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In Amici sui charissimi Nicholai Billingsly Brachy-hagio-Martyrologiam Distichon Panegyricum.

It skills no less large Tomes t'Epitomize,
Then at the first the same for to devise.
'Twas Homers praise his Iliads to indite,
Anothers 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 do'st receive, that they on earth again
May live with us, we'n heaven with them may raign.
God grant us this; and so to make an end,
Thou them, I thee, cannot too much commend.

Deo Opt. Max.

Great God, who grasp'st in thine eternal fists
The world, & boundest with appointed lists
The swag'ring billowes; 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 skie;
Who all things did'st, and do'st, and wilt fulfill,
According to the counsel of thy will:
O shew 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 gon.
Those looser Poets who begin betimes
To please vain fancies with lascivious Rhimes,
Thinking thereby 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 browes; thine be the Glory, thine the Praise.

Brachy-Martyrologia

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.

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.

SECT. III. The Martyrdom of the Maccabees, under the same Antiochus.

SECT. IV. The Persecution of the Church from Christs 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 Bethleem; 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 dash'd 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
His inward parts: his canine appetite
Was unsuffic'd; his lungs corrupted quite;
His bowels rot; his secrets putrify'd;
Consum'd with wormes, he miserably dy'd.
Herod the Less incestuously wedded;
John Baptist for his plain reproof beheaded.
Peter and John restor'd a man born lame,
Preach'd Christ, and were imprison'd for the same.
The High-priests and the Sadduces up-risen
Against th' Apostles, cast them into prison:
But in the night, an Angel of the Lord
Op'ning the doors, their liberties restor'd:
They on the morrow, for divulging Christ,
Re-apprehended were, beaten, dismist.
False witnesses suborned, holy Steven
Did through a Stony-volley go to heaven.
A gen'ral persecution breaking out
At Solyma, the Saints disperse about
The Judean and the Samarian borders:
A persecuting Saul the Church disorders.
The Jewish fury, new-converted Saul
Scapes by a basket let down o'r the wall.
James is beheaded: while Agrippa storms
Against the Church, he was devour'd by worms.
Peter enlarged by an Angel was:
Sosthenes, Silas, Paul, and Barnabas
Were beaten, whipp'd, and forced several times
To leave their Country, and seek other climes.
Paul's ston'd at Lystra, and for dead he lay;
But God reviv'd him; he took Derbe-way:
Much he endur'd 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 Camels 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 sack'd.
Andrew and Philip's crucifi'd: rough blows
Kill Barthol'mew; Thomas a dart o'rethrows.
Mathew's thrust through: Simon Zelotes dead
Upon the cross. Mathias lost 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 Emperours.

SECT. V. The first Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi, 67.

Domitius Nero, while in sheets of fire
The Roman City caper'd, sang t'his 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 pondrous beams and stones,
Crushing to pieces many thousand ones;
The fire burns others, and the flame and smoak
Nine dayes continu'd, a great number choak.
Thus Nero on himself an Odium brought;
And to excuse himself, transfer'd the fault
Upon the harmless Christians: it was they
Had done it out of malice; no delay
Detards his hasty feet from shedding bloud:
VVhere e're he comes, he makes a crimson floud
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 fir'd: 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 spred;
So that the Cities were replenished
With slaught'red carkases; the old, the young,
And naked women, altogether flung.
Such was his rage, a Christians loathed name
He strove t'extirpate wheresoe're he came.
At four years end, this direful blast expires
In Paul and Peter, two bright-shining fires.
Peter (as he desir'd) was crucifi'd
With his head downward; so a Martyr dy'd.
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 slaies,
And doth the second persecution raise:
(For whilst Vespasian and his son remain'd,
The Church with golden links of Peace was chain'd)
He slew the Roman Nobles; and decreed
The extirpation of David's seed,
John, the belov'd Disciple, boyl'd in oyl,
Unhurt, was banish'd into Patmos Isle.

Anno 97

One Simeon Bishop of Jerus'lem, dy'd
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 libertie
VVhen brought before the Judgment-seat, unless
They deviate from their Religiousness.
The Heathenish Idolaters devise
Against the Saints abominabile 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 Cæsars 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 us'd what e're mans wicked wit invents;
Stripes, Rackings, Scourgings, and Imprisonments,
Deep dungeons, Stoning, Strangling, the Gridiron,
Gibbet, and Gallows, red-hot plates t'environ
The tendrest parts; the teeth of salvage bears;
The horns of Buls, and sticking up on spears, &c.
Thus kill'd, a lawful burial was deny'd them:
Pil'd up and tear-throat dogs were left beside them.
Though Christians sufferings were very sore,
Yet still the Church encreased more and more,
In the Apostles doctrine deeply grounded,
And with the blood of Martyr'd 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' Areopagite
VVas slain at Paris by a treach'rous villan.
Protasius and Gervasius fell at Millain.

SECT. VII. The third Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 108.

Domitian being by his servants slain,
Nerva succeeded; in whose gracious reign
(VVhich was but thirteen months) the Saints enjoy'd
A peaceful season, and were not destroy'd.
Trajan, next him, the Roman crown put on;
He 'twas rais'd the third Persecution,
VVorse then the former were; which did incite
An heathenish Philosopher to write
I'th' Christians behalf, to Trajan shewing,
That whereas many thousands in his viewing
VVere 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 call'd 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.
Sentence confus'd! he them as harmless tenders,
And yet would have them punish'd as offenders.
The rage was by this act a little curb'd:
Yet ill-disposed men the Peace disturb'd;
Especially, if new commotions flam'd
Amongst them, then the Christians must be blam'd.
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 scalding bath.
Ignatius, and many thousands more
Exposed to the wild beasts to devour:
Nor did in Adrian's reign this fury slake,
Ten thousand sufferd for the Lord Christ's sake.
In Ararath thousands were crucifi'd,
Crowned with thorns, and thrust into the side
VVith needle-pointed darts, in imitation
Of Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviours passion.
Faustinus, Zenon, and Eustachius,
Dy'd for the truth. VVhen Calocerius
Saw how the Saints did bear afflictions rod,
He cry'd out, Truly, great's the Christians God:
For which he apprehended, did become
Partaker likewise of their Martyrdom.
Symphorissa, a fair and vertuous dame,
Hang'd up by th' hair, was scourged for Christs name,
And then made fast unto a pondrous stone,
Into the bosom of a river thrown:
Seven sons she had, all stak'd, rack'd, and at last
Thrust thorough, were into a deep pit cast.
Adrian b'ing come to Athens, sacrific'd
After the Greekish manner; authoriz'd
Any that would, to persecute, abuse
VVhoever in contempt should it refuse.
Quadratus, an Athenian Bishop, hence
Did out of zeal i'th' Christians defence
Write learned Tractates: Serenus did do
The like; and famous Aristides too;
Declaring that 'twas neither right nor reason
That bare opinion should b'accounted treason
In harmless persons; and no other fault
Should bring their lives in danger, at th' assault
Of th' hair-brain'd rabble; th' Emperour hereat
Grew milde, and pity'd their afflicted state.
After him Antonius Pius swaid
And he this persecuting storm allaid.
Gods word's fulfill'd, the wicked's rod shall not
Alwayes remain upon the righteous lot.

SECT. VIII. The fourth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 162.

SECT. IX. The fifth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 205.

