The spirit of the martyrs revived in a brief compendious collection of the most remarkable passages and living testimonies of the true church, seed of God, and faithful martyrs in all ages: contained in several ecclesiastical histories & chronological accounts of the succession of the true church from the creation, the times of the fathers, patriarchs, prophets, Christ and the Apostles.

Sufferers in France for bearing the like Witness to the Gospel.

Denis Renix at Melde in the year 1558. Was burnt for testifying a∣gainst the Mass, he was alwayes wont to have in his mouth the Words of Christ, He that denyeth me before men, him wi•••• I also deny be∣fore my Father; he was burnt in a slow Fire, and did abide much Torments.

Note, upon a complaint made to the Council, called Le Chamber Ardante, that the Judges suffered Hereticks to have their Tongues; Immediately thereupon a Decree was made, that all which were to be burned unless they recanted at the fire, should have their Tongues cut off, which Law afterwards was diligently observed.

Stephen Polliard coming out of Normandy in the year 1546. (where he was born) unto Meux, tarried there not long, but he was com∣pelled to flee, and went to a Town called Fera, where he was ap∣prehended and brought to Paris, and there cast into a foul and dark Prison, in which Prison he was kept in Bonds and Fetters a long time, where he saw almost no Light; at length being called for before the Senate, and his sentence given to have his Tongue cut out, and to be burnt alive, his Satchell of Books hanging about his neck; O Lord, said he, is the World in blindness and darkness still; for he thought, being in Prison so long that the World had been altered

from its old darkness to better knowledge, at last with his Books a∣bout his neck he was burnt to death.

Florent Venote remained a Prisoner in Paris four years, during which time he was put to divers Torments, one kind of Torment was, he was put in a narrow place, so straight that he could neither stand nor lie, which they called the Hose, or Boots, because it was strait below, and wide above; in this he remained seven weeks, where the Tormentors affirm, that no Thief or Murtherer could ever endure 15 days, but were in danger of Life or Madness; and at last on the 9th of the Moneth, called July, he was burnt to death, with divers other Martyrs who were burnt as a Spectacle at the Kings coming into Paris.

The next that suffered was a poor Taylor in Paris, who for work∣ing upon Holy-days (so called) and denying to observe them, was clapt in Prison, the King hearing of it sent for him before him, and some of his Peeres; being before the King, he answered with great boldness, wit and memory, defending the cause of Christ, neither flattering their Persons nor fearing their threats, which struck the King in a great damp, in museing in his mind; which the Bishops seeing, committed the poor Taylor again to the hands of the Officer, saying, he was a stubborn Fellow, and fitter to be punisht, then to be marvelled at; within few days after he was condemned to be burnt alive.

The next year two men for friendly admonishing a certain Priest which in his Sermon had abused the Name of God, were both burn∣ed; another young man of the Age of eighteen years, for rebuking a man in Paris for Swearing, being suspected to be a Lutheran, was apprehended, and brought before the Council at Paris, who com∣mitted him to Prison, where he was so cruelly Racked and Torment∣ed, that one of the Persecutors seeing it, could not but turn his back and weep; when he was brought and put in the Fire, he was pluckt up again upon the Gibbet, and asked, whether he would turn, to whom he said, that he was in his way towards God, and therefore desired them to let him go.

John Joyer, and his Servant being a young man, in the year 1552. coming from Geneva to their Country with certain Books, were ap∣prehended by the way, and had to Tholouse; where the Master was first condemned, the Servant being young, was not so prompt to answer, but directed them to his Master, to answer them; when they were brought to the Stake, the young man first going up, be∣gan to weep, the Master fearing lest he should recant ran to him, and he was comforted; as they were in the Fire, the Master standing upright to the Stake shifted the Fire from him to his Servant, being more carfull for him, then for himself; and when he saw him dead, he bowed down himself in the flame and so expired.

