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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51699	A cloud of witnesses, or, The sufferers mirrour made up of the swanlike-songs, and other choice passages of several martyrs and confessors to the sixteenth century, in their treatises, speeches, letters, prayers, &c. in their prisons, or exiles, at the bar, or stake, &c. / collected out of the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius, Fox, Fuller, Petrie, Scotland, and Mr. Samuel Ward's Life of faith in death, &c. and alphabetically disposed by T.M., M.A.; Cloud of witnesses. Part 1	Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30.; Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1665 (1665)	Wing M329; ESTC R21709	379,698	602

and have neglected my time and have unhappily provoked both my self and others to anger by that Play Wherefore besides other my innumerable faults for this I desire you to invocate the mercy of the Lord that he will pardon me This Letter to this Minister was not to be opened by him before he was sure of Mr. Hus his death In a Treatise De Sacerdotum c. before mentioned he hath these words In writing these things and what else I have written before nothing else hath moved me hereunto but onely the love of our Lord Jesus crucified whose prints and stripes according to the measure of my weakness and vileness I covet to bear in my self beseeching him to give me grace that I never seek to glory in my self or in any thing else but onely in his Cross and in the inestimable ignominy of his Passion I do not therefore doubt but these things will like all such as unfeignedly love the Lord Christ crucified and will not mislike not a little all such as be of Antichrist durst not have so written unless the Lord Jesus Christ crucified by his inward motion had so commanded me Hyperius O what a difference is there said Martin Hyperius betwixt this and eternal fire Who would shun this to leap into that FINIS A CLOUD OF VVITNESSES OR THE Sufferers Mirrour Made up of The SWANLIKE-SONGS and other CHOICE PASSAGES of several MARTYRS and CONFESSORS to the end of the Sixteenth Century in their Treatises Speeches Letters Prayers c. in their Prisons or Exiles at the Bar or Stake c. Collected out of The Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius Fox Fuller Clark Petrie Scotland And Mr. Samuel Ward 's Life of Faith in Death c. and Alphabetically disposed By T. M. M.A. The second Part. Deut. 32.7 Remember the dayes of old consider the years of many generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee Psal. 44.22 For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as Sheep to the slaughter Phil. 1.28 In nothing be terrified by your adversaries c. Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Robert Boulter 1665. A brief account of what may be expected in this Collection by a friend to the Author READER IT is a comfort Thetis gives her brave Son in Homer that though he should be short liv'd yet he should continue himself in the admiration of posterity Though these blessed Martyrs and Saints departed sought not glory to themselves yet they all obtained a good report and their memory is blessed whilst the memory of the wicked rots or which is far worse stinks I grant many of them went in a siery Chariot to Heaven yet those Mantles that fell from them may through the concurs of God so spirit oth●rs that they may do worthily in Ephrat● though they never arrive to the glory of the ●irst Worthies I d●ubt not but many of them might by their staying l●nger in their houses of Booths have been very beneficial to the World yet Sampson's violent death was not without profit to the Church of God in pulling down the House of the Philistines And therefore I cannot but commend the Essay and elaborate Collections of this Author in reviving the Memories of these Ancient Christians It was well observed by Sir Francis Bacon That old Wood is best to burn and old Friends best to trust and old Books best to read Hence Scholars set a great price upon an ancient Manuscript Here are old things men of ancient dayes and old Books in a new Edition for thy benefit Here you will not find the fault that Historians are commonly guilty of who like flattering Limners draw too favourably or shadow over a wrinckle and slily forge in some secret grace Here is an honest Pen modestly but yet faithfully giving thee an account of Believers who through much faith patience and tribulation entred into the King●ome of Heaven Here are worthy Patterns for you to follow glorious Copies for you who are but Beginners in the World to write after They all call upon you so to follow them as they followed Christ. Here is a Cloud of Witnesses which if you have with Iesus in your eye you will be the better prepared to lay aside every weight and to run with patience the race that is set before you Man is led by nothing better then by example and examples of great Ones are most effectual Such are these I know abundantly how this lazy formal Age is ready to look on Scripture-Worthies as men unimitable as Giants to whose stature they despair ever to arrive But h●re you may be tolled on in your active and passive obedience as lazy Travellers will h●ld out with good Company which beat the Path before them Here is no excuse left of frailty which we are ready to make against obedience for th●se presidents in all Ages abudantly testifie that we frail men by the power of the same grace of God may reach to the same perfections We are too apt in these dayes to think our selves good enough if we find any worse then our selves but we should not content our selves to run with the Foot-men but to excell the best I have