and ready to be burned for the testimony of the Truth O dear Brethren and Sisters how much have you to rejoyce in God that he hath given you such faith to overcome this blood-thirsty Tyrant thus far And no doubt but he that hath begun that good work in you will fulfill it to the end O dear Hearts in Christ what a Crown of Glory shall ye receive with Christ in the Kingdome of God Oh that it had been the good will of God that I had been ready to have gone with you I lie in my Lords Little-ease in the day and in the night in the Cole-house alone and we look every day when we shall be condemned but I lie still at the Pools brink and every man goeth in before me but we abide patiently the Lords leisure with many Bands in Fetters and Stocks by the which we have received great joy in the Lord. And now fare you well dear Brethren and Sisters in this World but I trust to see you in the Heavens face to face How blessed are you in the Lord that God hath found you worthy to suffer for his sake O be joyfull even unto death Fear it not saith Christ for I have overcome death Be strong let your hearts be of good comfort and wait you still for the Lord. He is at hand The Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Tent round about them that fear him and delivereth them which way he seeth best for our lives are in the Lords hands and they can do nothing unto us before God suffer them Therefore give all thanks to God O dear Hearts you shall be clothed with long white Garments upon the Mount Sion with the multitude of Saints and with Jesus Christ our Saviour who will never forsake us O blessed Virgins you have played the wise Virgins part in that you have taken Oyl in your Vessels that ye may go in with the Bridegroom when he cometh c. but as for the foolish they shall be shut out because they made not themselves ready to suffer with Christ neither go out to take up his Cross. O dear Hearts How precious shall your death be in the sight of the Lord for dear is the death of his Saints O fare you well and pray The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Amen Pray pray pray By me R. R. written with mine own blood The Bishop asking him what he thought of his Fellow-Prisoner Ralf Allerton He answered That he thought him to be one of the elect Children of God and if he were put to death for his Faith and Religion he thought he should die a true Martyr The Bishop asking him how he did like the Order and Rites of the Church then used here in England He said That he ever had and then did abhor the same with all his heart Being perswaded to recant and ask mercy of the Bishop No said he I will not ask mercy of him that cannot give it Rought A Suffolk man so called and his Wife and several others being rebuked for going so openly and talking so freely Their answer was They acknowledged and believed and therefore they must speak and that the tribulation was by Gods good will and providence and that his Judgements were right to purâ—â—â— them with others for their sins and that of very faithfulness and mercy God had caused them to be troubled bled and that one hair of their heads should not perish before the time but all things should work unto the best to them that love God and that Christ Jesus was their life and onely righteousness and that onely by faith in him and for his seke all good things were freely given them also forgiveness of sins and life everlasting Rupea You may said Castalia Rupea throw my body from this steep Hill yet will my soul mount upward again Your blasphemies more offend my soul then your torments do my body Russel Ieremy Russel being apprehended in the Diocess of Glasgow in Scotland A. 1539. and railed upon answered This is your hour and power of darkness Now sit ye as Judges and we stand wrongfully accused and more wrongfully to be condemned but the day shall come when our innocence shall appear and that ye shall see your own blindness to your everlasting confusion Go forward and fulfill the measure of your iniquity He comforted his Fellow-Prisoner Alexander Kennedy of whom see the second Part under K. saying Brother fear not more mighty is he that is in us then he that is in the world the pain that we shall suffer is short and shall be light but our joy and consolation shall never have end and therefore let us contend to enter in unto our Master and Saviour by the same strait way which he hath taken before us Death cannot destroy us for it is destroyed already by him for whose sake we suffer Rycetto Mr. Anthony Rycetto of Vincence being condemned to be drowned his Son about twelve years of age comieg to visit him besought him with tears to yield and to save his life that he might not be left fatherless A true Christian said his Father is bound to forego Goods Children yea and life it self for the maintenance of Gods honour and glory A Captain telling him That Francis Sega was resolved to recant What tell you me said he of Sega I will perform my vows unto the Lord my God A Priest presenting him with a wooden Crucifix exhorting him to return and to die in the favour of God reconciling himself to the Church of Rome the holy Spouse of Christ But he rejected the Crucifix and besought the Priest to come out of the snare of the Devil to cleave to Jesus Christ and to live not according to the flesh but after the Spirit If you do otherwise said he assure your selves your unbelief will bring yâ—u into that Lake of fire that shall never be quenched for though yâ—u confess with your mouth that you know Iesus Christ yet you not onely deny him by your works but you persecute him in his Members being bewitched by the Pope the open enemy of the Son of God As he was carrying to be drowned because it was very cold he called for his Cloke which they had taken from him Whereupon the Wherry-man said unto him Fearest thou a little cold What wilt thou do when thou art cast into the Sea Why art not thou carefull to save thy self from drowing Dost not thou see that the poor Flea skips hither and thither to save her life His answer was And I am now flying to escape eternal death Being arrived at the place where he was to suffer the Captain put a Chain of Iron about his middle with a very heavy Stone fastned thereto Then Rycetto lifting his eyes to Heaven said Father forgive them for they know not what they do And being laid on the Planck he said Lord Iesus into thy hands I commend my spirit FINIS These are the
all salvation and justification and that there is none other mean nor way noâ— holiness in which or by which any man can be saved in this World Burning in the fire he cried out three timesâ—punc O the Son of God have mercy upon me O the Son of God receive my soul. Folks Elizabeth Folks being examined whether she believed the presence of Christs Body to be in the Sacrament substantially and really answered That she believed that that was a substantial and real lâ—e When Sentence of Condemnation was reaâ— against her she kneeled down lifting up her eye and hands to Heaven she praised God that ever she was born to see that most blessed and happy day that the Lord would count her worthy to suffer for the testimony of Christ and Lord if it be thy will forgive them that have done this against me for they know not what they do At the Stake she being hindred from giving her Petticoat to her Mother who kissed her and exhorted her to be strong in the Lord threw it away from her saying Farewel all the World farewel Faith and Hope and so taking the Stake in her hand said Welcome Love c. When she and the other five that suffered with her were nailed to the Stakes and the fire about them they clapped their hands together for joy in the fire Fox The day after Queen Mary's death Mr. Iohn Fox preaching at Basil to the English Exiles did with confidence tell them That now was the time come for their return into England and that he brought that News by command from God The Lady Anne Hennage being given up for dead He told her she had done well in fitting her self for death but that she should not die of that Sickness and being blamed by her Son in Law for disquieting her mind with hopes of life He answered that he had said no more then was commanded hâ—m for it seemed good to God that she should recover and so she did Mrs. Honywood having been sick of a Consumption almost twenty years was scarce able to speak when Mr. Fox came to her onely faintly she breathed forth a desire to end her dayes Mr. Fox after he had prayed with her told her That she should not onely grow well of that Consumption but also live to an exceeding great age As well might you have said quoth Mrs. Honywood that if I should throw this Glass against the Wall I might believe it would not break to pieces and holding a Glass in her hand out of which she had newly drunk she threw it forth but the Glass falling first on a Chest and then on the ground neither brake nor crackt Accordingly this eminent Christian Gentlewoman being then Sixty years of age recovered and lived till she was above Ninety and could reckon above three hundred and sixty of her Children and Childrens Children He also foresaw his own death and therefore sent away his sons that they might not be present Frith Mr. Iohn Frith with some others chosen into Christs Church Oxford whose Foundation was laid by Cardinal Wolsey conferring together upon the abuse of Religion then crept into the Church were therefoâ—e accuâ—ed of Heresie unto the Cardinal and cast into Prison within a deep Cave under the ground of the same Colledge where their salt Fish was laid Through the filthy stinch thereof they were all infected and some took their death but Mr. Frith was wonderfully preserved and was translated from that University after many miseries undergone both beyond Sea and in his own Land to another School namely to a more setled Discipline of affliction the Tower of London where as he remained a Patient in regard of the Persecution which he suffered so did he also the office of a Physician in prescribing to others Preparatives and Remedies in the like case To which end A.D. 1532. he employed his pen in writing those Treatises which now go under the name of Vox Pisces or the Book-Fish Concerning which the Author of the Preface thereunto observes that in some sort they ran the Fortune of the Author being held in captivity in the Sea and kept in Iohah's Prison the belly of a Fish being in danger there to be consumed as the Author was like to have perished in the Dungeon at Oxford by the noysome stinch of Fish The Wine therein offered saith the same Author is the purest juyce of a Grape of the Vine Christ Jesus trode in the Wine-press of Persecution about an hundred years since Which being put in a Paper Vessel and formerly miscarrying by wrack in the transporting is now beyond expectation in a strange Living Vessel brought back again to Land no doubt to the end that it might after long lying hid in store be anew broached and dispersed abroad for the refreshing of many thirsty souls to whom it is like to taste not the worse but the better for the long lying in so salt a Cellar as is the bottome of the Sea wherein by all probability it hath been buried for many years Mr. Frith did not light his Candle at the Lamp of Mr. Calvin which then was not extant nor of great Luther who was then but in the beginning of his growth And yet saith the same Author How judiciously is there shewn the use of the Cross among Christians to consist in the due preparation for it and constant patience under it How foundly are we taught that our Election and Justification are of Gods meer mercy and not for any thing foreseen in us That remission of sins is through Christ onely That no man can merit for others That true Believers do sin yet fall not away utterly from Christ. As the Work commends the Author so the Author much more the Work When he wrote of the Cross he fought valiantly under the Cross he turned his words of patience into the perfect work of patience He had the like happâ—ness to that of St. Paul to bring forth children unto Christ in his bands Whilst he was kept close Prisoner in the Tower by his Letters and Treatises he gained many souls to Christ and among others which is most observable he converted one Râ—sâ—â—l to the Truth who had formerly dipped his Pen in Gall and wrote most bitterly against the Truth of the Gospel and against the Writings of this Prisoner of Christ then â— bands for the Gospel Like a Swan he sang most sweetly before his death and foretold both particularly his own Martyrdome and the propagation of the Gospel through all England within twenty years after his death which accordingly came to pass in the Reign of King Edward He was as it were a Prâ—mrose in the new Spring of the Gospel And though he wrote in the twilight between the night of Popery and the day of Reformation yet God so enlightned him that his Treâ—â—ise of the Sacraments was the Candle at which that great Torch Archbishop Cranmer was lighted as Mr. Fox reporteth That