When Peace-maintaining Pertinax was dead,
Severe Severus reigned in his stead;
By envious rumors, and through false suggestion,
The Christians lives were dayly brought in question.
The King commands; his willing Subjects strive
To bring't about, that none be left alive.
In Sun-burnt Affrick, Cappadocia,
In Carthage and in Alexandria.
So that the number slain was numberless;
Amongst whom Plutrach, and Leonides,
Origen's father, with whom Origen
His son had dy'd, had not his mother bin
An hinderance, in that she did convey,
The night before, his shirt and cloaths away;
Hereat, he not for fear of Martyrdome,
But shaming to be seen, remain'd at home.
Tertullian, Irenæus, Andoclus,
Urbanus, Satyrus, Secundulus,
Perpetua, Felicitas, and Rhais,
Did by untimely deaths conclude their dayes.
Caspodius, a Divine, drag'd up and down
The streets; at last was into Tyber thrown.
Cecilia Idolatry contemn'd,
And therefore by the Judge must be condemn'd;
The Sergeants minding how she did behave her,
How fair she was; sollicite her, to favour
Her self, and not to cast her self away;
She was but young, and many a merry day
Might live to see: but she discreetly sent
Such gracious words, as caus'd them to relent,
And unto that religion yield their hearts
'Gainst which they threw their persecuting darts.
Which, when perceiv'd, leav gain'd, she runs her home
And for Urbanus sends: Urbanus come,
He grounds them in the faith so highly priz'd;
Four hundred do believe and are baptiz'd.
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 dayes, and up into the clouds ascended.
Agapetus, of fifteen years of age,
VVas scourg'd, then hang'd up by the feet: in rage
He scalded was; unto the wild beasts tost;
But they not hurting him, his head he lost.
Pamachius, a Roman Senator,
VVith's wife, his children, and neer fourty 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 profest.
Potamiena, (boyling Pitch being pour'd
Upon her naked flesh) the flames devour'd.
And Zepherinus; after him Urbanus,
Both Roman Bishops; good Valerianus,
Tybartius too, two Noble men of Rome,
For their Religion suffer'd Martyrdome.
'Gainst Narciss, three false witnesses suborn'd;
Th' one lost his eyes, the fire a second burn'd;
The third lay languishing: thus we may see
Th' accusers suffer, the accus'd go free.
Antiochus fell down, and having cry'd,
His bowels burn'd within him, sadly dy'd.

SECT. X. The sixth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 237.

SECT. XI. The seventh Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 250.

SECT. XII. The eighth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 259.

SECT. XIII. The ninth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 278.

Claudius , and after him Quintilian,
(Both which but one and thrice three years did reign)
Maintain'd the Churches Peace: while they endur'd,
The Saints were happy, and their lives secur'd.
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 neer him fall,
That he was kill'd, 'twas the consent of all.
The Emp'rour strake with such astonishment,
Gave over his Tyrannical intent.
He after six years reign was murthered:
And the Church forty four years flourished
Under a various Emp'rour. O what peace
Doth crown the Christians brows! what large increase
Of honour doth betide them! they resort
Unto the Court, who lately were a sport
T'insulting foes: and they that were a prey,
Are prais'd and priz'd: 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 encreased ev'ry day,
Till Gods 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,
Abhor'd their Doctrine, and their words despise.

SECT. XIV. The tenth Primitive Persecution, which began Anno Christi 308.

Tvvo Tyrants, Dioclesian in the VVest
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 ador'd
By ev'ry bended-knee, as supream Lord:
Nor did he stick to say, that he was brother
Unto the Sun and Moon, as was no other.
His shoes adorn'd with gold and Precious stones,
The people kneeling on their marrow-bones
He bid to kiss his feet, (O height of pride!)
He persecution rais'd; at Easter tide
Places of Divine worship he or'eturn'd;
And in contempt the Sacred Scripture burn'd,
Some Elders of the Church were torn in sunder;
The rest variety of deaths went under.
Sylvanus Bishop, with him thirty nine,
Ended their sorrowes in a Mettle-Mine.
The Tyrian Christians (none this fury spares)
VVere cast to Lyons, Leopards, and Bears
Kept hungry for that purpose: male-content,
The beasts not touched them; their claws were bent
At other preyes; they vehemently rage
'Gainst those which brought the Christians on the stage,
And seiz'd on them; who though they thought they stood
Out of harms way, became the wild beasts food.
And afterwards, these holy Martyrs slain,
VVere soon committed to the foaming main.
The Syrian Pastors lay in prison chain'd;
Zenebius a Physician, Brick-bats brain'd.
Yea good Serena Dioclesians wife,
Was for religions sake depriv'd of life.
The Martyrs blood ran like a flowing tide,
Such an innumerable number dy'd.
Upon a Christmas-day Maximinus fir'd
A Church whereto the Christians retir'd,
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 wayes: their names up to the Marshal gave,
Who seeing them so gallantly behave
Themselves, admir'd, and stood in a quandary,
What course to take, his anxious thoughts did vary:
Resolved, he try'd what fair words would do;
Proff'ring them money, and preferment too:
They answer'd thus; We nothing do desire,
But Christ alone; the wheel, the cross, the fire,
Are easie pains. His eyes the Marshal casts
Upon a pond expos'd to northern blasts;
Bids them be stripp'd unto their naked skin;
'Twas winter-weather, yet they must go in,
There stay all night. We put not off our cloaths,
Say they, but our old man, which God so loaths.
The pond receiv'd them, and the nipping frost
Stiffened their members; breath not fully lost
When day appear'd unto the wakened world,
They were took out, and burn'd; their ashes hurl'd
Into the gliding streams. ------
All praise O Lord, with heart and word,
Unto thy name we render:
The Saints that dye, are in thine eye
Most precious, dear, and tender.

SECT. XV. The Persecution of the Christians in Persia, 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 cleering.)
The King incens'd 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 fall'n away) who at the Court-gate sate,
Espying him led by, obeysance did him:
But Simeon for Apostatizing chid him.
The conscious Eunuch suddenly let fall
A briny showre; his costly garments all
Laid by, he mourn'd, 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 kinde salute? He to the King must go,
Who gently ask'd him why he mourned so?
If in my Palace thou want'st any thing
Speak man, and by the honour of a King
It shall be thine: that tolerable were;
But Ah! who can a wounded spirit bear?
'Tis this (said he) that acerbates my woe;
I live, who should have dyed long agoe;
This Sun I see, to which I seem'd to bow
Thereby denying Christ, to pleasure you;
I'll 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 bin
By his Apostacy, he sought to win
By his profession and example too,
To take new courage, and to undergo
The like if need requir'd. Good Simeon
Rejoyc'd, and prais'd the Lord for what was don.
When the next Sun had rais'd them from their beds,
He and a hundred more all lost their heads.
The King decreed, no mercy should be us'd
To them which to adore the Sun refus'd.
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 Apostata, Anno Christi 365.

SECT. XVII. The Churches Persecution under the Arrian Hereticks, which began An. Christi 339.

Great Constantine, a while before he dy'd,
Amongst his sons did equally divide
His Empire; to the rule he did assigne
Constantius, Constans, and Constantine:
Constantius, that governed the East,
Was soon seduced by an Arrian priest;
Who him inform'd, that Athanasius
Return from exile was pernicious
Unto the publick 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'lously did get;
Though many Arrians cast their eyes about
For this intent, t'indigitate him out;
Not much unlike a sheep ordain'd for slaughter:
Nor could this good man live in quiet after,
In banishment till he was forc'd to hide
In a deep pit, where he no light espide
For twice three years; and at last by a maid
That us'd to bring him food, he was betraid:
But God's directing spirit did befriend him;
He scap'd, before they came to apprehend him.
Thirty Egyptian Bishops slain; twice seven
Were banished; some in their way took heaven.
In Alexandria (the Arrians urg'd)
Twice twenty Orthodox Divines were scourg'd.
The Emperour, 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 fir'd; so they resign'd their breath,
By patient suffering of a double death.
Many he caused to be crush'd to shivers;
Some to be drown'd i'th' Sea, others in rivers;
Some in the desarts wandred up and down,
Cloathed in sheeps-skins, pityed 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 fir'd a village o're his head, whereby
He miserably dy'd: 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 Affrick, rais'd rebellions:
The Orthodox, innumerable wrongs
Lay under; Bishops lost their hands and tongues:
And others, that remain'd sincere and sound,
This barbrous outrage either hang'd or drown'd;
Their goods are plunder'd, and their houses turn'd
To heaps of cindars, and their Fanes are burn'd.
The sacred Scriptures are by flames devour'd;
Wives are defil'd, and Virgins are deflour'd.
Where ever these profane Schismaticks came,
They holy things profan'd; nor was't a shame
Counted amongst them, but a grace, to feed
Their mungrell currs with Sacramental bread.
But God's just judgements 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 Affrick o're, they empty out their gall,
Destroying many, and affrighting all.

SECT. XIX. The Persecution of the Church in Affrick, by the Arrian Vandales, Anno Christi 427.

