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A70635 A cloud of witnesses, or, The sufferers mirrour made up of the swanlike-songs, and other choice passages of several martyrs and confessors to the sixteenth century, in their treatises, speeches, letters, prayers, &c. in their prisons, or exiles, at the bar, or stake, &c. / collected out of the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius, Fox, Fuller, Petrie, Scotland, and Mr. Samuel Ward's Life of faith in death, &c. and alphabetically disposed by T.M. ... Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30.; Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30. Offer of farther help to suffering saints.; Ward, Samuel, 1577-1640. 1665 (1665) Wing M330; Wing M332; ESTC R232057 171,145 273

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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 his Blood shed on the Cross and with that Bread and Wine I receive the Benefits that come by the breaking of his Body 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 not St. Paul say Rom. 4. He calleth things that are not a● 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 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 than if all the world had been given unto my Possessions with life lengthened at my own will Pag. 33. Although my death at hand to you seem right woful to me there is nothing that can be more welcome than 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 turn'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 Luke 9. 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 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 Judah 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 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 facriledge robbest Christ thy Lord of his right members thy body soul and choosest rather to live miserably with shame to the world than 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 strength 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 the 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 W●lt thou refuse the true God and worship the invention of man the golden Calf the whore of Babylon the Romish Religion the abominable Idol the most wicked Mass Wilt thou torment again rent and tear the most precious Body of our Saviour Corist with thy bodily and fleshly teeth Wilt thou take upon thee to offer up any Sacrifice unto God for our sins considering that Christ offered up himself as Paul saith upon the Cross a lively 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 curses of Gods own mouth fear thee to honour any other God than him Dost thou so regard him that spared not his dear 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 which shall perish with them that made thee Pa. 34. Confounded be all they that worship them Christ offereth 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 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 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
the very hairs of their heads turning 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 Pag. 52. c. Now also O heavenly Father beholder of all things to whom belongs vengeance thou seest and considerest how thy holy Name by the wicked Worldlings blasphemous Idolaters is dishonoured thy sacred Word forsaken refused 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 cruelpy handled by thy open enemies Avenge thine own glory 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 Pag. 53. 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 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 Pag. 54. that it is not their arm and power but our sins and offences that hath delivered us to their fury and hath caused thee to turn away from us But turn again O Lord let us fall into thine hands c. least these vain Idolaters do rejoyce at the miserable destruction of those men whom they make Proselytes and from thy Doctrine Apostates But O Lord thy will be fulfilled this is thy righteous judgement to punish us with the tyrannical yoke of blindness because we have cast away from us the sweet yoke of the wholesom Word of thy Son our Saviour Yet consider the horrible blasphemies of thine and our enemies Pag. 55. They say in their hearts there is no God which either can or will deliver us Wherefore O heavenly Father the Governour of all things the Avenger of the Causes of the poor the fatherless the widow and the oppressed look down from Heaven with the face of thy fatherly mercies and forgive us all former offences and for thy Son Jesus Christs sake have mercy upon us who by the force and cruelty of wicked and blasphemous Idolaters without causes approved are haled and pulled from our own houses are slandered slain and murdered as Rebels and Traytors like persons pernicious pestiferous leditious pestilent and full of mortal poyson to all men contagious whereas we do meddle no farther but against the hellish powers of darkness c. which would deny the will of our Christ unto us we do contend no farther but onely for our Christ Crucified and the onely salvation by his blessed Passion Pag. 56. Therefore O Lord for thy glorious Names sake for Jesus Christs sake c. make the wicked Idolaters to wonder and stand amazed at thy Almighty power Use thy wonted strength to the confusion of thine enemies and to the help and deliverance of thy persecuted people All thy Saints do beseech thee therefore The young Infants which have some deal tasted of thy sweet Word by whose mouths thou hast promised to make perfect thy praises whose Angels do always behold