Mathias Dimonetus Merchant at Lyons, in the year 1553. having been a man of a Vicious and detestable life, was notwithstanding through the Grace of God brought to the knowledge and Savour of

his Truth, for a Testimony to which he was soon after Imprisoned; being in Prison he had great conflicts with the infirmity of his own Flesh, but especially with the temptation of his Parents, Brethren and Kinsfolks, and the great sorrow of his Mother; nevertheless the Lord so assisted him that he endured to the end; and was burnt to death.

In the year 1558. the fourth day of the Month called September, there being a Company of the Faithful, to the number of three or four hundred met together at Paris in a certain House, in the begin∣ning of the night, they were discovered by some Priests, the House was soon beset, and the City in an uproar, many being in an extream rage, furiously seeking to have their blood; at the suddenness of this thing, the poor people were strucken in great fear; and fell to prayer, about six or sevenscore of them having Weapons, escaped thorow the Multitude, save only one, who was knockt down with Scones, and destroyed; the Women remaining in the House were taken by the Magistrates and had to Prison; in their passing to the Prison they were plucked and haled by the rude Multitude, who tore their Gar∣ments, and pulled of their Hoods, and disfigured their Faces with dirt; they were accused to the King by a Priest, that they put out the Candles in their Meetings, and went together Jack and Gill; and that they maintained there was no God, and denyed the Divi∣nity and Humanity of Christ, the Immortallity of the Soul, and the Resurrection of the Body, &c. these things a lying Doctor charg∣ed on them, without any proof, moving the King & People to destroy them; and shortly after a Commission was directed out by the King to certain Councellors to try and give Judgment upon the aforesaid Sufferers, a particular Relation of whose Execution is at large insert∣ed by my Author, but there being little material circumstances either in their Tryal or Execution, wherefore I thought not meet here to insert them.

About this time many suffered Martyrdom under the cruel and bloody Inquisition in Spain, first began by King Fardinandus and Elizabeth his wife; the Spainsh Priests do hold the holy and sacred In∣quisition, as they call it, cannot err, and that the holy Fathers the Inquisitors cannot be deceived; if any be apprehended as favourers of Hereticks, he is carried and put into a horrible Prison, and none permitted to come to him, but there he is kept alone in a place where he cannot see so much as the ground, and often Whipt, Scourged, Irons put upon him, Tortured and Racked, sometimes brought out and shewed in some higher place to the People, as a Spectacle of re∣buking Infamy; and thus some are detained there many years, and murdered by long Torments in which is more cruelty executed then if they were at once slain by the Hangman; during all their time of imprisonment, whatsoever process is done against them, no person knoweth it, but only the holy Fathers and Tormentors, which are sworn to execute the Torments; all the proceedings of the Cour of that Execrable Inquisition are done in hugger mugger, the Accuset

is secret, the Crime secret, and the witness secret, by the rigour of which Inquisition many good men have been destroyed, both in Spain and Italy.

In the Kingdom of Naples in the year 1560. in the time of Pope Pius the fouth, was begun a hot Persecution against the Protestants, ma∣ny men and their wives being slain.

Likewise the same year in Calabria, the number of Eighty eight Persons both old and young suffered for the Protestant Religion by the Papists, all which were put together in one House, and taken out one after another, and laid upon the Butchers Stall like the Sheep in the Shambles, with one bloody Knife they were all killed one after ano∣ther, a Spectacle most tragical for all Posterity to remember, and almost incredible to believe, but that it is confirmed by two Epi∣stles of sufficient credit, which are at large incerted in the Book of Martyrs.

The next matter to be treated on is the great Persecution and De∣struction of the People of Merindol and Cabries in the Country of Province, where not a few persons, but whole Villages, and Town∣ships, with the most part of all the Country both Men, Women, and Childen, were put to all kind of cruelly, and suffered Martyrdom for the profession of the Gospel.

From the year 1200. they had refused the Bishop of Rome's Authori∣ty, for this cause they were often accused and complained of to the King, as Contemners and Dispisers of the Magistrates, and Rebels; wherefore they were called by divers names according to the Coun∣tries and places where they dwelt; for in the Country about Lions, they were called the poor People of Lions; in the borders of Sarmatia, and Liv••nia, and other Countrys towards the North, they were cal∣led Lollards; in Flanders and Artois, Turrelupines, of a Desart where Wolves did haunt in Dolphine; with great dispite they were called Chagnars, because they lived in places open to the Sun without House or harbour, but most commonly they were called Waldoys of Waldo, who first instructed them in the Word of God, as before is related, which name continued till the name of Lutherans come up, which above all others was most hated and abhorred.

