them Go to them said she and say these words from me Tanquam ovis i. e. just like a sheep to the slaughter At her departing from Woodstock she wrote these Verses with her Diamond in a Glaâ—â— Window Much suspected by me Nothing proved can be Qâ—oth Elizabeth Prisoner When a Popish Priest press'd her hard to declare her Opinion of Christs Presence in the Sacrament she truly and warily answered him thus T was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did mâ—ke it That I believe and take it Esch. Iohn Esch and Henry Voes burnt at â—ruxels 152 â— being asked what they believed they said The Books of the Old and New Testmant And being asked whether they believed the Decrees of the Councils and the Fathers they said Such aâ— agreed to the Scriptures they believed and being asked whether it were any deadly sin to transgress the Decrees of the Bishop of Româ— they said That it is to be attributed onely to the Precepâ— of God to bind the Conscience of man or to lose it Being condemned they gave thanks to God their Heavenly Father which had delivered them through his great Goodness from that false and abominable Priesthood they having been Augustine Friers and made them Priests of his Holy Order receiving them unto him as a Sacrifice of â—â— sweet Odour The greatest Errour that they were accused of was that men ought to trust onely in God forasmuch as men were lyars and deceitful in all their words and deeds and therefore there ought no trust or asfiance to be put in them The day of their Execution said they the day we have long desired One of them feeing that the fire was kind led at his feet said Methinks you do strow Roses under my feet Eulalia The Virgin Eulalia of Emerita in Portugal having secretly got out of her Fathers house where she was kept close for fear least she should offer her self to Martyrdome went couragiously unto the Tribunal or Judgement-seat and in the midst of them all cried out Would you know what I am Behold I am one of the Christians an enemy to your Divelish Sacrifices I spurn your Idols under my feet I confess God omnipotent with my heart and mouth Go to thou Hangman burn cut mangle thou these earthly Members it is an easie matter to break a brittle substance but the inward mind thou shalt not hurt for any thing thou canst do The Judge endeavouring to perswade her to recant saying Behold what pleasures thou mayest enjoy by the Honourable House thou camest of What! wilt thou kill thy self so young a flower she being not much above twelve years of age and so near those Honourable Marriages and great Dowries thou mayest enjoy Eulalia did not answer him but being in a great fury spit in the Tyrants face threw down the Idols and spurnt abroad with her feet â—he heap of Incense prepared for the Censers When one joint was pulled from another she said Behold O Lord I will noâ— forget thee what a pleasure is it for them 〈◊〉 Christ that remember thy triumphant Victorieâ— to attain unto these high dignities F. Fabrianus First better said Christopher Fabrianus the sweet First the Battel the Victory when I 〈◊〉 dead Every drop of my blood shall preach Christ and set forth his Praise Faninus Faninus an Italian kissed the Apparitor thaâ— brought him word of his Execution To one reminding him of his Children he said I have lest them to an able and faithful Guardian To his Friends weeping he said That is weâ—â— done that you weep for joy with me To one objecting Christs agony and sadness tâ— his chearfulness Yea said he Christ was sad thaâ— I might be merry He had my sins and I have 〈◊〉 merits and righteousness To the Friers offering him a woodden Crucifâ—â— he said Christ needs not the help of this Piece 〈◊〉 imprint him in my mind and heart where he haâ—â— his Habitation Farellus Mr. William Farellus being questioned by 〈◊〉 Magistrates of Metis by what Authority or 〈◊〉 whose request he preached answered By 〈◊〉 Command of Christ and at the request of hâ—â— Members Farrar Mr. Richard Iones coming to Dr. Robert Farraâ— Bishop of St. David a little before his death aâ—â— seeming to lament the painfulness of the death he was to suffer the Bishop said to him That if he saw him once to stir in the pains of his Burning he should then give no credit to his Doctrine Accordingly he never moved but even as he stood holding up his stumps so he continued still till Richard Gravell with a staffe dashed him upon the head and so strook him down Filicu Iohn Filicul and Iulian Lâ—ville who suffered in France being threatned if they constantly persisted to be burnt alive and to have their tongues cut out or otherwise onely to be strangled and to have the use of their tongues contemned the offer saying You would fain have us renounce our God for saving our selves from a little pain but it shall not be so and looking one upon another said We are ready not onely to lose one or two of our Members but the whole Body and to be burned and burned again in the defence of the Truth When the time of their execution came the Officer put into their hands being tyed a Wooden Cross which they flung away with their teeth saying That they were now to bear a more noble and excellent Cross then that When their tongues were cut God gave them utterance insomuch that they were heard to say We bid Sin the Flesh the World farewel for ever with whom we shall never have to do hereafter At last when the Tormenter came to smear them with Brimstone and Gunpowder Go to said Filiolus salt on salt on the rotten and stinking flesh Fillula By these Ladders said Iohn Fillula to his Fellows we ascend the Heavens now begin we to trample under feet Sin the World the Flesh and the Devil Filmer Henry Filmer said to Person and Testwood his fellow Martyrs Be merry my Brethren and lift up your hands to God for after this sharp break-fast I trust we shall have a good dinner in the Kingdom of Christ our Lord and Redeemer Flower William Flower alias Branch being told his death was near said I hunger for the same dear Friend being fully ascertain'd that they can kill but the body which I am assured shall receive again life everlasting and see death no more Bishop Bonner perswaded him to recant promising him thereupon great things he answered That which I have said I will stand to and therefore I require that the Law may proceed upon me At another time Do what you will I am at 〈◊〉 point for the Heavens shall as soon fall as I will forsake mine opinion In his Prayer Have mercy upon me for thy dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christs sake in whom I confess onely to be
be denied being granted 1 That the most ancient Councils â—ighest to the Primitive Church in which the learned and godly Fathers examined all matters by Gods Word may be holden of most authority 2 That no determination of Councils or man be admitted against the plain verity of Gods Word nor against the determination of those four chief Councils c. 3 That to no Doctor be given greater authority then Augustine required to be given to his Writings viz. If he plainly prove not his affirmation by Gods infallible Word that then his Sentence be rejected and imputed to the errour of a man To the Commonalty of Scotland I am most assuredly perswaded that whatsoever is used in the Papistical Church is altogether repugnant to Christs blessed Ordinance and is nothing but mortal venome of which whosoever drinketh therewith he drinketh death and damnation except by true conversion unto God he be purged from the same It will be said That it is unreasonable that ye should call your Religion in doubt which hath been approved and established by so long continuance and by the consent of so many men before you But I shortly answer That neither is the long continuance of time neither the multitude of men a sufficient approbation which God will allow for our Religion For as some of the Ancients witness neither can long process of time justifie an errour nor can the multitude of such as follow it change the nature of the same but if it was an errour in the beginning so it is in the end and the longer that it be followed and the more that do receive it it is the more pestilent and the more to be avoided If Antiquity or Multitude of men could justifie any Religion then was the idolatry of the Gentiles and now is the abomination of the Turks good Religion for antiquity approved the one and a multitude have received and do defend the other But otherwise to answer Godlâ— men may wonder from what Fountain such a Sentence doth flow that no man ought to try his Faith and Religion by Gods Word but he may safely believe and follow every thing which Antiquity and Multitude have approved The Spirit of God doth otherwise teach us Search the Scriptures c. The Bareans are commended for trying the Apostles Doctrine by Gods plain Scriptures Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits c. Whoso doth evil hateth the light neither will he come to the light lest that his works be manifested and rebuked Truth being of the nature of fine purified Gold doth not fear the trial of the Furnace but the stubble and chaffe of mens inventions such is their Religion may not abide the flame of the fire Seeing Religion is to man as the stomack to the body which if it be corrupted doth infect all the members it is necessary that the same be examined and if it be found replenished with pestilent humours I mean with the fancies of men then of necessity it is that those be purged else shall your bodies and souls perish for ever A corrupt Religion defileth the whole life of man appear it never so holy Neither would I that ye should esteem the reformation and care of Religion less to appertain to you because you are no Kings Rulers Iudges Nobles nor in Authority To believe and receive the Gospel the Commonalty are no less bound then be their Rulers and Princes As your bodies cannot escape corporal death if with your Princes ye eat re drink deadly poyson although it be by ignorance or negligence so shall ye not escape the everlasting if with them ye proâ—ess a corrupt Religion As the just liveth by his own faith so doth the unfaithful perish by his own infidelity If ye look for the life everlasting you must try if ye stand in the faith and if ye would be assured of a true and lively faith you must needs have Christ truly preached unto you When the Tabernacle was built and set in order God provided how it and the things pertaining to the same should be sustained so that they should not fall in decay and this provision albeit Heaven and Earth obey his Empire would he not take from the secret and hid treasures which lie dispersed in the veins of the Earth neither yet would he take it onely from the rich and potent of the people but the rich should give no more for that use then the poor nor the poor less then the rich If this equality was commanded by God for the maintenance of that transitory Tabernacle which was but a shadow of a better to come is not the same required of us who have the Verity which is Christ Jesus He being clad in our nature is Immanuel i. e. God with us And for the more assurance of his promise of being with us c. he hath erected among us the signs of his own presence with us the true preaching of his Word and right administration of the Sacraments his spiritual Tabernacle to the maintenance whereof is no less bound the Subject then the Prince the poor then the rich As the one is obliged to believe in heart and with mouth to confess the Lord Iesus so also is the other The poorest that in the dayes of this cruel persecution believeth in Christ and boldly doth confess him before this wicked generation is no less acceptable before God then is the King that by his Sword and Power rooteth out Idolatry and so advanceth Christs Glory From Geneva Iuly 4. 1558. Afterwards Mr. Knox called back again into Scotland by some Lords c. but a stop being for a while put upon his return he writ from Diep Octob. 27. 1557. having left Geneva In his Letter If any perswade you for fear of dangers that may follow to faint in your former purpose let him be judged of you both foolish and your mortal enemy foolish because he understood nothing of Gods approved wisdome and enemy unto you because he laboured to separate you from Gods favour provoking his vengeance and grievous plagues against you because he would that you should prefer your worldly rest to Gods praise and glory and the friendship of the wicked to the salvation of your Brethren I am not ignorant that fearful troubles shall ensue your enterprise But O joyful and comfortable are the troubles and adversities which man sustaineth for accomplishment of Gods Will revealed by his Word How terrible soever they appear to the judgement of the natural man yet are they never able to devour nor utterly to consume the Sufferers for the invisible and invincible power of God sustaineth and preserveth according to his promise all such as with simplicity do obey him When the Bishop of Saint Andrews threatned Mr. Knox that if he preached there as he intended he should be assaulted with a dozen of Culverings Being demanded his judgement whether his preaching should not be delayed answered God is
to die then to do any ungodliness 2 We must obey our Parents and be careful for our Houses that they be fed not onely with bodily food but much rather with spiritual food the Word of God 3 Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye likewise unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets 4 Pray for all Estates 5 After these works we must learn to know the Cross and 6 What affection and mind we must bear towards our enemies whatsoever they be to suffer all evils patiently to pray for them that persecute us And thus doing we shall obtain a certainty of our vocation that we be the elect Children of God And thus I commend you Brethren unto God and to the Word of his grace which is able to â—uild farther c beseeching you to help Mr. Saunders and me your late Pastors and all them that be in bonds for the Gospels sake with your Prayers to God for us that we may be delivered from unreasonable men c. and that this our imprisonment may be to the glory and profit of our Christian Brethren in this world and that Christ may be magnified in our bodies whether it be by death or life Amen The grace of our Lord be with you all The unprofitable Servant of Iesus Christ and now also his Prisoner G. M. Iune 28. 1555. Postscript Save your selves from this untoward generation Pray pray pray Never more need In his Letter to his Friends at Manchester These are earnestly to exhort you and beseech you in Christ as ye have received the Lord Iesus even so to walk rooted in him and not to be afraid of any terrour of your adversaries be they never so many and mighty and you on the other side never so few and weak for the battel is the Lords As I was with Moses so will I be with thee saith God and will never leave thee nor forsake thee Be strong and bold neither fear nor dread for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest Now if God be â—n our side who can be against us In this our spiritual warfare is no man overcome unless he traiterously leave and forsake his Captain or cowardly cast away his Weapons or willingly yield himself unto his Enemies or fearfully turn his back and flie Be strong therefore in the Lord and in the power of his might and put on all the armour of God that ye may be able to stand stedfâ—st against all the assaults of Satan If we submit our selves to God and his holy Word no man shall be able to hurt us God will deliver us from all troubles yea from death also till such time as we covet and desire to die as he did Paul c. Let us therefore run with patience unto the battel that is set before us and look unto Iesus the Captain and Finisher of our Faith and after his example for the rewards sake that is set out unto us patiently to bear the Cross and despise the shame All that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution Christ was no sooner Baptized and declared to the world to be the Son of God but Satan was by and by ready to tempt him which thing we must look for also yea the more we shall increase our faith and vertuous living the more strongly will Satan assault us whom we must learn after the example of Christ to fight against and overcome with the Holy and Sacred Scriptures c. and let the fasting of Christ when he was tempted in the Wilderness be an example unto us of our sober living not for the space of fourty dayes as the Papists do fondly fancy of their own brains but us long as we are in the Wilderness of this wretched life assaulted of Satan who like a roaring Lion c. It is the nature and property of the Devil alwayes to hurt and do mischief if God do not forbid Indeed if God will not permit him he cannot so much as enter into a filthy Hog c. Let us knowing Satans deceits and rankor walk the more warily and take unto us the shield of faith c. Let us fast and pray continually c. To fasting and prayer must be joyned mercy to the poor and needy c. Let us go boldly to the seat of grace where we shall be sure to find grace and mercy to help in time of need Wherefore my dear Brethren be ye fervent in the Law of God and jeopard ye your lives if need shall require for the testament of the Fathers and so shall ye receive great honour and an everlasting name Remember Abraham was not he found faithful in temptation and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness Ioseph in time of his trouble kept the Commandment and was made a Lord of Egypt Phineas was so fervent for the honour of God that he obtained the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood Ioshua for the fulfilling of the Word of God was made the Captain of Israel Caleb bare record before the Congregation and received an Inheritance David also in his merciful kindness obtained the Throne of an everlasting Kingdome Elias being zealous and fervent in the Law was taken up into Heaven The three Children remained stedfast in the Faith and were delivered out of the fire and Daniel from the mouth of the Lions Thus whoever put their trust in the Lord were not overcome Fear not ye then the words of ungodly men for their glory is but dung and worms to day they are set up and to morrow they are gone they are turned into earth and their memorial cometh to nought Wherefore let us take good hearts unto us and quit our selves like men in the Law c. Let us not faint because of affliction wherewith God trieth all them that are sealed to everlasting life c. Seeing we are in the narrow and strait way that leadeth unto the mâ—st joyful and pleasant City of everlasting life let us not stagger or turn back being afraid of the perilous way but follow our Captain Christ therein and be afraid no not of death it self Consider also the course of this world how many for their Master's sake or a little promotions sake will adventure their lives as commonly in Wars and yet is their reward but light and transitory and ours is unspeakably great and everlasting They suffer pains to be made Lords on Earth for a short season how much more ought we to endure it may be much less pains to be made Kings in Heaven for evermore Seeing Brethren it hath pleased God to set me and that worthy Minister of Christ Iohn Bradford your Countreyman in the forefront of this Battel where for the time is most danger I beseech you all in the bowels of Christ to help us and all our fellow Souldiers standing in like perilous place with your Prayers to God for us that we may quit our selves like men in the Lord and
hear me patiently seeing I am appointed to die and look daily when I shall be called to come before the eternal Judge and therefore you cannot think but that I onely study to serve my Lord God and to say that thing which I am perswaded assuredly by Gods Word shall and doth please him and profit all to whom God shall give grace to hear and believe what I do say If the Popes supremacy be necessary to salvation to be owned How chanced it that ye were all my Lords so light as for your Princes pleasures H. 8. and E. 6. which were but mortal men to forsake the Unity of your Catholick Faith i. e. to forsake Christ and his Gospel How chanced it also that ye and the whole Parliament did not onely abolish and expell the Bishop of Rome but also did abjure him in your own persons and did decree in your Acts great Oaths to be taken for that purpose On the other side if the Law and Decree which maketh the supremacy of the See and Bishop of Rome over the universal Church of Christ be a thing of necessity required unto salvation by an Antichristian Law as it is indeed then my Lords never think other but the day shall come when ye shall be charged with this your undoing that which once ye had well done and with this your perjury and breach of your Oath which Oath was done in judgement justice and truth agreeable to Gods Law The Whore of Babylon may for a time dally with you and make you so drunken with the wine of her filthy stews and whoredomes as with her dispensations and promises of pardon a poena culpa that you may think your selves safe but be ye assured when the Living Lord shall try the matter by fire and judge it according to his Word unless ye repent without all doubt ye shall never escape the hands of the Living God for the guilt of your perjury and breach of your Oath then shall ye drink of the Cup of the Lords indignation and everlasting wrath which is prepared for the Beast his false Prophets and all their partakers For he that is partner with them in their whoredomes and abominations must also be partner with them in their plagues and be thrown with them into the Lake burning with brimstone and unquenchable fire In his Letter to the Prisoners c. and Exiles For the fervent love that the Apostles had unto their Master Christ and for the great commodities and increase of all godliness which they felt by their faith to ensue of afflictions in Christs Cause And thirdly For the heaps of heavenly joyes which the same do get unto the godly which shall endure in Heaven for evermore for these causes they rejoyced that they were accounted worthy to suffer contumelies and rebukes for Christs Name And Paul was so much in love in that which the carnal man loatheth so much i. e. with Christs Cross that he judged himself to know nothing else but Christ crucified he gloried in nothing else but Christs Cross. Why should we Christians fear death Can death deprive us of Christ who is all our comfort our joy and our life Nay forsooth But on the contrary Death shall deliver us from this mortal body which loadeth and beareth down the Spirit that it cannot so well perceive heavenly things in the which so long as we dwell we are absent from the Lord. And who that hath a right knowledge of Christ our Saviour that he is the eternal Son of God life light the wisdome of the Father all goodness all righteousness and whatsoever heart can desire yea infinite plenty of all these above that that mans heart can conceive or imagine for in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily and also that he is given us of the Father and made of God to be our wisdome our righteousness our holiness and our redemption who I say is that believeth this indeed that would not gladly be with his Master Christ To die in the defence of Christs Gospel is our bounden duty to Christ and also to our neighbour to Christ for he died for us and rose that he might be Lord of all and seeing he died for us we also saith St. Iohn 1 Ioh. 3. should jeopard yea give our life for the Brethren Farewell dear Brethren farewell and let us comfort our hearts in all troubles and in death with the Word of God for Heaven and Earth shall perish but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever In his Lamentation for the change of Religion in England Of late in every Congregation throughout all England was made Prayer and Petition unto God to be delivered from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities from all false doctrine and heresie and now alas Satan hath perswaded England by his falâ—hood and craft to revoke her old godly prayer c. This is one maxime and principle in Christs Law He that denieth Christ before men him shall Christ deny before his Father and all his holy Angels in Heaven Now then seeing the doctrine of Antichrist is returned again into this Realm and the higher Powers alas are so deceived and bewitched that they are perswaded it to be Truth and Christs true Doctrine to be errour and heresie and the old Laws of Anticrist are allowed to return with the power of their Father again What can be hereafter looked for of Christians abiding in this Realm but extreme violence of death or else to deny their Master Therefore prepare and arm thy self to die for both by Antichrists accustomable Laws and Scripture Prophesies there is no likelyhood of any other thing except thou wilt deny thy Master Christ which is the loss at the last of body and soul unto everlasting death My counsel to such as are yet at liberty is to flie from the plague and get them hence I consider not onely the subtilties of Satan and how he is like to deceive it it were possible even the chosen of God and also the great frailty which is oftentimes more in a man then he doth know in himself and which in the time of temptation will utter it self but also the examples of Christ Paul Elias c. and Christ saith When they persecute you in one City flie unto another Truly before God I think that the abomination that Daniel prophesied of so long before is now set up in the holy Place the Doctrine of Antichrist his Laws Rites and Religion contrary to Christ and to the true serving and worshipping of God I understand to be that abominition therefore now is the time in England for those words of Christ Then saith Christ they that be in Jewry let them flie into the Mountains then saith he mark this then for truly I am perswaded and I trust by the Spirit of God that this then is commanded By those in Iewry I understand such who truly confess one Living God and the
the Scripture to be altered When the Emperour threatned to banish him c. if he obeyed not he said Those Bug-bears were to be propounded to Children but for his part though they might take away his life yet they could not hinder him from professing the Truth When Modestus the Praefect asked him Know you not who we are that command it No body said Basil whilst you command such things Know ye not said the Praefect that we have Honours to bestow upon you They are but changeable said Basil like your selves Hereupon he threatned to confiscate his Goods to torment him to banish him or kill him he answered He need not fear confiscation that had nothing to lose nor banishment to whom Heaven onely is a Countrey nor torments when his body would be dash'd with one blow nor death which is the onely way to set him at liberty The Praefect telling him he was Mad he said Opto me in aeâ—â—ernum sic delirare I wish I may for ever be thus Mad. The Praefect another time threatning him with death he said Would it would fall out so well on my side that I might lay down this carkass of mine in the quarrel of Christ and in the defence oâ— his Truth who is my Head and Captain The Praefect desiring that he would not by rashly answering throw himself away offered him a day and night to consider further of it but Basil said I have no need to take further counsel about this matter Look what I am to day the same thou shalt find me to morrow but I pray God that thou change not thy mind Benden Alice Benden when she was in Prison at Canterbury agreed with a fellow Prisoner to live both of them with two pence half penny a day to try thereby how well they could sustain penury and hunger before they were put to it At her first coming into the Bishops Prison she was much troubled and expostulated why her Lord did suffer her to be sequestred from her loving Fellowes in so extreme misery But was comforted by these words Why arâ— thou so heavy O my soul The right hand of the Lord can change all At the stake she took forth a shilling of Philip and Mary which her father had bowedâ— and sent her when she was first in Prison desiring her Brother there present to return the same to her Father again that he might understand she never lacked money whilst she lay in Prison Bennet Mr. Thomas â—ennet a School-master in Exceter being press't by a Doctour a Gray Frier to recant for putting upon the doors of the Cathedral in Schedules That the Pope is Antichrist and that we ought to worship God onely and not the Saints said I take God to record my life is not dear to me I am weary of it seeing your detestable doings to the utter destruction of Gods flock so that I desire death that I may no longer be partaker of your detestable idolatries and superstitions or be subject unto Antichrist your Pope Away from me I pray you vex my soul no longer ye shall not prevail If I should hear and follow you this day everlasting death should hang over me a just reward for them that prefer the life of this world before life eternal Berger Peter Berger burnt at Lions 155â— beholding the multitude at the stake said Great is the Harvest Lord send Labourers I see the heavens open to receive me Bâ—tken When she was brought to the Rack she said My Masters wherefore will you put me to this torture seeing I have no way offended you Is it for my Faith's sake you need not torment me for that for as I was never ashamed to make confession thereof no more will I be now at this present before you I will freely shew you my mind therein But for all 〈◊〉 when they proceeded on with what they inteâ—â—â—â— Alas my Masters said she If it be so that I must suffer this pain then give me leave first to call upon God Her request they granted whilst she waâ— praying one of the Commissioners was so surâ—â—â—â— with fear and terrour that by and by he swoâ—â—â— â—nd could not be fetcht again and so she escaâ—â—â— the torture Bilney Mr. Thomas Bilney in a Letter to Dr. Tonstal Bishop of London he gives this account of his conversion The woman which was twelve years vexed with the bloudy Flux had consumed all that she had upon Physicians and yet was still worse and worse untill such time as she came to Christ and after she had once touched the hem of his vesture through faith she was healed O mighty power of the most High which I also most miserable sinner have often tasted and felt Before I came to Christ I had likewise spent all I had upon ignorant Physicians They appointed me Fastings Watchings buying of Pardons and Masses c. But at last I heard speak of Jesus even then when the New Testament was first set out by Erasmuâ— At first I was allured to read rather for the Latine having heard it was eloquently done then for the Word of God At the first reading I hit upon this sentence of St. Paul O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul in 1 Tim. 1. It is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief This sentence through Gods instruction and inward working did so exhilarate my heart being before wounded with the guilt of my sins insomuch that my bruised bones leapt for joy After this the Scripture began to be more pleasant to me then the honey or the honey-comb Therein I learned that all my Travels all my Fasting and Watching all the redemption of Masses and Pardons without faith in Christ were but a hasty and swift running out of the right way or else much like the vesture made of Fig-leaves wherewithall Adam and Eve went about in vain to cover their nakedness and could never obtain quietness and rest till they believed in the promise of God that Christ the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Neither could I be relieved or eased of the sharp stingings of my sins before I was taught of God that even as Moses exalted the serpent in the Desart so shall the Son of man be exalted that all which believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life As soon as I began to taste and savour this heavenly Lesson which none can teach but God onely I desired the Lord to encrease my faith And at last I desired nothing more then that I being so comforted by him might be strengthened by his holy Spirit and grace from above to teach the wicked his wayes which are mercy and truth that the wicked may be converted unto him by me who sometimes was also wicked Accordingly I did teach and set forth Christ being made for us by God his Father our Wisdome Righteousness
