An Account of the Lives, Sufferings, and Mar­tyrdom, of the APOSTLES, EVANGE­LISTS, &c.

I. ST. STEPHEN.

THE Proto, or first martyr, was elected, with six others, as a deacon, out of the Lord's se­venty disciples. Stephen was an able and success­ful preacher. The principal persons belonging to five Jewish synagogues entered into many alterca­tions with him; but he, by the soundness of his doctrine, and the strength of his arguments, over­came them all, which so much irritated them, that they suborned false witnesses to accuse him of blas­pheming God and Moses. Being carried before the council, he made a noble defence, but that so much exasperated his judges, that they resolved to condemn him. At this instant Stephen saw a vision from heaven of Jesus, in his glorified state, sitting at the right hand of God. This vision so greatly rejoiced him, that he exclaimed in raptures, "Be­hold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." They then condemned him, and having dragged him out of the city, stoned him to death. On the spot where he was martyred, Eudocia, the empress of the emperor Theodosius, erected a superb church.

THE death of Stephen was suc [...]eded by a severe persecution in Jerusalem, in which 2000 christians, with Nicar the deacon, were martyred; and many others obliged to leave the place.

II. ST. JAMES the GREAT, a Galilean, was the son of Zebedee, a fisherman, the elder brother of St. John, and a relation to Christ himself; for his mother Salome was cousin-german to the virgin Mary. Being one day with his father fishing in the sea of Galilee, he, and his brother John, were called by our Saviour to become his disciples. They chearfully obeyed the mandate, and leaving their father, followed Jesus. It is to be observed, that Christ placed a greater confidence in them, than in any other of the apostles, Peter excepted.

CHRIST called these brothers Boanerges, or the sons of thunder, on account of their fiery spirits, and impetuous tempers.

HEROD Agrippa, being made governor of Judea by the emperor Caligula, raised a persecution against the christians, and particularly singled out James as an object of revenge.

JAMES, being condemned to death, shewed such an intrepidity of spirit, and constancy of mind, that his very accuser was struck with admiration, and became a convert to christianity. This transition [Page 10] so enraged the people in power, that they likewise condemned him to death; when James the apostle, and his penitent accuser were both beheaded on the same day, and with the same sword. These events took place in the year of Christ 44.

MUCH about the same period, Timon and Par­menas, two of the seven deacons, suffered martyr­dom; the former at Corinth, and the latter at Phi­lippi, and Macedonia.

III. ST. PHILIP. This apostle and martyr was born at Bethsaida, in Galilee, and was the first called by the name of Disciple. He was honoured with several important commissions by Christ, and being deputed to preach in Upper Asia, laboured very diligently in his apostleship. He then travel­led into Phryg [...]a, and arriving at Heliopolis, was greatly grieved to find the inhabitants so sunk in ido­latry, as to worship a large serpent. St. Philip, however, converted many of them to christianity, and even procured the death of the serpent. This so enraged the magistrates, that they committed him to prison, had him severely scourged, and af­terwards crucified. His friend, St. Bartholomew, found an opportunity of taking down the body, and burying it; for which, however, he was very near suffering the same fate. His martyrdom happened eight years after that of St. James the great, A. D. 52.

IV. ST. MATTHEW. This evangelist, a­postle, and martyr, was born at Nazareth in Gali­lee, but resided chiefly at Capernaum, on account of his business, which was that of a toll-gatherer, to collect tribute of such as had occasion to pass the sea of Galilee. On being called as a disciple▪ he immediately complied, and left every thing to fol [...]low Christ. After the ascension of his master, he continued preaching the gospel in Judea about nine years. Designing to leave Judea▪ in order to go and preach among the Gentiles, he wrote his gospel in Hebrew, for the use of the Jewish c [...]nvert [...]; but it was afterwards translated into [...] by St. James the less. Going to Ethiopia he ordained preachers, settled churches, and m [...]de many con­verts. He then proceeded to [...], where he had the same success; but returning to [...]t [...]i [...]pia, he was slain by a h [...]lbert in the city of [...], a [...]bout the year of Christ [...]0. He was [...] inoffensive in his conduct, and temperate in his mode of living.

V. ST. MARK. This evangelist and martyr was [...] Jewish parents, of the tribe of Levi. It is imagined, that he was converted to christianity by St. Peter, whom he served as an amanuensis, and whom he attended in all his travels. Being en­treated by the converts at Rome to commit to writ­ing the admirable discourses they had heard from St. Peter and himself: this request he complied with, and composed his gospel accordingly, in the Greek language. He then went to Egypt, and constituted a bishopric at Alexandria: afterwards he proceeded to Lybia, where he made many con­verts. Returning to Alexandria, some of the E­gyptians exasperated at his success, determined on his death. To accomplish this they tied his feet, dragged him through the streets, left him to remain, bruised as he was, in a dungeon all night, and the next day burned his body. This happened on the 25th of April. His bones were carefully gather­ed up by the christians, decently interred, and af­terwards removed to Venice, where he is considered as the titular saint, and patron of the state.

VI. ST. JAMES the Less. This apostle and martyr was called so, to distinguish him from St. James the great. He was the son, by a first wi [...], of Joseph, the reputed father of Christ: he was, after the Lord's ascension, elected bishop of Jeru­salem: he wrote his general epistle to all christians, and converts whatever, to suppress a dangerous error then propagating, viz. "That a faith in Christ was alone sufficient for salvation, without good works." The Jews being, at this time, greatly enraged that St. Paul had escaped t [...]eir fury, by appealing to Rome, determined to [...] their vengeance on James, who was now [...] of [...]: they [...]ccord­ingly threw him down beat, bruis [...]d, and stoned him▪ and then dashed out his [...] a club, such as was used by fullers in dr [...]ssing cloths.

VII. S [...]. MATTHIAS. [...] and martyr was called to the apos [...]l [...]ship [...]fter the death of Christ, to supply the vacant pla [...] of Ju [...]as, who had betrayed his master, and was lik [...]wise one of the se [...]ent [...] disciples. H [...] wa [...] [...] at Jerusa­lem, being first stoned, [...]d then [...]

[Page 11]VIII. St. ANDREW. This apostle and mar­tyr was brother to St. Peter, and preached the gos­pel to many Asiatic nations. Arriving at Edessa, the governor of the country, named Egeas, threat­ened him very hard for preaching against the idols there worshipped. St Andrew persisting in the propagation of his doctrines, he was ordered to be crucified on a cross, two ends of which were trans­versely fixed in the ground. He boldly told his accusers, that he would not have preached the glo­ry of the cross, had he feared to die on it. And a­gain, when they came to crucify him, he said, that he coveted the cross, and longed to embrace it. He was fastened to the cross, not with nails but cords, that his death might be more, lingering. In this si­tuation he continued two days, preaching the great­est part of the time to the people; and expired on the 30th of November.

IX. ST. PETER. This great apostle and martyr was born at Bethsaida in Galilee, being the son of Jonah, a fisherman, which employment St. Peter himself followed. He was persuaded by his brother to turn christian, when Christ gave him the name of Cephas, implying in the Syriac language, a rock. He was called, at the same time as his brother, to be an apostle; gave uncommon proofs of his zeal for the service of Christ, and always appeared as the principal speaker among the apostles. He had, however, the weakness to deny his master, af­ter his apprehension, though he defended him at the time; but the sincerity of his repentance made an atonement for the atrociousness of his crime.

THE Jews, after the death of Christ, still continu­ed to persecute the christians, and even went so far as to order several of the apostles, among whom was Peter, to be scourged▪ This punishment they bore with great fortitude, and rejoiced that they were thought worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.

HEROD Agrippa having caused St. James the great to be put to death, and finding that it pleas­ed the Jews, resolved, in order to ingratiate him­self farther with the people, that Peter should fall a sacrifice to his malice. He was accordingly apprehended, and thrown into prison; but an an­gel of the L [...]rd released him, which so enraged He­rod, that he ordered the centinels, who guarded the dungeon in which he had been confined, to be put to death. St. Peter, after various other mira­cles, retired to Rome, where he defeated all the ar­tifices, and confounded the magic of Simon, the magician, a great favourite of the emperor Nero: he likewise converted to christianity one of the concubines of that monarch, which so exasperated the tyrant, that he ordered both St. Peter and St. Paul to be apprehended. During the time of their confinement, they converted two of the captains of the guard, and 47 other persons to christianity. Having been nine months in prison, Peter was brought out from thence for execution, when, af­ter being severely scourged, he was crucified with his head downwards; which position, however, was at his own request. He, as well as Paul, suffered on the 29th day of June. His body being taken down, embalmed, and buried in the vatican, a church was afterwards erected on the spot; but this being destroyed by the emperor He­liogabalus, the body was removed, till the 20th bis [...]p of Rome, called Corn [...]lius, conveyed it again to the vatican: afterwards Constantine the great erected one of the most stately churches in the universe over the place. Before we quit this article it is requisite to observe, that previous to the death of St. Peter, his wife suffered martry­dom for the faith of Christ, and was exhorted, when going to be put to death, to remember the Lord Jesus.

X. ST. PAUL, the apostle and martyr, was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, born at Tarsus, in Cilicia. He was at first a great enemy to, and per­secutor of the christians; but after his miraculous conversion, he became a strenuous preacher of Christ's gospel. At Iconium, St. Paul and St. Barnabas were near being stoned to death by the enraged Jews; wherefore they fled to Lyconia. At Lystra, St. Paul was stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead. He, however, happily revived, and escaped to Derbe. At Philippi, Paul and Silas were imprisoned and whipped; and both were again persecuted at Thessalonica. Being afterwards ta­ken at Jerusalem, he was sent to Cesar [...]a, but ap­pealed to Caesar at Rome. Here he continued a prisoner at large for two years. Being released, he visited the churches of Rome, and preached in France and Spain. Returning to Rome, he was again apprehended, and, by the order of Nero, martyred, by being beheaded.

[Page 12]XI. ST. JUDE, the apostle and martyr, the brother of James, was commonly called [...] haddaeus. Being sent to Edesa, he wrought many miracles, and made many converts, which stirring up the re­sentment of people in power, he was crucified▪ A. D. [...]2.

XII. ST. BARTHOLOMEW preached in se­veral countries, performed many miracles, and healed various diseases. He translated St. Mat­thew's gospel into the Indian language, and pro­pagated it in that country: but at length, the ido­lators growing impatient with his doctrines, severe­ly beat, crucified, and flayed him, and then cut off his head.

XIII. ST. THOMAS, as he was called in Sy­riac, but Didymus in Greek, was an apostle and martyr. He preached in Parthia and India, where displeasing the Pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear.

XIV. ST. LUKE, the evangelist and martyr, was the author of a most excellent gospel. He travelled with St. Paul to Rome, and preached to divers barbarous nations, till the priests in Greece hanged him on an olive-tree.

XV. ST. SIMON, the apostle and martyr, was distinguished by the name of Zelotes, from his zeal. He preached with great success in Mauritania, and other parts of Africa, and even in Britain, where, though he made many converts, he was crucified bv the then barbarous inhabitants of that island, A. D. 74.

XVI. ST. JOHN. This saint was, at once, a prophet, apostle, divine, evangelist, and martyr. He is called the beloved disciple, and was brother to James the great. He was previously a disciple of John the Baptist, and afterwards not only one of the twelve apostles, but one of the three to whom Christ communicated the most secret passages of his life. The churches in Asia sounded by St. John were, Smyrna, Pergamus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and [...], to whom he directs his book of Revelations. Being at Ephesus, he wa [...] ordered by the emperor Domitian to be sent bound to Rome, where he was condemned to be cast into a c [...]aldron of boiling oil. But here a miracle ap­peared in his favour; the oil did him no injury, and Domitian therefore not being able to put him to death, banished him to Patmos to work at the mines. He was, however, recalled by Nerva, who succeeded Domitian after his decease, but was deemed a martyr on account of the having under­gone the mode of an execution, though it did not take effect. He wrote his epistles, gospel, and revelations, all in a different style; but they are all equally admired. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death: lived the longest of any of them, being near 100 years of age at the time of his death.

XVII. ST. BARNABAS was a native of Cy [...]prus, but of Jewish pa [...]ents: the time of his death is uncertain, but supposed to be about the year of Christ 73.

An Account of the Persecutions of the Chris­tians in Persia.

THE gospel having spread itself into Persia, the pagan priests were greatly alarmed, and dreaded the loss of that influence they had hitherto maintained over the people's minds and properties. Hence they thought it expedient to [...]omplain to the emperor, that the christians were enemies to the state, and held a treasonable correspondence with the Romans, the great enemies of Persia.

THE emperor, being naturally averse to christi­anity, easily believed what was said against the christians, and gave orders to persecute them in all parts of his empire. On account of this mandate ma [...]y fell martyrs to the ignorance and ferosity of the Pagans, the sufferings of the most eminent of whom we shall enumerate.

SIMEON, archbishop of Seleucia, with many other ecclesiasties, to the number of an hundred and twenty-eight, were apprehended and accused of having betrayed the affairs of Persia to the Ro­mans.

THE emperor being greatly exasperated against them, order [...]d Simeon to be brought before him. Th [...] worthy archbishop coming into his presence, boldly acknowledged his faith, and nobly defended the cause of christianity. The emperor, being of­fended at his freedom, not only reproved him for it, but ordered him to kneel before him, as he had al­ways done heretofore.

SIMEON answered, "That before, having the free admittance to his presence, he did not scruple to conform to the customary salutation of the coun­try; but being now brought before him a prisoner, for the truth of his religion, and the sake of his God, it was not lawful for him to kneel, lest he should be thought to worship and to betray his faith, which he was fully resolved to defend with his last breath."

THE emperor then told him, that if he did not kneel, he, and all the christians in his dominions, should be put to death; but Simeon rejected with disdain the proposal to kneel, and told him he would abide the consequences. On this reply the empe­ror ordered him to be sent to prison till he had con [...]sidered in what manner to punish him.

A short time after Simeon, with his fellow-pri­soners, was again examined, and commanded to worship the sun, agreeable to the Persian custom; but this they all unanimously refused. The empe­ror then sentenced them be beheaded, and they were executed accordingly.

U [...]HAZARES, an aged eunuch, who had been tutor to the emperor, and was in great estimation at [...], on observing Simeon, the fore [...]mentioned martyr, leading to prison, saluted him. Simeon, [Page 62] however, (as Usthazares had formerly been chris­tian, and turned apostate from the faith to oblige the emperor) would not return his salute, but sharp­ly reproved him for his apostacy. This so affected the eunuch, that he burst into tears, and exclaimed, "Ah! woe is me! How shall I hereafter look up­on my God, whom I have denied, when Simeon, my old companion and familiar acquaintance, disdains to give me a gentle word, or to return my salute!"

THE emperor being told that his ancient tutor was greatly afflicted, sent for him, and asked him whether he desired or wanted any thing which could be corferred upon, or procured for him. To which the eunuch replied, That there was nothing that he wanted, which this earth could afford; but that his grief was of another kind, and for which he justly mourned, namely, that to oblige him he had denied his God, and had dissemblingly wor­shipped the sun, against his own conscience! for which, continued he, I am deserving of a double death, first, for denying of Christ, and secondly, for dissembling with my king; at the same time so­lemnly protesting, that he would nevermore forsake the Creator of the world, to worship the creatures which he had made.

THE emperor, being greatly offended at the ex­planation of the cause of his grief, ordered Ustha­zares to be beheaded. While he was going to the place of execution, he desired that a messenger might be sent to the emperor, to request the favour that it mi [...] be proclaimed, "That Usthazares did not die a traitor for any crime against the king or the sta [...]; but on that being a christian, he would not deny his God." This petition, we are inform­ed, was granted, and accordingly performed; which was a great satisfaction to Usthazares, whose chief re [...]on for desiring it was, because his falling off from Christ, had caused [...] others to follow his example, w [...]o now [...] that he died for no crime but his r [...]gion, they might learn, like him, to return [...] Christ, and become fervent and constant in the faith. Usth [...]ares, being thus sa­tisfied, cheerfully yielded [...] neck to the stroke of the executioner, and joyful [...] [...]ceived his crown of martyrdom.

ON the Good Friday, after the above execution, an edict was published, to put to death all who confessed themselves christians, on which occasion great multitudes suffered. About this time the em­press of Persia falling sick, the sisters of Simeon, the archbishop, were accused by some of the magi, of being the occasion. This absurdity being be­lieved, they were, by the emperor's order, sawed in quarters, and their quarters fixed upon poles, between which the empress passed as a charm to recover her.

ACEPSIMUS, and many other clergymen were seized upon, and ordered to adore the sun; which refusing, they were scourged, and then tormented to death, or suffered to remain in prison till they perished.

ATHALAS, a priest, though not put to death, was so miserably racked, that his arms were rendered useless; and he was ever after obliged to be fed like a child. In fine, by this edict, above 16,000 either suffered miserably by the torture, or were put to death.

CONSTANTINE the Great being informed of the persecutions in Persia, was exceedingly concerned, and began to ruminate in what manner he should redress their grievances, when an ambasio [...] arrived from the Persian emperor upon some political con­cerns.

CONSTANTINE re [...]eived the ambassador civilly, granted his demands, and wrote a letter to the Per­sian monarch in favour of the christians, in which he recounts the vengeance that had fallen on perse­cutors, and [...]he great success that had attended those who had refrained from persecuting the christians; and then referring to the tyra [...]s [...]d persecti [...] emperor of his own time, [...] [...]aid, " [...] s [...]bdued those solely by faith in Christ; for which God was my helper, who gave me victory in battle, and made me triumph over my enemies; and hath en­larged to me the bounds of the Romish [...]mpi [...] that it extends from the Western o [...]an, to almo [...] the uttermost parts of the [...]ast: for which purpo [...] I neither offered sacrifices to the ancient deitie [...], no [...] made use of charm or divination, but only praye [...] [Page 63] to Almighty God, and followed the cross of Christ: and how glad should I be to hear that the throne of Persia flourished, by embracing the christians! that so you with me, and they with you may enjoy all the felicity your souls could desire, as no doubt but you would, as God, the Almighty Creator of all things, would become your protector and defender.

"THESE men I commend to your kingly honor; I commit them unto you, desiring you to embrace them according to your humanity; for in so doing, you shall procure to yourself grace through faith, and shall bestow on me a benefit worthy of my thanks."

THE persecution by this means ended during the life of Sapores; but it was again renewed under the lives of his successors; the following being the principal sufferers.

HORMISDAS, a Persian nobleman, on being con­victed of professing christianity, was ordered to at­tend the emperor's elephants naked. This igno­minious task he performed for some time, when the emperor one day, looking out of a window which commanded the yard where the elephants were kept, saw Hormisdas, and perceived that he was prodigi­ously tamed. Determining to try him once more, he gave orders that a shirt should be put on him, and that he should be brought before him.

WH [...]N he came to the imperial throne, the em­per [...]r asked him if he would now deny Christ. On this question being put, Hormisdas tore off his shirt, and [...]id, "If you think I will deny my faith for the sake of a shirt, take your gift again.' The emperor, on hearing this expression, banished him from Persia; and he died an exile.

SCENE [...], a christian nobleman, refusing to deny Christ, had his wife taken from him, and given to one of the meanest of the emperor's slaves; and what added to his mortification was, that he was ordered to wait upon his wife and the slave, which at l [...]ngth broke his heart.

THEODORET, a d [...]con, was [...]mprisoned for the space of two ye [...]r [...], and being r [...]leas [...]d, w [...]s order­ed not to pr [...]ach the doctrine of christ. [...], however, the order, he did his utmost to pro­pagate the gospel of Christ; for which being seized upon, he was miserably tormented, by having sharp reeds thrust under his nails; and then a knotty branch of a tree was forced up his body, and he expired in the greatest agonies.

BADEMUS, a christian of Mesopotamia, gave away his fortune to the poor, and determined to devote his life to religious retirement.

THIS inoffensive christian, together with seven others, were seized upon and cruelly tortured for being christians. The seven christians, who were apprehended with Bademus, received the crown of martyrdom, though the particular manner is not recorded, and Bademus himself, after having been four months in prison, was brought to the place of execution, and beheaded by Narses, an apostate christian, who was ordered to act as the executioner of this worthy man, in order to convince the em­peror that he was sincere in the renunciation of his faith.

An Account of the Persecutions under the Arian Heretics.

THE author of the Arian heresy was Arius, a native of Lybia, and a priest of Alexan­dria, who, in A. D. 318, began to publish his er­rors. He was condemned by a council of the Ly­bian and Egyptian bishops, and that sentence was confirmed by the council of Nice, A. D. 325. Af­ter the death of Constantine the Great, the Arians found means to ingratiate themselves into the favor of Constantius, his son and successor in the ea [...]t; and hence a persecution was raised against the ortho­dox bishop and clergy. The celebrated Anthana­sius, and other bishops, were banished, and their sees filled with Arians.

IN Egypt and Lybia thir [...]y bishops were [...], and many other [...] and, A. D. 330, [...] Alex [...]dria, under the [...] [Page 64] was assi [...]ed in [...]is diabolical malice by Catophoni­us, governor of Egypt; Sebastian, general of the Egyptian forces; Faustinus, the treasurer; and Herac [...]ius, a Roman officer.

THE persecution now raged in such a manner, that the clergy were driven from Alexandria, their churches were shut, and the severities practised by the Arian heretics, were as great as those that had been practised by the Pagan idolaters. If a man accused of being a christian, made his escape, then his whole family were massacred, and his effects confiscated.

THE orthodox christians, being now deprived of all places of public worship in the city of Alexan­dria, used to perform their devotions in a desert place at some distance from it. Assembling for this purpose on a Trinity Sunday, George, the Arian bishop, engaged Sebastian, the general, to fall up­on them with his soldiers, while they were at pray­ers. On this occasion several fell a sacrifice to the popular fury of the troops, and received the crown of martyrdom for no other offence than perform­ing necessary acts of piety. The modes of cruelty were various, and the degrees different; for they were beaten over their faces till all their features were disfigured; then they were lashed with twigs or palm trees newly cut, with such violence, that they expired unde [...] the blows, or by the mortifica­tion of the wou [...]s.

MANY, whose live [...] had been spared, were, how­ever, banished to the desarts of Oasis, where they suffered unspeakable hardships; but their exile ad­mitted of their indulgence of the most pious thoughts, and their sorrows were of a saluta [...]y na­ture.

SECUNDU [...] ▪ an orthodox priest, differing in point of doctrine from a prelate of the same name; the bishop, who [...]d imbibed all the heretical opinions of Arianism [...] determined to put Secundus to death, for rejecting opinions which he had thought proper to embrace. Ta [...]ing one Stephen with him, who was as much an A [...]ian as himself, they sought out Secundus privately, and being enable to make him change his opinion, they fell upon and mur [...]ered him: when the holy marty [...], just befor [...] he expired, called upon Christ to receive his soul, and to for­give his executioners.

NOT content with the cruelties exercised upon the orthodox christians in Alexandria, the principal persecutors applied to the emperor for an order to banish them from Egypt and Lybia, and to put their churches into possession of the Arians.

THEY obtained their request, and an order was sent for that purpose to Sebastian, the commander in chief of the Roman forces in those provinces.

AS soon as the general received the order, he signified the emperor's pleasure, to all the sub-go­vernors and officers, and commanded, that the man­date should be immediately put into execution. Hence a great number of the clergy were seized, and imprisoned for examination; when it appear­ing that they adopted the opinions of Athanasius, an order was signed for their banishment into the most wild, uncultivated, and desert places. Thus were the orthodox clergy used, and many of the [...]ity were condemned to the mines, or compelled to work in the quarries. Some few indeed escaped to other countries, and several were weak enough to renounce their faith, in order to avoid the seve­rities of the persecution.

PAUL, the bishop of Constantinople, was a Ma­cedo [...]ian by birth, and was designed, from his birth, for a clerical life.

WHEN Alexander the predecessor of Paul was on his death bed, he was consulted by some of the clergy on the choice of a successor: when, we are in­formed, he told them, "That if they were disposed chuse a person of an examplary life, unexceptiona­ble character, and thoroughly capable of instructing the people. Paul was the man; who, though young, had all the prudence and gravity of more advanced age; but if they had rather have a person of a well-composed appearance, acquainted with worldly affairs, and fit for the conversation of a court, they might then chuse Macedonius, who had all the proper qualifications." Macedonius was a deacon in the church of Constantinople, in which office he had spent many years, and gained g [...]eat experience: and the [...] prelate did both [Page 65] him and Paul justice in their different characters. Nevertheless the Arians, with their accustomed disingenuousness, gave out, that Alexander had bestowed great commendations on Macedonius for sanctity, and had only given Paul the reputation of elo [...]uence, and a capacity for business: it is true, indeed, he was a master in the art of speaking and persuading; but the sequel of his life and suffer­ings sufficiently evinced the absurdity of their de [...]m­ing him a man formed for the world. However, after some struggle, the orthodox carried their point, and Paul was consecrated.

MACEDONIUS being greatly offended at this pre­setence, did his utmost to calumniate the new bi­shop, and was very severe upon his moral charac­ter▪ but not gaining any belief, he dropped the charge, and reconc [...]l [...] himself to Paul. This, however, was not the case with Eusebius of Nico­media, who resumed the accusations under two heads, viz.

1. THAT he had led a disorderly life before his consecration.

2. THAT he had been placed in the se [...] of Con­stantinople without the consent of the bishops of Nicomedia and Heraclea, two metropolitans, who ought to have been consulted upon that occasion.

TO support these accusations, Eusebius procured the emperor's authority, by representing, that Paul having been chosen during the absence of Constanti­us, the imperial dignity had been insulted. This ar­tifice succeeded, and Paul being deposed, Eusebius was placed in his room.

PAUL having thus lost all his authority in the east, retired to the territories of Constans, in the west, where he was well received by the orthodox prelates and clergy. At Rome he visited Athana­sius, and assisted at a council held there, by Julius, the bishop of that see. Letters being written by this council to the eastern prelates, Paul returned to Constantinople, but was no [...] restored to his bi­shopric till the death of Eusebius. The Arians, how ever, constituting Macedonius their bishop, by the ti­tle of bishop of Constantinople, a sedition, and a kind of civil war ensued, in which many lost their lives.

THE emperor Constantius, who was then at An­tioch, hearing of these matters, laid the whole blame upon Paul, and ordered that he should be driven from Constantinople. Hermogenes, the of­ficer who had received the emperor's order, at­tempted in vain to put it into execution; for the orthodox christians rising in defence of Paul, Her­mogenes was killed in a scuffle that ensued.

THIS transaction greatly exasperated the empe­ror, who lest Antioch, though in the depth of winter, and immediately returned to Constantino­ple, with a design to punish the christians severely. But their submission and intreaties softened him, and he contented himself with banishing Paul and suspending Macedonius.

PAUL retired again to the territories of Constans, implored the protection of that emperor, and, by his intercession, was again vested in his see. On this occasion, we are informed, that "his re-estab­lishment did but exasperate his enemies, who were at that time constantly employed, both in secret and open attempts against his life, against which the affections of his people were his only security; and being convinced that the emperor had no other mo­tive for allowing his stay at Constantinople, but the dread of disobliging his brother, Paul could not think himself wholly restored to his bishopric, while things were in this situation; and being very much concerned at what the orthodox bishops suffer­ed from the power and malice of the Arian fac­tion, joined Athanasius, who was then in Italy, in soliciting a general council."

A council was accordingly held at Sardica, in Illyrium, in the year 347, at which were present one hundred bishops of the western, and seventy-three of the eastern empire. But disagreeing in many points, the Arian bishops of the east retired to Philippolis, in Thrace; and forming a meeting there, they termed ir the council of Sardica. From which place they pretended to issue out an excom­munication against Julius, bishop of Rome; Paul, bishop o [...] Constantinople; Athanasius, bishop of Alexand [...]; and several other prelates.

IN A. D. [...]50, the emperor Cons [...]ans died, which gave the A [...]ns fresh courage, and they immedi­ately [Page 66] applied to the emperor, Constantius, who be­ing an Arian in his heart, wrote an order to praefect Philip, to remove Paul from the bishoprie of Con­stantinople, and banish him again, to restore Ma­cedonius.

BEING exiled to Cucucus, he was confined in a small, loathsome, dark dungeon, where he was kept six days without food and then strangled. He met death with fortitude, as he was always perfect­ly resigned in misfortunes, and convinced of the vanity of this transitory life.

THE Arian party now prevailing, made Grego­ry of Cappadocia, a very obscure person, bishop of Alexandria, after having deposed Athanasius for his strict adherence to the orthodox faith. In the accomplishment of this affair, they were assist­ed by Philagerius, the governor of Egypt, who was an apostate, and who suffered them to commit all manner of outrages. Hence arming themselves with swords, clubs, &c. they broke into one of the principal churches of Alexandria, where great numbers of orthodox christians were assembled at their devotions: and falling upon them in a most barbarous manner, without the least respect to sex or age, the principal part of them were murdered.

POTAMO, the venerable bishop of Heraclea, who had formerly lost one of his eyes in Diocleasian's persecution, fell a martyr upon this occasion; be­ing so cruelly scourged and beaten that [...]e expired of his wounds.

THE Arian mob then broke into many places, public and private, under a pretence of searching for Athanasius, and committed innumerable butch­eries and barbarities; robbing orphans, plundering the houses of widows, dragging devoted virgins to private places to be the sacrifices of lust; im­prisoning the clergy, and burning churches and dwelling houses belonging to orthodox christians, &c. &c.

An Account of the Persecution under JULI­AN the Apostate.

JULIAN, commonly called the Apostate, was the son of Julius Constantius, and the nephew of Constantine the Great. He studied the rudi­ments of grammar under the inspection of Ma [...]do­nius an eunuch, and an heathen of Constantinople. His father sent him some time after to Nic [...]media, to be instructed in the christian religion, by the bi [...]shop Eusebius, his kinsman; but hi [...] principles were corrupted by the pernicious doctrines of Ece­bolius the rhetorician, and Maximus the magician.

CONSTANTIUS dying in the year 361, Julian suc­ceeded him, and had no sooner attained the impe­rial dignity, than he renounced christianity, and embraced paganism, which had for some years fallen into great disrepute. But he again restored idola­trous worship, by opening the several temples that had been shut up, rebuilding such as were destroy­ed, and ordering the magistrates and people to fol­low his example. He, however, made no public edicts against christianity, but tried to do that pri­vately which other emperors had done openly. He recalled all banished pagans, allowed the free ex­ercise of religion to every sect, but deprived all christians of offices at court, in the magistracy, or in the army. He was chaste, temperate, vigilant, laborious, and seemingly pious, so that by his hy­pocrisy and pretended virtues, he, for a time, did more mischief to christianity, than the most profligate libertine of his predecessors. Thus he attempted to undermine christianity by artifice in­stead of expelling it by force; and to make his measures the more effectual, he prohibited any christian from keeping a school or p [...]blic seminary of learning, and deprived all the [...] clergy of the privileges granted them by Constantine the Great.

HENCE was this persecution more dangerous than any of the former, as Julian aimed to sap the foundations of christianity, instead of attacking the superstructure, and under the mask of clemency, practised the greatest cruelty in wishing to d [...]lude many thousands of their eternal salvation.

THE christian faith was thus in more danger of being subverted than it ever had been before, by the means of a monarch, at once witty a [...]d wicked, learned and hypocritical; who, at first, made his attempts, not by the means of fire, sword, and poison, but by flattering gifts, and favours; not by using racks and tortures, but by bestowing [Page 67] offices and dignitie [...] ▪ and then, by prohibiting christian schools, [...]e compelled the children of the gospel either to remain illiterate, or become idola­tors.

OTHER methods taken by Julian were, to order that christians might be treated coldly apon all oc­c [...]sions, and in all parts of the empire, and to em­ploy several [...] persons to turn them, and their principles, i [...]o ridicule. Many were likewise marty [...]ed in his reign; for though he did not pub­li [...] persecute them himself, he connived at their bei [...]g murdered by his governors and officers; and t [...]ough he affected never to patronize them for th [...]ir murders, he never offered to punish them for their delinquency. We shall recount the names, s [...]fferings, and martyrdoms of such as have been transmitted to the present times, that their exam­ple may inspire fortitude, and their lives give an [...]eful lesson to mankind in general.

BA [...]IL made himself first famous by his opposi­tion to Arianism, which brought upon him the vengeance of the Arian Bishop of Constantinople, who issued out an order to prevent his preaching. He continued, however, to perform his duty at An [...]yra, the capital of Galatia. Enraged at his orthodox and manly proceeding, his enemies accu­sed him of being an incendiary, and a disturber of the public peace; the monarch, however, was too intent on an expedition to Persia, to take notice of the accusation, and their malice at that time was disappointed.

BA [...]IL continued to preach strenuously against the idolatry of paganism on the one hand, and the er­rors of Arianism on the other: and earnestly ex­horted the people to serve Chirst, in the purity of faith, and fervency of truth. By this conduct, both heathens and Arians were exasperated against him, and appeared equally desirous of accomplish­ing his destruction.

MEETING one day with a number of pagans go­ing in procession to a sacrifice, he boldly expressed his abh [...]rrence of such idolatrous proceedings, and inveighed against such absurd worship, at once in a manly and decent manner. This freedom caused the people to seize him, and carry him before Sa­turninus, the governor, where they brought three accusations against him, viz. Reviling the gods, abusing the emperor, and disturbing the peace of the city.

ON hearing these accusations, which were equal­ly malicious as groundless, Saturninus desired to know his sentiments from his own mouth; when finding him a strenuous christian, he ordered him first to be put to the rack, and then he committed him to prison.

THE governor wrote an account of his proceed­ings to the emperor, who was at this time very bu­sy in establishing the worship of Cybele, the ficti­tious mother of the fabulous deities. Julian, up­on receiving the letter, sent Pagosus and Elpidius, two apostates, to Ancyra, the city where Basil was confined, to employ both promises and threats to engage him to renounce his faith, and in case of their failure, to give him up totally to the power of the governor; for it was the policy of Julian to appear all moderation and clemency, and to suf­fer others, as much as possible, to seem the osten­sible persons in acts of cruelty. In this affair, how­ever, a future circumstance made the emperor fore­go his usual policy, and sacrifice his affected mercy to his resentment.

THE emperor's agents in vain tampered with Ba­sil by means of promises, threats, and racks; he was firm in the faith, and remained in prison to undergo some other sufferings when the emperor came accidentally to Ancyra.

THE people no sooner knew of Julian's ap­proach, than they met him in grand procession, and presented to him their idol, the goddess Hecate. The two agents then gave the emperor an ac [...]count of what Basil had suffered, and how firm he had been. Julian [...] on this, determined to examine Basil himself, when that holy man being brought before him, the emperor did every thing in his power to dissuade him from persevering in the faith. Basil not only continued as firm as ever▪ but, with a prophetic spirit▪ foretold the death of the emperor, and that he should be tormented in the other life

[Page 68]ENRAGED at what he heard, Julian lost his usual affectation of clemency, and told Basil, in great anger, that though he had an inclination to pardon him at first, yet he had now put it out of his power to save his life, by the insolence of his behaviour. He then commanded, that the body of basil should be torn every day in seven different parts, till his skin and flesh were entirely mangled. This inhu­man sentence was executed with rigour, and the martyr expired under its severities, on the 28th day of June, A. D. 362.

DONATUS, bishop of Arezzo, and Hilarinus, a hermit, suffered about the same time for the faith; the first being beheaded, and the latter scourged to death.

GORDIAN, a Roman magistrate, having a chris­tian before him for examination, was so charmed with the confession of his faith, that he not only discharged the prisoner, but became himself a chris­tian. This so enraged the Roman praefect, that he ordered him to be scourged and beheaded; which sentence was executed, A. D. 362.

JOHN and Paul, two brothers, of a good fami­ly, and in high offices under the emperor, on being accused of professing christianity, were deprived of their posts, and allowed ten days to consider, whe­ther they would renounce their faith and be promo­ted, or retain their faith and be martyred? Making choice of the latter alternative, they were both be­headed, A. D. 362.

ARTEMIUS, comman [...]er in chief of the Roman forces in Egypt, being a christia [...], had these two charges exhibited against him by the pagans.

1. THAT he had formerly demolished several idols in the reign of Constantine the Great.

2. THAT he had assisted the bishop of Alexan­dria in plundering the temples.

ON the exhibition of these charges, Julian, who was then at Antioch, ordered the general to repair thither, in order to answer to them. On Artemi­us's arrival, he owned the charges, and his faith: when he was first deprived of his commission, then of his estate, and [...] of his head.

CASSIAN, a schoolmaster of [...]mol [...], in the p [...]o­vince of Romagn, refusing to sacrifice to the idols▪ was hurried before the judge; who being apprized of his profession, and informed that many of the boys had an aversion to him on account of the strictness with which he kept them to their studies, determined that they should have permission to murder their master. He was accordingly deliver­ed, with his hands tied behind him, to the boys, who fell upon him with rods, whips, sticks, and stiles, o [...] the steel pencils which were then used in writing, and murdered him. This singular mar­tyrdom happened on the 13th of August, A. D. 362.

BONOSUS and Maximilian, two officers of the Herculean guards, upon Julian's taking away Con­stantine the Great's standard of the cross of Christ, threw up their commissions. Being apprehended on account of their faith, they were carried before the governor of the east, who commanded them to sacrifice to the gods, and obey the emperor's orders; but they replied, that as they were no longer his soldiers, but the soldiers of Christ, they would do neither. The governor then had them separate­ly examined, and finding them as inflexible when asunder, as when together, he ordered Bonosus to be beaten with whips that had leaden bullets at the ends of the thongs, and Maximilian to be scourged.

BEING remanded back to p [...]ison, they were al­lowed nothing but bread and water for subsistence, and the bread was marked with the seal of the em [...]peror, the impression of which was an idol; o [...] which account they refused to eat it. They wer [...] soon afterwards again examined, and then, accord [...]ing to the sentence pronounced upon them, be [...]headed.

BIBIANA was the daughter of Havian and Da [...]frosa, two christians. Flavian, her father, held a considerable post under the government, but being banished for his faith, died in exile. Dafrosa, her mother, was, for the same reason, ordered to be starved; but Apronianus, governor of Rome▪ thinking her two long in dying, had her beheaded.

BIBIANA, and her sister Demetri [...], [...]ter the [...] of their parents, were str [...]pped of all their [...], [Page]

[Page 69] and being brought before the governor, were or­dered to renounce their religion. Demetria sud­denly dropped down dead in the governor's presence, and Bibiana resolutely refused to renounce her faith, on which account she was scourged to death, Decem­ber 2, A. D. 362.

THE persecution raged dreadfully about the lat­ter end of the year 363; but as many of the par­ticulars have not been handed down to us, it is ne­cessary to remark in general, that in Palestine many were burnt alive, others were dragged by their feet through the streets naked till they expired; some were scalded to death, many stoned, and great num­bers had their brains beaten out with clubs. In Alexandria innumerable were the martyrs who suf­fered by the sword, burning, crucifixion, and be­ing stoned. In Arethusa, several were ripped open, and corn being put in their bellies, swine were brought to feed therein, who, in devouring the grain, likewise devoured the entrails of the martyrs; and, in Thrace, Emilianus was burnt at a stake; and Domitius murdered in a cave, whither he had fled for refuge.

THEODORUS, for his faith, and singing the prai­ses of God, was apprehended and put to the tor­tures of a martyr, though not to death. After being taken from the rack, he was asked how he could so patiently endure such exquisite tortures? To which he returned this remarkable r [...]ply: "At the first I felt some pain, but afterwards there ap­peared to stand by me a young man, who wiped the sweat from my face, and frequently refreshed me with cold water, which so delighted me, that I regretted being let down from the rack."

MARCUS, bishop of Arethusa, having destroyed a pagan temple in that city, erected a christian church in its room, on which account he was accu­sed to Julian, the emperor, as a christian. Being apprehended, his persecutors had no respect to his venerable person, but stripping him naked, most cruelly beat him. He was then thrust into a filthy jake, or sink, till he was almost suffocated; after­wards he was goaded with sharp pointed sticks; and lastly, he was hung up in a basket in the heat of the sun, after having been smeared all over with honey, in order to be tormented to death by wasps. As soon [...] he was hung up, they asked him if he would reb [...]ild their temple? To which he answer­ed, that [...] would neither rebuild it nor advance a single doit towards its being rebuilt; upon which they left him, and he fell a martyr to the dreadful stings of those troublesome insects.

MAXENTIUS and Juventius, two christian officers, were put to death for reproving the emperor, on account of his idolatries; but the manner [...]f their deaths is not known.

WE shall now enter upon some detached par­ticulars necessary to be preserved, and finish this account with the conclusion of the persecutions un­der Julian the apostate.

JULIAN intending an expedition against the Persians, set a large fine upon every one who refused to sacrifice to the idols, and by that means got a great sum towards defraying his expences from the christians.

IN collecting these fines, many of the officers ex­acted more than their due, and some of them tor­tured the christians to make them pay what they demanded, at the same time telling them in de­ [...]ision, "that wh [...] they were injured, they ought to take it patiently, for so their God had command­ed them."

THE inhabitants of Caesarea were fined three hundred weight of gold, and several of the clergy obliged to serve in the wars, as a punishment for having overthrown the temples of Jupiter, Apollo, and Fortune.

AT Meris, in Phrygia, the governor having cleansed and opened a pagan temple, the christians in the night broke in, and demolished the idols. Next day the governor ordered all christians that accidentally came in the way to be seized, that he might make examples of them, and by this means was going to execute several innocent persons, But those who really perpetrated the fact, being too noble and just in their sentiments to suffer such an injustice, voluntarily delivered themselves [...]; when they were first of all scourged severely, [...] then broiled to death upon gridirons.

[Page 70]THE emperor, Julian the apostate, died of a wound which he received in his Persian expedi­tion, A. D. 363, and even while expiring, uttered the most horrid blasphemies. He was succeeded by Jovian, who restored peace to the church.

AFTER the decease of Jovian, Valentinian suc­ceeded to the empire, and associated to himself Valens, who had the command in the east.

VALENS was a great favourer of Arianism, and so incensed against the christians, that he ordered, on a certain day, all of them in Edessa to be slain, while they were at their devotions in their churches. The officers, however, being more compassionate than the emperor, privately gave notice to the christians not to assemble on the day appointed, so that they might escape death, and themselves be excused for non-performance of duty.

THE christians thanked the officers for their ad­vice, but disregarded both that, and the emperor's menaces, sooner than they would neglect their duty. They accordingly repaired to church, and the troops being compelled, by the positiveness of the com­mand, were put in motion to destroy them. As they marched along, a woman, with a child in her arms, broke through the ranks, when the officer ordered her to be brought before him, and asked her whither she was going? She replied, to church, wh [...]ther others were making all the haste they could. "Have you not heard (says the officer) of the em­peror's order, to put to death all who are found there?" I have, said she, and for that cause I make the more haste. And whither, said the offi­cer, do you lead that child? I take him, replied she, with me, that he also may be reckoned in the number of the martyrs." Upon this the hu­mane officer returned to the emperor, and told him, that all the christians were prepared to die in defence of their faith, and represented to him how rash it would be to murder so great a multi­tude, and intreated the emperor to drop the de­sign, at least for the present, which he at length [...]omplied with.

M [...]NEDEMUS, Urbanus, and Theodorus, with several other orthodox clergymen, to the number [...] fourscor [...], at Constantinople, petitioned the em­peror, in a most humble manner, to relieve them from the oppressions, persecutions, and cruelties of the Arians. But the tyrant, instead of redres­sing their grievances, ordered them all to be [...] ­barked in a ship, and the ship set fire to; when this infernal and inhuman order being executed▪ they all perished in the flames.

An Account of the Persecutions of the Chr [...] ­tians by the GOTHS. &c.

MANY Scythian Goths having embr [...]ed christianity about the time of Constantine the Great, the light of the gospel spread i [...]self c [...]siderably in Scythia, though the two king [...] who ruled that country, [...] the majority of the peop [...], continued pagans. Fritegern, king of the [...] Goths, was an ally to the Romans; but [...], king of the East Goths, was at war [...] [...]em. The christians, in the dominions of the former, lived unmolested; but the latter, having been defeated by the Romans, wreaked his ven­geance on his christian subjects.

SAPAS, a worthy christian, upon this occasion, was one [...]ho felt the enraged king's misplaced re [...]sentment. Sabas was humble and humane, mild and modest, yet fervent in worship, and zealous fo [...] the advancement of the church. Remarkable for his contempt of riches, and singular in shunning ever sensual enjoyment; the sanctity of his life, and the purity of his manners were such, as gave the greatest force to his doctrines. He convinced the rational, and confounded the obdurate: hence he became, at once, famous for his piety and doctrines.

ATHANARICK, in the year 370, gave orders, that all persons in his dominions should sacrifice to the pagan deities, and eat the meat which had been offered to the idols, or be put to death for dis­obedience. Some humane pagans, who had chris­tian relations, endeavoured to save them by offer­ing them meat which had not received the ido­la [...]rous consecration, while the magistrates were to be imposed on, and made to believe that all had been done according to their direction. But [Page]

[Page 71] Sabas too well knew St. Paul's principles, to ima­gine that the sin lay in eating: he knew that scandalizing the weak, and giving the enemies of the faith an advantage over them, was all that made that action criminal in christians, neither of which consequences would have been avoided by this, disguise. He not only refused to comply with what was proposed to him, but publicly de­clared, that those who sheltered themselves under that artifice, were not to be called christians.

SABAS being soon after apprehended on account of his faith, was carried before a magistrate, who inquired into his fortune and circumstances. Find­ing that what he had upon his back was the principal part of what he possessed, he was dis­missed as a person of little or no consequence.

SABAS went to spend the ensuing Easter with Sansala, a christian priest of great piety: they lived in great tranquillity for three days, but on the third night they were both seized by a party of soldiers. The priest was allowed to dress him­self, and to ride, but Sabas was obliged to leave his clothes behind him, and to walk; and, du­ring the journey, they drove him through thorns and briars, beating him with great violence almost continually. This cruelty he bore without a [...] murmur, and in the ev [...]ning they extended him between two beams, faste [...]ing his legs to the one and his arms to the other; and in that posture left him for the night, while they retired to repose. The woman of the house, however, hearing how ill he had been used, went and released him; but though he was now at liberty, and his persecutors asleep, he did not avail himself of the opportunity to make his escape.

THE next morning the persecutors began to practise on th [...]se two worthy christians, and tam­pered with them to renounce their religion, and eat the meat consecrated to the idols. This, how­ever, they joi [...]tly refused, and positively declared, that they were ready to meet the most cruel death, rather than comply with such detestable idolatry. Sansala was at length discharged, and Sabas or­dered to be drowned; which sentence was put into execution, April 12, A. D. 372.

NICETAS was of a Gothic extraction, born near the banks of the Danube, and though he had been long a christian he never met with any molesta­tion on that account, till the above-mentioned per­secution began by Athanarick. That monarch ordered an idol to be drawn about on a chariot, through all the places where the christians lived: the chariot stopped at the door of every one who professed the gospel, and the christian inhabitants were ordered to pay it adoration. Upon a refusal, the house was immediately set on fire, and all within were burnt. This was the case with Nicetas, who on account of his religion, refusing to pay the re­spect demanded to the idol, had his house burnt, and himself consumed in it, September 15, A. D. 372.

EUSEBIUS, bishop of Samosata, makes a most dis­tinguished figure in ecclesiastical history, and was one of the most eminent champions of Christ against the Arian heresy. The Arians having advanced Miletas to the see of Antioch▪ thinking him of their party, the instrument of his advancement was pla­ced in the care of Eusebius. When Miletus preached his first sermon, the Arians, to their great surprize, found they had been greatly mis­taken in him, for his doctrines were pure and orthodox.

