maiesticall maner therof 750 R O. Robert De Artois a noble man of France exciteth king Edward the 3. to make claym to the kingdome of Fraunce 376. Robert Brakenbery true to hys Prince 728. Robert Braybroke byshop of LoÌ„don 443. Robert Bacon a bloudy and cruelâ— enemy to the Sayntes of Godâ— 1912. Robert Barnes hys story 1192. Robert Cosin Martyr hys story 818. Robert Chapell his trouble and persecution .641 abiured ibid. Robert Dynes Martyr his story and Martyrdome 2042. Robert Drakes hys story .1895 hys examination and death 1896.1897.1898 Robert Edgore hys death 2103.2104 Robert Farrar of London a sore enemy filthy talker by the good Lady Elizabeth 2097. Robert Grosthead made Byshop of Lincolne 279. Roberts Gentlewoman her trouble and deliueraunce 2073. Robert Grosthead Byshoppe of Lincolne his coÌ„mendatioÌ„ books trouble and death .325 hys articles agaynst the Pope 325. Robert Glouer Martyr and his Brother theyr trouble persecution and death 1709.1710.1711 1712.1713 Robertus Gallus his Prophesies agaynst the Pope 322 Robert Harrison Martyr 1277 Robert Kyng Robert Debnam hanged for takynge downe the Roode of Douer Courte 1031 Robert Kylwarby Archbyshoppe of Caunterbury 336 Robert Lambe with other moe Martyrs 1267 Robert Lawson Roger Bernard Martyrs theyr Storyes 1917 1918.1919 Robert Miles aliâs PluÌ„mer martyr his story 2047 Robert Milles Martyr his story and martyrdome 2042 Robert Packington murthered 1130 Robert Parson of Heggeley hys examination and aunsweres 641 Robert Pigot Martyr his Story examination and constaunt martyrdome 1715.1716 Robert Smith Martyr .1689 his examinations and answeres .1691.1692.1693.1694 his Godly Letters to diuers of hys Frendes 1696.1698.1699.1700.1701.1702 Robert Samuell Martyr his story and death .1703.1604 hys letters 1705.1706 Robert Twing spoyled of his benefice by the Papistes 276 Robert Streater Martyr 1708 Robert Southam Martyr his story martyrdome 2037.2038 2039 Robert Williams scourged 2062 Roger Acton knight why executed as a traytor 587 Roger Byshop of London excommunicated the Popes Usurers 278 Roger Clarke Martyr his Story and Martyrdome 1231.1232 Roger Holland Martyr .2037.2038.2039 his examination and aunsweares .2039.2040 his death and martyrdome 2039 2042 Roger Mortimer earle of Marsh executed 376 Roger Cooe his examination condemnatioÌ„ and martyrdome 1707 1708 Rogers burned in Northfolke 1241 Roger Onley proued not guilty of treason 703 Rogers his story and martyrdome 1484. his examinations and answeares .1485.1486 hys condemnation .1488 his admonition to the Byshoppes out of prison .1489.1490 his Propheticall sayinges .1492 hys constaunt martyrdome for the truth 1493 Rockewood Persecutor hys death 2101 Rood of Paules in London set vp with Te Deum solemnly song 1472 Roode sette vppe in Lankeshyre 1474 Rhodes besieged .744 and wonne of the Turkes 748 Rodolphe Archbishop of Caunterbury 198 Rogation dayes in olde time without superstition 128 Rochester besieged of the Barons 332 Rome why aduaunced aboue other Cittyes .18 sacked destroyed 987 Rome full of all abhominations .697 not the Catholicke Church and why 1803 Rome not supreame head ouer other Churches 1759 Rome described in her Colours 322 Rome how it beganne to take head ouer other Churches 120 Rome proued to be Babilon .478 Antichristes neast 562 Romaynes punished by their owne Emperours for contemningâ— Christ and his true Religion 31. Romaynes olde theyr fayth 20 Romanes 23. brought into England to be beneficed 287 Romanus his lamentable history death 89 90 Romeshot confirmed by Canutus 163 Romish prelats displaced by queene Elizabeth and good Bishoppes placed in theyr stead 2125 Rowland Taylour Doctour and Martyr his life and story .1518 cited .1519 appeareth before Winchester theyr conference together .1520 depriued of his benefice 1521 Rounde Table built in Windsour 384 Rough Martyr his story and martyrdome 2028.2031.2034 Rollo a Dane first Duke of Normandy 141 Roper Martyr his story persecution and death 1794 Rochtailada Martyr his Story 391 Rose his trouble for the Gospell .2082 his examinations .2083.2084.2085 his deliuery 2086.2087 Rose Allin her story .2005 her hand burned by Edmund Tyrill 2006 2007 Rose Minister with 30. godly persons taken in Bowchurch at the Communion 1480 Rota an Office in the Courte of Rome full of all abhomination 857 Roy burned in Portingall for the Gospell 1398.1027 Roth Martyr his story and martyrdome 2013.2014.2015.2016.2017.2018.2019 R V. Rubricke of the 5. woundes after the Papistes 1398 S A. SAbinus publisheth the Emperors decree 82 Sabinianus Bishop of Rome 120 Sabina Martyr his story 4 Sacrament called breade of Saynt Paule of the Chanon of the masse it selfe and of the fathers 534 Sacrament defined .1183 why called the body of Christ. 1392 Sacrament of the Lordes bodye called breade of Saynt Cyprian 62 Sacrament hath two thinges in it to be noted 500 Sacrament is not to be considered in nature but what it is in mistery 1432 Sacrament in one kind contrary to the worde of God practise of the primitiue Church and Fathers in all ages 1150.1151 Sacramentall mutation in the Lordes Supper what and howe 1761 Sacrament hath both commaundement and promise annexed 1611 Sacramentes are confirmations of Gods grace towards his people 1707 Sacrament made an Idoll by the Papistes 28 Sacramentes take theyr names of those thinges whiche they represent .1129 not Christes body in deede but in representation onely 1130 Sacramentes without theyr vse are no Sacramentes .1809.1815 ministred in one kinde by the papistes .1820.1821 abused ibid. oughte to bee ministred in bothe kindes and not in one as the papistes do 1890 Sacrament neither chaunged in substaunce nor accidence .1380 they are seales of Gods grace towardes vs. 1431 Sacrament of the Aultar no Sacrament 1977 Sacrament of the aultar ouerthroweth the Lordes supper 1626 Sacramente of the Aultare who brought in 544 Sacrament of Penance 544 Sacrifice of Christ once offered sufficient for all 1432 Sacrifice propiciatory of the masse is derogatory to Christes death and passion 1761 Sacrifice of the Church and Sacrifice for the Church 1615 Sacrifice of Christ not many tymes offered but once for all 484 Sadoletus Cardinall his desperate death 2106 Safe conducte graunted to Iohn Hus. 596 Sagaris Martyr 4 Saladine slayeth Christian Captaynes and is put to flight hymselfe 245.246 Salisbury the first Byshop therof 183 Sanctus his notable constancy and cruell martyrdome 46 All Sayntes day first instituted with the day of all soules 137 Sayntes not to be called vppon or prayed vnto 1108.1109 Sayntes are not to be worshipped 1741 Sayntes of the Popes Traytors 579 Saynt Stephen the Ringleader of all Christes holy Martyrs 32 Saynt Iohns Gospell translated into English by Beede 127 Saynt Iohn of Beuerleyes miracles reproued 125 Saynt Iames the Apostle Martyred 32 Saynt Edmond Chanon of Salisbury Canonized a Saynt 270 San Romayne his story and constant martyrdome for the trueth 928.929.930 Saynt Peters body clothed in siluer in Rome 130 Saynt Martin persecuted 955 Saynt Bridget 419 Saynt Elizabeth her Story 273.268 San Beneâ—o 931 Sarton burned at Bristow for the truth of Christes Gospell 2149 Saunders his life and
haue pacience to beare and abide al your cruel intents against me notwythstanding I speake this earnestly being mooued thereto iustly to notifie your vniust and cruell dealing with men in corners without all due order of lawe After this at nighte I was conducted againe by three or foure into the Colehouse The ninth examination of M. Philpot before Boner and his Chaplaines IN the morning the nexte daye I was called downe betunes by my keper and brought againe into the Wardrobe where I remained vntil the Byshop had heard hys Masse and afterwarde he sent vp for me into his inwarde Parlour and there he called for a chaire to sit downe and brought his infamous Libell of his forged Articles in his hande and sate downe willing me to drawe neare vnto him and saide Lond. I am this day appoynted to tarry at home from the Parlament house to examine you and your fellowes vpon these Articles and you stande dalying with me and will neither answere to nor fro Ywis al your exceptions will not serue you Will it not be a faire honestie for you thinke ye that when thou commest afore my Lorde Maior and the Sheriffes other worshipful audience when I shall say before them all that I haue had thee these many times before me and before so many learned men and then thou couldest saye nothing for that thou standest in for all thy bragges of learning neither wouldest answere directly to any thing Phil. My Lord I haue told you my mind plaine enough but yet I do not intend to lose that priuiledge the law geueth me the which is free choise to aunswere where I am not bound and this priuiledge wil I cleaue vnto vntil I be compelled otherwise Lon. Well I perceiue you will playe the obstinate foole Lay thine appellation when thou commest in iudgement and answere in the meane while to these articles Phil. No my Lord by your leaue I wil not answeare to them vntill my lawfull appeale be tried Lon. Wel thou shalt heare them and with that he began to reade them Phil. I shranke backe into the windowe and looked on a booke and after he had read them ouer he said vnto me Lon. I haue read them ouer although it hath not pleased you to heare mee I marueile in good faith what thou meanest to be so wilful and stubborne seeing thou mayest doe wel enough if thou list It is but a singularitie Doest thou not see all the realme against thee Phil. My Lord I speake vnto you in the witnes of God before whom I stand that I am neither wedded vnto mine owne will neither stand vpon mine owne stubbernesse or singularitie but vpon my conscience instructed by Gods word and if your Lordship can shew better euidence then I haue for a good faith I will folowe the same Lon. What thou wilt not loe for all that Well all that is past shall be forgotten and be conformable vnto vs. Iwis thou mightest find as much fauour as thou wouldest desire Phil. Then I perceiuing that he fawned so muche vpon me thought it good to geue hym some comfort of relēting to the end I might openly geue him and his hypocriticall generation openly a further foyle perceiuing that they dare reason opēly with none but with such as be vnlearned and for lacke of knowledge not able to aunsweare or els with such as they haue a hope that for feare or loue of the worlde will recant I sayde My Lorde it is not vnknowen to you that I haue openlye in the audience of a great number stand to the maintenance of these opinions I am in by learning did offer to defende them therefore my Lord I would it might openly appeare to the world that I am wonne by learnyng or els what wyll they say but that eyther for feare or loue of the worlde I am without any ground turned from the truth and if I haue any kinde of learning openly shewed I shal be as conformable as you may require me Lond. Yea mary now ye speake somwhat like a reasonable man I wis you might haue had a great deale more fauour in my house and libertie then you haue had and you shall lacke nothing that is within my house call for it and you shall haue it And what is it that you woulde openly by learnyng somewhat be satisfied in tell me Phil. My Lord I haue openly sayd and do beleeue it also that your sacrifice of the Masse is no Sacrament Lond. What doe you deny the presence of Christe in the Sacrament Phil. No my Lorde I deny not the presence of Christ in the Sacrament but I haue denyed the Sacrament of the Alter as it is vsed in your Masse to be the true Sacrament of Christes institution And first it must be proued a sacrament ere there can be any kind of presence graunted Lond. Why do you deny the Masse to be a Sacrament I pray you what is a Sacrament Is it not a signe of a holy thyng as saint Austine doth define it Phil. Yes verily that it is Lond. Then I make this argument vnto you A Sacrament is the signe of a holy thing but the Masse is a signe of a holy thing Ergo it is a Sacrament Phil. You must adde this to your Maior or fyrst proposition as saint Austine doth meane that a Sacrament is the signe of a holy thing instituted of God and commaunded for otherwise it can be no Sacrament for all men can not make a Sacrament Lond. I graunt that and such a signe of a holy thyng is the Masse of Christes institution Phil. I deny that my Lord Lond. I will proue this by S. Austine by and by I will go shew you the booke you shall haue any booke I haue that you wyll demaund Hoe who is without there call me M. Doct. Chadsey M. Archdeacon M. Cosins and other Chapleynes hyther Here my Lorde Maister Doctour Chadsey in gone to Westminster and Maister Archdeacon was here euen nowe Lond. M. Cosins I pray you examine him vpon these Articles and write his aunswere he maketh to euery one of them I will go examine his felowes and sende you S. Austine by and by I finde this man more conformable then he was before Cosins I trust my Lord you shall finde him at length a good Catholicke man Mary here be a sight of heresies I dare say you will hold none of them neither stand in any of them How say you to the first Phil. M. Cosins I haue tolde my Lord already that I will aunswere to none of these articles he hath obiected against me but if you will with learning aunswere to that which is in question betweene my Lorde and me I wyll gladly heare and common with you Cosins No wyll you Why what is that then which is in question betweene my Lord and you Phil. Whether your Masse be a Sacrament or no Cosins What the Masse to bee a Sacrament who euer
fantastically as you teach vs to take them for then should we conspire with certaine heretickes called the Nestorians for they denie that Christ hadde a true naturall body and so me thinke you doe my Lord. If you wil affirm his body to be there as you say he is then must you needes also affirme that it is a fantasticall bodye and therfore looke to it for Gods sake and let these wordes go before Take yee and eate ye without which wordes the rest are sufficient but when the worthy receiuers do take and eat euen then is fulfilled the words of our Sauiour vnto him or euery of them that so receiueth Boner Ah I see well thou canste not vnderstand these woordes I will shewe thee a Parable If I should set a peece of beefe before thee and say eate is it no beefe And then take part of it away send it to my cooke and he shal change the fashion thereof and make it looke like breade What wouldest thou saye that it were no Beefe because it hath not the fashion of beefe Rafe Let me vnderstand a little further my Lorde shall the Cooke adde nothing therunto nor take nothing there from Boner What is that to the matter whether he do or no so long as the shape is changed into an other likenesse Rafe Ah will you so my Lord your Sophistrie will not serue the truth wil haue the victorie neuerthelesse as Esay sayth He that restraineth himselfe from euill must be spoyled And Amos hath suche like woordes also For the wise must be faine to holde their peace so wicked a time it is sayth he Neuertheles he that can speake the truth and will not shall geue a strait accounts for the same A Doctor By my Lords leaue here me thinks thou speakest like a foole Wilt thou be a iudge of the scripture Nay thou must stand to learne and not to teache for the whole congregation hath determined the matter long agoe A priest No by your leaue we haue a Church and not a congâ—egation You mistake that worde master Doctor Rafe Then sayd I to my fellowe prisoners standing by My brethren doe yee not heare howe these men helpe one an other Let vs doe so also But we neuer came all in together after that time but seuerallye one after an other Then was I caried away for that time The xix daye of May I was brought before the Bishop of Rochester and Chichester with others B Rochest Were you a companion of George Eagles otherwise called Trudgeouer My Lord of London telleth me that you were his fellow companion Rafe I know him very well my Lord. Rochest By my faith I had him once and then hee was as dronke as an Ape for he stonke so of drinke that I coulde not abide him and so sent him away Rafe My Lorde I dare saye you tooke your markes amisse It was either your selfe or some of your own companie for he did neither drinke Wine Ale nor Beere in a quarter of a yeare before that time and therefore it was not he forsooth The rest of mine examinations you shal haue when I am condemned if I can haue any time after my comming into Newgate the which I trust shall touch the matter a great deale more plainly for the pithie matters are yet vnwrytten Thus fare you well good frendes all Yea I say farewel for euer in this present world Greete yee one an other and be ioyfull in the Lord. Salute the good widowes among you with all the rest of the congregation in Barfold Dedham and Colchester This promise of hys being either not perfourmed for that he might not thereto be permitted or els if he did wryte the same not comming to my hands I am faine in the rest of his examinations to follow the only report of the Register who witnesseth that the 15. day of May. An. 1557. in the Byshops palace at London he was examined vppon certaine interrogatories the contents wherof be these FIrst that he was of the parish of Muchbentley and so of the Diocesse of London Secondly that the 10. daye of Ianuarie then last past M. Iohn Morant preaching at Paules the said Rafe Allerton did there openly submit himselfe vnto the Churche of Rome with the rites and Ceremonies thereof Thirdly that he did consent and subscribe aswell vnto the same submission as also to one other bil in the which he graunted that if he should at any time turn againe vnto his former opinions it shoulde be then lawfull for the Bishop immediately to denounce and adiudge hym as an hereticke Fourthly that he had subscribed to a bill wherein hee affirmed that in the sacrament after the woordes of consecration be spokâ—n by the Priest there remaineth still materiall bread and materiall wine and that he beleueth that the bread is the breade of thankesgeuing and the memoriall of Christes death and that when he receiueth it he receiueth the body of Christ spiritually in his soule but materiall bread in substaunce Fiftly that he had openly affirmed and also aduisedly spoken that which is contained in the sayde former fourth article last before specified Sixthly that hee hadde spoken against the Bishop of Rome wyth the Church and Sea of the same and also against the seuen Sacraments and other Ceremonies and ordinaunces of the same Churche vsed then wythin thys Realme Seuenthly that hee had allowed and commended the opinions and faith of M. Cranmer Ridley Latimer and others of late burned within this Realme and beleeued that theyr opinions were good and godly Eightly that he hadde diuers times affirmed that the religion vsed within this realme at the time of his apprehension was neither good nor agreeable to Gods woord and that he coulde not conforme himselfe thereunto Ninthly that he had affirmed that the booke of Common prayer sette foorth in the raigne of king Edward the vj. was in all partes good and godly and that the sayd Rafe and his company prisoners did daily vse amongst themselues in prison some part of the booke Tenthly that hee had affirmed that if hee were out of prison he would not come to Masse Mattins nor Euensong nor beare Taper Candle or Palme nor goe in procession nor would receiue holy water holy breade ashes or paxe or any other ceremonie of the Churche then vsed within this Realme Eleuenthly that he had affirmed that if he were at libertie he would not confesse his sinnes to any Priest nor receiue absolution of him nor yet would receiue the Sacrament of the altar as it was then vsed Twelfly that he had affirmed that praying to saints and prayers for the deade were neither good nor profitable and that a man is not bounde to fast and praye but at his owne wil and pleasure neither that it is lawful to reserue the Sacrament or to woorship it Thirtenthly that the sayd Allerton hath according to these his affirmations abstained refused to come vnto his parishe Churche euer
