about the streets; a third
Is taken captive like a twiglim'd bird.
When
Julian
sacrificed to
Fortune,
one
Maris,
Bishop of blind-ey'd
Chaleedon,
Sharply rebuked him, called him impious man,
Apostate, Atheist: to whom
Julian
Retorts, Blind fool, thy God of
Galiles
Will not restore thy fight, and make thee see.
Maris
replied, I am not so unkind,
As not to thank my God which made me bliade,
Lest that mine eyes, (turned from a better fight,)
Upon thy so ungracious face should light.
Cyrillus,
Deacon in
Hier apolis,
Demolished the Gentiles Images;
He's took, his belly's rip'd, his liver drawn
Out of his body, with their teeth is gnawn.
A little tract of time b'ing wheeled about,
Their tongues were rocted, and their teeth fell out
Of their loose sockecs; their blind eyes no more
Beheld the objects they beheld before.
While of
Apollo's Delphic
Oracle
Julian
inquired, a flash of lightning fell
From the collided clouds, which overturned
The Temple, and
Apollo's
Image burned.
The fines were more then they were sessed at:
He scoffed them thus; You ought to undergo
All wrongs: does not your God command you so?
Ath'nafius
said, This persecution
SECT. XVII.
The Churches Persecution under the Arian Heretics, which began An. Christi 339.
GReat
Constantine,
a while before he died,
Amongst his sons did equally divide
His Empire; to the rule he did assign
Constantius, Constance,
and
Constantine:
Constantius,
that governed the East,
Was soon seduced by an Arian priest;
Who him informed, that
Athanasius
Return from exile was pernicious
Unto the public good: incensed then,
The Emp'rour sent five thousand armed men
To cut him short: the Church was round beset,
Yet he from them mirac'loufly did get;
Though many Arians cast their eyes about
For this intent,toindigitate him out;
Not much unlike a sheep ordained for slaughter:
Nor could this good man live in quiet after,
In banishment till he was forced to hide
In a deep pit, where he no light espide
For twice three years; and at last by a maid
That used to bring him food, he was betrayed:
But God's directing spirit did befriend him;
He scaped, before they came to apprehend him.
Thirty Egyptian Bishops slain; twice seven
Were banished; some in their way took heaven.
In
Alexandria
(the Arians urged)
Twice twenty Orthodox Divines were scourged.
The Emperor, at his approaching death,
Griev'd for his changing of the
Nicene
faith.
Valens
held on these damnable designs
'Gainst Christians; fourscore eminent Divines
He ship'd, and fired; so they resigned their breath,
By patient suffering of a double death.
Many he caused to be crushed to shivers;
Some to be drowned i'ch' Sea, others in rivers;
Some in the deserts wandered up and down,
Cloathed in sheep's-skins, pitied by none:
While other-some, (so put unto their shifts,)
Lurked in dens and hollow rocky clifts.
At last this Tyrant from the
Goths
did fly,
Who fired a village over his head, whereby
He miserably died: unto his name
Leaving behind a monument of shame.
SECT. XVIII.
The Persecution by the Donatists, Anno Christi 410.
THe Donatists, and Circumcellions,
In Sun-burnt
Afric,
raised rebellions:
The Orthodox, innumerable wrongs
Lay under; Bishops lost their hands and tongues:
And others, that remained sincere and sound,
This barbrous outrage either hanged or drowned;
Their goods are plundered, and their houses turned
To heaps of eindars, and their Fanes are burned.
The sacred Scriptures are by flames devoured;
Wives are defiled, and Virgins are deflour'd.
Where ever these profane Schisma ticks came,
They holy things profaned; nor wasit a shame
Counted amongst them, but a grace, to feed
Their mongrel currs with Sacramental bread.
But God's just judgments did not long forbear:
The Dogs run mad, and their own Masters tear.
These furious persons, cast into the stocks
The godly Christians, and the Orthodox:
All
Afric
over, they empty out their gall,
Destroying many, and affrighting all.
SECT. XIX
The Persecution of the Church in Afric, by the Arian Vandals, Anno Christi 427.
THe
Vandals,
under
Genserick's
command
Remov'd their Quarters from th'
Iberian
land,
And marched to
Afric:
as along they went,
Cut down the shrubs, which yielded aliment
To the dispersed Saints; what e're they found
Unruin'd, they laid level with the ground.
The Min'sters sinking underneath their loads,
Are pricked forward with sharp-pointed goads.
Some had (until they cracked again) their legs
Wrested with bow-strings: grease and oily dregs,
Salt-water, stinking mire, and Vinegar,
Into the mouths of others forced are.
The Reverend gray hairs, from them obtained
No mercy: as for infants, they were brained,
Or torn in pieces from the fundament.
The Carthaginian Senators were sent
To wander in exile; without respect
To sex, or age, the Roman City's sacked.
Upon A sceation-day, a Christian train
Meeting at Church, were by these her'ticks slain.
There was a Noble man, named
Saturus,
The Tyrant seeing him, bespake him thus:
Y' had best to execute my just commands,
Or you shall forfeit else, your house and lands;
Your wife shall marry one that drives the plow;
Your children shall be sold: nor did this bow
The good man's faith; his wife hearing her doom
Was to be marry'd to a scurvy groom,
Runs to her husband doth her fine clothes tear,
And rends from off her head her curious hair;
Her brood of children hanging at her heels,
A suckling in her arms, then down she kneels,
And said (my deatest) Oh some pity take
On thy poor wife: O for the Lord Chrift's sake
Let not thy bantlings under slav'ry tire,
Nor me be linked to a filthy Squire.
Be ruled, sweet heart, if by constraint th'art brought
To act amiss, thine will not be the fault.
He thus; Thou speakest like a foolish wife,
Acting the Devils part; thy husbands life
If thou didst dearly tender, as thou shouldst,
Entice him so to fin, thou never wouldst;
Which will procure a second death to me,
Worse then the first; I am resolved to be
Obedient therefore to my God's commands,
And quite forsake wife, children, house, and lands,
To b'his Disciple. Scarce these words were out,
He was despoil'd of all, and sent about
The Country begging.
Genserick
being dead:
Hunrick
succeeded in his fathers stead.
Well night five thousand that did Christ profess,
He banished into the wilderness:
He made his Courtiers dig the earth for corn,
And brought the women into public scorn.
Mothers their little children followed,
Right glad that Martyrs they had born and bred.
One leading by the hand her little Son,
Hasting tooretake them, said, Run Sirrah, run;
Seest how the Saints do trudge along? how fast
They make unto their crown? hast, sirrah, haft.
She's thus rebuked: How now? why do you go
So speedy? woman, whither haste you so?
She thus replied; Good folks pray pray for me,
I go to exile with this child you see,
For fear the enemies corrupt his youth,
And so mislead him from the ways of truth.
As the Saints went along to banishment,
Multitudes followed, and with one consent
Flinging their children down, did this express;
And must we then be wedded to distress?
While you haste to your crown, what will become
Of us (poor wretches as we are) at home?
What Ministers have we (you gone) to feed
Our hungry souls with sacramental bread?
Who shall baptize our infants? tell us who
Instruct us? w'have a greater mind to go
Then stay behind: but Ah! our feeble strength
Will not hold out so great a journeys length.
Now they that went, and could not mend their paces,
Were dragged by the Moors, through rugged places;
Their flesh all rent and torn; they that were stronger
Came to the wilderness, to kill their hunger,
And barely are allowed; the Scorpions crawll
About them, but do them not hurt at all
With their lethif'rous sting: thus God did please
After affliction to send them ease.
Hunrick
sends Mandates throughout
Africa,
That all the Bishops should by such a day
At
Carthage
meet, on purpose by dispute
To prop their faith; and if they could confute
The Arian Bishops: now the time drew near,
And they according to command appear.
Dispute began; The Orthodox thought best
To cull out some, to answer for the rest.
The Arians placed themselves on sublime thrones;
These stood o'th' ground, and said, Inequall ones
Are too unfit to hold an argument,
No, no, it is by general consent,
That Disputants the controversy rear
On equal terms, until the truth be clear.
An hundred strokes, on everyone were laid
For this bold speech; whereat
Eugeuius
said,
The Lord in mercy look upon our woes,
And mark our sufferings under raging foes.
The Arian Bishops moved to propound
What they intended, at the first, gave ground,
Declining the dispute: the Orth'dox then
A Declaration of their faith, did pen,
And did it with this protestation show:
What our belief is, if you long to know,
Here 'tis: the Arians stormed at this thing,
Gave them foul words, accused them to the King;
He all of them out of the City turned;
Who them relieved, must by his Law be burned.
The Bishops which in the' open fields did lie,
Bespake the Tyrant as he passed by:
What evil have we done? we fain would know
The reason why we are afflicted so;
If we be called to dispute, we crave
Why are we thus despoil'd of all we have?
Why must we live on dunghills, in distress,
Afflicted, housless, cold, and comfortless?
He bids, and over them his horsemen ride;
Many are bruised sore, then they denied,
B'ing urged, unto an oath to put their hands;
And said, Our God contrarily commands:
Nor are we mad-men, or such fools, as that
We should subscribe, before we know to what.
This was the tenor of the oath then read:
You all shall swear, that when the King is dead
Hildrick
shall reign, and that no man shall send
Letters beyond the seas. The King your friend,
Upon your taking it, will you restore
Unto the Churches you were at before.
They that did not, and also they that did
Were all enslaved, and to preach forbid.
What doleful outeries! what heart-rending groans
Were throughout
Afric
caused by bloody ones!
With cudgels, either sex and age was bang'd:
Here, some they burned; there they others hanged.
Women, and naked gentlewomen were
Openly tortured, all their bodies bare.
Fair
Dionysia
bolder the rest,
Thus the conceptions of her mind expressed:
Afflict your fill, God's favor I have got;
Only my woman-hood disclose you not.
These words scarce out, they more enraged stripped her,
Expos'd her to all eyes, and soundly whipped her,
Untill the blood flowed down: that which you broach,
Satanick slaves (said she) for my reproach,
Is my best garland. Then she wisely cheered
Her young and only son, who persevere'd
Patient in all his pains, till he disburst
His spirit unto him that gave it first.
Hunrick
b'ing dead, succeeding
Gundabund
Twice six years tyranniz'd: mild
Thrasamund
And
Ild'rick
ruled well. But in conclusion,
Bell'zarius
brought the
Vandals
to confusion,
After they ninety years had been a rod
To scourge the Saints and
Israel
of God.
THE Persecution of the Church Under the PAPACY.
SECT. XX.
The Persecution of the Waldenses, which began Anno Christi 1160.
WHen the black cloak of Popery was hurled
Upon the shoulders of the Christian world,
The saints still labor'd to dispel away
Those shades Cimmerian, and reveal the day
With truth's bright luster; and withal devest
The Roman glory. One among the rest,
A learned and godly man at
Lions,
whose name
Was
Peter Valdo,
much opposed the same;
Declaring plainly Transubstantiation
To be no better then an Innovation:
He moved the creed'lous people to embrace
The precious offers of the means of grace.
They which unto his Doctrine gave respect,
From him were called the
Waldensian
Sect:
Which like a Snow-ball rolling down a hill,
Decreased nothing, but increased still.
Though every day and hour the Martyrs bleed,
Yet is the Martyrs blood the Churches seed.
This her'sy in a thousand Citys swarms,
Maintaining seventy thousand men of arms:
Nor could the popish Canons, Constitutions,
Curses, Decrees, alter their resolutions:
To suffer wrong, in body, goods, or name,
For Christ his sake, was counted not a shame.
Valdo
yet still proceeds (nor can he hope
Long life) to publish to the world, the Pope
Is Antichrist; the Mass abominable;
The Host an Idol; Purgator' a fable.
Monkish Inquisitors for to surprise
These Her'ticks (as he called them) by process,
That so the sec'lar power might them suppress,
Is any rich, the inquis'cors had a trick
To make him poor, Oh he's an Heretic,
Let him have such a death; no power control'd
Or curbed them in; but what they would, they would.
If any, water, or a pad of straw,
Gave to the Saints, he was condemned by law.
If any advocate, assaid to plead
His kinsmans cause an Action indeed!
And if an Heir, his father that way leans,
And that's enough to rob him of his means.
Nay, for to keep the people in more awe,
They prisoners do in their processions draw
Triumphantly; enjoining them to vex
And scourge themselves; with ropes about their necks,
A torch in either hand, others along
Must pass, to terrify the gazing throng.
Besides all these, they have a thousand Querks;
They send cut some to fight against the Turks
And Infidels; (no need to seek for heirs)
Their houses, goods, and chattels, all are theirs.
At their return, if any asked their wives
Who lay with them? They 'ndangered their lives.
The foes confessed, they had not wherewithal
To build up prisons for th' accused all:
And yet for all this persecution, there
The faith increased, and with a prosp'rous gale
Clim'd over the Alps came to
Pragela's
vale;
From thence the people bordered upon
St.
Martin, Piedmont, La Perouse Angrogne.
Wander there did innumerable flocks
Upon the craggy cliffs, and algid rocks.
Above three thousand being hid in caves,
Were stifled by these marble-hearted slaves.
The poor
Waldenses
by their pray'rs and tears
Oft moved the Lord to free them from their fears.
Two horsemen flying, cried, They come, they come;
Another while, the beating of a drum
Caused their foes retreat: which stones, and slings,
They thousands killed at several skirmishings.
Thus God for his despised Saints did fight.
A handful putting num'rous foes to flight.
But when the godless party overcame,
They did commit their captives to the flame,
Or hanged them up, or cut them out in quarters;
All which discouraged not the glorious Martyrs.
Through the industrious
Waldenses
toil,
Abundant store of Corn, and Wine, and Oil,
Enrich'd
Calabria;
And God did bless
Their pains in
Provence,
with the like success.
At last when freely they the Gospels worth
Began to publish, Pope
Pins
the fourth
Disturbing them, they left behind their goods,
With wives and children flying into th' woods;
But were pursued; some slain and others wounded,
Some famine-pined souls in caves were found dead,
And they that were of St.
Xist
and
la Garde,
Were racked, stripped whipped nor old nor young was
Panza
slays eighty, and stakes up their joints (spared
For thirty miles together; he appoints
A quarter to each stake,
Merindol
Town
Was razed by
Opede,
and battered down,
The
Cabrierians
brought into a field,
Were hack'd to pieces cause they would not yield,
And in a barn replenished with straw
Women were fired.
Opede
himself did draw
Young Infants from their mothers
•
ip'd-up bellies;
His men killed them of
Aix
and
Marseilles;
Some two and two, together bound, they slew
And boots of scalding oil (O cruel) drew
On others legs, But heaven at last decreed
A woeful end, to that accurs'd
Opede.
The
Waldenses,
which into
Albs
came,
Of
Albigenses
thence received the name,
Pope
Al'xander
the third, his wrath did smoke
When they shook off his Antichristian yoke;
He them condemned as Het'ticks, yet they spread,
And many potent Towns inhabited:
Nay many Lord's, and Earls, did with them side,
Against the Pope, and constantly denied
The Romish faith, and resolutely spake
Their willingness to suffer for Christ's sake.
Beziers
was stormed by the Pilgrim train,
And in it sixty thousand persons slain.
The Legat says, Soldiers kill old and young,
For why? God knoweth those to him belong.
The Catholics besieged and battered down
On the inhab'tants heads
Carcasson
Town.
When
Baron
Castle was surprised, th' enclosed
Of th'
Albigenses
were disey'd, disnos'd,
Then sent to
Cab'ret
with an one-ey'd guide.
Yet still like gold that's in a furnace tried,
The Saints, appeared; their sparkling zeal like fire
Blown by afflictions bellows, blaz'd the higher.
Now
Luther
rose, the Antichristian terror,
And those that were seduced, reduced from error.
SECT. XXI.
The Persecution of the Church of God in Bohemia, which began Anno Christi 894.
BOrivojus,
Duke of
Bohemia,
Entring the confines of
Moravia,
By a strange providence was Christianiz'd,
And with him thirty
Pal'tines
were baptized.
At his return, he raised from the ground
Churches, and Schools; and all the Country round
Flock'd thither: many of the Noble race,
As well as Commons, did the Truth embrace.
Malicious Satan env'ing the progress
The Gospel made, gainst those that it profess
Rais'd persecution up:
Borivojus
Is sent into exile.
Sanguineous
Drahomira'
the Christian temples locks,
Forbidding Ministers to tend their flocks;
And in the silent night, three hundred lives
Pay'd tribute to the bloody cut-throats knives.
But God's just Judgment,
Drahomira
followed,
The opening earth, her and her Cart up swallowed.
The Popish party having got the day,
Did all the obvious Bohemians slay.
At
Cuttenburge
four Thousand souls were thrown
Into the Metal-Mines; O hearts of stone!
The Priests cry out, Blow out, good people, blow
These sparks, before into a flame they grow:
Water is used; the more they did endeavor
To drown the Saints, they flamed more then ever:
Many are scourged, some sent into exile.
Two German Merchants brought unto the pile,
Exceedingly encouraged one another:
One says, Since Christ hath suffered (dear brother)
For wretched us, let's do the same likewise
For him; and such a high-bred savor prize,
That we are counted worthy so to die
For his sweet sake: the other did reply,
The joy that in my Marriage-day I found,
Was small to this; O this doth more abound!
Both cried aloud, (the Faggots set on fire)
Blest Christ, thou in thy torments didst desire
Thine en'mies peace; the like we also crave:
Forgive the King; let not the Clergy have:
Thy scalding vengeance; O forbear to plague
The poor misled inhabitants of
Prague:
O be thou pleased to let them Scot-free go:
For Ah! poor souls, they know not what they do;
Their hands are full of blood: they prayed and wept;
And wept and prayed, till in the Lord they slept.
On Noble-men intolerable Fines
Were laid; two hundred eminent Divines
Are exiled; some are burned; others brained;
Some shot to death; with blood the earth's destain'd.
The Martyrs one by one, that were in hold,
Are called forth; who resolutely bold
Hast to their sufferings, with as great content,
As if they had unto a banquet went.
When one was called for, he thus expressed
Himself, in taking leave of all the rest:
Farewell, dear friends, Farewell; the Lord support
Your spirits, that you may maintain the fort
Against the common foe; and make you stout,
And resolute to keep all batt'ry out;
That what you lately with your mouths professed,
You may by your so glorious death attest.
Behold, I lead the way, that I may see
My Savior's glory; you will follow me
To the fruition of my fathers sight.
O how my soul is ravished with delight!
This very hour all sorrow bids, adieu
To my glad heart: O now my joys renew:
Transcendent joys! heaven and eternity
Is mine, is mine. Then did the rest reply,
God go along with you: O heaven we pray
Assist thy servant, in his thorn-pav'd way.
O may the willing Angels come to meet
Thy obvious body, and direct thy feet
Into thine, and our Fathers Mansion:
Go, go, dear brother go; and we anon
Shall follow after, and be all received
To bliss through Christ in whom we have believed.
Farewell, farewell; let equal joys betide
To us that follow, and to you our guide.
First the Lord
Schlick,
a man as wise as grave,
Condemned to be quartered, did behave
Himself most gallantly, and said, My doom
Me pleaseth well, what care I for a Tomb?
A Sepulcher is but an easy loss;
Fear death? not I: welcome my crown, my cross:
Let, let these limbs be scattered here and there;
I have God's favor, and I do not fear
The worst that foes can do: see how the Sun
Displaies his shining beams. Jesuits be gone,
And build not Castles in the empty air,
For I dare die for Christ; I that I dare.
Be pleased, blest Jesus, thorough deaths dark night,
To Manu-duct me to eternal light;
Eternal light! O what a happy sound
That word reports! my soul, at a rebound
Catch heaven, catch heaven: no sooner had he spoke,
But he submitted to the fatal stroke:
His right hand, and his head (lop'd off his shoulders)
Are hung on high, to terrify beholders.
The Lord
Wenceslaus,
seventy years old,
B'ing next, was asked, why he was so bold
In
Fred'ricks
cause: he said, My conscience run
Along with me; and what is done, is done.
My God, lo here I am, dispose of me,
Thine aged servant, as best pleaseth thee:
O send that grim-looked messenger, that stays
For none, to end these miserable days;
May I not see the ruins that do wait
Upon our sinking, our declining State.
Behold this Book; my Paradise was never
So cordial as now: Judges, persevere
In sucking Christian blood; but know, God's ire
Shall smoke you for it. Up starts a cowled Friar,
And said, Your Judgment errs. With this reply,
He answered him, I on the truth rely,
And not on bare opinion; Christ's the Way,
The Truth, the Life; in him I cannot stray.
Then stroking his prolixed beard, he said,
My gray hairs honor serves you: having prayed,
And given his soul to Christ his Savior,
His cut-off head was fixed on the Tower.
Lord
Harant
next was called, who bravely said,
I have travel'd far, and many journeys made
Through barb'rous countries and escaped dangers
By sea and land▪ yet was my life by strangers
Surrepted not; b'ing safe returned home,
My friends and Country-men my foes become:
For whom I, and my Grandsires have let fall
And wasted our estates, our lives and all.
Forgive them father; I O Lord have grounded
My faith in thee; let me not be confounded.
Then on the Scaffold thus: O Lord, I give
My spirit into thine hands; in hope to live
By Christ his death, according to thy word:
And so he yielded to the murth'rous sword.
Sir
Caspar Kaplitz,
eighty six years old,
Said to the Minister, Behold behold
Me a decrepit wretch, whose frequent pray'rs
Have begged deliverance from this vale of tears;
But all in vain: for to be gaz'd upon
By the worlds eyes I am kept; God's will be done,
Not mine; my death to mortal eyes may seem
Disgraceful, but 'tis rich in God's esteem.
Oh Lord my God my trembling feet support,
For fear my sudden fall occasion sport
To my observing foes. The Minister
(Perceiving that the excutioner
Could not perform his office as he meant,
His crookedness b'ing an impediment)
Bespake him thus; My Noble Lord, as you
Commended have your soul to Christ, so now
Advance your hoary head to God: he tried
What he could do: his head struck off, he died.
Then the Lord
Oito,
a judicious man,
Having received the sentence, thus began:
And do you then, O
Caesar
still think good
For to stabilitate your throne with blood?
Can God be pleased with this? say Tyrant say:
How will you answerit at that dreadful day?
Kill this my body; do, let my blood fill
Your veins; disperse my members where you will;
Yet this is my belief, My loving father
Will be so pleased as them together gather,
And clothe them with their skin; these very eyes
Shall see my Lord, where e're my body lies:
These ears shall hear him; and this very tongue
Ring peals of joy; his praises shall be sung
By this same heart of mine. I must confess,
I was perplexed at first; but now; I bless
My God, I find a change: I was not troubled
So much, but now my joys are more redoubled;
I fear not death; now death hath lost her sting:
To die with joy O 'tis a pious thing!
Am nor I sure, Christ and his Angels will
Guide me to heaven, where I shall drink my fill
Of those Celestial cups, those cups of pleasure,
And measure drinking, though not drink by measure?
Shall then this death have power to divide
My soul from him? the heavens open wide:
See where my finger points. The standers by
Beheld eye-dazzling cortuscancy.
After a silent prayer made, he spake,
Lord save thy servant; Oh some pity take:
I am thy creature; O let me inherit
Christ-purchased glory: Lord receive my spirit.
Next,
Dionysius Zervius
(that stormed
Against the saints; but) when he was informed
Of Gospel-truths, how Christ procured rest
For those believed, he forthwith smote his breast,
And fetched a sigh, while tears ran down; did cry,
This is my faith, and in this faith I will die:
Through Christ alone, I can acceptance find,
Yet God will not despise my contrite mind;
Upon these knees, these bended knees, I call
For mercy; mercy, Lord: although I fall,
Help me to rise in thee: My foes control
May hurt my body, but not hurt my soul.
An aged man b'ing brought, both these commended
Their souls unto the Lord; so their lives ended.
Next was the Lord of
Rugenice
arraigned;
Who said, I have a greater priv'ledge gained,
Then if the King had spared me, and augmented
My restored substance; and am more contented.
God is our witness, that we only sought
Religions Liberty; for that we fought:
Who, though w'are worsted, and must end our days,
The Lord is righteous in all his ways.
His Truth we must defend, (as he sees good)
Not by our naked Swords, but by our Blood.
What is the cause, my God? O tell me why,
So soon as others do, I may not die?
For ah! thou knowest, thou knowest that I resign
My self unto thee, and am wholly thine.