thy face who besides the loss of us their Parents are in danger to be compelled and driven without thy great mercies to serve dumb and insensible Idols do cry and call unto thee Their pitiful Mothers with lamentable-tears lye prostrate before the Throne of thy Grace Pag. 57. Thou Father of the fatherless Judge of the widdows and Avenger of all the oppressed Let it appear O Lord Omnipotent that thou dost here Judge Avenge and punish all wrongs offered to all thy little Ones that do believe in thee Do this O● Lord For thy Names sake Arise up O Lord and thine enemies shall be scattered and confounded So be it O Lord most merciful at thy time appointed In his Letter to Mr. Pa. 323. Warcup Be not so dainty as to look for that at God your dear Fathers hands which the Fathers Patriarks Prophets Apostles Evangelists Saints and his own Son Jesus Christ did not find i. e. all fair way and fair weather to Heavne The Devil standeth now at every Inne-door in this City and Countrey of thi● World crying unto us to tarry and Lodge in this or that place till the storms be over-past not tha● he would not have us to wet our skin but that the time of our running our Race might over-pass us ●o our utter destruction Fear not the Flail fear not the Fanning-wind fear not the Milstone fear not the Oven for all these make you more meet for the Lords tooth In his Letter to Dr. Hill Pa. 326. Such as think it enough to keep the heart pure notwithstanding that the outward man curry favour as they deny God to be jealous one that will have the whole man having created redeemed and sanctified ●oth for himself so they play the Dissemblers with the Church of God by their parting stakes between God and the World offending the Godly whom either they provoke to fall with them or make more careless and conscienceless if they have fallen and occasioning the wicked and obstinate to triumph against God and the more vehemently to prosecute their malic● against such as will not defile themselves in body or soul with the Romish Rags now received among us Call to mind that there are but two Masters two kind of people two wayes and two Mansion places The Masters be Christ and Satan the people the Servitors to either of these the wayes be strait and wide the Mansions be Heaven and Hell This World is the place of trial of Gods people and ●he Devils servants by whom they follow The Cross it is that doth make the tryal In his Letter to Royden and Esing Pa. 333. Whom would it grieve which hath a long journey to go through a piece of foul way if he knew that after that the way should be most pleasant yea the journey should be ended and he at his resting place most happy Who will be afraid or loth to leave a little pelf for a little time if he knew he should afterwards very speedily receive most plentiful riches Who will be unwilling for a while to forsake his wife children friends c. when he knoweth he shal shortly after be associated to them inseparably even after his own hearts desire Who will be sorry to forsake his life who is most certain of eternal life Who loveth the shadow better than the body Who can desire the
thou dost die That God hath predestinated me to eternal life in Jesus Christ said he I am most certain and even so I am sure that his Holy Spirit wherewith I am sealed will so preserve me from all Heresies and evil opinions that I shall dye in none at all When the Dr. told him that he was a goodly tall man and might do the Queen good service in Ireland He said wheresoever I am I am ready to do her Grace the best service I can with body goods and life and if she or any under require me to do any thing contrary to Christs true Religion I am ready also to do service in Smithfield as my Bed-fellows and other Brethren have done praised be God for them In his Letter to Mr. Pa. 715. Philpot. Ah my true loving Friends how soon did you say aside all other business to make a sweet plaister for my wounded conscience yea and that out of a painful pair of Stocks which place must needs be uneasie to write in But God hath brought you in a strait place that you might set my soul at liberty An good Jeremy hath Phassur put thee into the Stocks why now thou hast the right reward of a Prophet Though you lye in the dark slurred with the Bishops black coal-dust yet shall you shortly be made as white as snow in Salmon and as the wings of a Dove that is covered with silver and her seathers like gold You know the Vessel before it be made bright is soiled with oyl and other things that it may scour the better O happy be you that you be now in the scouring house for shortly you shall be set on the celestial shelf as bright as Angels My old Friends of Coventry have put the Counsel in remembrance of me not six dayes ago saying I am more worthy to be burnt than any that hath been burned yet God's blessing on their hearts for their good report God make me worthy of that dignity and hasten the time that I may ser forth his glory Blessed be the time that ever I came into the Kings Bench to be joyned in love and fellowship with such dear children of the Lord. In his Letter to his Wife Pa. 716. Are not two sparrows saith Christ sold for a farthing and yet not one of them shall perish without the will of your Heavenly Father c. As though he should have said if God hath such respect and care for a poor sparrow which is not worth one farthing it shall not be taken in the lime-twig net or pitfall until it be his good will and pleasure you may be well assured that not one of you whom he so dearly loveth that he hath given his onely dear Son for you shall perish