for Mr. Frith's escape and prevailed with the Porter 〈◊〉 agree with him in the suffering thereof and then told him that the business which he had undertaken viz. to lead him as a sheep to the slaughter 〈◊〉 grieved him that he was overwhelmed with care and sorrows whereupon he was resolved whâ—â— danger soever he incurred to find out a way to deliver him out of the Lyons mouth and so acquainted him with the way that he and the Porter haâ—â— agreed upon Mr. Frith having diligently hearkened to his Speech said with a smiling countenance And is this the effect of your secret consultation all this while surely you are like to lose your labour for if you should both leave me here and gâ— to Croydon declaring to the Bishops that you haâ—â— lost Frith I would surely follow after as fast as 〈◊〉 could and bring them news that I had found anâ— brought Frith back again Do you think that I am afraid to declare mine Opinion before the Bishop in so manifest a Truth You are a fond man saiâ— the Gentleman thus to talk Do you think thâ—â— your reasoning with the Bishops will do any good I much marvel that you were so willing to flie the Realm before you were taken and now so unwilling to save your self when you may Marry saiâ— Frith there is a great difference between escapinâ— then and now then I was at liberty and not attached but now being taken by the Higher Poâ—â—ers and that by Almighty Gods permission anâ— providence I am fallen into the Bishops handâ— onely for Religions sake and for such Doctrine 〈◊〉 I am bound in conscience under pain of damnatioâ— to maintain If I should now start aside and run away I should run from my God and from the testimony of his Word whereby I should deserve a thousand hells At the time of his burning Dr. Cook admonished all the people that they should no more pray for him then they would do for a Dog Whereupon Mr. Frith smiling desired the Lord to forgive him Fulgentius An Arian Bishop offering to punish the Priest that had most mercilesly beaten him if he desired it he said It is not lawful for a Christian to meditate revenge our Lord Christ well knows how to repay the injuries offered to and inflicted on his Servants If my case be avenged then lose I the reward of my patience It may also scandalize many little ones if I a Catholick should require judgement at an Arians hands In the midst of his greatest sufferings he used to say Plura pro Christo toleranda We must suffer more then this for Christ. G. Gardiner William Gardiner an English Merchant in Portugal was so much troubled in spirit at the sight of the Idolatry committed by the Priests in the Mass at the solemnization of the Marriage between the King of Pâ—rtugal's Son and the King of Spain's Daughter that he could not be quiet till he had though in the presence of the King and of the Nobles and whole City the next Sabbath with one hand snatched away the Cake from the Priest and trod it under his feet and with the other overthrew the Chalice The King asking him how he durst be so bold He answered Most noble Kinâ— The thing which you have seen was not done nor thought of me for any contumely or reproacâ— to your presence but onely for this purpose aâ—â— before God I do clearly confess to seek the salvation of this people Being ask'd who set him on He answered He was not moved by any man but by his oâ—â— Conscience there being no man under Heaven for whose sake he would put himself into so manifest a danger but he owed his service first to God and secondarily to their salvation wherefore if he had done any thing displeasing to them the ought to impute it to themselves who so irreverently used the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto so great Idolatry not without great ignomiâ—â—â—â— the Church violation of the Sacrament and the peril of their own soals except they repented For this he was cruelty tormented and burned and in the fire he â—unâ— Psal. 43. Iudge me O God and defend my 〈◊〉 against the unmerciful â—â—ple Gauderin Christopher Gauderin having been a Spend-thrift was converted by Lewis Stâ—llius telling him That he ought rather to distribute of his gettings to the poor then to spend them so wastfully for if he continued so God would surely call him to an account for it insomuch that he was chosen a Deacon in the Church in the execution of which Office he was taken and imprisoned and being ask'd how he came to turn Heretick seeing he learned not that of his Master the Abbot he answered I am no Heretick but a right believing Christian which he taught me not indeed but rather other vile qualities which I am ashamed now to rehearse Some objecting to him his youth being about the age of thirty He told them That mans life consisted but of two dayes viz. the day of his birth and the day of his death And for my part said he I am now willing by death to pass into eternal life The morning that he was to be executed He said to his Fellow-Prisoners having put on a clean shirt and washed himself Brethren I am now going to be married I hope before noon to drink of the wine of the Kingdome of Heaven A Frier coming to them as he said to convert them Christopher said unto him Away from us thou seducer of Souls for we have nothing to do with thee One of his Fellow-sufferers as the Hangman was gagging him said What shall we not have liberty in this our last hour to praise our God with our voice and tongue Brother said Gauderin let not this discourage us for the greater wrong our enemies think to do unto us the more assistance we shall find from God And so he never ceased to comfort them till he was gagged also and burnt Iune 2 1568. Gerard. About the year 1160. in the reign of Henry the Second came about thirty Waldensâ—s into England Gerardus being their Minister to labour to win Disciples to Christ. They were converted before a Council of Bishops at Oxford and Gerard speaking for them all said We are Christians holding and reverencing the Doctrine of the Apostles Being urged with arguments against their Doctrine they answered They believed as they were taught by Gods Word but would not dispute their faith Being admonished to repent and threatned if they did not they despised their Counsel scorned their threats saying Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven They were excommunicated burnt in the foreheads for Hereticks Mr. Gerard both in the forehead and cheek their cloaths were cut off to their Girdles and so whipt through Oxford they singing all the while Blessed are ye when men hate you and despitefully use you c. Ghest Laurence Ghest had his wife
Lord be merciful to me a sinner Remember the horrible History of Iulian of old and the lamentable case of Spira of late whose case methinks should be so green in your remembrance that being a thing of our time you should fear the like inconvenience seeing you are fallen into the like offence Last of all 〈◊〉 the lively remembrance of the last Day be alwayes before your eyes remembring the terrour that at that time shall befall the Runagates and Fugitives from Christ who setting more by the world then by Heaven more by their life then by him that gave them life did shrink yea fall away from him that forsook not them and contrariwise the inestimable joyes prepared for them that fearing 〈◊〉 peril nor dreading death have manfully fought and victoriously triumphed over all power of darkness over hell death and damnation through their most renowned Captain Christ who now stretcheth out his arms to receive you ready to fall upon your neck and kiss you and to feast you with the dainties and delicates of his own precious blood which undoubtedly if it might stand with his determinate purpose he would not let to shed again rather then you shall be lost The night before she suffered she sent unto her Sister the Lady Kâ—therine the New Testament in Greek at the end whereof she wrote thus I have sent you good Sister a Book which although it be not outwardly trimmed with Gold yet inwardly it is more worth then precious stones It is the Book of the Law of the Lord. It is his Testament and last Will which he bequeathed unto us wretches which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy and if you with a good mind read it and with an earnest mind do purpose to follow it it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life It shall teach you to live and learn you to die It shall win you more then you should have gained by the possession of your woful Fathers lands for as if God had prospered him you should have inherited his lands so if you ply diligently this Book seeking to direct your life after it you shall be an inheriter of such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you nor the thief steal nor the moth corrupt Desire with David to understand the Law of the Lord God Live still to die that you by death may purchase eternal life Trust not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen your life the young die if God call assoon as the old Labour alwayes to learn to die defie the world deny the Devil and despise the flesh and delight your self onely in the Lord. Be penitent for your sins but yet despair not be strong in faith and yet presume not Desire with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ with whom even in death there is life Be like the good Servant and even at mid-night be waking least when death cometh and stealeth upon you as a thief in the night you be with the evil Servant found sleeping and least for lack of oyl ye be found like the foolish women and like him that had not on the Wedding Garment and then ye be cast out from the Marriage Rejoyce in Christ as I do Follow the steps of your Master Christ and take up your Cross. Lay your sins on his back and alwayes embrace him And as concerning my death rejoyce as I do that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption for I am assured that I shall for loosing of a mortal life win an immortal life the which I pray God grant you and send you of his grace to live in his fear and to die in the true Christian Faith from the which in Gods Name I exhort you that you never swarve neither for hope of life nor fear of death for if you will deny his truth for to lengthen your life God will deny you and yet shorten your dayes And if you will cleave unto him he will prolong your dayes to your comfort and his glory to the which glory God bring me now and you hereafter when it shall please him to call you Fare you well good Sister and put your onely trust in God who onely must help you In her Speech upon the Scaffold Good people I am come hither to die and by a Law I am condemned to the same The Fact against the Queens Highness was unlawful and the consenting thereunto by me but touching the procurement and desire thereof I do wash my hands thereof in innocency before God and you and therewith she wrung her hands I pray you bear me witness that I die a true Christian and that I look to be saved by no other mean but onely by the mercy of God in the blood of his onely Son Jesus Christ. I confess when I did know the Word of God I neglected the same loved my self and the