Put not thy servant off with long delay,
But take me hence: sweet Jesu come away.
The Sheriff came for him; he rejoicing said,
Blessed be God: then towards him he made.
Upon the Scaffold, he himself did cheer
With that of Christ,
Father, I will that where
I am, thy servants may there also be,
That they may my heaven-given glory see:
I haste to lose this life, so transitory,
That I may be with Christ and see his glory.
Climbe up my soul, climb up to be embraced
In Christ his arms: and so he breathed his last.
Valentine Cockan
spake to this effect,
Upon the Scaffold: Gracious Lord, direct
My feeble steps; O let deaths valley be
A Passport to the clearer view of thee;
For why? thy word hath been my hidden treasure;
O what satiety of joy and pleasure
Take residence with thee! there's nothing can
Afford my soul more satisfaction than
Thy self's fruition: Lord, my spirit flies
Into thy Courts: so having said, he dies.
Next,
Toby Steffick's
brought, a man whose heart
Walk'd upright with his God; though like a cart
Press'd with afflictions sheaves, to heaven he heav'd
His wasted eyes, and said, I have received
From the beginning of my life till now,
Good things of God, and shall not I then bow
My will to his, but his chastisements shun?
I will not; no, God's holy will be done.
Can I, poor dust and ashes, have the face
To plead with God? I cheerfully embrace
Thy pleasure, Lord; I come to bear the cross;
O be thou pleased to purge away my dross:
Calcine my soul; obliterate my sins;
And make me pure against that day begins.
He prayed; and having drunk the lethal cup,
His spirit into heaven ascended up.
Doctor
Jessenius
after him was Martyred,
His tongue cut out, head off, his body quartered
(Citing the saying of
Ignatius
)
Chears his co-sufferers, We are God's corn,
Sown in the Churches field, and must be torn
By beasts, to fit us for our Masters use:
But here's our comfort, one a bloody sluice
The Church is founded, and hath been augmented
By blood, nor shall the opened vein be stented.
The blow must now be fetched; his soul he gave
To heaven, his body to the gaping grave.
Then being called to execution;
I come, said he; a pious resolution
Takes up my heart; I am not ashamed, nor sory
To suffer these (nay worse things) for his glory;
I have, I have, by my heaven-borrowed force
Fought faith's good fight, and finished my course.
Then praying, Father, in thy hands I leave
My spirit; he did a Martyrs crown receive.
John Shunlt is,
while he on the Scaffold stood,
Said thus, Leave off this melancholy mood,
Dejected soul: O be not so cast down:
Hope thou in God; though for a time he frown,
Yet will he smile again, and thou shalt yet
Praise him, though Nature do receive her debt.
The righteous are among the dead enrold
By fools, whenas they rest: Behold! behold!
I come sweet Jesus: O some pity take
Unon thy creature, for thy promise sake.
Cast me not off, my misery condole;
My sins O pardon, and receive my soul:
Make no long tarriance; come, Lord Jesus, come:
And so he underwent his Martyrdom.
Next
Maximilian Hoslialeck,
(Whom Learning, Worth, and Piety did deck:)
After the sentence past, one asked him
The reason why he looked so dull, so grim,
And sadder then the rest: To rell the truth,
The sins (said he) I acted in my youth
Come now afresh into my mind: for though
I know that no remainder can o'rethrow
Them which with Jesus Christ have made a close;
Yet know I, that the Lord his Justice flows
As well as mercy, on those are his own.
Summon'd to death, he said, Lord, from thy throne
Look on me, O illuminate mine eyes,
Left death overcome me, and mine enemies
Insulting say, We have prevailed. O Lord,
(Be pleased to make good thy promised word)
Let me whose eyes have thy salvation seen
Depart in Peace: an Ax did pass between
His head and neck. Then four more Christian brothers
They hanged one by one, and beggar'd others.
Nor might they have the ben'fit of the Laws:
When some did plead the Justness of their cause,
The Judges scoffed them, thus; Although you ha'nt
Sins that are actual, yet you do not want
Th'orig'nal sin of Heresy, and store;
You cannot exempted be from death therefore.
The Saints deprived of their livelyhoods
In towns and villages, retired to th'woods.
The Parent his encloystred child bemoans,
But cannot help it. Oh! the griefs and groans
Of marriagable maids! what sad farewels
Take parting friends, when into Monkish cells
Fore'd are their near'st relations! Great men's sons,
Fryets must tutor. and their daughters Nuns.
Wives from their husbands, husbands from their wives
Part with wet eyes: some thousands lost their lives;
Others were stripped in frosty snowy weather;
While some imprisoned lay, and starved together,
The Mass-priests are the men that must be heard,
And rude men, if Apostates, were preferred.
Bol'slavia
the principallest seat
The brethren had (two hundred years complete)
Was seized on; her Ministers turned out,
And crafty Friers to pervert the rout
Plac'd in their rooms: but when this would not do,
They must into a stinking dungeon go.
The Cities
Bidsove, Tusta, Zaticum,
Litom'ric, Rokizan, Radecium,
Don Murtin,
all were brought to desolation,
Under a fair pretence of reformation.
Some Citizens were into exile sent;
Some into voluntary exile went.
The maj'r and sixteen hundred persons more,
At
Pracbatice,
lay weltering in their gore.
They threw Religion down, where ere they come,
And set up superstition in the room.
As for the Bible, Christians were forced from it,
Wiblia
(the
Bohemian
word) is vomit;
Nor was there (O most dámnable design!)
A toleration given to Books divine.
The mouths of some are gagg'd, the Host they do
Thrust down their throats, whether they will or no.
Others toauricular confession forced;
And many were from all they had divorc'd
To tell how they the women-kind did use,
Is not so proper for a modest Muse.
SECT. XXII.
The Churches Persecution in Spain, which began Anno Christi 1540.
A Spanish Factor
Francis Roman
named,
Hearing at
Breme
a Sermon, was s'enflam'd
And wrought upon, that in a little space
He grew in knowledge, and increased in grace.
Upon a time when he returned agen,
He labor'd to convince his country-men
Of blind-fold ign'rance; for the ways they trod
Were dissonant unto the word of God.
But they reproachfully despised, contemned
His words, and him unto the fire condemned.
Then with a paper-Mitre on his head,
Painted with ugly Demons, was he led
To execution: and by the way
Being urged to bow unto a cross, said, Nay,
The Christians are not wont to worship wood:
So having said, he was the fire's food.
How many honest-hearted persons cast
Into infectious dungeons, breathed their last!
The pris'ners clothed with red-crossed Sambitoes,
The inquisition was first invented
By the
Domin'can
Friers; who attented
The extirpation of the Christian race,
By death, or ignominious disgrace.
One while they strive with flatt'ries to ensnare
The doubting Christian e're he be aware:
And if they see that fair means will not do,
They exercise compulsion. O who!
Who is there able to demonnstrate fully
The kind of torments that were used? the pulley
Hang'd on the Gibbit, holds the hands or thumbs
Of the poor wretch; then the Strappado comes,
And rends his weight-distended joints a sunder.
Some in the Trough are tortured; some are under
Cruel imprisonments, where is not any
Light but what enters the Key-hole or crany.
Some are enjoin'd to run unto the racks,
With yellow Sambenitoes on their backs:
Their tongues in a cleft-stick have not the scope
To empty Out their minds; and while a rope
Encompasseth their necks, coacting bands
Press hard behind them their united hands.
Thus, thus poor Creatures, in a piteous plight,
Are led to suffer in the people's sight.
English-men born, were each of them partaker
Of Martyrdom at
Cadiz;
and ascended
To happiness, which never shall be ended.
SECT. XXIII.
The Churches Persecution in Italy, which began Anno Christi 1546.
ENeenas,
by his Parents sent to
Rome
For educations sake; at last become
An able Scholar through the grace of God,
In Christ his School, the ways the Romans trod
Renouncing quite: for which he's apprehended,
And clapt up; yet he constantly defended
The Christian faith: he with his life might go,
If he would but put on the Sambito;
Which he refused; nor any badge would wear
Save that of Jesus Christ; which was, to spare
No blood to seal up what he had professed:
So being burned, he in the Lord did rest.
The Maj'r and Bishop of St.
Angelo
Long arguing the case, which of the two
Should, at his proper cost, procure some wood,
For
Galeacius
burning; while they stood
Demurring, he bade them no more debate,
It should be fetched out of his own estate.
John Mollius,
a Roman, did Christ own:
If he but named him, salt tears ran down
On his wet cheeks: he preached where e're he came
The word of truth, until he fed the flame,
One
Francis Gamba,
born in
Lombardy,
Went to the slaughter with alacrity.
Algerius,
a fine young man, acquaints,
By way of writing, the afflicted Saints,
How much his joy in prison did abound,
And how he Honey in a Lion found:
Exhorting them to patience; in the end
Writes,
From a delectable Orchard penned;
He's burned. Pope
Pius
the fourth dislives
At
Naples,
many Nobles, with their wives.
The City
Venice
after twelve years peace,
Was by the Pope disturbed, to the increase
Of Martyred Saints; who unto stones were bound,
And in the bottom of the Ocean drowned.
An Englishman Martyred in
Portugal.
One
William Gardener,
whom
Bristol
bore,
In
Portugal
the Martyrs Garland wore.
SECT. XXIV.
The Persecution of the Church in Germany, which began Anno Christi 1523.
WHen
Luther,
with his fellow-laborers,
Converted many Germans, unto wars
The Pope his Highness stirred up
Charles
the fifth
'Gainst Proestants: to further this his drift,
Two hundred thousand crowns, and at a boot
Five hundred horse, and twice six thousand foot,
He sent with speed; the Prot'stant Princes hence,
Rais'd also Armies for their own defense:
And now the Emp'rour for no other reason,
Proclaim'd them guilty of no less then treason.
Both parties are engaged; but the success
Is left to God, who doth not always bless
The better cause with Victory, nor shield
His Saints from wrong; the Christians lost the field.
The persecution rose in several places;
Author'ty armed with rig'rous Laws, outfaces
Candid simplicity: 'tis sad to tell
The barb'rous outrage to the Saints befell.
Some racked; from place to place some tossed and turned;
Some driven into woods and caves; some burned.
And robbed the Abbeys, and Monasteries;
They after they had entertained been
By Mr.
Spencer,
stripped him to the skin;
Who weeping, said, This violence will in theend
Bring mischief on your heads: you do pretend
The Gospel; but alas! how quite contraire
Unto the Gospel-rules, your walkings are!
They jeered him for his pains; at last he's bound
Both hands and feet, and in the river drowned.
His gaping wounds let out a Crimson flood,
Which on the surface of the water stood.
When
Wolfgang Scuch
was asked if his woe
He would have be abridged, heanswer'd, No;
God, which hath hitherto upheld my head,
Will not forsake me in my greatest need;
No, no, he will not: 'tis a happy flame
Which lights to heaven, thrice blessed be his name.
George Carpenter
b'ing cast into the fire,
Fulfill'd his Christian bretherens desire,
In giving them a sign of his true faith,
Cry'd,
Jesus, Jesus
•
ill
•
e lost his breath.
Our
Leonard Keyser
also at the stake,
Said, I am thine, save me Lord, for thy Truths sake:
His willing spirit impatient of the flame
Went up to heaven, whence at first it came.
A cruel Bishop in
Hungaria,
took
A godly minister, (who could not brook
Erroneous ways) and Hares, Geese, Hens, he tide
His naked body with on every side:
Being by set-on dogs, and bloody hounds,
All rent and torn, he died of his wounds.
But God is Just: the Bishop that so acted
His cruel part, did forthwith fall distracted:
His hair by handfulls from his head did rend,
And raving, made a miserable end.
SECT. XXV.
The Persecution of the Church in the Low-Countries.
THere was in
Holland
a religious Dame,
Called
Wendelmuta,
she for Christ's name
Was sent to prison, where she must be kept
Till the next Sessions; her kind kindred wept
And said thus, Ah! why doft thou not conceal
What thou believe'st but madly thus reveal
Thy secret thoughts? be more reserved, thereby
Thou'lt life prolong. To whom she did reply,
You know not what you say; the heart alone
Believes to righteousness; confession
Unto salvation with the tongue is made:
She burned, her spirit did the heavens invade.
George Scherter,
a Divine, passing along
Tow'rd execution, to the gazing throng
Delivered these words; That you may know
I die-a Christian, I a sign will show:
His head cut off, he turned on his back,
And crossed his arms and legs; by which aspect
Many believe the Gospel; whom alive
They bury, drown, or into exile drive.
In
Colen, Holland, Suevia, Lovain,
The godly well-disposed part was slain.
Some lost their heads in
Flanders,
some were sent
Two hundred Saints in
Art
•
ïs, Brabant,
Were made away, with not a few at
Gaunt.
At
Delden,
two young Virgins well-descended,
For their frequenting Sermons apprehended,
Examin'd and condemned must both partake
Of Martyrdom, and suffer at the stake.
But after death the bodies of them both
Remained white, the fire to hurt them loath.
At
Antwerp,
one
Christopher Fabri's
brains
Are beat cut with a hammer. Sev'ral pains
Afflict the innocent; these bear great loads;
Those are companions to Frogs and Toads.
One
Nicholas
and
Augustine,
with their wives,
At
Dormick
apprehended lost their lives,
When
Nicholas
did hear a Captain swear,
He said, Hath Christ done ought that thus you tear
His name in pices, rending life and limb?
Pray vent your malice upon me, not him:
B'ing silenced at the stake, Thwarting their will,
He cried,
O Charles wilt thou be hardened still?
With that, a soldier gave him a great blow:
He thus! Ah miserable people know,
God's word's too good for you: the Friars cried,
A Devil, a Devil: with
David,
he replied,
Depart ye workers of iniquity;
Depart, depart: my God hath heard the cry
My weeping voice hath made; his holy name
Be praised: so said, he vanished in the flame.
For which distongu'd, he yet on God called out:
A ball is thrust into the mouth of him;
He's burnt, and's ashes in the river swim.
At
Lile,
for three years space in woods and caves
God's word was preached: Satan and his slaves
Took the advantage of the silent night
So find their meetings: finding none, they light
On
Robert Oquir's
house; his wife, his sons
And he, rejoice in tribulations.
Bound at the stake, their spirits they commend
To God, and make a comfortable end
The Persecution of the Duke de Alva, in the Netherlands.
THe Gospel shining in the Netherlands;
Philip,
that wore the Spanish crown, commands
The Duke
de Alva,
with a warlike train,
To slay Professors, and with might and main,
Promote the Romish Doctrine; to rebuke
Nobles, and Commons too: the desep'rate Duke
Scarce breathed, but on them violently poured;
Matrons he ravished, and Maids deflour'd
Before their husbands and their parents eyes,
Or put them unto worser cruelties.
He on a time (at his own Table sat)
Boasted his diligence toeradicate
Heret'cal weeds: for that besides the slain
During the war in six years space, a train
Of more then eighteen thousand persons were
By him deliv'red to the hangmans care.
Don Frederick
his son kindly received
By
Zutphen
Bourgers, cruelly bereaved
The poor inhabitants of all their lives,
Hang'd, drowned, brained very infants, virgins, wives;
Then marched he to
Naerden;
and the town
(All the ind wellers killed) he bart'red down.
At
Harlem,
he three hundred Walloons
Beheads; five hundred Bourgers and Dragoons
He hangs, or drowns: all th'English, and the Scorts,
To lose their heads in gen'ral, he alots.
The wounded, and diseas'd, are killed all
Before the entrance to the Hospital
John Herwin
said unto the gazing throng,
(As he to execution went along)
See what rewards the wicked world do give
Christ his poor servants: for whilst I did live
A drunkard's life, and played at Cards and Dice,
A foe to Virtue, and a friend to Vice;
O then I lived at ease, and was a stranger
To bonds, and fetters; nay was out of danger
Of suffering for the Truth; yonder they cry
A Boon Companion goes; who then but I?
No sooner did I seek my God, but lo
This fawning friend, became a frowning foe:
Yet this doth not, (and so I hope shall never,)
Discourage me one jot; I must persevere
In what is good, and follow Christ the faster:
The servant is not better then his master.
His soul refreshed then with
Gileads
Balm,
To sing he did begin the thirtieth Psalm
With lift-up heart: but an impatient Frier
Thus interrupted him, Avoid the fire,
Oh
John,
and turn; yet you have time and space.
Then disregarding Martyr turned his face
Another way: then some that were in sight,
Retorted this; Turn thou, thou hypocrite.
Herwin
sung on, until his Psalm was ended:
The Friar then: Good people be not offended
To hear the clamour of this Her'ticks song.
Her'tick? thou Bala'mite thou, hold thy tongue,
The crow'd replied; no living soul here bears
Offence: his Music much delights our ears.
Four hundred folks encouraged him to run
His race, and finish what he had begun:
To whom he thus; Breth'ren, I undertake
This spir'tual Combat, merely for the sake
Of my great Lord, and Captain Jesus Christ:
I now am going to be sacrifie'd;
And when God shall of his abundant grace
Call you to suffer, follow me apace.
He's on the gallows, and the ladder's turned,
And then his body's into ashes burned.
Some Ci'zens in a firy Chariot sent
From
Antwerp,
to the City
Heaven
went.
One
Scoblant,
as he to his Trial past,
Said thus; Would God that I might be the last
That thus might suffer death; O that my blood
Might satisfy their thirst, if God see good;
That so the Church of Christ, forlorn, distreft,
Might ever after live, at ease, and rest.
I now put off this Mantle transitory,
In hope to wear a robe of lasting glory.
A Popish Priest, by a religious Dame
Converted to the faith, spake thus: I came
To comfort you; but I myself indeed,
Of you to comfort me have greater need.
Christopher Gaud'rin
said, Mans life on earth
Consists but of two days; the first his birth;
The next, his dying day: and therefore I
Must needs die once: who would refuse to die
To live forever? death and I must kiss:
'It is death conducteth to eternal bliss.
The sentence past, he did apart repair,
And poured out his soul to God in pray'r:
Then from his hands and face he washed the dirt;
And puting on his back a fine white shirt,
He thus his fellow-prisoners bespake:
Breth'ren, this is my wedding-day: I make
To heavenward: being come unto the place,
He found three other ready to embrace
The self same death: these four themselves did cheer
With patient suff'ring, and rejoye'd to bear.
Then came a Friar under a pretence
To win them:
Christopher
said thus; Hence, hence,
Thou soul-seduser; from our presence flee;
We have not anything to do with thee.
They must be gag'd: May not our tongues have power
Said they, to praise God at our latest hour?
Sermons they used to frequent: hard ropes
Annex'd their necks, they finished their hopes.
In
Flanders
multitudes of true believers
Were sent to be eternal life's receivers.
In
Breda,
there a Goldsmith dwelt, his name
Was
Petar Coulogue;
whose renowned fame
Had spread all over the town, and every mouth
Proclam'd him faithful, if they spake the truth.
This Pious Deacon quickly was beset
With popish catchpoles; neither would they let
Him once enjoy the company of any
Of his own Church; he over-pows'd by many
Was hurry'd to the Castle, while he staid
A pris'ner there: once every day his maid
Brought him his sustenance, till they perceived
He had much comfort from her lips received.
She also was imprisoned, where she found
Such inward joys as made her heart rebound.
Now when a little tract of time was spent,
Peter
was called forth; who underwent
Great pains with admirable patience:
These cruel villains for to recompense
His maids true zeal, fetched
Betkin
to the rack,
Cruelry undeserv'd! she nothing slack,
Went cheerfully along; ere she did part
With life, her tongue thus empty'd out her heart:
Since needs I must sustain afflictions rod,
First suffer me to pray unto my God.
This they consented to; she scaped a scouring
By this; for whilst she out her pray'rs was pouring,
One of the then. Commissioners fell down
Into an irrecoverable swown.
This miracle was hush'd, as though in vain
'Twas sent: now to their cruelty again;
Examples will not take; they'll not be turned,
They are condemned, and they must be burned.
The people wept;
Peter
and
Betkin
prayed
To God for strength: the courage of the maid
Did work so kindly on the well-affected,
That breaking through (the danger unrespected)
The thronged crowd they the pris'ners did embrace,
And praised God for his supporting grace;
Then spake to this effect: Fight on, fight on,
The crown prepared you shall wear anon.
These words spake
Betkin
(with a brow as clear
As day) My Brethren and sisters dear,
See you to God's word, be obedient still,
And fear not them who can the body kill,
Not hurt the soul; but rather fear him, who
Hath power to kill the soul and body too,
And fling them into hell. I go to meet
My glorious Spouse, wrapped in a fi'ry sheet.
Then falling on their knees, they sent their prayers
As welcome guests to God's attentive ears.
Bound to the stake, they praised the Lord; the flame
Sent up their souls to heaven, from whence they came.
William
of
Nassaw
Prince of
Orange,
by
A bloody villain shot, did thus let fly
His latest words: O God, my God, condoul
My wounded state, take pity on my soul,
On my departing soul; O spare, O spare
The Spanish people, though they sinful are.
These words no sooner out, his soul forscok
This earthly, and an heavenly Mansion took.
SECT. XXVI.
The Modern Persecution of the Church in Germany, since the year 1630.
TH'Imperialists, when they by storm had gained
Paswalick
town, the Swedish soldiers brained:
At the inhabitants their fury lavish'd,
And in the open street, they females ravished,
Nay, child-bed women too; they flew the men
And fired over their heads their houses then.
They massacred Divines, and burned down
The Christian Churches, and at last the town.
Tilly
and
Pappenheim
became a scourge
Her goodly structures and aspiring Towers
Were burned down in the space of twice six hours.
Without the least respect to old and young,
Were six and twenty thousand slain burnt, flung
Into the river
Elve:
by several ways
The torturers abridged poor Chrstians days.
Ladies and Gentlewomen yok'd together,
Forced into woods, in frosty snowy weather,
Were ravished there, stripped, whipped, and with a scoff
Dismiss'd, while others had their ears crop'd off.
Hew'd all in pieces, either sex, and age,
All served alike: what the fles-eating sword
Had left unspoil'd, the greedy flame devoured.
At
Griphenburge
the Senators were starved;
The
Heidleburg
Divines and Bourgers served
With only bread and water. Like dogs not men
Were the
Frankendales
used. In
Pomeren
The poor inhabitants were forced to eat
Up their own excrements: unpleasing meat!
Many suspected to have hidden Gold,
Or silver, suff'red torments manyfold:
With cords the heads of some they wound about,
And twisted them until the blood did sprout
Out of their eyes, ears, noses; nay, unto
Tongues, Cheeks, Breasts, Legs, and secret parts they do
Tie burning matches, yea, the parts of shame
Stuff'd with gun-powder, burst with horrid flame.
With knives and bodkins they do pink the skin
And flesh of some, draw stiff cords out and in.
Some roasted were with gentle fires, some smok'd
Like bacon-hogs; others hot Ovens chok'd;
The hands and feet of some so hard were girted,
That from their fingers ends and toes there spirted
Sanguineous drops. They tied the arms and legs
Of some together backwards, and with rags
Ram'd up their mouths, because they should not pray.
Some hung up by the privy members; they
Hearing their outcries, did with tear-throat tones,
Contend to drown their lamentable moans.
Had any ruptures? they ealarg'd their pain
By firing gunpowder: they faces plain
With chisels; and detesticle some men
I'th' presence of their wives and children.
Others, stark naked through the streets are dragged,
Wounded with axes, hammers; some are gag'd
And stinking water, Urine, and the like,
Pour'd down their throats, till sudden sickness strike
Them well-night' dead: their bellies beyond measure
B'ing filled, did swell, and so they died by leisure.
Down others throats they knotted clouts constrain,
Then with a packthread, pull them up again,
To the displacing of their bowels; some
Were by'c made deaf. or blind, or lame, or dum'b.
Some have their legs sawn off; and others have
Their members dislocated; those that crave
God's blest assistance, are enforced to call
Unto the Dev'l for help, or none at all.
And if the husband pleaded for his wife,
Or the wife begged but for her husbands life,
They take the intercessor, and likewise
Excruciate him before the others eyes.
Of many by their hard frications
They barred the legs, unto the very bones.
Others bound backward by the arms, were hung
By those distorted parts; both old and young
Rather desired to be shot, or slain,
And so die in an instant, then remain
Alive, and be partakers of such woes
As they were like to feel; for Ah! their foes
Took away all their corn; instead of bread,
On roots and water, they were glad to feed.
And other some, stripped to the very skin,
Had not one sory ragg, to wrap them in.
