laughed and so departed About this time about thirty Men and Women were taken at a Religious Assembly in Bow-yard in Cheapside and were Committed to Prison their Preacher one Rose was had before the Bishop of VVinchester S. Gardner and by him Committed to the Tower Cranmer Ridley and Latimer apprehended Shortly after Cranmer Ridley and Latimer three Bishops were sent to the Tower and from thence Conveyed to Oxford there to Dispute with Oxford and Cambridge men in points of Religion but especially of the Eucharist the Oxford men were Cole Chadsey Pye Harpsfield Smith and Weston Prolocutor the Cambridge men were Young Seaton Watson Fecknam Atkinson and Sedgwick the matter was so carried by these twelve men that it went against the Prisoners and after the Disputation was ended the Prisoners were brought again upon the Stage and demanded whether they would persist in their Opinion or recant They affirming they would persist they were all three adjudged Hereticks and Condemned to the Fire but their Execution was not till a year or two after John Rogers Martyr In the mean time we have an account of John Rogers who was the first Martyr in this Queens time who was burnt in London after a long and fore suffering by Imprisonment Soon after him was burnt Lawrence Saunders Lawrence Saunders Martyr who was by order kept straitly in Prison and none suffered to speak with him not so much as his Wife suffered to visit him in his Examination the Chancellor threatning him that he should not live many dayes Saunders said Welcom shall the Will of God be either Life or Death for I have learned to die but I Exhort you to beware of shedding Innocent blood Truly it will Cry As the Officers were leading him away from his Examination he exhorted the People to Repentance warning them to defie Anti-christ Sin Death and the Devil that they might receive blessing and favour from the Lord being Condemned he was carried down to Coventry to be burnt where he was put into the common Goal where he slept little but spent the Night in Prayer and instructing others and the next day was burnt during the time of his Imprisonment he wrote several good Epistles to comfort and strengthen such as were under the like Suffering with him I shall only insert the Substance of one to his Wife by which may be perceived the seriousness and Zeal that was stirred up in him against his Adversaries forbidding his Wife to seek any way for his delivery Lawrence Saunders his Letter to his Wife Grace Mercy and Peace in Christ our Lord entirely beloved Wife even as unto mine own Soul and Body so do I daily in my Prayer wish unto you daily remembring you And I do not doubt dear Wife but that both I and you as we be written in the Book of Life so we shall together enjoy the same Everlastingly through the Grace and Mercy of God our dear Father in his Son Christ and for this present life letâ— us wholy appoint our selves to the Will of our God to glorifie him either by Life or by Death the Lord make us worthy to Honour him either way as pleaseth him I am cheerful I thank God in Christ in whom and through whom I know I shall be able to fight a good fight and finish a good Course and then receive the Crown which is laid up in Store for me and all the true Souldiers of Christ wherefore Wife let us in the Name of our God fight to overcome the Flesh the Devil and the World what Weapons are used in this fight look in the sixth Chap. of the Ephesians and pray c. I would that you make no suit for me in any wise thank you know whom for her most sweet and comfortable putting me in remembrance of my Journey whither I am passing I have too few such Friends to further me in that Journey which is indeed the greatest friendship the blessing of God be with you all Amen A Prisoner in the Lord Lawrence Saunders John Hooper and Rowland Taylor Martyr Shortly after were burnt for Religion John Hooper and one Rowland Taylor the one at Gloucester and the other at Hadley The time of Rowland Taylor 's Execution drawing nigh his Wife and Son coming to see him and one John Hâ—â—â— that had been his Servant after he had supt he turned to his Son saying Thomas my dear Son God Almighty bless thee see that thou fear God always and flee from Sin and wicked living be vertuous and apply thy self to thy Book and in any wise see thou be obedient to thy Mother love her serve her be ruled by her in thy Youth and follow her good Counsel in all things Beware of Lewd Company of Young men that fear not God but follow their lewd lusts flee from Whoredom and hate all filthy living and when thy Mother is old forsake her not but provide for her to thy power and see that she lack nothing then will God bless thee and give thee long Life upon Earth and Prosperity To his Wife he said my dear Wife continue stedfast in the fear and Love of God keep your self undefiled from Poposh Idolatries and Superstitions I have been unto you a faithful Yoke-fellow and so have you been to me for which I doubt not dear Wife but God will reward you Now the time is come that I shall be taken from you The Lord gave you unto me and the Lord will take me from you Blessed be the Name of the Lord I believe they are blessed which die in the Lord The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom then shall I fear God is he that justifieth who is he that can condemn In thee O Lord I have trusted let we never be confounded On the next day by two of the Clock in the Morning he was taken out of the Compter by Officers and had to Chelmsford and there was he delivered to the Sheriff of Suffolk who was commanded to see him burnt The suffering of Hailes About this time One St. James Hailes on of the Justices of the Common-Pleas at an Assizes in Kent giving charge upon the Statutes of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth in derogation of the primacy of Rome when he was before the Chancellor in Westminster Hall being there among other Judges to take his Oath the Chancellor said Chancellor I am informed you have Indicted certain Priests in Kent for saying Mass Hailes I Indicted none but certain Indictments of that Nature were brought before me at the Assizes in Kent and I did according to Law therein and according to Conscience and if it were to do again I could do no less then I did Chancellor Your Conscience is known well enough Hailes You may do well to search your own Conscience for mine is better known to my self then to you This and other talk at that time so displeased the Bishop that not many dayes after this discourse in