The Vandales, under Genserick's command
Remov'd their Quarters from th' Iberian land,
And march'd to Affrick: as along they went,
Cut down the shrubs, which yeilded 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 crack'd 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 obtain'd
No mercy: as for infants, they were brain'd,
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 sack'd.
Upon Ascention-day, a Christian train
Meeting at Church, were by these her'ticks slain.
There was a Noble man, nam'd 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 mans 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 dearest) Oh some pity take
On thy poor wife: O for the Lord Christ's sake
Let not thy bantlings under slav'ry tire,
Nor me be linked to a filthy Squire.
Be rul'd, 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 sin, thou never wouldst;
Which will procure a second death to me,
Worse then the first; I am resolv'd to be
Obedient therefore to my Gods 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 nigh 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 publick scorn.
Mothers their little children followed,
Right glad that Martyrs they had born and bred.
One leading by the hand her little Son,
Hasting t'oretake them, said, Run Sirrah, run;
Seest how the Saints do trudge along? how fast
They make unto their crown? hast, sirrah, hast.
She's thus rebuk'd: How now? why do you go
So speedy? woman, whither haste you so?
She thus reply'd; 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 wayes of truth.
As the Saints went along to banishment,
Multitudes follow'd, 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?
VVhat Ministers have we (you gon) to feed
Our hungry souls with sacramental bread?
VVho shall baptize our infants? tell us who
Instruct us? w'have a greater minde to go
Then stay behinde: but Ah! our feeble strength
VVill 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 allow'd; the Scorpions crawll
About them, but do them not hurt at all
VVith their lethif'rous stings: thus God did please
After affliction to send them ease.
Hunrick sends Mandates throughout Affrica,
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 Arrian 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 Arrians plac'd 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 controversie rear
On equal termes, until the truth be clear.
An hundred strokes, on ev'ry one were laid
For this bold speech; whereat Eugenius said,
The Lord in mercy look upon our woes,
And mark our sufferings under raging foes.
The Arrian 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 Arrians stormed at this thing,
Gave them foul words, accus'd them to the King;
He all of them out of the City turn'd;
Who them reliev'd, must by his Law be burn'd.
The Bishops which i'th' open fields did ly,
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 dunghils, in distress,
Afflicted, housless, cold, and comfortless?
He bids, and over them his horsmen ride;
Many are bruised sore, then they deny'd,
B'ing urg'd, 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 tenour 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 outcries! what heart-rending grones
Were throughout Affrick caus'd by bloody ones!
With cudgels, either sex and age was bang'd:
Here, some they burned; there they others hang'd.
Women, and naked gentlewomen were
Openly tortur'd, all their bodies bare.
Fair Dionysia bolder the rest,
Thus the conceptions of her mind exprest:
Afflict your fill, God's favour I have got;
Onely my woman-hood disclose you not.
These words scarce out, they more enraged strip'd her,
Expos'd her to all eyes, and soundly whip'd her,
Untill the blood flow'd down: that which you broach,
Satanick slaves (said she) for my reproach,
Is my best garland. Then she wisely chear'd
Her young and onely son, who persever'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.

SECT. XXI. The Persecution of the Church of God in Bohemia, which began Anno Christi 894.

SECT. XXII. The Churches Persecution in Spain, which began Anno Christi 1540.

A Spanish Factor Francis Roman nam'd,
Hearing at Breme a Sermon, was s'enflam'd
And wrought upon, that in a little space
He grew in knowledge, and encreas'd in grace.
Upon a time when he return'd agen,
He labour'd to convince his country-men
Of blind-fold ign'rance; for the wayes they trod
Were dissonant unto the word of God.
But they reproachfully despis'd, contemn'd
His words, and him unto the fire condemn'd.
Then with a paper-Mitre on his head,
Painted with ugly Demons, was he led
To execution: and by the way
Being urg'd 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, breath'd their last!
The pris'ners cloath'd with red-cross'd Sambitoes,
Were at Validolid plac'd all in rowes.

Anno 1550.

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 demonstrate fully
The kinde of torments that were us'd? the pully
Hang'd on the Gibbit, holds the hands or thumbs
Of the poor wretch; then the Strappado comes,
And rends his weight-distended joynts asunder.
Some in the Trough are tortur'd; some are under
Cruel imprisonments, where is not any
Light but what enters the Key-hole or crany.
Some are injoyn'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 mindes; and while a rope
Encompasseth their necks, coacting bands
Press hard behinde them their united hands.
Thus, thus poor Creatures, in a piteous plight,
Are led to suffer in the peoples sight.

Anno 1560.

Burton and Burgate, Burgess, Hooker, Baker,
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.

An Englishman Martyred in Portugal.

One William Gardiner, whom Bristol bore,
In Portugal the Martyrs Garland wore.

SECT. XXIV. The Persecution of the Church in Germany, which began Anno Christi 1523.

SECT. XXV. The Persecution of the Church in the Low-Countries.

SECT. XXVI. The Modern Persecution of the Church in Germany, since the year 1630.

Th' Imperialists, when they by storm had gain'd
Paswalick town, the Swedish souldiers brain'd:
At the inhabitants their fury lavish'd,
And in the open street, they females ravish'd,
Nay, child-bed women too; they slew the men
And fired o're their heads their houses then.
They massacred Divines, and burned down
The Christian Churches, and at last the town.

An. Chr. 1631.

Tilly and Pappenheim became a scourge
Unto the famous City Magdenburge:
Her goodly structures and aspiring Towers
Were burn'd down in the space of twice six hours.
Without the least respect to old and young,
Were six and twenty thousand slain burnt, slung
Into the river Elve: by sev'ral wayes
The torturers abridg'd poor Chrstians dayes.
Ladies and Gentlewomen yok'd together,
Forc'd into woods, in frosty snowy weather,
Were ravish'd there, strip'd, whip'd, and with a scoft
Dismiss'd, while others had their cars crop'd off.

An. Chr. 1634.

Hexter is taken, and the Popish rage
Hew'd all in pieces, either sex, and age,
All serv'd alike: what the flesh-eating sword
Had left unspoil'd, the greedy flame devour'd.
At Griphenburge the Senators were starv'd;
The Heidleburg-Divines and Bourgers serv'd
With onely bread and water. Like dogs not men
Were the Frankendales us'd. In Pomeren
The poor inhabitants were forc'd 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
The 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 rosted 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 ty'd 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 mones.
Had any ruptures? they enlarg'd their pain
By firing gunpowder: they faces plain
With chisels; and detesticle some men
I'th' presence of their wives and childeren.
Others, stark naked through the streets are drag'd,
VVounded 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-nigh dead: their bellies beyond measure
B'ing fill'd, did swell and so they dy'd by leasure.
Down others throats they knotted clouts constrain,
Then with a packthread, pull them up again,
To the displacing of their bowels; some
VVere by't made deaf, or blinde, or lame, or dum'b.
Some have their legs sawn off; and others have
Their members dislocated; those that crave
Gods blest assistance, are enforc'd to call
Unto the Dev'l for help, or none at all.
And if the husband pleaded for his wife,
Or the wife beg'd but for her husbands life,
They take the intercessor, and likewise
Excruciate him before the others eyes.
Of many by their hard frications
They bar'd 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; in stead of bread,
On roots and water, they were glad to feed.
And other some, stripp'd to the very skin,
Had not one sory ragg, to wrap them in.
Hence fruitful soils, were utterly destroy'd,
Cities, and towns, and villages left voyd,
Or sack'd; all the woods fell'd; the ground untill'd;
And ev'ry Church with desolation fill'd.
A Reverend Divine, bound to a table,
Was tortur'd by a cat. VVhat pen is able
To paint their beastliness? maids wives, chast dames,
They forc'd to prostrate to their lech'rous flames,
Friends looking on; yea, women great with child,
In child-bed too: the Churches they defil'd;
The Bedlam-houses, Hospitals also.
In Hessen land they let the women go,
After they ty'd about their ears their coats.
Dead corpses violated were. The Croats
Devour'd young infants, and the commons brain'd
On light occasions; scarce a man remain'd
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

Anno 1618.

For thirty daies together there appear'd;
God sent to those, which had so long abhor'd
His faithfull Pastors, and despis'd 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 storme,
Foretold by's Monsters, (so ill-befriended,)
And which this formidable sigre portended.
At Groningen a blazing Star hung forth,

Anno 1619.