ENRAGED at their disappointment, they persuaded the emperor to displace him, and likewise to get the instrument out of the hands of Eusebius. Mile­ [...]us was accordingly deposed, and the emperor sent to Eusebius to deliver the instrument. Eusebius's answer was that he could not give up a trust reposed in him by so great a number, without the express consent of all concerned in it. The emperor in­censed at this reply, wrote to him on that subject, and assured him he had commissioned the bearer of his letter to cut off his right hand, if he refused to surrender the instrument in question; which threat was artfully added only to awe him into a compli­ance. Eusebius, however, knew the party was capable of any cruelty to promote their cause; but, without the least emotion, offered his hands, and declared he would lose them both rather than part with so flagrant a proof of Arian injustice. The emperor could not but be surprized at his resolution, [Page 72] and professed a high esteem for him ever after: so true it is that virtue can sometimes force even its de­clared enemies to love and praise it.

THE Arians from this time looked upon Eusebius as a most dangerous enemy. At the time Jovian [...] peace to the church, Miletus convened a council at Antioch, which consisted of Eusebius, and twenty-five other prelates, who unanimously confirmed the doctrines of the council of Nice.

WHEN the see of Caesarea became vacant, Euse­bius was greatly instrumental in promoting Basil to it, on which occasion Gregory the younger calls him, "The pillar of truth, the light of the world, the fortress of the church, the rule of faith, the support of the faithful, and an instrument in the hands of God for bestowing favours on his peo­ple." When the Arians were the most vigilant to propagate their heresy, Eusebius was exceedingly assiduous in taking measures to prevent their suc­cess; and his zeal was always so governed by the rules of prudence, that his attempts seldom failed of success. It was not enough for our excellent prelate to screen his own flock from the insults of the common enemy, and maintain the faith in its purity agai [...]st all the endeavours of such as would corrupt the people; but knowing that several churches were, by the iniquity of the times, de­prived of their pastors, he disguised himself; and thus made the tour of Syria, Phoenicia, and Pa­lestine; fortified the pure against the solicitations of the heretics, ordained several priests and inferior ministers, wherever they were wanting; and, when he found any orthodox prelates in his travels, as­sisted them in consecrating bishops for the use of the widowed churches. It was impossible to conceal the hand that every day gave some fresh stroke to the Arian party, and sunk their interest wherever it was employed; so that the emperor, at their in­stigation, granted an order for banishing him into Thrace. He was at Samosata when the messenger came with this commission; it was late in the even­ing; and Eusebius, who was very well beloved by his people, begged he would make no noise, but conceal his business; "for, says he, if it takes air, the people will fall on you, throw you into the [...]iver, and then I shall be charged with your death." Eusebius was calm enough to go through his usual devotions, and when the night was far advanced he left his house on foot, attended only by one trusty servant, who carried a pillow and one book after him. Thus accommodated he took a boat, and went to Zeugina, about seventy miles down the river.

THE people, however, next day, missing Euse­bius, and hearing which way he was gone, follow­ed in a great number of boats, and ove [...]taking would have rescued him, at the same time intreat­ing him with tears in their eyes not to abandon them.

EUSEBIUS was greatly touched with their affec­tion, but said he must go according to the emperor's order, putting them in mind of the authority of St. Paul, for paying a due reverence and proper sub­mission to the civil power. Finding they could not prevail, they accommodated him with every thing that could comfort him in his journey, and then left him to pursue his way to the place of his des­tination.

AT this time Thrace was a scene of confusion, by means of the war carried on between the Goths, and the emperor's forces▪ and in these contests, the life of Eusebius was frequently in danger. The emp [...]ror, in order to terminate the war with the greater expedition, resolved to march against the Goths in person; but first to engage the prayers of the christians, he gave peace to the church of Christ▪ and allowed the orthodox prelates to return to their churches. Th [...]s was Eusebius restored to his [...], which however he did not long enjoy, for an Arian woman threw a tile at him from the top of a house▪ which fractured his skull, and terminated his life in the year 380.

MARCE [...]LUS, bishop of Apamea, a prelate of great merit, was very active in attempting to sup­press idolatry in his diocese, on which account his life was in continual danger, till Cynegius, the pr [...] ­fect, arrived with a considerable body of troops, which kept the pagans in awe. This officer's de­sign was totally to abolish idolatry, to effect which he determined to destroy the temple of Jupiter; he however found this a more difficult attempt than he had imagined, for the building was so strong, the [Page 73] stones so unweildy, the cement so durable, and the iron cramps so massy, that he despaired of being able to accomplish the work; when a poor labouring christian, recommended by Marcellus, undertook to go through with what the praefect had given up, and the business was executed in the following manner:

THIS person examined the situat [...]on of the edi­fice, and finding it surrounded by a gallery, sup­ported by stately pillars, ten yards in circumference, he judged it would be more to his purpose to weaken the foundation than pretend to attack the body of the building directly: with this view he dug at the bottom of the said pillars, and shored them with timber beams. When he had thus un­dermined three of the most considerable pillars, he set fire to the wood, which burning in sunder, the pillars fell, and drew twelve more with them, and brought down one whole side of the building; upon which the people flocked together f [...]om all parts of the town, and praised God, who ha [...] thus triumph­ed over his enemies.

THE bishop and praefect continued destroying a great number of idol temples, when being at a town called Aulo upon this business, while the troops were busy in demolishing the buildings, some pagans privately seized upon the bishop, and burnt him, A. D. 393.

A [...] Account of the Persecutions of the Chris­tians under the Arian Vandals.

THE Vandals passing from Spain to Africa in the fifth century, under their leader Genseric, committed the most unheard of cruelties. They persecuted the christians wherever they came, and even laid waste the country as they passed, that the christians left behind, who had escaped them, might not be able to subsist.

THEY plundered the churches, and murdered the bishops and ministers by a variety of tortures. In particular, they poured stinking oil and vinegar down the throats of some tiil they expired; suf­focated others by fil [...]ing their mouths with mud, and martyred many by stretching their limbs with cords till the veins burst, and sinews cracked. They also wreaked their vengeance on several of the cler­gy and nobility, whom they loaded with heavy burdens; and obliged them to carry their bag­gage; and if they did not travel fast enough, they pricked them on with sharp goads, insomuch that several died under their burdens. Reverend grey hairs found no instances of mercy, and guilt­less infants felt the rage of their barbarity Stately buildings were burned or levelled with the earth: and the chief churches in Carthage employed in their own heretical worship, or put to profane uses; and where any castles held out against them, they brought great numbers of christians, and slew them, leaving their dead bodies lying under the walls, that the stench thereof might force the besieged to surrender.

HAVING seized and plundered the city of Carth­age, they put the bishop, and all the clergy, into a leaky ship, and committed it to the mercy of the waves, thinking that they must all perish of course; but providentally the vessel arrived safe at Naples.

INNUMERABLE orthodox christians were beaten, scourged, and banished to Capsur, where it plea­sed God to make them the means of converting many of the Moors to christianity▪ but this com­ing to the ears of Genseric, he sent orders, that they and their new converts should be tied by the feet to chariots, and dragged about till they were dashed to pieces.

PAMPINIAN, the bishop of Mansuetes, was tor­tured to death with plates of hot iron; the bishop of Urice was burnt; the bishop of Habensa was banished for refusing to deliver up the sacred books which wer [...] in his possession; and a whole congre­gation, who were assembled in a church at their devotions, together with the clergyman who was preaching to them, were murdered by these barba­rians breaking in upon them, and exercising the most indiscriminate cruelties.

THE Vandalian tyrant Genseric, having made an expedition into Italy, and plundered the city of Rome, returned to Africa, flushed with the success of his arms. The Arians took this occasion to per­suade [Page 74] him to persecute the orthodox christians, as they assured him that they were friends to the peo­ple of Rome.

ARMOGASTUS was one who felt the rage of this persecution; Victor, the learned bishop of Vita, who was personally acquainted with Armogastus, and who likewise wrote the history of this persecu­tion, informs us, that "his legs were tied, and his forehead bound with cords several times; which, though applied with no gentle hand, made not the least impression on his flesh, nor left any mark on his skin. After this, he was hung up by one foot; but in that posture seemed as much at his ease as if reposed on a soft bed. Theodoric, one of the king's sons, finding all attempts on his life had hitherto proved unsuccessful, ordered his head to be struck off. But Jocundas, an Arian priest, dissuaded him from that resolution, by telling him it would be much better to destroy him by slow and impercep­tible means, and wear him out by degrees; where­as a violent death would procure him the reputa­tion of a martyr among those of his own opinion, which could be of no service to the opposite cause. The prince sent him to the mines, and some time after removed him to a place near Carthage, where he was employed in looking after cattle. While Armogastus was thus engaged, he grew exceeding ill, and imagining that the end of his labours was near, he communicated his thoughts to Felix, a virtuous christian, employed in that prince's service. From him he received some consolation; but his disorder increasing daily soon deprived him of life, and he was buried by Felix according to his own direction."

ARCHINIMUS was a devout christian, upon whom all manner of artifices were employed in vain, to make him renounce his fait [...]. At length Genseric himself undertook to persuade him, but finding his endeavours ineffectual, he passed sentence upon him to be beheaded. He, however, privately ordered the executioner really to perform his office, if the prisoner seemed intimidated and afraid; "for then (said he) the crown of martyrdom will b [...] lo [...]t to him; but if he seems courageous, and willing to die (continued the king), strike not the stroke, for I do not intend that he shall have the honour of be­ing deemed a martyr." The executioner [...] when they came to the place appointed [...] Archini­mus resolved, and happy in the thought of dying for the sake of Christ, brought him back again [...] He was soon after this banished, and never heard of more, though it is conjectured that he was mur­dered privately by the king's order, as he thought the glory of dying publicly for the faith too great a favour.

EUGENIUS, bishop of Carthage, was eminent for his learning and piety, which brought upon him the hatred of the Arians in general, who took great pains to set the king Huneric against him, and the orthodox christians.

THEY succeeded but too well, for he banished above 5,000 into a dreadful desart, where many perished through hunger, or the inclemency of the weather. But being bent on persecuting the whole body of the orthodox christians, he sent an edict to Eugenius, which he commanded that he should read in the Cathedral on Ascension day, A. D. 483.

AS this edict ordered that all the orthodox bi­shops should me [...]t at Carthage on the first of the ensuing February, for the purpose of disputing with the Arian prelates, the king's stratagem evi­dently appeared to Eugenius, and several other bi­shops, particularly to Victor, bishop of Vita, the leared author of the original account of th [...]s per­secution, for they well knew that he artfully [...] to establish Arianism under the appearance of can­dour and justice.

AFTER a considerable deliberation, they deter­mined to send a petition to the king; which was written by Eugenius accordingly, and prese [...]ted by a person who had great interest at court. The sub­stance of this petition was, that the African prelates did not decline the proposed conference out of a sense of the weakness of their cause, or a distru [...] of their own abilities to maintain the orthodox faith; but as the whole church was concerned in the dis­pute, they were of opinion that they could not e [...] ­gage in it without the bishops of Europe and Asia. To this Huneric replied, that what they desired was impossible, unless the whole world was in hi [...] hands. Upon which Eugenius desired his majesty would be pleased to write to Odoacer, king of Italy, and other princes in his interest; and allow him to send [Page 75] to the bishops, that the common faith might be thus authentically declared.

THE king, however, disregarding this remon­strance, insisted upon being obeyed; and then, previous to the time appointed, very artfully took an occasion to banish several of the most able and learned orthodox prelates, on various pretences; that the cause of truth might be weakened, and the Arians have the greater advantage.

WHEN the appointed time for the conference ar­rived, the orthodox clergy appointed ten of their number to act in the name of the rest. Cyrilla, an Arian, took the stile of patriarch upon the oc­casion, and was seated on a magnificent throne. The Arian prelates were allowed to sit near him, but the orthodox bishops were obliged to stand. They complained of this partial mode of beha­viour, as an evident infringement of their liberty; on which the Arians took occasion to abuse them in a most illiberal manner. Eugenius, per­ceiving that thev did not intend to come to any can­did decision, proposed to adjourn to some future day; but instead of complying with this, each or­thodox prelate, by the king's order, as Cyrilla as­serted, received an hundred blows with a stick. Eugenius protested against such violence, but in vain; the prelates were turned out of the place unheard, their churches were shut up, and the re­venues of their bishoprics seized upon.

SOON after they were compelled to quit Car­thage, when they lay without the walls of that city, exposed to all the inclemencies of the open air. The king pasing out of one of the gates, the or­thodox clergy presented themselves before him, and modestly complained of the treatment they had received.

H [...]N [...]RIC, instead of redressing their grievances, ordered his guards to fall on them, and chastise them for their insolence, as he termed it. The sol­die [...]s complied with the tyrant's request, and treat­ed them as unmercifully as he could wish. The king ordered them to appear on a certain day at a place which he named.

AT the appointed time they assembled on the spot accordingly, when one of the king's officers shewed them a folded paper, and informed them that the king was inclined to forget what was past, and to restore them to their livings, provided they would swear to the truth of what that paper con­tained. The prelates, surprised at this unreasona­ble proposal, declared that they could not in con­science think of swearing to the truth of that to which they were total strangers. But if they were suffered to read the writing, and approve of the contents, they would readily take the oath.

THE officer replied, that was unnecessary; for he would tell them the contents, which were not of a religious but of a political nature, and only re­quired them to swear they were willing prince Hil­deric should succeed his father in the throne. Se­veral of the prelates innocently thinking that there could be no harm in swearing they were willing a son should succeed his father, as that was but a piece of natural justice, offered to comply. But the rest, with greater precaution, and well knowing the Arian wiles, refused to take the oath, as they justly judged so simple a proposal would never have been made them, unless some deep artifice was con­cealed beneath it.

WHILE they were disagreeing upon this head, the officer took an advantage of their discord, and committed them to separate prisons, those who were willing to swear to one, and those who were unwilling to another. They had not been long in confinement before the mystery was unravelled, and the whole artifice explained by an order from the king for the banishment of both parties. Those who had been willing to swear were banished, un­der the pretence of offering to break an established precept of the Scripture, viz. "Swear not at all," Matt. v. 34. And those who had refused to swear, were banished as enemies to the legal succession. Thus did the crafty Arians accomplish the [...]uin of the prelates, by wresting a text of the gos­pe [...] to a wrong sense, and putting a piece of politi­cal sophistry to an improper use. The former were obliged to work as slaves in distant colonies, and the latter were sent to the island of Corsica to cut timber. Tripoli was the place to which Euge [...]nius was banished; where Anthony, a violent A [...]an bishop, threw him into a loathsome dungeon▪ [Page 76] and made him suffer every hardship that cruelty could devise, in order to destroy him by a lingering death. The dampness of the place gave Eu­genius the palsy, which Anthony hearing of, went to the gaol, and finding him in a very weak condi­tion laying on the floor, he poured some strong vinegar down his throat, with a design to have choaked him. It had, however, a contrary effect; for instead of suffocating, it promoted an immedi­ate and copious perspiration, which was essentially serviceable in curing his palsy, and restoring him to health.

AFTER the decease of Huneric, his successor recalled Eugenius and the rest of the orthodox clergy; the Arians taking the alarm, persuaded him to banish them again, which he complied with, when Eugenius, being exiled to Languedoc, in France, died there of the hardships he underwent on the 6th of September, A. D. 505.

DIONYSIA, a lady of fortune, and a widow, be­ing apprehended as an orthodox christian, was stripped naked, and exposed in a most inde­cent manner, and severely scourged. Her son, a young lad, being seized at the same time, seemed afraid of the torture, and looked pitifully at his mother, who ordered him not to fear any torments that could be inflicted on him, but to be constant to the faith in which she had brought him up.— When he was upon the rack, she again comforted him in these words:

"REMEMBER, O my child, that we were bapti­zed in the name of the ever sacred Trinity; let us not loose the benefit thereof, lest it should hereaf­ter be said, cast them into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth: for that pain, which never endeth, is indeed to be dreaded, and that life, which endureth to eternity, to be de­sired." Whereupon the youth patiently persevered, and from the force of his torments resigned his soul to his God.

THE pious mother saw the death of her son with pleasure, and soon after received the crown of mar­tyrdom herself.

THE Arian bishop of Carthage, named Cyrilla. was a most furious heretic, and a very great enemy to those christians who professed the faith in its purity. Having gained the ear of the king, he persuaded him that he could never expect prosperity in his undertakings, or hope to enjoy his kingdom in peace, while he suffered any of the orthodox chris­tians to live.

THIS weak monarch, believing all that Cyrilla told him, sent for several of the most eminent christians, who were particularly obnoxious to that prelate. He, at first, attempted to draw them from their faith by flattery, and to bribe them from the hopes of future salvation, by the promise of immediate worldly rewards. Being firm and con­stant in their faith, they were proof against the for­mer, and despised the latter; declaring resolutely against Arianism, and saying, we acknowledge but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism; you ma [...] therefore do whatever you please with our bo [...]ies, for it is better we should suffer a few tem­porary pain [...] ▪ than to endure everlasting torments.

THE king, being greatly exasperated at this free­dom, sent them to a filthy dark dungeon, and or­dered them to be put into irons. The keeper, however, not b [...]ing of the savage disposition too common to such as are entrusted with the care of gaols, suffered their friends to have access to them; by which they received great consolation, and be­came daily more and more confirmed in their reso­lution of dying for the sake of Ch [...]i [...]t.

THE king hearing of the indulgence given them by their keeper, was exceedingly angry, and sent orders that they should be more closely confined, and loaded with still heavier setters. He then be­gan to ruminate in his mind by what means be should put them to death, and after resolving over and over all the mod [...]s of cruelty that he could re­collect, he at length determined to imitate the mo [...]strous barbarity of the emperor Valens, who as we have already related, caused fourscore clergymen to be burnt together in a ship. Fixing upon this in­fernal precedent, he ordered these christians to be put on board a ship filled with combustible materials, and the vessels being set fire to, they received the crown of martyrdom. The names of several of the principal of these christians [...]ere, Rusticus, [Page 77] Severus, Liberatus, Boniface, Septimus, Servus, and Rogatus.

An Account of Persecutions from about the Middle of the Fifth, to the Conclusion of the Seventh Century.

PROTERIUS was made a priest by Cyril, bi­shop of Alexandria, who was well acquainted with his virtues, before he appointed him to preach. On the death of Cyril, the see of Alexandria was filled by Dioscorus, an inveterate enemy both [...]o the memory and family of his predecessor. Dios­corus, however, knowing the reputation of Prote­rius, did the utmost in his power to gain his confi­dence and interest; as he thought he might be of singular service to him in carrying on his designs.

PROTERIUS, however, was not to be corrupted, the welfare of the church sat next his heart, and no prospect of worldly preferment could bribe him to forego his duty.

DIOSCORUS being condemned by the council of Chalcedon for having embraced the errors of Eu­tyches, was deposed, and Proterius chosen to fill the vacant see, and approved of by the emperor. This occasioned a dangerous insurrection, for the city of Alexandria was divided into two factions; the one to espouse the cause of the old, and the other of the new prelate. A great deal of mis­chief was done on both sides, and Proterius was in the most imminent danger, from a set of chismatics who would neither obey the decisions of a council, nor the emperor's decree.

AS these disorders became serious, the governor of Th [...]bais marched at the head of a body of troops, in order to quell the sedition. The people, however, had worked up their imaginations to a kind of phrenzy▪ when they heard of the approach of the governor, they armed themselves, marched out of Alexandria, gave him battle, and defeated him. The intelligence of this affair so exasperated the emperor, that [...]e sent a detachment of two thousand men against them; the appearance of whom, and the prudence of the governor of Alex­andria, whose name was Florus, soon restored peace to the city.

THE discontented party, however, still beheld Proterius with an eye of resentment; so that he was obliged to have a guard out of respect to his personal safety, and at length, though naturally of a sweet and mild temper, was compelled to excom­municate some of them, and obtain their banish­ment from Alexandria. Ecclesiastical history, how­ever, informs us, that, "When emperor Mar­cian's death, which happened two years after, gave a new turn to affairs, the exiles returned to Alex­andria, engaged in their usual cabals against Prote­rius, and seemed resolved to be revenged on him for what they had suffered in the last reign. Ti­mothy, a priest, who was at the head of all the de­signs that had been formed against Proterius, em­ployed every art to ruin his credit, drawing the people from his communion, and raising himself to that see. At last, taking the advantage of the ab­sence of Dionysius, who commanded the forces of that province, and was then in the Upper Egypt, he seized on the great church, and was uncanoni­cally and sacrilegiously consecrated by two bishops of his faction, that had been deposed for heresy. The usurper went on in the exercise of all the epis­copal functions, and used the whole rigour of his pretended authority to oppress the orthodox, till the commander's return, who, upon hearing the dis­orders that had been committed, and that Timo­thy was the chief author of them, drove that in­cendiary out of the town."

THIS affair so enraged the Eutychians, that they determined to wreak their vengeance on Proterius, who fled to the [...]urch for sanctuary: but on Good Friday, A. D. 4 [...]7, a large body of them rushed into the church, and barbarously murdered the prelate; after which they dragged the body through the streets, [...] it, cut it to pieces, burnt it, and scattered the ashes in the air.

JULIA, a Carthaginian lady, was taken prisoner when the Vandals sacked that city. After being sold and resold as a slave, she became the property of a Syrian pagan, named Eusebius. Her master could not but admire a religion which inspired such resignation and patience in va [...]alage, and the [...] [Page 78] painful employments: thus it is plain, that the hu­mility and purity prescribed by christianity will at­tract even the admiration of heathens.

THE master of Julia frequently took her with him upon his voyages: in one of these they touch­ed upon the island of Corsica, where Eusebius joined in an idolatrous festival; but Julia kept at a distance.

THE heathens complained of this conduct as dis­respectful to their gods, and informed the governor Felix of it, who sent for Eusebius, and demanded what young woman it was that had refused to join in worship to the gods?

EUSEBIUS replied, that the young woman was a christian, and that all his authority over her had proved too weak to prevail with her to renounce her religion; but that, as she was a very diligent and faithful servant, he could not think of parting with her.

FELIX then pressed him to exert himself on this occasion, and either to oblige her to assist at the pa­gan worship, or to part with her; and offered to give him his own price, or four of his best female slaves in exchange for her, which Eusebius absolute­ly refused, saying, that he would not part from her at any price.

FELIX finding the master inflexible, determined to get her into his power by artifice. To effect this, he invited Eusebius to an entertainment, and having intoxicated him, he sent for Julia in the name of her master.

THE innocent slave not suspecting the trap laid for her, came immediately, when the governor told her that he would procure her liberty, if she would sacrifice to the heathen gods. To which Ju­lia replied, that while she was permitted to enjoy her religion, she was as free as she desired to be.

FELIX, not being able to prevail, ordered her to be severely beaten, which she bore with the utmost p [...]ti [...]nce. Finding her still resolute, he command­ [...]d, that the hair of her head should be pulled up by the roots. This barbarity having no greater effect than the former, he sentenced her to be hang­ed, which sentence was immediately put in exe­cution.

JULIA was scarce dead when Eusebius recovered from his intoxication. As soon as he understood what had past, he was greatly afflicted, and in the first transports of his resentment had thoughts of complaining to the emperor, who being a christian, would have punished the perfidy of the governor. But reflecting again, that Felix had only acted with a zeal for the deities he himself adored, he deter­mined to put up with the loss, and retire from a place which was become so disagreeable to him.

HERMENIGILDUS was a Gothic prince, being the eldest son of Leovigildus, king of the Goths, in Spain. This prince, who was originally an Arian, became a convert to the orthodox faith, by mea [...] of his wife Ingonda. When the king heard that his son had changed his religious sentiments, [...]e stripped him of the command at Seville, where he was governor, and threatened to put him to death, unless he renounced the faith he had newly em­braced.

THE prince, in order to prevent the execution of his father's menaces, began to put himself into a posture of defence; and many of the orthodox per­suasion in Spain declared for him. The king, ex­asperated at this act of rebellion, began to puni [...] all the orthodox christians who could be seized by his troops; and thus a very severe persecution commenced: he likewise marched against his [...] at the head of a very powerful army. The prince, knowing that he was unable to oppose the formid­able force that his father was bringing against him, implored [...]he assistance of the Roman troops that were left [...] garrison those parts of Spain, which the emperor stil [...] possessed. The Roman commander engaged to assist Hermenigildus, but being bribe [...] by the king he broke his promise. Leovigild [...] then made it his business, as much as possible, [...] detach the orthodox christians from the interest [...] his son; and in this he had great success, for it [...] effected in 581, by convening the Arian prelates [...] Toledo, who abolished the practice of re-baptizing those that came over to their sect, and drew up [...] captious profession of faith which deceived [...] [Page 79] and prevailed upon them to quit the interest of Hermenigildus.

THE prince, thus forsaken by numbers of those whom he most confided in, was obliged to retreat towards Seville, in which city he soon after shut himself up, and sent to Constantinople for assistance from the emperor. The death of that monarch, however, prevented him from receiving any relief; for Maurice, who succeeded him, found his own hands too full to afford any succour to Hermenigil­dus. The king, who had information of every step which his son took, proceeded to Seville, and laid siege to it. The prince defended the place with great bravery, and even held out for the space of twelvemonths; but finding that the city must soon be taken, he privately made his escape, and fled to the Roman troops to beg protection. Be­ing informed that they intended to give him up, he precipitately retired to Corduba, and from thence went to Asseto, which he fortified.

AFTER the escape of the prince from Seville that city surrendered, and the king having properly gar­risoned it, pursued his son, laid siege to Asseto, and soon obliged it to surrender. The unfortunate prince being driven to this distress, flew to a church for sanctuary. The king having too much respect for the sanctity of the place to force him from it, sent an officer, named Reccaredus, to assure him of his pardon, upon his submitting to ask it. The prince believing his father to be sincere, immediate­ly went to him, and threw himself most submissively at his feet. The king, however, instead of for­giving him, loaded him with chains, and carried him to Seville, where he endeavoured, both by promises and menaces, to make him renounce the orthodox faith.

THE prince remained constant to the truth; and at the feast of Easter, when the king sent an Arian bishop to him to administer the eucharist, Herme­nigildus absolutely refused to receive it, which so enraged the king, that before he gave himself time to reflect, he ordered some of his guards to go and cut the prince to pieces, which they punctually per­formed, April the 13th, A. D. 586.

ANASTASIUS, a Persian, was brought up a pagan, and bore arms as a soldier under Cosroes, king of Persia, at the time that monarch plundered Jerusa­lem; and, among other things, carried off the very cross on which Christ was crucified. Anastasius could not imagine why the christians had such a veneration for a person who had died so mean a death as that of being crucified; for that mode of death was, by the Persians, held in the greatest con­tempt, and none but the very lowest and most de­spicable malefactors were executed in that manner. Applying to some christian captives, he was in­structed in the whole christian mystery, and being charmed with the purity of a faith which inspired such fortitude, he left the army, and retired to Sy­ria: here he learned the trade of a goldsmith, and then going to Jerusalem, he supported himself by that business; was baptized by Modestus, vicar-general of Jerusalem: and staid a week with Elias, his godfather.

WHEN that time was over, and he was now to quit the white clothes which he wore at his bap­tism, according to the then practice of the church, he desired the priest would put him in a way of renouncing the world entirely, and fulfilling the obligations of his profession without interruption. Elias recommended him to Justin, abbot of a se­minary four miles from Jerusalem, who employed a proper person to instruct him in the Greek tongue, and to teach him the Psalms; and then admitted him into his religious community. Anastasius pas­sed seven years in that house, where he divided his time between the most humble domestic employ­ments, and the truly christian entertainments of the word of God, the lives of the fathers, and the acts of the martyrs. He was most sensibly affected with those monuments of pagan barbarity, and christian courage; and conceived a strong desire to lay down his life for Jesus Christ.

GOING to Caesarea, which was then in the hands of the Persians, he was taken up as a spy, and brought before Marzabanes, governor of that city, to whom he [...] that he was a christian, and was on that [...] sent to prison. When he had lain there some time, Marzabanes sent for him, and gave him fresh assurances of favour and promotion, [Page 80] if he would but renounce his religion: but he despised and rejected every mark of friendship and respect, that would endeavour to divorce him from his God; and the governor ordered him to be beaten till he should agree to his proposals. He then remanded him to prison, where he spent his time in prayer, and such labours as were imposed on him as part of his punishment. Justin being apprized of his sufferings, recommended him to the prayers of the whole community, and sent two of his people to encourage him to perseve­rance.

AT length, the governor wrote to the king con­cerning Anastasius, and on receiving an answer, told the prisoner, that he would give him his liber­ty if he would [...]enounce the christian religion, only before him and two witnesses, and that his renunciation should not be known. Anastasius heard this proposal with horror, and rejected it with disdain; when the governor sent him bound in chains to Persia, there to be dealt with as the king should direct.

THE king did all in his power to engage him to renounce his religion, but finding his endea­vours in vain, he ordered him to be executed, which was performed in this manner: he was laid upon his back, with a piece of wood across his legs, pressed down with the whole weight of two lusty men; he was then severely beaten, hung up by one hand, with a weight fastened to his foot; and after being strangled, his head cut off, and sent to the king.

MARTIN, bishop of Rome, was born at To [...], in Italy. He was naturally inclined to virtue, and his parents bestowed upon him an admirable edu­cation. He had every liberal endowment that the sciences could bestow, and all the worthiness that a mortal could derive from the saving grace of the gospel. He took orders, and on the death of Theodore, bishop of Rome, was advanced to that important see, by an unanimous election, in which all parties gave him the fullest praises, and admitted, that he well merited a trust of such great consequence.

HIS character hath been thus drawn by a ma­sterly hand:

"HIS compassion for the poor appeared in large contributions for their relief, and the offices of hospitality which he performed in favour of stran­gers. His fasts were rigorous and frequent, and prayer employed a very considerable part of his time. He was always ready to receive returning sinners; took no small pains to lead such through the pat [...] of repentance, as testified their sorrow by tear [...]; and comforted them by letting them see what reason they had to confide in God's infinite goodness. He loved his clergy with a brotherly tenderness, and honoured the episcopal character wherever it was found.

THE first trouble he recei [...]d in his episcopal ca­pacity, was from a set of heretics, called Mono­thelites; who not daring, after the express decisions of the council of Chalcedon, to maintain the unity of nature in Christ, asserted artfully, that he had but one will and operation of mind. This sect was patronized by the emperor Heraclius; and the f [...]rst who attempted to stop the progress of these errors, was Sophronius, bishop of Jeru­salem.

MARTIN, who perfectly coincided in sentiments with the bishop of Jerusalem, called a council [...] which consisted of 105 bishops, and they unani­mously condemned the errors in question.

INCENSED at these proceedings, the emperor or­dered Olympius, his lieutenant in Italy, to repair to Rome, and seize the bishop, provided it could be done without causing an insurrection. The lieute­nant performed the journey; but on his arrival at Rome, he found the people too unanimous in their opinions, and the prelate too much beloved, to attempt any thing by open violence. Hence he had recourse to treachery▪ and suborned a ruf­fian to assassinate the bishop at the altar; but the fellow, after promising to execute the bloody deed, was seized with such horrors of mind, that he had not the power to perform his promise. Olympius, finding it would be very difficult to perform any thing against Martin, withdrew from Rome, and [Page 81] putting himself at the head of his troops, march­ed against the Saracens, who had made some in­roads into Italy, but he died in the expedition.

OLYMPIUS was succeeded by Calliopas, who re­ceived express orders to seize the person of Martin, which, with the assistance of a considerable body of soldiers, he performed; at the same time shew­ing the clergy the imperial mandate, which com­manded him to dispossess Martin of his bishopric, and carry him to Constantinople as a prisoner.

AFTER a very tedious voyage, and enduring in­numerable hardships, he reached the imperial city of Constantinople, and was immediately thrown into prison. While in confinement, he wrote two epistles to the emperor to refute the calumnies for­ged against him with respect to his faith and loyalty. The substance of which was, that for a proof of the soundness of the former, he appeals to the tes­timony of the whole clergy, and his own solemn protestation to defend the truth as long as he lived. In answer to such objections as had been made a­gainst the latter, he declared he neither sent money, letters, or advice to the Saracens, but only remitted a sum for the relief of poor christians among those people: he concludes with saying, that nothing could be [...] false than what the heretics had al­ledged against him concerning the Blessed Virgin, whom he firmly believed to be the mother of God, and worthy of all honour [...] divine Son. In his [...] of his being [...] already related, and his [...] from [...] and hoping his [...], when [...] removed from this [...]."

[...] undergone were [...], that on the [...] was forced to be [...] he was unable [...], the judge [...] purpose. Martin began his defence, but as soon as he enter­ed upon an investigation of the errors which he had combated, one of the senators stopped him, and said, that he was only examined respecting civil af­fairs, and consequently that ecclesiastical matters had nothing to do in his defence. The judge then pre­vented him from going on, and having broke up the court, went and reported the progress of the proceedings to the emperor.

MARTIN was now ordered to be exposed in the most public places of the town, to the ridicule of the people; to be divested of all the episcopal marks of distinction, and to be treated with the greatest scorn and severity. All these rigours he bore with a christian-like patience, and a degree of fortitude that only heaven can inspire.

AFTER laying some months in prison, [...]artin was sent to an island at some distance, and there cut to pieces, A. D. 655.

JOHN, bishop of Bergamo, in Lombardy, was a learned man, and a good christian. He did his utmost endeavours to clear the church from Arian­ism, and joining in this holy work with John, bi­shop of Milan, he was very successful against the heretics. Grimoald, however, an Arian, having usurped the throne of Lombardy, the orthodox christians feared that heresy would gain footing [...] once more, in Lombardy; but the bishop of Ber­gamo used such persuasive arguments with Gri­moald, that he brou [...]ht him from the errors of Arianism to profes [...] the orthodox faith.

AFTER the death of Grimoald, and his son who succeeded him, Pantha [...]it [...]ame to the crown, and [...] errors which had been com­bated with suc [...] spirit by the orthodox clergy. The bishop of B [...]r [...]mo exerted himself strenuously [...]o prev [...]t the heresy from spreading, on which ac­count he wa [...] assassinated on July 11, A. D. [...]83.

[...] was born in Ireland, and received from his parents [...] and christian education. His favorite study was theology, and he took great de­light in perusing the holy scriptures. Hence an ar­dent [...] for the glory of God glowed within [Page 82] him, and he took great pains to bring many to the light of the gospel.

AS the narrow limits of his native island seemed too small for his unbounded zeal, he crossed the sea, together with eleven other persons, in order to make converts on the continent. On landing they directed their course to what is now called the Circle of Franconia, in Germany. Coming to the city of Wurtzbourg, they found the people in general, and their governor Gozbert, to be pagans; but from their good dispositions, conceived great hopes of converting them from idolatry and superstition to the gospel faith. Previous to making this attempt, however, he deemed it necessary to go to Rome, in order to obtain his mission from th [...] pontiff. He accordingly went thither, attended by o [...] Col [...]an a priest, and Totman a deacon, two of those who had accompanied him from Ireland, and found Conon in Peter's chair. He gave them a favourable recep­tion, and being informed of Kilien's business at Rome, after some questions about his faith and doc­trine, consecrated him bishop, with full permission to preach to the infidels wherever he found them. Thus authorized, Kilien returned to Wurtzbourg, where he opened his mission. He had not been long employed in those evangelical labours, when Gozbert sent for him, and desired to know the na­ture and tendency of this new religion, which he recommended so vigorously, and proposed so bold­ly. Our holy bishop had several conferences with the governor on that subject, and God gave such a blessing to his endeavours, that Gozbert received the faith, was baptized, and gave him free leave to preach wherever he had any power. As the ex­ample of great men seldom fails of influencing those of an inferior rank, that of Gozbert went very far in commanding the attention of his pagan subjects to what our prelate had to offer; and in less than two years much the greatest part of them became christians.

IT is to be observed, that Gozbert had married his brother's widow, for which Kilien, though he knew the sinfulness of the thing, did not chuse to rebuke him till he was thoroughly confirmed in his faith. When he thought him fully instructed in the principles of christianity, and well grounded in the purity of its precepts, he intreated the governor, as the last proof of the sincerity of his conversion▪ to quit that person whom he had hitherto looked upon as a wife, as he could not cohabit with her without committing sin. Gozbert, surprized at the pro­posal, told the bishop this was the hardest demand he had ever made upon him. "But (said he) since I have renounced my own inclinations and pleasures in so many particulars for the love of God, I will make the work complete, by complying with your advice in this too."

THE governor's wife being informed of this af­fair, determined to be revenged on those who had persuaded Gozbert into such a resolution. The mis­sionaries were sensible of that wicked woman's de­sign; and the only shield they had, consisted of prayer, patience, and resig [...]a [...]ion. She sent ac­cordingly to the place where they usually assembled, and had them all beheaded. Kilien, and his com­panions, submitted without resistance, the former telling them, that they need not fear those who had no power of the soul, but could only kill the body, which, in a short time, would of itself decay. This happened, A. D. 689, and the martyrs were pri­vately buried in the night, together with their clothes, books, &c.

SOME writers add what follows, as the sequel of this bloody affair: "Some days after this impious tragedy was acted, Gozbert, surprized that he had not seen Kilien lately, ordered diligent search to be made for him. Geilana, to stop the inquiry, gave out, that he and his companion had left the town, without giving any account of their motions. But the instrument of her revenge, the executioner [...] violently racked with remorse of conscience, [...]an about like a mad man, and declared that Kilien burnt him. Thus discovered, he was seized; and Gozbert was considering what to do with him, when a creature of the governess▪ a man of great eloquence and artifice, and a pretended convert, ad­vised him to leave the God of the christians the task of doing himself justice on his enemies, and pro­posed the event as a t [...]st of his power.

GOZBERT was weak enough to [...]mpt God, by putting it on that issue. The murderer, being set at liberty, went raving mad, tore his own flesh with his teeth, and died in this miserable condition. [Page 83] Geilana was so perplexed in her conscience, that it tormented her till she expired; Gozbert's rashness and criminal condescension, was punished by vio­lent death, and his whole race was cut off in a few years.

An Account of Persecutions from the early Part of the [...]ighth, to near the Conclusion of the tenth Century.

BONIFACE, archbishop of Mentz, and fa­ther of the German church, was an English­ [...]an, and is, in ecclesiastical history, looked upon as one of the brightest ornaments of his nation. Originally his name was Winfr [...]d, or Wi [...]ith, and he was born at Kirton, in Devonshire, then part of the West-Saxon kingdom. When he was only about six years of age, he began to discover a propensity to reflection, and seemed solicitous to gain information on religious subjects. Soon after, some evangelical missionaries came by chance to Kirton, and happened to fix their abode at his fa­ther's house. From these he understood, that the principal step to salvation was, to deny himself, and follow Christ. He considered seriously of what he heard, and, in process of time, determined to de­vote himself to a religious life. When he inform­ed his father of his resolution, [...]he latter would willingly have dissuaded him from it; but find­ing him fully resolved, he permitted him to go and reside at a monastery in the city of Exeter. Wolfrad, the abbot, finding tha [...] he possessed a bright genius, as well as a strong inclination to study, had him removed to Nutscelle, a seminary of learn­ing, in the diocese of Winchester, where he would have a much greater opportunity of attaining im­provement than at Exeter. T [...]e abbot of Nut­scelle, who was as much celebrated for his great learning as his christian virtues, took uncommon pains with his young pupil, who, in time, became a prodigy in profound literature, and divine know­ledge; and was, at length, employed at Nu [...]scelle as a principal teacher.

THE ancient Saxon historians, who speak highly in his praise, tell us, that those who studied un­der him had no need to remove to any other place to finish what they had begun, for he gave them lessons in grammar, poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy; and explained the holy scriptures in the literal, moral, and mystical senses. But his exam­ple was as instructive as his lectures, and while he formed his scholars to learning by his dictates, he encouraged them to the practice of virtue, by the prudent conduct of his life.

THE abbot of Nutscelle, seeing him thus quali­fied for the priesthood, obliged him to receive that holy order, when he was about thirty years old. From that time he began to preach, and labour for the salvation of his fellow-creatures; in the pro­gress of which he gave the first proofs of that apos­tolical zeal, that afterwards made such glorious con­quests in a barbarous part of the world.

THERE being an important occasion to assemble a synod of bishops in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, it was judged expedient to depute one of their body to the archbishop of Canterbury, to in­form him of the exigency of affairs. Upon con­side [...]ng who was proper to be charged with such a commission, Boniface was proposed, and unani­mously chosen by the synod; and the choice was approved of, and confirmed by the then reigning king of the West-Saxons.

BONIFACE discharged this trust with great pru­dence, and obtained the applause of every member of the synod; but far from being vain of the repu­tation he had acquired, he proposed to forsake his country, relations, and friends, in order to be of service to the faith, and extend christianity on the continent. At first, the abbot and monks of Nut­scelle would have dissuaded him from his purpose; but finding him resolute, two of their number were ordered to assist him.

HE accordingly left Nutscelle, and arrived in Friezland about the year 716; but found that coun­try in the utmost disorder and confusion. It had be­longed to the crown of France, but was at that time in the possession of prince Radbord, who had estab­lished paganism in it, persecuted the christians, and was at war with Charles Martel, mayor of the pa­lace of Austrastia.

[...] [Page 86]firmed Boniface in his power; and approved of all he had done in Germany, making him at the same time archbishop of Mentz, and metropolitan over thirteen bishoprics. He did not, however, lose his simplicity in grandeur, or forget his innocence in the parade of ecclesiastical dignity, but studied to preserve that humility, which is so pathetically re­commended in Matt. v. 3, 12.

DURING the ministry of this meek prelate, Pe­pin was declared king of France. It was that prince's ambition to be crowned by the most holy prelate he could find, and Boniface was pitched on to perform that ceremony, which he did at Soissons in 752. The next year his great age, and many infirmities lay so heavy on him, that with the con­sent of the new king, the bishops, &c. of his diocese, he consecrated Lullus, his country man, and faithful disciple, and placed him in the see of Mentz. When he had thus eased himself of his charge, he recommended the church of Mentz to the care of the new bishop in very strong terms, desired he would finish the church at Fuld, and see him buried in it, for his end was near.

HAVING left these orders, he took boat to the Rhine, and went to Friezland, where he converted and baptized several thousand of the barbarous na­tives, demolished the temples, and raised churches on the ruins of those superstitious structures.

HAVING appointed a day for confirming a great number of new converts, he ordered them to assem­ble in an open plain near the river Bourde. Thi­ther he repaired the day before; and pitching a tent, determined to remain on the spot all night, in order to be ready early in the morning.

SOME pagans, who were his inveterate enemies, having intelligence of this, poured down upon him, and the companions of his mission, in the night, in such a manner as sufficiently evinced their design of massacreing them. The servants of Boniface were for repelling the barbarians by force of arms; but he opposed the motion, told them, and his clergy, that the moment he had long wished for was now come, and exhorted his assistants in the ministry to prepare themselves for martyrdom. While he was thus employed, the pagans rushed in upon him, and killed him and fifty-two of his companions and attendants, on June 5, A. D. 755. Thus fell the great father of the Germanic church, the honour of England, and the glory of the age in which he lived.

FORTY-TWO persons of Armorian, in upper Phry­gia, were martyred in the year 845, by the Sa­racens, the circumstances of which transaction are as follow:

IN the reign of Theophilus, the Saracens rava­ged many parts of the eastern empire, gained seve­ral considerable advantages over the christians; and at length laid siege to the city of Armorian. The garrison bravely defended the place for a considerable time, and would, in all probability, have obliged their enemies to raise the siege, when the place was basely betrayed by a renegado. Great numbers were put to the sword; and two general officers, with some other persons of distinction, were carried prisoners to Bagdat, where they were loaded with heavy chains, and thrown into a dark dungeon.

THEY continued in prison for a considerable time without seeing any persons but their gaolers, or receiving any allowance greater than what would barely subsist them; the bare ground was their bed, and hope their only consolation. During this time, however, they only considered them­selves as prisoners of war; but at length they were informed, that nothing could preserve their lives but renouncing their religion and embracing mahometanism.

TO induce them to comply, the caliph pretended a very great zeal for their welfare; and declared, that he looked upon converts in a more glorious light than conquests; and the gaining of souls, of much greater importance than the subduing of kingdoms. Agreeable to these maxims, after they had suffered all the hardships of a dark and noisome prison, and were reduced to a state that might oblige them to accept of relief on any terms, he sent some of the most ingenious and artful of the Mahometans, with money and clothes, and the promise of other advantages they might secure to themselves by a bare abjuration of christianity; which, according to the corrupt casuistry of those [Page 87] infidels, might be made without quitting their faith. But our martyrs, well instructed in the simplicity and sincerity of the gospel, rejected the proposal with horror and contempt. After this they were attacked with that fallacious and delusive argument which the Mahometans still use in favour of them­selves, and their monstrous absurdities! they were desired to judge of the merits of the cause by the success of those who were engaged in it; and chuse that religion which they saw flourished most, and was best rewarded with the good things of this life, which they called the blessings of heaven. But our noble prisoners were proof against all these tempta­tions; and argued strenuously against the authority of their false prophet. This incensed the Maho­metans, and drew greater hardships upon the chris­tians during their confinement, which lasted seven years. At the end of that time Boidizius, the re­negado that had betrayed Armorian, brought them the welcome news of their sufferings being to con­clude in martyrdom the next day. To which he added his advice to them to save their lives by dissi­mulation, a fault very excusable, he said, in their circumstances. But they knew what curse was de­nounced by Christ against such as deny him be­fore men; and were therefore prepared to meet death in any shape, rather than commit that horrid crime.

AS soon as they were brought from their dun­geon, they were again solicited to embrace the tenets of Mahomet; but neither threats nor pro­mises, the denunciations of malice, nor allurement of rewards, could induce them to forsake the true faith, or prevail on them to espouse the doctrines of an impostor.

FINDING their resolution, and that their faith could not by any means be shaken, the caliph or­dered them to be executed. Theodore, one of the number, had formerly received priest's orders, and officiated as a clergyman; but afterwards quitting the church, he had followed a military life, and raised himself by the sword to some considerable posts, which he enjoyed at the time of his being ta­ken prisoner. The officer who attended the exe­cution, being apprized of these circumstances, said to Theodore, "You might, indeed, pretend to be ranked amongst the christians, while you served in their church as a priest; but the profession you have taken up, which naturally engages you in blood­shed, is so contrary to your former employment, that you should not now think of passing upon us, for one of that religion. When you quitted the altar for the camp, you renounced Jesus Christ. Why then will you dissemble any longer with the world? Would you not act more conformable to your own principles, and make your conduct all of a piece, if you came to a resolution of saving your life by owing our great prophet?"

THEODORE, covered with a religious confusion at this strong reproach, but still full of courage, and unshaken in his faith, made the following answer: "It is true, said he, I did in some measure aban­don my God when I engaged in the army, and scarce deserve the name of a christian. But the Almighty has given me the grace to see myself in a true light, and made me sensible of my fault; and I hope he will be pleased to accept my life, as the only sacrifice I can now offer to expiate my guilt. His mercies are infinite, and therefore I have room to hope my blood may be allowed to wash away my crimes. And in this I appeal to your own sentiments. If, in the same case, any one that had left your ser­vice, and rambled negligent of his duty for some time, should at last return and offer to lay down his life for you, would not you be inclined to forget all that was past, and receive him into your family again?"

THIS pious and manly answer confounded the of­ficer, who only answered, that he should presently have an opportunity of giving that proof of his zeal for, and fidelity to, his master. Upon which, Theodore and the rest, to the number of forty-two, were beheaded.

FLORA and Mary, two ladies of distinction, suf­fered martyrdom at the same time. Flora was the daughter of an eminent Mahometan, at Seville, in Spain; from whence he removed to Corduba, where the Saracen king resided, and kept his court. Her father dying while she was young, Flora was left to the care of her mother, who, being a chris­tian, brought her up in the true faith, and inspired her with sentiments of virtue and religion. A priest of Corduba, who personally knew both her and her [Page 88] mother, and who wrote the account of her martyr­dom, hath given us the following portrait of her character: "Flora (says he) was a great proficient in the spiritual life, at an age when little is thought of but the world and its vanities; her whole thoughts seemed turned to Jesus Christ; her whole discourse was inflamed with the divine love; God was her sole care; her f [...]sts were rigorous; her devotion full of fervour; her concern for the poor most surprizing and edifying; and the pre­cepts of the gospel were her constant study. Her brother being a professed enemy to christianity, with the addition of a barbarous and savage temper, Flo­ra was for some time obliged to use no small caution in the practice of such virtues, as must have exposed her to a domestic persecution at least. She was too zealous to bear this restraint l [...]ng; for which reason she left Corduba, in comp [...]ny with her sister.