of late thought it a very high way to growth and perfection to collect some of the choicest frames of the best Christians and alwayes set them before us Blessed be the Lord this is done to thy hand and mayest thou reap the advantage of this labour Here thou mayest read thy defects in these holy mens excesses and amend thy self without any diminution to their glory Here thou mayest receive light from that which dazleth thee and lustre from that which at present ecclipseth thee When thou considerest what a dastardly cowardly Spirit is within thee what an Enemy of the Cross of Christ thou art here is that which will promote thy shame that these under the dawnings of Gospel-glory and grace should be as bold as Lions whil●t thou art as timerous as an Hare How do we shrink and tremble whilst these were as Rocks in the midst of the Floods standing unmoveable when the Winds blew and the Seas made a noise I heartily wish that the dew of Heaven may fall upon these holy Reliques that such a Spirit may attend the Reader as did these when called before Kings and Rulers for the Name of Christ. I heartily wish that these experiments of Gods presence with his suffering and witnessing Saints may help thee to trust in God I kn●w you ought to trust God upon his single Bond without a Pawn or Pledge of his Power and Faithfulness but certainly Faith is wonderfully holpen by former experiences in all Ages and therefore let this Epitome of the Bo●k of Martyrs as to the Martyrs sayings strengthen thy confidence and make thee r●ly on God as a constant tried Friend Th●se are all great instanc●s that God is seen in the Mount that he hath good

Testament saith Exod. 20. Deut. 6. Thou shalt make no Image The New saith that Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it Matth. 5. Christ therefore hath left the commandments of the old Law unto the Church in which he saith Thou shalt not make any Image Of late years Images were in the Temple and honoured with pater noster heart and mind leg and knee Now they be applyed to another use to teach the people to be Lay-mens Books as Damascene c. saith O blasphemous and devillish Doctrine The most perfect Churches of the Prophets Christ and his Apostles used no such mean and we ought to follow them and the Word of God writ by the Prophets and Apostles The words of Gregory ad Seren. Episcop M●ssil part 10. Ep. 4. should move no man though he say Quod legentibus Scriptura hoc ideotis pictura praestat cernentibus This is but Gregory's opinion Epiphanius was not of his mind He willed the occasion of ill to be taken out of the Church as Paul commandeth 1 Thes. 5. This Doctor was as all men know of singular learning and vertue Again against the Authority of Gregory the Great I set the Authority of Athanasius the Great who denieth in express words the Images to be the Books of the Lay people Lactantius Firmianus crieth so out against Images that he saith there can be no true Religion where they be Tertullian judgeth the same Loved we God we would be content with the Scripture Shall not the Patriarks Prophets Christ and his Apostles suffice the Church of God What although many learned men have approved Images should their wisdome maintain any contrary to the Word of God Such as defend them have nothing but sophistical arguments to blind the people with The Scripture nor Apostles Church used none Had all Asia Africa and Europe and Gabriel the Archangel descended from Heaven approved the use of Images forasmuch as the Apostles never taught nor wrote any such thing their Authority should have no place the Word of God solely and onely is to be prefer'd which forbiddeth Images ch 10. The Office of Christ to sanctifie us according to Iohn 17.1 sanctifie my self that they may be sanctified doth abrogate all other things that mans constitutions attribute any holiness unto as bewitched water c. for onely Christ sanctifieth and all holiness we must attribute unto him Sacraments must be used holily yet not have this Office of Christ added to them ch 11. In the later dayes when Christ as King was to be born the Angel declared the Power and Puissance of his Kingdome He shall reign over the house of Jacob and of his Kingdome there shall be no end Luke 1. Although the Commonwealth of the Church hath no certain place appointed where it shall remain as it was appointed in the old Law yet certain we be that this Kingdome of Christ remaineth upon the Earth and shall do till the Earth be burned Matth. 16.28 1 Cor. 15. Howbeit as Christ wan and obtained this Kingdome in the later dayes without shield or spear so doth he preserve it with his holy Spirit and not with carnal weapons My Kingdome is not of this world John 18. Meaning he would not reign in this world as a Prince of this world in pomp and pride but defend his people with his holy Spirit that the Devil and the World should not break their patience though many afflictions and sorrows should fight against them for the Truth 's sake Christ doth not deny to be King of the world but he meant not to reign worldlily to the hinderance and defacing of the Emperours Dignity and Title as the Jews falsly accused him as Cyrillus l. 12. c. 10. in Iohannem saith This Kingdome shall be ever persecuted till the worlds end Isaiah the Prophet described the Church of this present life saying He will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction but he will not remove thy teachers chap. 30.20 Thus the Church shall alwayes remain but in affliction I know such as favour not the Truth will interpret my words that I condemn all Princes and Kings as enemies of the Gospel because they peaceably enjoy their Kingdomes whereas I wish them alwayes so to do to the glory of