the world We are strangers in this world and citizens of Heaven Ye sons of men why love ye vanities and seek lies how long love you infancy or childhood The godly have most comfort though iâ— this life they be as sheep ordained to be slain and seem forsaken of God c. yet they do not despair no not in death but are sure they shall pass through death to life eternal c. Also they have this comfort that their death is good and precious theâ— also know that through Christs death death is overcome and abolished Christ by his death hath changed their death into a sleep Such as be at the point of death ought to take comfort and be strong in that they know that they carry with them both Letter and Token which is Baptisme whereby their death is incorporate with the death of Christ and that it is not their death so much as the death of Christ. Wherefore let them surely trust that they shall overcome as that death of Christ hath overcome Unto the godly it is a great comfort that they know that death is not in the power of Tyrants nor put into the hand of any Creature least they should be much troubled c. they shall onely die when it pleaseth the Lord. We cannot live any longer then the Lord hath appointed and we shall not die though we be in the greatest peril and extreme jeopardy before our hour Then wherefore should they fear death they cannot live longer then God hath appointed nor die any sooner It is the comfort of the godly in all adversity that through the Grace of God they shall be revived and raised up as well the body as the soul the souls to Justice the bodies to Glory This hope the wicked have not c. It is a great comfort that affliction shall not endure continually and the afflictions of this time are not worthy of the Glory which shall be shewed upon us Our trouble which is but temporal and light worketh an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory unto us who look not on the things that are seen but on them which are not seen If a man praise a very fool saith Mr. Frith in his Preface to his Mirrour and think his wit good and profound he is indeed more fool then the other Thus seeing man praiseth and commends riches honour c. and such other vain and transitory things which are but as a dream and vanish like a flower of the field when a man should have most need of them he himself is more vain then those things which are but vanity If God hath opened the eyes of thy mind saith the Mirrour it self and have given thee Spirit and Wisdome through the knowledge of his Word boast not thy self of it but rather fear and tremble for a chargeable Office is committed unto thee which if thou fulfil it is like to cost thee thy 〈◊〉 at one time or other with much trouble and persâ—â—cution but if thou fulfill it not then shall tâ—â— Office be thy Damnation For St. Paul saith Wâ—â—â— to me if I â—â—each not And by the Propher Ezekâ—â— God saith If I say unto the wicked that he shall die tâ— death and thou shew him not of it the wicked shall 〈◊〉 in his iniquity but I shall require his blood at thy haâ—â—â— But peradventure our Divines would expouâ—â— these Texts onely of them that are sent and haâ—â— cure of souls Whereunto I answer That eveâ— man that hath the light of Gods Word revealed unto him is sent wheresoever he seeth necessity anâ— hath the cure of his Neighbours soul e. g. If Goâ— hath given me my sight and I perceive a blinâ— man going in the way which is ready for lack 〈◊〉 sight to fall into a pit wherein he would likely perish I am bound by Gods Command to guide hiâ— till he be past that jeopardy or else if he perisâ—â— therein his blood shall be required at my handâ— Thus if I perceive my Neighbour like to perish 〈◊〉 lack of Christs Doctrine then am I bound to instruct him with the knowledge God hath given me or else his blood shall be required at my hand Peradventure they will say that there is already one appointed to watch the Pit c. and thereforâ— I am discharged and need take no thought Where unto I answer I would be glad that so it were notwithstanding if I perceive that the Watchmen bâ— asleep or run to the Ale-house c. and through his negligence espie my Neighbour in danger oâ— the Pit then am I nevertheless bound to lead him from it I think that God hath sent me at that time to save that soul from perishing and the Law oâ— God and Nature that bindeth me thereunto which chargeth me to love my Neighbour as my self to do unto him as I would be done unto If God hath given thee riches c. thou art yet the very owner of them but God is the Owner who saith by the Prophet Gold is mine and silver is mine and he hath for a season made thee a Steward of them so see whether thou with be faithful in the distribution of them according to his Commands Our spiritual Possessionaries are double Thieves and Murtherers as concerning the body besides their murthering of the soul for lack of Gods Word which they will neither preach or suffer any other to do it purely but persecute them and put them unto most cruel death First they are Thieves and Murtherers because they distribute not what they have from charitable Forefathers to the intent it should have been ministred unto the Poor but upon Horses Coaches c. gorgeous apparel and delicate fare c. Thus they defraud the Poor of their bread and so are Thieves and because this bread is their life they are Murtherers also Besides they are Thieves and Murtherers for withdrawing their perfect Members from labour whereby they might minister unto their Neighbours necessities I speak of as many as are not occupied about preaching Gods Word Besides these and many other Treatises he wrote also several choice Letters whilest he was Prisoner in the Tower In his Letter to the faithful Followers of Christs Gospel he thus expresseth himself It cannot be express'd Dearly Beloved in the Lord what joy and comfort it is to my heart to perceive how the Word of God hath wrought and continually worketh among you so that I find no small number walking in the wayes of the Lord according as he gave us Commandment willing that we should love each other as he loved us Now have I experience of the faith which is in you and can testifie that it is without simulation that ye love not in word and tongue onely but in deed and truth What can be more trial of a faithful heart then to adventure not onely to aid and succour by the means of other which without danger may not be admitted
when we have done all we be unprofitable servants and faith onely in Christs blood saveth us How many Sacraments are there said he Two said she The one the Sacrament of Baptisme by which I am washed with water and regenerated by the Spirit and that washing is a token to me that I am a child of God the other the Sacrament of the Lords Sâ—pper which offered to me is a sure seal and testimony that I am by the blood of Christ which he shed for me on the Cross made partaker of the everlasting Kingdome There are seven said he By what Scripture said she find you that Well said he we will talk of that hereafter What do you receive in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Do you not receive the very body and blood of Christ No surely said she I believe that the Supper I neither receive flesh nor blood but Bread and Wine which Bread when it is broken and Wine when it is drunken putteth me in remembrance how that for my sins the Body of Christ was broken and his Blood shed on the Cross and with that Bread and Wine I receive the Benefits that come by the breaking of his Body and shedding of his Blood for our sins on the Cross. Why said he doth not Christ speak these words Take eat this is my Body Require you any plainer words Doth he not say it is his Body I grant he saith so said she and so he saith I am the Vine I am the Door and yet is not the Vine or the Door Doth nor St. Paul say He calleth things that are not as though they were When Fecknam took his leave he said That he was sorry for her for I am sure said he that we two shall never meet True it is said she that we shall never meet except God turn your heart for I am assured unless you repent and turn to God you are in an evil case and I pray God in the Bowels of mercy to send you his Holy Spirit In her Letter to her Father Father although it hath pleased God to hasten my death by you by whom my life should rather have been lengthened yet can I so patiently take it as I yield to God more hearty thanks for shortening my woful dayes then if all the world had been given unto my Possessions with life lengthened at my own will Although my death at hand to you seem right woful to me there is nothing that can be more welcome then from this vale of misery to aspire to that heavenly Throne of all joy and pleasure with Christ our Saviour in whose stedfast faith if it be lawful for the Daughter so to write to the Father the Lord that hitherto hath strengthened you so continue you that at last we may meet in Heaven with the Father the Son and the holy Ghost In her Letter to Mr. Harding formerly her Fathers Chaplain and a zealous Preacher of the Gospel but then tnrn'd Papist she writes thus As oft as I call to mind the dreadful and fearful saying of God That he which layeth hold on the Plough and looketh back is not meet for the Kingdome of Heaven and on the other side the comfortable words of our Saviour Christ to those That forsaking themselves do follow him I cannot but marvel at thee and lament thy Case who seemed sometime to be the lively Member of Christ but now the deformed Imp of the Devil sometime the beautiful Temple of God but now the filthy and stinking Kennel of Satan sometime the unspotted Spouse of Christ but now the shameless Paramour of Antichrist sometime my faithful Brother but now a Stranger and an Apostate sometime a stout Christian Souldier but now a cowardly Run-away yea when I consider these things I cannot but cry out upon thee thou seed of Satan and not of Iudah whom the Devil hath deceived the world hath beguiled and the desire of life subverted and made thee of a Christian an Infidel Wherefore hast thou taken the Testament of the Lord in thy mouth Wherefore hast thou instructed others to be strong in Christ when thou thy self dost now so shamefully shrink and so horribly abuse the Testament and the Law of the Lord When thou thy self preachest not to steal yet most abominably stealest not from men but from God and committing most hainous sacriledge robbest Christ thy Lord of his right members thy body and soul and choosest rather to live miserably with shame to the world then to die and gloriously with honour reign with Christ in whom even in death is life Why dost thou now shew thy self most weak when indeed thou oughtest to be most strong The strâ—â—gth of a fort is unknown before the assault but thou yieldest thy hold before any battery be made Oh wretched and unhappy man what art thou but dust and ashes and wilt thou resist thy Maker that fashioned and framed thee Wilt thou now forsake him that called thee from the custome-gathering of the Romish Antichristians to be an Ambassadour and Messenger of his Word He that first framed thee and since thy first Creation and Birth preserved thee nourished and kept thee yea and inspired thee with the Spirit of Knowledge I cannot say of grace shall he not now possess thee Darest thou deliver up thy self to another being not thine own but his How canst thou having knowledge or how darest thou neglect the law of the Lord and follow the vain traditions of men and whereas thou hast been a publick Professor of his Name become now a Defacer of his glory Wilt thou refuse the true God and worship the invention of man the golden Calf the whore of Bâ—bylon the Romish Religion the abominable Idol the most wicked Mass Wilt thou torment again rent and tear the most precâ—ous Body of our Saviour Christ with thy bodily and fleshly teeth Wilt thou take upon thee to offer up any Sacrifice unto God for our sins considering that Christ â—ffâ—red up himself as Pâ—uâ— saith uâ—â—n the Cross a liveâ—y Sacrifice once for all Can neither the punishment of the Israelites which for their Idolatry they oft received nor the terrible threatnings of the Prophets nor the curse of Gods own mouth fear thee to honour any other god then him Dost thou so regard him that spared not his dear and onely-Son for thee so diminishing yea utterly extinguishing his glory that thou wilt attribute the praise and honour due unto him to the Idols which have mouths and speak not eyes and see not ears and hear not whiâ—â—â—â—all perish with them that made thee Confounded be all they that worship them Christ oâ—â—ereth up himself once for all and wilt thou offer him up again daily at thy pleasure But thou wilt say thou dost it for a good intent Oh sink of sin Oh child of perdition Dost thou dream therein of a good intent where thy conscience bears thee witness of Gods threatned wrath against thee How did Saul how for
said Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit In her troubles she writ the following Verse with a pin Non aliena putes homini quae obtingere possunt Sors hodierna mihi tunc erit illa tibi In English thus Think nothing strange which man cannot decline My Lot's to day to merren may le thine Deo juvante nil nocet livor malus Et non juvante nil juvat labor gravis Post tenebras spero lucem In English thus If God protect me malice cannot end me If not all I can do will not defend me After dark night I hope for light H. Haggar He was persecuted for saying A. 1520. that There shouâ—d be a battel of Priests and all the Priests should be slain and that the Priests should a while rule but they should all be destroyed for making of false gods That the men of the Church should be put down and the false gods that they mâ—ke and after that they should know more and then shouâ—d be a merry world Hale When Thomas Hale was taken by an Alderman of Bristow and another he said unto them You have sought my blood these two years and now much good do it you He was burned A. 1557. for saying The Sacrament of the Altar is an Idol Hall Nicholas Hall in his Answer to the first Article against him granted himself a Christian man and acknowledged the determinations of the holy Church i. e. of the Congregation or Body of Christ but denied to call the Catholick and Apostolick Church his Mother because he found not this Word Mother in the Scripture To the second he said That whereas before he held the Sacrament to be but onely a token or remembrance of Christ's death now he said that There is neither token nor remembrance becasue it is now misused and clean turned from Christs institution c. Hallewin Harman When Cornelius Hallewin of Antwerp had received a sharp Letter sent him from the Minister of the Flemish Church upon the occasion of a recantation spread and falsly fathered upon Cornelius the blood gushed out of his nose he spread abroad his arms and made pitiful out-cries What to deny the Truth said he God forbid O that the faithful should conceive so hardly of me Good God thou knowest I am innocent nor have I this way offended When he was condemned to die the Margrave offered him that he should die a more easie kind of death if he would give ear to the Priests which he had brought to him to Prison No Sir said he God forbid I should do such a thing Do ye with my body what ye will As they bound him and Harman of Amsterdam Harman willed the Margrave to take heed what he did for said he this will not go for payment in Gods sight in bereaving us thus of our Lives I wish you therefore to repent before it be too late You cannot long continue this tyrannous course for the Lord will shortly avenge it A Cross being offered them and a promise that they should be beheaded and not burnt if they would take it into their hands they said They would not give the least sign that might be of betraying the Truth and that it was all one to them what death they were put to so they died in and for the Lord. The punishment they said could last but for a while but the glory to come was eternal At the Stake Cornelius fell on his knees praying God to forgive his enemies who had sinned through ignorance When the Margrave of Antwerp offered Halleâ—iâ— and Harmar mitigation of torments upon abjuation We are resolved said they these momentary afflictions are not worthy that exceeding weight of glory that shall be revealed Hallingdale Articles against Iohn Hallingdale 3 That during the reign of King Edward he did depart from his former Faith and Religion and so doth continue and determineth so to do as he saith to his life's end 4 That he hath divers times said That the Faith Religion and Ecclesiastical Service received observed and used now in this Realm is not good but against Gods command c. And that he will not in any wise conform himself to the same â—ut speak and think against it during his natural life 5 That he absenteth himself continually from his Parish Church c. 6 That he will not have his Child by his will as he saith confirmed by the Bishop Unto all which Articles he made this answer that he confessed all and every part to be true He told Bâ—nner that the blood of the Prophets and of the Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth was found in the Babylonical Church which is the Church where the Pope is head Because I will not come to your Babylonical Church therefore you go about to condemn me Being demanded whether he would recant he answered That he would continue and persist in his Opinions to the death When the Sentence was read He openly thanked God that he never came into the Church since the abomination came into it When William Hallywell and the twelve more that were burnt in one Fire at Stratford the how near London were condemned and carried down thither to be burnt they were divided into two parts in two several Chambers Thereupon the Sheriffe came to the one part and told them That the other had recanted and their lives therefore should be saved willing and exhorting them to do the like and not to cast away themselves unto whom they answered That their Faith was not built on man but on Christ crucified Then the Sheriffe went to the other part and said the like to them but they answered as their Brethren had done before That their Faith was not built on man but on Christ and his Word Hamelin Mr. Philibert Hamelin of Tournay refusing offers of escape out of Prison said I esteem it altogetder unleseeming for a man that is called to preach Gods Word unto others to run away and to break Prison for fear of danger but rather to maintain the Truth taught even in the midst of the flaming fire After Sentence of death was past upon him he eat his meat as joyfully as though he had been in no danger speaking to them of the happiness of eternal life evidencing that A good conscience is a continual feast When he was apprehended there was apprehended with him his Host whom he thought he had converted but afterward he renounced Christ and his Word Whereupon he said unto him O unhaâ—py and more then miserable Is it possible for you to be so foolish as for the sâ—ving of a few dayes which you have â—o â—â—ve by the course of nature so to start away and deny the Truth Know you therefore that although you have by your folishness avoided the corporal fire yet your life shall be never the longer for you shall die before me and God shall not give you the grace that it shall
testifie before Gods enemies Gods Truth May 6. 1554. Yours and with you unto death in Christ J. H. In his Letter to his Wife As the Devil hath entred into their hearts that they themselves cannot or will not come to Christ to be instructed by his holy Word so can they not abide any others to become Christians and lead their lives after the Word of God but hate persecute rob imprison and kill them whether male or female though they have never offended Gods or Mans Law yea though they daily pray for them and wish them Gods grace having no respect to nature The Brother persecuteth the Brother the Father the Son and most dear Friends are become most mortal Enemies And no marvel for they have chosen sundry Masters the one the Devil the other God The one agree with the other as God and the Devil agree between themselves As he that was born after the flesh persecuted in times pâ—st him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now Therefore forasmuch as we live in this life amongst so many great perils and dangers the onely remedy is what Christ hath appointed Ye shall possess your selves in patience When troubles come we must be patient and in no case violently nor seditiously to resist our persecutors because God hath such care of us that he will keep in the midst of all troubles the very hairs of our heads c. And seeing he hath such care of the hairs of our heads how much more doth he care for our life it self Their cruelty hath no farther power then God permitteth and that which cometh unto us by the will of our heavenly Father can be no harm loss destruction to us but rather gain wealth and felicity That the spirit of man may feel these consolations the giver of them the heavenly Father must be prayed unto for the merits of Christs Passion for it is not the nature of man that can be contented until it be regenerated and possessed with Gods Spirit to bear patiently the troubles of mind or body When the mind of man sees troubles on every side threatning poverty yea death except the man weigh these brittle and uncertain treasures that be taken from him with the riches of the life to come and this life of the body with the life in Christs blood and so for the love and certainty of the heavenly joyes contemn all things present doubtless he shall never be able to bear the loss of goods and life The Christian mans faith must be alwayes upon the resurrection of Christ when he is in trouble and in that glorious resurrection he shall see continual joy yea victory and triumph over all persecution trouble sin death hell the Devil and all other persecutors the tears and weepings of the faithful dried up their wounds healed their bodies made immortal in joy their souls for ever praising the Lord in conjuction and society everlasting with the blessed company of Gods Elect in perpetual joy If ye le risen with Christ seek the things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father When he biddeth us seek the things that are above he requireth that our minds never cease from prayer and study in Gods Word until we see know and understand the vanities of this world the shortness and misery of this life and the treasures of the world to come the immortality thereof the joyes of that life and so never cease seeking until such time as we know certainly and be perswaded what a blessed man he is that seeketh the one and findeth it and careth not for the other though he lose it and in seeking to have right judgement between the life present and the life to come we shall find how little the pains imprisonment slanders lies and death it self is in the world in respect of pains everlasting the Prison infernal and Dungeon of Hell the Sentence of Gods Judgement and everlasting Death When a man hath by seeking the Word of God found out what the things above be then must he set his affections upon them And this Command is more hard then the other for for mans knowledge many times sees the best men know that there is a life to come better then this present c. Yet they set not their affection upon it they do more affect and love indeed a trifle of nothing in this world that pleaseth their affection then the treasure of all treasures in Heaven We must set our affections on things above i. e. when any thing worse then Heaven offereth it self to be ours if we will give our good wills to it and love it in our hearts then ought we to see by the judgement of Gods Word whether we may have it without Gods displeasure if we cannot if the riches of this world may not be gotten nor kept by Gods Law neither our lives continued without the denial of his honour we must set our affections upon the riches and life that is above and not upon things that be upon the earth This second Command requires that as our mind judgeth Heavenly things to be better then Earthly and the life to come better then the present life so we should chuse them before other and prefer them c. These things be easie to be spoken of but not so easie to be used and practised Read Psa. 88. wherein is contained the prayer of a man that being vexed with Adversaries and persecutions saw nothing but death and hell apprehending not onely man but God angry with him yet he by Prayer humbly resorted unto God and put the hope of his salvation in him whom he felt his enemy In this Command possess your lives by your patience God requires every one to be patient he saith not It is sufficient that other holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Evangelists and Martyrs continued their lives in patient suffering the troubles of this world but Christ saith it to every one of his people By your patience continue you your life not that man hath patience in himself but that he must have it for himself of God the onely Giver of it if he purpose to be a godly man Besides as our Profession and Religion requireth patience outwardly without resistance and force so requireth it patience of the mind and not to be angry with God although he use us that be his own creatures as him listeth We may not murmure against God but say alwayes his Judgements be right and just and rejoyce that it pleaseth him to use us as he used heretofore such as he most loved in this world Have a singular care to this command be glad and rejoyce c. he sheweth great cause why because your reward is great in Heaven Christ also takes from us all shame and rebuke as though it were not an honour to suffer for him because the wicked world doth curse and abhor such poor troubled Christians He placeth all
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
the truth and consenting to the lies of Antichrist through his seduction and through fear or through hope of confederacy forgetting of worldly honour I rejoyced to perceive your mind now to give over the vanity and painful service of this present world and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ quietly at home whom to serve is to reign as Gregory saith whom he that serveth faithfully hath Jesus Christ himself in the Kingdome of Heaven to minister unto him as himself saith Blessed is that Servant whom when the Lord shall come he shall find waking and so doing Verily I say unto you that he rising shall gird himself and shall minister unto him This do not the Kings of the world to their Servants In another Letter As touching death God doth know why he doth defer it both to me and to my well beloved Brother Mr. Ierome who I trust will do holily and without blame and do know also that now he suffereth more valiantly then I my self a wretched sinner God hath given us a long time that we may call to mind our sins the better and repent for the same more fervently He hath granted us time that our long and great temptation should put away our grievous sins and bring the more consolation He hath given us time wherein we should remember the horrible rebukes of our merciful King and Lord Jesus and should ponder his cruel death and so more patiently may learn to bear our afflictions And moreover that we might keep in remembrance how the joyes of the life to come are not given after the joyes of this world immediately but through many tribulations the Saints have entred into the Kingdome of Heaven for some of them have been cut and chopt all to pieces some their eyes bored through some sod some roasted some flain alive some burned quick stoned crucified grinded between milstones drawn and haled hither and thither unto Execution drowned in waters strangled and hanged torn in pieces vexed with rebukes before death pined in prisons and afflicted in bonds and who is able to recite all the torments and sufferings of the holy Saints which they suffered under the Old and New Testament for the verity of God And it will be a marvel if any man now shall escape unpunished who dare boldly resist the wickedness and perversity especially of those Priests which can abide no correction In another Letter I desire that if Audience be given me that the King will be there present himself c. And that you Right Noble and Gracious Lord Iohn with the Lord Henry and the Lord Wencelaus c. if you may will be present and hear what the Lord Jesus Christ my Procurator and Advocate and most gracious Judge will put into my mouth to speak that whether I live or die you may be true and upright witnesses with me lest lying lips should say hereafter that I swerved from the truth which I have preached In another Letter My faithful and beloved in Christ be not afraid with their Sentence in condemning my Books they shall be scattered hither and thither abroad like light Butterflies and their Statutes shall endure as Spider-webs They were about to shake my constancy from the verity of Christ but they could not overcome the vertue of God in me They would not reason with the Scriptures against me c. And when I said I was desirous to be instructed if I did in any thing erre the chief Cardinal answered Because thou wouldst be informed there is no remedy but that thou must first revoke thy Doctrine according to the determination of fifty Batchelors appointed O high instruction These things I thought good to write unto you that you may know how they have overcome with no grounded Scripture nor with reason but onely did essay with terrours and deceits to perswade me to revoke and to abjure But our merciful God whose Law I have magnified was and is with me and I trust so will continue and will keep me in his grace unto death In another Letter Beloved I thought it needful to warn that you should not be discouraged because the Adversaries have decreed that my Books shall be burnt Remember how the Israelites burned the Preachings of the Prophet Ieremy and yet they could not avoid the things that were prophesied of in them for after they were burnt the Lord commanded to write the same Prophesie again and that larger which was done It is also written in the Books of the Maccabees that the wicked did burn the Law of God and killed them that had the same Again under the New Testament they burned the Saints with the Books of the Law of God Remember the sayings of our merciful Saviour by which he forewarneth us There shall â—e saith he before the Day of Iudgement great tribulation such as was not from the beginning until this day nor shall be afterwards So that even the Elect of God should be deceived if it were possible but for their sakes those dayes shall be shortned The Council of Constance shall not extend to Bohemia for I think that many of them which are of the Council shall die before they shall get from you my Books They shall depart from the Council and be scattered abroad throughout all parts of the world like Storks and then they shall know when Winter cometh what they did in Summer I trust in God that he will send after me those that shall be more valiant and there are alive at this day that shall make more manifest the malice of Antichrist and shall give their lives to the death for the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall give both to you and me the joyes of life everlasting This Epistle was written upon St. Iohn Baptist's day in Prison and in cold Irons I having this Meditation with my self that Iohn was beheaded in his Prison and bonds for the Word of God In another Letter I desire you if any man at any time have noted any levity either in my talk or in my conditions that he do not follow the same but pray to God for me to pardon me that sin of lightness I look next day for the Sentence of death having a full trust that he will not leave me to deny his truth c. How mercifully the Lord God hath dealt with me in marvellous temptations ye shall know whenas hereafter by the help of Christ we shall all meet together in the joy of the world to come I beseech you pray to God for our enemies In another Letter to a Minister My dear Brother be diligent in preaching the Gospel neglect not your Vocation labour like a blessed Souldier of Christ. First live godlily and holily Secondly teach faithfully and truly Thirdly be an example to others in well doing that you be not reprehended in your sayings Preach continually but be short and fruitfull Never affirm or maintain those things that be uncertain or doubtful Exhort men to the confession
