generall CouÌ„cell and his picture burned Wood. If he were an heretick I thinke he vnderstoode it not so in deed but I am sure all Christians ought to vnderstand it so Chich. O what vayne glory is in you as though you vnderstood all thing other men nothing Heare me I will shew you the true vnderstanding both of the aultar the offering on the aultar We haue an aultar sayd Paul that ye may not eate of meaning thereby that no man might eat of that which was offered on the aultar but the Priest For in Paules time all the liuing that the Priest had the people came offered it on the aultar mony or other thinges and when the people came to offer it and then remeÌ„bred that they had any thing agaynst their brother theÌ„ they left their offering vpon the aultar and went were reconciled to theyr brother and they came agayne and offred their gift and the Priest had it This is the true vnderstanding of the place that you haue rehersed wherefore you be deceiued Wood. My Lord that was the vse in the olde law Christ was the ende of that But in deede I perceiue by Paules wordes the sacrifice was offered in Paules time yet that maketh not that it was wel done but he rebuked it Wherfore it seemeth to me that you be deceiued Chich. Who shall be iudges betwixt vs in this matter Wood. The xij of Iohn declareth who shall be iudge in the last day Chich. You meane the word shall iudge the word Howe can that be Wood. Saynct Peter sayth The Scripture hath no priuate interpretation but one scripture must be vnderstand by an other Chich. And you will vnderstande it one way and I wyll vnderstand it an other way and who shal be Iudges betwixt vs then Wood. The true church of God is able to discusse al doubtes to whom I referre it Chich. I am glad you say so if you will say so in deed Wood. My Lord I neuer meant otherwise Chich. The Church of God doth allow the Sacrament of the aultar Wood. What do you offer now vpon the aultar Chich. We offer vp in the blessed Sacramente of the Aultar the body of Christ to pacifye the wrath of God the Father and therewith they put off their cappes all to that abominable Idoll Wood. Saynt Paule sayth to the Hebrues in the x. chap. We are sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ vpon the crosse once for all and euery Priest is dayly ministring oftentimes offereth one maner of offering which can neuer take away sinnes and that is the offering that you vse to offer As farre as I can see you be priestes after the order of Aaron that offered vp Sacrifice for their own sinnes and the sinnes of the people Chichest Nay Aarons sacrifice was with bloud whiche signifieth the death of Christe the whiche was ended vpon the Crosse by his bloudshedding but we are Priestes after the order of Melchisedech the whiche offered breade to the king in remembraunce and signified the geuing of Christes body in bread wine at his last supper the whiche he gaue to his disciples commaunded it to be vsed to the end of the world This is the sacrifice that we offer according to his word Woodman Me thinke you haue made the matter verye playne to me that as Christ was the ende of all Sacrifices so was he the beginning of the Sacramentes willing them to be vsed in the remembraunce of him to the worldes end Chichest What in remembraunce of hym and not hym selfe as his worde sayth Take eate this is my body It is not the signe onely but the thing it selfe How say you is it not his body after the words be spoken by the priest How say you goe briefly to worke for I can not long tary with you Wood. My Lord if you will answere me to one sacrameÌ„t I will answere you to another Chich. Yes I am very well contented with that Wood. If you say the words of baptisme ouer the water there be no childe there is there true baptisme Chich. No there must be the water the worde and the child and then it is baptisme Wood. Uerye well Then if a childe bee Baptised in the name of the Father and of the Sonne it is not truely baptised Chich. No the childe muste bee baptised in the name of the father of the sonne the holy ghost or els it is not truly baptised Wood. Then there may be nothing added nor takeÌ„ away from the Sacraments may there Chich. No sayd the Bishop Wood. Now my Lord I will answere to you if it please you Chich. Well how say you Take eat this is my body is it not Christes body as soone as the wordes be sayd Wood. My Lorde I will aunswere you by your owne wordes that you aunswered me whiâ—h is true the water the word and the childe all these together make baptisme the bread wine and the word make the Sacrament the eater eating in true fayth maketh it his body Here I proue it is not Christes body but to the faythfull receiuer For he sayd Take eat this is my body He called it not his body before eating but after eating And Saynt Augustine sayth Crede manducasti Beleue and thou hast eaten And Saynt Iohn sayth He that beleueth in God dwelleth in God and God in him wherfore it is vnpossible to dwell in God and to eat his body without a true fayth Priest Then the fayth of the receiuer maketh it his body not his word by your saying I pray you what did Iudas eate Wood. Iudas did eat the sacrament of Christ and the deuill withall Priest He eat the body of Christ vnworthely as S. Paule sayth Wood. Nay S. Paule sayth no such thing He speaketh not of eating of his body vnworthely but of the sacrament vnworthely For he sayth Who soeuer eateth of this bread drinketh of this cup vnworthely eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because he maketh no difference of the Lordes body and not because he eateth the Lordes body If Iudas had eat Christes body it must needes folow that Iudas is saued For Christ sayth in the sixt of Iohn Who so euer eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him vp agayne at the last day Priest My Lord this man is an interpreter after his own minde Chich. I see it is but folly to talke with you it is but lost labour How say you Doe you not beleue that after the wordes be sayd there remayneth neither bread nor wyne but the very body of Christ really make me a playne aunswere for I will talke no more with you Wood. I will make you no directe aunswere howe I beleue of the true Sacrament I doe beleue that if I come to receiue the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ truely ministred beleuing that
My body into dust Yet am I sure to saue a soule When death hath done hys worst And though I leaue a little dust Dissolued out of bloud I shall receaue it safe agayne When God shall see it good For my redeemer I am sure Doth liue for euermore And sitteth high vpon the heauens For whome I hunger sore Euen as the Deare with deadly wounds Escaped from the spoyle Doth hast by all the meanes he may To seeke vnto the soyle Of whome I hope to haue a crowne That alwayes shall remayne And eke enioy a perfect peace For all my woe and payne The God that geueth all encrease And seeketh still to saue Abound in thee that perfect peace Which I do hope to haue And I beseech the liuing God To hold thee in hys handes And wish thee euen with all my hart The blessing of my bandes Which I esteeme of hier price Then pearle or precious stone And shall endure for euermore When earthly thinges are gone For though the fire doe consume Our treasure and our store Yet shall the goodnes of the Lord Endure for euermore And where thou art a friend to him That is to me full deare That God of might make the amendes When all men shall appeare That hath shewed mercy to the meeke And rid them out of payne And thus the Lorde possesse thy spirite Till we do meete agayne If thou wilt haue a recompence Abide still in obedience ¶ The exhortation of Robert Smith vnto his children commonly set out in the name of maister Rogers GEue eare my children to my words Whome God hath dearely bought Lay vp my law within your harte And print it in your thought For I your father haue foreseene The frayle and filthy way Which flesh and bloud would follow fayne Euen to theyr owne decay For all and euery liuing beast Their crib do know full well But Adams heyres aboue the rest Are ready to rebell And all the creatures on the earth Full well can keepe their way But man aboue all other beastes is apte to go astray For earth and ashes is his strength His glory and his rayne And vnto ashes at the length Shall he returne agayne For flesh doth florish like a flower And grow vp like a grasse And is consumed in an houre As it is brought to passe In me the Image of your yeares Your treasure and your trust Whome ye do see before your face Dissolued into dust For as you see your fathers fleshe conuerâ—ed into clay Euen so shall ye my children deare Consume and weare away The sonne and moone and eke the starres That serue the day and night The earth and euery earthly thing Shal be consumed quite And all the worship that is wrought That haue bene heard or seene Shall cleane consume and come to naught Ar it had neuer bene Therefore that ye may follow me Your Father and your frend And enter into that same lyfe Which neuer shall haue end I leaue you heare a little book For you to looke vpon That you may see your Fathers face When I am dead and gone Who for the hope of heauenly thinges While he dyd here remayne Gaue ouer all his golden yeares In prison and in payne Where I among myne iron bandes Enclosed in the darcke A few dayes before my death Did dedicate this worke To you myne heyres of earthly thinges Which I haue left behynde That ye may read and vnderstand And keepe it your minde That as you haue bene heyres of that Which once shall weare away Euen so ye may possesse the parte Which neuer shall decay In following of your fathers foote In truth and eke in loue That ye may also be his heyres For euermore aboue And in example to your youth To whome I wish all good I preache you here a perfite fayth And seale it with my bloud Haue God alwayes before your eyes In all your whole ententes Commit not sinne in any wise Keepe his commaundementes Abhorre that errant whoore of Rome And all her blasphemies And drincke not of her decretals Nor yet of her decrees Geue honour to your mother deare Remember well her payne And recompence her in her age In lyke with loue agayne Be alwayes ayding at her hand And let her not decay Remember well your fathers fall That should haue bene her stay Geue of your portion to the poore As riches doth arise And from the needy naked soule Turne not away your eyes For he that will not heare the cry Of such as are in neede Shall cry himselfe and not be heard When he would hope to speede If God haue geuen you great encrease And blessed well your store Remember ye are put in trust To minister the more Beware of foule and filthy lust Let whoredome haue no place Keepe cleane your vessels in the Lord That he may you embrace Ye are the temples of the Lord For ye are dearely bought And they that do defile the same Shall surely come to nought Possesse not pride in any case Build not your neastes to hye But haue alwayes before your face That ye be borne to dye Defraud not him that hyred is Your labours to sustayne But geue him alwayes out of hand His penny for hys payne And as ye would that other men Agaynst you should proceede Do ye the same agayne to them When they do stand in neede And part your portion with the poore In mony and in meate And feede the faynted feeble soule With that which ye should eate That when your meÌ„bers lacketh meate And clothing to your backe Ye may the better thinke on them That now do liue and lacke Aske counsell at the wise Geue eare vnto the end Refuse not you the sweete rebuke Of hym that is your frend Be thankefull alwayes to the Lord With prayer and with prayse Desire you him in all your deedes For to direct your wayes And sinne not like that swinish sorte Whose bellies beyng fed Consume theyr yeares vpon the earth From belly vnto bed Seeke first I say the liuing God Set him alwayes before And then be sure that he will blesse Your basket and your store And thus if you direct your dayes According to this booke Then shall they say that see your wayes How lyke me you do looke And when you haue so perfectly Vpon your fingers endes Possessed all within your booke Then geue it to your frendes And I beseeche the liuing God Replenish you with grace That I maye haue you in the heauens And see you face to face And though the sword haue cut me off Contrary to my kinde That I could not enioy your loue According to my minde Yet do I hope when that the heauens Shall vanish like a scrole I shall receaue your perfect shape In body and in soule And that I may enioy your loue And ye enioy the land I do beseeche the liuing
geuen him by the scorneful Papistes was cast agayne into the Tower where he being assisted with the heauenly grace of Christ susteined most pacient imprisonment a long time notwithstanding the cruel and vnmercifull handlinge of the Lordlye Papistes whyche thought then theyr kingdome would neuer fall yet he shewed hymselfe not onely pacient but also chearefull in and aboue all that which they could or woulde worke agaynst him yea such a valiaunt spirit the Lord gaue him that he was able not onely to despise the terriblenesse of prisons tormentes but also to deride and laugh to scorne the doinges of his enemies As it is not vnknowne to the eares of many what he aunswered to the Lieuetenaunt beynge then in the Tower For when the Lieutenauntes man vpon a time came to him the aged Father kept without fire in the frosty winter and wellâ—ye starued for colde merely bad the man tell his Mayster that if he did not looke the better to him perchaunce he would deceiue him The Lieutenaunt hearing this he thought hymselfe of these wordes and fearing least that in deede he thought to make some escape beganne to looke more straightly to his Prisoner and so comming to him beginneth to charge him with his wordes reciting the same vnto him whiche his man had told him before how that if he were not better looked vnto perchaunce he would deceiue them c. Yea Mayster Lieutenaunt so I sayd quoth he for you looke I thinke that I shoulde burne but except you let me haue some fire I am like to deceiue your expectation for I am like here to starue for cold Many such like answeres and reasons mery but sauery comming not from a vayne minde but from a constant and quiet reasoÌ„ proceded from that man declaring a firme and stable hart litle passing for all this great blustering of theyr terrible threates but rather deriding the same Thus Mayster Latimer passing a long time in the tower with as much pacience as a manne in his case coulde do from thence was transported to Oxforde with Doctor Cranmer Archbishop of Caunterbury and Mayster Ridley Byshop of London there to dispute vpon Articles sent downe from Gardiner Bishop at Winchester as is before touched the maner and order of whiche disputations betwene them and the Uniuersitye Doctours is also before sufficiently expressed Where also is declared how and by whome the sayd Latimer with his otherfelow Prisoners were condemned after the disputations and so committed agayne to the Prison and there they conâ—umed from the Moneth of Aprill aboue mentioned to this present Moneth of October where they were most godly occupied either with brotherly conference or with feruent prayer or with fruitfull writing Albeit M. Latimer by reasoÌ„ of the feblenes of his age wrote least of them all in this latter time of his imprisonment yet in prayer he was feruently occupyed wherin oftentimes so long he continued kneeling that hee was not able to rise without helpe and amongst other things these were three principall matters he prayed for First that as God had appoynted him to be a preacher of his worde so also he woulde geue him grace to stand to his doctrine vntill his death that he might geue his harte bloud for the same SecoÌ„dly that God of his mercy would restore his gospell to Englande once agayne and these wordes once agayne once agayne he did so inculcate beat into the eares of the Lord God as though he had sene God before hym and spoken to him face to face The third matter was to pray for the preseruation of the Queenes Maiesty that now is whome in his prayer he was wont accustomably to name and euen with teares desired God to make her a comfort to his comfortles realme of England These were the matters he prayed for so earnestlye Neither were these thinges of him desired in vayne as the good successe thereof after following did declare for the Lord most graciously did graunt all those his requestes First concerning his constancy euen in the most extremity the Lord graciously assisted him For when he stoode at the stake without Bocardo gate at Oxford and the tormentors about to sette the fire to him and to the learned and Godly Byshop Mayster Ridley he lifted vp his eyes towardes heauen with an amiable and comfortable countenaunce saying these wordes Fidelis est Deus qui non sinit nos tentari supra id quod possumus God is faythfull whiche doth not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength and so afterwarde by and by shedde his bloude in the cause of Christ the whiche bloud ranne of his hart in suche aboundaunce that all those that were present being godly dyd maruell to see the most part of the bloud in his body to bee gathered to hys hart and with such violence to gush out his body being opened by the force of the fire by the whiche thing God most graciously graunted his request whiche was that he might shed his hart bloud in the defence of the Gospell How mercifully the Lord heard his second request in restoring his Gospell once agayne into this Realme these present dayes can beare record And what then shall England say now for her defence whiche being so mercifullye visited and refreshed with the word of God so slenderlye and vnthankfully considereth either her own misery past or the great benefite of God nowe present The Lorde be mercifull vnto vs. Amen Agayne concerning his third request it seemeth likewise most effectuously grauÌ„ted to the great praise of God the furtherance of his Gospell and to the vnspeakable coÌ„fort of this Realme For whether at the request of his praiyr or of other Gods holy Sayntes or whether God was moued with the cry of his whole Church the truth is that when all was deplorate and in a desperate case and so desperate that the enemies mightily florished and triumphed Gods word was banished Spanierdes receiued no place left for Christes seruauntes to couer theyr heades sodenly the Lord called to remembraunce his mercye and forgetting our former iniquity made an end of al these miseries and wroughte a maruellous chaunge of thinges at the chaunge whereof the said Queene Elizabeth was appointed and annoynted for whome this graye headed father so earnestly prayd in his imprisonment through whose true naturall and imperiall Crowne the brightnesse of Gods word was set vp agayne to confound the darcke and false visoured kingdome of Antichrist the true temple of Christ reedified the Captiuitye of sorowfull Christians released which so long was wished for in the prayers of so manye good men specially of this faythfull and true seruaunt of the Lord M. Latimer The same God which at the requestes of his holy and faythfull Sayntes hath poured vpon vs such benefites of his mercy peace and tranquility assiste our most vertuous and Christian Princesse and her Subiectes that wee may euery one in his state
of my soule that is true fayth that his bloud was shed for me c. An other in the Epistle of Iohn Nos scimus quod translati sumus de morte ad vitam quoniam diligimus fratres i. We know that we are translated from death to life because we loue the brethren But I read not that I haue peace with GOD or that I am translated from death to life because I see with my bodelye eye the bloud of Hailes It is verye probable that all the bloud that was in the body of Christ was vnited and knitte to his Diuinity and then no part thereof shall returne to his corruption And I maruell that Christ shall haue two resurrections And if it were that they that did violently and iniuriouslye plucke it out of hys body when they scourged him and nayled him to the Crosse did see it with theyr bodily eye yet they were not in cleane life And we see the selfe same bloud in forme of wine when we haue consecrate and may both see it feele it and receiue it to our damnation as touching bodily receiuing And many do see it at Haâ—les without confession as they say God knoweth all and the Deuill in our time is not dead Christ hath left a doctrine behinde him wherin we be taught how to beleue and what to beleeue he doth suffer the Deuill to vse his craftye fashion for our triall and probation It were little thanke worthy to beleue well rightly if nothing should moue vs to false fayth to beleue superstitiously It was not in vayne that Christ when hee had taught truely by and by badde beware of false Prophettes whiche woulde bring in errour slilye But we be secure and vncarefull as though false Prophets could not meddle with vs and as though the warning of Christ were no more earnest and effectuall then is the warning of Mothers when they trifle with theyr children and bid them beware the bugge c. Loe Syr how I runne at ryot beyond measure When I began I was minded to haue written but halfe a dosen lynes but thus I forget my selfe euer when I write to a trusty frende which wyll take in worth my folly and keepe it from mine enemy c. As for Doctour Wilson I wotte not what I should say but I pray God endue him with charity Neyther he nor none of his countreymen did euer loue me since I did inuey agaynst theyr factions and partialitye in Cambridge Before that who was more fauoured of him then I That is the byle that may not be touched c. A certayne frend shewed mee that Doctour Wilson is gone nowe into his countrey about Beuerley in Holdernes and from thence he will go a progresse through Yorkeshire Lancashyre Cheshyre and so from thence to Bristow What he entendeth by this progresse God knoweth and not I. If he come to Bristowe I shall here tell c. As for Hubberdin no doubt he is a manne of no great learning nor yet of stable witte He is here seruus hominum for he will preach whatsoeuer the Byshops will bidde him preach Verely in my minde they are more to be blamed then he He doeth magnifye the Pope more then enough As for our Sauior Christ and Christian kynges are little beholding to hym No doubte hee did misse the cushion in many thinges Howbeit they that did sende him men thinke will defend him I pray GOD amend him and them both They woulde fayne make matter agaynst mee entendyng so eyther to deliuer him by me or els to ridde vs both together and so they woulde thinke hym well bestowed c. As touching Doctour Powell howe highly he tooke vppon him in Bristow and how little hee regarded the sword which representeth the kinges person many can tell you I thinke there is neuer an Earle in this Realme that knoweth his obedience by Christes coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„t to his Prince wotteth what the sword doth signify that would haue taken vpon hym so stoutly Howbeit Mayster Maior as he is a profound wise man did twicke him pretily it were to long to write all Our pilgrimages are not a little beholding to him For to occasion the people to them he alledged this text Omnis qui relinquit patrem domos vxorem i. Whosoeuer leaueth father house wife c. By that you maye perceiue hys hoate zeale and crooked iudgement c. Because I am so belyed I could wish that it would please the kinges grace to commaunde me to preach before his highnesse a whole yeare together euerye Sonday that he himselfe might perceiue how they belye me saying that I haue neither learning nor vtterance worthy thereunto c. I pray you pardon me I cannot make an end * A briefe digression touching the rayling of Hubberdin agaynst M. Latimer FOrasmuch as mention hath bene made in this letter of Hubberdin an olde Diuine of Oxford a right paynted Pharisey and a great strayer abroad in all quarters of the realme to deface and impeach the springing of Gods holy Gospell something woulde be added more touchinge that man whose doinges and pageantes if they might be described at large it were as good as any Enterlude for the Reader to beholde Who in all his life and in all his actions in one word to describe him seemeth nothing elles but a right Image or counterfayt setting out vnto vs in liuely colours the paterne of perfecte hypocrisye But because the man is now gone to spare therefore the dead although he little deserued to be spared which neuer spared to worke what vilany he could agaynst the true seruantes of the Lord this shall be enough for example sake for all Christian men necessarily to obserue howe the sayd Hubberdin after his long rayling in all places against Luther Melangthon Zuinglius Iohn Frith Tindale Latimer and all other like Professours after his hypocriticall opeÌ„ almes geuen out of other mens purses his long prayers pretensed deuotions deuoute fastinges hys wolwarde goyng and other his prodigious demeanor riding in his long Gowne downe to the Horse heeles like a Pharisey or rather like a slouen dyrted vp to the Horse bellye after his forged Tales and Fables Dialogues dreames dauncinges hoppinges and leapinges with other like histrionicall toyes and gestures vsed in the Pulpit and all agaynst heretickes at last riding by a Churche side where the youth of the Parishe were dauncing in the Churchyarde sodeinely this Silenus lighting from his horse by occasion of their dauncing came into the Church and there causing the bell to tolle in the people thought in stead of a fitte of myrth to geue them a Sermon of dauncing In the whiche Sermon after he had patched vp certayne common textes out of Scriptures and then comming to the Doctors first to Augustine then to Ambrose so to Hierome and Gregory Chrisostome and other Doctors had made them euery one after his Dialogue maner by name to aunswere to
in Christ may pray that he fall not but endure to the ende and that those that fall through fearefull infirmity might speedely repent and rise agayne with Peter and also that the weake ones mighte bewayle theyr weakenes and crye with Dauid haue mercy vpon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heale me for all my bones are vexed Of this opening of the heart by persecution spake holy Simion to Mary Christes mother when he sayde the Sworde that is the Crosse of persecution shall pearse thy Soule that the thoughtes of many hartes may be opened For like as a king that should go to battell is cōpelled to looke in his cofers what treasure he hath and also what number and puisaunce of menne and weapons hee hath so that if he himselfe be vnready and vnarmed to bicker with hys enemye he surceaseth and taketh truice for a time euen so wee by persecutions haue our heartes opened that wee maye looke therein to see what fayth in Christ we haue and what strength to withstand the enemies and to beare the Crosse that if we be riche in these treasures we might reioyce and valiauntly go to Battell or if we want these thinges with all speede to call and crye vppon him which geueth all good giftes to those that aske them Item the crosse trieth the good people from the bad the faythfull from the worldlinges and hipocrites and also cleanseth and scoureth the faythfull hartes from all corruption and filthinesse both of the flesh and the spirit And euen as yron except it be often scoured will soone waxe rusty so except our sinnefull hartes and flesh be often scoured with the whetstone of the Crosse they will soone corrupt ouergrowe with the ruste of all filthinesse and sinne And therefore it is meete and good for vs as the wise man sayeth that as gold siluer are tryed in the fire so should the hartes of acceptable men be tried in the fornace of aduersity Abide the triall deare frendes that yee may obteyne the Crowne of life Fighte manfully in this the Lordes cause that ye may obteyne a glorious victorye here and receiue a greate rewarde in heauen hereafter As yee are called Christians and woulde be angry to be called Iewes or Turkes so declare your Christianity by folowing the steps of Christ whose name ye beare suffer with hym and for his Gospelles sake rather then to denye him or to defile your fayth and conscience with false worshipping of Romish religion Take vp your Crosse my deare hartes now when it is offered you and go vp with Christ to Ierusalem amōgest the Bishoppes Priestes and Rulers if God call you thereto and they will anone sende you to Caluery from whence dying in the cause of the Gospell wherein our good Preachers and Brethren haue geuen theyr liues your soules I warrant you through Christ Iesu shall ascend to God that gaue them and the body shall come after at the last day and so shal ye dwell with the Lord for euer in vnspeakeable ioy and blisse O blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake as Christes people in this Iewish Englande nowe doth for theyrs is the kingdome of heauen O my beloued set your mindes on this kingdome where Christ our head and king is considering that as the brute beast tooketh downewardes with the face towardes the earth so man is made contrariwise with his face looking vpward towardes the heauens because his conuersation should be in heauen and heauenlye thinges and not vpon the earth and earthly thinges and S. Paule sayth set your mindes on thinges whiche are aboue where Christ is And agayne he sayth our conuersation is in heauen from whence we looke for our Sauiour who will chaunge our vile bodyes and make them like to his glorious body Oh the glorious estate that we be called vnto The Lord preserue vs harmeles to his eternal kingdome through Christ Iesus our Lord. Amen The second thing that I note in the foresayde wordes of Peter is that he calleth persecution no straunge thinge And trueth it is for which of the Prophetes were not persecuted with Christ and his Apostles and some of them in the end cruelly killed for the truthes sake Cain killed Abell Isaac was persecuted of Ismaell Iacob was hated of Esau Ioseph was prisoned and set in the Stockes the Prophet Esay was cut in two with a Saw Ieremy was stoned Micheas was buffeted and fed with bread and water Helias was sore persecuted Eleazar and the woman with her 7. sonnes were cruelly killed What Christ and the Apostles suffered it is well knowne So that by many tribulations as Paul sayth we must enter into the kingdome of Heauen All the holy Prophetes Christ and hys Apostles suffered such afflictions not for euill doing but for preaching Gods word for rebuking the world of sinne and for theyr fayth in Iesus Christ. This is the ordinance of GOD my Frendes this is the high way to heauen by corporall death to eternall life as Christ sayth he that heareth my woordes and beleeueth in him that sent mee hath eternall life and shall not come into iudgement but is escaped from death to life Let vs neuer feare death which is killed by Christ but beleue in him and liue for euer as Paule sayth There is no damnation to them that are in Christ Iesu which walke not after the fleshe but after the Spirit And agayne Paule sayth Death where is thy styng Hell where is thy victory Thankes be to God which hath geuen vs victory through Iesu Christe Besides this ye haue seene and dayly doe see the bloud of your good Preachers and Brethren which hath bene shed in the Gospelles cause in this sinnefull Sodome this bloudy Ierusalem this vnhappy City of London Lette not theyr bloud be forgotten nor the bloud of your good Bishop Ridley who like a Shepheard to your comforte exāple hath geuen his life for his sheepe good S. Paule sath remember them that haue spoken to you the word of God and looke vpon the end of theyr conuersation and folow theyr fayth The Deuill euer stirreth vp false teachers as he hath done now ouer all Englande as Peter Paule and Iude prophesied it should be to poyson and kill our soules with the false doctrine And where he fayleth of his purpose that way then mooueth he his members to persecute the seely carcases of the Saynctes because they will not denye nor dissemble theyr pure fayth in our liuing Christ and confesse a dead breadye Christ and honour the same as Christ God and man contrary to Gods commaūdement This is the working of Sathan who knowing hys owne iust damnation woulde all mankinde to be partakers wyth him of the same such a mortall hatred beareth he agaynst GOD and his people And therefore when this wicked Tempter coulde not kill Christe with subtle tentation to fall downe and worship him then