God but of the one thing I will assure every Prince of world The more sincere he is in the Cause of God the more shall be his Cross. God indeed preserveth above humane reason his Ministers as he did Iacob from the hands of Esau David from Saul Daniel from the Lions and Paul in the Ship when there was no humane hope of salvation Likewise he governeth his Church with his onely Laws The onely Law whereunto this Congregation is bound is the Gospel as Christ saith Iohn 4. The Holy Ghost shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things which I have said unto you Here Christ bindeth the Apostles and all the Church unto the things that he had taught them Such as teach the people to know the Commonwealth of the true Church by these signs the traditions of men and the succession of Bishops teach wrong Those two false opinions have given unto the succession of Bishops power to interpret the Scripture and power to make such Laws in the Church as it pleased them God hath given the Civil Magistrates power and authority to make such Laws for the Commonwealth as shall be agreeable with reason and not against Gods Law and likewise power to interpret the same Laws but this is not to be admitted in the Church unto whom God hath given the Gospel and interpreted the same by his onely Son taught the meaning and contents thereof himself The adversaries of the Truth defend many an errour under the name of the holy Church when the Church therefore is named diligently consider when the Articles they would defend were accepted of the Church by whom and who was the Author of them Leave not till the matter be brought unto the first original and most perfect Church of the Apostles If thou find by their writings that their Church used the thing that the Preacher would prove then accept it or else not Be not amazed though they speak of never so many years nor name never so many Doctors If either the Authority of Bishops or the greater part should have power to interpret the Scripture the sentence of the Pharisees should have been prefer'd before the sentence of Zachary Simion Elizabeth or the blessed Virgin Consider the true Church is many time but a small Congregation as Isaiah saith Unless God had left us a remnant we had been as Sodom Therefore the interpretation of the Scripture is not obligated to ordinary power nor the most part Beware of deceit when thou hearest the name of the Church The verity is then assaulted They call the Church of the Devil the holy Church many time Remember Christian Reader that the gift of interpreting the Scripture is

Lord be merciful to me a sinner Remember the horrible History of Iulian of old and the lamentable case of Spira of late whose case methinks should be so green in your remembrance that being a thing of our time you should fear the like inconvenience seeing you are fallen into the like offence Last of all 〈◊〉 the lively remembrance of the last Day be alwayes before your eyes remembring the terrour that at that time shall befall the Runagates and Fugitives from Christ who setting more by the world then by Heaven more by their life then by him that gave them life did shrink yea fall away from him that forsook not them and contrariwise the inestimable joyes prepared for them that fearing 〈◊〉 peril nor dreading death have manfully fought and victoriously triumphed over all power of darkness over hell death and damnation through their most renowned Captain Christ who now stretcheth out his arms to receive you ready to fall upon your neck and kiss you and to feast you with the dainties and delicates of his own precious blood which undoubtedly if it might stand with his determinate purpose he would not let to shed again rather then you shall be lost The night before she suffered she sent unto her Sister the Lady K●therine the New Testament in Greek at the end whereof she wrote thus I have sent you good Sister a Book which although it be not outwardly trimmed with Gold yet inwardly it is more worth then precious stones It is the Book of the Law of the Lord. It is his Testament and last Will which he bequeathed unto us wretches which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy and if you with a good mind read it and with an earnest mind do purpose to follow it it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life It shall teach you to live and learn you to die It shall win you more then you should have gained by the possession of your woful Fathers lands for as if God had prospered him you should have inherited his lands so if you ply diligently this Book seeking to direct your life after it you shall be an inheriter of such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you nor the thief steal nor the moth corrupt Desire with David to understand the Law of the Lord God Live still to die that you by death may purchase eternal life Trust not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen your life the young die if God call assoon as the old Labour alwayes to learn to die defie the world deny the Devil and despise the flesh and delight your self onely in the Lord. Be penitent for your sins but yet despair not be strong in faith and yet presume not Desire with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ with whom even in death there is life Be like the good Servant and even at mid-night be waking least when death cometh and stealeth upon you as a thief in the night you be with the evil Servant found sleeping and least for lack of oyl ye be found like the foolish women and like him that had not on the Wedding Garment and then ye be cast out from the Marriage Rejoyce in Christ as I do Follow the steps of your Master Christ and take up your Cross. Lay your