HER departure soon alarmed her brother, who guessed its motives, and, in revenge, informed against several christians of Corduba; for as he did not know whither his sister was gone, he determin­ed to wreak his vengeance on such christians as were present.

FLORA being informed of these proceedings, con­sidered herself as the cause of what the christians had suffered at Corduba, and having an interior convic­tion that God called her to fight for her faith, she returned to that city, and made her way directly to the persecutors, among whom she found her bro­ther. "If, said our glorious martyr, I am the ob­ject of your enquiry, if the servants of God are tormented on my account, I now freely offer my­self to your disposal. I declare, I believe Jesus Christ, glory in his cross, and profess the doctrine which he taught. This now is my confession; and I hope, through the divine mercy, that no­thing you can do to me will be able to make me retract or alter it." None of the company seemed so much enraged at this declaration as her brother, who, after some threats, struck her; this violent proceeding was followed by attempts of a softer na­ture; for he endeavoured to gain her by expressions of concern, and pretended kindness. Finding her equally insensible to all he could say, he then in­formed against her, and undertook to prove her a christian before the judge. He insinuated, that Flora had been educated in the religion of Maho­met, but had renounced it at the suggestion of some christians, who inspired her with the utmost con­tempt for the great prophet. When she was called to answer to the charge, she declared she never owned Mahomet, but sucked the christian religion in with her milk, and was entirely devoted to the Redeemer of mankind. The magistrate, finding her resolution, delivered her to her brother, and gave him orders to use his utmost endeavours to make her a Mahometan. She, however, soon found an opportunity of escaping over a wall in the night, and of secreting herself in the house of a christian. At length, she withdrew to Tucci, a village of Andalusia, where she met with her sister, and they never separated again till her martyrdom.

MARY, who was martyred at the same time, was the daughter of a christian tradesman at Estrema­dura, who afterwards removed to a town near Corduba.

WHEN the persecution began under Abderrama, king of the Saracens, in Spain, Mary's brother was one who fell a victim to the rage of the infidels on that occasion. Mary, hearing of his martyrdom, and full of a generous confusion at being left be­hind by one so much younger than herself, gave a free loose to her grief, which proceeded not so much from the loss of her brother, as her not be­ing allowed to enjoy the hap [...]iness then in his pos­session.

FULL of thes [...] thoughts she went to Corduba, where, going in [...]o a church▪ sh [...] [...]ound Flora, who had left h [...]r [...] on [...] motive, and was there recommending herself to th [...] [...] and re­warder of such vi [...]ories as christians then gained over infidels. Upon conv [...]ing together, and find­ing they acted on the same heroic principles, and proposed the same glorious end of their labours, they agreed to go together, and declare their faith before the judge. Accordingly, without farther hesitation, they proceeded to the magistrate, when Flora boldly told him, she looked on Mahomet as no better than a false prophet, an adulterer, and a magician.

MARY then told the magistrate, that she pro­fessed [Page 89] the same faith, and entertained the same sen­timents as Flora, and that she was sister to Wala­bonzus, who had already suffered for being a chris­tian. This behaviour so much enraged the ma­gistrate, that he ordered them to be committed to close confinement for some time, and then to be beheaded: which sentence was executed on the 4th of November, A. D. 850.

PERFECTUS was born at Corduba, in Spain, and brought up in the christian faith. Having a quick genius, he made himself master of all the useful and polite literature of that age; and, at the same time, was not more celebrated for his abilities, than admired for his piety. At length he took priest's orders, and performed the duties of his office with great assiduity and punctuality.

WALKING one day in the streets of Corduba, some Arabians entered into conversation with him, and, among other questions, asked him his opinion both of Jesus Christ, and of Mahomet.

PERFECTUS gave them a very exact account of the christian faith, respecting the divinity of Christ, and the redemption of mankind; but begged to b [...] excused from delivering his sentiments concerning Mahomet. The Arabians pressed him to speak freely; but he declined it, saying, that what he should utter would not be agreeable to their ideas, and consequently that it would be disgusting to thei [...] ears; he therefore thought best to be silent, as he wished not to offend any one. Dissatisfied with this answer, they still intreated him to speak his thoughts, declaring at the same time, that they would not be offended at any thing he should say.

BELIEVING them sincere, and hoping this might be the favourable time allotted by God for their conversion, Perfectus let them know the christians looked on Mahomet as one of the false prophets foretold in the gospel, who were to seduce and de­ceive great numbers, to their eternal ruin. To illustrate this affe [...]tion, he placed before them some of the actions of that grand impostor; endeavoured to show them the impious doctrines, and abomina­ble absurdities of the Alcoran; and ended with ex­horting them, in very strong terms, to quit the miserable state in which they then were, and which would certainly be followed by eternal misery.

IT may be easily imagined, that the infidels could not hear a discourse like this without feeling some warmth, and conceiving an indignation against the speaker. They thou [...] proper, however, to dis­guise their resentments [...] that time, but were re­solved not to let him escape without punishment. At first, indeed, they were unwilling to use any violence to him, because they had given him a solemn assurance he should come to no harm, for the liberty he took at their request; but zeal for their law, and its author, soon eased them of that scruple. They watched a favourable opportunity, seized on him, hurried him away to one of their chief magistrates, and accused him of blaspheming th [...]ir great prophet and legislator.

THE whole alleg [...]on having been heard, the judge ordered him to be put in chains, and closely confined in prison, till the feast of their Ramadan, or Lent, when he should be made a victim to Ma­homet. He heard the determination of the judge with joy, and prepared for his martyrdom with great fervency.

WHEN the time arrived, he was led to the place of execution, where he again made a confes­sion of his faith, declared Mahomet an impostor, and insisted, that the Alcoran was filled with ab­surdities and blasphemies. In consequence of this he was sentenced to be beheaded, and was accord­ingly executed, A. D. 850; after which his body was honourably interred by the christians.

WINCESLAUS, duke of Bohemia, was brought up in the faith of Christ, for his father Wrattislaus, the preceding duke, was a valiant prince, and a good christian; but Drahomira, his mother was a pagan, whose morals were as bad as her sentiments of religion; she consented, however, to entrust her mother, Ludmilla, with the education of her eldest son. That holy woman had resided at Prague ever since the death of Borivor her husband, the first duke of Bohemia, who embraced the faith of Christ; and Winceslaus was sent to that city, to be brought up as she pleased. Ludmilla undertook to form his heart to devotion and the love of God, and was [Page 90] assisted in that work by Paul her chaplain, a man of great sanctity and prudence, who likewise endea­voured to cultivate his mind with the first rudi­ments of learning. The mind of the young prince corresponded with their endeavours; and the grace of God, who had prepared him for their instruc­tions, made the task very easy. At a convenient age he was sent to a college at Budweis, about sixty miles from Prague, where several young persons of the first rank were placed for their improvement in virtue and learning, and studied under the direction of an excellent master, a native of Neisse, in the duchy of Silesia.

AT the death of Wrattislaus, his son Winceslaus was very young; on which account Drahomira, his mother, declared herself regent during his mi­nority. This princess, not having any one now to controul her, gave a free vent to her rage against christianity; and began her administration with an order for shutting up the churches. She repealed the laws in favour of the christians, and removed all magistrates of that denomination, supplying their places with pagans.

FINDING themselves thus encouraged, the pagans, upon any frivolous pretence, would murder the christians with impunity; and if a christian in his own defence killed a pagan, his life, and that of nine other christians, were to be the forfeit.

THE venerable Ludmilla was sensibly touched at these proceedings, and could not, without affliction, behold a religion trampled on which she professed, and which her consort had established with so much difficulty.

LUDMILLA could not think of any expedient to prevent the total extirpation of christianity in Bo­hemia, but persuading Winceslaus, young as he was, to assume the reins of government. Win­ceslaus at first declined engaging in this task, till maturer years had rendered him better qualified; but upon his grandmother's promising to assist him with her advice, and direct him in his conduct, he complied with her request: and, to prevent all future disputes, divided the country between him­self and his younger brother Bolislaw, whose name a town in, and a considerable district of that coun­try, still retains.

ON this change of affairs Drahomira attached herself to Bolislaw, who, like herself, was a pagan, and followed implicitly her maxims. With respect to the behaviour of Winceslaus after his assuming the sovereignty, and the fate of the aged and wor­thy Ludmilla, the annals of Bohemia furnish us with these particulars: "Winceslaus, pursuant to the impressions of virtue which he had received from his grandmother, and others employed in his education, was more careful than ever to preserve the innocence of his morals, and acquired some new degree of perfection every day. He was as humble, sober, and chaste, when master of his own motions, and in full possession of sovereign authority, as when under the government of those on whom he was taught to look as his superiors. He spent great part of the night in prayer, and the whole day in acts of piety; directing all his views to the esta­blishment of peace, justice, and religion, in his do­minions. He was assisted in these charitable and truly christian labours by able ministers; and no­thing of consequence was done without the advice of Ludmilla. That excellent princess being in­formed that Drahomira, transported with rage at the success of her directions, had formed a design against her life, and that it would hardly be in her power to avoid the blow, was so far from being disturbed at the apprehensions of death, or desist­ing from what had made her odious to that wick­ed woman, that she exerted herself more vigorously than ever for the maintainance of religion, and con­firming the prince in his resolutions. Being now assured that her death was near, and that several persons were actually employed to dispatch her the first convenient opportunity, she called all her ser­vants together, acknowledged their fidelity in her service with a liberal hand, and distributed her goods and money among the poor. Thus divested of all she possessed in the world, she went to her chapel, received the holy eucharist, and then em­ployed herself in prayer, recommended her soul to God, and expected his will with the utmost tran­quillity and resignation. This was her situation, when two ruffians entered the chapel, seized o [...] her, and strangled her with her own veil."

THE young duke felt severely for the loss of his grandmother; and the more so, as he did not chuse to punish the offenders, well knowing that they [Page 91] had been instigated to what they did by his mother. He therefore addressed himself to God only, in­treated the throne of grace for his mother's pardon and conversion, and patiently submitted to the dis­pensations of Providence.

AS many factions were stirred up in his domi­nions by means of his mother and brother, and as Winceslaus himself seemed of an unwarlike disposi­tion, a neighbouring prince determined to invade that part of Bohemia which belonged to him. This was Radislaus, prince of Gurima, who entered Bohemia at the head of a considerable army, and immediately commenced hostilities. Winceslaus hearing of these proceedings, sent a message to the invader, to know what offence he had given him, and what terms he required to quit his dominions, and leave him at his repose.

RADISLAUS mistaking the temper of Winceslaus, looked upon this message to proceed from timidity; he therefore answered in a very haughty manner, made some frivolous excuses for having commenced the quarrel, and concluded, by insisting that Win­ceslaus should surrender to him all his dominions.

THIS unjust and insolent demand obliged Win­ceslaus to appear in arms in defence of himself and his people. He accordingly raised a considerable body of forces, and marched to oppose the enemy. When the two armies were drawn up, and ready to engage, Winceslaus desired a conference with Ra­dislaus, which being complied with, he observed, that as it would be unreasonable and unjust to ha­zard the lives of so many innocent men, the most eligible method of putting an end to the dispute would be by single combat between themselves.

RADISLAUS heard this proposal with pleasure, and accepted it with joy, thinking that he was much more expert in the use of arms than his antagonist. They accordingly engaged in the sight of the two armies, and the victory seemed doubtful for some time, till, at length, it declared in favour of Win­ceslaus; when his antagonist was obliged, accord­ing to previous agreement, to relinquish his pretend­ed claim, and retire into his own country.

BEING thus freed from the fears of a foreign enemy, Winceslaus had leisure to turn his thoughts to domestic reformation. He removed corrupt judges and venal magistrates, and filled their places with persons of integrity: he put an end to oppres­sion in all its branches, and punished such nobles as tyrannized over their vassals. These regula­tions, though they relieved the poor and help­less, gave great offence to the great and rich, as they abridged their power of using those who de­pended on them ill, and, in some degree, took from them that self-importance, and assumed con­sequence, which is the pride of little minds. Hence many became factious, and ripe for mis­chief. The malecontents gave an odious turn to all his best actions; spoke slightingly, and even contemptibly, of his application to prayer, fasting, and other acts of religion, which they endeavoured to insinuate were low employments for a prince, and incompatible with the courage and policy ne­cessary for the government of a state. His mother and brother were still the most inveterate of his ene­mies, who could not bear to see this growing pro­sperity of the patron of religion, and enemy of idolatry; and therefore resolved to take him off at any rate. Drahomira and Bolislaw were concert­ing measures for executing their black design, when they understood that Winceslaus had desired the pope to send some priests into his dominions, with whom he proposed to spend the remainder of his days in a religious retreat. This news suspend­ed the execution of their conspiracy against him for some time; but, perceiving this affair did not come to a conclusion so soon as was necessary for satisfying their ambitious views, they re-assum­ed their criminal practices against him, and gained their ends in the following very black and treache­rous manner:

BOLISLAW having been some time married, his princess proved pregnant, and, at length, brought him forth a son. This circumstance, which should have diffused joy throughout the family, furnished Drahomira and Bolislaw with an idea of the most horrid nature, and the innocent infant was made the object for perpetrating a deed of unexampled cruelty. The scheme concerted between the bi­goted Bolislaw, and his wicked mother, was to get Winceslaus into their power. The birth of the child furnished them with a fair pretence; and a [Page 92] polite message was dispatched to the unsuspecting duke, to partake of an entertainment given upon the occasion. Winceslaus, not having the least sur­mise of their barbarous intent, repaired to the court of Bolislaw, where he was received with the greatest appearance of cordiality. He partook of the enter­tainment, and wore the face of festivity till it grew rather late at night, when he thought proper to retire before the rest of the company, as he was not fond of late hours, and as he never neglected his devotions to the Almighty, previous to his laying down to sleep.

AS soon as he was withdrawn, Drahomira urged Bolislaw not to trust their revenge to another hand, but to follow his brother instantly, and murder him. The bloody prince took his mother's sanguinary advice, and repairing to his brother's chamber, he found him kneeling, and in fervent prayer to the Almighty; when, unmoved by that pious appear­ance, he rushed upon him, and plunged a dagger to his heart. Thus, in A. D. 929, fell Winceslaus, the third duke of Bohemia, by as infernal an act of treachery as ever was recorded in the annals of any nation.

ADALBERT, bishop of Prague, was a Bohemian by birth. His parents were persons of rank, but more distinguished for their virtues and piety than for their opulence or lineage. They were happy in a son, whose dawning perfections gave them a plea­sing hope, that he would one day become a shining ornament to his family. That he might fulfil their expectations, they gave him a complete edu­cation; but their joy was in some measure damp­ed, by his falling into a dropsy, from which he was with difficulty recovered.

WHEN he was effectually cured, they sent him to Magdaburg, and committed him to the care of the archbishop of that city, who completed his edu­cation, and confirmed him in piety and virtue. The rapid progress which Adalbert made in human and divine learning, made him dear to the prelate, who, to the authority of a teacher, joined all the tender­ness of a parent for his amiable pupil.

HAVING spent nine years at Magdaburg, he re­tired to his own country upon the death of the arch­bishop, and entered himself among the clergy at Prague. Dithmar, bishop of Prague, died soon after the return of Adalbert to that city; and, in his expiring moments, expressed such contrition for having been ambitious, and solicitous of worldly honours and riches, as surprized every one who heard it. Adalbert, who was among the number present, was so sensibly affected at the bishop's dy­ing sentiments, that he received them as an admo­nition to the strict practice of virtue, which he afterwards exercised with the greatest attention, spending his time in prayer, and relieving the poor with a cheerful liberality.

A few days after the decease of Dithmar, an assembly was held for the choice of a successor, which consisted of the clergy of Prague, and the chief quality of Bohemia. Adalbert's character for every virtue that important post required, soon de­termined them to raise him to the vacant see, which they did on the 19th of February, 983. Messen­gers were immediately dispatched to Verona, to desire Otho II. would confirm the election. The emperor granted the request, ordered Adalbert to repair to court for investiture, gave him the ring and crosier, and then sent him to the archbishop of Mentz for consecration. The ceremony was per­formed on the 29th of June the same year; and he was received at Prague with all possible demon­strations of public joy. He divided the revenue of his see into four parts, according to the direction of the canons extant in the fifth century. The first was employed in the fabric, and ornaments of the church; the second went to the maintenance of the clergy; the third was laid out for the relief of the poor; and the fourth reserved for the support of himself and family; which was always made to include twelve indigent persons, to whom he al­lowed daily subsistence.

HE now performed his duty with the utmost as­siduity, and spent a great portion of his time in preaching to and exhorting the people. His con­duct was discreet and humane; and his manner neither too severe nor too indulgent; so that his flock were not terrified into despair, or flattered into presumption. But some things which he could not remedy gave him great uneasiness, particularly the having a plurality of wives, and selling the [Page 93] christians to the Jews, for trivial offences. Hence he determined to consult the pope, and made a journey to Rome. Accordingly, John, who then sat in the papal chair, received him with great cor­diality, and having heard his grievance, advised him to give up his bishopric, rather than be the witness of enormities which he could not remedy. He determined to take the pope's advice, and to de­vote the remainder of his days to mortification, poverty, and silence; which design he began, by giving all his treasures to the poor. He was, how­ever, before he entirely secluded himself from mankind, desirous of seeing the Holy Land, and set off accordingly, with three persons in his com­pany.

IN their way they arrived at Mount Cassino, where the heads of the monastery of that place re­ceived them in a very friendly manner, and entertained them as well as the rules of their order would admit. Being apprized of the cause of their journey, when they were about to depart, the superior of the monastery addressed himself to Adalbert, and observed to him, that the journey he had undertaken would give him more trouble and uneasiness than he was aware of; that the frequent desire of changing place and travelling, often pro­ceeded more from a restless disposition, and eager curiosity, than real religion, or solid devotion. "Therefore, said he, if you will listen to my ad­vice, leave the world at once with sincerity, and settle in some religious community, without desir­ing to see more than you have already seen." A­dalbert listened attentively, and came readily into the sentiments of the superior, which soon deter­mined him to take up his residence in that monas­tery, where he then thought he might live entirely recluse, and, being unknown, might pass unhonour­ed to the grave. But in the latter particular he was mistaken; for the priests, by accident, coming to a knowledge of the rank and former dignity of their colleague, began to treat him with great de­ference and respect, which occasioned him to leave the place. Nilus, a Grecian, was then at the head of a community not far from Mount Cassino; A­dalbert made his way to him, and begged to be received into his monastery. He assured him he would willingly comply with his request, if he thought the rule and practice of his religious fa­mily would be agreeable to a stranger; besides which, he told him that the house in which he and his people lived was given to them by those of Mount Cassino; and therefore it might not be safe for him to receive one that had left that commu­nity. When Nilus had thus excused himself, he advised him to return to Rome, and apply himself to Leo, an abbot of his acquaintance there, to whom he gave a letter of recommendation. Adalbert went to Rome, where he found Leo, who, before he would admit him, put his virtue and courage to proper trials, by speaking roughly to him, and giving him a terrible account of the labours and severities of the state in which he desired to engage. But, finding his resolution was not moved or weak­ened by the prospect of the most austere mortifica­tions, he conducted him to the pope, and, with the consent of that pontiff and the whole college of car­dinals, gave him the habit on Holy Thursday in the year 990. We have already said, that he had been attended only by three select persons ever since he had the pope's advice for resigning his bishopric; two of them left him now; but the third, who was his own brother Gaudentius, followed his ex­ample, and engaged in the same community. A­dalbert, full of the most profound humility, took a particular pleasure in the lowest employments of the house, and lived here an excellent pattern of christian simplicity and obedience.

THE archbishop of Mentz, as metropolitan, was exceedingly afflicted at the disorders in the church of Prague, and wished for the return of the bishop, with whose retreat he was not▪ for some time, ac­quainted. At length, after five years absence, he heard that Adalbert was at Rome, when he sent a deputation to the pope to press his return to his diocese. The pope summoned a council to consider of the deputation, and after a warm dispute be­tween the monks and the deputies, the latter car­ried their point, and Adalbert was ordered to re­turn to his diocese; but, at the same time, had permission to quit his charge again, if he found his flock as incorrigible as before. The inhabitants of Prague met him, on his arrival, with great joy, and promised obedience to his directions; but they soon forgot their promises, and relapsed into their former [Page 94] vices, which obliged him, a second time, to leave them, and return to his monastery.

THE archbishop of Mentz sent another deputa­tion to Rome, and desired that his suffragan might be again ordered back to his diocese. Gregory V. who was then pope, commanded him to return to Prague; and he obeyed, though with great re­luctance.

THE Bohemians, however, did not look upon him as before, but deemed him the censor of their faults, and the enemy to their pleasures, and threatened him with death upon his arrival; but not having him yet in their power, contented themselves with falling on his relations, several of whom they mur­dered, plundered their estates, and set fire to their houses. Adalbert had intelligence of these out­rageous proceedings, and could not judge it pru­dent to proceed on his journey. He therefore went to the duke of Poland, who had a particular respect for him, and engaged that prince to sound the Bo­hemians in regard to his return; but could get no better answer from that wretched people, than "that they were sinners, hardened in iniquity: and Adal­bert a saint, and consequently not [...]it to live among them; for which reason he was not to hope for a tolerable reception at Prague." The bishop thought this message discharged him from any farther concern for that church, and began to di­rect his thoughts to the conversion of infidels; to which end he repaired to Dantzick, where he con­verted and baptized many, which so enraged the pagan priests, that they fell upon him, and dis­patched him with darts, on the 23d of April, A. D. 997.

An Account of the Persecutions in the Eleventh Century.

ALPHAGE▪ archbishop of Canterbury, was descended from a considerable family in Gloucestershire, and received an education suita­ble to his illustrious birth. His parents were wor­thy christians, and Alphage seemed to inherit all their virtues. He was prudent and humble, pious and chaste: he made a rapid progress both in polite literature and scripture learning, and was, at once, the admired scholar, and devout christian: he strove to make the arts useful to the purposes of life, and to render philosophy subservient to the cause of religion. In order to be more at leisure to con­template the divine perfections, he determined to renounce his fortune, quit home, and become a recluse. He accordingly retired to a monastery of Benedictines, at Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire, and soon after took the habit.

CONSIDERING that the principal business of a christian was to subdue his passions, and mortify his appetites, he lived with the utmost temperance, and spent the greatest part of his time in prayer. But not thinking the austerities he underwent in this mo­nastery sufficiently severe, he retired to a lonely cell near Bath, and lived in a manner still more rigid and mortifying. Here he thought to remain un­known, but some devout persons finding out his retreat, his austere life soon became the subject of conversation in the neighbouring villages, where many flocked to him, and begged to be taken un­der his pastoral care. He yielded to their impor­tunities, raised a monastery near his cell, by the contributions of several well-disposed persons; formed his new pupils into a community, and placed a prior over them. Having prescribed rules for their regulation, he again retired to his beloved cell, fervently wishing to pass the remain­der of his days in religious security; when the following affair once more drew him from his retreat:

THE see of Winchester being vacant by the death of Ethelwold, it was no easy matter to agree upon the choice of a successor to that bishopric. The clergy had been driven out of the cathedral for their scandalous lives, but were admitted again by king Ethelred, upon certain terms of reformation. The monks, who had been introduced upon their expulsion, looked upon themselves as the chapter of that church; and hence arose a violent contest between them, and the clergy who had been re­admitted, about the election of a bishop; while both parties were hot, and vigorously set upon promoting each their own man. This dispute at last ran so high, that Dunstan, archbishop of Can­terbury, as primate of all England, was obliged to [Page 95] interpose in the affair, who consecrated Alphage to the vacant bishopric, to the general satisfaction of all concerned in the election, or interested in the affair.

ALPHAGE'S behaviour was a sufficient proof of his being equal to the dignity of his vocation. Pi­ety flourished in his diocese; unity was established among his clergy and people; and the church of Winchester recovered its lustre in such a manner, as made the bishop the admiration of the whole kingdom.

DUNSTAN had an extraordinary veneration for Alphage, and when at the point of death, made it his ardent request to God, that he might succeed him in the see of Canterbury; which accordingly happened, though not till about eighteen years af­ter Dunstan's death. In the course of that period the metropolitan church was governed by three suc­cessive prelates; the last of whom was Alfrick; upon whose decease, in 1006, Alphage was raised to the sea of Canterbury.

THE people belonging to the diocese of Win­chester, were the only persons who did not sincere­ly rejoice at his promotion; for they were too sen­sible of the loss they sustained by his translation, not to regret his removal to Canterbury.

SOON after his being made archbishop, he went to Rome, and received the pall from pope John XVIII. and after his return to England, laboured assiduously to introduce the best regulations into the church.

AFTER Alphage had governed the see of Canter­bury about forty years, with great reputation to himself, and benefit to his people, the Danes made an incursion into England. Ethelred, who then reigned, was a prince of a very weak understand­ing, and pusillanimous disposition. Too fearful to face the enemy himself, and too irresolute to furnish others with the means of acting in his stead, he suffered his country to be ravaged with impunity, and the greatest depredations to be committed, at the option of his enemies.

THE archbishop Alphage, upon this trying occa­sion, acted with great resolution and humanity: he went boldly to the Danes, purchased the freedom of several whom they had made captives; found means to send a sufficient quantity of food to others, whom he had not money enough to redeem, and even made converts of some of the Danes: but the latter circumstance made the Danes, who still con­tinued pagans greater enemies to him than they would otherwise have been, and determined them to be revenged on him for occasioning a change in the sentiments of their companions. Edric, an English malecontent, and an infamous traitor, gave the Danes every encouragement, and even assisted them in laying siege to Canterbury. When the de­sign of attacking this city was known, many of the principal people made a precipitate flight from it, and would have persuaded Alphage to follow their example. But he, like a good pastor, would not listen to such a proposal; he assured them he could not think of abandoning his flock, at a time when his presence was more necessary than ever, and was resolved to hazard his life in their defence, at this calamitous juncture. While he was employ­ed in assisting and encouraging his people, Canter­bury was taken by storm; the enemy poured into the town, and destroyed all that came in their way, by fire and sword. The monks did what they could to detain the archbishop in the church, where they hoped he might be safe. But his concern for his flock made him break from them, and run into the midst of the danger. He had the courage to ad­dress the enemy, and offer himself to their swords, as more worthy their rage than the people: he beg­ged they might be saved, and that they would dis­charge their whole fury on him. They accordingly seized him, tied his hands, insulted, and abused him in a rude and barbarous manner; and obliged him to remain on the spot till his church was burnt, and the monks massacred. They then decimated all the inhabitants, both ecclesiastics, and laymen, leaving only every tenth person alive: so that they put 7236 persons to death, and left only four monks, and 800 laymen alive: after which they confined the archbishop in a dungeon, where they kept him close prisoner for several months.

DURING his confinement, they proposed to him to redeem his liberty with the sum of 3000 l. and persuade the king to purchase their departure out [Page 96] of the kingdom, with a further sum of 10,000 l. Alphage's circumstances would not allow him to sa­tisfy the exorbitant demand: they bound him, and put him to severe torments, to oblige him to disco­ver the treasure of his church; upon which they assured him of his life and liberty. The prelate knew, that what they insisted on was the inheritance of the poor, not to be thrown away upon the barba­rous enemies of the christian religion; and there­fore persisted in refusing to give them any account of it. They remanded him to prison again, con­fined him six days longer, and then taking him with them to Greenwich, brought him to a trial there. He still remained inflexible with respect to the church treasures; but exhorted them to forsake their idolatry, and embrace christianity. This so greatly incensed the Danes, that the soldiers drag­ged him out of the camp, and beat him unmerci­fully. Alphage bore this usage patiently, and even prayed for his persecutors. One of the soldiers, who had been converted and baptized by him, was greatly afflicted, that his pains should be so linger­ing, as he knew his death was determined on: he, therefore, with the fury of a desperate zeal, and a kind of barbarous compassion, cut off his head, and thus put the finishing stroke to his martyrdom, on April 19, A. D. 1012. This transaction hap­pened on the very spot where the church at Green­wich, dedicated to him, now stands. After his death his body was thrown into the Thames, but being found the next day, it was buried in the ca­thedral of St. Paul's, by the bishops of London and Lincoln; from whence it was, in the year 1023, removed to Canterbury by Aethelmoth, the archbishop of that province.

GERARD, a Venetian, devoted himself to the service of God from his tender years; entered into a religious house for some time, and then deter­mined to visit the Holy Land. Going into Hun­gary, he became acquainted with Stephen, the king of that country, who, at once, acted the parts of prince and preacher, and not only regulated his subjects by wholesome laws, but taught them reli­gious duties. Finding Gerard every way qualified to instruct his people, he tried, by every means, to detain him in his kingdom; and, at length, found­ing several churches, he made Gerard bishop of that of Chonad.

GERARD had a very difficult task to perform; the people of his diocese were fond of, and accus­tomed to, idolatry; and their perverseness was equal to their immorality. The new bishop, how­ever, assiduous in his charge, and full of zeal for the salvation of his flock, laboured diligently to bring them to a sense of their duty. He soon had the pleasure to find that his endeavours were not un­successful, for his sweetness of disposition won up­on the people so much, that they could not help believing one whom they loved, or of placing a confidence in the doctrines of a man they had such great reason to reverence.

HIS conquests over idolatry were not confined to his own diocese, but extended to the adjacent coun­try, where his doctrines successfully spread, and many became converts to the pure faith of Christ. Wherever the faith made its way by his ministry, he took care to establish ecclesiastical discipline for the preservation of religion, and made several useful regulations in the public service of the church. His exemplary conduct was at least as instructive as his sermons and exhortations, and went a great way in convincing his converts of the truth and dignity of their new profession: for who could doubt of the excellency of a religion, that raised him above the weaknesses and passions of human nature; and ap­peared divine, by placing him at a distance from all that flatters or delights the senses? He visited his diocese, and was remarkable for a [...] uncommon ten­derness for the poor, especially such as had the mis­fortune of sickness, or were incapable of following their accustomed employments.

DURING the life of Stephen, Gerard received every kind of assistance which that excellent mo­narch could afford him; but on the demise of Ste­phen, his nephew Peter, who succeeded him, was of so different a temper, that Gerard was greatly perplexed during his government.

AT length, the tyranny of Peter exasperated his subjects so much against him, that they deposed him, and placed Ouvo on the throne. They, however, soon found, that they had changed from bad to worse; for Ouvo proved a greater monster of cru­elty than his predecessor. At Easter, Ouvo re­paired to Chonad, in order to receive the crown [Page 97] from the hands of Gerard. When he arrived at the place, the other prelates of the kingdom, who were assembled on that solemn occasion, assured the prince of their affections for his person, and promi­sed to concur in his coronation; but Gerard abso­lutely refused to pay that compliment to a public and malicious enemy; and took the liberty of let­ting the intruder know, that he could not look on Peter's exclusion as regular, and consequently should not proceed to do any thing to the prejudice of his title: he then told him, that if he persisted in his usurpation, the Divine Providence would soon put an end to his life and reign. Ouvo, grow­ing more insupportable than his predecessor, was brought to the scaffold in the year 1044; upon which Peter was recalled, and placed on the throne a second time; but his disposition and retirement had made no alteration in his temper, so that he was again deprived of the royal dignity after two years possession.

ANDREW, son of Ladislaus, cousin-german to Stephen, had then a tender of the crown made him, upon condition that he would employ his au­thority in extirpating the christian religion out of Hungary. The ambitious prince came into the proposal, and promised to do his utmost in re-estab­lishing the idolatrous worship of his deluded an­cestors. Gerard, being informed of this impious bargain, thought his duty obliged him to remon­strate against the enormity of Andrew's crime, and persuade him to withdraw his promise. In this view he undertook to go to that prince, attended by three other prelates, full of a like zeal for re­ligion. The new king was at Alba Regalis, but as the four bishops were going to cross the Danube, they were stopped by a party of soldiers posted there by order of a man of quality in the neighbour­hood, remarkable for his aversion to the christian religion, and to Stephen's memory. They bore an attack with a shower of stones patiently, when the soldiers proceeding to greater outrages, beat them unmercifully, and at length dispatched them with lances. Their martyrdoms happened in the year 1045.

STANISLAUS, bishop of Cracow, was descended from an illustrious Polish family. The piety of his parents was equal to their opulence, and the latter they rendered subservient to all the purposes of charity and benevolence. Stanislaus was their only child, and consequently the sole object of their parental affection. When he was of a proper age, they employed masters in several branches of learn­ing to instruct him, and were happy to find, that his rapid improvement fully answered their most sanguine expectations. He had a penetrating ge­nius, retentive memory, and solid understanding; hence study became his amusement, learning hi [...] delight, and books his beloved companions. Nor was his disposition inferior to his abilities; he was modest, mild, candid and grave, temperate in his meals, and moderate in his sleep; he voluntarily gave himself, in the dawn of youth, to such auste­rities, as might have given reputation to a professed hermit. [...] pursued his studies at home for some years, he was sent to a seminary of learning in Poland, and afterwards to the university of Paris, that his education might be completed in that cele­brated [...] literature. After continuing seven years at Paris, he returned to his own country, and on the demise of his parents, became possessed of a plentiful fortune. Sensible that riches constituted no part of s christian's happiness, any farther than as they enabled him to assist the needy; he devoted most of his property to charitable uses, retaining only a small portion for his own sustenance.

HIS views were now solely directed to the minis­try; but he remained for some time undetermined, whether he should embrace a monastic life, or en­gage among the secular clergy. He was at length pesuaded to the latter by Lambert Zula, bishop of Cracow, who gave him holy orders, and made him a canon of his cathedral. In this capacity he lived in a most pious and exemplary manner, and per­formed the duties of his function with unremitting assiduity and fervent devotion. Lambert could not help being charmed with the many virtues which so particularly distinguished Stanislaus, and would fain have resigned his bishopric to him. The reason he alledged for such resignation was his great age, but Stanislaus absolutely refused to accept of the see, for the contrary reason, viz. his want of years, for being then only thirty-six years old, he deemed that too early a time of life for a man to undertake the important care of a diocese. Lambert, however, made him his substitute upon various occasions, by [Page 98] which he became thoroughly acquainted with all that related to the bishopric. Lambert died on November 25, A. D. 1071, when all concern­ed in the choice of a successor declared for Stani­slaus. But his former objection remained, and on account of his age, he declined the acceptance of the prelacy.

DETERMINED however to conquer his scruples, the king, clergy, and nobility unanimously joined in writing to pope Alexander II. who at their in­treaty sent an express order that Stanislaus should accept the bishopric. Thus commanded, he obey­ed, and exerted himself to the utmost in the im­provement of his flock. He was equally careful with respect both to clergy and laity; and exhorted the former to shew a good example [...] much as he did the latter to imitate it. He kept a list of all the poor in his diocese, and by feeding the hungry, cloathing the naked, and administering remedies to the sick, he proved himself not only the godly pastor, but the bodily physician, and generous be­nefactor.

BOLISLAUS, the second king of Poland, had, by nature, many good qualities, but giving way too much to his passions, he ran into many enormities. He daily grew worse and worse, and from being deemed a good king, at length had the appellation of CRUEL bestowed on him. The nobility were shocked at his conduct, but did not care to speak to him concerning it, and the clergy saw his pro­ceedings with grief, but were afraid to reprehend him. Stanislaus alone had the courage to tell him of his faults, when taking a private opportunity he freely displayed to him the enormity of his crimes.

THE king was greatly exasperated at this free­dom, but, awed by the virtues of the bishop, dis­sembled his resentment, and appearing to be con­vinced of his errors, promised to reform his con­duct. So far however from designing to perform his promise, he complained to some of his cyco­phants of the freedom that Stanislaus had taken with him; and they, to fl [...]tter his folly, condemn­ed the boldness of the bishop. The king, soon after, attempted the chastity of a married lady, who rejected his offers with disdain; which piqued his pride so much, that he seized her by force, and violated her by compulsion. This greatly alarm­ed all the nobility: none knew how long his own wife, daughter, or sister might be safe; and each dreaded for the peace of his family. They, at length, assembled together, and calling the clergy to their assistance, intreated Peter, archbishop of Gresne, to remonstrate to the king on the impro­priety and viciousness of his conduct; adding, that it was more particularly his business so to do, as primate of Poland.

THE archbishop, however, declined the danger­ous task for though a man of some virtue, he was of a disposition uncommonly timid. Several other prelates sheltered themselves behind his refusal, and gave their fear the name of modesty, which would not permit them to undertake what their metropoli­tan had thought too great for his abilities. Stani­slaus alone was, as before, the only one who had courage, and zeal sufficient, to perform what he looked upon as a most important and indispensable duty. He, therefore, put himself at the head of a select number of ecclesiastics, noblemen, and gentlemen; and, proceeding to court, addressed the king in a solemn and serious manner, and fully represented the heinousness of his crimes, and what would be the fatal consequences of his [...] ▪

THE king had scarce patience to hear him out; and, as soon as he had done speaking▪ flew into a violent passion, at once complaining of the wa [...] of respect to his royal dignity, and vowing revenge for what he called an insult to his person. Stani­slaus, however, not in the least intimidated by his menaces, visited him twice more, and remonstrated with him in a similar manner, which so much ex­asperated the king, that he knew not how to con­tain himself.

THE nobility and clergy, finding that the admo­nitions of the bishop had not the desired effect upon the king▪ thought proper to interpose between them. The nobility intreated the bishop to refrain from any more exasperating a monarch of so fero­cious and untractable a temper; and the clergy endeavoured to persuade the king not to be offend­ed with Stanislaus for his charitable remonstrances. [Page 99] Neither, however, succeeded, for the king remain­ed as obstinate, and the bishop as zealous, as ever. The haughty sovereign, at length, determined, at any rate, to get rid of a prelate, who, in his opi­nion, was so extremely troublesome. Hearing one day that the bishop was by himself, in the chapel of St. Michael, at a small distance from the town, he dispatched some soldiers to murder him. The soldiers readily undertook the bloody task; but when they came into the presence of Stanislaus, the venerable aspect of the prelate struck them with such awe, that they could not perform what they had promised. On their return, the king, finding they had not obeyed his orders, stormed at them violently, snatched a dagger from one of them, and ran furiously to the chapel, where, finding Sta­nislaus at the altar, he plunged the weapon to his heart. The prelate immediately expired, on the 8th of May, A. D. 1079, receiving a crown of martyrdom, as a reward for his zeal.

An Account of the PERSECUTIONS of the WALDENSES, in FRANCE.

POPERY having brought various innovations into the church, and overspread the christian world with darkness and superstition, some few, who plainly perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors, determined to shew the light of the gospel in its real purity, and to disperse those clouds which artful priests had raised about it, in order to blind the people, and obscure its real brightness.

THE principal among these was Berengarius, who, about the year 1000, boldly preached gospel truths, according to their primitive purity. Many, from conviction, assented to his doctrine, and were, on that account, called Berengarians. To Beren­garius succeeded Peter Bruis, who preached at Thoulouse, under the protection of an earl, na­med Hildephonsus; and the whole tenets of the reformers, with the reasons of their separation from the church of Rome, were published in a book written by Bruis, under the title of ANTICHRIST.

BY the year of Christ, 1140, the number of the reformed was very great, and the probability of its increasing alarmed the Pope, who wrote to seve­ral princes to banish them their dominions, and employed many learned men to write against their doctrines.

A. D. 1147, Henry, of Thoulouse, being deemed their most eminent preacher, they were called Henericians; and as they would not admit of any proofs relative to religion, but what could be deduced from the scriptures themselves, the po­pish party gave them the name of Apostolics. At length, Peter Waldo, or Valdo, a native of Lyons, became a strenuous opposer of popery; and from him the reformed, at that time, received the appel­lation of Waldenses, or Waldoys.

PETER Waldo was a man eminent for his learn­ing, piety, and benevolence; so that his doctrines were admired by great numbers, and he was fol­lowed by multitudes. The bishop of Lyons ta­king umbrage at the freedom with which he treat­ed the Pope and the Romish clergy, sent to admo­nish him to refrain, in future, from such discourses. To which message Waldo returned this reply:— "That he could not be silent in a cause of such im­portance as the salvation of men's souls; wherein he must obey God rather than man."

WALDO'S principal accusations against the Pope and popery, were, that the Roman catholics affirm the church of Rome to be the only infallible church of Christ upon earth; and that the Pope is its head, and the vicar of Christ; that they hold the absurd doctrine of transubstantiation, insisting, that the bread and wine given in the sacrament, is the very identical body and blood of Christ which was nail­ed to the cross: that they believe there is a place called purgatory, where the souls of persons, after this life, are purged from the sins of mortality; and that the pains and penalties here inflicted may be abated according to the masses said by, and the money paid to the priests: that they teach, the communion of one kind, or the receiving the wa­ter only, is sufficient for the lay-people, though the clergy must be indulged with both bread and [Page 100] wine: that they pray to the Virgin Mary and saints, though their prayers ought to be immediately to God: that they pray for souls departed, though God decides the fate immediately on the decease of the person: that they will not perform the service of the church in a language understood by the people in general: that they place their devotion in the number of prayers, and not in the intent of the heart: that they forbid marriage to the clergy, though God allowed it; and that they use many things in baptism, though Christ used only water.

POPE Alexander the Third being informed of these transactions, excommunicated Waldo and his adherents, and commanded the bishop of Lyons to exterminate them, if possible, from the face of the earth; and hence began the papal persecutions against the Waldenses.

BEFORE we describe the sufferings and martyrdom of the Waldenses, it is necessary to shew their tenets, which will explain how, and for what reason, they differed from the church of Rome:

1. THAT holy oil is not to be mingled in baptism.

2. THAT prayers used over things inanimate, are superstitious.

3. FLESH may be eaten in Lent; the clergy may marry; and auricular confession is unnecessary.

4. CONFIRMATION is no sacrament; we are not bound to pay obedience to the Pope; ministers should live upon tithes; no dignity sets one clergy­man above another, for their superiority can only be drawn from real worth.

5. IMAGES in churches are absurd; image-wor­ship is idolatry; the Pope's indulgencies ridiculous; and the miracles pretended to be done by the church of Rome are false.

6. FORNICATION and public stews ought not to be allowed; purgatory is a fiction; and deceased persons, called saints, ought not to be prayed to.

7. EXTREME unction is not a sacrament; and masses, indulgencies, and prayers are of no service to the dead.

8. The Lord's prayer ought to be the rule of all other prayers.

WALDO himself remained three years undiscover­ed in Lyons, though the utmost diligence was used to apprehend him. Being, however, greatly be­loved, he was not betrayed; but at length found an opportunity of escaping from the place of his concealment to the mountains of Dauphiny. Wal­do soon after found means to propagate his doc­trines in Dauphiny and Picardy, which so exaspe­rated Philip, king of France, that he put the latter province, as the most obnoxious of the two, under military execution; destroying above 300 gentl [...] ­men's seats, erasing some walled towns, burning many of the reformed, and driving others into Flanders and Germany.

NOTWITHSTANDING these persecutions, the re­formed religion seemed to flourish; and the Wal­denses, in various parts, became more numerous than ever. Hence the pope accused them of he­resy, and the monks with immorality; the [...] asserting that they had fallen into many errors, and the latter that they committed many bad practices. These slanders they, however, refuted in a modest publication, which at once defended the purity of their doctrines, and the piety of their lives.

THE pope, incensed at their increase, used all manner of arts for their extirpation; such as ex­communications, anathemas, canons, constitutions, decrees, &c. by which they were rendered incapa­ble of holding places of trust, honour, or pro [...]t▪ their lands were seized, their goods confiscated, and they were not permitted to be buried in consecrat [...] ground.

SOME of the Waldenses having taken refuge i [...] Spain, Aldephonsus, king of Arragon, at the in­stigation of the pope, published an edict, strictly ordering all Roman catholics to persecute th [...] wherever they could be found; and decreeing th [...] all who gave them the least assistance should be deemed traitors, and punished accordingly.

[Page 101]THE year after this edict Aldephonsus was se­verely punished by the hand of Providence; for his son was defeated in a great battle, and 50,000 of his men slain, by which a considerable portion of his kingdom fell into the hands of the Moors.

NOTWITHSTANDING all the cruelties of the pa­pists, the reformed ministers preached boldly against the Romish church; and Peter Waldo, in particu­lar, wherever he went, asserted,

• 1. THAT the pope was antichrist.
• 2. MASS was an abomination.
• 3. THE host was an idol.
• 4. PURGATORY was a fable.

THESE proceedings of Waldo, and the reformed, occasioned the first rise of Inquisitors; for pope In­nocent III. authorized certain monks inquisitors to inquire for, and deliver over, the reformed to the se [...]ular power. The monks greatly abused this authority; for, upon the least surmise or informa­tion, they delivered over the reformed to the ma­gistrate, and the magistrate delivered them to the executioner; for the process was short, as an accusa­tion was deemed adequate to guilt, and a candid trial was never granted to the accused.

THE pope finding that these cruel means had not the intended effect, determined to try others of a more rational and mild nature. To this end he sent several learned monks to preach among the Waldenses, and to endeavour to argue them out of their opinions. Among these monks was one Dominic, who appeared extremely zealous in the cause of popery. This Dominic instituted an or­der, which, from him, was called the order of Do­minican friars; and the members of this order have ever since been the principal inquisitors in the va­rious inquisitions in the world. The power of the inquisitors was unlimited; they proceeded against whom they pleased without any consideration of age, sex, or rank. Let the accusers be ever so in­famous, the accusation was deemed valid; and even anonymous informations sent by letter were thought sufficient evidence. To be rich was a crime equal to heresy; therefore many who had money were accused of heresy, or of being favourers of heretics, that they might be obliged to pay for their opi­nions. The dearest friends or nearest kindred could not, without danger, serve any one who was imprisoned on account of religion. To convey to those who were confined, a little straw, or give them a cup of water, was called favouring of the heretics, and they were prosecuted accordingly. No lawyer dared to plead even for his own brother, or notary register any thing in favour of the re­formed; the malice of the papists, indeed, went beyond the grave, and the bones of many Walden­ses, who had been long dead, were dug up in or­der to be burnt, as examples to the living. If a man on his death-bed was accused of being a fol­lower of Waldo, his estates were confiscated, and the heir to them defrauded of his inheritance; and some were even obliged to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land, while the Dominicans took possession of their houses and property, and when the owners returned would often pretend not to know them.

ENRAUDUS, a knight, being accused of embracing the opinions of Waldo, was delivered to the secular power, and burnt at Paris, A. D. 1201. About the year 1228 such numbers of the reformed were apprehended, that the archbishops of Aix, Arles, and Narbonne, took compassion on them, and thus expressed themselves to the inquisitors: "We hear that you have apprehended such a multitude of the Waldenses, that it is not only impossible to defray the charge of their food and confinement, but to provide lime and stone to build prisons for them."

IN the year 1380, a monk inquisitor, named Fran­cis Boralli, had a commission granted him by pope Clement the seventh, to search for and punish the Waldenses in Aix, Ambrune, Geneva, Savoy, Orange, Arles, Vien [...]e, Ambone, Venice, and Avignon.

BORALLI opened his commission at Ambrune, and summoned all the inhabitants to appear before him. Those who appeared, and were found to be of the reformed religion, were immediately deli­vered over to the secular power, and burnt; and those who did not appear were excommunicated for contumacy, and had their effects confiscated. In [Page 102] th [...] distribution of the effects, however, they pro­vided well for the sons of the church; for the clergy had two-thirds of every man's property who was condemned, and the secular power only one-third. All the reformed inhabitants of the other places, named in the commission of this ecclesiastic, were equal sufferers; for devastations marked his journey, and his footsteps might be traced in blood.