Hence fruitful soils, were utterly destroyed,
Cities, and towns, and villages left void,
Or sacked; all the woods fell'd; the ground until'd;
And every Church with desolation filled.
A Reverend Divine, bound to a table,
Was rortur'd by a cat. What pen is able
To paint their beastliness? maids wives, chaste dames,
They forced to prostrate to their lech'rous flames,
Friends looking on; yea, women great with child,
In child-bed ton: the Churches they defiled;
The Bedlam-houses, Hospitals also.
In
Hessen
land they let the women go,
After they tied about their ears their coats.
Dead corpses violated were. The Croats
Devour'd young infants, and the commons brained
On light occasions; scarce a man remained
Alive in many places, that might tell
The outrage of those furies born in hell.
God did this land his warning pieces show,
Before his murth'ring-pieces gave the blow.
A blood-red Comet with a flaming beard
God sent to those, which had so long abhorred
His faithful Pastors, and despised his word,
This ominous Torch, that while asleep they lie
On the soft pillow of security,
They might b' awoken and repent reform
Their lives, or otherwise expect a storm,
Foretold by's Ministers, (so ill-befriended,)
And which this formidable sign portended.
One Army in the East, and in the North
Another were engaged and did contest
At
Wien
water turned to blood; three Suns
Appear'd at once; the thundering of great guns
Was heard; two Armies then by clear day-light
So much, that houses and stone walls were stained
Therewith; trees wept red drops besmear'd were then
At
Rat'sbone
a strange tempest bart'red down
Above four hundred houses in the town;
Kill'd only four; it trees by th'roots up tore,
Near
Troppaw
a great number of Jack Daws
Eagerly fought with their
〈◊〉
claws,
The battle lasted long and
〈◊〉
Jacks
Fall'n down the countrymen repieuish'd sacks.
In lower
Saxon
a loaf of bread
Bought by a woman in the cutting bled.
During
Magdenburge
siege, a capeain's wife
Was ripped open, and her womb did hold
A boy as big as one of three years old;
Having an Helmet, and a breastplate on,
Great boots also after the French fash'on,
And by his side there hanged a builet-pouch.
A blood-turned stinking fish-pond, he not well
Could in three days wash off the stinking smell.
A randevouz of dogs could not be brought
T'a peace; but seeing musqueteers, they join,
For all their guns beat them away, killed nine.
SECT. XXVII.
The Persecution of the Church in France, which began Anno 1524.
AT
Melden, Paris, Fonutains, Lions, Rhone,
Many were put to death, some burned, some thrown
Into the liquid flood; into the fire
Others let down by pulleys, did expire;
Others with Oil and brimstone were anointed,
Then burnt; many distong'd; disnos'd dis-jointed:
Some slander'd; some imprisoned were; some racked;
And they that would not bow, nor give respect
Unto the Images of molten-lead,
Passing along the streets, were massacred.
John Clark,
through zeal, brake all the Idols down
That he could light on: in the
Metzian
town,
Condemn'd he was to die, and first to lose
His right hand, then his arms, and breasts, and nose;
Which quietly he bore, pronouncing then
Their gods are silver, and are made by men:
At last they burnt him. At the Castle
Vik
Doctor
John Castellane
was burned quick.
James Pana
•
e
one that educated youth,
At
Paris
died for the professed truth.
John de Cadurco,
a renowned Divine,
Degraded was, and burnt at
Limosine.
One
John de Beck
a Minister at
Troyes,
Went through the fire unto eternal joys,
At
Rutiers, Stephen Brune
for Christ his sake,
Adjudged was to suffer at the stake;
The fire was kindsed, but the wind so drave
The flame from him, that he stood up and gave
(A whole hours space) instructions to the rude
And easily-seduced multitude:
They brought Oil-vessels, and more faggots too;
The wind continued, and all would not do.
With that, the hangman struck him on the head:
To whom he thus: And must I then indeed
Be beaten like a dog? as well as I,
You know by fire I am condemned to die.
He was thrust through, and in the fire thrown down,
And his left ashes in the Air were strown.
At
Bour deaux, Aymond de Lavey
accused,
His friends advised his flight, but he refused.
Not so, said he, I shall be thought absurd.
To feed men with vain dreams not God's pure word.
Whereas I fear not, as a truths defender.
My soul and body too up to surrender.
In pains he said, This body once must die,
My spirit shall live, and that eternally.
He swowned, but recov'ring, said he,
Oh Lord, Lord, why hast thou sorsaken me?
Nay, said the president, thou art mistook
Curs'd Lutheran, thou hast thy God forsook:
Alas good masters, why, why do you so
Torment me? Lord, they know not what they do:
Forgive them I beseech thee. See, said thus
The Pres'dent, how this Caitiff prays for us.
The Frier drew near, and he (condemned) begins:
To God, not you, will I confess my sins.
O Lord, make hast to help; do not despise
Thine-handy work. My brethren, I advise
You that are Scholars, to improve your youth
In learning of the everlasting truth:
Labor to know what is Jehovah's will,
And fear not them that can the body kill,
Not hurt the soul: my flesh (too weak) withstands
My spirit; which Lord I give into thine hands.
With that he strangled was, his body burned,
His soul until the day of Doom adjourn'd,
One
Bribard,
to a Card'nal Secretary,
And
William Hussou
an Apothecary
Had, for their seattering good books about,
And cleaving to the truth, their tongues cut out;
Then with a pulley pulled up and down
Unto the quick nor dead not profitable,
Was put unto his choice, either to turn
And lose his head, or persevere, and burn.
He answered, God who caused him not to tire,
Would give him patience to abide the fire.
Blondel
a Merchant that professed Christ's name,
Christ Jesus merits, suffered at
Dyion.
Anus Audeburt
dragged forth, said thus; This rope
My wedding-girdly is, wherewith I hope
To be conjon'd to Christ: I was first marri'd
Upon a Saturday, and now have tarri'd
Until another Saturday, wherein
I shall (glad day!) be married agin.
She in the dung-Cart sang and in the fire
Her constancy Spectators did admire.
One
Florent Venote,
that had four years lain
In
Paris
prison, where all kinds of pain
He felt and overcome; for seven weeks space
Was close confined to such a narrow place,
That he could neither stand (with ease) nor lie:
One
Thomas,
a young man, was racked so long,
The hangman grew a weary: one among
Th'Ir quis'tors wept. They bare him to be burned,
And asked him, if he would yet be turned.
To whom he said, Friends, I am in my way
To God, O do not hinder me I pray.
And
Peter Serre,
did torments undergo.
Yet God was pleased to bring it so about,
That they spake plain, We bid the world, flesh, sin,
And devil farewell, never to meet agin;
Of brimstoue, and gunpowder bring a fresh
Supply; salt on, salt on this stinking flesh:
And so persisting constant till the last,
Their souls to heaven, their earth to ashes past.
At
Paris
did a Christian congregation
Run through much sorrow: by the Mediation
Of the Palat'nate Prince, and Swiss, some
Of them (hardly) escaped Martyrdom.
In
Danphin, Provence,
multitudes were killed;
In many other place blood was spill'd:
And yet the Church, the more it was suppressed
Like to a Palm, still more and more encreast.
SECT. XXVIII.
The Persecution in the time of the Civil Warrs, which began Anno 1562.
THe Duke
de Guise,
as he upon a day
Tow'rds
Paris
past, took
Vassy
in his way:
His ears informing him there was a Bell
That rang to service in a Barn, he fell
Thereon with all his troops: his widened throat
Bawl'd out, Kill, death of God, each Huguenote.
Some then with bullets, some with swords, were slain;
Some hanged; the heads of others cleft in twain:
Some lost their arms and hands; some shred for
To feed upon; above twelve hundred souls (fowls
Of all degrees, and ranks, were killed: so don
The Duke to
Paris
marched, and seized upon
The King himself, and filled with abuses
The places set apart for pious uses.
Roan
taken by him, was for three days sacked,
The Citizens thereof disliv'd, and racked.
Then menacing to ruinate
Orleans,
A young man shot him, to deliver
France
From his great violence. Peace was procured;
A happy peace, but it not long endured:
The Popish party banishing all pity.
Kill'd all, spared none in the
Lutetian
City.
At
Amiens,
the slain were thrown in brooks;
All Bibles burned and Divin'cy books.
At
Meaux, Sens, Mans,
they dragged some on the stones,
And dashed against the walls the little ones:
Some had their houses leveled with the ground,
Hundreds were massacred, starved, hanged, or drowned.
Many were hal'd to Mass; and some re-wedded,
Babes re-baptized; others were beheaded.
At
Bar
they rip'd up many breasts, and draw'd
Men's hearts thereout, & with their teeth them gnaw'd.
When
Malicorn, Montargis
town had got,
He slew the towns-men, and with Cannon-shot
Threatned the Lady
Rhene
to batter down
Her Castle, if she did the Christians own,
Not give them up to him: the Princess stout,
Bravely replied: Look what you go about,
I charge you, for there's no man in this Realm
(The King excepted) that can overwhelm
My pinace, with the waves of a command:
And if your battery go on, I will stand
I'th' breach, to try, whether or no you dare
Thus kill the daughter of a King: I fear
Your threats? not I: I want nor means, nor power
T'avenge me on your boldness, and devour
Your murderous heart, and utterly deface
The infants of your most rebellious race.
When
Malicorn
thus heard the Lady say,
He pulled in his horn, and sneak'd away.
At
Angers
into rivers some were thrown,
Some executed: a gilt Bible shown
Upon an halbard was, and this they sang,
Behold how well the Hug'nots truth doth hang;
Hark what the everlasting God, will tell;
Behold the truth of all the devils in hell:
They throwit in the' river, and renewed their sound,
Behold! the truth of all the devils drowned.
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At
Ablevilly, Angers, Foix, Auxerre,
At
Troys, Crant, Nevers, Chastillon,
and
Bar
In
Bloys, Toulouse,
as also
Careasson,
Many outrageous villainies were don.
At
Sens,
and
Tours,
hundreds were put to slaughter;
Some hanged up by one foot, and in the water
Their heads and breasts: the bowels are plucked out
Their rip'd-up bellies, and are thrown about
The mi'ry streets: they torture every joint,
And stick their hearts upon their daggers point.
A Counselor was hanged, at the request
Of his own father, (O unnat'ral breast!)
The bells are sounded, and the Christians be
Destroy'd in every place, all their estates
Seiz'd on by Catholics and runagates.
In
Ligneul
some they hanged. The village
Aze
They set one fire, and joy'd to see it blaze.
Augustine Marlorate
was hanged at
Rhone,
Where streetswith slaughtered carcasses were strown.
In
Gaillac,
from a steep precipice
Many were flung down headlong, in a trice
Caught break-neck falls. In
Souraze
some were crammed
With lime, and down their throats had Urine ram'd.
One
Peter Roch,
they buried alive
Within his self-made grave. They did deprive
Many of all they had, others were crowned
With thorns; and others in a well were drowned.
One Captain
Durre,
a godly widow told
Ualess she would produce her hid-up gold,
He'd roast her quick, and after throw her down
From the sublimest tower in the town.
Well (said she) though I fall, yet shall I stand
Supported by the Lord Almighty's hand.
He made her drink his piss; then in her face
Flung the remainder, and withal the glass.
He claps her up, more torments to abide:
Her friends redeemed her, but she shortly did.
The Prot'stants of
Valougne.
their dear lives lost,
And soldiers in their houses ruled the roast.
In
Mascon, Bonnet Bor,
a rare Divine,
Scoff'd, beaten, drowned, Lamp-like in heaven doth shine.
Monsieur
Valongues
a Minister, they killed,
And spurn'd his naked corps: the Mass-Priests filled
His mouth and wounds with Bible-leaves, and said,
Preach thou God's truth, now invocate his aid.
Monluc
at
Reim
brained sucking infants, then
The mothers; hanged above five hundred men.
They sprinkled salt, upon the bleeding wounds
Of one poor mangled man.
Monluc
confounds
The Protestants in fight, the prisoners
He hangs, especially the Ministers.
Captain
Lamoths,
he stabs; that will not do,
He thrusts him with a rapier, through, and thro:
And his blasphemous mouth these words lets fly.
Villain, thou in despite of God shalt die.
He proved a liar, though the man endured
Such mortal wounds, yet was he strangely cured.
In
Limoux, Grenoble, Beann, Cisteron,
Normay,
and
Aurange,
many undergon
Hard usage, Ah! what hearts? what tongues? what Quills?
Can think, can speak, can write, those worst of ills?
Females were ravished: others drowned: some killed,
Their houses with unruly soldiers filled.
Hundreds of women, nay, and children too
Like harmless sheep unto the slaughter go.
Those to blaspheme that would not be constrained.
Were with the butt-end of a musket brained,
Or hewn as small as herbs unto the pot;
Others rhrown out at windows, others shot.
A fair young woman, after much disgrace,
Was ravished before her husbands sace;
Then forced to hold a rapier wherewith
One made her, her own husband kill. A Smith
Because he would not give the devil his soul,
B'ing on his anvil laid, they beat his poul
In pieces with great hammers; some were crushed
To death with weights, others were har quebush'd.
They dashed breast-sucking babes against the walls,
And slew the crazy in the hospitals.
No sex, nor age, nor quality they let
Go free: all, all was fish that came to net.
The Massacre at PARIS, Anno 1571.
WHen the third Civil War in
France
was ended,
A Massacre at
Paris
was intended,
And put in execution: first of all
They set upon and slew the Admiral;
The watch-word was, the tolling of a bell,
Which rang by break aday: the cut-throats fell
On the attendants of the King of
Navar,
And Prince of
Condé;
not the least of favor
Was showed to any: they knocked down and brained
Ten thousand persons:
Sein'c
swift streams were
With the effused blood; the streets were pav'd (stained
With mangled bodies, not a man was saved
These blood-hounds met with; Pistols, Poiniards, Knives,
Curtlaces, Pikes, did make away with lives.
The Muskets bouncings! Oh the horrid tones
Of howling murth'rers mixed with dying groans!
The Lord's and Gentlemen were murdered
Some on their houses roofs, and some in bed.
In
France
(this persecution so increased)
Were thirty thousand Massacred at left.
But let's to some particulars descend;
One Monsieur
de la Place
was brought tohis end.
And
Peter Ramus
with his life did part,
(The Kings Professor in that subtle Art)
Thrown from the chamber window, trail'd about
The streets, and whipped, his bowels falling out.
A villain snatched up a little child,
Who toy'd, and played with his beard, and smiled,
But he (hard hearted wretch!) not moved at all,
Drew out his sword, and stabbed it withal,
And cast it all gore-blood into the river:
This gnaws an infant's heart, and he the liver.
Such protestants, as did through fear revolt,
Must in the fore-front, give the first assault,
Or else be killed themselves. Some had their grease
Try'd out and sold. They used such blasphemies:
Where's now your God? are Psalms and Prayers come
To this? sure he is either deaf, or dumb.
Let him come save you, if he can: they cried,
Kill, kill them all, and let's the spoil divide.
What fearful shrikes, and outeries were there then
Caus'd by these Devils in the shapes of men?
What breaking up of doors? what noise of guns
At
Orleans
was there heard? confusion runs
In every street; what trampling of War-Horses?
Rumbling of Carts, that bore away dead courses!
The Papists, in this massacre confessed,
That they slew eighteen thousand at the least.
Some of them boasted in the streets aloud,
Th'nad died their doublets in the Hug'nots blood.
At
Toulouse,
they the called-out pris'ners slay,
Not suffering them to speak, much less to pray.
When the Parisian massacre was known,
At
Bourdeaux
the like cruelty was shown.
How sad was it to see poor Protestants
Wander now here, now there, and none their wants
Supply! Alas unparalelled woes!
Rejected by their friends, destroyed by foes!
SECT. XXIX.
The siege of Sancerte, Anno Christi, 1573.
THe Chastrian Lord besieging
Sancerre
town,
His thundering cannons played, and battered down
Her stony walls; the shiver'd timber flew
Continually about, yet none it slew.
Some had their hats, breeches, and coats through shot,
Themselves not hurt nor prejudiced one jot.
The siege endured long; at last, through want,
Horse-flesh was turned to food; which growing scant,
The Twons-men fed on dogs, cats, rats, mice, moles,
Hides, parchments, halters, Lantera-horns, roots, coals,
Their bread was made of straw-meal; they did boil
Them pottage of old Oyntments, grease and Oil.
And when these failed, they pounded nutshels, slates,
Eat men's dung fry'd: ho! these were precious cates!
A lab'rer and his wife were put to th'slaughter,
For feeding on their famine-starved daughter.
Some little corn by stoldred brought to town,
Each pound was valued at half a crown.
The sword did but eighty four persons slay.
The famine half a thousand swept away.
Many chose rather to resign their breath
At the swords point, then famished be to death.
The parents looked upon with grief of heart
Their children, but could no relief impart.
A boy of five years old, near spent with hunger,
Did run about the streets; but when no longer
His feeble feet could bear him, down he fell
Before his parents sight: 'tis sad to tell
The horror of their souls, and how their eyes
Ran down, when they did feel his with'red thighs.
Then said the child, Father and mother dear,
What mean you so to weep? for God's sake spare
Those needless drops, and do'nt my cause bemoan;
I ask no bread, as knowing you have none:
But since it is God's will, that I should rest
By such a death as this; his name be blest:
Have not I (mother) in my Bible read,
Of
Laz'rus
wants? and that was all he said.
At last God flirr'd up the Polonians,
To free the poor distress'd Sancerrians.
They with their arms and goods might go away;
And such as would, might without trouble stay.
The siege of Rochelle Anno 1573.
ROchel
besieged, the towns-men salli'd out,
And often put the en'my to the rout.
In one months space the soe laid on so hot,
That more then thirteen thousand Cannon-shot
Discharg'd against the Rochellers, which held
Out siege fo long, till famine them compel'd
T'unlawful meats, all their provision spent:
But O admired Providence! God sent
Them fishes, and in such abundant store,
The like was never seen nor heard before:
As soon as the edict for Peace came out,
(Which Legates sent from
Poland
brought about)
They went away, and never returned again.
Divers great Lord's and Gentlemen were slain
During this siege: commanders full sixscore,
And twenty thousand soldiers or more,
That did from bloody Massacres retire,
Received at
Rochelle
their deserved hire.
Madam I pray revenge my foes, then died.
Rochelle
expecting help in time of need
Which ran into their hands, whilst they depended
Too much thereon; the City (ill befriended)
B'ing close besieged by the King of
France,
And his adherents, the inhabitants
Shrewdly put toit, for want of better meat,
Did horses, dogs, cats, rats, and leather eat.
The poorer sort of people wanting bread,
Upon the buttocks of the dead did feed.
Young maids did look with such a wrinkled brow,
As though they had a hundred years ran through.
And all the English, when the Freach had took
The City, like Anatomies did look.
How sad was it to see, their hollow eyes
And meagre cheeks, lank bellies, withr'ed thighs?
A pound of bread, worth one pound estimated;
A quarter of a sheep did six pounds utter;
And thirty shillings bought a pound of butter;
For one poor egg, eight shillings was laid down;
An ounce of sugar, yielded half a crown.
A dry'd fish given for a piece in gold;
A pint of French-Wine, for as much was sold;
A pound of grapes, thrice twelve pence; milk but filling
A pint-pot full, valu'd at thirty shilling,
&c.
SECT. XXX
The Persecution of the Church of Christ in the Valtoline, Anno Christi 1620.
THe bloody Papists, in the
Valtoline
Rising in arms, did furiously combine
To th'extirpation of the Christian train;
Drown'd some in
Alba,
others they did brain:
Shot some, and strangled others; some they be
With knotty clubs; and many that they met
They inhumanely murth'red; some they drew
Out of their naked beds, and did imbrew
Their hands in their effused gore; they slit
The mouths of some up to their ears; and hit
Others with the Strappado; some were hack'd
To pieces; others slash'd; and others racked.
His face turned to the tail, and he to pass
The market-place, holding in's hand the tail
As'cwere a bridle; some when food did fail
Were famished; others were ston'd, or drowned;
Some had their very bones, to powder ground.
Thus having made a quick dispatch at
Tel,
These profane wretches, marched thence, and fell
Upon the Protestants at Church elsewhere,
Kill'd old and young, and showed no mercy there,
To Lord's, nor Gentlemen: to death they shot
The Ministers: Ladies and Children, got
Into the Bell-free for security:
The place is fired; and by fire, they die.
The Popish party under a pretence
Of standing for the Protestants defense
At
Sondres
(yet for all they kept a pother)
They one destroyed now, and then another;
As if it had been done by accident,
Concealing their malevolous intent:
Then did they fall to plunder, and imbrew,
Their hands in blood, all those they met they slew.
There was a Noble Lady which refused
The Romish faith: to whom such words they used;
Madam, out of the tender love you bear
To your young infant, in your arms, give ear
To us, or else you shall be killed together.
But she undauated, thus; I came not hither
To abnegate my faith, nor left I all
I had behind in
Italy,
to fall
From my first principles; yea, I will rather
Suffer a thousand death; my heavenly father
Spar'd not his son, but up to death him gave,
Me, and such sinners as I am to save;
How shall I then regard this babe of mine?
O foe, said she, into the hands of thine
I give my little child: God which takes care
For the wing'd Cit'zens of the liquid Air,
Is much more able to save this poor child,
Though you should leave it on these mountains wild.
Unlacing then her gown, she barred her breast,
And said, Here is the body; you may feast
Your swords therewith: to kill it you have power,
My sold is God's, it can you not devour.
They slay the mother, and the infant spare,
Committing it toa Popish nurses care.
Many that did refuse to go to Mass,
Were dragged to the mountains tops (Alas!)
And thrown thence headlong down: for want of food
Others were famished; into
Adda's
flood
Some flung from bridges; and with corpses dead
The woods and mountains ev'rywhere were spread.
A Noble Virgin, through the streets was led
Disgracefully; they put upon her head
A paper-mitre, buffeted her cheeks,
And so besmear'd her face with dirt, (that leeks
Might grow thereon) then was she bid to call
Upon the Saints; she smiling said, All, all
My hope, my trust, and my salvation
Is in my Savior Jesus Christ alone.
As for the Virgin
Mary,
'tis confessed
She is above all other women blest;
Yet is she not omniscient, and therefore
Knowes not what we request, what we implore:
Yea she herself her own son's merits needed,
And had been damned, had he not interceded.
Christ hath despised rhe cross, endured the shame,
And so will I, thrice blessed be his name,
His holy name; with that, these villains drew her
Into the fields, and barbarously slew her.
Then came a letter from a Governor,
That these blood-suckers should with all their power
Destroy both in the country and in City
All that were Lutherans, without all pity.
Whereat destroying all at
Tyrane, Tell,
Bruse, Sondres,
and
Malenco,
they more fell
Then
Hyrcan Tygres,
fell on
Birbenno,
Caspano, Trahen,
slaying high and low.
They killed a man, and's wife. A cradled child
Fair and well-favor'd, in their faces smiled;
They took her by the heels (not moved at all)
And dashed out her brains against the wall.
At
Bruse,
a very aged Matron was
Sollicited by them, to go to Mass,
And have respect unto her age, not die;
To whom she answered; God forbid that I
Who have one foot already in the grave,
Should now forsake my Lord, my Christ, who gave
Me to be constant in his truth professed,
And upon sublunary creatures rest.
Shall men's traditions, or God's holy word
Take place? so said, they slew her with the sword.
SECT. XXXI.
The Persecutions of the Church in Scotland, which began, Anno Christi 1527.
ONE Mr.
Patrick Hamilton
by name,
Sprung from an honorable stock, became
An able Minister; his holy zeal
Did the despised Mysteries reveal
To hood-wink'd souls, so long until at last
Th'enraged Bishops him in prison cast:
And after condemnation, he was brought
To execution; his cap, gown, and coat,
He gave tohis servant, and exhorted him
To venture all for Christ; yea, life and lim.
Bound to the stake, he cried, For Christ his merit,
O Lord be pleased to receive my spirit:
How long shall clouds of darkness overwhelm?
Great God! how long shall foes oppress this realm?
A Friar then;
Unto our Lady pray;
Salve Regina, say,
&c. Away, away,
Satanick Imps; God hears me in the flame.
His soul went up to heaven to praise God's Name.
Straton
converted, said, O Lord I have
Bin wicked, and deserved thy wrath, yet save;
O let not me, for fear of corp'ral pain,
Or death, deny thee, or thy truth again:
They his and Mr.