and with all his Soul and he likewise cleansed away the Abominations from the People and again stirred them up to serve the Lord their God and all his dayes they departed not from following the Lord God of their Fathers Nero King of Aegypt year of the world 3394 by Gods Command went against the King of Assyria who at that time made War upon him He unadvisedly assisted the King of Egypt was slain 2 Kings 23.29 2 Chro. 35.20 21. Josiah unadvisedly engaging in this War was slain and now this good King being taken out of the World a World of Miseries grew on upon it and such Lamentations there was that it grew almost a common proverb the Lamentation of Hadadrimon in the Valley of Megiddo His loss gâ—â—â—â—ly â—amenâ—d by all for not only the whole People living wonderfully bewailing the death of Josiah but the Ages following were sencible of the loss of him and the Prophet Ieremiah in rememberance thereof wrote his mournful Book of Lamentations Especiaâ—â—y by the Prophet Jeriemiah wherein bewailing the Calamities which were shortly to befal the People as if he had then presently beheld them using these words The Breath of our Nostrils the ancinted of the Lord is taken in their pits of whom we said under the shaddow of his Wings we shall live among the Heathen After the death of Josiah his Youngest Son was anointed King who presently fell to doing that which was evil in the sight of God His Son walked not in the steps of his Pather but did eâ—il but Nero King of Egypt removed him after he had reigned three Moneths and made Eliakim his Elder Brother King in his room changing his name into Jehojakim that thereby he might testifie to the World that he ascribed the Victory by him gotten against the Assyrians to the Lord only by whom he professed he was formerly sent against them In the Beginning of this Kings reign Jeremiah commanded by God year of the world 3395 went and stood in the Court of the Temple and there exhorted the people to repentance and when they would not Jeremiah exhortes the people he denounced the Judgment of God against them saying that that House should become as Shilo and that City should be cursed among all the Nations of the Earth whereupon he was presently apprehended by the Priests and Prophets and all the people then in the Court and accused as a man worthy of death but was acquitted and set at Liberty by the publick Judgment of the Princes and Elders Vriahs Prophesie He is put to death At this time also Uriah prophesied against Jerusalem and the Land of Juda agreeable to the sayings of the Prophet Jeremiah for which the King put him to death by the Sword and threw his Carcass among the vilest Sepulchers of the comon people yet Ahikam who had formerly been a man of great Authority with King Josiah appeared so much in the behalf of the Prophet Jeremiah that he was not delivered over into the hands of the people to be put to death at that time To these might be added the Prophet Habbakuk to whom when he complained of the stubornness of the Jews God made this answer Habbahkuks prophesie That he would shortly send the Chaldeans into Juda and further declared his purpose concerning this matter in these words I will do a work in your dayes which you will not believe when it shall be told unto you for behold I will stir up the Chaldeans a fierce Nation and a swift which shall walk through the breadth of the Land which is none of theirs as their own Inheritance Jeremiah reproves the Jews In the fourth year of this King Jehojakim the Prophet Jeremiah reproved the Jews for not hearkning to the Word of the Lord which he had spoken unto them from time to time and for not regarding the Exhortations of the Prophets which the Lord had sent unto them and then again told them of the coming of Nebuchadnezar upon them He prophesies of their Captivity and of their being carried away Captives to Babylon and that Captivity to last seventy years long and during the seventy years time of Captivity Daniel prophesied of the coming of the Messiah who should bring in the Law of Everlasting Righteousness and put an end to the Levitical Sacrifices Jehojakim being taken Prisoner by the Chaldeans year of the world 3405 was thrown out without burial that is was buried like an Ass his Carcass being tugged and drawn out without the Gates of Jerusalem according as was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah though in referance to the common course in nature he also may be said to have slept with his Fathers as he is 2 Kings 24.6 After him came his Son Jehoiachin who was also called Jeconias and reigned three Moneths and ten dayes in Jerusalem who also did evil in the sight of the Lord as his Father had done before him against whom the Lord by his Prophet Jeremiah declared a most dreadful Decree Ieremiahs decree against Ichoiachin He pronounced a Wo against the wicked Pastors saying O Earth Earth Earth hear the Word of the Lord thus saith the Lord write ye this man Childless a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for