IN the year 1400, the Waldenses, who resided in the valley of Pragela, were at the instigation of some priests, suddenly attacked by a body of troops, who plundered their houses, murdered many, and drove others into the Alps, where great num­bers were frozen to death, it being in the depth of winter.

A. D. 1460, a persecution was carried on in Dauphiny against the Waldenses, by the archbishop of Ambrune, who employed a monk, named John Vayleti; and this monk proceeded with such vio­lence, that not only the Waldenses but even many papists were sufferers. For if any papists expressed compassion or pity for the inoffensive people, who were so cruelly treated, they were sure to be accu­sed of favouring the Waldenses, and to be punish­ed for commiserating the miseries of their fellow-creatures. At length Vayleti's proceedings became so intolerable, that a great number of the papists themselves wrote a petition against him to [...]ewis the Eleventh, king of France. The monarch, on receiving this petition, granted the request of the petitioners, and sent and express order to the go­vernor of Dauphiny to stop the persecution.

VAVLETI, however, by the order of the arch­bishop, still continued the persecution; for taking advantage of the last clause of the [...]dict, he pre­tended, he did nothing contrary to the king's precept, who had ordered punishment for such as affirmed any thing against the holy catholic faith. This persecution at length concl [...]ded with the death of the archbishop, which happened A. D. 1487.

POPE Innocent the eighth, A. D. 1488, deter­mined to persecute the Waldenses. To this end he sent one Albert de Capitaneis, archdeacon of Cre­mona, to France. When Albert arrived in Dau­phiny, he craved the assistance of the king's lieu­tenant to extermi [...]te the Waldenses from the val­ley of Loyse. The lieutenant very readily granted his assistance, [...] marched a body of troops to the place. When they arrived at the valley, they found that it had been deserted by the inhabitants, who had retired to the mountains, and hid them­selves in caves, caverns, &c. The archdeacon and lieutenant immediately followed them with the troops, and catching many, they cast them head­long from precipices, by which they were dashed to pieces. Several, however, retired to the farther parts of the caverns, and knowing the intricacies better than the troops, they were able to conceal themselves. The archdeacon and lieutenant, not being able to come at them, ordered the mouths of the caves to be filled with faggots, which being lighted, those within were suffocated. On the cave's being afterwards searched, 400 infants were found smothered, either in their cradles or their mother's arms; and, upon the whole, about 3000 men, women, and children, were destroyed in this persecution.

HAVING completed this tragical work▪ the lieu­tenant and archdeacon proceeded with the troops to Pragelo and Frassaniere, in order to persecute the Waldenses in those parts. But these having heard of the fate of their brethren in the valley of Loy [...]e thought proper to arm themselves; and, by forti­fying the different passes, and bravely disputing the passages through them, they so harrassed the troops▪ that the lieutenant was compelled to retire witho [...] effecting his purpose.

IN 1594, Anthony Fabri, and Christopher de S [...] ­lience, having a commission to persecute the Wal­denses of Dauphiny, put some to death, sequestered the estates of others, and confiscated the goods an [...] chattels of many; but Lewis the Twelfth coming to the crown in 1598, on the decease of his pr [...]de­cessor, the Waldenses petitioned him for a restitu­tion of their property. The king determined to have the affair impartially canvassed, and to thi [...] end sent a commissioner of his own, together with a commissary from the pope, to make the proper inquiries. The witnesses against the Waldenses ha­ving been examined, the innocence of those [...] [Page 103] pe [...]ple evidently appeared, and the king's commis­ [...]er in particular declared, "That he only de­sired to be as good a christian as the worst of them." When this favourable report was made to the king, he immediately gave orders that the Waldenses should have their property restored to them. The archbishop of Ambrune, having the greatest quan­tity of these poor people's goods, it was generally imagined that he would set a laudable example to others, by being the first to restore them. The archbishop, however, to the surprize of the people in general, and to the affliction of the Waldenses in particular, declared, that he would not restore any of the property alluded to, for they were incorpo­rated with, and became part of his archbishopric itself. He, however, with an affectation of some small degree of candour, offered to relinquish seve­ral vineyards, of which he had dispossessed the Waldenses, provided, at the same time, the lords of Dauphiny would restore all they had taken from those poor people. This the lords absolutely re­fused, for they were as fond of keeping their ill­got plunder as the archbishop himself.

THE Waldenses finding, by these mean subter­fuges, and unjust proceedings, that they were not likely to recover any of their property, without something farther being done, again appealed to the king. The monarch having attended to their com­plaints, wrote to the archbishop; but that artful and avaricious prelate replied, "That at the com­mencement of the persecution the Waldenses had been excommunicated by the pope, in consequence of which their goods were distrained; therefore, till the sentence of excommunication was taken off, which had occasioned them to be seized, they could not be restored with propriety, or consistent with the respect due to the pontiff." This plea was allowed to be reasonable; and application was in­effectually made to the pope to remove the sentence of excommunication; for the archbishop, supposing this would be the case, had used all his interest at the court of Rome, to prevent such application from succeeding. Thus were, the poor Waldenses robbed of their property, only because they would not sacrifice their consciences to the will of their in­human persecutors.

THE Waldenses having spread from Dauphiny into several other provinces, became very numerous in Provence. At their first arrival Provence was almost a desert, but by their great industry it soon abounded with corn, wine, oil, fruit, &c.

THE pope, by being often near them at his seat at Avignon, heard occasionally many things con­cerning their differing from the church of Rome. His intelligence greatly exasperated him, and he determined to have them persecuted on account of their religious tenets. Proceeding to some extre­mities, under the sanction of his ecclesiastical au­thority, only without consulting the king of France, the latter became alarmed, and sent his master of requests, and his confessor, to examine into the af­fair. On their return, they reported that the Wal­denses were not such dangerous or bad people as they had been represented; that they lived with perfect honesty, were friendly to all, hurt none, caused their children to be baptized, had them taught the Lord's prayer, creed, and ten com­mandments; expounded the scriptures with purity, kept the Lord's day sacred, feared God, honoured the king, and wished well to the state. Then, said the king, they are much better christians than my­self or my catholic subjects, and therefore they shall not be persecuted: the king was as good as his word, and sent orders to stop the persecution accordingly.

SOME time after, the inhabitants of Merindol re­ceived a summons, that the heads of the families of that town should appear before the ecclesiastical court. When they appeared, and confessed them­selves Waldenses, they were ordered to be burnt, their families outlawed, their habitations laid waste, and the woods that surrounded the town to be cut down, two hundred paces each way; so that the whole should be rendered desolate. The king, however, being informed of this barbarous decree, sent to countermand the execution of it; but his order was suppressed by cardinal Tournon, and the greatest cruelties were consequently exercised.

THE president of Opede sent several companies of soldiers to burn some villages that were occupied by protestants, which they performed; and, with­out the least respect to sex or [...] murdered the men immediately, ravished the [...], cut off the [Page 104] breasts of mothers, and then suffered the infants to famish, &c. &c. The president likewise proclaim­ed, that none should give any manner of assistance, or sustenance, to the Waldenses.

GOING to another small town, the president found there only a boy, who had surrended himself to a soldier, for the other inhabitants had deserted the place. They boy he ordered to be shot by the sol­dier to whom he had surrendered, and then destroy­ed every house in the place.

AFTER this the president marched against Ca­brieres, and began to cannonade it. At this time there were not above sixty poor peasants, with their families, in the town; and they sent him word, that he need not expend powder and shot upon the place, as they were willing to open the gates, and surrender, provided they might be permitted to re­tire, with their families, to Geneva, or Germany. This was promised them; but the gates were no sooner opened, than the president ordered all the men to be cut to pieces; which cruel command was executed with the utmost barbarity. Several women and children were crammed into a large barn, which was set fire to, and every one perished in the flames. Other women and children having taken refuge in a church, the president ordered one of his officers to go in and kill them all: the cap­tain, at first, refused, saying, "Such unnecessary cruelty is unbecoming a military man." The pre­sident, being displeased at this reply, said, "I charge you, on pain of being accused of mutiny, immediately to obey my orders:" when the cap­tain, afraid of the consequences of such a reply, thought proper to comply, and make a sacrifice of humanity to the fear of military punishment.

THE president then sent a detachment of his troops to ravage the town of Costa, which design was accomplished with the greatest barbarity, and cruelties were exercised, shocking both to modesty and nature.

AT length, the judgment of God overtook this monster of cruelty, the president; for he was, at once, afflicted with a dreadful bloody flux, and a painful stranguary. In this extremity he sent for a [...] from Arles, who, on examining his disorders, told him they were of a singular nature, and much worse than he had ever seen them on any other per­son. He then took an occasion to reprehend him for his cruelties, and told him, that unless he re­pented, he might expect that the hand of heaven would fall still heavier upon him. On hearing these words, the president flew into a violent pas­sion, and ordered his attendants to seize upon the surgeon as an heretic.

THE surgeon was seized, but found means to escape, and soon after the president's disorder in­creased to a most terrible degree. As he before found some little ease from the surgeon, he again sent to him, for he had been informed of the place of his retirement▪ His message was accompanied with an apology for his former behaviour, and a promise of personal security. The surgeon for­giving what was past, went to him, but too late to be of any service; for he found the president ra­ving like a madman, and crying out, that he had a fire within him. After storming and blaspheming for some time, he expired in the most dreadful agonies; and his body, in a few hours, became so offensive, that hardly any one could endure the stench.

JOHN de Roma, a monk, having a commission from the pope to search for heretics, he executed i [...] with great severity in Provence. The king of France hearing of his proceedings, sent an order t [...] the parliament of Provence to apprehend him; but the monk made his escape to Avignon, and thought to live luxuriously upon what he had plundere [...] from the Waldenses. But in this he was mistaken for some robbers soon after plundered him of th [...] greatest part of his ill-got wealth; and his grief o [...] this account brought on a violent disorder, which by turning him, even while living, into a mere m [...] of putrefection, soon put a period to his existence.

THE bishop of Aix, with some priests, being [...] Avignon together, were one day walking along th [...] streets with some courtezans. Seeing a man w [...] sold obscene pictures, they purchased several, [...] presented them to the women. Close by was [...] bookseller, who had a great number of bibles in [...] French language for sale. The bishop stepping [...] to him, said, "How darest thou be so bold as to [...] [Page]

[Page 105] French merchandize in this town?" The book­seller replied, with a kind of sneer, "My lord, do you not think that bibles are as good as those pic­tures which you have bought for the ladies?" En­raged at the sarcasm, the bishop exclaimed, "I'll renounce my place in paradise if this fellow is not one of the Waldenses. Take him away, take him away, take him away to prison." These expres­sions occasioned him to be terribly used by the rabble; and the next day he was brought before the judge, who, at the instigation of the bishop, condemned him to the flames. He was according­ly burnt, with two bibles hanging from his neck, the one before and the other behind.

An Account of the Persecutions of the Al­bigenses.

THE Albigenses were people of the reformed religion, who inhabited the country of Albi. They were condemned on the score of religion, in the council of Lateran, by order of pope Alexander the Third. Nevertheless they increased so prodi­giously, that many cities were inhabited by persons only of their persuasion, and several eminent noble­men embraced their doctrines. Among the latter were Raymond, earl of Thoulouse, Raymond, earl of Foix, the earl of Beziers, &c. The pope, at length, pretended that he wished to draw them to the Romish faith by sound argument and clear rea­soning, and for this end ordered a general dispu­tation, in which, however, the popish doctors were entirely overcome by the arguments of Arnold, a reformed clergyman, whose reasons were so strong, that they were compelled to confess their force.

A friar, named Peter, having been murdered in the dominions of the earl of Thoulouse, the pope made the murder a pretence to persecute that no­bleman and his subjects. To effect this, he sent persons throughout all Europe, in order to raise forces to act coercively against the Albigenses, and promised paradise to all that would come to this war, which he termed a Holy War, and bear arms for forty days. The same indulgences were like­wise h [...]ld out to all who entered themselves for this purpose, as to such as engaged in crusades to the Holy Land.

THE pope then sent orders to all archbishops, bishops, &c. to excommunicate the earl of Thou­louse every sabbath and festival; at the same time absolving all his subjects from their oaths of alle­giance to him, and commanding them to pursue his person, possess his lands, destroy his property, murder such of his subjects as continued faithful to him, &c. &c.

THE earl of Thoulouse hearing of these mighty preparations against him, wrote to the pope in a very candid manner, desiring not to be condemned unheard, and assuring him, that he had not the least hand in Peter's death; for that friar was killed by a gentleman, who immediately after the murder fled out of his territories, or otherwise he would have punished him as the crime deserved.

BUT arguments were in vain: for the pope, be­ing determined on his destruction, was resolved not to hear reason. A formidable army, with several noblemen and prelates at the head of it, began their march against the Albigenses. The earl had only the alternative, to oppose force by force, or submit. As he despaired of success in attempting the for­mer, he determined on the latter. The pope's legate being at Valence, the earl repaired thither, and said, "He was surprized that such a number of armed men should be sent against him, before the least proof of his guilt had been deduced. He therefore came voluntarily to surrender himself, armed only with the testimony of a good conscience, and hoped that the troops would be prevented from plundering his innocent subjects, as he thought himself a sufficient pledge for any vengeance they chose to take on account of the death of the friar."

TO this reasonable proposal the legate replied, that he was very glad the earl had voluntarily sur­rendered; but, with respect to the proposal he could not pretend to countermand the orders to the troops, unless he would consent to deliver up seven of his best fortified castles, as securities for his future behaviour.

[Page 106]THIS demand made the earl perceive his error in submitting, but it was too late; he knew himself to be a prisoner, and therefore sent an order for the delivery of the castles. The pope's legate had no sooner garrisoned these places, than he ordered the respective governors to appear before him. When they came, he said, "That the earl of Thoulouse having delivered up his castles to the pope, they must consider that they were now the pope's sub­jects, and not the earl's; and that they must there­fore act conformable to their new allegiance."

THE governors were greatly astonished to see their lord thus in chains, and themselves compelled into a new allegiance, so much against their inclina­tions and consciences. But what afflicted them still more was the affronts afterwards put upon the earl; for he was stripped naked, except his drawers, led nine times round the grave of friar Peter, and se­verely scourged before all orders of people. Not contented with this, they obliged him to swear that he would be obedient to the pope during the re­mainder of his life, conform to the church of Rome, and make irreconcileable war against the Albigenses. The legate even went farther than this, and ordered him, by the oaths he had newly taken, to join the troops, and inspect the siege of Beziers. But thinking this too hard an injunction, he took an opportunity privately to quit the army, and deter­mined to go to the pope, and relate all the ill usage he had received. The army, however, proceeded to besiege Beziers; and the earl of Beziers, who was likewise governor of that city, thinking it im­possible to defend the place, came out, and pre­senting himself before the pope's legate, implored mercy for the inhabitants; intimating at the same time, that there were as many Roman catholics as Albigenses in the city. The legate replied, that all excuses availed nothing; that the place must be delivered up at discretion, or the most dreadful con­sequences should ensue.

THE earl of Beziers returning into the city, told the inhabitants he could obtain no mercy, unless the Albigenses would abjure their religion, and conform to the worship of the church of Rome. The Roman catholics pressed the Albigenses to comply with this request; but the Albigenses no­bly answered, that they would not forsake their re­ligion for the base price of their [...]ail life: that God was able, if he pleased, to defend them; but if [...] would be glorified by the confession of their faith, it would be a great honour for them to die for [...] sake. That they had rather displease the pope, who could but kill their bodies, than God, [...] could cast both body and soul into hell.

THE popish parties finding their importun [...] ineffectual, sent their bishop to the pope's [...], beseeching him not to include them in the [...] of the Albigenses; and representing, that [...] best means to win the latter over to the [...] catholic persuasion was by gentle means, and not [...] rigour. The legate, upon hearing this, flew [...] violent passion with the bishop, and declared, [...] "If all the city did not acknowledge their [...], they should taste of one curse without distinction [...] religion, sex, or age."

THE inhabitants refusing to yield upon [...] terms, a general assault was given, and the [...] taken by storm; when it is impossible for the [...] to paint a more horrid scene than [...] ensued. Every cruelty that barbarous [...] could devise was practised; nothing was to be [...] but the groans of men who lay weltering in [...] blood; the lamentations of mothers who [...] doubly wounded, wounded in the body by [...] spears of the soldiers, and to the soul, by havi [...] their children taken from them, and dashed [...] pieces before their faces. The plaints of [...] maidens and ravished matrons, the cries of helples [...] infants, and the execrations of the barbarians who committed these cruelties, added to the sounds of horror. The city being fired in various parts, [...] scenes of confusion arose; in several places [...] streets were streaming with blood; here [...] buildings appeared in clouds of smoke, and [...] large ranges of houses were seen in flames. [...] who hid themselves in the recesses of their [...], had only the dreadful alternative to [...] and perish in the flames, or rush out and fall by [...] swords of the soldiers. The bloody legate, [...] these infernal proceedings, seemed to enjoy the [...], and even cried out to the troops, [...] them, kill them all, kill man, woman, and [...] kill Roman catholics as well as Albigenses, [...] when they are dead the Lord knows how to [...] [Page 107] out his own." Thus the beautiful city of Beziers was reduced to a heap of ruins; and 60,000 per­sons of different ages, and both sexes, were mur­dered upon the occasion.

THE earl of Beziers and a few others made their escape, and went to Carcasson, which they put into the best posture of defence they could. The legate, not to lose an opportunity of spilling blood during the forty days which the troops were to serve, led them immediately against Carcasson [...] As soon as the place was invested, a furious assault was given, but the besiegers were repulsed with [...] slaugh­ter; and upon this occasion the earl of Beziers gave the most distinguished proofs of his courage, say­ing, to encourage the besieged, "We had better die fighting than fall into the hands of such bigot­ed and bloody enemies."

IT is to be observed, that two miles from the city of Carcasson there was a small town of the same name, which the Albigenses had likewise fortified. The legate, being enraged at the repulse he had received from the city of Carcasson, determined to wreak his vengeance upon the town. The next morning he made a general assault; and, though the place was bravely defended, the legate took it by storm, put all within it to the sword, and then burnt the town.

DURING these transactions the king of Arragon arrived at the camp, and after paying his obedience to the legate, told him, he understood the earl of Beziers, his kinsman, was in the city of Carcasson, and that, if he would grant him permission, he would go thither, and endeavour to make him sen­sible of the duty he owed both to the pope and church. The legate readily acquiescing, the king immediately repaired to the earl, and, among other questions, asked him from what motives he shut himself up in that city, and against so great an ar­my? The earl answered, it was to defend his life, goods, and subjects: that he knew the pope, under pretence of religion, resolved to destroy his uncle, the earl of Thoulouse, and himself; that he saw the cruelty which they had used at Beziers, even against the priests: adding also what they had done to the town of Carcasson, and that they must look for no mercy from the legate or his army; he, therefore, rather chose to die, defending himself with his subjects, than fall into the hands of so in­exorable an enemy as the legate: that though he had in his city some that were of another religion, yet they were such as had not wronged any, were come to his succour in his greatest extremity, and for their good service he was resolved not to aban­don them; that his trust was in God, the defender of the oppressed; and that he would assist them against those ill-advised men, who forsook their own houses to burn, sack, and kill other men without reason, judgment, or mercy.

THE king reported to the legate what the earl had said: the legate, after considering for some time, replied, "For your sake, sir, I will receive the earl of Beziers to mercy, and with him twelve others shall be safe, and be permitted to retire with their property; but as for the rest, I am determined to have them at my discretion."

THIS answer displeased the king; and when the earl heard it, he absolutely refused to comply with such terms. The legate then commanded another assault, but his troops were again repulsed with great slaughter, and the dead bodies occasioned a stench that was exceedingly offensive both to the be­sieged and besiegers.

THE legate, being chagrined at this second dis­appointment, determined to act by stratagem. He therefore sent a gentleman, who was well skilled in dissimulation and artifice, to the earl of Beziers, with a seeming friendly message. The design was, by any means, to induce the earl to leave the city, in order to have an interview with the legate; and to this end the gentleman was to promise, or swear, whatever he thought proper; for, says the legate, "Swear to what falsehoods you will in such a case, as I will give you absolution."

UNFORTUNATELY this infamous plot succeeded: for the earl, believing the promises made him of personal security, and crediting the solemn oaths that the perjured agent swore upon the occasion, left the city, and went with him. The legate no sooner saw him, than he told him "He was a pri­soner, [Page 108] and must remain so till Carcasson was sur­rendered, and the inhabitants taught their duty to the pope."

THE earl, on hearing this, cried out that he was betrayed, and exclaimed against the treachery of the legate, and perjury of the person he had employed. His complaints, however, availed nothing, for he was ordered into close confinement, and the place summoned to surrender immediately.

THE people, on receiving the summons, and hear­ing of the captivity of the earl, were thrown into the utmost consternation, when one of the citizens begging to be heard, informed the rest, "That he had been formerly told by some old men, that there was a very capacious subterraneous passage, which led from thence to the castle of Cameret, at thr [...]e leagues distance. If (continued he) we can find this passage, we may all escape before the legate can be apprized of our flight."

THIS information was joyfully received; all were employed to search for the passage, and, at length, it was happily found. In the beginning of the evening the inhabitants began their flight, taking with them their wives, children, a few days provi­sions, and such moveables as were most valuable and portable. They reached the castle by the morning, and escaped to Arragon, Catalonia, and such other places as they thought would secure them from the power of the bloody legate.

IN the morning the troops were strangely asto­nished, not hearing any noise, nor seeing any man stirring in the city; yet they approached the walls with much fear, lest it should be but a stratagem to endanger them; but finding no opposition they mounted the walls, crying out, that the Albigens [...]s were fled; and thus was the city, with all the spo [...]s, taken, and the earl of Beziers committed to prison in one of the stronges [...] towers of Carcasson, where he soon after died.

THE legate being now in possession of the city, [...]lled all the prelates, and great lords of his army [...], telling them, that though it was requisite [...] shoul [...] be always a legate in the army, yet it [...] necessary that there should be a secular general, wise and valiant, to command in all their affairs, &c. This charge was first offered to the duke of Burgongue, then to the earl of Ennevers, and thirdly, to the earl of St. Paul; but they all refused it. At length, it was offered to Simon, earl of Montfort, who, after some excuses, accept­ed of it.

FOUR thousand men were left to garrison Car­casson, and the deceased earl of Beziers was suc­ceeded in title and dignity by earl Simon, a bigoted Roman catholic, who threatened vengeance on the Albigenses, unless they conformed to the worship of the church of Rome.

THE king of Arragon, however, who was in his heart of the reformed persuasion, secretly en­couraged the Albigenses, and gave them hopes, that if they acted with prudence, they might cast off the yoke of the tyrannical earl Simon. They took his advice, and while Simon was gone to Montpellier, they surprized some of his fortresses, and were successful in several expeditions against his officers.

THESE proceedings so enraged earl Simon, that re­turning f [...]om Montpellier, he collected together some forces, marched against the Albigenses, and ordered every prisoner he took to be immedately burnt. Failing, however, in some of his enterprizes, he grew disheartened, and wrote to every Roman catholic power in Europe, to send him some assistance, other­wise he should not be able to hold out against the Albigenses.

HAVING received some succours, he attacked the castle of Beron, and making himself master of it, ordered the eyes to be put out, and the noses to be cut off, of all the garrison, one person alone ex­cepte [...], and he was deprived of one eye only, that he might conduct the rest to Cabaret.

BEING joined by some additional forces, earl Somon unde [...]ook the siege of Menerbe, which, on account of the want of water, was obliged to yield to him. The Lord of Termes, the governor, was put in prison, where he died: his wife, sister, and daughter, were burnt; and one hundred and eighty others were committed to the flames. Ma­ny [Page 109] other castles surrendered to the forces of earl Simon, and the inhabitants were butchered in a manner equally inhuman.

IT is now necessary to take some notice of the earl of Thoulouse, who by means of letters of re­commendation from the king of France, after ma­ny difficulties, was reconciled to the Pope: at least the Pope pretended to give him remission for the death of friar Peter, and to absolve him from all other crimes he had committed.

THE legate, however, by the connivance of the Pope, did all he could to ruin the earl of Thou­louse. Some altercations having passed between them, the legate excommunicated the earl; and the Roman catholic bishop of Thoulouse, upon this encouragement, thought proper to send this imprudent message to the earl, "That as he was an excommunicated person, he commanded him to de­part the city; for an ecclesiastic could not say mass with propriety, while a person of such a descrip­tion was so near him."

THE earl was greatly exasperated at the bishop's insolence, and sent him an order immediately to de­part from the place on pain of death. This order was all the prelate wanted, and was what he wished for, as it would give him some shadow of a rea­son to complain of that nobleman.

THE bishop with the canons of the cathedral church marched out of the city in solemn proces­sion, barefooted and bareheaded, taking with them the cross, banner, host, &c. and proceeded in that manner to the legate's army. Here they were re­ceived with great respect as persecuted martyrs, and the legate thought this a sufficient excuse to proceed against the earl of Thoulouse, for having, as he termed it, relapsed from the truth. The legate at­tempted to get him into his power by stratagem, but the earl being apprized of the design, escaped the snare.

ENRAGED at his disappointment, the legate laid siege to the castle of Montferrand, which belonged to the earl, and was governed by Baldwin his bro­ther. On the first summons, Baldwin no [...] only sur­rendered, but abjured his religion, and turned pa­pist. This stroke, which severely afflicted the earl of Thoulouse, was followed by another that gave him still greater mortification; for his old friend the king of Arragon forsook his interest; and it was sti­pulated, that the king of Arragon's daughter should be married to earl Simon's oldest son. The legate's troops were then joined by the forces of Arragon, and those belonging to earl Simon, when they joint­ly laid siege to Thoulouse.

THE earl of Thoulouse determined to interrupt the besiegers by frequent sallies. In the first of these he met with a severe repulse; but in the se­cond he took earl Simon's son prisoner, and in the third he unhorsed earl Simon himself. After seve­ral furious assaults given by the popish army, and some other successful sallies of the Albigenses, the earl of Thoulouse compelled his enemies to raise the siege. In their retreat they did much mischief in the countries through which they passed, and put many defenceless Albigenses to death.

THE earl of Thoulouse now did all he could to recover the friendship of the king of Arragon, and as the marriage ceremony between that monarch's daughter, and earl Simon's son, had not been per­formed, he intreated him to break off that prepos­terous match, and proposed another more proper, viz. that his own eldest son and heir to the earldom of Thoulouse, should wed the princess of Arra­gon, and that by this match their friendship should be again united and more firmly cemented.

THE king of Arragon was easily persuaded not only to come into this proposal, but to form a league with the principal Albigenses, and to put himself as captain-general at the head of their uni­ted forces, consisting of his own people, and of the troops of the earls of Thoulouse, Foix, and Comminges. The papists were greatly alarmed at these proceedings; earl Simon sent all over christen­dom to engage the assistance of the Roman catho­lic powers, and the Pope's legate began hostilities by entering the dominions of the earl of Foix, and committing the most cruel depredations.

THE army of the Albigens [...]s being ready to take the field, the king of Arragon began his operations by laying siege to Murat, a town near Thoulouse, [Page 110] belonging to the Roman catholics, strongly fortifi­ed, and pleasantly situated upon the river Garonne. Earl Simon, by forced marches, came to the assist­ance of the place; and unfortunately the king of Arragon, who kept up very little discipline in his army, was feasting and revelling, at a time when all his attention was requisite. Earl Simon sudden­ly attacked the Albigenses, while they were in con­fusion, when the united forces of the reformed were defeated, and the king of Arragon himself was slain. The loss of this battle was imputed to the negligence of the king of Arragon, who kept up no manner of order in his army, and was as fond of entertainment in a camp, as if he had been securely at peace in a palace.

FLUSHED with this victory, the popish com­manders declared they would entirely root out and extirpate the whole race of the Albigenses; and earl Simon sent an insolent message to the earls of Thoulouse, Foix, and Comminges, to deliver to him all the castles and fortresses of which they were possessed. Those noblemen did not think proper to return an answer to the demand, but retired to their respective territories, in order to put them in­to the best posture of defence.

EARL Simon marched towards the city of Thou­louse, when the earl of Thoulouse, who had re­tired to Montalban, se [...]t word to the citizens of the former place, to make the best terms they could with the Roman catholics, as he was confident they could not hold out a siege; but at the same time recommended them to preserve their hearts for him, though they surrendered their persons to another. The citizens of Thoulouse, upon receiving this intimation, sent deputies to earl Simon, with offers of immediate surrender, provided the city itself, and the persons and properties of its inhabitants▪ should be perfectly safe, and protected from devas­tations or injury.

THESE conditions were agreed to immediately, and earl Simon, in order to ingratiate himself at court, wrote a letter to prince Lewis, the son of Philip, king of France, informing him that the city of Thoulouse had offered to surrender to him; but being willing that the prince should have the honour of receiving the keys, and taking the ho­mage of the people, he begged that he would re­pair to the camp for that purpose.

PRINCE Lewis, pleased with the invitation, we [...]t directly to the army, and had the city of Thou­louse surrendered to him in form. The Pope's l [...] ­gate, however, was greatly displeased at the mild conditions granted to the people of Thoulouse, and insisted, that though the prince might take upon him the sovereignty of the place, and receive the homage of the people, yet the plunder belonged to the holy pilgrims (for so the popish soldiers employ­ed in these expeditions were called); and that the place, as a receptacle of heretics, ought to be dis­mantled.

IN vain did the prince, and earl Simon, [...] against such harsh proceedings, so contrary [...] the conditions granted at the surrender of the pla [...]: the legate was peremptory, when earl Simon, [...] the prince, unwilling to come to an open [...] with him, gave up the point, and suffered him [...] do as he pleased. The legate immediately sent [...] holy pilgrims, as he termed them, to work, wh [...] they presently dismantled the city, and plunder [...] the inhabitants: thus the poor people were stripp [...] of all their property, at a time they thought the [...] ­selves perfectly secured by the articles of the treaty of surrender.

THE Pope's legate finding, that among the Al­bigenses were many lucrative places, which [...] o [...] course fall to the disposal of the prince, he d [...] ­termined, by an artifice, to deprive him of any a [...] ­vantage which might accrue from thence; for he thought the Romish church ought to engross [...] monopolize every thing that was valuable. To [...] end he gave absolution to the Albigenses, which though they had not in the least changed their r [...]l [...] ­gious opinions, he cunningly called reconcil [...] them to the church. The prince, not apprized [...] this stratagem, was going to put such of his [...] as he thought merited encouragement, into [...] possession of some places of profit; when, to [...] great astonishment, the legate informed him, [...] he had no power to dispose of those places. [...] prince demanded an explanation of his [...] "My meaning (replied the legate) is, that the [...] have received absolution, and being [...] [Page 111] to, are consequently under the protection of, the church; therefore, all places among, or connected with them, are in the disposal of the church only."

THE prince, though offended at this curious mode of reasoning, and highly displeased at the meanness of the subterfuge, thought proper, at that time, to dissemble his resentment. Determin­ed, however, to quit the legate, he put the troops that were under his command in motion, and marched to attack some other fortresses; but he found, wherever he came, that the legate had played the same trick, and plainly perceived, if he continued his military operations, that when un­successful, he should bear all the blame, and when successful, the legate would run away with all the profit. These considerations convinced him of the folly of remaining longer in the army; he there­fore left it in disgust, and returned to court.

EARL Simon now, with his own forces, those the prince had just quitted, and some other auxilia­ries, undertook the siege of Foix, being provoked to it by two reasons, viz. the death of his brother, who was slain by the earl of Foix, who was of the reformed persuasion. He lay before the castle of Foix for the space of ten days, during which time he frequently assaulted it, but was as often repulsed. Hearing that an army of Arragonians were in full march towards him, in order to revenge the death of their king, he raised the siege of Foix, and went to meet them. The earl of Foix immediate­ly sallied out and harrassed his rear, and the Arra­gonians attacking his front, gave him a total defeat, which compelled him to shut himself up in Car­casson.

THE Pope's legate called a council at Montpel­lier, for renewing the military operations against the Albigenses, and for doing proper honour to earl Simon, who was pre [...]ent; for the Arragoni­ans not taking advantage of their victory, had neglected to block u [...] Carcasson. [...] which omission earl Simon had the liberty to repa [...] to Montpellier.

AT the council the legate, in the pope's name, paid many compliments to earl Simon, and decla­red, that he should be prince of all the countries that might in future be taken from the Albigenses; at the same time, by order of the pontiff, he stiled him, The active and dextrous soldier of Jesus Christ, and the invincible defender of the Catholic faith. But just as the earl was going to return thanks for these great honours, and fine encomi­ums, a messenger brought word, that the people, having heard earl Simon was in the council, had taken up arms, and were coming thither to destroy him as a common disturber.

THIS threw the whole council into great confu­sion; and earl Simon, though a minute before sti­led an Invincible Defender of the Faith, was glad to jump out of a window, and steal away from the city by the most private passages.

THE affair becoming serious, according to the opinions of the papists, the Pope himself soon af­t [...]r called a council, to be held at Lateran, in which great powers were granted to Roman catholic in­quisitors, and many Albigenses were immediately put to death. This council of Lateran likewise confirmed to earl Simon all the honours intended him by the council of Montpellier, and empower­ed him to raise another army against the Albi­genses.

EARL Simon immediately repaired to court, re­ceived his investiture from the French king, and began to levy forces. Having raised a considerable number of troops, he determined, if possible, to exterminate the Albigenses, when he received ad­vice, that his countess was besieged in Narbonne, by the earl of Thoulouse. Earl Simon proceeded to the relief of his wife, when the Albigenses met him, gave him battle, and defeated him. He, however, found means to escape from the sight, and get into the castle of Narbonne.

DURING earl Simon's misfortunes, Thoulouse was recovered by the Albigenses; but the Pope still espousing earl Simon's cause, raised forces on his account, and enabled him, once more, to under­take the siege of that city. The earl assaulted the place furiously, but being repulsed with great loss, he seemed sunk in affliction; when the Pope's le­gate said, to comfort him, "Fear nothing, my lord, make another vigorous attack; let us by any [Page 112] means recover the city, and destroy the inhabitants; and those of our men who are slain in the fight, I will assure you shall immediately pass into para­dise." One of Earl Simon's principal officers, on hearing this, said with a sneer, "Monsieur Car­dinal, you talk with great assurance; but if the earl believes you, he will▪ as heretofore, pay dearly for his confidence."

EARL Simon, however, took the legate's advice, made another assault, and was again repulsed. To complete his misfortune, before the troops could recover from their confusion, the earl of Foix made his appearance at the head of a formidable body of forces, and attacked the already dispirited army of earl Simon, easily put them to the rout; when the earl himself narrowly escaped being drowned in the Garonne, into which he had hastily plunged, in or­der to avoid being taken.

THIS miscarriage almost broke earl Simon's heart; but the pope's legate bade him yet be of good chear, for he would raise him another army; which promise, with some difficulty, and three years delay, he at length performed, and that bi­goted nobleman was, once more, enabled to take the field. He bent his whole force against Thou­louse, which he besieged for the space of nine months, when, in one of the sallies made by the besieged, his horse was wounded. The animal be­ing in great anguish, ran away with him, and bore him directly under the ramparts of the city, when an archer taking aim, shot him in the thigh with an arrow; and a woman immediately after throw­ing a large stone from the wall, it struck him upon the head, and killed him instantly. Upon the death of the earl, the siege was raised; but the legate, greatly enraged to be disappointed of his wished for vengeance on the inhabitants of that de­voted city, engaged the king of France in the cause, who sent his son to besiege it. The French prince, with some chosen troops, furiously assaulted Thoulouse, but meeting with a severe repulse, he grew sick of the enterprize, and abandoned Thou­louse to besiege Miromand. This place he soon took by storm, and put all the inhabitants, consist­ing of 5000 men, women, and children, to the sword.

THE legate, whose name was Bertrand, being very old, grew weary of following the army; but his passion for blood-spilling still remained, as ap­pears by his epistle to the Pope, in which he begs to be recalled, on account of his age and infirmi­ties; but intreats the pontiff to appoint a successor, who might continue the war with as much spirit and perseverance as he had done.

THE Pope recalled Bertrand according to his de­sire, and appointed Conrade, bishop of Portua, to be legate in his room. The new legate determined to tread in the steps of his predecessor, and to per­secute the Albigenses with the greatest severity. Guido, earl of Monfort, the son and heir of earl Simon, undertook the command of the troops, and immediately laid siege to Thoulouse, before the walls of which he was slain. His brother Alme­rick succeeded to the command; but the spirited conduct of the besieged obliged him to raise the siege.

THE legate now prevailed upon the king of France to undertake the siege of Thoulouse in person, and reduce to the obedience of the church those obstinate heretics, as he thought proper to call the brave Albigenses. Hearing of the great preparations made by the king of France, the earl of Thoulouse sent the women, children, cattle, &c. into secret and secure places in the mountains, ploughed up the land, that the king's forces should not obtain any forage, and did all that a skilful ge­neral could perform to save his country, and distress the enemy. By these wise regulations the French army, soon after, entering the earldom of Thou­louse, suffered all the extremities of famine, which obliged the troops to feed on the carcases of horses▪ on dead dogs, cats, &c. which unwholesome foo [...] produced the plague. This complicated distres [...] broke the king's heart; nevertheless, his son, wh [...] succeeded him, determined to carry on the war, but was defeated by the earl of Thoulouse in three s [...] ­veral engagements.

THE king, the queen-mother, and three arch­bishops, however, raised another formidable ar [...]y▪ and had the art to persuade the earl of [...] to come to a conference, when he was treachero [...] seized upon, made a prisoner, forced to appe [...] [Page 113] bare-footed and bare-headed before his enemies, and compelled to subscribe to the following unrea­sonable and ignominious conditions:

1. THAT he should abjure the faith he had hi­therto defended.

2. THAT he should be subject to the church of Rome.

3. THAT he should give his daughter Joan in marriage to one of the brothers of the king of France.

4. THAT he should maintain in Thoulouse six popish professors of the liberal arts, and two gram­marians.

5. THAT he should take upon him the cross, and serve five years against the Saracens in the Ho­ly Land.

6. THAT he should level the walls of Thoulouse with the ground.

7. THAT he should destroy the walls and fortifi­cations of thirty of his other cities and castles, as the legate should direct.

8. THAT he should remain prisoner at the Lou­vre in Paris, till his daughter was delivered to the king's commissioners.

THESE hard conditions were followed by a severe persecution against the Albigenses (many of whom suffered for the faith); and express orders, that the [...] should not be permitted to read the sacred scriptures.

IN the year 1620 the persecution against the Albigenses was very great. At a town called Tell, while the minister was preaching to a congregation of the reformed, the papists attacked and murder­ed many of the people. A lady of considerable eminence, being exhorted to change her religion, if not for her own sake, at least for the sake of the infant she held in her arms, the lady, with an un­daunted courage, said, "I did not quit Italy, my native country, nor forsake the estate I had there, for the sake of Jesus Christ, to renounce him here. With respect to my infant, why should I not deliver him up to death, since God delivered up his Son to die for us?" As soon as she had done speak­ing, they took the child from her, delivered it to a popish nurse to bring up, and then cut the lady to pieces.

DOMINICO Berto, a youth of sixteen, refusing to turn papist, was set upon an ass with his face to the tail, which he was obliged to hold in his hand for a bridle. In this condition he was lead to the market-place, amidst the acclamations of the po­pulace; after which they cut off his nose, ears, and cheeks, and burnt holes in several parts of his body, till he expired.

AN Albigenses young lady, of a noble family, was seized by the papists, and carried through the streets with a paper mitre upon her head. After mocking, beating, and smearing her face with dirt, they bade her call upon the saints: to which she replied, "My trust and salvation is in Christ only; for even the Virgin Mary, without the merits of her Son, could not be saved." On hear­ing this, the multitude fell upon her, and mur­dered her.

An Account of the Persecutions in France, previous to, and during the Civil Wars of that Nation.

IN the third century, a learned man, named Al­mericus, and six of his disciples, were ordered to be burnt at Paris, for holding these tenets:

1. THAT God was no otherwise present in the sacramental bread, that in any other bread.

2. THAT it was idolatry to build altars, or shrines, to saints.

3. THAT it was ridiculous to offer incense to saints.

4. THAT it was absurd to kiss the relics of saints.

[Page 114]THE martydom of Almericus and his pupils, did not, however, prevent many from acknowledging the justness of his notions, and seeing the purity of the reformed religion, so that the faith of Christ continually increased, and in time not only spread itself over many parts of France, but diffused the light of the gospel over various other countries.

IN the year 1524, at a town in France, called Melden, one John Clark set up a bill on the church door, wherein he called the pope Antichrist. For this offence he was repeatedly whipped, and then branded in the forehead: his mother, who stood by at the time, cried with a loud voice, "Blessed be Christ, and welcome these [...]arks for his sake." Going afterwards to Metz, in Lorraine, he de­molished some images, for which he had his right hand and nose cut off, and his arms and breasts torn by sharp pincers. He sustained these cruelties with amazing fortitude, and was even sufficiently cool to sing the 115th psalm, which expressly forbids idolatry.

AFTER having sung this psalm with admirable patience, he was thrown into the fire, and burnt to ashes.

MANY persons of the reformed persuasion, were, about this time, beaten, racked, scourged, and burnt to death, in several parts of France; but more particularly at Paris, Malda, and Limosin.

A native of Malda was bunrt in a slow fire for saying that mass was a plain denial of the death and passion of Christ. At Limosin, John de Ca­durco, a clergyman of the reformed religion, was apprehended, degraded, and ordered to be burnt.

AT his degradation a friar undertook to preach a sermon upon the occasion; when opening the New Testament he pitched upon this text, in the first epistle o [...] St. Paul the apostle to Timothy, chap. iv. ver. 1. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the l [...]tter times some shall depart from the faith, giving [...]eed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." The friar began to expound this verse in favour of the Roman catholic persuasion, and in condemnation of the reformed religion, when John de Cadurco called to him, and begged, that before he proceeded in his sermon, he would read the two verses which followed that he had chosen for his text. The friar again opened the Testament, but on casting his eye on the passage, he stood mute and confounded. John de Cadurco then desired that the book might be handed to him; this request being complied with, he read thus, "Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry, and command­ing to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." The Roman catho­lics plainly saw, but had not candour sufficient to own their error; but instead of thanking the per­son who pointed out their being wrong, they con­demned him to the flames, and was burned ac­cordingly.

AT Paris, Alexander Kanus, a reformed clergy­man, was burnt in a slow fire; four men were committed to the flames for distributing about pa­pers that ridiculed their saying mass. One had his tongue bored through for speaking ill of the Ro­mish superstitions. Peter Gaudet, a Genoese, was burnt by the desire of his own uncle, a bigoted Roman catholic; and John Pointer, a surgeon, had his tongue cut out, and was then committed to the flames.

AT Arras, Foutanis, and Rutiers, many were martyred for being of the reformed religion; in particular, at the latter place, one Stephen Brune was condemned to be burnt for refusing to attend mass. When the fire was kindled, the flames were driven from him by a brisk gale of wind: this occasioned the executioner to heap more fag­gots round him, and pour oil on them. Still, however, the wind blew the flames in a contra­ry direction, when the executioner absurdly grew angry with Stephen Brune, and in his passion struck him on the head. Brune very calmly said in re­turn, "As I am condemned only to be burnt, why do you strike me wit [...] a staff like a dog." This expression so greatly [...]raged the executioner, that he ran him through with a pike, and then burnt the body when dead.

AYMOND de Lavoy, a minister of Bourdeaux, had a complaint lodged against him by the Romish [Page 115] clergy of that city. On hearing this, his friends advised him to abscond; but he absolutely refused so to do, and told them, "That should he be ab­sent himself, the people might well imagine what he had preached consisted only of dreams and fa­bles, and not extracted from the pure word of God; but to prevent them from entertaining such a no­tion, he determined to seal his testimony of the truth with his blood." When he was seized upon, the people would have rescued him, but he desired them to forbear, saying, "Since it is the will of God that I should suffer for him, I will not resist his will." He remained nine months in prison on the information only, and patiently suffered all the inclemencies of a gaol. Being brought to trial, he was order [...]d to be racked; when in the extremity of the torture he comforted himself with this ex­pression; "This body must once die, but the soul shall live; for the kingdom of God endureth for ever." At length he swooned away; but on re­covering, prayed for his persecutors. The ques­tion was then put to him, "Whether he would embrace the Roman catholic persuasion; which po­sitively refusing, he was condemned to be burnt. At the place of execution he said, "O Lord, make haste to help me; tarry not; despise not the work of thy hands." And perceiving some who used to attend his sermons, he addressed them thus, "My friends. I exhort you to study and learn the gospel; for the word of God abideth for ever. Labour to know the will of God, and fear not them that kill the body▪ but ha [...]e no power over the soul." The executioner then strangled him, and afterwards burnt his body.

WILLIAM Husson, an apo [...]ecary of Blois, went from that city to Rouen, and there privately distri­buted and scattered about several small pamphlets, explaining the tenets of the reformed church, and exposing the Romish superstitions. These books gave a general alarm, and a council being called, an order was issued for diligent search to be made for the author and distribut [...]r. With some difficul­ [...] it was at length discovered that Husson had brought them to Rouen, and that he was gone to­wards Di [...]pp [...]. Orders for a pursuit were given, and Husson being apprehended, was brought back to Rouen, where he confessed he was both author and distributer of the books in question. This confession occasioned his condemnation, when he was executed in the following manner. His tongue being cut out, his hands and feet were tied behind, and he was drawn up by a pulley to a gibbet, and then let down into a fire kindled beneath; in which situation he called upon the Lord, and soon ex­pired.

FRANCIS Bribard, secretary to cardinal de Bellay, for speaking in favour of the reformed, had his tongue cut out, and was then burnt, A. D. 1544. James Cobard, a school-master in the city of St. Michael, was burnt, A. D. 1545, for saying, "That mass was useless and absurd; and about the same time, fourteen men were burnt at Malda, their wives being compelled to stand by and behold the execution.

A. D. 1546, Peter Chapot brought a number of bibles in the French tongue to France, and pub­licly sold them there; for which being apprehend­ed, he was condemned to be burnt; which sentence was executed a few days after it was passed. Soon after a cripple of Meaux, a school-master of Fera, named Stephen Polliot, and a man named John English, were burned for the faith.

THE choice being offered to Michael Michelot, either to recant and be beheaded, or to persevere and be burned; he chose the latter, making use, at the same time, of these words: God, who has given me grace not to deny the truth, will give me strength to endure the fire." Many, about the same time were burnt at Paris, Bar, &c. and at Langres, five men and two women were, by the Roman catholics, committed to the flames for be­ing of the reformed religion: when the youngest woman encouraged the other, saying, "This day shall we be married to Jesus Christ, and be with him for ever."

MONSIEUR Blondel, a rich jeweller, was, A. D. 1548, apprehended at Lyons, and sent to Paris; where he was burnt for the faith, by order of the high court, A. D. 154 [...]. Hubert, a youth of nineteen years of age, was committed to the flames at Dijon; as was Flo [...]ert V [...]note, in the same year.

A lady, named Ann Ard [...]ber [...] ▪ designing, on [Page 116] account of her faith, to retire to Geneva, was s [...]i [...] ­ed and sent to Paris. Being condemned, she was led to execution by a rope placed round her waist. This rope she called her wedding girdle; and as it was on a Saturday, she said, "I was once marri­ed to a man on a Saturday, and now I shall be mar­ried to God on the same day of the week." She was at length fastened to the stake, and burnt, meeting her fate with the most exemplary fortitude.