Notwithstanding in these most spiteful Contumelies and Slanders, the People dwelling at the foot of the Alpes, and also in Merindol, and Cabries alwayes lived so Godly, so uprightly and justly, that in all their life and conversation there appeared to be in them a great fear of God; and that little Light of true Knowledge which God had given them, they laboured by all means to kindle and encrease daily more and more, sparing no charges, whether it were to purchase the Scriptures in their own Language, or to encourage one another in Godliness, travelling into other Countries, even to the furthest parts of the Earth, where they had heard, that any Light of the Gos∣pel began to shine.

But the more zealous these people were for a Reformation in their Religion, the more did the fury and rage of Persecution stir in the Bishops, Priests and Monks in all Province against them; amongst the

rest, one Jo. de Roma, a Monk obtaining a commission to examine those that were suspected to be of the Waldoys or Lutherans profession, forthwith ceased not to afflict the faithful with all kinds of Cruelty that he could devise or imagine; amongst other most horrible Tor∣ments, this was one, which he most delighted in, and most com∣monly practised, he filled Boots with boyling Grease, and put them upon their Legs, tying them backward, to a Form with their Legs hanging down over a small Fire, and so he examined them; thus he tormented very many, and in the end most cruelly put them to death: this cruelty coming to the French Kings ear, he was much dis∣gusted, wherefore he wrote to the Parliament at Province, that the Monk might be apprehended and punisht, but he conveyed himself away; but the Lord not long after smote him with sickness, indeed a most horrible and strange Disease, his Body being greatly tormented with Pain, and could get no Help; being had to an Hospital, his Flesh rotted away, and stunk so that none cared to come near him; and in this Rage and Torment he was under, he often cryed out, Who will deliver me? Who will Kill me, and deliver me out of these Torments and Pains, which I know I suffer for the evils and oppressions that I have done to the poor men? and in this anguish he most miserably ended his unhappy dayes.

After the death of this persecuting Monk, the Bishop of Aix by his Official continued the Persecution, and put a great Multitude of them in Prison, of whom some by force of Torments revolted, from the Truth, the others, which proved constant, after he had condem∣ned them of Heresie, were put into the hands of the ordinary Judge, which at that time was one Meiranus, a cruel Persecutor, who with∣out any form of Process or order of Law, such as the Official had pro∣nounced to be Hereticks, he put to death with most Cruel Tor∣ments.

After this Persecutor was dead one Bartholomew Casenes, President of the Parliment of Province, a Pestilent Persecutor, whom God at length struck with a fearful and sudden Death: in the time of this Tyrant those of Merindol were cited personally to appear be∣fore the Kings Attorney; but they hearing that the Court had de∣termined to burn them without any Process or Order of Law, durst not appear at the day appointed, for which cause the Court award∣ed a cruel Sentence against Merindol, and condemned all the Inhabi∣tants to be burned, both Men, Women and Children, and their Town and Houses to be rased to the Ground, and their Country to be made a Desart and Wilderness never more to be inhabited. This bloody Arrest or Decree seemed strange and wonderful, same openly saying, They marvelled the Parliment should be so mad to give out such an Arrest so manifestly injurious and unjust, and contrary to all Reason and Humanity; others said, The Judges are not bound to observe either Right or Reason in exterpating such as are suspected to be Lutherans; but what ever was said in opposition to this Decree the Bishops from time to time used all the opportunities to endeavour to put the same in execu∣tion as appears in the following Relation.

Amongst these poor men that suffered in Merindol there was a Book-seller, who for ••etting publickly to sale certain Bibles in French and Latine, in the sight of the Bishop of Aix and other Prelates, they were thereat greatly moved, and caused him to be apprehended, and committed to Prison, and afterwards he was sentenced and burnt: the Prelates seeing great dissention among the people of Avinion, and that many murmured at the death of this Book-seller for selling the Bible, to fear the people the next day they put out a Proclamation against all, French Bibles, That none should keep them in their Hands upon pain of Death.