or depart forth of this miserable life without his good will and pleasure Let not the remembrance of children keep you from God The Lord himself will be a Father and a Mother better than ever you or I could have been unto them He himself will do all things necessary for them yea as much as rock the cradle if need be In his Letter to Mr. Bradferd Pa. 717. If we had been thankful to God for the good Ministers of his Word we had not so soon been deprived both of it and them Take not away all thy true Preachers forth of this Realm O Lord but leave us a seed least England be made like unto Sodom and Gomorrah when thy true Lots be gone Hearken O Heavens and then Earth give ear and bear me witness at the great Day that I do here faithsully and truly the Lord's message to his dear Servant to his singularly beloved elect child John Bradford John Bradford thou man so specially beloved of God I pronounce and restifie unto thee in the Name of the Lord Jehovah that all thy sins whatsoever they be be they never so many so grievous or so great be fully and freely pardoned rele●sed and forgiven thee by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ thine onely Lord and sweet Saviour in whom thou doest undoubtedly believe Christ hath cleansed thee with his blood and cloathed thee with his Righteousness and hath made thee in the sight of God his Father without spot or wrinckle so that when the fire doth his appointed office thou shalt be received as a sweet burnt-sacrifice into Heaven where thou shalt joyfully remain in God's presence for ever as the true inheriter of his everlasting Kingdom unto the which thou wast undoubtedly predestinate and ordained by the Lords infallible purpose and decree before the foundation of the world was laid and that this is most true that I have said I call the whole Trinity the Almighty and Eternal Majesty of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost to my record at this present whom I humbly beseech to confirm and stablish in thee the true and lively feeling of the same Amen Selah In his Letter to his dear faithful Brethren in Newgate Pa. 719. condemned to dye Cease not my dearly Beloved so long as you be in this life to praise the Lord with all your hearts for that of his great mercy infinite goodness he hath vouched you worthy of this great dignity to suffer for his sake not onely the loss of goods wife and children long imprisonment cruel oppression but death it self in the fire This is the greatest promotion that God can bring you or any other into in this vail of misery yea so great an honour as the highest Angel in Heaven is not permitted to have and yet hath the Lord for his dear Son Christ's sake reputed you worthy of the same yea and that before me and many others who have both long looked and longed for the same Rejoyce with double joy and be glad my dear Brethren for doubtless you have more cause than can be exprest But alas I that for my sins am left behind may lament with the holy Prophet Woe is me that the dayes of my joyful rest are prolonged Ah cursed Satan I which hath caused me so sore to offend my most dear loving Father whereby mine exile and banishment is so long prolonged Oh Christ my dear Advocate pacifie thy Father's wrath which I have justly deserved that he may take me home to him in his sweet mercy In his Letter to Mr. Green c. Pa. 720. If they be so blessed of God that dye in the Lord as the Holy Chost saith they be how much more blessed and happy then are you that die not onely in the Lord but for the Lord. O blessed Green c. fresh green shalt thou be in the Lord's House and thy fruits shall never wither nor decay O happy Mr. Whittle Peter's part thou hast well play'd therefore thy reward and portion shall be like his Now hast thou good experience of mans infirmity but much more proof and taste yea sense and feeling of God's abundant bottomless mercy Although Satan desired
O ye generation of vipers who hath taught you to flie from the wrath to come But I will wound you no more with the words of the Prophets Pag. 64. or of this holy Saint of God John Baptist but with our Saviour Christs two most sweet parables of the two Sons and of the Tilmen to whom he set his vineyard I will labour to set before your eyes your rebellion hypocrisie and cruelty if so I can bring any of you to repentance He hath called you by his Word many a time to work in his vineyard I ask what you have answered Some of you have said plainly like rebellious children That ye would not do it that ye would not work in your Fathers vineyard Shall I apply this part to Scotland Scotland was indeed called most plainly and evidently through the mercies of God both by their own faithful Countreymen Pag. 65. and also by earnest travel of our English Nation to come into the Lords vineyard in the time of King Edward the Sixth but refused That time as ye know the vineyard in England by the children of God was not altogether neglected and then most earnestly were ye O Brethren of Scotland required to joyn hands with us in the Lords work but Satan alas would not suffer it His old fostred malice and Antichrist his Son could not abide that Christ should grow so strong by joyning that Isle together in perfect Religion c. Iest this one Island should become a safe Sanctuary as it began to be to all the persecuted in all places God hath also by the blood of his Saints shed amongst you by favour and friendship by war and the sword yea by famane and pestilence and also by all other means called you to labour in his vineyard but to this day alas we hear not of your humble obedience