One Army in the East and in the North
Another were engag'd and did contest
Till that was worsted, this obtain'd the best.

An. Chr. 1619.

At Wien water turn'd to blood; three Suns
Appear'd at once; the thundring of great guns
Was heard; two Armyes then by clear day-light

An. Chr. 1621.

Deeply engaging in a bloody fight.
At Wittemburgh and Darmstad, blood it rain'd.

An. Chr. 1622.

So much, that houses and stone walls were stain'd
Therewith; trees wept red drops besmear'd were then
The hands and sickles of the Harvest-men.
At Rat'sbone a strange tempest batt'red down

An. Chr. 1624.

Above four hundred houses in the town;
Kill'd onely four; it trees by th' roots up tore,
And all within a quarter of an hour.
Near Troppaw a great number of Jack Daws

An. Chr. 1625.

Eagerly fought with their adva'cd claws,
The battle lasted long and many Jacks
Fall'n down the country-men replenish'd sacks.
In lower Saxony a loaf of bread
Bought by a woman in the cutting bled.
During Magdenburge siege a captain's wife

An. Chr. 1631.

In child-bed dy'd, her body with a knife
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 fashion,
And by his side there hang'd a bullet-pouch.
At Altenburge, it any did but touch

Anno 1633.

A blood-turn'd stinking fish-pond, he not well
Could in three dayes wash off the stinking smell.

An. Chr. 1635.

Two Armyes of strange birds in Henssen fought;
A randevouz of dogs could not be brought
T'a peace; but seeing musqueteers, they joyn,
For all their guns beat them away, kill'd nine.

SECT. XXVII. The Persecution of the Church in France, which began Anno 1524.

At Melden, Pari, Fonutains, Lions, Rhone,
Many were put to death, some burn'd, some thrown
Into the liquid floods; into the fire
Others let down by pulleys, did expire;
Others with Oyl and brimstone were anointed,
Then burnt; many distong'd, disnos'd dis-joynted:
Some slander'd; some imprison'd were; some rack'd;
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;
VVhich 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 Panane one that educated youth,
At Paris dy'd for the professed truth.
John de Cadurco, a renown'd Divine,
Degraded was, and burnt at Limosine.
One John de Beck a Minister at Troyes,
Went through the fire unto eternal joyes.
At Rutiers, Stephen Brune for Christ his sake,
Adjudged was to suffer at the stake;
The fire was kindled, 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 Oyl-vessels, and more faggots too;
The wind continu'd, 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 condemn'd to die.
He was thrust through, and in the fire thrown down,
And his left ashes in the Air were strown.
At Bourdeaux, Aymond de Lavoy accus'd,
His friends advis'd his flight, but he refus'd.
Not so, said he, I shall be thought absurd
To feed men with vain dreams not Gods 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 spir't shall live, and that eternally.
He swowned, but recov'ring, said he,
Oh Lord, Lord, why hast thou forsaken me?
Nay, said the president, thou art mistook
Curs'd Lutherane, 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 prayes for us.
The Frier drew neer, and he (condemn'd) 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:
Labour to know what is Jehovahs will,
And fear not them that can the body kill,
Not hurt the soul: my flesh (too weak) withstands
My spir't; which Lord I give into thine hands.
With that he strangled was, his body burn'd,
His soul until the day of Doom adjourn'd.
One Bribard, to a Card'nal Secretary,
And William Husson an Apothecary
Had, for their scattering good books about,
And cleaving to the truth, their tongues cut out;
Then with a pully pulled up and down

Anno 1544.

Into the fire, they dy'd, but gain'd a crown.
James Cobard, having prov'd the Mass a fable,

Anno 1545.

Unto the quick nor dead not profitable,
Was at St. Michael burnt. Stephen Polliot

Anno 1546.

Suffred at Paris.

1547.

Michael Michelot
Was put unto his choice, either to turn
And lose his head, or persevere, and burn.
He answer'd, God who caus'd him not to tire,
Would give him patience to abide the fire.
Blondel a Merchant that profess'd Christs name,

Anno 1548.

Condemn'd at Paris, yeilded to the flame.

Anno 1549.

One Hubert, a young man, who did rely on
Christ Jesus merits, suffered at Dyion.
Anne Audeburt drag'd forth, said thus; This rope
My wedding-girdle is, wherewith I hope
To be conjoyn'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 confin'd to such a narrow place,
That he could neither stand (with ease) nor ly:
At last distongu'd, he in the fire did die.

Anno 1551.

One Thomas, a young man, was rack'd so long,
The hangman grew a weary: one among
Th' Inquis'tors wept. They bare him to be burn'd,
And asked him, if he would yet be turn'd.
To whom he said, Friends, I am in my way
To God, O do not hinder me I pray.
One Mathew Dimonel, Simon Laloe,

An. Chr. 1553.

And Peter Serre, did torments undergo.
Two men at Nivern, had their tongues pull'd out;

An. Chr. 1554.

Yet God was pleas'd to bring it so about,
That they spake plain, We bid the world, flesh, sin,
And devil farewel, never to meet agin;
Of brimstone, 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.

Anno 1557.

One Philbert Hamlin fed the cruel flame,
One Nicholas of Jenvil did the same.

An. Chr. 1558.

At Paris did a Christian congregation
Run through much sorrow: by the Mediation
Of the Palat'nate Prince, and Switzers, some
Of them (hardly) escaped Martyrdome.
In Dauphin, Provence, multitudes were kill'd;
In many other places blood was spill'd:
And yet the Church, the more it was supprest
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 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 Conde; not the least of favour
Was shew'd to any: they knock'd down and brain'd
Ten thousand persons: Sein's swift streams were stain'd
With the effused blood; the streets were pav'd
With mangled bodies, not a man was sav'd
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 mix'd with dying grones!
The Lords and Gentlemen were murthered
Some on their houses roofs, and some in bed.
In France (this persecution so encreas'd)
Were thirty thousand Massacred at least.
But let's to some particulars descend;
One Monsieur de la Place was brought t'his end.
And Peter Ramus with his life did part,
(The Kings Professor in that subtile Art)
Thrown from the chamber window, trail'd about
The streets, and whip'd, his bowels falling out.
A villain snatched up a little child,
Who toy'd, and played with his beard, and smil'd,
But he (hard hearted wretch! not mov'd at all,
Drew out his sword, and stabbed it withall,
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 kill'd themselves. Some had their grease
Try'd out and sold. They us'd such blasphemies:
Where's now your God? are Psalmes and Prayers come
To this? sure he is either deaf, or dumb.
Let him come save you, if he can: they cry'd,
Kill, kill them all, and let's the spoil divide.
What fearful shrikes, and outcries were there then
Caus'd by these Devils in the shapes of men?
What breaking up of doors? what noise of guns
At Orleance was there heard? confusion runs
In ev'ry street; what trampling of War-Horses?
Rumbling of Carts, that bore away dead coarses!
The Papists, in this massacre confess'd,
That they slew eighteen thousand at the least.
Some of them boasted in the streets aloud,
Th' nad dy'd their doublets in the Hug'nots blood.
At Tholouse, they the call'd-out pris'ners slay,
Not suffring them to speake, much less to pray.
VVhen the Parisian massacre was known,
At Bourdeaux the like cruelty was shown.
How sad was it to see poor Protestants
VVander now here, now there, and none their wants
Supply! Alas unparalelled woes!
Rejected by their friends, destroy'd by foes!

SECT. XXIX. The siege of Sancerre, Anno Christi, 1573.