I set as litle by it as the best of you all In deede sayth the Printer so we vnderstand now for you being at a supper in Cheapside among certaine honest company and there burdened with the matter sayd then that you did it rather to looke vpon fayre wenches then otherwise He being in a great rage sware to the purpose saying Can a man speake nothing but you must haue vnderstaÌ„ding therof But sayth he did I any man any hurt It was aunswered that hee meant litle good to M. Doddes aforesayd especially procuring a secret witnesse behinde his doore to catche some wordes that might tend to Doddes destruction Whiche thing Drayner sware as before was not true To whoÌ„ the printer replied that it was most true for that the party there secretly hidden hath since vpon his knees asking forgeuenesse for his intent confessed the same to Doddes himselfe I will hang that knaue sayth he And so he departed in a rage and since is deceased whose death order therof I referre to the secret Iudge ¶ A Lamentable History of Iohn Whiteman Shoomaker who suffered most cruell tormentes at Ostend in Flaunders for the testimony of Iesus Christ and the truth of his Gospell an 1572. IOhn Whiteman Shoomaker being about the age of 49. yeares borne in Tinen a towne in Brabant After hys comming ouer into England dwelt in Rye in the County of Sussex maryed xxiij yeares alwayes a professour of the Gospell as well in the time of the freedome therof as in time of persecution About Candlemas in the yeare 1572. vnknowne to his frendes in Rye vnderstanding of shipping in Rye which was ready bound for Ostend in Flaunders went aboorde the Saterday morning and arriued at Ostend that night where he lodged wyth one of his kinsmeÌ„ there dwelling The next day being Sonday in the morning he accompanyed with his sayd kinsman tooke his iourney as it were to haue passed hither into the countrey When they were about three mile on theyr way out of the Towne sodeynely Whitman stayd and would go no further but immediatly returned back againe to Ostend whither so soone â—s he was come it being seruice tyme in theyr Church he forthwith addressed himselfe thither and at the time of the heaue offering stept to the sacrificer and tooke from ouer his head his Idoll saying these words in the Dutch tongue· Is this your God and so breaking it cast it downe vnder his feet and trode theron Forthwith the people in an vprore came to lay holde on him and hardly in the Church escaped he death by the souldiers there present but being rescued by some to the intent to be further examined and made a publicke spectackle he was carryed immediatly to prison Upon the next day being monday the Iudges other Counsellers being assembled he was brought forth into the common hall and examined of hys fact the intent the counsell and abettors thereof and also of his fayth where he very coÌ„stantly in defence of his christian fayth great detestation of Idolatry demeaned him selfe in such sort that he wrong teares from the eyes of diuers both of the chiefe others present So was he committed agayne to prison The next day being Tuesday he was brought out agayne before the Iudges into the same place And being examined as before he no whit abated but increased in his coÌ„stancy WhereupoÌ„ senteÌ„ce was geueÌ„ vpoÌ„ him to haue his hand cut of and his body scorched to death after to be haÌ„ged vp So the day folowing being wednesday he was brought out of prisoÌ„ to the towne hal standing in the market place all thinges beloÌ„ging to execution being made ready there Which when they were al ready the hangman went into the hall with a cord tyed the hands of Whitman came out leadyng him thereby so soone as Whitman was out of the house he made such hast as it wer ran to the place of execution that he drew the hangman after him There was a post set vp with sparres froÌ„ the top therof aslope downe to the ground in maner of a Tent to the end that he shoulde be onely scorched to death not burned When he was come to the place the hangmaÌ„ commaunded him to lay downe hys right hand vppon a block which he immediately with a hatchet smote of the good man stil coÌ„tinuing constaÌ„t the hangman stept behind him bid him put out his tonge which he forthw t did as far as he could out of his mouth through the which he thrust a loÌ„g instrument like a Packe needle and so let it sticke Then the Iudges standing by in the common Hall read agayn his fact and sentence Wherunto hee coulde make no aunswere his tongue haÌ„ging out of his head so was he stripped out of his Cassocke his hose being put of in prison put wtin his Tent made fast with two chaynes and fire and put round about which broyled and scorched his body most miserably al blacke he not being seene but heard to make a noyse within the Tent. When he was dead hee was caryed out to be haÌ„ged vpon a gybbot beside the town Spectatores praesentes Cutbert Carr Bartholomeus Bellington Nautae Rienses ¶ Admonition to the Reader concerning the examples aboue mentioned IT hath bene a long perswasion gendred in the heades of many men these many yeares that to ground a mans fayth vpoÌ„ Gods word alone and not vpon the See and Churche of Rome following all the ordinaunces and constitutions of the same was damnable heresie and to persecute such men to death was hygh seruice done to God Whereupon hath risen so great persecutions slaughters and murders with such effusion of ChristeÌ„ bloud through all partes of Christendome by the space of these 70. yeares as hath not before bene seene And of these men Chryst himselfe doth full well warne vs long before true prophesiyng of such times to come when they that flea his Ministers and seruantes shuld thinke themselues to do good seruice vnto God Ioh. 16. Now what wicked seruice and howe detestable before God this is which they falsly perswade themselues to be godly what more euident demonstrations can we require then these so many so manifest so terrible examples of Gods wrath pouring down from heauen vpon these persecuters whereof part we haue already set forth for to comprehend all which in number are infinite it is vnpossible Wherfore although there be manye whiche will neyther heare see nor vnderstand what is for theyr profite yet let al moderate wel disposed natures take warning in time And if the playne word of God will not suffice theÌ„ nor the bloud of so many martirs wil moue theÌ„ to embrace the truth and forsake errour yet let the desperate deathes horrible punishments of their own papistes perswade theÌ„ how perillous is the end of this daÌ„nable doctrine of papistry For if these papistes which make so much
of their painted antiquitie do thinke theyr proceedings to be so Catholick seruice so acceptable to God let thē ioyn this withal tel vs how commeth then theyr procedings to be so accursed of God their end so miserably plagued as by these examples aboue specified is here notoriously to be seene Agayne if the doctrine of them be such heresie whom they haue hetherto persecuted for heretickes vnto death howe then is almighty God become a mayntayner of heretickes who hath reuenged theyr bloud so greeuously vppon theyr enemyes and persecuters The putting out of the French kinges eyes which promised before with his eyes to see one of Gods true seruauntes burned who seeth not with his eyes to be the stroke of Gods hand vpon him Then his sonne Frances after him not regarding his fathers stripe would needes yet proceed in burning the same man and did not the same God whiche put out his fathers eyes geue hym suche a blow on the eare that it cost him his life if the platform of Steuen Gardiner had bene a thing so necessary for the church and so gratefull vnto God why then did it not prosper with him nor he with it but both he and his platforme lay in the dust and none left behinde him to build vpon it After the tyme of Steuen Gardiner and at the Councell of Trent what conspiracies and pollicies were deuised what practises and traynes were layde through the secret confederacy of princes and prelates for the vtter subuersion of the Gospell and all Gospellers which if God had seen to haue bene for his glory why then came they to none effect yea how or by whome were they disclosed and foreprised but by the Lord himself which would not haue them come forward The vehement zeale of Queene Mary whiche was like to haue set vp the Pope here agayne in England for euer if it had so much plesed the Lord God as it pleased her self or if it had bene so godly as it was bloudy no doubt but Gods blessing woulde haue gone withall But when was the Realme of England more barren of all Gods blessinges what Prince euer raigned here more shorter time or lesse to his owne hartes ease then didde Queene Mary The Constable of Fraunce when he conuented with GOD that if he had victory at S Quintines he would set vpon Geneua thought no doubt that he had made a great good bargaine with God Much like to Iulian the Emperour who going against the Persians made his vow that if he spedde well he would offer the bloud of Christians But what did God came not both theyr vowes to like effect The examples of such as reuolted from the Gospell to Papistry be not many but as fewe as they were scarse can any be found which began to turne to the Pope but the Lord began to turne from them and to leaue them to theyr ghostly enemy As we haue heard of the king of Nauarre in Fraunce of Hēry Smith and Doctor Shaxton in England with other in other Countries moe of whom some dyed in great sorow of conscience some in miserable doubt of their saluation some stricken by Gods hand some driuen to hang or drowne themselues The stincking death of Steuen Gardiner of Iohn de Roma of Twyford of the Bayliffe of Crowland The suddeyne death of the Suffragane of Douer of Doctour Dunning of Doctour Geffray of Berry the Promoter The miserable and wretched end of Poncher Archbishop of Towers of Cardinall Crescentius Castellanus The desparate disease of Rockewood of Latomus of Guarlacus The earthly ending of Henry Beauforde Cardinall of Winchester of Eckius of Thornton called Dicke of Douer The wilfull and selfe murder of Pauyer of Richard Long of Bomelius besides infinite other The dreadfull taking awaye and murren of so many persecutyng Byshoppes so many bloudye Promoters and malicious Aduersaryes in suche a shorte tyme together with Queene Marye and that wythout anye mans hand but onely by the secret working of Gods iust iudgement To adde to these also the stincking death of Edmund Boner commonly named the bloudy Bishop of London who not many yeares agoe in the time and reigne of Queene Elizabeth after he had long feasted and banquetted in Durance at the Marshalsea as he wretchedly dyed in his blinde Popery so as stinckingly and as blindely at midnight was he brought out buried in the outside of all the Citty amonges theeues and murderers a place right conuenient for such a murderer with confusion and derision both of men and children who trampling vpon his graue well declared how he was hated both of God man What els be all these I say but playne visible argumentes testimonies and demonstrations euen from heauē agaynst the pope his murdering Religion and his bloudy doctrine For who can deny their doings not to be good whose end is so euill If Christ bid vs to know mē by their fruits especially seing by the end all thinges are to be tryed howe can the profession of that doctrine please God which endeth so vngodly Esaias chap. 50. prophesying of the ende of Gods enemyes whiche woulde needes walke in the lighte of theyr owne setting vppe and not in the light of the Lordes kindling threatneth to them this finall malediction In doloribus sayth he dormietis i. In sorow shall you sleepe Let vs now take a suruey of all those persecuters whiche of late haue so troubled the earth and almost haue burned vppe the world with fagots and fire for mainetenaunce of the Popes Religion and see what the end hath bene of them that are nowe gone and whither their Religion hath brought them but either to destruction or desparation or confusion shame of life So many great Doctors and Bishops haue cried out of late so mightely agaynst priestes marriage and haue they not by Gods iust iudgement working theyr confusion bene detected themselues and taken the most part of them in sinnefull adultery shamefull fornication Cardinall Ioannes Cremensis the Popes Legate here in England after he had set a law that Priestes shoulde haue no wiues was he not the nexte daye after being taken with hys whores driuen out of Londō with confusion and shame enough so that afterward he durst not shew his face here any more Besides the two Bishops in the late counsell of Trent most shamefully taken in adultery mentioned before Also besides innumerable other like forreigne storyes which I let passe to come now to our owne domesticall examples I could wel name halfe a score at least of famous Doctors and some Byshops with theyr great maysters of Popery who in standing earnestly agaynst the mariage of Priestes haue afterward bene taken in such dishonest factes themselues that not onely they haue caried the publicke shame of adulterous lecherers but some of them the markes also of burning fornication with them in theyr bodyes to theyr graues Whose names although I suffer here to be
them in any wise Their leauen is not good Their salte is all vnsauery And vnder good ententes They mayntayne all their knauery And murder Innocentes They seeke to sit in Christes seate And put him out of place And make all meanes that may be made His doynges to deface They keepe him downe with bils batâ— That made the blinde to see They make a God for myce and Rattes And say the same is he They shew like sheepe sweate like Wolues Their baytes be all for bloud They kill and slay the simple soules And rob them of ther good The darke illusions of the deuill Haue dimned so their eyes That they cannot abide the truth To sturre in any wise And if ye keepe the perfect path As I haue hope you doe Ye shall be sure to haue suche shame As they may put you to For all that leade a godly life Shall surely suffer losse And eke the world will seeke theyr shame And make them kisse the crosse Ye shal be killed sayth Christ Your sorrowes shall not cease And yet in your afflictions I am your perfect peace For in the worlde ye shall haue woe Because ye are vnknowne And for because ye hate the world The world will loue his owne Be feruent therefore to the death Agaynst all their decrees And God shall surely fight for thee Agaynst thine enemies Commit your cause vnto the Lord Reuenge not any euill And thou shalt see the wicked want When thou shalt haue thy will For all afflictions that may fall That they can say or doe They are not sure of the wealth We shall attayne vnto For I haue seene the sinners spread Theyr braunches like a bay And yet ere one could turne his head Were withered cleane away Beware that mony make ye not In riches to aryse Agaynst the goodnes of the Lord Among the worldly wise For many mischiefes it hath made That may not be exprest And many euils it hath begonne Which may not be redrest For money maketh many one In riches to rebell And he that maketh gold a God He hath a soule to sell. It maketh Kinges to kill and slay And wast their wittes in warre In leauing of the Wolfe at home To hunt the Foxe a farre And where they should see iustice done And set their realme in rest By mony they be made a meane To see the poore opprest It maketh Lordes obey the lawes That they doe ill and nought It maketh Bishops suck the bloud That God hath dearely bought And where they shuld be faythfull friends And father to the flocke By money they do turne about Euen like a weather Cock The Prieste doth make a mony meane To haue agayne his whoores To put away his wedded wife And children out of doores It holdeth backe the husbandman Which may not be forborne And will not suffer him to sow And cast abroad his corne In like case it doth let agayne When that the seede they sowe It choketh vp the corne agayne So that it cannot growe The husband he would haue a wife With nobles new and olde The wife would haue the husband hangd That she might haue his gold It maketh murthers many a one And beareth much with bloud The childe would see the parentes slayne To sease vppon their good And though it be a blessed thing Created in the kinde It is a necessary euill Annexed to the mind For who so playeth with the pitch His fingers are defiled And he that maketh gold a God Shall surely be beguiled Be frendly to the fatherles And all that are opprest Assist them alwayes out of hand And see them set at rest In all your doinges and your deedes Let mercy still remayne For with the measure that ye meate Shall ye be mette agayne Be alwayes lowly in your life Let loue enioy her owne The highest trees are seldome sure And soonest ouerthrowne The Lyons lacke and suffer sore In hunger and in thurst And they that doe oppresse the poore Continue still accurst The Bee is but a little beast In body or in sight And yet she bryngeth more encrease Then other Crow or Kyte Therefore beware in any wise Keepe well your watche alway Be sure of oyle within your lampe Let not your light decay For death despiseth them that lacke And hateth them that haue And treadeth downe the riche and poore Together in the graue Exhort your Children to be chast Rebuke them for their ill And let them not at any wise Be wedded to theyr will Laugh not with them but keep them low Shew them no mery cheare Least thou doe weepe with them also But bryng them vp in feare And let your light and liuing shyne That ye be not suspect To haue the same within your selfe For which they are correct Be meeke and modest in a meane Let all your deedes be done That they which are without the law May see how right ye runne Keepe well the member in your mouth Your tongue see that ye tame For out of little sparkes of fire Proceedeth out a flame And as the poyson doth expresse The natures of the Tode Euen so the tongue doth manifest The hartes that feareth God For therewith blesse we God aboue And therewith curse we men And therby murders doe aryse Through women now and then And seeing God hath geuen a tongue And put it vnder power The surest way is for to set A hatch before the doore For God hath set you in a seate Of double low degree Fyrst vnto God and then to man A subiect for to be I write not that I see in you These thinges to be suspect But onely set before your face How sinne should be correct For flesh and bloud I know ye are As other women be And if ye dwell in flesh and bloud There is infirmitie Receaue a warning willingly That to thy teeth is tolde Accompt the gift of greater price Then if he gaue thee gold A wiseman sayth Salomon A warning will embrace A foole will sooner as sayth he Be smitten on the face And as your members must be dead From all thinges that are vayne Euen so by Baptisme ye are borne To liue with Christ agayne Thus fare well free and faythfull frend The Lorde that is aboue Encrease in thee â— perfect fayth And leade thee in his loue And as I pray with perfite loue And poure out bitter teares For you and all that are at large Abroad among the bryers Euen so I pray thee to preferre My person and my bondes Vnto the euerlasting God That hath me in his handes That I may passe out of this ponde Wherein I am opprest Inclosed in a clod of clay That here can haue no rest That as he hath begon in me His mercies many one I may attayne to ouertake My brethren that be gone That when the death shall do his worst Where he shall point a place I may be able like a man To looke him in the face For though he catch away my cloke
Doctour Fuller you must vnderstand that Christ spake to the Scribes and Phariseys Nay Mayster Doctour sayth Wolsey Christ spake eueÌ„ to you and your felowes here present to al other such like as you be Away Mayster Doctor saith Christopherson for you can do no good with this man Yet sayth D. Fuller I will leane thee a booke to read I promise thee of a learned maÌ„s doing that is to say of Doctor Watsons doing who was then Bishop of Lincolne Wolsey receiuing the same booke did diligently reade it ouer which in many places did manifestly appeare contrary to the knowne trueth of Gods word At the length a fourtnight or three weekes folowing the sayde Doctour Fuller resorting agayne to the prison house to confer with the sayd Wolsey did aske him how he liked the sayd booke thinking that he had won him by the reading of the same who aunswered him and sayd Syr I like the booke no otherwise then I thought before I should find it Wherupon the Chauncellor taking his booke departed home At night when D. Fuller came to his chamber to looke on it he did finde in many places coÌ„trary to his minde the booke raced with a pen by the sayd Wolsey The which hee seing and being vexed therwith sayd Oh this is an obstinate hereticke and hath quite marred my booke Then the Syse holden at Wisbich drawing nye Doctor Fuller commeth agayne to the sayd Wolsey and speaketh vnto him on this maner Thou doest much trouble my coÌ„science wherfore I pray thee depart rule thy 〈◊〉 so that I heare no more complaint of thee and come to the Church when thou wilt and if thou be complayned vpon so farre as I may I promise thee I will not heare of it Mayster Doctour quoth Wolsey I was brought hyther by a law and by a law I will be deliuered Then being broughte to the Sessions before named Wolsey was layd in the Castle at Wisbich thinking to him and al his freÌ„des that he should haue suffered there at that present time but it proued nothing so Then Robert Pygot the painter being at liberty was there presented by some euill disposed persons sworne meÌ„ as they called them for not comming to the Church The sayd Pygot being called in the Sessions woulde not absent himselfe but there did playnely appeare before Syr Clement Hygham being Iudge who sayd vnto him Ah are you the holy father the Paynter How chaunce ye came not to the Churche Syr quoth the Paynter I am not out of the Church I trust in God No Syr sayd the Iudge this is no Churche this is a Haule Ye sir sayd Pygot I know very wel it is a Haule but he that is in the true faith of Iesus Christ is neuer absent but present in the Church of God Ah Syrha sayd the Iudge you are to high learned for me to talke withall wherfore I will send you to them that be better learned then I strayght wayes commaundynge him to the Iayle where Wolsey lay So the SessioÌ„s being broken vp and ended the sayd Wolsey and Pigot were caryed agayne to Eley into yrison where they both did remayne till the day of theyr death In the meane time certaine of theyr neighbors of Wisbych aforesayd being at Eley came to see how they did There came thither also a Chapleine of Bishop Gooderikes a Frenchman borne one Peter Ualentius who said vnto the said Wolsey and Pygot My brethren according to mine office I am come to talk with you for I haue bene Amner here this xx yeares and aboue Wheerfore I must desire you my brethren to take it in good parte that I am come to talke with you I promise you not to pull you from your fayth But I both requyre and desire in the name of Iesus Christ that you stande to the truth of the Gospell and worde and I beseech the almighty God for his sonne Iesus Christes sake to preserue both you me in the same vnto the end For I knowe not myselfe my brethreÌ„ how soone I shal be at the same point that you now are Thus with many other like wordes he made an end causing all that were there present to water theyr cheekes contrary to al the hope they had in him god be praysed therfore Then within short time after Pygot and Wolsey wer called to iudgement about the ix daye of October before Doctor Fuller then Chauncellor with old Doctor Shaxton Christopherson and others in Commission who layd earnestly to theyr charge for theyr belief in diuers articles but especially of the Sacrament of the aultar Whereunto theyr auÌ„swere was that the Sacrament of the aultar was an Idoll and that the naturall body and bloud of Christe was not present really in the sayd Sacrament and to this opinion they sayd they would sticke beleuing perfectly the same to be no heresye that they had affirmed but the verye truth wherupoÌ„ they would stand Then said the Doctors that they were out of the Catholicke fayth Then Doctor Shaxton sayd vnto them good brethren remember your selues and become new men for I my self was in this â—ond opinion that you are nowe in but I am now become a new man Ah sayd Wolsey are you become a new man Wo be to thee thou wicked new man for God shal iustly iudge thee Doctour Fuller then spake saying this Wolsey is an obstinate felow and one that I could neuer do good vpon But as for the Paynter hee is a man quiet and indifferent as farre as I perceiue and is soone reformed and maye very well be deliuered for any euill opinion I find in him Then Christopherson called for penne and yncke and wrote these wordes folowing I Robert Pygot do beleue that after â—he wordes of consecration spoken by the Priest thâ—re remaineth no more bread and wine but the very body and bloud of Christ really substauntially the selfe same that was borne of the virgine Mary and reading it to the Paynter he sayd thus doest thou beleue all this according as it is written Pygot No Syr sayd the Paynter that is your fayth and not mine Christopher Loe Mayster Doctor Fuller you would haue letteÌ„ this felow go he is as much an heretick as the other And so immediately iudgemeÌ„t was geuen vpon theÌ„ to dye Which done after the seÌ„teÌ„ce read they were sent again to the prison where they did lye till the day of theyr death At which day one Peacocke Bachelor of diuinity being appoynted to preach took his text out of the first Epistle of S. Paul to the Corin. 5. chap. of one that had liued vnordinately by abusing his fathers wife likening the sayd Pygot and Wolsey to the same man often times saying that such members must be cut of from the congregation most maliciously reporting the sayd Wolsey to be cleane out of the fayth and in many places quite denying the Scripture So his Sermon being ended the forenamed Pygot
is an earnest worde of Ire Wherfore hell fire is appoynted for it that is the most payne of the three punishments Now you haue heard that to these diuers offences of Ire and killyng be appoynted punishments according to their degrees for looke as the offence is so shall the paine be if the offence be great the payne shall be accordyng if it be lesse there shal be lesse paine for it I would not now that you should thinke because that here is but three degrees of punishmentes spoken of that there bee no more in hell no doubt Christ spake of no more here but of these three degrees of punishmentes thinkyng they were sufficient enough for example wherby we myght vnderstand that there be as diuers and many paynes as there bee oâ—fenses and so by these three offences and these three punishmentes all other offences and punishments may bee compared with an other yet I would satisfy your mynds further in these three termes of iudgement counsaile and hell fire Where you might say what was the cause that Christ declared more the paynes of hell by these termes then by any other termes I tolde you afore that he knew well to whome he spake them these termes were naturall and well knowen amongest the Iewes and Phariseies Wherefore Christ taught them with their owne termes to the intent they might vnderstand the better his doctrine and these termes may bee likened vnto three termes which we haue common and vsuall amongst vs that is to say the sessions of enquirance the sessions of deliuerance and the execution day Sessions of enquirance is lyke vnto iudgement for when sessions of enquiry is then the Iudges causeth xij men to geue verdite of the felons crime whereby he shall be iudged to be endited sessions of deliueraunce is much lyke counsayle for at sessions of deliueraunce the Iudges go amongest themselues to counsaile to determine sentence agaynst the fellon Execution day is to be compared vnto hel fire for the Iews had amongest themselues a place of execution named hell fire and surely when a man goeth to hys death it is the greatest payne in this world wherefore you may see that there are degrees in these our termes as there is in those termes these euill disposed affections and sensualities in vs are alwayes contrary to the rule of our saluation What shall we doe now or imagine to thrust downe these Turkes and to subdue them It is a great ignominy and shame for a Christian man to be bond and subiect vnto a Turke Nay it shall not bee so wee will first cast a Trumpe in their way and play with them at cardes who shall haue the better let vs play therefore on this fashion with this carde Whensoeuer it shall happen these fowle passions and Turkes to ryse in our stomackes agaynst our brother or neighbour eyther for vnkynd wordes iniuries or wrongs which they haue done vnto vs contrary vnto our mynd straight wayes let vs call vnto our remembraunce and speake this question vnto our selues Who art thou The answer is I am a christian man TheÌ„ further we must say to our selues What requireth Christ of a christian man Now turne vp your trump your hart hartes is trumpe as I sayd before and cast your trumpe your heart on this carde and vppon this carde you shall learne what Christ requireth of a Christian man not to be angry ne mooued to Ire agaynst hys Neighbour in mynde countenaunce nor other wayes by word or deed Then take vp this carde with your hart and lay them together that done you haue won the game of the Turke wherby you haue defaced and ouercome by true and lawfull play but alas for pitie the Rhodes are wonne and ouercome by these false Turkes the strong Castle Fayth is decayed so that I feare it is almost impossible to winne it agayne The great occasion of the losse of this Rhodes is by reason that Christian men doth so daily kill their own nation that the very true number of Christianitie is decayed which murther and killyng one of another is encreased specially two wayes to the vtter vndoyng of Christendome that is to say by example and silence By example as thus When the Father the Mother the Lord the Lady the Maister the Dame be themselues ouercome with these Turkes they be continuall swearers adulterers disposers to malice neuer in patience and so forth in all other vices Thinke you not when the Father the mother the Maister the Dame bee disposed vnto vice or impatience but that their children and seruants shall encline and be disposed to the same No doubt as the chylde shall take disposition naturall of their father and mother so shal the seruaunts apply vnto the vices of their Maisters and Dames if the heads be false in theyr faculties and crafts it is no meruayle if the children seruaunts and apprentices do enioy therein This is a great and shameful maner of killyng Christian men that the Fathers the Mothers the Maisters and the Dames shall not alonely kyll themselues but all theyrs and all that longeth vnto them and so this way is a great number of christian linage murthered and spoiled The second maner of killyng is silence By silence also is a great number of christen men slayne which is on this fashion although that the father mother maister dame of themselues be wel disposed to liue according to the law of God yet they may kil their childreÌ„ and seruants in suffryng them to do euill before their own faces and do not vse due correction accordyng vnto theyr offences the maister seeth his seruaunt or apprentice take more of his neighbour then the Kings lawes or the other of hys facultie doth admit hym or that hee suffereth hym to take more of hys neighbour then he hymselfe would be content to pay if he were in lyke condition thus doyng I say such men kill willyngly their children and seruants and shall goe to hell for so doyng but also their fathers and mothers maisters and dames shall beare them company for so sufferyng them Wherefore I exhort all true Christian men and women to geue good example vnto your children and seruauntes and suffer not them by silence to offend euery man must bee in hys owne house accordyng to Saint Augustines mynde a Bishop not all onely geuyng good ensample but teach accordyng to it rebuke and punish vice not sufferyng your children seruauntes to forget the lawes of GOD you ought to see them haue their Beliefe to know the Commaundements of God to keepe their holy dayes not to loose theyr tyme in idlenesse if they doe so you shall all suffer payne for it if God be true of hys saying as there is no doubt thereof and so you may perceyue that there be many one that breaketh this carde Thou shalt not kill and playeth therwith oftentymes at the blynde trompe whereby they bee no winners but great loosers but who bee those now a dayes
comely a person to them that were there present as one should lightly see and where as in his clothes he appeared a withered and crooked silke olde man he now stood bolt vpright as comely a father as one might lightly behold Then M. Ridley standyng as yet in hys trusse sayde to his brother it were best for me to goe in my trusse still No quoth hys brother it will put you to more payne and the trusse will do a poore man good Whereunto Maister Ridley sayd be it in the name of God and so vnlaced hymselfe Then beyng in his shirt he stoode vpon the foresayd stone and held vp hys handes and sayd Oh heauenly Father I geue vnto thee most harty thankes for that thou hast called me to bee a professour of thee euen vnto death I beseech thee Lord GOD take mercy vpon this Realme of England and deliuer the same from all her enemies Then the Smith tooke a chaine of iron and brought the same about both D. Ridleis and M. Latimers middles and as he was knockyng in a staple D. Ridley took the chayne in his hand and shaked the same for it did gird in his belly and lookyng aside to the Smith sayd good felow knocke it in hard for the flesh will haue hys course Then his brother did bring hym gunpouder in a bag and would haue tied the same about hys necke M. Ridley asked what it was His brother said gunpouder Then sayd he I take it to be sent of God therefore I will receyue it as sent of hym And haue you any sayd he for my brother meanyng M. Latymer Yea sir that I haue quoth hys brother Then geue it vnto hym sayd he betyme least ye come to late So hys brother went and caried of the same gunpouder vnto M. Latymer In the meane tyme D. Ridley spake vnto my L. Williams and sayd My L. I must be a suter vnto your lordship in the behalfe of diuers poore men and especially in the cause of my poore Sister I haue made a supplication to the Queenes Maiestie in their behalfes I beseech your Lordship for Christes sake to bee a meane to her grace for them My brother here hath the Supplication and wyll resort to your lordship to certifie you hereof There is nothing in all the world that troubleth my conscience I praise God this onely excepted Whiles I was in the Sea of London diuers poore men tooke Leases of me and agreed with me for the same Now I heare say the B. that nowe occupieth the same roume wil not allow my graunts vnto them made but contrary vnto all law and conscience hath taken from them their liuynges and will not suffer them to enioy the same I beseech you my Lord be a mean for them you shall doe a good deed and God wil reward you Then brought they a fagot kindled with fire and layd the same downe at D. Ridleys feete To whome Maister Latymer spake in this maner Be of good comfort maister Ridley and play the man wee shall this day light such a candle by Gods grace in England as I trust shall neuer be put out And so the fire beyng geuen vnto them when D. Ridley saw the fire flamyng vp toward hym he cryed wyth a wonderfull lowd voyce In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum Domine recipe spiritum meum and after repeated this latter part often in English Lord Lord receyue my spirit M. Latymer crying as vehemently on the other side Oh Father of Heauen receyue my soule who receyued the flame as it were embrasing of it After as he had stroked hys face with hys hands as it were bathed them a little in the fire he soone died as it appered with very litle payne or none And thus much concerning the end of this old and blessed seruaunt of God M. Latymer for whose laborious trauails fruitfull lyfe constāt death the whole Realme hath cause to geue great thankes to almighty God But M. Ridley by reason of the euill makyng of the fire vnto hym because the wooden fagots were laid about the gosse and ouer high built the fire burned first beneath beyng kept downe by the woode Which when he felt hee desired them for Christs sake to let the fire come vnto him Which when hys brother in law heard but not well vnderstood entendyng to ridde hym out of his payne for the which cause he gaue attendance as one in such sorow not well aduised what he did heaped fagots vpon hym so that he cleane couered hym which made the fire more vehement beneath that it burned cleane all hys neather parts before it once touched the vpper and that made him leape vp and downe vnder the fagots and often desire them to let the fire come vnto him saying I cannot burne Which in deed appeared well for after hys legs were consumed by reason of his struglyng through the payne whereof he had no release but only his contentation in God he shewed that side toward vs clean shirt and all vntouched with flame Yet in all this torment he forgate not to call vnto God still hauyng in his mouth Lord haue mercy vppon me intermedling this cry let the fire come vnto me I can not burne In which paynes he laboured till one of the standers by with his bill pulled of the fagots aboue and where he saw the fire flame vp hee wrested himselfe vnto that side And when the flame touched the gunpouder hee was seene stirre no more but burned on the other side fallyng downe at M. Latymers feete Which some said hapned by reason that the chaine loosed other sayd that he fell ouer the chaine by reason of the poise of his body and the weakenes of the neather limmes Some say that before he was like to fall from the stake he desired them to holde him to it with their billes Howsoeuer it was surely it moued hundredes to teares in beholding the horrible sight For I thinke there was none that had not cleane exiled all humanitie and mercy which would not haue lamented to behold the fury of the fire so to rage vpon their bodies Signes there were of sorrowe on euery side Some tooke it greuously to see their deaths whose lyues they held full deare Some pitied their persons that thought theyr soules had no neede thereof His brother mooued many men seyng his miserable case seeyng I say hym compelled to such infelicitie that he thought then to doe hym best seruice when he hastened hys ende Some cryed out of the lucke to see his endeuor who most dearely loued hym and sought his release turne to hys greater vexation and encrease of payne But who so considered their preferments in tyme past the places of honor that they sometyme occupied in this common wealth the fauour they were in with their princes and the opinion of learnyng they had could not chuse but sorow with teares to see so great