God he that is present with the Beasts is present with God I hear all onely in the Name of Christ that I may suffer with him he strengthning me who is made perfect man What doth it profit me if any one praise me and blaspheme my Lord not confessing him to be clothed with flesh Your prayer hath reached to the Church of Antioch which is in Syria whence I salute you all being bound in Gods honourable bonds though unworthy being the last of all there yet made worthy by the will of God not according to my Conscience but of the meer grace of God c. In one of his Epistles he saith Truly I did see him Christ in flesh after his resurrection and do believe that it is he c. He used to say That there is nothing better then the peace of a good Conscience That good and wicked men are like true and counterfeit money the one seems to be good and is not the other both seems and is good That the Lions teeth are but like a Mill which though it bruiseth yet wasteth not the good Wheat onely prepares and sits it to be made pure Bread Let me said he be broken by them so I may be made pure Manchet for Heaven Other graces are but parts of a Christians armour as the shield of Faith c. but Patience is the Panoply or whole armour of the man of God Ioan. The Lady Ioan Queen of Navar who was poysoned at Paris a few dayes before the bloody Massacre on Aug. 24. 1572. in her sickness she said I take all this as sent from the hand of God my most merciful Father nor have I during this extremity feared to die much less murmured against God for inflicting the same upon me knowing that whatsoever he doth he doth the same so as all in the end shall turn to my everlasting good I depend wholly upon Gods providence knowing that all things are wisely disposed of by him As for this life I am in a good measure weaned from the love of it in regard of the afflictions that have followed me from my youth hitherto but especially because I cannot live without daily offending my good God with whom I desire to be with all my heart In regard of mine own particular my life is not dear unto me seeing so long as I live in this frail flesh I am still prone and apt to sin against God onely my care is somewhat for my children which God hath given me because they shall be now deprived of me in their young years yet I doubt not but although it should please God to take me from them that himself will be a Father to them and a Protector over them as he hath been to me in my greatest afflictions and therefore I commit them wholly to his government and Fatherly care She often uttered these words O my God in thy good time deliver me from this body of death and from the miseries of this life that I may no more offend thee and that I may attain to that felicity which thou in thy Word hast promised me To a Minister a little before her death she said I neither expect Salvation Righteousness nor Life from any else then from my onely Saviour Jesus Christ being assured that his onely merit abundantly sufficeth for the full satisfaction of all my sins albeit they are innumerable Ioris Iohn Ioris of Assahen in a Letter of his to his Parents and Friends a little before his Martyrdome writ thus Most dear Father and Mother Sister and Brother I write here unto you comfortable news viz. That in all my life I never saw any day so pleasing to me as this is in which the Lord hath counted me worthy to be one of his Champions and to suffer for his holy Name for which I give him most humble and hearty thanks Rejoyce with me I pray you that God hath now called me to so glorious and welcome Marriage Day O how precious in the sight of the Lord our God is the death of his Martyrs Dear Friends two Priests and some of the Magistrates have sought to terrifie me with many threats thinking to turn me aside from my holy Profession but the Lord of his great mercy hath given me grace to withstand them all I plainly told them I was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ but would be willing and ready to die in the defence thereof following my Lord and Master Jesus Christ through all afflictions to be made Partaker with him at last of his eternal joyes in his celestial Tabernacle Wherefore if God shall call any of you forth to suffer ought for his Names sake bear the same I beseech you with meekness and patience not declining from the truth for fear or favour to the right hand or to the left But fear him rather who is able to cast soul and body into hell The time which God hath lent us to converse in this world is but short and therefore let us begin to abandon the love of this world with all things therein betimes that so we may be ready to follow the call of God Dear Father and Mother I do take my last farewell of you until we meet together again in the Kingdome of Heaven where we shall partake of that joy that shall last for ever all sorrows tears and griefs being wiped away Be ye not therefore grieved I pray you but be patient for the affliction which is befallen me is most acceptable to me for which also I bless and praise the Lord. Iueson Thomas Iueson being prest to recant said I would not recant for all the goods in London I do appeal to Gods mercy and will be none of your Church nor submit my self to the same And that I have said I will say it again And if there came an Angel from Heaven to teach me any other Doctrine then that which I am in now I would not believe him Iuleddo or Iulitta A Servant to a good Gentlewoman telling Mr. Bradford that her Mistress had been sorer afflicted with her own Father and Mother then ever he was with his imprisonment Mr. Bradford bid her tell her Mistress That he had read that day a godly History written by Basilius Magnus of Iuleddo a vertuous Widow She had great Lands and many children and nigh her dwelt a Cormorant which for her godliness hated her and out of very malice took away her lands so that she was fain to go to Law The Judge demanded of him why he wrongfully with-held these Lands from this Woman He answered he might because she was disobedient to the Kings proceedings for she will in no wise worship his gods nor offer sacrifice unto them Woman said the Judge thereupon if this be true thou art like not onely to lose thy Land but thy Life Whereupon she said And is there no remedy but either to worship your false gods or else to lose my
Lands and life then farewell Suit farewell Lands farewell Children farewell Friends yea and farewell Life too and in respect of the true honour of the everliving God farewell all At the place of her Execution she exhorted all women to be strong and constant for said she ye were redeemed with as dear a price as men for although ye were made of the rib of the man yet be you all of his flesh so that also in the case and trial of your faith towards God ye ought to be as strong Mr. Ward calleth her Iulitta and records her Speech thus We women received not onely flesh from men but are bone of their bone and therefore ought to be as strong in Christs Cause Mr. Fox out of Basil tells the Story thus That when the Judge passed Sentence against Iulitta she said Farewell riches and welcome poverty farewell life and welcome death All that I have if it were a thousand times more would I rather lose then speak one wicked and blasphemous word against God my Creatour I yield thee most hearty thanks O my God for this grace that I can contemn and despise this frail and transitory world esteeming Christian Profession above all treasures Afterwards when any Question was demanded her Answer was I am the Servant of Jesus Christ. At the Stake she said to the women beholding her Stick not O Sisters to labour and travel after true pieâ—y and godliness Cease to accuse the frailty of feminine Nature What are not we created of the same matter that men are yea after Gods Image and Similitude are we made as lively as they Not flesh onely did God use in the Creation of the woman in sign and token of her infirmity and weakness but bone of bones is she in token that she must be strong in the true and living God all falshoods forsaken constant in faith all infidelity renounced patient in adversity all worldly ease refused Wax weary my dear Sisters of your lives led in darkness and be in love with my Christ my God my Redeemer my Comforter which is the true light of the world Perswade your selves or rather the Spirit of the living God perswade you that there is a world to come wherein the Worshippers of Idols and Devils shall be tormented perpetually and the Servants of the High God be crowned eternally Iusberg Brethren said Iustus Iusberg you see that my end approacheth which howsoever I fear as a man burdened with the body of sin yet am I resolved as a Christian joyfully to endure it being assured that all my sins are fastened to the Cross of Christ. Iuventius Chrysostome in an Oration on Iuventius and Maximus two Martyrs brings in this objection of the Persecutours against them Do not you see others of your rank do thus and them answering thus for this very reason we will manfully stand and offer our selves as a sacrifice for the breach that they have made K. Kennedy Alexander Kennedy who passed not eighteen years of age when he was presented before his bloody Butcherers at first was faint and gladly would have recanted but while the place of repentance was denied him the Spirit of God wrought in him and with a chearful countenance and a joyful voice upon his knees he said O eternal God how wonderful is that love and mercy that thou bearest unto mankind and unto me the most Caitiffe and miserable wretch above all others for even now when I would have denied thee and thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ my onely Saviour and so have cast my self into everlasting dammation Thou by thy own hand hast pulled me from the very bottom of hell and made me to feel that heavenly comfort which takes from me that ungodly fear wherewith before I was oppressed Now I defie death do what you please I praise my God I am ready Kerby Mr. Wingfield telling him the fire is hot the terrour is great the pain extreme life sweet Better it were betime to stick to mercy while there is hope of life then rashly to begin and then to sâ—rink He said Ah Mr. Wingfield be at my burning and you shall say there standeth a Christian Souldier in the fire for I know that fire water sword and all other things are in the hands of God and he will suffer no more to be laid upon us then he will enable us to bear When Sentence was past against him he with most humble reverence holding up his hands and bowing himself devoutly said Praised be Almighty God Kilian To such as asked Kilian a Dutch School-Master if he loved not his Wife and Children He answered Yes if all the world were gold and were mine to dispose of I would give it all to live with them though it were but in Prison yet is my soul and my Lord Christ dearer to me then all things whatsoever Knight When Stephen Knight was at the Stake he prayed O Lord Jesus Christ for whose love I leave willingly this life and desire rather the bitter death of thy Cross with the loss of all earthly things then to abide the blasphemy of thy most holy Name or to obey men in breaking thy holy Commandement Thou seest O Lord that where I might live in worldly wealth to worship a false god and honour thine enemy I chuse rather the torment of the body and the loss of this life and have counted all things but vile dust and dung that I might win thee which death is dearer unto me then thousands of gold and silver Such love O Lord hast thou laid up in my breast that I hunger for thee as the Deer that is wounded desireth the soil Send thy holy Comforter O Lord to aid comfort and strengthen this weak piece of earth which is empty of all strength of it self Thou remembrest O Lord that I am but dust and able to do nothing that is good Therefore O Lord as of thine accustomed goodness and love thou hast bidden me to this banket and accounted me worthy to drink of thine own Cup amongst thine Elect even so give me strength O Lord against this thine Element which as to my sight it is most irksome and terrible so to my mind it may at thy Commandement as an obedient Servant be sweet and pleasant that through the strength of thy holy Spirit I may pass through the rage of this fire into thy bosome according to thy promise and for this mortal receive an immortal and for this corruption put on incorruption Accept this burnt-sacrifice and offering O Lord not for the sacrifice but for thy Dear Sons sake my Saviour for whose Testimony â— offer this free-will-offering with all my heart and with all my soul. O Heavenly Father forgive me my sins as I forgive all the world O sweet Son of God my Saviour spread thy wings over me O blessed and holy Ghost through whose merciful inspiration I am come hither conduct me into everlasting life Lord
and faithful followers of him therein persevering in purity of doctrine and holiness of life Other things Jesus Christ the Lord who is able and willing to look after his own concernments will take care of He will defend his own Church Go to then O my Brethren so let your light shine forth that God the Father may be glorified in us and the Name of Christ be made illustrious and conspicuous by the light of your life Continue to love one another unfeignedly Lead your whole life as in the sight as under the eye of God In vain do we press to holiness if our words be without deeds there is need of the Light of life and the heavenly Spirit if we will confound Satan and convert this world unto Christ the Lord. O my Brethren What a cloud is there arising what a storm a coming what a defection is at hand But it becomes you to stand fast The Lord who is careful of his own affairs will be present with you For my self I pass not the horrible aspersion of corrupting the Truth that is câ—st upon me I am just now going before the Tribunal of Christ and that through grace with a clear conscience There it will appear that I have not seduced the Church The night before he died when a very dear Friend returned to him Oecolampadius asked him What news he had brought His Friend answering None I will tell you some then said Oeculampadius I shall presently be with my Lord Christ. A while after being asked Whether the light offended him He putting his hand to his heart said Here is abundance of light Here is light enough Ogner or Ogvier Robert Ognier's Son said to his Father and Mother at the Stake with him Behold millions of Angels about us and the Heavens opened to receive us To a Frier that railed Thy cursings are blessings To a Nobleman that offered him life and promotion Do you think me such a fool that I should change eternal things for temporary And to the people We suffer as Christians not as Thieves or Murtherers When the Provâ—st of Lile had seized on Robert Ogvier his Wife and his two Sons Baudicon and Martin as they were conveyed along through the streets of the City Baudicon with a loud voice said O Lord assist us by thy grace not onely to be Prisoners for thy Name but to confess thy holy Truth in all purity before men so far as to seal the same with our bloods for the edification of thy poor Church When they were brought before the Magistrates they said unto Robert Ogvier c. It is told us that you never come to Mass yea and also disswade others from coming thereto and that you maintain Conventicles in your Houses He answered Whereas you lay to my charge that I go not to Mass I refuse so to do indeed because the death and precious blood of the Son of God and his sacrifice is utterly abolished there and troden under foot for Christ by one sacrifice hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified The Mass is the meer invention of men and you know what Christ saith In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men As for the second Accusation I cannot nor will deny but there have met together in my House honest people fearing God for the advancement of Gods glory and the good of many and not to wrong any I knew indeed the Emperour had forbid it but what then I knew also that Christ in his Gospel hath commanded it Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there saith he am I in the midst of them Thus you see I could not well obey the Emperour but I must disobey Christ. In this case then I choose rather to obey my God then man When one of the Magistrates demanded what they did when they met together Baudicon the eldest Son of Robert Ogvier answered If it please you my Masters to give me leave I will open the business at large to you Leave being granted he lifting up his eyes to Heaven began thus When we meet together in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to hear the Word of God we first of all prostrate upon our knees before God and in the humility of our spirits do make a confession of our sins before his Divine Majesty Then we pray that the Word of God may be rightly divided and purely preached we also pray for our Sovereign Lord the Emperour and for all his honourable Councellors that the Commonwealth may be peaceably governed to the glory of God yea we forget not you whom we acknowledge our Superiours intreating our good God for you and for this whole City that you may maintain it in tranquility Thus I have summarily related what we do Think you now whether we have offended highly in this matter of our assembling When Robert and Baudicon were condemned they praised God for the Sentence and when they were returned to Prison after Sentence was past they rejoyced that the Lord did them that honour to enroll them in the number of his Martyrs Robert being told by a seducing Frier That iâ— he would give ear to him he would warrant him he should do well Poor man said he how darest thou attribute that unto thy self which belongs to the eternal God and so rob him of his honour For it seems by thy speech that if I will hearken to thee thou wilt become my Saviour No no I have one onely Saviour Jesus Christ who by and by will deliver me from this present evil world I have one Doctor whom the heavenly Father hath commanded me to hear and I purpose to hearken to none other Another Frier exhorting him to have pity of his soul which Christ had redeemed Thou willest me said the good old man to pity mine own soul. Dost not thou see what pity I have on it when foâ— thâ— Name of Christ I willingly abandon this body of mine â—n the fire hoping to day to be with him in Paradise I have put all my confidence in God and my hope wholly is fixt on the merits of Christs Death and Passion he will direct me the right way unto his Kingdome I believe whatsoever the holy Prophets and Apostles have written and in that Faith will I live and die Baudicon said Let my Father alone and trouble him not thus he is an old man and hath an infirm body hinder him not I pray you from receiving the Crown of Martyrdome One telling Baudicon That he would sell all he was worth to buy Fagots to burn him and that he found too much favour He answered The Lord shew you more mercy Some of the Friers having fastned a Crucifix betwixt the old mans hands when Baudicon espied it he said Alas Father what do you now will you play the Idolater even at the last hour and then pulling the Idol out of his hands threw it away saying What cause
Rolph take heed of him he is a blood-sucker c. I fear not said Aâ—cock he shall do no more to me then God will give him leave and happy shall I be if God will call me to die for his Truths sake In his first Letter to Hadley he writes thus O my Brethren of Hadley why are ye so soon turned from them which called you into the Grace of Christ to another Doctrine Though those should come unto you that have been your true Preachers and preach another way of salvation then by Jesus Christs death and passion hold them accursed yea if it were an Angel came from Heaven and would tell you that the sacrifice of Christs body upon the Cross once for all were not sufficient for all the sins of all those that shall be saved accursed be he Why cometh this plague upon us Cometh not this upon thee because thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Thine own wickedness shall reprove thee and thy turning away shall condemn thee that thou mayest know how evil and hurtful a thing it is that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Algerius Pomponius Algerius whilst he was a Prisoner at Venice before he was burnt at Rome writ thus in his comfortable Letter to the Christians departed out of Babylon into Mount Sion To mitigate your sorrow which you take for me I cannot but impart unto you some portion of my joyes which I feel to the intent you may rejoyce with me I shall utter that which scarce any will believe I have found a nest of honey an honey-comb in the entrails of a Lion In the deep dark Dungeon I have found a Paradise of pleasure In the place of sorrow and death tranquility of hope and life where others do weep I do rejoyce when others do shake and tremble there I have found plenty of strength and boldness in strait bands and cold irons I have had rest Behold he that was once far from me now is present with me whom once I could scarce feel I now see most apparently whom once I saw afar off now I behold near at hand whom once I hungred for the same now approacheth and reacheth his hand unto me he doth comfort me and heapeth me up with gladness he driveth away all bitterness he ministreth strength and courage c. O how easie and sweet is the Lords yoke Learn ye well-beloved how amiable the Lord is how meek and merciful who visiteth his servants in temptations neither disdaineth he to keep company with us in such vile and stinking Caves Will the blind and incredulous world think you believe this or rather will it not say thus No thou wilt never be able to abide long the burning heat the pinching hardness of that place c. The rebukes and frowning faces of great men how wilt thou suffer Dost not thou consider thy pleasant Countrey the Riches of the World thy Kinsfolk the delicate pleasures and Honours of this life Dost thou forget the solace of thy Sciences and fruit of all thy Labours Wilt thou thus lose all thy labours which thou hast hitherto sustained Finally fearest thou not death which hangeth over thee O what a fool art thou which for one words speaking mayest salve all this and wilt not But now to answer Let this blind world hearken to this again What heat can there be more burning then that fire which is prepared for thee hereafter What things more hard and sharp and crooked then this present life which we lead What thing more odious and hateful then this world here present And let these worldly men here answer me What Countrey can we have more sweet then the Heavenly Countrey above What treasures more rich or precious then everlasting life and who be our Kinsmen but they which hear the Word of God Where be greater riches or dignities more honourable then in Heaven And as touching the Sciences let this foolish world consider Be not they ordained to know God whom unless we do know all our labours our night-watchings our studies and all our enterprises here serve to no purpose all is but labour lost Furthermore let the miserable worldly men answer me What remedy or safe refuge can there be unto him who lacks God who is the life medicine of all men how can he be said to fly from death when he himself is already dead in sin If Christ be the way verity life how can there be any life without Christ The solely heat of the Prison to me is coldness the cold winter to me is a fresh spring in the Lord. He that feareth not to be burned in the fire how will he fear the heat of weather Or what careth he for the pinching frost which burneth for the love of the Lord The place is sharp and tedious to them that be guilty but to the innocent it is mellifluous Here droppeth the delectable dew here floweth the pleasant Nectar here runneth the sweet milk here is plenty of all good things In this world there is no mansion firm to me and therefore I will travel up to the New Ierusalem which is in Heaven and which offereth it self to me without paying any Fine or Income I have travelled hitherto laboured and sweat early and late watching day and night and now my travels begin to come to effect What man can now cavil that these our labours are lost which have followed and found out the Lord and Maker of the World and which have changed death with life If to die in the Lord be not to die but to live most joyfully where is this wretched worldly Rebel which blameth us of folly for giving away our lives unto death O how delectable is this death to me to taste of the Lords Câ—p. I am accused of foolishness for that I do not rid my self out of these troubles when with one word I may But doth not Christ say Fear not them which kill the body but him which killeth both body and soul and whosoever shall confess me before men him will I also câ—nâ—ess before my Father which is in Heâ—vâ—n and he that denieth me before men him will I also deny before my Heavenly Father Seeing the words of the Lord be so plain how or by what authority will this wise Counsellor approve this his counsel which he doth give God forbid that I should relinquish the commandements of God and follow the counsels of men for it is written Blessed is the man that hath not gâ—ne in the way of sinners and hath not stood in the counsel of the ungodly c. Psal. 1.1 God forbid I should deny Christ where I ough to confess him I will not set more by my life then by my soul neither will I exchange the life to come for this world here present This Letter he underwrit thus From the delectable Orchard of Leonine Prison 12 Calend. August An. 1555. Allen. Sir Edmond Tyrrel bidding Rose Allen to give her Father and Mother
favour his life yet that he would favour his own soul He answered What care I have of my soul you may see by this that I had rather give my body to be burned then to do that thing that were against my conscience B Babilas Babilas Bishop of Antioch being cast by Decius into a filthy stinking Prison for the name of Christ with as many irons as he could bear intreated his Friends that visited him that after his death they would bury with him the signs and tokens of his valour meaning his bolts and fetters Now said he will God wipe away all tears and now I shall walk with God in the land of the living Bainham Mr. Iames Bainham when he repented of his Recantation in Austin's Church in London He declared openly with weeping eyes that he had denied God and prayed all the people to beware of his weakness and not to do as he did For saie he If I should not return again unto the truth this Word of God he having a New Testament in his hand would damn me both body and soul at the Day of Judgement He perswaded them to die by and dy rather then to do as he did for he would not feel such an hell again for all the worlds good When he was at the Stake in the midst of the flaming fire which had half consumed his Arms and Legs he spake these words O ye Papists Behold ye look for miracles and here now you may see a miracle for in this fire I feel no more pain then if I were in a Bed of Down it is to me as a Bed of Roses Barâ—evil Iohn Barbevil said to the Friers that called him ignorant Ass Well Admit I were so yet shall my bloud witness against such Balaams as you be Bale Mr. John Bale in his excellent Paraphrase in Apocalyps In his Preface He that will live godly in Christ Jesus and be a patient sufferer he that will stand in Gods fear and prepare himself to temptation he that will be strong when adversity shall come and avoid all assaults of Antichrist and the Devil let him give himself wholly to the study of this prophesie He that knoweth not this Book knoweth not what the Church is Whereof he is a member It containeth the universal troubles persecutions and crosses that the Church suffered in the Primitive Spring what is suffereth now and what it shall suffer in the later Times by the subtilties of Antichrist and his Followers the cruel Members of Satan and it manifesteth what Promises what Crowns and what Glory the said Congregation shall have after this present Conflict with the Enemies that the promised Rewards might quicken the hearts of those that the Torments feareth Unto St. Iohn were these Mysteries revealed when he was by the Emperor Domitianus exiled for his Preaching into the Isle of Patmos at the cruel Complaints of the Idolatrous Priests and Bishops and by him writ and sent out of the same exile into the Congregations The Contents of this Book are from no place more freely and clearly opened nor told forth more boldly then out of exile Flattery dwelling at home and sucking there still his Mothers breasts may never tell out the truth he seeth so many dangers on every side as displeasure of Friends decay of Name loss of Goods offence of Great men and jeopardy of Life c. The forsaken wretched sort hath the Lord provided alwayes to rebuke the world of sin hypocrisie blindness for nought is it therefore that he hath exiled a certain number of believing Brethren the Realms of England of the which afflicted Family my faith is that I am one Whereupon I have considered it is no less my bounden duty under pain of damnation to admonish Christs flock by this present Revelation of their perils past and dangers to come for contempt of the Gospel which now reigneth there above all in the Clergy Graciously hath the Lord called them especially now of late but his voice is nothing regarded His Servants have they imprisoned tormented and slain having his Verity in much more contempt then before We looked for a time of peace saith the Prophet Ieremiah and we fare not the better at all we waited for a time of health and we find here nothing else but trouble And no marvel considering the Beasts head that was wounded is now healed up again so workmanly as Rev. 13. mentioneth The abominable hopocrisie idolatry pride and filthiness of those terrible termagaunts of Antichrists holy houshold those two-horned Whoremongers those Conjurers of Egypt and lecherous Locusts leaping out of the bottomless Pit which daily deceive the ignorant multitude with their Sorceries and Charms must be shewed to the World to their utter shame and confusion To tell them freely of their wicked works by the Scriptures I have exiled my self for ever from mine own native Countrey Kindred Friends Acquaintance which are the great delights of this life and am well contented for the sake of Christ and for the comfort of my Brethren there to suffer poverty penury abjection reproof and all that shall come beside Here are we admonished before-hand of two most dangerous evils neither to agree with those Tyrants that wage war with the Lamb in his elect Members nor yet to obey those deceitful Bishops that in hypocrisie usurp the Churches Titles Of those hath our heavenly Lord premonished us in this heavenly work of his and graciously called us away from their abominations lest we should be partakers of their sins and so receive of their plagues If we unthankfully neglect it the greater is our danger Barlaam He holding his hand in the flame over the Altar sung that of the Psalmist Thou teachest my hands to war and my fingers to fight Barnes I have been reported said Dr. Barnes at the Stake to be a Preacher of Sedition and disobedient to the Kings Majesty but here I say to you that you are all bound by the command of God to obey your Prince with all humility and with all your heart and that not onely for fear of the sword but also for conscience sake before God Yea I say further If the King should command you any thing against Gods Law if it be in your power to resist him yet may you not do it Basil. When Valens the Emperour sent his Officers to him seeking to turn him from the Faith And first of all great preferments were offered him Basil rejected them with scorn Offer these things said he to Children When he was afterwards threatned grievously Threaten said he your Purple Gallants that give themselves to their pleasures When the Emperors Messenger promised him great preferment Alas Sir said this Bishop of Caesâ—rca these speeches are fit to catch little Children that look after such things but we that are taught and nourished by the holy Scriptures are ready to suffer a thousand deaths rather then to suffer one syllable or tittle of
if she will condemn me to perpetual imprisonment I will thank her The Chancellor pressing him to do as they had done in hopes of the Queens mercy and pardon My Lord said he I desire mercy with Gods mercy i. e. without doing or saying any thing against God and his Truth pag. 290. but mercy with Gods wrath God keep me from Gods mercy I desire and also would be glad of the Qâ—eens favour to live as a Subject without clog on Conscience but otherwise the Lords mercy is better to me then life Life in his displeasure is worse then death and death with his favour is true life He having refused again and again to answer to the Chancellors Quaeries said That no fear but the fear of perjury made him unwilling to answer he having been six times sworn not to consent to the practising of any Jurisdiction or any Authority on the Bishop of Râ—me's behalf within the Realm of England I am not afraid of death I thank God I look and have looked for nothing else from your hands a long time but I am afraid when death cometh I should have maâ—ter to trouble my Conscience by the guilt of perjury As for my death as I know there are twelve hours in the day so with the Lord my time is appointed and when it shall be his good time then I shall depart hence but in the mean season I am safe enough though all the reople had sworn my death into his hands have I committed it and do his good will be done The Earl of Derby sending one of his Servants to him willing him to tender himself He told the Messenger that he thanked his Lordship for his good will towards him but in this case I cannot tender my self more then Gods honour The same Servant saying also Ah Mr. Bradford consider your Mother Sister Friends Kinsfolk Countrey what a great discomfort it will be to them to see you die as an Heretick Mr. Bradford replied I have learned to forsake Father Mother Brother Sister Friends and all that ever I have yea and my own self for else I cannot be Christs Disciple Being askt by a good Gentlewomans Servant that was sent to him How he did he answered Well I thank God for as men in Sailing which be near to the Shore or Haven where they would be would be nearer even so the nearer I am to God the nearer I would be In a Letter to his Mother and Brethren I am at this time in Prison sure enough from starting to confirm that I have preached unto you As I am ready I thank God with my life and blood to seal the same if God vouchsafe me worthy of that honour If we suffer with him we shall also reign wâ—th him Be not therefore faint-hearted but rather rejoyce at the least for my sake who now am in the right and high way to Heaven for by many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdome of God Now will God made known his Children When the wind doth not blow the Wheat cannot be known from the Chaffe but when the blast cometh then flieth away the Chaffe but the Wheat remaineth and is so far from being hurt that by the wind it is more cleansed from the Chaffe Gold when it is cast into the fire is the more precious so are Gods Children by afflictions Indeed I thank God more for this Prison then for any Parlour yea then for any pleasure that eyer I had for in it I find God my most sweet good God alwayes Of all deaths it is most to be desired to die for Gods sake such are sure to go to Heaven Death nor Life nor Prison nor Pleasure I trust in God shall be able to separate me from my Lord God and his Gospel Rejoyce in my sufferings for it is for your sakes to confirm the truth I have taught Howsoever you do be obedient to the Higher Powers that is in no point either in hand or tongue Rebel but rather if they command that which with good conscience you cannot obey lay your head on the Block and suffer what they shall do or say By patience possess your souls In his Letter to the City of London I ask God heartily mercy that I do no more rejoyce then I do having so great cause as to be an instrument wherein it may please my dear Lord and Saviour to suffer Although my sins be manifold and grievous yet the Bishops and Prelates do not persecute them in me but Christ himself his Word his Truth and Religion Let the anger and plagues of God most justly fallen upon us be applied to every one of our deserts that from the bottome of our hearts every one of us may say It is I Lord that have sinned against thee It is my hypocrisie my vain-glory my covetousness uncleanness carnality security idleness unthankfulness self-love c. which have deserved the taking away of thy Word and true Religion of thy good Ministers by Exile Imprisonment Death c. Prepare your selves to the Cross be obedient to all that be in Authority in all things that be not against God his Word for then answer with the Apostle It is more meet to obey God then man Howbeit never for any thing resist or rise against the Magistrates Avenge not your selves Commit your Cause to the Lord. If you feel in your selves an hope and trust in God that he will never tempt you above that he will make you able to bear be assured the Lord will be true to you and you shall be able to bear all brunts but if you want this Hope flee and get you hence rather then by your tarrying Gods Name should be dishonoured In his Letter to Cambridge Thou my Mother the University hast not onely had the truth of Gods Word plainly manifested unto thee by Reading Disputing and Preaching publickly and privately but now to make thee altogether excuseless and as it were almost to sin against the Holy Ghost if thou put to thy helping hand with the Romish Rout to suppress the Verity and set out the contrary thou hast my life and blood as a Seal to confirm thee if thou wilt be confirmed or else to confound thee if thou wilt take part with the Prelates and Clergy which now fill up the measure of their Fathers which slew the Prophets and Apostles that all the righteous blood from Abel to Bradford may be required at their hands For the tender mercy of Christ in his bowels and blood I beseech you to take Christs eye-salve to anoint your eyes that you may see what you do and have done in admitting the Romish rotten Rags which once you utterly expelled O be not the Dog returned to his vomit be not the Sow that was washed returning to her wallowing in the mire Beware least Satan enter in with seven worse Spirits c. It had been better you had never known the truth then after knowledge to have run