Norman's
person bring,
And burn them in the presence of the King.
Such words the Bishop of
Dunkelden
used
To one Dean
Porret
(whom the Fry'rs accused:)
My joy, Dean
Thomas,
I do love thee well,
And therefore take the liberty to tell
Thee of thy faults; I am informed you do
Preach the Epistle, nay the Gospel too,
Each Sunday to your people; and refuse
To take from them (as a reward) your dues:
Which prejudicial to the Church-men is.
My joy, Dean
Thomas,
I advise you this:
Take tithes, or else it is too much to preach
But once a week: for if thou gratis teach,
May not the people think that we likewise
Should do the same?
Tom,
be not so precise;
It is enough for you when you have sound
A good Epistle and Gospel, to expound
The liberty of holy Church expressed
Therein, and 'tis no matter for the rest.
Thomas
replied: My Lord, if I abstain
From tithes, will my parishioners complain?
I know they will not: and whereas you say,
It is too much to preach each Sabbath-day,
I think it is too little, for my part;
And from the very bottom of my heart
Wish, that your Lordship would be pleased to take
Such pains as that. Nay, nay, Dean
Thomas,
spake
The Bishop then, no orders do us reach.
Whereas, said
Thomas,
you do bid me preach
When a good Chapter I do light upon;
I have read them over all, and find not one
That's bad amongst them; show me where they lie,
And at your showing I will pass them by.
I bless God, said the Bishop, I never knew
What was the Testament nor old nor new:
And I will not know anything at all,
Saving my Portvise, and Pontifical.
Go, go your ways, and cease so much to prate,
Lest you repent you, when it is too late.
I trust, said
Thomas,
that my cause is clear
In God's eyes; therefore, what need I to fear?
And so he went his way. But when time's glass
Had run a little more, he burned was.
Though bloody clouds were raised, Religion's rays
Shone forth in
Scotland,
in those worst of days:
Partly by reading (comfort flowing thence)
And partly by fraternal conference;
Which so enraged the Papists, that they came
And burnt four noted persons in one flame;
One
Jerome Russet,
that professed the truth,
And
Alexander Kennedy,
a youth,
Were brought to Judgment:
Kennedy's
heart panted
For fear at first, and would have fain recanted.
But when no hopes was left, God's Spirit revived
His drooping soul; yea inward comforts striv'd
To show themselves, both in his face and tongue:
Then falling on his knees, these words out sprung:
Great God! What love hast thou to all expressed,
And unto me vile wretch, above the rest!
O who hath tasted of thy clemency
In such a high degree (O Lord) as I!
For just now when I would deny thy power,
And Jesus Christ, thy Son, my Savior,
T'have plunged myself all over head and ears
In everlasting flames, (unquench'd with tears)
Thy right hand hath not suffered me to dwell
With the black subjects of the Prince of hell:
And I, that was of late with fear oppressed,
Enjoy by thee a joy-enamel'd breast.
I fear not death, do with me as you please;
I praise God I am ready, death's an ease.
Then railed they on him, and
Jerome,
who
Said also unto them, Miscal us, do;
This is your hour and power to command;
Ye sit as Judges, we as guilty stand:
But know, a day will come shall clear our blame,
And ye (cursed ye) to your eternal shame
Shall see your blindness. Go on forward still,
Till you the Ephah of your sins up fill.
No sooner were they both condemned to die,
But
Jerome
comforted young
Kennedy:
Brother (said he) fear not, he that indwels
Our souls, him that is in the world excels;
The pain we here endure is light and short,
But we shall have unfading glory for it.
O strive we then (though many rubs annoy)
To enter in unto our Masters joy:
And, with our Savior, pass the narrow road
Which few shall find; the way to hell is broad.
We die for Christ, and Christ hath death subdued,
Death cannot hurt us: hence me may conclude
We are the members; and if Christ our head
Be risen, can the members long lie dead?
Thus death, and Satan, under-foot they trod,
And in the flame, breathed up their souls to God.
At
Edinburgh
the cruel Card'nal
Beton
Goose on a Friday; and above the rest,
A woman with her suckling at her breast,
He drowned for being scrupulous and wary
Of making prayers to the Virgin
Mary.
He sent into exile some Christian brothers;
And at St.
Johnstons
he imprisoned others.
Mr.
George Wischard,
a Divine, whose worth
Wan him much admiration in the North,
Having drunk deeply of afflictions cup.
Cheerfully in the flames surrendered up
His prophesy, the Cardinal was killed.
Condemned to be burnt, was burned quick.
Was burnt, and had the end of his desire.
Said
Ol'phant
to one
Walter Mill,
who prayed,
Rise up Sir Walter.
Prayers don, he said,
My name is
Walter
if you call me right,
I have been too too long a Popish Knight.
Benit there sev'n Sacraments? Give me but two
Said he, and all the rest I leave to you.
Wilt thou recant? he answered, I am corn,
Not chaff, and will not be in the' truth out-born:
Then go to th'stake. Said he, I may not kill
My self, but put me in, and bear I will;
This is my resolution. Having made
His pray'r to God, he to the people said,
Although it be confessed, that I have been
A friend to Satan, and a slave to sin,
Yet 'tis not that, that doth my suff'rings cause,
I suffer for observing God's just Laws.
And now God out of his abundant grace
Doth honor me so far, as (in this place)
To make me seal (what others not withstood,)
His truth's profession with my dearest blood.
Dear friends as you would escape eternal doom,
And live still happy in the life to come,
Let not Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors,
Seduce you anymore, for they are Liars.
Trust God alone, O always make his power
Your rock, your bulwark of defense, your tower.
So slep'd he in the Lord: and was the last
In
Scotland
that the fi'ry trial past.
SECT. XXXII.
The Persecution of the Church in Ireland, Anno Christi 1642.
THe factious Archbishops, Abbots, Pryors,
False Jesuits, Romish Priests, and knavish Friars,
Stirr'd up rebellion by their instigation,
Against the English in the Irish Nation.
And when they thought their malice had invented
Such thriving plots, as could not be prevented,
They in their public prayers recommended
The good success of their designs, which tended,
To the advancement of the Cath'lick cause,
And told the people 'twas no time to pause.
Their nation over-run with heretics;
Call'd Protestants sworn foes to Catholics;
Who were not to be suffered alive
Amongst them; and for any to deprive
Them of their breaths, the crime was not more great,
Then to destroy a dog: to give them meat.
Or yield to them relief at any time,
'Twas mortal, O unpardonable crime!
Rome's
Doctrine they pretended to suppress,
And root out those that did the same profess;
They Laws would make, they thought, should under-
All Pop'ry, after
England's
good example. (trample
Observe we how their words and deeds did vary,
Said one thing, but did act the quite contrary.
And now they fall to murthr'ous blows; and glory,
'T will save them from the pains of Purgatory:
None that spake English the least mercy found;
The English language was a loathed sound:
All are resolved to scour the Irish borders
From these supposed Authors of disorders.
Poor Protestants! some were to exile packed;
Some killed; 'twas thought a meritorious act
To slay those Devils in the shapes of men,
(For so they called them;) not one of ten
Escap'd their clutches: what a deal of good,
Said they, it does us, thus to bath in blood!
When these injurious wretches are destroyed
In
Ireland,
and their habitation void,
We'll then for
England;
have at
England
then,
We will not leave alive one English man.
Put case we should be of our lives bereaven.
Immediately our souls would fly to heaven.
Why should such scoundrels breath? to work let's fall,
And take away their lives, estates, and all.
Strip, strip, man, woman, child, base rougues and whores,
Leave not a rag on, turn them out of doors.
So now they shelter them; but woods and caves
Sha'nit be their dwellings, but shall be their graves,
Whom we'l—But many by the high-ways side,
For want of sustenance fell down, and died:
And many thousands that for succor fled
To towns, by that time they came there, were dead,
To tell their horrid Massacres, would make
The ear to tingle, and the heart to ache.
In
Armag
•
,
and
Tyrone,
this barb'rous rage
Spar'd neither rich nor poor, nor sex, nor age:
And elsewhere many thousands did expire
By sword, by water, famine, or by fire.
Some had their guts rip'd out, some dragged thro bogs;
Young children thrown to be devoured by dogs.
If any chanced to beg but leave to pray,
And kneeled down, they lost their heads straightway
Some in dark dungeons lie; others half slain,
Earnestly begged to be rid out of pain.
They covered some alive with dirt, and stones,
And laughed, to hear their lamentable groans.
Some were from bridges, into rivers flung;
Others, on tenter-hooks by the chin hung:
They hanged up some by th'arms, with their swords trying
How long an English-man would be a dying.
Young infants rip'd out of their mothers womb,
Were given to the hogs, for to entomb.
Children were forced to kill fathers, and mothers;
Parents, their children; and brothers, brothers;
Wives their own husbands; husbands their own wives:
And they themselves in fine must lose their lives.
No mercy's shown, man, woman, no nor child;
The dead's digged up, th'alive in cauldrons boiled.
Some had their hands cut off, and eyes plucked out;
Many were left alive, their guts about
Their very heels: and of some's grease and fat
Candles were made; while others roasted at
Slack fires: Nay, boys and women were employed
To perpetrate such deeds, and therein joy'd.
The Rebels, in the country
Portendown,
Did many thousands in the river drown.
At
Lisgool, Tullah, Lissenskeah,
and
Cumber,
(All Castles) a considerable number
Were brought unto untimely ends. Man, woman,
And child was killed at
Killmore
and
Killoman.
An ancient dame, which towards
Dublin
went,
Was stripped in one day seven times, and sent
To seek her God, and to her God complain,
And bid him if he could, clothe her again:
All mercy was exiled; these murth'rous
Cain's:
Brain'd some; stabbed others with their swords, forks, skeins.
Thousands of Protestants in snowy weather
Turn'd out stark naked, perished all together,
Through cold and hunger; many that were sick,
Were dragged out of their beds, and hanged up quick.
One Gcodwife
Lin,
they hanged in the Air,
And then the daughter by the mothers hair.
Upon a day a Cittadel they fired
Over the Christians heads therein retired;
And thus expressed their joy: Behold, how high
The flames mount, O how sweetly do they fry!
A Divines mouth up to the ears they slit;
So don, they put a Bibles leaf to it,
And bid him preach, and teach some pretty stuff,
For now he had a mouth was wide enough.
A naked woman, her bare skin to hide,
A wisp of straw about her middle tide;
They fit'd it, boasting how it did enhance
Their spirits to see the English jade so dance:
They stabbed
Jane Addis,
and her young child stuck
T'her breast, and said, Suck English bastard, suck.
If any hid themselves in cellars, caves,
They all were murder'd by these hell-sent slaves;
Who made their boast, they pleased the devil well
In sending him so many souls to hell.
Against God, and his holy word, likewise,
They belch'd out execrable blasphemies.
Bibles they burnt, and said, They burnt hell-fire;
Cut some, and soaked others in the mire,
Then dashed them on the owners faces; some
They stamped on, saying, Hence all mischiefs come;
A plague upon them all; in a short time,
We hope to see none in our Irish clime.
They told th' Apostates, that they thought it good
To kill them while they were in a good mood.
Anne Nicholson
said boldly she'd not turn;
And rather then she would her Bible burn,
As they would have her, she the death would die;
And did, as it fell out: for by and by
She and her mate was stabbed; but he that acted
The vill'ny, grew immediately distracted.
At
Glasgow
fisty English men and Scots
They made recant, and then cut all their throats.
In
Mayo,
and in
Tiperary
too,
Both Counties, not a few did undergo
All sorts of cruel deaths; these bloody ones
Did slash, hew, hack, and pellet them with stones.
They forced some in the Sea (swoln big with waves)
To take possession of those watery graves.
In
Sligo,
forty Protestants were stripped,
And locked up in a cellar; then there slip'd
A butcher in (appointed so to do)
And with an axe cleav'd all their heads in two.
Into the Jail belonging to this town,
Poor Protestants were sent, and there knocked down.
About
Dungannon, Tyrone, Charlemount,
Hundreds were slain upon the same account.
An Irish Quean killed forty five:
Mac Crew
No less then thirty in one morning slew.
There were above twelve thousand knocked at head
In the high-ways, as towards
Down
they fled.
These rogues a Scotch-man's belly did divide,
And having one end of his small guts tide
Unto a tree, they forced him round about
The same so long, till they were all drawn out:
Said they, We'll try which is the longest size,
A dogs guts, or a Scotchmans; O glad eyes!
In
Antrum
fell nine hundred fifty four
In one morn, afterwards twelve hundred more.
Sir
Phileme O Neal
boasted he had killed
Above six hundred at
Gravagh;
and filled
Whole houses with the slain; brained old and young
Within the Baronry of
Monterlong.
In
Ulster
Province, by all sorts of deaths,
One hundred fifty thousand lost their breaths.
One man for saying he'd believe the Pope
No sooner then the devil, stretched a rope.
In
Munster,
many eminent Divines
They hanged up. Alas! what woeful signs
Poor children made for bread; but they must fast
Or feed on grass, and then be brained at last.
Dear hearts! in what inextricable woes
Are they involved? inexorable foes
On every side to bring them to their ends;
'It is sad to hear wives, children, servants, friends,
Send to the air their stormy sighs, and groans,
Their shrieks, their cries and lamentable moans!
Alas! what tongue, is able to relate
The fears, and cares, of their afflicted state?
O was it, was it not enough almost
To break a Christians heart, to hear them boast
Of knockings down? (said one) my arm's so sore
I cannot lift it up, to brain one more.
Another brag'd, that he abroad had been,
And of the English rogues had killed sixteen:
Others so many killed, that they believed,
That of the very grease and fat which cleav'd
Upon their swords, a man might undertake
An Irish candle (if he list) to make,
The English are (said they) fit meat for dogs,
Their children bastards, drown them in the dogs;
The day's our own, we'll wound their beasts therefore;
Oh 'tis a gallant thing to hear them roar!
Thus have we had a taste of what befell
The Protestants: now they that did rebel
Have ever since by the just hand of God
Bin soundly scourged with his severer rod;
He so emasculates their spirits in fight,
That handfuls put innum'rous foes to flight;
As many, if not more, the plague devoured:
The Lord still fights for his; and will, no doubt,
Utterly root up that rebellious rour.
A MARTYROLOGIE Containing A COLLECTION Of all the PERSECUTIONS Which have befallen The Church of England, Since the first Plantation of the Gospel, To the end of Queen MARIES Reign.
By the same AUTHOR.
Victi sunt Gentiles Papistae & Idololatria corum non a repugnantibus, sed
morientibus Christianis.
August. Ep. 42.
August. Ep. 42.
Quo malis presentibus durius deprimor, co de fuluris gaudiis certius
presumo.
Gregor.
Gregor.
In nothing be terrified by your adversaries, which to
them is an evident token of perdition, but to you of
salvation, and that of God,
Phil. 1. 28.
Phil. 1. 28.
Printed by J. Cottrel. 1657.
To the Right Honorable,
WROTH ROGERS
ESQUIRE;
High Sheriff, and Governor of the
City and County of Hereford:
AND
TO THE REVEREND,
Mr.
-
William Voyle
-
William Low
-
Samuel Smith
-
George Primrose
Ministers
of Christ's Gospel in Hereford.
Grace and Peace be multiplied, &c.
Honoured and Reverend Sirs,
AS it is the property of generous spirits, not to exact an answerable retaliation for their afforded favors from the party whom they have engaged: So neither are they wont to slight the petty presents of a grateful heart, whose greatest ambition is to be thankful. This hath emboldened me to offer you the small fruits of my weak labors, or rather recreations, gathered at spare hours, in hope they may so relish with your palate, as to move you to honor them with a free acceptance: I doubt not then but they will pass the better, and be entertained with more Approbation. Whhat though the wine of astonishment (I mean the blood of Martyrs) be not so pleasant, and consequently less desirable, yet my hanging out the signs of your hononrable names (at the Frontispiece of my Book) will be very effectual to make it vendible. Humility in your selves, and charity towards me, will cover all faults. I know you are my Honorable and Reverend good Friends, and Amici omnia, amice interpretantur, so will you this my good will. Now if it be your pleasure to make use of me, I am here pressed for your small Service, till I am able to perform greater. So praying God to fill you with as much happiness both here and hereafter, as your hearts can hold, I take my leave of you; but shall always, while I have a tongue and hand, acknowledge and subscribe myself,
Etrolog. The seconD of the MoVnth ApriL. MDCLVI.
Your Honors humblest Servant; and to you my Worthy Friends very much obliged, Nicholas Billingsley.
To the ingenious Reader.
Kind Reader,
I Call thee as I would willingly find thee; though, I confess, my weak performance of this Part also in Verse, which is so well done to thy hand in Prose already, might justly occasion thee to clothe thy brow in an angry frown, and look big upon me, with a What needs this? But I persuade myself, thou knowest a little better what belongs to humanity, then to judge too inhumanely of me; thyself remembering that thou art also born of a woman, and art naturally proclive to slip, if need be, as well as another. Mansuetude seems firstly to be attributed to beasts which were made tame, and cicurated; but was afterwards used to express the mind pliable, and pulling in the reins of her passion: this virtue if thou hast, I need not advise thee (as Athenodorus did Augustus ) from speaking anything rashly before thou hast orderly repeated the Criss-Cross-Row. Thus do I hope well of thee. What I have done, I leave to thy good-liking; which, if I may be so worthy, as to obtain from thee, give God the Glory, and I am abundantly rewarded for my pains.
Yours, N. B.
THE PERSECUTIONS Of the Church of England, From the first planting of the Gospel, to the end of Queen Mary's Reign.
SECT. I.
The Persecution of the British Church, till the coming in of the Saxons.
TO tell exactly who the persons were
That first preached to the Britain's, in what year
The Gospel first took root, is past my skill,
Since Authors cite them with a diff'ring Quill.
Some
Arimathean Joseph;
others
Paul:
Fagan,
and
Damian,
did the Gospel bring
Into great
Britain. Lucius
the King,
With many of his subjects, did embrace
The proffered Gospel, as the means of grace:
Converted, and baptized, they overturned
Th'Idol'trous Temples, and the Altars burned:
All superstitious rites they laid aside,
Advancing Christ: the Scripture was their guide,
And only rule; they judged nothing fit
But what had warrant from the Sacred Writ.
Two hundred sixteen years this faith did flame
Amongst them till the Pagan
Saxons
came.
Religious
Lucius
without issue died,
And now the Barons and the Nobles vy'd
For King; and while they for the crown contended,
In step'd the Romans, so the quarrel ended:
For they usurped the crown, and did o'rewhelm
With misery and ruin the whole Realm.
Sometimes th'Idol'trous Romans bore the sway;
Sometimes the Christian
Britons
won the day:
By turns they got the best, by turns they got
The worst, as Providence did them allot.
In
Dioclesian's
time, and in the Reign
Of
Maximinian,
the Christians slain
In
Britany
and elsewhere, did amount
To sev'nteen thousand. One of great account,
Alban
his name, the Proto-Martyr was
Of
England's
Isle; and many more did pass
That way he went. Religion decaid,
Bibles were burned, and the Churches laid,
Laid level with the ground; disord'red orders
Took place; and Piety forsook our borders.
But the fore-named Tyrants over-tired
With blondy butcheries, at last respir'd;
Experience telling them, the more they shed
The Christians blood, the more the faith still spread.
They both went down from the Imperial seat;
Constantius;
next
Constantine the Great
Succeeding in the British government,
The Church was quiet, and enjoyed content:
Which peace continued till the Arian Sect
The novelty-affectors did infect.
Hereat God raised up the Picts and Seots
(Two barb'rous nations) and to them alots
The Victors wreath: poor
England
was oppressed,
And did for many years enjoy no rest.
Which made them send Ambassadors to
Rome
With sad complaints, entreating them to come
To aid them; so a Roman Legion came,
Slew some, making the rest retreat with shame,
And quit these coasts; advising us withal
To raise betwixt us and the Scots, a wall:
A wall being built by the English men,
The Roman force returned home agen.
This news was brought unto the Picts and Scots
One this side of the wall; they landed boats,
O're-ran the country, laid the corn-sields waste,
And bare down all before them as they past.
The Britons send their Legates unto
Rome
A second time; the sent-for soldiers come
And vaequish'd them; the rest put to disorders,
Enforcedly desert the British borders.
Which done, they told the Britons flat and plain,
They should expect no aid from them again;
Besides, it stood not with their ease, to take
So long and tedious journeys for their sake:
Now therefore arm yourselves, and exercise
In Warlike feats (said they) if ye be wise:
Go, go and build you firmer walls, that so
You may be able to keep out your foe,
The Romans having took their last farewell
Of
Britany,
the Picts and Scots soon fell
On the re-built walls, and put to flight
The trembling Britain's, noitrain'd up to fight.
They that stood out were barb'rously destroyed;
And all their goods the enemies enjoyed.
Loan Aceldama of blood! what store
Of slaughtred Carkasses, even swim in gore!
Rome
b'ing again solicited to send
Relief, refused; the Britain's in the end
Took heart to grass, when earthly comforts failed
Sought God, and 'gainst their enemies prevailed;
Gave them the total rout; the Picts began
To keep their bound, save only now and than
They inroads made into the Land; the Land
At last became under her own command.
The ground was now manured; the Lord did bless
Th'industrious Britain's with a large increase
Of full-ear'd corn, that such abundant store
Scarce ever in the Land was seen before.
But Oh! man's sinful heart! this Peace, this Quiet,
This Plenty, led them to excess, and rior,
To pride, contention, envy, and the like:
God sent the plague among them, which did strike
So many dead, that the alive were all
Unable to afford them burial.
Yet could the judgments that abroad were sent
Not melt their hearts, nor move them to repent;
The death of friends, the danger they were in
Themselves, but hardened them more in sin;
Not work'd their Reformation; oftentimes,
Judgments prove Shooing-horns to greater crimes.
They wax still worse and worse; the Laity chose,
And Clergy too, to live like ranc'rons foes.
God's thundering vengeance which upon them fell,
My breathing Muse shall in the sequel tell.
SECT. II.
The Persecution of the British Church under the Heathen Saxons and English, Anno 429, &c.
THE Britain's with ill-neighbors re-infested,
Instead of turning to the Lord, requested
The Pagan Saxons aid, for to oppose
The raging fury of these Northern foes;
They came, and coming, conquered them; at length,
The Saxons knowing their sufficient strength
To over-power the weaker Britain's, they
Fell foul on them, exacting greater pay,
And more provision, or else they would
Side with the Picts, and do the best they could
To spoil their country. This their resolution
No sooner said, was put in execution:
All goodly edifices they destroyed:
The Ministers, the while they were employed
In Divine service, were of lives deprived,
And rev'rend Bishops with their flocks disliv'd.
Some left their country and beyond Seas fled;
Some on the mountains tops were murdered.
Some pin'd with hunger, creeping from their caves,
Were soon dispatched, or made perpetual slaves.
The English Nobles summoned to treat
Concerning peace, did on a fixed time meet
At
Almshury;
but by the faithless train
Of Saxons, were most treacherously slain
At
Stomheng;
and, that they were bury'd there,
The yet-remaining monuments declare.
Now when the Britons found no other way
Lay open to redress, they fell to pray.
A fast was called, and all, with one accord
Humbled their souls, before th'Almighty Lord.
Ambrosius Aurelian,
being chose
To be their King, did profligate their foes;
And from that day God's hand appearing glorious.
They went out prosp'rous, and returned Victorious.
At last
Aurelian
with poison dead,
Uter Pendragon
reigned in his stead:
He bidding battle to the enemy,
Two of their Chieftains took; who scaping fly
To
Belgium
for more aid; and in the mean
The Saxons flocked in; conflicts past between
Th'English and them: now these, and sometimes they,
(As Providence saw good) did win the day,
Octa,
and
Cosa,
with a force renewed
Came over again; the Britons are subdued;
Their pastors slain, Churches demolished,
No mercy's shown; King
Uter
sick in bed,
Seeing his Subjects fall, would needs be brought
Into his camp: so resolutely fought
His soldiers then, they (under God) obtain
The Victors wreath:
Octa
and
Cosa
slain.
Soon ever this great Victory was won,
Uter
of poison died;
Arthur
his son
Was crowned King, who twice six Victories
Obtain'd against the Saxon enemies.
His stranger acts, and unbeliev'd success,
As fabulous, I leave; but questionless
Much peace and safety to the British Isle
Was in his happy reiga enjoyed; yet while
They were at Peace with others, they agin
Returning to their loathed ways of sin,
Fell to intestine broils, embracing evil
Instead of good, and worshipped the Devil,
Under the notion of an Angel bright.