but yet at last perceauing that asmel sir Henry as also the other gentlemen did beholde him somewhat fixedly he brake of his talke Wherewith sir H. Knyuet making as though he had noted nothing did louingly dismisse him praying him that when he had receiued the B. letters he would also repaire to him for a packet to an Englyshe Gentleman of his acquaintaunce at Myllan which he promised to do and so departed againe When sir Henry had thus made sufficieÌ„t tryall of this matter he forthwith wrote his letters vnto the K. Maiestie signifiyng vnto him the whole at large as he had learned In the meane while Ludouicke the next morning repaired vnto the B. of Winchesters lodging to demaunde an answere of those letters the Legate had sent vnto hym but how he vsed him selfe or whether he vttered the talke he had with sir H. Knyuet and with Wolfe whom he supposed at the first to be the B. man it is not certainely knowen But the B. perceiuing that by mistaking one for an other and in supposing Wolfe to be the B. seruaunt Ludouicke had vttered all his message from the Legate vnto Wolfe and that thereby his practises would come to light in great hasty rage caused Ludouicke to be stayed in his owne house while in the meane time him self went to Grauuela one of themperors counsell so practised with him that Ludouick was secretly committed vnto prison in the custody of one of themperours Marshals so as he could be no more talked withall all the tyme of their aboad there And then sending in great hast to sir H. Knyuet to come and speake with him which he did he fell into very hot speach with him saying that he had poyson in his dysh and that a knaue was suborned to be his distructioÌ„ with many such like words Sir Henry told him again how he vnderstode it and prayed him that Ludouicke might be brought face to face to be examined in both their presentes Which the B. would in no case agree vnto affirming that he had so declared the case to Grauuela being indifferent as he thought to them both that he woulde not meddell with Ludouicke nor speake with him but that themperours counsell should examyne hym try what he was for hym To whom sir H. Knyuet againe very earnestly obiected that he maruayled that the B. in matter touching the K. Maiestie their Maister would vse the ayde or means of Grauuela a forraine Princes minister to make him priuie of their question But stay do what he would he would neuer come to the speach of Ludouicke any more euer after Whereupon there rose great and long controuersies betweene them both wryting letters vnto the K. about that matter vntill at last the K. Maiestie perceiuing his affayres otherwaies to slacke therby wrote vnto them both that they should lay all those things vnder foote and ioyne together in his seruice as before which they did accordingly But how soeuer this matter was afterwardes salued here with the K. Maiestie as eyther by the death of sir H. Knyuet which I thinke was not very long after or by other friendes the B. had here at home I know not yet Wolfe who within two monethes after died of a long cough of the Longues vpon his death bed did agayne affyrme the premisses to be most true and therefore in the presence of sir H. Knyuet diuerse other of his seruauÌ„ts he protested that he had not inuented sought or procured this at Ludouickes handes for any malice or displeasure borne to the B. but only for discharge of his fayth duetie vnto the K. Maiesty desiring that the same his protestation might be inserted in the end of his last will and testament which was then presently done thereunto set his hand Now whether this was the matter that the K. moued so often M. Secretary Paget being after L. Keeper to keepe safe as sore matter agaynst the B. I know not but yet it appears by some depositions of the Nobilitie and others in the processe agaynst hym had in K. Edwardes dayes that the K. Maiestie Henry .8 had this matter euer in his mynd for in euery generall pardon that he graunted by Parliament after this practise he did styll except all treasons committed beyond the seas meaning thereby as it was supposed that the B. should not take any benefite by any general pardon if at any time his Maiestie would call him to accompt and therfore all thinges wel wayed he had smal cause to vaunt of his great fauour he had of K. Henry his M. How beit it seemeth he was brought into this fooles paradize by the L. Paget who as he himselâ—e reporteth in his depositions in his messages from the K. to the sayd B. deluded hym telling him muche otherwyse then the K. had spoken counsaling alwayes the K. hard speches agaynst him which thing puffed vp this vaine-glorious Thraso not a litle All whiche premises appeare more at large by the depositions of the Nobles others examined in the long processe against him in K. Edwardes raigne as appeares in our first edition of actes and monumentes from the .804 Page vnto the ende of that processe in that booke at large mentioned But whatsoeuer he was seeing he is nowe gone I referre him to his Iudge to whom he shall stand or fall As concerning his death and maner thereof I woulde they which were present thereat would testifie to vs what they saw This we haue all to thinke that his heath happened so opportunely that England hath a mighty cause to geue thankes to the Lord therfore not so much for the great hurt he had done in times past in peruerting his Princes in bringing in the vi Articles in murderyng Gods saintes in defacing Christes sincere Religion c. as also especially for that he had thought to haue brought to passe in murdring also our noble Queene that now is For what soeuer daunger it was of death that she was in it did no doubt proceede froÌ„ that bloudy bishop who was the cause therof And if it be certain which we haue heard that her highnes being in the Tower a writte came downe from certaine of the Counsell for her execution it is out of controuersie that wily Winchester was the onely Dedalus framer of that ingine Who no doubt in that one day had brought this whole Realme into wofull ruine had not the Lordes moste gratious counsell through M. Bridges then the Lieuetenaunt comming in hast to the Queene certified her of the matter and preuented Architophels bloudy deuises For the which thankes be to the same our Lord and sauiour in the congregacion of al English churches Amen Of thinges vncertaine I must speake vncertainely for lacke of fuller information or els peraduenture they be in the Realme that can say more then here I haue expressed For as Boner Story Thornton Harpsfielde Dunning with other were occupied in puttyng the poore braunches of
declared my iudgemeÌ„t vnto you in this because I caÌ„not speake hereof without the daunger of my life Rich. There is none of vs here that seeketh thy life or meane to take any aduauntage of that thou shalt speake Phil. Although I mistrust not your honorable Lordships yâ— be here of the teÌ„poralty yet here is one that sitteth against me pointing to my Lord of London that wil lay it to my charge euen to the death Notwithstanding seeing youre honours do require me to declare my minde of the preseÌ„ce of Christ in the sacrament that ye may perceaue that I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christe neither doe mayntayne any opinion without probable and sufficient authoritie of the Scripture I will shewe franckly my minde without all colour what soeuer shall ensuâ— vnto me therfore so that my Lord of London wil not let me to vtter my minde Rich. My Lord permit him to say what he can seeyng hee is willing to shew his mind London I am content my Lordes let him say what he can I will heare him Phil. That which I doe entend to speake vnto you right honourable Lordes I do protest here first before God his Angels that I speake it not of vaynglory neyther of singularitie neither of wilfull stubburnes but truely vpon a good conscience grounded on Gods worde against the which I dare not do for feare of damnation which wil follow that which is done contrary to knowledge Neyther do I disagree to the proceedinges of this realme in the religion for that I loue not the Queene whom I loue from the bottome of my hart but because I ought to loue fear God in his word more then man in his lawes thoughe I stand as I seeme to do in this consideration and for none other as God I call to witnes There be two thinges principally by the which the clergy at this day doth deceiue the whole realm that is the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ and the name of the Catholicke church yâ— which both they do vsurpe hauing in deed none of them both And as touching theyr Sacrament which they terme of the aulter I say now as I sayd in the Conuocation house that it is not the Sacramente of Christ neither in the same is there any maner of Chrystes presence Wherfore they deceiue the Queenes maiesty and you of the nobilitie of thys realme in making you to beleue that to be a sacrament which is none and cause you to commit manifest Idolatry in worshipping that for God whiche is no God And in testimony of this to be true besides manifest proofe which I am able to make to the Queenes maiesty and to all you of her nobility I will yeld my lyfe The which to do if it were not vpon a sure grouÌ„d it were to my vtter damnation And where they take on them the name of the Catholicke church wherby they blinde many folkes eyes they are nothing so calling you from the true religion whiche was reuealed taught in K. Edwardes time vnto vaine superstition And this I will say for the tryall hereof that if they can proue themselues to be the catholicke church as they shal neuer be able to do I wil neuer be agaynst their doynges but reuoke all that I haue sayd And I shall desire you my Lordes to be a meane for me to the Queenes maiestie that I may be brought to the iust triall hereof Yea I will not refuse to stand agaynst ten of the best of them in this realme And if they be able to proue otherwise then I haue sayd either by writing or by reasoning with good lawfull authoritie I will here promise to recant whatsoeuer I haue sayd to consent to them in all poyntes And in the declaratioÌ„ of these things more at large which now I write in summe the Bishop of London eftsones would haue interrupted me but the Lords procured me libertie to make out my tale to the great griefe of my Lord bishop of London as it appeared by his dumpes he was in LondoÌ„ It hath bene told me before that you loue to make a long tale Rich. Al heretickes do boast of the spirite of God and euery one would haue a church by himselfe as Ioan of Kent and the Anabaptistes I had my selfe Ioan of Kent a seuen night in my house after the writ was out for her to be burnt where my Lorde of Canterb. and Bishop Ridley resorted almost dayly vnto her but she was so high in the spirite that they could do nothing with her for all theyr learning But she went wilfully vnto the fire was burnt and so do you now Phil. As for Ioan of Kent shee was a vayne woman I knew her well an heretick indeed well worthye to bee burnt because she stoode agaynst one of the manifest artycles of our faith contrary to the scriptures and such vayne spirites be soone known from the true spirite of God hys church for that the same abideth wtin the limites of GODS word and will not go out of the same neither stubburnely mayntaine any thing coÌ„trary to the word as I haue gods word throughly on my side to shew for that I stand in London I pray you how will you ioyne me these ij scriptures together Pater maior me est pater ego vnum sumuê° I must enterprete the same because my Lordes here vnderstand not the Latin that is to saye The Father is greater then I and I and the father are one But I cry you mercye my Lordes I haue mispoken in saying you vnderstande no Latine for the most part of you vnderstand Latin as well as I. But I spake in consideration of my Lord ShaÌ„doys and M. Bridges his brother whom I take to be no great Latin men Now shew your cunning and ioine these two scriptures by the word if you can Phil. Yes that I can right well For we must vnderstande that in Christ there be two natures the diuinitie and Humanitie in respect of his humanitie it is spoken of christ The Father is greater then I. But in respect of hys Deitie he sayd agayne The Father and I be one London But what scripture haue you Phil. Yes I haue sufficient scripture for the proofe of that I haue sayd For the first it is written of Christ in the Psalmes Diminuisti eum paulominus ab Angelis Thou hast made him a little lesser then Aungels It is the xv Psalme beginning Coeli enarrant And there I misreckoned wherwithall my Lord tooke me London It is in Domine Dominus noster Yee may see my Lords how wel this man is vsed to say his Mattins Phil. Though I say not Mattins in suche order as youre Lordship meaneth yet I remember of olde that Domine Dominus noster and Coeli enarrant bee not farre asunder and albeit I misnamed the Psalme it is no preiudice to the truth of that I haue
be Pray I beseech you that I may be stil careles in my careful estate as you haue cause to be carelesse in your easier condition Be thaÌ„kful and put away all care and then I shall be ioyfull in my straite present care Commend me to all our brethren and desire them to praye for me that I may ouercome my teÌ„ptations for the deuil rageth against me I am putte in the stockes in a place alone because I would not answer to such articles as they would charge me wtall in a corner at the bishops appoyntment and because I did not come to Masse when the bish sent for me I will sic all the dayes of my life in the stockes by Gods grace rather then I wil consent to the wicked generation Praise God be ioyfull that it hath pleased him to make vs worthy to suffer somwhat for his names sake The deuil must rage for 10. daies Commend me to maister F. and thanke him for his lawe bookes but lawe neither equitie wil take any place among these bloud thirsty I would for your sake their vniust dealing were noted vnto the parlament house if it might auaile God shorteÌ„ these euil daies I haue answered the bish meetely plaine already and I said to him if he wil cal me in open iudgement I wil answer him as plainly as he will require otherwise I haue refused because I feare they will condemne me in hugger mugger The peace of God be with you my dear brother I canne wryte no more for lacke of light and that I haue wrytten I can not reade my selfe and God knoweth it is wrytten farre vneasily I pray God you may picke out some vnderstanding of my minde towards you Wrytten in a Colehouse of darkenesse oute of a paire of paynefull stockes by thine owne in Christ. Iohn Philpot. An other letter of M. Philpot to certaine godlye women forsaking their owne countrey for the Gospell full of frutefull precepts and lessons for all good women THe spirite of truthe reuealed vnto you my dearely beloued by the Gospell of oure Sauiour Iesus Christe be continually abiding with you and augmented into a perfect building of you into the liuely temple of God through the mighty operation of hys power Amen I reade in the Euangelistes of certaine Godly women that ministred vnto Christ folowing him in the daies of his Passion and neuer forsoke him but being dead in his graue brought oyl to annoynt him vntill that he had shewed himselfe vnto them after his resurrection and bidden them shewe vnto his Disciples which at his Passion were dispearsed and tell them that he was riâ—en and that they shoulde see him in Galile To whome I may iustly compare you my louinge Sisters in Christe who of late haue seene him suffer in his meÌ„bers and haue ministred to theyr necessity annoynting them with the comfortable oyle of your charitable assistance euen to the death and now since yee haue seene Christ to liue in the ashes of them whome the tyrans haue 〈◊〉 he willeth you to go away vpon iust occasion offred you and to declare to our dispearsed brethren and sisters that he is 〈◊〉 and liueth in his electe members in Englande and by death doth ouercome infidelitye and that they shall see him in Galile which is by forsaking this world and by a faithful desire to passe out of this world by those waies which he with his holy Martyrs hath gone on before God therfore entire sisters directe your way as he did Abraham Tobias vnto a strange land God geue you health both of body and soule that ye may go from vertue to vertue and grow from strength to strength vntil yee may see face to face the God of Syon in his holy hil with the innumerable companye of hys blessed Martyrs and Saintes Let there be continuall ascensions vnto heauen in your hearts Let there be no decrease of any vertue which is already planted in you Be as the light of the iuste such as Salomon saith increaseth to the perfect day of the Lord. Let the strength of God be commended in your weake vessels as it is Be examples of faith and sobrietie to al that ye shal come in company with all Let your godly conuersation speake where your toung may not in the congregation Be swift to heare and slow to speake after the counsell of S. Iames. Be not curious about other mens doings but be occupied in praier and coÌ„tinual meditation with reuerent talking of the word of God wythout contention amongst the Saintes Lette your faith shine in a straunge countrey as it hath done in youre owne that your father which is in heauen may be glorified by you to the ende This farewel I send you not as a thing nedefull which know already what your duety is be desirous to performe the same but as one that would haue you vnderstand that he is mindeful of your godly conuersation wherof he hath had good experieÌ„ce and therfore wryteth this to be as a perpetual memorial betwixt you and him vntil our meeting together before God where we shall ioy that we haue here louingly put one an other in memory of our duetie to performe it Farewell againe mine owne bowels in Christ and take me with you where soeuer you goe and leaue your selues wyth me that in spirite we may be present one with an other Commende me to the whole congregation of Christe willing them not to leaue their countrey without witnesse of the Gospell after that we al be slaine which already be stalled vp and appoynted to the slaughter and in the meane season to praye earnestly for our coÌ„stancie that Christ may be glorified in vs and in them bothe by life and death Farewel in the Lord. Yours for euer Iohn Philpot. An exhortation to his owne sister constantly to sticke to the truth which she had frutefully professed GOd the eternall Father who hath iustified you by the bloud of his sonne Iesus Christ and called you to hallow his name through a good conuersation and profession of life he sanctifie you with daily encrease of vertue faith by his holy spirit that you may appeare a vessell of sanctification in the middest of this wicked peruerse generation to the laud and praise of the Gospel Amen I haue occasion mine owne deare sister to praise God in you for 2. causes the one that to your habilitie you are ready to shew your self a naturall louing sister to me your poore afflicted brother as by your geÌ„tle tokens you haue eftsoones testified being absent as also presently visiting me which wel declareth that you be a very naturall sister in dede and to be praised in this behalfe But in the other that you be also a sister to me in faith after Christes Gospell I am occasioned to thanke God so muche the more howe much the one excelleth the other and the spiritual consanguinitie is more perdurable then that which is of flesh bloud
lawes which doe threaten a greate ruine vnto Englande O that the Lorde woulde tourne his iust iudgements vppon the authours of the truce breaking betweene God and vs that they myghte be broughte lowe as Nabuchodonosor was that his people might be deliuered and his glorye exalted God graunte that that good lucke which you hope shortly to come vppon the house of God be a true prophecie and not a well wishing onely Ah Lorde take away thy heauie hande from vs and stretch it out vpon thine ennemies these hypocrites as thou hast begon that they may be confounded O let not the weake pearish for want of knowledge through our sinnes Although thou kill vs yet will we put our trust in thee Thus deare heart you teache me to pray with you in wryting God heare our praiers and geue vs the spirite of effectuall prayer to poure out our harts cōtinually together before God that we may find mercy both for our selues and for our afflicted brethren and sistern I can not but praise God in you for that pitifull heart that taketh other folkes calamities to heart as your owne Blessed be they that mourne for suche shall be comforted God wipe away all teares from your pitifull eies and sorrow frō your merciful heart that you may as doutles you shal do shortly reioyce with his elects for euer You haue so armed me to the Lordes battell both inwardly and outwardly that except I be a very coward I can not faint but ouercome by death You haue appointed me to so good and gracious a General of the field to so victorious a Captaine and to so fauorable a Marshall that if I should not goe on lustely there were no spectacle of heauenlye manhode in me I wil present your coate armour before my Captaine and in the same I trust by him to ouercome The Scarffe I desire as an outward signe to shew our enemies who see not our glorious ende neither what God worketh inwardly in vs thorough the blindnesse of their hearts that they persecute Christes crosse in vs whereby he hath sealed vp the truthe of his Gospell by his death vnto vs that we by our death if neede be myghte confirme the same and neuer be ashamed whatsoeuer torment we doe suffer for his names sake and our weake brethren seeing the same mighte be more encouraged to take vp Christes crosse and to followe him God geue vs grace to doe all thinges to his glory Amen c. The world wondreth how we can be mery in such extreeme misery but our God is omnipotent which tourneth misery into felicity Beleue me deare sister there is no such ioy in the worlde as the people of Christ haue vnder the crosse I speake by experience therfore beleue me and feare nothing that the world can do vnto you For when they imprison our bodies they sette our soules at liberty with God When they cast vs downe they lift vs vp yea when they kill vs then doe they bring vs to euerlasting life And what greater glorye can there be then to be at conformitie with Christ which afflictions do worke in vs. God open our eies to see more and more the glorye of God in the crosse of Iesus Christe and make vs woorthy partakers of the same Let vs reioyce in nothing with S. Paul but in the crosse of Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified vnto vs and wo to the worlde The crosse of Christ be our standard to fight vnder for euer Whiles I am thus talking with you of our common cōsolation I forget howe I trouble you with my rude and vnordinate tediousnesse but you must impute it to loue which can not quickely departe from them whome hee loueth but desireth to poure himselfe into their bosomes Therefore though your flesh woulde be offended as it might iustly be at such rudenesse yet your spirit will say nay which taketh all thing in good part that commeth of loue And now I am departing yet will I take my leaue ere I goe and woulde faine speake somewhat that might declare my sincere loue to you for euer farewell O elect vessell of the Lorde to the comfort of hys afflicted flocke farewell on earth whome in heauen I am sure I shall not forget Farewell vnder the crosse most ioyfully and vntil we meete alwaies remember what Christe sayeth Be of good cheare for I haue ouercome the world c. God poure his spirit abundantly vpon you mine owne deare bowels in Christ vntil you may come to see the God of all Gods with his electes in the euerlasting Syon I send to you the kisse of peace with the which I do most entirely take my leaue of you at this present It is necessary we depart hence or els we could not be glorified Your heart is heauy because I say I must depart from you It is the calling of the mercifull father wherewithal you are contēt and so am I. Be of good comfort holde out your buckler of faith for by the strength therof we shal shortly mete in eternal glory to the which Christ bring both vs Amen Amen The 10. of December 1555. Death why should I feare thee since thou canst not hurt me But rid me from miserie vnto eternall glorie Dead to the world and liuing to Christ your owne brother sealed vp in the veritie of the Gospel for euer Iohn Philpot. An other letter of M. Philpot wrytten to the same Lady being a great supporter of hym I Can not but most hartily geue God thāks for these hys gifts in you whose brightnes many beholding that are weake are muche encouraged to seeke God likewise to cleaue to him hauing the ensample of so faithful and constant a gentlewoman before their eyes If the Queene of the South shall rise with the men of Christes generation and condemne them for that she came from the end of the world to heare the wisedome of Salomon then shal your sincere and godly conuersation thus shining in this dangerous time of the trial of christes people being a womā of a right worshipfull estate and wealthy condition condemne in the latter day a great many of these faint harted gospellers which so soone be gone backe and turned from the truth at the voyce of a handmaiden seeing that neyther the feare of imprisonment neither the possessions of the world wherwtal you are sufficiently indued aboue a great many can separate you from the loue of the truthe which God hath reueled vnto you Wherby it appeareth that the seede of Gods word which was sown in you fel not neitheir in the high way neither amōg the thorns neither vpō the stones but vpon a good ground which is blessed of god and bringeth forth fruit with great affliction an 100. fold to the glory of God and the encrease of his church c. In consideration wherof S. Iames biddeth vs highly to reioyce when soeuer we fall into many temptations knowing that it is but the
hym at hys cōmandement but to your Masse sayd I I haue small affectiō At which aunswer he was displeased sore sayd I should be fedde with bread and water And as I followed hym through the great hall he turned backe and beat me with his fist first on the one cheeke and then on the other as the signe of my beatyng did many dayes appeare And then he led me into a little salthouse where I had no straw nor bed but lay two nightes on a table and slept soundly I thanke God Then vpon the Friday next after I was brought to my L. and he then gaue me many fayre words and said he would be good to me And so he goyng to Fulham committed me to Doct. Harpsfield that he and I in that after noone should common together and drewe out certayne Articles whereunto if I would subscribe I shoulde bee dismissed But D. Harpsfield sent not for me til night and then perswaded me very sore to forsake my opinions I answered I held nothing but the truth therfore I could not so lightly turne therefrom So I thought I should at y◠time haue had no more ado but he had made a certaine bill whiche the Register pulled out of his bosom red it The bill in deed was very easily made and therefore more daungerous for the effect therof was to detest all errours and heresies against the sacrament of the aultar and other sacramentes to beleue the fayth of the catholicke church and liue accordingly ¶ The copy of this bill here mentioned if it please the gētle reader to peruse so as it came to our hands we haue hereunto adioyned written and conteined in theyr owne wordes as foloweth to be sene ¶ The Bill of submission offered to Thomas Whittell to subscribe I Thomas Whittell Prieste of the Dioces of London knowledge and confesse with my mouth agreeing wyth my hart before you reuerend father in God Edm. bishop of London my Ordinary that I do detest and abhorre all maner of heresies and errours agaynst the Sacrament of the aulter or any of the Sacramentes of the Church whiche heresies and errours haue heretofore bene condemned in any wise by the catholicke church and I do protest and declare by these presents that I do both now hold and also entēd by gods grace alwayes hereafter to hold obserue and keepe in all poyntes the Catholicke fayth and beliefe of Christes Church according as this church of England being a member of the sayd Catholicke Church doth now professe and keepe and in no wise to swerue decline or go from the sayd faith during my naturall life submitting my selfe fully and wholly to you reuerend father my sayd Ordinarye in all thinges concerninge my reformation and amendement at all times In witnesse whereof I the sayde Thomas Whittell Prieste haue hereunto subscribed my name written c. To this Bill I did in deed set to my hand being much desired and counselled so to do and the flesh being alwaies desirous to haue libertye I considered not throughly the inconuenience that might come thereupon and respite I desired to haue had but earnestlye they desired me to subscribe Now when I had so done I had litle ioy thereof For by and by my mind and conscience tolde me by Gods worde that I had done euill by such a sleighty meanes to shake of the sweete Crosse of Christ and yet it was not my seking as God he knoweth but altogether came of them O the crafty subtlety of Sathan in his members Let euery man that God shall deliuer into theyr hands take good heede and cleaue fast to Christ for they will leaue no corner of his conscience vnsought but will attempt all guilefull and subtle meanes to corrupt him to fall both frō God and his trueth But yet let no man dispayre of Gods help for Peter did fall and rise agayne And Dauid sayeth A righteous man though he fall he shall not bee cast away for the Lorde vpholdeth him with his hande For I for my part haue felt my infirmities and yet haue I found Gods present helpe and comfort in time of neede I thanke hym therfore The night after I had subscribed I was sore greeued and for sorrowe of conscience coulde not sleepe For in the deliueraunce of my body out of bondes whiche I mighte haue had I could finde no ioy nor comfort but still was in my conscience tormented more and more being assured by Gods spirit and his word that I through euill councell aduisement had done amisse And both with disquietnesse of minde and with my other cruell handeling I was sickly lying vpon the ground when the keeper came and so I desired him to pray Doctour Harpsfield to come to me and so he did And when he came and the Register with him I told him that I was not well at ease but especially I told him I was greued very much in my conscience and minde because I had subscribed And I sayd that my conscience had so accused me through the iust iudgement of God and hys word that I had felt hell in my conscience and Sathan ready to deuoure me and therefore I pray you M. Harpsfield sayd I let me haue the bill agayne for I wyll not stande to it So he gentlye commaunded it to be fetched and gaue it mee and suffered mee to pull out my name whereof I was right glad when I had so done although death should folow And hereby I had experience of gods prouidence and mercy towardes me who trieth his people and suffereth them to fall but not to be lost for in the middest of this temptation and trouble he gaue me warning of my deed and also deliuered me his name be praysed for euermore Amen Neither deuill nor cruell tyrant can plucke any of Christes sheepe out of his hand Of the which flock of Christes sheepe I trust vndoubtedly I am one by meanes of hys death and bloudshedding which shall at the last day stand at his right hand and receiue with other his blessed benediction And now being condemned to dye my conscience and minde I prayse God is quiet in Christ and I by hys grace am very well willing and content to geue ouer this body to the death for the testimony of his truth pure religion agaynst Antichrist and all his false Religion doctrine They that report otherwise of me speake not truely And as for Fountayne I saw not him all that while By me Thomas Whittell Minister ¶ Concerning the troubled mind of this Godly man and tearing of his name out of the bill here followeth the report of the same written in the letters both of the sayde Harpsfield and also of Iohnson the Register beyng then present thereat and reporters of the same vnto the bishop as in theyr letters hereto annexed is to be sene * The Copy of Nich. Harpsfieldes Letter touching Mayster Whittell written to Boner Byshop