After this Proclamation the Bishop of Aix endeavoured his utmost to prosecute the people of Merindol, being very earness with the Pre∣sident to that effect, and to put the Parliaments Arrest and Decree in execution, the President shewing himself unwilling to the Bishop to shed Innocent Blood pleaded, The King would be displeased to have such destruction made of his Subjects: then said the Bishop, Though the King at the first do think it ill done, we will so bring it to past, that in a short space he shall think it well done; for we have the Cardinals on our side, espe∣cially Cardinal Tournon.

By these Arguments of the Bishop, the President and Councel of Parliament were perswaded to raise a Force, and destroy the people of Merindol, according to the Decree: The Inhabitants of Merindol hearing thereof, and seeing nothing but present death to be at hand, with great Lamentation commended themselves and their Cause unto God by Prayer, and made themselves ready to be murdered, as Sheep for the Slaughter; whilst they were in this grievous distress, there was one raised up called the Lord of Alner, to plead with the Pre∣sident on their behalf, giving the President several Reasons, why he ought not to destroy these poor Christian man of Merindol; by which Reasons the President was perswaded, and immediatly called back his Commission, which he had given out, and caused the Army to Retire, who were within a mile and a half of Merindol; which the people of Merindol understanding, that the Army was retired, gave thanks unto God, comforting one another with Admonition and Exhortation, Alwayes to have the fear of God before their Eyes, and to seek after the everlasting Riches.

The noise of these Proceedings, and of this Arrest and Decree, coming to the King of France his ear, he appointed persons to make Inquiry into the whole matter, and to make a Report to him thereof, and what manner of People these Merindolians were.

These Deputies brought a Copy of the Arrest Decree and Pro∣ceedings unto the Kings Lieutenant, declaring unto him the great Injuries, Polling, Extortions, Exactions, Tyrannies and Cruel∣ties which the Judges, as well Secular as Ecclesiastical, had used against them of Merindol and others, as touching the be∣haviour and disposition of those which were persecuted, they re∣ported, that the most part of the men of Province, affirmed them to be men given to great Labour and Travel, and that about two hundred years past (as it is reported) they came out of the Coun∣try

of Piedmont to dwell in Province, and took to tillage and to inha∣bit many Villages destroyed by the Wars, which they had so well husbandred, that there was now great store of Wine, Oyle, Honey and Cattle, so that Strangers were greatly relieved; and that they were a Peaceable Quiet People, beloved of all their Neighbours, man of good Behaviour, constant in keeping of their Promise, and paying of their Debts, without suing men at Law; that they were also Charitable men, giving Alms, relieving of the Poor, and suffered none amongst them to lack, or be in necessity, harbouring and Nourishing poor Strangers and Passengers in their necessities: moreover that they were known by this throughout all the Country, that they would not Swear, and that if they heard any Swear, blaspheme, or dishonour God, they strait-way departed out of their Company; this was the tenour of the report made to the Kings Lieutenant touch∣ing the Life and Behaviour of these Inhabitants of Merindol who were persecuted by the Popish Bishops and Cardinals, which the Lieuten∣ant advertised the King, who was a good Prince, moved with mercy and pity, sent Letters to the Parliament, Expresly charging and commanding them that they should not hereafter proceed to prose∣cute the said Arrest and Decree so Rigorously as they had done be∣fore against this People, and not to molest or trouble them in per∣son or goods, and to command them to set at Liberty all Prisoners, which either were accused or suspected of Lutheranism; and withal included in his Letter, That if any of them should be convict of He∣resie by the Scriptures of the old and New Testament, they should be caused to abjure.