The Priests withheld the Gospels purer light
From deviating souls; which soon procured
The wrath of God (too great to be endured)
Driv'n out of house and home, no ease, no rest
They found; the Saxons had the Land possessed,
And turned out all the Christian Divines.
So done, they did in the usurped confines,
The Heptarchy erect: These Kings did smother
All peace, fell out and war'd with one another:
Till disempowr'd, they could not well defend
King
Lncius
was the first that did receive
The Gospel, and in Jesus Christ believe:
From which time (asit in Chronicles appears)
It staid in
Britain
full four hundred years:
One hundred forty and three years God's word
Some English children being brought to
Rome,
There to be sold,
Gregory
chanced to come
Into the market-place: when his fixed sight
Saw in their lovely cheeks pure red and white
Contend for Mastership, he much admired
At their so sweet complexions, and inquired
What country they were of; then being told
That they were English heathens, to be sold
For slaves: here's choice enough, if any wats,
Said he, 'tis pity such inhabitants,
So fair, and so Angelical, should dwell
As subjects to the story Prince of hell.
Inform'd their Province
Deira
was; said he,
Could wish them Manu-missed
De ira Dei.
And further, being given to understand,
That one named
Alle
ruled the British land;
There, there, saith he, ought Praises to be given
And
Allelujab's
to the King of heaven.
He also had a great desire to go
To
England,
and there preach: but
Rome
said, no.
Pelagius
died: he in his room assigned
Rome's
Bishop, calling his intent to mind:
To undertake this work: they land in
Kent,
At
Thanets
fertile Isle: King
Ethelbert,
In
Canterbury
City, they convert,
Daily came in, the King enforced not any,
But much respected, and affected those
Who willingly with Christ would make a close.
Austin
sends
Greg'ry
word, how God did bless,
And crown their labors with desired success.
The joyful Bishop sendeth more Divines
Over, for to effect those great designs
Were now on foot: a letter of advise
He writes to
Austin,
not to be too wise
In his own eyes, not be puffed up at all
By those great miracles, which did befall
The English Church: For why? for this intent,
God only used him, as an instrument.
Ascribe all,
Austin,
to God's power Divine;
His be the glory, and the praise, not thine:
And when thy heart toebulluate begins,
O think upon thy God-offending sins,
And that will humble thee: all God's elect
Have of themselves no power to effect
A miracle like this; and yet heavens book
Contains their names. O do not, do not look
So much on thine own works; be this thy strife,
To have thy name writ in the book of life.
What ever miracle the Lord hath brought
To pass by thee, know this, it was not wrought
For thy sake; no, 'twas wrought for the salvation
Of the seduced, misguided English nation.
If I might be so worthy to advise,
The Temples built for heath'nish sacrifice
I would not have demolished, but th'abuse
Remov'd, converted to another use.
God go along with you, and lest you stumble
Through pride, and glory, keep you always humble,
&c.
He an Epistle also did direct
Unto the King, which was to this effect:
He first praised God, then did the King commend,
Wishing he might prove constant to the end
In his professed faith; and to his power,
Convert his Subjects to a Savior,
Who holds forth life to those that will receive
It freely, and in's promises believe.
And lastly, he intreats his gifts may find
Acceptance, coming from a willing mind.
Miletus,
by his preaching did convert
Th'east Angles and the then-King
Sigebert;
Who with his Unckle
Ethelbert
did found
St.
Paul
his Church, and built it from the ground.
Austin
a Synod gath'red in this nation
Of Bishops, to consult of Reformation;
But nothing's done therein: King
Ethelbert
Having a mighty force, went to evert
The
Chestrian
City, where the Monks of
Bangor
Assembling, prayed God to divert his anger,
From their friends heads, and turn it on their foes,
To shield the English from approaching woes.
When the King saw them so intent in pray'r,
Demand he did, what sort of men they were:
And being credibly informed, they prayed
For those that were his enemies; he said,
Although unarm'd, they fight against us do,
And with their prayers persecute us too;
My hearts, fall bluntly on them; upon pain
Of our displeasure, let them all be slain.
Eleven hundred Monks had their blood spill'd;
Which God revenged: the bloody Tyrant's killed
In fight by Christian
Edwin,
who obtained
The crown, and the Christ-built faith maintained.
The Idols, and the Altars he destroyed,
Making all ancient ceremonies void.
He caused brazen dishes to be tide
By every fountain in the High-ways side,
That so each passenger without control,
Might be refreshed with a liberal boul:
He always carried himself propitious
Unto the good, but rig'rous to the vicious:
So that a woman charged with gold might pass
From Sea to Sea, unquestion'd who she was.
At last, by
Penda,
and
Cadwalla's
might,
Subdu'd,
Josiah-
like, he died in fight:
His Christian Subjects felt the worst of woes,
Nay, eruelst deaths, by those insulting foes.
To save their lives, by water into
Kent;
Oswald
was crowned next; whose pray'rs did gain
A glorious Victory,
Cadwalla
slain.
His love to piety, his fervent zeal
To spread the Gospel in his common-weal,
Was known to all. From
Scotland
he procured
Aidanus
Bishop; and the King inur'd
To Scoth, himself interpreted the words
Aidanus
preached, unto his noble Lord's
And Subjects in their mother tongue, more known
To them then the exotique Scottish tone.
He to the poor was so compassionate,
That when on Easter-day at meat they sat
And served in silver, he was told the poor
Stood flocking thick and threefold at the door
He caused them for to be served in state
With his own food, taking a silver place,
And straight-way breaking it in pieces small,
Distribute it he did amongst them all.
Aidanus
seeing this, admired, and got
Him by the hand, O may this never rot
That to the poor so beneficial was
(Said he:) as Authors say, it came to pass.
This
Oswald
also was a means to bring
Kinigilsus
of the West-Saxons King.
And
Quicelinus
King of
Dorsetshire,
With many of their Subjects, to the clear
Knowledge of Christ; under the Minist'ry
Of
Berinus
famous for piety.
Thus
Oswald
having reigned nine years space,
Mercian Penda
did his life uncase.
Oswic
succeeded him;
Oswic
as glorious
A Prince, as pious, and no less Victorious:
He raised an army, fought, and overthrew
A greater force, and impious
Penda
slew.
And now the Bishops and the Ministers,
Sequester'd from the World, and its affairs,
Preach'd freely to the people, until they
About the celebrating Easter-day
(Which bone amongst them Satan cast) contended,
A Synod's called, nor was the diff'rence ended,
Wolferus
now a license having gained,
Converted the south-Saxons; then there rained
Abundant showers which fertiliz'd the land
Laine barren for three years: thus God's good hand
Appeared in a plenteous increase;
He sent his Gospel, with his Gospel-peace.
Thus the South-Saxons, with the Ifle of
Wight,
Did last of all embrace the Gospels light.
About this time the Roman Church disowned
Her pristine beauty; Antichrist enthron'd,
The Pope did Lord it over all; he sent
Italian
Theodorus
into
Kent
With many Monks, there Masses must be sung,
And in the Latin, not the mother-tongue:
Bishops, and Ministers he did displace
At's pleasure, so that in a little space
Truth turned to error, Piety to vainness,
Zeal to contempt, Religion to profaneness.
Because their iterated crimes did urge
God's wrath, the Pagan-Danes became their scourge.
SECT. III.
Of the Heptarchy united by Egbert; and of the invasion by the Danes, and of the Persecution of the English Church under them.
KIng
Egbert
after many battails fought,
United first the Heptarchy, and brought
In Monarchy, into the British land;
The whole Realm his, he gave a strict command
That Britain should be
England
named, and all
The Saxons answer to the English call.
The Pagan-Danes invaded several times
(To plague her for her execrable crimes)
This British Isle, not striving to enjoy
And conquer it, but toutterly destroy.
They whosoe're they met, man, woman, child,
Kill'd or enslaved, and the Churches spoiled.
They sacked
Canterbury,
in which place
Above nine thousand souls they did uncase.
Throughout the Land their cruelty was such,
Of blood they thought theycould not shed too much.
Till freed by
William the Conqueror.
Who list to know the intercourse of things.
The Acts and the Successions of Kings,
May if he please, (for brevity's my mark)
Read them at large in famous Mr.
Clarke.
SECT. IV.
The Persecution of the English Church under the Papacy.
ALthough Religion from the time this Isle
Embrac'd grace first, retained not all this while
Its Prim tive splendor, but grew more obscure,
More superstitious, and no less impure;
Yet in those Pristine days, the people's crimes
Were not equivalent to after-times.
The Church now being in the deserts hid,
Affraid to show her face, th' Almighty did
Raise
Bernard
up, and many more beside,
T'unmask and check the Antichristian pride;
And superstitious disordred orders
Too too luxuriant in the British borders.
At which the Pope and his adherents urged,
They were imprisoned, hanged, and burnt, and scourged
About the streets, or branded in the sorehead,
With an Heret'cal character: O horrid
Yet many did most readily embrace
Their Doctrine, as the only means of grace:
That man of sin, that offspring of perdition
Renounc'd, and all the ways of superstition.
God still preserved a Church unto his name,
From Christ's time, till the time that
Luther
came.
The first Reader in
Oxford
was ordain'd:
For which a Martyrs death he underwent.
Divines at
Oxford,
who declam'd 'gainst
Rome.
One
Arnold
there they butcher'd, who decry'd
In
Henry's
reign the second of that name,
Gerard
their Pastor; and without all pity,
Were whipped publicly through
Oxford
City;
They singing all the while,
Blessed are ye,
When you shall hated, and misused be,
&c.
With want and cold, they died; none might afford
Them any comfort, nor at bed nor board.
Gualdo
who 'gainst the priests invectives wrote,
Were persecuted much: to them a grace.
Sylvester Gyrald
by his writings tears
One
Alexander,
for his bitter style
Ashton
fellow of
Merton
college went
One
William Sawtre, Thorp,
and
Swinder by.
With sundry more Divines condemned, did die
Pass'd into glory through Christ Jesus merits.
And now because my Muse finds nothing new
But only Martyrs names, she dids adieu
At present, Reader, but intends to meet
Thy serious eye within another sheet.
SECT. V.
The Persecution of the English Church after the rising of Martin Luther.
THE Christian world appeared not very clear
Until the fifteen hundred eighteenth year,
Wherein God pleased to unbosom night,
Which furnished the Church with useful books,
And made them to discern Religions looks
From superstition, (as in a mirror;)
Substantial Truth, from counterfeited error.
God also raised up sundry men of parts;
Who by their learning and ingenious Arts,
Most strenuously opposed Barbarism,
Truths Sunshine breaking from the clouds of Schism.
Picus,
and
Franciscus Mirandula,
Laurentius Valla, Francis Petrarcha,
Erasmus,
Doctor
Collet, Wesalinus
Rhenanus Grocinus, and Revelinus,
&c.
Were in God's vineyard faithful laborers;
Then
Martin Luther,
and his followers,
By God's appointment came into this nation,
To work his Church toa fuller Reformation.
Only for teaching of their family
The Lord's pray'r, ten commandments, and the creed,
One
Thomas Harding,
on an Easter day,
When others worshipped Idols, went to pray
Within a silent grove; where apprehended,
Condemn'd, and burnt, his soul to heaven ascended.
Who fifteen hundred Testaments procured
Of
Antwerp
Print, and brought five hundred over
Into this Isle, the darkness to discover.
One
Sigar Nicholson
was hung up by
Was this: in
Cambridge
he (a Stationer)
Kep'd in his house some works, that
Luther's
were.
One
Thomas Hitten,
a Divine in
Kent,
Was over to the sec'lar power turned,
And by them in the Town of
Maidstone
burned.
Cardinal
Woolsy
persecuted sore
Deliver'd over to the sec'lar power,
And after bound at stake; when with the flame
His left arm burned was, he rubbed the same
With his right hand so hard, that down it fell;
He prayed until he went in heaven to dwell.
Edward Freese, Johnstone, Wylie,
Father
Bates,
All shut up with their wives in
Fulham
grates,
During their hard imprisonment, were fed,
O misery indeed! with saw-dust bread.
After a tedious lying in the stocks,
Thay let them go, but clogged their legs with locks.
James Bainham,
when half burned at the stake,
To this effect unto the Papists spake:
Behold, ye look for miracles; and here
A miracle indeed, doth now appear:
For I am as insensible of pain,
As if I on a bed of down were lain;
All's one to me, both equally do please:
O tis a Rosy bed, a bed of ease!
Was burnt, and some in chains were hanged for it.
Now suffered
Andrew Howet,
and
John Frith.
One
Thomas Bennet,
who was cursed with
Bell, Book, and Candle, fastened to the stake,
And fired a comfortable end did make.
The Papists to their power the truth suppressed,
And Persecuted those that it professed:
But God was pleased deliverance to bring
To his afflicted Saints; for now the King
Divorc'd the Lady
Katharine of Spain,
And took to wife Lady
Anne Boleyn.
Vain
Were all the Popes projects; none in this nation
Might now ensorced be to abjuration.
Eliz'beth Barton,
th'holy maid of
Kent,
A Nun both subdolous and fraudulent,
By the strange alt' ring of her countenance
Gull'd silly people, lying in a trance
(As Quakers do) and then, as if sh' had been
Inspir'd by God, would in reproof of sin
Speak much, and rail against the Gospels light,
Calling it Heresy; her ranc'ous spite
She vented to the King and Queens dishonor.
By Satan backed, she also took upon her
T'advance
Rome's
Doctrine, praising constitutions
Idol' try, Pilgrimages, Absolutions, &c.
And Mr.
Latimer,
did wisely smell
And her associates hanged, their days were don.
Yet Popery still hover'd up and down:
And
William Tindal
was betrayed, arrain'd,
Condemn'd and burned for the Truth maintained.
Anne Boleyn
also, that Religious Queen,
(Who now about three years had married been)
By false reports and sinister suggestions,
Had lost the Kings affection; he questions
Her dearest love; which he intends to smother,
By marrying himself unto another.
Queen
Anne
was to the Tower carried;
And, e're three weeks were over, lost her head.
The Virtuous Lady, standing up erect
Upon the Scaffold, spake to this effect:
Good Christian people, if you wonder why
I am come hither, know, it is to die;
Having already heard my sentence strict:
Nor lies it in my power to contradict.
I come not hither for this end, to clear
My self, nor tell who my accusers are:
I pray God save the King his life maintain,
And make you flourish in his happy reign, &c.
And if among you, there be any shall
Presume to question my untimely fall;
Anne Boleyn
begs,
Anne Boleyn
does implore,
That they would judge the right, and judge no more.
Thus, thus vain world, I take my leave of you:
Dear Christian friends, I bid you all adieu:
I pray be fellow-feelers of my case,
And put up prayers to the Throne of grace
In my behalf. Oh Lord in mercy shine
Upon me, take my soul, for it is thine:
Sweet Jesu, it is thine. This oft she sed
On her bent knees, until she lost her head.
The King, (no longer time then three days tarried,
But) to the Lady
Jane Seymer
was married.
About this time, (which God to pass did bring)
Lord
Cromwell
grew in favor with the King:
By whose advise, and sage deliberation,
The Church was brought unto a reformation.
Idol'trous Images were overthrown:
Our Ladies at
Walsingham, Worcester,
Ipswich,
and
Thomas Becket's
image, were
Cast down; with others, which had long deceived
The silly people, who indeed believed
They lived; for they (by secret Engines found)
Could open, shut their eyes, and roll them round.
The same year (as Lord
Cromwell,
did advise)
Abbeys were ruined and Monasteries.
A little after, for opposing
Rome,
Mr.
John Lambert
suff'red Martyrdom.
Packington Collins, Leiton, Puttedew,
Peck,
Doctor
Barns, Garret,
and
Heirom
too,
Two eminent Divines, the Lord
Cromwell,
Great
Essex
Earl, all for the truths sake fell.
Yea all the prisons, within
London
walls
Were filled, and many were enclosed in Halls,
By virtue of an Act for prohibition
Of truth, and countenancing superstition.
For reading in the Bible; underwent
Hard usage: bolts and Iron chains did check
The freedom of his legs, his hands, and neck:
At last, into the lowest dungeon cast,
Not many days expired, he breathed his last.
At
Lincoln
Bishop
Longland
took away
James Morton, Thomas Bornard,
in one day.
One Mr.
Barber,
who the truth denied,
With sorrow wore away until he died.
Under afflictions hand, at last were burned
Neer
Windsore Castle:
with a cheerful face,
Anthony Person
did the stake embrace,
Kissing it, said, Welcom mine own sweet Bride,
For this blest day shalt thou and I be tied
As man and wife together, in the love
And Matrimonial peace of God above,
Of God above; I long for to be there,
&c.
When all of them unto the stake bound were,
Said
Filmer
then, My brethren rejoice
In God, unto him make a joyful noise:
For after this sharp breakfast, we a boon
Dinner shall have with Christ in heaven at noon.
Testwood
with hands and eyes to heaven up heav'd,
Desir'd God that his spirit might be received.
Person
(said thus) tricking with straw his head,
This is God's hat, now I am dressed indeed,
Like a true soldier of Christ, by whom
This day into his joy I trust to come.
And so they suffered with such constancy,
That many with them could afford to die.
The Lord
Lisle, Thomas Brooks, James Cock, Ralph Hare,
James Barber,
Mr.
Smith, John Butler,
bare
The cross of Christ. Said
Rockwood,
Bad's my state
I cannot repent, All too late, all too late.
The under-Marshal fell upon the floor,
I'th' Council. room, and never spake word more.
One
Richard Mekins,
that had scarce out-worn
Two laboring men, there was at
Calais
Martyred;
And Mr.
Da
•
slip
was hanged, drawn and quartered.
Button,
was persecuted; Mr.
Dod
Resign'd up in the flame his soul to God.
One Mr.
Saxie,
to his end was brought,
Kerby
at
Ipswich, Roger Clarke
at
Bury
Fry'd Faggots, to appease their foemens fury.
Anne Askew
being tost from post to pillar,
And cruelly misus'd, an evil-willer
Led her into a dungeon; where he racked
Her body till her very bowels cracked:
Nay, when her bones and joints were plucked asunder,
She praised God and prayed; (to all a wonder)
Then the Lord Chanc'ller sent her word that burned
She should be, if she changed not: she returned
An answer back, that she would rather die,
Then once recant, and her true faith deny.
To
New-gate
being sent, she penned there
Her faith's confession, ending with this prayer:
O Lord, the hairs which on my head do grow,
Are not so num'rous as my foes, I know:
Yet Lord, take not thy grace and comfort from me;
So shall they not with flatt'ring words overcome me:
Do thou fight for me; so my soul shall fear
No danger, for on thee I cast my care.
With all the mischief that they can invent
They fall upon me, and have even spent
Me thy poor creature. Sweet Lord let me slight
My foes, for thou alone art my delight.
And Lord, I pray thee, when thy wrath begins
To burn them, quench it: O forgive their sins:
Lord open thou their hearts, restore the blind,
That they may please thee; give them grace to mind
The things that do belong unto their peace
In this their day, left when they would, they cease.
Let not the fancies vain of sinful men
Destain thy truth: Amen, O Lord, Amen.
She brought to
Smithfield
in a chair, was bound
To th'stake, and with the flames besieged round.
Became an acceptable sacrifice.
At that time
Nicholas Belerrian,
A
Shropshire
Min'ster; and a Gentleman,
John Lacels,
servant to the King; with one
John Adams
Tailor, burning undergon.
The same year, Bishop
Gardener
did bring
Malicious accusations to the King
Against Queen
Kathrin Parre
(supposing all
The boughs would wither, if the stock did fall)
In that she gave her mind (which was unfit)
To read and meditate on Sacred Writ.
And Chaplains kept seditions to rear,
None b'ing denied the privilege to hear:
As also, that her heart was fully bent
To spurn against the present government:
Her life was dangerous: nor could he rest,
That nourished such a Viper in his breast.
The Kings love turned to hate; and now the Queen
Must die the death: but Prov'dence stepped between;
The plot's found out; she wisely did behave her:
The King received her to his wonted favor.
Now also Sir
George Blake
condemned was,
For casting out some words against the Mass.
A pardon's granted him; after which thing,
He being in the presence of the King;
The King said to him, Ah my Pig, (for so
He used to call him:) yea, said he, I know,
Had not your Majesty been more inclined
To save my life, (such was your Royal mind)
Then were your Bishops to reak out their teen;
Your Pig, I am sure, e're this had roasted been.
Streight after,
Winchester,
and his complices
(Sworn foes to Virtues, and fast friends to Vices)
Set forth in the Kings name, a Proclamation
That all the English Bibles in the Nation,
And other Books which yielded any light
Unto the truth, should be abolished quite.
This done, said they, So, now the Gospels lain
So low that it shall never rise again;
And for the greater terror, strict inquest
They made for those that verity professed:
Of many pricked down the names; of whom,
They some expelled, and imprisoned some:
So that these varlots did in no wise doubt
The bringing of their wicked ends about.
But God, who careth for his truth, and those
That countenanc'd the same, dispersed their foes:
A midst their vain projects the King was dead,
And with him all their hopes were buried.
SECT. VI.
The Persecution of the Duke of Somerset in the Reign of King Edward the sixth
NOW when King
Henery
the eighth was dead,
His son Prince
Edward
reigned in his stead;
During whose happy reign Religion flourish'd,
Pop'ry decar'd, the Church of God was nourished
With the full breasts of Peace, the Gospel spread
And superstition was abolished:
Only the Godly Duke of
Somerset
With Persecutions, and great troubles met;
Some of the Nobles lab'ring most of all
To raise themselves upon his sudden fall.
Edward,
and
Thomas Seymer
were ally'd
Unto King
Edward,
by his mothers side;
Edward
the eldest (fit to guide the Helm)
Was made Protector of the King, and Realm:
Thomas
the second, of this British Isle
Was chosen Lord high Admiral; the while
These brethren joined in fraternal love,
Nothing fell out amiss; but when they strove,
(Spur'd on by make-bates) unto one another
They proved destructive; and the younger brother
Attainted, was condemned, and lost his head
The Lord's, at
London
privily conjur'd
Against the Lord Protector, and immur'd
Him once, nay twice, yea thrice, in a short season,
Then charged him with Felony, and Treason.
He's to the
Tow'r-
hill brought, where he commended
His soul to God; his prayers being ended,
He rose from off his knees, and like a man
Couragiously bold, he thus began:
Dearly beloved friends, Lo, I am here
To suffer death, though (God knows) I am clear
From thinking, speaking, or from acting ought
Against the King, in word, in deed, or thought;
But always to this Realm have born a breast
As faithful, and as loyal as the best.
Yet in obedience to the Laws command,
I here as a condemned person stand;
And praise my God, for his abundant grace
In giving unto me both time and space,
Who might have justly took away my breath,
Had he so pleased, by a sudden death,
Now as for the Religion which I
During the time of my Authority
Maintain'd to my power, nor do I now
Repent of what I did, but both to you
And me agnize it as a favor great;
And do you all most heartily entreat
To joyfully receivit, and set it forth
In your lives, as a thing of unknown worth;
Which studiously to do, if you neglect,
Great misery I fear you may expect.
These words no sooner out, a sudden sound
As terrible as thunder, did confound
The people so, that some fell down through fear,
Some this some that way run, but none knew where
Anthony Brown
Knight came; that he did bring,
The crowd supposed, a pardon from the King;
With that a shout arose: but the good Duke
Did gravely with his beck'ning hand rebuke
The clam'rous throng. And silence being gained,
He said, Dear friends, Pardon is not obtained
As you conceive; God otherwise is bent;
His will be done, and we must be content.
Let's join in prayer, that safety may pursue
The King, towhom loyal I have been. 'It is true,
The people cried out. O heaven bless
His Highness with all health and happiness:
I wish his Counc'llours grace to rule, and then
You all obedient hearts: all said, Amen
I ask forgiveness if I wronged any;
O Lord remit my sins, for they are many.
As for my foes, I freely them forgive.
For Christ I die, in whom I hope to live,
&c.
Farewell, farewell, he lay him down, and spoke
SECT. VII.
The Persecution of the English Church under the Reign of Queen Mary.
EDWARD
the sixth (
England's Josiah
) dead,
Lady
Jane Grey
was crowned in his stead;
The Lady
Mary,
having heard the news,
Sent to the Lordly Council for to choose
Her to be Queen: and if they did withstand
The execution of her just command,
By force of arms she threatened to regain
Her wronged right, and her defrauded reign.