tribulations that being founde constant to the end he may crowne his owne giftes in them in heauen highly reward thē Whether I trust to goe before looking for you to followe my faythfull frend that we maye sing perpetuall praise to our louing Lord God for victory ouer Sathan and sinne won for vs by Iesus Christ God and man our onely and sufficient Sauiour and Aduocate Amen Farewell and pray in fayth Yours Thomas Whittell Minister and nowe condemned to dye for the Gospels sake 1556. Ianuary 21. ¶ All my felowes salute you Salute all our faythful brethren with you ¶ To my deare frend and brother Iohn Went and other his prison felowes in Lollardes Tower HE that preserued Ioseph prisoner in Egypt fed Daniel in the Lions denne and deliuered Paul Peter and the Apostles out of prison vouchsafe of his goodnes to keep feed and deliuer you my good brother Went with the other our felow souldiors your prison felowes as may be most to his glory to your consolatiō and the edification of his Church I cannot but praise God most earnestly when I heare of your constancy in the fayth and ioye in the crosse of Christ which you now beare and suffer together with many other good members of Christ which is a token that by Christ you are counted worthy the kingdome of God as Paule sayth And though the world counteth the yoake and crosse of Christ as a most pernicious and hurtfull thing yet we which haue tasted how frendly the Lord is cannot but reioice in this persecution as touching our selues in as much as the cause for the which we suffer is the Lordes cause and not ours at whose hand if we endure to the end we shall receiue through his liberall promise in Christ not onely a greate reward in heauen but also the kingdome of heauen it selfe also in the meane season be sure to bee defended and cared for so that we shall lacke no necessarye thinges neither a heare of our heades shall perishe without his knowledge Oh what is he that would mistrust or not gladly serue so louing a father O how vnhappy are they that forsake him and put theyr trust in man But how blessed are they that for his loue and for his holy woordes sake in these troublesome dayes doe committe theyr soules and bodyes into his handes with wel doing counting it greater happines and riches to suffer rebuke with Christ and his Church thē to enioy the pleasures of this life for a litle short seasō This crosse that we nowe beare hath bene common to all the faythfull from Abell hitherto and shal be to the end because the Deuill hauyng great wrath agaynst God and his Christ can not abide that hee should for his manifolde mercies bee lauded and magnified and Christ to be taken and beleued vpon for our onely and sufficient redemer Sauiour and aduocate and therefore because we will not deny Christ nor dissemble with out fayth but openly protest and professe the same before the world he seeketh by all meanes to styrre vp his wicked members to persecute and kill the bodies of the true Christians as S. Iohn sayth the Deuill shall cast some of you into prison And Dauid sayth I beleued and therfore haue I spoken but I was sore troubled This notwithstanding goe forward deare brethren as ye haue begon to fight the Lords battel considering Christe the Captayne of your warre who will both fight for you geue you victorye and also highlye rewarde your paynes Consider to your comfort the notable and chiefe shepheardes and souldiours of Christe whiche are gone before vs in these dayes I meane those learned and godly Bishops Doctours other ministers of Gods word whose fayth and examples we that be inferiours ought to folowe as S. Paule sayth Remember them that haue declared vnto you the worde of God the ende of whose conuersation see that ye look vpon and folow theyr faith The grace blessing of God with the ministery of his holy Angels be with you for euer Amen All my prison felowes greete you From the Colehouse this 4. of December By your poore brother Thomas Whittell an vnworthy Minister of Christ nowe his prisoner for the Gospels sake Amen ¶ To all the true professors and louers of Gods holy Gospell within the City of London THe same faith for the whiche Abraham was counted righteous and Mary blessed the Lorde GOD encrease and make stable in your hartes my deare and faithfull brethren sisters of London for euer and euer Amen Dearely beloued be not troubled in this heat which is now come amongest you to try you as though some straunge thing had happened vnto you but reioyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christes passions that when his glory appeareth ye may be mery and glad c. Out of these wordes of S. Peter I gather most specially these 4. notes First the persecution happeneth to Christes Church for their triall that is for the probation and proofe of their fayth Which fayth like as it is knowne with God in the depth of our hartes so will he haue it made manifest to the whole worlde through persecution that so it may euidently appeare that hee hath such a Churche and people vpon earth which so trusteth in hym and feareth his holy name that no kinde of persecution paynes nor death shal be able to seperate them from the loue of hym And thus was Abraham tried and Iob tempted that their fayth whiche before laye hid almost in their hartes might bee made knowne to the whole world to be so stedfast and stronge that the deuill naturall loue nor no other enemie coulde bee able to bereaue them thereof Whereby also GOD was to be magnefied who both tryeth his people by many tribulations and also standeth by them in the middest of their troubles to deliuer them by lyfe or death as he seeth best like as he assisted Loth and deliuered hym out of his enemies handes Ioseph out of the handes of his Brethren and out of Prison Paule from his enemies in Damasco and the Apostles out of the Stockes and Prison These with many mo he deliuered to lyfe And also he deliuered Abell Eleazar Steuen and Iohn Baptist with other manye by deathe and hathe also by the tryall of their fayth made them good presidentes and examples to vs and all that come after to suffer affliction in the like cause as Saynt Iames sayeth Take my brethren sayth he the prophets for an ensample of suffering aduersity and of long pacience which spake vnto you in the name of the Lord beholde we count them happy which endure Y◠haue heard of the pacience of Iob and haue knowne what end the Lord made with him for the Lord is very pitifull and mercifull Also the Lorde tryeth vs to let vs see our owne hartes and thoughtes that no Hypocrisy or Ambitiō deceiue vs that the strong
sub hoc pane corpus domini accipimus Zwinglius controlling hym sayd sub signo panis corpus domini accipimus and the other controlled him in like case Greene. Then M. Greene proued theyr opinions of the sacrament to be one in effect being rightly weighed and though theyr words dyd not sound al one yet they meant one thing and theyr opinions were all one as he proued by diuers other examples Feck Then Fecknam desired hym that he woulde not so wilfully caste himselfe away but to be rather conformable to reason and that my Lord Byshoppe there present would be good vnto hym and would graunt him respite if hee woulde demaund it for a fortnight or three weeks and that hee shoulde choose anye learned man whome he would and shoulde goe with hym home to his house and that hee whome he would choose woulde willingly take the paynes to reade and conferre the Doctoures wyth him and open the Doctours myndes meaninges vnto hym Boner Then Boner sayd that hee was proud and an obstinate boy and therfore hee bad Fecknam to holde hys peace and to call him no more M. Greene for sayd hee you ought not to call an hereticke maister Pendle After this Doctor Pendleton alledged to hym this text out of the xxii of Luke Ex hoc non manducabo illud donec impleatur in regno Dei Here sayd he you muste confesse your opinion to be false ells you must saye that Christ was a lyer for Christ sayde I will eate no more of this while it bee fulfilled in my fathers kingdome If Christ did eate no more the bread wheÌ„ he spake these wordes then must you say that he was a lyer for hee dyd eate bread after with hys Disciples before he ascended But if you say he dyd eate hys body then and after but breade it will not agree with the Scriptures nor with goâ—d reason Greene. Then Greene aunswered and sayd that thys was spoken by anticipation as one of theyr owne Byshops which is now dead did say Pendle Then Doctour Pendleton sayd that that was no sufficient discharge nor no sufficient aunswere for him in this case for sayd he it is well knowne that that bishop was of a contrary opinion to you and that he dyed a good christian man Greene. To whiche wordes Greene sayd I do not cal hym to witnesse in this case as though he were a sufficient man to proue my saying to bee true in this matter but I doe alledge hym agaynst you as Paule did the scripture whiche he found grauen in the aultar of the Atheniens agaynst themselues ignoto Deo These with many other wordes were betweene them which I doe ouerpasse because it were to longe to stande vpon recitall of euery thing Last of all the Byshop asked him if he would recant He sayd nay he would not But my Lord sayd he in old tyme there were no men put to death for theyr conscience vntill such time as Byshoppes found the meanes to make it death to beleue contrarye to them but excommunication my Lorde was the greatest penaltie which men hadde for theyr conscience yea in so muche that S. Augustine wrote and commaunded that no man should be put to death for his opinion Boner Then Boner sayd that when saincte Augustine sawe what inconueniences followed of that commaundement he wrote agayne to the Temporall rulers commaundyng them to punishe their bodyes also Greene. But sayde Greene hee bad not put them to death Boner He bad punish them quoth Boner Greene. Yea sayd Greene but not put them to death Bo. That they should be punished quoth Boner again This talke ended he asked Greene if he woulde recant and returne to theyr Romishe mother Whiche when hee denyed the Bishoppe pronounced the sentence difinitiue agaynst hym and so committed him to the Sheriffes of London who caused him to be carried to Newgate And as he was goyng thether ther met with him two gentlemen being both his speciall frendes minding belike to comfort this theyr persecuted brother but at theyr meeting theyr louing and friendly hartes not able anye longer to hide themselues were manifested by the aboundaunce of theyr pittifull teares To whom when Greene sawe them he sayd in these or like wordes Ah my friends is this your comfort you are come to geue me in this my occasion of heauinesse Must I who needed to haue comfort ministred to me become now a comforter of you And thus declaring his moste quiet and peaceable minde and conscience he chearefully spake to them and others vntil he came to the prison doore into the which he ioyfully entred and there remayned alwayes either in praier whervnto he much gaue himselfe or els in some other godlye meditations and exercises vnto the xxviii day of Ianuary when hee with hys other aboue mentioned brethren went most chearefully vnto the place of their tormentes often repeating as well by the waye as also at the stake these Latine verses following Christe Deus sine te spes est mihi nulla salutis Te duce vera sequor te duce falsa nego In English thus O Christ my God sure hope of health besides thee haue I none The truth I loue and falsehoode hate by thee my guyde alone During the tyme of hys imprisonment in Newgate diuers of hys frendes had accesse vnto him to whome he gaue sundry godly exhortations wherewith they were not only well contented but for better remeÌ„brance aswel of the same his instructions as also of hys own good and godly person they desired him to write somewhat in their bookes which request he willingly graunted as in maner here ensueth These verses were written in a booke of mayster Hussey of the Temple Behold thy selfe by me such one was I as thou And thou in tyme shalt be euen dust as I am now Bartlet Greene. ¶ These verses were also written in a booke of mayster William Fleetwood of the same house My resting roode is founde vayne hope hap a dew Loue whome you list with chaÌ„ge death shall me rid froÌ„ you Bartlet Greene. Amonges others diuers and singular good vertues of this good manne especially in him was to bee noted such a modest nature so humbly thinking of himselfe as in few men is to be found euer deâ—ecting hymselfe vnder that was in him and euer seeming to be lesse then he was so that nothing lesse hee coulde abide then to heare of hys prayse or commendation as well declareth not onely his letter written to M. Philpot wherin he doth earnestly expostulate with hym for slaundring hym with prayse of his witte and learning and other manifold vertues of great excellency but also by his owne speache and aunsweres in his examination wherein he casteth from hym all knowledge of learning and cunning when notwithstanding he had more in hym then to anye mennes eyes dyd appeare So great and admirable was this gift of modesty grafted in the nature of
present doe testifie that they neuer sawe in any chylde more teares then brast oute from hym at that time all the Sermone while but specially when he recited hys Prayer before the people It is marueilous what commiseration and pitye mooued all mennes hearts that behelde so heauie a countenaunce and suche aboundance of teares in an olde man of so reuerende dignitie Cole after he had ended his Sermon called backe the people that were ready to departe to prayers Brethren sayde he least any man should doubt of thys mans earnest conuersion and repentaunce you shall heare hym speake before you and therefore I pray you master Cranmer that you will now perfourme that you promised not long agoe namely that you woulde openly expresse the true and vndoubted profession of your faith that you may take away all suspition from men and that all men may vnderstand that you are a Catholicke in deede I wil doe it sayde the Archbyshop and wyth a good will who by and by rising vppe and putting of hys cappe beganne to speake thus vnto the people I desire you well beloued brethren in the Lorde that you will praye to God for mee to forgeeue me my sinnes whyche aboue all menne both in noumber and greatnesse I haue committed But among all the rest there is one offence which of all at thys time doth vexe and trouble me wherof in processe of my talk you shall heare more in hys proper place and then putting hys hande into hys bosome hee drewe foorth his Prayer which hee recited to the people in thys sense The Prayer of Doctour Cranmer Archbyshop GOod Christen people my dearly beloued brethren and sisters in Christ I beseech you most hartely to pray for me to almighty God that he wil forgeue me al my sinnes and offences which be many without number and great aboue measure But yet one thing grieueth my conscience more then all the rest whereof God willing I entende to speake more heereafter But howe great and howe many soeuer my sinnes be I beseeche you to pray God of hys mercy to pardon and forgeue them all And heere kneling downe he sayd O Father of heauen O sonne of God redeemer of the worlde O holy Ghoste three persones and one God haue mercye vppon me moste wretched caitife and miserable sinner I haue offended both againste heauen and earth more then my tounge can expresse Whether then may I goe or whether should I flie To heauen I may be ashamed to lifte vp mine eyes and in earth I finde no place of refuge or succour To thee therefore O Lorde doe I runne to thee doe I humble my selfe saying O Lorde my God my sinnes be great but yet haue mercye vppon me for thy great mercy The great mysterie that God became man was not wrought for little or fewe offences Thou diddest not geue thy sonne O heauenly father vnto death for smal sinnes onely but for all the greatest sinnes of the world so that the sinner returne to thee with his whole heart as I do here at this present Wherefore haue mercye on mee O God whose propertie is alwayes to haue mercy haue mercy vpon me O Lord for thy great mercy I craue nothing for mine owne merites but for thy names sake that it maye be hallowed thereby and for thy deare sonne Iesus Christes sake And nowe therefore Our father of heauen halowed be thy name c. And then he rising sayde Euery man good people desireth at that time of their death to geue some good exhortation that other maye remember the same before theyr death be the better thereby so I beseche God graunt me grace that I may speake some thyng at thys my departing whereby God may be glorified and you edified First it is an heauy case to see that so many folke be so much doted vpon the loue of this false world and so carefull for it that of the loue of God or the world to come they seeme to care very little or nothing Therefore this shal be my first exhortation that you sette not your mindes ouer much vpon thys glosing world but vpon God and vpon the world to come and to learne to know what this lesson meaneth whych s. Iohn teacheth that the loue of this world is hatred against God The seconde exhortation is that next vnder God you obey your King and Queene willingly and gladly without murmuring or grudging not for feare of them onely but much more for the feare of God knowing that they be Gods ministers appoynted by God to rule and gouerne you and therefore who soeuer resisteth them resisteth the ordinance of God The third exhortatiō is that you loue altogether lyke brethren and sisters For alasse pitie it is to see what contention and hatred one Christen man beareth to an other not taking cache other as brother and sister but rather as strangers and mortall ennemies But I pray you learne and beare well away this one lesson to doe good vnto all men asmuch as in you lieth and to hurt no man no more then you would hurt your owne naturall louing brother or sister For thys you maye be sure off that who soeuer hateth any person and goeth about maliciously to hinder or hurte hym surely and wythout all doubte God is not wyth that man although he thinke himself neuer so much in Gods fauour The fourth exhortation shall be to them that haue great substance riches of this world that they will well consider and weigh three sayinges of the Scripture One is of our Sauiour Christ him selfe who sayeth It is harde for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heauen A sore saying and yet spoken of hym that knoweth the truth The second is of S. Iohn whose saying is thys Hee that hath the substaunce of this worlde and seeth hys brother in necessitie and shutteth vp his mercy from him howe can he saye that hee loueth God The third is of S Iames who speaketh to the couetous riche man after thys maner Weepe you and howle for the miserie that shall come vpon you your riches do rotte your clothes be mothe eaten your golde and siluer doeth canker and rust and their rust shall beare witnesse against you and consume you like fire you gather a hoarde or treasure of Gods indignation against the last day Let them that be riche ponder well these three sentences for if they had occasion to shew their charitie they haue it now at this present the poore people being so many and victuals so deare And now for as much as I am come to the last end of my life whereupon hangeth al my life past and all my life to come either to liue with my maister Christe for euer in ioy or els to be in paine for euer with wicked Deuilles in hell I see before mine eyes presently either heauen ready to receiue me or els hell ready to swallow me vppe I shall
Church in fortifieng the same wyth the testimony and bloud of such a Martyr and so good also to the man with this crosse of tribulation to purge his offences in this world not onely of his recantation but also of his standyng agaynst Iohn Lambert and M. Allen or if there were any other with whose burnyng and bloude hys hands had bene before any thyng polluted But especially he had to reioyce that dying in such a cause he was to be numbred amongst Christes Martyrs muche more worthy the name of S. Thomas of Caunterbury then he whom the Pope falsly before did Canonise And thus haue you the full story concernyng the lyfe and death of this reuerend Archbish. and Martyr of God Thomas Cranmer and also of diuers other the learned sort of Christs Martyrs burned in Queene Maries time of whom this Archb. was the last beyng burnt about the very middle tyme of the raign of that Queene and almost the very middle man of all the Martyrs which were burned in all her raigne besides Now after the lyfe and story of this foresayde Archbishop discoursed let vs adioyne withall his letters beginning first with his famous letter to Quene Mary which he wrote vnto her incontinent after he was cited vp to Rome by bishop Brookes and his fellowes the tenour whereof here followeth ⧠Letters of Doctor Tho. Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury ¶ The Archbishop of Canterburies letter to the Queenes highnesse IT may please your Maiestie to pardone my presumption that I dare be so bold to write to your highnes But very necessitie constraineth me that your Maiestie may know my mynde rather by myne owne writyng then by other mens reports So it is that vppon Wednesday beyng the 12. day of this moneth I was cited to appeare at Rome the 80. day after there to make answer to such matters as should be obiected agaynst me vpon the behalfe of the K. your most excelleÌ„t maiestie which matters the thursday following were obiected against me by D. Martin and D. Story your Maiesties Proctors before the B. of Glocester sitting in iudgement by commissioÌ„ from Rome But alas it cannot but grieue the heart of a naturall subiect to be accused of the King and Queene of his owne realm and specially before an outward Iudge or by authoritie commyng from any person out of this realme where the king and Queene as they were subiects within their own Realme shall complaine and require Iustice at a straungers hands agaynst their owne subiectes beyng alreadye condemned to death by their owne lawes As though the king and Queene could not do or haue iustice within their owne Realmes agaynst their own subiects but they must seeke it at a strangers hands in a straunge land the lyke whereof I thinke was neuer seene I would haue wished to haue had some meaner aduersaries and I thinke that death shal not grieue me much more then to haue my most dread and most gracious soueraigne Lord and Lady to whome vnder God I do owe all obedience to bee myne accusers in iudgement within their owne Realme before any stranger and outward power But forasmuch as in the tyme of the prince of most famous memory kyng Henry the 8. your graces father I was sworne neuer to consent that the B. of Rome should haue or exercise any authoritie or iurisdiction in this realme of England therfore least I should allow hys authoritie contrary to myne othe I refused to make answer to the B. of Glocester sittyng here in iudgement by the Popes authoritie least I should run into periurie An other cause why I refused the Popes authoritie is this that his authoritie as he claimeth it repugneth to the crowne imperiall of this Realme and to the lawes of the same which euery true subiect is bound to defend First so that the Pope sayeth that all manner of power as well temporall as spirituall is geuen first to hym of God and that the temporall power hee geueth vnto Emperors and kyngs to vse it vnder hym but so as it be alwayes at hys commandement and becke But contrary to this claime the Imperiall crowne and iurisdiction temporal of this Realme is taken immediately from God to be vsed vnder hym onely and is subiect vnto none but to God alone Moreouer to the Imperiall lawes customes of this realme the kyng in his Coronation all Iustices when they receiue their offices be sworne all the whole realm is bound to defend and maintayne But contrary hereunto the Pope by his authoritie maketh voyde commandeth to blot out of our bookes all lawes and customes beyng repugnant to his lawes and declareth accursed al rulers and gouernours all the makers writers executors of such lawes or customes as it appeareth by many of the Popes lawes whereof one or two I shall reherse In the decrees Distinct. 10. is written thus Constitutiones contra Canones decreta praesulum RomanoruÌ„ vel bonos mores nullius sunt momenti That is The constitutioÌ„s or statutes enacted agaynst the Canons and decrees of the Bishops of Rome or their good customes are of none effect Also Extra de sententia excommunicationis nouerit Excommunicamus omnes haereticos vtriusque sexus quocunque nomine censeantur fautores receptores defensores eorum nec noÌ„ qui de caetero seruari fecerint statuta edita consuetudines contra Ecclesiae libertatem nisi ea de capitularibus suis intra duos menses post huiusmodi publicationem sententiae fecerint amoueâ—i Item excommunicamus statutarios scriptores statutorum ipsorum nec non potestates consules rectores consiliarios locorum vbi de caetero huiusmodi statuta consuetudines editae fuerint vel seruatae nec non illos qui secundum ea praesumpserint iudicare vel in publicam formam scribere iudicata That is to say We excommunicate all heretikes of both sexes what name so euer they be called by and theyr fautors and receptors and defenders and also them that shall hereafter cause to be obserued the statutes customs made agaynst the libertie of the Church except they cause the same to be put out of their recordes and chapters with in two moneths after the publication hereof Also we excommunicate the statute makers and writers of those statutes and all the potestates consuls gouernours counsellors of places where such statutes and customes shall be made or kept and also those that shall presume to geue iudgement accordyng to them or shall notifie in publike forme the matters so iudged Now by these lawes if the Bish. of Romes authoritie which he claymeth by God be lawfull all your Graces lawes and customes of your Realme being contrary to the Popes lawes be naught and as well your Maiestie as your Iudges Iustices and all other executors of the same stand accursed amongest heretikes which God forbid And yet this curse can neuer be auoyded if the
boldly to the profession of Christ then they shewed how little they passed of death how much they feared God more then meÌ„ how much they loued and preferred the eternall lyfe to come aboue this short and miserable lyfe Wherfore I exhort you as well by Christes commandement as by the example of hym and his Apostles to withdraw your selfe from the malice of yours gods enemies into some place where God is most purely serued which is no slaunderyng of the truth but a preseruyng of your selfe to God and the truth and to the societie comfort of Christes little flocke And that you will doe doe it with speede least by your owne folly you fall into the persecutors hands And the Lord send his holy spirite to lead and guide you where so euer you goe and all that be godly will say Amen ¶ Unto these former letters of D. Cranmer Archbishop written by hym vnto others it seemeth to me not much out of place to annexe withall a certaine Letter also of Doc. Taylor written to hym and his fellow prisoners the tenor of which letter here followeth ¶ To my deare fathers and brethren Doctor Cranmer Doctor Ridley and Doctor Latimer prisoners in Oxford for the faithful testimony of Gods holy worde RIght reuerend fathers in the Lord I wish you to enioy continually Gods grace and peace through Iesus Christ God be praysed againe for this your most excellent promotioÌ„ which ye are called vnto at this present that is that ye are counted worthy to be allowed amongst the number of Christes recordes and witnesses England hath had but a few learned Bishops that would sticke to Christ ad ignem inclusiuè Once againe I thanke God hartily in Christ for your most happy onset most valiaunt proceeding most constant suffryng of all such infamies hissings clappyngs tauntes open rebukes losse of liuyng and liberty for the defence of Gods cause truth and glory I cannot vtter with pen how I reioyce in my hart for you three such captaines in the foreward vnder Christs crosse banner or standerd in such a cause and skirmish when not onely one or two of our deare redemers strongholds are besieged but all his chiefe castles ordeyned for our safegard are traiterously impugned This your enterprise in the sight of all that be in heauen and of all Gods people in earth is most pleasaunt to behold This is another maner of nobilitie then to be in the forefront in worldly warrefares For Gods sake pray for vs for we fayle not daily to pray for you We are stronger and stronger in the Lord hys name be praysed and we doubt not but ye be so in Christes owne sweet schoole Heauen is all wholy of our side therefore Gaudete in domino semper iterum gaudete exultate i. Reioyce alwayes in the Lord and agayne reioyce and be glad Your assured in Christ Rowland Taylour ¶ De Tho. Cranmeri Archiepiscopi qui carcere detinebatur palinodia Te Cranmere grauis sontem prope fecerat error Sed reuocas lubricos ad meliora pedes Te docuit lapsus magis vt vestigia firmes Atque magis Christo consociere tuo Vtque tuae melius studeas haerescere causae Sic mala non rarò causa fuere boni Et benè successit nam ficta adultera turba Illudens alijs luditur arte pari Nempè pia sic est frustatus fraude papismus Et cessit summo gloria tota Deo ¶ In mortem D. Cranmeri Cant. Archiepiscopi Infortunatè est foelix qui numine laeso Cuiusuis gaudet commoditate boni Infoelix ille est verò feliciter orbi Inuisus quisquis tristia fata subit Hoc Cranmere probas vitae praesentis amore Dum quaeris sanctâ—m dissimulare fidem Et dum consilijs tandem melioribus vsus Praeponis vitae funera saeua tuae ¶ Persecution in Suffolke Agnes Potten and Ioane Trunchfield Martyrs IN the story of Robert Samuel mention was made before of two godly women in the same Towne of Ipswich which shortly after hym suffered likewyse and obtained the crowne of Martyrdome the names of whome was Agnes the wife of Robert Potten and another wife of Michaell Trunchfield a Shomaker both dwellyng in one Towne who about the same tyme that the Archbishop aforesayd was burned at Oxford suffered likewyse in the foresayd Towne of Ipswich eyther in the same moneth of March or as some say in the ende of February the next moneth before Their opinion or perswasion was this that in the sacrament was the memoriall onely of Christes death and passion for sayd they Iesus Christ is ascended vp into heauen and is on the right hand of God the father according to the scriptures and not in the sacrament as he was borne of the Uirgin Mary For this they were burned In whose sufferyng their constancie worthily was to be wondered at who beyng so simple women so manfully stoode to the confession and testimony of Gods worde and veritie In so much that when they had prepared and vndressed themselues redy to the fire with comfortable wordes of the Scripture they earnestly required the people to credite and to lay hold on the word of God and not vpon mans deuises and inuentions despising the ordinances and institutioÌ„s of the Romish Antichrist with all his superstitions and rotten religion and so continuyng in the torment of fire they held vp their handes and called vnto God constantly so long as lyfe did endure This Pottens wife in a night a little before her death beyng a sleepe in her bed saw a bright burnyng fire ryght vp as a pole on the side of the fire she thought there stood a nuÌ„ber of Queene Maries friends lookyng on Then beyng a sleepe she seemed to muse with her selfe whether her fire should burne so bright or no and in deed her suffryng was not farre vnlike to her dreame ¶ The burnyng of two Women * Persecution in the Dioces of Salisbury AFter these two women of Ipswich succeeded iij. men which were burnt the same moneth at one fire in Salisburye who in the like quarell with the other that went before them and led the daunce spared not theyr bodyes to bring their soules to the celestiall felicity whereof they were throughly assured in Christe Iesus by his promises as soone as the furious flames of fire had put their bodyes and soules a fonder * Their names were Iohn Spicer free Mason William Coberly Taylor Iohn Maundrell husbandman ¶ The story of Iohn Maundrell William Coberley and Iohn Spicer Martyrs FIrst Iohn Maundrell which was the sonne of Robert MauÌ„drell of Rowd in the CouÌ„ty of Wiltshyre Fermer was from his childhood brought vp in husbandry after he came to mans state did abide dwell in a Uillage called Buchamton in the Parish of Keuel within the CouÌ„ty of Wiltshyre aforesaid where he had wife and children being of good name and fame Which Iohn Maundrell