world and therefore this plague is worthily happened to me for my sins and yet I thank God of his goodness that he hath thus given me a time and respite to repent and now good people while I am alive I pray you assist me with your Prayers In her Prayer Thou O Lord art the onely Defender and Deliverer of those that put their trust in thee and therefore I being defiled with sin c. overwhelmed with miseries vexed with temptations and grievously tormented With the long imprisonment of this vile mass of clay my sinful body doth come unto thee O merciful Saviour craving thy mercy and help who hast said Thou wilt not suffer us to be tempted above our power O merciful God consider my misery best known unto thee and be thou unto me a strong Tower of defence Suffer me not to be tempted above my power but either be thou a Deliverer to me out of this great misery or else give me grace patiently to bear thy heavy hand and sharp correction It was thy right hand that delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh who for the space of four hundred years did oppress them and keep them in bondage O deliver me sorrowful wretch for whom thy Son Christ shed his precious blood on the Cross out of this miserable captivity and bondage How long wilt thou be absent for ever O Lord hast thou forgotten to be gracious and shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure Wilt thou be no more entreated Is thy mercy clean gone for ever and thy promise come utterly to an end for evermore Why dost thou make so long tarrying Shall I despair of thy mercy O God far be that from me I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus give me therefore grace to tarry thy leisure When the Handkerchief was tied about her eyes she kneeling down and feeling for the Block said What shall I do where is it and being directed by one of the Standers by she laid her head down upon the Block and stretching forth her Body
stopt Romes breath And dead will be Romes death In this last Prayer Feb. 18. 1546. I pray God to preserve the Doctrine of his Gospel among us for the Pâ—pe and the Council of Trenâ— have grievous things in hand O heavenly Father my gracious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ thou God of all consolation I give thee hearty thanks that thou hast revealed to met thy Son Jesus Christ whom I believe whom I profess whom I glorifie whom the Pope and the reut of the wicked persecute and dishonour I beseech thee Lord Jesus Christ receive my soul. O my heavenly Father though I be taken out of this life and must lay down this frail body yet I certainly know that I shall live with thee eternally and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit Thou O God of Truth hast redeemed me In this last Will. O Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent person upon earth I have neither house nor lands nor possessions nor money to leave Thou Lord hast given me Wife and children Them Lord I give back unto thee Nourish instruct and keep them O thou the Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widow as thou hast done to me so do to them When he saw his Daughter Magdalen ready to die he read to her Isa. 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise c. Adding My Daughter Enter thou into thy Chamber in peace I shall ere long â—e with thee for God will not permit me to see the punishment which hangs over the head of Germany When the Elector gave him a new Gown he said I am made too much of for if here we receive a full recompence for our labours we shall hope for none in another life I say flatly That God shall not put me off with these low things In the Cause of God said he I am content to undergo the hatred and violence of all the world When his head was out of order as it used to be towards his later end he would usually say Strike Lord strike mercifully I am prepared because by thy Word I am forgiven mine iniquities and have fed upon thy body and blood He used to say that three things would destroy Christian Religion Forgetfulness of the Blessings received by the Gospel security which reigns every where and worldly wisdome which will seek to bring all things into Order and to support the publick Peace by wicked counsels Erasmus said of him God hath given to this later age a sharp Physician and that because of the greatness of its diseases Mr. Fox saith of him That Luther a poor Fryer should be able to stand against the Pope was a great miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace having so many enemies was the greatest of all When Myconius fell into a Consumption 1541. and wrote to Luther That he was sick unto life and not unto death Luther wrote back I pray Christ our Lord our salvation and health c. that I may not live to see thee and some others of our Colleagues to die and go to Heaven and leave me here among the Devils alone I pray God I may first lay down this dry exhausted and unprofitable Tabernacle Farewell and God forbid that I should hear of thy death while I live The Lord prolong thy life for me This I desire this I will and let my will be done Amen for this will hath the glory of God not my pleasure nor advantage for its end By and by hopeless Myconius recovered and lived six years longer even till after Luther's death Hence Iustus Ionas speaking of him saith That man could have of God what he pleased He would by no means endure that any should be called after his Name for said he the Doctrine which I teach is none of mine neither did Idie for any man neither would Paul 1 Cor. 3.4 c. endure such terms Besides we are all Christians and profess the Doctrine of Christ And lastly because the Papists use to do so calling themselves Pontificians whom we nought not to imitate M. Mallot Often have we hazarded our lives said Iohn Mallot a Souldier for the Emperour Charles the Fifth and shall we now shrink to die for the King of Kings Let us follow our Captain Man Thomas Man having broken Prison after his recantation said If I be taken again of the pild knave Priests I wist well I shall go the holy Angel and then be an Angel in Heaven Accordingly the Sheriffe of London when he had brought him into Smithfield to be burnt put him into Gods Angel He thanked God that he had been instrumental to convert seven hundred persons Marbeck Iohn Marbeck was a skilfull Organist in the Quire of Windsor a man of admirable industry and ingenuity His English Concordance the first that ever was in English Bishop Gardiner himself could not but commend as a piece of singular industry King Henry the Eighth hearing thereof said That he was better imployed then those Priests that accused him Being prest to discover Hereticks and being told he could not do God and the King greater service If I knew said he who were Hereticks indeed it were somewhat But if I should accuse him to be an Heretick that is none What a worm would that be in my conscience so long as I live Yea it were a great deal better for me to be out of this life then to live in such torment He being called a Dolt who would not discover them who should be sent for and would utter then all they can of him Whatsoever said he they shall say of me let them do it in the Name of God I will say no more of them nor of any man else then I know Being further prest to write down what he knew of such he thus prayed unto God O most merciful Father of Heaven thou that knowest the secret doings of all men have mercy upon thy poor Prisoner that is destitute of all help and comfort Assist me O Lord with thy special grace that to save this frail and vile body which shall turn to corruption in its time I have no power to say or to write any thing that may be to the casting away of my Christian Brother but rather O Lord let this vile flesh suffer at thy will and pleasure Grant this O most merciful Father for thy dear Son Jesus Christs sake Then he rose up and began to search his Conscience what he might write and at last writ thus Whereas your Lordship will have me to write of such things as I know not of my Fellows at home May it please your Lordship to understand that I cannot call to remembrance any manner of thing whereby I may justly accuse any one of them
for Heaven and much too high for Earth Wouldst thou see poor frail Creatures trampling the World under their feet and with an holy scorn smiling at the threatâ— of Tyrants who are the terrors of the mighty in the Land of the Living Wouldst thou see shackled Prisoners behave themselves like Iudges and Iudges stand like Prisoners before them Wouldsâ— thou see some of the rare exploits of Faith in it highest elevation immediately before it be swallowed up in the beatifical vision To conclude Wouldsâ— thou see the heavenly Ierusalem pourtraied oâ— Earth as the earthly Ierusalem once was upon 〈◊〉 Tile Ezek. 4.1 And wouldst thou hear the melodious voices of ascending Saints in a ravishing consort ready to joyn with the heavenly Chorus 〈◊〉 their ravishing Hallelujahs Then draw near come and see If thou be a man of an heavenly Spirit here is brave and suitable entertainment for thâ— spirit And after thou hast conversed a while wit these excellent Spirits it may be thou wilt judgâ— as I do That dead Saints are sweeter Companion in some respects for thee to converse with theâ— those that are living And when thou shalt see thâ— magnificent acts of their Faith their invincible patience their flaming love to Christ their strange contempt of the World their plainness and simplicity in the profession of the Gospel and their fervent love to each other thou wilt mourn also with me to consider the scandalous and shamefull relapse of Professors from these glorious heights and to think how many degrees these Graces are gone back in the souls of Professors as the Sun upon the Dial of Ahaz The Judicious Collector hath gathered this Posie from the Martyrs Graves bound up in an excellent method and presented it to thee Here thou hast the Cream of the larger Martyrologies scum'd off the very Spirits of them extracted which is more cheap and less tiresome He intends if God permit a Second Part speedily And I assure thee he is a Person singularly qualified for the Work having both Materials and Judgement to dispose his Collections Bless God for such profitable Instruments and improve their Labours Such a Book hath been long desired many have attempted it but every one hath not that Furniture of Books and Parts for it Solomon detecting some of those artifices which the Buyer useth in Trading Prov. 20.14 detects this as one It is naught it is naught saith the Buyer i. e. he disparageth the Commodity to beat down the price but when he is gone he boâ—steth I am mistaken if thou also do not boast of thy penny-worth in this Book when thou art gone and hast well perused it that it may reach the end upon thy heart for which it is designed is the desire of thy Friend to serve thee I. F. The Books Poetical Prologue I Tell their death's who dying made Death yield By Scriptures sword and Faith's unbattered shield Their number 's numberless who ran to die Under their Saviour's Standard valiantly More Saints ten Tyrant Emperours did slay Then for a year Five thousand to each day Since Iesuâ—tes from th' infernal Lake did rise More then Eight hundred thousand lost their lives In Thirty years Bloody Duke d' Alva will'd In Six years Eighteen thousand to be kill'd In Henry's and in Mary's Bloody Reign Eight thousand have inhumanely been slain Twelve thousand and seven hundred more were Stockt Or Whipt or Wrackt or else Exil'd or Mockt I onely promise many a Swan-like Song Read them and beg of God with Heart and Tongue That as the Vine that 's cut and prun'd bears more In one year then it did in three before So may Christs Vine And may the Saints of God As Cammomile grow better being trod And may Christs Suffererâ— in like cases find The Living God as near as true as kind As these have found and learn Sin more â—o fear Then parting with what er'e they count most dear Swan-like SONGS A. Adrian ADrian's wife seeing the Coffin hooped with Iron