SOME singular circumstances happened immedi­ately after the coronation of Henry the Second, king of France, which we shall relate. A taylor was apprehended for working on a saint's day; be­ing asked why he gave such offence to religion, his reply was, "I am a poor man, and having nothing but my labour to depend upon; necessity requires that I should be industrious, and my conscience tells me there is no day but the sabbath which I ought to keep sacred from labour." Having ex­pressed himself thus, he was committed to prison, and the affair being soon after rumoured at court, some of the nobles persuaded the king to be present at the trial. On the day appointed, the monarch appeared in a superb chair of state, and the bishop of Mascon was ordered to interrogate the prisoner. The Taylor, on perceiving the king, paid his obe­dience to him in the most respectful manner, say­ing, "I thank God for honouring me thus, and for permitting me to vindicate the light of his gos­pel before so great a prince." The prelate then ques­tioned him concerning the tenets of his faith, when the clearness and spirit of his answers amazed all that heard him. The king was much affected and seemed to muse, when the bishop exclaimed, "He is an obstinate and impudent heretic; let him be taken back again to prison, f [...]om thence conveyed to the place of execution, and there burnt to death." As the king did not oppose what the bishop said, the officers proceeded to do as they were ordered; and, in the mean time, lest what the taylor had uttered might alarm the conscience of the king, the bishop artfully insinuated, "That the heretics (as he call­ed the reformed) had many specious arguments in their mouths, which, at their first hearing, appear­ed conclusive, but on serious examination, they were found to be false and deceitful. He then used his utmost endeavours in persuading the king to be present at the execution, who at length consented▪ and repaired to a balcony which overlooked the place where persons under condemnation were usual­ly put to death. When the taylor saw the king, he fixed his eyes stedfastly upon him, and even while the flames were consuming him, he kept ga­zing in such a manner, as threw the monarch into visible confusion, and obliged him to reti [...]e before the martyr gave up the ghost. The king was so shocked upon this occasion, that he could not reco­ver his spirits for some time; and what added to his disquiet, was, his continually dreaming for ma­ny successive nights, that he saw the taylor with his eyes fixed upon him, in the same manner as during the execution.

A pious man, named Claudius, was burnt at Or­leans; a Genoese youth, called Thomas, having rebuked a Roman catholic for profanely swearing▪ was informed against as an heretic, and committed to the flames at Paris: and three men at Lyons, being condemned for their religion, were conduct­ed to the place of execution; two of them with ropes about their necks; but the third, having been an officer in the king's service, was exempted from that disgrace. He, however, told the officer, that he begged to be treated in the same manner as his companions, and desired they would indulge him with one of those precious collars about his neck, in honour of the Lord. His request was complied with: and after having sung a psalm with great fervency, they were all three burnt.

MATTHEW Dimonet, a converted libertine; Si­mon [...]al [...]e, a citizen of Geneva; and Nicholas Naile, a bookseller of Paris, were martyred by fire▪ for professing the reformed religion.

PETER Serre was originally a priest, but reflect­ing on the errors of popery, he, at length, embraced the reformed religion, and learned the trade of a shoe-maker, that by honest industry he might obtain a subsistence. Having a brother at Thoulouse, who was a bigoted Roman catholic, Serre, out of fra­ternal love, made a journey to that city, in order to dissuade him from his superstitions. The brother [...] wife not approving of his design, lodged a com­plaint against him. He was soon apprehended, and very candidly made a full declaration of his faith. The judge then asked him concerning his occupa­tion: [Page 117] to which he replied, "I have of late practised the trade of a shoe-maker." Of late, said the judge, and what did you practise formerly? That I am almost ashamed to tell you, exclaimed Serre, be­cause it was the vilest and most wicked occupation imaginable. The judge and all who were presen [...], from these words supposed he had been a murderer. or thief, and that what he spoke was through con­trition for his past crimes. The judge, however, to put the matter beyond d [...]ubt, ordered him to explain precisely what he meant; when Serre, with tears in his eyes, cried, "O [...] I was formerly that abominable thing—A POPISH PRIEST." This re­ply surprized all who heard it, and so much exaspe­rated the judge, that he condemned Serre to be first degraded, then to have his tongue cut, and after­wards to be publicly burnt; which sentence was punctually executed in all its parts.

IN the year 1554, two men of the reformed reli­gion, with the son and daughter of one of them, were apprehended and committed to the castle of Niverne. On examination, they confessed their faith, and were ordered for execution: being smear­ed with grease, brimstone, and gunpowder, they cried, Salt on, salt on this sinful and [...] flesh. Their tongues were then cut out, and they were afterwards committed to the flames▪ which soon consumed them, by [...] of the combustible mat­ter with which they were besmeared.

PHILIP Hamlin, a pri [...]st, was apprehended for having renounced the errors of popery, and em­bracing the reformed religion. Being condemned to the stake, the faggots were piled about him, when he began earnestly to exhort the people to quit the errors of the church of Rome. The offi­cer, who presided at the execution, on hearing this, ordered the faggots to be immediately lighted, and that one should blow a trumpet while Hamlin was burning, that the people should not hear his voice, or be induced to change their opinions from what he might utter.

Instances of the Barbarities exercised by the INQUISITIONS of Spain and Portugal, on various Persons, upon several Occasions, and at diff [...]rent Times, from the most ge­nuine Historians, and the most authenti­cated Records.

I. FRANCIS ROMANES, a native of Spain, being of a mercantile turn of mind, was employed by the merchants of Antwerp, to transact some business for them at Breme. He had been educated in the Romish persuasion, but going one day into a protestant church, he was struck with the truths which he heard, and beginning to perceive the errors of popery, he determined to search far­ther into the matter.

READING the sacred scriptures attentively, and perusing the writings of some protestant divines, he plainly perceived how erroneous the principles were he had formerly embraced; and renounced the impositions of popery for the doctrines of the reformed church, in which religion appeared in all its genuine purity.

DETERMINING to give over worldly thoughts, and think of his eternal salvation, he studied reli­gious truths more than trade, and purchased books rather than merchandize, convinced that the riches of the body are trifling to those of the soul.

HE now resigned his agency to the merchants of Antwerp, giving them an account at the same time [Page 134] of his conversion; and then resolving, if possible, to convert his parents, he went to Spain for that purpose. But the Antwerp merchants writing to the inquisitors, he was seized upon, imprisoned for some time, and then condemned to be burnt as an heretic.

HE was led to the place of execution in a gar­ment painted over with devils, and had a paper mitre put upon his head, by way of derision. As he passed by a wooden cross, one of the priests bade him kneel to it; but he absolutely refused so to do, saying, It is not for christians to worship wood.

BEING placed upon a pile of wood the fire quick­ly reached him, when he lifted up his head sud­denly; the priests thinking he meant to recant, ordered him to be taken down. Finding, however, that they were mistaken, and that he still retained his constancy, he was placed again upon the pile, where, as long as he had life and voice remaining, he kept repeating the se [...]enth psalm.

II. AT St. Lucar in Spain resided a carver named Rochus, whose principal business was to make images of saints and other popish idols. Be­coming, however, convinced of the errors of the Romish persuasion, he embraced the protestant faith, left off carving images, and for subsistence followed the business of a seal engraver only. He had, however, retained one image of the virgin Mary for a sign; when an inquisitor passing by, asked if he would sell it; Rochus mentioned a price; the inquisitor objected to it, and offered half the mo­ney: Rochus replied, I would rather break it to pieces than take such a trifle. "Break it to pie­ces!" said the inquisitor, "break it to pieces if you dare!"

ROCHUS being provoked at this expression, im­mediately snatched up a chissel, and cut off the nose of the image. This was sufficient, the inquisitor went away in a rage, and soon after sent to have him apprehended. In vain did he plead that what he had defaced was his own property, and that if it was not proper to do as he would with his own goods, it was not proper for the inquisitor to bar­gain for the image in the way of trade. Nothing, however, availed him; his fate was decided: he was condemned to be burnt: and the sentence was executed accordingly.

III. DOCTOR Cacalla, his brother Francis, and his sister Blanch, were burnt at Valladolid, for ha­ving spoken against the inquisitors.

IV. AT Seville, a gentlewoman with her two daughters and her niece, were apprehended on ac­count of their professing the protestant religion. They were all put to the torture: and when that was over, one of the inquisitors sent for the young­est daughter, pretended to sympathize with her, and pity her sufferings; then binding himself with a solemn oath not to betray her, he said, "If yo [...] will disclose all to me, I promise you I will pro­cure the discharge of your mother, sister, cousin, and yourself.

MADE confident by his oath, and intrapped by his promises, she revealed the whole of the tenets they professed; when the perjured wretch, instead of acting as he had sworn▪ immediately ordered her to be put to the rack, saying, "Now you have reveal­ed so much, I will make you reveal more." Re­fusing, however, to say any thing further, they were all ordered to be burnt, which sentence was execu­ted at the next Auto de Fe.

V. THE keeper of the castle of Triano, belong­ing to the inquisitors of Seville, happened to be of a disposition more mild and humane than is usual with persons of his situation. He gave all the in­dulgence he could to the prisoners, and shewed them every favour in his power with as much se­crecy as possible. At length, however, the inqui­sitors became acquainted with his kindness, and determined to punish him severely for it, that other gaoler [...] might be de [...]erred from shewing the [...] traces of that compassion which ought to glow in the breast of every human being. With this view they superceded, threw him into a dismal dungeon, and used him with such dreadful barbarity that he lost his senses.

HIS deplorable situation, however, procured him no favour, for frantic as he was, they brought hi [...] from prison at an Auto de Fe to the usual place of punishment, with a sambenito (or garment worn by [Page 135] criminals) on, and a rope about his neck. His sentence was then read, and ran thus: that he should be placed on an ass, led through the city, receive two hundred stripes, and then be condemn­ed six years to the gallies.

THE poor frantic wretch, just as they were about to begin his punishment, suddenly sprung from the back of the ass, broke the cords that bound him, snatched a sword from one of the guards, and dan­gerously wounded an officer of the inquisition. Being overpowered by multitudes, he was prevent­ed from doing farther mischief, seized, bound more securely to the ass, and punished according to his sentence. But so inexo [...]able were the inquisitors, that for the rash effects of his madness, an ad­ditional four years was added to his slavery in the gallies.

VI. A maid servant to another gaoler belonging to the inquisition was accused of humanity and de­tected in bidding the prisoners keep up their spirits. For these heinous crimes, as they were called, she was publicly whipped, banished her native place for ten years, and what is worse, had her forehead branded by means of red hot irons, with these words, A favourer and aider of heretics.

VII. JOHN Pontic, a Spaniard by birth, a gentle­man by education, and protestant by persuasion, was, principally on account of his great estate, ap­prehended by the inquisitors, when the following charges were exhibited against him.

1. THAT he had said he abhorred the idolatry of worshipping the host.

2. THAT he shunned going to mass.

3. THAT he asserted the merits of Jesus Christ alone was a full justification for a christian.

4. THAT he declared there was no purgatory; and,

5. THAT he affirmed the pope's absolution not [...]o be of any value.

ON these charges his effects were confiscated to the use of the inquisitors, and his body was burnt to ashes to gratify their revenge.

VIII. JOHN Gonsal [...]o was originally a priest, but having embraced the reformed religion, he was now seized by the inquisitors, as were his mother, brother, and two sisters. Being condemned, they were led to execution, where they sung part of the 106th psalm.

AT the place of execution they were ordered to say the creed, which they immediately complied with, but coming to these words, "Th [...] holy ca­tholic church," they were commanded to add the monosyllables "of Rome," which absolutely re­fusing, one of the inquisitors said, Put an end to their lives directly; when the executioners obeyed, and strangled them immediately.

IX. FOUR protestant women being seized upon at Seville, were tortured, and in process of time ordered for execution. On the way thither they began to sing psalms; but the officers of the inqui­sition, thinking that the words of the psalm reflect­ed on themselves, put gags into all their mouths, [...]o make them silent. They were then burnt, and the houses where they resided were ordered to be razed to the ground.

X. FERDINANDO, a protestant schoolmaster, was apprehended by order of the inquisition, for instruct­ing his pupils in the principles of protestantism; and after being severely tortured, was burnt.

XI. A monk, who had abjured the errors of po­pery, was imprisoned at the same time as the above Ferdinando; but through the [...]ear of death, and to procure mercy, he said he was willing to embrace his former communion. Ferdinando, hearing of this, got an opportunity to speak to him, reproach­ed him with his weakness, and threatened him with eternal pardition. The monk, sensible of his crime, returned to, promised to continue in the protestant faith, and declared to the inquisitors that he so­lemnly renounced his intended recantation. Sen­tence [Page 136] of death was therefore passed upon him, and he was burnt at the same time as Ferdinando.

XII. JULIANO, a Spanish Roman catholic, on travelling into Germany, became a convert to the protestant religion.

BEING zealous for the faith he had embraced, Juliano undertook a very arduous task, which was to convey from Germany into his own country, a great number of bibles, concealed in casks, and packed up like Rhenish wine. This important commission he succeeded in so far as to distribute the books. A pretended protestant, however, who had purchased one of the bibles, betrayed him, and laid an account of the whole affair before the in­quisition.

JULIANO was immediately seized upon, and strict inquiry being made for the respective purchasers of these bibles, eight hundred persons were appre­hended upon the occasion. They were all indiscri­minately tortured, and then most of them were sen­tenced to various punishments. Juliano was burnt, twenty were roasted upon spits, several imprisoned for life, some were publicly whipped, many sent to the gallies, and a few discharged.

XIII. JOHN Leon, a protestant taylor of Spain, travelled to Germany, and from thence to Geneva, where hearing that a great number of English pro­testants were returning to their native country, he, and some more Spaniards, determined to go with them. The Spanish inquisitors being apprized of their intentions, sent a number of familiars so ex­peditiously in pursuit of them, that they overtook them at a sea-port in Zealand, one of the United Provinces, (which was then under the jurisdiction of Spain) just before they had embarked. Having thus succeeded in their commission, the poor pri­soners were heavily fettered, handcuffed, gagged, and had their heads and necks covered with a kind of iron net work. In this miserable condition they were conveyed to Spain, thrown into a dismal dun­geon, almost famished with hunger, barbarously tortured, and then cruelly burnt.

XIV. A young lady having been put into a con­vent, absolutely refused to take the veil, or turn nun. On leaving the cloister she embraced the protestant faith, which being known to the inquisitors, she was apprehended, every method used to draw her back again to popery. This proving ineffectual, her in­exorable judges condemned her to the flames, and she was burnt according to her sentence, persisting in her faith to the last.

XV. CHRISTOPHER Losada, an eminent physician, and learned philosopher, became extremely obnoxi­ous to the inquisitors, on account of exposing the errors of popery, and professing the [...]enets of pro [...]testantism. For these reasons he was apprehended, imprisoned, and racked; but those severities not bringing him to confess the Roman catholic church to be the only true church, he was sentenced to the fire; the flames of which he bore with exemplary patience, and resigned his soul to that Creator by whom it was bestowed.

XVI. ARIAS, a monk of St. Isidore's monastery at Seville, was a man of great abilities, but of a vicious disposition. He sometimes pretended to forsake the errors of the church of Rome, and be­come a protestant, and soon after turned Roman catholic. Thus he continued a long time waver­ing between both persuasions, till God thought proper touch his heart, and shew him the great danger of inconstancy in religious matters. He now became a true protestant, and bewailed his former errors with contrition. The sincerity of his conversion being known, he was seized by the offi­cers of the inquisition, severely tortured, and after­wards burnt at an Auto de Fe.

XVII. MARIA de Coceicao, a young lady who resided with her brother at Lisbon, was taken up by the inquisitors, and ordered to be put to the rack. The exquisite torments she felt staggered her resolution, and she fully confessed the charges against her.

THE cords were immediately slackened, and she was re-conducted to her cell, where she remained till she had recovered the use of her limbs, and was then brought again before the tribunal, and order­ed to ratify her confession, and sign it. This she absolutely refused to do, telling them, that what she had said was forced from her by the excessive [Page]

[Page 137] pain she underwent. Incensed at this reply, the inquisitors ordered her again to be put to the rack, when the weakness of nature once more prevailed, and she repeated her former confession. She was immediately remanded to her cell till her wounds were again healed, when being a third time brought before the inquisitors, they in a stern manner or­dered her to sign her first and second confessions. She answered as before; but added, "I have twice given way to the frailty of the flesh, and perhaps may, while on the rack, be weak enough to do so again; but depend upon it, if you torture me an hundred times, as soon as I am released from the rack I shall deny what was extorted from me by pain." The inquisitors ordered her to be racked a third time; and, during this last trial, she ex­ceeded even her own expectations; bore the tor­ments inflicted with the utmost fortitude, and could not be persuaded to answer any of the questions put to her. As her courage and constancy increased, the inquisitors imagined that she would deem death a glorious martyrdom, and therefore, to disappoint her expectations, they condemned her to a severe whipping through the public streets, and to a ten years banishment.

XVIII. JANE Bohorquia, a lady of a noble fa­mily in Seville, was a [...]prehended on the information of her sister, who had been tortured, and burnt for professing the protestan [...] religion, While on the [...]ack, through extremity of pain, that young lady confessed that she had frequently discoursed with her sister concerning protestantism, and upon this e [...]torted confession was Jane Bohorquia seized and imprisoned. Being pregnant at the beginning, they let her remain tolerably quiet till she was delivered, when they immediately took away the child, and p [...]t it to nurse, that it might be brought up a Ro­man catholic.

THE lady was not perfectly recovered from the weakness caused by her labour, when she was or­dered to be racked, which was done with such se­ve [...]ity, that she expired a week after of the wou [...] and bruises she received. Upon this occasion [...]he inquisitors affected some remorse, and, in one of the printed acts of the inquisition, which they always publish at an Auto de Fe, they thus mention this [...] lady:

JANE Bohorquia was found dead in prison; af­ter which, upon reviving her prosecution, the in­quisitors discovered that she was innocent.—Be it therefore known, that no farther prosecutions shall be carried on against her, and that her effects, which were confiscated, shall be given to the heirs at law. Thus have the lords of the holy office of inquisition generously restored to her innocence, reputation, and estate. Strange inconsistency! to take the pro­perty, and torture the person before conviction of guilt, and then to compliment themselves for mo­deration, in returning what they had no right to seize, and forgiving one, who, by their own ac­knowledgement, had never offended them. One sentence, however, in the above ridiculous passage, wants explanation, viz. That no farther prosecu­tion shall be carried on against her. This alludes to the absurd custom of prosecuting, and burning the bones of the dead: for when a prisoner dies in the inquisition, the process continues the same as if he was living; the bones are deposited in a chest, and if a sentence of guilt is passed, they are brought out at the next Auto de Fe; the sentence is read against them with as much solemnity as against a living prisoner, and they are at length committed to the [...]ames. In a similar manne [...] are prosecutions carried on against prisoners who escape; and when their persons are far beyond the reach of the in­quisitors, they are burnt in effigy.

XIX. DR. Isaac Orobio, a learned physician, having beaten a Moorish servant for stealing, was accused by him of professing Judaism. Without considering the apparent malice of the servant, the inquisitors seized the master upon the charge. He was kept three years in prison before he had the least intimation of what he was to undergo, and then suffered the following six modes of torture:

1. A [...] put on him▪ and then drawn so [...] [...]irculation of his blood was nea [...]ly stoppe [...], [...] the breath almost pressed out of his body. A [...]er this the strings were sud­denly loose [...]ed, when the air forcing its way hastily into his stomach, and the blood rushing into its channels, he suffered the most incredible pains.

2. HIS thumbs were tied with small cords so hard that the blood gushed from under the nails.

[Page 138]3. HE was seated on a bench with his back against a wall, wherein small iron pullies were fixed. Ropes being fastened to several parts of his body and limbs, were passed through the pullies, and being suddenly drawn with great violence, his whole frame was forced into a distorted heap.

4. AFTER having suffered for a considerable time the pains of the last mentioned position, the seat was snatched away, and he was left suspended against the wall in the most excruciating misery.

5. A little instrument with five knobs, and which went with springs, being placed near his face, he suddenly received five blows on the cheek, that put him to such pain as caused him to faint away.

6. THE executioners fastened ropes round his wrists, and then drew them about his body. Pla­cing him on his back with his feet agains [...] the wall, they pulled with the utmost violence, till the cords had penetrated to the bone.

THE last torture he suffered three different times, and then lay 70 days before his wounds were healed. He was afterwards banished, and in his exile wrote the account of his sufferings, from which we have extracted the foregoing particulars.

XX. AN excellent penman of Toledo, in Spain▪ and a protestant, was fond of producing fine speci­mens of writings, and having them framed, to adorn the different apartments of his house. Among other curious examples of penmanship was a large piece, containing the Lord's prayer, creed, and ten com­mandments, thrown into verse, and finely written. This piece, which hung in a conspicuous part of the house, was one day seen by a person belonging to the inquisition, who observed that the versification of the commandments was not according to the church of Rome, but according to the protestant church, for the protestants retain the whole of the commandments as they are found in the bible, but the papists omit that part of the second command­ment which forbids the worship of images. The inquisition soon had information of the whole, and this ingenious gentleman was seized▪ prosecuted, and burnt, only for ornamenting his house with a specimen of his skill and piety.

An Account of the Persecutions in ITALY.

WE shall now enter on an account of the persecutions in Italy, a country which has been, and still is,

1. THE center of popery.

2. THE seat of the pontiff.

3. THE source of the various errors which have spread themselves over other countries, deluded the [Page 174] minds of thousands, and diffused the clouds of superstition and bigotry over the human under­standing.

IN pursuing our narrative we shall include the most remarkable persecutions which have happen­ed, and the cruelties which have been practised,

1. BY the immediate order of the pope.

2. THROUGH the power of the inquisition.

3. AT the instigation of particular orders of the clergy.

4. BY the bigotry of the Italian princes.

An Account of the first Persecutions under the PAPACY in ITALY.

IN the 12th century, the first persecutions under the papacy began in Italy, at the time that A­drian, an Englishman, was pope, being occasioned by the following circumstances:

A learned man, and an excellent orator of Brixia, named Arnold, came to Rome, and boldly preach­ed against the corruptions and innovations which had crept into the church. His discourses were so clear, consistent, and breathed forth such a pure spirit of piety, that the senators, and many of the people, highly approved of, and admired his doctrines.

THIS so greatly enraged Adrian, that he com­manded Arnold instantly to leave the city, as an heretic. Arnold, however, did not comply, for the senators, and some of the principal people took his part, and resisted the authority of the pope.

ADRIAN now laid the city of Rome under an in­terdict, which caused the whole body of clergy to interpose; and, at length, persuaded the senators and people to give up the point, and suffer Arnold to be banished. This being agreed to, he received his sentence of exile, and retired to Germany, where he continued to preach against the pope, and to ex­pose the gross errors of the church of Rome.

ADRIAN, on this account, thirsted for his blood, and made several attempts to get him into his hands; but Arnold, for a long time, avoided every s [...]are laid for him. At length, Frederic Barbarossa arriving at the imperial dignity, requested that the pope would crown him with his own hand. This Adrian complied with, and at the same time asked a favour of the emperor, which was to put Arnold into his hands. The emperor very readily deliver­ed up the unfortunate preacher, who soon fell a martyr to Adrian's vengeance, being hanged, and his body burnt to ashes, at Apulia. The same fate attended several of his old friends and com­panions.

ENCENAS, a Spaniard, was sent to Rome to be brought up in the Roman catholic faith; but ha­ving conversed with some of the reformed, and read several treatises which they had put into his hands, he became a protestant. This, at length, being known, one of his own relations informed against him, when he was burnt by order of the pope, and a conclave of cardinals. The brother of Encenas had been taken up much about the same time, for having a New Testament, in the Spanish language, in his possession; but before the time appointed for his execution, he found means to escape out of prison, and retired to Germany.

FANINUS, a learned lay man, by reading contro­versial books, became of the reformed religion. An information being exhibited against him to the pope, he was apprehended, and cast into prison. His wife, children, relations, and friends, visi [...]d him in his confinement, and so far wrought upon his mind, that he renounced his faith, and obtained his release. But he was no sooner free from con­finement, than his mind felt the heaviest of chai [...], the weight of a guilty conscience. His horror [...] were so great, that he found them insupportable, till he had returned from his apostacy, and declared himself fully convinced of the errors of the church of Rome. To make amends for his falling off, he now openly and strenuously did all he could to make converts to protestantism, and was pretty successful in his endeavours. These proceedings occasioned his second imprisonment; but he had his life offered him if he would recant ag [...]in. This proposal he rejected with disdain, saying, [...] [Page 875] he scorned life upon such terms. Being asked why he would obstinately persist in his opinions, and leave his wife and children in distress; he replied, I shall not leave them in distress, I have recom­mended them to the care of an excellent trustee. What trustee? said the person who had asked the question, with some surprize: to which Faninus answered, Jesus Christ is the trustee I mean, and I think I could not commit them to the care of a better. On the day of execution he appeared re­markably chearful, which one observing, said, It is strange you should appear so merry upon such an occasion, when Jesus Christ himself, just before his death, was in such agonies, that he sweat blood and water. To which Faninus replied: Christ sustained all manner of pangs and conflicts, with hell and death, on our accounts; and thus, by his sufferings, freed those who really believe in him from the fear of them. He was then strangled, and his body being burnt to ashes, they were scat­tered about by the wind.

DOMINICUS, a learned soldier, having read seve­ral controversial writings, became a zealous pro­testant, and retiring to Placentia, he preached the gospel in its utmost purity, to a very considerable congregation. At the conclusion of his sermon one day, he said, "If the congregation will attend to­morrow, I will give them a description of Anti-Christ, and paint him out in his proper colours."

A vast concourse of people attended the next day; but just as Dominicus was beginning his ser­mon, a civil magistrate went up to his pulpit, and took him into custody. He readily submitted; but as he went along with the magistrate, made use of this expression: I wonder the devil hath let me alone so long. When he was brought to ex­amination, this question was put to him: Will you renounce your doctrines? To which he replied, My doctrines! I maintain no doctrines of my own; what I preach are the doctrines of Christ, and for those I will forfeit my blood, and even think my­self happy to suffer for the sake of my Redeemer. Every method was taken to make him recant from his faith, and embrace the errors of the church of Rome; but when persuasions and menaces were found ineffectual, he was sentenced to death, and hanged in the market-place.

GALEACIUS, a protestant gentleman, who resided near the castle of St. Angelo, was apprehended on account of his faith. Great endeavours being used by his friends he recanted, and subscribed to seve­ral of the superstitious doctrines propagated by the church of Rome. Becoming, however, sensible of his error, he publicly renounced his recantation. Being apprehended for this, he was condemned to be burnt; and agreeable to the order, was chained to a stake, where he was left several hours before the fire was put to the faggots, in order that his wife, relations, and friends, who surrounded him, might induce him to give up his op [...]nions. Galea­cius, however, now retained his constancy of mind, and intreated the executioner to put fire to the wood that was to burn him. This, at length, he did, and Galeacius was soon consumed in the flames, which burnt with amazing rapidity, and deprived him of sensation in a few minutes.

SOON after this gentleman's death, a great num­ber of protestants were put to death in various parts of Italy, on account of their faith, giving a sure proof of their sincerity in their martyrdoms.

An Account of the Persecutions in CALABRIA.

IN the 14th century, many of the Waldenses of Pragela and Dauphiny emigrated to Calabria, and settling in some waste lands, by the permission of the nobles of that country, they soon, by the most industrious cultivation, made several wild and barren spots appear with all the beauties of verdure and fertility.

THE Calabrian lords were highly pleased with their new subjects and tenants, as they were honest, quiet, and industrious; but the priests of the country exhibited several negative complaints against them; for not being able to accuse them of any thing bad which they did do, they founded accu­sations on what they did not do, and charged them

WITH not being Roman catholics.

WITH not making any of their boys priests.

[Page 176]WITH not making any of their girls nuns.

WITH not going to mass.

WITH not giving wax tapers to their priests as offerings.

WITH not going on pilgrimages.

WITH not bowing to images.

THE Calabrian lords, however quieted the priests, by telling them, that these people were extremely harmless; that they gave no offence to the Roman catholics, and chearfully paid the tythes to the priests, whose revenues were considerably increased by their coming into the country; and who, of con­sequence, ought to be the last persons to complain of them.

THINGS went on tolerably well after this for a few years, during which the Waldenses formed themselves into two corporate towns, annexing several villages to the jurisdiction of them. At length, they sent to Geneva for two clergymen; one to preach in each town, as they determined to make a public profession of their faith. Intelli­gence of this affair being carried to pope Pius the Fourth, he determined to exterminate them from Calabria.

TO this end he sent cardinal Alexandrino, a man of a very violent temper, and a furious bigot, to­gether with two monks, to Calabria, where they were to act as inquisitors. These authorised per­sons came to St. Xist, one of the towns built by the Waldenses, and having assembled the people, told them, that they should receive no injury, or vio­lence, if they would accept of preachers appointed by the pope; but if they would not, they should be deprived both of their properties and lives; and that their intentions might be known, mass should be publicly said that afternoon, at which they were ordered to attend.

THE people of St. Xist, instead of attending mass, fled into the woods with their families, and thus disappointed the cardinal and his coadjutors. The cardinal then proceeded to La Garde, the other town belonging to the Waldenses, where, not to be served as he had been at St. Xist, he ordered the gates to be locked, and all the avenues guarded. The same proposals were made to the people of La Garde, as had been made to the inhabitants of St. Xist, but with this additional piece of artifice: the cardinal assured them that the inhabitants of St. Xist had immediately come into his proposals, and agreed, that the pope should appoint them preach­ers. This falsehood succeeded; for the people of La Garde, thinking what the cardinal had told them to be truth, said, they would exactly follow the example of their brethren at St. Xist.

THE cardinal having gained his point by de­luding the people of one town, sent for two troops of soldiers, with a view to murder those of the other. He, accordingly, dispatched the soldiers into the woods, to hunt down the inhabitants of St. Xist like wild beasts, and gave them strict or­ders to spare neither age or sex, but to kill all they came near. The troops entered the woods, and many sell a prey to their ferocity, before the Wal­denses were properly apprized of their design. At length, however, they determined to sell their lives as dear as possible, when several conflicts happen­ed, in which the half-armed Waldenses performed prodigies of valour, and many were slain on both sides. The greatest part of the troops being killed in the different rencounters, the rest were compelled to retreat, which so enraged the cardinal, that he wrote to the viceroy of Naples for reinforcements.

THE viceroy immediately ordered a proclama­tion to be made throughout all the Neopolitan territories, that all out-laws, deserters, and other proscribed persons, should be freely pardoned for their respective offences, on condition of making a campaign against the inhabitants of St. Xist, and continuing under arms till those people were ex­terminated.

MANY persons, of desperate fortunes, came in upon this proclamation, and being formed into light companies, were sent to scour the woods, and to put to death all they could meet with of the reformed religion. The viceroy himself likewise joined the cardinal, at the head of a body of re­gular forces; and, in conjunction, they did all they could to harrass the poor people in the woods. [Page]

[Page 177] Some they caught, and hanged up upon trees, cut down boughs, and burnt them, or ripped them open, and left their bodies to be devour­ed by wild beasts, or birds of prey. Many they shot at a distance, but the gre [...]test number they hunted down by way of sport. A few hid them­selves in caves; but famine destroyed them in their retreat; and thus all these poor people perished, by various means, to glut the bigoted malice of their merciless persecutors.

THE inhabitants of St. Xist were no sooner ex­terminated, than t [...]se of La Garde engaged the attention of the cardinal and viceroy. It was offered, that if they would embrace the Ro­man catholic persuasion, themselves and families should not be injured, but their houses and pro­perties should be restored, and none would be permitted to molest them; but, on the contrary, if they refused this mercy, (as it was termed) the utmost extremities would be used, and the most cruel deaths the certain consequence of their non-compliance.

NOTWITHSTANDING the promises on one side, and menaces on the other, these worthy people unanimously refused to renounce their religion, or embrace the errors of popery. This exaspe­rated the cardinal and viceroy so much, that 30 of them were ordered to be put immediately to the rack, as a terror to the rest▪

THOSE who were put to the rack were treated with such severity, that several died under the tortures: one Charlin, in particular, was so cruelly used, that his belly burst, his bowels came out, and he expired in the greatest agonies. These barbarities, however, did not answer the purposes for which they were intended; for those who re­mained alive after the rack, and those who had not felt the rack, remained equally constant in their faith, and boldly declared, that no tortures of body, or terrors of mind, should ever induce them to re­nounce their God, or worship images.

SEVERAL were then, by the cardinal's order, stripped stark naked, and whipped to death with iron rods; some were hacked to pieces with large knives; others were thrown down from the top of a large tower; and many were covered over with pitch, and burnt alive.

ONE of the monks who attended the cardinal, being naturally of a savage and cruel disposition, requested of him, that he might shed some of the blood of these poor people with his own hands; when his request being granted, the barbarous man took a large, sharp knife, and cut the throats of fourscore men, women, and children, with as little remorse as a butcher woul [...] [...] killed so [...] sheep. Every one of these bodies were then or­dered to be quartered, the quarters placed upon stakes, and then fixed in different parts of the coun­try, within a circuit of 30 miles.

THE four principal men of La Garde were hang­ed, and the clergyman was thrown from the top of his church steeple. He was terribly mangled, but not quite killed by the fall; at which time the viceroy passing by, said, Is the dog yet living? Take him up, and give him to the hogs: when, brutal as this sentence may appear, it was executed accordingly.

SIXTY women were racked so violently, that the cords pierced their arms and legs quite to the bone: when, being remanded to prison, their wounds mortified, and they died in the most miser­able manner. Many others were put to death by various cruel means; and if any Roman catholic, more compassionate than the rest, interceded for any of the reformed, he was immediately appre­hended, and shared the same fate, as a favourer of heretics.

THE viceroy being obliged to march back to Naples, on some affairs of moment which required his presence, and the cardinal having been recalled to Rome, the marquis of Butiane was ordered to put the finishing stroke to what they had begun; which he, at length, effected, by acting with such barbarous rigour, that there was not a single per­son of the reformed religion left living in all Calabria.

THUS were a number of inoffensive and harm­less people deprived of their possessions, robbed of their property, driven from their homes, and [Page 178] at length, murdered, by various means, only be­cause they would not sacrifice their consciences to the superstitions of others, embrace idolatrous doc­trines which they abhorred, and accept of teachers whom they could not believe. Tyranny is of three kinds, viz. That which enslaves the person, that which seizes the property, and that which pre­scribes and dictates to the mind. The two first sorts may be termed civil tyranny, and have been practised by arbitrary sovereigns in all ages, who have delighted in tormenting the persons, and stealing the properties of their unhappy subjects. But the third sort, viz. prescribing and dictating to the mind, may be called ecclesiastical tyranny: and this is the worst kind of tyranny, as it in­cludes the other two sorts; for the Romish clergy not only torture the bodies, and seize the effects of those they persecute, but take the lives, torment the minds, and, if possible, would tyrannize over the souls of the unhappy victims.

An Account of the Persecutions in the Val­lies of Piedmont.

MANY of the Waldenses, to avoid the per­secutions to which they were con [...]nually subjected in France, went and settled in the vallies of Piedmont, where they increased exceedingly, and flourished very much for a considerable time.

THOUGH they were harmless in their behaviour, inoffensive in their conversation, and paid tythes to the Romish clergy, yet the latter could not be con­tented, but wished to give them some disturbance: they, accordingly complained to the archbishop of Turin, that the Waldenses of the vallies of Pied­mont were heretics, for these reasons:

1. THAT they did not believe in the doctrines of the church of Rome.

2. THAT they made no offerings for prayers for the dead.

3. THAT they did not go to mass.

4. THAT they did not confess, and receive absolution.

5. THAT that they did not believe in purga­tory, or pay money to get the souls of their friends out of it.

UPON these charges the archbishop ordered a persecution to be commenced, and many fell martyrs to the superstitious rage of the priests and monks.

AT Turin, one of the reformed had his bowels torn out, and put in a bason before his face, where they remained, in his view, till he expired. At Revel, Catelin Girard being at the stake, desired the executioner to give him up a stone; which he refused, thinking that he meant to throw it at somebody; but Girard assuring him that he had no such design, the executioner complied: when Girard looking earnestly at the stone, said, When it is in the power of a man to eat and digest this solid stone, the religion for which I am about to suffer shall have an end, and not before. He then threw the stone on the ground, and submitted chearfully to the flames. A great many more of the re­formed were oppressed, or put to death, by various means, till the patience of the Waldenses being tired out, they flew to arms in their own defence, and formed themselves into regular bodies.

EXASPERATED at this, the archbishop of Turin procured a number of troops, and sent against them; but in most of the skirmishes and engagements the Waldenses were successful, which partly arose from their being better acquainted with the passes of the vallies of Piedmont than their adversaries, and partly from the desperation with which they fought; for they well knew, if they were taken, they should not be considered as prisoners of war, but should be tortured [...] death as heretics.

AT length, Philip, the seventh duke of Savoy, and supreme lord of Piedmont, determined to in­terpose his authority, and stop these bloody wars, which so greatly disturbed his dominions. He was not willing to disoblige the pope, or affront the archbishop of Turin: nevertheless he sent them both messages, importing, that he could not any [Page 179] longer see his dominions over-run with troops, who were directed by priests instead of officers, and commanded by prelates in the place of generals; nor would he suffer his country to be depopulated, while he himself had not been even consulted upon the occasion.

THE priests, finding the resolution of the duke, did all they could to prejudice his mind against the Waldenses; but the duke told them, that though he was unacquainted with the religious tenets of these people, yet he had always found them quiet, faithful, and obedient, and therefore he was determined they should be no longer per­secuted.

THE priests now had recourse to the most palpa­ble and absurd falsehoods: they assured the duke that he was mistaken in the Waldenses, for they were a wicked set of people, and highly addicted to intemperance, uncleanness, blasphemy, adultery, incest [...] and many other abominable crimes; and that they were even monsters in nature, for their children were born with black throats, with four rows of teeth, and bodies all over hairy.

THE duke was not so devoid of common sense as to give credit to what the priests said, though they affirmed, in the most solemn manner, the truth of their assertions. H [...], however, sent twelve very learned and sensible gentlemen into the Piedmon [...]ese vallies, to examine into the real characters of the inhabitants.

THESE gentlemen, after travelling through all their towns and villages, and conversing with peo­ple of every rank among the Waldenses, returned to the duke, and gave him the most favourable ac­count of those people: affirming, before the faces of the priests who vilified them, that they were harmless, inoffensive, loyal, friendly, industrious, and pious: that they abhorred the crimes of which they were accused; and that, should an individual, through depravity, fall into any of those crimes, he would, by their laws, be punished in the most ex­emplary manner. With respect to the children, the gentlemen said, the priests had told the most [...] and ridiculous falsit [...]es, for they were neither born with black throats, teeth in their mouths, or hair on their bodies, but were as fine children as could be seen. "And to convince your high­ness of what we have said, (continued one of the gentlemen) we have brought twelve of the principal male inhabitants, who are come to ask pardon in the name of the rest, for having taken up arms without your leave, though even in their own defence, and to preserve their lives from their mer­ciless enemies. And we have likewise brought se­veral women, with children of various ages, that your highness may have an opportunity of person­ally examining them as much as you please."

THE duke, after accepting the apology of the twelve delegates, con [...]ersing with the women, and examining the children graciously dismissed them. He then commanded the priests, who had attempt­ed to mislead h [...]m, immediately to leave court; and gave strict orders, that the persecution should cease throughout hi [...] dominions.

THE Waldenses had enjoyed peace many years, when Philip, the seventh duke of Savoy, died, and his successor happened to be a very bigoted papist. About the same time, some of the principal Wal­denses proposed, that their clergy should preach in public, that every one might know the purity of their doctrines; for hitherto they had preached only in private, and to such congregations as they well knew to consist of none bu [...] persons of the re­formed religion.

ON hearing these proceedings, the new duke was greatly exasperated, and sent a considerable bo­dy of troops into the vallies, swearing, that if the people would not change their religion, he would have them [...]ead alive. The commander of the troops soon found the impracticability of conquering them with the number of men he had with him▪ he, therefore, sent word to the duke, that the idea of subjugating the Waldenses, with so small a force, was ridiculous; that those people were better ac­quainted with the country than any that were with him; that they had secured all the passes, were well armed, and resolutely determined to defend them­selves; and, with respect to [...]eaing them alive, he said, that every skin belonging to those people [Page 180] would cost him the lives of a dozen of his subjects.

TERRIFIED at this information, the duke with­drew the troops, determining to act not by force, but by stratagem. He, therefore, ordered rewards for the taking of any of the Waldenses, who might be found straying from their places of security; and these, when taken, were either flead alive, or burnt.

THE Waldenses had hitherto only had the New Testament, and a few books of the Old, in the Waldensian tongue; but they determined now to have the sacred writings complete in their own lan­guage. They, therefore, employed a Swiss printer to furnish them with a complete edition of the Old and New Testament in the Waldensian tongue, which he did for the consideration of fifteen hun­dred crowns of gold, paid him by those pious people.

Pope Paul the Third, a bigoted papist, ascend­ing the pontifical chair, immediately solicited the parliament of Turin to persecute the Waldenses, as the most pernicious of all heretics.

THE parliament readily agreed, when several were suddenly apprehended and burnt, by their or­der. Among these was Bartholomew Hector, a bookseller and stationer at Turin, who was brought up a Roman catholic, but having read some trea­tises written by the reformed clergy, he was fully convinced of the errors of the church of Rome; yet his mind was, for some time, wavering, and he hardly knew what persuasion to embrace.

AT length, however, he fully embraced the re­formed religion, and was apprehended, as we have already mentioned, and burnt by order of the par­liament of Turin.

A consultation was now held by the parliament of Turin, in which it was agreed, to send depu­ties to the vallies of Piedmont, with the follow­ing propositions:

1. THAT if the Waldenses would come to the bosom of the church of Rome, and embrace the Roman catholic religion, they should enjoy their houses, properties, and lands, and live with their families, without the least molestation.

2. THAT to prove their obedience, they should send twelve of their principal persons, with all their ministers and school-masters, to Turin, to be dealt with at discretion.

3. THAT the pope, the king of France, and the duke of Savoy, approved of, and authorized the the proceedings of the parliament of Turin, upon this occasion.

4. THAT if the Waldenses of the vallies of Pied­mont refused to comply with these propositions, persecution should ensue, and certain death be their portion.

TO each of these propositions the Waldenses nobly replied in the following manner, answering them respectively.

1. THAT no considerations whatever should make them renounce their religion.

2. THAT they would never consent to commit their best and most respectable friends, to the custody and discretion of their worst and most in­veterate enemies.

3. THAT they valued the approbation of the King of kings, who reigns in heaven, more than any temporal authority.

4. THAT their souls were more precious th [...] their bodies.

THESE pointed and spirited replies greatly exas­perated the parliament of Turin: they continued, with more avidity than ever, to kidnap such Wal­denses as did not act with proper precaution, who were sure to suffer the most cruel deaths. Among these it unfortunately happened, that they got hold of Jeffery Varnagle, minister of Angrogne, whom they committed to the flames as an heretic.

THEY then solicited a considerable body of troops of the king of France, in order to exter­minate the reformed, entirely, from the vallies of [Page 181] Piedmont; but just as the troops were going to march, the protestant princes of Germany inter­posed, and threatened to send troops to assist the Waldenses, if they should be attacked. The king of France, not caring to enter into a war, remand­ed the troops, and sent word to the parliament of Turin, that he could not spare any troops at present to act in Piedmont. The members of the parlia­ment were greatly vexed at this disappointment, and the persecution gradually ceased; for as they could only put to death such of the reformed as they caught by chance, and as the Waldenses daily grew more cautious, their cruelty was obliged to subside, for want of objects on whom to exercise it.

AFTER the Waldenses had enjoyed a few years tranquility, they were again disturbed by the fol­lowing means: the pope's nuncio coming to Tu­rin to the duke of Savoy upon business, told that prince, he was astonished he had not yet either rooted out the Waldenses from the val [...]ies of Pied­mont entirely, or compelled them to enter into the bosom of the church of Rome. That he could not help looking upon such conduct with a suspicious eye, and that he really thought him a favourer of those heretics, and should report the affair accord­ingly to his holiness the pope.

STUNG by this reflection, and unwilling to be misrepresented to the pope, the duke determined to act with the greatest severity, in order to shew his zeal, and to make amends for former neglect by future cruelty. He, accordingly, [...]ssued ex­press orders for all the Waldenses to attend mass regularly, on pain of death. This they absolutely refused to do, on which he entered the Piedmontese vallies, with a formidable body of troops▪ and be­gan a most furious persecution, in which great num­bers were hanged, drowned, ripped open, tied to trees, and pierced with prongs, thrown from pri­cipices, burnt, stabbed, racked to death, crucified with their heads downwards, worried by dogs, &c.

THOSE who fled had their goods plundered, and their houses burnt to the ground: they were par­ticularly cruel when they caught a minister or a school-master, whom they put to such exquisite tortures, as are almost incredible to conceive. If any whom they took seemed wavering in their faith, they did not put them to death, but sent them to the gallies, to be made converts by dint of hardships.

THE most cruel persecutors, upon this occasion, that attended the duke, were three in number, viz. 1. Thomas Incomel, an apostate; for he was brought up in the reformed religion, but renounced his faith, embraced the errors of popery, and turned monk. He was a great libertine, given to unnatural crimes, and sordidly solicitous for the plunder of the Waldenses. 2. Corbis, a man of a very ferocious and cruel nature, whose business it was to examine the prisoners. 3. The provost of justice, who was very anxious for the execution of the Waldenses, as every execution put money into his pocket.

THESE three persons were unmerciful to the last degree; and wherever they came, the blood of the innocent was sure to flow. Exclusive of the cruelties exercised by the duke, by these three persons, and the army, in their different marches, many local barbarities were commit­ted. At Pignerol, a town in the vallies, was a monastery, the monks of which [...] they might injure the reformed with impunity, began to plun­der the houses, and pull down the churches of the Waldenses. Not meeting with any opposition, they next seized upon the persons of those unhappy people, murdering the men, confining the women, and putting the children to Roman catholic nurses.

THE Roman catholic inhabitants of the valley of St. Martin, likewise, did all they could to torment the neighbouring Waldenses: they destroyed their churches, burnt their houses, seized their proper­ties, stole their cattle, converted their lands to their own use, committed their ministers to the flames, and drove the Waldenses to the woods, where they had nothing to subsist on but wild fruits, roots, the bark of trees, &c.

SOME Roman catholic ruffians having seized a minister as he was going to preach, determined to take him to a convenient place, and burn him. His parishioners having intelligence of the affair, the men armed themselves, pursued the ruffians, and seemed determined to rescue their minister; [Page 182] which the ruffians no sooner perceived, than th [...] stabbed the poor gentleman, and leaving him [...] tering in his blood, made a precipitate retr [...]. The astonished parishioners did all they could to recover him, but in vain; for the weapon [...] touched the vital parts, and he expired as they were carrying him home.

THE monks of Pignerol having a great inclina­tion to get a minister of a town in the vallies, call­ed St. Germain into their power, hired a band of ruffians for the purpose of apprehending him. These fellows were conducted by a treacherous per­son, who had formerly been a servant to the cler­gyman, and who perfectly well knew a secret way to the house, by which he could lead them without alarming the neighbourhood. The guide knocked at the door, and being asked who was there, an­swered in his own name. The clergyman, not ex­pecting any injury from a person on whom he had heaped favours, immediately opened the door; but perceiving the ruffians, he started back, and fled to a back door; but they rushed in, followed and seized him. Having murdered all his family, they made him proceed towards Pignerol, goading him all the way with pikes, lances, swords, &c. He was kept a considerable time in prison, and then fastened to the stake to be burnt; when two women of the Waldenses, who had renounced their religion to save their lives, were ordered to carry faggots to the stake to burn him; and as they laid them down, to say, Take these, thou wicked heretic, in recom­pence for the pernicious doctrines thou hast taught us. These words they both repeated to him: to which he calmly replied, I formerly taught you well, but you have since learned ill. The fire was then put to the faggots, and he was speedily con­sumed, calling upon the name of the Lord as long as his voice permitted.

AS the troops of ruffians, belonging to the monks, did great mischief about the town of St. Germain, murdering and plundering many of the inhabitants, the reformed of Lucerne and An­grogne sent some bands of armed men to the assist­ance of their brethren of St. Germain. These bodies of armed men frequently attacked the ruffi­ans, and often put them to the rout, which so ter­rified the monks, that they left their monastery of Pignerol for some time, till they could procure a body of regular troops to guard them.