no man of his Seed shall prosper sitting upon the Throne of David and ruling any more in Juda and pronounced a wo to the Pastors that scattered the Sheep and that had not fed nor visited the People and therefore the Lord would Visit them for the evil of their doing and that he would gather the Remnant of his Flock and would set up Shepherds over them that should feed them and that he would raise unto David a righteous Branch that should execute Judgment and Justice in the Earth and that in his day Juda should be saved and Israel dwell safely and this is his Name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness and in the fence of this the Prophet cryed out Mine heart within me is broken because of the Prophets all my Bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom Wine hath overcome Isaiahs Prophets of Christ because of the Lord and because of the Word of his Holiness And Esaiah the Prophet had a true sight of the coming of the Blessed Messiah for he said The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to Preach good tydings unto the Meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening the Prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of Vengence of our God to comfort all that mourn to appoint unto them that mourn in Sion to give unto them Beauty for Ashes the oyl of Joy for mourning the garment of Praise for the Spirit of heaviness that they might be called Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that be
heard a Master of Divinity say That in such case it is all one to touch a Book as to swear by a Book Bishop There is no Master of Divinity in England but if he hold this opinion before me I shall punish him as I shall do thee except thou sware as I shall charge thee Thorp Is not Chrysostom and ententive Doctor Bishop Yea. Thorp If Chrysostom proveth him worthy of great blame that bringeth forth a Book to sware upon it must needs follow that he is more to blame that sweareth on that Book The Clark said lay thine Hand upon the Book touching the holy Gospel of God and take thy charge Thorp I understand that the holy Gospel of God may not be touched with mans Hand It was mentioned before that he was imprisoned by Thomas Arondell Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and it is recorded that he was by the said Bishop at last secretly put to death in the year 1407. John Purvey was imprisoned by Henry Chicheley Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the year 1421. John Purvey Mâ—rty he writ a Book against the Pope wherein he calls him Antichrist and that his censures was like the blast of Lucifer He the said Purvey complained that many before him who had impugned the Romish errorrs had been imprisoned killed and their Books burnt and that none were suffered to preach but such as would swear obedience to the Pope For which he was imprisoned and secretly made away by the aforesaid Bishop In the year 1413. Roger Acton and other Persecuted Roger Acton John Brown John Beverly were persecuted and put to death for their Testimony to the Truth in Giles's in the field together with divers others to the number of thirty six all which were hanged with Fire made under them These godly persons in these dangerous times used to meet in the night in Giles's in the Fields to pray and preach which the Bishops having notice of they informed the King as if they intended to rebel whereupon the King going with many armed men at Midnight took these thirty six and caused them to be executed the number that were assembled was greater but they fled amongst whom was Wil. Murle of Dunstable Maultster who being afterwards apprehended was drawn hanged and burnt within few daies after their Execution Thomas Arundel Arch-bishop was so stricken by God in his tongue that he could neither swallow any food nor speak for diverse daies before his death A Judgment on a Persecutor whereby he died in much misery And this was thought to come upon him for that he so bound the Word of the Lord that it should not be preached in his daies About this time there began to spring forth some light in Bohemia the Bohemians having received some of Wickliffs Books began first to taste and savour Christs Gospel till at length by the preaching of John Hus they encreased more and more in knowledge insomuch that Pope Alexander the fifth hearing thereof began to stir Coals and directed his Bull to the Arch-bishop of Swinco requiring him to look to the matter that no persons should maintain that Doctrine and not long after this John Hus and Jerome of Prague were both condemned and burnt at Constance by the Council held there and yet their blood did not satisfie their Adversaries but they took further counsel for the destruction of these People in the whole Nation for when fifty eight of the cheif Nobles of Bohemia in the Name of all the Commons Anno 1416. had sent letters from Prague to the Council complaining that John Hus their Paster an innocent and holy man and faithful Teacher of the Truth was unjustly condemned the Council instead of answering them wrote Letters to some violent Papists who were in Authority to assist their Legate iâ— oppressing the Hereticks and thereupoâ—â—â—ey persecuted them all manner of ways useing great violence towards them insomuch that they raised Tumults and one Zisca a noble man of that Country being sore grieved for the death of John Hus and Jerome of Prague minding to revenge the Injuries which the Council had done greatly to the dishonour of the Kingdom of Behemia upon their Complices and Adherents he gathered together a number of men of War subverted the Monasteries and Idolatrous Temples pulling down and breaking in pieces the Images and Idols driving away the Monks and Priests which he said were kept up in their