but still ye say with stubborn faces We will not labour we wil not be bound to such thraldome c. Yet think perchance I am too sharp and that I accuse you more than you deserve for amongst you many do know the will of your Father and many make profession of his Gospel but consider Brethren that it is not enough to know the Commandment and to profess the same in mouth b●t it is necessary that ye refuse your selves your own pleasures appetites and your own wisdome if ye shall be judged faithful labourers in the Lords vineyard and that ye bear the burthens together with your Brethren and suffer heat and sweat before ye taste the fruits with them God will not be content that ye look over the Hedge and behold the labours of your Brethren but he requireth that ye put your hands also to the labours that ye travel continually to pluck up all unprofitable weeds though in so doing the Thorns prick you to the bone that ye affist your Brethren in their labours though it be with the jeopardy of your lives the loss of your substance and displeasure of the whole earth I must needs leave thee Pag. 68. O Scotland after I have advertized thee of this that thou follow not the example of England but let thy reformation be full and plain according to Gods holy Will and Word without addition Let all the plaints which thy Heavenly Father hath not planted be rooted out at once Let not avarice blind thee nor worldly wisdom discourage thy heart let none bear the name of a Teacher that is known to be a Fosterer of Superstition or any kind of wickedness Thus must thou O Scotland repent thy former inobedience if that thou wilt be approved of the Lord. And now do I return to thee O England I do liken thee to the second Son in the Parable which answered his Father with flattering words saying I go Father but yet he went not at all For since the time I had any remembrance our Heavenly Father of his great mercies hath not ceased to call thee into his Vineyard and to these late dayes thou hast alwayes said That thou wouldest enter and be obedient In the time of King Henry the Eighth when by Tyndal Frith Bilney and other his faithful Servants God called England to dress his Vineyard many promised full fair but what fruit followed nothing but bitter grapes yea briars and brambles the wormwood of avarice the gall of cruelty the poyson of filthy fornication flowing from head to foot the contempt of God and open defence of the Cake-idol by open Proclamation to be read in the Churches instead of Gods Scriptures It grieveth me to write these evils of my Countrey Pag. 70. save onely that I must needs declare what fruit were found in the Vineyard after you promised to work therein to move you to Repentance and to justifie Gods Judgements how grievously soever he shall plague you hereafter Wherefore I desire you to call to remembrance your best state under King Edward when all men with general consent promised to work in the Vineyard ye shall have cause I doubt not to lament your wickedness that so contemned the voice of God for your own lusts for your cruelty for your covetousness that the name of God was by your vanities evil spoken of in other Nations God grant you all repentant hearts for no order or state did any part of his duty in those dayes But to speak of the best whereof you use to boast your Religion was but an English Mattins patch'd forth o● the Popes portess Many things were in your great Book superstitious and foolish all were driven to a present service like the Papists that they should think their duties discharged if the number were said of Psalms and Chapters Finally there could no Discipline be brought into the Church nor correction of manners Pag. 71. To what contempt was Gods Word and the admonition of his Prophets come in all estates before God did strike some men are not ignorant The Preachers themselves for the most part could find no fault in Religion but that the Church was poor and lacked living Sure many things should have been reformed before that the Kitchin had been better provided for our Prelates in England It was most evident that many of you under the cloak of Religion served your own bellies some were so busie to heap benefice upon benefice some to labour in Parliament for purchasing of Lands that the time was small which could be found for the Reformation of abuses and every little that was spent upon the feeding of your flocks In a word the Gospel was so lightly esteemed that the most part of men thought rather that God should bow stoop to their appetites than that they should be subject to his holy Commandments Even the Nobility and Council would suffer no rebukes of Gods Messengers though their offences were never so manifest let those that preached in the Court the Lent before King Edward deceased speak their conscience and accuse me if I lye yea let a writing of Northumberland's