THE duke, not thinking himself so successful as he at first imagined he should be, greatly aug­mented his forces; ordered the bands of ruffians, belonging to the monks, should join him; and commanded, that a general gaol delivery should take place, provided the persons released would bear arms, and form themselves into light compa­nies, to assist in the extermination of the Wal­denses.

THE Waldenses, being informed of these pro­ceedings, secured as much of their properties as they could, and quitting the vallies, retired to the rocks and caves among the Alps; for it is to be understood, that the vallies of Piedmont are situa­ted at the foot of those prodigious mountains, call­ed the Alps, or the Alpine Hills.

THE army now began to plunder and burn the towns and villages wherever they came; but the troops could not force the passes to the Alps, which were gallantly defended by the Waldenses, who al­ways repulsed their enemies; but if any fell into the hands of the troops, they were sure to be treat­ed with the most barbarous severity.

A soldier having caught one of the Waldenses, bit his right ear off, saying, I will carry this mem­ber of that wicked heretic with me into my own country, and preserve it as a rarity He then stab­bed the man, and threw him into a ditch.

A party of the troops found a venerable man up­wards of an hundred years of age, together with his grand-daughter, a maiden, of about eighteen, in a cave. They butchered the poor old man in a most inhuman manner, and then attempted to ravish the girl, when she started away, and fled from them; but they pursuing her, she threw herself from a precipice, and perished.

THE Waldenses, in order the more effectually to be able to repel force by force, entered into a league with the protestant powers in Germany, and with the reformed of Dauphiny and Pragels. These were, respectively to furnish bodies of [Page 183] troops; and the Waldenses determined, when thus reinforced, to quit the mountains of the Alps, (where they must soon have perished, as the winter was coming on) and to force the duke's army to evacuate their native vallies.

THE duke of Savoy was now tired of the war; it had cost him great fatigue and anxiety of mind, a vast number of men, and very considerable sums of money. It had been much more tedious and bloody than he expected, as well as more expensive than he could at first have imagined, for he thought the plunder would have discharged the expences of the expedition; but in this he was mistaken, for the pope's nuncio, the bishops, monks, and other ecclesiastics, who attended the army and encouraged the war, sunk the greatest part of the wealth that was taken under various pretences. For these reasons, and the death of his duchess, of which he had just received intelligence, and fearing that the Waldenses, by the treaties they had entered into, would become more powerful than ever, he deter­mined to return to Turin with his army, and to make peace with the Waldenses.

THIS resolution he executed, though greatly against the will of the ecclesiastics, who were the chief gainers, and the best pleased with revenge. Before the articles of peace could be ratified, the duke himself died soon after his return to Turin; but on his death-bed he strictly enjoined his son to perform what he had intended, and to be as favour­able as possible to the Waldenses.

THE duke's son▪ Charles Emanuel, succeeded to the dominions of Savoy, and gave a full ratification of the peace to the Waldenses, according to the last injunctions of his [...]ther, though the ecclesiastics did all they could to persuade him to the contrary.

An Account of the Persecutions in Venice.

WHILE the state of Venice was free from inquisitors, a great number of protestants fixed their residence there, and many converts were made by the purity of the doctrines they professed, and the inoffensiveness of the conversation they used.

THE pope being informed of the great increase of protestantism, in the year 1542 sent inquisitors to Venice, to make an inquiry into the matter, and apprehend such as they might deem obnoxious per­sons. Hence a severe persecution began, and ma­ny worthy persons were martyred for serving God with purity, and scorning the trappings of ido­latry.

VARIOUS were the modes by which the protes­tants were deprived of life; but one particular method, which was first invented upon this occa­sion, we shall describe: as soon as sentence was passed, the prisoner had an iron chain, which ran through a great stone, fastened to his body. He was then laid flat upon a plank, with his face up­wards, and rowed between two boats to a certain distance at sea, when the boats separated, and he was sunk to the bottom by the weight of the stone.

IF any denied the jurisdiction of the inquisitors at Venice, they were sent to Rome, where, being committed purposely to damp prisons, and never called to an hearing, their flesh mortified, and they died miserably in gaol.

A citizen of Venice, Anthony Ricetti, being apprehended as a protestant, was sentenced to be drowned in the manner we have already described. A few days previous to the time appointed for his execution, his son went to him, and begged him to recant, that his life might be saved, and himself not left fatherless. To which the father replied, A good christian is bound to relinquish not only goods and children, but life itself for the glory of his Redeemer: therefore I am resolved to sacrifice every thing in this transitory world, for the sake of salvation in a world that will last to eternity. The lord [...] of Venice likewise sent him word, that if he would embrace the Roman catholic religion, they would not only give him his life, but redeem a considerable estate which he had mortgaged, and freely present him with it. This, however, he absolutely refused to comply with, sending word to the nobles, that he valued his soul beyond all other considerations; and being told that a fellow-prison­er, [Page 184] named Francis Sega, had recanted, he answer­ed, If he has forsaken God, I pity him; but I shall continue stedfast in my duty. Finding all en­deavours to persuade him to renounce his faith inef­fectual, he was executed according to his sentence, dying chearfully, and recommending his soul fer­vently to the Almighty.

WHAT Ricetti had been told concerning the apos­tacy of Francis Sega was absolutely false, for he had never offered to recant, but stedfastly persisted in his faith: and was executed, a few days after Ricetti, in the very same manner.

FRANCIS Spinola, a protestant gentleman of ve­ry great learning, being apprehended by order of the inquisitors, was carried before their tribunal. A treatise on the Lord's Supper was then put into his hands, and he was asked if he knew the author of it. To which he replied, I confess myself to be the author of it, and at the same time solemnly affirm, that there is not a line in it but what is au­thorized by, and consonant to, the holy scriptures. On this confession he was committed close prisoner to a dungeon for several days.

BEING brought to a second examination, he charged the pope's legate, and the inquisitors, with being merciless barbarians, and then represented the superstitions and idolatries practised by the church of Rome in so glaring a light, that not being able to refuse his arguments, they sent him back to his dungeon, to make him repent of what he had said.

ON his third examination, they asked him if he would recant his errors? To which he answered, That the doctrines he maintained were not errone­ous, being purely the s [...]me as those which Christ and his apostles had taught, and which were hand­ed down to us in the Sacred Writings. The in­quisitors then sentenced him to be drowned, which was executed in the manner already described. He went to meet death with the utmost serenity, seem­ing to wish for dissolution, and declaring, that the prolongation of this life did but tend to retard that real happiness which could be only expected in the world to come.

An Account of several remarkable Individuals, who were martyred in different parts of Italy, on Account of their Religion,

JOHN MOLLIUS was born at Rome, of re­putable parents. At twelve years of age they placed him in the monastery of Grey Friars, where he made such a rapid progress in arts, sciences, and languages, that at eighteen years of age he was permitted to take priest's orders.

HE was then sent to Ferrara, where, after pursu­ing his studies six years longer, he was made theolo­gical reader in the university of that city. He now, unhappily, exerted his great talents to disguise the gospel truths, and to varnish over the errors of the church of Rome. After some years residence at Ferrara, he removed to the university of Bononia, where he became a professor. Having read some treatises written by ministers of the reformed reli­gion, he grew fully sensible of the errors of pope­ry, and soon became a zealous protestant in his heart.

HE now determined to expound, according to the purity of the gospel, St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, in a regular course of sermons. The concourse of people that continually [...] his preaching was surprizing; but when the priests found the tenor of his doctrines, they dispatched an account of the affair to Rome; when the pope sent a monk, named Cornelius, to Bononia, to ex­pound the same epistle, according to the tenets of the church of Rome. The people, however, found such a disparity between the two preachers, that the audience of Mollius increased, and Cornelius was forced to preach to empty benches.

CORNELIUS wrote an account of his bad success to the pope, who immediately sent an order to ap­prehend Mollius, who was seized upon accordingly, and kept in close confinement. The bishop of Bo­nonia sent him word, that he must recant, or be burnt: but he appealed to Rome, and was removed thither.

AT Rome he begged to have a public trial, but that the pope absolutely denied him, and com­manded [Page 185] him to give an account of his opinions in writing, which he did under the following heads:

• Original sin.
• Free-will.
• The infallibility of the church of Rome.
• The infal [...]ility of the pope.
• Justification by faith.
• Purgatory.
• Transubstantiation.
• Mass.
• Auricular confession.
• Prayers for the dead.
• The host.
• Prayers to saints.
• Going on pilgrimages.
• Extreme unction.
• Performing service in an unknown tongue, &c.

AND all these he confirmed from scripture au­thority. The pope, upon this occasion, for political reasons, spared him for the present, but soon after had him apprehended, and put to death; he being first hanged, and his body burnt to ashes, A. D. 1553.

THE year after Francis Gamba, a Lombard, of the protestant persuasion, was apprehended, and condemned to death by the senate of Milan. At the place of execution, a monk presented a cross to him; to whom he said, My mind is so full of the real merits and goodness of Christ, that I want not a piece of senseless stick to put me in mind of him. For this expression his tongue was bored through, and he was afterwards burnt.

A. D. 1555, Algerius, a student in the univer­sity of Padua, and a man of great learning, hav­ing embraced the reformed religion, did all he could to convert others. For these proceedings he was accused of heresy to the pope, and being ap­prehended, was comitted to the prison at Venice, where being allowed the use of pen, ink, and pa­per, he wrote to his converts at Padua the follow­ing celebrated epistle:

THE pope, being informed of Algerius's great learning, and surprizing natural abilities, thought it would be of infinite service to the church of Rome, if he could induce him to forsake the pro­testant cause. He, therefore, sent for him to Rome, and tried, by the most profane promises, to win him to his purpose. But finding his endeavours ineffectual he ordered him to be burnt, which sen­tence was executed accordingly.

A. D. 1559, John A [...]loysius, being sent from Geneva to preach in Calabria, was there appre­hended as a protestant, carried to Rome, and burnt by order of the pope▪ and James Bovellus, for the same reason, was burnt at Messina.

A. D. 1560, pope Pius the Fouth ordered all the protestants to be severely persecuted through­out the Italian states, when great numbers of every age, sex, and condition, suffered martyrdom. Con­cerning the cruelties practised upon this occasion, a learned and humane Roman catholic thus speaks of them, in a letter to a noble lord. "I cannot, my lord, forbear disclosing my sentiments, with [Page 186] respect to the persecution now carrying on: I think it cruel and unnecessary; I tremble at the manner of putting to death, as it resembles more the slaugh­ter of calves and sheep, than the execution of hu­man beings. I will relate to your lordship a dread­ful scene, of which I was myself an eye-witness: seventy protestants were cooped up in one filthy dungeon together; the executioner went in among them, picked out one from among the rest, blind­folded him, led him out to an open place before the prison, and cut his throat with the greatest composure. He then calmly walked into the prison again, bloody as he was, and with the knife in his hand selected another, and dispatched him in the same manner; and this, my lord, he repeated till the whole number were put to death. I leave it to your lordship's feelings to judge of my sensa­tions upon the occasion; my tears now wash the paper upon which I give you the recital. Another thing I must mention, the patience with which they met death: they seemed all resignation and piety, fervently praying to God, and chearfully encoun­tering their fate. I cannot reflect without shudder­ing, how the executioner held the bloody knife between his teeth; what a dreadful figure he ap­peared, all covered with blood, and with what un­concern he executed his barbarous office."

A young Englishman who happened to be at Rome, was one day passing by a church, when the procession of the host was just coming out. A bishop carried the host, which the young man per­ceiving, he snatched it from him, threw it on the ground, and trampled it under his feet, crying out, Ye wretched idolaters, that neglect the true God to adore a morsel of bread. This action so provoked the people, that they would have torn him to pieces upon the spot; but the priests persuaded them to let him abide by the sentence of the pope.

WHEN the affair was represented to the pope, he was so greatly exasperated that he ordered the pri­soner to be burnt immediately; but a cardinal dis­suaded him from this hasty sentence, saying, it was better to punish him by slow degrees, and to tor­ture him, that they might find out if he had been instigated by any particular person to commit so atrocious an act.

THIS being approved, he was tortured with the most exemplary severity, notwithstanding which they could only get these words from him, It was the will of God that I should do what I did.

THE pope then past this sentence upon him:

1. THAT he should be led, by the executioner, naked to the middle, through the streets of Rome.

2. THAT he should wear the image of the devil upon his head.

3. THAT his breeches should be painted with the representation of flames.

4. THAT he should have his right hand cut off.

5. THAT after having been carried about thus in procession, he should be burnt.

WHEN he heard his sentence pronounced, he im­plored God to give him strength and fortitude to go through it. As he passed through the streets he was greatly derided by the people, to whom he said some severe things respecting the Romish su­perstition. But a cardinal, who attended the pro­cession, over-hearing him, ordered him to be gagged.

WHEN he came to the church door, where he trampled on the host, the hangman cut off his right hand, and fixed it on a pole. Then two tor­mentors, with flaming torches, scorched and burnt his flesh all the rest of the way. At the place of execution he kissed the chains that were to bind him to the stake. A monk presenting the figure of a saint to him, he struck it aside, and then being chained to the stake, fire was put to the faggots, and he was soon burnt to ashes.

A little after the last mentioned execution, a venerable old man, who had long been a prisoner in the inquisition, was condemned to be burnt, and brought out for execution. When he was fastened to the stake, a priest held a crucifix to him, on which he said, "If you do not take that idol from my sight, you will constrain me to spit upon it." The priest rebuked him for this with great severity; [Page 187] but he bade him remember the first and second commandments, and refrain from idolatry, as God himself had commanded. He was then gagged, that he should not speak any more, and fire being put to the faggots, he suffered martyrdom in the flames.

An Account of the Persecutions in the Mar­quisate of SALUCES.

THE marquisate of Saluces, on the south side of the vallies of Piedmont, was in A. D. 1561, principally inhabited by protestants; when the marquis, who was proprietor of it, began a persecution against them at the the instigation of the then pope. He began by banishing the mini­sters, and if any of them refused to leave their flocks they were sure to be imprisoned, and severely tortured; however, he did not proceed so far as to put any to death.

SOON after the marquisate fell into the possession of the duke of Savoy, who sent circular letters to all the towns and villages, that he expected the people would all conform to go to mass.

THE inhabitants of Saluces, upon receiving this letter, returned for answer the following general epistle.

THE duke, after reading this letter, did not in­terrupt the protestants for some time; but, at length, he sent them word, that they must either conform to go to mass, or leave his dominions in fifteen days. The protestants, upon this unexpected edict, sent a deputy to the duke to obtain its revocation, or at least to have it moderated. But their remonstrances were in vain, and they were given to understand that the edict was absolute.

SOME were weak enough to go to mass, in order to avoid banishment, and preserve their property; others removed, with all their effects to different countries; and many neglected the time so long, that they were obliged to abandon all they were worth, and leave the marquisate in haste. Those, who unhappily staid behind, were seized, plunder­ed, and put to death.

An Account of the Persecutions in the Val­lies of Piedmont, in the seventeenth Cen­tury.

POPE Clement the Eighth sent missionaries into the vallies of Piedmont, to induce the protestants to renounce their religion; and these missionaries having erected monasteries in several parts of the vallies, became exceedingly trouble­some to those of the reformed, where the monaste­ries appeared not only as fortresses to curb, but as sanctuaries for all such to fly to, as had any ways injured them.

THE protestants petitioned the duke of Savoy against these missionaries, whose insolence and ill­usage were become intolerable; but instead of get­ting any redress, the interest of the missionaries so [Page 188] far prevailed, that the duke published a decree, in which he declared, that one witness should be suf­ficient in a court of law against a protestant; and that any witness, who convicted a protestant of any crime whatever should be entitled to an hundred crowns.

IT may be easily imagined, upon the publication of a decree of this nature, that many protestants fell martyrs to perjury and avarice; for several villain­ous papists would swear any thing against the pro­testants for the sake of the reward, and then fly to their own priests for absolution from their false oaths. If any Roman catholic, of more conscience than the rest, blamed these fellows for their atro­cious crimes, they themselves were in danger of being informed against, and punished as favourers of heretics.

THE missionaries did all they could to get the books of the protestants into their power, in order to burn them; when the protestants doing their utmost endeavours to conceal their books, the mis­sionaries wrote to the duke of Savoy, who, for the heinous crime of not surrendering their bibles, prayer-books, and religious treatises, sent a num­ber of troops to be quartered on them. These military gentry did great mischief in the houses of the protestants, and destroyed such quantities of provisions, that many families were thereby en­tirely ruined.

TO encourage, as much as possible, the apostacy of the protestants, the duke of Savoy published a proclamation, wherein he said, "To encourage the heretics to turn catholics, it is our will and pleasure, and we do hereby expressly command, that all such as shall embrace the holy Roman faith, shall enjoy an exemption from all and every tax for the space of five years, commencing from the day of their conversion." The duke of Savoy likewise esta­blished a court, called, The council for extirpating the heretics. This court was to enter into inqui­ries concerning the ancient privileges of the pro­testant churches, and the decrees which had been, from time to time, made in favour of the protes­tants. But the investigation of these things was carried on with the most manifest partiality; old charters were [...] to a wrong sense, [...] was used to pervert the meaning of every thing, which tended to favour the reformed.

AS if these severities were not sufficient, the duke, soon after, published another edict, in which he strictly commanded, that no protestant should act as a school-master, or tutor, either in public or private, or dare to teach any art, science, or lan­guage, directly or indirectly, to persons of any persuasion whatever.

THIS edict was immediately followed by another, which decreed, that no protestant should hold any place of profit, trust, or honour; and to wind up the whole, the certain token of approaching perse­cution came forth in a final edict, by which it was positively ordered, that all protestants should dili­gently attend mass.

THE publication of an edict, containing such an in­junction, may be compared to unfurling the bloody flag; for murder and rapine were certain to follow. One of the first objects that attracted the notice of the papists, was Mr. Sebastian Basan, a zealous protestant, who was seized by the missionaries, con­fined, tormented for fifteen months, and then burnt.

PREVIOUS to the persecution, the missionaries employed kidnappers to steal away the protestants children, that they might privately be brought up Roman Catholics; but now they took away the children by open force, and if they met with any resistance, murdered the parents.

TO give greater vigour to the persecution, the duke of Savoy called a general assembly of the Ro­man catholic nobility and gentry, when a solemn edict was published against the reformed, contain­ing many heads, and including several reasons for extirpating the protestants; among which were the following:

1. FOR the preservation of the papal authority.

2. THAT the church livings may be all under one mode of government.

3. TO make an union among all parties.

[Page 189]IN honor of all the saints, and of the cere­monies of the church of Rome.

THIS severe edict was followed by a most cruel order, published on January 25, A. D. 1655, under the duke's sanction, by Andrew Gastaldo, doctor of civil laws. This order set forth, "That every head of a family, with the individuals of that family, of the reformed religion, of what rank, degree, or condition soever, none excepted, inhabiting and possessing estates in Lucerne, St. Giovanni, Bibiana, Campiglione, St. Secondo, Lucernetta, La Torre, Fenile, and Bricherassio, should, within three days after the publication thereof, withdraw and depart, and be withdrawn out of the said places, and trans­lated into the places and limits tolerated by his high­ness during his pleasure; particularly Bobbio, An­grogna, Villaro, Rorata, and the county of Bonetti.

"AND all this to be done on pain of death, and confiscation of house and goods, unless within the limited time they turned Roman catholics."

A flight, with such speed, in the midst of winter, may be conceived as no agreeable task, especially in a country almost surrounded by mountains. The sudden order affected all, and things, which would have been scarcely noticed at another time, now ap­peared in the most conspicuous light. Women with child, or women just lain-in, were not objects of pity on this order for sudden removal, for all were includ­ed in the command; and it unfortunately happened, that the winter was remarkably severe and rigorous.

THE papists, however, drove the people from their habitations at the time appointed, without even suffering them to have sufficient clothes to cover them; and many perished in the mountains through the severity of the weather, or for want of food. Some, however, who remained behind after the de­cree was published, met with the several treatment, being murdered by the popish inhabitants, or shot by the troops who were quartered in the vallies. A particular description of these cruelties is given in a letter, written by a protestant, who was upon the spot, and who happily escaped the carnage. "The army (says he) having got footing, became very numerous, by the addition of a multitude of the neighbouring popish inhabitants, who finding we were the destined prey of the plunderers, fell upon us with an impetuous fury. Exclusive of the duke of Savoy's troops, and the popish inhabitants, there were several regiments of French auxiliaries, some companies belonging to the Irish brigades, and several bands formed of outlaws, smugglers and prisoners, who had been promised pardon and li­berty in this world, and absolution in the next, for assisting to exterminate the protestants from Pied­mont.

"THIS armed multitude being encouraged by the Roman catholic bishops and monks, fell upon the protestants in a most furious manner. Nothing now was to be seen but the face of horror and de­spair; blood stained the floors of the houses, dead bodies bestrewed the streets, groans and cries were heard from all parts. Some armed themselves, and skirmished with the troops; and many, with their families▪ fled to the mountains. In one vil­lage they cruelly tormented 150 women and chil­dren after the men were fled, beheading the women, and dashing out the brains of the children. In the towns of Villaro and Bobbio, most of those that re­fused to go to mass, who were upwards of fifteen years of age, they crucified with their heads down­wards; and the greater number of those who were under that age were strangled."

SARAH RASTIGNOLE DES VIGNES, a woman of 60 years of age, being seized by some soldiers, they ordered her to say a prayer to some saints; which she refusing, they thrust a fickle into her belly, rip­ped her up, and then cut off her head.

MARTHA CONSTANTINE, a handsome young wo­man, was treated with great indecency and cruelty by several of the troops, who first ravished, and then killed her, by cutting off her breasts. These they fried, [...]nd set before some of their comrades, who eat them without knowing what they were. When they had done eating, the others told them what they had made a meal of, in consequence of which a quarrel ensued, swords were drawn, and a battle took place. Several were killed in the fray, the greater part of whom were those concerned in the horrid massacre of the woman, and who had prac­tised such an inhuman deception on their compa­nions.

[Page 190]SOME of the soldiers seized a man at Thrassiniere, and ran the points of their swords through his ears, and through his feet. They then tore off the nails of his fingers and toes with red-hot pincers, tied him to the tail of an ass, and dragged him about the streets; and finally, fastened a cord round his head, which they twisted with a stick in so violent a man­ner as to wring it from his body.

PETER SIMONDS, a protestant, of about eighty years of age, was tied neck and heels, and then thrown down a precipice. In the fall the branch of a tree caught hold of the ropes that fastened him, and suspended him in the mid-way, so that he lan­guished for several days, and at length miserably perished of hunger.

ESAY GARCINO, refusing to renounce his reli­gion, was cut into small pieces; the soldiers, in ri­dicule, saying, they had minced him. A woman, named Armand, had every limb separated from each other, and then the respective parts were hung upon a hedge. Two old women were ripped open, and left in the fields upon the snow, where they perished; and a very old woman, who was deformed, had her nose and hands cut off, and was left to bleed to death in that manner.

A great number of men, women, and children were flung from the rocks, and dashed to pieces. Magdalen Bertino, a protestant woman of La Torre, was stripped stark naked, her head tied between her legs, and thrown down one of the precipices; and Mary Raymondet, of the same town, had her flesh sliced from her bones till she expired.

MAGDALEN PILOT, of Villaro, was cut to pieces in the cave of Castolus; Ann Charboniere had one end of a stake thrust up her body; and the other end being fixed in the ground, she was left in that manner to perish; and Jacob Perrin the elder, of the church of Villaro, and David, his brother, were flead alive.

AN inhabitant of La Torre, named Giovanni Andrea Michialin, was apprehended, with four of his children; three of them were hacked to pieces before him, the soldiers asking him, at the death of every child, if he would renounce his religion? which he constantly refused. One of the soldiers then took up the last and youngest by the legs, and putting the same question to the father, he replied as before, when the inhuman brute dashed out the child's brains. The father, however, at the same moment started from them, and fled: the soldiers fired after him, but missed him; and he, by the swiftness of his heels, escaped, and hid himself in the Alps.

Farther Persecutions in the Vallies of PIED­MONT, in the seventeenth Century.

GIGOVANNI PELANCHION, for refusing to turn papist, was tied by one leg to the tail of a mule, and dragged through the streets of Lu­cerne, amidst the acclamations of an inhuman mob, who kept stoning him, and crying out, He is pos­sessed with the devil, so that neither stoning, nor dragging him through the streets, will kill him, for the devil keeps him alive. They then took him to the river side, chopped off his head, and left that and his body unburied, upon the bank of the stream.

MAGDALEN, the daughter of Peter Fontaine, a beautiful child of 10 years of age, was ravished and murdered by the soldiers. Another girl of about the same age, they roasted alive at Villa Nova; and a poor woman hearing the soldiers were coming towards her house, snatched up the cradle in which her infant son was asleep, and fled towards the woods. The soldiers, however, saw and pursued her, when she lightened herself by putting down the cradle and child, which the soldiers no sooner came to, than they murdered the infant, and continuing the pur­suit, found the mother in a cave, where they first ravished, and then cut her to pieces.

JACOPO MICHELINO, chief elder of the church of Bobbio, and several other protestants, were hung up by means of hooks fixed in their bellies, and left to expire in the most excruciating tortures.

GIOVANNI ROSTAGNAL, a venerable protestant, upwards of fourscore years of age, had his nose and ears cut off, and slices cut from the fleshy parts of his body, till he bled to death.

[Page 191]SEVEN persons, viz. Daniel Saleagio and his wife, Giovanni Durant, Lodwich Durant, Bartholomew Durant, Daniel Revel, and Paul Reynaud, had their mouths stuffed with gunpowder, which being set fire to, their heads were blown to pieces.

JACOB BIRONE, a school-master of Rorata, for refusing to change his religion, was stripped quite naked; and after having been very indecently ex­posed, had the nails of his toes and fingers torn off with red hot pincers, and holes bored through his hands with the point of a dagger. He then had a cord tied round his middle, and was led through the streets with a soldier on each side of him. At every turning the soldier on his right hand side cut a gash in his flesh, and the soldier on his left-hand side struck him with a bludgeon, both saying, at the same instant, Will you go to mass? Will you go to mass? He still replied in the negative to these interrogatories, and being at length taken to the bridge, they cut off his head on the balustrades, and threw both that and his body into the river.

PAUL GARNIER, a very pious protestant, had his eyes put out, was then flead alive, and being divided into four parts, his quarters were placed on four of the principal houses of Lucerne. He bore all his sufferings with the most exemplary patience, praised God as long as he could speak, and plainly evinced, what confidence and resignation a good conscience can inspire.

DANIEL CARDON, of Rocappiata, being appre­hended by some soldiers, they cut his head off, and having fried his brains, eat them. Two poor old blind women, of St. Giovanni, were burnt alive; and a widow of La Torre, with her daughter were driven into the river, and there stoned to death.

PAUL GILES, on attempting to run away from some soldiers, was shot in the neck: they then slit his nose, sliced his chin, stabbed him, and gave his carcase to the dogs.

SOME of the Irish troops having taken eleven men of Garcigliana prisoners, they made a furnace red-hot, and forced them to push each other in till they came to the last man, whom they pushed in them­selves.

MICHAEL GONET, a man of 90, was burnt to death; Baptista Oudri, another old man was stabbed; and Bartholomew Frasche had holes made in his heels, through which ropes being put, he was drag­ged by them to the gaol, where his wounds morti­fied and killed him.

MAGDALENE DE LA PEIRE being pursued by some of the soldiers, and taken, was thrown down a pre­cipice, and dashed to pieces. Margaret Revella, and Mary Pravillerin, two very old women were burnt alive; and Michael Bellino, with Ann Bo­chardno, were beheaded.

THE son and daughter of a counsellor of Giovanni, were rolled down a steep hill together, and suf­fered to perish in a deep pit at the bottom. A tradesman's family, viz. himself, his wife, and an infant in arms, were cast from a rock, and dashed to pieces; and Joseph Chairet, and Paul Carniero, were flead alive.

CYPRIANIA BUSTIA, being asked if he would re­nounce his religion, and turn Roman catholic, re­plied, I would rather renounce life, or turn dog: to which a priest answered, for that expression you shall both renounce life, and be given to the dogs. They, accordingly, dragged him to prison, where he continued a considerable time without food, till he was famished; after which they threw his corpse into the street before the prison, and it was devoured by dogs in a most shocking manner.

MARGARET SARETTA was stoned to death, and then thrown into the river; Antonio Bertina had his head cleft asunder; and Joseph Pont was cut through the middle of his body.

DANIEL MARIA, and his whole family, being ill of a fever, several papist ruffians broke into his house, telling him they were practical physicians, and would give them all present ease, which they did, by knocking the whole family on the head.

THREE infant children of a protestant, named Peter Fine, were covered with snow, and stifled; an elderly w [...]dow, named Judith, was beheaded; and a beautiful young woman was stripped naked, and had a stake driven through her body, of which she expired.

[Page 192]LUCY, the wife of Peter Besson, a woman far gone in her pregnancy, who lived in one of the villages of the Piedmontese vallies, determined, if possible, to escape from such dreadful scenes as every where surrounded her: she, accordingly, took two young children, one in each hand, and set off towards the Alps. But on the third day of the journey she was taken in labour among the mountains, and delivered of an infant, who perish­ed through the extreme inclemency of the weather, as did the two other children: for all three were found dead by her, and herself just expiring, by the person to whom she related the above par­ticulars.

FRANCIS GROS, the son of a clergyman, had his flesh slowly cut from his body into small pieces, and put into a dish before him: two of his chil­dren were minced before his sight; and his wife was fastened to a post, that she might behold all these cruelties practised on her husband and off­spring. The tormentors, at length, being tired of exercising their cruelties, cut off the heads of both husband and wife, and then gave the flesh of the whole family to the dogs.

THE sieur Thomas Margher fled to a cave, when the soldiers shut up the mouth, and he perished with famine. Judith Revelin, with seven children, were barbarously murdered in their beds; and a widow, of near fourscore years of age, was hewn to pieces by soldiers.

JACOB ROSENO was ordered to pray to the saints, which he absolutely refused to do: some of the sol­diers beat him violently with bludgeons to make him comply, but he still refusing, several of them tired at him, and lodged a great many balls in his body. As he was almost expiring, they cried unto him, Will you call upon the saints? Will you pray to the saints? To which he answered, No! No! No! when one of the soldiers, with a broad sword, clove his head asunder, and put an end to his suffer­ings in this world; for which undoubtedly, he is gloriously rewarded in the next.

A soldier, attempting to ravish a young woman, named Susanna G [...]acquin, she made a stout resist­ance, and in the struggle pushed him over a preci­pice, when he was dashed to pieces by the fall. His comrades, instead of admiring the virtue of the young woman, and applauding her for so nobly defending her chastity, fell upon her with their swords, and cut her to pieces.

GIOVANNI PULLIUS, a poor peasant of La Torre, being apprehended as a protestant by the soldiers, was ordered by the marquis of Pianessa, to be exe­cuted in a place near the convent. When he came to the gallows, several monks attended, and did all they could to persuade him to renounce his reli­gion. But he told them, he never would embrace idolatry, and that he was happy in being thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. They then put him in mind of what his wife and chil­dren, who depended upon his labour, would suffer after his decease: To which he replied, I would have my wife and children, as well as myself, to consider their souls more than their bodies, and the next world before this: and with respect to the distress I may leave them in, God is merciful, and will provide for them while they are worthy of his protection. Finding the inflexibility of this poor man, the monks cried, Turn him off, turn him off; which the executioner did almost immediately, and the body being afterwards cut down, was flung into the river.

PAUL CLEMENT, an elder of the church of Ros­sana, being apprehended by the monks of a neigh­bouring monastery, was carried to the market-place of that town, where some protestants having just been executed by the soldiers, he was shewn the dead bodies, in order that the sight might intimi­date him. On beholding the shocking objects, he said, calmly, You may kill the body, but you can­not prejudice the soul of a true believer; but, with respect to the dreadful spectacles which you have here shewn me, you may rest assured, that God's vengeance will overtake the murderers of those poor people, and punish them for the innocent blood they have spilt. The monks were so exasperated at this reply, that they ordered him to be hung up directly, and while he was hanging, the soldiers amused themselves in standing at a distance, and shooting at the body as at a mark.

DANIEL RAMBAUT, of Vill [...]ro, the father of a [Page 193] numerous family, was apprehended, and, with se­veral others, committed to prison, in the gaol of Paysana. Here he was visited by several priests, who, with continual importunities, did all they could to persuade him to renounce the protestant religion, and turn papist; but this he peremptorily refused, and the priests finding his resolution, pre­tended to pity his numerous family, and told him, that he might yet have his life, if he would sub­scribe to the belief of the following articles:

1. THE real presence in the host.

2. TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

3. PURGATORY.

4. THE pope's infallibility.

5. THAT masses said for the dead will release souls from purgatory.

6. THAT praying to saints will procure the re­mission of sins.

M. RAMBAUT told the priests, that neither his religion, his understanding, or his conscience, would suffer him to subscribe to any of the articles, for the following reasons:

1. THAT to believe the real presence in the host, is a shocking union of both blasphemy and idolatry.

2. THAT to [...] the words of consecration performs what the papists call transubstantiation, by converting the wafer and wine into the real and identical body and blood of Christ, which was crucified▪ and which afterwards ascended into heaven, is too gross an absurdity for even a child to believe, who was come to the least glimmering of reason; and that nothing but the most blind super­stition could make the Roman catholics put a con­fidence in any thing so completely ridiculous.

3. THAT the doctrine of purgatory was more inconsistent and absurd than a fairy tale.

4. THAT the pope's being infallible was an im­possibility, and the pope arrogantly laid claim to what could belong to God only, as a perfect being.

5. THAT saying masses for the dead was ridicu­lous, and only meant to keep up a belief in the fable of purgatory, as the fate of all is finally decided, on the departure of the soul from the body.

6. THAT praying to the saints for the remission of sins, is misplacing adoration; as the saints them­selves have occasion for an intercessor in Christ. Therefore as God only can pardon our errors, we ought to sue to him alone for pardon.

THE priests were so highly offended at M. Ram­baut's answers to the articles to which they would have had him subscribe, that they determined to shake his resolution by the most cruel method ima­ginable: they ordered one joint of his fingers to be cut off every day, till all his fingers were gone: they then proceeded in the same manner with his toes; afterwards they alternately cut off, daily, a hand and a foot; but finding that he bore his suf­ferings with the most admirable patience, increased both in fortitude and resignation, and maintained his faith with stedfast resolution, and unshaken con­stancy, they stabbed him to the heart, and then gave his body to be devoured by dogs.

PETER GABRIOLA, a protestant gentleman of con­siderable eminence, being seized by a troop of sol­diers, and refusing to renounce his religion, they hung a great number of little bags of gunpowder about his body, and then setting fire to them blew him up.

ANTHONY, the son of Samuel Catieris, a poor dumb lad who was extremely inoffensive was cut to pieces by a party of the troops; and soon after the same ruffians [...]tered the house of Peter Moni­riat, and cut off the legs of the whole family, lea­ving them to bleed to death, as they were unable to assist themselves, or to help each other.

DANIEL BENECH being apprehended, had his nose slit, his ears cut off, and was then divided into quarters, each quarter being hung upon a tree; and Mary Monino had her jaw bones broke, and was then left to languish till she was famished.

MARY PELANCHION, a handsome widow, belong­ing to the town of Villaro, was seized by a party of [Page 194] the Irish brigades, who having beat her cruelly, and ravished her▪ dragged her to a high bridge which crossed the river, and stripped her naked in a most indecent manner, hung her by the legs to the bridge, with her head downwards towards the water, and then going into boats, they fired at her till she expired.

MARY NIGRINO, and her daughter, who was an idiot, were cut to pieces in the woods, and their bodies left to be devoured by wild beasts: Susanna Bales, a widow of Villaro, was immured till she pe­rished through hunger; and Susanna Calvio run­ning away from some soldiers and hiding [...]erself in a barn, they set fire to the straw and burnt her.

PAUL ARMAND was hacked to pieces; a child named Daniel Bertino was burnt; Daniel Michia­lino had his tongue plucked out, and was left to perish in that condition; and Andreo Bertino, a very old man, who was lame, was mangled in a most shocking manner, and at length had his belly ripped open, and his bowels carried about on the point of a halbert.

CONSTANTIA BELLIONE, a protestant lady, being apprehended on account of her faith, was asked by a priest if she would renounce the devil and go to mass; to which she replied, "I was brought up in a religion, by which I was always taught to re­nounce the devil; but should I comply with your desire, and go to mass, I should be sure to meet him there in a variety of shapes." The priest was highly incensed at what she said, and told her to re­cant, or she should suffer cruelly. The lady, how­ever, boldly answered, that she valued not any suf­ferings he could inflict, and in spite of all the tor­ments he could invent, she would keep her conscience pure and her faith inviolate. The priest then or­dered slices of her flesh to be cut off from several parts of her body, which cruelty she bore with the most singular patience, only saying to the priest, what horrid and lasting torments will you suffer in hell, for the trifling and temporary pains which I now endure. Exasperated at this expression, and willing to stop her tongue▪ the priest ordered a file of musqueteers to draw up and fire upon [...]er, by which she was soon dispatched, and sealed her mar­tyrdom with her blood.

A young woman, named Judith Mandon, for refusing to change her religion and embrace popery, was fastened to a stake, and sticks thrown at her from a distance, in the very same manner as that barbarous custom which was formerly practised on Shrove-Tuesday of sh [...]ing at co [...]ks as it was term­ed. By this inhuman proceeding, the poor crea­ture's limbs were beat and mangled in a terrible manner, and her brains were at last dasired out by one of the bludgeons.

DAVID PAGLIA and Paul Genre, attempting to escape to the Alps, with each his son, were pur­sued and overtaken by the soldiers in a large plain. Here they hunted them for their diversion, goading them with their swords, and making them run a­bout till they dropped down with fatigue. When they found that their spirits were quite exhausted, and that they could not afford them any more bar­barous sport, by running, the soldiers hacked them to pieces, and left their mangled bodies on the spot.

A young man of Bobbio, named Michael Greve, was apprehended in the town of La Torre, and be­ing led to the bridge, was thrown over into the river. As he could swim very well, he swam down the stream, thinking to escape, but the soldiers and mo [...] followed on both sides of the river, and kept stoning him, till receiving a blow on one of his tem­ples, he was stunned, and consequently sunk and was drowned.

DAVID ARMAND was ordered to lay his head down upon a block, when a soldier, with a large hammer, beat out his brains. David Baridona be­ing apprehended at Villaro, was carried to La Tor­re, where refusing to renounce his religion, he was tormented by means of brimstone matches being tied between his fingers and toes, and set fire [...] ▪ and afterwards, by having his flesh plucked off with red hot pincers, till he expired; and Giovanni [...], with his wife, were thrown into a pool of stagnant water, and compelled, by means of pitch-fork [...] [...] down their heads till they [...].

A [...] of soldiers went to the house of Jo­seph [...] they entered, fired in [...] [Page 195] the window, to give notice of their approach. A musquet ball entered one of Mrs. Garniero's breasts, as she was suckling an infant with the other. On finding their intentions, she begged hard that they would spare the life of the infant, which they pro­mised to do, and sent it immediately to a Roman catholic nurse. They then took the husband and hanged him at his own door, and having shot the wife through the head, they left her body weltering in [...] blood, and her husband hanging on the gal­lows.

ISAIAH MONDON, an elderly man, and a pious protestant, fled from the merciless persecutors to a cleft in a rock, where he suffered the most dreadful hardships; for, in the midst of the winter, he was forced to lay on the bare stone, without any cover­ing; his food was the roots he could scratch up near his miserable habitation; and the only way by which he could procure drink, was to put snow in his mouth till it melted. Here, however, some of the inhuman soldiers found him, and after having beat­en him unmercifully, they drove him towards Lu­cerne, goading him with the points of their swords. Being exceedingly weakened by his manner of liv­ing, and his spirits exhausted by the blows he had received, he fell down in the road. They again beat him to make him proceed; when, on his knees, he implored them to put him out of his misery, by dispatching him. This they at last agreed to do▪ and one of them stepping up to him, shot him through the head▪ with a pistol, saying, There, he­reti [...], take thy [...].

MARY REVEL, a worthy protestant, received a a shot in her back, as she was walking along the street. She dropped down with the wound, but recovering sufficient strength, she raised herself up­on her [...], and [...] her hands towards heaven▪ [...] ▪ in a most fervent manner, to the Almigh­ty▪ when a number of soldiers▪ who were near at hand, [...] a whole volley of shot at her, many of which took place, and put an end to her miseries in an [...].

[...] men, women, and children, [...] for two of the men [...] it was necessary, and by stealth procure provisions. These were, however, one day watched, by which the cave was discovered, and, soon after, a troop of Roman catholics ap­peared before it. The papists that assembled upon this occasion were neighbours, and intimate ac­quaintances of the protestants in the cave; and some of them were even related to each other. The protestants, therefore, came out, and implor­ed them, by the ties of hospitality, by the ties of blood, and as old acquaintances and neighbours, not to murder them. But superstition overcomes every sensation of nature and humanity; so that the papists, blinded by bigotry, told them, they could not shew any mercy to heretics, and, there­fore, had them all prepare to die. Hearing this, and knowing the fatal obstinacy of the Roman ca­tholics, the protestants all fell prostrate, lifted their hands and hearts to heaven, prayed with great sin­cerity and fervency, and then bowing down, put their faces close to the ground, and patiently awaited their fate, which was soon decided, for the papists fell upon them with unremitting fury, and having cut them to pieces, left the mangled bodies and limbs in the cave.

GIOVANNI SALVACION, passing by a Roman ca­tholic church, and not taking off his hat, was fol­lowed by some of the congregation, who fell upon and murdered him; and Jacob Barrel and his wife, having been taken prisoners by the earl of St. Se­condo, one of the duke of Savoy's officers, he delivered them up to the soldiery, who cut off the woman's breasts, and the man's nose, and then shot both through the head.

ANTHONY GUIGUO, a protestant, of a wavering disposition, went to Periero, with an intent to re­nounce his religion, and embrace popery. This design he communicated to some priests, who high­ly commended it, and a day was fixed upon for his public recantation. In the mean time▪ Anthony grew fully sensible of his perfidy, [...] his conscience tormented him so much, night and day, that he determined not to recant, but to make his escape. This he effected, but being soon missed and pursued, he was taken. The troops on the way did all they could to bring him back to his design of recanta­tion; but finding their endeavours ineffectual, they beat him violently on the road, when coming [Page 196] near a precipice, he took an opportunity of leap­ing down it, and was dashed to pieces.

A protestant gentleman, of considerable fortune, at Bobbio, being highly provoked by the insolence of a priest, retorted with great severity; and, among other things, said, that the pope was Anti­christ, mass idolatry, purgatory a farce, and abso­lution a cheat. To be revenged, the priest hired five desperate ruffians, who, the same evening, broke into the gentleman's house, and seized upon him in a violent manner. The gentleman was ter­ribly frightened, fell on his knees, and implored mercy; but the desperate ruffians dispatched him without the least hesitation.

An Account of the Persecutions of MICHAEL MOLINOS, a Native of Spain.

MICHAEL DE MOLINOS, a Spaniard of a rich and honourable family, entered, when young into priest's orders, but would not accept of any preferment in the church. He possessed great natural abilities, which he dedicated to the service of his fellow-creatures, without any view of emo­lument to himself. His course of life was pious and uniform; nor did he exercise those austerities which are comm [...] among the religious orders of the church of [...]

BEING of a contemplative turn of mind, he pur­sued the track of the mystical divines, and having acquired great reputation in Spain, and being desi­rous of propagating his sublime mode of devotion, he left his own country, and settled at Rome. Here he soon connected himself with some of the most distinguished among the literati, who so approved of his religious maxims, that they concurred in as­sisting him to propagate them; and, in a short time, he obtained a great number of followers, who, from the sublime mode of their religion, were distinguish­ed by the name of Quietists.

IN 1675 Molinos published a book, entitled, Il Guida Spirituale, to which were subjoined recom­mendatory letters from several great personages. One of these was by the archbishop of Reggio; a second by the general of the Franciscans; and a third by father Martin de Esparsa, a jesuit, who had been divinity-professor both at Salamanca and Rome.

NO sooner was the book published, than it was greatly read, and highly esteemed, both in Italy and Spain; and this so raised the reputation of the au­thor, that his acquaintance was coveted by the most respectable characters. Letters were written to him from numbers of people, so that a correspondence was settled between him, and those who approved of his method, in different parts of Europe. Some secular priests, both at Rome and Naples, declared themselves openly for it, and consulted him, as a sort of or [...]cle, on many occasions. But those who attached themselves to him with the greatest since­rity, were some of the fathers of the Oratory; in particular three of the most eminent, namely, Colo­redi, Ciceri, and Petrucci. Many of the cardinals also courted his acquaintance, and thought them­selves happy in being reckoned among the number of his friends. The most distinguished of them was the cardinal [...], a man of very great learning, who so highly approved of Molinos's maxims, that he entered into a close connection with him. They conversed [...]ogether daily, and notwithstanding the distrust a Spaniar [...] has natur­ally of a Frenchman, yet Molino [...], who was sincer [...] in his principles, opened his mind without reserve to the cardinal; and by this means a correspon­dence [Page 205] was settled between Molinos and some distin­guished characters in France.

WHILST Molinos was thus labouring to propa­gate his religious mode, father Petrucci wrote seve­ral letters and treatises relative to a contemplative life; but he mixed in them so many rules for the devotions of the Romish church, as mitigated that censure he might have otherwise incurred. They were written chiefly for the use of the nuns, and therefore the sense was expressed in the most easy and familiar stile.

MOLINOS had now acquired such reputation, that the Jesuits and Dominicans began to be great­ly alarmed, and determined to put a stop to the progress of this new method. To do this it was necessary to decry the author of it; and as heresy is an imputation that makes the strongest impres­sion at Rome, Molinos and his followers were given out to be heretics. Books were also written by some of the Jesuits against Molinos and his me­thod: but they were all answered with great spirit by Molinos.

THESE disputes occasioned such a disturbance in Rome, that the whole affair was taken notice of by the inquisition. Molinos and his book, and father Petrucci, with his treatises and letters, were brought under a severe examination; and the Jesuits were considered as the accusers. One of the society had, indeed, approved of Molinos's book; but the rest took care he should not be again seen at Rome. In the course of the examination both Molinos and Petrucci acquitted themselves so well, that their books were again approved, and the answers which the Jesuits had written were censured as scan­dalous.

PETRUCCI'S conduct on this occasion was so high­ly approved, that it not only raised the credit of the cause, but his own emolument; for he was soon after made bishop of Jesis, which was a new decla­ration made by the pope in their favour. Their books were now esteemed more than ever, their method was more followed, and the novelty of it, with the new approbation given after so vigorous [...] accusation by the Jesuits, all contributed to raise the [...]redit, and increase the number of the party.

THE behaviour of father Petrucci in his new dignity contributed to increase his reputation, so that his enemies were unwilling to give him any further disturbance; and, indeed, there was less oc­casion given for censure by his writings than those of Molinos. Some passages in the latter were not so cautiously expressed, but there was room to make exceptions to them; while, on the other hand, Pe­trucci so fully explained himself, as easily to remove the objections made to some parts of his letter.

THE great reputation acquired by Molinos and Petrucci, occasioned a daily increase of the quietists. All who were thought sincerely devout, or at least affected the reputation of it, were reckoned among the number. If these persons were observed to be­come more strict in their lives and mental devotions, yet there appeared less zeal in their whole deport­ment as to the exterior parts of the church cere­monies. They were not so assiduous at mass, nor so earnest to procure masses to be said for their friends; nor were they so frequently either at con­fession, or in processions.