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 bet
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 rack'd.
One was compell'd to ride upon an Asse,
His face turn'd to the tail, and he to pass
The market-place, holding in's hand the tail
As 'twere a bridle; some when food did fail
Were famished; others were ston'd, or drown'd;
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 shew'd no mercy there,
To Lords, 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 defence
At Sondres (yet for all they kept a pother)
They one destroyed now, and then another;
As if it had bin 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 refus'd
The Romish faith: to whom such words they us'd;
Madam, out of the tender love you bear
To your young infant, in your arms, give ear
To us, or else you shall be kill'd together.
But she undaunted, 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 deaths; 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 bar'd her brest,
And said, Here is the body; you may feast
Your swords therewith: to kill it you have power,
My soul is Gods, it can you not devour.
They slay the mother, and the infant spare,
Committing it t'a Popish nurses care.
Many that did refuse to go to Mass,
Were dragged to the mountaines tops (Alas!)
And thrown thence headlong down: for want of food
Others were famish'd; 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 Saviour Jesus Christ alone.
As for the Virgin Mary, 'tis confest
She is above all other women blest;
Yet is she not omniscient, and therefore
Knowes not what we request, what we implore:
Yea she her self her own son's merits needed,
And had bin damn'd, had he not interceeded.
Christ hath despis'd the cross, endur'd 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 Governour,
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 kill'd a man, and's wife. A cradled child
Fair and well-favour'd, in their faces smil'd;
They took her by the heels (not mov'd 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 answer'd; 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 profest,
And upon sublunary creatures rest.
Shall mens traditions, or Gods 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 honourable stock, became
An able Minister; his holy zeal
Did the despised Mysteries reveal
To hood-wink'd souls, so long untill at last
Th' enraged Bishops him in prison cast:
And after condemnation, he was brought
To execution; his cap, gown, and coat,
He gave t'his servant and exhorted him
To venture all for Christ; yea, life and lim.
Bound to the stake, he cry'd, 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 Fryar then; Unto our Lady pray;
Salve Regina, say, &c. Away, away,
Satanick Imps; God hears me in the flame.
His soul went up to heav'n to praise Gods Name.
Straton converted, said, O Lord I have
Bin wicked, and deserv'd 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 us'd
To one Dean Porret (whom the Fry'rs accus'd:)
My joy, Dean Thomas, I do love thee well,
And therefore take the liberty to tell
Thee of thy faults; I am inform'd 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 tythes, 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 found
A good Epistle and Gospel, to expound
The liberty of holy Church express'd
Therein, and 'tis no matter for the rest.
Thomas reply'd: My Lord, if I abstain
From tythes, 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 pleas'd 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've read them over all, and finde not one
That's bad amongst them; shew me where they lie,
And at your shewing I will pass them by.
I bless God, said the Bishop, I ne're knew
What was the Testament nor old nor new:
And I will not know any thing at all,
Saving my Portvise, and Pontifical.
Go, go your wayes, 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 Gods 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 rais'd, Religion's raies
Shone forth in Scotland, in those worst of daies:
Partly by reading (comfort flowing thence)
And partly by fraternal conference;
Which so enrag'd the Papists, that they came
And burnt four noted persons in one flame;
One Jerom Russet, that profest the truth,
And Alexander Kennedy, a youth,
Were brought to Judgement: Kennedy's heart panted
For fear at first, and would have fain recanted.
But when no hopes was left, God's Spirit reviv'd
His drooping soul; yea inward comforts striv'd
To shew themselves, both in his face and tongue:
Then falling on his knees, these words out sprung:
Great God! What love hast thou to all express'd,
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 Saviour,
T'have plung'd my self all over head and ears
In everlasting flames, (unquench'd with tears)
Thy right hand hath not suffer'd me to dwell
With the black subjects of the Prince of hell:
And I, that was of late with fear opprest,
Enjoy by thee a joy-enamel'd brest.
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 Jerom, who
Said also unto them, Miscal us, do;
This is your hour and power to command;
Yee sit as Judges, we as guilty stand:
But know, a day will come shall clear our blame,
And yee (curs'd yee) 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 condemn'd to die,
But Jerom comforted young Kennedy:
Brother (said he) fear not, he that indwels
Our souls, him that is in the world excels;
The pain we here indure is light and short,
But we shall have unfading glory for't.
O strive we then (though many rubs annoy)
To enter in unto our Masters joy:
And, with our Saviour, pass the narrow road
Which few shall finde; the way to hell is broad.
We die for Christ, and Christ hath death subdu'd,
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, breath'd up their souls to God.

Anno 1543.

At Edenburgh the cruel Card'nal Beton
Hang'd some, upon suspicion they had eaten
Goose on a Friday; and above the rest,
A woman with her suckling at her brest,
He drown'd for being scrupulous and wary
Of making prayers to the Virgin Mary.
He sent into exile some Christian brothers;
And at St. Johnstons he imprison'd 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 surrendred up
His soul unto its donour. God fulfill'd

Anno 1546.

His prophesy, the Cardinal was kill'd.
One Henry Wallace, as an Heretick

Anno 1550.

Condemned to be burnt, was burned quick.
One Henry Forr'st, betrayed by a Fryar,

Anno 1553.

Was burnt, and had the end of his desire.
Said Ol'phant to one Walter Mill, who pray'd,
Rise up Sir Walter. Prayers don, he said,
My name is Walter if you call me right,
I have bin too too long a Popish Knight,
Ben't there sev'n Sacraments? Give me but two
Said he, and all the rest I leave to you.
Wilt thou recant? he answer'd, I am corn,
Not chaff, and will not be i'th' 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 confess'd, that I have bin
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 honour me so farr, as (in this place)
To make me seal (what others not withstood,)
His truth's profession with my dearest blood.
Dear friends as you'd escape eternal doom,
And live still happy in the life to come,
Let not Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors,
Seduce you any more, for they are Lyars.
Trust God alone, O alwayes make his power
Your rock, your bulwark of defence, your tower.
So slep'd he in the Lord: and was the last
In Scotland that the fi'ry tryal past.

SECT. XXXII. The Persecution of the Church in Ireland, Anno Christi 1642.

The factious Archbishops, Abbots, Pryors,
False Jesuites, 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 publick prayers recommended
The good success of their designes, which tended,
To the advancement of the Cath'lick cause,
And told the people 'twas no time to pause.
Their nation over-run with hereticks;
Call'd Protestants sworn foes to Catholicks;
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!
Romes Doctrine they pretended to suppress,
And root out those that did the same profess;
They Laws would make, they thought, should under-trample
All Pop'ry, after Englands good example.
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,
'Twill save them from the pains of Purgatory:
None that spake English the least mercy found;
The English language was a loathed sound:
All are resolv'd to scowre the Irish borders
From these supposed Authors of disorders.
Poor Protestants! some were to exile packt;
Some kill'd; '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 destroy'd
In Ireland, and their habitation voyd,
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 rogues and whores,
Leave not a rag on, turn them out of doors.
So now they shelter them; but woods and caves
Sha'n't be their dwellings, but shall be their graves,
Whom wee'l—But many by the high-wayes side,
For want of sustenance fell down, and dy'd:
And many thousands that for succour 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 ake.
In Armagh, 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 drag'd thro bogs;
Young children thrown to be devour'd by dogs.
If any chanc'd to beg but leave to pray,
And kneeled down, they lost their heads straight-way
Some in dark dungeons lie; others half slain,
Earnestly beg'd to be rid out of pain.
They cover'd some alive with dirt, and stones,
And laugh'd, to hear their lamentable grones.
Some were from bridges, into rivers flung;
Others, on tenter-hooks by the chin hung:
They hang'd 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 forc'd to kill fathers, and mothers;
Parents, their childeren; 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 dig'd up, th' alive in cauldrons boil'd.
Some had their hands cut off, and eyes pluck'd out;
Many were left alive, their guts about
Their very heels: and of some's grease and fat
Candles were made; while others rosted at
Slack fires: Nay, boys and women were employ'd
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 kill'd at Killmore and Killoman.
An ancient dame, which towards Dublin went,
Was strip'd in one day seven times, and sent
To seek her God, and to her God complain,
And bid him if he could, cloath her again:
All mercy was exil'd; these murth'rous Cains:
Brain'd some; stab'd others with their swords, forks, skeins.
Thousands of Protestants in snowy weather
Turn'd out stark naked, perish'd all together,
Through cold and hunger; many that were sick,
Were drag'd out of their beds, and hang'd up quick.
One Goodwife Lin, they hanged in the Air,
And then the daughter by the mothers hair.
Upon a day a Cittadel they fir'd
Over the Christians heads therein retir'd;
And thus express'd 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 fir'd it, boasting how it did enhance
Their spirits to see the English jade so dance:
They stab'd Jane Addis, and her young child stuck
T'her brest, and said, Suck English bastard, suck.
If any hid themselves in cellars, caves,
They all were murther'd by these hell-sent slaves;
Who made their boast, they pleas'd 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 dash'd them on the owners faces; some
They stamp'd 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 turne;
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 stabb'd; but he that acted
The vill'ny, grew immediately distracted.
At Glascow fifty 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 flash, hew, hack, and pellet them with stones.
They forc'd some in the Sea (swoln big with waves)
To take possession of those watry graves.
In Sligo, forty Protestants were strip'd,
And lock'd 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 knock'd down.
About Dungannon, Tyrone, Charlemount,
Hundreds were slain upon the same account.
An Irish Quean kill'd forty five: Mac Crew
No less then thirty in one morning slew.
There were above twelve thousand knock'd at head
In the high-wayes, as towards Down they fled.
These rogues a Scotch-mans belly did divide,
And having one end of his smal guts tide
Unto a tree, they forc'd 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 kill'd
Above six hundred at Gravagh; and fill'd
Whole houses with the slain; brain'd 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, stretch'd a rope.
In Munster, many eminent Divines
They hanged up. Alas! what woful signs
Poor children made for bread; but they must fast
Or feed on grass, and then be brain'd at last.
Dear hearts! in what inextricable woes
Are they involv'd? inexorable foes
On ev'ry side to bring them to their ends;
'Tis sad to hear wives, children, servants, friends,
Send to the ayr their stormy sighs, and grones,
Their shrieks, their cries and lamentable mones!
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 knocking down? (said one) my arm's so sore
I cannot lift it up, to brain one more.
Another bragg'd, that he abroad had bin,
And of the English rogues had kill'd sixteen:
Others so many kill'd, that they believ'd,
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 bogs;
The daye's our own, we'll wound their beasts therefore;
Oh 'tis a gallant thing to hear them rore!
Thus have we had a tast of what befel
The Protestants: now they that did rebel
Have ever since by the just hand of God
Bin soundly scourg'd with his severer rod;
He so emasculates their spirits in fight,
That handfuls put innum'rous foes to flight;