sins on his back and alwayes embrace him And as concerning my death rejoyce as I do that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption for I am assured that I shall for loosing of a mortal life win an immortal life the which I pray God grant you and send you of his grace to live in his fear and to die in the true Christian Faith from the which in Gods Name I exhort you that you never swarve neither for hope of life nor fear of death for if you will deny his truth for to lengthen your life God will deny you and yet shorten your dayes And if you will cleave unto him he will prolong your dayes to your comfort and his glory to the which glory God bring me now and you hereafter when it shall please him to call you Fare you well good Sister and put your onely trust in God who onely must help you In her Speech upon the Scaffold Good people I am come hither to die and by a Law I am condemned to the same The Fact against the Queens Highness was unlawful and the consenting thereunto by me but touching the procurement and desire thereof I do wash my hands thereof in innocency before God and you and therewith she wrung her hands I pray you bear me witness that I die a true Christian and that I look to be saved by no other mean but onely by the mercy of God in the blood of his onely Son Jesus Christ. I confess when I did know the Word of God I neglected the same loved my self and the world and therefore this plague is worthily happened to me for my sins and yet I thank God of his goodness that he hath thus given me a time and respite to repent and now good people while I am alive I pray you assist me with your Prayers In her Prayer Thou O Lord art the onely Defender and Deliverer of those that put their trust in thee and therefore I being defiled with sin c. overwhelmed with miseries vexed with temptations and grievously tormented With the long imprisonment of this vile mass of clay my sinful body doth come unto thee O merciful Saviour craving thy mercy and help who hast said Thou wilt not suffer us to be tempted above our power O merciful God consider my misery best known unto thee and be thou unto me a strong Tower of defence Suffer me not to be tempted above my power but either be thou a Deliverer to me out of this great misery or else give me grace patiently to bear thy heavy hand and sharp correction It was thy right hand that delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh who for the space of four hundred years did oppress them and keep them in bondage O deliver me sorrowful wretch for whom thy Son Christ shed his precious blood on the Cross out of this miserable captivity and bondage How long wilt thou be absent for ever O Lord hast thou forgotten to be gracious and shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure Wilt thou be no more entreated Is thy mercy clean gone for ever and thy promise come utterly to an end for evermore Why dost thou make so long tarrying Shall I despair of thy mercy O God far be that from me I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus give me therefore grace to tarry thy leisure When the Handkerchief was tied about her eyes she kneeling down and feeling for the Block said What shall I do where is it and being directed by one of the Standers by she laid her head down upon the Block and stretching forth her Body

age and by the same Spirit he did so evidently foreshew and prophesie of all those plagues which a●terward ensued that if England ever had a Prophet he was one As touching himself he ever affirmed That the preaching of the Gospel would cost him his li●e to the which he no less chearfully prepared himself then certainly was perswaded that Winch●ster was kept in the Tower for that purpose as the event did too truly prove the same It may be queried Seeing that Latimer was outed of his Bishoprick in the dayes of King Henry the Eighth on the account of the sixth Article why was he not restored to the same under King Edward the Sixth especiall seeing Heath his Successour was legally deprived and the place actually void whereas on the contrary Hugh Latimer continued Hugh Latimer without any addition of preferment A late Ecclesiastical Historian answers It was not for want of any favour from the King c. nor because his down-right Sermons disobliged the Courtiers who generally delight in soft Preaching as in soft Clothing nor out of sullenness because he would not be bedded again with that wife which though unwillingly had in his absence embraced another c. But we impute it either to his conscience oft-times sharpest in the bluntest men because he would not be built on the ruines of another especially knowing Heath one of a meek and moderate nature or to his age who Barzillai like was superannuated for earthly honour c. Or because he found himself not fit for Government better for Preaching then Ordering Ecclesi●stical Affairs Or lastly because he prophetically foresaw that the ingratitude of the English Nation would shorten their happiness and King Edward's life and he was loth to come into a place onely to go out thereof Sure I am it was a loud lye which Parsons tells That Latimer was kept bare He kept himself bare living not in the want but neglect yea contempt of all worldly wealth though he was the Corban or Treasury into which restored-ill-gotten-goods were cast to be bestowed on the poor according to his discretion At the coming of Queen Mary by the means no doubt of Winchester a Pursevant was sent down to cite him to appear at London of which Iohn Carles gave him notice six hours before yet he would not escape but prepared himself for his journey before the said Messenger came to his house at which the Pursevant wondred thereupon