from it Ah! woe to this world and the things therein which hath now so wrought with you Oh that ever this Dirt of the Devil should daub up the eye of the Realm What is man whose breath is in his nostrils that thou shouldst thus be afraid of him Dost not thou know Rome to be Babylon Dost not thou know that as the old Babylon had the children of Iudah in captivity so hath Rome the true Iudah i. e. the Confessors of Christ Dost not thou know that as destruction happened unto it so shall it do unto this Dost not thou know that God will deliver his people now when the time is come as he did then Hath not God commanded his people to come out of her and wilâ— thou give example to the whole Realm to run unto her Hast thou forgotten the woe that Chrisâ— threatneth to offence-givers Wilt not thou remember that it were better that a Milstone were hanged about thy neck and thou thrown into the Sea then that thou shouldst offend the little one Dear Mother Receive some admonition of one of thy poor children now going to be burned for the testimony of Jesus Come again to Gods truth come out of Babylon confess Christ and his true Doctrine repent that which is past c. Remember the readings c. of Gods Prophet Bucer Call to mind the threatnings of God now somewhat seen by thy children Leaver and others Let the exile of Leaver Pilâ—inton Grindal Hâ—ddon Horn Scory Ponet c. something awake thee Consider the martyrdome of thy Chickens Rogers Saunders Tailor And now cast not away the poor admonition of me going to be burned also and to receive the like Crown of Glory with my fellows Even now the Axe is laid to the Root In his Letter to Lancashire and Cheshire c. Indeed if I should simply consider my life with that which it ought to have been and as God in his Law requireth then could I not but cry as I do Righteous art thou O Lord c. But when I consider the cause of my condemnation I cannot but lament that I do no more rejoyce for it is Gods truth So that the condemnation is not a condemnation of Bradford simply but rather a condemnation of Christ and his Truth Bradford is nothing else but an instrument in whom Christ and his Doctrine is condemned And therefore my dearly beloved rejoyce rejoyce and give thanks with me and for me that ever God did vouchsafe so great a benefit to our Countrey as to choose the most unworthy I mean my self to be one in whom it pleaseth him to suffer Forget not how that the Lord hath shewed himself true and me his true Preacher by bringing to pass these plagues which at my mouth you oft heard before My blood will cry for vengeance as against the Papists Gods enemies c. so against you if ye repent not amend not and turn not unto the Lord. In his Letter to the Town of Walden What can you desire more to assure your Consciences of the Verity taught by your Preachers then their own lives Waver not therefore in Christs Religion truly taught you Never shall the enemies be able to burn it and imprison it and keep it in bonds though they may imprison and burn us I humbly beseech you and pray you in the bowels and blood of Jesus now I am going to death for the testimony of Jesus love the Lords Truth love I say to love it and to frame your lives thereafter Alas you know the cause of all these plagues fallen upon us and of the success which Gods adversaries have daily is for our not loving Gods Word You know how that we were but Gospellers in lips and not in life Remember that before ye learned A.B.C. your Lesson was Christs Cross. Forget not that Christ will have no Disciples but such as will promise to deny themselves and to take up their Cross mark that take it up and follow him and not the multitude custome c. Loth would I be a witness against you at the last day as of truth I must be if ye repent not if ye love not Christs Gospeâ—â— In his Letter to B.C. The world seems 〈◊〉 have the upper hand the Truth seems to be oppressed and they which take part therewith an unjustly entreated The cause of all this is God anger and mercy His anger because we havâ— grievously sinned against him we have been unâ—thankful for his Word c. we have been so carnal covetous licentious c. that of his Justice he could no longer forbear but make us feel his anger c. His mercy is seen in this that God doâ—â— vouchsafe to punish us in this present life If he should not have punished us Do not you think we should have continued in the evils we were in Yes verily we should have been worse The way to Heaven is not the wide way of the world but it is a strait way which few walk in for few live godly in Christ few regard the Life to come few remember the day of Judgement few remember how Christ will deny them before his Father that do deny him here few consider that Christ-will be ashamed of them in the last day which are ashamed of his Truth and true Service few cast up their accounts what will be laid to their charge in the day of vengeance few regard the condemnation of their own consciences in doing that which they inwardly disallow few love God better then their goods Of this I would that ye were all certain that all the hairs of your heads are numberless so that not one of them shall perish neither shall man or Devil be able to attempt any thing much less do any thing to you before your heavenly Father which loveth you most tenderly shall give them leave they shall go no farther then he will nor keep you any longer in trouble then he will Therefore cast on him all your care for he is careful for you Onely study to please him and to keep your consciences clean and your bodies pure from the idolatrous service which now every where is used and God will marvellously and mercifully defend and comfort you In his Letter to Erkinald Rawlins and his wife First we have cause to rejoyce for these dayes because our Father suffereth us not to lye in Iezabel's bed sleeping in our sins and security but as mindful of us doth correct us as his children Secondly because they are dayes of tryal wherein not onely ye your selves but also the world shall know that ye be none of his but the Lords Darlings whom we obey his servants we are Now it is seen whether we obey the world or God But the tryals of these dayes ye are occasioned more to repent more to pray more to contemn this world more to desire life everlasting more to be holy for holy is the end wherefore God doth afflict us and so to
and Confessours yea with thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom thou dost now here begin to fashion us like that in his glory we may be like him also O good God what are we on whom thou shouldest shew this great mercy O loving Lord forgive us our unthankfulness and sins O faithful Father give us thy holy Spirit now to cry in our hearts Abba dear Father to assure us of our eternal election in Christ to reveal more and more thy Truth unto us to confirm strengthen and stablish us so in the same that we may live and die in it as Vessels of thy mercy to thy glory and to the commodity of thy Church Indue us with the Spirit of thy wisdome that with good conscience we may alwayes so answer the enemies in thy cause as may turn to their conversion or confusion and our unspeakable consolation in Jesus Christ for whose sake we beseech thee henceforth to keep us to give us patience and to will none otherwise for deliverance or mitigation of our misery then may stand alwayes with thy good pleasure and merciful will towards us Grant this dear Father not onely to us in this place but also to all others elsewhere afflicted for thy Names sake through the death and merit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In his godly Meditations We are rather to be placed among the wicked then among thy children for that we are so shameless for our sin and careless for thy wrath which we may well say to be most grievous against us and evidently set forth in the taking away of our good King and the true Religion in the exile of thy Servants imprisonment of thy People misery of thy Children and death of thy Saints and by placing over us in authority thine enemies by the success thou gavest them in all that they took in hand by the returning again into our Countrey of Antichrist the Pope What shall we do what shall we say who can give us penitent hearts who can open our lips that our mouths might make acceptable confession unto thee O what now may we do Despair no for thou art God and therefore good thou art merciful and therefore thou forgivest sins with thee is mercy and propitiation and therefore thou art worshipped When Adam had sinned thou gavest him mercy before he desired it and wilt thou deny us mercy which now desire the same Adam excused his fault and accused thee but we accuse our selves and excuse thee and shall we be sent empty away Abraham was pulled out of Idolatry when the world was drown'd therein and art thou his God onely Israel in captivity in Egypt was graciously visited and delivered and dear God that same good Lord shall we alwayes be forgotten How often in the wilderness didst thou defer and spare thy plagues at the request of Moses when the people themselves made no Petition to thee and seeing we do not onely make our Petitions to thee but also have a Mediator for us now far above Moses even Jesus Christ shall we I say dear Lord depart ashamed Take into thy custody and governance for ever our souls and bodies our lives and all that ever we have Tempt us never further then thou wilt make us able to bear and alwayes as thy children guide us so that our life may please thee and our deaths praise thee through Jesus Christ our Lord for whose sake we heartily pray thee to grant these things c. not onely to us but c. especially for thy children that be in thraldome under their enemies in exile in prison poverty c. Be merciful to all the whole Realm of England grant us all true repentance and mitigation of our misery And if it be thy good will that thy holy Word and Religion may continue amongst us Pardon our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and if it be thy pleasure turn their hearts Oh mighty King and most High Almighty God who mercifully governest all things which thou hast made look down upon the faithful seed of Abraham c. consecrated to thee by the anointing of thy holy Spirit and appointed to thy Kingdome by thy eternal purpose free mercy and grace but yet as strangers wandring in this vile vile of misery brought forth daily by worldly Tyrants like Sheep to the slaughter Thou hast destroyed Pharaoh with all his Horse and Chariots puffed up with pride against thy people leading forth safely by the hands of thy mercy thy beloved Israel through the high waves of the roaring waters Thou O God the Lord of all Hosts and Armies didst first drive away from the Gates of thy people the blasphemous Senacherib slaying of his Army 85000 by the Angel in one night and after by his own Sons before his Idols didst kill the same blasphemous Idolater c. Thou didst transforâ— and change proud Nebuchadnezzar the enemy oâ— thy people into a bruit beast to eat grass and hayâ— to the horrible terrour of all worldly Tyrants c. Thou didst preserve those thy three Servants iâ— Babylon who with bold courage gave their bodies to the fire because they would not worship any dead Idol and when they were cast into the burning Furnace thou didst give them chearful hearts to rejoyce and sing Psalms and savedâ—â— unhurt the very hairs of their heads turnâ—ng the flame from them to devour their enemies Thou O Lord God by the might of thy right arm which governeth all broughtest Daniel thy Prophet safe into light and life forth of the dark Den of the devouring Lions c. Now also O heavenly Father beholder of all things to whom belongs vengeance thou seest and conâ—iderest how thy holy Name by the wicked Worldlings and blasphemons Idolaters is dishonoured thy sacred Word forsaken refused and despised thy holy Spirit provoked offended thy chosen Temple polluted and defiled Tarry not too long therefore but shew thy power speedily upon thy chosen Houshold which is so grievously vexed and so cruelly handled by thy open enemies Avenge thine own glorâ— and shorten these evil dayes for thine Elects sake Let thy Kingdome come of all thy Servants desired and though we have all offended thy Majesty Yet for thine own glory O merciful Lord suffer not the enemy of thy Son Christ the Romish Antichrist thus wretchedly to delude and draw from thee our poor brethren for whom thy Son once died that by his cruelty after so clear light they they should be made Captives to dumb Idols and devillish inventions of Popish Ceremonies thereunto pertaining Suffer him not to seduce the simple sort with this fond opinion that his false gods blind mumbling feigned Religion or his foolish Superstition doth give him such conquest such victories such triumph and so high an hand over us We know most certainly O Lord that it is not their arm and power but our sins and offences that hath delivered us to their fury and hath caused thee
of Peter Happy are ye if ye suffer for righteousness sake c. As for the Spiritual Power it hath no authority to make Statutes or Laws to order the World by but onely faithfully and truly to preach the Word not adding thereto nor taking therefrom If these Ministers will of Tyranny above the Word of God make any Law or Statute it must be considered whether it be openly and directly against the Word of God and to the destruction of the Faith c. such Statutes men are not bound for to obey neither of Charity for here Faith is hurt which giveth no place to Charity nor for avoiding of slander c. The more that men be offended at the Word and the stiffer they be against it the more openly and plainly yea and that to their faces that make such Statutes must we resist them with these words We are more bound to obey God then man The other manner of Statutes be when certain things that be called indifferent be commanded to be done of necessity c. Here must they also be withstood and in no wise obeyed for in this is our Faith hurt and liberty of Christianity c. and therefore must withstand them that will take this liberty from us with this Text of Scripture We are bought with the price of Christs blood we will not be the servants of men This Text is open against them that will bind menâ— Consciences in those things that Christ hath left them free in Of this we have an evident example in Paul who would not circumcise Titus when the false Brethren would have compelled him thereunto as a thing of necessity It is plain that by Christ we are made free and nothing can bind us to sin but his Word At the Stake Dr. Barnes began with this Protestation following I am come hither to be burned as an Heretick and you shall hear my belief whereby you shall perceive what erroneous opinions I hold I believe in the holy and blessed Trinity three Persons and one God that cteated and made all the World and that this blessed Trinity sent down the Second Person Jesus Christ into the womb of the most blessed and purest Virgin Mary c. I believe that without the consent of mans will or power he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and took flesh of her and that he suffered hunger thirst cold and other passions of our body sin except c. And I do believe that he lived here among us and after he had preached and taught his Fathers Will he suffered the most bitter and cruel Death for me and all mankind And I do believe that this his Death and Passion was the sufficient Price and Ransome for the sin of all the World And I do believe that through his Death he overcame the Devil Sin Death and Hell and that there is none other satisfaction unto the Father but this his Death and Passion onely and that no work of man did deserve any thing of God but only his Passion as touching our justification for I acknowledge the best work that ever I did is impure and unperfect Herewithal he cast abroad his Arms and desired God to forgive him his Trespasses Wherefore I trust in no good work that ever I did but onely in the Death of Christ and I do not doubt but through him to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven The Sheriffe hastening him to make an end he turned to the people and desired all men to forgive him and if he had said any evil at any time unadvisedly whereby he had offended any man or given any occasion of evil that they would forgive it him and amend that evil they took of him and to bear witness that he detested and abhorred all evil Opinions and Doctrines against the Word of God and that he died in the Faith of Jesus Christ by whom he doubted not to be saved Bressius If Gods Spirit say true I shall streight rest from my labours My soul is even taking her wings to flie to her resting place Brez A Lady visiting Mr. Guy de Brez a French Minister Prisoner in the Castle of Tournay told him She wondred how he could either eat or drink or sleep in quiet for were I in your case said she the very terrour thereof would go â—igh to kill me O Madam said he the good Cause for which I suffer and that inward Peace of Conscience wherewith God hath endued me makes me eat and drink with greater content then mine enemies can which seek my life Yea so far off is it that my bonds or chains do any way terrifie me or break off my sleep that on the contrary I glory and take delight therein esteeming them at an higher rate then Chains and Rings of Gold or any other Jewels of price whatsoever Yeâ— when I hear the ratling of my Chains methinks I hear some Instrument of Musick sounding in mine ears not that such an effect comes meerly from my Chains but in regard I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of thâ— Gospel In his Letter to his Wife These thought came at first thronging into my head What mean we to go so many in company together as we did Had it not been for such and such we had never been discovered or taken But meditating on the Providence of God my heart began to find wonderful rest saying thus in my self O my God the day and hour of my birth was before ordained of thee and ever since thou hast preserved and kepâ— me in great perils and dangers and hitherto delivered me out of all And if now the hour be come wherein I must pass out of this life into thy Kingdome thy will be done I cannot escape out oâ— thine hands yea though I could yet Lord theâ— knowest I would not seeing all my felicity depends upon conforming my will to thine This World is not the place of our Rest No Heaven is ouâ— Home this is but the place of our Banishment Take into your consideration the honour the Lord doth you in giving you an Husband that is not onely called to be a Minister of Christs Gospel but also so highly advanced of God as to be accounted worthy to partake of the Crown of Martyrdome It is an honour which the Angels in Heaven are not capable of I am here taughâ— to practise what I have preached to others yea let me not be ashamed to confess that when I heretofore preached I spake but as a Parrot in regard of that which I have now better learned by prooâ— and experience All my former discourses were as a blind mans of Colours in comparison of my present feeling Oh what a precious Comforter in a good Conscience I have profited more in the School-house of this Prison then ever I did in all my life before I would not change my condition with theirs that persecute me though I am lodged in the vilest Prison they have dark and obscure where
pure Law of God which proveth the best of us all damnable sinners in the light of God and that our best works are polluted in such sort as the Prophet describes them with the which manner of speaking our free-will Pharisees are much offended for it felleth all mans righteousness to the ground In his Letter to Mr. Augustine Bernher Pray for me that I may be strong and hardy to lay a good load on that bloody beast of Babylon O that I might so strike him down that he should never be able to rise again but that stroke belongeth onely to the Lord to strike at his coming which I hope will be shortly Carpenter All Bavaria said George Carpenter is not so dear to me as my wife and children yet for Christs sake I will forsake them cheerfully Carver Mr. Derick Carver being asked by Bonner whether he would stand for his Confession answered He would for your Doctrine is poyson and sorcery If Christ were here you would put him to a worse death then he was put to before At the stake he spake thus Dear Brethren and Sisters I am come here to seal with my blood Christs Gospel because that I know it to be true As many of you as do believe upon the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost unto everlasting life see you do the works pertaining to the same As many of you as do believe on the Pope of Rome you do believe to your utter condemnation and except the great mercy of God prevent not you shall burn in Hell perpetually In his Prayer O Lord my God thou hasâ— written He that will not forsake wife children house and all that ever he hath and take up his cross and follow thee is not worthy of thee Lord thou knowest that I have forsaken all to come unto thee Lord have mercy upon me for unto thee I commend my Spirit and my soul doth rejoyce in thee Chrysostome Eud xia the Emperess having sent him a very threatning message he gave this answer Go tell her Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but sin When she had procured his banishment as he went forth of the City he said None of these things trouble me but I said within my self if the Queen will let her banish me the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof if she will let her cast me into the sea I will remember Ionah if she will let her cast me into a burning fiery Furnace or among wild beasts the three children and Daniel were so dealt with if she will let her stone me or cut off my head I have St. Stephen and the Baptist my blessed Companions if she will let her take away all my substance Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return thither again He used to say the Devil 's first assault is violent resist that and his second will be weaker and that being resisted he proves a Coward Clarebachius I believe said Adolphus Clarebachius that there is not a merrier heart in the world at this instant then mine is Behold you shall see me die by that faith I have lived in Colham See Sir Iohn Oldcastle under the Letter O Clark When Roger Clark was sentenced he said with much vehemency Fight for your God for he hath not long to continue At the Stake he cried out to the people Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world Coligni Iasper Coligni great Admiral of France who was slain in the Massacre at Paris August 24. 1572. being shot in the left Arm with two Bullets and the fore-finger of the right hand broke off with a third and being told by a Gentleman that it was to be feared the Bullets were poysoned he said All must be as it pleaseth God Seeing his Friends weep which held his Arm whilst the Incisions were made he said My Friends why do you weep I judge my self happy that bear these wounds for the Cause of my God To Mr. Merlin his Chaplain he said These wounds my Friend are Gods blessings The smart indeed is troublesome but I acknowledge the will of my Lord therein and I bless his Majesty who hath been pleased thus to honour me and to lay any pain upon me for his holy Names sake Let us beg of him that he will enable me to persevere to the end Speaking concerning those that wounded him I know assuredly said he that it is not in their power to hurt me No though they should kill me for my death is a most certain passage to eternal life N When the Blood-hounds brake open the house where he lay wounded he spake thus I perceive what is a doing I was never afraid of death and I am ready to undergo it patiently for which â— have long since prepared my self I bless God that I shall die in the Lord. â— now need no longer any help of man therefore my friends get ye hence The presence of God to whose goodness I commend my soul is abundantly sufficiently for me Coâ—vâ—r Sheep we are for the slaughter said Francâ— Co'ver to his two Sons massacred together with himself this is no new thing let us follow millions of Martyrs through temporal death unto eternal life Coo. Roger Coo being asked by the Bishop of Norâ—ichâ— whether he would not obey the Kings Laws answered As far as they agree with the Word of God I will obey them Whether they agree with the Word of God or no we are bound to obey them said the Bishop though the King were an Infidel Coo replyed If Shadrach Mâ—shach and Abednâ—go had so done Neluchadnâ—zzar had neveâ— confessed the Living God Constantine Being carried with other Martyrs in a Dungâ— Cart to the place of Execution he spake thusâ— Well yet are we a precious odour and a sweeâ— savour to God in Christ. Cornford Iohn Cornford one of the last five that suffered Martyrdome in Queen Mary's dayes when thâ— Sentence should have been passed and they should have been executed by the Papists being moveâ— in Spirit with a vehement zeal for God in the namâ— of them all pronounced Sentence of Excommunication against the Papists in these words In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the most mighty God and by the power of the holy Spirit and the authority of his holy and Apostolick Church We do hereby give into the hands of Satan to be destroyed the bodies of those Blasphemers and Hereticks that do maintain any errour against his most holy Word or do condemn his most holy Truth for Heresie to the maintenance of any false Church or feigned Religion so that by this thy just judgement against thy Adversaries thy true Religion may be known to thy great glory and our comfort and to the edifying of all our Nation Lord Jesus So be it It is observable that within six dayes after this Excommunication Queen Mary died and the tyranny of all
when his hour was not yet come departed out of his Countrey into Samaria to avoid the malice of the Scribes and Pharisees and commanded his Apostles that if they were pursued in one place they should fly to another Thus did Paul and the other Apostles Albeit when it came to such a point that they could no longer escape then they evidenced that their flying before came not of fear but of godly wisdome to do more good and that they would not rashly without urgent necessity offer themselves to death which had been a tempting of God After he had recanted and was brought to Saint Mâ—ry's Church in Oxford where Dr. Cole after he had preached bitterly against him shewing why he was to be executed notwithstanding his Recantation prest him to evidence to the people his conversion to Popery Dr. Cranmer entreated the people to pray with him and for him that God would pardon his sins especially his Recantation After he had prayed he told them It is a sad thing to see so many so much dote upon the love of this false World and be so careful of it and so careless of Gods love or the World to come therefore this shall be my first exhortation thaâ— you set not your minds overmuch upon this glozing World but upon God and the World to come and to learn to know what this Lesson meaneth which St. Iohn teacheth That the Love of this World is hatred against God Let rich men consider and weigh three Scriptures Luke 18. It is hâ—rd for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of Heaven 1 John 3. He that hath the suâ—stance of this world and seeth his Brother in necessity and shutteth up his mercy from him how can he say that he loveth God James 5.1 2. Go to now ye rich men weep and hard for the miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted Another exhortation is That next under God you obey your King and Queen willingly and gladly without murmuring or grudging They are Gods Mâ—nisters Whosoever resisteth them resisteth the Ordinance of God And now I come said he to the great thing that so much troubleth my Conscience more then any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life and that is the setting abroad a Writing contrary to the Truth which now here I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand contrary to the Truth which I thought in my heart and written for fear of death and to save my life if it might be And forasmuch as my hand offended writâ—ng contrary to my heart my hand shall first be punished therefore for may I come to the fire it shall be first burned At the Stake when the fire began to burn near him he stretching out his arm put his right hand into the flame which he held so stedfast that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched His eyes lifted up to Heaven he cried out even as long as he could speak O his unworthy hand His last words were the words of Stephen Lord Iesus receive my spirit Cromwel Thomas Lord Cromweâ— Earl of Essâ—x the morning that he was executed having chearfully eaten his break-fast passing out of the Prison down the Hill in the Tower met the Lord Hungerford going to Execution for other matter and perceiving him to be heavy and doleful he willed him to be of good comfort for if you repent said he of what you have done there is mercy enough for you with the Lord who for Christs sake will forgive you and though the break-fast we are going to be sharp yet trusting in the mercy of the Lord we shall have a joyful dinner In his Prayer on the Scaffold O Lord Jesus who art the onely health of all men living and the everlasting life of them which die in thee Being sure that the thing cannot perish which is committed to thy mercy willingly now I leave this frail and wicked flesh in sure hope that thou wilt in better wise restore it to me again at the last day in the resurrection of the Jâ—st I see and acknowledge there is in my self no hope of salvation but all my confidence hope and trust is in thy most merciful goodness Thou merciful Lord wast born for my sake didst suffer hunger and thirst for my sake didst teach pray and fast for my sake all thy holy actions and works thou wroughtest for my sake thou sufferedst most grievous pains and torments for my sake and finally thou gavest thy most precious body and blood to be shed on the Cross for my sake Now most merciful Saviour let all these things profit me c. Let thy blood cleanse and wash away the spots and foulness of â—â— sins let thy righteousness hide and cover my unâ—righteousness Cyprian He went in the time of Persecution into volunâ—tary Banishment lest as he said he should 〈◊〉 more hurt then good to the Congregation When he heard the sentence pronounced aâ—gainst him he said I thank God for freeing mâ— from the Prison of this Body He said Amen to his own sentence of Martyrdome The Proconsul bidding him consult abouâ— it he answered In so just a Cause there needs no deliberation D. Daigerfield William Daigerfield and Ioan his Wife who then gave suck to her tenth child being imprisoned in several Prisons Bishop Brooks sent for the man and told him that his Wife had recanted and so perswaded him to recant and so sent him to his Wife with a Form of Recantation with him which when his Wife saw her heart clave in sunder and she cried out Alas Husband thus long we have continued one and hath Satan so far pervaâ—led with you as to cause you to break the Vow which you made to God in Baptisme Hereupon he bewailed his promise and beg'd of God that he might not live so long as to call evil good and good evil light darkness or darkness light And accordingly it came to pass Damlip Mr. Adam Damlip when he had been almost two years in the Marshalsey considering how he could not employ his talent there to God's Glory as he desired though he had many Favours in Prison resolved to write to the Bishop of Winchester earnestlâ— to desire that he might come to his Tryal for said he I know the worst I can but lose my present life which I had rather do then here to remain and not to be suffered to use my talent to God's Glory When he understood by the Keeper that his suffering was near he was notwithstanding very merry and did eat his meat as well as ever he did in all his life insomuch that some at the Board said unto him they wondred how he could eat his meat so chearfully knowing he was so near his death Ah Masters said he Do you think that I have been so long God's Prisoner in the Marshalsey and have not yet learned to die Yes yes and I doubt not but God
