As to the transactions of state affairs, I have taken them mostly from the history of the rebellion and the civil wars in England, written by Edward Earl of Clarendon, and from the memoirs of Edward Ludlow. Yet some few things relating to state affairs, that have not been mentioned by them, nor in any other public history that I know of, I thought worthy to be delivered to posterity by my pen.
For my style, I know it is but indifferent: I do not pretend to elegancy in the English tongue; for, being a foreigner, and never having been in England but about the space of ten months, and that near fifty years ago, it ought not to be expected that I should write English so well as Dutch, my native language. If therefore my pen hath sometimes been guilty of a Belgicism, I beg excuse of my reader. And since my absence hath hindered me from correcting the printer’s mistakes, either in omissions or other errors, such faults I do not think myself responsible for, because I have been fain to trust the oversight and correction of my work to others, who may have been more liable to let errors escape than myself should have been. This I hope will suffice to excuse me with discreet persons.
What the envious may judge of this work I little care for, well knowing that the most eminent authors have been exposed to envy, and been obnoxious to the censures of pedantic critics. Whatever any may think, this I am well assured of, that my chief scope hath been by the relation of many unusual occurrences, not only to delight my reader but also to lead him to virtue. If I may be so happy as to have contributed thereto, I shall think my pains well rewarded; and if not, I shall have at least this satisfaction, that according to my ability, I have endeavoured to be beneficial to others, and to edify my fellow-mortals in that which is good; which I cannot but think to be well pleasing to God. And if I have performed any thing that is good, the honour and glory thereof belongs to him, who is the Giver of all good gifts; and it is from Him alone I have received all my ability to do any good thing. Thus concluding, I wish the reader discretion, and an impartial judgment.
THE FIRST BOOK. 1415–1650.
1415–1623.
That the wonderful Work of Reformation was small and of very little account in its beginning, and yet hath been advanced with remarkable progress, will, I believe be denied by none, that have with attention and due consideration read the history of its first rise; since God the beginner and author of this glorious work, proceeding by steps and degrees, used therein such singular wisdom and prudence, that every circumstance duly considered, instead of censuring any part thereof, we shall be obliged to cry out, Thou, O Lord, alone knowest the right times and seasons to open the eyes of the people, and to make them capable of thy truth!
If we look to the first beginnings, to go back no further than John Huss, we shall find, that though in many things he was considerably enlightened, yet he remained still in several gross errors; for although he had a clear sight of the vain doctrines of purgatory, praying to, and worshipping of images, &c. nevertheless it is reported of him that he favoured the invocation of saints, the seven sacraments, auricular confession, and other tenets of the church of Rome; and yet Christian charity constrains us to believe, (though we find Protestant writers who deny him the name of a martyr,) that by his death, which he suffered in the flames at Constance in Germany, on the 6th of the month called July, in the year 1415, he was an acceptable sacrifice unto God: and with what a sedate and well composed mind he suffered death, may be concluded from this, that seeing a country fellow very zealously carrying wood to burn him, he said, with a smiling countenance, O holy simplicity! And after the fire was kindled, he sang with joy in the flames, his mind being firmly established on God; for he had been faithful according to his knowledge, and had not hid his talent in the earth, but improved it, having shown himself a zealous promoter of that small illumination which God was pleased to grant him; it being without question great enough in that grievous night of darkness, when idolatry had so universally blinded mankind, that, morally speaking, it would have been impossible for them to have understood the declaration of an entirely reformed religion; whereas it is evident that the most sober and discreet people of that age were capable to understand the doctrine and sermons of that honest man.
To give a clearer prospect into this matter, let it be considered, that if a man had been kept shut up a long time in a dark prison, where he could neither behold the light of the sun nor moon, and should have been let out on a sudden at clear noon day, he would not only not be able to endure the bright day light, but would also, if he strove to open his eyes by force, be endangered of losing his sight, and falling into a worse condition than he was in before; whereas if he had been brought into the open air at the time of twilight, he would by degrees, have learned to discern the objects, and come to an ability of beholding every thing in a clear day aright.
Agreeably to this, in the reigns of Kings Henry the VIIIth, and the bloody Queen Mary, the principal test in England was, whether a man owned the corporal presence of Christ in the sacrament; and he who denied this, was to be burnt as an heretic. Also in the Netherlands, it was enough to bring a man to the stake, if he confessed he had been re-baptized. In so much that it seems the Lord did raise in those days zealous men chiefly to testify against the idolatry of the host, and the error of infant baptism, and that so gradually he might break down the great structure of human inventions.
Now, how small soever the beginnings of this great work of Reformation were, yet it increased from time to time; and oftentimes singular instances were seen of the workings of the power and Spirit of God.
In the year 1513, I find that one John Le Clerc, of Meaux in France, being at Metz in Lorrain, was filled with such zeal against idolatry, that he broke to pieces the images in a chapel, which the next day were to have been worshipped in a very solemn manner. And being taken prisoner for this fact, and cruelly tortured to death, he was so eminently strengthened, even to the amazement of the beholders, that in the height of the torments, being torn with red hot pincers, he said, from Ps. cxv. “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.”
Not less was the zeal of one Aymond à Vie, imprisoned in France about the year 1541, because he had preached the gospel undauntedly; and though he had been advised to fly, yet he would not be persuaded thereto, but said with an heroic mind, ‘I would rather never have been born, than commit such a base act; for it is the duty of a good pastor not to fly from danger, but to stay in it, lest the sheep be scattered.’ He was tortured cruelly to betray his fellow believers; but no torment how great soever, could extort the name of any from him; and he suffered death valiantly for the testimony of Jesus, feeling himself very powerfully strengthened by the Spirit of God, which worked so gloriously in the martyrs of those times, that those of Merindol in Provence said, ‘The Holy Ghost is an infallible teacher, by whose inspiration all Christians receive the knowledge of truth: this spirit dwells in them, he regenerates them to a new life, he slayeth the old man in them, and he makes them alive to every good work, consoling them in tribulations, and strengthening them in adversities,’ &c.
And the pious professors at Meaux, I find mentioned in the year 1546, that though a great number of men and women were led prisoners by but a few, they yet made no resistance, but showed themselves harmless, not sad with grief, but singing with joy.
Nay, so powerfully did God work in Gabriel Beraudin, who was executed at Chambery in Savoy, in the year 1550, that after his tongue was cut off by the