he said unto him My Friend you be a welcome Messenger to me And be it known unto you and to all the world that I go as willingly to London at this present being called by my Prince to render an account of my Doctrine as ever I was at any place in the world I doubt not but that God as he hath made me worthy to preach his Word before two excellent Princes so will he enable me to witness the same unto the third either to her comfort or discomfort eternally c. As he came up to London through Smithfield without the Pursevant for he having delivered his Letters departed affirming that he had command not to tarry for him whereby it is evident they would have had him fled out of the Realm he said merrily That Smithfield had long groaned for him In the Tower being kept without fire in the frosty weather he bade the Lieutenant's man tell his Master That if he did not look better to him perhaps he would deceive him The Lieutenant charging him with these words His Answer was I did indeed say so for you look I think that I should burn but except you let me have some fire I am like to deceive your expectation for I am like here to starve for cold From the Tower he was transported to Oxford with Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley to dispute with the learned Men of both Universities about the Presence Substance and Sacrifice of the Sacrament When he was brought before the Commissioners and appointed to dispute he alledged age sickness disuse and lack of Books saying That he was almost as meet to dispute as to be a Captain of Calice but he would he said declare his mind either by writing or word and would stand to all that they could lay upon his back complaining That he was permitted to have neither Pen nor Ink nor any Book but onely the New Testament then in his hand which he said he had read over seven times deliberately and yet could not find the Mass in it neither the Marrow-bones nor the sinewes of the same When he was brought to dispute in the Close of his Protestation which he delivered to Dr. Weston in writing saying Let me here protest my Faith for I am not able to dispute and afterwards do your pleasure with me He hath these words O Sir you may chance to live till you come to this age and weakness that I am of I have spoken in my time before two Kings more then once two or three hours together without interruption but now I could not be suffered to declare my mind before you no not by the space of a Quarter of an hour without snatchings revilings checks rebukes and taunts I pray God give you grace ever well to use your gifts and ever to remember That he that dwelleth on High looketh on the low things on the earth and that there is no counsel against the Lord and also that this World hath been and yet is a tottering World and that though we must obey Princes yet in the Lord for who so doth obey them against the Lord they be most pernicious to them and the greatest adversaries that they have for they so procure Gods vengeance on them if God be onely the Ruler of things I would as fain obey my Sovereign as any in this Realm but in these things I can never do it with an upright conscience God be mercifull to us Amen Then said West●n you refuse to dispute will you here then subscribe No good Master said Mr. Latimer I pray be good to an old man you may if it please God be once as old as I am you may come to this age and to this debility Dr. Cartwright telling him That he was of his opinion but he was sorry for it and desired he might repent also Will you give me leave said Mr. Latimer to tell what hath caused Mr. Doctor here to recant It is Poena Legis the Pain of the Law hath brought you back and converted you and many more the which letteth many to confess God And this is a great Argument There are few here that can dissolve it Smith telling him He was not of Chrysostome's and St. Austine's Faith I am said he of their Faith when they say well and bring Scripture for them and farther Austine requireth not to be believed Weston telling him He could not have found his Doctrine forty years agone The more cause said he have we to thank God that hath now sent the

should do evil that good may come thereof though he meant nothing so c. Now my Lord will not think I dare say that St. Paul was too blame that he spake no more warily or more plainly to avoid the offence of the people but rather the people for that they took no better heed to his meaning yea he will pity the people who had been so long nuzled in the Doctrine of the Pharisees and wallowed so long in darkness of mans Traditions and Superstitions that they were unapt to receive the bright Light of the Truth and wholesome Doctrine of God uttered by St. Paul nor do I think that my Lord will require more circumspection in me then was in St. Paul when he did not escape slanderous reports of them that be of corrupt judgements who reported him to say whatsoever he appeared to them to say or whatsoever seemed to them to follow of his saying So they report us to say saith Paul so they speak evil of us whose damnation is just And I think the damnation of all such that evil report Preachers now adayes is just also yea Christ himself was mis-reported and falsly accused both as to his words and also as concerning the meaning of his words He said Destroy you they made it I can destroy He said This Temple they added Made with hands to bring it to a contrary sense He did mean of the Temple of his Body and they did wrest it to Solomon's Temple There be three sorts of persons which can make no credible information 1 Adversaries 2 Ignorant ones and without judgement 3 Whisperers which will spew out in hudder mudder more then they dare avow openly The first will