English seruice so causing vs to sinne against our redemption For such as willingly and wittingly agaynst their consciences shall so do as it is to be feared many one doth they are in a miserable state vntill the mercy of God turn them which if he do not we certainly beleeue that they shall eternally be damned and as in this world they deny Christes holy word and Communion before men so shal christ deny them before his heauenly father and his Aungelles And where as it is verye earnestly required that we should go in Procession as they call it at whiche time the Priest say in Latine such thinges as we are ignoraunt of the same edifieth nothing at all vnto godlinesse And wee haue learned that to follow Christes Crosse is an other matter namely to take vp our Crosse and to follow chryst in pacient suffering for his loue tribulations sicknes pouertie prison or anye other aduersitie whensoeuer Gods holy wil pleasure is to lay the same vppon vs. The tryumphant Passion and death of Christ wherby in his own person he conquered death sinne hell and damnatioÌ„ hath most liuely bene preached vnto vs and the glory of Chrystes crosse declared by our Preachers whereby wee haue learned the causes and effectes of the same more liuely in one Sermon then in all the Processions that euer wee went in or euer shall go in When wee worshipped the diuine Trinitie kneelyng and in the Letanie inuocating the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost asking mercye for our sinnes and desiring such petitions as the neede of oure frayle estate and thys mortall life requireth we were edified both to know vnto whom all Christian praiers should be directed and also to know that of Gods hand we receaue all thinges as well to the saluation of our soules as to the reliefe of our mortall necessities And we humbly beseech the Queenes maiestie that the same most holye prayers may bee continued amongest vs that our Ministers praying in oure mother tongue and wee vnderstanding their prayers and petitions may aunswere Amen vnto them At euening seruice we vnderstoode our Ministers prayers we wer taught admonished by the scriptures then read whiche in the latine Euensong is all gone At the ministration of holy baptisme we learned what league and couenauâ—t God had made with vs and what vowes and promises we vpon our part had made namely to beleue in him to forsake Satan and his workes to walke in the way of Gods holy word commandemeÌ„tes The Christian Catechisme continually taught called to remembraunce the same wheras before no man knew any thing at all And many good men of lx yeares that hadde bene godfathers to xxx children knew no more of the godfathers office but to wash their handes ere they departed the Church or els to fast fiue Fridayes bread and water O mercifull God haue pittie vpon vs. Shall we be altogether cast from thy presence We may well lament our miserable estate to receaue such a commaundement to reiect and cast out of our Churches all these most godly praiers instructions admonitions and doctrines thus to be compelled to deny God and Christ our Sauiour hys holy word al his doctrine of our saluation the candle to our feete and the light to our steppes the bread comming downe from heauen that geueth life whiche who so drinketh it shall be in him a well spring streaming vnto eternall life wherby we haue learned all righteousnes al true Religion al true obedience towardes our gouernours al charitie one towardes an other all good workes that god would vs to walk in what punishment abideth the wicked and what heauenly rewarde God will geue to those that reuerently walke in his wayes and commaundementes Wherefore right honourable Commissioners wee can not without impietie refuse and caste from vs the holye word of God which we haue receaued or condemne anye thing set forth by our most godly late king Edward hys vertuous proceedinges so agreable to Gods worde And our most humble suite is that the coÌ„maundement may be reuoked so that we be not constrayned thereunto For we protest before God we thinke if the holy word of God had not taken some roote amongest vs we could not in tyme past haue done that poore duety of ours which wee did in assisting the Queene our most deare soueraigne agaynst her Graces mortall foe that then fought her destruction It was our bounden duetie and wee thanke God for the knowledge of his worde and grace that we then did some part of our bounden seruice And we meekely pray and beseeche the Queenes Maiestie for the deare passion of Iesus Christ that the same word be not takeÌ„ away out of her Churches nor from vs her louyng faythfull and true subiectes lest if the like necessitie should hereafter chaunce which God for his mercies sake forbid and euer saue and defeÌ„d her grace and vs all the want of knowledge of due remembrauÌ„ce of Gods word may be occasion of great ruine to an infinite number of her graces true subiectes And truely we iudge this to be one subtile part of the deuil enemy to all godly peace and quietnesse that by takyng Gods word from among vs and plantyng ignoraunce he may make a way to all mischief and wickednes by banishyng the holy Gospell of peace he may bring vpon vs the heauy wrath of God with all maner of plagues as death straunge sicknes pestilence morren most terrible vprores commotions seditions These thyngs did the Lord threaten vnto the Iewes for refusing his word saying Goe and thou shalt say vnto this people Ye shall heare in deede but ye shall not vnderstand ye shall playnly see and not perceiue Harden the hart of this people stop their eares and shut their eyes that they see not with their eyes heare not with their eares and vnderstand not with their hartes and conuert and be healed And I said how loÌ„g Lord And he aunswered Vntill the Cities be destroyed vtterly wasted without habiters and the houses without men till the laÌ„d also be desolate lye vnbuilded And the Prophet Micheas considering the contempt of Gods word amoÌ„g the Israelites threatned them thus When the day that thy preachers warned thee of commeth thou shalt be wasted away And let no man beleue his frend or put confidence in his brother Keepe the doore of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosome for the sonne shall put his father to dishonour and the daughter shal rise agaynst her mother the daughter in law agaynst the mother in the law and a mans foes shal be eueÌ„ they of his owne houshold The same plague threatned Christ vnto the Iewes for refusing his peace profered them in the Gospel and he wept on the Citie Ierusalem which murdered the Prophetes and stoned such as were sent vnto her The same plagues we are afrayd will also fall vpon vs. For whereas
also to the encouragemēt of others in the same quarell to doe the like The Lorde of strength fortify vs to stand as his true soldiors in what standing soeuer he shall thinke it good to place vs. Amen ¶ In the examinatiō of Roger Bernard ye heard a litle before how he was compared by the Priestes there to Iohn Fortune called his scholer This Iohn Fortune otherwise called Cutler of Hintlesham in Suffolke was by his occupation a Blacke Smith whom they had before them in examination a litle before the 20. day of Aprill In spirit he was zelous and ardent in the Scriptures ready in Christes cause stout and valiant in his answeres maruellous no lesse patient in his wrongfull suffering then constant in his doctrine Whether he was burned or dyed in prison I cannot certenly find but rather I suppose that he was burned Certeine it is howsoeuer he was made away he neuer yelded What his aunswers and examinations were before D. Parker and the Bishop ye shall heare him although not with his owne mouth speaking yet with his owne hande you shall see written what he did saye as foloweth ¶ The examination of Iohn Fortune before Doctour Parker and Mayster Foster FIrst Doct. Parker asked me how I beleued in the Catholicke fayth And I asked him which fayth he meant whether the sayth that Steuen had or the fayth of them that put Steuē to death D. Parker being moued said what a noughty felow is this you shall see anon he will denye the blessed Sacrament of the aulter M. Foster Then sayd Mayster Foster I know you well enough You are a busy marchant How sayest thou by the blessed Masse Fort. And I stood still and made no aunswere Fost. Then sayd M. Foster why speakest thou not and make the gentleman an answere Fort. And I sayde silence is a good aunswere to a foolishe question Park Then sayd the Doctour I am sure he will denye the blessed Sacrament of the aulter also Fort. And I sayd I know none such but onely the sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ. Park Then sayd he you deny the order of the seuen sacramentes And why doest thou not beleue in the Sacrament of the aulter Fort. And I sayd because it is not written in Gods booke Park Thē sayd he you will not beleue vnwrittē vereties Fort. And I sayd I will beleue that those vnwritten verities that agree with the written verities be true but those vnwritten verities that be of your owne making inuented of your owne brayne I do not beleue Fost. Well sayd M. Foster you shall be whipped and burned for this geare I trow Fort. Then sayd I if you knew how these wordes do reioyce my hart you would not haue spoken them Fost. Why thou foole doest thou reioyce in whipping Fort. Yea sayd I for it is written in the Scriptures and Christ sayth thou shalt be whipped for my names sake since the time that the sworde of tyrannye came into your handes I heard of none that was whipped Happy were I if I had the maydenhead of this persecution Away with him then sayde he for he is tenne times worse then Samuel and so was he caried to prison again ¶ The second examination of Iohn Fortune before the Bishop of Norwich WHen I came before the Bishop he asked me if I did not beleue in the Catholick church I sayd I beleue that Church wherof Christ is the head Then sayd the Bishop doest thou not beleue that the Pope is supreame head of the Churche And I sayde no Christ is the head of the true Church Bish. So do I beleue also but the Pope is Gods Uicar vpon earth and the head of the Churche and I beleue that he hath power to forgeue sinnes also Fort. Then sayd I the Pope is but a man and the Prophet Dauid sayth That no man can deliuer his brother nor make agreement for him vnto God For it cost more to redeeme their soules so that he must let that alone for euer Bysh. And the Bishop agayne fetching about a great circumstaunce sayd like as the Belweather weareth the bell and is the head of the flocke of sheepe so is the Pope our head And as the hiues of Bees haue a Mayster Bee that bringeth the bees to the hiue again so doth our head bring vs home agayne to our true Church Fort. Then I asked him whether the Pope were a spirituall man and he sayde yea And I sayde agayne they are spitefull men for in xvij moneths there were three Popes and one poysoned an other for that presumptuous seat of Antichrist Bysh. It is maliciously spoken sayd he for thou must obey the power and not the man And thus was the pope denied to be supreme head Well sayd he what sayst thou to the Ceremonyes of the Church Fort. And I aunswered All thinges that are not planted by my heauēly father shal be plucked vp by the rootes saith christ For they are not from the beginning neither shall they cōtinue to the end Bysh. They are good and godly and necessary to be vsed Fort. S. Paule called them weake and beggarly Bysh. No that is a lye Fortune I hearing that sayd that Saynt Paule writeth thus in the fourth to the Galathians You foolish Galathians sayth he who hath bewitched you that ye seeke to bee in bondage to these weak and beggarly Ceremonies Now which of you do lye you or Saynt Paule And also it is sayde that woorkes instituted and enioyned without the commaundement of GOD perteyne not to the worship of God according to the text In vayne doe men worshippe mee with mens traditions and commaundementes And Sayncte Paule sayth Wherefore doe ye cary vs away from the grace of Christ to another kind of doctrine And Christ opēly rebuked the Scribes Lawyers Phariseis Doctors Priestes Bishoppes and Hypocrites for making Gods commaundementes of none effect to support theyr owne tradition Byshop Thou lyest there is not such a worde in all the Scriptures thou noughty hereticke Thou art woorse then all other heretickes for Hooper sayd he and Bradford alow them to be good and thou doest not Away with him ¶ Here you may perceiue howe that the Catholicke church can not erre but whatsoeuer they say must needes be true And so my Lord Bishop can not lye as it may appeare to all men most playnely in the text ¶ The third examination of Iohn Fortune before the Byshop of Norwich THe next day I was brought before the sayd Bishop agayne where he made a Sermon vpon the 6. chapter of S. Iohns Gospell of Christes wordes I am the breade that came downe from heauen c. and therupon had a great bibble babble to no purpose So in the end I was called before him and he sayd to me Bish. How beleuest thou in the Sacrament of the aultar doest thou not beleue that after the consecration
great quietnesse if hee coulde haue dissembled and bothe done and spoken against his conscience as many stirring Papistes then did And likewise he mighte haue escaped burning in Queene Maries time if he woulde either haue spoke◠or kept silence against his conscience as manye weake Gospellers did But Palmer could in no wise dissemble Now within short space God so wrought in his hart that he became very inquisitiue and carefull to heare and vnderstand howe the Martyrs were apprehended what articles they died for how they were vsed and after what sort they tooke theyr death In so much that he spared not at his owne charges to sende ouer one of his schollers in the companye of a Bacheler of that house to Glocester to see vnderstand the whole order of B. Hoopers deth and to bring him true report therof Which thing some thinke he the rather did because he was woont in king Edwards time to say that none of them all would stand to death for their religion Thus he learned with what extreme horrible cruelty the martyrs of God were tried and how valiauntly they ouercame all kinde of torments to the ende Wherof he himself also did see more experience afterward at the examination and death of those holy confessors and martyrs which were burned at Oxford before his eyes in so muche that the first hope which the godly conceyued of him was at the retourne from the burning of B. Ridley and B. Latimer At what time in the hearing of diuers of his frendes he brast out into these woordes and suche like O raging crueltie O tyrannie tragicall and more than barbarous From that day forward he studiously sought to vnderstand the truth and therefore with all speede he borrowed Peter Martyrs Commentaries vpon the first to the Corinthes of one of Magdalenes yet aliue and other good bookes of other men And so through harty praier and diligent search and conference of the scriptures at length he beleeued and imbraced the truth with great ioy and so profited in the same that daily more and more hee declared it both in word and dede In such sort as he neuer hated the truth more stubbornly before then afterward he willingly embraced the same whē it pleased God to open his eies and to reueale vnto him the light of his woord And nowe againe when he should come to Church in those dayes of Poperie there to be occupied among the rest in singing of Respondes reading of Legendes and suche like stuffe allotted vnto him he had as much pleasure he sayd to be at them as a Beare to be baited and wearied wyth dogs When he came it was as it appeared more to auoid displeasure and daunger then for any good will and readye affection At length through Gods grace he grew vp to suche maturitie and ripenes in the truth that he spared not to declare certaine sparkes thereof in his outward behauior and doyngs For when he should keepe his bowing measures at Confiteor as the custome there was in turning hymselfe to and fro sometyme Eastward somtyme Westward and afterward knocke his brest at the eleuatiō time agaynst which Idolatrous adoration hys hart did so vehemently rise that sometyme hee would absent hymselfe from them and sometyme beyng there he would euen at the sucring tyme as they termed it gette hym out of the church to auoyd those vngodly gestures and Idolatrous adoration To be shorte perceiuing after a while that hee was greatly suspected and abhorred of the President then being which was M. Cole and of diuers other whiche before were his friendes and therewithall feeling great conflict and torment of conscience daily to grow with his conuersation with idolaters seeing also that his newe life and old liuing might not wel nor quietly stande together he addressed himselfe to depart the house For he thoughte it not best to abide the dāger of expulsion as he did at the first seeing the weather was now waxed warmer And being demanded at that time of a special frend who wold gladly haue perswaded him to stay there longer whether he would go or how he would liue he made this answer Domini est terra plenitudo eius i. The earth is the Lordes and the fulnesse thereof Let the Lord woorke I will commit my selfe to God and the wide worlde Here I thinke it expedient before I wryte of the painfull surges that he suffered after he came abroade into the perillous gulphes and deepe Sea of this wretched wyde world first to reherse one or two exāples of his outward behauioure at suche tymes as he hadde recourse to the Colledge after his last departure whereby the Reader may yet better vnderstand of his simplicitie playnenesse and how farre wide he was from all cloked dissimulation in Gods cause which certayne godlesse personnes haue sought maliciously to charge hym with all Beyng at Oxford on a certayne tyme in Magdalene Colledge and hauyng knowledge that the Spanish Frier Iohn who succeeded D. Peter Martyr in the office of the Diuinitie Lecture would preach there that present Sonday he would not at the first graunt to be present at it At length a friend of his a fellow of that house persuaded so much with him that he was content to accompany his sayde friend to the church But sodainly as the Frier vehemently inueyed against Gods truth in defendyng certayne popish heresies Palmer hauyng many eyes bente and directed towardes hym departed from amongst the middest of the auditorie and was found in hys friends chamber weepyng bitterly Afterward beyng demaunded why he slipt away vpon such a sodayne Oh sayd he if I had not openly departed I should haue openly stopped myne eares For the Friers blasphemous talke in disproouyng or rather deprauyng the veritie made myne eares not to glowe but my hart worse to smart then if myne eares had bene cut from myne head It chanced another tyme that the same friend of hys called M. Shipper beyng then Bursar of the house bade hym to dinner in hys chamber Palmer not knowyng what ghestes were also thither inuited and bidden hapned there contrary to his expectation to meete with the foresayd Frier with whom were present D. Smith Doc. Tresham and diuers other papists whose company Palmer coulde not well beare and therefore whisperyng a friend in the eare he sayd he would be gone for that was no place for hym I will sayth he to the Bursars Table in the great hall The Bursar vnderstandyng his mynde desired hym of all friendshippe not so to depart alledgyng that it were the next way to be wray hymselfe as it were of purpose to cast hymselfe into the Briers with many other perswasions as the shortnes of tyme would permit In the end he condescēded to his request and taried Now as he came to the fire side the Frier saluted hym cherefully in Latine for he could not speake Englishe Palmer with an amiable countenaunce resaluted him
desiring him that he might not liue so long as to cal euill good and good euill or light darkenes or darkenes light and so departed he home toward hys house where by the way homeward as it is affirmed he took his death and shortly after departed according to his prayer after he had endured in prison xii weekes After this Ioane his wife continued still in prison with her tender infant till at last she was brought before that Bishop to be examined Whereunto what her aunswers were it is not certainely knowne Howbeit most like it is what soeuer they were they pleased not the Bishoppe as appeared by his ire increased agaynst the poore woman her long continuance in the prison together with her tender babe which also remayned with her in the Iayle partaker of her Martyrdome so long as her milke would serue to geue it sucke till at length the childe being starued for colde and famine was sent away when it was past al remedie and so shortly after dyed And not long after the mother also followed besides the olde woman whiche was mother of the husband of the age of 80. yeares and vpwarde Who being left in the house after their apprehēsion for lacke of comfort there perished also And thus haue ye in one story the deathe of foure together first of the old woman then of the husband after that of the innocent childe and lastly of the mother What became of the other nine children I am not perfectly sure but that I partly vnderstand that they were all vndone by the same This story is reported and testified as well by other as namely by Mistres Bridges dwelling in the same town and partaker then of the like afflictions and hardly escaped with her life A Shomaker suffering in Northamton IN the moneth of October folowing was burned at the towne of Northampton a Shomaker a true witnesse and disciple of the Lorde who accordinge to the grace of God geuen vnto him cleauing fast to the sounde doctrin and preaching of Gods woord renounced the vntrue and false coloured religion of the Romish sea wherein manye a good man hath bene drowned After whom not long after in the same month of October died also in the Castle of Chichester thre godly confessors being there in bonds for the like cause of Christes Gospel who also should haue suffred the like Martyrdom had not theyr naturall deathe or rather as it is to be suspected the cruel handling of the papists made them away before and afterward buried them in the fielde I reade moreouer that in this present yeare to witte An. 1556. was burnt one called Hooke a true witnes of the Lordes truthe at Chester ¶ Fiue famished in Caunterbury Castell by the vnmercifull tyrannie of the Papistes about the beginning of Nouember AS among all the Bishops Boner bishop of London principally excelled in persecuting the poore members and Saintes of Christe so of all Archdeacons Nicholas Harpesfield Archdeacon of Cāterburie as may by mans sight appeare was the forest and of least compassion only Dunning of Norwich excepted by whose vnmercifull nature and agrest disposition verye many were putte to death in that dioces of Canterbury not onely in the bloudy time of that Queene but some also in the blessed beginning of this our moste renowmed Queene that nowe is as by the grace of Christ heereafter shall appeare Of those that suffered in Queene Maries time within the foresayd diocesse of Canterburie some be recited already with the order and fourme set downe of suche Articles as then were most commōly ministred to the examinates by Thorneton Suffragane of Douer and the sayde Nicholas Harpsefielde and other as before in the volume of this hystorie may appeare pag. 1683. Now to proceede in the order and course of time where we left next followeth the moneth of Nouember In the beginning whereof were together in the Castell of Caunterburie 15. godly and innocent Martyrs of which number not one escaped with theyr life but either were burned or els were famished in prisone Of that which two sortes which is the easier death God knoweth it is hard to iudge Notwithstāding the truth is that of these 15.10 were burned and suffered in the fire of whom in the next booke more shall follow hereafter the Lord willing The other 5. were pined and famished most vnmercifully in the straite prisone of whome we haue heere presently to entreate Whose names were these Whiche two were yet vncondemned 1. Iohn Clearke 2. Dunston Chittenden These were condemned to bee burnt 3. W. Foster of Stone 4. Alice Potkins wife of Stapleherst 5. Iohn Archer of Cranbroke weauer Of these 5. prisonners the firste two were vncondemned the other thre last were condemned and should haue bene burned but suffered no lesse tormentes then if they had abidde the fire being macerate and pined to death by famine What theyr articles and answers were it needeth not heere to recite seeing all they in that time of Queene Mary commonly suffered for one maner sort of cause that is for holding against the 7. Sacraments against the realtie of Christes being in his supper for speaking against the churche of Rome and determinations of the same against Images set vp and woorshipped in the churche for not comming to the church and such other like c. First William Foster answearing to these and like articles sayde that he beleeued well in all the Articles of the Creede but to beleeue to be m0e Sacraments then two and to pray to Saintes either to profite vs or to praye for soules in purgatorie to profit them that faith and works doe iustifie or to alow the popish ceremonies in the church that he denied Moreouer hee sayde to carie Candels vpon Candelmasse daye were as good for him as to carye a dungforke and that it is as necessary to cary the galowes about if his father were hanged as the crosse To come to the church he cannot sayd he with a safe conscience Concerning fish daies and flesh daies hee graunted it good to put difference therein except where necessity required the contrary This William Foster was a labouring man of the age of xl yeares He was apprehended and imprisoned by Sir Thomas Moyle Knight Alice Potkins for the like confession was condemned to be burned for that she was not neyther would be confessed to the Priest for that shee receiued not the sacrament of the aultare because shee would not pray to saincts nor creepe to the Crosse. c. Being demaunded of her age she sayde that shee was xlix yeares olde according to her olde age according to her yong age since she learned Christ shee was of one yeares age and was committed by maister Roberts to prisone The answer and confession of Iohn Archer of Crambroke was muche in like sorte And although certayne of these vpon ignorant simplicitie swarued a litle in the
me to my Lord Chamberlaine that was then to the Queene Sir Iohn Gage shewyng him that I baptised children and married folks with many such lyes to bryng me into their hands agayne Then the Commissioners sent out certaine Citations to bring me to the Court My L. Chamberlain had directed out 4. or 5. Warrantes for me that if I had come there I should haue bene attached and sent to prisō straite way Which was not Gods will for I had warnyng of their laying await for me and came not there but sent my deputie he brought me word that the Bailifs waited for me there but they mist of their pray for that tyme wherevpon they were displeased Then within 3. dayes after my L. sent 3. of his men to take me whose names were Deane Ieffrey and Frāces I beyng at plough with my folkes right in the waye as they were commyng to my house least mistrusting thē of all other came to them and spake to them asking thē how they did And they sayd they arested me in the Kyng and Queenes name and that I must goe with them to their Maister the L. Chamberlaine Which wordes made my flesh to tremble and quake because of that sodayne But I answered them that I would go with them Yet I desired them that they would go to my house with me that I might breake my fast and put on some other geare and they said I should Then I remembred my selfe saying in my hart Why am I thus afraid they can lay no euill to my charge If they kill me for well doyng I may thinke my self happy I remembred how I was contented gladly before to dye in that quarell and so had continued euer since and should I now feare to dye God forbid that I should for then were all my labour in vayne So by and by I was perswaded I praise God considering it was but the frailty of my flesh which was loth to forgo my wife childrē and goods for I saw nothing but present death before mine eyes And as soone as I was perswaded in my mynd to die I had no regard of nothing in this worlde but was as mery and glad and ioyfull I prayse GOD as euer I was This battaile lasted not a quarter of an houre but it was sharper then death it selfe for the tyme I dare say So when I had my breakfast I desired them to shew me their warrant thinkyng thereby I should haue seene wherfore I was arested to the intent I might the better answer for my self whē I came before their maister And one of them answered they had not their warrāt there Which words made me astonied and it was put in my mynde by God that I neede not to goe with them vnlesse they had their warrant Then said I to them that is meruaile that you will come to take a man without a warrant It seemeth to me that you come of your owne mind to get thāke of your maister for in deed I heard say sayd I that there was 4. or 5. warrants out for me but they were called in agayne because I had certified my L. and the Commissary by a letter that I sent to the Commissaries court that I was not faulty in that they layd to my charge which was for baptising of children and marying of folks the which I neuer did for I was neuer minister appointed to do any such thyng wherfore set your hartes at rest I will not go with you said I vnlesse you will cary me by force and if you will do so at your owne aduentures And so I rose from the boord and stepped into my chamber meanyng to goe from them if I could possible seeyng God had made the way so open for me I ment to play Peters part with them but God would not it should be so but sent a feare amongst them that as soone as I was gone into my chāber ere euer I could come out againe they were gone out of my house When I saw that I knew it was Gods doyng to set me at liberty once againe Yet I was compelled to speake to them and said If you haue a warrant I desire you for Gods sake to shew it me and I wil go with you with all my hart if not I desire you to depart in Gods peace and the kings for surely I will not go with you without the order of the law for I haue bene too simple in such things already For before I was sent to prison first I went to the Iustices to two Sessions without any warrant or cōmandement but had word by one of their men I went gently to them they sent me to prison and kept me there almost a yere and thre quarters without all right or equitie as it is openly known not hearing my cause iustly debated And it semeth to me that I should be thus euil hādled and therefore I will not go to none of them all henceforth without the extremitie of the law Then one of them answered me and said we haue not the warrant here but it is at home at my house the worst is you can but make vs fetch it Then I said Fetch it if you wil but if you come in my house before you haue it at your owne aduenture So I shut my doore and went my way out of the other doore So they got helpe to watch my house while one of them fet the Constable and many moe thinking to haue had me in my house and to haue takē me in my house caried me away with a licence but I was gone before as god would haue it Notwithstanding they sought euery corner of my house but could not preuaile I mistrusted they would search it again that night and kept me abroad and in deed there came seuen of his men the Constable and searched my house And when they sawe that they could not meete with me they were redy to rent their coats that I had scaped them so knowing they should haue such a checke of their maister When I heard that they had sought so for me againe I perceiuyng that they were greedy of their pray came home and my wyfe told me all thyngs Then I supposed that they would lay all the countrey for me and the sea coast because I should not go ouer and thē I thought that they would not mistrust that I would dare bee nigh home So I tolde my wyfe that I woulde make my lodgyng in a woode not past a flight shotte from my house as I did in deede euen vnder a tree and there had my Bible my penne and myne inke and other necessaries and there continued a sixe or seuen weekes my wife bringing me meate daily as I had neede Yea I thought my selfe blessed of God that I was counted worthy to lye in the woodes for the name of Christ. Then there came word into the countrey that
but yet he eate not the body of Christ as you haue declared by your wordes For you had a hell burning in your conscience because you were in doubt that the commissioners vnderstoode by your wordes that Iudas had eaten the body of Chryst because you sayd he eat more then bread Therefore thou haddest a great sorte of Deuils in thee for in hell he many Deuils and therefore the Deuil and Iudas is thy mayster by thyne owne wordes Wood. Nay I defie Iudas and the Deuill and his seruauntes for they bee youre maysters and you serue them for any thing that I can see I tell you truth Winchest Nay they bee thy maysters For the deuill is mayster wher hell is and thou saydest thou hadst a hell burning in thee I pray thee tell me howe thou canst auoyde it but that the Deuill was in thee by thine owne saying Wood. The hell that I hadde was the louing correction of GOD toward me to call me to repentance that I should not offend God and his people in leauing thinges so darke as I left that For the whiche cause my conscieÌ„ce bare me record I had not done wel as at al times I haue felte the sting of it when I haue broken the commaundemeÌ„ts of God by any meanes as al gods people do I dare say and it is the louing kindnes of god towardes them to driue them to repentaunce But it is to be thought that your conscience is neuer troubled how wickedly soeuer you do For if it were it shoulde not be so straunge to you as you make it which declareth playnely whose seruaunt you be Winch. What a naughty fellow is this This is such a peruerse villayne as I neuer talked with in all my lyfe Hold him a booke I will make him sweare to aunswere dyrectly to such thinges as I will demaund of him and if he will not aunswere I will condemne him Wood. Call you me a fellow I am suche a fellowe I tell you that will driue you all to hell if you consent to the shedding of my bloud and you shall haue bloud to drynke as sayd S. Iohn in his Reuelation the ix chapter and being in hell you shall be compelled to say for payne of conscience this is the man that we had in derision thought his life madnes and his ende to be without honour but now we may see how he is counted among the sayntes of God and wee are punished This shall you see in hell if you repent it not if you do condemne me This you shall finde in the fift chapter of the booke of wisedome therefore take heede what you doe I geue you counsell Winchester Wisedome What speakest thou of wisdome thou neuer haddest it for thou art as very a â—oole as â—uer I heard speake Wood. Do you not know that the foolishe thinâ—es of thys world must confound the wise thinges Wherâ—ore it greeueth me not to be called a foole at your hand Winchest Nay thou art none of those fooles thou art an obstinate foole and an heretike Lay hand on the booke and aunswere to suche thynges as I wyll laye agaynst thee Woodman I will not laye hand on the booke for none of you all You be not my Byshop and therefore I wil haue nothing to do with you Winch. I wyll haue to doe with you This man is with out law he careth not for the king nor Queene I dare say for he will not obey theyr lawes Let me see the Kynges Commission I will see whether hee will obeye that or not Wood. I would you loued the king and Queenes Maiesty no worse then I do if it pleased God You would not do as you doe then Winch. Holde him a booke he is a ranke hereticke Thou shalt aunswere to suche thynges as I wyll demaund of thee Wood. I take heauen and earth to recorde I am no hereticke neither can I tell wherfore I am brought to prison no more then any man can here tel and therwith I looked round about on the people and sayde to the Bishoppe If you haue any iust cause agaynst me worthy of death â—ay it agaynst me and let me haue it for I refuse not to dye I praise God for the truthes sake if I hadde x. liues If you haue no cause let me goe home I pray you to my wife children to see them kept and other poore folk that I would set a worke by the helpe of God I haue set a worke a hundreth persons ere this all the yeare together and was vniustly taken from them but God forgeue them that dyd it if it be his will Winchester Do you not see how he looketh about for help But I would see any man shewe thee a cheereful countenaunce and especially you that be of my Dioces If any of you bid God strengthen him or take him by the hand or embrace him or shew hym a chearefull countenaunce you shall be excommunicated and shall not bee receaued in agayne till you haue done open penaunce and therfore beware of it Wood. I looke for no helpe of men for God is on my side I prayse him therefore and therefore I neede not not care who be agaynst me neither do I care Then they cryed away with him and bring vs an other So I was caryed agayne to the Marshalsea where I am now mery I prayse God therfore as a sheep appointed to be slayne But for lack of time I haue left out much of our talke but this is the chiefest of it ¶ The 6. and last examinations of Richard Woodman written and copyed with his owne hand BE it knowne vnto all men by this present writing that I Richard Woodman sometime of the parishe of Warbelton in the County of Sussex was condemned for gods euerlasting truth an 1557. Iuly 16 by the byshop of Winchester in the churche of S. Mary Oueries in Southwarke there sitting with him the same time the byshop of Chichester the Archdeacon of Caunterbury Doctor Langdale M. Roper with a fatte headed Priest I cannot tell his name All these consented to the shedding of my bloud vpon this occasion as here after followeth I affirmed that Iudas receaued the sacrament with a sop and the Deuill withall and because I would not bee sworne vppon a booke to aunswere directly to suche Articles as hee woulde declare to me and because I would not beleue that there remained neither bread nor wine after the words of consecration and that the body of Christ could not be receaued of any but of the faithfull For these Articles I was condemned as hereafter shal follow more at large by the help of God First the Bishop sayd when I came before him Win. You were before vs on Monday last past there you affirmed certayne heresies Howe say you now Doe you hold them still or will you reuoke them Wood. I held no heresyes then neyther do I now as the Lord knoweth Win. No did you not affirme