Anno 1650.

Thousands of them have perish'd by the sword;
As many, if not more, the plague devour'd:
The Lord still fights for his; and will, no doubt,
Utterly root up that rebellious rout.

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 Reigne.

THE PERSECUTIONS Of the Church of England,

From the first planting of the Gospel, to the end of Queen Maries 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 preach'd to the Britains, in what year
The Gospel first took root, is past my skill,
Since Authors cite them with a diff'ring Quill.
Some say Zelotes preach'd here first of all;
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 proffer'd Gospel, as the means of grace:
Converted, and baptiz'd, they overturn'd
Th' Idol'trous Temples, and the Altars burn'd:
All superstitious rites they laid aside,
Advancing Christ: the Scripture was their guide,
And onely 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 dy'd,
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 usurp'd the crown, and did o'rewhelm
With misery and ruine the whole Realm.
Sometimes th' Idol'trous Romans bore the sway;
Sometimes the Christian Britans 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 Englands 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-tir'd
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 enjoy'd content:
Which peace continu'd till the Arrian Sect
The novelty-affectors did infect.
Hereat God raised up the Picts and Scots
(Two barb'rous nations) and to them alots
The Victors wreath: poor England was opprest,
And did for many years enjoy no rest.
Which made them send Embassadors 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 builded 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-fields waste,
And bare down all before them as they past.
The Britans send their Legates unto Rome
A second time; the sent-for souldiers come
And vanquish'd them; the rest put to disorders,
Enforcedly desert the British borders.
Which done, they told the Britans 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 your selves, and exercise
In Warlike feats (said they) if yee 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 farewel
Of Britany, the Picts and Scots soon fell
On the re-builded walls, and put to flight
The trembling Britains, not train'd up to fight.
They that stood out were barb'rously destroy'd;
And all their goods the enemies enjoy'd.
Lo an Aceldama of blood! what store
Of slaughtred Carkasses, ev'n swim in gore!
Rome b'ing again solicited to send
Relief, refus'd; the Britains in the end
Took heart to grass, when earthly comforts fail'd
Sought God, and 'gainst their enemies prevail'd;
Gave them the total rout; the Picts began
To keep their bound, save onely now and than
They inroads made into the Land; the Land
At last became under her own command.
The ground was now manur'd; the Lord did bless
Th' industrious Britains with a large encrease
Of full-ear'd corn, that such abundant store
Scarce ever in the Land was seen before.
But Oh! mans sinful heart! this Peace, this Quiet,
This Plenty, led them to excess, and riot,
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 judgements 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,
Judgements prove Shooing-horns to greater crimes.
They wax still worse and worse; the Laity chose,
And Clergy too, to live like ranc'rous foes,
Gods thundring 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 Britains with ill-neighbours 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, conquer'd them; at length,
The Saxons knowing their sufficient strength
To over-pow'r the weaker Britains, 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 destroy'd:
The Ministers, the while they were employ'd
In Divine service, were of lives depriv'd,
And rev'rend Bishops with their flocks disliv'd.
Some left their country and beyond Seas fled;
Some on the mountaines tops were murthered.
Some pin'd with hunger, creeping from their caves,
Were soon dispatch'd, or made perpetual slaves.
The English Nobles summoned to treat
Concerning peace, did on a fix'd time meet
At Almsbury; but by the faithless train
Of Saxons, were most treacherously slain
At Stoneheng; and, that they were bury'd there,
The yet-remaining monuments declare.
Now when the Britans found no other way
Lay open to redress, they fell to pray.
A fast was call'd, 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 Gods hand appearing glorious,
They went out prosp'rous, and return'd Victorious.
At last Aurelian with poyson dead,
Uter Pendragon reigned in his stead:
He bidding battail to the enemy,
Two of their Chieftains took; who scaping fly
To Belgia for more aid; and in the mean
The Saxons flock'd 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 renew'd
Came o're again; the Britans are subdu'd;
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 souldiers then, they (under God) obtain
The Victors wreath: Octa and Cosa slain.
Soon ever this great Victory was won,
Uter of poyson dy'd; 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 reign enjoy'd; yet while
They were at Peace with others, they agin
Returning to their loathed wayes 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 procur'd
The wrath of God (too great to be endur'd)
Driv'n out of house and home, no ease, no rest
They found; the Saxons had the Land possest,
And turn'd out all the Christian Divines.
So done, they did in the usurp'd confines,
The Heptarchy erect: These Kings did smother
All peace, fell out and warr'd with one another:
Till disempowr'd, they could not well defend
Themselves, much less with enemies contend.
King Lucius was the first that did receive

Anno 180.

The Gospel, and in Jesus Christ believe:
From which time (as't in Chronicles appears)
It staid in Britain full four hundred years:
One hundred fourty and three years Gods word

Anno 598.

Grew cold; but Austins comming it restor'd.
Some English children being brought to Rome,
There to be sold, Gregory chanc'd to come
Into the market-place: when his fix'd sight
Saw in their lovely cheeks pure red and white
Contend for Mastership, he much admir'd
At their so sweet complexions, and enquir'd
What country they were of; then being told
That they were English heathens, to be sold
For slaves: here's choice enough, if any wants,
Said he, 'tis pity such inhabitants,
So fair, and so Angelical, should dwell
As subjects to the sooty Prince of hell.
Inform'd their Province Deira was; said he, I
Could wish them Manu-miss'd De ira Dei.
And further, being given to understand,
That one nam'd Alle rul'd the British land;
There, there, saith he, ought Praises to be given
And Allelujah's to the King of heaven.
He also had a great desire to go
To England, and there preach: but Rome said, no.
Pelagius dy'd: he in his room assign'd
Romes Bishop, calling his intent to minde:

Anno 590.

Austin, and forty more Divines, he sent
To undertake this work: they land in Kent,
At Thanets fertile Isle: King Ethelbert,

Anno 186.