THOUGH the new approbation given to Moli­nos's book by the inquisition had checked the pro­ceedings of his enemies; yet they were still invete­rate against him in their hearts, and determined if possible to ruin him. They insinuated that he had ill designs, and was, in his heart, an enemy to the Christian religion: that under pretence of raising men to a sublime strain of devotion, he intended to erase from their minds a sense of the mysteries of Christianity. And because he was a [...]paniard, they gave out that he was descended from a Jewish, or Mahometan race, and that he might carry in his blood, or in his first education, some seeds of those religions which he had since cultivated with no less art than zeal. This last calumny gained but little credit at Rome, though it was said an order was sent to examine the registers of the place where Molinos was baptized.

MOLINOS finding himself attacked with great vi­gour, and the most unrelenting malice, took every necessary precaution to prevent these imputation being credited. He wrote a treatise intitled, Fre­quent and Daily Communion, which was likewise approved by some of the most learned of the Ro­mish [Page 206] clergy. This was printed with his Spiritual Guide, in the year 1675; and in the preface to it he declared, that he had not written it with any de­sign to engage himself in matters of controversy, but that it was drawn from him by the earnest soli­citations of many pious people.

THE Jesuits [...]ailing in their attempts of crushing Molinos's power in Rome, applied to the court of France, when, in a short time, they so far succeed­ed, that an order was sent to cardinal d'Estrees, com­manding him to prosecute Molinos with all possible rigour. The cardinal, though so strongly attached to Molinos, resolved to sacrifice all that is sacred in friendship to the will of his master. Finding, how­ever, there was not sufficient matter for an accusa­tion against him, he determined to supply that de­fect himself. He therefore went to the inquisitors, and informed them of several particulars, not only relative to Molinos, but also Petrucci, both of whom, together with several of their friends, were put into the inquisition.

WHEN they were brought before the inquisitors, (which was in the beginning of the year 1684) Petrucci answered the respective questions put to him with so much judgment and temper, that he was soon dismissed; and though Molinos's exami­nation was much longer, it was generally expected he would have been likewise discharged: but this was not the c [...]se. Though the inquisitors had not any just accusation against him, yet they strained every nerve to find him guilty of heresy. They first objected to his holding a correspondence in different parts of Europe; but of this he was ac­q [...]itted, as the matter of this correspondence could not be made criminal. They then directed their attention to some suspicious papers found in his chambe [...]; but Molinos so clearly explained their meaning, that nothing could be made of them to his pre [...]ce. At length, cardinal d'Estrees, after producing the order sent him by the king of France for pro [...]ecuting Molinos, said, he could prove a­gainst him more than was necessary to convince them he wa [...] guilty of heresy. To do this he per­verted the meaning of some passages in Molinos's books and papers, and related many false and ag­gravating circumstances relative to the prisoner. He acknowledged he had lived with him under the appearance of friendship, but that it was only to discover his principles and intentions: that he had found them to be of a bad nature, and that dan­gerous consequence were likely to ensue; but in order to make a full discovery, he had assented to several things, which, in his heart, he detested; and that, by these means, he saw into the secrets of Mo­linos; but determined not to take any notice, till a proper opportunity should offer of crushing him and his followers.

IN consequence of d'Estree's evidence, Molinos was closely confined in the inquisition, where he continued for some time, during which period all was quiet, and his followers prosecuted their mode without interruption. But on a sudden the Jesuits determined to extirpate them, and the storm broke out with the most inveterate vehemence.

THE count Vespiniani and his lady, Don Paulo Rocchi, confessor to the prince Borghese, and some of his family, with several others, (in all seventy persons) were put into the inquisition, among whom many were highly esteemed both for their learning and piety. The accusation laid against the clergy was their neglecting to say the breviary; and the rest were accused of going to communion without first attending confession. In a word, it was said, they neglected all the exterior parts of religion, and gave themselves up wholly to solitude and in­ward prayer.

THE countess Vespiniani exerted herself in a very particular manner on her examination before the inquisitors. She said, she had never revealed her method of devotion to any mortal but her confes­sor, and that it was impossible they should know it without his discovering the secret; that, therefore, it was time to give over going to confession, if priests made this use of it, to discover the most se­cret thoughts entrusted to them; and that, for the future, she would only make her confession to God.

FROM this spirited spee [...]h, and the great noise made in conseq [...]ence of the countess's situation, the inquisitors thought it most prudent to dismiss both [Page 207] her and her husband, left the people might be in­censed, and what she said might lessen the credit of confession. They were, therefore, both discharged, but bound to appear whenever they should be call­ed upon.

BESIDES those already mentioned, such was the inveteracy of the Jesuits against the Quietists, that within the space of a month upwards of two hun­dred persons were put into the inquisition; and that method of devotion which had passed in Italy as the most elevated to which mortals could aspire, was deemed heretical, and the chief promoters of it confined in a wretched dungeon.

IN order, if possible, to extirpate quietism, the inquisitors sent a circular letter to cardinal Cibo, as the chief minister, [...] disperse it through Italy. It was addressed to all prelates, informing them, that whereas many schools and fraternities were estab­lished in several parts of Italy, in which some per­sons, under a pre [...]ence of leading people into the ways of the spirit, and to the prayer of quietness, instilled into them many abominable heresies, there­fore a strict charge was given to dissolve all those societies, and to oblige the spiritual guide to tread in the known paths; and, in particular, to take care none of that fort should be suffered to have the di­rection of nunneries. Orders were likewise given to proceed, in the way of justice, against those who should be found guilty of these abominable er­rors.

AFTER this a strict inquiry was made into all the nunneries in Rome; when most of their directors and confessors were discovered to be engaged in this new method. It was found that the Carmelites, the nuns of the Conception, and those of several other convents, were wholly given up to prayer and contemplation: and that, instead of their beads, and other devotions to saints, or images, they were much alone, and often in the exercise of mental prayer: that when they were asked, why they had laid aside the use of their beads, and their ancient forms, their answer was, their directors had advised them so [...]o do. Information of this being given [...] the inquisition, they sent orders that all books writ­ten in the same strain with those of Molinos and Petrucci, should be taken from them, and that they should be compelled to return to their original form of devotion.

THE circular letter sent to cardinal Cibe produ­ced but little effect, for most of the Italian bishops were inclined to Molinos's method. It was inten­ded that this, as well as all other orders from the inquisitors, should be kept secret; but notwith­standing all their care, copies of it were printed, and dispersed in most of the principal towns in Italy. This gave great uneasiness to the inquisitors, who use every method they can to conceal their pro­ceedings from the knowledge of the world. They blamed the cardinal, and accused him of being the cause of it; but he retorted on them, and his se­cretary laid the fault on both.

DURING these transactions, Molinos suffered great indignities from the officers of the inquisition; and the only comfort he received was, from being some­times visited by father Petrucci.

THOUGH he had lived in the highest reputation in Rome for some years, he was now as much de­spised as he had been admired, being generally con­sidered as one of the worst of heretics.

THE greater part of Molinos's followers, who had been placed in the inquisition, having abjured his mode, were dismissed; but a harder fate await­ed Molinos, their leader.

AFTER laying a considerable time in prison, he was at length brought before the inquisitors, to an­swer to a number of articles exhibited against him from his writings. As soon as he appeared in court, a chain was put round his body, and a wax-light in his hand, when two friars read aloud the articles of accusation. Molinos answered each with great steadiness and resolution; and notwithstand­ing his arguments totally defeated the force of all, yet he was found guilty of heresy, and condemned to imprisonment for life.

WHEN he left the c [...]urt he was attended by a pr [...]st, who had borne him the greatest respect. On his [...]ival to the prison he entered the cell allotted for his confin [...]ment with great tranquillity; and on taking leave of the priest, thus addressed him:— [Page 208] Adieu, father, we shall meet again at the day of judgment, and then it will appear on which side the truth is, whether on my side, or on your's.

DURING his confinement he was several times tortured in the most cruel manner, till, at length, the severity of the punishments overpowered his strength, and finished his existence.

THE death of Molinos struck such an impression on his followers, that the greater part of them soon abjured his mode; and by the assiduity of the Je­suits, quietism was totally extirpated throughout the country.

An Account of the Persecutions in BOHEMIA under the PAPACY.

THE Roman pontiffs having usurped a power over several churches, were particularly se­vere on the Bohemians, which occasioned them to send two ministers, and four lay-brothers to Rome, in the year 977, to obtain redress of the pope. After some delay their request was granted, and their grievances redressed. Two things in particu­lar they were permitted to do, viz. to have divine service performed in their own language, and to give the cup to the laity in the sacrament.

THE disputes however soon broke out again, the succeeding popes exerting their whole power to im­pose on the minds of the Bohemians; and the latter, with great spirit, aiming to preserve their religious liberties.

A. D. 1375, some zealous friends of the gospel applied to Charles, king of Bohemia, to call an oeconomical council, for an inquiry into the abuses that had crept into the church, and to make a full and thorough reformation. The king, not know­ing how to proceed, sent to the pope for directions how to act; but the pontiff was so incensed at the affair, that his only reply was, Severely punish those rash and profane heretics. The monarch, accord­ingly banished every one who had been concerned in the application, and to oblige the pope, laid a great number of additional restraints upon the religious liberties of the people.

JOHN HUSS, and Jerom of Prague, two holy and pious men, being condemned by order of the coun­cil of Constance, fifty-eight of the principal Bohemi­an nobility interposed in their favour. Nevertheless they were cruelly burnt, and the pope, in conjuncti­on w [...]th the council of Constance ordered the Romish clergy, every where, to excommunicate such as a­dopted their opinions, or commiserated their fate.

THESE orders occasioned great contentions be­tween the papist, and reformed Bohemians, which was the cause of a violent persecution against the lat­ter. At Prague the persecution was extremely severe, till, at length, the reformed being driven to despe­ration, attacked the senate-house, and threw twelve senators, with the speaker, out of the senate-house windows, whose bodies fell upon spears, which were held up by others of the reformed in the street, to recieve them.

BEING inforned of these proceedings, the pope came to Florence, and publicly excommunicated the reformed Bohemians, exciting the emperor of Ger­many, and all kings, princes, dukes, &c. to take up arms, in order to extirpate the whole race; and pro­mising, by way of encouragement, full remission of all sins whatever to the most wicked person, if he did but kill one Bohemian protestant.

THIS occasioned a bloody war; for several po­pish princes undertook the extirpation, or at least expulsion, of the proscribed people; and the Bohe­mians, arming themselves, prepared to repel force by force, in the most vigorous and effectual manner. The popish army prevailing against the protestant forces at the battle of Cuttenburgh, the prisoners of the reformed were taken to three deep mines near that town, and several hundreds were cruelly thrown into each, where they miserably perished.

A merchant of Prague, going to Breslaw, in Si­lesia, happened to lodge in the same inn with seve­ral priests. Entering into conversation upon the subject of religious controversy, he passed many encomiums upon the martyred John Huss, and his [Page 209] doctrines. The priests taking umbrage at this, laid an information against him the next morning, and he was committed to prison as an heretic. Ma­ny endeavours were used to persuade him to em­brace the Roman catholic faith; but he remained stedfast to the pure doctrines of the reformed church. Soon after his imprisonment, a student of the uni­versity was committed to the same gaol; when, be­ing permitted to converse with the merchant, they mutually comforted each other. On the day ap­pointed for execution, when the gaoler began to fasten the ropes to their feet, by which they were to be dragged through the streets, the student ap­peared to be quite terrified, and offered to abjure his faith, and turn Roman catholic if he might be saved. The offer was accepted, his abjuration was taken by a priest, and he was set at liberty. A priest applying to the merchant to follow the exam­ple of the student, he nobly said, "Lose no time in hopes of my recantation, your expectations will be vain; I sincerely pity that poor wretch, who has miserably sacrificed his soul for a few more uncer­tain years of a troublesome life; and, so far from having the least idea of following his example, I glory in the very thoughts of dying for the sake of Christ." On hearing these words, the priest order­ed the executioner to proceed; and the merchant being drawn through the city, was brought to the place of execution, and there burnt.

P [...]CHEL, a bigoted popish magistrate, apprehend­ed 24 protestants, among whom was his daughter's husband. As they all owned they were of the reformed religion, he indiscriminately condemned them to be drowned in the river Abbis. On the day appointed for the execution, a great concourse of people attended, among whom was Pichel's daughter. This worthy wife threw herself at her father's feet, bedewed them with tears, and in the most pathetic manner, implored him to commiserate her sorrow, and pardon her husband. The obdu­rate magistrate sternly replied, "Intercede not for him, child, he is a heretic, a vile heretic." To which she nobly answered, "Whatever his faults may be, or however his opinions may differ from your's, he is still my husband, [...] which, at a time like this, should [...] my whole con­sideration. Pichel s [...]ew into [...] passion, and said, "You are ma [...] cannot you after the death of this, have a much worthier husband?" No, sir, (replied she) my affections are fixed upon this, and death itself shall not dissolve my marriage vow. Pichel, however, continued inflexible, and ordered the prisoners to be tied with their hands and feet behind them, and in that manner to be thrown into the river. As soon as this was put into execution, the young lady watched her opportunity, leaped into the waves, and embracing the body of her husband, both sunk together into one watery grave. An uncommon instance of conjugal love in a wife, and of an inviolable attachment to, and personal affection for, her husband.

THE emperor Ferdinand, whose hatred to the Bohemian protestants was without bounds, not thinking he had sufficiently oppressed them, insti­tuted a high court of reformers, upon the plan of the inquisition, with this difference, that the re­formers were to remove from place to place, and always be attended by a body of troops.

THESE reformers consisted chiefly of Jesuits, and from their decisions there was no appeal, by which it may be easily conjectured, that it was a dreadful tribunal indeed.

THIS bloody court, attended by a body of troops, made the tour of Bohemia, in which they seldom examined or saw a prisoner, suffering the soldiers to murder the protestants as they pleased, and then to make a report of the matter to them afterwards.

THE first victim of their cruelty was an aged mi­nister, whom they killed as he lay sick in bed; the next day they robbed and murdered another, and soon after shot a third, as he was preaching in his pulpit.

A nobleman and a clergyman, who resided in a protestant village, hearing of the approach of the high court of reformers and the troops, fled from the place, and secreted themselves. The sol­diers, however, on their arrival, seized upon a school-master, and asked him where the lord of that place and the minister were concealed, and where they had hid their treasures. The school-master replied he could not answer either of the questions. They then stripped him naked, bound him with [Page 210] cords, and beat him most unmercifully with cud­gels. This cruelty not extorting any confession from him, they scorched him in various parts of the body; when, to gain a respite from his tor­ments, he promised to shew them where the trea­sures were hid. The soldiers gave ear to this with pleasure, and the school-master led them to a ditch full of stones, saying, Beneath those stones are the riches ye seek for. Eager after money, they went to work, and soon removed those stones, but not finding what they fought after, beat the school-master to death, buried him in the ditch, and co­vered him with the very stones he had made them remove.

SOME of the soldiers ravished the daughters of a worthy protestant before his face, and then tortured him to death. A minister and his wife they tied back to back, and burnt. Another minister they hung upon a cross beam, and making a fire under him, broiled him to death. A gentleman they hacked into small pieces; and they filled a young man's mouth with gunpowder, and setting fire [...]o it, blew his head to pieces.

AS their principal rage was directed against the clergy, they took a pious protestant minister, and tormented him daily for a month together, in the following manner, making their cruelty regular, systematic, and progressive.

1. THEY placed him amidst them, and made him the subject of their derision and mockery, during a whole day's entertainment, trying to exhaust his p [...]tience, but in vain, for he bore the whole with a true christian fortitude.

2. THEY spit in his face, pulled his nose, and pinched him in most parts of his body.

3. HE was hunted like a wild beast, till ready to expire with fatigue.

4. THEY made him run the gantlope between two ranks of them, each striking him with a twig.

5. HE was beat with their fists.

6. HE was beat with ropes.

7. THEY scourged him with wires.

8. HE was beat with cudgels.

9. THEY tied him up by the heels with his head downwards, till the blood started out of his nose, mouth, &c.

10. THEY hung him up by the right arm till it was dislocated, and then had it set again.

11. THE same was repeated with his left arm.

12. BURNING papers, dipped in oil, were placed between his fingers and toes.

13. HIS flesh was torn with red hot pincers.

14. HE was put to the rack.

15. THEY pulled off the nails of his right hand.

16. THE same repeated with his left hand.

17. HE was bastinadoed on his feet.

18. A slit was made in his right ear.

19. THE same repeated on his left ear.

20. HIS nose was slit.

21. THEY whipped him through the town upon an ass.

22. THEY made several incisions in his flesh.

23. THEY pulled off the toe nails of his right foot.

24. THE same repeated with his left foot.

25. HE was tied up by the loins, and suspended for a considerable time.

26. THE teeth of his upper jaw were pulled out.

27. THE same was repeated with his lower jaw.

28. BOILING lead was poured upon his fingers.

29. THE same repeated with his toes.

[Page 211]30. A knotted cord was twisted about his fore­head in such a manner, as to force out his eyes.

DURING the whole of these horrid cruelties, par­ticular care was taken that his wounds should not mortify, and not to injure him mortally till the last day, when the forcing out of his eyes proved his death.

INNUMERABLE were the other murders and de­predations committed by those unfeeling brutes, and shocking to humanity were the cruelties which they inflicted on the poor Bohemian protestants. The winter being far advanced, however, the high court of reformers, with their infernal band of mi­litary ruffians, thought proper to return to Prague; but on their way meeting with a protestant pastor, they could not resist the temptation of feasting their barbarous eyes with a new kind of cruelty, which had just suggested itself to the diabolical imagina­tion of one of the soldiers. This was to strip the minister naked, and alternately to cover him with ice and burning coals. This novel mode of tor­menting a fellow-creature was immediately put in practice, and the unhappy victim expired beneath the torments, which seemed to delight his inhuman persecutors.

A secret order was soon after issued by the em­peror, for apprehending all noblemen and gentle­men, who had been principally concerned in sup­porting the protestant cause, and in nominating Frederic, elector Palatine of the Rhine, to be king of Bohemia. These, to the number of fifty, were apprehended in one night, and at one hour, and brought from the places where they were taken, to the castle of Prague, and the estates of those who were absent from the kingdom were confiscated, themselves were made outlaws, and their names f [...]ed upon a gallows, as marks of public igno­miny.

THE high court of reformers then proceeded to try the fifty, who had been apprehended, and two apostate protestants were appointed to examine them. These examinants asked a great number of unnecessary and impertinent questions, which so exasperated one of the noblemen, who was naturally of a warm temper, that he exclaimed, opening his breast at the same time, "Cut here, search my heart, you shall find nothing but love of religion and liberty: those were the motives for which I drew my sword, and for those I am willing to suffer death."

AS none of the prisoners would change their re­ligion, o [...] acknowledge they had been in an error, they were all pronounced guilty; but the sentence was referred to the emperor. When that monarch had read their names, and an account of the respec­tive accusations against them, he passed judgment upon all, but in a different manner, as his sentences were of four kinds, viz. death, banishment, impri­sonment for life, and imprisonment during plea­sure.

TWENTY being ordered for execution, were in­formed they might send for jesuits, monks, or friars, to prepare for the awful change they were to undergo; but that no protestants would be per­mitted to come near them. This proposal they rejected, and strove all they could to comfort and chear each other upon the solemn occasion.

ON the morning of the day appointed for the ex­ecution, a cannon was fired as a signal to bring the prisoners from the castle to the principal market­place, in which scaffolds were erected, and a body of troops were drawn up to attend the tragic scene.

THE prisoners left the castle with as much chear fulness as if they had been going to an agreeable entertainment, instead of a violent death.

EXCLUSIVE of soldiers, jesuits, priests, executi­oners, attendants, &c. a prodigious concourse of people attended, to see the exit of these devoted martyrs, who were executed in the following order:

General Persecutions in GERMANY.

THE general persecutions in Germany were principally occasioned by the doctrines and ministry of Martin Luther. Indeed, the pope was so terrified at the success of that courageous refor­mer, that he determined to engage the emperor, Charles the Fifth, at any rate, in the scheme to at­tempt their extirpation.

TO this end;

1. HE gave the emperor two hundred thousand crowns in ready money.

2. HE promised to maintain twelve thousand foot. and five thousand horse, for the space of six months, or during a campaign.

3. HE allowed the emperor to receive one half of the revenues of the clergy of the empire, during the war.

4. HE permitted the emperor to pledge the ab­bey-lands for five hundred thousand crowns, to assist in carrying on hostilities against the protestants.

THUS prompted and supported, the emperor un­dertook the extirpation of the protestants, against whom, indeed, he was particularly enraged him­self; and, for this purpose, a formidable army was raised in Germany, Spain, and Italy.

THE protestant princes, in the mean time, fo [...] ­ed a powerful confederacy, in order to repel the impending blow. A great army was raised, an [...] the command given to the elector of Saxony, and the landgrave of Hesse. The [...]mper [...] forces were commanded by the emperor of Germany i [...] person, and the eyes of all Europe were turned on the event of the war.

AT length the armies met, and a desperate en­gagement ensued, in which the protestants were de­feated, and the elector of Saxony, and landgrave of Hesse, both taken prisoners. This fatal blow was succeeded by a horrid persecution, the severi­ties of which were such, that exile might be deem­ed a mild fate, and concealment in a dismal wood, pass for happiness. In such times a cave is a palace, a rock a bed of down, and wild roots delicacies.

THOSE who were taken experienced the most cru­el tortures that infernal imaginations could invent; and, by their constancy evinced, that a real christian can surmount every difficulty, and despise every danger, to acquire a crown of martyrdom.

HENRY VOES and John Esch, being apprehend­ed as protestants, were brought to examination: when Voes, answering for himself and the other, gave the following answers to some questions asked by a priest, who examined them by order of the magistracy.

WERE you not both, some years ago, Augustine friars?

YES.

HOW came you to quit the bosom of the church of Rome?

ON account of her abominations.

IN what do you believe?

IN the Old and New Testament.

DO you believe in the writings of the fathers, and the decrees of the councils?

YES, if they agree with scripture.

DID not Martin Luther seduce you both?

HE seduced us even in the very same manner as Christ seduced the apostles; that is, he made us sensible of the frailty of our bodies, and the value of our souls.

THIS examination was sufficient; they were both condemned to the flames, and, soon after, suffered with that manly fortitude which becomes christians, when they receive a crown of martyrdom.

HENRY SUTPHEN, an eloquent and pious preach­er, was taken out of his bed in the middle of the night, and compelled to walk barefoot a considera­ble way, so that his feet were terribly cut. He desired a horse, but his conductors said, in derision, A horse for an heretic; no, no, heretics may go barefoot. When he arrived at the place of his destination, he was condemned to be burnt; but, during the execution, many indignities were offer­ed him, as those who attended, not content with what he suffered in the flames, cut and slashed him in a most terrible manner.

MANY were murdered at Halle; Middleburg being taken by storm, all the protestants were put to the sword, and great numbers were burned at Vienna.

AN officer being sent to put a minister to death, pretended, wh [...]n he came to the clergyman's house, that his intentions were only to pay him a visit. The minister, not suspecting the intended cruelty, entertained his supposed guest in a very cordial manner. As soon as dinner was over, the officer said to some of his attendants, "Take this clergy­man, and hang him." The attendants themselves were so shocked, after the civility they had seen, that they hesitated to perform the commands of their master; and the minister said, "Think what a sting will remain on your conscience, for thus violating the laws of hospitality." The officer, however, insisted on being obeyed, and the attend­ants, with reluctance, performed the execrable of­fice of executioners.

PETER SPENGLER, a pious divine, of the town of Chalet, was thrown into the river, and drowned. Before he was taken to the banks of the stream, which was to become his grave, they led him to the market-place, that his crimes might be proclaimed; which were, not go­ing to mass, not making confession, and not be­lieving in transubstantiation. After this ceremony was over, he made a most excellent discourse to the people, and concluded with a kind of hymn of a very edifying nature.

A protestant gentleman being ordered to lose his head for not renouncing his religion, went chear­fully to the place of execution. A friar came to him, and said these words in a low tone of voice, "As you have a great reluctance publicly to ab­jure your faith, whisper your confession in my ear, and I will absolve your sins." To this the gentle­man loudly replied, "Trouble me not, friar, I have confessed my sins to God, and obtained abso­lution through the merits of Jesus Christ." Then turning to the executioner, he said, "Let me not be pestered with th [...]se men, but perform your duty." On which his head was struck off at a single blow.

WOLFGANG SOU [...]H, and John Huglin, two wor­thy [...], were burned, as was [...] of the university of Wertemburgh: [...] Carpenter, a [...], was hanged for refusing to [...].

[Page 217]THE persecutions in Germany having subsided many years, again broke out in 1630, on account of the war between the emperor, and the king of Sweden, for the latter was a protestant prince, and consequently the protestants of Germany es­poused his cause, which greatly exasperated the emperor against them.

THE imperialists having laid siege to the town of Passewalk, (which was defended by the Swedes) took it by storm, committed the most horrid cruel­ties on the occasion. They pulled down the churches, burnt the houses, pillaged the properties, massacred the ministers, put the garrison to the sword, hanged the townsmen, ravished the women, smothered the children, &c. &c.

A most bloody tragedy was transacted at Mag­deburg, in the year 1631. The generals Tilly and Pappenheim, having taken that protestant ci­ty by storm, upwards of 20,000 persons, without distinction of rank, sex, or age, were slain during the carnage, and 6,000 were drowned in attempt­ing to escape over the river Elbe. After this fury subsided, the remaining inhabitants were stripped naked, severely scourged, had their ears cropped, and being yoked together like oxen, were turned adrift.

THE town of Hoxte [...] was taken by the popish army, and all the inhabitants as well as the garrison were put to the sword; when the houses being set on fire, the bodies were consumed in the flames.

AT Griphenburg, when the imperial forces pre­vailed, they shut up the senators in the senate-cham­ber, and, surrounding it by lighted straw, suffo­cated them.

FRANH [...]NDAL surrendered upon articles of capi­tulation, yet the inhabitants were as cruelly used as at other places, and at Heidelburg many were shut up in prison and starved.

THE cruelties used by the imperial troops, un­der count Tilly in Saxony, are thus enumerated.

HALF strangling, and recovering the persons again repeatedly.

ROLLING sharp wheels over the fingers and toes.

PINCHING the thumbs in a vice.

FORCING the most filthy things down the throat, by which many were choaked.

TYING cords round the head so tight that the blood gushed out of the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

FASTENING burning matches to the fingers, toes, ears, arms, legs, and even tongue.

PUTTING powder in the mouth and setting fire to it, by which the head was shattered to pieces.

TYING bags of power to all parts of the body, by which the person was blown up.

DRAWING cords backwards and forwards through the fleshy parts.

MAKING incisions with bodkins and knives in the skin.

RUNNING wires through the nose, ears, lips, &c.

HANGING protestants up by the legs, with their heads over a fire, by which they were smoak dried.

HANGING up by one arm till it was dislocated.

HANGING upon hooks by the ribs.

FORCING people to drink till they burst.

BAKING many in hot ovens.

FIXING weights to the feet, and drawing up se­veral with pullies.

HANGING, stifling, roasting, stabbing, frying, racking, ravishing, ripping open, breaking the bones, rasping off the flesh, tearing with wild horses, drowning, strangling, burning, broiling, crucifying, immuring, poisoning, cutting off tongue, nose, ear, &c. sawing off the limbs, [Page 218] hacking to pieces, and drawing by the heels through the streets.

THESE enormous cruelties will be a perpetual stain on the memory of count Tilly, who not only permitted, but even commanded the troops to put them in practice. Wherever he came, the most horrid barbarities, and cruel depredations ensued: famine and conflagration marked his progress; for he destroyed all the provisions he could not take with him, and burnt all the towns before he left them; so that the full result of his conquests were murder, poverty, and desolation.

AN aged and pious divine they stripped naked, tied him on his back upon a table, and fastened a large fierce cat upon his belly. They then pricked and tormented the cat in such a manner, that the creature with rage tore his belly open, and gnawed his bowels.

ANOTHER minister, and his family, were seized by these inhuman monsters; when they ravished his wife and daughter before his face, stuck his in­fant son upon the point of a lance, and then sur­rounding him with his whole library of books, they set fire to them, and he was consumed in the midst of the flames.

IN Hesse Cassel some of the troops entered an hospital, in which were principally mad women, when stripping all the poor wretches naked, they made them run about the streets for their diversion and then put them to death.

IN Pomerania, some of the imperial troops en­tering a small town, seized upon all the young wo­men, and girls of upwards of 10 years, and then placing their parents in a circle, they ordered them to sing psalms, while they ravished their children, or else they swore they would cut them to pieces af­terwards. They then took all the married women who had young children, and threatened, if they did not consent to the gratification of their lusts, to burn their children before their faces in a large fire which they had kindled for that purpose.

A [...] of count Tilly's soldiers meeting with a [...] of merchants belonging to [...], who were returning from the great market of Stras­burg, they attempted to surround them: all esca­ped, however, but ten, leaving their properties be­hind. The ten who were taken begged hard for their lives; but the soldiers murdered them, say­ing, You must die because you are heretics, and have got no money.

THE same soldiers met with two countesses, who, together with some young ladies, the daughters of one of them, were taking an airing in a landau. The soldiers spared their lives, but treated them with great indecency, and having stripped them all stark naked, bade the coachman drive on.

BY means and mediation of Great-Britain, peace was at length restored to Germany, and the protestants remained unmolested for several years, till some new disturbances broke out in the Palati­nate, which were thus occasioned:

THE great church of the Holy Ghost, at Hei­delburg, had, for many years, been shared equal­ly by the protestants and Roman catholics, in this manner: the protestants performed divine service in the nave or body of the church; and the Roman catholics celebrated mass in the choir. Though this had been the custom time immemorial, the elector Palatine, at length, took it into his head not to suffer it any longer, declaring, that as Hei­delburg was the place of his residence, and the church of the Holy Ghost, the cathedral of his principal city, divine service ought to be performed only according to the rites of the church of which he was a member. He then forbad the pro [...]stants to enter the church, and put the papists in possession of the whole.

THE [...] people applied to the protestant powers for redress, which so much exasperated the elector, that he suppressed the Heidelburg cate­chism. The protestant powers, however, [...] that [Page 219] they would treat their Roman catholic subjects with the greatest severity. Many violent disputes took place between the protestant powers, and those of the elector, and these were greatly augmented by the following incident: the coach of the Dutch minister standing before the door of the resident sent by the prince of Hesse, the host was by chance carrying to a sick person; the coachman took not the least notice, which those who attended the host observing, pulled him from his box, and compelled him to kneel: this violence to the domestic of a public minister was highly resented by all the pro­testant deputies; and, still more to heighten these differences, the protestants presented to the depu­ties three additional articles of complaint.

1. THAT military executions were ordered against all protestant shoe-makers who should refuse to contribute to the masses of St. Crispin.

2. THAT the protestants were forbid to work on popish holidays, even in harvest time, under very heavy penalties, which occasioned great in­conveniences, and considerably prejudiced public business.

3. THAT several protestant ministers had been dispossessed of their churches, under pretence of their having been originally founded, and built by Roman catholics.

THE protestant deputies at length, became so serious, as to intimate to the elector, that force of arms should compel him to do the justice he deni [...]d to their representations. This [...] brought him to reason, as he well kn [...]w the impossibility of carrying on a war a [...]ainst the powerf [...]l st [...]tes who threatened him. He, therefore, agreed, that the use of the body of the church of the Holy Ghost should be restored to the protestan [...]. He restored the Heidelburg catechism, put the protestant mi [...]is­ters again in possession of the churches of which they had been dispossessed, all [...] the protestants to work on popish holidays▪ and ordered, th [...] no person should be mol [...]sted for not [...] when the host passed by.

THESE things he did [...] to [...] his resentment to his protestant s [...]bjects, in other circumstances where protestant states had no right to interfere, he totally abandoned Heidelburg, re­moving all the courts of justice to Manheim, which was intirely inhabited by Roman catholics. He likewise built a new palace there, making it his place of residence; and, being followed by the Roman catholics of Heidelburg, Manheim became a flourishing place.

IN the mean time the protestants of Heidelburg sunk into poverty, and many of them became so distressed, as to quit their native country, and seek an asylum in protestant states. A great number of these coming into England, in the time of queen Anne, were cordially received here, and met with a most humane assistance, both by public and pri­vate donations.

IN 1732, above 30,000 protestants were, con­trary to the treaty of Westphalia, driven from the archbishopric of Saltzburg. They went away in the depth of winter, with scarce clothes to cover them, and without provisions, not having permis­sion to take any thing with them. The cause of these poor people not being publicly espoused by such states as could obtain them redress, they emi­grated to various protestant countries, and settled in places where they could enjoy the free exercise of their religion, without hurting their consciences, and live free from the trammels of popish supersti­tion, and the chains of papal tyranny.

An account of the Persecutions in the NE­THERLANDS.

THE light of the gospel having successfully spread over the Netherlands, the pope insti­gated the emperor to commence a persecution a­gainst the protestants; when many thousands fell martyrs to superstitious malice and barbarous bi­gotry; among whom the most remarkable were the following:

WENDELINUTA, a pious protestant widow, was apprehended on account of her religion, when se­veral monks, unsuccessfully, endeavoured to per­suade her to recant. As they could not prevail, a Roman catholic lady of her acquaintance desired to be admitted to the dungeon in which she was con­fined, and promised to exert herself strenuously to­wards inducing the prisoner to adjure the reformed religion. When she was admitted to the dungeon, she did her utmost to perform the task she had un­dertaken; but finding her endeavours ineffectual, she said, Dear Wendelinuta, if you will not embrace our faith, at least keep the things which you pro­fess secret within your own bosom, and strive to prolong your life. To which the widow replied, Madam, you know not what you say; for with the heart we believe to righteousness, but with the tongue confession is made unto salvation. As she [Page 226] positively refused to recant, her goods were confis­cated, and she was condemned to be burnt. At the place of execution a monk held a cross to her, and bade her kiss and worship God. To which she answered, "I worship no wooden god, but the eternal God who is in heaven." She was then execu­ted, but through the before-mentioned Roman ca­tholic lady, the favour was granted, that she should be strangled before the fire was put to the faggots.

TWO protestant clergymen were burnt at Colen; a tradesman of Antwerp, named Nicholas, was tied up in a sack, thrown into the river, and drowned; and Pistorius, a learned student, was carried to the market of a Dutch village in a fool's coat, and committed to the flames.

SIXTEEN protestants having received sentence to be beheaded, a protestant minister was ordered to attend the execution, This gentleman performed the function of his office with great propriety, ex­horted them to repentance, and gave them comfort in the mercies of their Redeemer. As soon as the sixteen were beheaded, the magistrate cried out to the executioner, "There is another stroke re­maining yet; you must behead the minister, he can never die at a better time than with such excel­lent precepts in his mouth, and such laudable ex­amples before him." He was accordingly behead­ed, though even many of the Roman catholic's themselves reprobated this piece of treacherous and unnecessary cruelty.

GEORGE SEHERTER, a minister of Saltzburg, was apprehended and committed to prison for instruct­ing his flock in the knowledge of the gospel. While he was in confinement he wrote a confession of his faith; soon after which he was condemned, first to be beheaded, and afterwards to be burnt to ash­es. In his way to the place of execution he said to the spectators, "That you may know I die a true christian, I will give you a sign." This was indeed verified in a most singular manner; for after his head was cut off, the body lying a short space of time with the belly to the ground, it suddenly turned upon the back, when the right foot crossed over the left, as did also the right arm over the left: and in this manner it remained till it was commit­ted to the flames.

IN Louviana, a learned man, named Percival, was murdered in prison; and Justus Insprag was beheaded, for having Luther's sermons in his pos­session.

GILES TILLEMAN, a cutler of Brussels, was a man of great humanity and piety. Among others he was apprehended as a protestant, and many en­deavours were made by the monks to persuade him to recant. He had once, by accident, a fair op­portunity of escaping from prison, being asked why he did not avail himself of it, he replied, "I would not do the keepers so much injury, as they must have answered for my absence, had I got away." When he was sentenced to be burnt, he [...]ervently thanked God for granting him an opportunity, by martyrdom, to glorify his name. Perceiving, at the place of execution, a great quantity of faggots, he desired the principal part of them might be given to the poor, saying, a small quantity will suffice to consume me. The executioner offered to strangle him before the fire was lighted, but he would not consent, telling him, that he defied the flames; and, indeed, he gave up the ghost with such compo­sure amidst them, that he hardly seemed sensible of their effects.

IN the years 1543 and 1544, the persecution was carried on throughout all Flanders in a most violent and cruel manner. Some were condemned to per­petual imprisonment, others to perpetual banish­ment: but most were put to death either by hang­ing, drowning, immuring, burning, the rack, or burying alive.

JOHN DE BOSCAN [...], a zealous protestant, was apprehended on account of his faith, in the city of Antwerp. On his trial he stedfastly professed him­self to be of the reformed religion, which occasion­ed his immediate condemnation The magistrate, however, was afraid to put him to death publicly, as he was popular through his great generosity, and almost universally beloved for his inoffensive life, and exemplary piety. A private execution being determined on, an order was given to drown him in prison. The executioner, accordingly, put him into a large tub; but Boscane struggling, and getting his head above the water, the executioner [Page 227] stabbed him with a dagger in several places, till he expired.

JOHN DE BUISONS, another protestant, was, about the same time, secretly apprehended, and privately executed at Antwerp. The number of protestants being great in that city, and the prisoner much res­pected, the magistrates feared an insurrection, and for that reason ordered him to be beheaded in pri­son.

A. D. 1568, three persons were apprehended in Antwerp, named Scoblant, Hues, and Coomans. During their confinement they behaved with great fortitude and chearfulness, confessing that the hand of God appeared in what had befallen them, and bowing down before the throne of his providence. In an epistle to some worthy protestants, they ex­press themselves in the following words: Since it is the will of the Almighty that we should suffer for his name, and be persecuted for the sake of his gos­pel, we patiently submit, and are joyful upon the oc­casion: though the flesh may rebel against the spirit, and hearken to the counsel of the old serpent, yet the truths of the gospel shall prevent such advice from being taken, and Christ shall bruise the serpent's head. We are not comfortless in confinement, for we have faith; we fear not affliction, for we have hope; and we forgive our enemies, for we have cha­rity. Be not under apprehensions for us, we are happy in confinement through the promises of God, glory in our bonds, and exult in being thought wor­thy to suffer for the sake of Christ. We desire not to be released, but to be blessed with fortitude; we ask not liberty, but the power of perseverance; and wish for no change in our condition, but that which places a crown of martyrdom upon our heads.

SCOBLANT was first brought to his trial; when, persisting in the profession of his faith, he received sentence of death. On his return to prison, he earnestly requested the gaoler not to permit any friar to come near him; saying, "They can do me no good, but may greatly disturb me. I hope my salvation is already sealed in heaven, and that the blood of Christ, in which I firmly put my trust, hath washed me from my iniquities. I am now go­ing to throw off this earthly mantle of clay, to be clad in robes of eternal glory, by whose celestial bright­ness I shall be freed from all errors. I hope I may be the last martyr to papal tyranny, and the blood already spilt found sufficient to quench the thirst of popish cruelty; that the church of Christ may have rest here, as his servants will hereafter." On the day of execution he took a pathetic leave of his fellow-prisoners. At the stake he fervently said the Lord's Prayer, and sung the fortieth Psalm: then commending his soul to God, he was burnt alive.

HUES, soon after, died in prison; upon which occasion Coomans wrote thus to his friends: "I am now deprived of my friends and companions; Scoblant is martyred, and Hues dead, by the visi­tation of the Lord: yet I am not alone; I have with me the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; he is my comfort, and shall be my reward. Pray unto God to strengthen me to the end, as I expect every hour to be freed from this tenement of clay."

ON his trial, he freely confessed himself of the reformed religion, answered with a manly forti­tude to every charge against him, and proved the scriptural part of his answers from the gospel. The judge told him the only alternatives were, re­cantation or death; and concluded by saying, "Will you die for the faith you profess?" To which Coomans replied, "I am not only willing to die, but to suffer the most excruciating torments for it: after which my soul shall receive its con­firmation from God himself, in the midst of eternal glory." Being condemned, he went chearfully to the place of execution, and died with the most manly fortitude, and christian resignation.

WILLIAM NASSAU fell a sacrifice to treachery, being assassinated in the fifty-first year of his age, by Baltazar Gerard, a native of Franche Comte, in the province of Burgundy. This murderer, in hopes of a reward here and hereafter, for killing an enemy to the king of Spain, and an enemy to the catholic religion, undertook to destroy the prince of Orange. Having procured fire-arms, he watched him as he passed through the great hall of his palac [...] to dinner, and demanded a passport. The pri [...]ess of Orange, observing that the assassin spoke with an hollow and confused voice, asked [Page 228] who he was? saying, she did not like his counte­nance. The prince answered, it was one that de­manded a passport, which he should presently have.

NOTHING farther passed before dinner, but on the return of the prince and princess through the same hall, after dinner was over, the assassin, stand­ing concealed as much as possible by one of the pillars, fired at the prince, the balls entering at the left side, and passing through the right, wounding in their passage the stomach and vital parts. On receiving the wounds, the prince only said, Lord have mercy upon my soul, and upon this poor peo­ple, and then expired immediately.

THE lamentations throughout the United Pro­vinces were general on account of the death of the prince of Orange: and the assassin, who was imme­diately taken, received sentence to be put to death in the most exemplary manner: yet such was his enthusiasm, or folly, that when his flesh was torn by red-hot pincers, he coolly said, If I was at liberty, I would commit such an action over again.

THE prince of Orange's funeral was the grandest ever seen in the Low Countries, and perhaps the sorrow for his death the most sincere, as he left be­hind him the character he honestly deserved, viz. that of the Father of his people.

TO conclude, multitudes were murdered in dif­ferent parts of Flanders: in the city of Valence, in particular, fifty-seven of the principal inhabitants were butchered in one day, for refusing to embrace the Romish superstition; and great numbers were suffered to languish in confinement, till they perish­ed through the inclemency of their dungeons.

An Account of the Persecutions in LITHUANIA.

THE persecutions in Lithuania began in 1648; and were carried on with great severity by the Cossacks and Tartars. The cruelty of the Cos­sacks was such, that even the Tartars, at last, grew ashamed of it, and rescued some of the intended victims from their hands.

THE barbarities exercised were these: skinning alive, cutting off hands, taking out the bowels, cutting the flesh open, putting out the eyes, be­heading, scalping, cutting off feet, boring the shin bones, pouring melted lead into the flesh, hanging, stabbing, and sending to perpetual banishment.

THE Russians taking advantage of the devasta­tions which had been made in the country, and of its incapability of defence, entered with a con­siderable army, and, like a flood, bore down all before them. Every thing they met with was an object of destruction; they razed cities, de­molished castles, ruined fortresses, sacked towns, burnt villages, and murdered people. The mi­nisters of the gospel were peculiarly marked out as the objects of their displeasure, though every worthy christian was liable to the effects of their cruelty.

AS Lithuania recovered itself after one persecu­tion, succeeding enemies again destroyed it. The Swedes, the Prussians, and the Courlanders, carried fire and sword through it, and continual calamities, for some years, at [...]nded that unhappy district. It was then attacked by the prince of Transylvania, who had in his army, exclusive of his own Tran­sylvanians, Hungarians, Moldavians, Servians, Wallachians, &c. These, as far as they pene­trated, wasted the country, destroyed the churches, rifled the nobility, burnt the houses, enslaved the healthy, and murdered the sick.

A clergyman, who wrote an account of the mis­fortunes of Lithuania, in the seventeenth century, says, "In consideration of these extremities, we cannot but adore the judgment of God poured upon us for our sins, and deplore our sad condition. Let us hope for a deliverance from his mercy, and wish for restitution in his benevolence. Though we are brought low, though we are wasted, troubled, and terrified, yet his compassion is greater than our calamities, and his goodness superior to our afflic­tions. Our neighbours hate us at present, as much as our more distant enemies did before: they per­secute the remnant of us still remaining, deprive us of our few churches lost, banish our preachers, abuse our schoolmasters, treat us with contempt, and op­press us in the most opprobrious manner. In all [Page 229] our afflictions the truth of the gospel shone among us, and gave us comfort; and we only wished for the grace of Jesus Christ, (not only to ourselves, but to soften the hearts of our enemies) and the sympathy of our fellow christians."

An Account of the Persecutions in PO­LAND.

IT hath been the fate of many pious people, in all ages of the world to bear the cross of Christ, and suffer persecutions on account of their opinions; for those who are born after the flesh have al­ways been enemies to such as are born after the Spirit.

THE protestants of Poland were persecuted in a dreadful manner. The ministers in particular were treated with the most unexampled barbarity; some having their tongues cut out, because they had preached the gospel truths; others being deprived of their sight on account of having read the bible; and great numbers were cut to pieces for not recanting.

PRIVATE persons were put to death by various methods; the most cruel being usually preferred. Women were murdered without the least regard to their sex; and the persecutors even went so far as to cut off the h [...]ds of sucking babes, and fasten them to the breasts of the mothers.

EVEN the solemnity of the grave did not exempt the bodies of protestants from the malice of perse­cutors; for they sacrilegiously dug up the bodies of many eminent persons, and either cut them to pieces, and exposed them to be devoured by birds and beasts, or hung them up in conspicuous or pub­lic places.

THE city of Lesna particularly suffered in this persecution; for being besieged and taken, the in­habitants were all put to the sword.

An Account of the Persecutions in CHINA.

CHRISTIANITY was first established in China by three Italian missionaries, called Roger the Neapolitan, Pasis of Bologne, and Matthew Ricci of Mazerata, in the marquisate of Ancona. These entered China about the beginning of the sixteenth century, being well circumstanced to perform their important commission with success, as they had previously studied the Chinese language.

THESE three missionaries were very assiduous in the discharge of their duty; but Roger and Pasis returning to Europe in a few years, the whole la­bour fell upon Ricci, who aimed to establish chris­tianity with a degree of zeal that was indefatigable.

RICCI, though much disposed to indulge his converts as far as possible, made great hesitation at their ceremonies, which seemed to amount to idolatry. At length, after eighteen years consider­ation, he began to soften his opinion, and tolerated all the parts of those customs which were ordered by the laws of the empire, but strictly enjoined his Chinese christians to omit the rest.

THIS was the condition of Christianity in China, when the christian church established there was go­verned only by Ricci, who, by his moderation, made innumerable converts. In 1630, however, this tranquillity was disturbed by the arrival of some new missionaries: these being unacquainted with the Chinese customs, manners, and language, and with the arguments on which Ricci's toleration was founded, were astonished when they saw christian converts prostrate before Confucius and the tables of their ancestors, and condemned the custom ac­cordingly.

A warm controversy now ensued between Ricci, seconded by his converts, and the new missionaries; and the latter wrote an account of the whole affair to the pope, and the society for the propagation of the christian faith. The society soon pronounced, that the ceremonies were idolatrous and intolerable, and the pope confirmed the sentence. In this both the society and the pope were excusable, as the matter had been misrepresented to them; for the enemies of Ricci had affirmed, the halls, in which the cere­monies [Page 230] were performed, to be temples, and the ceremonies themselves idolatrous sacrifices.

THE sentence above-mentioned was sent over to China, but treated with contempt, and matters re­mained as they were for some time. At length, a true representation of the matter was sent over, setting forth, that the Chinese customs and ceremo­nies alluded to were entirely free from idolatry, being merely political, and tending only to the peace and welfare of the empire. The pope, find­ing that he had made himself ridiculous, by con­firming an absurd sentence upon a false report, wanted to get rid of the affair, and therefore refer­red the representation to the inquisition, which reversed the sentence immediately, at the private desire of the pope, as may be naturally supposed.

THE christian church, for all these divisions, flou­rished in China till the death of the first Tartar em­peror, whose successor was a minor. During this minority of the young emperor Cang-hi, the regents and nobles conspired to extirpate the christian reli­gion. The execution of this design was begun with expedition, and carried on with severity, so that every christian teacher in China, as well as those who professed the faith, were struck with amazement. John Adam Schall, a German eccle­siastic, and one of the principals of the mission, was thrown into a dungeon in the year 1664, being then in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and nar­rowly escaped with his life.