needes be the true catholicke church Rafe My Lord if you remember I spake of al the world as it is wrytten and not of all Christendome only as me thinke your Lordship taketh it the whiche kinde of speaking you doe not finde in al the Bible For sure I am that the Gospel hath bene both preached and persecuted in all lands First in Iewrie by the Scribes and Phariseis and since that time by Nero Dioclesian and such like nowe here in these our daies by your Lordship knoweth whoÌ„ For truth it is that the church which you call Catholicke is none otherwise Catholike then was figured in Caine obserued of Ieroboam Ahab Iezabell Nabuchadonozor Antiochus Herode wyth innumerable more of the like and as both Daniell and Esdras maketh mention of these last daies by a plaine prophecie and now fulfilled as appeareth and affirmed by our Sauiour Christe and hys Apostles saying There shall come greeuous wolues to deuour the flocke Boner Nowe by the blessed Sacrament of the Aultar M. Morton he is the rankest hereticke that euer came before me How say you haue you heard the like Morton I thought what he was my Lord at the first I. Boner Now by all Halowes thou shalt be brent with â—ire for thy lying thou horeson verlette and prickelouse thâ—â— Dost thou finde a prophecie in Dan. of vs nay you knaue it is of you that he speaketh off and of your false pretenâ—â—d holinesse Go too lette me heare what is the saying of Esdras and take heede ye make not a lie I aduise you Rafe The saying of Esdras is this the heat of a great multitude is kindled ouer you and they shall take away certaine of you and feede the Idols with you and hee that consenteth vnto them shall be had in derision laughed to scorne and troden vnder foote yea they shall be like mad men for they shall spare no man they shall spoile and wast such as feare the Lord c. Boner And haue you taken thys thinge to make youre market good Ah syrrha wilt thou so by my Faith a 〈◊〉 instruction and a necessary thing to be taught among the people By my trouth I thinke there be no more of thys opinion I pray thee tell me Is there any that vnderstaÌ„deth this scripture on this fashion Before God I thinke there be none in all England but thou Rafe Yes my Lord there are in England three religions Boner Saist thou so which be those three Rafe The first is that whiche you holde the seconde is cleane contrary to the same and the thirde is an Neuter being indifferent that is to say obseruing all things that are commaunded outwardly as though he were of your part his heart being set wholy against the same Boner And of these three which art thou for nowe thou must needes be of one of them Rafe Yea my Lord I am of one of them and that which I am of is euen that which is contrary to that which you teach to be beleeued vnder paine of death Boner Ah syr you were here with me at Fulham and had good cheare yea and mony in your purse when you went away and by my faith I had a fauour vnto thee but now I see thou wilt be a naughtie knaue Why wilt thou take vpon thee to read the Scripture and canst not vnderstaÌ„d neuer a woorde For thou hast brought a text of scripture the which maketh cleane against thee For Esdras speaketh of the multitude of you heretickes declaring your hate against the catholicke Churche making the simple or idle people that beleeue that all is idolatrie that we do and so intise them away vntill you haue ouercome them Rafe Nay not so my Lord. For he maketh it more plaine and sayth on this wise They shall take away their goodes and put them oute of their houses and then shall it be knowen who are my chosen sayth the Lord for they shal be tried as the siluer or gold is in the fire And we see it so come to passe euen as he hath sayd For who is not now driuen from house home yea and his goodes taken vp for other menne that neuer swette for them if hee doe not obserue as you command and set foorth Or els if he be taken then must he either deny the truth as I did in dissembling or els he shal be sure to be tried as Esdras sayeth euen as the golde is tried in the fire Whereby all the worlde may knowe that you are the bloudy church figured in Caine the tyraunte neither yet are ye able to auoide it Morton I promise you my Lorde I like hym better nowe then euer I did when he was heere before you the other time For then hee did but dissemble as I perceiued well inough but nowe me thinke he speaketh plainly Bon Mary syr as you say in dede he is plaine For he is a plaine heretike and shal be burned Haue the knaue away Let him be caried to little ease at London vntil I come Rafe And so was I caried to London vnto Little case and there remained that nighte and on the next morrowe I appeared before him againe the Deane of Paules and the Chauncellour of London being present Then were brought foorth certaine wrytings that I had set my hand vnto Boner Come on your wayes syrha Is not thys youre hand and this and this Rafe Yea they are my hande all of them I confesse the same neither yet will I denie any thing that I haue sette my hand vnto But if I haue sette my hand to anye thing that is not lawfull therefore am I sorie Neuerthelesse my hand I will not deny to be my doing Boner Well sayde Nowe yee must tell mee Were you neuer at the Churche since you went from mee at Masse and Mattens c. Rafe No my Lorde not at Masse Mattens nor none other straunge woorshipping of God Boner Yea sayest thou so Wast thou neither at thyne owne parish church nor at none other And doest thou also say that it is a straunge worshipping Why I praye thee wilt thou not beleeue the Scripture to be true Rafe Yes my Lorde I beleeue the Scripture to be true and in the defence of the same I entend to geue my life rather then I will deny any part thereof God willing Deane My Lorde this fellow will be an honest man I heare by him He will not stand in his opinion for he sheweth himselfe gentle and pacient in his talke Boner Oh he is a glorious knaue His painted termes shall no more deceiue me Ah horeson Prickelouse doeth not Christ say This is my body And howe darest thou deny these woordes for to say as I haue a wryting to shew and thine owne hand at the same Lette me see wilt thou deny this Is not this thine owne hande Rafe Yes my Lord it is mine owne hand neyther am I ashamed thereof because my confession therein is agreeable
vnto death Feare it not saith Christ for I haue ouercome death saith he Oh deare hearts seeing that Iesus Christ will be our helpe oh tary you the Lordes laisure Be strong let your hearts be of good comfort wait you stil for the Lord. He is at hand Yea the angel of the lord pitcheth his tent rounde about them that feare him and deliuereth them which way he seeth best For our liues are in the lords hands and they can doe nothing vnto vs before God suffer theÌ„ Therefore geue all thankes to God Oh deare hearts you shall be clothed with long white garments vpon the mount Sion with the multitude of Saintes and with Iesus Christ our Sauiour which will neuer forsake vs. Oh blessed virgins ye haue plaied the wise virgines part in that you haue taken oyle in your lamps that ye may go in with the bride grom when he commeth into the euerlasting ioy wyth hym But as for the folish they shal be shut out because they made not theÌ„selues ready to suffer with Christe neither goe about to take vp his crosse O deare hearts howe precious shall your death be in the sight of the Lord for deare is the death of his saintes O fare you well and pray The grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ be wyth you all Amen Amen Pray pray pray By me Rich. Roth wrytten with mine bloud This letter he confessed in dede vpon the sayd examination to haue wrytten with his bloude that he meant to haue sent the same vnto suche as were condempned at Colchester for the gospel of Iesus Christ and were afterwardes burned there as ye haue already heard The bish then farther asked him what he thought hys prison fellow Rafe Allerton to be He aunsweared that he thought hym to be one of the elect children of God and that if at any time heereafter he happened to be put to death for his faith and religion hee thought he shoulde die a true Martyr And moreouer finding him selfe agreued with the Bishoppes priuie and secrete condeÌ„ning of Gods people he said vnto him in this sort My Lord because the people should not see behold your doings ye cause me and others to be brought to our examinatioÌ„s by night being afraid belike to do it by day Foure Martyâ—s burned at Islington The Bishop not greatly caring for this talke proceeded to examine hym of other matters amongest whiche this high and waighty thyng was one videlicet how he did lyke the order and rites of the Churche then vsed here in England To whome he said that hee euer had and yet then did abhorre the same with all his heart Then diuers of the Bishops complices entreated and perswaded him to recant and aske mercy of the bishop No quoth Roth I will not aske mercy of hym that cannot geue it Wherupon he was as the rest before meÌ„tioned condemned and deliuered vnto the Shiriffe and the xvij day of September they all most ioyfully ended their lyues in one fire at Islington for the testimonie of Christ as before is declared ¶ Agnes Bongeor and Margaret Thurston two godly Christian women burnt at Colchester for the sincere professing of Christes Gospell A Little before gentle Reader was mention made often that suffred Martyrdome at Colchester pag. 2007. at whâ—ch tyme there were two other women also one called Margaret Thurston and the other Agnes Bongeor that should haue suffered with them and were likewyse condemned at the same tyme and place that the other aboue named ten were for the like cause and aunswered also in their examinations the like in effect as the other did But the one namely Margaret Thurston that 〈◊〉 she should suffer with those that went from the Castle was for that tyme deferred What the cause was the testimonie of Ioâ—e Cooke shal declare vnto vs. Which Ioâ—e Cooke the wife now of Iohn Sparke beyng then in the castle of Colchester for religion did demaund of this widow Thurston whose husband died in the prison being imprisoned for religion wherefore the sayd Margaret beyng a condemned woman should be reserued when the other suffred in the Castle Baily She aunswered that it was not for any feare of death but beyng prepared as the rest were that suffered the same day she felte in her selfe a great shiuering and trembling of the flesh Whereuppon forsaking the company she went aside to pray And whilest she was a praying she thought that she was lifted vp with a mighty wynd that came round about her Euen at that instant came in the Gaoler and company with hym whilest she turned her selfe to fetch her Psalter they tooke the other prisoners and left her alone Shortly after shee was remooued out of the Castle and put into the Towne prison where she continued vntill Friday seuennight after her company were burnt That day not two howers before her death she was brought to the Castell agayne where shee declared thus much to the aforesayde Ioane Cooke The other named Agnes Bongeor who should haue suffred in like maner with the 6. that went out of Motchal was also kept backe at that tyme but not in lyke sort because her name was wrong written within the writte as in the Bailiffes letters of Colchester sent to Boner about the same more plainely doth appeare in the booke of our first edition pag. 1632. The same morning the 2. of August that the sayd sixe in Motehall were called out to goe to their Martyrdome was Agnes Bongeor also called with them by the name of Agnes Bowyer Wherefore the Bailiffes vnderstaÌ„ding her as I sayd to be wrong named within the writ commanded the sayd Agnes Bongeor to prison agayne as ye haue heard in the letter before named and so from Motehall that day sent her to the Castle where shee remayned vntill her death But when she saw her selfe so separated from her sayd prison fellowes in that sort Oh good Lord what piteous mone that good woman made how bitterly shee wepte what strange thoughts came into her mynde how naked and desolate she esteemed her selfe and into what plunge of dispayre and care her poore soule was brought it was piteous and wonderful to see which all came because she went not with them to geue her lyfe in the defence of her Christ for of all thyngs in the world lyfe was least looked for at her hands For that morning in which she was kept backe from burnyng had she put on a smocke that she had prepared onely for that purpose And also hauyng a child a little yong Infant suckyng on her whom she kept with her tenderly all the tyme she was in prison agaynst the day likewyse did she send it away to another Nurse and prepared her selfe presently to geue her selfe for the testimonie of the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ. So little did shee looke for lyfe and so greatly did Gods gifts worke in her aboue nature that death seemed a
taught What can I do more Consider with your selues that I haue done it for the confirmation of Gods trueth Pray that I may continue vnto the end The greatest part of the assault is paste I prayse my God I haue in all my assaultes felt the present ayde of my God I geue him most harty thankes therefore Looke not backe nor be ye ashamed of Christes Gospell nor of the bonds I haue suffered for the same thereby ye may be assured it is the true word of God The holy ones haue bene sealed with the same marke It is no time for the losse of one man in the battell for the campe to turne backe Vp with mennes hartes blowe downe the dawbed walles of heresies Let one take the Banner and the other the Trumpette I meane not to make corporall resistaunce but pray and ye shall haue Elias defence and Elizeus company to fight for you The cause is the Lordes Nowe my brethren I can write no more time will not suffer and my harte with panges of death is assaulted but I am at home with my God yet aliue Pray for me salute one another with the holy kisse The peace of god rest with you all Amen From Newgate prison in haste the day of my condemnation Iohn Rough. An other letter of Iohn Rough written vnto the Congregation two dayes before he suffered THe spirite of all consolation be with you ayde you and make you strong to runne to the fight that is layde before you wherewithall God in all ages hath tryed hys elect and hath found them worthy of himselfe by copling to theyr head Iesus Christ in whome who so desireth to liue Godly the same must needes suffer persecution For it is geuen vnto them not onely to beleeue but also to suffer And the Seruaunt or Scholer can not be greater then his Lord or Mayster but by the same way the head is entered the members must folow no life is in the members which are cutte from the body likewise we haue no life but in Christ for by him we liue moue and haue our being My deare sonne now departing this life to my great aduauntage I make chaūge of mortality with immortality of corruption to put on incorruption to make my body like to the corne cast into the ground which except it die first it can bring forth no good fruite Wherefore death is to my great vauntage for therby the body ceaseth from sinne and after turneth into the first originall but after shall be chaunged and made brighter then the Sonne or Moone What shall I write of this corporall death seeing it is decreed of God that all men shall once die happy are they that die in the Lord which is to dye in the fayth of Christ professing and confessing the same before many witnesses I prayse my God I haue passed the same iourney by manye temptations the deuill is very busye to perswade the world to entise with promises and fayre wordes which I omitte to write least some might thinke I did hunt after vayne glorye whiche is farthest from my hart Lastly the daunger of some false brethren who before the Byshop of London purposed to confesse an vntrueth to my face yet the God that ruled Balaam moued theyr hartes where they thought to speake to my accusation hee made them speake to my purgation What a iourney by Gods power I haue made these eight dayes before this date it is aboue flesh and bloud to beare but as Paule sayth I may do all thinges in hym which worketh in me Iesus Christ. My course brethrē haue I run I haue fought a good fight the crowne of righteousnes is layd vp for me my daye to receiue it is not long too Praye Brethren for the enemye doth yet assaulte Stande constaunt vnto the ende then shall you possesse your Soules Walke worthely in that vocation wherein you are called Comfort the Bretheren Salute one another in my name Be not ashamed of the Gospell of the Crosse by me preached nor yet of my suffering for with my bloud I affirme the same I go before I suffer first the bayting of the Butchers Dogges yet I haue not done what I should haue done but my weaknes I doubt not is supplied in the strēgth of Iesus christ and your wisedomes learning will accept that small talent which I haue distributed vnto you as I trust as a faythfull stewarde and if what was vndone impute that to my frayltye and ignoraunce and with your loue couer that which is and was naked in me God knoweth ye all are tender vnto me my hart bursteth for the loue of you Ye are not without your great pastor of your soule who so loueth you that if men were not to bee sought out as God be praysed there is no want of men he would cause stones to minister vnto you Cast your care on that Rock the wind of temptation shall not preuayle fast and praye for the dayes are euill Looke vp with your eyes of hope for the redemption is not farre off but my wickednesse hath deserued that I shall not see it And also that which is behind of the bloud of our brethren which shall also be layd vnder the aulter shall crye for your reliefe Time wil not now suffer me to write longer Letters The spirite of God guid you in and out rising sitting couer you with the shadow of his winges defend you agaynst the tyrannye of the wicked and bring you happely vnto the Porte of eternall felicitye where all teares shall be wyped from your eyes and you shall alwayes abyde wyth the Lambe Iohn Rough. ¶ Margaret Mearing Martyr IT is declared that in the companye of Iohn Roughe was burned one Margaret Mearyng who as the Register maketh mention was at one time and day brought wyth the sayde Rough foorth to examination where the Byshop hauynge no priuate matters to charge her withall did the eightenth daye of December obiecte agaynste her those common and accustomable Articles mentioned before pag 1585. To which she aunswered as followeth FIrst that there is here in earth a catholicke Churche and that there is the true fayth of Christ obserued and kept in the same Church 2 Item that there were onely two sacramentes in the Church namely the sacrament of the bodye and bloud of Christ and the sacrament of Baptisme 3 Item that she was baptised in the fayth beliefe of the sayd Church renouncing there by her Godfathers and Godmothers the Deuill and all his workes c. 4 Item that when she came to the age of fouretene yeares shee did not knowe what her true beliefe was because shee was not then of discretion to vnderstande the same neyther yet was taught it 5 Item that she had not gone from the catholicke fayth at any time but she sayde that the Masse was abhominable before the sight of God and before the sight of all true Christian people and that it is the
playne Cup of fornication and the whore of Babilon And as concerning the Sacrament of the aultar she sayd she beleued there was no such sacrament in the catholicke Church Also she sayd that she vtterly abhorred the authoritye of the Byshop of Rome with all the Religion obserued in the same Antichristes Church 6 Item she aunswered to the sixt Article as to the first before specified 7 Item that she hath refused to come to her Parish Church because the true Religion of Christ was not then vsed in the same and farther sayd that she had not come vnto the Churche by the space of one yeare and three quarters then last paste neither yet did meane any more to come vnto the same in these Idolatrous dayes 8 Item as touching the maner of her apprehension she said that Cluney the Bishops Somner did fetch her to the Bishop These aunsweres being then registered they were agayne with the sayd Articles propounded agaynste her the xx day of December and there being demaunded if she would stand vnto those her aunsweres she sayde I wyll stand to them vnto the death for the very Aungels of heauen do laugh you to scorne to see your abhomination that you vse in the Churche After the whiche wordes the Byshop pronounced the sentence of condemnation and then deliuering her vnto the Sheriffes she was wyth the forenamed Iohn Roughe caryed vnto Newgate From whence they were both together led vnto Smithfield the xxij day of the same Moneth of December and there most ioyfullye gaue theyr liues for the profession of Christes Gospell When the latter end of this history of Mayster Rough and Margarete Mearing was in finishing there came to our hands one necessary thing of the said Margaret Mearyng which wee thought not good to omit The matter is this Mayster Rough being chiefe Pastour to the congregation in the said time of Queene Mary as before ye haue heard of which companye this Margaret Mearyng was one did not well like the sayd Margaret but greatly suspected her as many other of them did besides because she would often times bring in straungers among them and in her talke seemed as they thought somewhat â—o busye c. Nowe what they sawe or vnderstoode further in her we know not but this followed the euill suspition conceiued of her Mayster Rough the Fridaye before hee was taken in the open face of the Congregation did excommunicate her out of the same company and so seemed with the rest to exclude and cut her of from theyr fellowship and society Whereat she being mooued did not well take it nor in good part but thought her selfe not indifferently handled amonge them Whereupon to one of her frendes in a heate she threatned to remoue them all But the prouidence of God was otherwise For the Sondaye after Mayster Rough being taken by the information of one Roger Sergeaunt to the Bishop of London as here after thou shalt heare was layd prisoner in the Gatehouse at Westminster where none of his frendes coulde come to him to visite him Then this sayd Margaret hearing therof gotte her a basket and a cleane shyrt in it and went to Westminster where she fayning her selfe to be his Sister got into the prison to him and did there to her power not a litle comfort him Then comming abroade agayne shee vnderstandinge that the Congregation suspected the said Sergeaunt to be his Promoter went to his house and asked whether Iudas dwelt not there Unto whom aunswere was made there dwelt no such No sayd she Dwelleth not Iudas here that betrayed Christ His name is Sergeaunt WheÌ„ she saw she could not speake with him she went her way So the Friday after she standing at Marke lane ende in London with an other woman a frende of hers sawe Cluney Boners Somner commyng in the Streete towardes her house Whome when she sawe she sayed to the other woman standyng with her whether goeth yonder fine felowe sayde she I thinke surely he goeth to my house and in viewing him still at the last she saw him enter in at her doore So immediately she went home and asked him whome hee sought Whereunto Cluney made answere and sayd for you you must go with me Mary quoth she here I am I will go with you and comming to the Bishoppe she was layde in prison and the Wednesday after burnt with Mayster Rough in Smithfielde as ye haue heard Anno. 1558. ¶ The Suffering cruell tormentes of Cutbert Symson Deacon of the Christian Congregation in London in Queene Maries dayes most paciently abiding the cruell rage of the Papistes for Christes sake NExt after the Martyrdome of M. Rough Minister of the Congregation aboue mentioned succeded in like Martyrdome the Deacon also of that sayde Godly company or Congregation in London named Cutbert Symson being committed to the fire the yeare of our Lord. 1558. the 28. day of March. This Cutbert Symson was a manne of a faythfull and zealous hart to Christ and his true flocke in so much that he neuer ceased labouryng and Studying most earnestly not onely how to preserue them without corruption of the Popish religion but also hys care was euer vigilant how to keepe them together wythout peryll or daunger of persecution The paynes trauayle zeale pacience and fidelity of this man in caryng and prouiding for thys Congregation as it is not lightly to be expressed so is it wonderfull to beholde the prouidence of the Lord by vision concerning the troubles of this faythfull minister and godly Deacon as in this here folowyng may appeare The Fridaye at nighte before Maister Rough Minister of the congregation of whom meÌ„tion is made before was takeÌ„ being in his bed he dreamed that he saw 2. of the Gard leading Cutbert Simson Deacon of the sayde congregation and that he had the booke about hym wherin were written the names of all them which were of the Congregation Whereupon being sore troubled hee awaked and called hys wife saying Kate strike lighte For I am much troubled with my brother Cutbert thys nyght When she hadde so done he gaue himselfe to reade in his booke a while and there feeling sleepe to come vpon him he put out the candle so gaue himselfe agayn to rest Being a sleepe hee dreamed the like dreame agayn awaked therwith hee sayde O Kate my brother Cutbert is gone So they lighted a candle againe and rose And as the â—ayd M. Rough was making him ready to go to Cutbert to see how he did in the meane time the sayd Cutbert came in with the book conteining the names accompts of the congregation Whom when Maister Rough hadde seene he sayd brother Cutbert ye are welcome for I haue bene sore troubled with you this night and so tolde hym his dreame After he had so done he willed him to lay the booke away from him and to cary it no more about him Unto which Cutbert aunswered he would not so doe
for dreames he sayd were but phantasies and not to be credited Then maister Rough straightly charged him in the name of the Lord to doe it Whereupon the sayde Cutbert tooke suche notes out of the booke as hee had willed hym to doe and immediately left the booke with M. Roughes wife The next day following in the night the said Maister Rough had an other dreame in his sleepe concerning hys owne trouble The matter wherof was this He thought in his dreame that he was caried himselfe forceably to the Bishop and that the Bishop pluckt of his beard and cast it into the fire saying these wordes Nowe I may saye I haue had a peece of an heretick burned in my house and so according it came to passe Now to returne to Cutbert agayne as we haue touched something coâ—cerning these visions so nowe remayneth to story also of his paynes and sufferinges vpon the racke and otherwise like a good Laurence for the congregations sake as he wrote it with his owne hand ¶ A true report how I was vsed in the Tower of London being sent thether by the Counsell the xiii day of December ON the Thursday after I was called vnto the warehouse before the Constable of the Tower and the Recorder of Londer Maister Cholmley they commaunded me to tell whome I did will to come to the Englishe seruice I aunswered I would declare nothing Wherupon I was set in a racke of Iron the space of three houres as I iudged Then they asked me if I would tell them I aunswered as before Then was I losed and caried to my lodging agayne On the sonday after I was brought into the same place agayne before the Lieuetenaunt and the Recorder of London and they examined me As before I had sayde I aunswered Then the Lieuetenaunt did sweare by god I shuld tell Then did they binde my 2. forefingers together and put a small arrowe betwixt them and drewe it through so fast that the bloude followed and the arrowe brake Then they racked me twise Then was I caryed to my lodging agayne and x. dayes after the Lieuetenant asked me if I would not confesse that which before they had asked me I sayd I had sayd as much as I would TheÌ„ fiue weekes after he sent me vnto the high Prieste where I was greatly assaulted and at whose hande I receiued the Popes curse for bearing witnesse of the resurrection of Iesus Christ. And thus I commend you vnto God and to the worde of his grace with all them that vnfaynedly call vpon the name of Iesus desiring God of his endles mercy through the merites of hys deare sonne Iesus Christe to bringe vs all to hys euerlasting kingdome Amen I prayse God for his great mercy shewed vppon vs. Syng Osanna vnto the highest with me Cutbert Simson God forgeue me my sinnes I aske all the worlde forgeuenesse and I doe forgeue all the worlde and thus I leaue thys world in hope of a ioyfull resurrection A note for Cutbert Simsons patience NOw as touching this Cutbert Simson this further is to be noted that Boner in his Consistory speaking of Cutbert Simson gaue this testimony of hym there to the people saying ye see this man sayth he what a personable man he is and after hee had thus commended hys persone added moreouer And furthermore concerning his pacience I say vnto you that if hee were not an hereticke hee is a manne of the greatest pacience that yet euer came before me For I tell you he hath bene thrise racked vppon one day in the Tower Also in my house hee hathe felt some sorrowe and yet I neuer see hys pacience broken c. ⧠A true description of the racking and cruell handeling of Cutbert Simson in the Tower It is thought and sayd of some that that arrowe whiche was grated betwixt his fingers being tyed together was not in the tower but in the Bishops house The day before the blessed Deacon and Martyr of god Cutbert Simson after his paynfull racking should go to his coÌ„deÌ„nation before Boner to be burned being in the Bishops colehouse there in the stockes he had a certayne vision or apparition very straunge which he himself with hys owne mouthe declared to the Godly learned man M. Austen to his owne wiâ—e and Thomas Simson and to others besides in the prison of Newgate a litle before his death The relation whereof I stande in no little doubte whether to reporte abroad or not considering with my selâ—e the greate diuersitie of mennes iudgementes in the reading of historyes and varietie of affections Some I see will not beleue it some will deride the same some also will be offended with setting forth things of that sorte incertayne esteeming all thinges to bee incertayne and incredible whatsoeuer is straunge from the common order of Nature Other will be perchaunce agreeued thinking with theÌ„ selues or els thus reasoning with me that althoughe the matter were as is reported yet for somuch as the common error of beleuing rash miracles phantasied visions dreames and appparitions thereby may be confirmed more expedient it were the same to be vnsetforth These and such lyke will be I know the sayinges of many Whereunto brieflye I aunswere grauntynge firste and admyttyng wyth the woordes of Basill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is not euery dreame is strait waye a Prophecie Agayne neither am I ignoraunt that the Papistes in their bookes and legendes of saintes haue theyr prodigious visions and apparitions of Aungelles of our Lady of Christ and other sayncts which as I wil not admit to be beleeued for true so will they aske me agayne why should I then more require these to be credyted of them then theirs of vs. First I write not this binding any manne precisely to beleue the same so as they do theyrs but onely reporte it as it hath bene heard of persons knowne naming also the parties who were the hearers thereof leauing the iudgment therof notwithstanding free vnto the arbitremente of the reader Aâ—beit it is no good argument proceedyng from the singular or particular to the vniuersall to saye that visions be not true in some ergo they be true in none And if any shall muse or obiect agayne why should suche visions be geuen to him or a few other singular persons more then to all the rest seeing the other were in the same cause and quarrell and dyed also martyrs as well as hee To thys I say concerning the Lordes tymes and doings I haue not to meddle nor make who may woorke where and when it pleaseth him And what if the Lorde thought chiefly aboue the other with singular consolation to respecte him who chiefly aboue the other and singularly did suffer most exquisite tormentes for his sake What greate maruell herein but as I sayd of the Lords secrete tymes I haue not to reason This onely whiche hathe out of the mans owne mouth bene receiued so as I receiued it of the