do vs. But this I dare be bold in God to speake which by his spirit I am moued to say that God will shorten your hand of cruelty that for a time you shal not molest his church And this shal you in short time well perceiue my deare brethrē to be most true For after this day in this place shall there not be anye by hym put to the triall of fire and fagot And after this daye there was neuer none that suffered in Smithfielde for the testimonie of the gospell God be thanked After these woordes spoken saith Boner Roger thou art I perceiue as madde in these thy heresies as euer was Ioan Butcher In anger and fume thou woldest become a railing Prophet Thoughe thou and all the sorte of you would see me hanged yet I shall liue to burne yea I wil burne all the sort of you that come in my handes that wil not worship the blessed sacrament of the altare for all thy pratling and so he went his way Then Roger Holland began to exhort his frendes to repentance and to thinke wel of them that suffered for the testimonie of the Gospel and with that the B. came back charging the keeper that no man shoulde speake to them without his licence and if they did they should be cōmitted to prison In the meane season H. Pond and Roger spake stil vnto the people exhorting them to stande in the truthe adding moreouer that God woulde shorten those cruel and euil daies for his elect sake The day they suffred a proclamation was made that none should be so bold to speake or talke any word vnto them or receiue any thing of them or to touche them vpō payne of imprisonment without either bale or mainprise wyth diuers other cruell threatninge woordes contained in the same Proclamation Notwithstanding the people cryed out desiring God to strengthen them and they likewyse still praied for the people and the restoring of his woorde At length Roger embracing the stake and the reedes said these woordes Lord I most humbly thanke thy Maiestie that thou hast called mee from the state of death vnto the lighte of thy heauenlye worde and nowe vnto the fellowship of thy Sainctes that I may sing and say Holy holy holy Lord God of hoastes And Lord into thy handes I commit my spirite Lord blesse these thy people and saue them from Idolatrie and so ended his life looking vp into heauen praying and praising God with the rest of his fellowe Sainctes For whose ioyfull constancie the Lord be praised The Martyrdome of vj. which suffered at Brainforde for the true testimonie of Iesus Christ. NOt long after the death of the fore named vij godlye Martyrs that suffered in Smithfielde were vj. other faithfull witnesses of the Lordes true Testament Martyred at Braynforde vij miles from London the xiiij day of Iuly 1558. which sayd sixe were of that companie that were apprehended in a close harde by Islington as is aboue specified and sent to prisone Whose names and articles proponed to them with their answers vnto the same hereafter followeth Robert Milles. Stephen Corton Robert Dynes Stephen Wight Iohn Slade William Pikes or Pikers a Tanner These vj. forenamed Martyrs gentle Reader hadde their articles ministred to them by Thomas Darbishire Boners Chancellor at sundrye times as Robert Mules the 20. day of Iune Stephen Wight the 21. day of the said moneth Ste. Cotton and Iohn Slade the 22. day Robert Dines and William Pikes the 23. day At which said times though they were seuerally examined yet had they all one maner of articles ministred to them yea th◠selfe same Articles that were ministred to Iohn Holiday Hēry Pond and their companie aforesayd Which sayde articles I leaue the reader to looke for in page 1967. and think it not necessarye anye more to rehearse them but onely to proceede with their aunsweres to the same which briefly and in summe hereafter followeth The answeres of the forenamed persons to the Articles aforesayd 1 TO the first Article they all graunted the same and added thereto for going to Church that Robert Milles and Stephen Wight came not there for 3. quarters of a yere before and Iohn Slade William Pikes not since the Queenes raigne Stephen Cotten not for a twelue moneth before and Rob. Dynes not for two yeares before The 2.3.4.5 and 6 Articles they all answeared in effecte as the forenamed Iohn Holiday Henry Ponde and their companye did pag. 1931 sauing they added that as their rites customes ceremonies are against the worde of God so will they obserue and keepe no parte of the same Stephen Wight added further that he receiued not their Sacrament of the aultar for two yeres before nor Iohn Slade and William Pikes since Queene Maries raigne nor Stephen Cotton for a twelue moneth before nor Robert Dines for three yeres before To the 7. article they all graunted the same in euerye parte like vnto the aforenamed Henry Pond and his companye page 1931 sauing Rob. Dines added that it was no part of his beliefe To the 8. Article they all graunted the same in euery part as the forenamed William Holliday and his companye page 193◠but Robert Milles added therto that he wil not come to church nor allowe their religion so long as the crosse is crepte too and worshipped and Images are in the Church Iohn Slade affirmed in effecte as Robert Milles did adding further that there be not 7. Sacraments but 2. Sacraments which is Baptisme the Supper of the Lord. Stephen Cotton woulde no further allowe the Popish religion then it agreeth with Gods woorde and Robert Dines affirmed in effect the like to Stephen Cotton also To the 9. and 10 articles Robert Milles Iohn Slade Steuen Cotton answered that they do not allow the popish seruice then set foorth because it is against the truthe and in a straunge language which the common people vnderstand◠not Robert Dines and William Pikes will neither allow nor disallowe the Latine seruice because they vnderstād it not And Steuen Wight would make no directe aunswer to the articles at all and to the 11.12.13 and 14. articles we finde no answeres recorded of the said Steuen Wight but of the rest of his fellowe prisoners wee finde answers to those articles which hereafter followe To the 11. article Robert Milles Iohn Slade and Steuen Cotton answered that concernīg the bookes faith and religion specified in this article they doe allowe them so farre foorth as they agree with Gods word c. Robert Dines would make no answer thereto because he thoughte himselfe vnmeete to iudge thereof and William Pikes doeth not remember that hee hathe misliked the seruice and the faith and religion set foorth in king Edward the sixt his time To the 12. they graunt that if they might receiue the sacrament as they did in king Edward the sixt daies they would with all their heart so doe To
from Zuinglius .863 his prayer and maner of his deth 864 Luserne grieuously persecuted for the Gospell 955 Lush Martyr his story examination condemnation and martyrdome 2004 Lurden persecuter of George Eagles accused of fellony condemned and hanged in the same place where George Eagles was burned for the Gospell of Christ before 2152 M A. MAcar Martyr 62 Mace his story 1909 Macrinus with his Sonne Diadumenus 57 Magistrates Ciuill theyr Office .8 compared with magistrates Ecclesiasticall 19 Magistrates temporall ayders not rulers in spirituall causes 1874 Magdaline Colledge in Oxforde built 706 Mahomet his wicked secte beginneth to spring His Alkaron 124 Mahumetes 7. Turk emperor 739 Mahumetes .9 turkish Emp. 742 Maior of London the first 257 Maynardus his wicked fact 701 Maistres Robertes her trouble deliueraunce 2073 Malmes burye commended for his stile 125 Mammea mother to the Emperor a good and deuout woman 57 Man his story trouble and Martyrdome 817 Mancinellus writing agaynste the Pope lost his handes and toung for his labour 734 Manninges her story 1879 Mallary his story and recantation at Oxford 1208 Mandrell Martyr his story 1894 Mappalâ—us Martyr 65 Marcellius Patauinus a writer agaynst the Pope 389 Martin Meyr his Epistle to Aeneas Cardinall 697 Martin Pope contrary to all other Popes .652 his bloudy inquisition 651.652 Martinus the Popes Legate sent out of England in a wâ—nion 288 Martin Doctour his Oration in Oxford agaynst M. Cranmer 1874 Marow bones of the Masse after M. Latimer what they be 1455 Marke the Euangelist burned 32 Marke Burges Martyr 2058 Marked men of the Popes 1783 Marsh hanged for taking down the rood oâ— Douer Court 10â—1 Marsh his story trouble and martyrdome 1563.1564.1566 Marinus Martyr 74 Mariage with Alinore the kinges Sister a Nunne dispensed withall by the Pope for money 285 Mariage of Priestes made free by king Edward .6 1301.1032 Marying in Lent punished 1917 Maynard a great persecuter 2007 Mariage lawful to all men .16 forbid by the Pope to the 5. or 6. degree 29 Mariage of Priestes lawfull by the word of God .1117.1522 proued very auncient 1154. Mariage of Priestes not restrayned in England before Lanckfrancus dayes 1165.1166 Mariage of Priestes when it began to be forbid 137. Mariage free to the Apostles as well as to others and so to all men in generall 1988. Mariage forbid to the 7. degree by the Pope .199 forbid in the third degree .249 lawfull for all men .16 forbid to Priestes by Anselme .195 by Pope Innocent 253. Mariage betweene king Henry 8. and Q. Anne Bullen 1049. Mariage with infidels what hurt it bringeth 113. Mariage betweene king Phillip and Queene Mary concluded .1418 she is falsly sayd to be with childe 1596. Matrimony with the errors of the papists concerning the same 28. Matrimony ought to be ministred without mony 1105. Matrimony no sacrament 1990. Matrimony punished by the Papistes whoredome escapeth 865. Marâ—yrs in the primitiue Churche infinite 34. Martyrs 40. together their ChristiaÌ„ boldnes and constant deaths 61. put in colde water ponds all the winter nightes ibid. Martirs of Fraunce refuse to bee called Martyrs theyr singular modestie and constancie 50. Martyrs 20000. burnt together in one Churche by Dioclesian the Emperour 78. Martyrs 42. theyr heades hanged vpon the gates of the City 59. Martyrs in Smirna twelue 43.44 Martirs in the primatiue Church 32.34.35.36.37.38.40.44 Martyrs diuersly tormented in the primatiue Churche 79.80 Martyrs of all ages sexes and kindes 72.73.74 Martyrs in the primitiue Churche infinite 30.32.34.36.39.40.46.49.59.60.69.70.80.305.36.38.39.40.44.46 49.60 Martyrdome more desired in olde time then Bishopprikes nowe and that needes not 80. Martyrs 100. in one day 80. Martyrs 17000. in one moneth ibid. Martyrs that suffered in the 10. persecutions theyr story 88. Martyrs innumerable in Persia .98 to the number of xvi thousand 99.100 Martir the name what it doth signifie 569. Martyrs at Cabriers 1000. Martyrs wandring on Mountaynes 63. Martyrs strangled in prison .47 others starued ibid. Martyrs in Alfatia .100 burned in one day by Pope Innocent 3.259 Martyrs vnder Licinius 87.88 90.91.92 Martyrs of Tyre in Phinicia 78. Martyrs 300. in Carthage 73 Martyrs of Syria 78 Martyrs in Spayne 928 Martyrs in Spayne 79 Martyrs in Fraunce 79 Martyrs of Phrygia burnt wyth the whole city 79. Martirs before Wickliffe in diuers countries 420 Martyrs in Kent before Luther 1276. Martyrs put to death because they would acknowlege no mo Christes but one 1726 Martyrs of Couentry 973 Martyrs at Douercourt for pullyng downe of Idols 1031 Martyrdome an high honor 1784 Martin Luther his articles and bookes condemned of the Pope .1282.1283 hys aunsweres to the railyng Bull of Pope Leo .10.1284 his aunswer to euery seuerall article .1288 his appeale to the generall councell 1289 Marbecke his defence agaynst hys cauillyng aduersaries .1221 hys trouble and persecution .1214 saued from the fire and why 1120. hys inditement 1219. Marcellinus reuolteth afterward is martyred 80 Marcellinus B. of Rome Martyr 95 Marcellus martyred 96 Marcus Aurelius Antonius hys letter to the Senate of Rome concernyng the ceasing of persecuting the christians 51 Marcus Antoninus Verus Emperour 42. Marshall of S. Andrew slayne before Dreux 2112 Martin de Pester Secretary of Gaunt his death 2108 Marcus Arethusius his story 99 Margery Polley her martyrdome 1679 Margery Backster her story 664 Margery Austo Martyr her story and martyrdome 2013.2014.2015.2016.2017.2018.2019 Margery Morris Martyr her story and martyrdome 1983 1984 Margaret Hide Martyr her articles answeres .1974.1975 her condemnation and martyrdome 1975 Margaret Thurston martyr burned at Colchester 2020 Margaret Ellis Martyr her story 1910.1911 Margaret Mering Martyr her story and martyrdome 2027.2031.2032.2029.2034 Margaret Iourdeman Witche of Eye 702 Mary the mother of Christ a sinner 1741 Mary Queen beginneth her raign 1406. promiseth not to alter religion .1407 proclaimed Queene ibid. crowned .1410 her articles to the Ordinary for restoryng of papistry agayne .1424 her pro-Proclamation for expellyng of strangers .1425 her death 2092 Mary Queene of England her vnprosperous succes in al things that she went about 2098.2099 Massaker in Fraunce most horrible and bloudy the true description therof executed by the tyrannous and mercilesse Papistes vpon the poore Sayntes of Christ for theyr constant professioÌ„ of the truth of God 2152.2153.2154 Masse when it began to be vniuersall and vniforme and to be receiued in most Churches .130 profitable for nothing 1587 Masse booke when it came in 130 Masse propitiatory a derogation to Christes death .1444 agaynst the word of God and auncient Fathers 1445 Masse of S. Gregory beareth the swinge in Europe 130 Masse priuate suppressed 1302 Masse a hinderaunce to godlinesse .1398 moste contrary to Christes institution of his last supper ibid. no sacrament of any holy thing 1815 Masse the Chanon thereof full of abhominable blasphemies 1399 Masse with her abhominatioÌ„s displayed .1043 not to be gone vnto of any Christian with safety of conscience 1647 Masse of Saynt Stephen to saue Becket the Traâ—tour
denye to be lye or betraye the innocencye of that heauenlye doctrine or to bee ashamed to confesse and stande to the defence of the same seeing that Christe planted it with hys moste precious bloude and all good menne haue more esteemed the true and infallible woorde of GOD then all thys transitorye worlde or their owne mortall liues And I beleeue this doctrine of the Patriarkes Prophetes Christe and his Apostles to be sufficient and absolutely perfecte to instructe and teache mee and all the holy Church of our dueties towardes God the Magistrates and our neighbours Firste and principallye I do assuredly beleeue wythout any doubting that there is one Deitie or Diuine essence and infinite substaunce which is both called and is in dede God euerlasting vnbodilye vnpartible vnmeasurable in power wisedome and goodnesse the maker and preseruer of all thinges as well visible as inuisible and yet there be three distincte persones all of one Godheade or Diuine beynge and all of one power coequall consubstantiall coeternell the Father the Sonne and the holye Ghoste I beleeue in God the Father Almightie c. As touching God the Father of heauen I beleeue as muche as holye Scripture teacheth mee to beleeue The Father is the firste persone in Trinitie first cause of our saluation which hathe blessed vs with all maner of blessinges in heauenly thinges by Christe whych hathe chosen vs before the foundations of the worlde were layde that wee shoulde be holye and wythout blame before hym who hath predestinate vs and ordained vs to bee his childrenne of adoption thorough Christe Iesu. In hym as it is sayde we liue wee mooue and haue oure being he nourisheth feedeth and geueth meate to euery creature And in Iesus Christe his onely sonne our Lorde I beleue that the woorde that is the Sonne of God the seconde person in Trinitie did take mannes nature in the wombe of the blessed Virgine Marie So that there be in hym two natures a Diuine nature and an humaine nature in the vnitie of parson inseparable conioyned and knitte in one Christe truely God and truely man the expresse and perfecte Image of the inuisible God wherin the will of God the Father shineth apparantly and wherein man as it were in a glasse may beholde what he ought to doe that he maye please God the Father Borne of the Virgine Marie truelye sufferinge his Passion crucified deade and buryed to the entent to bring vs againe into fauoure wyth God the Father almightie and to be a sacrifice hoste and oblation not onely for originall sinne but also for all actuall sinnes of the whole generation of mankinde For all the woorkes merites deseruings doinges and obedience of man towards God althoughe they be done by the spirite of God in the grace of God yet being thus done be of no validitie worthine nor merite before God except God for his mercy and grace accoumpte them woorthye for the woorthinesse and merytes of Christ Iesus The same Christ went downe to the helles and truely rose againe the thirde day and ascended into the heauēs that he might there stil raigne and haue dominion ouer all creatures and from thence shall come c. I beleue in the holy Ghost coequall with God the Father and the Sonne and proceeding from them bothe by whose vertue strength and operation the true Catholicke Church which is the Communion and societie of Saintes is guided in all truthe veritie kept frō al errors fals doctrine the deuill all power of sinne Which Church is sanctified and halowed with the precious bloude and spirite of our Lorde Iesus Christe whiche hathe also her signe and mark that she heareth and foloweth the voice of her only and true pastour Christ and no strangers This church also is the house of God the congregation of the liuing God the piller of truth the liuely body of Christe a Church both in name and in deede I beleue the remission of sinnes by the only meanes and merites of Christes death passion who made vnto vs of God that onely sacrifice and oblation offered once for all and for euer for all them that be sanctified I beleue the resurrection of the body whereby in the last day al men shal rise again from death the soules ioyned againe to the bodies the good to euerlasting life the wicked to euerlasting pain and punishmēt And nothing may more certainly stablish confirme our faith that we shall rise againe immortal both in body soule thē the resurrection of Christ our Sauiour and first fruites of the deade Nowe that Christe our head is risen we beynge hys body and members must follow our head Death hell and sinne cannot sunder nor plucke vs from him For as the Sonne can not be deuided nor sundred from the Father nor the holy Ghost frō them bothe no more maye wee beinge the faithfull members of Christ be separated from Christ. And for a confirmation of our resurrection Christ would be seene after his resurrection in hys most glorious body his woundes being handled and felte speaking and teaching eating and drinking c. Wee looke sayeth S. Paul for Iesus Christ our Sauiour which shall trāsfigure our vile bodies conform them to his glorious body by the same power and vertue wherwith he is able to subdue all things euen like as the graine of wheate sowen in the grounde is first putrified and brought as into a thing of noughte yet after that it springeth vp freshly with a more goodly colour forme and beautie then it had before The body is sowne in corruption and riseth in incorruption it is sowen in dishonour and riseth in honour Thus I verely know and assuredly beleue the resurrection of oure bodies and to haue life eternall by Christ and for Christes sake Verely verely I say vnto you sayth Christ he that heareth my woorde and beleeueth on him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into damnation but is escaped frō death to life It is Christe that died once for oure sinnes and is risen againe neuer more to die it is he that swallowed vp death hath cast it vnder his feete for euer What now can death do vnto vs Verelye nothing els but for a little time separate oure precious soules from oure wretched bodies that diuine substaunce from a masse of sinne that eternall life from a body of death and so send our soules oute of this miserable wretched and sorrowfull lyfe combred with all calamities vnto that moste blessed felicitie and ioyes eternall As concerning the holy and reuerende Sacraments of Christes Churche which be in number two the Sacrament of Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord I beleeue them to be as S. Paul calleth them confirmations or seales of Gods promises whiche haue added to them a promise of grace and therfore they are called visible signes of inuisible grace The Sacrament of
doe offende me in the Masse I will rehearse vnto you those thinges whiche be moste cleare and seeme to repugne most manifestly agaynst Gods worde And they be these The straunge tongue the want of the shewynge of the Lordes death The breaking of the Lordes commaundement of hauing a communion the sacrament is not coÌ„municated to all vnder both kindes according to the word of the Lord. The signe is seruilely worshipped for the thing signified Christes Passion is iniuried for asmuch as this Masse sacrifice is affirmed to remayne for the purging of sinnes to be shorte the manifolde superstitions and triflyng fondnesse whiche are in the Masse and aboute the same Better a few thinges well pondered then to trouble the memory with to much you shall preuayle more with praying theÌ„ with studying though mixture be best For so one shall alleuiate the tediousnes of the other I entend not to contend much with them in wordes after a reasonable account of my fayth geuen for it shall be but in vayne They will say as theyr fathers sayd when they haue no more to say We haue a law and by our law he ought to dye Be ye steadfast and vnmoueable sayeth Saynt Paule and agayne persistito stand fast And how oft is this repeated 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 pacience hauing to do with such men But you knowe howe greate a crime it is to separate your selfe from the communion or felowship of the Churche and to make a schisme or diuision you haue bene reported to haue hated the secte of the Anabaptistes and alwayes to haue impugned the same Moreouer this was the pernitious errour of Nouatus and of the Heretickes called Cathari that they woulde not communicate wyth the Church I know that the vnity of the Church is to be reteyned by all meanes the same to be necessary to saluation But I doe not take the Masse as it is at this day for the communion of the Churche but a Popishe deuise whereby both the commaundement and institution of our Sauiour Christ for the ofte frequenting of the remembraunce of his death is eluded the people of God are miserablye deluded The sect of the Anabaptistes and the heresy of the Nouatians ought of right to be condemned for as muche as without any iust or necessary cause they wickedly separated themselues from the communion of the congregation for they did not alleadge that the Sacramentes were vnduely ministred but â—urning away theyr eyes from theÌ„selues wherewith according to Saynt Paules rule they ought to examine themselues and caâ—ing theyr eyes euer vpon others either Ministers or Communicantes with them they alwayes reprooued something for the whiche they absteined from the Communion as from an vnholy thing I remember that Caluin beginneth to confute the Interim after this sort with this saying of Hilary The name of peace is beautifull and the opinion of vnitye is fayre but who doubteth that to be the true and onely peace of the Church which is Christes I would you had that litle booke there should you see how much is to be geuen to vnity Saynt Paule when he requireth vnitye he ioyneth straight with al secundum Iesum Christum according to Iesus Christ no further Diotrephes nowe of late did euer harpe vpon vnity vnity Yea Syr quoth I but in verity not in popery Better is a diuersity then an vnitye in Popery I had nothing agayne but scornefull giers with commaundement to the Tower But admitte there be in the Masse that peraduenture might be amended or at least made better yea seing you will haue it so admit there be a fault if you do not consent therto Why do you trouble your selfe in vayne do not you know both by Cyprian and Augustine that communioÌ„ of sacramentes doth not defile a man but consent of deedes If it were any one trifling ceremony or if it were some one thing of it selfe indifferent although I woulde wishe nothing should be done in the Churche which doth not edify the same yet for the continuance of the common quietnesse I coulde be content to beare it But forasmuche as thinges done in the masse tend openly to the ouerthrow of Christes institution I iudge that by no meanes either in word or deed I ought to consent vnto it As for that which is obiected out of the Fathers I acknowledge it to be wel spoken if it be well vnderstanded But it is meant of them which suppose they are defiled if any secret vice be either in the ministers or in them that communicate with them is not ment of them which doe abhorre superstition and wicked traditions of men and will not suffer the same to be thrust vpon themselues or vpon the Church in stead of Gods word and the truth of the Gospell The very marowe bones of the masse are all together detestable and therefore by no meanes to be borne withal so that of necessity the mending of it is to abolish it for euer For if you take away oblation and oration which doe hang vpon consecration and transubstantiation the moste papistes of them all will not set a button by the masse as a thing which they esteme not but for the gayne that foloweth thereon For if the English communion whiche oâ— late was vsed were as gaynefull to them as the Masse hath bene heretofore they would striue no more for theyr masse from thence groweth the griefe Consider into what dauÌ„gers you cast your selfe if you forsake the chuch you cannot but forsake it if you refuse to go to masse For the Masse is the Sacrament of vnity without the Arke there is no saluation The church is the Arke and Peters ship Ye know this saying wel enough He shall not haue God to be his Father which acknowledgeth not the church to be his mother Moreouer without the church sayth S. Augustine be the life neuer so wel spent it shall not inherit the kingdome of heauen The holy Catholicke or vniuersall church which is the communion of saintes the house of God the City of God the spouse of Christ the body of Christ the piller and stay of the trueth this Churche I beleeue accordinge to the Creede This Church I doe reuerence and honour in the Lord. But the rule of this Church is the word of God according to which rule we goe forwarde vnto life And as many as walk according to this rule I say with S. Paul peace be vpon them and vpon Israell which perteyneth vnto God The guid of this church is the holy ghost The markes whereby this church is knowne vnto me in this darâ—ke worlde and in the middest of this crooked and froward generatioÌ„ are these The sincere preaching of Gods holy worde the due administration of the Sacramentes charitye and faythfull