The Lord's returned this answer, There was none
Had such just right and title to the Crown
As Lady
Jane:
the ancient Laws allow
It hers, and place it on her Princely brow;
'Twas hers by Letters patent from the King,
And made Authentic with his Royal Ring
Before his death; and since she was invested
As an apparent heiress, all protested
Adherence to her and no Queen beside.
The Lady
Mary
to rest satisfiy'd,
Request they did, entreating her to cease
By new pretences to molest the peace
The quiet Realm enjoyed; promising her
They would be nothing wanting to prefer
Her next the Queen: if possibly they could
Serve her in any other thing, they would,
Provided that she did herself so carry,
As fits a duteous Subject, Lady
Mary
Having received this answer, heavy hearted,
From out the City's circuit straight departed.
Hereat the Council did set out a band
Of armed soldiers under the command
Of the Northumbrian Duke:
Mary
withdrew her
Self into
Suffolk,
many flocking to her:
And while she in
Fermingham
Castle staid,
All
Suffolk
freely proff'red her their aid
And best assistance to procure her Reign,
With this Provisoe, that she would maintain
Religion established of late
By her good brother, and not broach debate
Amongst her Subjects, nor foment the seed
Of war: to this she easily agreed,
And did to God so solemnly protest,
That no man could suspect her in the least:
Now with this power, of those Godly men,
She vanquished her foes; yet after when
The self-same party spplication made
Unto her Grace, to do, as she had said:
She answered, Forasmuch as you that are
But members arrogantly seek to bear
Rule over your head, I fear me to your cost
You will once know what it was to rule the roast;
By sad experience you shall find one day,
That Subjects may not rule, but must obey.
Then in the Pill'ry famous Mr.
Dobbe,
Exposed was to many a bitter bobbe;
Some others for presenting that request
Were laid up fast to terrify the rest.
The Marches of the Duke not over-long,
The Lady by his ling'ring grew more strong.
So that the
London
Council having heard
How much the Commons for her aid appeared,
And that some of the Nobles too, did lean
That way, they presently proclaimed her Queen.
The Gen'ral by his soldiers forsook,
At
Cambridge
left almost alone, was took,
And brought to
London-Tower;
in a short season
On
Tower-hill
he lost his head for treason.
After his condemnation he was
Promis'd his life, if he would go to Mass,
Which he assented to, his words regrest
The truth he had so formerly professed.
He to the Cath'lick cause the people led
To th'papists great joy: yet did he lose his head.
Queen
Mary
thus possessed of the crown,
Began the pure Religion to disown;
As soon appeared, by her displacing all
The godly Bishops;
Ridley, Coverdale,
Poinet, Hooper
and
Scory, Gardener
Set free, was made Bishop of
Winchester,
Also Lord Chancellor of
England. Bonner
Too undeservedly attained the honor
Of being
London's
Bishop. To the Fleet
Was Mr.
Hooper
manded (O unmeet!)
To see the Queen good Doct or
Ridley
went,
But on a lame Jade to the
Tow'r
was sent.
A Parliament was called, a Proclamation
Forthwith the Queen set forth throughout the nation;
Wherein she showed, She could by no means brook
To smother that Religion which she took
In with her Infant-milk, and to her power
Meant to observe until her latest hour,
Wishing that all her Subjects (which would sleep
Secure in their whole skin) the same might keep:
She also did declare, whereas there were
Evil-disposed persons, who did dare
To preach God's word misled by their own brain;
She therefore did by strict command ordain
Such should not henceforth preach (as held unfit)
Read or interpret any Sacred Writ,
Or other points Religion concerned,
Or Print Books by the which it might be learned,
Without a special license from the Queen
On pain of stirring up her Highness spleen;
Requiring all her Officers to see
Her will and pleasure executed be:
If herein any willfully offend,
She authorized them, them to apprehend
And send them forthwith to the neighb'ring gaol,
Without admitting Mani-prize, or bail;
Till for their punishment, and the example
Of others, Orders be procured more ample.
Also the
London-
Aldermen were willed
To send for all the Ministers which filled
The straight'ned Wards, and silence them on pain
Of death, commanding them that none explain,
Or preach, or read the Scripture in their stead,
One
William Rutler, Humphry Palden,
too,
He must to prison, this to th'Counter go,
For speaking but against what was expressed
At
Paul's-
Cross by one
Bourn,
a Popish Priest.
Good Mr.
Rogers
was tohis house confined;
Bradford, Vernon,
and
Beacon,
were assigned
Close pris'ners in the
Tower.
Then did they send
For
Coverdale,
and
Hooper
to attend
The Council; and for
Newgate
they allot
John Melvine
a Divine, by birth a Scot.
Mr.
Hugh Latimer
was sent to th'
Tower;
And so was Dr.
Cranmer
by this power.
Mr.
Simonds, Sanders, Horn, Durhams
Dean,
Were summoned to appear before the Queen.
Soon after this, the Parliament began;
Where Mr.
Harly,
a judicious man,
Bishop of
Hereford,
degraded was,
For marrying a wife, and shunning Mass.
Sir
James Hales
Justice of the Common-Plea,
In charge against the Popes supremacy
Producing Statutes,
&c.
into prison cast
Was there so roughly dealt with, that at last
Recant he did; but (O dire consequence!)
He felt the terrors of his conscience,
And his own executioner had been,
Had not God's special goodness step'd between
The knife and him. From prison he released,
(His self-made wounds recur'd) no inward rest
Enjoy'd at home: so having made his will,
He drowned himself, and's end began his ill.
At the same time, for their dis-approbation
Of a presented Bill, the Convocation
By
Bonner
was dissolved: From
Coventry,
(For their oppugning of Idolatry)
Baldwin, Clark, Careless, Willcocks,
all in hast
Sent up to
London
by the Mayor, lay fast.
Bishops imprisoned were, Archdeacons, Deans,
All Beneficed men, put by their means,
Who closely to the truth revealed adhered;
And Popish Parsons, in their rooms preferred,
(Too bad supplies.) within a little season,
Archbishop
Cranmer,
for no less then Treason
At
Guild-
Hall was araing'd; cleared of that charge,
For's heresy he might not live at large.
And Doctor
Crome
did in the Fleet retire.
Now
Hymen
went to join with Nuptial bands,
Iberian
Philip's,
and Queen
Mary's
hands:
Some of the Nobles, and the vulgar sort,
Not very well resented this report;
The Duke of
Suffolk,
labor'd to prevent
The match: Sir
Thomas as Wyat
raised in
Kent
Some sorces to oppose it; for he feared
The Realm would be enslav'd, and Popery reared.
Wyat
for
London
marched: Queen
Mary
then
At
Guild-
Hall stirred up the City-men.
Wyat
came into
Southwark;
having found
Entrance block'd up, he went by
Kingstone
round,
And faced
Lud-gate,
which to entertain
Such guests refusing, he returned again;
And having got the worst at
Temple-Bar,
Became Sir
Clement Parson's
prisoner,
Who sent him to the
Tow'r:
on
Tower
-Hill
Bonner
did in his Diocese disperse
Injunctions to all the Ministers,
Wherein they were required to give in
The names of all whoever were agin
Auricular confession, the next Lent
Encroaching on. Queen
Mary
also sent
To
Bonner,
Articles, commanding straight
The Church-Laws made by
Henery
the eight
Should be in force; that heresy abhorred
Should fall, the Popes supremacy restored:
That Ministers which did lead marri'd lives
Should be divorced from (themselves) their wives;
And that processions should be said, or sung,
From that time forward, in the Latin tongue,
&c.
John a Lasco, Peter Martyr,
and more
Protestant forr'ners, were exiled this shore:
And many godly-minded English fly
To
Friez land, Cleav
•
land, Basil, Germany;
Where through God's mercy they were kept from dangers,
And all found favor, in the eyes of strangers.
The number of these Peregrines increased
Unto eight hundred persons, at the least.
Then to the
Tower
Lady
Elizabeth
Was sent, and bore afflictions worse then death.
Latimer, Cranmer, Ridley,
Bishops, spent
Much time at
Oxford
in imprisonment.
One Mr.
Sanders
crying down the Mass,
Became close pris'ner. Doctor
Tailor
was
To
London
sent for up.
Henry
Lord
Gray
Of
Suffolk
Duke, condemned, was brought to pay
His sought for life; where having open broke
His sealed lips, he to the people spoke;
I have displeased the Queen, contrair'd her Laws,
Take notice Christians, that's the only cause
I suffer so: and seeing they are bent
T'a bridge my fleeting days, I am content,
And do beseech you all, bear me record,
I die in the true faith of Christ, my Lord;
And for salvation on his merits rely,
Not on inefficacious trumpery.
For me, and all true penitents beside,
Who in him stead fastly believe, Christ died.
Repent I do, and do desire you all
To pray for me, that when my body shall
Resigne its breath, God will be pleased to take
My soul unto himself, for Christ his sake.
Forgive me ye, whom I offended have.
Saies Dr.
Weston
then, As he doth crave
The Queen hath done: him thus the throng rebuke,
God send thee such forgiveness. So the Duke
Kneel'd down and prayed, concluding, I resign
My soul (O Lord) into those hands of thine:
Then made he preparation to embrace
The bloody blow; and having veiled his face
With his own handkerchief, he kneeling said
The Lord's pray'r over, down his head he laid
Venting these latest words, Christ look upon me,
Have mercy, Jesus, O have mercy on me.
And now the stroke was fetched, he being cast
At the black bar of death, breathed out his last.
Divers of all degrees, who bought or sold
Some good religious books, were kep'd in hold.
As
Bonner
past his Visitation,
He charged all Sacred sentences upon
The Church-walls painted should be washed out.
And Visitors he also sent about
The Universities, to bring therein
All Popish trash: to turn out they begin
The ablest men: some of themselves forsook
Their fellowships, while worth-less persons took
Their places up, to the great hindrance
Of learning, and religions advance.
By this 'twas bruited over all the land,
The Queen went quick with child: upon command,
Thanks were returned to Almighty God
In every Church, and after, all abroad
Prayers were made, that she might have e're long
A male child, fair, wise, valiant, and strong.
The Godly Min'sters before
Winchester
In and about the City must appear;
Who asked them, If they would recant, and so
Have pardon from the Queen? All answered,
No,
Yea, all of them unan'mously agreed
To stand to what they taught: the Bishop's speed
Made them close prisoners, and did divorce
Their friends from interchangable discourse.
Mr.
James George,
one of them, there did yield
His spirit up, whom they bury'd in the field;
Then Mr.
Hooper, Rogers, Bradford (
hated
)
And
Sanders
too, were excommunicated:
And Pious Dr.
Tailor, Ferrar, Crome,
Did all of them, with them receive their doom.
Commissions and inquisitors were sent.
Throughout the Realm;great multitudes from
Kent,
From
Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk,
and elsewhere,
Were brought to
London,
and encloyftred there.
Part of them dead in prison, out were turned
To dunghills, and the flames a many burned:
Also
Hanks, Hunter, Pigot, Laurence,
brought
Before the Bishops were, for no just fault.
When
Stephen Gard'ner
saw that what h'assail'd
By threats, hard usage, not at all prevailed
To make men shake off truth; he did begin
(As utterly discouraged therein)
The business in hand, for to renounce,
Meddling no more with condemnations;
But unto Bishop
Bonner,
them refer'd,
Who in that trust imposed, so bestirr'd
Himself, that sending for all in great hast
Th'above named parties, he upon them past
Death's final sentence: Dr.
Ferrar,
quick
He sent down to St.
David's
Bishopric
Within the Cambrian country, there to be
Condemn'd and executed (cruelty!)
To th'Queen in Mr.
Coverdale's
behalf
Twice wrote the King of
Denmark
for his safe
Release from prison; but with much ado
To him, the Queen permitted him to go,
One
Thomas Tomkins,
Weaver by his trade,
An humble man, and one that conscience made
Of what he did, who would begin his labor
With servant prayers; and to his needy neighbor
So charitable was, that he'd disburse
Unto them, all the money in his purse
If any came to borrow of him: when
His creditors would bring it home agen,
He u'sd to bid them keep it longer yet,
Till they more able were to pay the deb.
This man was kept in pris'n a half years space,
By
Benner's
means, who beat him on the face
With livid blows, and plucked off a piece
Of his fast beard; yet this did but increase
His patience more: the Bishop then affail'd
(When other terms nothing at all prevailed)
With gentle words to win him; but the trial
Succesless proved:
Tomkins
returned denial.
The Bishop, having by, a flaming Torch,
Took
Tomkins
by the fingers and did seorch
His hand therewith; afterwards
Tomkins
told
A friend of his, that whilst
Bonner
did hold
His hand to burn, he felt no pain at all,
Such consolation from God's spirit did fall;
Nor shrunk he in the least, until his veins
The fire contracted (fire you know constreines)
And sinews cracked again, and water spurt
On Dr.
Harpsfield's
face (as from a squirt.)
Who was so pityful compassionate,
As to beseech the Bishop to abate
His cruel mind: O be not so, so rough,
(Said he) have you not tried him enough?
Into the Bishops consistory brought,
Examined he was, whether he thought
Christ's real body in the Sacrament
Was present yea, or no? to which he sent
This answer, that he verily believed,
The Sacrament by a true faith received,
Was only its remembrance; with the High'st
The very body, and the blood of Christ,
In heaven is, and nowhere else: being asked
If he'd recant? God hath (said he) unmask'd
His truth to me in such corruscancy,
That in it I resolve to live, and die.
The Bishop then, death's sentence on him past,
And to the Sheriffs deliv'red him, who cast
Him into
Newgate
prison; in
Smithfield
And in the Lord slep'd sweetly.—
Then
William Hunter,
that had scarce out-worn
The nineteenth, year of Godly Parents born,
Who him instructed in Religion's truth,
And placed him out in
London;
this good youth
Was charged by special command to go
To Mass, break bread; which he refused to do.
Hunter
when threatened that this should come
Unto the Bishop's ear, leave got, went home
To
Burnt-wood,
and did with his Parents stay
About six weeks. And going on a day
Into the Chapel there, (which pleased him well)
He found a Bible, and to reading fell:
In came a Sommoner, who thus did say,
What dost thou meddling with the Bible? Ha?
Know'st thou well, what thou read'st? canst thou unfold
The Sacred Writ? I dare not be so bold.
Said
Hunter
then, Nor Scriptures to expound
Take I upon me now; but having found
The Bible here, that joy might me betide
I read in it. The Sommoner replied,
Twas never merry world, since in our tongue
The Bible first came forth; would it were hung.
Said
Hunter,
Oh! for Godsake say not so;
'It is God's Book, by it every soul may know,
That hath one spark of grace, the way which leads
To lasting bliss: 'tis this true comfort breeds.
God grant that we may still amongst us have
The blessed Bible, as a means to save.
That slight the Queen, and her decrees contemn;
But you and others, must a new leaf turn,
Or else I fear me, you will go near to burn.
And his great name confess, come what come will.
All to the Devil go, and him confess.
Then stepit the Somm'ner forth, and fetched a Priest,
The Vicar of that place, a drunken beast,
Who finding
William Hunter
at his Book,
Rebuk'd him for it, and asked if he could brook
The Doctrine well of Transubstantiation:
Hunter
made answer it had no relation
Unto the truth revealed: he understood
Those words of Christ touching his flesh and blood
Carnal Capernait-like, who thought to feed
On Christ his flesh, and drink his blood indeed.
Wherefore to them he said, The words I speak
Are spirit, and life, and not as flesh so weak.
Ah! quoth the Viear, have I found you out?
Thou art an Her'tick now, without all doubt,
&c.
I would we two were fastened to the stake,
To prove whether of us should closest stick
Unto our faith, and which was Heretic,
&c.
The Vicar to complain of him did threat,
Flung out of doors, departing in a heat.
Hunter
went home, and having farewell took
Of his dear friends, his fathers house forsook.
Brown,
called old
Hunter,
asked if he could tell
Where his son was; who said, He knew not well.
Brown
told him, Either your missed-son produce,
Or go to prison; bring me no excuse.
The old man strides his horse, and rides to look him,
And after two days journey overtook him;
Telling him all what happ'ned; yet said he,
Go on, I will say I cannot light on thee.
No, no, said
William,
home with you I will,
And save you harmless; me they can but kill.
At his return, a Constable him caught,
And brought before this Mr.
Brown,
who thought
With arguments to win him; and enraged
At his judicious answers, he engaged
No more to hold on the dispute, but straight
Sent him to
Bonner, Bonner
to the Grate;
Where he for two days lay allowed just
A dish of water and a brown-bread crust.
At two days end, the Bishop coming found
The slender fare, he bids he be unbound,
And break his fast with them, but he's reviled,
Call'd Heretic, worthy to be exiled
Their company: said
Hunter,
I decline
Their company, as much as they do mine:
The Bishop sent for him, and thus did rant;
And wilt thou not, thou Heretic, recant?
Recant (said he) the faith I have professed
So publicly? I will not, I protest:
No, no, I will not; what? shall I be whirled
By errors wheels? I would not for a world.
Then take him Jailor, mand him to the stocks;
Be sure you load him well with bolts and locks
Till I shall burn him. Whereupon he said,
Great God! O let thy all-sufficient aid
Corroborate my soul. He's born away;
The Bishop to a half-penny a day
Stinted his lively-hood; thus nine months space
Imprison'd, he before the Bishop's face
Was six times brought, to th'question still propounded
Hunter
a pertinacious
No,
rebounded.
The Bishop read his charge, and him returned
To
Newgate,
so to
Burnt-wood
to be burned.
His parents see him, and petitions send
To God, to make him constant till the end:
His mother added this, that she was blest
In bearing such a child, as could devest
His life for Christ's sweet sake.
William
replied,
For the small pain, which I shall here abide
But a short time, my Christ a joyful crown
Hath promised me. His mother kneeling down
Said thus, I pray God strengthen thee my son
To run the race thou hast so well begun;
I think thee now as well bestowed (my dear)
As any child that ever I did bear.
Whilst he remained at
Burnt-wood,
many friends
Came to him, to whom he the truth commends:
Three days expired all things were ready made;
The Sheriffs son hug'd him in his arms, and said
William,
donit fear these men with Bills Bows,
That bring you to the place; death as he shows
Is not so grim. I have cast up mine accounts
(Said he) and know tohow much the cost amounts.
With that the young man, while he went about
To speak, could not, his tears so fast burst out.
So
Hunter
his way cheerfully went on,
His father meeting with him, said, My son
God be with thee. God be with you likewise
Good father, answered
William.
Let your eyes
Smile on your son; O be not so, so sad;
For we shall meet, and have our hearts made glad.
Come near the stake, he kneeled down, and read
The one and fiftieth Psalm. The Sheriff said,
Here is a pardon: if thou wilt be turned,
Thou shalt live, otherwise thou must be burned.
No, I will not turn (quoth
William
) and did go
To th'stake, and so was fast'ned thereunto.
Then spake he to the throng, Good people strive
By pray'r for me while I remain alive,
And I will for you. Not I, I will make my boon
Said surly
Brown,
(there standing by,) as soon
What you desired; I pray God it be not
Laid to your charge, but I forgiv'n you have.
This blood of mine shall be required of you.
O Son of God shine on me; from a cloud
The Sun brake out (till then thick shades did shroud
The face of day) his eyes he turned aside,
Too weak such radiant glory to abide.
A Priest brought him a book to look upon.
To whom he thus, False Prophet thou be gone:
Good folk beware of them, for Jesus sake;
Who of their fins, shall of their plagues partake.
So shalt thou burn in hell.
Hu.
Thou art a liar.
False Prophet hence, from me away be gone:
Fire made, he prayed, and breathed his last. Anon
Higbid,
and
Causton,
Gentlemen as good
As great, in
Essex,
with their own hearts blood
Sealed their faith unto God's glory then,
And the rejoicing of all Godly men.
At
Braintree, William Pigot,
for Christ's name
Endur'd the fury of the ardent flame;
At
Maulden, Stephen Knight,
before the stake
Kneel'd down and prayed; Sweet Jesu, for whose sake
I freely leave this life and rather choose
Thy cross, and irrecoverably loose
All worldly goods, then to give audience
To men in breaking thy commandments:
Thou seest (O Lord) that whereas I but now
Was proffered great preferments, if I'd bow
To a false helpless God; I was content
My body should be burnt, and my life spent,
Counting all things below, but dung and dross,
For thee; happy such gain which comes by loss!
Thousands of silver, and as much of gold,
Then death I do of lesser value hold.
Just as the wounded Deer desires the soil,
So longs my soul for thee: pour down the Oil
Of consolation on a crumbling clod
So helpless of itself: Thou knowest O God,
That I, who am but sinful flesh, and blood,
Can of myself act nothing that is good;
And therefore, as of thine abundant love
And goodness still deflowing from above
On me, (me that am lesser then the least
Of mercies,) thou hast bid me to this feast,
And judged me worthy to drink of this cup
With thine elect: even so, O bear me up
Great God! against this Element of fire
So formidable, to the sense so dire;
Sweeten it by thy spirit, so asswage
The heat, that I may overcome its rage,
And pass into thy bosom. Holy father
Forgive thou me, as I do all men; gather
My soul, sweet Son of God, my Savior,
Beneath thy shady wings, a Balmy Bower;
O blessed Holy-Ghost, whose strength destroys
Fleshly corruptions, hasten thou my joys,
Eternal joys. Lord I commend, take then
My parting spirit, Amen, Amen, Amen.
John Laurence
legs, with bolts and irons lame,
His body with hard usage out of frame,
Was to the stake transported in a chair,
And suff'red for the saith at
Colchester:
Young children while he burned, cried out, O Lord
Strengthen thy servant, and make good thy word,
Stand up, stand up, for thy poor servant's aid,
As thou art just, O do as thou hast said.
Ferrar
(set over St.
David's
Bishopric)
Was apprehended for an Heretic:
Him
Winchester
misus'd called him base slave,
False-hearted fellow, and a cross-grain'd knave:
Morgan
(a fraudulent supplanter) turned him
Out of his place, and at
Carmarthen
burned him:
Not long before his death, one
Richard Jones
A Knights son coming, his sad pains bemones;
T'whom
Ferrar
thus: Sir if you see me move
My hand or foot during the flames, do prove
What mettle I am of, believe not then
My Doctrine oft inculcated to men.
And as he said, he did: with the fire hot
Besieged round, he stirred not a jot,
Held his stumps bolt upright; then with a pole
Knock'd down i'ch' fire he breathed out his soul.
One
Rawlins White,
a Fisher-man in
Wales,
Of
Cardiffe
town, when superstitions scales
Drop'd from his eyes, the Truth he understood,
And in his country aid a deal of good;
He daily now expects to he surprised
By truths oppugners: his dear friends advised
Him to retire elsewhere, and be excused:
For their good will he thank'd them, but resus'd.
He's apprehended, and in prison laid
In
Cardiffe
Castle, where a year he staid;
His friends resorting to him, he would spend
The time in pray'r, exhorting them to mend:
At last the Bishop of
Landaffe
commands
That he be brought: he threats him now, then stands
On fairer terms; but all this would not stir
His unmov'd breast, a day's appointed for
His condemnation; which being come
The Bishop called him forth and told him some
Heretical opinions he did hold,
And had seduced others;
Rawlins
bold
Reply'd; My Lord, a Christian man I am
I praise God for it, my tenets are the same
With Sacred Writ: if from God's word I stray
I would be gladly brought in the right way.
The Bishop said, Speak, if you will be won,
Else I will proceed to condemnation.
Proceed, said
Rawlins;
but you never shall
Condemn me for an Heretic. Let's fall
To pray'r (said
Landaffe
) that the Lord some spark
Of grace would send thee, to disclose the dark;
Now (said he) you deal well; and if your pray'r
Do with God's will agree, he will doubtless hear.
Pray to your God, and I to mine will pray;
I know my God will hear, and not say nay.
The Bishop and his Chaplains prayed anon:
Rawlins
prayed by himself alone: pray'r don,
The Bishop said, How is it with thee now?
Thine errors (what?) wilt thou revoke, and bow
To our true God? no, surely no said he,
Rawlins
you left, and
Rawlins
you find me;
Rawlins
I was, and am, and
Rawlins
will
Through God continue to be
Rawlins
still.
God would have heard you, had your suit been just,
But he hath heard me, and on him I trust.
The Bishop being wroth, him soundly shent,
So went to Mass.