one time wyth the rest examined and brought before the sayde Byshop who aunswered no lesse in his Maysters cause then the other and therfore had the like rewarde that the other had which was the Byshops bloudy blessing of condemnation and deliuered also to the Seculare power who kept him with the other vntill the day of slaughter which hasted on and was not long after Thomas Hudson was of Ailesham in Norfolke by his occupation a Glouer a very honest poore manne hauing a wife and three children and laboured alwayes truly and dilligently in hys vocation being of thirtye yeares of age and bearing so good a will to the Gospell that he in the dayes of king Edward the 6. two yeares before Q. Maryes raygne learned to read Englishe of Anthony Thomas Norgate of the same Towne wherin he greatly profited about the tyme of alteration of Religion For when Queene Mary came to raygne and had chaunged the seruice in the Churche putting in for wheate draffe and darnill and for good preaching blasphemous crying out agaynst truthe and godlinesse he then auoyding all theyr ceremonies of superstition absented hymselfe from hys house and went into Suffolkl a longe tyme and there remayned trauelling from one place to an other as occasion was offered At the last hee returned backe agayne to Northfolke to his house at Aâ—lesham to comfort his wyfe and children being heauy and troubled with hys absence Nowe when he came home and perceiued hys contynuance there would be daungerous he and hys wife deuised to make hym a place among hys fagottes to hide him selfe in where he remayned all the day in steede of hys chamber reading and praying continually for the space of halfe a yeare and his wife lyke an honest woman being carefull for hym vsed her selfe faythfullye and dillygently towards him In the meane time came the Uicare of the Town named Berry who was one of the Byshoppes Commissaries a very euill manne and inquired of this sayd Thomas Hudsons wife for her husband Unto whom he answered as not knowing where hee was Then the sayde Berry rated her and threatned to burne her for that shee would not bewraye her husbande where hee was After that when Hudson vnderstoode it hee waxed euerye day more zelous then other and continually read sange Psalmes to the wonder of many the people openlye resorting to him to heare hys exhortations and vehement prayers At the last he walked abroad for certayne dayes openly in the Towne crying out continually agaynst the Masse and all theyr trumpery and in the ende commyng home in hys house he sate him downe vpon hys knees hauyng his book by hym reading and singing Psalmes continually without ceassing for three dayes and three nightes together refusing meate and other talke to the great wonder of many Then one Iohn Crouch his next neighbour went to the Constables Robert Marsham and Robert Lawes in the night to certifie them thereof for Berry commanded openly to watche for hym and the Constables vnderstanding the same went cruelly to catche hym in the breake of the day the xxii of the moneth of Aprill Anno 1558. Now when Hudson saw them come in he sayd Now myne houre is come Welcome frendes welcome You bee they that shall leade me to lyfe in Christ I thanke GOD therefore and the Lorde enhable me thereto for hys mercyes sake For his desire was and euer he prayed if it wer the Lordes will that hee might suffer for the Gospell of Christ. Then they tooke him and lead him to Berry the Commissarye whiche was Uicar of the towne and the sayde Berrye asked him first where hee kepte hys Church for foure yeares before To the whiche the sayde Hudson answered thus where so euer he was there was the church Doest thou not beleue sayth Berry in the sacramente of the aultar What is it Hudson It is wormes meate my beliefe saythe hee is in Christ crucified Berry Doest thou not beleeue the Masse to putte awaye sinnes Hudson No God forbidde it is a patched monstre and a disguised Puppet more longer a peecing then euer was Salomons Temple At whiche wordes Berry stamped fumed and shewed himself as a mad man and sayd well thou villayn thou I wil write to the B. my good Lord and trust vnto it thou shalt be handled according to thy desertes Oh sir sayde Hudson there is no Lorde but God though there be many Lordes and many Gods With that Berry thrust hym backe with hys hand And one Richard Cliffar standing by sayde I pray you sir bee good to the poore man At which wordes Berry was more mad then before and woulde haue had Cliffer bound in a recognysaunce of 40. poundes for hys good abearyng bothe in worde and deede whiche his desire tooke no effecte Then he asked the sayd Hudson whether he would recant or no. Unto whiche wordes Hudson sayde the Lorde forbid I had rather dye many deathes then to do so Then after long talke the sayde Berry seeing it booted not to perswade with him tooke hys penne and inke and wrote letters to the Bishop thereof and sent this Hudson to Norwiche bound like a theefe to him whiche was 8. miles from thence who with ioy and singing chere weÌ„t thether as mery as euer he were at anye tyme before In prison he was a month where hee dyd continually read inuocate the name of God These three Christians and constaunt Martyrs William Seaman Thomas Carman and Thomas Hudson after they were as ye haue heard condemned the xix day of May. 1558. were caryed out of prison to the place where they should suffer whyche was without Byshoppes gate at Norwich called Lollards Pit And being al there they made their humble prayers vnto the Lorde That beyng done they rose and went to the stake and standing al ther with their chaynes about them immediately this sayde Thomas Hudson commeth foorth from them vnder the Chayne to the great wonder of many whereby diuers feared and greatly doubted of hym For some thought hee would haue recanted other iudged rather that he went to aske a further day and to desire conference and some thought he came forth to aske some of hys parentes blessing So some thought one thinge and some an other but hys two companions at the stake cryed out to him to comforte him what they coulde exhorting him in the bowelles of Christ to be of good cheare c. But this sweete Hudson felt more in hys heart and conscience then they could conceaue in him For alas good soule hee was compassed God knoweth with great dolour and griefe of minde not for hys death but for lacke of feeling of his Christ and therefore beyng verye carefull he humbly fell downe vppon his knees and prayed vehemently and earnestly vnto the Lord who at the last according to hys olde mercies sent him comfort and theÌ„ rose he with great ioy as
sondrye incident to the same and especiallye touching the great stirres alterations which haue happened in other foreine nations and also partly among our selues here at home for so muche as the tractation heereof requireth an other Uolume by it selfe I shall therefore deferre the reader to the next Booke or Section insuing wherein if the Lorde so please to sustaine me with leaue and life I may haue to discourse of all and singulare suche matters done and atchieued in these our latter daies and memorie more at large Now then after these so great afflictions falling vpon this Realm from the first beginning of Queene Maries reigne wherein so many men women and children were burned many imprisoned and in prisones starued diuers exiled some spoyled of goodes possessions a great number driuen from house to home so many weeping eyes so many sobbing hartes so many children made fatherles so many fathers bereft of theyr wiues and children so many vexed in conscience and diuers against conscience coÌ„strained to recant and in conclusion neuer a good man almost in all the Realme but suffered something during all the time of this bloudy persecution after all this I say now we are come at length the Lord be praysed to the 17. day of Nouember which day as it brought to the persecuted members of Christ rest from theyr carefull mourning so it easeth me somewhat likewise of my laborious writing by the death I meane of Queene Mary Who being long sicke before vpon the sayd xvij day of Nouember in the yeare aboue sayde about 3. or 4. a clocke in the morning yelded her life to nature and her kingdome to Queene Elizabeth her sister As touching the maner of whose death some say that she dyed of a Tympany some by her much sighing before her death supposed she dyed of thought sorow Wherevpon her Counsell seing her sighing desirous to know the cause to the ende they might minister the more readye consolation vnto her feared as they sayd that she took the thought for the kinges Maiesty her husband which was gone from her To whom she answering againe In deed sayd she that may be one cause but that is not the greatest wound that pearseth my oppressed minde but what that was she would not expresse to them Albeit afterward she opened the matter more plainly to M. Rise and Mistres Clarentius if it be true that they tolde me whiche hearde it of M. Rise himselfe who then being most familiar with her most bold about her tolde her that they feared she took thought for king Philips departing from her Not that onely sayde she but when I am dead opened you shall find Calice lying in my hart c. And here an end of Queene Mary and of her persecution Of which Queene this truely may be affirmed left in story for a perpetual memorial or Epitaph for al kings and Queenes that shal succeed her to be noted that before her neuer was readde in story of any King or Queene of England since the time of king Lucius vnder whome in time of peace by hanging heading burning and prisoning so much Christian bloud so many Englishmens liues were spilled within this Realme as vnder the sayd Queene Mary for the space of foure yeres was to be sene and I beseech the Lord neuer may be sene hereafter ⧠A briefe declaration shewing the vnprosperous successe of Queene Mary in persecuting Gods people and how mightily God wrought agaynst her in all her affayres NOw for so much as Queene Mary during all the time of her reigne was suche a vehement Aduersary and Persecutour agaynst the sincere Professours of Christ Iesus and his Gospell for the which there be many which do highly magnify approue her doinges therein reputing her Religion to be founde and Catholicke and her proceedinges to be most acceptable and blessed of almighty God to the inteÌ„t therfore that all men may vnderstande howe the blessing of the Lorde God did not onely not proceed with her proceedings but coÌ„trary rather how his manifest displesure euer wrought agaynst her in plaguing both her and her Realme and in subuerting all her counselles and attemptes whatsoeuer she tooke in hand we will bestow a litle time therein to perpend and suruey the whole course of her doinges and â—heuaunces and coÌ„sider what successe she had in the same Which being well considered we shall finde neuer no reigne of any Prince in this Land or any other whiche had euer to shew in it for the proportion of time so many arguments of Gods great wrath displesure as was to be sene in the reigne of this Queene Mary whether we behold the shortnes of her time or the vnfortunate euent of all her purposes who seemed neuer to purpose any thing that came luckely to passe neither did any thing frame to her purpose what so euer she tooke in hande touching her owne priuate affayres Of good kinges we read in the Scripture in shewing mercy and pity in seeking Gods will in his word subuerting the monumentes of Idolatry howe God blessed theyr wayes encreased theyr honours and mightely prospered all their proceedinges as we see in king Dauid Salomon Iosias Iosaphath Ezechias with such other Manasses made the streetes of Hierusalem to swimme with the bloud of his subiects but what came of it the text doth testify Of Queene Elizabeth whiche nowe raigneth among vs this we must needes say which we see that she in sparing the bloud not onely of Gods seruauntes but also of Gods enemies hath doubled now the raygne of Queene Mary her sister with such aboundance of peace and prosperitie that it is hard to say whether the realme of England felt more of Gods wrath in Queene Maryes tyme or of Gods fauour and mercy in these so blessed peaceable dayes of Queene Elizabeth Gamaliell speaking his minde in the Counsaile of the Phariseis concerning Christes religion gaue this reason that if it were of God it should continue who soeuer sayd nay If it were not it could not stand So may it be sayde of Q. Mary and her romishe Religion that if it were so perfect and Catholicke as they pretend and the contrarye fayth of the Gospellers were so detestable and hereticall as they make it how commeth it then that this so Catholicke a Queene suche a necessarye piller of his spouse hys Church continued no longer till shee had vtterly rooted out of the land this hereticall generation Yea how chanced it rather yâ— almightye God to spare these poore heretickes rooted out Q. Mary so soone from her throne after she had reigned but onely v. yeares and v. monthes Now furthermore howe God blessed her wayes and endeuours in the meane tyme while shee thus persecuted the true seruauntes of God remayneth to bee discussed Where first this is to be noted that when shee first began to stand for the title of the Crowne and yet had wrought
the Bailiffe turned his Religion likewise and so he moued the Parish to shew themselues the Queenes friendes to set vp the Masse speedely Neuertheles the most substauntiall of the Parish marueling much at the Bailiffes inconstant lightnes considering also his abominable lyfe and hauing no great deuotion vnto his request knowing moreouer that their duty frendship to the Queene stoode not in setting vp the Masse spared to prouide for it as lōg as they might but the Bailiffe called on them still in the Queenes name At last when he saw his wordes were not regarded purposing to wynne his spurres by playing the man in the Masses behalfe and the Queenes he got him to the church vpon a sunday morning when the Curate was beginning the Englishe seruice according to the Statute secte forth by King Edward the vj. the Bailiffe commeth in a great rage to the Curate sayth Syrrha will you not say Masse buckle your selfe to Masse you knaue or by Gods bloud I shall sheathe my dagger in your shoulder The poore Curate for feare fetled himselfe to Masse Not long after this the Bailiffe rode from home vpō certaine busines accompanyed with one of his neighbors and as they came ryding togeather vpon the Fennebanke homeward agayne a Crow sitting in a willow tree tooke her flighte ouer hys head singing after her woonted note knaue knaue withall let fall vpon his face so that her excrements ran from the top of his nose down to his beard The poysoned sent sauour whereof so noyed his stomacke that he neuer ceased vomiting vntil he came home wherwith his hart was so sore his body so distempered that for extreme sicknes he got him to bed and so lying he was not able for the stincke in his stomacke and paynefull vomiting to receaue any reliefe of meate or drinke but cryed out still sorowfully complayning of that stincke with no smal othes cursing the Crow that had poysoned him To make short he continued but a fewe daies but with extreme paine of vomiting and crying he desperately died without any token of repentance of his former life Reported and testified for a certaintie by diuers of his neighbours both honest and credible persons Of Iames Abbes Martyr ye heard before In the time of whose Martyrdom what befell vppon a wicked railer against him now ye shall further vnderstand Wherby all such railing persecutors may learne to feare Gods hand and to take heede howe or what they speake againste his seruaunts As this Iames Abbes was led by the sheriffe toward his execution diuers poore people stood in that way and asked their almes He then hauing no money to geue them and desirous yet to distribute some thing amongest them did pull off all his apparell sauing hys shirt gaue the same vnto them to some one thing to some an other in the geuing wherof he exhorted them to be strong in the Lord and as faithful followers of Christ to stand stedfast vnto the truthe of the Gospell which hee through Gods helpe would then in their sight seale and confirme with hys bloud Whiles he was thus charitably occupied and zealously instructing the people a seruaunt of the Sheriffes going by hearing him cried out aloude vnto them and blasphemously sayd beleue him not good people He is an hereticke and a mad man out of his wit beleue him not for it is heresy that he saith And as the other continued in his godly admonitions so did thys wicked wretche still blowe foorthe his blasphemous exclamations vntill they came vnto the stake where he should suffer Unto the which this constant Martyr was tied in the ende cruelly burned as in his storie more fully is already declared But immediatly after the fire was put vnto him such was the fearfull stroke of Gods iustice vpon this blasphemous railer that he was there presently in the sight of all the people stricken with a frenesy wherewith he had before mooste railingly charged that good Martyr of God who in this furious rage and madnesse castinge off hys shoes with all the rest of his cloathes cried out vnto the people and sayde Thus did Iames Abbes the true seruaunt of God who is saued but I am damned And thus ranne hee rounde about the Towne of Burie still crying out that Iames Abbes was a good man and saued but he was damned The Sheriffe then being amazed and caused him to be taken tied in a darke house and by force compelled hym againe to put on his cloathes thinking thereby wythin a while to bring him to some quietnes But he all that notwithstanding as soone as they were gone continued his former raging and casting of his cloathes cried as he did before Iames Abbes is the seruant of God and is saued but I am damned At length he was tied in a carte brought home vnto his Maisters house and wythin halfe a yeare or thereaboutes he being at the poynt of death the priest of the parish was sent for who comming vnto him brought wyth him the Crucifixe and theyr houseling host of the aultare Which geare when the poore wretch sawe he cried oute of the Priest and defied all that baggage saying that the Priest wyth suche other as he was was the cause of his damnation and that Iames Abbes was a good man and saued And so shortly after he died Clarke an open enemie to the Gospell and all Godly preachers in king Edwards daies hanged him self in the Tower of London The great and notable papist called Troling Smith of late fell downe sodenly in the streete and died Dale the Promoter was eaten into his body with Lice and so died as it is well knowen of manye and confessed also by his fellow Iohn Auales before credible witnesse Coxe an earnest protestant in king Edwardes dayes and in Quene Maries time a papist and a Promoter going wel and in health to bed as it seemed was deade before the morning Testified by diuers of the neighbours Alexander the Keeper of Newgate a cruell enemie to those that lay there for Religion died very miserably being so swollen that he was more like a monster then a man and so rotten within that no man could abide the smell of him This cruell wretch to hasten the poore lambes to the slaughter would go to Boner Story Cholmley other crying out rid my prison rid my prison I am too muche pestered with these heretickes The sonne of the saide Alexander called Iames hauing left vnto him by his father great substaunce within three yeres wasted al to nought And whē some marueled how he spent those goodes so fast O sayde he euill gotten euill spent and shortly after as hee went in Newgate market fell downe sodenly and there wretchedly died Iohn Peter sonne in lawe to this Alexander an horrible blasphemer of God no lesse cruell to the said prisoners rotted away and so
most miserably died Who commonly when he woulde affirme any thing were it true or false vsed to say If it be not true I pray God I rotte ere I die Witnesse the Printer heereof with diuers other With these I mighte inferre the sodeine death of Iustice Lelond persecutor of Ieffray Hurst mentioned before pag. 2076. Also the death of Robert Baulding stricken with Lightning at the taking of William Seamen whereuppon hee pined away and died the storie of the which W. Seaman see pag. 2035. Likewise the wretched end of Beard the promoter Moreouer the consuming away of Rob. Blomfielde persecutor of William Browne specified pag. 2065. Further to returne a little backewarde to king Henries time here might be induced also the example of Ihon Rockewoode who in his horrible ende cried all to late with the same woordes which he had vsed before in persecuting Gods poore people of Calice pag. 1055. Also the iudgement of God vpon Lady Honor a persecutor and of George Bradway a false accuser both bereft of theyr wittes page 1227. And what a notable spectacle of Gods reuengyng iudgement haue wee to consider in Syr Rafe Ellerker who as hee was desirous to see the heart taken out of Adam Damlyp whom they most wrongfully put to death so shortly after the sayd Syr Rafe Ellerker being slaine of the Frenchmen they all too mangling him after they had cutte off hys priuie members woulde not so leaue hym before they myght see hys heart cutte oute of hys bodye pag. 1229. Doctor Foxlorde Chauncellor to bishop Stokesley a cruell persecutor died sodeinly read pag. 1055. Pauier or Pauie Towne Clearke of London and a bitter enemie to the Gospell hanged him selfe pag. 1055. Steuen Gardiner hearing of the pitiful end of Iudge Hales after he had drowned himself taking occasiō thereby called the following and professiō of the Gospel a doctrine of desperation But as Iudge Hales neuer fell into that inconuenience before hee had consented to Papistrye so who so well considereth the ende of Doctour Pendleton which at hys death ful sore repented that euer he had yeelded to the doctrine of the Papists as he did and likewise the miserable ende of the moste parte of the Papistes besides and especially of Steuen Gardiner him selfe who after so longe professinge the doctrine of Papistrie when there came a Bishop to him in his deathbed and put him in remembraunce of Peter denying his Maister he aunswearing againe sayd that he had denied with Peter but neuer repented with Peter and so both stinckingly vnrepentantly died will say as Steuen Gardiner also hym selfe gaue an euident exāple of the same to all men to vnderstand that Poperie rather is a doctrine of desperation procuring the vengeaunce of almighty God to them that wilfully do cleaue vnto it Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester and Syr Thomas More in Kyng Henryes time after they hadde brought Iohn Frith Baifield and Baynham and diuers other to theyr death what great reward wanne they therby with almighty God Did not the sworde of Gods vengeaunce light vpon their owne neckes shortly after and they them selues made a publicke spectable at the tower hil of bloudy deathe which before had no compassion of the liues of others Thus ye see the saying of the Lord to be true Hee that smiteth with the sword shall pearish with the sword So was Heliodorus in the old time of the Iewes plagued by Gods hand in the Temple of Hierusalem So did Antiochus Herode Iulian Ualerianus the Emperour Decius Maxentius with infinite others after they had exercised theyr crueltye vppon Gods people feele the like striking hand of God them selues also in reuenging the bloud of his seruaunts And thus much concerning those persecutors as well of the Clergy sort as of the laity which were stricken and died before the death of Quene Mary With whom also is to be numbered in the same race of persecuting Byshops which died before Quene Mary these bishops folowing Bishops Coates Bishop of Westchester Parfew Bishop of Harford Glinne Bishop of Bangor Brookes Bishop of Glocester King Bishop of Tame Peto Elect of Salisburie Day Bishop of Chichester Holyman Bishop of Bristow Now after the Queene immediately followed or rather waighted vpon her the death of cardinal Poole who the next day departed Of what disease although it be vncertaine to many yet to some it is suspected that hee tooke some Italian Physicke which did him no good Then folowed in order Bishops Iohn Christopherson B. of Chichester Hopton B. of Norwich Morgan B. of S. Dauids Iohn White B. of Winchester Rafe Baine B. of Lichfield and Couentrie Owen Oglethorpe B. of Carlile Cuthert Tonstall B. of Durham Thomas Rainolds elect of Herford after hys depriuation died in prison Besides these Bishops aboue named first died at the same time D. Weston Deane of Westminster afterwarde Deane of Windsore chiefe disputer against Cranmer Ridley and Latimer M. Slerhurst maister of Trinitie colledge in Oxforde who died in the Tower Seth Holland deane of Worcester and Warden of Alsoule Colledge in Oxforde William Copinger Monke of Westminster who bare the great Seale before Steuen Gardener after the death of the sayde Gardener made him selfe Monke in the house of Westminster and shortly after so fell madde and died in the Tower Doctor Steward Deane of Winchester ¶ To beholde the woorking of Gods iudgements it is wonderous In the first yeare of Quene Marie when the Clergy was assembled in the Conuocation house and also afterwarde when the Disputation was in Oxford against Doctor Cranmer Ridley and Latimer he that had seene then Doctor Weston the Prolocutoure in his ruffe howe highly he tooke vpon him in the Schooles and how stoutly he stoode in the Popes quarell against simple and naked truth full litle would haue thought and lesse did he thinke him self I dare say that his glory and lofty lookes shoulde haue bene brought downe so soone especiallye by them of hys owne Religion whose part he so doughtely defended But such is the rewarde and ende commonly of them who presumptuouslye oppose them selues to striue against the Lord as by the example of this Doctorly prolocutor right wel may appeare For not long after the disputation aboue mentioned against Bishop Cranmer and hys fellowes God so wrought against the sayd Doctour Weston that hee fell in great displeasure wyth Cardinall Poole and other Bishops because hee was vnwilling to geue vp his Deanery and house of Westminster vnto the Monkes and religious men whom in deede he fauoured not although in other things he maintained the Churche of Rome Who notwithstanding at last through importunate sute gaue vp Westminster was deane of Windsore Where not long after he was apprehended in adulterie and for the same was by the Cardinall put from all hys spirituall liuings Wherefore he appealed to Rome and purposed to haue fledde out of the Realme but was taken by the way and committed
in his wagon with his wife and a gentlewoman waiting on her and his foole As soone as the Wagon was come without the gate of the citie called Croneborgh gate vpon the wooden bridge beyng at that tyme made for a shifte with railes or barres on both sides for more safetie of the passengers halfe a mans heighth more the horses stood still and would by no meanes go forward whatsoeuer the guider of the wagon could do Then he in a drunken rage cried out to him that guided the wagō saying Ride on in a thousand deuils name ride on Wherat the poore man answered that he could not make the horses to goe forward By and by whyle they were yet thus talking sodenly rose as it were a mighty hurlewynd with a terrible noyse the wether beyng very faire no wynd stirring before tost the wagon ouer the barre into the towne ditch the ropes whereat the horses had bene tied beyng broken a sunder in such sort as if they had bene cut with a sharp knife the wagon also being cast vpsidedowne with the fore end thereof turned toward the towne agayne and he drowned in the mire and when he was taken vp it was found that his necke also was broken His wife was taken vp aliue but died also within three dayes after But the Gentlewoman and the foole by Gods mighty prouidence were preserued had no harm The foole hearing the people say that his Maister was dead sayd was not I dead was not I dead too This was done an 1553. Witnesse hereof not onely the Printer of the same story in Dutch dwelling then in Andwerpe whose name was Fraunces Fraet a good man and afterward for hatred put to death of Papistes but also diuers Dutchmen here now in England and a great number of English merchants which then were at Antwerpe are yet alyue Of the sodaine death of Bartholomeus Chassaneus or Cassanus persecutor read before pag. 943. Of Minerius the bloudy persecutor or rather tormētor of Christes saints how he dyed with bleeding in hys lower partes ye heard before pag. 953. And what should I speake of the iudge which accompanied the sayd Minerius in his persecution who a little after as he returned homeward was drowned and three mo of the same company killed one another vpon a strife that fell amongst them pag. 953. Ioannes de Roma cruell Monke whom rather wee may call a hell hound then persecutor what hellishe tormentes hee hadde deuised for the poore Christians of Angrongne the cōtents of the story before doth expresse pag. 216. Agayne with what like torments afterward that doublefold the Lord payd him home agayne who in hys rottyng and stinking death neither could find any enemy to kill hym nor any friend to bury him who neither could abide his owne stinking carion nor any man els to come neare hym Hereof read also in the same page and plate aboue specified Such a like persecutor also the same tyme was the lord of Reuest who likewise escaped not the reuenging hand of Gods iustice being striken after his furious persecution with a like horrible sicknes and such a furie and madnesse that none durst come neare him and so most wretchedly died Whereof read before pag. 943. Touching the like grieuous punishment of God vpō one Iohn Martin a persecutor read pag. 955. Erasmus in an Epistle or Apologie written in defence of his Colloquies inferreth mention of a certayne noble person of great riches and possessions who hauyng wyfe and children with a great familie at home to whom by S. Pauls rule he was bound in conscience principally aboue all other worldly thyngs to attend had purposed before his death to go see Ierusalem And thus all thyngs beyng set in order this Noble man about to set foreward on his iourny committed the care of his wife whom he left great with childe and of his Lordshippes and Castles to an Archbishop as to a most sure and trusty father To make short it happened in the iourney this Noble man to dye Whereof so soone as the Archbishop had intelligence in stead of a father he became a thiefe and robber seising into his owne handes all his Lordshippes and possessions And moreouer not yet contented with all this he layed siege agaynst a strong fort of his vnto the which his wife for safegard of her selfe did flee where in conclusion shee with the child that she went withall pitifully was slaine and so miserably perished Which story was done as testifieth Erasmus not so long before his tyme but that there remayned the nephews of the said Noble man then aliue to whom the same inheritance should haue fallen but they could not obtaine it What commeth of blynd superstition when a mā not conteining himselfe within the compasse of Gods worde wandereth in other bywayes of his owne and not contented with the religion set vp of the Lord wyll binde his conscience to other ordinaunces prescriptions and religious deuised by men leauyng Gods commaundements vndone for the constitutions and preceptes of men what ende and reward I say commeth thereof at length by this one example beside infinite other of the like sort men may learne by experience and therefore they that yet will defend Idolatrous pilgrimage and rash vowes let them well consider hereof It is rightly sayd of saint Hierome to haue bene at Hierusalem is no great matter but to lyue a godly and vertuous lyfe that is a great matter in very deede In the yeare of our Lord 1565. there was in the town of Gaunt in Flanders one William de Weuer accused imprisoned by the Prouost of S. Peters in Gaunt who had in his Cloister a prison and a place of execution and the day when the sayd William was called to the place of iudgement the Prouost sent for M. Gyles Brackleman principall aduocate of the Counsaile of Flaunders Borough maister and Iudge of S. Peters in Gaunt wyth other of the rulers of the towne of Gaunt to sit in iudgement vpon hym and as they sate in iudgement the Borough maister named M. Gyles Brackleman reasoned with the sayd William de Weuer vpon diuers articles of his fayth The one whereof was why the sayd William de Weuer denied that it was not lawfull to pray to Saintes and he aunswered as the report goeth for three causes The one was that they were but creatures and not the creator The second was that if he should call vpon them the Lord did both see it and heare it therefore he durst geue the glory to none other but to God The third and chiefest cause was that the creator had commaunded in his holy word to call vpon him in troubles vnto which commaundement he durst neither adde nor take from it The Borough maister M. Gyles Brackelman also demaunded whethere he did not beleeue that there was a Purgatory which he should go into after