Cloisters like Swine in their Styes to be fatted when this Zisca died in remembrance of him the Bohemians ingraved over his Tomb in the Greek Language this Epitaph John Zisca a Bohemian Enemy to all wicked and Covetuout Priests but with a godly Zeal Yet still as the Popish party prevailed they exercised all manner of Cruelty upon the poor Servants of Christ till they were utterly suppressed by force many of whom fled into the hilly Country neer to Silesia to inhabit where throwing off all superstitious practices they applyed themselves to the best form that they according to the best of their understandings judged to be nearest to the primitive Christians calling themselves Brethren and Sisters They were branded with the Name of Piccards a Name by which the Waldenses in Piccardy were called The purity that was amongst them much displeased the Devil for he raised a sudden and violent Tempest against them and an Edict was proclaimed threatning death to all that should administer to the Piccards whereupon they were brought into great extremity A second Edict came forth that none of them should be suffered either to live in Bohemia or Moravia hereupon they were dispersed amongst the Woods and Mountains dwelling in Caves where yet they were scarce safe so that they were forced to make no Fire nor dress any meat but in the night time least the smoak should betray them In the cold Winter nights sitting by the Fire they applyed themselves to the reading of the Bible and holy discourses when in the Snow they went abroad to provide them necessaries they went close together and lest their foot-steps should betray them the hindermost of them did draw after him a great bough to cover the prints which their feet had made But to return again to give a futher account of Sufferers in England John Claydon of London Curryer in the year 1415. being examined before Henry Chichly Arch-Bishop of Canturbury upon suspition of Heresie he confessed that for the same cause he had been formerly impâ—â—soned by Robert Braybrock Bishop of London in Conway Prison two years and at another time three years in the Fleet and also that he had several English books that he took delight to hear read to him one of the books was entituled The Lanthorn of Light in which books were contained 1 Speaking or Treating of the Text how the Enemy did sow the Tears there is thus said That wicked Antichrist the Pope hath sowed his Popish and corrupt Decrees which are of no authority strength nor value and that the Bishops Licence for a man
to Preach is the true Character of the Beast and Antichrist And that the Court of Rome is the Chief Head of Antichrist And that no Reprobate is a Member of the Church His books being examined were condemned as heretical to be burnt in the Fire and Sentence of Condemnation was past upon him by the Arch-Bishop and he was delivered to the secular Power by whom he was carried into Smithfield and there burnt with one Richard Turning a Baker The next year after the burning of these men the Prelates of England seeing the daily increase of the Gospel and fearing the ruin of their papal Kingdom took counsel together with what deligence they could to maintain the same Wherefore to make their State and Kingdom sure by Statutes Laws Constitutions and Terror of Punishment Henry Chichly Arch-Bishop in his Convocation holden at London maketh another Constitution against the poor Lollards which was sent abroad Anno 1416. to be straitly executed in which their Officials or Commissaries were required twice every year at least to make diligent enquiry after such persons as were suspected of Heresie and Parishoners were to be sworn upon the Evangelifts to discover whether they knew any frequenting privy Conventicles or differing in their life and manners from other Common Catholick men or that should have any Books in the English Tongue After the setting out of this Constitution aforesaid great inquisition hereupon followed in England and many good men who began to have a love to the Gospel were much troubled and great Sufferers John Gale of London was summoned before the Arch-Bishop for having a Book in English entituled A Book of the new Law Ralph Mungin for the same Doctrine was condemned to perpetual imprisonment William White a follower of John Wickliff he was of a devout holy life is recorded as a Morning Star in the midst of a Cloud a man well learned an upright man and well spoken for the love of the Truth he gave over his Preisthood but not his preaching for he continually laboured to advance the glory of God by reading writing and preaching The chief matters charged against him were that he held That men should seek for the forgiveness of their sins only at the band of God That the Pope was an Enemy unto Christs Truth That men ought not to Worship Images That the Romish Church was the Figg-Tree which Christ Cursea because it brought forth no Fruit of the true Beleif That such as wear Câ—ules or be Annointed or Shorn are the Souldiers of Lucifer And that all such because their Lamps are not burning shall be shut out when as the Lord shall come He was apprehended for preaching and teaching such like Doctrine in Norfolk and being had before the Bishop of Norwich he was convicted condemned and burnt in Norwich in the 7th Moneth 1424. When he was at the Stake beginning to open his mouth to speak to the People to exhort them and confirm them in the Truth one of the Bishops Servants struck him in the mouth thereby to force him to keep silence And thus this good man received the Crown of Martyrdom and ended this Mortal life to the great grief of all good men in Norfolk his wife Joane following her Husbands steps A Woman Preacher according to her power teaching and sowing abroad the same Doctrine