In Canterbury City, they convert,
And did baptize: by whose example, many
Dayly came in, the King enforc'd 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 labours with desir'd 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, nor be puft up at all
By those great miracles, which did befall
The English Church: For why? for this intent,
God onely us'd him, as an instrument.
Ascribe all, Austin, to God's pow'r Divine;
His be the glory, and the praise, not thine:
And when thy heart t'ebullulate begins,
O think upon thy God-offending sins,
And that will humble thee: all Gods elect
Have of themselves no power to effect
A miracle like this; and yet heav'ns 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 seduc'd, misguided English nation.
If I might be so worthy to advise,
The Temples built for heath'nish sacrifice
I would not have demolish'd, but th' abuse
Remov'd, converted to another use.
God go along with you, and lest you stumble
Through pride, and glory, keep you alwayes humble, &c,
He an Epistle also did direct
Unto the King, which was to this effect:
He first prais'd 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 Saviour,
Who holds forth life to those that will receive
It freely, and in's promises believe.
And lastly, he intreats his gifts may finde
Acceptance, coming from a willing minde.
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, pray'd 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 inform'd, they pray'd
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 reveng'd: the bloody Tyrant's kill'd
In fight by Christian Edwin, who obtain'd
The crown, and the Christ-builded faith maintain'd.
The Idols, and the Altars he destroy'd,
Making all ancient ceremonies voyd.
He caused brazen dishes to be tide
By ev'ry fountain in the High-wayes side,
That so each passenger without controul,
Might be refreshed with a liberal boul:
He alwayes carried himself propitious
Unto the good, but rig'rous to the vitious:
So that a woman charg'd 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 dy'd in fight:
His Christian Subjects felt the worst of woes,
Nay, cruelst deaths, by those insulting foes.
The Queen, her daughter, and Paulinus went,
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 procur'd
Aidanus Bishop; and the King inur'd
To Scoth, himself interpreted the words
Aidanus preach'd, unto his noble Lords
And Subjects in their mother tongue, more known
To them then the exotique Scotish tone.
He to the poor was so compassionate,
That when on Easter-day at meat they sate
And serv'd in silver, he was told the poor
Stood flocking thick and threefold at the door
He caused them for to be serv'd in state
With his own food, taking a silver plate,
And straight-way breaking it in pieces small,
Distribute it he did amongst them all.
Aidanus seeing this, admir'd, 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 rais'd 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 call'd, nor was the diff'rence ended,
Wolferus now a license having gain'd,
Converted the south-Saxons; then there rain'd
Abundant showrs which fertiliz'd the land
Laine barren for three years: thus Gods good hand
Appeared in a plenteous increase;
He sent his Gospel, with his Gospel-peace.
Thus the South-Saxons, with the Isle of Wight,
Did last of all embrace the Gospels light.
About this time the Roman Church disown'd
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 turn'd to errour, Piety to vainness,
Zeal to contempt, Religion to profaness.
Because their iterated crimes did urge
Gods 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 nam'd, 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 t'utterly destroy.
They whosoe're they met, man, woman, child,
Kill'd or enslaved, and the Churches spoil'd.
They sacked Canterbury, in which place
Above nine thousand souls they did uncase.
Throughout the Land their cruelty was such,
Of blood they thought they could not shed too much.
This Isle was subject to a forreign power,
Till freed by William the Conquerour.
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, retain'd not all this while
Its Prim'tive splendour, but grew more obscure,
More superstitious, and no less impure;
Yet in those Pristine dayes, the peoples crimes
Were not equivalent to after-times.
The Church now being in the desarts hid,
Affraid to shew 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 urg'd,
They were imprison'd, hang'd, and burnt, and scourg'd
About the streets, or branded in the forehead,
With an Heret'cal character: O horrid!
Yet many did most readily embrace
Their Doctrine, as the onely meanes of grace:
That man of sin, that offspring of perdition
Renounc'd, and all the wayes of superstition.
God still preserv'd a Church unto his name,
From Christs time, till the time that Luther came.

Anno 1518.

John Patrick Engina, when Alfred reign'd,
The first Reader in Oxford was ordein'd:

Anno 884.

He wrote a book about the Sacrament,
For which a Martyrs death he underwent.
They branded in the face, and banish'd some

Anno 960.

Divines at Oxford, who declam'd 'gainst Rome.
One Arnold there they butcher'd, who decry'd
Against the Priests lewd lives, and Prelates pride.

Anno 1126.

In Henry's reign the second of that name,
Thirty Waldenses into England came,

Anno 1160.

Gerard their Pastor; and without all pity,
Were whipped publickly through Oxford City;
They singing all the while, Blessed are yee,
When you shall hated, and misused be, &c.
With want and cold, they dy'd; none might afford
Them any comfort, nor at bed nor board.
Gualdo who 'gainst the priests invectives wrote,

Anno 1170.

And also Doctor Gilbert Foliot,
Who oft blam'd Thomas Becket to his face,
Were persecuted much: to them a grace.
Sylvester Gyrald by his writings rears
Such Hornets up, as fall about his ears.

Anno 1200.

One Alexander, for his bitter stile
Banish'd by Langton, died in exile.

Anno 1207.

Ashton fellow of Merton colledge went
Into perpetual imprisonment.
One William Sawtre, Thorp, and Swinderby,
With sundry more Divines condemn'd, did die
Under the Christian Banner, and their spirits

Anno 1382.

Pass'd into glory through Christ Jesus merits.
And now because my Muse finds nothing new
But onely 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 appear'd not very clear
Until the fifteen hundred eighteenth year,
Wherein God pleased to unbosome night,

Anno 1518.

The Art of Printing being brought to light;
Which furnished the Church with useful books,
And made them to discerne Religions looks
From superstition, (as in a mirrour;)
Substantial Truth, from counterfeited errour.
God also rais'd 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 Gods vineyard faithful labourers;
Then Martin Luther, and his followers,
By Gods appointment came into this nation,
To work his Church t'a fuller Reformation.

Anno 1519.

Six persons suff'red death at Coventry,
Onely for teaching of their family
The Lords pray'r, ten commandments, and the creed,
I'th' English tongue. Severity indeed!

Anno 1523.

One Thomas Harding on an Easter day,
When others worship'd Idols, went to pray
Within a silent grove; where apprehended,
Condemn'd, and burnt, his soul to heaven ascended.
At London one John Raimond was abjur'd;

Anno 1528.

Who fifteen hundred Testaments procur'd
Of Antwerp Print, and brought five hundred over
Into this Isle, the darkness to discover.
One Sigar Nicholson was hung up by

Anno 1529.

The privy members: and the reason why,
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,

Anno 1530.

After a tedious imprisonment,
Was over to the sec'lar power turn'd,
And by them in the Town of Maidstone burn'd.
Cardinal Woolsy persecuted sore

Anno 1531.

Bilny, Lome, Garret, Barnes, and many more.
One Richard Bayfield, was from Lollards tower

Anno 1532.

Deliver'd over to the sec'lar power,
And after bound at stake; when with the flame
His left arm burned was, he rubb'd the same
With his right hand so hard, that down it fell:
He pray'd 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 clog'd 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!

A. 1530.

An Idol nam'd The Rood of Dover Court,
Was burnt, and some in chains were hanged for't.
Now suffer'd Andrew Hewet, and John Frith.
One Thomas Bennet, who was cursed with
Bell, Book, and Candle, fastned to the stake,
And fir'd a comfortable end did make.
The Papists to their power the truth supprest,
And Persecuted those that it profest:
But God was pleas'd deliverance to bring
To his afflicted Saints; for now the King
Divorc'd the Lady Katharine of Spain,
And took to wife Lady Anne Bullen. Vain
Were all the Popes projects; none in this nation
Might now enforced 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 raile against the Gospels light,
Calling it Heresy; her ranc'ous spight
She vented to the King and Queens dishonour.
By Satan back'd, she also took upon her
T'advance Rome's Doctrine, praising constitutions
Idol'try, Pilgrimages, Absolutions, &c.

Anno 1533.

But Doctor Cranmer, with the Lord Cromwel,
And Mr. Latimer, did wisely smell

Anno 1534.

Out all the knavery; so that the Nun
And her associates hang'd, their dayes were don.

Anno 1536.