wherein she was to be buried alive spake thus Have you provided this Pasty-crust to bake my flesh in Agnes Agnes a Roman Martyr contemning all threats of tortures was assaulted as to her chastity To the lascivious Wretch she said Thou shalt willingly bathe thy sword in my blood if thou wilt but thou shalt not defile my body with filthy lust do what thou canst Hereupon his eyes were struck out by a flame of fire like unto a flash of lightning and upon her prayer he was restored to sight again When she saw a sturdy cruel fellow to behold approaching with a naked sword in his hand I am now glad said she and rejoyce more that such an one as thou a stout fierce strong and sturdy Souldier art come then if one more feeble weak and faint-hearted should come This even this is he I now confess that I do love I will make haste to meet him and will no longer protract my longing desire Albane Albane England's Proto-Martyr delivered up himself to the Souldiers instead of Amphibolus who had converted him to Christianity after he had fled to his house for refuge and being bound was carried before the Judge who at that time was sacrificing to his Idols The Judge perceiving the fraud told Albane Forasmuch as thou hadst rather convey away the Rebel and Traytor to our gods then deliver him up to the Souldiers that he might undergo due punishment for blaspheming our gods look what torments he should have suffered if he had been taken the same shalt thou suffer if thou refuse to practise the Rites of our Religion Albane notwithstanding his threats told him plainly to his face that he would not obey his command Then said the Judge of what House and Stock art thou Albane answered It matters not of what Stock I am but if thou desirest to know my Religion be it known unto thee I am a Christian c. Then the Judge demanded his name my Parents said he named me Albane and I honour and worship the true and living God that made all things of nothing The Judge told him If he would save his life he must come and sacrifice to their gods Albane answered The sacrifice that you offer to the Devil profits you nothing but rather purchaseth for you eternal pains and Hell fire The Judge commanded him to be beheaded The Executioner observing his saith and fervent prayers fell down at his feet casting from him the sword desired rather to be executed for or with him then to do execution upon him yet afterwards another gave the fatal blow Alcock Constable Rolf Iohn Alcocks Master having bail'd his Servant said unto him I am sorry for thee for truly the Parson will seek thy destruction Sir said Alcock I am sorry I am a trouble to you as for my self I am not sorry but I do commit my self into Gods hands and I trust he will give me a mouth and wisdome to answer according to right Yet said
After the Bishop of Londy had ended his Sermon which was but an exhortation to condemn Mr. Hierome he said unto them You shall condemn me wickedly and unjustly but I after my death will leave a remorse in your conscience and a nail in your heart and here I cite you to answer unto me before the most high and just Iudge within an hundred years This Prophesie was printed in the Coin called moneta Hussi of the which Coin I my self saith Mr. Fox have one of the Plates having the following superscription printed about it Centum revolutis annis Dâ—o respondebitis mihi An hundred years come and gone With God and me you shall reckon After Sentence was pronounced against him a long Mitre of paper painted about with red Devils was brought to him whereupon he said Our Lord Iesus Christ whenas he should suffer death for me most wretched sinner did wear a Crown of Thorns upon his Head and I for his sake instead of that Crown will willingly wear this Mâ—tre or Cap. When the fire was kindled he said Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit O Lord God Father Almighty have mercy upon me and pardon mine offences for thou knowest how sincerely I have loved thy Truth When the Executioner began to kindle the fire behind him he bade him kindle it before his face for said he If I had been afraid of it I had not come to this place having had so many opportunities offered to me to escape it At the giving up of the ghost he said Hanc animam in flammis offero Christe tibi This soul of mine in flames of fire O Christ I offer thee In his Letter to Mr. Iohn Hus. My Master in those things which you have both written hitherto and also preached after the Law of God against the pride avarice and other inordinate vices of the Priests go forward be constant and strong and if I shall know that you be oppressed in the cause and if need shall so require of mine own accord I will follow after to help you as much as I can In the Letter of Poggius Secretary to the Council of Constance to Leonard Aretin concerning Hierome's death I profess I never said any man who in talking especially for life and death hath come nearer the eloquence of the Ancients whom we do so much admire It was a wonder to see with what words with what Eloquence Arguments Countenance and with what confidence he answered his Adversaries and maintained his own Cause that it is to be lamented that so fine a wit had strayed into the study of Heresie if it be true that was objected against him When it was refused that he should first plead his own Cause and then answer to the railings of Adversaries he said How great is this iniquity that when I have been three hundred and forty dayes in most hard prisons in filthiness in dung in fetters and want of all things ye have heard my Adversaries at all times and ye will not hear me one hour Ye are men and not gods ye may slip and erre and be deceived and seduced c. When it was demanded what he could object to the Articles against him It is almost incredible to consider how cunningly he answered and with what Arguments he defended himself He never spake one word unworthy of a good man that if he thought in his heart as he spake with his tongue no cause of death could have been against him no not of the meanest offence In the end Poggius saith O man worthy of everlasting remembrance among men This Epistle is in Fascicuâ— râ—â— expetend fol. 152. Holland A Friend of Mr Roger Holland's thanking the Bishop for his good will to his Kinsman and beseeching God that he might have grace to follow his Council Sir said Mr. Holland You crave of God you know not what I beseech God to open your eyes to see the light of his Word Roger said his Kinsman hold your peace lest you fare the worse at my Lords hands No said he I shall fare as it pleaseth God for man can do no more then God doth permit him The Register asking him Whether he would submit himself to the Bishop before he was entred into the Book of contempt I never meant said he but to submit my self to the Magistrate as I learn of St. Paul Rom. 13. yet I mean not to be a Papist they will not submit themselves to any other Prince or Magistrate then those that must first be sworn to maintain them and their doings Bâ—nner telling him Roger I perceive thou wilt be ruled by no good counsel c. He answered I may say to you my Lord as Paul said to Felix and to the Iews Acts 22. 1 Cor. 15. It is not unknown to my Master whose Apprentice I was that I was of this your blind Religion c. having that liberty under your auricular Confession that I made no conscience of sin but trusted in the Priests absolution c. So that Lechery Swearing and all othervices I accounted no offence of danger so long as I could for money have them absolved And thus I continued till of late God hath opened the Light of his Word and called me by his grace to repentance of my former idolatry and wicked life The antiquity of our Church is not from Pope Nicholas or Pope Ione but our Church is from the beginning even from the time that God said to Adam That the seed of the woman should break the Serpents head c. All that believed this promise were of the Church though the number were oftentimes but few and small as in Elias dayes when he thought there was none but he that had not bowed the knee to Baal c. Moreover of our Church have been the Apostles and Evangelists the Martyrs and Confessors that have in all Ages been persecuted for the testimony of the Word of God After Sentence was read against him he said Even now I told you that your authority was of God and by his sufferance and now I tell you God hath heard the prayer of his Servants which hath been poured forth with tears for his afflicted Saints which daily you persecute This I dare be bold in God to speak which by his Spirit I am moved to say that God will shorten your hand of cruelty that for a time you shall not molest his Church And this shall you in short time perceive my dear Brethren to be the most true for after this day in this place shall there not be any by him put to the trial of Fire and Fagot Which accordingly came to pass He was the last burnt in Smithfield Then he began to exhort his Friends to repentance and to think well of them that suffered for the testimony of the Gospel The day that Mr. Holland and the rest suffered a Proclamation was made that none should be so bold as
Hunter you can do no more then God will permit you Well said B. will you recant indeed by no means No said H. never while I live God willing Bonner asking him how old he was he said He was Nineteen years old Well said B. you will be burned ere you be Twenty if you will not recant H. answered God strengthen me in his Truth Bonner even after Sentence was past offering him if he would then recant to make him a Freeman of the City and to give him Forty pound in money to set up with or to make him Steward of his House c. Hunter said unto him My Lord if you cannot perswade my Conscience by Scriptures I cannot find in my heart to turn from God for the love of the world for I count all things worldly but loss and dung in respect of the love of Christ. If thou diest in this mind said B. thou art condemned for ever God judgeth righteously said H. and justifieth them whom man condemneth unjustly When he was brought to Burntwood to be burned his Father and Mother came to him and desired heartily of God that he might continue to the end in that good way which he had begun and his Mother said unto him That she was glad that ever she was so happy to bear such a Child which could find in his heart to lose his life for Christs Names sake Then said he to his Mother For my little pain which I shall suffer which is but short Christ hath promised me a Crown of Joy May you not be glad of that Mother With that his Mother kneeled down on her knees saying I pray God strengthen thee my Son to the end Yea I think thee as well bestowed as any Child that ever I bare His Father said I was afraid of nothing but that my Son should have been killed in the Prison for hunger and cold the Bishop was so hard to him The night before his Execution he had a dream that he was where the Stake was pitcht where he should be burned and that it was at the Towns end where the Butts stood which was so indeed and that he met his Father going to the Stake and that there was a Priest at the Stake which went about to have him recant and that he said to him Away false Prophet and that he exhorted the people to beware of him and such as he was which things came to pass accordingly Whilst he was led to the Stake the Sheriffs Son came to William and embraced him saying William be not afraid of these men who are here present with Bills and Weapons ready prepared to bring you to the place where you shall be burned William answered I thank God I am not afraid for I have cast my account what it will cost me already Then the Sheriffs Son could speak no more to him for weeping When he met his Father according to his dream his Father said unto him God be with thee Son William William answered God be with you good Father and be of good comfort for I hope we shall meet again when we shall be merry At the Stake the Sheriffe told him That there was a Letter from the Queen if he would recant he should live if not he must be