confirmed many in Gods Truth wherefore she suffered much trouble and punishment the same year at the hands of the said Bishop John Goose 1473. being called before the Bishops and accused for Heresie being condemned and delivered to Robert Beâ—â—isdon one of the Sheriffs of London to see him burnt in the afternoon the Sheriff like a charitable man had him home to his house and there exhorted him to deny his Errors he desired the Sheriff to be content for he was satisfied in his Conscience The Sheriff giving him some meat he being very hungry did eat so freely as if the hour of his death had not been known to be so nigh saying to the Standers by leat now a good and competent Dinner for I shall pass a little sharp Shower ere I go to Supper and having dined he required that he might be led to the place where he should yield up his spirit unto God About this time there being a war begun by the Turks against the Christians so called there was great invasions and victories obtained by the Turks against them insomuch that the Turks in the space of Thirty years subdued Arabia got Palestina Phenetia Siria Egypt and Persia raging with their Armies throughout all Asia and Europe Conquering as they passed The causes of which Invasions and Victories as is recorded were the dissention discord falshood idleness unconstancy greedy avarice lack of Truth and fidelity amongst Christian men of all states and degrees both high and low for by the wilful defection and back-sliding of the Christians the Turkish power did exceedingly encrease and them called Christians were by multitudes destroyed and as it is written there was hardly a Town City or Village in all Asia and Grecia also in a great part of Europe and Africa whose streets did not flow with the Blood of the Christians whom these cruel Turks Murthered after an inhuman manner Men and Women being by them cut in Pieces Children stuck upon Poles and Stakes till they gored them to death in the sight of their Parents draging some at their Horse tails till they famished them to death tearing some in Pieces tying their Arms and Legs to four Horses treading the aged and feeble under their Horses feet The Princes of Rasia had both their Eyes put out with Basons red hot set before them cuting some asunder in the midst and with other Torments putting many to death insomuch that the streets and ways of Chalrides did flow with Blood of them that were slain The Pretors Daughter of which City being the only Daughter of her Father and noted to be of singular beauty A remarkable story and worthy noâ—ing was saved out of the slaughter and brought to Mahumet the Turk to be his Concubine but she denying to consent to his Turkish filthiness was commanded therefore to be slain it would be long to recite and incredible to bâ—lieve the cruel and horrible slaughters and miserable tortures inflicted upon the Christians by these Turks in most parts of Asia and Africa but especially in Europe And during all these Wars and Slaughters the Pope ceased not continually calling upon Christian Kings and Princes and Subjects to take the Cross and to War against the Turks lest he should lose all whereupon in that time of Darkness and Popery many took Voyages to the holy Land and many Baâ—tails were fought for the winning the holy Cross and yet no success neither ever came it prosperoufly forward whatsoever the Pope attempted against him what the cause was may be easily judged if the Reader considers the gross Idolatry prophaness and degeneration those called Christians were fallen into having wholy
Heart that feareth God For therewith bless we God above and therewith Curse we men And thereby Murders do arise through Women now and then And seeing God hath given a Tongue and put it under power The surest way is for to set a hatch before the door For God hath set you in a seat of double low degree First unto God and then to man a subject for to be I write not that I see in you those things to be suspect But only set before your Face how sin should be correct For flesh and Blood I know you are as other Women be And if ye dwell in Flesh and Blood there is infirmity Receive a Warning willingly that to thy teeth is told Account the gift of greater price then if he gave thee Gold A wise man saith Solomon a warning will imbrace A Fool will sooner as he saith be smitten on the Face And as your members must be dead from all things that are vain Even so by Baptism you are born to live with Christ again Thus farewel free and faithful Friend the Lord that is above Encrease in thee a perfect faith and lead thee in his Love And as I pray with perfect Love and pour out bitter tears For you and all that are at large abroad among the bryars Even so I pray thee to prefer my person and my bonds Unto the Everlasting God that hath me in his Hands That I may pass out of this Pound wherein I am opprest Inclosed in a clod of Clay that here can have no rest That as he hath begun in me his mercies many one I may attain to overtake my Brethren that be gone That when that death shall do his worst where he shall point a place I may be able like a man to look him in the Face For though he catch away my Cloâ—k my body into dust Yet am I sure to save a Soul when death hath done his worst And though I leave a little dust dissolved without blood I shall receive it safe again when God shall see it good For my Redeemer I am sure doth live for evermore And sitteth high upon the Heavens for whom I hunger sore Even as the Deer with deadly wounds escaped from the spoile Doth haste by all the means he may to seek unto the soile Of whom I hope to have a Crown that always shall â—emain And eke enjoy a perfect peace for all my wo and pain The God that giveth all encrease and seeketh still to save Abound in thee that