Though England did the Popish pow'r disown,
Yet Popery still hover'd up and down:
And William Tindal was betraid, arrain'd,
Condemn'd and burned for the Truth maintain'd.
Anne Bullen also, that Religious Queen,
(Who now about three yeers 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 Vertuous 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 pow'r 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 Bullen begs, Anne Bullen 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 dayes tarried,
But) to the Lady Jane Seymor was married.
About this time, (which God to pass did bring)
Lord Cromwel grew in favour with the King:
By whose advise, and sage deliberation,
The Church was brought unto a reformation.

Anno 1538.

The Kings injunctions all abroad made known,
Idol'trous Images were overthrown:
Our Ladies at Walsingham, Worcester,
Ipswich, and Thomas Becket's image, were
Cast down; with others, which had long deceiv'd
The silly people, who indeed believ'd
They liv'd; for they (by secret Engines found)
Could open, shut their eyes, and roll them round.
The same year (as Lord Cromwel, did advise)
Abbeys were ruin'd and Monasteries.
A little after, for opposing Rome,
Mr. John Lambert suff'red Martyrdome.
Packington Collins, Leiton, Puttedew,
Peck, Doctor Barnes, Garret, and Heirom too,
Two eminent Divines, the Lord Cromwel,
Great Essex Earl, all for the truths sake fell.
Yea all the prisons, within London walls
Were fill'd, and many were enclos'd in Halls,
By vertue of an Act for prohibition
Of truth, and countenancing superstition.

Anno 1541.

John Porter, unto New-gate Dungeon sent
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 dayes expir'd, he breath'd his last.
At Lincoln Bishop Longland took away
James Morton, Thomas Bernard, in one day.
One Mr. Barber, who the truth deny'd,
With sorrow wore away until he dy'd.
One Testwood, Person, Filmore, tost and turn'd

Anno 1544.

Under afflictions hand, at last were burn'd
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 ty'd
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 bretheren rejoyce
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 spir't might be receiv'd.
Person (said thus) tricking with straw his head,
This is Gods hat, now I am dress'd indeed,
Like a true souldier of Christ, by whom
This day into his joy I trust to come.
And so they suffer'd with such constancy,
That many with them could afford to die.
The Lord Lisle, Thomas Brooks, James Cook, Ralph Hare,
James Barber, Mr. Smith, John Butler, bare
The cross of Christ. Said Rockwood, Bad's my state
I can't repent, All too late, all too late.
The under-Marshal fell upon the floor,
I'th' Councel-room, and never spake word more.
One Richard Mekins, that had scarce out-worn
The fifteenth year, they did in Smithfield burn.

Anno 1541.

Two labouring men, there was at Callice Martyr'd;
And Mr. Damslip was hang'd, drawn and quarter'd.
Button, was persecuted; Mr. Dod
Resign'd up in the flame his soul to God.
One Mr. Saxie, to his end was brought,

Anno 1546.

By Gardiner's appointment, as 'twas thought.
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 rack'd
Her body till her very bowels crack'd:
Nay, when her bones and joynts were pluck'd asunder,
She praised God and pray'd; (to all a wonder)
Then the Lord Chanc'ller sent her word that burn'd
She should be, if she chang'd not: she return'd
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 o'recome 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 minde
The things that do belong unto their peace
In this their day, lest 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.
So slep'd she in the Lord, and in Gods eyes

Anno 1546.

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 Tailour, burning undergon.
The same year, Bishop Gardiner did bring
Malicious accusations to the King
Against Queen Kath'rin Parre (supposing all
The boughs would wither, if the stock did fall)
In that she gave her minde (which was unfit)
To read and meditate on Sacred Writ.
And Chaplains kept seditions to rear,
None b'ing deny'd the priviledge 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 nourish'd such a Viper in his brest.
The Kings love turn'd to hate; and now the Queen
Must die the death: but Prov'dence stept between;
The plot's found out; she wisely did behave her:
The King receiv'd her to his wonted favour.
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 us'd to call him:) yea, said he, I know,
Had not your Majesty been more enclin'd
To save my life, (such was your Royal minde)
Then were your Bishops to reak out their teen;
Your Pig, I'm sure, e're this had rosted been.
Streight after, Winchester, and his complices
(Sworn foes to Vertues, 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 abolish'd quite.
This done, said they, So, now the Gospels lain
So low that it shall never rise again;
And for the greater terrour, strict inquest
They made for those that verity profest:
Of many pricked down the names; of whom,
They some expelled, and imprison'd 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, dispers'd their foes:
Amidst 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 decai'd, the Church of God was nourish'd
With the full breasts of Peace, the Gospel spred
And superstition was abolished:
Onely 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 suddain 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 joyned in fraternal love,
Nothing fell out amiss; but when they strove,
(Spur'd on by make-bates) unto one another
They prov'd destructive; and the younger brother
Attainted, was condemn'd, and lost his head
On Tower-hill: hence insurrections bred.

Anno 1549.

The Lords, 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 alwayes to this Realm have born a brest
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 favour great;
And do you all most heartily entreat
To joyfully receiv't, 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 suppos'd, 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 gain'd,
He said, Dear friends, Pardon is not obtain'd
As you conceive; God otherwise is bent;
His will be done, and we must be content.
Let's joyn in prayer, that safety may pursue
The King, t'whom loyal I have bin. 'Tis true,
The people cryed 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.
Farewel, farewel, he lay him down, and spoke

A. 1552.

Christ save me, thrice: the hangman gave the stroke.

SECT. VII. The Persecution of the English Church under the Reign of Queen Mary.

Sommoner.
O now I know your minde, y'are one of them
That slight the Queen, and her decrees contemn;
But you and others, must a new leaf turn,
Or else I fear me, you'l go neer to burn.

Hunter.
Pray God I build my faith on his word still,
And his great name confess, come what come will.

Sommoner.
Confess his name? No, no, you'l in a mess
All to the Devil go, and him confess.
Then step't the Somm'ner forth, and fetch'd a Priest,
The Vicar of that place, a drunken beast,
VVho finding William Hunter at his Book,
Rebuk'd him for't, and ask'd if he could brook
The Doctrine well of Transubstantiation:
Hunter made answer it had no relation
Unto the truth reveal'd: 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.
VVherefore to them he said, The words I speak
Are spirit, and life, and not as flesh so weak.
Ah! quoth the Vicar, have I found you out?
Thou art an Her'tick now, without all doubt, &c.

Hunter.
VVhereas you of my faith do question make,
I would we two were fastned to the stake,
To prove whether of us should closest stick
Unto our faith, and which was Heretick, &c.

Hunter.
Sir you have got
What you desir'd; I pray God it be not
Laid to your charge, but I forgiv'n you have,
Said Brown,

Brown.
That's more then at your hands I crave.

Hunter.
If God forgive you not, I tell you true,
This blood of mine shall be requir'd 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 turn'd 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 gon:
Good folk beware of them, for Jesus sake;
Who of their sins, shall of their plagues partake.

Brown.
Marke what I say, as thou burn'st in this fire,
So shalt thou burn in hell.

Hu.
Thou art a lyar.
False Prophet hence, from me away be gon:

Hauks.
Sir, is not that sufficient to save?

Bishop.
Yes, but not to instruct: that I may have

H.
Salvation to my God, I humbly sue,
As for instruction, that I leave to you.

B.
Shall your child be baptiz'd, you not look o're?

H.
I had such councel given me before.

B.
Why we can have it done, if we be bent,

H.
True, but you never shall, with my consent.

B.
I'd Gladly do thee good, save thee from hell;
I am thy pasture and would teach thee well.

H.
I'll stand to what I said, you shall not finde
My resolutions waver like the winde.

B.
I am the bread of life, the Scripture saith,
And this bread is my flesh; is this thy faith?

H.
'Tis so, I will believe what Scriptures say.

B.
Well, let's to Evensong.

H.
There I'll not pray,
I'm best when furthest off from such resort:
And so he walked forth into the Court.

B.
What thinke you of the Altar's Sacrament?

H.
Excuse me, for I nere knew what it meant.

B.
But we will make you know't, when we begin,
Faggots shall make you do't.

H.
Faggots? a pin
For all your faggots, you no more can do
Then God permits you, and no further go.

SECT. Ult. God's Judgements upon the Persecutors of his Church and children.

Is not destruction to the wicked, and strange Judgements to the Workers of iniquity?

It's a Righteous thing with God, to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you that are troubled, rest with us.