of faith the passage of death shall be the more desired It is like a sailing over the sea to thy home and countrey it is like a medicine or purgation to the health of the soul and body It is the best Physician It is like a woman in travail for as the child ●eing delivered cometh into a more large place than the womb wherein it did lye before so the soul being delivered out of the body cometh into a much more large and fair place even into Heaven In his Prayer for the remission of sins Pa. 224 225. O gracious God who seekest all means possible how to bring thy children to the see ling and sure sense of thy mercy and therefore when prosperity will not serve then sendest thou adversity graciously correcting them here whom thou wilt shall with thee elsewhere live for ever We poor Misers give humble praises and thanks to thee Dear Father that thou hast vouchsafed us worthy of thy correction at this present hereby to work that which we in prosperity and liberty did neglect For the which neglecting and many other our grievous sins whereof we now accuse our selves before thee most merciful Lord thou mightest have most justly given us over and destroyed both souls and bodies But such is thy goodness towards us in Christ that thou seemest to forget all our offences and wilt that we should suffer this Cross now lay'd upon us for thy Truth and Gospels sake and so to be thy witnesses with the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors yea with thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom thou dost now here begin to fashion us like Pa. 226. 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 more thy Truth unto us to confirm strengthen and stablish us so in the same that we may live and dye 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 than 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 See the godly Meditations of Mr. John Bradford pag. 415. We are rather to be placed among the wicked than 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 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 Pag. 6. O what now may we do Despair no for thou art God therefore good thou art merciful therefore thou forgivest sins with thee is mercy propitiation 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 Pag. 7. 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 only 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 Pag. 11. Take into thy custody and governance for ever our souls and bodies our lives and all that ever we have Tempt us never further than thou wilt make us able to bear and alwayes as thy children guide us so that our life may please thee 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 thraldom under their enemies in exile in prison poverty c. Pag. 12. 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 Pag. 49. 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 Kingdom by thy eternal purpose free mercy and grace but yet as strangers wandring in this vile vale of misery brought forth daily by worldly Tyrants like Sheep to the flaughter Thou hast destroyed Pharaob 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 Pag. 50. 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 transform and change proud Nebuchadnezzar the enemy of thy people into a bruit beast to eat grass and hay to the horrible terrour of all worldly Tyrants c. Thou didst preserve those thy three Servants in 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 Pag. 51. and savedst unhurt
my friends get ye hence The presence of God to whose goodness I commend my soul is abundantly sufficiently for me Colver Sheep we are for the slaughter said Francis Colver to his two Sons Ward pa. 163. massacred together with himself this is no new thing let us follow millions of Martyrs through temporal death unto eternal life Coo. Roger C●● being asked by the Bishop of Norwich Fox Vol. 3419. 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 Meshach and Abednego had so done Nebuchadnezzar had never confessed the Living God Constantine Being carried with other Martyrs in a Dung-Cart to the place of Execution Ward pa. 154. he spake thus Well yet are we a precious odour and a sweet savour to God in Christ Cornford John Cornford one of the last five that suffered Martyrdome in Queen Mary's dayes when the Sentence should have been passed Fox Vol. 3. pag. 893. and they should have been executed by the Papists being moved in Spirit with a vehement zeal for God in the name 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 seigned Religion so that by this thy just judgment against thy Adversaries thy true Religion may be known to thy great glory and our comfort to the edifying of all our Nation Lord Jesus So be it It is observable that within six dayes after this Excommunication Quen Mary died and the tyranny of all English Papists with her Conlogue Brethren and Sisters said Peter Conlogue of Breda at the Stake be you alwayes obedient to the Word of God and fear not those that can kill the body Fox Vol. 3. pag. 50. for on the soul they can have no power as for me I am now going to meet my glorious Spouse the Lord Jesus Christ Cranmer When Dr. Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury was Excommunicated he said Fox Vol. 3. pag. 92. From this your Judgement and Sentence I appeal to the just Judgement of God Almighty trusting to be present with him in Heaven for whose presence in the Altar I am thus condemned In his Letter to Mr. Wilkinson Pa. 677. The true Comforter in all distresses is onely God through his Son Jesus Christ Whosoever hath him hath Comfort enough although he were in a Wilderness all alone He that hath twenty thousand in his company if God be absent is in a miserable Wilderness In him is all comfort and without him is none Wherefore I beseech you seek your dwelling there where you may truly and rightly serve God dwell in him have him ever dwelling in you After he had recanted and was brought to Saint Mary'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 Pa. 669. 