God But that can no where be shewed And as for the Church I am not angry with it and I neuer refused to goe to it and to praye with the people to heare the word of God and to do all other things what soeuer may agree with the word of God S. Augustine speaking of the ceremonies of the Iewes I suppose in the Epistle ad Ianuarium although hee graunt they greeuously oppressed that people both for the number and bondage of the same yet he calleth them burdēs of the law which were deliuered vnto thē in the word of God not presumptions of men which notwithstanding if they were not contrary to gods word might alter a sorte be borne withall But now seeing they are contrarye to those thinges whiche are in the word of God written whether they ought to be borne of any Christian or no let hym iudge whiche is spirituall which feareth God more thē man and loueth euerlastinge life more then this short and transitory lyfe To that whiche was sayd that my fact lacketh example of the godly fathers that haue gone before the contrary is most euident in the historye of Toby Of whome it is sayd that when all other went to the golden calues whiche Hieroboam the king of Israel had made he himselfe alone fled al their companions and gotte hym to Ierusalem vnto the temple of the Lorde and there worshipped the Lorde God of Israel Did not the man of God threatē greeuous plages both vnto the Priestes of Bethell and to the aulter which Hieroboam had there made after his own fantasie Which plagues king Iosias the true Minister of God did execute at the time appoynted And where doe wee reade that the Prophetes or the Apostles did agree with the people in their Idolatry whē as the people went a whoring with their hill aulters for what cause I praye you did the Prophetes rebuke the people so muche as for theyr false worshipping of God after theyr owne mindes and not after Gods word For what was so much as that was Wherfore the false prophetes ceased not to maligne the true prophetes of God therefore they bet them they banished thē c. How els I pray you can you vnderstand that Sainct Paule alledgeth when he sayth What concord hath christ with Beliall Either what part hath the beleuer with the Infidel or how agreeth the temple of God with images For ye are the temple of the liuing God as God himselfe hath sayde I will dwell among them and will be theyr God and they shal be my people Wherfore come out from among them and seperate your selues from them saythe the Lorde and touch none vncleane thinge so will I receaue you and wil be a father vnto you and ye shal be my sonnes and daughters sayth the Lord almighty Iudith that holy woman would not suffer herselfe to be defiled with the meates of the wicked All the Sayntes of God which truely feared God when they haue bene prouoked to do any which they knewe to be contrarye to Gods lawes haue chosen to dye rather then to forsake the lawes of their God Wherefore the Machabees put themselues in daunger of death for the defense of the lawe yea and at length died manfully in the defense of the same If we do prayse sayth S. Augustine the Machabees and that with great admiration because they did stoutly stand euen vnto death for the lawes of theyr countrey howe muche more ought wee to suffer all thinges for our Baptisme for the sacramēt of the body and bloud of Christ. c. But the supper of the Lord such a one I meane as Christ commaundeth vs to celebrate the Masse vtterly abolysheth and corrupteth most shamefully Who am I that I shuld adde any thing to this which you haue so well spoken Nay I rather thanke you that you haue vouchsafed to minister so plentifull armour to me being otherwise altogether vnarmed sauing that hee cannot be left destitute of helpe whiche rightly trusteth in the helpe of God I onely learne to dye in reading of the new testament and am euer nowe and then praying vnto my God that hee will bee an helper vnto me in tyme of neede Seeing you are so obstinately set agaynst the Masse that you affirme because it is done in a tongue not vnderstanded of the people and for other causes I cannot tell what therefore it is not the true sacrament ordayned of Christ I beginne to suspecte you that you thinke not catholickely of Baptisme also Is our Baptisme whiche we do vse in a tongue vnknowne to the people the true baptisme of Christ or no If it be then doth not the straunge tongue hurt the Masse If it be not the baptisme of Christ tell me howe were you baptised Or whether will yee as the Anabaptistes do that al which were baptised in latin should be baptised agayne in the English tongue Although I would wish baptisme to be geuen in the vulgar tongue for the peoples sake which are present that they may the better vnderstand their owne profession and also be more able to teache theyr children the same yet notwithstanding there is not like necessity of the vulgar tongue in baptisme and in the Lordes supper Baptisme is geuē to children who by reason of their age are not able to vnderstand what is spoken vnto them what tongue soeuer it be The Lordes supper is and ought to be geuen to thē that are waxen Moreouer in baptisme which is accustomed to be geuen to children in the latine tongue all the substanciall poyntes as a man would say whiche Chryst commaunded to be done are obserued And therefore I iudge that baptisme to be a perfect and true baptisme and that it is not onely not neeedefull but also not lawfull for anye man so christened to be Christened agayne But yet notwithstanding they ought to be taught the Catechisme of the christian fayth when they shall come to yeares of discretion Which Cathechisme whosoeuer despiseth or wyll not desirously embrace and willingly learne in my iudgement he playeth not the parte of a christian man But in the popish mass◠are wanting certayne substancialles that is to say things commaunded by the worde of God to be obserued in ministration of the Lordes supper of that which there is sufficient declaration made before Where you say I would wish surely I would wishe that you had spoken more vehemently and to haue sayd it is of necessitie that all thinges in the congregation should be done in the vulgar tongue for the edifying and comfort of them that are present notwithstanding that the childe it selfe is sufficiently baptised in the latin tongue For asmuche as I perceaue you are so stiffely I wyll not say obstinately bente and so wedded to your opinion that no gentle exhortations no holesome counsailes no other kinde of meanes can call you home to a better mynde there remayneth that
geuen him by the scorneful Papistes was cast agayne into the Tower where he being assisted with the heauenly grace of Christ susteined most pacient imprisonment a long time notwithstanding the cruel and vnmercifull handlinge of the Lordlye Papistes whyche thought then theyr kingdome would neuer fall yet he shewed hymselfe not onely pacient but also chearefull in and aboue all that which they could or woulde worke agaynst him yea such a valiaunt spirit the Lord gaue him that he was able not onely to despise the terriblenesse of prisons tormentes but also to deride and laugh to scorne the doinges of his enemies As it is not vnknowne to the eares of many what he aunswered to the Lieuetenaunt beynge then in the Tower For when the Lieutenauntes man vpon a time came to him the aged Father kept without fire in the frosty winter and wellâ—ye starued for colde merely bad the man tell his Mayster that if he did not looke the better to him perchaunce he would deceiue him The Lieutenaunt hearing this he thought hymselfe of these wordes and fearing least that in deede he thought to make some escape beganne to looke more straightly to his Prisoner and so comming to him beginneth to charge him with his wordes reciting the same vnto him whiche his man had told him before how that if he were not better looked vnto perchaunce he would deceiue them c. Yea Mayster Lieutenaunt so I sayd quoth he for you looke I thinke that I shoulde burne but except you let me haue some fire I am like to deceiue your expectation for I am like here to starue for cold Many such like answeres and reasons mery but sauery comming not from a vayne minde but from a constant and quiet reasoÌ„ proceded from that man declaring a firme and stable hart litle passing for all this great blustering of theyr terrible threates but rather deriding the same Thus Mayster Latimer passing a long time in the tower with as much pacience as a manne in his case coulde do from thence was transported to Oxforde with Doctor Cranmer Archbishop of Caunterbury and Mayster Ridley Byshop of London there to dispute vpon Articles sent downe from Gardiner Bishop at Winchester as is before touched the maner and order of whiche disputations betwene them and the Uniuersitye Doctours is also before sufficiently expressed Where also is declared how and by whome the sayd Latimer with his otherfelow Prisoners were condemned after the disputations and so committed agayne to the Prison and there they conâ—umed from the Moneth of Aprill aboue mentioned to this present Moneth of October where they were most godly occupied either with brotherly conference or with feruent prayer or with fruitfull writing Albeit M. Latimer by reasoÌ„ of the feblenes of his age wrote least of them all in this latter time of his imprisonment yet in prayer he was feruently occupyed wherin oftentimes so long he continued kneeling that hee was not able to rise without helpe and amongst other things these were three principall matters he prayed for First that as God had appoynted him to be a preacher of his worde so also he woulde geue him grace to stand to his doctrine vntill his death that he might geue his harte bloud for the same SecoÌ„dly that God of his mercy would restore his gospell to Englande once agayne and these wordes once agayne once agayne he did so inculcate beat into the eares of the Lord God as though he had sene God before hym and spoken to him face to face The third matter was to pray for the preseruation of the Queenes Maiesty that now is whome in his prayer he was wont accustomably to name and euen with teares desired God to make her a comfort to his comfortles realme of England These were the matters he prayed for so earnestlye Neither were these thinges of him desired in vayne as the good successe thereof after following did declare for the Lord most graciously did graunt all those his requestes First concerning his constancy euen in the most extremity the Lord graciously assisted him For when he stoode at the stake without Bocardo gate at Oxford and the tormentors about to sette the fire to him and to the learned and Godly Byshop Mayster Ridley he lifted vp his eyes towardes heauen with an amiable and comfortable countenaunce saying these wordes Fidelis est Deus qui non sinit nos tentari supra id quod possumus God is faythfull whiche doth not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength and so afterwarde by and by shedde his bloude in the cause of Christ the whiche bloud ranne of his hart in suche aboundaunce that all those that were present being godly dyd maruell to see the most part of the bloud in his body to bee gathered to hys hart and with such violence to gush out his body being opened by the force of the fire by the whiche thing God most graciously graunted his request whiche was that he might shed his hart bloud in the defence of the Gospell How mercifully the Lord heard his second request in restoring his Gospell once agayne into this Realme these present dayes can beare record And what then shall England say now for her defence whiche being so mercifullye visited and refreshed with the word of God so slenderlye and vnthankfully considereth either her own misery past or the great benefite of God nowe present The Lorde be mercifull vnto vs. Amen Agayne concerning his third request it seemeth likewise most effectuously grauÌ„ted to the great praise of God the furtherance of his Gospell and to the vnspeakable coÌ„fort of this Realme For whether at the request of his praiyr or of other Gods holy Sayntes or whether God was moued with the cry of his whole Church the truth is that when all was deplorate and in a desperate case and so desperate that the enemies mightily florished and triumphed Gods word was banished Spanierdes receiued no place left for Christes seruauntes to couer theyr heades sodenly the Lord called to remembraunce his mercye and forgetting our former iniquity made an end of al these miseries and wroughte a maruellous chaunge of thinges at the chaunge whereof the said Queene Elizabeth was appointed and annoynted for whome this graye headed father so earnestly prayd in his imprisonment through whose true naturall and imperiall Crowne the brightnesse of Gods word was set vp agayne to confound the darcke and false visoured kingdome of Antichrist the true temple of Christ reedified the Captiuitye of sorowfull Christians released which so long was wished for in the prayers of so manye good men specially of this faythfull and true seruaunt of the Lord M. Latimer The same God which at the requestes of his holy and faythfull Sayntes hath poured vpon vs such benefites of his mercy peace and tranquility assiste our most vertuous and Christian Princesse and her Subiectes that wee may euery one in his state
cibo For S. Paule sayth not Estote humiles vt non capiatis For though he would not that wee shoulde thinke arrogantly of our selfe and aboue that that it becommeth vs to thinke of our selfe but so to think of our selfe vt simus sobrij ac modesti yet he biddeth vs so to think of our selfe vt cuiue Deus partitus est mensuram fidei i. as God hath distributed to euery one the measure of fayth For he that may not with meekenesse thinke in himselfe what God hath done for him and of himselfe as God hath done for him how shall he or when shall he geue due thankes to God for his giftes And if your frendes will not allow the same I pray you enquire of them whether they may cum sobrietate modestia be sure they preach to you the truth and whether we may cum sobrietate modestia folowe S. Paules bidding where hee sayth vnto vs all Nolite fieri pueri sensibus sed malitia infantes estote i. Be not children in vnderstanding but in malitiousnesse be infantes God geue vs all grace to keepe the meane to think of our selfe neither to high nor to low but so that we may restore vnto him qui peraegre profectus est his giftes agayne cum vsura that is to say with good vse of the same so that aedificemus inuicem with the same ad gloriam Dei Amen For my life I trust in god that I neither haue neither by gods grace shall I neither in sobernesse nor yet in drunkennesse affirme any trueth of my selfe therewith entending to diuide that vnity of the Congregation of Christ and the receiued trueth agreed vpon by the holy Fathers of the Church consonant to the Scripture of God though it be shewed you neuer so often that an opinion or maner of teaching whiche causeth dissention in a Christian Congregation is not of God by the doctrine of Saynt Iohn in his Epistle where he sayth Omnis qui confitetur Iesum Christum in carne ex Deo est i. Euery one that confesseth Christ in the flesh is of God First not euery thing whereupon foloweth dissention causeth dissention as I woulde they that shewed you that would also shew you whether this opinion that a man may not mary his brothers wife be of God or of men if it be of men then as Gamaliell sayd dissoluetur if it bee of God as I thinke it is and perchaunce your frendes also quis potest dissoluere nisi qui videbitur Deo repugnare i. Who can dissolve it but shal seme to repugne against God And yet there be many not heathennes but in Christendome that dissenteth from the same which could beare full euill to heare sayd vnto them vos ex patre diabolo estis So that such an opinion might seme to some to make a disseÌ„tion in a Christian Congregation sauing that they may saye perchaunce with more liberty then other that an occasion is sometime taken and not geuen which with theyr fauor I might abuse for my defence sauing that non omnibus licet in hac temporum iniquitate The Galathians hauing for preachers and teachers the false Apostles by whose teaching they were degenerate froÌ„ the sweet liberty of the Gospell into the sowre bond of ceremonies thoght themselues peraduenture a Christian Congregation when Saint Paule did write his Epistle vnto them and were in a quiet trade vnder the dominion of maysterly Curates so that the false Apostles might haue obiected to S. Paule that this Apostleshippe was not of God for as muche as there was dissention in a Christian Congregation by occasion therof while some would renue their opinions by occasion of the Epistle some would opinari as they were wont to do and folow theyr great Lordes and maysters the false Apostles whiche were not heathen and vnchristened but Christened and hie Prelates of the professors of Christ. For your frendes I know right well what Erasmus hath sayde in an Epistle set before the Paraphrases of the first Epistle to the Corinthians which Erasmus hath caused no small dissension with his pen in a Christian Congregation in as much as many haue dissented froÌ„ him not alonely in Cloysters men more then christened men of high perfection but also at Paules Crosse and S. Mary Spitle besides many that with no small zeale haue written agaynst him but not without aunswere And I woulde fayne learne of your frendes whether that S. Hieromes writing were of God which caused dissension in a christian Congregation as it appeareth by his owne wordes in the prologue before the Canonical Epistles which be these Et tu virgo Christi Eustochium dum à me impensius Scripturae viritateÌ„ inquiris meam quodam modo senectutem inuidorum dentibus vel morsibus corrodendam apponis qui me falsarium corruptoremque Scripturarum pronunciant sed ego in tali opere nec illorum inuidentiam pertimesco nec Scripturae veritatem poscentibus denegabo I pray you what were they that called S Hierom falsarium and corrupter of Scripture and for enuye would haue bitten him with theyr teeth vnchristen or christen what had the vnchristen to doe with christen doctrine They were worshipfull fathers of a Christian Congregation men of much more hotter stomackes then right iudgemenâ—e of a greater authoritye then good charity but Saynt Hierome would not cease to do good for the euill speaking of them that were nought geuing in that an ensample to vs of the same and if this dissension were in Saynt Hieromes time what may be in our time de malo in peius scilicet And I pray you what meaneth your frendes by a Christian Congregation All those trow ye that haue bene christened But many of those bene in worse condition and shal haue greater daÌ„nation then many vnchristened For it is not enough to a christian Congregation that is of God to haue bene Christened but it is to be considered what we promise when we be christened to renounce Sathan his woorkes his pompes Whiche thing if we busye not our selfe to doe let vs not crake that wee professe Christes name in a Christian Congregation in vno baptismo i. in one baptisme And where they adde in vno Domino i. in one Lorde I reade in Math. 17. non omnis qui dicit Domine Domine c. â— Not euery one that sayth Lord Lord. c. And in Luke the Lord himself complayneth and rebuketh such professors and confessours saying to them Cur dicitis domine domine non facitis quae dico i. Why call you me Lord Lord and doe not that I bid you euen as though it were enough to a Christian man or to a Christian Congregation to say euery day Domine Dominus noster and to salute Christe with a double Domine But I woulde your frendes would take the paynes to read ouer Chrysostome super Mathaeum hom 49. cap. 24. to learne to knowe a Christian Congregation if it