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
unto us but also personally to visit the Poor oppressed and see that nothing be lacking unto them but that they have both ghostly comfort and bodily sustenance notwithstanding the strait inhibition and terrible menacing of these worldly Rulers even ready to abide the extreamest jeopardies that Tyrants can imagine This is an evidence that you have prepared your selves to the Cross of Christ according to the Counsel of the Wise man which saith My Son when thou shalt enter into the way of the Lord prepare thy self unto tribulation This is an evidence that you have cast up your accounts and have wherewith to finish the Tower which ye have begun to build and I doubt not but he that hath begun this work in you shall for his Glory accomplish the same even unto the coming of the Lord which shall give unto every man according to his deeds And albeit God of his secret Judgements for a time keep the rod from some of them that ensue his steps yet let them surely reckon upon it for there is no doubt but all which will live devoutly in Christ must suffer persecution for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth and chasteneth every child that he receiveth If ye be not under correction of which we are all partakers then are ye bastards and not children Nevertheless we may not suppose that our most loving Father should do that because he rejoyceth in our blood or punishment but he doth it for our singular profit that we may be partakers of Holiness and that the remnants of sin which through the frailty of our Members rebel against the Spirit and Will causing our works to go unperfectly forward and may some deal be suppressed least they should subdue us and reign over us Of these things God had given me the speculation before and now it hath pleased him to put in ure and practise upon me I ever thought yea and do think that to walk after Gods Word would cost me my life at one time or another and although the Kings Grace should take me into his Favour and not suffer the bloody Edomites to have their pleasures upon me yet will I not think that I am escaped but that God hath onely deferred it for a season to the intent that I should work somewhat that he hath appointed me to do and so to use me to his Glory And I beseech all the faithful followers of the Lord to arm themselves with the same supposition marking themselves with the sign of the Cross not from the Cross as the superstitious multitude do but rather to the Cross in token that they be ever ready willingly to receive the Cross when it shall please God to lay it upon them The day that it cometh not count it clear won giving thanks to the Lord who hath kept it from you and then when it cometh it shall nothing dismay you for it is no new thing but that which you have continually looked for And doubt not but that God who is faithful will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear but shall ever send some occasion by the which ye shall stand stedfast for either he shall blind the eyes of your enemies and diminish their Tyrannous Power or else when he hath suffered them to do their best and that the Dragon hath cast a whole flood of waters after you he shall cause even the Earth to opeâ— her mouth swallow them up So faithful is he anâ— careful to ease us when the vexation shall be too heavy for us he shall send a Ioseph before you againâ—â— ye shall come into Egypt yea he shall so provide foâ— you that ye shall have an hundred Fathers for one an hundred Mothers for one an hundred House for one and that in this life as I have proved bâ— experience and after this life everlasting joy witâ— Christ our Saviour Notwithstanding since thiâ— steadfastness comes not of our selves as St. Austiâ— saith there was never man so weak or frail no noâ— the greatest offender that ever lived but that every man of his own nature should be as frail and commit as great enormities except he were kept from it by the Spirit and Power of God I beseech you Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ to pray with me that we may be Vessels to his land and praise what time soever it pleaseth him to call upon 〈◊〉 The Father of Glory give us the Spirit of wisdome understanding and knowledge and lighten the eyes of our mind that we may know his wayeâ— praising the Lord eternally Amen John Frith the Prisoner of Iesus Christ at all times abiding his pleasure In his Letter to his Friends concerning his troubles I doubt not dear Brethren but thâ—â— it doth some deal vex you to see the one part 〈◊〉 have all the words and freely to speak what they list and the other to be put to silence and not to be heard indifferently but refer your matter unto God who shortly shall judge after another fashion The Archbishop of Canterbury having sent one of his Gentlemen and one of his Porters to fetch Mr. Iohn Frith out of the Tower to be examined The Gentleman pitying him endeavoured to perswade him to relent to Authority and to give place for a time and not to cast himself away and suffer all his singular gifts to perish with him with little profit to the world c. Mr. Frith gave him thanks for his good will but told him farther thus My Cause and Conscience is such that in no wise I either may or can for any worldly respect without danger of damnation start aside c. If I be demanded what I think of the Supper of the Lord otherwise called the Sacrament of the Altar I must needs say my Knowledge and my Conscience though I should presently lose twenty lives if I had so many And if I may be indifferently heard I am sure mine Adversarie cannot condemn me or mine Assertion c. Yea marry quoth the Gentleman you say well if you might be indifferently heard but I much doubt thereof for that our Master Christ was not indifferently heard neither should be as I think if he were now present again in the world c. Well well quoth Frith unto the Gentleman I know very well that the Doctrine of the Sacrament which I hold and have opened contrary to the Opinion of this Realm is vety hard meat to be digested both of the Clergy and Laity but this I will say to you That if you live but twenty years more you shall see this whole Realm of mine Opinion c. and if it come not to pass then account me the vainest man that ever you heard speak with a tongue All things well and rightly pondered my death in this Cause which is Gods and not mine shall be better unto me and all mine then life in continuaâ— bondage and misery The Gentleman was 〈◊〉 wrought upon that he contrived a way
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
It is no arrogancy nor presumption in any man to burden God as it were with his promise and of duty to claim and challenge his aid help and assistance in all our perils dangers and distress calling upon him not in the confidence of our own godliness but in the trust of his own promises made in Christ. His Word cannot lye Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee and thou shalt praise me I answered the enemy also on this manner I am a sinner and therefore unworthy to be a witness of this truth What then Must I deny his Word because I am not worthy to proâ—ess it What bring I to pass in so doing but adde sin to sin What is greater sin then to deny the truth of Christs Gospel He that is ashamed of me or of my words saith Christ of him also will I be ashamed before my Father and all his Angels I might also by the same reason forbear to do any of Gods Commandments When I am provoked to pray the enemy may say to me I am not worthy to pray therefore I shall not pray c. When the Bishop came to Lichfield he perswaded me to be a Member of his Church which had continued so many years As for our Church as he called it it was not known he said but lately in King Edward's time I profess my self to be a Member of that Church said I that is builded upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ being the head corner-stone And this Church hath been from the beginning said I though it bear no glorious shew before the world being ever for the most part under the Cross and affliction contemned despised and persecuted The Bishop contended on the other side that they were the Church So cried all the Clergy against the Prophets of Ierusalem said I saying The Church the Church c. So much out of Mr. Glover's choice Letter After he was condemned his heart was lumpish and desolate of all spiritual consolation whereupon fearing least the Lord had utterly withdrawn he made his moan to Mr. Austine Bernher his familiar friend telling him how he had prayed night and day to God and yet had no sense of comfort from him The Minister desired him to wait patiently the Lords leisure and howsoever his present feeling was yet seeing his cause was just he exhorted him constantly to stick to the same and to play the man not doubting but the Lord in his good time would visit him and satisfie his desire with plenty of consolation whereof said Mr. Bernher he was right certain and sure and therefore desired him whenever any such feeling of Gods heavenly mercies should begin to touch his heart that then he should shew some signification thereof The next day as he was going to the place of his Martyrdome and was come within light of the Stake although all the night before praying for strength and courage he could feel none suddenly he was so mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joys that he cried out clapping his hands to Austine and saying in these words Austine He is come he is come c. and that with such joy and alacrity as one seeming rather to be risen from some deadly danger to liberty of life then as one passing out of the world by any pains of death Godfrey When one called Godfrey de Hâ—mmele Heretick he said No Heretick but an unprofitable Servant yet willing to die for his Lord and reckoning this death no death but a life Goodman Mr. Christopher Goodman an exiled Minister of Christ in Queen Mary's dayes declaring the cause of all the then misery in England and the onely way to remedy the same writes as followeth from Geneva If all in whom the People should look for comfort be altogether declined from God as indeed they appear to be at this present time in England without all fear of his Majesty or pity upon their Brethren Then assure your selves dear Brethren and Servants of God there can be no better counsel nor more comfortable or present remedy which you shall prove true if God grant you his Spirit and Grace to follow it then in continual and daily invocation of his Name to rest wholly and onely upon him make him your shield buckler and refuge who hath so promised to be to all them that are oppressed and depend upon him to do nothing commanded against God and your conscience preferring at all times the will of God to the will of men saying and answering to all manner of persons This God hath commanded this we must do That God hath forbidden that we will not do If you will rob us and spoil us for doing the Lords will to the Lord must you make answer and not to us for his goods they are and not ours If ye will imprison us behold you are oppressours if ye will hang us or burn us behold ye are murtherers of them which fear the Lord. And for our part if you take from us this vile and corruptible life we are sure the Lord will grant it us again with joy and immortality both of soul and body If God give you grace to make this or the like answer and strength to contemn their Tyranny you may be sure to find unspeakable comfort and quietness of conscience in the midst of your danger and greatest rage of Satan And thus boldly confessing Christ your Saviour before men as by the examples of thousands of your Brethren before your faces God doth mercifully encourage you you may with all hope and patience wait for the joyful confession of Christ again before his Father and Angels in Heaven that you are his obedient and dearly beloved Servants being also assured of this that if it be the will of God to have you any longer to remain in this miserable world that then his Providence is so careful over you and present with you that no man or power can take away your life from you nor touch your body any farther then your Lord and God will permit them which neither shall be augmented for your plain confession nor yet diminished for keeping of silence for nothing cometh to the Servants of God by hap or chance whose hairs of their heads are numbred Whereof if ye be so assured as ye ought there can be nothing that should make you to shrink from the Lord. If they do cast you into Prison with Ioseph the Lord will deliver you If they cast you to wild beasts and Lions as they did Dâ—niel you shall be preserved If into the Sea with Ionas you shall not be drowned or into the dirty dungeon with Ieremy you shall be delivered or into the fiery Furnace with Shadrach Meshach and Aâ—ednego yet shall not be consumed Contrariwise if it be his good pleasure that you shall glorifie his holy Name by your death what great thing have you lost changing death for life
that he disobeyed the Word of the Lord for a good intent was thrown from his worldly and temporal Kingdome Wilt thou for a good intent dishonour God offend thy Brother and danger thy soul wherefore Christ hath shed his most precious blood Wilt thou for a good intent pluck Christ out of Heaven and make his death void and deface the triumph of his Cross by offering him up daily Wilt thou either for fear of death or hope of life deny and refuse thy God who enriched thy poverty healed thy infirmity and yielded to thee his Victory if thou couldst have kept it Dost thou not consider that the thread of thy life hangeth upon him that made thee who can as he please either twine it harder to last the longer or untwine it again to break the sooner Dost thou not then remember the saying of David When thou tâ—kest away thy Spirit O Lord from men they die and are turâ—â—d again to their dust but when thou letâ—est thy breath 〈◊〉 forth they shall be made and thou shalt renew the face of the earth Remember the saying of Christ in his Gospel Whosoever seeketh to save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Again Whâ—soever loveth Father or Mother above me is not meet for me He thâ—t will follow me let him forsake himself and take up his Cross and follow me What Cross the Cross of infamy and shame of misery and poâ—â—â—â—â— of affliction and persecution for his Names 〈◊〉 Let the oft falling of these Heavenly Showres 〈◊〉 thy stony heart Let the two-edged sword of Gods holy Word sheer asunder the sinews of worldly respects even to the marrow of thy carnal heart that thou mayest once again forsake thy self and embrace Christ and like as good subjects will not refuse to hazard all in the defence of their earthly and temporal Governour so fly not like a white-liver'd Milk-sop from the standing wherein thy chief Captain Christ hath hath set thee in array of this life Fight manfully come life come death the Quarrel is Gods and undoubtedly the Victory is ours But thou wilt say I will not break unity what not the unity of Satan and his members not the unity of darkness not the agreement of Antichrist and his adherents Tully saith of Amity Amicitia non est nisi inter bonos But mark my Friends yea Friend if thou beest not Gods enemy there is no unity but where Christ knitteth the knot among such as he is The agreement of all men is not an unity but a conspiracy Thou hast heard some threatnings against those that love themselves above Christ and against those that deny him for love of life saith he not He that denies me before men I will deny him before my Father in Heaven And to the same effect writeth Paul It is impossible that they which were once enlightened and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift and were partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God if they fall away c. should be renâ—wed again by repentance And again If we shall willingly sin after we have received the knowledge of his Truth there is no oblation left for sin but the terrible expectation of judgement and fire which shall devour the adversaries Thus Paul writeth and this thou readest 〈◊〉 dost thou not quake and tremble Well if these teâ—rible and thundring threatnings cannot stir thee to cleave unto Christ and forsake the world yet let the sweet consolation and promises of the Scriptures let the example of Christ and his Apostles holy Martyrs and Confessours incourage thee to take faster hold of Christ. Hearken what he saith Blessed are you when men reviâ—e you and persecute you for my sake Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaveâ— For so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you Hear what Isaiah saith Fear not the curse of men be not afraid of their blasphemies for worms and moths shall eat them up like cloath and wooll but my righteousness shall endure for ever and my saving health from generation to generation What art thou then saith he that fearest a mortal man the child of man which fadeth away like the flower and forgetteth the Lord that made thee that spread out the Heavens and laid the foundation of the earth I am the Lord thy God that maketh the sea to rage and be still whose Name is the Lord of Hosts I shall put my Word in thy mouth and defend thee with the turning of the hand Christ also saith unto his Disciples They shall accuse you and bring you before Princes and Rulers for my Names sake and some of you they shall persecute and kill but fear you not and care you not what you shall say for it is â—e Spirit of your Father that speaketh within you even the hairs of your head are all numbred Lay up treasures for your selves where no thief cometh nor moth corrupteth Fear not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but fear him that hath power to destroy both soul and body If ye were not of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Let these and such like consolations taken out of Scriptures strengthen you to God-ward Let not the examples of holy men and women go out of your mind as Daniel and the rest of the Prophets of the three children c. Return return again into Christs war and as becometh faithful warriour put on that armour that St. Pauâ— teacheth to be most necessary for a Christian man And above all things take unto you the shield oâ— Faith and be you provoked by Christs own example to withstand the Devil to forsake the world and to become a true and â—aithful member of his mystical Body who spared not his own Body for our sins Throw down your self with the fear of his threatned vengeance for this so great and hainous â—ffence of Aposâ—acy and comfort your self on the other hand with the mercy blood and promise of him who is ready to turn unto you whensoever you turn unto him Disdain not to come again with the lost Son seeing you have so wandred with him Be not ashamed to turn again with him from the swill of Strangers to the delicate of your most benigne and lovâ—ng Father acknowledging that you have sinned both against Heaven and against Earth Against Heaven by staining the glorious Name of God and causing his most sincere and pure Word to be evil spoken of through you Against Earth by offending so many of your weak Brethren to whom you have been a stumbling block through your sudden sliding Be not ashamed to weep bitterly with Peter to wash away the filth and mire of your offensive fall to say with the Publican
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
be for his Cause and you shall be an example to all Apostates Immediately after as he was going out of the Prison he was slain by two Gentlemen that had a quarrel with him whereof when Mr. Hamelin heard he professed he knew of no such thing before but spake as pleased God to guide his tongue And thereupon discoursed excellently of the providence of God to the conversion of some present When he was in Prison a Priest came in one Sabbath with all his furniture to say Mass but Mr. Hamelin when he saw him pull'd off his garments c. saying Is it not enough for you to blaspheme God in Churches but you must also pollute the Prison with your idolatry Hamilton Mr. Patrick Hamilton Brothers Son to Iames Hamilton Earl of Arran and Sisters Son to Iohn Stuart Duke of Aâ—thai hating the world and the vanity thereof left Scotland and travelled into Germany where he became intimate with Martin Luther Philip Melancthon Francis Lambert and became an eminent Professor the zeal of Gods glory did eat him up so that he could not chuse but he must return into his own Countrey to make known the Gospel Articles objected against him That the Pope is Antichrist That the Popes Laws be of no strength That he doubted Whether all Children departing immediately after their Baptism are saved or condemned At the place of Execution he gave his Servant who had been his Chamberlain a long time his Gown Coat c. saying These will not profit in the fire they will profit thee After this of me thou canst receive no commodity except the example of my death which I pray thee bear in mind for albeit it be bitter to the flesh and fearful before men yet it is the entrance unto eternal life which none shall possess that denies Christ Iesus before this wicked Generation The fire being kindled he cried with a loud voice Lord Iesus receive my spirt How long shall darkness overwhelm this Realm And how long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of men A Black Frier called Campbel who had pretended some love to the Gospel cried out to him Convert Heretick call upon our Lady say Salve Regina c. His answer was Depart and trouble me not thou Messenger of Satan Wicked man thou knowest the contrary and the contrary to me thou hast confessed I appeal thee before the tribunal seat of Christ Iesus Mr. Fox saith That he cited him to appear before the High God as general Judge of all men to answer to the innocency of his death c. between that and a certain day of the next Moneth which he there named and that the Frier died before the said day came without remorse of conscience that he had persecuted the innocent He was burnt Febr. ult A. 1527. In his Treatise stiled Patricks places by Mr. Iohn Frith who translated it out of Latin into English He that loveth God loveth his Neighbour If a man say I love God and yet hateth his Brother is a Lyar c. He that loveth his Neighbour as himself keepeth all the Commandments of God He that hath faith loveth God My Father loveth you because you love me and believe that I am come of God It is not in our power to keep any one of the Commandments of God But you will say Wherefore doth God bid us do that which is impossible for us I answer To make thee know that thou art but evil and that there is no remedy to save thee in thine own hand and that thou mayest seek remedy at some other c. The remedy is shewed in the Gospel To believe God is to believe his Word and to account what he saith true Faith is the gift of God Faith is not in our power He that lacketh Faith cannot please God All that is done in Faith pleaseth God He that believeth the Gospel shall be saved No manner of works make us righteous He that thinks to be saved by his works calleth himself Christ. Thou must do good works but beware that thou do them not to deserve any good through them Mrs. Katherine Hamilton Sister to Mr. Patrick was also accused and being questioned about works she answered That none was saved by his works One thereupon speaking to her of the works of Congruâ— and Condigno she answered Work here work there what kind of working is all this No works can save me but Christ's Hamell When Godfrey Hamell was condemned for an Heretick Nay said he not an Heretick but an unprofitable Servant of Iesus Christ. When the Hangman went about to strangle him to diminish his punishment he refused it saying That he would abide the Sentence that the Iudges had given Hankes Mr. Thomas Hankes being ask'd by Bonner why he suffered his Child to be unchristened so long answered Because we be bound to do nothing contrary to the Word of God Being told that Baptism is commanded by the Word of God His institution therein said he I do not deny but all things invented and devised by man c. But will you said Bonner deny that which all the World and your Father have been contented withal What my Father said Hankes and all the Wâ—rld hath done I have nothing to do with but what God hath commanded me to do to that stand I. Bonner telling him that Baget was converted to think well of their Baptism I build my faith said he neither upon this man nor upon you but upon Christ who is the founder and author of all mens faith Bonner threatning to take another course with him Whatsoever ye do said he I am ready to suffer it for I am in your hands to abide it Bonner telling him he would not have any Heresie talked in his House Why said he is the Truth become Heresie God hath commanded that we shouâ—d have none other talk in our House in our Beds at our Meat and by the way but all Truth Darbishire Bonners Kinsman telling him he was too curious for he would have nothing but his pretty Gods Book he answered And is it not sufficient for my salvation Yes said D. for our salvation but not for our instruction God send me the salvation said H. and you the instruction Bonner threatning him again You are said he in the hands of God and so am I. That which I have said I will stand to it God willing there is no way to remove it Bonner telling him that a Fagot would make him know and believe the Sacrament of the Altar No no said he a point for your Fagot What God thinketh meet to be done that shall ye do and more ye shall not do Bonner telling him That he was willing to teach him but he was so stubborn that he would not learn Except ye learn me said he by the Word of God I will never credit you nor believe you Harpsfield telling him If his Child died unchristened he
was damb'd and his Child both Iudge you no farther said he then ye may by the Scritures How can your Child being an Infant said Harpsfield believe The deliverance of it said Hankes from sin standeth in the faith of his Parents Saint Paul saying Else were your Children unclean To trust to any said Bonner we bid you not but to pray to them we bid you They that list said Hankes receive your Doctrine You teach me that I should not believe nor trust in any but to call on them and Saint Paul saith How shall I call on him on whom I believe not Bonner calling him fool he said A Bishop must be blameless or faultless sober discreet no chider nor given to anger Mr. Hankes telling Bonner That Christ saith These tokens shall follow them that believe in me They shall speak with new tongues câ—st out Devils and if any drink deadly poyson it shall not hurt them Bonner ask'd him With what new tongues do ye speak Forsooth said Hankes where before I came to the knowledge of Gods Word I was a foul Blasphemer and filthy talker Since I came to the knowledge thereof I have praised God with the sâ—me tongue and is not this a new tongue How do you said Bonner cast out Devils Christ said Hankes did câ—st them out by his Word and he hath left the same Word that whosoever doth credit and believe it shall câ—st out Devils Did you said Bonner ever drink deadly poyson Yea forsooth thee I have said Hankes for I have drunk of the pâ—stilent Traditions and Ceremonies of the Bishop of Rome Bonner threatning that he should be burnt for an Heretick Where prove ye said Hankes that Christ or his Apostles did kill any man for his faith Did not Paul said B. excommunicate Yes my Lord said H. but there is a great difference between excommunication and burning If you will have us grant you to be of God then shew mercy for that God requireth An old Bishop perswading him to learn of his Elders to bear somewhat I will bear with nothing said he that is contrary to the Word of God Fecknam charging him for building his Faith on Latimer â—ranmer Ridley c. I build my Faith said he upon no man and that ye well know for if those men and as many more as they be should recant and deny that they have said or done yet will I stand to it and by this shall ye know that I build my Faith upon no man Chadsey asking him What he said of the Bishop of Rome From him said he and all his detestable enormities good Lord deliver us Bonner saying You speak of Idols and you know not what they mean God hath taught us what they be said Hankes for whatsoever is made graven or devised by mans hand contrary to Gods Word the same is an Idol Chadsey telling him It was pity he should live In this case said he I desire not to live but rather to die I wouâ—d my part might be to morrow Bonner threatning to send him to Newgate My Lord said he you can do me no better pâ—easure Bonner telling the Keeper His Prisoner would not go to the Sermon Yes my Lord said he I pray you let me go and that that is good I will receive and the rest I will leave behind me Bonner asking after his imprisonment Whether he was the same man he was before he answered I am no Changeling nor none will be Miles Huggard asking him Where he proved that Infants were to be baptized Go teach all Nations said he baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Sir here is none excepted Bonner threatning him again Ye shall do no more said he then God shall give you leave As for your cursings railings and blasphemings I care not for them for I know the moths and worms shall eat you as they eat cloth or wooll His examination he writ himself and subscribed it T.H. Who desireth all faithful men and Brethren to pray unto God to strengthen me in his Truth unto the end Pray pray pray gentle Brethren pray Bonner advising him at his publick examination to speak advisedly for he stood upon life and death Well said he I will willingly receive what shall be put unto me My Lord as you be my friend in causing these my sayings to be written so do you cause them to be read and yet I will never go from them Being exhorted to return again to the bosome of the Mother Church No my Lord said he that will I not for if I had an hundred bodies I would suffer them all to be tâ—rn in pieces rather then I will abjure or recaâ—t Some of his Friends being not a little confirmen by his example and discourses yet being somewhat afraid of so sharp a punishment desired him a little before his death that in the midst of the flame he would shew some token if he could whereby they might be more certain whether the pain of burning were so great that a man might not therein keep his mind quiet and patient Whereupon it was agreed between them that if the rage of the pain were tolerable then he should lift up his hands above his head towards Heaven before he gave up the ghost Accordingly when he had continued long in the fire his speech taken away his skin drawn together his fingers consumed so that all concluded he was dead contrary to all expectation he reached up his hands burning on a light fire over his head to the living God and with great rejoycing as it seemed clapped them three times together He was burned to ashes Iune 10. 1555. In his Letter to the Congregation The holy Spirit conduct and lead you all in all your doings that you may alwayes direct your deeds according to his holy Word that when he shall appear to reward every man according to his works ye may as obedient children be found watching ready to enter into his everlasting Kingdome with your Lamps burning and not be ashamed of this life which God hath lent you c. All flesh saith the Prophet is grâ—ss and all his glory as the flower of the field which for a season sheweth her beauty and as soon as the Lord bloweâ—h upon it it withereth away and departeth Here we are as Pilgrims and Strangers following the footsteps of Moses among many unspeakable dangers c. in danger of that dreadful Dragon and his sinful seed to be tempted devoured and tormented who ceaseth not behind every Bush to lay a baâ—t c. casting abroad his Apples in all places times and seasons to see if Adam will be allured and enticed to leave the living God and his most holy commandment c. promising the world at will to all that will fall down and for a mess of pottage sell and set at naught the everlasting Kingdome of Heaven Therefore I am bold in bonds as
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