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 that you set not your minds overmuch upon this glozing World but upon God and the World to come to learn to know what this Lesson meaneth which St. John teacheth That the Love of this World is hatred against God Let rich men consider and weigh three Scriptures Luke 18. It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heavin 1 John 3. He that hath the substance 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 howl for the miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted Another exhortion is That next under God you obey your King and Queen willingly gladly without murmuring or grudging They are Gods Ministers 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 than 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 writing 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 Jesus receive my spirit Cromwel Thomas Lord Cromwel Earl of Essex Fox Vol. 2. pag. 529. 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 ●erceiving 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 Seaffold O Lord Jesus Pa. 515. 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 will in better wise restore it to me again at the last day in the resurrection of the Just I see and acknowledge there is in my self no hope of salvation but all my considence hope and trust is in
thy most merciful goodness Thou merciful Lord wast born for thy sake didst suffer hunger 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 sport and soulness of my sins let thy righteousness hide and cover my unrighteousness Cyprian He went in the time of Persecution into voluntary Banishment Clark's first Volume of Lives pag. 51. Leigh's Saints Encouragements in evil times pag. 10. lest as he said he should do more hurt than good to the Congregation When he heard the sentence pronounced against him he said I thank God for freeing me from the Prison of this Body He said Amen to his own sentence of Martyrdome The Proconsul bidding him consult 〈…〉 it he answered In so just a Cause there needs no deliberation D. Daigerfield William Daigerfield and Joan his Wise who then gaue 〈◊〉 to her tenth child being imprisoned in several Prisons Fox Vol. 3● pag. 759. Bishop Brooks sent for the man and told him that his Wise had recanted and so perswathod him to recant and so sent him to his Wife with a Form of Recantation with him which when his Wife say her heart clave in sunder and she dried out Alas Husband this long we have contributed one and hath Satan so far prevailed with you as to cause you to break the Vo●● which you made to God in Baptisme Hereupon 〈◊〉 bewailed his promise 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 〈…〉 to pass Damlip Mr. Adam Damlip Fox Vol. 2. pag. 564. 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 earnestly 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 than here to remain and nor 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 mercy and did eat his meat as well as over 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 for near his death Al 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 will strengthen me therein When he was told that his four Quarters should he hanged at four parts of Calice and his Head upon the Lanthern-gate Then shall I not need said he to provide for my Burial Dilos Alas said James Delos to the Monks that called him proud Heretick here I get nothing but shame Ward pag. 1151. I expect indeed preferment hereafter Denley Mr. John Denley being entreated by Bishop Bonner to recant said Fox Vol. 3. pag. 388. God save me from your Counsel In the Fire with the burning flame about him he sung a Psalm and having his face hurt with a Fagot hurled at him he left singing for a while and clapt his 〈◊〉 in his bleeding face and afterwards put his hands abroad and ●ung again till he died Dionysius Dionystus Ar●pag●●a who seeing the general Eclipse of the Sun at Christ's death Clarks first volume of Lives p. 12. said to one Either the God of Nature now suffers or the frame of the World shall be dissolved and to another God unknown in the flesh doth suffer When he was apprehended by Sisinius the Praesect and sharply reproved for preaching against the worship of their Gods and required to confess his errour said That they were no gods whom they worshipped but Idols the works of mens hands and that it was through meer ignorance solly and idolatry that they adored them adding that there was but one true God as he had preached After he was grievously tormented he was brought before Sisinius the second time who sentenced him to be beheaded forthwith Dyonisius told him he worshipped such Gods as would perish like Dung upon the Earth but as for my self said he come life come death I will worship none but the God of Heaven and Earth He pray'd thus at his death O Lord God Almighty thou onely begotten Son and Holy Spirit O Sacred Trinity which are without beginning and in whom is no division Receive the soul of thy Servant in peace who is put to death for thy Cause and Gospel He used to say That he desired these two thing● of God 1 That he might know the Truth himself and 2 That he might preach it as he ought to others Driver Alice Driver in her first Examination Fox Vol. 3. pag. 886. having got her Adversaries to acknowledge that a Sacrament is a sign and that it was Christ's Body his Disciples did eat the night before he was crucified Seeing it is said she a sign it cannot be the thing signified and how could it be Christs Body that was crucified seeing his Disciples had eaten him up over night except he had two Bodies At the end of her second Examination Pa. 887. She said Have you no more to say God be honoured You be not able to resist the Spirit of God in me a poor Woman I was an honest poor man's Daughter never brought up in the University as you have been but I have driven the Plough