opus est magna patientia ad sustinendas calumnias malignantis Ecclesiae Syr I haue had more busines in my little cure since I spake with you what with sicke folkes and what with matrimonies theÌ„ I haue had since I came to it or then I would haue thought a man should haue in a great cure I wonder how men can go quietly to bed which haue great cures and many and yet peraduenture are in none of them all But I pray you tell none of your frendes that I sayd so foolishly least I make a dissention in a Christian Congregation and deuide a sweete and a restfull vnion or tot quot with haec requies mea in seculum seculi Syr I had made an end of this scribling and was beginning â—o write it agayne more truely and more distinctly and to correcte it but there came a man of my Lorde of Farleys with a Citation to appeare before my Lord of London in haste to be punished for suche excesses as I committed at my last being there so that I coulde not perfourme my purpose I doubt whether ye can read it as it is If ye can well be it if not I pray you sende it me agayne and that you so doe whether you can reade it or not Iesu mercy what Worlde is this that I shall be put to so greate laboure and paynes besides great costes aboue my power for preachinge of a poore simple Sermon But I trow our Sauiour Christ sayd true Oportet pati sic intrare tam periculosum est in Christo pie viuere velle yea in a christian Congregation God make vs all Christian after the right fashion Amen Here foloweth an other letter of M. Latimer writtten to K. Henry the 8. vpon this occasion Ye heard before of two sondry Proclamations set out by the Byshops in the time of K. Henry the one in the yeare 1531. and the other set out an 1546. In the which proclamatioÌ„s bâ—ing authorised by the kinges name were inhibited all english books either conteining or tending to any matter of the scripture Where also wee haue expreâ—ed at large the whole Catalogue of all theyr errors heresies which the sayd Bishops falsely haue excerpted and maliciously imputed to Godlye writers with theyr places and quotations aboue assigned in the page aforesayd Now M. Latimer growing in some fauor with the king and seing the great decay of Christes religion by reason of these Proclamations and touched therfore with the zeale of coÌ„science directeth vnto K. HeÌ„ry this letter hereunder ensuing therby enteÌ„ding by all meanes possible to perswade the kinges mind to set opeÌ„ again the freedome of Gods holy word amongest his subiectes The copy and tenor of his letter here foloweth ¶ The Letter of Mayster Latimer written to King Henry for the restoring agayne the free liberty of reading the holy Scriptures ⧠To the most mighty Prince King of England Henrye the eight Grace mercy and peace from God the Father by our Lord Iesus Christ. THe holy Doctour Saynt Austine in an Epistle whiche he wrote to Casulanus sayth that he whiche for feare of any power hideth the trueth prouoketh the wrath of God to come vpon him for he feareth men more then God And according to the same the holy man Saynt Iohn Chrisostome sayth that he is not alonely a traytour to the truth which opeÌ„ly for truth teacheth a lie but he also which doth not freely pronounce and shewe the trueth that he knoweth These sentences moste redoubted Kyng when I read nowe of late and marked them earnestlye in the inward partes of mine hart they made me sore afrayd troubled and vexed me grieuously in my conscience and at the last droue me to this strayt that either I must shewe forth such thinges as I haue read and learned in Scripture or elles to be of the sort that prouoke the wrath of GOD vpon them and be traitors vnto the trueth the which thing rather then it shoulde happen I had rather suffer extreme punishment For what other thing is it to bee a Traytour vnto the trueth then to be a Traytour and a Iudas vnto Christe which is the very truth and cause of all trueth the whiche sayth that whosoeuer denyeth him here before men he wil deny him before his father in heauen The which denying ought more to be feared and dread then the losse of al temporall goodes honour promotion fame prison sclaunder hurtes banishmentes and all manner of tormentes and crueltyes yea and death it selfe bee it neuer so shamefull and paynefull But alas how litle do meÌ„ regard those sharpe sayinges of these two holy men and how litle doe they feare the terrible iudgemente of almightye God and specially they which boast themselues to be guides and capitaynes vnto other and chalenging vnto themselues the knowledge of holy Scripture yet will neither shewe the trueth themselues as they be bounde neither suffer them that would So that vnto theÌ„ may be sayd that which our sauior Christ said to the Phariseis Math. 23. Wo be vnto you Scribes and Phariseis which shut vp the kingdome of heauen before men and neither will you enter in your selues neither suffer them that would to enter in And they will as much as in them lyeth debarre not onely the word of God whyche Dauid calleth a light to direct and shew euery man how to order his affections and lustes according to the Commaundementes of God but also by theyr subtle wylinesse they instruct moue and prouoke in a maner all Kinges in christendome to ayde succour and helpe them in thys theyr mischiefe and especially in this your Realme they haue sore blynded your Liege people and Subiectes wyth their Lawes Customes Ceremonyes and Banbery Glofes and punished them wyth Cursynges Excommunications and other corruptions corrections I woulde say and now at the last when they see that they cannot preuayle agaynst the open trueth which the more is persecuted the more it increaseth by their tiranny they haue made it Treason to your noble Grace to haue the Scripture in English Here I beseech your Grace to pardon me a while and paciently to heare me a worde or two yea and thoughe it be so that as concerning your high Maiesty and regall power whereunto almightye God hath called your Grace there is as great difference betweene you and mee as betwene God and man For you be here to me and to al your subiectes in Gods sted to defend ayde and succour vs in our right and so I should tremble and quake to speake to your grace But agayne as concerning that you be a mortall man in daunger of sinne hauing in you the corrupte nature of Adam in the which al we be both conceiued and borne so haue you no lesse need of the merites of Christes passion for your saluation then I and other of your subiectes haue whiche be all members of the misticall bodye of christ And though you be an
your selfe within your boundes if you had not vsed such scoffes and tauntes this had not bene done After this the Byshop of Glocester sayde in excusing of his booke Gloc. M. Latimer hereby euery man may see what learnyng you haue Then M. Latimer interrupted hym saying Lati. Lo you looke for learnyng at my handes whiche haue gone so longe to the schole of obliuion makynge the bare walles my Librarie keepyng me so long in prison without booke or penne and inke and nowe you let me lose to come and aunsweare to Articles You deale with me as though two were appoynted to fyght for lyfe and death and ouer nyght the one through friendes and fauour is cheryshed hath good counsayle geuen hym howe to encounter with his enemie The other for enuye or lacke of friendes all the whole nyght is set in the stockes In the mornyng when they shall meete the one is in strength and lusty the other is starke of his limmes and almoste dead for feeblenes Thynke you that to runne through this man with a speare is not a goodly victory But the Byshoppe of Glocester interruptyng his aunswere proceeded saying Glo. I went not about to recite any places of Scripture in that place of my booke for then if I had not recited it faythfully you myght haue had iust occasion of reprehention but I only in that place formed an argument á maior◠in this sense that if in the olde lawe the Priestes had power to decide matters of controuersies muche more then ought the authoritie to be geuen to the clergy in the new law and I pray you in this poynt what auayleth the rehersall secundum legem dei Lati. Yes my Lorde very muche For I acknowledge authoritie to be geuen to the spiritualtie to decide matter of Religion and as my Lord sayd euen nowe to regere but they must do it secundum verbum dei and not secundum voluntatem suam according to the worde and lawe of God and not after their owne will after their owne imaginations and fantasies The Byshop of Glocester woulde haue spoken more sauyng that the Byshop of Lincolne sayde that they came not to dispute with M. Latimer but to take his determinate aunsweres to their Articles and so began to propose the same Articles whiche were proposed to M. Ridley But M. Latimer interrupted him speaking to the bishop of Glocester well my Lord I could wish more faythfull dealyng with Gods woorde and not to leaue out a part and snatche a part here and an other there but to rehearse the whole faythfully But the Byshoppe of Lincolne not attendyng to this saying of Maister Latimer proceeded in rehearsing the Articles in forme and sense as I declared before in the examination of the Articles proposed to Maister Ridley and requyred Maister Latimers aunswere the fyrst Then Maister Latimer makyng his protestation that notwithstandyng these his aunsweres it shoulde not bee taken that thereby he would acknowledge any authoritie of the Byshoppe of Rome saying that he was the Kyng and Queene their Maiesties subiecte and not the Popes neyther coulde serue two maisters at one tyme except he should first renounce one of them required the Notaries so to take his protestation that what soeuer hee shoulde saye or do it shoulde not be taken as though he did thereby agree to any authoritie that came from the Byshop of Rome Linc. The Byshop of Lincolne sayd that his protestation shoulde be so taken but he required him to aunsweare briefly affirmatiuely or negatiuely to the first Article and so recited the same agayne and Maister Latimer aunswered as foloweth Lati. I doe not deny my Lorde that in the Sacrament by spirite and grace is the very body and bloud of Christ because that euery man by receiuyng bodylye that bread and wine spiritually receyueth the body and bloud of Christe and is made partaker thereby of the merites of Christes Passion but I denye that the body and bloud of Christe is in such sort in the Sacrament as you woulde haue it Linc. Then Maister Latimer you aunsweare affirmatiuely Lati. Yea if you meane of that grosse and carnall beyng which you do take The Notaries tooke his aunsweares to bee affirmatiuely Linc. What say you Maister Latimer to the seconde Article and recited the same Lati. There is my Lorde a chaunge in the bread and wine and suche a chaunge as no power but the omnipotencie of GOD can make in that that whiche before was bread shoulde nowe haue that dignitie to exhibite Christes body yet the bread is still bread and the wine still wine for the chaunge is not in the nature but in the dignitie because nowe that whiche was common bread hath the dignitie to exhibite Christes body for where as it was common bread it is nowe no more common bread neither ought it it to be so taken but as holy bread sanctified by Gods worde With that the Byshop of Lincolne smyled saying Linc. Lo Maister Latimer see what stedfastnesse is in your doctrine That whiche you abhorred and despised moste you now most establyshe for where as you moste rayled at holy bread you nowe make your communion holy bread Lati. Tush a rushe for holy bread I say the bread in the communion is an holy bread in deede But the Byshoppe of Lincolne interrupted hym and sayde Linc. O you make a difference betwene holy bread and holy bread with that the audience laughed Well maister Latimer is not this your aunsweare that the sustaunce of bread and wine remayneth after the wordes of consecration Lati. Yes verely it must nedes bee so for Christ him selfe calleth it bread Saint Paul calleth it bread the Doctours confesseth the same the nature of a Sacrament confirmeth the same and I call it holy bread not in that I make no difference betwixt your holy bread this but for the holy office whiche it beareth that is to be a figure of Christes body and not onely a bare figure but effectually to represent the same So the Notaries penned his aunsweare to be affirmatiuely Linc. What say you to the third question and recited the same Lati. No no my Lorde Christe made one perfect Sacrifice for all the whole world neither can any man offer him agayne neither can the Priest offer vp Christe agayne for the sinnes of man which he tooke away by offeryng hym selfe once for all as Saint Paul sayth vppon the crosse neither is there any propitiation for our sinnes sauyng his crosse onely So the Notaries penned his aunswere to this Article also to be affirmatiuely Linc. What say you to the fourth Maister Latimer and recited it After the recitall whereof when Maister Latimer aunsweared not the Byshop asked hym whether he heard him or no Lati. Yes but I doe not vnderstande what you meane thereby Linc. Mary onely this that these your assertions were condemned by M. Doctor Weston as heresies is it not so M. Latimer
dissolution of my Body and soule should be expired and therefore know ye that I had before mine eies onely the feare of God and christian charity toward you which moued me to write for of you hereafter I looke not in this worlde either for pleasure or displeasure If my talke shall doe you neuer so much pleasure or profit you cānot promote me nor if I displease you ye cannot hurte me or harme me for I shall be out of your reach Now therfore if you feare God can be content to heare the talke of him that seeketh nothing at your hands but to serue God and to do you good harken what I say I say vnto you as S. Paule sayth to the Galathians I wonder my Lordes what hath bewitched you that yee so sodenly are fallen from Christ vnto Antichrist from Christes Gospell vnto mans traditions from the Lorde that bought you vnto the bishop now of Rome I warne you of your perill be not deceiued except you wil be foūd willingly cōsēters vnto your own death For if ye think thus We are lay men this is a matter of religion we folowe as we are taught and led if our teachers and gouernors teach vs lead vs amisse the fault is in thē they shall beare the blame My Lordes this is true I graunt you that both the false teacher and the corrupt gouernour shall be punished for the death of theyr Subiecte whom they haue falsely taught and corruptly ledde yea and his bloud shall be required at theyr handes but yet neuerthelesse shall that Subiecte dye the deathe hymselfe also that is he shall also be damned for his owne sinne for if the blinde leade the blinde Christ sayth not the leader onely but he sayth both shall fall into the Ditch Shall the Sinagogue and the Senate of the Iewes trowe ye which forsooke Christ and consēted to his death therfore be excused because Annas and Cayphas with the Scribes and Pharesies and theyr Cleargy did teache them amisse yea and also Pilate theyr Gouernour and the Emperours Lieuetenaunt by his tyranny did without cause put him to death Forsooth no my Lordes no. For notwithstanding that corrupt doctrine or Pilates washing of his handes neither of both shall excuse either that Sinagogue and Seigniory or Pilate but at the Lordes hand for the effusion of that innocent bloud on the latter day all shall drinke of the deadly whippe Ye are wittye and vnderstande what I meane therfore I will passe ouer this and return to tell you how ye are fallen from Christ to his aduersarye the Bishop of Rome And least my Lords ye may peraduenture think thus barely to call the Bishop of Rome Christes aduersary or to speake it in playne termes to call him Antichrist that it is done in mine anguish and that I doe but rage and as a desperate man doe not care what I say or vpon whō I doe rayle therefore that your Lordshippes may perceiue my minde and thereby vnderstand that I speake the wordes of the trueth and sobriety as Saynt Paule sayde vnto Festus bee it knowne vnto your Lordshippes all that as concerning the Bishoppe of Rome I neither hate the person nor the place For I ensure your Lordshippes the liuing Lorde beareth me witnesse before whome I speake I do thinke many a good holye man many Martyrs and Sayntes of God haue sitte and taughte in that place Christes Gospell truely which therefore iustly may be called Apostolici that is true Disciples of the Apostles and also that Church and Congregation of Christians to be a right Apostolicke churche yea and that certayne hundreth yeares after the same was firste erected and builded vppon Christ by the true Apostolicall doctrine taught by the monthes of the Apostles themselues If ye will know how long that was and how many hundreth yeares to be curious in poynting the precise number of the yeares I will not be too bolde but thus I say so long and so manye hundreth yeares as that Sea did truely teache and preach that Gospell that Religion exercised that power and ordered euery thing by those Lawes and rules whiche that Sea receiued of the Apostles and as Tertullian saith the Apostles of Christ and Christ of God so long I say that Sea might wel haue bene called Peter and Paules chaire and Sea or rather Christes chaire the bishop thereof Apostolicus or true disciple and Successor of the apostles a Minister of Christ. But since the time that that Sea hath degenerated frō the trade of trueth and true Religion the which it receiued of the Apostles at the beginning and hath preached an other Gospell hath set vppe an other Religion hath exercised an other power and hath taken vpon it to order and rule the Church of Christ by other straunge Lawes Canons and Rulers then euer it receiued of the Apostles or the Apostles of Christ whiche thinges it doth at this daye and hath continued so doing alas alas of too too long a time since the time I say that the state and condition of that Sea hath thus bene chaunged in truth it ought of dutye and of righte to haue the names chaunged both of the Sea and of the sitter therein For vnderstand my Lords it was neither for the priuiledge of the place or person thereof that that Sea and Byshop thereof were called Apostolicke but for the true trade of Christs religion which was taught and mainteined in that Sea at the first and of those godly men And therfore as truely and iustlye as that Sea then for that true trade of religion and consanguinity of doctrine with the Religion and doctrine of Christes Apostles was called Apostolicke so as truely and as iustly for the contrariety of religion and diuersity of doctryne from Christ and his Apostles that Sea and the Bishoppe thereof at this day both ought to be called and are in deed Antichristian The Sea is the seate of Sathan and the Bishop of the same that mainteineth the abhominations therof is Antichrist himselfe in deede And for the same causes this Sea at this day is the same whiche S. Iohn calleth in his reuelation Babilon or the Whore of Babilon and spirituall Sodoma and Egyptus the Mother of Fornication and of the abhominations vpon the earth And with this Whore doth spiritually medle and lieth with her and committeth most stincking and abhominable adultery before God all those kinges and Princes yea and all nations of the earth which doe consent to her abhominations and vse or practise the same that is of the innumerable multitude of them to rehearse some for example sake her dispensations her pardons and pilgrimages her inuocation of Saynts her worshipping of Images her false counterfayt religion in her Monkery and Fryerage and her traditions whereby Gods lawes are defiled as her Massing and false Ministring of Gods word and the Sacramentes of Christ clean cōtrary to Christes word
be Pray I beseech you that I may be stil careles in my careful estate as you haue cause to be carelesse in your easier condition Be thaÌ„kful and put away all care and then I shall be ioyfull in my straite present care Commend me to all our brethren and desire them to praye for me that I may ouercome my teÌ„ptations for the deuil rageth against me I am putte in the stockes in a place alone because I would not answer to such articles as they would charge me wtall in a corner at the bishops appoyntment and because I did not come to Masse when the bish sent for me I will sic all the dayes of my life in the stockes by Gods grace rather then I wil consent to the wicked generation Praise God be ioyfull that it hath pleased him to make vs worthy to suffer somwhat for his names sake The deuil must rage for 10. daies Commend me to maister F. and thanke him for his lawe bookes but lawe neither equitie wil take any place among these bloud thirsty I would for your sake their vniust dealing were noted vnto the parlament house if it might auaile God shorteÌ„ these euil daies I haue answered the bish meetely plaine already and I said to him if he wil cal me in open iudgement I wil answer him as plainly as he will require otherwise I haue refused because I feare they will condemne me in hugger mugger The peace of God be with you my dear brother I canne wryte no more for lacke of light and that I haue wrytten I can not reade my selfe and God knoweth it is wrytten farre vneasily I pray God you may picke out some vnderstanding of my minde towards you Wrytten in a Colehouse of darkenesse oute of a paire of paynefull stockes by thine owne in Christ. Iohn Philpot. An other letter of M. Philpot to certaine godlye women forsaking their owne countrey for the Gospell full of frutefull precepts and lessons for all good women THe spirite of truthe reuealed vnto you my dearely beloued by the Gospell of oure Sauiour Iesus Christe be continually abiding with you and augmented into a perfect building of you into the liuely temple of God through the mighty operation of hys power Amen I reade in the Euangelistes of certaine Godly women that ministred vnto Christ folowing him in the daies of his Passion and neuer forsoke him but being dead in his graue brought oyl to annoynt him vntill that he had shewed himselfe vnto them after his resurrection and bidden them shewe vnto his Disciples which at his Passion were dispearsed and tell them that he was riâ—en and that they shoulde see him in Galile To whome I may iustly compare you my louinge Sisters in Christe who of late haue seene him suffer in his meÌ„bers and haue ministred to theyr necessity annoynting them with the comfortable oyle of your charitable assistance euen to the death and now since yee haue seene Christ to liue in the ashes of them whome the tyrans haue 〈◊〉 he willeth you to go away vpon iust occasion offred you and to declare to our dispearsed brethren and sisters that he is 〈◊〉 and liueth in his electe members in Englande and by death doth ouercome infidelitye and that they shall see him in Galile which is by forsaking this world and by a faithful desire to passe out of this world by those waies which he with his holy Martyrs hath gone on before God therfore entire sisters directe your way as he did Abraham Tobias vnto a strange land God geue you health both of body and soule that ye may go from vertue to vertue and grow from strength to strength vntil yee may see face to face the God of Syon in his holy hil with the innumerable companye of hys blessed Martyrs and Saintes Let there be continuall ascensions vnto heauen in your hearts Let there be no decrease of any vertue which is already planted in you Be as the light of the iuste such as Salomon saith increaseth to the perfect day of the Lord. Let the strength of God be commended in your weake vessels as it is Be examples of faith and sobrietie to al that ye shal come in company with all Let your godly conuersation speake where your toung may not in the congregation Be swift to heare and slow to speake after the counsell of S. Iames. Be not curious about other mens doings but be occupied in praier and coÌ„tinual meditation with reuerent talking of the word of God wythout contention amongst the Saintes Lette your faith shine in a straunge countrey as it hath done in youre owne that your father which is in heauen may be glorified by you to the ende This farewel I send you not as a thing nedefull which know already what your duety is be desirous to performe the same but as one that would haue you vnderstand that he is mindeful of your godly conuersation wherof he hath had good experieÌ„ce and therfore wryteth this to be as a perpetual memorial betwixt you and him vntil our meeting together before God where we shall ioy that we haue here louingly put one an other in memory of our duetie to performe it Farewell againe mine owne bowels in Christ and take me with you where soeuer you goe and leaue your selues wyth me that in spirite we may be present one with an other Commende me to the whole congregation of Christe willing them not to leaue their countrey without witnesse of the Gospell after that we al be slaine which already be stalled vp and appoynted to the slaughter and in the meane season to praye earnestly for our coÌ„stancie that Christ may be glorified in vs and in them bothe by life and death Farewel in the Lord. Yours for euer Iohn Philpot. An exhortation to his owne sister constantly to sticke to the truth which she had frutefully professed GOd the eternall Father who hath iustified you by the bloud of his sonne Iesus Christ and called you to hallow his name through a good conuersation and profession of life he sanctifie you with daily encrease of vertue faith by his holy spirit that you may appeare a vessell of sanctification in the middest of this wicked peruerse generation to the laud and praise of the Gospel Amen I haue occasion mine owne deare sister to praise God in you for 2. causes the one that to your habilitie you are ready to shew your self a naturall louing sister to me your poore afflicted brother as by your geÌ„tle tokens you haue eftsoones testified being absent as also presently visiting me which wel declareth that you be a very naturall sister in dede and to be praised in this behalfe But in the other that you be also a sister to me in faith after Christes Gospell I am occasioned to thanke God so muche the more howe much the one excelleth the other and the spiritual consanguinitie is more perdurable then that which is of flesh bloud