perfect peace which I do hope to have And I beseech the living God to hold thee in his Hands And wish thee even withal my heart the blessing of my bands Which I esteem of higher price then Pearl or precious Stone And shall endure for evermore when earthly things are gone For though the Fire do consume our Treasure and our Store Yet shall the goodness of the Lord endure for evermore And where thou art a Friend to him that is to me full dear The God of might make thee amends when all men shall appear That hath shewed Mercy to the meek and rid them out of pain And thus the Lord possess thy Spirit till we do meet again If thou wilt have a Recompence Abide still in obedience The Exhortation of Robert Smith unto his Children GIve ear my Children to my words whom God hath dearly bought Lay up my Law within your heart and print it in your thought For I your Father have foreseen the frail and filthy way Which flesh and blood would follow fain even to their own decay For all and every living beast their Crib do know full well But Adams heirs above the rest are ready to rebel And all the Creatures on the Earth full well can keep their way But man above all other Beasts is apt to go astray For Earth and Ashes is his strengh his glory and his reign And unto Ashes at the length shall he return again For flesh doth flourish like a flower and grow up like a Grass And is consumed in an hour as it is brought to pass In me the Image of your years your treasure and your trust Whom you do see before your face dissolved into dust For as you see your Fathers flesh converted into Clay Even so shall ye my Children dear consume and wear away The Sun and Moon and eâ—e the Stars that serve the day and night The Earth and every earthly thing shall be consumed quite And all the Worship that is wrought that have been heard or seen Shall clean consume and come to nought as i ft had never been Therefore that ye may follow me your Father and your Friend And enter into that same life which never shall have end I leave you here a little Book for you to look upon That you may see your Fathers Face when I am dead and gon Who for the hope of heavenly things while he did here remain Gave over all his golden years in Prison and in Pain Where I among mine Iron bands enclosed in the dark A few dayes before my death did dedicate this work To you mine heirs of earthly things which I have left behind That ye may read and understand and keep it in your mind That as you have been heirs of that which once shall wear away Even so you may possess the part which never shall decay In following of your Fathers foot in Truth and eke in Love That ye may also be hâ—â— heirs for evermore above And in example to your youth to whom I wish all good I preach you here a perfect faith and seal it with my Blood Have God alwayes before your Eyes in all your whâ—le intents Commit not sin in any â—ise keep his Commandments Abhor that arrant Whore of Rome and all her blasphemies And drink not of her decretals nor yet of her decrees Give honour to your Mother dear remember well her pain And recompence her in her age in like with love again Be alwayes aiâ—ing at her hand and let her not decay Remember well your Fathers fall that should have been her stay Give of your Portion to the poor as Riches doth arise And from the needy naked soul turn not away your eyes For be that will not hear the Cry of such as are in need Shall cry himself and not be heard when he would hope to speed If God hath given you great increase and blessed well your store Remember you are put in trust to minister the more Beware of foul and filthy last let whoredom have no place Keep clean your Vessels in the Lord that he may you imbrace Ye are the Temples of the Lord for ye are dearly bought And they that do defile the same shall surely come to nought Possess not pride in any case build not your nests too high But have alwayes before your face that ye be born to die Defraud not him that hired is your labours to Sustain But give him alwayes out of hand his
continued one and hath Sathan so prevailed but the sence of the Action reflicted so much upon his Conscience that it brake the mans heart so that in a short time after he died after he had endured twelve weeks imprisonment Sometime after his Wife was had in Examination before the Bishop what her Answers were at her Examination are not recorded but she was kept in Prison with her tender Infant till they both died the Child was sent out of the Prison but it was past remedy first being almost starved with cold and want of things necessary and the Mans Mother a woman of eighty years of Age being left in the House after their apprehension for lack of comfort there perished also About this time there were five persons famished in Canterbury Castle by the unmerciful Tyranny of the Papists as by the Coppy of this following Letter which the Prisoners threw out of the Castle Window my appear The Letter Be it known to all men that shall read or hear read these our Letters that we the poor Prisoners of the Castle of Canterbury for Gods Truth are kept and lye in cold Irons and our Keepers will not suffer any meat to be brought to us to comfort us and if any do bring any Bread Butter Cheese or other Food the Keeper will charge them to carry it back or else keep it for himself so that we have nothing thereof insomuch that there are four of us Prisoners for Gods truth famished already and thus is it his mind to famish us all and we think he is appointed thereunto of the Bishops and Priests and Justices so to famish us and not only us of the said Castle but also all other Prisoners in other Prisons for the like Cause to be also famished notwithstanding we write not these our Letters to that intent we might not aford to be famished