Rawlins
his mind then bent
Shot forth these words: Good people if there be
Amongst you any breth'ren, two, or three,
Or if but one, bear witness at the day
Mass don, he was condemned, and after thrown
Into a dark and loathsome dungeon.
There
Rawlins
passed his time in drowning wrongs
With spir'tual prayers and religious songs.
The night before his death tohis wife he sent
To send his wedding weed (a shirt he meant)
Which he rejoicingly next morn put on;
And being led to execution,
Guarded he was with bills, and Pike-staves too,
Alas! said he, what need all this ado?
By God's grace, I will nothing start aside;
Who isit that gives me power to abide
All this affliction for his own names sake
But God? his be the glory. At the stake
He his dear wife and children having found
Pickled in briny tears, or rather drowned;
His eyes let fall a tear; but having made
A recollection of himself, he said,
Ah flesh! sayest thou me so? wouldest thou obtain
The Victor's Palm? I tell thee 'tis in vain
To strive; thy power is like the morning mist:
Then failing on the ground, the ground he kist,
And spake, Earth unto earth, and dust to dust,
Thou art my mother, and return I must
To thee. With an exhilarated brow,
Then going to be bound to th'stake, I now
(Said he toa friend of his) find great contest
Betwixt the flesh and spirit, for the best.
I pray you therefore, when you see me shrink,
Hold up your finger, that I may bethink
My too oblivious self. B'ing bound he raised
These words up to the height;
The Lord be Prais'd.
Unto the Smith then spake he, Pray good friend
But God, support me, let thy grace refresh
My fainting spirits, and my trembling flesh.
About him pulled he the reeds and straw,
With such a merry look, that all that saw
Much wondered at it. Now a Priest appeared
And preached to the people:
Rawlins
heard
Until he spake of Transubstantiation,
Alledging Scripture for its confirmation;
This is my Body;
Come you here good folk
(Said
Rawlins
) donit hear that false Prophet's talk.
Ah! naughty Hypocrite darest thou produce
A Scripture-proof for so profane a use?
I have heard your already-quoted text;
But look immediately what follows next;
Do this for my Remembrance:
then straight-way
The Priest stood still, not knowing what to say.
The fire was kindled,
Rawlins
in the flame
Bathed his aged hands, till in the same
The sinews shrunk, the fat dropped out, and all
That while he cried out; Lord, let my fall
Mount me to thee; Receive this soul of mine,
O Lord receivit; his spirit he did resign.
It was observed of him, that whereas through
Infirmity of age he round did go,
And with dejected countenance, he now
Went bolt upright tohis death, his smoother brow
As clear as day; his speeches and behavior,
Of courage, vigor very well did favor.
And now the Queen restored the Abbey-lands
She late possessed. A Pope-sent Bull commands
All do the like; but none therein was seen
T'obey the Pope, or imitate the Queen.
Boasted that he had been with Card'nal
Pool,
Who cleansed him from his sins; the Bull sent over
He praised, fell down, and never spake word more.
Some burned, because they on their necks did tie
George Marsh,
one
William Flower, John Cardmaker
John Simpson,
and
John Warne,
were each partaker
Of life, by suff'ring death, climb'd heavens story:
Death is the ladder to immortal glory.
Bonner
for many things
John Ardly
accused,
To whom
John Ardly
such expressions used;
My Lord, not you, nor any of your breed
Are of the true Catholic Church indeed;
Your faith is false, and when you most depend
Upon it, it will fail you in the end.
You have shed much, too much innocuous blood,
And are not weary yet: Can this be good?
Were every hair upon my head a man,
So many lives I'd part with, rather than
Lose the opinion I am in; so said,
In
Essex
burnt a joyful end he made.
One
Thomas Hauks,
a Courtier comely tall,
Was greatly admired and beloved of all
For his rare qualities, in
Edward's
days;
But in Queen
Mary's
Reign Religion's rays
Waxing more dull, he left the Court, home went
And practice'd Godliness, tohis great content.
While thus he staid at home, a son he got,
But in the Popish way baptized it not.
By using oil, cream, spittle, salt, (absurd!)
Nowhere enjoined in the holy Word:
Told
Bonner
so: the Bishop left him than
A while; and Mr.
Darbisher
began:
You are too curious, and on none will look,
Unless your little pretty God's good book.
As for instruction, that I leave to you.
I am thy pasture and would teach thee well.
My resolutions waver like the wind.
And this bread is my flesh; is this thy faith?
I am best when furthest off from such resort:
And so he walked forth into the Court.
Faggots shall make you do'
•
.
H.
Faggots? a pin
For all your faggots, you no more can do
Then God permits you, and no further go.
Much more was said; in prison he at last
Was for his bold judicious answers cast;
Nor could that move him in the least to doubt:
What's bred in the bone, will not ease'lie out.
Being (his sentence read) to
Coxshal
sent,
In
Essex,
he exhorted as he went
His friends: and at the stake (as he had spoken
That he would do) he gave to them a token
By lifting up his hands all in a flame,
Above his head, and clapping of the same,
To let them understand, that he was able
To 'bide the pain not too intolerable.
Then gave the people an unusual shout,
One
Thomas Watts
in
Essex
who defended
The truth so much opposed, was apprehended,
Condemn'd, and after sent to
Chilm'ford,
where
The little time he had, he spent in pray'r.
Come to his wife and his six child'ren small,
He said; Wife, and my hopeful branches all,
I now must leave you all; henceforth therefore
Alas! I cannot know you anymore:
As unto me at first, the Lord did send you,
So I unto the Lord, do recommend you;
Him I command you to obey, and fear
As long as life shall last: see you beware
Of this loathed papistry, which I withstood,
And shall against it give my dearest blood
By God's grace by and by. Let not the number
Of bleeding Saints discourage or incumber
Your active faith, and move you to relent,
But thereby take occasion to be bent
For greater service in Jehovah's fight:
'It is happy dying for a cause that's right.
I do not doubt, nor have you cause to fear
But he which strikes, will give you strength to bear
He'll be unto the widow, in distress
Husband, and father to the fatherless.
Farewell, (said he) farewell, gave each a kiss,
So past he through the fi'ry blaze to bliss.
One
Bainford, Osmund, Osborne,
overturned
Unto the Sec'lar power, in
Essex
burned.
Mr.
John Bradford
and
John Leafe
did climb
Up fiety stairs to heaven about this time.
The next day after at
Maidstone
in
Kent
One Mr.
Minge
died in imsprisonment.
Mr.
John Bland,
God's faithful Minister,
Was for the truth a constant sufferer.
John Frankish, Humphry Middleton,
two men
Of admirable worth, were martyred then.
John Fettie's
child, such cruel whippings feels,
That the gore blood ran down about its heels;
The father put in the tormenting stocks,
Must see his Lamb misus'd (O hearts of rocks!)
One
Nicholas Sheterden
being brought,
Him Doctor
Harpsfield
asked what he thought
That passage,
This my Body is,
should mean;
Said
Sheterden,
This cannot well be seen
By carnal eyes: thus much I gather thence,
It must be taken in a spiritual sense;
Else when,
This Cup's my blood's
so understood,
The substance of the Cup must needs be blood.
Nicholas Hall, Christopher Waide, Joan Beach,
John Harpool, Marg'ry Boley,
who did reach
At the despised truth, and Popery spun'd,
Condemn'd at
Rochester
in
Kent,
were burned.
Dirick Carver,
a
Surrey
Gentleman
Call'd to the stake, unto his God began
His servant pray'r, which having done he stripped
Himself, and so into the barrel skip'd;
They threw his book in also but in vain;
For to the throng he flung it out again:
I charge you, said the Shrieffe, in the Queen's name
To fling that Vip'rous book into the flame.
Then spake he with a cheerful voice, and said,
Dear friends, bear witness I am not afraid
To seal Christ's Gospel with my dearest blood,
Knowing 'tis true, and was of late your food,
Though now surrepted from you; and because
I will not deny it to obey man's laws,
Condemn'd I be to dy; see that you walk
In answer to the truth, of which you talk.
And as for those that do the Pope believe,
Hell's theirs, without God's merciful reprieve.
Except (said then the Sheriff) believe thou do
The Pope, th'art damned both soul and body too:
Pray to thy God that he may set thee free,
Or strike me down. The Lord forgive, said he,
Your temerarious words. Dear Lord, thou knowest
How I left all, to come to thee; thou dost
Draw with Magnetick-love; to thee I fly
For shelter, Ah! but when my serious eye
Darts on thy power, and on myself looks down,
I fear the wrath of a condemning frown.
What, shall I shrink? no; now the flames surround me,
I will trust my God, although my God confound me.
Christ Jesus help, Christ Jesus look upon me;
He cried and died, with Lord have mercy on me.
Iveson
said, All the treasure in the nation
Should never draw him to a recantation:
I to the mercy of my God appeal,
And would be none of your Church for a deal:
Yea though an heaven-sent Angel came toexpound
Unto me other Doctrine, I am not bound
For to receive it: hereupon condemned
And put into the fire, he death contemned.
James Abbes,
a Godly man did shift about
From place to place for safeties sake: found out
At last, they carri'd him to
Norwich
town,
Where, by the Bishop's threats he did disown
What he professed; the Bishop seeing so,
Gave him some money, and dismissed him too:
But conscience bringing him upon the rack,
The Bishops money he returned back,
Repenting e're he took it: then again
The Bishop strove to gain him, but in vain;
Though
Peter
-like he failed, now to persevere
Resolve he did, and stood more fast then ever,
Even to his last-drawn breath; the Bishop's fury
Condemn'd him to be burned, he burned at
Bury.
John Denly, Newman, Partrick, Packingham,
Dy'd constant Martyrs for their Savior's name,
Wright, Coker, Collier, Hooper, Stere,
and more
Besides in
Canterbury,
faggots bore.
Robert Smith, Stephen Harwood, Thomas Fust,
And
William Hale,
died for the truth their trust.
Eliz'beth Warne,
condemned to be burned
By
Bonner,
unto
Bonner
soon returned
These words, Do what you will with me; for why,
If Christ was in an error, so am I;
Otherwise not: but Christ spake true I know
Therefore then was she burned at
Stratford-Bow.
About this very time
George Tankerfield
Did at St.
Albanes
to their rancor yield.
George King, John Wade,
and
Tho. Leyes,
with sore
Usage fell sick, and died in
Lollards
tower.
In
Suffolk
Mr.
Robert Samuel
Of
Barfold
Min'ster, who instructed well
The flock committed to his charge, was tost
To
Norwich
goal, there chained to a post,
And so erect that's body did command
For some small ease induced his tip-toes stand.
Hunger and thirst (bad helpers) are procured;
What tongue can tell what he poor man endured!
At last brought to be burned (an easy pain
To what he felt before) he did detain
Some friends in telling them, a most strange story
Of what fell out, while he was used so sory:
When I much want (said he) had undergon,
I slept, and then me thought appeared one
Cloath'd all in white, who whisp'red in mine ear,
Samuel, Samuel,
be of good cheer;
Take heart to grass man, thou hast past the worst,
Henceforth thou shalt nor hunger feel, nor thirst:
Which came to pass; such consolation did
Sweeten his woes, that modesty forbid
Him tell the same. So as he went along
To execution, amidst the throng
A maid there was, (who after scaped) did fall
About his neck, and kissed him withal.
The while his body burned, it shined as bright
As new-tried Silver, or as Cynthia's light.
Next day
Anne Potten
and
Joan Trunch field▪
come
From
Ipswich
prison unto Martyrdom.
Thomas Cob, William Allen, Roger Coo
Death for the sake of Christ did undergo.
In
Coventry
and
Litchfield
-Diocese,
One Mr.
Robert Glover,
did profess
The Gospel; he surprised, had his doom
To be confined to a narrow room,
And dark withal, next to the dungeon,
Scarce having straw enough to lie upon.
No chair nor stool to fit on; none might look
To him though sick; pen, paper ink nor book,
Was not allowed him; yet a Teftament
And Prayer-book, by stealth he getting, spent
Most of his time in pray'r, and meditation
On God's great love in working man's salvation.
Yea, said he, health began to come; my peace
Of conscience did more and more increase
God's spirit revived me; I had sometimes some
Glimm'ring reflections of. the life to come.
All for his own Son's sake: to him always
Be Glory, Honor, and Obedience, Praise.
Two days before his death, he found his heart
Less lightsome then it was, and feared the smart
Would too much try his patience, for his pray'rs
God heard not; he unbosomed his fears
Unto a Godly Minister his friend,
Who wished him to be constant to the end:
O play the man, your cause is just and true,
God will appear anon, I will warrant you.
The stake in fight, he said, I see him whom
I called for,
Austin,
Oh he's come, he's come:
And looked so cheerful even as though new breath
He should receive, and not a painful death.
Cornelius Bongey, Capper
also came
With him, and burned in the self-same flame.
Mr.
John Glover
now was troubled sore,
Seeing his brother took for him; therefore
He would have suff'red in his brother's stead,
But by his friends importunings he fled
Into the neighbouring Woods, did there abide
Till he with cares and cold sickned and died.
His body privately was buri'd in
The Church-yard: they his bones digged up agin
A twelvemonth after, threw them out (Opains!)
For to be trampled on by Horses, Wains.
And thus though in his life, he scaped from
Their rage, yet after's death, on him they come.
William
the third brother, in
Shropshire
dead,
Might not (by their consent) be buried.
Wolsey,
and
Pigot,
suff'red in the Isle
Of
Eli.
And within a little while
Bishop
Ridley,
and also
Latimer
Burned at
Oxford. Stephen Gardener
That day to dine till almost night defer'd;
(Th'old
Norfolk
Duke then with him) having heard
Word of their deaths, he with a smiling brow
Said to the Duke, let us to dinner now.
The Table filled, as merry as a Buck
The Bishop was, but on a sudden struck:
(Two bits scarce eaten) carried from the table
To bed he was, his pains intolerable;
Nature he could not ease, for fifteen days,
His tongue was swoln, and black, his mouth's assays
Could givit no house-room; his pin'd body all
Sadly enflam'd, he gasp'd and gave a sprawl.
And now
John Webbe, George Roper, Greg'ry Park,
One
Thomas Whittle
Minister, accused
By
Bonner,
was most wickedly misus'd;
Who fell upon him, beat him with his fists,
And him enclosed within a close rooms lifts:
There (said he) though I did on the bare ground lie
Two nights I (praised be God) slep'd very soundly.
He,
Joan Warne, Is'bel Foster, Thomas Brown,
John Went Iobn Tudson, Bartlet Green,
lay down
Their lives together did at
Smithfield
stake,
Of heaven-prepared joys for to partake:
The last of which going to bear the yoke,
Cheerfully this repeated Dystich spoke;
Christ Deus, sine te spes est mihi nulla salutie;
Te duce vera sequor, te duce falsa nego.
In English thus:
O Christ who art my God
In thee for mine abode,
With thee, I only hope:
Under thy Conduct I
Seek the truth and deny
The falsi-loquious Pope.
He was a man exceeding charitable
Unto the poor, so far as he was able.
Nor did he love (his modesty was such)
Pop'lar applause, though he deserved much.
His beatings he concealed, till near his end,
When he declared it to a bosom-friend.
Anne Albright, Agnes Snoth, Joan Catmer, Sole,
At Canterbury
were burnt to a coal.
Good Doctor
Cranmer,
then of
Canterbury
Archbishop, also past the fi'ry fury.
At
Salsbury,
on
William Coberly,
John Spicer,
and
John Mandrel,
so did die.
Richard
and
Thomas Spurge, Tims, Cavel, Drake,
Ambrose,
all
Essex
-men, fell at the stake.
Master
Tims
many Godly letters sent
T'his friends, not long before his life was spent:
In one he used these passages; I praise
The Lord for helping you to mind his ways.
Consider I beseech you, what of late
Fell from my lips, so shall we meet in state:
I am going to the Bishops coal-house now,
And hope to go to heaven e're long; do you
Hie after me: I have a great while tarri'd
For you; but seeing y'are not yet prepared,
I will stay no longer; you shall find me blest
And singing,
Holy, Holy Lord of Rest,
At my race end; now therefore my dear hearts
Make hast and loiter not, lest light departs,
And ye (who with the foolish Virgins stay)
Be with the foolish Virgins turned away:
And now in witness that I have not taught
Contrary to the truth revealed, ought,
My blood-writ name I send you, for a Test
That I will seal my Doctrine with the rest.
So fare you well, and God defend you then
From Antichrist, and his false Priests, Amen.
Use constancy in pray'r, with faith require;
And gain the fullness of your choice desire.
John Hullier
(formerly an
Eaton
Sholar)
At
Eli,
by his patience, conqu'red dolour.
Hugh Lavrock John Ap-Rice,
this blind, that lame,
Told Bishop
Bonner,
that he laws did frame
To take men's lives away, making the Queen
His hangman:
Bonner
burned them out of spleen,
At
Stratford-Bow.
In
Litchfield, Colchester,
Gloster,
and
Leister,
many burned were.
One Mr.
Julines Palmer,
and some more
At
Newb'ry
died. One
Sharp
at
Bristol
bore
The flames with joy. In
Darby
town
Joan Waste.
(Born blind) did in the fire breath out her last.
Sir
John Cheek
for the truths sake underwent
In
London-Tow'r
a sore imprisonment.
A new Commission from the King and Queen
T'his Holiness the Pope, should raise the fire
Of Persecution yet a little higher:
By means where of, throughout the Kingdoms quarters
Prisons were stuff'd with Saints, fires graced with Martyrs.
First to begin with
Colchester,
where they
Apprended three and twenty in one day,
And burnt the major part.
Margaret Hyde,
With
Agnes Standly,
stak'd at
Smithfield
died.
They
Stephen Gratwick William Moraunt, King,
Iato St.
Georges
field, in
Southwark
bring,
And burn together. In the Diocese
Of
Canterbury,
many did profess
The truth and suffered. In
Lewis
town
Ten faithful servants in one fire laid down
Their lives for Christ; one of them
Richard Woodman
Betraid was b'his father and brother, (good man!)
Eliz'beth Cooper, Simon Millar
too,
At
Norwich
fired;
Eliz'beth
cried
Ho, ho,
And shrunk a little:
Simon Millar
said,
Reaching his hand out to her, What? afraid?
Raise up your spirits, in the Lord be strong
And cheerful; for these pains are of no long
Continuance (Good sister) by and by
We'll take our supper with alacrity:
This so becalm'd her heart, she through-stitch run
The work she had so happily begun,
And so committing their blest souls to God,
They clim'd to heaven, death being under trod
Mrs.
Joyce Lewis
a gentlewoman born,
Accuted, and condemned, contemned with scorn
Death's rigid brow: my Christ is fair, when him
I see (said she) death looks not half so grim.
Urg'd to confess before her end begins,
She said, to God she had confessed her sins,
And he had pardoned them: the Priest befooled
Told her e're long her courage would be cooled.
At stake the Mass she prayed against, cried then
The crowd, and Sheriff himself aloud, Amen.
Taking a cup of drink, Here here's to all
That love the truth, and wish proud
Babel's
fall;
Her friends do pledge her, and some others too;
For which fact penance many undergo.
Bound at the stake, her smiling ruddy face
Made all spectators (pitying her case)
Go with wet eyes, much grieving for her woes
Inflicted on her by tyrant'cal foes:
She striv'd nor struggled when the fire rag'd most,
But with her lift-up hands, gave up the ghost.
Ralph Allerton,
and
Richard Roth,
With
James
Astoo,
and his wife, died in the flames
At
Islington;
as did at
Colchester
Margaret Thurstone,
and
Agnes Bongier.
John Noyes
a godly Shoo-maker, who lived
At
Laxfield
in
Suffolk,
sentence received
There to burned: the people in the town
Put out their fires, and no house but one
(And that discov'red by the Chimnies smoke)
Had some: the Sheriff and's Officers in broke,
So got a coal.
John Noys
fell down and prayed,
And being bound unto the stake, he said,
Fear not the bodies killer, but him, who
Can kill thee, damn thee, soul and body too.
Seeing his sister weep, he thus begins,
Weep not for me, but weep you for your sins.
He took a faggot up, gave it a kiss,
And said, Did I e're think to come to this?
Blessed be God that ever I was born;
Then spake he to the people, Of bread-corn
They tell you they can make God, but believe
Them not at all, nor their false truths receive:
Pray bear me witness I expect salvation
Not by mine own good works but Christ his passion.
The fire was kindled, and his last-spoke word
Was Christ have mercy, O have mercy Lord.
Within the Diocese of
Chichester,
Many accused, condemned and burned were.
Hillingdal, Sparrow,
and one
Gibson
died
In
Smithfield
flames.
John Rough
Minister tried
With
Marg'ret Mearing,
near about this time,
Were also burned for the self-same crime.
One
Cuthbert Simpson,
Deacon, in one day
Though racked no less then thrice, would not betray
The Congregation, lying in the stocks,
At midnight one (whom he well heard) unlocks
The coal-house doors, and though no candles light
Nor fire's he saw, yet his amazed sight
Splendour beheld; he that came in said
Ha!
And after that, soon vanished away:
This much rejoiced his soul; upon the morrow
He,
Hugh Fox,
and one
Devnish▪
fire went thorough.
One
Thomas Hudson, Thomas Carman
too,
And
William Seaman, Norfolk
-men, did go
Through tribulation to heavenly bliss,
To have the crown their own, the cross they kiss.
There was one mother
Bennet
of the town
Wetherset,
who was driven up and down
For Jesus sake; returning home, she died,
Her corps b'ing buri'd by the high-ways side.
She was exceeding lib'ral to the poor;
Her mate once told her merrily, their store
If she had been but sparing, had been much
To what it was: said she, I cannot grutch
The poor: Alas! good husband, be content,
Let us be thankful, God enough hath sent;
We still (sweet heart) have good competent fare:
Content's a fear although the feast be bare:
I cannot see the needy's wants, and hoard,
Least in so doing I displease the Lord:
But husband let's be rich in good works still,
So pleasing God, we shall have all at will.
One
Cicely Orms
b'ing asked, over his head
What 'twas the Priest held up? she answ'red, Bread
Bread at the best; and if you do endeavor
To make it better, 'twill be worse then ever.
Brought to the stake, she kissed it, and respir'd
Welcome Christ's cross, his sweet cross so desired
My soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit
In God rejoiceth, and my Savior's merit.
So casting up her head, on heaven she fixed
Her eyes, and in the flames her hands commix'd
She yielded up the ghost.
Thomas Spurdance
Of
Norwich
suff'red for the truths advance.
George Eagles,
Tailor, travel'd up and down
In several countries, went from town to town
Confirming weaker Saints: in a short season
At
Chelmsford
he condemned was for treason.
And hanged up with two theevs, the one where of
With tears sought Christ, the orher with this scoff
Put off
George Eagle's
exhortation,
Our Captain leads, we shall to heaven anon.
The Pen'tent thiese did call upon the Lord.
The mockers fhtt'ring tongue spake not one word
Upon the ladder.
Eagles
was cut down
Half dead, his heart pulled out, his members strown.
George Eagles
sister, and a man called
Friar,
At
Rochester
did in the fire expire.
That all good books within this Realm set out,
Or from beyond seas brought, should all be turned
To ashes; if not so, their owners burned.
Soon after this dire Proclamation,
Twice twenty persons met near
I slington
Were caught, some scaped, some burned with faggotsticks
In
Smithfield
thirteen, and in
Brainford
six.
Amongst these Godly persons there was one
Nam'd
Roger Holland,
(who had boldly done
His duty in reproving bloody
Bonner
)
Spake thus: at last, God will redeem his honor
With your destruction, and will soon asswage
(His spirit so tells me) your unbridled rage
Against his Church; he heareth the complaints
His servants make, for the afflicted Saints,
Whom you so daily persecuted have
As us you do now: Christ will shortly save
His spotless Spouse; in God I dare be bold
To tell you that you are too fierce to hold.
And my dear breth'ren, know that in this place
After this day, not any shall embrace
The fire and faggot by this means procured:
Mark what I say, and be thereof assured.
Which came to pass; for, for the Lord Christ's sake
None after them suff'red at
Smithfield
stake.
Said
Bonner
then, What?
Roger
I perceive here
Thou art as bad an Heretic as ever;
And in thine anger thou wouldst now become
A railing Prophit, but th'hadst as good be dumb:
Though thou, and all like thee, would see me turned
Over the ladder, yet to see thee burned
I shall live; yea, and (before God I vow)
I will make you rue it, everyone of you
That comes within my clutches; so he went.