is a worker of that which is by nature for commonly such as be vngodly be vnnatural only louers of themselues as daily experience teacheth vs. The lyuing Lord which through the incorruptible sede of his worde hath begotten you to be my liege sister geue you grace so to growe in that generation that you may encrease to a perfect age in the Lord to be my sister with Christ for euer Looke therfore that you continue a faythfull sister as you are called and are godly entered not onely to me but to all the Church of Christ yea to Christ himselfe who voucheth you in this your vnfayned fayth worthy to bee his sister Consider this dignitie to surmount all the vayne dignities of the worlde let it accordingly preuayle more with you then all earthly delightes For therby you are called to an equall portion of the euerlasting inheritaunce of Christ if now in no wise you do shew your selfe an vnnaturall sister to him in forsaking him in trouble which I trust you will neuer for no kinde of worldly respect doe You are vnder daungerous temptations to be turned frō that naturall loue you owe vnto Christ and you shal be tryed with Gods people thorough a siue of great afflictiō for so Sathan desireth vs to be sifted that through feare of sharp troubles we might fall from the stablenes of our fayth and so be depriued of that honour ioy and reward which is prepared for such as continue faythfull brothers and sisters in the Lordes couenant to the ende Therfore the wise man in the booke of Ecclesiasticus biddeth them that come to the seruice of the Lorde To prepare them selues to suffer temptations Since then that for the glory of God and our faith we are called now to abide the brunt of them and that when our aduersary hath done all that he can yet wee may be stable and stand this Christ our first begotten brother loketh for at our handes and all our brethren and sisters in heauen desire to see our faith thorough afflictions to be perfecte that we might fulfil their number and the vniuersal church here militant reioyceth at our constancie whom al by the contrary we should make sorie to the daunger of the losse both of body and soule Feare not therfore what soeuer be threatned of the wicked world prepare your back and see it be ready to carye Christes crosse And if you see any vntowardnes in you as the flesh is continually repugnant to the will of God aske with faithfull praier that the good spirit of God may lead your sinful flesh whether it would not for if we will dwell in the flesh and folow the counsell therof we shall neuer doe the will of God neither worke that tendeth to our saluation You are at this present in the confines and borders of Babylon where you are in danger to drink of the whores cup vnles you be vigilant in praier Take hede the Serpent seduce you not frō the simplicitye of your faith as he did our first mother Eue. Let no worldly felowship make you partaker of iniquitie He that toucheth tarre can not but be defiled therby With such as be peruerse a mā shall sone be peruerted with the holy you shal be holy Therfore say continually with the Prophete Dauid Vnto the Saints that be on the earth al my wil is on them You haue bene sanctified and made pure thorough the truth take heede you be not vnholied and vndefiled lest the last be worse then the first I wryte not this because I stand in any doubt of your sincere continuance of the which I haue had so good experience but because the daies be euil and in the same it is the duety of euery one of vs to exhort an other I am bold to put you my good sister in remembrance of that which doth not a litle comfort me to remember in my troubles daily temptations Wherfore I doubt not you will take that in good part which commeth frō your brother both in spirit body who tendreth your saluation as earnestly as his owne that we might ioye together eternally with such ioy as the world shal neuer be able to take from vs. Thankes be vnto God you haue begon to run a good great time wel in the waies of the Lorde run out of the trace to the end which you haue begon then shall you receiue the crown of glory None shal be crouned but such as lawfully striueth Be not ouercome of euill but ouercome euil with good the Lorde shall make you one of those faithfull virgines that shal follow the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth the which Christ graunt both you and me Amen Commend me to all them that loue me in the Lord vnfainedly God encrease our faith and geue vs neuer to be ashamed of his Gospell That same request which I haue made to my brother Thom. I make also to you desiring you by all meanes you can to accōplish my request that my sureties might be satisfied with that is mine owne to the contentation of my minde which can not be quiet vntill they be discharged therefore I pray you help to purchase quietnes that I might depart out of this worlde in peace My dissolution I looke for daily but the Lorde knoweth howe vnworthy I am of so high an honour as to die for the testimony of his truth Pray that God would vouchsafe to make me worthy as he hath don of long imprisonment for the which his name be praised for euer Pray and looke for the comming of the Lorde whose wrath is great ouer vs and I wil pray for you as long as I liue The 9. of Iuly in the kings Bench. Your owne louing brother as well in faith as in body Iohn Philpot. An other Letter of Iohn Philpot to certaine Godly brethren THe grace of God the Father and the peace of our sauiour Iesus Christ his eternall sonne and the consolation of the holy Ghost our comforter strengthen your hearts and cōfort your mindes that you maye reioyce and liue in the truthe of Christes Gospel to the ende Amen I doe much reioyce dearely beloued in the Lord to heare of your cōstant faith in the word of God which you haue so purely receiued which doe not with the wordlings decline frō the purity therof albeit ye suffer grief trouble therby for the which I praise God most hartely and the Lord of all strength who hath begon this good woorke in you make it perfite to the ende as I doubt not but he wil for the faithful zeale ye haue to his truth to his afflicted church Therfore that ye may the better stand and beare the brunte of many temptations which you are like to be assaulted withall in these wicked and stormie daies I thought it good as it is the duety of one christian man to exhort an other in the time of trouble
he sweare vnto vs as he did vnto the vnfaythfull Iewes that such Infidells shall not enter into his rest In the administration of the Lordes supper whiche we confessed to be the holye Communion and pertakinge with Christ and his holy Congregation we haue learned Gods holy commaundements and at the rehearsall of euery one of them to ask God mercy for our most grieuous transgressions agaynst them and to aske grace of God to keepe them in time to come that the same may not onelye outwardly sound in our eares but also inwardly by the holy ghost be written in our hartes Wee haue learned also the holye prayer made for the Queenes Maiestie wherein wee learne that her power and authoritie is of God therefore wee praye to God for her that shee and all magistrates vnder her may rule according to Gods worde and we her subiectes obey according to the same Truely most honourable Commissioners we caÌ„not thinke these thinges euill but thinke them moste worthye to be retayned in our Churches and we would think our selues not to haue true subiectes hartes if we shuld go about to put away such godly prayers as put vs perpetually in memory of our bounden obedience duety to God and our Rulers For as we thinke at this present the vnquiet multitude had more neede to haue these things more often and earnestly beaten and driuen into them specially geuen in many places to stirre and trouble then to take from them that blessed doctrine whereby onely they may to their saluation be kept in quiet Furthermore we caÌ„not forsake that blessed partaking of the body and bloud of our Sauiour Iesu Christes institution ministred with such godly prayers exhortatioÌ„s and admonitions teaching vs the knowledge of God the exceeding loue and charity of our louing redeemer Christ breaking hys body vpon the crosse for our sinnes shâ—dding his most precious bloud for our redemption whych we in eating of that blessed breade and drinking of yâ— blessed Cup assuredly beleue that we receiue and be perfectly ioyned with Christ and his holy Catholike Churche into one body and into one vnitie and brotherly loue wherby eche member faithfully embraceth other We must needes confesse thys institution of Christ to be moste holy godly whereof we haue the onely coÌ„fort in conscience against sinne damnation with the assurance of saluation wherof hath ensued reformation of many hainous sinnes much lawinge strife and contention is ended dronkennesse whoredome and other vices in some reformed goodnesse and vertue increased and nourished In the Latine Masse we neuer had no suche edifying but only we saw a great many of ceremonies and strange gestures as tourning of the Prieste crossings blessings breathings washing of handes and spreading abroade of hys armes wyth like ceremonies that we vnderstaÌ„d not And concerninge the Latine tongue wherein the Prieste prayeth we wote not whether hee blesseth or cursseth vs. Wee are not partakers of the Sacrament as Christes institution appoynteth we should be In the ministring of the Sacrament the Priests alter the institution of Christ committing theft and sacriledge robbing vs of the cup of Christes bloud coÌ„trary to Christes commandement saying Drinke yee all of this They rob vs also of Gods woord speaking all thyngs in Latine whych nothing edifieth vs eyther in Faythe or maners Christe commaunded not that his Supper shuld be ministred in an vnknowen tounge but for as much as faith commeth of hearing and hearing commeth of Gods woorde howe can wee beleeue Christes woorde and promise made vnto vs in thys holy Sacrament saying Thys is my bodye broken for you and this is my bloude of the newe Testament whiche is shedde for you for the remission of sinnes if the same promises of Christe either be not at all recited or els so recited in Latine that the Congregation vnderstandeth not or heareth not what is spoken S. Paul saith thus reciting the saying of Esay As truly as I liue sayth the Lorde all knees shall bowe vnto me all tongues shall geue praise vnto God Also he sayeth Al tongues must confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord vnto the glory of God the father The holye Ghost came vppon the Apostles in fiery tongues so that they spake the tongues of all nations vnder heauen S. Paul ministred to the Corinthians and preached to them in theyr owne mother tongue and rebuked the bringyng in of straunge tongues into the congregations Wee can not thincke it to be well that so holy an Apostle rebuked And what soeuer vertue the Latine tongue hath to suche as vnderstand it to vs English men not vnderstandyng it it is altogether without vertue and edifying and therfore vnmeete for our Churches The Priestes complayne that we lay men loue them not nor haue them in honour But it is their owne faulte For how should we loue them that onely seeeke to keep vs in blindnes and ignorance to damne our soules to destroy our bodies to rob and spoyle our goodes and substaunce vnder a colour of pretensed holines We knowe right honourable Commissioners what honour is due to suche Wolues how by the authoritie of Gods word such are to be fledde as pestilences to the Lordes lambes whom they miserably dayly murder But we haue rather chosen by this our meeke supplycation humbly to desire the Queenes maiestie and you her honorable Commissioners to render Gods worde agayn vnto the Churches to permit vs freely to enioye the same For we certainely knowe that the whole Religion lately set out by the holy sainct of God our late most deare king Edward is Christes true religion written in the holy scripture of God and by Christe and his Apostles taught vnto his Church Wherefore we cannot allowe with safe consciences this refusall of it and casting of it out of oure Churches for asmuch as to refuse cast off to reiect is to cast off Christ himselfe and to refuse our part in his blessed body broken for our sinnes and his bloud shed for our redemption Which thing who so doth the same without repentaunce can look for no sacrifice for his sinnes but most fearfully wayte for the iudgement and for that vehement fire that shall destroy Christes aduersaries For if hee that despiseth the law of Moses is without mercye put to death vnder two or three witnesses howe much more greeuous tormentes shall he suffer that treadeth vnder foot the sonne of God and esteemeth the bloud of the Testament wherby he was sanctified as a prophane thing coÌ„tumeliously vseth the spirite of grace Wherefore wee moste humbly praye and beseeche the Queenes gracious Maiestie to haue mercy and pitty vpon vs her poore and faithfull subiectes and not to compel vs to do the thing that is agaynst our consciences and shall so incurably wound vs in hart by bringing into the churche the Latine Masse and seruice that nothing edifieth vs and and casting out of Christes holye Communion and
Commons faythfull and true subiectes members of the same body politicke wherof her Grace is supreme head All our bodyes goodes landes and lyues are ready to do her Grace faythfull obedience and true seruice of all commaundements that are not agaynst God his worde but in these thinges that importe a denyall of Christ and refusall of his word and holy Communion we cannot consent nor agree vnto it For we haue bound our selues in Baptisne to be Christes Disciples and to keepe his holy word and ordinances And if we deny him before men he will deny vs before his heauenly Father and hys holy Aungels in the day of iudgement which we trust her benigne Grace will not require of vs. And we humbly beseeche her Maiestie that we be not enforced vnto it but as we serue her grace with body and goodes due obedience accordyng to Gods commauÌ„dement so we may bee permitted freely to serue God and Christ our Sauiour keepe vnto him our soules which hee hath with his precious bloud redeemed that so as Christ teacheth we may reÌ„der to Caesar that is due to Caesar and to God that is due to God For we thinke it no true obedience vnto the Queenes highnes or to any other Magistrate ordeined of God vnder her to obey in things coÌ„trary to gods word although the same be neuer so straitly charged in her Graces name The Bish. of Winchester hath truely taught in that point in his booke of true obedience that true obedieÌ„ce is in the Lord not agaynst the Lord as the Apostles aunswered before the Counsaile at Ierusalem coÌ„maundyng them no more to preache in the name of the Lord Iesus Iudge you sayd they whether it be right in the sight of God to heare you rather theÌ„ God And agayne they sayd We must obey God rather then man Wherefore wee learne that true obedience is to obey God kyng of all kynges Lord of all Lordes and for him in him and not agaynst him and his word to obey the Princes and Magistrates of this world who are not truely obeyed when God is disobeyed nor yet disobeyed when God is faythfully obeyed Tobias disobeyed not his king although contrary to his commaundement contrary to the vsage of all other when they went to Dan Bethel he went vnto Ierusalem worshipped in the teÌ„ple of the Lord. The three youÌ„g men in Babylon refusing king Nabuchodonosors commaundemeÌ„t pleased God more then the whole multitude that obeyed And Daniel that prayed to the God of heaueÌ„ contrary to kyng Darius coÌ„maundementes bare a more true faythfull hart to the king theÌ„ those wicked CouÌ„sellers that procured that wicked law or those that for feare of flattery obeyed it Which two pestilences feare flattery haue euer destroyed true obedience to God and man when wicked godlesse men that care not if the deuill were worshipped so they may get obteine riches promotioÌ„s and dignities and worldly glory turne to and fro as euery winde bloweth and weake and frayle meÌ„ fearing losse of goodes punishment or death doe outwardly in body that thyng that their hartes conscieÌ„ces inwardly abhorreth and so outwardly disobey God and in hart dissemble with man which dissimulation we thinke worthy hate of all men and most vncomely for Christian men Wherfore we humbly beseeche the Queenes Maiestie with pitie and mercy to tender the lamentable suite of vs her poore subiectes which be by this coÌ„maundement sore hurt wounded in our consciences and driuen to many miseries by the malicious attemptes of wicked meÌ„ suffer great wronges iniuries sclaunders losse of goods bodyly vexations We thinke not good by any vnlawful sâ—urre or coÌ„motion to seeke remedy 〈◊〉 intend by Gods grace to obey her maiesty in al things not against God his holy woorde But vnto such vngodly bishoplike commandements as are against God we answer with the apostles God must be obeied rather then man If persecution shall ensue whiche some threaten vs with we desire the heauenly Father according to his promise to looke from heauen to heare our crye to iudge betweene vs our aduersaries to geue vs faith strength and patience to coÌ„tinue faithfully vnto the end to shorten these euil daies for his chosens sake and so we faithfully beleeue he will Notwithstanding we trust the Quenes gracious and mercifull heart will not suffer such tyranny to be done against her poore innocent faithful and obedient subiects that daily pray vnto God for her which haue no remedie in this world but to sue vnto her highnesse our most gracious and benigne soueraigne whom we pray beseech for the deare bloud of Christ to pitie our lamentable case and hurt of conscience and to call backe all such commandements as are against Gods honour as the good Kyng Darius Assuerus Traianus Theodosius diuers other haue done and to permit the holy woord of God and true religion set foorth by our moste holy and innocent king Edward a very Sainte of God to be restored agayne vnto our Churches to be frequented amongst vs. So shal we grow and increase in the knowledge of God of Christ in true repentance and amendement of life so shal we exhibite true obedience to our lawfull Magistrates and all superiors ordained of God so shall loue charitye of late thorowe this commandement so decaied be againe restored the honor of her regall estate the more confirmed and established and godlinesse and vertuous life among her louing subiects increased and maintained And we most hartily pray you right honorable commissioners to be meanes vnto the Queenes highnesse and to her honourable Counsaile that thys oure humble sute may be fauourably tendered and graciously hearde and graunted And we shall not cease daye and nyghte to pray vnto the heaueÌ„ly Father long to preserue her grace all other magistrates in his feare and loue and in prosperous peace and wealth with long life honor Amen Your poore suppliants the louers of Christes true Religion in Northfolke and Suffolke The story of Iohn Harpole of the parish of S. Nicholas in Rochester Ioane Beach wydowe of Tunbridge Martyrs TOuching the examination of Ioane Beach widowe and of Iohn Harpole within the dioces of Rochester by Maurice B. of the sayde Diocesse remembraunce was made before in the story of Nicholas Hal pag. 1591. wherin was declared the foure articles Consistorial of the byshop obiected and laide as vnto the sayd Nicholas Hall and his company so also to this Ioane Beach wydowe whereof the first was this 1 That shee was of the parish of Tunbridge in the Dioces of Rochester 2 Item that all persons which preache teach beleeue or say otherwise or contrary to that their mother holye Catholike church of Christ are excommunicate persons and heretickes 3 Item that the sayde Ioane Beach hath and yet dothe affirme maintaine and beleue contrary to the sayde mother holye Churche of