the violater is mortal and deadly sinne After all maner of wayes and meanes attempted to drawe this poore man from Christ and his truth the bishop seeyng that hee could not preuayle determined to send hym to the bishop of Rochester and so did who assayed by all meanes possible to remooue him from his former professed truth But seyng all his endeuors frustrate and that he profited nothyng he signified the same to the Archbishop and withal both went himselfe vnto hym and caried the poore prisoner with him thether also In the afternoone of the same day the said Archbish. of Cant. the bish of Rochester and diuers others assistantes called the sayd poore man before them agayne and caused all the former Articles Interrogatories and demaundes to be red vnto hym in English to the end he should either haue reuoked the same or els recanted them altogether vsing both threates and faire promises to the performaunce thereof but all in vayne for his fayth was built vpon the rocke Christ Iesus and therefore vnable to be remooued with any stormes of persecution whatsoeuer In fine the Archbishop with mature iudgement you must beleeue consulting with the B. of Rochester and other proceeded to his condemnation reading the bloudy sentence of death agaynst him and so was he beyng condemned deliuered to the secular power who caried hym to the prison and soone after hee was burned for the testimonie of Iesus Christ as you may see more at large pag. 997.998 for whose constancie in the truth the euerlasting God be praysed Amen ¶ A note of a certayne good man troubled in Bulloyne the first yeare of king Edward the sixt for the Gospell THe examination of me William Hastlen Gunner in the Castle of high Bulloyne in the yeare of our Lorde 1547. and the first yeare of the reigne of king Edward the sixt As I was in the church at Bulloyne called the stals vpon the 10. of Aprill being Easter Tuesday reading of a godly booke called the lamentation of a Christian against the citizens of London betweene the houres of three and foure at after noone there came certaine men to me as I stoode at an alter in the Churche reading to my selfe and asked me what good booke I had and I sayd they should heare if they pleased theÌ„ they desired me to read out that they might heare and so did I very gladly but I had not read long but the Priestes and Clearkes were at theyr Latine Euensong and I reading mine English book there came a tipstaffe for me taking my two bookes from me and commaunded me to go with him for he sayde I must goe before the counsayle of the towne then went I forthwith with him and a little without the Church doore sir Iohn a Briges met vs and bad the tipstaffe cary me to sir Leanard Beckwith Knight to be examined and comming before his presence hee asked me what bookes they were that I had at the church and was reading of one of them openly in the Church to the people and I sayd so farre as I hadde read them they were good godlye bookes and he said they were heresie and with that he asked me how I did beleeue of the Sacrament of the aultar whether I did not beleue that to be the very body of Christ flesh bloud and bones and I asked him whether hee ment that that was in the pixe or no and he sayde yea euen that in the pixe and I said that since I had sure knowledge of scriptures I did not beleeue it to bee the body of Christ but a bare peece of bread nor by Gods helpe I will neuer beleue it otherwise to be then he sayd I was an hereticke asked me what I made of the sacrament and I sayd if it were duely ministred according to Christes institution that then I did beleue that the faythfull Communicantes in receiuing that blessed Sacrament did receaue into their inward man or soule the very body and bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ. Then sayd he doest thou not beleeue â—t to remaine the very body of Christ after the wordes of consecration pronounced by the priest and I sayd no. TheÌ„ said he what doest thou make of the Churche I said as it is now vsed it is a den of theeues and the sinagogue of Sathan thou hereticke sayd he there remaineth the very body of Christ. But I saide that Christ being God and man dwelleth not in temples made with mens handes much other communication had we at that time but thys was the effecte that daye Then hee asked me whether I would be forth comming till to morrow and I saide Sir if you think that I will not you may lay me where as I shall so be then he let me goe for that night and sayde we shall talke farther with thee to morrow so I departed home And about the space of two houres after Mayster Hountington the preacher which did muche good wyth his preaching in Bulloyne at that time came to me and sayde that hee heard me spoken of at my Lorde Grayes which was then Lord Debitie of the towne and Country of Bulloyne and I perceaue sayd he that you are in great daunger of trouble if you scape with your lyfe for there are some of the counsayle merueilously bent agaynst you I sayd the Lordes will be done well said he without you feele in your selfe a full purpose by Gods helpe to stand earnestly to the thing that yee haue spoken you shall doe more hurt then good wherefore said he if you will goe to Callis I will send you where you shall be well vsed and be out of this daunger Then I thanked M. Hountington saying I purpose by Gods assistance to abide the vttermost that they can do vnto me well then sayd he I can tell you you wil be sent for to morrow betimes before the whole Counsaile that is sayd I the thing that I look for Then rose I betimes in the morning and went into the market place that I might spye whiche way the Officer should come for me I had not taryed there longe but I spyed a tipstaffe and went toward him and asked hym whome he sought and he sayde a Gunner of the great ordinaunce in the Castle of Bulloyne and I sayd that I am he theÌ„ said he you must go with me to my Lords I said therefore I looked When I came there I saw my Lorde and the whole Counsaile were assembled together in a close parlour doing my duetie to them my Lord saide to me it is informed me that thou hast seditiously congregate a companye together in the Churche and there in the time of seruice thou didest read vnto them an heretical booke and hast not reuerently vsed silence in the time of the diuine seruice what sayest thou to this I sayd it please your honour I was in the church a good while before any seruice began and no body with me reading to my self alone vpon a booke
My friend or friends be it known vnto you that this is no errour as ye suppose but it is the truth of Gods will that we should beleeue as S. Iohn sayth That Christ Iesus is the sonne of the liuing God and in so beleeuyng wee should haue euerlasting lyfe Thus with loue I write vnto you praying God night and day to deliuer you froÌ„ euill which is in you and to keepe you from it Wherefore my friend or friendes you are not crucified with Christ you are not dead with him as concerning sinne you are not graffed with him in Baptisme nor you know not god nor his sonne whome he hath sent nor his commaundements which he hath commaunded and yet will ye teach other with most hearty prayer praying to God for you continually Patrike Patingham A note of a certaine letter of Wil. Tymmes GRace mercy and peace from God the father through the mercies of his deare sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and onely Sauiour with the comfort of his holy spirite that as you haue full godly begun euen so to continue to the end to the glory of God and your euerlasting comfort which thing to do I pray God to geue you grace who is the geuer of all good and perfect gifts to the glory of hys holy name Amen My dere sisters after most harty commendations vnto you and also most harty thankes geuing vnto you for all the great kyndnesse that you haue always shewed vnto me most vnworthy of the same I certifie you that I am very glad to heare of your good health which I pray God long to continue to his glory And especially I doe much reioyce in your most godly constancie in the Gospell of Christ which is the power of God vnto saluation vnto so many as beleeue it Therefore my deare hartes goe forward as you haue godly begunne for the tyme will come that these cruell tyrants which now so cruelly persecuteth the true members of Christ shall say for very anguish of mynde These are they whom we sometyme had in derision and iested vppon We fooles thought their lyfe to haue bene very madnesse and their ende to haue bene without honour But lo how they are counted among the children of God and their portion is among the Saints therefore we haue erred from the way of truth The light of righteousnes hath not shined vnto vs and the sonne of vnderstandyng rose not vpon vs. We haue weried our selues in the way of wickednesse and destruction Tedious wayes haue we gone but as for the way of the Lord we haue not knowen it What good hath our pride done vnto vs or what profit hath the pompe of riches brought vs. All these things hath passed away as a shadow or as a Messenger running before As a sheepe that passeth ouer the waues of the water which when it is gone by the trace thereof cannot be found neither the path in the flouds c. For as soone as we were borne we began inordinately to drawe to our ende and haue shewed no token of vertue but are consumed in our owne wickednesse Such wordes shall they that thus haue sinned speake in the hell c. But the righteous shall lyue for euermore their reward is also with the Lord and their remembraunce with the highest therfore shall they receiue a glorious kingdome and a beautifull crowne at the Lordes hand for with his right hande shall he couer them and with his holy arme shall he defend them c. The soules of the righteous are in the haÌ„ds of God and the paynes of death shall not touch them but in the sight of the vnwyse they appeare to die and their end is taken for very destruction but they are in rest And though they suffer payne before men yet is their hope full of immortalitie They are punished but in few thynges neuerthelesse in many things shall they be wel rewarded for God prooueth them and findeth them meete for hymselfe yea as the golde in the fornace doth he try them and receiueth them as a burnt offering and when the tyme commeth they shall be looked vppon the righteous shall shine as the sparkes that runneth through the red bushe they shall iudge the nations and haue dominion ouer the people and their Lord shal raigne for euer They that put their trust in hym shall vnderstand the truth and such as be faithfull will agree vnto hym in loue and he shall be a piller in the temple of God and shall no more go out and there shall be written vppon him the name of God And they shall lye vnder the aultar which is Christ crying with a lowd voyce saying How long tariest thou Lord holy and true to iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth and they shall haue long white garmentes geuen vnto them and it shall be sayd vnto them that they should rest yet for a little season til the number of their fellowes and brethren of them that should bee killed as they were were fulfilled For as S. Iohn sayth they are worthy that thus ouercommeth to bee clothed in white aray and their names shall not bee put out of the booke of lyfe but shall be seperated from the Gotes and set on Christes right hand hearing his sweet and comfortable voice wheÌ„ he shall say Come ye blessed of my Father and possâ—sse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginnyng of the world And the very redy way to obtaine the same is as our maister Christ saith to forsake our selues takyng vp our crosse followyng our maister Christ which for the ioy that was set before him abode the crosse and despised the shame and is set downe on the throne of the right hand of God therefore let vs follow his example in sufferyng for his worde seeyng that hee of his mercifull goodnesse suffered so muche for vs when wee were his enemies for it was our sinne that killed Christ and by his death hath made vs on lyue Therefore with ioy seeing all these his merciful benefites purchased for vs onely by his death and bloudsheding Let vs with boldnesse confesse his holy word before this wicked generation euen to death and we be called thereto and so be well assured that our lyues be not in the hands of men but in Gods handes Therefore my deare sisters as you haue godly begun so go forward euen through many tribulations euen into the euerlasting kingdom of heauen To the which God the father of all mercy for his deare sonne Christes sake bring both you and all yours Amen Yours to commaund to my poore power Wil. Tymmes Continue in prayer Aske in fayth And obtaine your desire Praying for you as I know that you do for me ¶ Another Sermon of M. Latimer concerning his playing at Cardes NOw you haue heard what is ment by this first carde and how you ought to play with it I purpose againe to deale vnto you another carde almost of
expoundâ— the Scripture yet he dare â—â—dge vpon heresie The Papists dare not assure them selues to haue the holy Ghost The Capernaites faith The place of Iohn cap. 6. expounded how Christes fleshe is meate Christes flesh is flesh in our flesh say the Papistes Christes fleshe is meate for our soule by the Christians In the Sacrament ministred receaued according to Christes institution we receaue Christ. One question solued by an other The Sacrament a witnes both of Christes death and of his comming agayne Christes body occupyeth but one place at once The 6 examination of Elizabeth Young The fleshly reason of the Papistes Name of Sacramentes geuen by the Church Two Sacramentes Wedlocke Priestes mariage Praying for the dead Purgatory Oblation for the dead The holy Communion blasphemed So many Martyrs haue beene slâ—yâ—e and yet the Papistes bragge as though none will come forth to aunswere them Fysher B. of Rochester Nothing to be receaued to saluaâ—ion but onely that which is found or founded in Scripture But we read not that Christ did draw them into priâ—ons and condemned them to be burnt that would not câ—me Elizâ—beth YouÌ„g deemed 〈◊〉 heretick because shee beleeueth all thinges written and agreeable to the Scripture nothing els Elizabeth Young had to the Stockhouse and then to the Lollardes Tower The 7. examination of Elizabeth Young Two Sacramenteâ— Head of the Church Byshop of Rome From the Byshop of Rome and all his detestable enormities Elizabeth Young refuseth to go to Masse Elizabeth Young setteth her hand to her examination The 8. examination of Elizabeth Young The Deane made sute for Elâ—zabeth YouÌ„g Story The beliefe 〈◊〉 the Papâ—â—â—es followeth the multitude True belief dependeth not vpon men but vpon the 〈◊〉 of Gods word Elizabeth Young committed to the Deane The 9 examiâ—ation of â—lizabeth Young Talke betweene the Deane and Elizabeth Young aâ—â—ut receauing the Sacrament Christ 〈◊〉 â—bsent from his Sacramentes Two women suretyes for Elizabeth Young Elizabeth YouÌ„g vpon suretyes deliuered Elizabeth Lawson Confessour Robert Kitrich Tho. Elas persecutours Syr Iohn Sylliarde Shâ—râ—ffe Elizabeth Lawson in prison two yeares and three quarters Elizabeth Lawson sory that shee was not burned Elizabeth Lawson bayled vpon suretyes in Q. Elizabethes tyme. Elizabeth Lawson preserued from persecution ended her lyfe in peace Elizabeth Lawson troubled with the falling sicknes after her persecution neuer felte it more Tho. Christenmas W. Wattes Gods prouidence vpoÌ„ Tho. Châ—istenmas W. Wattes W. Wattes an other tyme deliuered by the Lordes prouidence W. Wattes apprehended and brought before the Byshop An other notable example of the Lordes prouidence W. Wattes deliuered out of his enemyes handes W. Wattes sought for agayne W. Wattes wyfe set in the stockes Gods prouidence in deliuering M. Iohn Glouer Read before pag. 1709. An other narrow escape of M. Iohn Glouer Read before pag. 1714. The escape of a godly man called Dabney Gods 〈◊〉 working in the deliuerance of Dabney Alexander â—imshurst a Minister deliuered by Gods prâ—uidence from his enymies Wymshurst taken by Robin Caly. Wymshurst taâ—â—eth with Doct. Chadsey D. Chadsey asure friend at neede Wymshurst brought to D. Story D. Cooke Commissioners Wimshurst commaunded to prison Good couÌ„seâ—l sent of God A way made by Gods 〈◊〉 to Alexander Wimshurst to escape Bosoms wyfe The behauiour of Bosoms wyfe in the Church Bosoms wyfe summoned to appeare at Kingstone Bosoms wyfe through Gods helpe escapeth The Lady Anne Kneuet Lady Kneuet threatned by the Byshop The great age of the Lady Kneuet Lady Elizabeth Vane a great relieuer of Gods people Iohn Dauis a childe vnder the age of 12. yeares cast to be burned â—or the 6. articles and yet by Gods prouidence preserued 〈…〉 before and to whom he wrote a letter pâ—g 1â—93 Syr Iohn Gilford a troubler of 〈◊〉 Robertes Syr Iohn Gilford stopped of his purpose by Gods working Mistres Anne Lacy. Crosmanâ— wyfe Barbour of Tibnam Constable persecutor Example of Gods gratious prouidence The story of a congregation at Stoke in Suffolke Confessors Cotes Parishe Priest it Stoke Iohn Steyre and Iohn Foxe 〈◊〉 The christian constancye of Elizabeth Foxe The effecte of Christian prayer Iohn Foxe recouered agayne to the truth by prayer The womeÌ„ of Stoke summoned by the Byshop How the women of Stoke escaped The preseruation of the congregation at London The congregation at M. Cardens house The congregation agayne deliuered The congregation agayne deliuered The congregation in a shippe at Billinsgate The congregation in a shippe betwixt Ratcliffe and Redriffe The congregation in a Couperâ— house in Pudding lane The congregation in a house in Thamis streete An other notable example of Gods mercyfull prouidence The Ministers of this congregation A story of Mayster Bentham The Queenes proclamation no man to pray for the Martyrs nor to speake vnto them The congregation embracing the Martyrs contrary to the Proclamation M. Bentham Minister of the congregation Master Bentham speaketh and prayeth for the Martyrs without daunger An other deliuery of Master Bentham out of great perill Master Bentham forced agaynst his will to sit in the Crowners quest Master Bentham refuseth to sweare vpon a Popishe Primer Meanes wrought wherby Master Benthâ—m escaped English men at Calice preserued Iohn Thorpe his wyfe A story of Edward Benet now dwelling in S. Brides Parishe Edward Benet 25. weekes in the Counter for bringing a new Testament to Tynâ—le which after dyed in prison and was buryed on a dounghill D. Storyes wordes to Edward Benet Edward Benet brought to Bonet and examined How Edward Benet escaped out of the Byshops house An other escape of Edward Benet 8. Of the 24. taken at Islington escaped and how good warning sent of God The story 〈◊〉 Ieffrey Hurst dwelling in the towne of Shakerley in the Parish 〈◊〉 Ieffrey Hurst brother to George Marsh the Martyr Ieffrey Hurst leaueth wyfe children house for persecution Preachers vsing to Ieffrey Hurstes house and to Preach M. Thomas Lelond Iustice of peace at Morlese in Lancashire a cruell persecutor Ieffâ—ey Hurst conueyed vnder a Dâ—fat Mistres Sâ—akerlay Hurstes Landlady M. Lelond entreth to search Hurstes house Rafe Parkinson a Popishe persecuting Priest The Papists follow false Prophesies of the Gospell to come againe after 4. Monethes and more The new Testament of Tyndalls translation made heresie Searche made for Hurst and his sister Alice The olde mother threatned to goe to Lancaster Castle Hurstes mother and brother bound in a 100. pound for his forth comming Master Lelonde maker Talke betweene Ieffrey Hurst and the Iustice. Ieffrey Hurst denyeth to come to Masse Examination after Masse Ieffrey Hurst Alice his sister let go vnder suertyes Ieffrey Hurst by the death of Q. Mary released Ieffrey Hurst in Queene Elizabethes tyme put in authoritye to see the proceeding of Religion Thomas Lelond the Popishe Iustice would not come to the Church in Queene Elizabethes tyme yet continued Iustice still A Catholicke father of the Popishe church Note a Catholicke knaue of
marked men Carnall obiections aunswered An other worldly obiection aunswered A lesson 〈◊〉 trust to the Lord who is alwayes a helpe in extremitye of neede Examples of Gods ready helpe in extreme perils Examples of gods deliuerance Actes 23. 〈◊〉 11. Dâ—n Ibid. Martyrdome an high honour Apocalip 11 Math. 16. Marke 8. Heb. 1â— Apoc. 2◠〈…〉 without Gods â—oresight Math. 10. The death of Steuen Gardiner enemy to Gods word Nouember The vices of Winchester described Winchester not worthy the title of a learned man The mutability of Steuen Gardiner in religion Touching the 〈◊〉 of Winchesâ—er at Louane reade the letter of 〈◊〉 to Câ—spine Ste. Gardiner especially hunteth for the life of Lady Elizabeth Q. Elizabeth preserued M. Bridges Liuetenâ—nt the Lordes organe in sauing the Lady Elizabethes lyfe Tho. Arundell Archbishop of Canterbury Math. 16. Diuers iudgements of Christ. Man can do nothing of himselfe Disagreement amongest men of law Disagreement among Philosophers Disagreement among simple people Simon signifieth obedience Ionas signifieth a doubt Obedience Simplicitye Learning without humilitye neueâ— findâ—th Christs schoole Humilitye the Poâ—ter of Christs schoole The office of Christ declared To beleeue Christ thorowly Note here Winchester The Sacrament was ordeyned to keepe vs in the perpetuall fauour of God Winchesters dayly sacrifice * Note here Winchester coÌ„trary to himself for before he sayd the Sacrament was ordeyned to keepe vs in the fauor of God now he sayth it is to keepe vs in remembrance of his passion What Winchester thinketh of the Church of England What Winchester thinketh of the Masse Winchester allowed the Sacrament in both kindes The opinion of Winchester of chauÌ„try Masses * Whether ye did or not let Q. Maâ—yes time iudge Note â—â—â—â—chester 〈◊〉 not 〈…〉 for 〈◊〉 to bring 〈◊〉 to heaâ—â— to take â—â—way 〈◊〉 or to 〈…〉 * As 〈◊〉 was in deede Masseâ— Scala 〈…〉 craftelâ— speake â—â—gaynst 〈◊〉 abuse of the Masse 〈◊〉 agaynst the Masse Winchâ—â—â—er agaynst 〈◊〉 Winchâ—â—â—â—â— alloweth the Proclamation set forth 〈◊〉 receauinâ— in both kindes It was a constitution prouinciaâ—l of Peckaâ— to receauâ—â— in both kindes in Ecclesijs maioribuâ— in smalle Churche it was thought not so expedient Math. 16. Iohn 1. Outwarâ— confessinâ— wiâ—hout â—â—â—ward teaching is inough Petrus what it signifiâ—â—â— Note 〈◊〉 Wincheâ—â—â—â— here sayâ—â— that vpoâ— the conâ—â—â—â—sion of 〈◊〉 the Church is builded SteueÌ„ Gardiner agaynst the Popes supremacye Winchesters 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Ceremoâ—â—â—â— how when they 〈◊〉 Ceremonies 〈…〉 not to 〈◊〉 Ceremonies Winchester 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 of Images beâ—â—g 〈…〉 Idolâ—â—â—â— Two maner of reformationâ— one where the thinges cannot be taken away but the abuse the other where both the things and the abuse may be taken a way To take away all Images lyeth in the liberty of the rulers In abusing of Images to Idolatry because sufficient to take away Images why did Winchester hold with them before if it be not cause sufficient why doth he nâ—w graunt to the taking of them away being no more wantonly abused then they were before time Taking away of Palmes and Candels B. Gardiner speaketh according to his vnconstant conscience Winchester liketh well the communion B. Gardiner liketh well K. Edwardes proceedinges B Gardiner misliketh the Preachers in K. Edwardes tyme and why B. Gardiner compareth Preachers to Postes carrying truth in their letters and lyes in their mouthes B. Gardiner misliketh the breaking of a Vowe of chastitye B. Gardiner against mariage of Priestes B. Gardiner agrâ—â—ing to reformation of religioÌ„ how farre and wherein Places in B. Gardiners bookes and Sermons expressed where he impugneth the Popes supremacye Read in the first impression of Actes and Monumentes The head men of Enquest Wynchester Vehement Pithy Earnest 〈…〉 Pope Wynchester caused 〈…〉 to writtâ—â— agaynst the Pope Winchester 14. yeares preached agaynst the Popes authoritye Winchester Ceremonyes Wynchester agaynst Images abused Winchester agaynst Monkes Fryers Winchester agaynst the going 〈◊〉 of S. Nicholas c. Wynchester agaynst Chauntrey Obites Wynchester would not that a man should be addicted to dayes howers number tyme and place c. Wynchester liketh the CoÌ„munion Wynchester liketh the booke of common seruice Wynchester exhorteth to come and heare the homilies read Wynchester caused Cardinal Poole to be expelled France Wynchester sworne and forsworne Wynchester 〈…〉 with 〈…〉 Gospel 〈◊〉 in popery with 〈◊〉 Papiâ—â—s neyther with himselfe Simâ—licitation 〈…〉 Vid. 〈◊〉 17 â— A mouse may eate Christes body sayth the Mayster of Sentence A mouse cannot eate it sayth Winchester Within him that is within his soule The Masse taketh his satisfaction by the deuotion of the Priest people and not of the thing offered 1. Proposition Contradiction 2. Proposition Contradiction 3. Proposition Contradiction 4. Proposition Contradiction 5. Proposition Contradiction 6. Proposition Contradiction 7. Proposition Contradiction 8 Proposition Contradiction 9. Proposition Contradiction 10. Proposition Contradiction 11. Proposition Contradiction 12. Proposition Contradiction 13. Proposition Contradiction 14. Proposition Contradiction 15. Proposition Contradicâ—tion 16. Propâ—â—sition Contradâ—â—tion 17. Proposition Contradiction Notes declaring wherein Winchester graunted to the Spiritus all vse of the Sacrament TransubstaÌ„tiation first spoken of Alledged out of the booke of D. Turner intituled The reseuer of the Romish Foxe One vsurper well compared with an other * Note here blasphemous Winchest preferring the words spoken by 〈◊〉 before Christes doctrine The B. of Winchester Maister of Ceremonyes The B. of Winchester 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 of K. 〈…〉 towards him Winchester â—â—â—iable in 〈◊〉 B. Gardiner defendeth his booke Devera obediedtia of Louane Winchester counted for an excommunicate and a schismaticke at Louane Nouember 30. M. Webbe George Roper Gregory Parke Martyrs The appearance of M. Webbe before the B. of Douer Aunsweres of M. Webbe to the Bishops articles George Roper leapeth at the stake George Roper stoode in the fier like a roode The martirdome of Webbe Roper Parke at Canterbury December 13. William Wiseman dead in â—ollars tower and cast into the fieldes Iames Gore Martyr dyed in Colchester prison Decemb. 20. â—he history of M. Iohn Philpot Martyr Iohn Philpot a Knightes sonne student of law in New Colledg in Oxford Iohn Phiâ—â—pot weâ—â— ouer to Italy Iohn Philpot indanger by an Italian Fryer The returne of Iohn Philpot into England Iohn Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester This Doct. Poinct Byshop of Winchester fled afterward into Germany and there deceaâ—â—d An. 15â—7 Iohn Philpot 〈◊〉 Gardâ—â—â—â— Boneâ—â— The M. Philpot hauing publicke leaue spake in the Conuocation Ergo he must be committed to Lolardes Tower by D. Storieâ— Logicke Iohn Philpot charged further by the Commissioners then the law would beare Now commeth in the Butchers axe M. Philpot requireth to see their commissioÌ„ Philpot wil not disseÌ„ble agaynst his conscience The 2. examination of Iohn Philpot before thâ— Commissioners Iohn Philpot depriued of his Archdeaconâ—y without any lawe Whether an heretick suspected may without ordinary processe be depriued of his liuing by his ordinary before his death by what
lawe Iohn Philpot agayne requireth to see their Commission and yet it could not be seene and that also agaynst the lawe Anno 1555. Decemb. The first appearing of Iohn Philpot before B. Boner B. Boners charitye sent to 〈◊〉 Iohn Philpot. B. Boner enterâ—teyning M. Philpot. B. â—oner made the common Inquisitor agaynst his will * Or els why were the questions there propounded 1. Peter 3. No man is bound to render accompte of his fayth priuately vnles it be to edifie Ambros. ad Valentianum One Church The fayth promised by his godfathers was the fayth of Christ after his Creede onely * And why then began you so hastely with him in the Sacrament of your altar B. Boner offended with M. philpots singing in prison The end of his first talke with B. Boner An other examination of Iohn Philpot before the Byshops And why do not you Bishops your selues pray also for them that are 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 The prayâ—â— of Iohn Philpot before the Byshopâ— B. Boner agaynst prayer B. Boner here seemeth 〈◊〉 skilfull 〈◊〉 his law 〈◊〉 in Church storyeâ— M. Philpot complayneth of his wrongfull imprisonment M. Philpot called in no sufficient assembly and therefore not bound to aunswere whereby to put himself in danger * Wilfull because 〈◊〉 wil not put himselfe wilfully into the Wolues mouth This 〈◊〉 was for 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 with 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 Parlaâ—â—â—â— B. Boâ—â—â— not 〈◊〉 Ordinary to Iohn Philpot. Note how 〈◊〉 men 〈◊〉 for 〈…〉 M. Philpot agayne appealeth froÌ„â— Boner to 〈◊〉 Ordinary No man is 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 own â—ight due 〈◊〉 him Nay rather 〈◊〉 Catholicke 〈…〉 S. Paule 20. yeares before his conuersion S. Peter before his calling was of an other faâ—th then they were afterward and yet it followeth not that they would haue euery yeare a new fayth The determination of the primitiue Church and of the Church of Rome as it is now is not all one Athanasius misalledged A place of Irenaeus alledged The Church of Rome not now as it was then The Church of Rome neuer deceaued I find not in Eusebius that Peter should be Bishop of Rome 25. yeares but this is in Linus Hierom. lib. de viris illustr and in Abdias lib. 1. de vita Petri. Harke my Lordes wise parable Neyther you nor they are able in this case Reason why it is not lyke that in Athanasius tyme all men were bound to abide the determination of Rome Not the law but the Gospell gathered the Church together Ambrose 400. Priestes agaynst one Helias A good 〈◊〉 for Roâ—â— by a Romanist Whether the vniuersall Church may be â—â—â—ceaued 2. Thess. â— A defection prophesied of in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Popeâ— Church which now is was neuer vniuersall Of this Florentinâ—â— Councell which was about the yeare 143â— read before The word or the Church iudge in controuâ—â—sies Iohn Philpots Prophesie of the increase of the Gospell Iohn Philpot put of to an other day Iohn Philpot to certaine that required him to wryte hys eâ—â—minationâ— The 〈◊〉 and â—â—learned pâ—â—cedings 〈◊〉 theâ—e Catâ—â—licks 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Christ. The 5. examination of M. Philpot. Iohn Philpot ready to 〈◊〉 his life iâ— Christes 〈◊〉 M. Philpots iust defence 〈◊〉 speaking in 〈◊〉 Parlament It were the paâ—â— of a charitable Bishop to maâ—e a matter better and not worse Iohn Philpot appealeth to the whole Parlament house This Bishop 〈◊〉 like would fayne haue bloud B. Boner here forgetteth himselfe Amb. li. 5. Epist. 30. EodeÌ„ contr Auxentium Our fayth not grounded vpon the ciuil law Iohn Philpot still standeth to his defeÌ„ce of the law in refusing the iudge not to be competent De officio ordinarij is a title in the 1. booke of the Decretales De foro competente is a title in the 2 booke of the Decretales M. Philpot returneth agayne to his question of the Church That Peter did build the church of Rome it is false for both the Scripture sayth that Peter was set ouer the circumcised and not ouer the Gentiles and also it is to be proued by Orosius Suetonius Tertullianus and other storyes that the fayth of Christ was in Rome in Tyberius tyme before Peter euer sawe Rome Catholicke The popes fayth hangeth vpon the multitude Fides catholicâ— secundum August Where M. Curtop â—â—â—deth this I cannot sayes but this I finde that Eusebius doth report that Irenaeus did reproue Victor Byshop of Rome for his rash Sentence in excommunicating the Churches of Greece concerning the obâ—eruation of the feast of Easter Euseb. lib. â—â— cap. â—â— Socr. lib. 5. cap. 22.7 Generall Counsells in which the Bishop of Rome was neuer taken for supreame head The church of Rome discenteth from the primatiue Church Transubstantiation is but a late plantation Iohn Philpot returneth againe to his issue Rome 〈◊〉 not the Catholickâ— Church 〈◊〉 why ComparisoÌ„ betweene the primaâ— Church and the Popes Catholicke Church The fayth 〈◊〉 the popes Catholicke 〈◊〉 now 〈…〉 For the further debaâ—â—g of this matter that Ciprian doth alow 〈◊〉 such 〈◊〉 reade the answere of M. Nowell to M. Dorman 〈◊〉 lib. 1. 〈◊〉 3. D. SauersoÌ„ 〈…〉 M. Philpot 〈◊〉 lib. 4. Epist. 2. Cap. 1◠〈…〉 Patriarches only be named to whom afterward the Patriarke of Constantinople was also ioyned Cyprian hath also these words following in the same epistle It was declared amongest vs and it is according to iustice and equity that euery mans cause should be heard where the fault was committed and to euery seuerall Pastor there is a portioÌ„ of the flocke appoynted to rule and gouerne for the which he must make an accopmt before God Cipri lib. 4. Epist. 2. How S. CyyriaÌ„ meaneth Christ to build his Church vpon Peter Cypria De simplicitate Praelatorum tract 10. in IoaÌ„ Hieronym ad Nepotianum Hieronim ad Euagium False scâ—auÌ„ders D. Story commeth in Happy are you when they reuile you and say all euill agaynst you for my names sake Math. 5. The Papistes will not be ruled by the scriptures without their own iudge Iohn 12. What say you now M. Doctor M. Doctour hauing not to aunswere falleth to rayling Gods iudgemeÌ„t and ciuill iudgement not lyke The iudgement of the Church how farre it serueth Prescription of â—yme Prescripâ—â—â— of time â—â—â—keth no 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 matters D. Story confesseth himselfe to be the chiefe diâ—patcher of all Gods Saintes that suffered in Q. Maryes tyme. Storyes cruelty Iohn Philpot left post alone The straight handling of Iohn Philpot in prison for all the Bishops faire words The 6. examination of M. Philpot before certain Lordâ— and the Bishop of LoÌ„don The words of Bishop Boner to M. Philpot. M. Philâ—â—â—â— aunswere to the Bishop Heretickes 〈◊〉 the priâ—â—iue Church onely 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 â— boner 〈◊〉 the can 〈◊〉 of M. Philpots 〈…〉 〈…〉 of the Parliament 〈◊〉 sayth 〈◊〉 Lord 〈◊〉 Whether the Conuocation be part of the Parliament 〈…〉 free 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 by 〈…〉 man 〈…〉 How Boner 〈◊〉 in the Sacrament 〈…〉 both the signe