for the Lord Jesus sake but for this cause and intent that they having no Law so to famish us in Prison should not do it privily but that the Murderers hearts should be openly known to all the World that all men may know of what Church they are and who is their Father Out of the Castle of Canterbury About this time there was a consultation held at Cambridge by the Clergy concerning Martin Bucer and Paulus Phagius The digging up and burning Martin Bucer and Paulus Phagius's Bones two persons dead three or four year before and after much debating they agreed altogether in this determination that they were Sectaries and famous Hereticks and a supplication should be made to the Lords Commissioners in the Name of the whole University that their dead Carcases might forthwith be digged up for that it was against the rule of of holy Canons that their Bodies should be buried in Christian burial And Cardinal Poole sent a Commission to make inquest upon Heresie now after the aforesaid Condemnation was past and the said Commission was read from the Cardinal Doctor Pern desired process might be sent out for Bucer and Phagius to appear or any other that would take upon them to plead their Cause to which the Commissioners condecended and the next day process went out to cite the Offenders which Citation was fixed up in several publick places in Cambridge and soon after Witnesses were sworn and examined against Martin Bucer and Phagius and a time was set for a Jury to bring in their Verdict and in the mean time a Commandment was given forth by the Commissioners for bringing in all Heretical Books and a day there was appointed for Judgment to be given against these Hereticks but when the day came and that neither Bucer nor Phagius would appear at their call in the Court nor that any put forth himself to defend them yet the curteous Commissioners would not proceed to Judgment which for their contumacy in absenting themselves they might have done considering how that day was peremtory but to shew their mercy and equity had rather shew some favour then to take the extent of the Law Whereupon Vincent published the second Process and stuck it up in publick places as before putting off the day of Judgment from the eighteenth to the twenty sixth day of the same Moneth which day being come the Mayor and Burgesses were warned to be present when the Sentence was published which was done by Doctor Scot Bishop of Chester in which Sentence he condemned Bucer and Phagius of Heresie after the Sentence the Bishop commanded their Bodies to be digged out of their Graves and being degraded from holy Orders delivered them into the hands of the secular Power then the Cardinal was advertised how far they had proceeded and he was desired that the Writ De Heretico Comburendo might be sent to Smith Mayor of Cambridge else the business could not be finished in the mean time while the Writ was coming and order was made that the Books before commanded to be searcht for should be thrown into the Fire with them the Writ being come and the dead Bodies being taken up they were Guarded to the Market place a great train of People following them and there Chained to a Post Fire was set to them the Books were thrown in and burnt with them and thus ends this piece of Popish folly And because one University should not mock the other the like piece of folly was acted upon the dead Body of Peter Martyrs Wife at Oxford and honest grave and sober Woman while she lived and of poor People alway a great helper she died in the year 1552. The Cardinals Visitors coming to Oxford among other things had in Commission to take up this good Woman out of her Grave and to consume her Carcass with Fire Stephen Kemp William Hay William Walterer William Prowting William Lowick and Thomas Hudson were all burnt in Kent in the Month called January 1557. Five Persons burnt in Smithfield The next that suffered were these five persons following viz. Thomas Loseby Henry Ramsey Thomas Thirtet Margaret Hide and Agnes Stanley who were Examined upon the general Articles before Bonner's Chancellor to which they particularly answered being thereunto required before Sentence and to declare whether they would recant and what they had to say why he should not pronounce the Sentence of Condemnation Thomas Loseby first answered saying God give me strength to stand against you and your Sentence and your Law which is a devouring Law for it devoureth the Flock of Christ and I perceive there is no way with me but Death except I would consent to your devouring Law and believe in that Idol the Mass Thomas Thirtel said If you make me an Heretick then you make Christ and his Apostles Hereticks for I am in the true Faith and I will stand in it for I know full well I shall have Eternal life therefore Henry Ramsey said Will you have me to go from the Truth that I am in Margaret Hide said You have no cause to give Sentence against me for I