THE ensuing year, viz. 1665, the ministers of state publicly and unanimously resolved, and made a decree specifying. viz.

1. THAT the christian doctrines were false.

2. THAT they were dangerous to the interest of the empire.

3. THAT they should not be practised under pain of death.

THE publication of this decree occasioned a furi­ous general persecution, in which some were put to death, many were ruined, and all were, in some manner, oppressed. This decree was general, and the persecution universal accordingly throughout the empire; for, previous to this, the christians had been partially persecuted at different times, and in different provinces.

FOUR years after, viz. 1669, the young emperor was declared of age, and took the reigns of govern­ment upon himself, when the persecution immedi­ately ceased by his order.

An Account of the Persecutions in JAPAN.

CHRISTIANITY was first introduced into the idolatrous empire of Japan, by some Por­tuguese missionaries in the year of our Lord 1552, and their endeavours in making converts to the light of the gospel met with a degree of success equal to their most sanguine wishes.

THIS continued till the year 1616, when the mis­sionaries being accused of having concerned them­selves in politics, and formed a plan to subvert the government, and dethrone the emperor, great jea­lousies subsisted till 1622, when the court ordered a dreadful persecution to commence against both fo­reign and native christians. Such was the rage of this persecution, that, during the first four years, no less than 20,570 christians were massacred. The public profession of christianity was prohibited under pain of death, and the churches were shut up by an express edict.

[...] who were informed against▪ as privately professing christianity, suffered martyrdom with great heroism. The persecution continued many years, when the remnant of the innumerable chris­tians, with which Japan abounded, to the number of 37,000 souls, retired to the town and castle of Siniabara, in the island of Xinio, where they deter­mined to make a stand, to continue in their faith, and to defend themselves to the very l [...]st extremity.

THE Japanese army pursued the christians, and laid siege to the place. The christians defended themselves with great bravery, and held out against the besiegers for the space of three months, but were at length compelled to surrender, when men, [Page 231] women, and children, were indiscriminately mur­dered; and christianity, in their martyrdom, entire­ly extirpated from Japan.

THIS event took place on the 12th of April, 1638, since which period no christians but the Dutch are allowed to land in the empire, and even they are obliged to conduct themselves with the greatest precaution, and to carry on their commerce with the utmost circumspection.

An Account of the Persecutions against the CHRISTIANS in ABYSSINIA, or ETHI­OPIA.

TOWARDS the conclusion of the fifteenth century, and soon after the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, some Portuguese missiona­ries made a voyage to Abyssinia, and were indefa­tigable in propagating the Roman catholic doctrine among the Abyssinians, who professed christianity before the arrival of the missionaries.

THE priests, employed in this mission, gained such influence at court, that the emperor consented to abolish the established rites of the Ethiopian church and to admit those of Rome. He soon after consented to receive a patriarch from Rome, and to acknowledge the pope's supremacy.

MANY of the most powerful lords, and a majority of the people who professed the primitive christia­nity, as first established in Abyssinia, opposed these innovations, and took up arms against the emperor. Thus, by the artifices of the court of Rome, and its emissaries, a most furious civil war was begun, and the whole empire thrown into commotion. This war was carried on through several reigns, its con­tinuance being above 100 hundred years, and the court constantly siding with the Roman catholics, the primitive christians of Abyssinia were severely persecuted, and multitudes perished by the most inhuman means.

An Account of the Persecutions against the CHRISTIANS in TURKEY.

MAHOMET, (the impostor) in the infancy of his new religion, tolerated christianity through a political motive, as he was sensible, that even in those early times it had several powerful espousers among the princes, who were his cotem­poraries. As a proof that this was his sole view, as soon as he found his doctrine was established on a more permanent situation, he altered his forbear­ance to a system of the most rigid and barbarous persecution; which diabolical plan he has particu­larly recommended to his misguided followers, in that part of his Alcoran, intitled, The Chapter of the Sword; and as proofs of the blind zeal his fol­lowers have adopted from his infernal tenets, the many bloody battles of the Turks with the whole of the professors of Christ's gospel, and their cruel massacres of them at various periods, sufficiently evince.

CO [...]TANTINE was, in the year 1453, besieged in Constantinople, by Mahomet the second, with an army of 300,000 men, when, after a bloody siege of about six weeks, on the 29th of May, 1453. it fell into the hands of the infidels, after being an imperial christian city for some centuries; and the Turks have, to this day, retained possession of it, as well as of the adjoining suburb of Pera.

ON entering Constantinople, the Turks exercised on the wretched christians the most unremitting barbarity, destroying them by every method the most hellish cruelty could invent, or the most un­feeling heart practise: some they roasted alive on spits; others they stayed alive, and in that horrid manner left to expire with hunger: many were sawed asunder, and others torn to pieces by horses. For full three days and nights the Turks were striving to exceed each other in the exercise of their shock­ing carnage, and savage barbarity; murdering, without distinction of age or sex, all they met, and brutishly violating the chastity of women, of every distinction and age.

DURING the year 1529, Solyman the First re­took Buda from the christians, and began a most horrible persecution of the inhabitants; some [Page 232] had their eyes torn out, others their hands, ears, and noses cut off, and the children their privities, the virgins were deflowered, the matrons had their breasts cut off, and such that were pregnant had their wom [...]s ripped open, and their unborn babes thrown into the flames. Not content with this, he repeated these horrid examples all the way on his march to Vienna, which he ineffectually besie­ged, during which, this diabolical barbarian, having made a body of christians prisoners, he sent three of them into the city to relate the great strength of his army, and the rest he ordered to be torn limb from limb by wild horses in sight of their christian brethren, who could only lament by their cries and tears their dreadful fate.

IN many places the tender children were in sight of their wretched parents torn to pieces by beasts, o­thers dragged at horses heels, some famished with hunger, and others buried up to their necks in earth, and in that manner left to perish. In short, were we to relate the innumerable massacres and deplorable tragedies acted by the infidels, the parti­culars would at least make a volume of themselves, and from their horrid simularity be not only shock­ing, but disgusting to the reader.

Persecutions and Oppressions in GEORGIA and MINGRELIA.

THE Georgians are christians, and being very handsome people, the Turks and Persians persecute them by the most cruel mode of taxation ever invented, viz. in lieu of money, they compel them to deliver up their children for the following purposes.

THE females to increase the number of concu­bines in the seraglios; to serve as maids of honour to sultanas, the ladies of bashaws, &c. and to be sold to merchants of different nations, by whom the price is proportioned to the beauty of the pur­chased fair one.

THE males are used as mutes and eunuchs in the seraglio, as clerks in the offices of state, and as soldiers in the army.

TO the west of Georgia is Mingrelia, a country likewise inhabited by christians, who are persecuted and oppre [...]d in the same manner as the Georgians by the Turks and Persians, their children being extorted from them, or they murdered for refusing to consent to the sale.

An account of the PERSECUTIONS in the STATES of BARBARY.

IN Algiers the christians are treated with parti­cular severity; as the Algerines are some of the most perfidious, as well as the most cruel of all the [...]nhabitants of Barbary. By paying a most ex­orbitant fine, some christians are allowed the title of Free Christians; and these are permitted to dress in the fashion of their respective countries, but the christian slaves are obliged to wear a coarse grey suit, and a seaman's cap.

THE punishments among the Algerines are vari­ous, viz.

1. IF they join any of the natives in open rebel­lion, they are strangled with a bow-string, or hang­ed on an iron hook.

2. IF they speak against Mahomet, they must either turn Mahometans, or be impaled alive.

3. IF they turn christians again, after having changed to the Mahometan persuasion, they are roasted alive, or thrown from the city walls, and caught upon large sharp hooks, where they hang in a miserable manner several days, and expire in the most exquisite tortures.

4. If they kill a Turk, they are burnt.

5. Those christians who attempt to escape from slavery, and are re-taken, suffer death in the follow­ing manner, which is equally singular and brutal: the criminal is hung naked on a high gallows, by two hooks, the one fastened qu [...]te through the palm of one hand, and the other through the sole of the opposite foot, where he is left till death relieves him from his cruel sufferings.

[Page 233]OTHER punishments, for trifling crimes commit­ted by the christians, are left to the discretion of the respective judges, who being usually of malici­ous and vindictive dispositions, decree them in the most inhuman manner.

IN Tunis, if a christian slave is caught in attemp­ting to escape, his limbs are all broken; and if he murders his master, he is fastened to the tail of a horse, and dragged about the streets till he ex­pires.

MOROCCO and Fez conjointly form an empire, and are together the most considerable of the Bar­bary states. In this empire christian slaves are treated with the greatest cruelty: the rich have exorbitant ransoms fixed upon them; the poor are hard worked, and half starved, and sometimes mur­dered by the emperor, or their masters, for mere amusement.

An Account of the Persecutions in SPANISH AMERICA.

THE bloody tenets of the Roman catholic persuasion, and the cruel disposition of the [...]otaries of that church, cannot be more amply displayed, or truly depicted, than by giving an au­thentic and simple narrative of the horrid barbari­ties exercised by the Spaniards on the innocent and unoffending natives of America. Indeed, the bar­barities were such, that they would scarce seem credible from their enormity, and the victims so many, that they would startle belief by their num­bers, if the facts were not indisputably ascertained, and the circumstances admitted by their own wri­ters, some of whom have even gloried in their inhu­manity, and, as Roman catholics, deemed those atrocious actions meritorious, which would make a protestant shudder to relate.

THE West-Indies, and the vast continent of A­merica, were discovered by that celebrated naviga­tor Christopher Columbus, 14 [...]2. This distin­guished commander landed first in the large island of St. Domingo, or Hispaniola, which was at that time exceedingly populous; but this population was of little consequence, the inoffensive inhabitants being murdered by multitudes, as soon as the Spa­niards gained a permanent footing in the island. Blind superstition, bloody bigotry, and craving a­varice, rendered that, in a course of years, a dismal desart, which, at the arrival of the Spaniards, seem­ed to appear as an earthly paradise; so that at pre­sent there is scarce a remnant of the ancient natives remaining.

THE natives of Guatemala, a country of America, were used with great barbarity. They were for­merly active and valiant, but from ill-usage and oppression grow slothful, and so dispirited, that they not only trembled at the fight of fire-arms, but even at the very looks of a Spaniard. Some were so plunged into despair, that after returning home from labouring hard for their cruel task-masters, and receiving only contemptuous language and stripes for their pains, they have sunk down in their cabins, with a full resolution to prefer death to such slavery; and, in the bitterness of their an­guish, have refused all sustenance till they perished.

BY repeated barbarities, and the most execrable cruelties, the vindictive and merciless Spaniards not only depopulated Hispaniola, Porto-Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahama islands, but destroyed above 12,000,000 of souls upon the continent of America, in the space of 40 years.

THE cruel methods by which they massacred and butchered the poor natives, were innumerable, and of the most diabolical nature.

THE Spaniards stripped a large and very popu­lous town of all its inhabitants, whom they drove to the mines, leaving all the children behind them, without the least idea of providing for their subsist­ence, by which inhuman proceeding six thousand helpless infants perished.

WHENEVER the people of any town had the repu­tation of being rich, an order was immediately sent, that every person in it should turn Roman catholics: if this was not directly complied with, the town was instantly plundered, and the inhabitants mur­dered; and if it was complied with, a pretence [Page 234] was soon after made to strip the inhabitants of their wealth.

ONE of the Spanish governors seized upon a very worthy and amiable Indian prince, and in order to extort from him where his treasures were conceal­ed, caused his feet to be burnt till the marrow dropped from his bones, and he expired through the extremity of the torments he underwent.

IN the interval, between the years 1514 and 1522, the governor of Terra Firma put to death, and destroyed, 800,000 of the inhabitants of that country.

BETWEEN the years 1523 and 1533, five hundred thousand natives of Nicaragua were transported to Peru, where they all perished by incessant labour in the mines.

IN the space of twelve years, from the first land­ing of Cortez on the continent of America, to the entire reduction of the populous empire of Mexico, the amazing number of 4,000,000 of Mexicans perished, through the unparallelled barbarity of the Spaniards. To come to particulars, the city of Cholula consisted of 30,000 houses, by which its great population may be imagined. The Spaniards seized on all the inhabitants, who refusing to turn Roman catholics, as they did not know the mean­ing of the religion they were ordered to embrace, the Spaniards put them all to death, cutting to pieces the lower sort of people, and burning those of distinction.

An Account of the Persecution in Scotland during the Reign of King HENRY VIII.

THE first person we meet with who suffered in Scotland on the score of religion, was one Patrick Hamilton, a gentleman of an independent fortune, and descended from a very ancient and honourable family.

HAVING acquired a liberal education, and being desirous of farther improving himself in useful knowledge, he left Scotland, and went to the uni­versity of Wirtenberg, in Germany, in order to finish his studies.

DURING his residence here, he became intimate­ly acquainted with those eminent lights of the gos­pel, Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon; from whose writings and doctrines he strongly attached himself to the protestant religion.

THE archbishop of St. Andrew's (who was a rigid papish) hearing of Mr. Hamilton's proceed­ings, caused him to be seized, and being brought before him, after a short examination relative to his religious principles, he committed him a prisoner to the castle, at the same time ordering him to be con­fined in the most loathsome part of the prison.

THE next morning Mr. Hamilton was brought before the bishop, and several others, for examina­tion, when the principal articles exhibited against him were, his publicly disapproving of pilgrima­ges, purgatory, prayers to saints, for the dead, &c.

THESE articles Mr. Hamilton acknowledged to be true, in consequence of which he was immedi­ately condemned to be burnt; and that his condem­nation might have the greater authority, they cau­sed it to be subscribed by all those of any note who were present, and to make the number as conside­rable as possible, even admitted the subscription of boys who were sons of the nobility.

SO anxious was this bigotted and persecuting pre­late for the destruction of Mr. Hamilton, that he ordered his sentence to be put in execution on the afternoon of the very day it was pronounced. He was accordingly led to the place appointed for the horrid tragedy, and was attended by a prodigious number of spectators. The greatest part of the multitude would not believe it was intended he should be put to death, but that it was only done to frighten him, and thereby bring him over to em­brace the principles of the Romish religion. But they soon found themselves mistaken.

WHEN he arrived at the stake he kneeled down, [Page 243] and, for some time, prayed with great fervency. After this he was fastened to a stake, and the fag­ [...]ts placed round him. A quantity of gunpowder having been fastened under his arms, was first set on fire, which scorched his left hand and one side of his face, but did no material injury, neither did it communicate with the fa [...]gots. In consequence [...]f this, more powder and combustible matter was brought, which being set on fire took effect, and the faggots being kindled, he called out, with an audible voice, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! How long shall darkness overwhelm this realm? And how long wilt thou suffer the tyranny of these men?"

THE fire burning slow put him to great torment; but be bore it with christian magnanimity. What gave him the greatest pain was, the clamour of s [...]me wicked men set on by the friars, who frequent­ly cried, "Turn, thou heretic; call upon our lady; say, Salve Regina, &c." To whom he replied, "Depart from me, and trouble me not, ye messen­gers of satan." One Campbell, a friar, who was the ringleader, still continuing to interrupt him by opprobrious language; he said to him, "Wicked m [...]n, God forgive thee." After which, being pre­vented from farther speech by the violence of the smoke, and the rapidity of the flames, he resigned up his soul into the hands of him who gave it.

THIS stedfast believer in Christ suffered martyr­dom in the year 1527.

ONE Henry Forest, a young inoffensive Bene­dictine, being charged with speaking respectfully of the above Patrick Hamilton, was thrown into pri­son; and, in confessing himself to a friar, owned that he thought Hamilton a good man; and that the articles for which he was sentenced to die, might [...]e defended. This being revealed by the friar, it was received as evidence; and the poor benedictine was sentenced to be burnt.

WHILST consultation was held, with regard to the manner of his execution, John Lindsay, one of the archbishop's gentlemen, offered his advice, to burn friar Forest in some cellar; for, said he, the smoke of Patrick Hamilton hath infected all those o [...] whom it blew.

THIS advice was taken, and the poor victim was rather suffocated than burnt.

THE next who fell victims for professing the truth of the gospel were, David Stratton and Norman Gourlay.

WHEN they arrived at the fatal spot, they both kneeled down, and prayed for some time, with great fervency. They then arose, when Stratton, addressing himself to the spectators, exhorted them to lay aside their superstitious and idolatrous notions, and employ their time in seeking the true light of the gospel. He would have said more, but was prevented by the officers who attended.

THEIR sentence was then put into execution, and they chearfully resigned up their souls to that God who gave them, hoping, through the merits of the great Redeemer, for a glorious resurrection to life immortal.—They suffered in the year 1534.

THE martyrdoms of the two before-mentioned persons were soon followed by that of Mr. Thomas Forret, who, for a considerable time, had been dean of the Romish church; Killor and Beverage, two blacksmiths; Duncan Simson, a priest; and Robert Forrester, a gentleman. They were all burnt toge­ther, on the Castle-hill at Edinburgh, the last day of February, 1538.

THE year following the martyrdoms of the before-mentioned persons, viz. 1539, two others were ap­prehended on a suspicion of heresy; namely, Jerom Russel, and Alexander Kennedy, a youth about eighteen years of age.

THESE two persons, after being some time confin­ed in prison, were brought before the archbishop for examination. In the course of which Russel, being a very sensible man, reasoned learnedly against his ac­cusers; while they in return made use of very op­probrious language.

THE examination being over, and both of them deemed heretics, the archbishop pronounced the dreadful sentence of death, and they were immedi­ately delivered over to the secular power in order for execution.

[Page 244]THE next day they were led to the place ap­pointed for them to suffer; in their way to which Russel, seeing his fellow-sufferer have the appear­ance of timidity in his countenance, thus addressed him: "Brother, fear not; greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world. The pain that we are to suffer is short, and shall be light; but our joy and consolation shall never have an end. Let us, therefore, strive to enter into our Master and Saviour's joy, by the same strait way which he hath taken before us. Death cannot hurt us, for it is already destroyed by him, for whose sake we are now going to suffer.

WHEN they arrived at the fatal spot, they both kneeled down and prayed for some time; after which, being fastened to the stake, and the faggots lighted, they chearfully resigned their souls into the hands of him who gave them, in full hopes of an everlasting reward in the heavenly mansions.

IN 1543, the archbishop of St. Andrew's made a visitation into various parts of his diocese, when several persons were informed against at Perth for heresy. Among these the following were con­demned to die, viz. William Anderson, Robert Lamb, James Finlayson, James Hunter, James Raveleson, and Helen Stark,

THE accusations laid against these respective per­sons were as follow:

THE four first were accused of having hung up the image of sir Francis, nailing rams horns on his head, and fastening a cow's tail on his rump; but the principal matter on which they were condemn­ed was, having regaled themselves with a goose on a fast day.

JAMES RAVELESON was accused of having orna­mented his house with the three crowned diadem of Peter, carved in wood, which the archbishop con­ceived to be done in mockery to his cardinal's cap.

HELEN STARK was accused of not having ac­customed herself to pray to the virgin Mary, more especially during the time she was in child­bed.

ON these respective accusations they were all found guilty, and immediately received sentence of death; the four men for eating the goose to [...] hanged; James Raveleson to be burnt; and the woman, with her sucking infant, to be put into [...] sack, and drowned.

THE four men, with the woman and child, suff [...] ­ed at the same time; but James Raveleson was not executed till some days after.

BESIDES the above-mentioned persons, many others were cruelly persecuted, some being bani [...] ­ed, and others being confined in loathsome d [...] ­geons. Among whom were Mr. John Knox, the celebrated Scottish reformist; and John Rogers, a pious and learned man, who was murdered in [...], and his body thrown over the walls into the street; after which a report was spread, [...] had met with his death by attempting to make his escape.

An Account of the Persecutions against the Protestants in Ireland, distinguished by the Name of THE IRISH MASSACRE.

THOUGH the various attempts made by the Irish against the English usually go under the denomination of rebellion, yet they more properly deserve the epithet of persecution, as all their de­structive efforts were particularly levelled at the protestants only, whom they were determined, if possible, totally to extirpate from the kingdom. They had, indeed, hitherto miscarried; but they at length hit upon a project that succeeded to their wishes, and produced a catastrophe that will remain in characters of blood to the latest posterity.

THAT the Romish clergy of Ireland were the principal fomenters of the rebellions in that king­dom, already mentioned, is particularly evident from their treacherous and disloyal behaviour un­der queen Elizabeth and king James I. they conti­nually urging to the people the lawfulness of killing all protestants, who supported the right of the crown of England to Ireland; and assuring them, that all papists who should die fighting against the protest­ants, would go immediately to heaven.

THESE Irish ecclesiastics, under Charles I. were greatly increased by titular Romish archbishops, bishops, deans, vicars-general, abbots, priests, and friars; for which reason, in 1629, the public exer­cise of the popish rites and ceremonies was forbid­den.

BUT notwithstanding this, soon after the Romish clergy erected a new popish university in the city of Dublin. They also proceeded to build monasteries and nunneries in various parts of the kingdom; in which places these very Romish clergy, and the chief of the Irish, had frequent meetings; and, from thence, used to pass, to and fro, to France, Spain, Flanders, Lorrain, and Rome; where the detestable plot of 1641 was hatching by the family of the O'Neals, and their followers.

A short time before the horrid conspiracy broke out, which we are now going to relate, the papists of Ireland had presented a remonstrance to the lords-justice of that kingdom, demanding the free exer­cise of their religion, and a repeal of all laws to the contrary; to which both houses of parliament in En­gland solemnly answered, that they would never grant any toleration to the popish religion in that kingdom.

THIS farther irritated the papists to put in execu­tion the diabolical plot concerted for the destruction of the protestants; and it failed not of the success wished for by its malicious and rancorous projectors.

THE design of this horrid conspiracy was, that a general insurrection should take place at the same time throughout the kingdom; and that all the pro­testants, without exception, should be murdered. The day fixed for this horrid massacre was, the 23d of October, 1641, the feast of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the jesuits; and the chief conspirators, in the principal parts of the kingdom, made the ne­cessary preparations for the intended conflict.

IN order that this detested scheme might the more infallibly succeed, the most distinguished arti­fices were practised by the papists; and their beha­viour, in their visits to the protestants, at this time, was with more seeming kindness than they had hi­therto shewn, which was done the more completely to effect the inhuman and treacherous designs then meditating against them.

THE execution of this savage conspiracy was de­layed till the approach of winter, that the sending [Page 249] troops from England might be attended with great­er difficulty. Cardinal Richlieu, the French mini­ster, had promised the conspirators a considerable supply of men and money; and many Irish officers had given the strongest assurances, that they would heartily concur with their catholic brethren, as soon as the insurrection appeared.

THE day preceding that appointed for carrying this horrid design into execution was now arrived, when, happily for the metropolis of the kingdom, the conspiracy was discovered by one Owen O'Con­nelly, an Irishman, for which most signal service the English parliament voted him 500l. and a pension of 200l. during his life.

SO very seasonably was this plot discovered, even but a few hours before the city and castle of Dublin were to have been surprized, that the lords-justices had but just time to put themselves, and the city, in a proper posture of defence. The lord M ^cGuire, who was the principal leader here, with his accom­plices, were seized the same evening in the city: and in their lodgings were found swords, hatchets, pole-axes, hammers, and such other instruments of death as had been prepared for the destruction and extirpation of the protestants in that part of the kingdom.

THUS was the metropolis happily preserved; but the bloody part of the intended tragedy was past prevention. The conspirators were all in arms all over the kingdom early in the morning of the day appointed, and every protestant who fell in their way was immediately murdered. No age, no sex, no condition was spared. The wife weeping for her butchered husband, and embracing her helpless children, was pierced with them, and perished by the same stroke. The old, the young, the vigo­rous, and infirm, underwent the same fate, and were blended in one common ruin. In vain did flight save them from the first assault: destruction was e­very where let loose, and met the hunted victims at every turn. In vain was recourse had to relations, to companions, to friends: all connections were dissolved, and death was dealt by that hand from which protection was implored and expected. Without provocation, without opposition, the asto­nished English▪ living in profound peace, and, as they though [...], [...] security, were massacred by their nearest neighbours, [...] whom they had l [...]ng main­tained a continued intercourse of kindness and good offices. Nay, even death was the slightest punish­ments in human form: all the tortures which wan­ton cruelty could invent, all the lingering pains of body, the anguish of mind, the agonies of despair, could not satiate revenge excited without injury, and cruelly derived from no cause whatever. De­praved nature, even perverted religion, though en­couraged by the utmost licence, cannot reach to a greater pitch of ferocity than appeared in these merciless barbarians. Even the weaker sex them­selves, naturally tender to their own sufferings, and compassionate to those of others, here emulated their robust companions in the practice of every cruelty. The very children, taught by example, and encouraged by the exhortation of their parents, dealt their feeble blows on the dead carcases of the defenceless children of the English.

NOR was the avarice of the Irish sufficient to produce the least restraint on their cruelty. Such was their frenzy, that the cattle they had seized, and by rapine had made their own, were, be­cause they bore the name of English, wantonly slaughtered, or, when covered with wounds, turned loose into the woods, there to perish by slow and lingering torments.

THE commodious habitations of the planters were laid in ashes, or levelled with the ground. And where the wretched owners had shut themselves up in the houses, and were preparing for defence, they perished in the flames, together with their wives and children.

SUCH is the general description of this unparal­lelled massacre; but it now remains from the na­ture of our work, that we proceed to particulars.

THE bigoted and merciless papists had no sooner began to imbrue their hands in blood, than they re­peated the horrid tragedy day after day; and the pro­testants in all parts of the kingdom [...]ell victims to their fury by deaths of the most unheard-of nature.

THE ignorant Irish were more strongly instigated to execute the infernal business by the jesuits, priests, and friars, who, when the day for the execution of the plot was agreed on, recommended, in their prayers, diligence in the great design, which they said would greatly tend to the prosperity of the king­dom, and to the advancement of the catholic cause. They every where declared [...]o the common people, [Page 250] that the protestants were heretics, and ought not to be suffered to live any longer among them; adding that it was no more a sin to kill an Englishman than to kill a dog; and that the relieving or pro­tecting them was a crime of the most unpardonable nature.

THE papists having besieged the town and castle of Longford, and the inhabitants of the latter, who were protestants, surrendering on condition of be­ing allowed quarter, the besiegers, the instant the towns-people appeared, attacked them in the most unmerciful manner, their priest, as a signal for the rest to fall on, first ripping open the belly of the English protestant minister; after which his followers mur­dered all the rest, some of whom they hung, others were stabbed or shot, and great numbers knocked on the head with axes provided for the purpose.

THE garrison at Sligo was treated in like man­ner by O'Connor Slygah; who, upon the protes­tants quitting their holds, promised them quarter, and to convey them safe over the Curlew mountains, to Roscommon. But he first imprisoned them in a most loathsome gaol, allowing them only grains for their food. Afterwards, when some papists were merry over their cups, who were come to congratulate their wicked brethren for their victory over these unhappy creatures, those protestants who survived were brought forth by the White-friars, and were either killed, or precipitated over the bridge into a swift water, where they were soon destroyed. It is added, that this wicked company of White-friars went some time after, in solemn procession, with holy water in their hands, to sprinkle the river, on pretence of cleansing and purifying it from the stains and pollution of the blood and dead bodies of the heretics, as they called the unfortunate protestants who were inhumanly slaughtered at this very time.

AT Kilmore, Dr. Bedell, bishop of that see▪ had charitably settled and supported a great number of distressed protestants, who had fled from their ha­bitations to escape the diabolical cruelties committed by the papists. But they did not long en [...]oy the consolation of living together▪ the good pr [...] lite was forcibly dragged from his episcopal resi­dence, which was immediately occupied by Dr. [...] p [...]pish titular bishop of [...]lmore, who said mass in the church the Sunday following, and then seized on all the goods aad effects belonging to the persecuted bishop.

SOON after this the papists forced Dr. Bedell, his two sons, and the rest of his family, with some of the chief of the protestants whom he had protec­ted, into a ruinous castle, called Lochwater, situa­ted in a lake near the sea. Here he remained with his companions some weeks, all of them daily ex­pecting to be put to death. The greatest part of them were stripped naked, by which means, as the season was cold, (it being the month of December) and the building in which they were confined open at the top, they suffered the most severe hardships.

THEY continued in this situation till the 7th of January, when they were all released. The bishop was courteously received into the house of Dennis O'Sheridan, one of his clergy, whom he had made a convert to the church of England; but he did not long survive this kindness.

DURING his residence here, he spent the whole of his time in religious exercises, the better to fit and prepare himself, and his sorrowful companions, for their great change, as nothing but certain death was perpetually before their eyes.

HE was at this time in the 71st year of his age, and being afflicted with a violent ague caught in his late cold and desolate habitation on the lake, it soon threw him into a fever of the most dangerous nature. Finding his dissolution at hand, he received it with joy, like one of the primitive martyrs just hastening to his crow [...] of glory.

AFTER address [...]ing his little flock, and exhorting them to patience, in the most pathetic manne [...], as they saw their own last day approaching: after hav­ing solemnly blessed his people, his family and his children, he finish [...]d the course of his ministry and life together, on the 7th [...], [...]42.

HIS friends and relations applied to th [...] in [...]ud [...]ng bishop, for leave to [...] difficulty obtained▪ he, at [...] ▪ that the church yard was holy ground, and should [...] longer defiled with heretic [...]: however, [...] [Page]

[Page 251] last granted, and though the church funeral service was not used at the solemnity, (for fear of the Irish papists) yet some of the better sort, who had the highest veneration for him when living, attended his remains to the grave. At his interment, they discharged a volley of shot, crying out, Requiescat in pace ultimus Anglorum: that is, "May the last of the English rest in peace." Adding, that as he was one of the best, so he should be the last English bishop found among them.

HIS learning was very extensive; and he would have given the world a greater proof of it, had he printed all he wrote. Scarce any of his writings were saved; the papists having destroyed most of his papers, and his library.

HE had gathered a vast heap of critical expositions of scripture, all which, with a great trunk full of [...] manuscripts, fell into the hands of the Irish. [...]ppily his Hebrew MS. was preserved, and is [...] in the library of Emanuel-College, Oxford.

IN the barony of Terawley, the papists, at the [...]stigation of their friars, compelled above 40 En­glish protestants, some of whom were women and children, to the hard fate either of falling by the sword, or of being drowned in the sea. These chu­sing the latter, were accordingly forced, by the na­ked weapons of their inexorable persecutors, into the deep, where, with their children in their arms, they first waded up to their chins, and afterwards sunk down and perished together.

IN the castle of Lisgool upwards of 150 men, women, and children, were all burnt together; and at the castle of Moneah not less than 100 were all put to the sword. Great numbers were also murdererd at the castle of Tullah, which was delivered up to M ^cGuire on condition of having fair quarter; but no sooner had that base villain got possession of the place, than he ordered his followers to murder the people, which was immediately done with the greatest cruelty.

MANY others were put to deaths of the most horrid nature, and such as could have been invented only by daemons instead of men.

SOME of them were laid with the center of their backs on the axle-tree of a carriage, with their legs resting on the ground on one side, and their arms and head on the other. In this position one of the savages scourged the wretched object on the thighs, legs, &c. while another set on furious dogs, who tore to pieces the arms and upper parts of the bo­dy; and in this dreadful manner were they depri­ved of their existence.

GREAT numbers were fastened to horses tails, and the beasts being set on full gallop by their ri­ders, the wretched victims were dragged along till they expired.

OTHERS were hung on lofty gibbets, and a fire being kindled under them, they finished their lives, partly by hanging, and partly by suffocation.

NOR did the more tender sex escape the least par­ticle of cruelty that could be projected by their mer­ciless and furious persecutors. Many wome [...] ▪ of all ages, were put to deaths of the most cruel na­ture. Some in particular were fastend to strong posts, and being stripped to their waists, the inhu­man monsters cut off their right breasts with shears, which, of course, put them to the most excruciating torments; and in this position they were left till, from the loss of blood, they expired.

SUCH was the savage ferocity of these barbarians, that even unborn infants were dragged from the womb to become victims to their rage. Many un­happy mothers, were hung naked on the branches of trees, and their bodies being cut open, the innocent offsprings were taken from them, and thrown to dogs and swine. And to increase the horrid scene, they would oblige the husband to be a spectator before he suffered himself.

AT the town of Lissenskeath they hanged above 100 Scottish protestants, shewing them no more mercy then they did to the English.

M ^cGUIRE, going to the castle of that town, desired to speak with the governor, when be­ing admitted, he immediately burnt the records of the county, which were kept there. He then demanded 1000l. of the governor, which ha­ving [Page 252] received, he immediately compelled him to hear mass, and to swear that he would continue so to do. And to complete his horrid barbarities, he ordered the wife and children of the governor to be hung up before his face; besides massacring at least 100 of the inhabitants.

UPWARDS of a thousand men, women, and chil­dren, were driven, in different companies, to Por­tendown bridge, which was broken down in the middle, and there compelled to throw themselves into the water; and such as attempted to reach the shore were knocked on the head.

IN the same part of the country, at least four thousand persons were drowned in different places. The inhuman papists, after first stripping them, drove them like beasts to the spot fixed on for their destruction; and if any, through fatigue, or natural infirmities, were slack in their pace, they pricked them with their swords and pikes; and to strike a farther terror on the multitude, they murdered some by the way. Many of these poor wretches, when thrown into the water, endeavoured to save themselves by swimming to the shore; but their merciless persecutors prevented their endeavours ta­king effect, by shooting them in the water.

IN one place one hundred and forty English, af­ter being driven for many miles stark naked, and in the most severe weather, were all murdered on the same spot, some being hanged, others burnt, some shot, and many of them buried alive; and so cruel were their tormentors, that they would not suffer them to pray before they robbed them of their miserable existence.

OTHER companies they took under pretence of [...] [...]onduct, who, from that consideration, proceed­ed chearfully on their journey; but when the treache­rous papists had go [...] them to a convenient spot, they butchered them all in the most cruel manner.

ONE hundred and fifteen men, women, and chil­dren, were conducted by order of sir Phelim O, Neal, to Porte [...]down bridge, where they were all forced into the river, and drowned. One woman, named Campbel, fi [...]ding no probability of escaping, sudden­ly clasped a papist chief in her arms, and held him so fast, that they were both drowned together.

IN Killoman they massacred forty-eight families, among whom twenty-two were burnt together in one house. The rest were either hanged, shot, or drowned.

IN Kilmore the inhabitants, which consisted of about two hundred families, all fell victims to their rage. Some of them sat in the stocks till they con­fessed where their money was; after which they put them to death. The whole county was one common scene of butchery, and many thousands perished in a short time by sword, famine, fire, water, and all other the most cruel deaths, that rage and malice could invent.

THESE bloody villains dispatched some immedi­ately; but would by no means suffer them to pray. Others they imprisoned in filthy dungeons, putting heavy bolts on their legs, and keeping them there till they were starved to death.

AT Casel they put all the protestants into a loath­some dungeon, where they kept them together, for several weeks, in the greatest misery. At length they were released, when some of them were barba­rously mangled, and left on the highways to perish at leisure; others were hanged, and some were bu­ried in the ground upright, with their heads above the earth, the papists, to increase their misery, treat­ing them with derision during their sufferings.

IN the county of Antrim they murdered nine hun­dred and fifty-four protestants in one morning; and afte [...]wards about twelve hundred more in that county.

AT a town called Lisnegary, they forced twenty­four protestants into a house, and then setting fire to it, burned them together, counterfeiting their outcries in derision to others.

AMONG other acts of cruelty, they took two chil­dren belonging to an English woman, and dashed out their brains before her face; after which they threw the mother into a river, and she was drowned. They served many children in the like manner, to the great affliction of their parents, and [...] disgrace of human nature.

[Page 253]IN Kilkenny all the protestants, without excepti­on, were put to death; and some of them in so cruel a manner, as perhaps, was never before thought of.

THEY beat an English woman with such savage barbarity, that she had scarce a whole bone left; af­ter which they threw her in a ditch; but not satisfied with this, they took her child, a girl about six years of age, and after ripping up its belly, threw it to its mother, there to languish till it perished.

THEY forced one man to go to mass, after which they ripped open his body, and in that manner left him. They sawed another asunder, cut the throat of his wife, and after having dashed out the brains of their child, an infant, threw it to the swine, who greedily devoured it.

AFTER committing these, and many other horrid cruelties, they took the heads of seven protestants, and among them that of a pious minister, all which they fixed up at the market cross. They put a gag into the minister's mouth, then slit his cheeks to his ears, and laying a leaf of a bible before it, bid him preach, for his mouth was wide enough. They did several other things by way of derision, and ex­pressed the greatest satisfaction at having thus mur­dered, and exposed the unhappy protestants.

IT is impossible to conceive the pleasure these monsters took in exercising [...]heir cruelty, and to in­crease the misery of those who fell into their hands, when they butchered them they would say, "Your soul to the devil."

ON [...] of these miscreants would come into a house with his hands imbrued in blood, and boast that it was English blood, and that his sword had pricked the white skins of the protestants, even to the [...]ilts.

WHEN any one of them had killed a protestant, others would come and receive a gratification in cut­ting and mangling the body: after which they left it exposed to be devoured by d [...]gs; and when they had slain a number of them they would boast that the devil was beholden to them for sending so many souls to hell.

BUT it is no wonder they should thus treat the innocent christians, when they hesitated not to com­mit blasphemy against God, and his most holy word.

IN one place they burnt two protestant bibles, and then said they had burnt hell-fire. In the church at Powerscourt they burnt the pulpit, pews, chests, and bibles belonging to it. They took other bibles, and after wetting them with dirty water, dashed them in the faces of the protestants, saying, "We know you love a good lesson; here is an excellent one for you; come to-morrow, and you shall have as good a sermon as this."

SOME of the protestants they dragged by the hair of their heads into the church, where they stripped and whipped them in the most cruel manner, tell­ing them, at the same time, "That if they came to-morrow, they should hear the like sermon."

IN Munster they put to death several ministers in the most shocking manner. One, in particular, they stripped stark naked, and driving him before them, pricked him with swords and darts till he fell down and expired.

IN some places they plucked out the eyes, and cut off the hands of the protestants, and in that manner turned them into the fields, there to wan­der out their miserable existence.

THEY obliged many young men to force their aged parents to a river, where they were drowned: wives to assist in hanging their husbands; and mo­thers to cut the throats of their children.

IN one place they compelled a young man to kill his father, and then immediately hanged him. In another, they forced a woman to kill her husband, then obliged the son to kill her, and afterwards shot him through the head.

AT a place called Glaslow, a popish priest, with some others, prevailed on forty protestants to be reconciled to the church of Rome. They had no sooner done this, than they told them they were in a good faith, and that they would prevent their falling from it, and turning heretics, by sending them out of the world, which they did by imme­diately cutting their throats.

[Page 254]IN the county of Tipperary upwards of thirty protestants, men, women, and children, fell into the hands of the papists, who, after stripping them naked, murdered them with stones, pole-axes, swords, and other weapons.

IN the county of Mayo about sixty protestants, fifteen of whom were ministers, were, upon cove­nant, to be safely conducted to Galway, by one Ed­mond Burke and his soldiers; but the inhuman monster by the way drew his sword as an intimation of his design to the rest, who immediately followed his example, and murdered the whole, some of whom they stabbed, others were run through the body with pikes, and several were drowned.

IN Queen's county great numbers of protestants were put to the most shocking deaths. Fifty or sixty were placed together in one house, which be­ing set on fire, they all perished in the flames.

MANY were stripped naked, and being fastened to horses by ropes placed [...]ound their middles, were dragged through bogs till they expired.

SOME were hung by the feet to tenter-hooks dri­ven into poles; and in that wretched posture left till they perished.

OTHERS were fastened to the trunk of a tree, with a branch at top. Over this branch hung one arm, which principally supported the weight of the body; and one of the legs was turned up, and fast­ened to the trunk, while the other hung strait. In this dreadful and uneasy posture did they remain, pleasing spectacles to their blood-thirsty persecutors, till they expired.

AT Clownes seventeen men were buried alive; and an Englishman, his wife, five children, and a servant maid, were all hung together, and after­wards thrown into a ditch.

THEY hung many by the arms to branches of trees, with a weight to their feet; and others by the middle, in which posture they left them till they expired.

SEVERAL were hung on windmills, and before they were half dead, the barbarians cut them in pieces with their swords. Others, both men, wo­men, and children, they cut and hacked in various parts of their bodies, and left them wallowing in their blood to perish where they fell. One poor woman they hung on a gibbet, with her child, an infant about a twelvemonth old, the latter of whom was hung by the neck with the hair of its mother's head, and in that manner finished its short but miserable existence.

IN the county of Tyrone no less than three hun­dred protestants were drowned in one day; and many others were hanged▪ burned, and otherwise put to death.

DR. MAXWELL, rector of Tyrone, lived at this time near Armagh, and suffered greatly from these merciless savages. This person, in his examina­tion, taken upon oath before the king's commis­sioners, declared, that the Irish papists owned to him, that [...]ey, at several times, had destroyed, in one place, 12,000 protestants, whom they inhuman­ly slaughtered at Glynwood, in their flight from the county of Armagh.

AS the river Bann was not fordable, and the bridge broken down, the Irish forced thither, at different times, a great number of unarmed, de­fenceless protestants, and with pikes and swords violently thrust above one thousand into the river, where they miserably perished.

NOR did the cathedral of Arm [...]gh escape the fury of these barbarians, it being maliciously set on fire by their leaders, and burnt to the ground. And to extirpate, if possible, the very race of those unhap­py protestants, who lived in or near Armagh, the Irish first burnt all their houses, and then gathered together many hundreds of those innocent people, young and old, on pretence of allowing them a guard and safe conduct to Colerain; when they treacherously fell on them by the way, and inhu­manly murdered them.

THE like horrid barbarities with those we have particularized, were practised on the wretched pro­testants in almost all parts of the kingdom: and, when an e [...]timate was afterwards made of the num­ber [Page 255] who were sacrificed to gratify the diabolical souls of the papists, it amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand. But it now remains that we proceed to the particulars that followed.

THESE desperate wretches, flushed and grown in­solent with success, (though by methods attended with such excessive barbarities as perhaps not to be equalled) soon got possession of the castle of Newry, where the king's stores and ammunition were lodg­ed; and, with as little difficulty made themselves masters of Dundalk. They afterwards took the town of Ardee, where they murdered all the pro­testants, and then proceeded to Drogheda. The garrison of Drogheda was in no condition to sustain a siege, notwithstanding which, as often as the Iri [...]h renewed their attacks they were vigorously repulsed, by a very unequal number of the king's forces, and a few faithful protestant citizens under sir Henry Tichborne, the governor, assisted by the lord vis­count Moore. The siege of Drogheda began on the 30th of November, 1641, and held till the 4th of March, 1642, when sir Phelim O'Neal, and the Irish miscreants under him were forced to retire.

IN the mean time ten thousand troops were sent from Scotland to the relief of the remaining pro­testants in Ireland, which being properly divided in the most capital parts of the kingdom, happily eclipsed the power of the Irish savages; and the protestants, for a time, lived in tranquillity.

IN the reign of king James II. they were again interrupted, for in a parliament held at Dublin in the year 1689, great numbers of the protestant no­bility, clergy, and gentry of Ireland, were attainted of high treason. The government of the kingdom was▪ at that time, invested in the earl of Tyrconnel, a bigoted papist, and an inve [...]rate enemy to the protestants. By his orders they were again perse­cuted in various parts of the kingdom. The reve­nues of the city of Dublin were s [...]zed▪ and most of the churches converted into prison [...]. And had it not been for the resolution and uncommon b [...]a [...]ery of the [...] the city of Londonder [...]y, and the town of [...], there [...] not o [...] place re­mained for refuge to the distressed protestants in the whole kingdom: but all most have been given up to king James, and to the furious popish party that governed him.

THE remarkable siege of Londonderry was open­ed on the 18th of April, 1689, by twenty thousand papists, the flower of the Irish army. The city was not properly circumstanced to sustain a siege, the defenders consisting of a body of raw undisciplined protestants, who had fled thither for shelter, and half a regiment of lord Mountjoy's disciplined sol­diers, with the principal part of the inhabitants, making in all only seven thousand three hundred and sixty-one fighting men.

THE besieged hoped, at first, that their stores of corn, and other necessaries, would be sufficient; but by the continuance of the siege their wants increas­ed; and these became at last so heavy, that for a considerable time before the siege was raised, a pint of coarse barley, a small quantity of greens, a few spoonfuls of starch, with a moderate proportion of horse flesh, were reckoned a week's provision for a soldier. And they were, at length, reduced to such extremities, that they eat dogs, cats, and mice.

THEIR miseries increasing with the siege, many, through mere hunger and want, pined and languish­ed away, or fell dead in the streets. And it is re­markable, that when their long expected succours arrived from England, they were upon the point of being reduced to this alternative, either to pre­serve their existence by eating each other, or at­tempting to fight their way through the Irish, which must have infallibly produced their destruction.

THESE succours were most happily brought by the ship Mountjoy, of Derry, and the Phoenix, of Colerain, at which time they had only nine lean horses left, with a pint of meal to each man. By hunger, and the fatigues of war, their seven thou­sand three hundred and sixty-one fighting men were reduced to four thousand three hundred, one-fourth part of whom were rendered unserviceable.

AS the calamities of the besieged were very great, so likewise were the terrors and sufferings of their protestant friends and relations; all of whom (even w [...]men and children) were forcibly driven from the country thirty miles round, and inhumanly reduced [Page 256] to the sad necessity of continuing some days and nights, without food or covering, before the walls of the town; and were thus exposed to the conti [...]nual fire both of the Irish army from without, and the shot of their friends from within.

BUT the succours from England happily arriving, put an end to their affliction; and the siege was raised on the 31st of July, having been continued upwards of three months.

THE day before the siege of Londonderry was raised, the Inniskilliners engaged a body of six thou­sand Irish Roman catholics, at Newton Butler, or Crown-Castle, of whom near five thousand were slain. This, with the defeat at Londonderry, dis­pirited the papists, and they gave up all farther at­tempts to persecute the protestants.

THE year following, viz. 1690, the Irish took up arms in favour of the abdicated prince, king James II. but they were totally defeated by his suc­cessor king William the Third. That monarch, before he left the country, reduced them to a state of subjection, in which they have ever since conti­nued; and it is to be hoped will so remain as long as time shall be.

BY a report made in Ireland, in the year 1731, it appeared, that a great number of eclesiastics had, in defiance of the laws, flocked into that kingdom: that several convents had been o [...]ened by jesuits, monks, and friars: that many new and pompous mass-houses had been erected in some of the most conspicuous parts of their great cities, where there had not been any before; and that such swarms of vagrant, immoral Romish priests had appeared, that the very papists themselves considered them as a burthen.

BUT notwithstanding all this, the protestant in­terest at present stands upon a much stronger basis than it did a century ago. The Irish, who for­merly led an unset [...]led and roving life, in the woods, bogs, and mountains, and lived on the depredation of their neighbours; they who, in the morning seized the prey, and at night divided the spoil, have, for many years past, become quiet and civilized. They taste the sweets of English society, and the advantages of civil government. They trade in our cities, and are employed in our manufactures. They are received also into English families; and are treated with great humanity by the protes­tants.

THE heads of their clans, and the chiefs of the great Irish families, who cruelly oppressed and ty­rannized over their vassals, are now dwindled, in a great measure, to nothing; and most of the ancient popish nobility and gentry of Ireland have renoun­ced the Romish religion.

IT is also to be hoped, that inestimable benefits will arise from the establishment of protestant schools in various parts of the kingdom, in which the chil­dren of the Roman catholics are instructed in reli­gion and reading, whereby the mist of ignorance is dispelled from their eyes, which was the great source of the cruel transactions that have taken place, at different periods, in that kingdom.

IN order to preserve the protestant interest in Ire­land upon a solid basis, it behoves all in whom that power is invested, to discharge it with the strictest assiduity and attention; for should it once again lose ground, there is no doubt but the papists would take those advantages they have hitherto done, and thousands might yet fall victims to their malicious bigotry.

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