wherein the word of God is preached and the holy Sacraments truely ministred visible to the wicked world although it be not credited by the death of Saints confirmed as it was in the tyme of Helias the Prophet as well as now 3. Item the sea of Rome is the sea of Antichrist the congregation of the wicked c. whereof the Pope is head vnder the Deuill 4. Item the Masse is not onely a prophanation of the Lordes Supper but also a blasphemous Idoll 5. Item God is neither spiritually nor corporally in the Sacrament of the aultar and there remaineth no substance in the same but onely the substance of bread and wyne For these the Articles of our beliefe we beyng condemned to die do willingly offer our corruptible bodies to bee dissolued in the fire all with one voyce assentyng and consentyng therunto and in no one poynt dissentyng or disagreeyng from any of our former Articles Apparant also let it be and knowen that being of the former Articles before the bloudy Bishop examined the sayde day and tyme we affirmed to beleeue all that he or they would approoue by the Scriptures But he sayd that he would not stand to proue it with heretikes but sayd they themselues were the holy church and that we ought to beleeue them or els to bee cut of lyke withered branches ¶ Their names subscribed to the same Rafe Iackson Henry Adlington Lyon Cawch Wil. Hallywell George Searles Iohn Routh Iohn Derifall Henry Wye Edmund Hurst Laurence Parnam Tho. Boyer Elizabeth Pepper Agnes George Tho. Freeman Wil. Stannard Wil. Adams * Trouble and businesse in the Diocesse of Lichfield IN the Diocesse of Lichfield about the 14. of Iune in the same yeare Iohn Colstocke who was lately come from London before and now dwelling at Welington though he suffred no Martyrdome yet susteined some trouble beyng attached and examined by the B. named Rafe Bane for hys Religion especially for two poynts in holding agaynst the realtie of Christ in the Sacrament and against Auricular confession to be made to the Priest For the which cause beyng compelled to recant he was enioyned in the church of S. Cedde to beare a fagot before the crosse bare-headed hauyng in the one hand a Taper and in the other a payre of beades c. Amongst diuers other which in the same diocesse and the same tyme were suspected troubled for the lyke was Tho. Flyer of Uttoxater Shomaker Nich. Bail of Uttoxater Capper Tho. Pyot of Chedall Item Henry Crimes for marying his wife on Palme sonday euen c. Some other also there were which had the like penance enioyned them as Tho. Iohnson about the 26. day of this moneth of Iune because he sware by the holy Masse before the B. sittyng in iudgement who for the same was driuen to goe before the Crosse with hys Taper and beades c. Concerning the which Tho. Flyer aboue named being a godly and a zealous man this furthermore is to bee noted and not vnworthy of gratefull memory that where as in the Towne of Uttoxater commaundement was directed vnto him amongst others from the Ordinary for pullyng downe monuments of superstition and namely the Roode loft he beyng one of the churchwardens or Side-men on a tyme had talke vpon the same with certayne of his neighbours where one wished them ill to chieue that should go about such an acte What wordes passed els amongest them ministryng matter of further prouocation it is not perfectly known In fine the sayd Flier beyng offended and afterward metyng with him that had vsed such wordes before began to common with hym of the matter but in the ende the man so little repented him of those sayings that hee added yet more fierce words and at length strokes also in such wise that at that conflict the sayd Tho. Flyer was slayne and yet so was the matter handled such amends was made with money by the murtherer and hys friends to the sayd Fliers wyfe that he suffred little or nothyng for the same saue onely that he was banished that towne and sworne and bound neuer to come in it so long as the sayde Fliers wyfe should lyue ¶ Three men dead in the prison of the Kings Bench. AFter the burning of these in Stratford the same moneth died in the prison of the Kings Bench in Southwarke one Tho. Parret and was buried in the backside the 27. day of the moneth abouesayd Also Martin Hunt as is reported in the same prison was famished the 29. day At which tyme likewyse died in the same prison as I find recorded one Iohn Norice and after the same sort as the other was buried on the backeside of the sayd prison the day aboue mentioned ¶ The story of three Martyrs sufferyng at S. Edmondesbury AFter the death of the aforesayd Tho. Parret Martine Hunt and Iohn Norice were three martyred at S. Edmondsbury in Suffolke in one fire whose names are here vnder specified Roger Bernard Adam Foster Robert Lawson ¶ The first examination of Roger Bernard before D. Hopton B. of Norwich WHen Roger Bernard came before the Bish. first he was asked whether hee had bene with the Priest at Easter to be shriuen whether he had receiued the blessed Sacrament of the aultar or no. Unto whome Roger Bernard answered no I haue not bene with the Priest nor confessed my selfe vnto hym but I haue confessed my sinnes vnto almighty God I trust he hath forgeuē me wherfore I shall not need to go to the priest for such matters who cannot helpe hymselfe Bish. Surely Bernard thou must needes goe and confesse thy selfe vnto hym Rog. That shall I dot do by Gods grace while I liue Bish. What a stout boyly heretike is this how malipertly he answereth Rog. My L. it grieueth me no whit I thanke God to be called heretike at your hands for so your forefathers called the Prophetes and Confessours of Christ long before this tyme. At these words the B. rose vp in a great heat and bad Bernard follow hym Then the B. went and kneeled before that they call the Sacrament of the aultar and as hee was in his prayers kneelyng he looked backe and asked Bernard why he came not and did as he did Unto whom Bernard aunswered I cannot tell why I should so doe Why quoth the Bish. thou lewd felow whom seest thou yonder pointyng to the pixe ouer the aultar Rog. I see no body there Do you my Lord Bish. Why naughty man doest not thou see thy maker Rog. My maker No I see nothyng but a fewe cloutes hangyng together on a heape With that the Byshop rose vp sore displeased and commaunded the Gaoler to take hym away and to lay irons enough on hym For quoth he I will tame hym or he go from me I trow so and so he was caried away ¶ The second examination of Roger Bernard before the sayd Bishop THe next
euer But in the meane space I saye most happy are you that so hartily mourne the absence of the bridegrome If you were not a wedding child you could neuer doe it Onely Christes true Disciples doe mourne for his absence therefore shall they doubtles reioyce at his presence which will be so muche more ioyfull by how much the absence is more sorrowfull Therfore my good brother take a good hart vnto you be of good cheare Say with the Prophet Dauid O my soule why art thou so heauy and why art thou so disquieted with in me O put thy trust in God for I will yet geue him thankes for the helpe of his louing countenance and because he is my God Read the Psal the xli and the xlij for your comfort consider that the holy kng and Prophet at the making first saying of them was euē in the same case that you are now in but he still comforted himselfe with the sweet promises of God and so do you my deare hart for to you they do as well pertayne as they did to him and as surely shall they be performed vpon you as they were vpon him for he is one God and deare father vnto you both for his mercy truth and promise sake he must needes make good vnto you all that he hath sayd If his loue towardes you stoode in the respect of your own merite or worthines you might well mourne lamēt and complayne yea you had good cause to doubt feare mistrust But seeing he loueth you onely for and in Iesus christ who is your whole holines righteousnesse and redemption lay away all mourning lamenting and complayning banish from you all feare mistrust and infidelitie and know that as long as Christ doth continue Gods sonne so lōg must the loue of the father continue towards you immutable and his good will vnchangeable and can not be altered through any of your infirmities For this is most true that as long as the cause of any thinge doth last so long must the effect remayne but Christ is the whole cause why the father loueth you and hee also continueth for euer then must I needes conclude that the loue of the father continueth towardes you for euer and as the Psalmist most ioyfully so often singeth His mercye endureth for euer and euer This is most true mine owne deare hart although the Lorde for a time hide it from your senses that you might be the more earneste in prayer to him for the feeling of it also the more thankefull for it when he doth geue the liuely tast of it as doubtles he will do ere euer it be long and then shall you be well able to comforte other in the same state that you are now in with the same comforte wherewith you are and further shal be comforted of God Therefore lifte vp youre handes that are now a little fallen downe and stretche forth the weake knees of youre troubled minde whiche now mourneth with a godly mourning and therefore shal it be full well comforted with that sweete peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding and you are sure already to enioy the blessing that Christ gaue vnto the Godly mourners of Sion vppon the Mount at the first sermon that he made Oh happy U. in whose mourning company I had rather be then in the house of mirth and banqueting of such as see not what cause they haue to mourne and be sory But yet my good brother vse a measure in this your godly mourning make not your faithfull frendes too much sory for you Let the perswasions of such godly louers as you do dayly company withal or rather the perswasions of the holy Ghoste by them moue you to some godly mirth and reioising Consider that you are commaunded of God by the mouth of Sainct Paule thereto Reioyce in the Lord sayth he and I say again reioyce Marke how he doubleth the sentence that wee may perceaue it is a most earnest and necessary thing he requireth Obey the commaundement of God in this behalfe wherin as you cannot but highly please him so I assure you you shall very much reioyce my poore hart and the harts of other whiche pray for you with mourning teares and make that cruell enemy Sathan and all your aduersaryes sory which will reioyce and laugh to see you mourne Oh my good brother let it manifestly appeare that the Lorde of his great mercy hath heard our faythfull and harty requestes for you Oh how would that reioyce me in the midst of my troubles Therfore now to conclude because the darkenes constrayneth me to make an end for this time I say my deare faithful brother U. in respect of the great cause you haue of your own part through Christ for the glory and honor of almighty God the comfort ioy and reioysing of your deare brethren and sisters in Christ also your owne duetie by the commaundement of God and last of all to vexe molest and greeue Satan withall reioyce in the lord and be most hartily glad in him who is wholy yours and you are his and shal be for euermore Selah Farewel mine own bowels in the Lord praise God with ioyfull lips a mery hart pray for me his most vnprofitable seruant which haue more cause concerning my selfe to lament then any one man liuing but my good bridegrome is present biddeth me cast away my mourning garmentes and therfore I must needes be merry with him and so he biddeth you to be by my mouth for hee is present with you although for sorow you cannot know him as Magdalen could not in the garden vntill he spake vnto her The Lorde God speake these wordes of comforte in your hart open the eyes of your minde that you may perfectly perceiue and feele his blessed presence so reioyce in the same for euermore Amen Comfort your hart in christ and cast your care vpon him for he careth for you Your brother in the Lord abiding his good pleasure Iohn Careles * To my deare and faythfull brother Augustine Bernher The peace of God in Iesus Christ the helpe comforte and assistance of his eternall spirite be with you my deare and faythfull brother Augustine and with all the rest of my good brethren and sisters of the houses of Baxterley Manceter which mourneth for the miserye of Gods people to your euerlasting consolation in hym Amen Right glad I am to heare my deare and faithfull brother Augustine that God of his greate mercy and infinite goodnes hath yet so graciously deliuered preserued you out of your enemyes handes beseeching almighty God also from the bottome of my hart to be your continuall defence vnto the ende as hitherto he hath most graciously bene that you may liue dye both to Gods glory the commodity of his Church and to the increase of your owne euerlasting ioy and comfort in hym Knowe you deare brother
my poore afflicted heart by your meanes my moste deare and faithful brother Truely me thinketh your woords or rather Gods woordes by you vttered haue a wonderfull power and efficacie woorking in my heart at the hearing or readyng of them Reioyce therfore my deare brother and be thankfull vnto God for verily he both is will be mightely magnified in you and that diuers and manye waies both to the strengthening of them that stand in his truth and also to the raising vp of such as are fallen from the same God make me thankefull for you on your behalfe for verily great is the goodnesse of God towardes me in geuing me acquaintance in faithfull loue and amitye with you Gods name for euer be praised therfore and he perfourme all his mercifull promises vpon you as I doubt not but he will for his sake in whome you trust I thanke my God most hartely also you my good brother for that you are carefull for me in your faithfull praiers remembring my iust deserued sorowes as though they were your own and laboring so much to solace the same Ah my gracious good God what am I for whom thou thy deare children should be so carefull Oh sweete Lord forgeue me my great ingratitude sinne and grauÌ„t that I neuer abuse thy great benefits Oh let the loue of thine elect which loue me for thy sake be a sure signe token yea a most firme testimony a seale to my sinfull conscience of thine euerlasting loue and mercy towards me in Christ as verely it would and ought to be if mine infidelity did not let it Oh circumcise therefore the foreskin of my heart that I may with liuely faith behold thy great loue towardes me in all thine elect that I may alwaies be thankeful for the same and loue thee and them againe most heartely and vnfainedly Ah my deare heart how sweetely and how truely yea howe godly how coÌ„fortably haue you rehersed the swete saying of Salomon concerning prosperity with true godly frends I wil ioine with it the sentence which goeth a little before for doubtlesse it may be well verified on you A sure frend sayeth the wise man wil be vnto thee euen as thine owne soule and deale faithfully with thy houshold folke If thou suffer trouble and aduersitye he is with thee and hideth not his face from thee A faythful friend is a strong defence who so finedeth such a one finedeth a treasure A faithfull friend hath no peere the waight of golde is not to bee compared to the goodnesse of his faith A faythfull frend is a medicine of life and they that feare the Lord shal finde him c. Loe my deare heart in the Lord here is a liuely image or description of you for verely such a one haue I alwaies fouÌ„d you vnto me not onely sorrowing for my great sorrow but also oftentimes making me merry and ioyfull with such ioyes as the world can not feele Nowe let the worlde bragge of hys fained frendship but I will boast of this true frendship in God and esteeme it a more treasure then all transitorye things And as for my mourning deare brother God hathe made you to tourne it vnto mirth for God hath put you in the stead of them to be my comfort whome he hath in hys great mercy taken away I trust hencefoorth to leaue the mourning for my greate losse and to praise God for gaining vnto him selfe so great glory by his chosen children God make me a true mourner of Syon bothe for mine owne sinne and wickednesse and also to see his honoure defaced that I may be made meete and apte to beare the ioyfull and comfortable message that your beautifull feete shall brynge me God blesse thee my deare heart and faithful louing brother and increase his good giftes of grace in thee as he hathe moste happely begonne that you may daily more effectually feele and liuely perceiue the certaintie of Gods grace wherin you stand and firmely to testifie the same to the conuersion or confouÌ„ding of all gainsayers and to the comfort confirmation of al Gods deare children Amen Farewell mine owne sweete brother fare well as mine owne heart Your owne in Christ Iohn Careles· An other letter of Iohn Careles to a certaine godly faithfull sister by the name of E.K. THe grace and free mercy of God in Iesus Christ the sweete consolations of the holy Ghost the guide of all Gods deare children he with you strengthen and comfort you my dearely beloued sweete sister E.K. now and euer Amen Albeit my dearely beloued sister in Christe that as yet wee did neuer see one an other personally to any knowledge yet by the vertuous reporte that I haue hearde of you and also by the large louing token that I haue receiued from you mee thincke that I do euen presently see you and behold your person faâ—thfully walking in the fear and loue of God ioying and reioycing with you in the spirite as thoughe we were sweetely talking together of Christes veritie The Lord God doe I humbly beseeche in the bowels and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christe that he wil strengthen vs both with hys holy and mighty spirit that we may constantly continue in the confession of his truthe vnto the ende that like as we now see one an other presently in spirite we may also see one an other personally in the glorious presence of God and his holy Aungels where vndoubtedly we shall know one an others personage to oure great ioy felicitye and endlesse comfort And now therfore deare sister K be strong in the Lorde our God for doubtlesse the time of triall is at hand a great persecution with cruell murthering of Gods deare Saintes is like to be very shortly in this wofull wicked Realme of Englande Therefore deare sister for the loue of God prepare you to the Crosse with all diligence and make your selfe ready to die with Christ that you may also liue with him for euer There is no remedye if you will be Christes Disciple you must needes take vppe youre crosse and followe him for the Disciple must not looke to be aboue his maister nor the seruant to be better intreated then his Lord. If we were of the worlde good sister no doubt the world woulde loue vs. But for as much as Christe hath chosen vs out of the worlde to serue God in spirite and veritie lette vs be wel assured the worlde will hate vs and persecute vs as it hath done our Lorde and maister Christ. But yet let vs be of good cheare for Christe hath ouercome the worlde The paine is but shorte that we can feele heere but the pleasure is perpetuall that wee shall feele elsewhere Let vs set before vs the example of Christe which abode the Crosse and despised the shame in respecte of the ioy that was set before him Euen so let vs consider for whose
your fall shall tourne to hys glorye and youre profite For if you hadde not by this prooued the experience of your owne strength or rather your owne weakenes you would haue stande too muche in your owne conceite or perchaunce haue glorified in your selfe and haue despised and condempned other weake personnes that haue committed the like offence Therfore now you may see what the best of vs all can do if God leaue vs to our selues Which thing ought to moue you to be diligent to call earnestly vpon God for his grace and the strength of his holy spirite without the which we are not able to stande one houre to be most thankefull for the same when you haue it and then to be more circumspecte in time to come Therefore deare sister seeing that you haue done otherwise then the word of God and your owne cōscience would allow yet deare hart do you not thinke that God therfore wil cast you cleane away but know that he hath mercy enough in store for al them that truely repent and beleeue in him although the sinnes of them were as many in number as the sandes in the sea and as great as the sinnes of the whole worlde It is a greater sinne to mistrust the mercye and promises of God then to commit the greatest offence in the world Therefore good sister beware in any wise that you doe not once mistrust the promises of Gods mercy towardes you but knowe for a very surety that all youre sinnes be vtterlye forgeuen you for Christes sake be they neuer so many so grieuous or so great But now deare heart take heede and beware that you doe not cloake that sinne and increase the same daily in communicating with the wicked in their Idolatrie and deuelish doinges at their denne of theeues Do not I say deare sister come at any of their Antichristian seruice least by little and little you vtterly lose a good conscience and at length esteeme it for none offence as alas a great nomber doth at this day to the great pearill of theyr soules The Lorde be merciful vnto them and geue them grace to repent in time and tourne to the Lorde and then they shal be sure to finde mercy at the Lordes hand as doubtles you haue done praised be his name therefore Ah my deare sister you may nowe see the wordes of Christe verified vppon your selfe that a mans greatest foes shall be they of his owne household for your husband hath gotten you to do that which all the tyrants in the world could neuer haue made you to doe Doubtlesse he may be sory for it God geue him grace to repent or els without doubt it will be laid to his charge one day when he would not by his will heare it for all the goods in the worlde Well I thinke my brother Tymmes will wryte him a letter shortly that shall touche his conscience if hee haue anye conscience at all But now againe to you dere sister The thing that is done can not be vndone and you are not the first that hath offended neither are you so good and so holy as hath at a time slipt forth of the way Therfore I would not haue you to be so much discomforted as I heare saye you be as thoughe God were not able to forgeue you your offence as he was to forgeue his deare Saints that offended him in times past or as though God were not as mercifull nowe as euer he was Where as in very deede There is with the Lord as the Prophet sayth mercy and plentiful redēption and his mercy farre surmounteth all his workes and he neuer faileth any that put their whole trust and confidence in him howe great an offender or howe wicked a trespasser so euer he bee No he maketh their falles and backeslidings manye times to tourne to their profite and commoditie and to the settynge foorth of his glorye As doubtlesse deare sister yours shall doe if you put your whole faith hope and trust only in his infinite and eternall sweete mercies Oh what a suttel crafty lying serpent is that Sathan our old enemie that when he seeth that he can not make vs to continue in our wickednes to do him seruice would then bring vs into a doubting and mistrusting of the mercye of God whyche is the greatest offence that can be yea infidelitye is the roote and originall of all other sinnes Therefore my sweete sister geue no place to that cruell aduersary of mankinde who hath bene a lier and a murtherer from the beginning but stedfastlye beleeue the Lord who hath sent you word by me his most vnworthy seruāt that all your sinnes be pardoned forgeuen and cleane released for Iesus Christes sake our only Lorde and Sauiour To whome with the father and the holy Ghost be all honour glory praise thankes power rule and dominion for euer for euer Amen Farewell my deare sister and be of good cheare Beleeue in the Lorde and you shall liue for euer The Lord increase your faith Amen Amen Your poore brother and daily faithfull Oratour Iohn Careles prisoner of the Lord. Pray for me An other letter of Iohn Careles to A.B. a faithfull Minister of the Lorde containing certaine frutefull precepts of Matrimonie I Beseech the same euerlasting Lord my deare and faithful brother that blessed yong Tobias with his wife Sara brought them together in due time with reuerence and feare preserue and blesse you both and your seede after you that they may encrease the number of the faithful by thousandes and thousandes And as the Lord of his great mercy and fatherly prouidēce hath bene alwaies carefull for you and nowe hath for your comforte accomplished his good worke in coupling you with a faithfull mate so see that you be thankefull for his prouidence towardes you that it may euery way in you be an encrease of loue godlinesse yea of Christian ioye and gladnesse in these sorrowfull dayes but yet so that you mourne with the true mourners of Syon and be sorie yet in measure for the hurt of the same Pray also in faith for her prosperity that the Lord may builde vp the walles of Hierusalem againe Oh that the Lord would turne Syons captiuity as the riuer into the South Then shoulde our hearts be made glad and oure mouthes filled with laughter Then woulde the heathen hypocrites say the Lord hath done much for them Oh the Lord hath done great things for vs already wherof let vs heartely reioyce and praise his name therefore For though we nowe sowe wyth teares yet shall wee be sure to reape with gladnesse and as wee now goe foorth weeping bearing foorth good seede so shall we come againe with ioy and bring our sheaues full of corne Yea the death of the Martyrs which is most precious in hys sighte shal be the life of the Gospell spite of the Papists hearts Pray for me deare heart that I may