am called to this Place and Vocation I am throughly perswaded to tarry and to live and die with my sheep When he was imprisoned in the Fleet he writes thus I am so hardly used that I see no remedy saving Gods help but I shall be cast away in Prison before I come to Judgement But I commit my just cause to God whose will be done whether it be by life or death Winchester exhorting him to the unity of the Catholick Church and to acknowledge the Popes Holiness to be Head of the same Church promising him the Queens mercy he answered That forasmuch as the Pope taught Doctrine altogether contrary to the Doctrine of Christ he was not worthy to be accounted a Member of Christs Church much less to be Head thereof wherefore he would in no wise condescend to any such usurped Jurisdiction neither esteemed he the Church whereof they called him Head to be the Catholick Church of Christ for the Church of Christ onely heareth the voice of her Spouse Christ and flieth the strangers Howbeit said he if in any point to me unknown I have offended the Queens Majesty I shall humbly submit my self to her mercy if mercy may be had with safety of conscience and without the displeasure of God Come Brother said he to Mr. Rogers who was sent with him to the Counter in Southwark must we two take this matter first in hand and begin to fire these Fagots Yea Sir said Mr. Rogers by Gods grace Doubt not said Mr. Hooper but God will give strength The Sheriffe telling Mr. Hooper he wondred that he was so hasty and quick with the Lord Chancellor he answered Mr. Sheriffe I was nothing at all impatient although I was earnest in my Masters Cause and it standeth me so in hand for it goeth upon life and death not the life and death of this world onely but also of the world to come In his Letter for the stopping of certain false rumours spread abroad concerning his Recantation by the Bishops and their Servants The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all them that unfeignedly look for the coming of our Saviour Christ. Amen Dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord and my Fellow-Prisoners for the Cause of Gods Gospel I do much rejoyce and give thanks unto God for your constancy and perseverance in affliction unto whom I wish continuance to the end And as I do rejoyce in your faith and constancy in afflictions that be in Prison even so I do mourn and lament to hear of our dear Brethren that yet have not felt such dangers for Gods Truth as we have and do feel and be daily like to suffer more yea the very extream and vile death of the fire yet such is the report abroad as I am credibly informed that I Iohn Hooper a condemned man for the Cause of Christ should now after sentence of death being in Newgate Prisoner and looking daily for Execution recant and abjuâ—e that which heretofore I have preached and this talk ariseth of this That the Bishop of London and his Chaplains resort unto me Doubtless if our Brethren were as Godly as I could wish them they would think that in case I did refuse to talk with them they might have just occasion to say that I were unlearned and durst not speak with learned men or else proud and disdained to speak with them But I fear not their Arguments neither is death terrible to me I am more confirmed in the truth which I have preached heretofore by their coming Therefore ye that may send to the weak Brethren pray them that they trouble me not with such reports of Recantations as they do for I have hitherto left all things of the world and suffered great pains and imprisonment and I thank God I am as ready to suffer death as a mortal man may be It were better for them to pray for us then to credit or report such rumours that be untrue We have enemies enough of such as know not God truly but yet the false report of weak Brethren is a double cross I wish your eternal salvation in Jesus Christ and also require your continual Prayers that he which hath begun in us may continue it to the end I have taught the truth with my tongue and with pen heretofore and hereafter shortly will confirm the same by Gods grace with my blood Newgate Feb. 2. 1554. Your Brother in Christ J. H. When the Keeper told him he should be sent to Glocester to be burned he rejoyced very much lifting up his eyes and hands to Heaven he praised God that he saw it good to send him among the people over whom he was Pastor there to confirm with his death the truth which he had before taught them not doubting but the Lord would give him strength to perform the same to his glory Sir Anthony Kingston formerly his Friend then a Commissioner to see Execution done upon him coming to him a little before his death bid him consider that life was sweet death was bitter c. It is true said Mr. Hooper I am come hither to end this life and to suffer death here because I will not gainsay the former truth which I have heretofore taught among you True it is that daath is bitter and life is sweet but alas consider that the death to come is more bitter and the life to come is more sweet therefore for the desire and love I have to the one and the terrour and fear of the other I do not so much regard this death nor esteem this life but have settled my self through the strength of Gods holy Spirit patiently to pass through the torments and extremities of the fire now prepared for me rather then to deny the truth of his Word desiring you and others in the mean time to commend me to Gods mercy in your Prayers I thank God said the Knight that ever I knew you for God did appoint you to call me being a lost child and by your good instructions where before I was both an Adulterer and Fornicator God hath brought me to the forsaking and detesting of the same If you had the grace so to do said the Bishop I do highly praise God for it and if you have not I pray God you may have and that you may continually live in his fear The Knight and the Bishop parting with tears the Bishop told the Knight that all the troubles he had sustained in Prison had not caused him to utter so much sorrow A Papist telling him he was sorry to see him in that case Be sorry for thy self man said he and lament thine own wickedness for I am well I thank God and death to me for Christs sake is welcome When he was committed to the Sheriffe of Glâ—cester the Mayor and Aldermen at first saluted him and took him by the hand Mr. Mayor said Mr. Hooper I give most hearty thanks to you and to the rest of
his honourably saying Even so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you We may learn by things that nourish and maintain us both meat and drink what loathsomness and in a manner abhorring they come to before they work their perfection in us c. that whosoever saw the same would loath and abhor his own nourishment before it come to its perfection Is it then any marvel if such Christians as God delighteth in be so mangled and defaced in this world which is the Kitchin and Mill to boil and grind the flesh of Gods people in till they atchieve their perfection in the world to come Raw flesh is not meat wholesome for man and unmortified men and women be not creatures meet for God Christs people must be broken and all to torn in the Mill of this world and so shall they be most fine meat to their Heavenly Father We must therefore patiently suffer and willingly attend upon Gods doings although they seem clean contrary after our judgement to our wealth and salvation as Abraham did when he was bid to offer his Son Isaac in whom God promised the Blessing and multiplying of his seed Ioseph at the last came to that which God promised him although in the mean time after the Judgement of the world he was never like to be as God said he should be Lord over his Brethren When Christ would make the blind man to see he put clay upon his eyes which after the judgement of man was a means rather to make his double blind then to give him his sight but he obeyed and knew that God could work his desire what means soever he used contrary to mans reasons To judge things indifferently the trouble be not yet generally as they were in our good Fathers time soon after the death and resurrection of our Saviour Christ. Was there ever such trouble as Christ threatned upon Ierusalem Towards the end of the world we have nothing so much extremity as they had then but even as we be able to bear In another Letter I require you not to forget your duty towards God in these perillous dayes in the which the Lord will try us I trust you do increase by the reading of the Scriptures the knowledge you have of God and that you diligently apply your self to follow the same for the knowledge helpeth not except the life be according thereto I commend you to God and the guiding of his goost Spirit to stablish and confirm you in all well doing and keep you blameless to the day of the Lord watch and pray for this day is at hand In his Letter to his charitable Friends in London For your liberality I most heartily thank you and praise God highly in you for you c. praying him to preserve you from all famine scarcity and lack of the truth of his Word which is the lively food of your souls as you preserve my body from hunger and other necessities that would happen unto me were it not cared for by the charity of godly people Such as have spoiled me of all that I had have imprisoned me and appointed not one half-penny to feed or relieve me withall but I do forgive them and pray for them daily in my poor Prayer to God and from my heart I wish their salvation and quietly and patiently bear their injuries wishing no farther extremity to be used towards us yet if the contrary seem best to our heavenly Father I have made my reckoning and fully resolved to suffer the uttermost that they are able to do against me yea death it self by the aid of Christ Jesus who died the most vile death of the Cross for us wretched and miserable sinners But of this I am assured that the wicked world with all his force and power shall not touch one of the hairs of our heads without leave and license of our heavenly Father whose will be done in all things If he will life life be it if he will death death be it onely we pray that our wills may be subject to his will If we be contented to obey Gods will and for his Commands sake to surrender our goods and our lives to be at his pleasure it maketh no matter whether we keep goods and life or lose them Nothing can hurt us that is taken from us for Gods Cause nor can any thing at length do us good that is preserved contrary to Gods command Let us wholly suffer God to use us and ours after his holy wisdome and beware we neither use nor govern our selves contrary to his will by our own wisdome for if we do our wisdome will at length prove foolishness It is kept to no good purpose that we keep contrary to his Commandments It can by no means be taken from us that he would should tarry with us He is no good Christian that ruleth himself and his as worldly means serve for he that so doth shall have as many changes as chances in the world To day with the world he shall like and praise the truth of God to morrow as the world will so will he like and praise the falshood of man to day with Christ to morrow with Antichrist Glorifie your heavenly Father both with your inward and outward man If ye think ye can inwardly in the heart serve him and yet outwardly serve with the world in external service the thing that is not of God ye deceive your selves for both the body and soul must concurre together in the honour of God for if an honest wife be bound to give both heart and body to faith and service in marriage and if an honest wives faith in the heart cannot stand with a whorish or defiled body much less can the true faith of a Christian in the service of Christianity stand with the bodily service of external idolatry for the mystery of Marriage is not so honourable between man and wife as it is between Christ and every Christian. Therefore dear Brethren pray to the heavenly Father that as he spared not the soul nor the body of his dearly beloved Son but applied both of them with extream pain to work our salvation both of soul and body so he will give us all grace to apply our souls and bodies to be Servants to him Let us not deride our selves and say our souls serve him whatsoever our bodies do to the contrary for civil order and policy But alas I know by my self what troubleth you viz. the great danger of the world that will revenge ye think your service to God with sword and fire with loss of goods and lands but dear Brethren weigh on the other side that your enemies and Gods enemies shall not do as much as they would but as much as God shall suffer them who can trap them in their own counsels and destroy them in the midst of their furies Remember ye be the Work-men of the Lord and called into his Vineyard there to labour till
that you be cursed by the sentence of the Catholick Church with such like terrours that pray to God and follow the Star of his Word and you shall arrive at the Port of Eternal Salvation by the merits onely of Jesus Christ. Hudson When Thomas Hudson of Ailesham in Norfolk saw the Constables come to his house to apprehend him he said Now mine hour is welcome friends welcome you be they that shall lead me to life in Christ. I thank God therefore and the Lord enable me thereto for his mercies sake for his desire was and he ever prayed if it were the Lords will that he might suffer for the Gospel of Christ. When Berry threatned him saying I will write to the Bishop my good Lord c. O Sir said he there is no Lord but God though there be many lords and many gods Wilt thou recant said Berry the Priest or no The Lord forbid said Hudson I had rather die many deaths then to do so When he came first to the Stake he was very sad not for his death but for lack of feeling his Christ and therefore came from his Fellow-sufferers under the Chain and fell down upon his knees and prayed and at last he rose with great joy as a man new changed even from death to life and said Now I thank God I am strong and pass not what man can do unto me Hullier Mr. Iohn Hullier Conduct in Kings Colledge at Cambridge suffered martyrdome at Cambridge April 2. A. 1556. In his Letter to the Christian Congegation It standeth now most in hand O dear Christians all them that look to be accounted of Christs flock at the great and terrible day when a separation shall be made c. faithfully in this time of great afflictions to hear our Master Christs voice the onely true Shepherd of our souls who saith Whosoevâ—r shall endure to the end shall be saved In this time we must needs either shew that we be his faithful Souldiers and continue in his battel to the end putting on the armour of God the buckler of Faith the breast-plate of Love the helmet of Hope and Salvation and the Sword of his holy Word with all instance of supplication and prayer or else if we do not work and labour with these we are Apostates and false Souldiers shrinking most unthankfully from our Gracious and Sovereign Lord and Captain Christ and leaning to Beliaâ— for he saith plainly Whosoever beareth not my Cross and followeth me cannot be my Disciple and No man can serve two Masters for either he must hate the one and love the other or else he shall lean to the one and despise the other Elias also said unto the people Why halt ye between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him or if Baal be he follow him If Christ be that onely good and true Shepherd that gave his life for us then let us that bear his mark and have our consciences sprinkled with his blood follow altogether for our salvation his heavenly voice and calling according to our profession and first promise If we shall not certainly say what we can though we bear the Name of Christ we are none of his Sheep indeed for he saith manifestly My sheep hear my voice and follow me A stranger they will not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of a stranger The craft and wiliness of our subtile enemy is manifold and divers and full of close windings At this present day if he cannot induce one throughly as others do to savour his devillish Religion and of good will and free heart to help to uphold the same yet he will inveigle him to resort to his wicked and whorish School-house and to keep company with his Congregation there and to hold his peace and say nothing whatsoever he think c. by that subtile means flattering him that he shall both save his life and also his goods and live in quiet But if we look well on Christs holy Will and Testament we shall perceive that he came not to make any such peace upon Earth nor that he gave any such peace to his Disciples I leave peace with you saith he my peace I give you not as the world giveth it give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled and fearful These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye should have peace in the world ye shall have affliction but be of good cheer I have overcome the world The Servant is not greater then his Lord and Master if they have persecuted me they shall also persecute you If any man come to me and hateth not his father and mother c. yea and moreover his own life it is not possible for him to be my Disciple Blessed be ye that now weep for ye shall laugh and woe be unto you that now laugh for ye shall mourn and weep He that will find his life shall lose it Therefore the God of that true peace and comfort preserve us that we never obey such a false Flatterer who at length will pay us home once for all bringing for temporal peace and quietness everlasting trouble c. for these vain and transitory goods extream loss of the eternal treasure and inheritance for this mortal life deprivation of the most joyful life immortal and endless death most miserable c. I judge it better to go to School with our Master Christ and to be under his Ferula and Rod although it seems sharp and grievous for a time that at length we may be inheriters with him of everlasting joy rather then to keep company with the Devils Scholars the adulterous generation in his School that is all full of pleasure for a while and at the end to be payed with the wages of continual burning in the most horrible Lake which burneth evermore with fire and brimstone c. What doth he else I pray you that resorteth to the Ministration and Service that is most repugnant to Christs holy Testament there keeping still silence and nothing reproving the same but in the face of the world by his very deed it self declare himself to be of a false fearful dissembling feigned and unfaithful heart discouraging as much as lies in him all the residues of Christs Host and giving a manifest offence unto the weak and also confirming encouraging and rejoycing the hearts of the adversaries in all their evil doing by which he sheweth himself neither to love God whom he seeth to be dishonoured and blasphemed of an Antichristian Minister nor yet his Neighbour before whom he should rebuke the evil according to the command Thou shalt not hate thy Neighbour but reprove him c. But God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love Be not ashamed to testifie our Lord but suffer adversity with the Gospel through the power of God c. Fear not them that
kill the body c. Fear not though they seem terrible unto you neither be troubled but sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts Onely let your conversation be as becomes the Gospel c. in nothing fearing your adversaries which is to them a token of damnation and to you of salvation and that of God for unto you it is given not onely to believe in Christ but to suffer for his sake In the Revelation it is written That the fearful shall have their part with the Unbelieving and Abominable in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Wide is the gate and broad is the way which leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat but strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Thus I wholly commit you to him and to the Word of his grace which is able to build further beseeching you most heartily to pray for me that I may be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and stand perfect in all things being alwayes prepared and ready looking for the mercy of our Lord unto eternal rest and I will pray for you as I am most bound So I trust he will graciously hear us for his promise sake in Christ. Your Christian Brother a Prisoner of the Lord John Hullier In another Letter to the Congregation of Christs faithful followers Most dear Christians having now the sweet comfort of Gods saving health and being confirmed with his free Spirit be he onely praised therefore I am constrained in my conscience to admonish you as ye tender the salvation of your souls by all manner of means to separate your selves from the Antichristian Company considering what is said in the Revelation If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in the forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured into the cup of his wrath c. The Beast is none other but the carnal and fleshly Kingdome of Antichrist What do they else but worship this Beast and his Image who after they had escaped from the filthiness of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are yet again tangled therein and overcome using dissimulation for fear of their displeasure doing one thing outwardly and thinking inwardly another So having them in reverence under a cloak and colour to whom they ought not so much as to say God speed and adjoyning themselves to the Malignant Congregation which they ought to abhor as a Den of Thieves and Murderers and a Brothel-house of most blasphemous Fornicators But this feignedness and dissimulation Christ and his Gospel will no wayes allow Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Sâ—n of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father c. Cursed be the dissemblers c. Ye were once enlightned and tasted of the heavenly gift And no man that putteth his hand to the Plough and looketh back is apt for the Kingdome of God They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us Wherefore good Christians for Gods dear love deceive not your selves through your own wisdome and through the wisdome of the world which is foolishness before God but certifie and stay your own consciences with the faithful Word of God c. Though Gods mercy is over all his works yet it doth not extend but onely to them that hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of hope unto the end not being weary of well doing but rather every day waxing stronger and stronger in the inward man In the Revelation where it is entreated of the Beast and his Image it is said Here is the sufferance of Saints and here are they that keep the Commandments and Faith of Iesus Christ intimating that God doth use those wicked men as instruments for a time to try the patience and faith of his peculiar people c. Peradventure you will say What shall we do shall we cast our selves head-long to death I say not so but this I say That we are all bound if ever we look to receive salvation at Gods hands in this case to be wholly obedient to his determinate counsel c. and then to cast all our care on him who worketh all in all for the best unto them that love him Now thus be commandeth Come away from her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Come out from among them and joyn not your selves to their unlawful Assemblies yea do not once shew your selves with the least part of your body to favour their wicked doings Now chuse you which way you will take either the narrow c. or the broad way c. I for my part have now written this short Admonition to you of good will as God is my witness to exhort you to that way which at length you shall prove and find to be best and I do not onely write this but I will with the assistance of Gods grace seal it with my blood Hunter Atwell a Sumner telling William Hunter it was never a merry world since the Bible came abroad in English Say not so for Gods sake said Hunter for it is Gods Book out of which every one that hath grace may learn to know what things both please God and also what displeaseth him Could not we tell said Atwell before this time how God was served No said Hunter nothing so well as we may now if that we might have his blessed Word amongst us still as we have had You must turn or burn said Atwell God give me grace said Hunter that I may believe his Word and confess his Name whatsoever come thereof Whereas you doubt of my belief said Hunter to Wood the Vicar of Southwell I would it were tryed Whether that you or I would stand faster in our Faith Yea thou Heretick said Wood wouldst thou have it so tryed That which you call heresie said Hunter I serve my Lord God withall I would that you and I were fast tyed to a Stake to prove whether that you or I would stand strongest to our Faith It shall not be so tryed said Wood No said Hunter I think so for if I might I think I know who would soonest recant for I durst set my foot against yours eyen to the death Bonner telling him That he was content he should keep his conscience to himself so that he would go to Church and receive c. No said he I will not do so for all the good in the world Then said Bonner I will make you sure enough I warrant you Well said
of their Faith Against fleshly lust preach continually all that ever you can for that is the raging beast which devoureth men for whom the flesh of Christ did suffer In another Letter O holy God how largely doth Antichrist extend his power and cruelty But I trust that his power shall be shortned and his iniquity shall be detected more and more amongst the faithful people Let Antichrist rage so much as he will yet he shall not prevail against Christ. I am greatly comforted in those words of our Saviour Happy be you when men shall hate you and shall separate you and shall reâ—uke you and shall câ—st out your name as execrable for the Son of man Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven O worthy yea a most worthy consolation which not to understand but to practiae in time of tribulation is an hard Lesson Certainly it is a great matter for a man to rejoyce in trouble and to take it for joy to be in divers temptations A light matter it is to speak it and to expound it but a great matter to fulfill it For why our most patient and most valiant Champion himself c. was troubled in spirit and said My soul is heavy unto death c. and yet he notwithstanding being so troubled said to his Disciples Let not your hearts be troubled O most merciful Christ draw us weak creatures after thee for except thou shouldst draw us we are not able to follow thee Without thee we can do nothing much less enter into the cruel death for thy sake Give us that prompt and ready spirit a bold heart an upright faith a firm hope and perfect charity that we may give our lives patiently and joyfully for thy Names sake In another Letter I love the counsel of the Lord above gold and precious stones Wherefore I trust in the mercy of Jesus Christ that he will give me his Spirit to stand in his Truth Pray to the Lord for the spirit is ready but the flesh is weak Know this for certain that I have had great conflicts by dreams in such sort as I had much ado to refrain from crying out I dreamed of the Popes escape before he went and after the Lord Iohn had told me thereof immediataly in the night it was told me that the Pope should return to you again I dreamed also of the apprehending Mr. Hierom although not in full manner as it was done All the imprisonments whither and how I am carried were opened to me before although not fully after the same form and circumstance Many Serpents oftentimes appeared to me having heads also in their tail but none of them could bite me These things I write not esteeming my self a Prophet or that I extol my self but onely to signifie to you what temptations I had in body and also in mind and what great fear I had lest I should transgress the Commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a Letter to the Lord Iohn de Clum I pray you expound to me the dream of this night I saw how that in my Church of Bethlem they came to raze all the Images of Christ and did put them out The next day after I arose and saw many Painters which made more fairer Images and many more then I had done before which thing I was very glad and joyful to behold And the Painters with much people about them said Let the Bishops and Priests come now and put out these Pictures Which being done much people seemed to me in Bethlem to rejoyce and I with them and I awaking therewith felt my self to laugh c. This Vision the Lord Iohn and Mr. Hus himself in his Book of Epistles Ep. 45. seemeth to expound and applieth the Images of Christ to the preaching of Christ and of his life The which preaching and doctrine of Christ though the Pope and Cardinals should extinguish in him yet did he foresee and declare that the time should come wherein the same doctrine should be revived again by others so plenteously that the Pope with all his power should not be able to prevail against it In the Forty eighth Epistle seeming to speak with the same Spirit of Prophesie he hath these words But I trust those things which I have spoken within the House hereafter shall be preached upon the top of the House In a certain Treatise also by him written De Sacerdotum Monachorum carnalium abominatione speaking Prophetically of the reformation of the Church he hath these words Moreover hereupon note and mark by the way that the Church of God cannot be reduced to its former dignity or be reformed before all things first be made new The truth whereof is plain by the Temple of Solomon As my mind now giveth me I believe that there shall arise a new people formed after the new man which is created after God of the which people new Clerks and Priests shall come and be taken which all shall hate covetousness and the glory of this life hastening to an heavenly conversation All these things shall come to pass and be brought by little and little in order of times dispensed of God for the same purpose and this God doth and will do for his own goodness and mercy and for the riches of his great longanimity and patience giving time and space of repentance to them that have long lain in their sins to amend and flie from the face of the Lords fury whilest in the mean time the carnal people and carnal Priests successively shall fall away and be consumed as with the moth c. In another Letter You know how I have detested the avarice and inordinate life of the Clergy wherefore through the grace of God I suffer now persecution which shortly shall be consummate in me neither do I fear to have my heart poured out for the Name of Christ Jesus If you shall be called to any Cure in the Countrey let the honour of God and the salvation of souls move you thereunto and not the having of the living or Commodities thereof See that you be a Builder of your Spiritual House being gentle to the poor and humble of mind and waste not your goods in great fare I fear if you do not amend your life ceasing from your costly and superfluous apparel lest you shall be grievously chastised as I also wretched man shall be punished which have used the like being seduced by custome and evil men and worldly glory whereby I have been wounded against God with the spirit of pride And because you have notably known both my preaching and outward conversation even from my youth I have no need to write many things to you but to desire you for the mercy of Jesus Christ that you do not follow me in any such levity and lightness which you have seen in me You know how before my Priesthood which grieveth me now I have delighted oftentimes to play at Chess
the tyranny of these most cruel Beasts that they say plainly they shall root us out at once so that no remembrance shall remain of us on earth O Lord thou knowest we are but flesh c. We confess we are punished most justly thy blessed Gospel was in our ears like a Lovers Song it pleased us for a time but alas our lives did nothing agree with holy Statutes But be thou mindfull O Lord that thy enemies blaspheme thy holy Name c. Thy Gospel is called Heresie and we are accused as Traitors for professing the same c. Albeit our sins accuse and condemn us yet do thou according to thy great Name Correct us but not in thy hot displeasure spare thy people and permit not thine inheritance to be in rebuke for ever c. Gather us yet once again to the wholesome treasures of thy most Holy Word that openly we may confess thy blessed Name within the Realm of England Amen Abide patiently the Lords deliverance avoiding and flying such offences as may separate and divide you from the blessed Fellowship of the Lord Jesus at his second coming Watch and pray resist the Devil and rowe against this vehement Tempest and the Lord shall come shortly to your comfort and you shall say Behold this is our God we have waited for him and he hath saved us Mr. Knox remained at Frankford till some more given to unprofitable Ceremonies then to the sincerity of Religion essaied by a most cruel barbarous and bloody practice to dispatch him out of the way They accused him to the Magistrates of high Treason against the Emperâ—ur and his Son Philip and Mary Queen of England for that in his Admonition to England he called the Emperour no less an Enemy to Christ then Nâ—ro and Queen Mary more cruel then Iâ—zabel The Magistrates perceiving their malice and abhorring their bloody attempt gave advertisement secretly to him to depart their City because they could not save him if he were required by the Emperâ—ur or by the Queen of England in the Emperours Name The night before his departure he made a most comfortable Sermon of the Death and Resurrection of Christ and of the unspeakable joyes that were prepared for Gods Elect which in this life suffer persecution for the Testimony of his blessed Name From Frankford he went to Geneva and thence to Diep and thence to Scotland At his coming to Edinburg the Lord made him instrumental for the comforting the troubled conscience of Mrs. Elizabeth Adamson who under extreme torments of body said A thousand years of this torment and ten times more joyned unto it is not to be compared to a quarter of an hour that I suffered in my Spirit I thank my God through Jesus Christ that hath delivered me from that fearful pain and welcome be this even so long as it pleaseth the Majesty of Heaven to exercise me therewith At his coming into Scotland he began as well in private conference as preaching to shew how dangerous a thing it was to communicate in any son with Idolatry Whereupon the Question was debated Whether in any wise it was lawful for Christian to go to Mass or to communicate with the abused Sacraments in the Papistical manner I was urged that Paul at the command of Iames and of the Elders of Ierusalem passed to the Temple and feigned himself to pay his Vow with others But this and other things were so fully answered bâ— Mr. Knox that Mr. Maitland confessed I see verâ— perfectly that our shifts will serve nothing before God seeing that they stand us in so small stead before men His Answer to the fact of Paul c. was 1 The fact was most unlike going to Mass for to pay Vows was sometimes Gods command as was never Idolatry and their Mass from the Original was and remained odious Idolatry 2 I greatly doubt said he whether either Iames's command or Paul's obedience proceeded of the holy Ghost seeing he fell into the most desperate danger that ever he sustained before for obeying worldly-wise counsel Mr. Knox was so successfull in a short time through the blessing of God that the Earl of Glencarn the Earl of Marschel and Henry Drummond were so contented with his Exhortation that they willed him to write unto the Queen Regent somewhat that might move her to hear the Word of God He obeyed their desire and wrote that which was afterwards published and is called The Letter to the Queen Dowager which was delivered to her own hands by the Earl of Glencarn The Queen having read it delivered it to the Bishop of Glâ—scow saying in mockage Please you my Lord to read a Pasquil which words coming to the ears of Mr. Knox occasioned him to make the Additions to his Letter In his Letter The Christians Victory standeth not in resisting but suffering as our Sovereign Master pronounceth to his Disciples That in patience they should possess their souls and Isaiah painteth forth all other Battels to be with violence tumult and blood-shedding but the Victory of Gods people to be in quietness silence and hope meaning that all others that obtain victory do enforce themselves to resist their Adversaries to shed blood and to murder but so do not Gods Elect for they suffer all things at the command of him who hath appointed them to suffer being most assuredly perswaded that then onely they triumph when all men judge them oppressed for in the Cross of Christ alwaies is included a secret and hid victory never well known till the Sufferers appear altogether to be as it were exterminate for then onely did the blood of Abel cry to God when proud Cain judged all memory of his Brother to have been extinguished Sometimes God toucheth the hearts of those who in mans judgement have power to destroy his people with pity to save them c. for two causes specially 1 To comfort his weak Warriers in their manifold temptations And 2 To give a testimony of his favour to such great ones Pity and mercy shewed to Christs afflicted flock as they never lacked reward temporal so if they be continued and be not changed into cruelty are assured signes and seals of everlasting mercy to be received from God From those words of Christ Fuâ—fill the measure of your Fathers that all the blood which hath been shed since the blood of Abel the just till the blood of Zechariah c. It is evident that the murderers of our time are guilty of all the blood that hath been shed from the beginning and it is but equal and just it should be so for whosoever sheddeth the blood of any one of Christs members for professing his Truth consenteth to all the murder that hath been made from the beginning for that cause As there is one Communion of all Gods Elect of which every member is participant of the righteousness of Christ so is there a communion among the reprobates by which