before my Father many a time I thank God yet notwithstanding in the desence of God's Truth and in the Cause of my Mr. Christ by his Grace I will set my foot against the foot of any of you all in the maintenance and defence of the same and if I had a thousand lives they should go for payment thereof When she was tied to the Stake Fox Vol. 3 pag. 888. and the iron Chain put about her neck O said she here is a goodly Neckerchief blessed be God for it Drowry Thomas Drowry the blind Boy Fox Vol. 3. pag. 703. to whom Bishop Hooper as he was going to the Stake after he had examined him said Ah poor Boy God hath taken from thee thy outward sight but he hath given thee another sight much more precious He that endued thy soul with the eye of Knowledge and Faith Shortly after Bishop Hooper's Martyrdome was cast into Prison Afterwards the Chancellor of Glocester asking him who taught him that Heresie that Christ's Body was not really present in the Sacrament of the Altar he said You Mr. Chancellor when in yonder
and night in supplication and prayer but she that liveth in pleasure is dead even yet alive And verily she is a true widow that hath married Christ forsaking the vanities of the world and the lusts of the flesh 1 Cor. 7. For as the married woman careth how to love and serve and please her Husband so ought the Widow to give all her soul and heart thoughts and words studies and labours faithfully to love God vertuously to bring up her children and houshold and diligently to provide for the poor and oppressed Not to live in pleasure but to watch unto prayer stedfostly laying up all her trust in God Luke 2. Of Anna it is written That she never went out of the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day to bring up her children and houshold godly in the nurture and information of the Lord. Ephes 6. There are most manifest examples against Parents for the offences of Children Contrariwise how greatly might Hanna rejoyce over Samuel her Son whom she had brought up in the House of the Lord Pa. 629. But above all Widows thrice blessed was the happy Mother of the seven Sons that so had instructed them in the fear of the Lord that by no torments they would shrink from the love of his Truth To be liberal to Strangers 1 Tim. 5. to wash the Saints feet and minister to them in their adversity Saint Paul as though they onely had been therefore meet appointed onely Widows to minister to the Saints and to gather for the poor Alas That Christ so hungreth and no man will feed him is so fore opprest with thirst and no man will give him drink destitute of all lodging and not relieved sick and not visitted imprisoned and not seen In times past men could bestow large sums of money on Copes Vestments and Ornaments of the Church why rather follow we not St. Ambrose his example who sold the same for the relief of the poor or Chrysostom's command who willed first to deck and garnish the living Temple of God But alas such is the wickedness of these our last dayes that nothing moves us neither the pure Doctrine the godliness of life nor good examples of the Ancient Fathers If in any thing they erred that will their charitable children embrace publish and maintain with sword faggot and fire but all in vain they strive against the stream for though in despite of the Truth by force of the ears of crafty perswasion they may bring themselves into the haven of Hell yet can they not make all men believe that the banks move while the ship saileth nor ever shall be able to turn the direct course of the stream of Gods Truth In another Letter Better is the day of death saith Solomon than the day of birth Happy are the dead that die in the Lord. Man of woman is born in travel to live in misery man through Christ doth die in joy to live in felicity he is born to die and dieth to live Strait as he cometh into the world with cries he uttereth his miserable estate strait as he departeth with Songs he praiseth God for ever Scarce yet in his cradle three deadly enemies affault him after death no Adversary may annoy him whilst he is here he displeaseth God when he is dead he fulfilleth his will Here he dieth every hour there he liveth continually here is sin there is righteousness here is time there is eternity here is hatred there is love here is pain there is pleasure here is misery there is felicity Seek therefore the things that are above c. Grey The Lady Jane Grey Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk For Vol 3 pag. 13 14 c. whose Mother was Daughter to Mary King Henry the Second's Sister having personated a Queen for ten dayes and upon Queen Maries Proclamation being imprisoned the Queen sent Mr. Fecknam to her two dayes before her death to commune with her and reduce her from the Doctrine of Christ to Queen Maries Religion Pag. 31. The effect of which communication here followeth Madam said Fecknam I lament your heavy Case c. You are welcome unto me Sir said the Lady Jane if you come to give me Christian Exhortation And as for my heavy Case I thank God I do so little lament it that rather I account the same for a more manifest Declaration of Gods favour towards me than ever he shewed me at any time before and therefore there is no cause why either you or other which bear me good will should lament or be grieved with this my Case being a thing so profitable for my souls health I am here come said he from the Queen and Council to instruct you in the true Doctrine of the right Faith c. I heartily thank the Queen said she who is not unmindful of her humble Subject I hope no less that you will do your duty