Roger
called on the people to repent,
And to think well of all the Saints, that past
The fiery trial, which not long should last,
For God intended to abridge straightways
For his elect's sake, those sanguineous days.
Roger
embraced the stake, and said, O Lord
I praise thee for affording me thy word,
And fellowship with Saints, which in heavens coasts
Sing,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts:
O God receive my soul, preserve thy flock,
Save them from Idols, O be thou their Rock.
So with his fellows praising God above,
They all reposed in the arms of love
There was one
William Pikes
amongst the six
(Which died at
Brainford
) false-named Heretics:
Who (while that he his liberty enjoyed)
I'th' Summer, at noon-day, (of cares devoyd)
His Bible with him in tohis garden took,
Sate down to read upon it; on his book
Four drops of blood fell suddenly, he knows
Not whence it came; tohis called-wife it he shows,
Saying, I well perceive God will have blood;
It cannot, no, it must not be withstood:
His will be done; God help me to abide
The trial, for without him I shall slide.
And so they went to pray'r, and in short space
Burned he was, in the aforenam'd place,
One
Thomas Hinshaw,
like a dog was used
By
Harpsfield
first, by
Bonner
next abused,
Who in an arbour pulled down his breeches,
Whip'd him with willow-rods, and with sharp speeches
Returned him to prison: there was one
John Willis
the like usage undergone;
T' whom
Bonner
thus, Me bloody
Bonner
call
Ye do, a plague of God upon you all:
I'd fain be rid of you, but you delight
In burning sure I think; but if I might
Have my desires, O then I'faith I'd stitch
Your mouths up, sack you, throw you in a ditch
Or down the stream, this would I do with speed;
My fingers itch to do this pious deed.
Upon a time
Bonner
came to the stocks
Where this
John Willis
lay, and spake with mocks,
How like you (
John
) your lodging and your fare?
Willis
said, Well, had I a straw-pad here.
While thus they commun'd, in the good man's wife
Came (great with child) to beg her husbands life;
Told
Bonner
she within his house would stay,
And there (her count near out) her belly lay,
Unless her (loving) husband might be sreed,
And pack along with her. Indeed, indeed,
Said
Bonner
then, that were a handsome trick:
How sayest thou
John,
thou damned Heretic;
Suppose thy wife should with her brat mscarry,
And perish man, art thou not accessory
To both their deaths? what thinkest thou? To be short,
The woman would not go ('cwas pretty sport
To hear these parly)
Bonner
lest in's house
She should cry out, did let her husband loose
On easy terms. A Godly Minister
Nam'd Mr.
Richard Yeomans,
much did bear:
At last (he finding how his foes were bent
To take away his life) went down to
Kent,
Selling pins, needles, points, thread, white and black,
And some odd trifiles, to supply the lack
Of himself, his poor wife and children:
He was imprisoned but released agen:
He went to
Hadly
to his wife, and there
Hiring a chamber, they abode a year;
Carding of Wool he sets himself about,
She spins; thus pick they a poor living out.
At length the Parson having understood
How this good old man lived, he took a brood
Of Officers with him, at night, rebound
He made the doors, searched diligently, found
Old father
Yeomans
and his family laid
In bed together; whereupon he said,
Ne're trust me if I did not think a knave
I with a whore should find, and so I have;
And would have pulled the bed-clothes off withal:
But father
Yeomans
held them fast: Call, call
Us what you please, here's neither knave nor whore,
But a cojugal pair in God (though poor)
I bless God for it; you in darkness grope,
And I defy (with all his trash) the Pope.
Then in the cage they carri'd him away;
There to the stocks with one
John Dale
he lay,
(Who shortly after died) he told's faith, for which
Degraded and condemned he burnt at
Norwich.
John Alcock
a young man, by trade a Shear-man
In
Hadly
-Parish said, I do not fear man,
But God if for my God I suffer may,
'Twill be a happy and a joyful day:
As for the Pope I will not be forgiven
By him forgive me thou great God of heaven.
He was a
Newgate
pris'ner hereupon,
And thrust into the lower dungeon,
Where he with cruel handling, and beside
Ill keeping, suddenly fell sick and died.
One Mr.
Thomas Benbridge
though estate
Enough he had, yet through the narrow gate
Of persecution did he choose to enter
Into heaven's Kingdom; manfully adventure
His life and limb for Christ, Truth he defended
Against the Pope till he was apprehended,
Condemn'd therefore; at the place unappal'd,
His rich apparel he put off, and called
Upon his God; then fastened to the stake,
Said Dr.
Seaton
to him, Do but make
A recantation, and thou shalt be freed;
Said Mr.
Benbridge,
Shall I so, indeed?
I thank you, but I will not, Christ's my Guerdon;
I donit regard you man, no, nor your pardon.
The Doctor said, In troth it is a sin
Good folk, to pray for such a dog; begin
Benbridge,
begin a new leaf wilt thou? say?
Away thou Babylonian, away,
Benbridge
replied; they kindled then the wood
Which burnt his beard, yet he unmoved stood:
Fire seized on's legs; unable to abide
So grievous pains,
I do Recant
he cried:
The fire's removed and his life is granted;
But he his recantation recanted,
(it pleasing God his conscience to awake)
And six days after suff'red at the stake.
John Cook, James Ashly, Alexander Lane,
And
Robert Miles,
because they did abstain
From going to the Church, did pass the Fury
Of corm'rant
Vulcan
at St.
Edmunds Bury.
One
Philip Humphry, John
and
Henry David,
Two brothers, were destroyed, and yet were saved.
Green Wilmot, Williams, Cotton, Collingborow,
And
Harris,
whipped run through a deal of sorrow.
One
Alexander Gouge, Alice Driver,
By Mr.
Noon
a
Suffolk
-Justice were
So hunted after, that a while they lay,
For safety sake, hid in a mow of hay:
The Justice with his men searching about,
Thrust Pitch-forks in the mow, and found them out,
Sent them to
Melton
goal, where being proved
A certain time, they were to
Bury
moved;
At the Assizes, they Christ crucified
Boldly confessed, and the Pope defi'd.
Alce Driver
did compare (exceeding well)
Queen
Mary,
in her rage, to
Jezebel;
Her ears to be cut off the Judge procured,
Hereat, which she rejoicingly endured.
Both are to
Ipswieh
sent examined there
By Dr.
Spencer, Norwich
Chanceller,
And others; the main matter was intent
About Christ's presence in the Sacrament.
Alce Driver
did so baffle them herein,
That they had nothing to reply agin:
Thus she concluded then, the Lord be blest
You are (though learned) not able in the least
T'oppose God's spirit in me a silly woman
Of low degree, and tutoured by no man;
I am no Academic, nor was I
E're brought up in the University,
As ye have been; yet in the truths defense,
And in the cause of Christ my Master, whence
I power derive, I will set foot to foot
To any of you, if you put me toit,
For to maintain the same; and if I had
A thousand lives to lose, I should be glad
To let all go for it. The Chancellor
Condemn'd, and sent her to the Sec'lar power.
Gouge
also was condemned for Christ his name,
And so both sweetly died in
Ipswich
flame.
Alce Driver's
neck being chained, O said she (heed)
Here is a goodly handkerchief indeed!
Well, God be praised for it. As they stand
At stake, some came to take them by the hand:
The Sheriff bids they be caught: the crowd forbid:
The Sheriff bids let alone, and so they did.
There lived in
Cornwall
a religious Dame,
Her husband a recusant, often came
To hear Mass read, nor would he ever lin
Till his forced-wife did join with him therein,
Which was no little trouble to her soul;
She thereupon did seek the Lord, and roll
Her self upon him, and by earnest prayer
Crav'd his direction; God was pleased to hear,
And one night filled her with such spir'tual mirth,
That she enjoyed a little heaven on earth;
From husband, children, and from all she run
For conscience sake, and for her living spun:
Yet to her husband she returned at last,
Where (but a very little time being past)
Her neighbors apprehending, carried her
To th'Bishop of the town of
Exeter;
She was condemned, and the reason why,
Was that she spake against Idolatry.
The Bishop said to her, Woman do y'hear?
Mind your good husband, and your children dear.
She answered, Remembered and forgot
They're soon; I have them and I have them not:
While I enjoyed my ease, I them enjoyed,
But now (all such relations are void)
Standing here, as I do, in Christ his cause,
Where I must either frangifie the Laws
Of Grace, or Nature; either Christ forsake,
Or else my Husband; I am content to take
Christ as my heavenly Spouse, and to renounce
The other with my children all at once.
The Bishop after much Argumentation,
Gave her a months time for consideration.
Seeing a Dutch-man who new Noses made
For images defaced when
Edward
swaid;
She said, Mad-man, what meanst thou to compose
New Noses for such images as those,
Which will so shortly loose their heads? For this
She was close pris'ner kep'd, nor did she miss
Threatenings, taunts scoffs, called Anabaptist, whore,
Mad-woman, drunkard, vagabond, and more.
Then many specious promises were used,
Of liberty, of wealth; which she refused.
With husband, goods, and children they affail
To win her but yet nothing would prevail,
Her heart was fixed trusting in the Lord;
She had cast anchor, and renounced, abhorred
The sin-involved world, with all the wiles
Which Satan uses when he souls beguiles.
She was devoyd of learning, yet so versed
I'th' Scriptures, that not only she rehers'd
Apposite proofs, Quotations, but could tell
The Book and Chapter also very well.
Condemn'd and given to the sec'lar power,
The country Gentlemen came flocking to her
Bidding her, yet to call on God for grace,
And cease her fond opinions to embrace,
So got'her husband, and her children dear;
Thou art a woman ignorant (we fear)
And these things are too far above thy reach
(Said they) the shrub is lower then the Beach.
I am, said she, indeed, and yet my breath
I will give in witness, of my Savior's death.
O do not put me off with longer stay,
For Ah! I am impatient of delay;
My love hath wings, it hovers up and down,
Nor can it rest, till glory is her own.
My heart is fixed, I will never go
From what I said, nor do as others do.
Then said the Bishop, There's no hopes to win her,
The devil leadeth her, the devil is in her.
Not so my Lord (quoth she) Christ is my guide,
His Spirit upholds me, that I cannot slide.
She, when she heard deaths sentence past upon her,
Advanc'd her voice, and said, Unmated honor!
The Proverb's true.
Long looked for, comes at last;
My Lord, my God, I thank thee, that thou hast
Granted to me this day, my hearts desire
In listing me with thy celestial Choir.
Woman, said one, be thou a happy wife
By thy recanting; O the sweets of life!
No, said she, by no means; my life is hid
With Christ in God, now the good Lord forbid
That for this life, at best but transitory,
I should lose heaven and eternal glory:
I have two husbands, but will only cleave
Unto my heavenly, and my earthly leave;
The fellowship of Saints in heaven I trow
Exceeds the having children here below:
And if my husband and my children prove
Faithful, then am I theirs, they have my love;
God my good father is, God is my mother,
God is my sister, and God is my brother,
God is my kinsman, God's my faithful friend
Who will stick close unto me, till the end.
To execution then led along,
She was attended with a num'rous throng.
Bound to the stake, she by the Popish Priests
Was set upon again (unwelcome guests!)
To whom she thus: for God's sake now give over
Your bibble babble, trouble me no more
With empty sounds fain would I, Oh! divorce
My self from your impertinent discourse.
O God be merciful to sinful me,
For Ah! I only do depend on thee.
She stood with admirable patience
Amidst the flames, and so her soul flew hence.
Sh'had such a cheerful look, that one would say
It was her wedding, not her burning day.
She had been always sober in her diet,
Neat in apparel, peaceable and quiet;
Always a doing, never fitting still,
During her health and limbs, by her good will;
Chain'd to her house; she ever would refuse
To gad abroad, as most ill-houswives use.
To all that came to her, her gracious heart
Would streams of consolation impart.
God's word was her delight, she gave good heed
Ther husband in the Lord, a wife indeed!
According to her power, she at her door,
And at their several homes, relieved the poor;
And in the time of her calamity
Would take no proff'red coin; for, said she, I
Am going now to (Heaven) a City, where
No money any Mastery doth bear;
And whilst I here remain, the Lord will feed
My craving stomach, and supply my need;
It is his promise, and full sure I be,
That he which feeds the Ravens, will feed m
•
.
One
Richard Sharp,
a Weaver by his trade
In
Bristel
City apprehended, made
A large confession of his faith before
One Dr.
Dalby
the there-Chancellor,
Who by persuasive Arguments so wrought
Upon his weakness, that he soon was brought
To make a promise, That he would appear
And publicly recan, and when, and where.
But after this Apostasy,
Sharp
felt
His conscience galled, hell's horror so indwelt
His soul, that he his calling could not mind,
His color went away, his body pin'd:
Next Sabbath day going to Church, he made
To the Choir-door, and with a loud voice said,
That Altar, neighbors, pray bear me record,
Is the Great Idol: I denied my Lord,
But from the bottom of my heart am sorry
For what I don, in hazarding my Glory.
He caught, condemned, and burned, with
Thomas Hale
Climb'd up to heaven from this tearful vale.
One
Thomas Benson
of the same town went
To pris'n, for saying, That the Sacrament
Was as they used it, nothing else but bread,
And not the body of the Lord indeed;
As for the Sacraments, which you call seven,
Five were ordained by men, but two by heaven:
Give me the two, which I acknowledge true,
And all the other five I will leave to you.
Soon after this he did receive death's sentence;
And executed, to his God he sent hence
His blessed soul, which left its body's jail
For Paradise, death having put in bail.
Now to conclude, The last that did maintain
The Gospel with their hearts-blood in the Raign
Of
Mary
Queen, that hell-begotten fury,
Were these five Citizens of
Canterbury,
John Hurst John Cornford, (
Captains in the fight
)
Christopher Brown, Alice Swoth,
and
Kath'rine knight
The things imputed to their charge were, that
Christ's real presence they denied flat,
Affirming only those that do believe,
Not wicked men, Christ's body do receive.
The Pope they said was Antichrist, the Mass
Abominable; that a sin it was
To pray to Saints; that cringing to a cross
Was mere Idol'try and an error gross, &c.
Sentence of condemnation being heard,
Forthwith
John Cornford,
was in spirit stir'd,
And with an ardent zeal for God, expressed
In the name of himself, and all the rest
This doom: I'th'name of Christ our Savior,
The Son of God, the High'st, and by the power
Of his most Holy-Ghost, as also by
The Holy and Divine authority
Of the Apostolic and Cath'lick Church
(Never yet totally left in the lurch)
We here turn over to the Prince of hell
As slaves eternally to howl and yell
In sulph'ry flames, the bodies of all those
Blasphemers, Heretics, who do oppose
The living God, and bolster up their errors
Against the Truth, hence to the King of Terrors;
So that by this thy righteous judgment shown
Against thy foes great God, thou mayst make known
Thy true religion to thy greater glory
And our souls comfort when we read the story
Of thy great power, and to th'edification
Of all our well-nigh ruinated Nation.
Good Lord, so be it, be it so, Amen.
And this his excommunication then
Took great effect against truth's enemies.
Queen
Mary
within six days after dies,
And Tyrannie with her; there is no hope
Of any longer footing for the Pope;
In
England
now great joy betides to all
The faith-ey'd Saints, who wished proud
Babels
fall:
Yet the Archdeacon, and's associates quick
(Knowing the Queen was dangerously sick)
Condemn'd those pious persons to the flame,
And hurri'd them away. When there they came,
In Christ his name they offered up their prayers,
As holocausis to the Almighty's ears.
To God they prayed, to God forever blest,
Preferring this request amongst the rest;
That if it were his will, their blood might be
The last that should be shed, so Lord pray we.
No sooner had they prayed, but heaven returned
A gracious answer, they the last that burned.
Great God (said they) we cheerfully resign
Our souls into those blessed hands of thine
Amidst these flames; their spirits did ascend
To glory, which shall never have AN END.
Gloria Deo in Excelsis.
SECT. Ult.
God's Judgments upon the Persecutors of hic Church and children.
SInce first the Gospel in the Ears did ring,
Of
England
under
Lucius
the King;
Never did King or Queen the Land so stain
With Christian blood as in her four years reign
Queen
Mary
did: she burned in her fury
An Arch-Bishop, (and he of
Canterbury
)
Four Bishops, twenty one Divines or more,
Eight Gentlemen, Artis'cers eighty sour,
Husbandmen, Servants, and poor Labouring men
Five score; Wives twenty six, Widdowes twice ten; to
Nine Maids, two Boys, and two young Babes heaven
Were sent) in all two hundred seventy seven.
Sixty four more for Jesus Christ his sake
Were persecuted sore; which could not shake
Their heaven-built faith; seven whereof were stripped
Stark naked, and most mercilessly whipped.
Sixteen in prison perishing, had dung
(After the Nabathoean custom) flung
Upon their outcast bodies: Some did lie
In captivated chains, condemned to die,
But were deliv'red from approaching death
By th'happy entrance of
Elizabeth,
Our glorious Queen, our Pallas and Astraea:
Of Grace and Virtue the divine Idea,
Many did spend, by reason of exile,
Their days in trouble, and their years in toile.
But as Queen
Mary
lavished the blood
Of her best subjects, and the truth withstood
Unto the utmost of her power; so God
Scourged her soundly with his flaming rod,
Both in her life and death; for whilst she lived,
What did she prosper in which she atchiev'd?
To instance in a few particulars,
And first, her fair'st and greatest man of War
Unmatch'd in the' Christian world, called the great
Harry
Was burnt by heavenly flames. Then would she marry
Spanish King
Philip,
so expose to dangers
Poor
England
under barb'rous foes and strangers.
She labor'd much, but never could attain
To join the English to the Spanish Raign.
Then did she set about the restauration
Of Abbey-lands throughout the British nation:
Her self began according to the Popes
Directions, yet frustrate were all her hopes.
God over her land then such a famine spread,
That her poor subjects upon Acorns fed,
Then
Calais
where the English did remain
During eleven Kings reigns from her was ta'in;
Which loss so grieved her, as she did impart,
That
Calais
was engraven in her heart.
Again in child-birth never woman had
S'unfortunate success as she, so bad:
For if she was with child, and had e're been
In travel, why? why was it never seen?
If not, why was the Kingdom so beguild?
Some in the Pulpit for her new-born child
Returning thanks: thus her desires b'ing crossed,
She then th'affections of her husband lost:
She could not him enjoy, nor might she smother
This her first love, by marrying another,
Although she did so many Judgments feel,
Yet would she not her bloody Laws repeal:
She had no mind to stop the opened vain,
Or close the bleeding Orifice again
Of dying Saints. At last the Lord did please
To strike her with a languishing disease,
Whereof she died; and having held the crown
Five years, and five months only laid it down.
Horrible tempests, mortal sicknesses,
Plagues, famines, burning fevers, did perpess
The grieved land, (the fourth year she did sway)
And swept a multitude of folks away:
So that in six weeks space in
London
there
Dy'd seven Aldermen. Wheat that same year
Yielded four marks the Quarter: Mault a Peck
Fourty four shillings; as much Pease did make
Two pound six shillings eight pence: to a crown
The following year a Peck of Wheat came down:
Four shillings eight pence Mault; of Ry a Strike
Take for a groat you may, if it you like.
In her fifth year, a thundering tempest came
And batt'red down two towns near
Nottingham,
Flung sheets of lead abroad, bells from the steeple,
Tore trees up by the roots, slew divers people, &c.
Also a great mortality was known
In Autumn then; Corn stood unreap'd, unmown,
And rotted in the fields, hence did ensue
Great scarcity, the lab'rours being few.
So much of her; nor must my Muse pass by
Her chiefest Instruments of cruelty,
First to begin with
Stephen Gard'ner
then
Bishop of
Winchester,
whose end my pen
Disdains to mention twice: I will therefore
Add only this, That lying at the door
Of merc'less death, and being put in mind
Of
Peter
his denying Christ, he whin'd
This answer out, With
Peter
I denied
The Lord, but there is somewhat else beside
Wanting in me: Alas! I never spent
A tear, nor can (as
Peter
did) repent.
Morgan
St.
David's
Bishop, who (high base)
Condemned
Ferrar,
and usurped his place,
Did vomit up his meat through mouth and nose
(O horrible) until his life did close.
Then Mr.
Leyson
high Sheriff, set away
This Martyrs Cattle int'his own ground: they
No meant would eat, nor touch a blade of grass,
But bellowed and roar'd till death (Alas!)
One Justice
Morgan
who condemned had
Lady
Jane Grey,
within a while fell mad:
Nothing but Lady
Jane,
his voice did sound;
The Lady
Jane,
(Oh! how her name did wound!)
The Lady
Jane,
the Lady
Jane;
O take
The Lady
Jane
away; no more he spake.
Dunnings
the
Norwich
Chancellor for's hate
To the truth, died as in his chair he sat.
Berry
of
Norfolk
Commissary, one
Burn'd harmless Saints, fell with an heavy groan
Down to the ground, and never did recover.
One Bishop
Thornton
Suffragan of
Dover,
A cruel man, while on a Sabbath-day
He looked over his men, to see them play
At Bowles, on him did the dead palsy fall;
Carry'd to bed, he was defir'd to call
The Lord to mind: Yea, said he, so I do,
Not only so, but my Lord Card'nal too:
So desperately died. Another tool
Of Hell at
Greenwich
went to Card'nal
Pool
To get his blessing; but returning fast,
He fell down stairs, and brake his neck for hast.
Grimwood
a wretch, who had himself forsworn,
Being in Harvest stacking of his corn,
His bowels suddenly fell out. These two
Capon
and
Jeff'ry
Doctors, undergo
At
Salsbury
sudden deaths. Mr.
Woodroffe
Sheriff of
London
died soon enough.
One
Clerk
who did the Godly Saints devour.
Hanged himself, at last in
London-Tower.
Cox
a Promoter, going well tohis bed,
When the next morn arose, was found stone dead.
Dale
died of lice. One
Troling Smith,
a great
Foe to the truth, died suddenly
•
'th'street.
Paul, London
Town-Clerk, an accursed wretch
Did voluntarily an halter stretch.
A lightning stroke did
Robert Baldwin
kill.
Cardinal
Pool
of an Italian Pill
Dy'd as 'twas thought. Dr.
Foxford, Blomefield,
And
Leland
too, to sudden deaths did yield.
One Dr.
Williams
Chanc'llour of
Gloucester,
Died the death before he was a ware.
One
Lever
said he had at
Oxford
been,
And that ill-favor'd knave,
Latimer
seen,
Tooth'd like an horse: but mark we what did follow.
His son soon hanged himself.
One William Swallow
Lost all his hair; off all his nails did pill;
And's wife was taken with the falling ill.
Brown, Lardin, Potto,
en'mies of
George Eagles,
D'yd a dogs shameful death (three pretty Beagles!)
A Sheriffs man, who cruelty had acted
Against
James Abbes,
despair'd & died distracted.
In
Lincolnshire,
Burton who Bailiff was
Of
Crowland,
labor'd to set up the Mass;
But the Parishioners with wise delay
Still put him off; upon a Sabbath-day
This
Burton
went to Church, (when all men failed)
And on the Service-reading Curate rail'd:
Sirrah (said he,) a Mass, (what?) may'nt we have?
Buckle yourself to it, you whorson knave,
Or by God's-Blood I will sheath, I that I will,
My dagger in your shoulder; vex me still
Do? you had best. Th'affrighted Curate made
No more ado, but Mass in Latin said.
Soon after this, as
Burton
with one more,
Rode on the road, a cro
•
king Crow flew over
His head, and dung'd; which falling on his nose,
Ran down his slab'ring beard, but in the close
Burton
was so perfumed, that one would think
No Jakes could yield so horrible a stink
As he good man! Sweet
Burton
go thy way
Contented, th'hast enough; such luck they say
As thine is good: if the best luck betide
To fools, thou art not on the wiser side.
Hast
Burton,
hast what need I bid thee hast
Whom mischance drives? Oh, Oh, cries he, at last,
My very bowels up such reachings make,
My head even break, ough, ough, and heart-strings ache:
A plague upon, a vengeance take the crow
That poison'd him, and made him vomit so:
And so he died. The black-ey'd night inters
Bonners
corps amongst thieves and murderers.
It's a Righteous thing with God, to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you; and to
you that are troubled, rest with us.
Roma diu titubans, varijs erroribus acta,
Corruet, & mundi desinet esse Caput.
Rome
tot'ring long laden with Errors store,
At last shall fall, and Head the World no more.
AMEN.
FINIS.