burned No said William I will not recant God willing Mr. Brown telling him upon his desire to the people to pray for him as long as he was alive I will pray no more for thee then I will pray for a Dog Mr. Brown said William now you have that you sought for and I pray God it be not laid to your charge in the last day howbeit I forgive you I ask no forgiveness of thee said Mr. Brown Well said William if God forgive you not I shall require my blood at your hands Then said William Hunter Son of God shine upon me Immediately the Sun in the Firmament shined out of a dark cloud so full in his face that he was constrained to look another way When the Priest came according to his dream he said Away thou false Prophet Beware of them good people and come away from their abominations lest that you be partakers of their plagues Then said the Priest look how thou burnest here so shalt thou burn in Hell William answered Thou lyest thou false Prophet away thou false Prophet away When the fire was kindled his Brother said to him William think on the holy Passion of Christ and be not afraid of Death William answered I am not afraid Then lift he up his hands to Heaven and said Lord Lord Lord receive my spirit Higbed Mr. Higbed of Essex being prest by Bonner to recant answered I will not abjure for I have been of this mind these sixteen years and do what ye can ye shall do no more then God will permit you to do and with what measure ye measure unto us look for the same again at Gods hands When his Articles and Answers were read he said Ye go about to trap us with your subtilties and snares and though my Father and Mother and other my Kinsfolk did believe as you say yet they were deceived in so believing and whereas you say Doctor Cranmer and others c. be Hereticks I do wish that I were such an Heretick as they were and be Then Bonner asked him again Whether he would turn from his error and come to the unity of their Church No said he I would ye would recant for I am in the truth and you in error Hus. Mr. Iohn Hus preaching at the honourable and very solemn Funeral of three in Prague who had been put to death in Prison for calling the Pope Antichrist and speaking against Indulgences at whose Funeral was sung on this wise These be the Saints which for the Testament of God gave their bodies c. much commended them for their constancy and blest God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had hid the way of his Verity so from the prudent of the world and had revealed it to the simple who chose rather to please God then man This occasioned his expulsion out of Prague being before excommunicated by the Pope The Emperour having given safe conduct to Mr. Iohn Hus to come to the general Council at Constance he promised to come professing he was ready alwayes to satisfie all men which shall require him to give a reason of his faith and hope c. and giving notice to all that could object any error or heresie to him to appear and not spare him The Twenty sixth day after he came to Constance two Bishops c. were sent to him to bring him before the Pope and his Cardinals To whom he answered I am not come to defend my Cause particularly before the Pope and his Cardinals but to appear before the whole Council and there answer for my defence openly c. unto all such things as shall be demanded or required of me Notwithstanding forasmuch as
them whom I have taught whereof there is a great number if through me it should come to pass that those things which they have hitherto known to be most certain and sure should now be made uncertain Should I by this my example astonish or trouble so many souls so many consciences endued with the most firm and certain knowledge of the Scriptures and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and his most pure Doctrine armed against all the assaults of Satan I will never do it neither commit any such kind of offence that I should seem more to esteem this vile carcase appoâ—nted unto death then their health and salvation When one of the Bishops took from him the Chalice saying O cursed Iudas c. We take away from thee this Chalice of thy salvation But I trust said he unto God the Father Omnipotent and my Lord Jesus Christ for whose sake I do suffer these things that he will not take away the Chalice of his Redemption but have a stedfast and firm hope that this day I shall drink thereof in his Kingdome The other Bâ—shops took away the Vestments put upon him and each of them giving him their curse Whereunto he saâ—d That he did willingly embrace and hear those blasphemies for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Bâ—shops caused to be made a Crown of Paper in which were printed three ugly Devils and this title set over their heads Hâ—resiarcha A Ring-leader of an Heresie and he saw it he said My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake did wear a Crown of Thorns why should not I then for his sake wear this light Crown be it never so ignominious Truly I will do it and that willingly When it was set upon his head the Bishops said Now we commit thy soul unto the Devil But I said Mr. Hus lifting up his eyes toward Heaven do commit my Spirit into thy hands O Lord Jesus Christ unto thee I commend my Spirit which thou hast redeemed When the people heard his prayers at the Stake they said What he hath done afore we know not but now we see and hear that he doth speak and pray very devoutly and godlily After he had prayed some while being raised by his Tormentors with a loud voice he said Lord Jesus assist and help me that with a constant and patient mind I may bear and suffer this cruel and ignominious death whereunto I am condemned for the preaching of thy most holy Gospel and Word When he beheld the Chain with which his Neck was to be tied to the Stake he smiling said That he would willingly receive the same Chain for Jesus Christs sake who he knew was bound with a far worse Chain The Duke of Bavaria before the fire was kindled coming to him and exhorting him to be mindful of his safeguard and renounce his errors he answered What error should I renounce whenas I know my self guilty of none for as for those things that are falsly alledged against me I know that I never did so much as once think them much less preach them for this was the principal end and purpose of my Doctrine that I might teach all men repentance and remission of sins according to the verity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Exposition of the holy Doctors wherefore with a cheerful mind and courage I am here ready to suffer death He told them at his death That out of the ashes of the Goose so Hus in the Bohemian Language signifies an hundred years after God would raise up a Swan so Luther in that Language signifies in Germany whose singing should affright all those Vultures and who should escape their burning This Prophesie was exactly fulfilled in Lutâ—er who rose up just an hundred years after 1415 the year when Mr. Hus was burnt and though he so enraged the Pope and his powerful party he died in his bed In his Letter to the people of Prague Be circumspect and watchful that ye be not circumvented by the crafty trains of the Devil and the more circumspect ye ought to be for that Antichrist laboureth the more to trouble you The last judgement is near at hand death shall swallow up many but to the elect children of God the Kingdome of God draweth near because for them he gave his own body Fear not death love together one another persevere in understanding the good will of God without ceasing Let the terrible and horrible Day of Judgement be alwayes before your eyes that you sin not and also the joy of eternal life whereunto you must endeavour Let the passions of our Saviour be never out of your minds that you may bear with him and for him gladly whatsoever shall be laid upon you for if you shall consider well in your minds his Cross nothing shall be grievous unto you and patiently you shall give place to tribulations cursings rebukes stripes and imprisonment and shall not doubt to give your lives for his holy truth if need require Know ye Well Beloved that Antichrist being stirred up against you deviseth divers persecutions But I am in good hope that through the mercy of our God and by your Prayers I shall persist strongly in the immutable verity of God unto the last breath I commend you to the merciful Lord Jesus Christ our true God and the Son of the immaculate Virgin Mary who hath redeemed us by his most bitter death without all our merits from eternal pains from the thraldome of the Devil and from sin From Constance A. 1415. In his Letter to his Benefactors I exhort you by the bowels of Jesus Christ that now ye setting aside the vanities of this present world will give your service to the eternal King Christ the Lord. Trust not in Princes nor in the Sons of men in whom there is no health for the Sons of men are dissemblers and deceitful To day they are to morrow they perish but God remaineth for ever He hath his Servants not for any need he hath of them but for their own profit unto whom he performeth that which he promiseth and fulfilleth that which he purposeth to give He casteth off no faithful Servant from him for he saith Where I am there also shall my Servant be yea the Lord maketh every Servant of his to be the Lord of all his possession giving himself unto him and with himself all things O happy is that Servant whom when the Lord shall come he shall find watching Happy is the Servant which shall receive that King of Glory with joy Wherefore well beloved Lords and Benefactors serve you that King in fear In his Letter to the Lord Iohn de Clum The iniquity of the great Strumpet i. e. of the malignant Congregation whereof mention is made in the Apucalyps is detected and shall be more detected with the which Strumpet the Kings of the Earth do commit fornication fornicating spiritually from Christ and as is there said sliding back from
and have neglected my time and have unhappily provoked both my self and others to anger by that Play Wherefore besides other my innumerable faults for this I desire you to invocate the mercy of the Lord that he will pardon me This Letter to this Minister was not to be opened by him before he was sure of Mr. Hus his death In a Treatise De Sacerdotum c. before mentioned he hath these words In writing these things and what else I have written before nothing else hath moved me hereunto but onely the love of our Lord Jesus crucified whose prints and stripes according to the measure of my weakness and vileness I covet to bear in my self beseeching him to give me grace that I never seek to glory in my self or in any thing else but onely in his Cross and in the inestimable ignominy of his Passion I do not therefore doubt but these things will like all such as unfeignedly love the Lord Christ crucified and will not mislike not a little all such as be of Antichrist durst not have so written unless the Lord Jesus Christ crucified by his inward motion had so commanded me Hyperius O what a difference is there said Martin Hyperius betwixt this and eternal fire Who would shun this to leap into that FINIS A CLOUD OF VVITNESSES OR THE Sufferers Mirrour Made up of The SWANLIKE-SONGS and other CHOICE PASSAGES of several MARTYRS and CONFESSORS to the end of the Sixteenth Century in their Treatises Speeches Letters Prayers c. in their Prisons or Exiles at the Bar or Stake c. Collected out of The Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius Fox Fuller Clark Petrie Scotland And Mr. Samuel Ward 's Life of Faith in Death c. and Alphabetically disposed By T. M. M.A. The second Part. Deut. 32.7 Remember the dayes of old consider the years of many generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee Psal. 44.22 For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as Sheep to the slaughter Phil. 1.28 In nothing be terrified by your adversaries c. Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Robert Boulter 1665. A brief account of what may be expected in this Collection by a friend to the Author READER IT is a comfort Thetis gives her brave Son in Homer that though he should be short liv'd yet he should continue himself in the admiration of posterity Though these blessed Martyrs and Saints departed sought not glory to themselves yet they all obtained a good report and their memory is blessed whilst the memory of the wicked rots or which is far worse stinks I grant many of them went in a siery Chariot to Heaven yet those Mantles that fell from them may through the concurs of God so spirit othâ—rs that they may do worthily in Ephratâ— though they never arrive to the glory of the â—irst Worthies I dâ—ubt not but many of them might by their staying lâ—nger in their houses of Booths have been very beneficial to the World yet Sampson's violent death was not without profit to the Church of God in pulling down the House of the Philistines And therefore I cannot but commend the Essay and elaborate Collections of this Author in reviving the Memories of these Ancient Christians It was well observed by Sir Francis Bacon That old Wood is best to burn and old Friends best to trust and old Books best to read Hence Scholars set a great price upon an ancient Manuscript Here are old things men of ancient dayes and old Books in a new Edition for thy benefit Here you will not find the fault that Historians are commonly guilty of who like flattering Limners draw too favourably or shadow over a wrinckle and slily forge in some secret grace Here is an honest Pen modestly but yet faithfully giving thee an account of Believers who through much faith patience and tribulation entred into the Kingâ—ome of Heaven Here are worthy Patterns for you to follow glorious Copies for you who are but Beginners in the World to write after They all call upon you so to follow them as they followed Christ. Here is a Cloud of Witnesses which if you have with Iesus in your eye you will be the better prepared to lay aside every weight and to run with patience the race that is set before you Man is led by nothing better then by example and examples of great Ones are most effectual Such are these I know abundantly how this lazy formal Age is ready to look on Scripture-Worthies as men unimitable as Giants to whose stature they despair ever to arrive But hâ—re you may be tolled on in your active and passive obedience as lazy Travellers will hâ—ld out with good Company which beat the Path before them Here is no excuse left of frailty which we are ready to make against obedience for thâ—se presidents in all Ages abudantly testifie that we frail men by the power of the same grace of God may reach to the same perfections We are too apt in these dayes to think our selves good enough if we find any worse then our selves but we should not content our selves to run with the Foot-men but to excell the best I have of late thought it a very high way to growth and perfection to collect some of the choicest frames of the best Christians and alwayes set them before us Blessed be the Lord this is done to thy hand and mayest thou reap the advantage of this labour Here thou mayest read thy defects in these holy mens excesses and amend thy self without any diminution to their glory Here thou mayest receive light from that which dazleth thee and lustre from that which at present ecclipseth thee When thou considerest what a dastardly cowardly Spirit is within thee what an Enemy of the Cross of Christ thou art here is that which will promote thy shame that these under the dawnings of Gospel-glory and grace should be as bold as Lions whilâ—t thou art as timerous as an Hare How do we shrink and tremble whilst these were as Rocks in the midst of the Floods standing unmoveable when the Winds blew and the Seas made a noise I heartily wish that the dew of Heaven may fall upon these holy Reliques that such a Spirit may attend the Reader as did these when called before Kings and Rulers for the Name of Christ. I heartily wish that these experiments of Gods presence with his suffering and witnessing Saints may help thee to trust in God I knâ—w you ought to trust God upon his single Bond without a Pawn or Pledge of his Power and Faithfulness but certainly Faith is wonderfully holpen by former experiences in all Ages and therefore let this Epitome of the Boâ—k of Martyrs as to the Martyrs sayings strengthen thy confidence and make thee râ—ly on God as a constant tried Friend Thâ—se are all great instancâ—s that God is seen in the Mount that he hath good
unless the reading of the New Testament which is common to all men be an offence More then this I know not The Bishop of Winchester asking him What helpers he had in setting forth his Concordance None my Lord said he None said the â—ishop how can that be It is not possible that thou shouldst do it without help Truly my Lord said he I did it without the help of any man save God alone Nay said the Bishop I do not discommend thy diligence but what shouldst thou meddle with the thing which pertaineth not to thee And then speaking to one of his Chaplâ—ins said This Fellow hath taken upon him to set out the Concordance in English which Book when it was set out in Latine was not done without the help and diligence of a dozen learned men at least and yet he will bear me in hand that he hath done it alone The Bishop of Salisbury asking him How he could invent such a Book or know what a Concordance meant without an Instructer I will tell your Lordship said he what Instructer I had to begin it When Thomas Matthews Bible came first out in Print being not able to buy one I borrowed one and intended to have writ it out and was gone as far as Iâ—shua which when Mr. Turner understood he told me it would be a more profitable work to set out a Concordance in English A Concordance said I what is that He told me it was a Book to find out any word in the whole Bible by the letter and that there was such an one in Latine already and that it required not so much learning as diligence This is all the instruction that ever I had before or after of any man Being asked How he could with this instruction bring it to this order and form as it is He answered I borrowed 〈◊〉 Latine Concordance and began to practise my wit and at last with great labour and diligence brought it into this order But I marvel greatly why I should be so much examined about this Book Have I committed any offence in doing it or no If I have I am loth any other should be molested or punished for my fault Therefore to clear all men in this matter this is my request That ye will try me in the rest of the Book that is undone You see I have onely done with letter L. Now take what word you will of M. and so in every letter following and give me the words in a piece of Paper and let me be any where alone with Pen Ink and Paper the Latine Concordance and the English Bible and if I bring you not those words written in the same order and form as the rest be then it was not I did it but some other This is honestly spoken said the Bishop of Ely and then shalt thou bring many out of suspition Accordingly he writ in a dayes time in the same order and form as he had done the rest all the words they gave him which contained three sheets of Paper and more Being threatned if he did not discover what he knew his fingers should be made to tell If you do tear said he the whole body in pieces I trust in God you shall never make me accuse any man wrongfully If thou art stubborn said Dr. Oking thou wilt die for it Die for it said Marbeck wherefore should I die You told me the last day before the Bishops that as soon as I had made an end of that piece of the Concordance they took me I should be delivered and shall I now die This is a sudden mutation You seemed then to be my Friend but I know the cause you have read the Ballad I made of Moses Chair and that hath set you against me but whensoever ye shall put me to death I doubt not but I shall die Gods true man and the Kings This worthy Confessor was of so sweet and amiable nature That all good men did love and few bad men did hate him yet was he condemned in the year 1544. to be burnt at Windsor which his Pardon prevented of which divers causes were assigned 1 That Bishop Gardner bare him a special affection for his skil in the Mystery of Musick 2 That such who condemned him procured his Pardon out of remorse of conscience because of the slender evidence against him 3 That it was done out of design to reserve him for a discovery of the rest of his Party and if so their plot failed them for being as true as Steel whereof his Fetters were made which he wore in Prison for a good time he could not be frighted or flattered to make any detection Marcus v. Arethusius Part. 1. Marcus of Arethuse being hung up in a Basket anointed with honey and so exposed to the stinging of Wasps and Bees said to his Persecutors that stood and beheld him How am I advanced despising you that are below on Earth Marlorate Mr. Augustine Marlorate Minister of Roan when in the Civil Wars of France that City was taken by storm was taken also and brought before Monâ—orency the Constable of France who said unto him Thou art he who hast seduced the people If I have seduced them said he it is God that hath done it rather then I for I have preached nothing to them but his divine Truth You are a seditious person said the Constable and the cause of the ruine of this City As for that imputation said he I refer my self to all that have heard me preach be they Papists or Protestants whether I ever medled with matters of the Politick State or no. The Constable told him swearing a great Oath we shall see within a few dayes whether thy God can deliver thee out of my hands or no. It is observable how speedily Gods Judgements found out his Persecutors The Captain that apprehended him was slain within three weeks by one of the basest Souâ—diers in all his Company The Constables Son was shortly after slain in the Battel of Dreux Two of his Iudges also died very strangely soon after viz. The President of the Parliament by a Flux of Blood which could be by no means stanched The other being a Councellor voiding his Urine by his Fundament with such an intolerable stink that none could come near him Villeben that switched him with a Wand as he was carried on the Hurdle to Executionâ— a while after escaped death by the loss of his hand wherewith he had so basely smitten this Servant of the Lord. Marsake Sir Lâ—wis Marsake was so glad of the Sentence of Condemnation that he went out praising God and singing of Psalms To a Souldier that would have hindred him from stepping aside to call upon God What said he will you not let us pray in that little time which we have When Halters were put about the necks of his two Fellow-sufferers he seeing himself to be spared because of his Order and Degree called to the Lieutenant