Notwithstanding this Letter was writ in favour unto the people of Merindol, yet the Bishop of Cavaillon took advantage at one part of the Letter to prosecute his Malice against the people of Merindol for upon the Kings Letter the Parliament ordained, that John Durand Counceller of the Parliament, with the Secretary, and the Bishop of Cavaillon, with a Doctor of Divinity should go to Merindol, and there declare to the Inhabitants the Errors and Heresies which they knew to be contained in their confession of their Faith, and make them apparent by good and sufficient Information, and having so convicted them by the Word of God, they should make them to renounce and abjure the said Heresies, and if they did refuse to abjure, then to make report thereof, that the Court might appoint how to proceed against them; the Bishop of Cavaillon would not tarry till the time appointed by the Court for the Execution of this Matter, but he him∣self with a Doctor went to Merindol to make them abjure, but they refusing he grew very angry with them.

Shortly after John Durandus Councellor of the Parliament, went to execute the Commission, according to order, to whom the Bailiff of Merindal said, it seemeth unto me that there is no due form of Process in this Judgment, for there is no party here, that doth accuse us; if we had any Accuser present, which according to the rule of the Scripture, either should prove by good demonstration out of the New and Old Testament, that whereof we are accused, or if he were

not able, should suffer punishment, due unto such as are Hereticks; I think he will be as greatly troubled to maintain his Accusations, as we to answer unto the same.

Thus things debated for some time, but the Bishop and Doctor were much confounded, and the Inhabitance of Merindol were in rest and quietness, for a space, until John Miniers an exceeding bloody Tyrant began a new Persecution; he put five or six of his own Tennants into a Cistern under the ground, and closing it up there he kept them till they died for Hunger, pretending that they were Lutherans; but it was to get their goods and possessions by these practices this Wretch grew great, and wealthy, and became Pre∣sident of the Parliament, and Lieutenant General in the Country of Province, he imployed all his power to obtain Letters Pattens from the King to prosecute the Decree against the people of Merindol, which by the help of the Cardinal of Tournon, he did obtain. After this he gathered all the Kings Army, and imployed them to the destruction of Merindol, Cabries and other Towns, to the number of twenty two, giving Commission, To spoil, ransack, burn and destroy all together, and to kill Man, Woman and Child without mercy. The people of Merindol seeing all in a flame round about them, left their Houses, and fled into the Woods, carrying their Children upon their shoulders a days Journey, but the way that they were to pass thorow being rough and cumbersome they thought it expedient to leave the Woman and Children behind, hoping that the Enemy would shew mercy to the Woman and Children, being destitute of all Succour; no Tongue can express, what Sorrow, what Tears, what Sighings, what Lamentation there was at that Woful departing, when they were compelled to be thus seperated asunder, the Husband from his Wife, the Father from his tender Children, and never like to see each other again: They were not gone far, but the Enemy sudden∣ly came upon them, finding them assembling together at prayers, and spoiled them of all that they had, some they Ravished, and some they Scourged, practising what Cruelty and Villany they could divise against them; the woman were in number about five hundred. This Miniers caused thirty men to be carried into a Meadow, & there to be miserably cut and hewed to peices by Souldiers, and he caused forty woman to be put into a Barn full of Straw, and the Barn to be set on fire to destroy them: the number of those that were so unmercifully murdered by this bloody Tyrant were about one Thou∣sand persons, Men, Women and Children. It is unexpressible how Lamentably and Cruelly these poor People were Persecuted, insomuch that no kind of Cruelty and Tyranny was left unpractised; for them that escaped into the Woods and Mountains, being taken, were either slain out-right, or put in the Gally and made Slaves; some were famished in Rocks and Caves with Hunger; and thus it continued till God by his just Judgments cut off the bloody Tyrant Miniers by death.

Notes

• Dennis Renix Mar∣tyr.
• Stephen Polliard Martyr.
• Florent Venote Mar∣tyr.
• A poor Tay∣lor in Paris Martyred.
• John Joyer and his Ser∣vant and his Ser∣vant Mar∣tyrs.
• Mathias Dimonetus Martyr.
• A Relation of the man∣ner of the Spanish In∣quisition.
• Eighty eight per∣son, But∣chered for Religion in Calabria
• Persecuted in Merindol and Cabries.
• The Cruel∣ty of the Papists.
• The Just Judgment of God a∣gainst a cru∣el Persecu∣tor.