and Iohn c. which is written without doubt for our instruction so that thereby you may see when men be wrongfully suspected or inâ—amed of heresie and so prohibited by Bishops to preach the Word of God that they ought for no mans commandment to leave or stop c. In his Answer to the two and twentieth Demand Priests have two names in Scripture Presâ—yteri Sacerdoâ—es They are most usually called Presbyteri who are set to be Prelates in the Church to guide the same by his blessed Word And Priests thus called Presbyteri in the Primitive Church what time were but few Traditions and Ordinances to let us from the strait institution made by Christ and his Apostles were the very same and none other but Bishops As many as are in this wise Priests ought to preach freely the Word of God in all places and times convenient c. Others be called Priests by this word Sacerdotes and thus be all Christians c. These ought not all to preach openlâ— in general Assemblies c. yet privately are they bound for instruction of their Servants Children Kinsfolk c. to speak that should be for the destruction of vice and upholding and increase of vertue c. Notwithstanding this I say both by supportation of Gods Law and also of Laws written in the Dâ—crees that in time of great necessity Lay people may preach c. In his Answer to the four and twentieth Demand Excommunication bindeth before God if it be lawfully denounced if the persons be guilty and if it be done with the consent of others gathered with the Bishop in Christs Name for the behoof of Christs Church for so used St. Paul in excommunicating the incestuous Corinthian and Christ requireth c. So that excommunication ought to be done as methinketh by the Congregation assembled together with their Pastour whose advice they ought principally to esteem and follow if it be vertuous and godly In his Answer to the thirtieth Demand Where you speak of Prelates Deputies I think such be little behoveful to Christs flock It were right and necessary that as the Prelates themselves will have the Revenues c. they should themselves labour and teach diligently the Word of God and not shift the labour from one to another till pity it is all be left undone Such doth Saint Iohn call thieves and murtherers c. God would have every man get his living by the sweat of his own face i. e. by his labour according to his estate and calling In his Answer to the five and thirtieth Demand That one singular person may judge more rightly then a great multitude assembled in a Council appeareth by Gods Law and by the Law of man Caiaphas is one instance A whole Council did submit to his Sentence Gamaliel is another Agreeable to this we find in the Decrees Dist. 31. the whole Council of Nice commending the Sentence of Paphnutius and upon this that Paphnutius did resist and prevail against the whole Council the Gloss notes that one singular person may gain-say an universal generality having a reasonable cause on his side Panormitane also gives his suffrage I would saith he rather believe one Lay person bringing in for him authority of Scripture then universal Council that ordaineth a thing without Scripture In his Answer to the five and fortieth Demand Concerning opinions or conclusions I can tell you of none other then I have shewed The sum whereof I think concluded in these two Scripture Propositions 1 Christ is the Head corner-stone of our faith whereupon it should be grounded neither is there salvation in any other c. 2 Men do worship God in vain teaching doctrines and precept or laws humane Thus I certifie you of all the opinions and conclusions which I intend or have intended to sustain and not to decline from neither for fear nor yet for love of man or men These Answers of Mr. Lambert the five and forty Articles against him were directed and delivered to Dr. Warham Arch Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1532. From the danger he was in at that time he was delivered by the death of Dr. Warham but falling into fresh Troubles through the indiscretion of Dr. Tailor and Dr. Barnes to make the quicker work following the precedent of St. Paul appealing to Caesar he appeals to the King who having lately taken upon him the Title of the Supreme Head of the Church of England would shew that Head had a Tongue could speak in matters of Divinity In Whitehall the place and day is appointed where an Act-Royal was kept the King himself being Opponent and Lambert the Answerer When the King commanded him to declare his mind c. He gave God thanks which had so inclined the heart of the King that he himself would not disdain to hear and understand the controversies of Religion for that it hapneth oftentimes through the cruelty of the Bishops that many good and innocent men in many places are privily murthered and put to death without the Kings knowledge But now forasmuch as that High and Eternal King of Kings in whose hands are the hearts of all Princes hath stirred up the Kings mind that he himself will be present to understand the Causes of his Subjects I do not doubt but that God will bring some great thing to pass through him to the setting forth of the glory of his Name When the King was worsted and wearied Arch Bishop Cranmer supplied his place arguing though civilly shrewdly against the truth and saith Dr. Fuller his own private judgement which was worse saith the same Author then keeping the clothes of those who killed Stephen seeing this Arch Bishop did actually cast stones at this Martyr in the Arguments he urged against him Yet after his whole body was reduced to ashes his heart was found entire and untouched an argument of his cordial integrity to the Truth though fear too much prevailed and too often on him After the Dispute was ended the King said unto him What sayest thou now Art thou yet satisfied Wilt thou live or die what sayest thou Thou hast yet free choice Mr. Lâ—mbert answered I commend my soul unto the hands of God but my body I wholly yield and submit to your clemency The King notwithstanding commanded the Lord Cromwell to reâ—d the Sentence of Condemnation against him And it is very observable that through the pestiferous and crafty counsel of Gardiner Satan who oftentimes raiseth up one Brother to destroy another brought about the death of this Martyr by such viz. Tailor Barnes Cranmer and Cromwell who afterwards suffered the like for the Gospels sake After his legs were consumed and burned to the stumps he lifting up such hands as he had and his fingers ends flaming with fire cried unto the people in these words None but Christ none but Christ. Mr. Clement Cotton in his
said of them for their preaching sake but he exhorteth them to take patiently such persecution by his own example saying It becomes not the Servant to â—e above the Master c. Read also the fourteeth Chapter and there your Grace shall see that he promised to the true Preachers no worldly promotion or dignity but persecution and that they should be betrayed even by their own Brethren and Children In Iohn also he saith In the world you shall have oppression and the wâ—rld shall hate you but in me you shall have peace And elsewhere Lo I send you as Sheep among Wolves The true Preachers go like Sheep harmless and be persecuted and yet they revenge not their wrong but remit all to God So far is it off that they will persecute any other but with the Word of God onely which is their weapon This is the most evident token that Christ would that his Gospel and the Preachers of it should be known by that it should be despised among worldly wise men and be reputed foolishness by them and deceivable Doctrine and the true Preachers should be persecuâ—ed and driven from Town to Town and at last lose both Goods and Life and yet they that persecuted them should think they did well and a great pleasure to God Where the Word of God is truly preached there is persecution as well of the Hearers as of the Teachers He that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution It is not onely given you to believe in the Lord but to suffer perseâ—ution for his sake Where is quietness and rest in worldly pleasure there is not the Truth for the world loveth all that are of the world and hateth all things that are contrary to it St. Paul calleth the Gospel The Word of the Cross. May it please your Grace to return to the golden Rule of your Saviour By their fruits you shall know them Where you see persecution there is the Gospel and there is the Truth and they that do persecute be without the Truth They whose works be naught dare not come to the Light but go about to hinder it letting as much as they may that the holy Scriptures should not be read in our Mother Tongue saying That it would cause Heresie and Insurrections and so perswade or fain would perswade your Grace to keep it back But here mark their shameless boldness which be not ashamed to gather Grapes of Thorns c. and to call Light Darkness c. and to say That that which teacheth all Obedience should cause Dissention and Strife Therefore good King seeing the right David our Saviour Christ hath sent his Servants his true Preachers and his Word to comfort our weak and sick souls let not worldly wise men make your Grace believe that they will cause Insurrections and Heresies and such Mischiefs as they imagine of their own mad brains lest that he be avenged upon you and upon your Realm as was David upon the Ammonites and as he hath ever been avenged upon them which have obstinately withstood and gainsaid his Word But peradventure they will say experience shews How that such men as call themselves Followers of the Gospel regard not your Graces Command neither set by your Proclamation as appears by those that were punished in London for keeping such Books as your Grace had prohibited by Proclamation and so like as they regarded not this so they will not regard other your Laws Statutes and Ordinances But this is but a crafty perswasion The very cause of your last Proclamation and the chief Councellors as men say and of likelyhood it should be were they whose evil living and cloked hypocrisie those Books uttered and disclosed And so it might be that these men did not take this Proclamation as yours but as theirs set forth in your Name as they have done many times more c. There is no man I hear say that can lay any word or deed to their charge that should sound to the breaking of your Graces Laws this onely excepted If it be yours and not theirs There be some that for fear of losing of their wordly honour will not leave off their opinion which rashly and that to please men withall by whom they had great promotion they took upon to desend by writing c. Let these men remember St. Paul and David Take heed of their worldly wisdome which is foolishness before God that you may do what God commandeth and not what seems good in your own sight without the Word that your Grace may be found acceptable in his sight and one of the Members of his Church and according to the Office he hath called your Grace unto you may be found a faithful Minister of his Gifts and not a Defender of his Faith for he will not have it defended by man or by mans power but by his Word onely by the which he hath evermore defended it and that by a way far above mans power or reason c. Wherefore Gracious King remember your self have pity upon your soul and think that the day is even at hand when you shall give an account of your Office and of the Blood that hath been shed with your Sword In the which day that your Grace may stand stedfastly and not be ashamed but be clear and ready in your reckoning and to have as they say your quietus est sealed with the blood of our Saviour Christ which only serveth at that day is my daily Prayer Decemb. 1. A. 1530. Observe in this Letter saith Mr. Fox the duty of a right Pastour to Truth that Kings are many times abused by Flatterers and wicked Councellors the subtile practises of Prelates in abusing the Name and Authority of Kings to set forth their own malignant proceedings and the great boldness and divine stoutness of this Servant of Christ who as yet being no Bishop so plainly and freely without fear of death adventuring his Life to discharge his Conscience durst so boldly to so mighty a Prince in such a dangerous case against the Kings Law and Proclamation set out in such a terrible time take upon him to write and to admonish that which no Councellor durst once speak to him in defence of Christs Gospel and yet though his wholsome counsel did not prevail God so wrought with his Servant in doing his duty that no danger no nor displeasure rose to him thereby It was not long after that the King made him Bishop of Worcester Touching the memorable acts and doings of this worthy man I cannot neglect the taking notice of one for therein he spoke notably though he said not a word viz. his bold enterprize in sending to King Henry a Present It was a custome that every year upon Ian. 1. every Bishop should send the King a New-years-gift Mr. Latimer being then Bishop of Worcester presented a New Testament for his New-years-gift with a Napkin having this Posy about it
Fornicatâ—res Adulteros judicabit Dominus i. e. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will jundge In his Letter to Mrs. Wiâ—kinson out of Bocardo in Oxford If the gift of a pot of cold water shall not be in oblivion with God how can God forget your manifold and bountiful gifts when he shall say to you I was in Prison and you visited me God grant us all to do and suffer while we be here as may be to his will and pleasure Amen Yours in Bocardo H. L. In his Letter to Dr. Ridley You say except the Lord assist me with his gracious aid in the time of his Service I shall I know play but the part of a white-livered Knight Truth it is for Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing much less suffer death of our Adversaries through the Bloody Law prepared against us But it followeth If you abide in me and my Word abide in you ask what you will and it shall be done for you What can be more comfortable Better a few things well pondered then to trouble the memory with too much You shall prevail more with praying then with studying though mixture be best for so one shall alleviate the tediousness of the other I intend not to contend much with them in words after a reasonable account of my Faith given for it shall be but in vain They will say as their Fatherr said when they have no more to say We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die Be ye stedfast and unmoveable Stand fast If ye abide if ye abide c. But we shall be called obstinate sturdy ignorant heady and what not So that a man hath need of much patience that hath to do with such men Diotrephes now of late did ever harp upon Unity Unity Yea Sir said I but in Verity not in Popery Better is a diversity then an unity in Popery The Marrow-bones of the Mass are altogether detestable and therefore by no means to be born withall so that of necessity the mending of it is to abolish it for ever What fellowship hath Christ with Antichrist Come forth from among them and separate your selves from them saith the Lord. It is one thing to be the Church indeed and another thing to counterfeit the Church I thank you that you have vouchsafed to minister so plentiful Armour unto me being otherwise altogether unarmed saving that he cannot be left destitute of help who rightly trusteth in the help of God I onely learn to die in reading of the New Testament and am still praying to my God to help me in time of need My Prayer shall you not lack trusting that you do the like for me for indeed there is the help c. There is no remedy now they have the Master bowl in their hand and rule the roast but patience Better it is to suffer what cruelty they will put upon us then to incur Gods high indignation Wherefore be of good cheer in the Lord duly considering what he requireth of you and what he doth promise you Our common enemy shall do no more then God will permit him God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength c. Be at a point what you will stand to stick unto that and let them both say and do what they list They can but kill the body which is of it self mortal neither shall they do that when they list but when God will suffer them when the hour appointed is come Let them not deceive you with their sophistical sophisms and fallacies you know that false things may have more appearance of truth then things that be most true Remember Paul's watch-word Let no man deceive you with likeliness of speech Fear of death doth most perswade a great number be well ware of that argument The flesh is weak but the willingness of the spirit shall refresh the weakness of the flesh The number of the Cryers under the Altar must needs be fulfilled If we be segregated thereunto Happy are we That is the greatest promotion that God giveth in this world to be such Philippians to whom it is given not onely to believe but to suffer c. But who is able to do these things Surely all our ability all our sufficiency is of God He requireth and promiseth Let us declare our obedience to his will when it shall be requisite in the time of trouble yea in the midst of the fire When that Number is fulfilled which I ween shall be shortly then have at the Papists when they shall say Peace all things are safe c. Christ shall come gloriously to the terrour of all Papists but to the great consolation of all that will here suffer for him Comfort your selves one another with these words Pray for me pray for me I say pray for me I say for I am sometime so fearful that I would creep into a Mouse-hole sometime again God doth visit me with his comfort So he cometh and goeth to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity to the intent to give thanks to him that is worthy lest I should rob him of his due as many do yea almost all the world Farewell Fare you well once again and be thou stedfast and unmoveable in the Lord. Paul loved Timothy marvellous well notwithstaing he saith unto him Be thou partaker of the affliction of the Gospel and again Harden thy self to suffer afflictions Be faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life saith the Lord. Mr. Fox records one Letter more of this holy mans which he wrote when he was Bishop of Worcester to a Iustice of Peace who could not at first bear his being told by this Servant of God his fault in oppressing and wronging a poor man but sent him word in great displeasure that he would not take it at his hands c. but afterward proved a good man in which Letter his close is very observable Consider with your self saith Mr. Latimer what it is to oppress and defraud your Brother and what followeth thereof It is truly said The sin is not forgiven except the thing be restored again that is taken away No restitution no salvation which is as well to be understood of things gotten by fraud guile and deceit as of things gotten by open theft and rollery I will do the best I can and wrestle with the Devil omnibus vâ—riâ—us to deliver you and your Brother out of his possession I will leave no one stone unmoved to have you both saved There is neither Arch Bishop nor Bishop nor any learned man in either University or elsewhere that I am acquainted with that shall not write to you and by their learning confute you There is no godly man of Law in this Realm that I am acquainted with but they shall write to you and confute you by Law There is neither Lâ—rd nor Lady nor any Noble person in
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
in all the will of God Whilst I was at Lancaster some of good will towards me but without knowledge that came to talk with me gave me the same counsel that Peter gave Christ as he went up to Ierusalem Master favour thy self c. But I answered with Christs sharp answer to Peter again Get thee behind me Satan and perceiving that they were an hinderance to me and that they savoured not the things which are of God but the things that are of men I made them plain answer that I neither could nor would follow their counsel but that by Gods grace I would both live and die with a pure Conscience and according as hitherto I had believed and professed for we ought in no wise said he to flatter and bear with them though they love us never so well which go about to pluck us away from the obedience which we owe unto God and to his Word but after Christs example sharply to rebuke them for their counsel God so strengthened me with his Spirit of boldness according to my humble request and prayer before everlasting thanks be given to him therefore that I was nothing afraid to speak to any that came to me no not even to Judges before whom I was thrice arraigned at the Bar among the Thieves with irons on my feet and put up my hand as others did but yet with boldness I spake unto them so long as they would suffer me They threatned and rebuked me for my preaching to the people out of Prison and for my praying and reading so loud that the people in the streets might hear When the Bishop of Chester came to Lancaster he was informed of me and desired to send for me and examine me but he said he would have nothing to do with Hereticks so hastily So hasty in judging and calling me Hereticks are our Bishops in their Lordly Dignities before they hear c. contrary to the Word of God which saith Condemn no man before thou hast tried out the truth of the matter and when thou hast made inquisition then reform righteously Give no Sentence before thou hast heard the Cause but first let men tell out their tale and he that giveth Sentence in a matter before he hear it is a fool and worthy to be confounded It is no new thing for the Bishâ—ps to persecute the Truth and the Prophets of the Lord for their constancy in preaching of the true Faith Faith for so did their Pharisaical Fore-fathers Pashur was the Head Bishop of the Temple the Ring-leader of false Prophets the chief Heretick-taker that is as much as to say the Outthruster of true Godliness He imprisoned the Prophet Ieremy c. The ungracious Bishop Iâ—son was such another Machab. 2.4 Such were also the execrable and blind Bishops Annas and Caiaphas who never spake the Truth of God themselves unless it were against their wills unwittingly to their own destruction At Chester several times came to me and with all probability of words and Philosophy or worldly wisdome and deceitfull vanity after the traditions of men and the beggarly Ordinances and Laws of the world but not after Christ went about to perswade me to submit my self to the Church of Rome and to acknowledge the Pope to be Head thereof and to interpret the Scriptures no otherwise then that Church did I answered That I do acknowledge and believe one Holy Catholick Church without which there is no Salvation and that this Church is but one because it ever hath doth and shall confess one Onely God and him onely worship and one Onely Messiah and him onely trust for Salvation which Church is ruled and led by one Spirit one Word and one Faith c. and is built onely upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the Head-corner-stone and not upon the Romish Laws the Bishop of Rome being the supreme Head c. and that this Church is a little poor silly flock dispersed and scattered abroad as sheep without a shepherd in the midst of wolves or as a company of Orphans and fatherless children led and ruled by the onely Laws Counsels and Word of Christ who is the supreme Head thereof assisting succouring and defending her from all assaults errours troubles and persecutions wherewith she is ever compassed about I was thrust at with all violence of craft and subtilty but yet the Lord upheld me Everlasting thanks be to that merciful and faithful Lord who suffereth us not to be tempted above our might but in the midst of our troubles strengtheneth us with his holy Spirit of comfort and patience giveth us a mouth and wisdome how and what to speak where against all his Adversaries are not able to resist At another appearance before the Bishop c. the Chancellor charged him That he had preached most heretically and blasphemously in many Parishes within the Bishops Diocess against the Popes Authority the Catholick Church of Rome c. He answered That he neither heretically nor blasphemously preached or spake against any of the said Articles but simply and truly as occasion served and as it were thereunto forced in Conscience maintained the Truth touching those Articles as said he all you now present did acknowledge the same in King Edward's dayes After the Bishop of Chester had read half-ways the Sentence of Condemnation he asked him whether he would not have the Queens mercy in time He answered He did gladly desire the same and did love her Grace as faithfully as any of them but yet he durst not deny his Saviour Christ and so lose his mercy everlasting and win everlasting death Being again called upon by the people to recant and save his life he said I would as fain live as any of you if in so doing I should not deny my Master Christ and again he should deny me before his Father in Heaven When the Bishop had read out the Sentence he said Now I will no more pray for thee then I will pray for a Dog Mr. Marsh answered That notwithstanding he would pray for his Lordship When he was in the Dungeon and none suffered to come near him some of the Citizens would at a hole upon the wall of the City that went into the Dungeon ask him how he did He would answer them most cheerfully that he did well and thanked God most highly that he would vouchsafe of his mercy to appoint him to be a witness of his Truth and to suffer for the same wherein he did most rejoyce beseeching him that he would give him grace not to faint under the Cross but patiently bear the same to his glory and comfort of his Church When he came to the place of Execution one shewing him a Writing under the great Seal and telling him It was a Pardon for him if he would recant he said That he would gladly receive the same but forasmuch as it tended to pluck him from God he would not receive it upon
these fourty years and yet I could never say or be sure that I should remain here one week to an end Seven dayes before he died many persons worthy of credit betwixt nine and ten of the Clock at night saw in the Clouds over the Tower of Wittenqerg five rods bound together after which two vanishing the other three appeared severed in divers places the branches of the rods turning towards the North the handles towards the South When this Prodigy was told Melancthon he said Herein Gods Fatherly Punishments are not swords but rods which Parents use to correct their children withall and I fear a dearth When the Pastors of the Church visitted him in his sickness he said unto them By the goodness of God I have no domestical grief to disquiet me c. but publick matters affect me especially the troubles of the Church in this evil and sophistical age But through Gods goodness our Doctrine is sufficiently explained and confirmed When he heard by Letters of the persecution of some godly men in France he said That his bodily disease was not comparable to the grief of his mind for his godly Friends and for the miseries of the Church Yet my hopes are very great for the Doctrine of our Church is explained If God be for us who can be against us I desire said he to depart for two causes 1 That I may have the much desired sight of Jesus Christ and the Church Triumphant 2 That I may be delivered from the cruel and implacable discords of Divines Meyere Mr. Giles Meyere of Flanders after he was converted he sought all means how to employ his Talent He was not onely carefull to preach to his Charge but he went from hâ—use to house comforting and exhorting every one as occasion served out of the Word of God labouring above all with them to beware of the abominable superstitions of the Papacy When he was imprisoned 1567. in a deep dark hole he bore his affliction patiently but so praised God for esteeming him worthy to suffer for his sake and so comforted them that came to visit him that they could not leave him without tears In the midst of the Fagots though he was gagged he was heard distinctly and plainly to say Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Mill. Mr. Walter Mill being brought before the Bishops of Scotland to answer to Articles against him and placed in a Pulpit before them he prayed so long that one of the Bishops Priests called out to him saying Sir Walter Mill arise and answer to the Articles for you hold my Lord here overlong When he had ended his Prayer he answered We ought to obey God rather then men I serve one more mighty even the Omnipotent Lord. And whereas you call me Sir Walter call me Walter and not Sir Walter I have been overlong one of the Popes Knights Being threatned with the Sentence of Death if he would not recant he said I know I must die once and therefore as Christ said to Iudas What thou dost do it quickly so say I to you Ye shall know that I will not 〈◊〉 the Truth for I am corn I am no chaffe I 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 blown away with the wind nor burst with the slail I will abide both Being bid to pass to the Stake he said Nay but if thou wilt put me up with thy hand thou shalt see me pass up gladly for by the Law of God I am forbidden to lay hanâ— upon my self Being put he ascended gladly saying I will go up unto the altar of God After he had prayed he spake thus to the people Dear Friends the cause why I suffer this day is not for any crime laid to my Câ—arge albeit I be a miserable sinner before God but onely for the defence of the Faith of Iesus Christ set forth in the Old and New Testament to us for which as the faithfull Martyrs have offered themselves gladly before being assured after the death of their bodies of eternal felicity So this day I praise God that he hath called me of his mercy among the rest of his Servants to seal up his Truth with my life which as I have received it of him so willingly I offer it to his glory Therefore as you will escape the eternal death be no more seduced with the lies of Priests Bishops c. and the rest of the Sect of Antichrist but depend onely on Iesus Christ and his mercy that ye may be delivered from condemnation Being in the fire he said Lord have mercy upon me pray people while there is time He was burnt An. 1558. and by his death gave the very dead blow to Popery for by his death the people of all Ranks and Conditions were so moved that they made open Profession of the Truth without any more dallying and upon this occasion a Covenant was presently entred in to defend one another against the Tyranny of the Bishops So that he was the last that died for Religion at that time in that Kingdome His Epitaph Non nostra impietas aut actae crimina vitae Armarunt hostes in mea fata truces Sola fides Christi sacris signata libellis Quae vitae causa est est mihi causa necis In English thus Not any sin committed here by me Against me arm'd my bloody enemy The Scripture Faith of life the onely cause Did cause my death and that against all Laws Monerius Claudius Monorius being cavilled at by the Friers for eating a Break-fast before his Execution said This I do that the flesh may answer the readiness of the Spirit Morall Let us not my Brethren said Iohn Morall an outlandish Martyr fear the Prisons seeing they are Christs Schools and Colledges wherein Gods children learn their Fathers Lessons There we find him true in his Promises There he manifests himself incomparably to his Children Our Prisons are Schools of Defence where we learn how to ward off all the blows that the world flesh or Devil would foyl us with all which we learn of our Captain Christ. Here we are quit of the vain allurements of the world Here we are freed of the fear of meeting idols in the streets Here we may without check call upon God and sing Psalms unto him Therefore let us not refuse to hear Sermons for fear of going to Prison N. Newman Iohn Newman in his written Answer to Suffragen Thornton It may please you to understand that good Ministers all the time of King Edward's reign taught us diligently perswading us by the Allegations of Gods Word that there was no Transubstantiation nor corporal Presence in the Sacrament their Doctrine was not believed of us suddenly but by their continual preaching and also by our continual Prayer unto God that we might never be deceived but if it were true that he would incline our hearts unto it and if it were not true that we might never believe it We weighed That