they labourel with Gods Word c. Wherefore until such time as our consciences are otherwise taught and instructed by Gods Word we cannot with safeguard of our consciences take it as many suppose at this time And we trust in God that the Queens Highness and her most Honourable Council will not in a matter of Faith use compulsion or violence because Faith is the gift of God and cometh not of man or of mans Laws nor at such time as men require it but at such time as God giveth it Being asked whether he would stand to what he had said I must need stand to it said he till I be perswaded by a further truth It being replied Nay you will not be perswaded but stand to your own Opinion Nay said he I stand not to mine own Opinion God I take to witness but onely to the Scriptures of Gâ—d and I take God to witness that I do nothing of presumption but that that I do is onely my Conscience and if there be a further truth then I see except it appear a truth to me I cannot receive it as a truth And seeing Faith is the gift of God and cometh not of man for it is not you that can give me Faith nor no man else therefore I trust ye will bear the more with me seeing it must be wrought by God and when it shall please God to open a further truth to me I shall receive it with all my heart In his Confession of his Faith The Lord is the Protector of my life The just shall live by Faith and if he withdraw himself my soul shall have no pleasure in him Thus have I declared my Faith briefly which were no Faith if I were in doubt of it This Faith I desire God to increase in me Praise God for his gifts Nicaise Nicaise a Say-maker in Tournay for refusing to live according to the Customes of the Romish Church and to observe the traditions invented by her c. being condemned and having heard the sentence as he rose up he said Now praised be God As he was led to execution seeing a great multitude of people he lifted up his voice and said O ye men of Tournay open your eyes awake ye that sleep and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give ye light As he joyfully ascended up the Scaffold he said Lord they have hated me without a cause As he was fastning to the Stake he said Eternal Father have pity and compassion upon me according as thou hast promised to all that ask the same of thee in thy sons Name Noyes When Iohn Noyes was asked by his Brother in Law if he did fear death when the Bishop gave judgement against him he answered He thanked God he feared death no more at that time then himself or any other did being at liberty Being bound to the Stake he said Fear not them that can kill the body but fear him that can kill both body and soul and cast it into everlasting fire When he saw his Sister weeping and making moan for him he bade her Weep not for him but weep for her sins When a Fagot was set against him he took it and kissed it and said Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this He said also Good people bear witness that I do believe to be saved by the merits and passion of Jesus Christ and not by my own deeds When the fire was kindled and burned about him he said Lord have mercy upon me Christ have mercy upon me Son of David have mercy upon me In his Letter to his Wife out of Prison You desired me to send you some tokens to remember me I therefore send you these Scriptures even for a remembrance St. Peter saith Dearly beloved be not troubled with this heat that is now come among you to try you as though some strange thing had hapned unto you but rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory appeareth ye may be merry and glad If ye be railed on for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God restest on you See that none of you suffer as a Murtherer c. but if any suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but glorifie God in this behalf for the time is come that judgement must begin at the House of God If it first begin at us what shall the end of them be that believe not the Gospel of God Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in well doing St. Paul saith All that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution St. Iohn saith See that ye love not the world nor the things of the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world which vanisheth away and the lust thereof but he that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for ever St. Paul saith What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness what company hath light with darkness or what part hath the Believer with the Infidel c. Wherefore come out from among them and separate your selves now saith the Lord and touch no unclean thing so will I receive you and I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty So farewell Wife and Children and leave worldly care and see that ye be diligent to pray Take no thought saith Christ saying what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or wherewith shall we be clothed after all these things do the Geneiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things but seek ye first the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereâ—f and all these things shall be ministred to you O. Oâ—colampadius He fell sick in the year 1531. and of his age 49. about the same time that Zuinglius was unhappily slain His grief for his death much increased his sickness He foretold his own death was very desirous to enjoy the heavenly Light Sending for the Ministers of the Gospel to him he spake to them thus O my Brethren you see what is done The Lord is come he is he is now calling me away What shall I say unto you the Servants of the Lord whom the love of God your Master the same study and doctrine have most intimately united now that I am to take my leave of you Salvation hopes of Heaven Truth Light for our feet is procured by Christ for us It becomes us to cast away all sadness all fear of life and death c. My Brethren this onely remains That we who have for some time walked in the wayes of Christ continue constant
which cover his most filthy part This is not onely my saying but the Prophet Isaiah who saith He that preacheth lies is the tail behind Then said he unto them all Christ saith in his Gospel Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye close up the Kingdome of Heaven before men neither enter ye in your selves nor suffer any other that would enter into it but ye stop up the wayes thereunto by your own Traditions The Arch Bishop telling him That none should preach in his Diocess yea in his Iurisdiction that make division or dissention among the poor Commons He answered Both Christ and his Apostles were accused of sedition-making yet were they most peaceable men But Daniel and Christ prophesied That such a troublesome time should come as hath not been yet since the worlds beginning and this prophesie is partly fulfilled in your dayes c. Christ saith also If these dayes of yours were not shortned scarcely should any flesh be saved therefore look for it justly for God! will shorten your dayes Being asked what he said of the Pope He said As I said before so say I again That he and you together make up whole Antichrist After the Arch Bishop had read the Bill of his Condemnation the Lord Cobham said with a cheerfull countenance Though you judge my Body which is a wretched thing yet am I certain and sure ye can do no harm to my soul no more then could Satan to the soul of Iob. He that created that will of his infinite mercy and promise save it I have therein no manner of doubt And therewith he turned himself to the people and said with a loud voice Good people for Gods love be well ware of these men for they will else beguile you and lead you blind-fold into Hell with themselves for Christ saith plainly unto you If one blind man lead another they are like both to fall into a ditch After this he fell down upon his knees and before them all prayed thus for his enemies Lord God Eternal I beseech thee of thy great mercy sake forgive my pursuers if it be thy blessed Will Here it is observable That Arch Bishop Arundel that passed Sentence of Death against Lord Cobham did feel the stroke of Death and had the Sentence of God executed upon him before the Death of this famous Martyr The Arch Bishop died Feb. 20. 1414. and this condemned Lord survived his Condemner three or four years Oom Wonter Oom writes thus from his Prison at Antwerp Wellbeloved Brother and Sister whom I love dearly for the Truths sake and for your faith in Christ Jesus These are to certifie you that I enjoy the comfort of a good conscience c. Whosoever will forsake this present evil world and become followers of their Captain Christ must make account to meet with many persecutions for Christ hath told us aforehand that we should be hated persecuted and banished out of the world for his Names sake and this they will do because they have neither known the Father nâ—r me But be not afraid for I have overcome the world St. Paul also witnesseth the same thing saying All that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution and to you ie it given to suffer c. And doth not our Lord Iesus say Blessed are you when men persecute you and speak all manner of evil falsly c. Now whereto serveth all this but to bring us into a conformity with our Lord and Master Jesus Christ for Christ hath suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps He endured the Cross and despised the shame c. and became poor to make us rich By him also are we brought by faith into that state of grace wherein we stand rejoycing in the hope of the glory of God knowing that tribulation worketh patience c. Wherefore be not afraid of the fiery trial that is now sent among us to prove us for what father loving his child doth not correct it Even so doth the Lord correct those whom he loves for if we should be without correction whereof all true Christians are partakers then were we bastards and not sons And therefore Solomon saith Despise not the chastning of the Lord c. Fear not then to follow the footsteps of Christ for he is the Head and we are the Members We must after his example through many tribulations enter into Heaven Let us say with St. Paul Christ is unto me in life and death advantage and O wretched creatures that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death It is a good thing to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord and to bear the yoke in ones youth c. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord He is their strength in the time of trouble Wherefore giving all diligence let us adde to faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness c. Out of my Role Dec. 11. 1562. Origen When he was but seventeen years old his Father being carried to Prison he had such a fervent mind to suffer Martyrdome with him that he would have thrust himself into the Persecutors hands had it not been for his Mother who in the night time privily stole away his clothes and his very shirt also whereupon more for shame to be seen naked then for fear to die he was constrained to remain at home yet when he could do no more he wrote to his Father in Prison thus See O Father that you do not change your resolution for my sake His fame was so great that the Emperour Severus sent for him to come to Rome and commanded the Provost of Egypt to furnish him with all things necessary for his journey The Provost was very carefull to provide a Ship and divers Garments c. But Origen would receive no part thereof no not so much as hose or shoes but went in a single Garment of Cloth and bare foot went to Rome and when at his arrival there were brought to him a Mule and a Chariot to use which he liked best he answered That he was much less then his Master Christ who rode but one day in all his life and that was on a silly she Ass and therefore he would not ride except he were sick or decrepid as his legs might not serve him to go When he was brought into the presence of the Emperour and his Mother they saluted him and rejoyced much to see him Being demanded what he professed he answered Verity The Emperour asking him what he meant thereby It is the Word said he of the Living God which is infallible The Emperour asked which is the Living God and why he so called him Origen answered That he did put that distinction for a difference from them whom men being long drowned