de ceremonijs Ecclesiae videlicet Katherinae Cawches eiusdemque duarum filiarum Guilleminae Parotinae nuncupatarum harum tam coniunctim quam separatim via iuris Et quamuis pluries ad veniam petendam ad delicta sua cognoscenda hortauimus inuitauimus quae quidem praedicta omnino negauerunt negant quod locutae fuerunt aliquod verbum inane inhonestum ociosum vanum contra fidem catholicam Sacramenta Ecclesiae alias ceremonias Ecclesiae Quapròpter auditis negationibus praedictarum attestatÃonibus depositionibus testium per nos visis consideratis bene ponderatis per opiniones Curatorum Vicariorum ibidem assistentium super easdem Katherinam Parotinam nec non Guilleminam crimine hereticas inuenimus reputamus Quapropter coram vobis Domino Baliuo omnino remittimus vt antea remissimus Thomas le Coll de mandato Iohn Alles Guillielmus Panquet Petrus Tardise Iohannes Manatiell When this was done commaundement was geuen to the kinges officers to go to the Castle to fetche the sayde women to heare the sentence agaynst them in the presence aforesayd And they appearing before theÌ„ sayd in the eares of all the auditory that they woulde see theyr accusers and know them that haue deposed agaynst them because they might make aunsweres to theyr sayinges and personages and to haue theyr libell accordingly for they knew not to haue offended the maiesties of the King and Queene nor of the Church but intyrely would obey obserue and keepe the ordinances of the King and Queene and of the Church as all good and true Subiectes are bound to do And for any breach of the Kyng and Queenes lawes that they had done they required iustice All whiche theyr reasons and allegations notwithstanding the sayd poore women were condemned and adiudged to be burnt vntill they were consumed into Ashes according to a sentence geuen by Elyer Gosseline Bailife of the which sentence the tenour hereafter foloweth ¶ The effect of the sentence in English THe xvij or as some other thinke the xxvij day of the Moneth of Iuly 1556. Elier Gosselin Bailiffe in the presence of Thomas Deuicke Pierres Martine Nicholas Cary Iohn Bloundell Nicholas Deuise Iohn le Marchaunt Iohn le Feauer Pierres Bonamy Nicholas Martine and Iohn de la March Iurates Katherine Cowches Perotine Massey and Guillemyne Guilbert the sayd Perotine and Guillemyne daughters to the sayd Katherine are all condemned iudged this day to be burned vntil they be consumed to ashes in the place accustomed with the confiscation of all theyr goodes moueables and heritages to be in the handes of the king and Queenes maiesties according and after the effect of a sentence deliuered in iustice by Mayster Deane and the Curates the xiij day of the moneth of Iuly in the yeare aforesayd in the which they haue bene approued heretickes ⧠A Lamentable Spectacle of three women with a sely infant brasting out of the Mothers Wombe being first taken out of the fire and cast in agayne and so all burned together in the Isle of Garnesey 1556. Iuly 18. After which sentence pronounced the sayd women did appeale vnto the Kyng and the Queene and theyr honorable Counsell saying that agaynst reason and right they were condemned for that cause they made their appeale notwithstanding they coulde not be heard but were deliuered by the sayd Bayliffe to the King and Quenes Officers to see the execution done on them according to the sayd sentence The time then being come when these three good seruauntes and holy Sayntes of GOD the Innocent mother with her two daughters shoulde suffer in the place where they should consummate theyr Martyrdome were three stakes set vp At the middle post was the mother the eldest daughter on the right hande the youngest on the other They were first strangled but the Rope brake before they were dead and so the poore women fell in the fire Perrotine who was then great with childe did fall on her side where happened a ruefull sight not onely to the eyes of all that there stood but also to the eares of all true harted christians that shall read this historye For as the belly of the woman brast a sonder by vehemency of the flame the Infant being a fayre man childe fel into the fire and eftsoones being taken out of the fire by one W. House was layd vpon the grasse Then was the child had to the Prouost and from him to the Bayliffe who gaue censure that it should be caryed backe agayne and cast into the fire And so the infant Baptised in his own bloud to fill vp the number of Gods innocent Sayntes was both borne and dyed a Martyr leauing behinde to the world which it neuer saw a spectacle wherein the whole world may see the Herodian cruelty of this gracelesse generation of catholicke Tormentors Ad perpetuam rei infamiam Now forsomuch as this story percase for the horrible straungenes of the fact will be hardly beleued of some but rather thought to be forged or els more amplified of me then truth will beare me out therefore to discharge my credite herein I haue not onely foretolde thee a little before how I reciued this story by the faythfull relation both of french and English of them which were there preseÌ„t witnesses and lookers vpon but also haue hereto annexed the true supplication of the sayd inhabitauntes of Garnesey of the brother of the sayde two sisters complayning to the Queene and her Commissioners concerning the horriblenes of the acte which Supplication for the more euidence here vnder foloweth to be sene * To the right honorable and the Queenes highnesse most gracious Commissioners for the hearing and determining of matters of Religion and causes Ecclesiasticall MOst lamentably and woefully complayning sheweth vnto your gracious and honorable Lordships your poore huÌ„ble Orator Mathew Cawches of the Isle of Garnesey that where Iaques Amy Clerke Deane of the Isle aforesayd assisted by the Curates there agaynst all order lawe and reason by colour of a sentence of heresie pronounced agaynst Katherine Cawches the Sister of your honours sayd suppliant and Perrotine and Guillemine her two daughters did cause the same Katherine beyng a poore widowe and her sayd two daughters moste cruelly to bee burned although the said persons ne any of them did hold mainteine or defend any thing directly agaynst the Ecclesiasticall lawes then in place vnder the raigne of the late Queene Mary but in all thinges submitted themselues obediently to the lawes theÌ„ in force and yet the cruelty of the said Deane and his accomplices in perpetrating such murther as aforesayd raged so farre that whereas whilest the sayd persons did consume with violent fire the wombe of the sayd Perrotine being burned there did issue froÌ„ her a goodly man childe which by the Officers was taken vp handled and after in a most despightful maner throwne into the
the first second thyrd fourth fift ninth tenthe twelfth they generally graunted vnto sauing that they denyed the soules of the departed to sleepe til the day of iudgement as is mentioned in the ix article And as concerning the sixt obiection they thought thē selues bound to beleue the true Catholicke Church so far foorth as the same doth instructe them according to Gods holy word but not to follow the determinations of the erroneous and Babilonicall Church of Rome As for the seuenth eight and thirtenth they vtterly denyed that euer they were of any such absurde opinions as are contayned therein but they graunted that man of him selfe without the helpe and assistance of Gods spirite hath no power to do any good thing acceptable in Gods sight To the eleuenth they sayd that true fasting and prayer vsed according to Gods word are allowable and auaylable in his sight and that by the same word euery faythfull man may eate all meates at all times with thankesgeuing to God for the same After this the first day of Aprill were they agayne conuented before the Bishop in his palace at London where little appeareth to be done excepte it were to know whether they would stand to their aunsweres whether they would recant or no. But when they refused to recant and deny the receiued and infallible truthe the Byshop caused them to be brought into the open Consistory the third day of the same moneth of Aprill in the forenone where firste vnderstanding by them their immutable constauncye and stedfastnes he demaunded particularly of euery one what they had to say why he should not pronounce the Sentence of condemnation To whom Tho. Loseby firste aunswered God geue me grace and strength to stand agaynst you your Sentence also agaynst your law which is a deuouring law for it deuoureth the flocke of Christe And I perceiue there is no way with me but death except I would consent to your deuouring law and beleeue in that Idoll the Masse Next vnto him answered Thomas Thirtell saying my Lorde I say thus if you make me an hereticke then you make Christ and all the 12. Apostles heretickes for I am in the true fayth and right beliefe I will stand in it for I know full well I shall haue eternall lyfe therefore The Byshoppe then asked the lyke question of Henry Ramsey Who sayd agayne my Lord will you haue me to go from the truth that I am in I say vnto you that my opinions be the very truth which I will stand vnto and not go from them I say vnto you farther that there are two Churches vpon the earth and we meaning himselfe other true Martyrs and professours of Christ be of the true Church and ye be not Unto this question next aunswered Margaret Hide saying my Lord you haue no cause to giue Sentence agaynst me for I am in the true fayth and opinion will neuer forsake it I do wishe that I were more stronger in it then I am Last of all aunswered Agnes Stanley sayd I had rather euery heare of my head were burned if it were neuer so much worth then that I will forsake my fayth and opinion which is the true fayth The tyme being now spent they were commaunded to appeare agayne at afternoone in the same place which commaundement being obeyed the Bishop firste called for Loseby after his accustomed maner willed his Articles answeres to be read in reading thereof when mention was made of the Sacrament of the Aultar the Bishoppe with his Colleagues put of their cappes Whereat Loseby sayd my Lord seing you put of your cappe I will put on my cappe there withall did put on his cappe And after the Bishop continuing in his accustomable perswasions Loseby agayn sayd vnto him my Lorde I trust I haue the spirite of truth which you detest and abhorre for the wisdome of God is foolishnes vnto you Wherupon the Byshop pronounced the sentence of condemnation agaynst him And deliuering him vnto the Sheriffe called for Margaret Hide with whō he vsed the like order of exhortatōs To whom notwithstanding she sayd I will not depart from my sayinges till I bee burned and my Lorde quoth she I would see you instruct me with some parte of Gods word not to geue me instructiōs of holybread and holy water for it is no part of the scripture But he being neither himselfe nor any of his able rightly to accomplish her request to make short worke vsed his final reason of conuincement which was of the sentence of condēnation And therfore leauing her off called for an other videl Agnes Stanley who vpon the Bishoppes like perswasions made this aunswere My Lord wher you say I am an heretick I am none neither yet will I beleue you nor any man that is wyse will beleue as you do And as for these that ye say bee burnt for heresie I beleue are true martyrs before God therefore I will not go from my opinion and fayth as long as I liue Her talk thus ended she receaued the like reward that the other had And the bishop then turning his tale maner of inticement vnto Thomas Thyrtel receiued of him likewise this finall aunswere My Lord I will not holde with youre Idolatrous wayes as you do for I saye the Masse is Idolatry and will sticke to my fayth and beliefe so long as the breath is in my body Upon which wordes he was also condemned as an hereticke Last of all was Henry Rāsey demanded if he would as the rest stand vnto his aunsweres or els recanting the same come home agayn and be a member of their church Whereunto he aunswered I will not go from my religiō and belief as long as I liue and my Lord quoth he your doctrine is naught for it is not agreable to Gods worde * The cruell burning of 5. Martyrs in Smithfield Three burned in Sainct Georges field in Southwarke AFter these moreouer in the month of May followed 3. other that suffered in S. Georges field in Southwark William Morant Stephen Gratwicke with one king Among other histories after the persecuted and condemned saintes of God I find the condemnation of none more straunge nor vnlawfull thē of this Stephen Gratwicke Who first was condemned by the byshopp of Wynchester and the byshop of Rochester which where not hys Ordinaryes Secondly when he did appeale from those imcompetēt Iudges to hys right Ordinary his appeale coulde not be admitted Thirdly when they had no other shifte to colour theyr inordinate proceedings with all they suborned one of the priestes to come in for a counterfayt and a false Ordinary and sit vpon him Fourthly being openly conuinced and ouerturned in his own argumentes yet the sayd Byshop of Winchester D. White neyther would yeald to the force of trueth nor suffer any of the audience assistant once to say God strengthen him Fiftly as
talking with his friendes he fell downe sodeinly dead not much mouing any ioynt And thus was his end from such God vs defend ¶ William Wood of Kent THe examination of William Woode Baker dwelling in the Parish of Strowd in the County of Kent before Doctor Kenall Chauncellour of the Dioces of Rochester Doctor Chadsey the Maior of Rocher and M. Robinson the Scribe the 19. day of October and in the secōd yeare of Queene Mary in S. Nicholas Church in Rochester M. Robinson William Wood you are presented because you will not come to the Church nor receiue the blessed sacrament of the Aultar Howe say you haue you receiued or haue you not Wood. I haue not receiued it nor I dare not receiue it as you do now minister it Kenall Thou Hereticke what is the cause that thou hast not receyued the blessed Sacrament of the Aultar and at this word all they put off theyr cappes and made low beisaunce Wood. There be three causes that make my conscience afeard that I dare not receiue it The first Christ did deliuer it to his xij Apostles and sayd Take eat And drinke ye all of this c. and ye eate and drinke vppe all alone The seconde cause is you hold it to be worshipped contrary to Gods comaūdements Thou shalt not bow downe nor worship The third cause is you minister it in a straunge toung contrary to S. Paules doctrine I lad rather haue fiue wordes wyth vnderstanding then ten thousand with tounges by reasō wher of the people be ignoraunt of the death of Christ. Kenall Thou hereticke wilt thou haue any playner wordes then these Hoc est corpus meum Take eat this is my body wilt thou deny the Scripture Wood. I will not deny the holy Scripturs GOD forbid but with my hart I do faythfully beleue them Saynt Paule sayth God calleth those thinges that are not as though they were And Christ sayth I am a Vyne I am a doore Saynt Paule sayth The Rocke is Christ All which are figuratiue speaches wherein one thing is spoken and an other thing is vnderstanded Robins You make a very long tale of this matter Learne Wood learne Kenall Nay these heretickes will not learne Looke howe this heretike glorieth in himselfe Thou foole art thou wiser then the Queene and her Counsell and all the learned men of this Realme Wood. And it please you Mayster Chauncellour I thinke you would be loth to haue such glory to haue your life and goodes taken away and to be thus rayled vppon as you rayle vppon me But the seruaunt is not greater then his Mayster And where you do mocke me and saye I am wiser then the Queene and her Counsell S. Paule sayth The wisedome of the wise of this world is foolishnesse before God and he that will be wise in this world shall be accounted but a foole Kenall Doest not thou beleue that after these wordes spoken by a priest Hoc est corpus meum This is my body there remayneth no more bread and Wine but the very fleshe bloud of Christ as he was borne of the virgin Mary really and substantially in quantity and quality as he did hāg vpon the Crosse Wood. I pray you M. Chaūcellour geue me leaue for my learning to aske you one question and I will aunswere you after Kenall It is some wise question I warrant you Wood. God spake to the Prophet Ezechiell saying Thou sonne of man take a rasour and shaue of the heare of thy head of thy beard and take one part and cast into the ayre take the second part and put it into thy coat lap and take the third part cast it into the fire this is Ierusalem I pray you M. Chaūcellour was this heare that the Prophet did cast into the fire or was it Ierusalem Kenall No it did signify Ierusalem Wood. Euen so this word of Christ This is my body is not so to be vnderstanded that Christes carnall naturall reall body is in the same in quantity and quality as it was borne of the virgin Mary and as he was crucified vpon the crosse is present or inclosed in the sacramēt but it doth signify Christes body as S. Paule sayth So oft as ye doe eat of this bread and drinke of this cup you shall shew forth the Lordes death til he come What should the Apostle meane by this word till he come if he were here carnally naturally corporally and really in the same quantity and quality as he was borne of the virgine Mary and as he did hang on the crosse as you say but Saynt Paule saith You shall shew the Lordes death till he come This doth argue that he is not here as you would haue vs to beleue Doctour Chadsey I will proue that Christ is here present vnder the forme of bread but not in quantity and quality Kenall sayde yes he is here present in quantitye and quality Chadsey He is here present vnder a forme and not in quātity and quality Yes sayd Kenall No sayd Chadsey I will proue him here in quantity and qualitie sayde Kenall I will proue the contrary sayd Chadsey And these two doctors were so earnest in this matter the one to affirme the other to deny contending raging so sore one at the other that they fomed at the mouth one was ready to spit in an others face so that in a great fury and rage the two Doctors rose vp from the iudgemēt seat and Doctor Kenall departed out of the Churche in greate rage and fury immediatly Wood. Behold good people they would haue vs to beleue that Christ is naturally really in quantity quality present in the Sacramēt and yet they can not tell themselues nor agree within themselues how he is there At these wordes the people made a great shout and the Maior stood vp and commaunded the people to be quiet to keep silence And that God that did deliuer S. Paul out of the handes of the high Priests by the contention that was betwene the Phariseis and the Saduces did euen so deliuer me at that time out of the mouthes of the bloudy Papistes by the meanes of the contention of these two Doctors Blessed be the name of the Lord which hath promised to laye no more vpon his then he will make them able to beare and in the midst of temptation he can make a way for his whome and when it pleaseth him to escape out of all daungers Many other like examples of Gods helpyng hande haue bene declared vpon his elect Sayntes and Children in deliuering them out of daunger by wonderfull and miraculous wayes some by one meanes some by an other What a notable worke of Gods mightye hand was seene in Simon Grinaeus mentioned in the Commentary of Melancthon vpon Daniell Who hauing a sodeine warnynge by a certaine olde man who was not seene after nor knowen then of any what he was auoided the peril
God vpon the persecutours of his people and enemyes to his word with such also as haue bene blasphemers contemners and mockers of his Religion LEauing now Queene Mary being dead and gone I come to them whiche vnder her were the chiefe Ministers and doers in this persecution the Byshops I meane and Priestes of the Clergy to whoÌ„ Queene Mary gaue all the execution of her power as did Queene Alexandra to the Phariseis after the tyme of the Machabees Of whom Iosephus thus writeth Ipsa solum nomen regium ferebat caeterum omnem regni potestatem Pharisaei possidebant That is She onely reteyned to her selfe the name and title of the kingdome but all her power she gaue to the phariseis to possesse c. Touching which Prelates and Priestes here is to be noted in lyke sorte the wonderfull and miraculous prouidence of almighty GOD which as he abridged the reigne of theyr Queene so he suffered them not to escape vnuisited first beginning with Stephen Gardiner the Archpersecutour of Christes Church whom he tooke away about the middest of the Queenes reigne Of whose poysoned lyfe and stincking end forsomuche as sufficient hath bene touched before pag. 1786. I shall not need here to make any newe rehearsall therof After him dropped other awaye also some before the death of Queene Mary and some after as Morgan Byshop of S. Dauids who sitting vppon the condemnation of the blessed Martyr bysh Farrar and vniustly vsurping his rowm not long after was stricken by Gods haue after such a strange sort that his meate would not go down but rise pycke vp agayne somtyme at his mouth sometyme blowne out of his nose most horrible to beholde so he continued till his death Where note moreouer that when Mayster Leyson being then Sheriffe at Byshop Farrars burning had fet away the cattell of the sayde Byshoppe from his seruauntes house called Matthewe Harbottell into his owne custody the cattell comming into the Sheriffes ground diuers of them would neuer eate meate but lay bellowing and roaring and so dyed This foresayd Byshoppe Morgan aboue mentioned bringeth me also in remembraunce of Iustice Morgan who sate vpon the death of the Lady Iane not long after the same fell mad and was bereft of his wittes so died hauing euer in his mouth Lady Iane Lady Iane. c. Before the death of Queene Mary dyed Doct. Dunning the bloudy and wretched Chauncellour of Norwich who after he had most rigorously condeÌ„ned and murthered so many simple and faythfull Sayntes of the Lord coÌ„tinued not longe himselfe but in the middest of his rage in Queene Maryes dayes dyed in Lincolnshyre being sodaynly taken as some say sitting in his chayre The like sodayne death fel also vpon Berry Commissary in Northfolke who as is before shewed in the story of Thomas Hudson foure dayes after Queene Maryes death when he had made a great feast and had one of hys concubines there comming home from the Church after Euensong where he hadde ministred Baptisme the same tyme betweene the Churchyard and his house sodeinly fell downe to the ground with a heauy grone and neuer styrred after neither shewed any one token of repentance What a stroke of Gods hand was brought vppon the cruell persecutour of the holy and harmeles sayntes of the Lord Byshop Thornton Suffragan of Douer who after he had exercised hys cruell tyranny vpon so many Godly men at Canterbury at length comming vppon a Saterday from the Chapter house at Caunterbury to Borne there vpon sonday following looking vpon his meÌ„ praying at the bowles â—ell sodeÌ„ly in a Palsey and so had to bed was willed to remember God Yea so I doe sayd he and my Lord Cardinall to c. After hym succeeded an othher Byshop or Suffragan ordayned by the foresayd Cardinall It is reported that he had bene Suffragan before to Boner who not 〈◊〉 after was made Bysh. or Suffragan of Douer brake his necke fallyng downe a payre of stayres in the Cardinals chaÌ„ber at Grenewich as he had receiued the Cardinals blessing Among other plentifull and sondrye examples of the Lordes iudgement and seueritie practised vpon the cruell persecutors of hys people that is not the least that followeth concerning the story of one William Fenning the effect and circumstance of which matter is this Iohn Cooper of the age of 44. yeares dwelling at Watsam in the County of Suffolke beyng by science a Carpenter a man of a very honest report a good house-keeper a harbourer of straungers that trauayled for conscience and one that fauoured Religion and those that were religious he was of honest conuersation and good lyfe hating all popish and papisticall trash This man being at home in his house there came vnto hym one William Fenning a seruing man dwellyng in the sayd Town of Watsam and vnderstanding that the sayd Cooper had a couple of fayre Bullockes did desire to buy them of hym whiche Cooper told hym that hee was loth to sell them for that hee had brought them vp for hys owne vse and if he shoulde sell them he then must be compelled to buy other and that he would not do When Fenning saw he could not get them for he had often assayed the matter he sayd he woulde sit as much in his light and so departed and weÌ„t and accused him of high treason The words he was charged with wer these how he should pray that if God would not take away Queene Mary that then he should wishe the Deuill to take her away Of these wordes did this Fenning charge him before sir Henry Doâ—ell knight vnto whome he was caryed by M. Timperley of HinchlesaÌ„ in Suffolke one Grimwood of Lowshaw CoÌ„stable which words Cooper staâ—ly denyed sayd he neuer spake them but that coulde not helpe Notwithstanding he was arrayned therfore at Berry before sir Clement Higham at a Lent assise and there this Fenning brought two noughty menne that witnessed the speaking of the foresayd wordes whose names were Richard White of Watsam and Grimwood of Higham in the sayd Countie of Suffolke Whose testimonies were receiued as truth although this good man Iohn Cooper had said what he could to declare himselfe innocent therein but to no purpose God knoweth For his life was determined as in the ende appeared by sir Clement Hyghams woordes who said he should not escape for an example to all heretickes as in deede hee throughly performed For immediatly he was iudged to be hanged drawn and quartered which was executed vpon him shortly after to the great griefe of manye a good heart Heere good Cooper is bereft of his life and leaues behinde him aliue his wife and 9. children with goodes and cattell to the value of 3. hundred markes the which substance was al taken away by the sayd sir Henry Doyel Sheriffe but his wife pore children left to the wide world in their cloathes and suffered not to enioy one pennie of that