then she was shut up under two Locks in the Clink as she was before At another Examination Doctor Martin said Wilt not thou confess and keep thee from the Rack Elizabeth Sir I can confess no more do with my Carkass what you will At another time Doctor Cook said let her head be trussed in a small Line and make her to confess Then said the Bishop Why wilt not thou swear before a Judge that was the right trade of the Anabaptists Then said she I will not swear that this hand is mine my Lord Christ saith that whatsoever is more then Yea Yea and Nay Nay it cometh of Evil. Roger Cholmly being by said It was a man in Womans Cloathes Think you so said Bonner Swear her upon a Book seeing it is but a Question Then Doctor Cook brought her a Book and commanded her to lay her hand thereon Elizabeth but she refused saying I will not swear Docter Cook said swear before us whether thou be a man or a Woman Elizabeth If you will not believe me send for Women into a secret place and I will be tryed Cholmly Thou art an Ill-favoured whore Then said Bonner How believest thou in the Sacrament of the Altar and after some other Questions they cryed Away with her And speaking of Spirit and Faith Cholmly said What nothing but Spirit and Faith Where Then was she carried into the Cole-house and searched for Books and put into the Stock-house and a Knife girdle and Apron taken from her and there both her hands were Manacled in one Iron for several dayes and afterward she was removed into the Lollards Tower and there she remained with both her feet in the Stocks and Irons till the next time of her Examination But shortly upon the request of two Women who sought for her Liberty and became surety for her appearance before the Bishop of London she was set at Liberty In the Town of Bodfeild in the County of Suffolk was an ancient Woman one Elizabeth Lawson apprehended by the Constable of the Town as an Heretick because she would not go to hear Mass for which they laid her in a Dungeon Q. Mary An. 1558. and after that she was carried to Norwich and from thence to Bury-Goal where at last she was condemned to be burnt After Sentence was past Sir John Sylliard the high Sheriff took her home to his house where she was hardly kept and wrapt in Irons till at length when by no means they could move her to Recant she was sent to Prison again with shameful revilings Thus she continued in Prison the space of two years and three quarters in the mean time there was burnt her Son and many others where by she would often say Lord what is the cause that I may not come to thee with thy Children well thy blessed will be done and not mine Through the death of Queen Mary she was preserved although she had been before condemned to die It is also very remarkable to read and consider the many preservations from time to time that these People persecuted so hotly received through the Lords goodness in their Meetings in the City of London for they met is private places sometimes one hundred sometimes two hundred about the latter end of Queen Mary they greatly encreased and one remarkable Passage of their preservation was as followeth one Cuthbert Simpson one of their Church usually carrying a little Book in his Pocket of the Names of such as were Members of the Congregation the which had been found about him when he was apprehended had not Rough their Minister been warned in a Dream of the danger thereof and thereupon sent to Cuthbert Simpson to leave the Book out of his Pocket which he did otherwise all their Names had been discovered At this time the Popish Party so much abhor'd these despised Peoples Preaching or strengthning one another at the time of their Suffering and Martyrdom that the Queen put forth a Proclamation which was Proclaimed at Newgate and at the Stake where seven were condemned to suffer strictly for bidding any to pray or speak to them or any wayes to comfort them but not withstanding this Proclamation one Bentham one of their Ministers in his Christian Zeal and Charity opened his Mouth and aloud said I know they are the People of God and therefore cannot chose but wish well to them and say God strengthen them which words many People standing by confirmed saying Amen Amen so that then so many appeared to speak well of them that the Officers knew not what to say nor who to Accuse The said Bentham was another time marvelously preserved for as he was passing the Streets he was taken hold on to be a Quest man upon the death of a man found drowned being loath to meddle he was very earnest with the man to be excused alledging he had little experience in such a matter and desired them to take another that might have more Skill but finding what he had said would not satisfie them to excuse him he further alledged that he was a Schollar of Oxford and thereby priviledged from being of any Inquest the Coroner demanded the sight of his priviledge he said if he would give him leave he would fetch it then said the Coroner the Queen must be served withour delay Q. Mray An. 1558 and constrained him to stay and hear the matter when the Book was offered him to swear upon Bentham opening the Book and seeing it a Popish Primmer refused to swear thereupon speaking against the superstition therein contained what said the Coroner I think we shall have an Heretick among us and after further reasoning committed him to an Officer till further examination but mark what hapned for while these matters about Heresie were in debate suddainly came the Coroner of the Admiralty and discharged the first Inquest saying it belonged to his Officer to choose a Jury and Sit there by reason of which Bantham escaped their hands and had no more said to him The Suffering and Preservation of Richard Bartie of Lincolnshire and Katherine Dutchess of Suffolk his Wife In the Reign of Queen Mary Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester surmising the Dutchess of Suffolk to be one of his Antient Enemies because he knew he had deserved no better of her began to practice some revenge upon her for former grudges and thereupon subpaened her Husband Richard Bartie to appear before him at his House at Mary-Overs when he came before him after much discourse at last he said If I may ask the question of my Lady your Wife is she as ready now to set up the Mass as she was lately to pull it down Doth she think her Lambs now safe enough who said to me when I vailed my Bonnet to her out of my Chamber Window in the Tower that it was merry with the Lambs now the Wolf were shut up Richard Bartie after he had heard him endeavoured to moderate things saying that though them words seemed at