hath the people to be offended with us for not receiving of a Jesus Christ of wood We bear upon our hearts the Cross of Christ the Son of the everliving God feeling his Word written therein in letters of Gold Baudicon beginning to sing on the Scaffold the Sixteenth Psalm a Frier cried out Do ye hear my Masters what wicked errours these Hereticks sing to beguile the people withall whereupon Baudicon replyed Thou simple Idiot callest thou the Psalms of David the Prophet Errours But no marvel for thus you are wont to blaspheme against the Spirit of God Then turning his eye to his Father who was about to be chained to the Stake he said Be of good courage Father the worst will be past by and by The old man complaining of the blow which the Executioner gave him on the foot as he was fastning to the Post a Frier said Ah these Hereticks they would be counted Martyrs forsooth but if they be but touched a little they cry out as if they were killed Whereupon Baudicon said Think you then that we fear the Tormentâ—rs No such matter for had we feared the same we had never exposed our bodies to this so shameful and painful a kind of death Then he often reiterated those short breathings O God Father everlasting accept the sacrifice of our bodies for thy wellbeloved Son Jesus Christ his sake With his eyes fixed on Heaven he said to his Father Behold for I see Heavens open and millions of Angels ready prest to receive us rejoycing to see us thus witnessing the Truth in the view of the world Father let us be glad and rejoyce for the joyes of Heaven are set open to us When the fire was kindled he often repeated this in his Fathers ear Faint not Father nor be afraid yet a very little while and we shall enter into the Heavenly Mansions The last words they were heard to pronounce were Iesus Christ thou Son of God into thy hands we commend our spirits Iane the Wife of Robert whilst in Prison separated from her Son Martin was drawn away by a Monk and prevailed with to let go her first faith and having promised to draw her Son Martin from his errours he was suffered to come to her which when he understood O Mother said he what have you done Have you denied him who hath redeemed you Alas What evil hath he done you that you should requite him with this so great an injury and dishonour Now I am plunged into that wo which I have most feared Ah good God! that I should live to see this This pierceth me to the very heart His Mother hearing this and seeing his tears she with tears cried out O Father of mercies be merciful to me miserable sinner and cover my transgression under the righteousness of thy blessed Son Lord enable me with strength from above to stand to my first Confession and make me to abide stedfast therein even to my last breath When they that had seduced her came to her again with detestation she said Avoid Satan get thee behind me from henceforth thou hast neither part nor portion in me I will by the help of God stand to my first Confession and if I may not sign it with ink I will seal it with my blood When Iane and Martin heard the Sentence past returning to Prison they said Now blessed be our God who causeth us thus to triumph over our Enemies This is the wished hour Our gladsome day is come Let us not then said Martin forget to be thankfull for the honour he doth us in conforming us to the image of his Son Let us remember those that have traced this death before us for this is the high way to the Kingdome of Heaven Let us then good Mother go on boldly out of the Camp with the Son of God bearing his reproach with all his holy Martyrs for so we shall find passage into the glorious Kingdome of the everliving God Some of the Company not brooking these words said We see now thou Heretick that thou art wholly possest body and soul with a Devil as was thy Father and Brother who are both in Hell Martin replied Sirs as for your railings and cursings our God will this day turn them into blessings in the sight of all his holy Angels A certain Temporizer endeavouring to stagger Martin by the consideration of the multitude that believed not as he did his Mother said Sir Christ Jesus our Lord saith That it is the wide gate and broad way that leadeth to destruction and therefore many go in thereat but the gate is narrow that leadeth to life and few there be that find it Do ye then doubt whether we be in the strait way or no when ye behold our sufferings Would you have a better sign then this to know whether we are in the right way Compare our Doctrine with that of your Priests and Monks We for our part are determined to have but one Christ and him crucified We onely embrace the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament Are we deceived in believing that which the holy Prophets and Apostles have taught Martin being asked Whether he thought himself wiser then so many learned Doctors answered I pray you Sir doth not Christ our Lord tell us That his Father hath hid the secrets of his Kingdome from the wise and prudent and revealed them to Babes And doth not the Lord oftentimes catch the wise in their own craftiness Then came into the Prison to Martin two men of great Authority and perswading him to recant promised him great matters c. Martin gave them this answer Sirs you present before me many temporal commodities but alas do you think me so simple as to forsake an eternal Kingdome for enjoying a short transitory life No Sirs it is too late to speak to me now of worldly commodities Speak of those spiritual ones which God hath prepared for me to day in his Kingdome I purpose not to hearken after any other Onely let me crave one hours respite to my self to give my self to Prayer Afterwards Martin declared the effect of this combate to certain Brethren in Prison saying Let us lift up our heads Brethren the brunt is over this I hope is their last assault Forget not I pray you the holy Doctrine of the Gospel nor those good Lessons which you have learned from our Brother Guy probably he meant Mr. Guy de Brez of whom before in letter B. Manifest it now to all that you have received them not onely into your ears but also into your hearts Follow me We lead you the way Fear not God will never leave you nor forsake you Iane having ascended the Scaffold cried out to Martin Come up come up my Son As Martin was speaking to the people she said Speak out Martin that it may appear to all that we die not Hereticks She being bound to the Stake said We are Christians and that which we now suffer is
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
in errour did call their gods whom they confess to have been mortal ones and to have died but the God whom he preached was ever living and never died and is the Life of all things that be like as he was the Creatour of them The Emperour telling him that he much marvelled why men of such great and wonderfull knowledge should honour for God a Man that was crucified being but of a poor estate and condition O noble Emperour said Origen consider what honour the wise Athenians at this present do to the name and image of Codrus their last King for that when they had war with their enemies who had answer made by the Oracle of Apollo That if they slew not the King of Athens they should have the Victory Codrus hearing thereof preferring the safeguard of his people before his own life took to him garments of a Slave and bearing upon his shoulder a burden of sticks he went to his enemies Camp and there quarrelling of purpose with some of them and in the press hurting one with his knife he was by him that was hurt struck through the body and slain which being known to the enemies they being confused raised their Camp and departed and for this cause the Athenians have ever since had the name of Codrus in reverence worthily and not without cause Now then consider most Excellent Prince how much more worthily with what greater reason and bounden duty ought we and all men to honour Christ being the Son of God and God who not onely to preserve mankind from danger of the Devil his ancient enemy but also to deliver man out of his dark and stinking dungeon of errour being sent by God the Father from the highest Heavens willingly took on him the servile garment of a mortal body and hiding his Majesty lived under the visage of poverty And finally not of his enemies immediately but much more against reason of his own chosen people the Iews unto whom he had extended benefits innumerable and after his temporal Nativity were his natural people and subjects he quarrelling with them by declaring to them their abuses and pricking them with condign rebukes at the last he was not slain with so easie a death as Codrus was but in most cruel fashion was scourged until no place in his body was without wounds and then had long and sharp thorns set and press'd upon his head and after long torments and despights he was constrained to bear an heavy Cross whereon afterwards both his hands and feet were nailed with long great nails of iron and the Cross with his naked and bloody body being lift up on high was let fall with violence into a Mortais that his joynts were loosened and notwithstanding all this torment and ingratitude he never grudged but lifting up his eyes to heaven he prayed with a loud voice saying Father forgive them for they know not what they do This was the Charity most incomparable of the Son of God imployed for the redemption of mankind who by the transgression of Adam the first man that was created was taken prisoner by the Devil i. e. kept in the bondage of sin and errour from actual visage of Gods Majesty until he were on this wise redeemed as it was ordained at the beginning But what maketh you bold to affirm said the Emperour that Jesus which in this wise was crucified was the Son of God Sir said Origen sufficient testimony which of all creatures reasonable ought to be believed and for most certain proof to be allowed What testimony is that said the Emperour Truly said Origen it is in divers things First the promise of God by whom this world was made also by his holy Scriptures speaking by the mouths of his Prophets as well Hebrews as Greeks and others whom ye call Vates and Sybillas also by the Nativity of Jesus of a pure Virgin without carnal company of a man the most clean and pure form of his living without sin his Doctrine divine and celestial his miracles most wonderfull and innumerable all grounded on charity onely without ostentation his undoubted and perfect Resurrection the third day after he was put to death his glorious Ascension up into Heaven in the presence and sight of five hundred persons which were vertuous and of credence also the gift of the Holy Ghost in speaking all manner of Languages and interpreting the Scriptures not onely by himself but afterwards by his Apostles and Disciples and given to others by imposition of their hands And all these ordinarily followed according to the said Promises and Prophesies In the reign of Decius for the Doctrine of Christ he underwent bands and torments in his body racking with bars of irons Dungeons besides terrible threats of death and burning c. At length hearing that some Christians were carried to an Idol-Temple to force them to sacrifice he out of his zeal ran thither to encourage and disswade them from it When his Adversaries saw him they let go the other and laid hold upon him putting him to his choice whether he would offer Incense to the Idol or have his body defiled with a foul and ugly Blackmoor He chose to offer Incense Then did they presently put Incense into his trembling hands and whilst he demurr'd upon it they took his hands and caused him to throw it into the fire and thereupon presently cried out Origen hath sacrificed Origen hath sacrificed After this fact he was excommunicated by the Church and being filled with shame and sorrow he left Alexandria and came to Ierusalem where he was even constrained by importunity to preach to them He took his Bible opened it and the first place he cast his eye upon was this Scripture Unto the wicked saith God Why dost thou preach my Laws and take my Covenant into thy mâ—uth When he had read these words he sate down and burst out into abundance of tears the whole Congregation weeping with him also so that he was not able to say any more unto them After this he wandred up and down in great grief and torment of Conscience and wrote the following Lamentation In the bitterness and grief of mind I go about to speak unto them who shall hereafter read this confused writing But how can I speak when my tongue is tied up and my lips dare not once move or wag My tongue doth not his office my throat is dried up and all my senses and instruments are polluted with iniquity O ye Saints and blessed of God with waterish eyes and wet cheeks soaked in dolour and pain I beseech you to fall down before the Seat of Almighty God for me miserable sinner who by reason of my sins dare not crave ought at the hands of God Wo is me because of the sorrow of my heart Wo is me my Mother that ever thou broughtest me forth A righteous man to be conversant in unrighteousness an heir of the Kingdome of God
to be now an inheritor of the Kingdome of Satan a Minister to be found wallowing in impiety a man beautified with honour and dignity to be in the end blemished with shame and ignominy a lofty Turret yet suddenly thrown to the ground a fruitfull Tree yet quickly withered a burning light yet forthwith darkned a running fountain yet by and by dried up Wo is me that ever I was decked with gifts and graces and now seen pitifully deprived of all But who will minister moisture to my head and who will give streams of tears unto my eyes that I may bewail my self in this my sorrowful plight Alas O my Ministry how shall I lament thee O all ye my Friends tender my Case and pity my Person that am so dangerously wounded Pity me O ye my Friends for that I have now trodden under foot the Seal and Cognisance of my Profession and joyned in league with the Devil Pity me O ye my Friends for that I am rejected and cast away from before the face of God There is no sorrow comparable to my sorrow there is no affliction that exceeds my affliction no bitterness that passeth my bitterness no lamentation more lamentable then mine neither is there any sin greater then mine and there is no salve for me Where is that good Shepherd of souls where is he that went down from Ierusalem to Iericho which salved and cured him that was wounded by Thieves Seek me out O Lord that am fallen from the higher Ierusalem which have broken the vow I made in Baptism c. Alas that ever I was Doctor and now occupy not the room of a Disciple Thou knowest O Lord that I sell against my will whereas I went about to enlighten others I darkned my self when I endeavoured to bring others from death to life I brought my self from life to death when I minded to present others before God I presented my self before the Devil when I desired to be found a Friend and Favourer of Godliness I was found a Foe and a Furtherer of Iniquity when I set my self against the Assemblies of the wicked and reproved their doings there found I shame and the most pestilent wound of the Devil Some promised me to be baptized but after that I passed from them the Devil the same night transformed himself into an Angel of Light and said unto me When thou art up in the morning go on and perswade them and bring them to God but the Devil going before me prepared the way c. and I O unhappy creature skipping out of my Bed at the dawning of the day could not finish my wonted Devotion neither accomplish my usual Prayers desiring that all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth whilst in the mean time I wrapped my self in the snares of the Devil I gat me to those wicked men I required of them to perform the covenant made the night before I silly soul knowing not their subtilty and we came to the Baptism O blinded heart how didst thou not remember O foolish mind how didst thou not bethink thy self O witless brain how didst thou not understand But it was the Devil that lulleâ— thee asleep and in the end slew thy unhappy and wretched soul O thou Devil what hast thou done unto me how hast thou wounded me I bewailed sometimes the fall of Sampson but now have I fallen worse my self I bewailed formerly the fall of Solomon but now have I fallen worse my self Sampson had his hair cut off but the Crown of Glory is fallen off my head Sampson lost the carnal eyes of his body but my spirititual eyes are put out it was the wiliness of a woman that brought confusion upon him but it was my tongue brought me into this sinfull condition Alas my Church liveth yet I am a Widdower my Sons be alive yet I am barren every creature rejoyceth and I alone am desolate and sorrowfull c. Bewail me O ye blessed people of God who am banished from God Bewail me who am shut out of the Wedding-chamber of Christ. Bewail me who am abhorred of the Angels and severed from the Saints Who knoweth whether the Lord will have mercy on me and whether he will pity my fall whether he will be moved with my desolation whether he will have respect to my humiliation and incline his tender compassions towards me I will prostrate my self before the threshold and porch of his Church that I may intreat all people both small and great saying unto them trample and tread me under foot who am the unsavoury salt tread upon me who have no tast nor favour of God tread upon me who am fit for nothing Now let the Elders mourn for that the Staffe whereon they leaned is fallen Now let the young men mourn for that their Schoolmaster is fallen Now let the Virgins mourn for that the Advancer of Virginity is defiled Now let the Ministers mourn for that their Patron and Defender is shamefully fallen Wo is me that I fell so lewdly wo is me that I fell most dangerously and cannot rise again Assist me O holy Spirit and give me grace to repent Let the fountains of tears be opened and gush out into streams to see if peradventure I may have grace throughly to repent and to wipe out of the Book of my Conscience the Accusations Printed therein against me But thou O Lord think not upon my polluted lips neither weigh thou the tongue that hath uttered lewd things but accept of my repentance c. and have mercy upon me and raise me up out of the mire of corruption for the puddle thereof hath even choaked me up Wo is me that was sometimes a Pearl glistering in the golden Garland of Glory but now am thrown into the dust and trodden in the mire of contempt Wo is me that the Salt of God now lieth on the Dunghill c. Now I will address my self and turn my talk unto God Why hast thou lift me up and cast me down I had not committed this impiety unless thou hadst withdrawn thine hand from me But why O Lord hast thou shut my mouth by thy holy Prophet David Have I been the first that sinned or am I the first that fell Why hast thou forsaken me being desolate and banished me from among thy Saints and astonished me when I shonld preach thy Laws David himself who hath shut up my mouth sinned too bad in thy sight yet upon his repentance thou receivedst him to mercy Peter that was a Pillar after his fall wiped it away with salt tears not continuing long in the puddle of his infidelity Now I humbly beseech thee O Lord call me back for that I tread a most perillous and destructive way Grant me that good Guide and Instructer the Holy Ghost that I become not an habitation of Devils but that I may tread under foot the Devil that trod upon me and overcoming his sleights may be again restored
arrogancy singularity and vain-glory that he would not see what was clearly proved Ha my Lords said Mr. Philpot is it now time think you for me to follow singularity or vain-glory since it is now upon danger of my life and death not onely presently but also before God to come I know if I die in the true Faith I shall die everlastingly or if I do not as you would have me you will kill me and many thousands more yet had I rather perish at your hands then to perish eternally And at this time I have lost all my commodities of this world and now lie in a Cole-house where a man would not lay a Dog with the which I am well contented The Bishop of Glocester asking him What do you think your self better learned then so many notable learned men as be here Mr. Philpot answered Elias alone had the Truth when there were four hundred Priests against him The Bishop telling him Elias was deceived for he thought there had been none good but himself and there were seven thousand besides him Mr. Philpot answered Yea but he was not deceived in Doctrine as the other four hundred were He told the Bishop of London at his third appearâ—nce before him My Lord in that you say you will â—it on me in judgement to morrow I am glad thereof I look for none other but death at your hands and I am as ready to yield my life in Christs Cause as you be to require it Dr. Story telling him What you purpose to be a stinking Martyr and to sit in judgement with Christ at the last Day to judge the twelve Triles of Israel Yea Sir said Mr. Philpot I doubt not thereof having the promise of Christ If I die for righteousness sake which you have begun to persecute in me The Chancellor of Lichfield advising him not to cast himself away wilfully He answered My conscience beareth me record that I seek to please God and that the love and fear of God causeth me to do as I do and I were of all other creatures most miserable if for mine own will onely I do lose all the commodities I might have in this life and afterward be cast to damnation but I am sure it is not my will whereon I stand but Gods Will which will not suffer me to be cast away I am sure Mr. Philpot being sent for by Bonnâ—r that he might go with him to Mass the Keepers as they were going along asked him Will you go to Mass Mr. Philpot answered My stomack this morning is too raw to digest such raw meats of flesh blood and bone When he was put into the stocks he said God be praised that he hath thought me worthy to suffer any thing for his Names sake Better it is to sit in the stocks of this world then to sit in the stocks of a damable conscience As he was conveyed out of the Cole-house into a close Tower joyning to Paul's Church through many straits There said he I called to remembrance that strait is the way to Heaven Harpsfield accusing him for being like himself in Oxford when in Disputation he would not give over He said Mr. Harpsfield you know in the Schools of Oxford when we were young men we did strive much upon vain-glory and contention more then for the Truth and if I was then in the time of my ignorance earnest in my own cause I ought now to be earnest in my Master Christs Cause and his Truth I know now that nothing done upon vain-glory and singularity can please God have it never so goodly a shew Morgan telling him he should be burned for his Heresie and afterwards go to Hell fire He said I tell thee thou Hypocrite that I pass not this for thy Fire and Fagots neither do I I thank God my Lord stand in fear of the same my faith in Christ shall overcome them but the Hell fire which thou threatnest me is thy portion and is prepared for thee unless thou speedily repent and for such Hypocrites as thou art When Bonner would not grant him candle light he said Seeing I shall not have my request the Lord shall be my light I would my Burning Day were to morrow for this delay is every day to die and yet not to be dead Dr. Chedsey telling him he was not like to die yet He answered I am the more sorry thereof but the Will of the Lord be done of me to his glory Amen Bonner telling him That he made other Prisoners rejoyce and sing with him he said Yea my Lord we shall sing when you and such as you are shall cry Vae vae wo wo except you repent The Bishop of Worcester bidding him to follow his Fathers before him he said It is forbidden us of God by the Prophet Ezekiel to follow our Fathers or to walk in their commandments The Bishop replying It is written also in another Place Ask of your Fathers Mr. Philpot rejoyn'd We ought indeed to ask our Fathers that have more experience and knowledge then we of Gods Will but no more to allow them then we perceive they agree with the Scriptures Pray for grace said the Bishop Prayer said Philpot is the comfortablest exercise I feel in my trouble and my conscience is quiet and I have peace of mind which cannot be the fruits of Heresie My Lords said Philpot to the Bishops you must bear with me since I speak in Christs Cause and because his glory is defaced and his people cruelly and wrongfully slain by you because they will not consent to the dishonour of God if I told you not your fault it would be required at my hands at the Day of Judgement Therefore know ye Hypocrites indeed That it is the Spirit of God that telleth you your sin not I I pass not I thank God of all your cruelty God forgive it you and give you grace to repent When he was condemned for an Heretick He said I thank God I am an Heretick out of your cursed Church but I am no Heretick before God The Chief Keeper greeting him thus Ah! hast not thou done well to bring thy self hither he said Well I must be content for it is Gods appointment The Keeper promising him all favour if he would recant Nay said Mr. Philpot I will never recant whilst I have my life that which I have spoken for it is most certain truth and in witness hereof I will seal it with my blood A Messenger coming to him from the Sheriffe bade him make ready for the next day he should be burned at a Stake with fire Mr. Philpot returned this Answer I am ready God grant me strength and a joyfull Resurrection And so he went into his Chamber and poured out his Spirit unto the Lord God giving him most hearty thanks that he of his mercy had made him worthy to suffer for his Truth His Servant taking his leave of
the Truth the bitter pangs of death c. To die in Christs Cause is an high honour to the which no man should aspire but to whom God vouchsafeth that priviledge for no man is allowed to presume to take to himself any office of honour but he which is thereunto called of God Iohn saith well speaking of them which have obtained the Victory by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of his Testimony that they loved not their lives even unto death And our Saviour Christ saith He that shall lose his life for my Cause shall find it This manner of speech pertaineth not to one kind of Christians as the worldly do wickedly dream but to all that truly pertain to Christ for when Christ had called unto him the multitude together with his Disciples he said unto them Mark he said not this unto his Disciples or Apostles only but unto all Whosoever will follow me let him forsake or deny himself c. for whosoever will to save his life forsake me and my Truth shall lose it and whosoever shall lose c. Whosoever shall â—e ashamed of me and my words i. e. to confess me and my Gospel before this adulterous generation of him shall the Son of man be ashamed c. Know thou O man of God that all things are ordained for the furtherance of thee towards thy salvation All things saith Paul work with the good to goodness c. It is not as the wicked think That poverty adversity sickness tribulation yea painfull death of the godly be tokens that God doth not love them but even the clean contrary Now thou O man of God for the Lords sake let us not for the love of this life tarry here too long and be occasion of delay of that glorious consummation of all Christs Sufferers in hope and expectation whereof the former Martyrs have departed in the Lord and the which also the living indued with Gods Spirit ought so earnestly to desire c. crying out Come Lord Iesus come Then shall our weak body be transfigured and made like to Christs glorious body and then shall we see and have the unspeakable joy and fruition of the glorious Majesty of our Lord even as he is Who or what then shall let us to jeopard yea to spend this life which we have here in Christs Cause in our Lord God his Cause O therefore thou man of God that art loaden and so letted like unto a great bellied woman that thou canst not flie the plague yet if thou lust after such things as I have spoken of stand fast whatsoever shall befall thee in thy Masters Cause and take this thy letting to flie for a call from God to fight in thy Master Christs Cause Of this be thou certain they can do nothing unto thee which thy Father is not aware of or hath not foreseen before they can do no more then it shall please him to suffer them to do for the furtherance of his glory edifying of his Church and thine own salvation O be not afraid and remember the end What I have spoken for the comfort of the big-bellied woman I mean to be spoken likewise to the Captive and Prisoner in Gods Cause for such I count to be as it were already summoned and pressed to fight under the Banner of the Cross of Christ and as it were Souldiers allowed and taken up for the Lords Wars to do their Lord and Master good and honourable service and to stick to him even unto death c. To conclude I say unto all that love Christ Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour that love to follow the wayes of the holy Ghost who is our Comforter and Sanctifier that love Christs Spouse and Body c. yea that love life and their souls health Hearken my dear Brethren and Sisters c. to the Word of our Saviour Jesus Christ spoken to his Apostles and meant to all his in St. Matthew's Gospel Fear not them which kill the body for they cannot kill the soul but fear him c. The Lord grant us of his heavenly grace and strength that here we may so confess him in this world amongst this adulterous generation that he may confess us again at the last day before his Father c. In his Reasons why Images should not be placed and erected in Churches First the words of the Command Exod. 20. repeated more plainly Deut. 27. where observe those words Thou shalt not make to thy self mean to any use of Religion and those And setteth it in a secret place imply that no man durst then commit Idolatry openly The reason why God gave this general Prohibition is lest thou being deceived shouldst bow down to them and worship them This general Law is generally to be observed though some be not hurt by them Moses was not deceived or seduced by Iethro's Daughter nor Boaz by Ruth a woman of Moab yet the general Law was to be observed Thou shalt not joyn thy children in marriage with strangers least she seduce thy Son c. If by vertue of the second Commandment Images were not lawfull in the Temple of the Jews then by the second Command they are unlawfull in the Churches of Christians but c. in the Tabernacle and Temple of God no Images were appointed openly to beset nor by practice afterwards used or permitted so long as Religion was purely observed therefore c. For the second Command is moral and not ceremonial c. The Jews by no means would consent to Herod Pilate or Peâ—ronius that Images should be placed in the Temple at Jerusalem but rather offered themselves unto death then to consent unto it Besides that Iosephus commends them for observing the meaning of the Law sure they would not have endangered themselves so far if they had thought Images had been indifferent in the Temple of God Athâ—nasius tells us The invention of Images came of no good but of evil and whatsoever hath an evil beginning can never in any thing be judged good seeing it is wholly naught Tâ—rtullian expounding those words Little Children beware of Images saith That the meaning is as if he had said Little Children keep your selves from the shape it self or form of them Images in the Church either serve to edify or to destroy If they edify then there is one kind of edification which the Scriptures neither teach nor command but alwayes disallow if they destroy they are not to be in the Church The Command of God is Thou shalt not lay a stumbling-block before the blind and cursed is he that maketh the blind wander in his way Images are snares and traps for the feet of the ignorant Images do not stir up the mind to Devotion but distract the mind from Prayer hearing of Gods Word c. Hence in the Council-chamber of the Lacedemonians no picture was suffered least in Consultation of the weighty matters of the
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
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