therein both truly and faithfully What is then said he required of a Christian To believe said she in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons and one God What said he is there nothing else required or looked for in a Christian but to believe in him Pag. 32. Yes said she We must love him with all our heart with all our soul and with all our mind and our Neighbour as our self Why then said he faith justifies not and saveth not Yes verily said she Faith as Paul saith onely justifies Why said he St. Paul saith If I have all faith without love it is nothing True said she for how can I love him whom I trust not or how can I trust him whom I love not Faith and love go both together and yet love is comprehended in faith How must we love our Neighbour said he To love our Neighbour said she is to feed the hungry to cloath the naked and give drink to the thirsty and to do to him as we would do to our selves Why then said he it is necessary unto salvation to do good works also and it is not sufficient onely to believe It is meet said she that a Christian in token that he follows his Master Christ to do good works yet may we not say that they profit to our salvation for 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 regenerated by the Spirit that washing is a token to me that I am a child of God the other the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 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
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 wel 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 Pa. 824. 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 John de Clum The iniquity of the great Strumpet i.e. of the malignant Congregation whereof mention is made in the Apocalyps 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. Jerome 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 li●e 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 slain 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 Pa. 825. that if Audience be given me that the King will be there present himself c. And that you Right Noble and Gracious Lord John 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 swer●ed 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 Jeremy and yet they could not avoid the things that were prophesied of in them Pa. 826. 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
to sist thee yet Christ thy good Captain pray'd that thy faith should not fail God's strength is made perfect by thy weakness c. But alas I lye like the lame man at the Pools side and every one goeth into the place of health before me In his Letter to William Tyms Satan hath two great pieces of Ordnance to shoot at you with the which he cannot hurt you because you have two bul-warks to defend you The first of these terrible Guns that he hath shot at you is fear and infidelity for the uglesomness of death and horrour of your many and great sins But this pellet is easily put away with the sure shield of faith in the most precious death and bloodshedding of our dear Lord and onely Saviour Jesus Christ whom the Father hath given to us wholly to be ours for evermore and with him hath given us all things as Paul saith so that though we be never so great sinners yet Christ is made unto us holiness righteousness and justification He hath clothed us in all his merits c. and taken to himself all our sin c. so that if any should be now condemned for the same it must needs be Jesus Christ who hath taken them upon him But indeed he hath made satisfaction for them to the uttermost so that for his sake they shall never be imputed to us if they were a thousand times more than they be The other pestilent Piece he shooteth off at you is to provoke you to put some part of your trust and considence in your self and in your own holiness and righteousness that you may that way rob God of his glory and Christ of the honour and dignity of his death but blessed be the Lord God you have also a full strong B●l-work to beat back this pestilent Pellet even the pure Law of God which proveth the best of us all damnable sinners in the sight 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 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 Ward pag. 156. yet for Christs sake I will forsake them cheerfully Carver Mr. Derick Carver Fox Vol. 3. pag. 385. being asked by Bonner whether he would stand for his Confession answered He would for your Doctrine is poyson and forcery If Christ were here you would put him to a worse death than 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 hast 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 Eudaxia the Emperess having sent him a very threatning message he gave this answer Go Clark ' s first Volume of Lives pag. 145. 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 Jonah if she will let her cast me into a burning fiery Furnace or among wild beasts the three children 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 than mine is Ward pag. 159. Behold you shall see me die by that faith I have lived in Cobham See Sir John Oldcastle under the Letter O Clark When Roger Clark was sentenced Fox Vol. pag. 569. 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 Jasper Coligni Fox Vol. 3 pag. 57. Clarks Martyrology c. pag. 41. of his life 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 singer 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 Majests 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 I have long since prepared my self I bless God that I shall die in the Lord. I now need no longer any help of man therefore