been his Servant yet in all his time hath he not so much as once hurt me How then may I speak evil of my King and Sovereign Lord which hath thus preserved me The Proconsul still urging him to swear by Caesar's prosperity he replied If thou requirest this pretending that thou knowest not what I am Know then that I am a Christian and if thou desire to know the Doctrine of Christianity appoint a day and thou shalt hear I have thought it my duty thus to say unto you forsomuch as we are commanded to give unto the Governours and Powers ordained of God the hounour meet and due to them and not hurtfull unto us The Proconsul telling him he had wild Beasts to whom he would throw him unless he took a better way Polycarp said Let them come we have determined with our selves that we will not by repentance turn us from the better way to the worse but convenient it is that a man turn from things that be evil unto that which is good and just I will tame thee with fire replied the Proconsuâ— if thou set not by the wild Beasts nor yet repent Then said Polycarp you threaten me with fire which shall burn for the space of an hour and shall be within a little while after put out and extinguished but thou knowest not the fire of the judgement to come and of everlasting punishment which is reserved for the wicked and ungodly But why make you all these delayes Give me what death soever you list When they would have tyed him to the Stake with iron hoops he said Let me alone as I am For he that hath given me strength to come to the fire shall also give power that without this provision I shall abide and not stir in the midst of the fire When his hands were bound behind him he prayed thus O Father of thy welbeloved and blessed Son Iesus Christ by whom we have attained the knowledge of thee the God of Angels and Powers and of every creature and of all just men which live before thee I give thee thanks that thou hast vouchsafed to grant me this day that I may have my part among the Number of the Martyrs to drink of the Cup of Christ unto the resurrection of eternal Life both of body and soul through the operation of thy holy Spirit among whom I shall this day be received into thy sight for an acceptable sacrifice and as thou hast prepared and revealed the same before this time so thou hast accomplished the same O thou most true God which canst not lye Wherefore for all these things I praise thee I bless thee I glorifie thee by our everlasting Bishop Iesus Christ to whom be glory evermore Amen As soon as the fire was kindled some of his Church then present saw this marvellour thing The fire being like unto a Vault or Roof of an House and after the manner of a Shipmans Sail filled with wind compassed about the Martyr as with a certain Wall and he in the middle of the same not as Flesh that burned but as Gold and Silver when it is tried in the fire They smelt also a savour so sweet as if Myrrhe or some other precious Balm had given a scent When they saw that his body could not be consumed by fire one thrust him through with a Sword which being done so great a quantity of blood ran out of his body that the fire was quenched therewith Polycarp going with St. Iohn to a Bath at Ephesus and espying Cerinthus the Heretick in it said Eugiamus ocius c. Let us depart speedily for fear least the Bath wherein the Lords adversary is do fall upon us He so detested Hâ—reticks then when Marcion of his former acquaintance met him at Rome and wondring that he took no notice of him said unto him Dost thou not know me Polycâ—rp Yea said he I know thee well Thou art the eldest Son to the Devil His manner was to stop his ears if at any time he heard the wicked speeches of Heretieks and to â—â—un those very places where such speeches had been uttered He suffered Martyrdome in the seventh year of â—â—rus Anno Christi 170. and of his age 86. Praetorius Arias Praetorius the day before his death dream'd he saw a Coffin carried and asking whose it was he heard this answer That Christ was to be laid in his Sepulcher and that he should speedily follow him When he awaked he concluded his own death was not far off Whereupon he cried out He that followeth Christ walks well not in darkness Jesus be thou merciful to me a miserable sinner and draw me after thy self Prest Prest's Wife being asked by the Bishop of Exeter Whether she had not an Husband She answered That she had an Husband and Children and had them not So long as she was at liberty she refused neither Husband nor Children but now standing here as I do said she in the Cause of Christ and his Truth where I must forsake Christ or my Husband I am contented to stick onely to Christ my heavenly Spouse and renounce the other Here she making mention of the words of Christ He that leaveth not Father or Mother Sister or Brother or Husband c. The Bishop told her That Christ spake that of the holy Martyrs which died because they would not sacrifice to the false gods so said she I will rather die then I will do any worship to that foul Idol which with your Mass you make a god The Bishop telling her That if she had been an honest woman she would not have left her Husband and Children and run about the Countrey like a Fugitive She told him Sir I laboured for my living and as my Master Christ counselleth me When I was persecuted in one City I fled into another When I would have my Husband and Children to leave Idolatry and to worship God in Heaven he with his Children rebuked men and troubled me I fled not for whoredome nor for theft but because I would not be partaker with him and his of that foul Idol the Mass. During a Moneths liberty which was granted her by the Bishop she went into the Cathedral at Exeter and seeing a Dutchman making new Noses to certain fine Images which were disfigured in King Edwards time What a mad man art thou said she to make them new Noses which within a few dayes shall all lose their heads The Dutchman accused her and laid it hard to her charge and she said unto him Thou art accursed and so are thy Images He called her Whore Nay said she thy Images are Whores and thou art a Whore-hunter for doth not God say You go a whoring after strange gods figures of your own making When judgement was given against her she lifted up her voice and said I thank thee my Lord my God this day have I found that I long sought This favour they pretended after her Judgement That
her life should be spared if she would recant Nay that will I not said she God forbid that I should lose the life eternal for this carnal and short life I will never turn from my heavenly Husband to my earthly Husband from the fellowship of Angels to mortal Children and if my Husband and Children be faithfull then am I theirs God is my Father God is my Mother God is my Sister my Brother my Kinsman God is my friend most faithfull After her Condemnation she refused to receive my money from well affected people saying I am going to a City where money beareth no mastery Whilst I am here God hath promised to feed me When she was brought to the Stake without the â—alls of Exeter in a place called So then hay in the â—roneth of November 1558. the Priests again asâ—â—ulted her but she prayed them to have no more â—alk with her and cried still God be mercifull to 〈◊〉 a sinner God be mercifull to me a sinner This Agnes Priest or Prest was the sole Devonshire Martyr saith Dr. Fuller under the reign of Queen Mary Wherefore as those Parents which have but one Child may afford it the better attendance as more at leisure So seeing by Gods goodness we have but this single Native of this Countrey yea of this Diocess we will enlarge c. 1 Her Christian Name which Mr. Fox could not learn â—e have recovered from another excellent Author Mr. Vowell in Hollingshead pag. 1309. 2 I am informed by the Inhabitants thereabout that she lived at Northcot in the Parish of Boynton in the County of Cornwall c. 3 She was a simple woman to behold thick but liltle and short in staâ—â—re about Four and fifty years of age 4 She was endited on Munday the fourth week in Lent An. Phil. Mar. 2. and 3. before W. Stanford Iustice of the Assize So that we may observe more legal formality was used about the condemnation of this poor woman then any Martyr of far greater degree 5 Her own Husband and Children were her greatest Persecutors from whom she fled because they would force her to be present at Mass. 6 She was condemned by Bishop Troublefield Bishop of Exeter c. yea she was the onely person in whose persecution Bishop Troublefield did appear and it is justly conceived that Blackstone his Chancellour was more active then the Bishop in procuring her death Potten Agnes Potten of Ipswich in a night a little before her death being asleep in her bed saw a bright burning fire right up as a Pole and on the side thereof she thought there stood a number of Queen Mary's Friends looking on then being asleep she seemed to muse with her self whether her fire should burn so bright or no. And indeed her suffering was not far unlike her dream At the Stake she and Ioan Trunchfield who sufferred with her required the people to credit and to lay hold on the Word of God and not upon mans devices and inventions and to despise the Ordinances and Institutions of the Romish Antichrist with all his superstitious and rotten Religion Pusices Shut thine eyes but a while said Pusices to an old man trembling at Martyrdome and thou shalt see Gods Light R. Rabeck Iâ—hn Rabeck a French Martyr being urged to pronounce Iesu Maria conjoyned in one Prayer boldly answered That if his Tongue should but offer to utter those words at their bidding he himself would bite it asunder with his Teeth Ramus The great crime that the Sorbonists objected against Peter Ramus and for which he suffered much was That by opposing Aristotle he enervated Divinity Whence we may see what a Divinity they were for who made Aristotle the great Master thereof who laughs at the Creation of the World Divine Providence and the Immortality of the Soul and slighting Life eternal placed the happiness of man in this mortal Life onely and left nothing for man after death then to have it said He was happy in a word who defined humane felicity from mans ability and not from divine grace In his adverse condition he would comfort himself with the following Verses 1. Committe vitam rem decus Dei unius arbitrio Animi tibi ex sententia Confecta reddet omnia Illustris aurorae ut jubar Tua faciet ul sit aquitas Ut luce virtus sit tuaâ— Meridiana clarior In English thus Commit to God life wealth and name And what thou wilt shalt have the same Thy righteousness shall shine more clear Then the light of the morning 〈◊〉 2. Deus â—abit his quoque finemâ— Durate ut vosâ—â—t rebus servate secundis These shall not want an end Bear up and wait till Gâ—d doth better send That which he first disliked in Popery was their execrable idolatry in corrupting the second Commandment and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper When in the Possiac Synod he heard the Cardinaâ— of Lorain acknowledge That the first of the fifteetâ— Centuries since Christ was a truly golden Age but the rest were so much the worse by how much they farther departed from the first Peter Ramus concluded That the Age of Christ and his Apostles was to be restored and chosen When the Civil Wars brake forth in France for Religion he went into Germany and at Heidelberg having made to Tremellius and the Church a Confession of his Faith he received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in that Church After his conversion he daily did read the Old and New Testament and out of each Chapter collected an Index containing Rules and Examples relating to both the parts of Christian Doctrine viz. Faith and the Actions of Faith and so made his Commentaries and certainly he had made much greater progress in Divinity had he not been so soon not much above two years after his conversion taken away by a violent death When in that horrid Massacre at Paris begun Aug. 24. 1572. he was mortally wounded Aug. 26. in the seven and fiftieth year of his age he was heard to commend his soul to God in these words O Iehovah against thee onely have I sinned and done evil before thee Thy judgements are truth and righteousness Have mercy upon and pardon my Murtherers for they know not what they do Read Some of the Articles that were exhibited against Adam Read and other Scotch Confessors were these following 1 That Images are not to be had in the Kirk nor to be worshipped 4 That it is not lawfull to fight for the Faith nor to defend the Faith by the Sword if we be not driven to it by necessity which is above all Law 12 That the Pope is not the Successor of Peter but where he said Go behind me Satan 17 That the Pope exalts himself against God and above God 19 That the blessings of the Bishops of dumb Dogs they should have been stiled are of no value 20 That the excommunication of the Kirk is not to be feared if there be no