Brightman - BS2823 B85 1644

s8 o A levelatiott ofthe Apocalyp e. C A i. 8. pan the tempefts ofthole wars,which thofc bafe nations, the Gothes, thefe ofSuevia, the Hunni, the Heruli,the Vandals, and the reft that belong to the State of thefe people, which being fcarce reprefhed by Conflantine the t7re, t,at length, whenhe was taken away from the earth,overflowed all Europe ; 1 ihinke that thisfourth61aí is chiefly to be referred to that time,when as Genfericusthe Fasda/pattedover from Spaine into Africkf,being fent for by Boniface, about the yeere 438. fromChrifts nativity. For what Decius or Diocletian is to be compared with the inhumanityof this man ? The goodnefheofGod delivered Augufine out of his jawes a few yeeres before Hippo was taken : The reft ofthe Saints, what torments did they not indure The Tyrant commanded that all the holy Books fhould be burnt up, that all men llaould be flame without any difference; that they fhould not fpare the innocent Age, but that partly they fhould fnatch the fucking children from their mothers breafts, and dafh them againff theground ; partly alto, that they should cleave them afunder into two parts from thecrowne of theirhead. And it fared better with thefe, then with the ref} that remained alive, ofwhom many were Minifters of the Word,and 2Zble men, who were laden withmighty burthens, in Read ofCamels and other Beafts, made to draw, and when they began to lagwith wearineffe, they were driven on, and made to mend their pace, with goads ofIron. The Proclamations of the Kingwere fet forth,that all thole fhould be altogether deftroyed who had taken holy orders. And ViElor of Vtica, who wrote the Hiftory of this Perfecution recordeth, That of an hundredand three fcoreBifhops, Who oflate Were in Zengetana, andtheprovinciall' ái- ment, only three remained alive,at Inch time as he Wrote thefe thimçs, and of three, one efcaped perfecution, and led an exiles life at Edeffain Macedonia. Then true it was, that the thirdpart of the Sun, Moone, Stars and the Day, was finitten when as the Churchof Afriche, be- ing a thirdpart of the whole, did liequite extinguifhed,as far as any man could judge; efpecially then, when as Hunorichtes Nundrur,and at length Gilimer ufedgreater cruelty in their gleaning,if any greater could be,then Genfericus did incutting downe the firft harvett. Nei- ther was the Night untouched, but the third part thereof was alfo fmitten, that is, the whole falfe and counterfeit Church alfo which is wont to be more in number then the trae, and to overwhelme it with her duskifh fhadow, was partaker with the true Church of the fame calamity. For the Tandals coveted to cut off at once every one ofthe Chriftian nname, otherwile then the other barbarous Nations in Europe

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=