thy oblation because it is none of thine I left it thee to relieue thy poore neighbors and thou hast not therein done according vnto this my commaundement misericordiam volo non sacrificium I had rather haue mercy done then sacrifice or oblation Wherfore vntil thou doest the one more then the other I will not accept thine oblation Euermore bestow the greatest partes of thy good in workes of mercy the lesse part in voluntary workes Uoluntary workes bee called all maner of offering in the Churche except your foure offring dayes and your tythes setting vp candles gilding and paynting building of Churches geuing of ornamēts going on pilgrimages making of high wayes and such other be called voluntary workes which works be of themselues maruellous good and conuenient to bee done Necessary workes and workes of mercy are called the commaundementes the foure offering dayes your tithe and such other that longeth to the commaundementes and workes of mercy consisteth in relieuing and vysiting thy poore neighbors Now then if men be so foolish of themselues that they will bestow the most part of theyr good in voluntary workes which they be not bounde to keepe but willingly and by theyr deuotion and leaue the necessary workes vndone which they are bounde to doe they and all theyr voluntary workes are like to goe vnto euerlasting damnation And I promise you if you builde a hundred Churches geue as much as you can make to gilding of Sayntes and honouring of the Church and if thou goe as many pilgrimages as thy body can well suffer and offer as great candles as okes if thou leaue the workes of mercye and the commaundementes vndone these workes shall nothing auaile thee No doubt the voluntary workes be good ought to be done but yet they must be so done that by theyr occasion the necessary workes and the workes of mercy be not decayed and forgotten if thou wilt builde a glorious Church vnto God see first your selues to be in charity with your neighbours suffer not them to be offended by your works Thē when you come into your parish Churche you bring with you the holy temple of God as Saynt Paule sayth you your selues be the very holy temples of God and Christ sayth by his Prophet in you I wil rest and intend to make my mansion and abiding place agayne if you list to gild and paynt Christ in your Churches and honour him in vestimentes see that before your eyes the poore people dye not for lacke of meat drinke and clothing Then do you decke the very true temple of God and honour him in rich vestures that will neuer be worne and so forth vse your selues according vnto the commaundementes and then finally set vp your candles they will report what a glorious light remayneth in your hartes for it is not sitting to see a dead man light candles Then I say go your pilgrimages builde your materiall Churches doe all your voluntary workes they will then represent vnto God and testify with you that you haue prouided him a gloryous place in your hartes But beware I say agayne that you doe not runne so farre into your voluntarye workes that ye do quite forget your necessary workes of mercye which you are bound to keepe you must haue euer a good respect vnto the best and worthiest workes toward God to be done first and with more efficacy and the other to be done secondarilye Thus if you doe with the other that I haue spoken of before you may come according to the tenor of your cardes and offer your oblations and prayers to our Lord Iesu Christ who will both heare and accept them to your euerlasting ioy and glory to the whiche he bring vs and all those whom he suffered deathe for Amen ¶ A note of William Gie. ONe William Gie seruant with Mayster Reuet marchant bought a Bible and seruice booke of Richard Waterson who then dwelt with maister Duixle in Pauls Churchyarde and one Spilman bound the booke and when the sayd Gye had enquired for the sayde Richard to haue his booke at Duxele aunswere was made that hee was not within and so the sayde Gie went his way to Spilmans for the booke and because it was not done left it there and immediately searche was made in Spilmans house and the sayd bible and seruice booke was founde caryed to Boner then Bishop of London hee hauing the bookes commaunded Spilman for the binding thereof to Lollardes Tower and as Cluny went for the key therof Spilman conueyed himselfe awaye After that Waterson and Gie being apprehended by Robin Caly Iohn Hil Iohn Auales and being two dayes in the Counter were brought before Boner and other Commissioners Beyng examined D. Story demanded Gye Wherfore he bought the Bible He aunswered to serue God withal Then said Boner our Lady matines would serue a christen man to serue God The Bible sayd Story would breed heresies a bibble babel were more fit thee So they concluded that eyther of them shoulde haue xl stripes lacking one and Boner sayd it was the law And they sayd to Waterson if he would pay xl poūd he should be released of his stripes at length they came to x. li when they saw he would not they made a warrāt to mayster Grafton and sent Waterson and Gie to Bride well to be beaten vpon the Crosse. And because the matter shoulde not be slightly handled Story was sent with thē to see it done Gie being whipped vpon the Crosse intercession was made that he might be forgeuen part of his penaunce ¶ A note of Michaels wyfe MIchaels wife afore mentioned pag. 1893. being prisoner in Ipswiche for religion resorted dayly from the prison to her husbandes house and returned agayn keeping fayth and promise And her husband thereat beyng fearefull she would comfort him saying she came not to trouble him neither shoulde hee susteyne trouble by her Wherfore she would will him to be of good cheare for her comming was of good will to see him and her children not to bring him into trouble but to shew her duety therin while she might haue libertie ¶ A note of Iohn Spycer IN Queene Maryes time there was one Iohn Spicer of whome mention is made pag. 1894. he being at the stake ready to geue his lyfe for the truth a bagge of gonpouder was brought him by his sonne And an other stāding by one named maister Beckinham tooke the gonpowder of his sonne and put it vnder the girdle of the sayd Spicer and exhorted him to be strong in the Lord also diuers of the sheriffes seruaunts comforted him in like maner and desired him not to faynt Unto whome Spicer aunswered Doubt ye not of me sayth he my soule is quiet but be you strong and stand fast in the Lord Iesus and commit your selfe to him in the confession of his holy mame and profession of his truth ¶ A note of Mandrell MAndrell standing at the stake
as is mentioned before pag. 1894. Doctor Ieffray the Chauncellour spake to him wishing him to yelde to the Doctoures who many hundreth yeares had taught otherwise then hee doth beleue c. Unto whome Mandrell aunswered M. Chauncellour sayd he trouble me with none of youre Doctours whatsoeuer they say but bring me the booke of God the olde Testament and the new and I will aunswere you What sayest thou Mandrel quod he by the sayntes in the Church the image of our Lady of the crucifixe and other holy Sayntes be they not necessary c. yes M. Chauncellour sayd hee very necessary to rost a shoulder of mutton Then Doctor Billing a frier once standing by sayd Mayster Chauncellour quod hee heare howe these heretickes speake agaynst the crucifixe and the holy crosse and yet the holy Crosse is mentioned in all the tongues both Hebrew Greek and Latine For in Latine it is called t. in Greeke tau c. Whereupon one Thomas Gilford a marchaunt of Poole standing by sayd ah mercifull Lord sayd he is not this a maruellous matter for a poore man thus to be charged and put to the paynes of fire for t. tau When Maundrell and Spicer were examined before the Chauncellour the Chauncellour called them saying Come on come on sayth he thou Spicer art to blame for thou haste taught Maundrell these heresies Thou arte by thy occupation a Brickeleyer Yea that I am And can sing in the Quyre Yea that I can sayth he And can play on the Orgaynes True sayth hee Well then sayde the Chauncellour and thou hast marred this poore man and hast taught him all these heresies No Mayster Chauncellour quoth he I haue not taught him but I haue read to him He is able thankes be to God to teache both you and me ¶ A note of Elizabeth Pepper ELizabeth Pepper before mentioned pag. 1916. when she was burned at Stratford was xj weekes gone with child as she then testified to one Bosomes wife who then vnloosed her neckerchiefe saying moreouer whē she was asked why she did not tell them aunswered why quoth she they know it well enough Oh suche is the bloudy hartes of this cruell generation that no occasion can stay them from their mischieuous murdering of the saintes of the Lord that truly professe Christ crucified onely and alone for the satisfaction of their sinnes ¶ A note of one confessing Gods truth at the Gallowes A Notorious fellone one Dick Adams beyng vpon the gallowes making his confession and ready to be caste downe from the ladder was desired at that instant by one maistres Harries the Grammer schoolemaisters wyfe to remember the blessed sacrament before he died to whome the said Adams sayde marrie maistresse neuer in better tyme who went vp to the toppe of the ladder and sayde it was the most abhominable idoll that euer was and willed all men to take it so for we haue bene greatly deceyued thereby Whereupon the Shiriffe caused him to holde his peace and to take his death patiently He went down to his place and was cast from the ladder speaking to his last worde that it was an abhominable Idoll his bodye therfore was buryed out of the Church yarde by the high way who although he was a chiefe in his life yet he earnestly repented thereof that I doubt not but he dyed the childe of God and not vnworthy to be put in the register of the Lordes accepted Confessors ¶ A note of Gertrude Crokehay IN the late dayes of queene Mary among other straūge dealinge of the Papistes with the faythfull this is not with the rest to be forgotten that a godly Matrone named Gertrude Crokhay the wife of Mayster Robert Crokehay dwellinge then at S. Katherins by the Tower of London absteyned her selfe from the Popish church And she being in her husbands house it happened in an 1556. that the foolish popishe Saynt Nicholas went aboute the Parish which she vnderstanding shut her doores agaynst him and would not suffer him to come within her house Then Doctor Mallet hearing therof and being thē maister of the sayd Saint Katherins the next day came to her with xx at his tayle thinking belike to fray her and asked why she would not the night before let in Saynt Nicholas and receiue his blessing c. To whom she aunswered thus Syr I know no Saynt Nicholas sayd she that came hither Yes quoth Mallet here was one that represēted S. Nicolas In deed sir sayd she here was one that is my neighbours childe but not S. Nicholas For S. Nicholas is in heauen I was afrayd of them that came with him to haue had my purse cutte by them For I haue heard of men robbed by Saint Nicholas Clerkes c. So Mallet perceiuing nothing to be gotten at her handes went his way as he came and she for that time so escaped Then in an 1557. a litle before Whitsontide it happened that the sayd Gertrude aunswered for a childe that was baptised of one Thomas Saunders whiche childe was christened secretly in a house after the order of the seruice booke in king Edwardes time and that being shortly knowne to her enemies she was sought for which vnderstanding nothing therof wēt beyond the sea into Gelderland for to see certayne lands that should haue come to her childrē in the right of her first husband who was a straūger borne And being there about a quarter of a yeare at the length comming homeward by Antwarpe chaunced to meet with one Iohn Iohnson a dutch man alias Iohn Dewille of Antwarpe shipper who seing her there went of malice to the Margraue and accused her to be an Anabaptist whereby she was taken and caried to prison The cause why this noughtye man did thus was for that hee claymed of Mayster Crokhay her husband a piece of money which was not his due for a shippe that the sayd master Crokhay bought of him and for that he could not get it wrought this displeasure Well she being in prison lay there a fortnight in whiche time she sawe some that were Prisoners there who priuily were drowned in Renishe wine fattes and after secretly put in sackes and cast into the Riuer Now she good woman thinking to be so serued tooke thereby such feare that it brought the beginning of her sickenes of the which at length she dyed Then at the last she was called before the Margraue and charged with Anabaptistrye which shee there vtterly denyed detested the error declaring before him in dutch her fayth boldly without any feare So the Margraue hearing the same in the ende being well pleased with her profession at the sute of some of her frendes deliuered her out of prison but tooke away her booke and so she came ouer into England agayne And being at home in her husbandes house he thinking to finde meanes to gette her to go abroad made one Uicars a yeoman of the Tower hys frend who was great with Boner to worke that liberty for her
rauening extortioning or with vsury oppressing the poore and nedy but stedfast vnmoueable liuing in the feare of Gods iudgementes and trust vpon his mercy mortifying our brutish and carnall lustes being mercifull and helpeful to the poore and nedy wayting for the blessed time when Christ shall call vs to be ready accepted before him Our merciful Lord good Father graunt vs grace so to doe for the loue of his deare sonne Iesus Christ our certayne and most deare Sauior to whom with the father the holy ghost be all honor for euer and euer Amen Psalme Cxv. Precious in the sighte of the Lord is the death of his sayntes Apocalips vi These are they which are come out of great troubles and haue washed theyr clothes and made them white in the bloude of the lambe ¶ Certayne Cautions of the Authour to the Reader of thinges to be considered in reading this story AMongst other escapes and ouersightes in the Edition of this story committed part of them we leaue to thine owne gentle castigation gentle reader certaine other specialities there be whereof wee thought it good and expedient to geue thee warning as hereafter followeth First when mention is made pag. 34. of Peters being at Rome and suffering at Rome following certayne Authors yet forsomuch as other writers there be reasons to proue that he was not at Rome I desire thee therfore that this my affirmation may not preiudice other mens iudgementes if anye see or can say further in that matter Touching the story of the Turkes where as I in following our Christian Authours writing of the Turkes haue noted in the pag. 747. Solymannus to be the 12. Turke after Ortomannus as they do all record I haue found since by the computation of the Turkes set forth in the Table of theyr owne discent the sayde Solymannus to be but the 6. emperor of the Turks this Solimannus his sonne which now reygneth to be but the twelfe Which I thought here to signifie vnto thee because of theyr own turkish prophecie noted in the pag. 771. lest in construing of that Prophecie being in the same place expounded thou be deceiued Item 1245. where mayster George Blag is named to be one of the priuie chamber here is to be noted also that although he were not admitted as one of the priuy chamber yet his ordinary resort thither and to the kinges presence there was such as although hee were not one of them yet was he so commonly taken Item pag. 1367. in the story of the Duke of Somerset where it is sayde that at the returne of the Earle of Warwicke out of Norfolke there was a consultation amongst the Lordes assembling themselues together in the house of M. Yorke c. agaynst the Duke of Somerset here is to be noted that the comming of the Lordes to the said house of M. Yorke was not immediately vpon the Duke of Northumberlandes returne but first hee went to Warwicke and from thence after a space came to the house aforesayd Item here is also to be noted touching the sayd Duke of Somerset that albeit at his death relation is made of a sodeine falling of the people as was at the taking of christ this is not to be expounded as though I compared in any part the Duke of Somerset with Christ. And though I do something more attribute to the coÌ„mendation of the sayd Duke of Somerset which dyed so constantly in his religion yet I desire thee gentle reader so to take it not that I did euer meane to derogate or empeyre the martiall prayse or â—actes of other men which also are to be commended in suche thinges where they well deserued Item touching the same Duke of Somerset where the story sayth pag. 1367. he was attaynted read indited Item pag. 1418. where mention is made of one Nicolas Underwood to be the betrayer of the Duke of Suffolke ioyne with the sayd Underwood also Nicolas Laurence alias Nicolas Ethell keeper of Asteley Parke who taking vpon him and promising to keepe the Duke for 2. or three dayes vntill hee might finde some meanes to escape conueyed him into an hollowe tree and after moste trayterously bewrayed him Item fol. 1419. in the Storye of Syr Thomas Wyat there is also to be corrected that where the story sayth that he was taken by Syr Clement Parson which was not so nor he no such knight amend it thus that he first came to Clarentius being sent vnto him and afterward yealded him to Syr Mortis Bartly Briefly and in generall besides these castigations aboue noted if thou finde any other committed in the printing hereof gently I desire thee gentle reader to bestowe a little paynes with thine owne hand to amend them * Notes omitted of them that were burnt at Bristowe THe viij daye of August 1953. was brought Wil. Sarton weauer of Bristow before one Dalbie Chauncellour of Bristow aforesaid and by him committed to prison and also condemned for holding that the sacrament was a signe of an holy thing also he denyed that the flesh and bloud of Christ is there after their words of consecration he was burned the xviij of september 1556. and as he weÌ„t to the fire he sang the Psalmes The Sheriffe Ioh. Griffith had prepared greene wood to burne him but one mayster Iohn Pikes pitieng the man caused diuers to goe wyth him to Ridland halfe a myle of who brought good store of helme sheaues which in deede made good dispatch with little payne in comparison to that he should haue suffered with the greene woode In the meane space whilest they went for the sheues the sayde Sarton made many good exhortations to the people and after dyed constantly and patiently with great ioyfulnes * A note of Prestes wyfe of Exceter IN Cornewall not farre from Launceston within the Dioces of Exceter in Queene Maryes dayes dwelled a poore man whose name was Prest his wife beyng an honest woman very simple but of good zeale and vpright life being taught by God in hearing of his worde albeit it was in those dayes very seldome preached anye where and feeling a sweete taste thereof framed her lyfe a new after the rule of the same And banished quite from her all the popishe dregges of superstition and hipocrisie gaue her selfe wholly to prayer and inuocating the name of God both for the afflicted Church of Christ in those dayes very dangerously rost and tormoyled as also for her own inward contentation and spirituall consolation whiche she no little felt to her vnspeakeable ioy and incomparable comfort And when some who before had known her sawe that marueilous chaunge in her and as the cruell serpent enueying her felicitie went vpoÌ„ the same immediately and accused her to certayn Iustices of the shire being extreme enemies to the truth and very persecutors of the same who taking the matter in hande as very glad of such occasion sent for her to the place where she was and