not the second cannot the third dare not Therefore the relation of such is not credible and cannot occasion any indifferent Judge to make process against any man It is a great commendation to be evil spoken of them that be naught themselves and to be commended of such is many times no little reproach God send us all grace to wish well one to another and to speak well one of another Meseems it were more comely for my Lord if it were comely for me to say so to be a Preacher himself having so great a Cure as he hath then to be a Disquieter of Preachers and to preach nothing at all himself I am sure St. Paul the true Minister of God and faithful Dispenser of Gods Mysteries and right Exemplar of all true and very Bishops saith Though some preach Christ of envy thinking to obscure me and bring my authority into contempt some of good will thinking to comfort me notwithstanding so that Christ be preached I joy and will joy So much he regarded more the Glory of Christ and Promotion of Christs Doctrine to the edification of Souls then the Maintenance of his own Authority Reputation and D●gnity considering that what Authority he had it was to Edification and not to Destruction Now I think it were no reproach to my Lord but rather very commendable to joy with Paul and be glad that Christ be preached qis vis modo yea though it were for envy in disdain despite and contempt of his Lordship The University of Cambridge hath Authority to admit twelve early of which I am one and the Kings Highness did decree That all admitted of Universities should preach throughout his Realm as long as they preached well To inhibit a Preacher admitted of the King is to disobey the King We low Subjects are bound to obey Powers and their Ordinances and are not the highest Subjects also who ought to give us an ensample of such obedience As for my preaching it self I trust in God my Lord of London cannot justly blame and reprove it if it be taken as I spake it or else it is not my preaching but his that falsly reporteth it as Martial saith to one that depraved his Book Quem recitas meus est O Fidentine libellus Sed male dum recitas incipit esse tuus In English thus Mine is the Book thou readest Fidentine But thou not reading right dost make it thine Now I hear that my Lord of London is informed and hath informed the King that I go about to defend Bilney and his cause against his Ordinaries and Iudges whereas I had nothing to do with Bilney except his Judges did him wrong for I did nothing else but admonish all Judges indifferently to do right It might have become a Preacher to say as I said though Bilney had never been born I have known Bilney a great while I think much better then ever did my Lord of London and to tell you the truth I have known hitherto few such so prompt and ready to do every man good after his power both friends and foes c. In sum a very simple good Soul nothing meet for this wretched world whose blind fashion and miserable state yet far from Christs Doctrine he could as evil bear and would sorrow lament and bewail it as much as any man that ever I knew I cannot but wonder if a man living so mercifully so charitably so patiently so continently so studiously and vertuously and killing his old Adam i. e. mortifying his evil effections and blind motions of his heart so diligently should die an evil death Let him that standeth beware that he fall not I am ignorant in things that I trust hereafter to know as I do now know things in which I have been ignorant heretofore It were too long to tell you what blindness I have been in and how long it was ere I could forsake such folly it was so incorporate in me but by continual prayer continual study of Scripture and oft communicating with men of more right judgement God hath delivered me c. yea men think that my Lord himself hath in times past thought that by Gods Law a man might marry his Brothers Wife who now both dares think and speak the contrary and yet this his boldness might have chanced in Pope Iulius his dayes to stand him either in a Fire or a Fagot Which thing pondered of my Lord might somewhat stir him up to charitable equity towards such who labour to do good as their power serveth with knowledge and do hurt to no man with their ignorance for there is no greater distance then between Gods Law and not Gods Law nor is it so or so because any man thinketh it so or so but because it is so or so indeed therefore we must think it so or so when God shall give us knowledge thereof for if it be indeed either so or not so it is so or not so though all the world have thought so these thousand years c. The matter is weighty as you say and ought to be substantially looked upon even as weighty as my life is worth but how to look substantially upon it otherwise know not I then to pray my Lord God night and day that as he hath emboldned me

if it may be put to your helping hand by bridling those Parasites the great Enemies of Peace whilst they pretend to be for peace None may presume that I will recant I cannot bear the imposition of any Laws for the interpreting of the Word of God which ought not to be bound c. These two things excepted there is nothing that I cannot yea will not do or suffer for peace I hate contentions I will provoke none no more will I be provoked If I be provoked I will not be without a tongue for my Master Christ. Take heed my Father of hearkning to those Syrens who make you more then a meer man even an half God so that you may command any thing These are your Enemies and seek your soul to destroy How unlike is Christ unto his Successors who yet would be his Vicars and I fear many are so too properly A Vicar is of one absent If the Pope be President Christ being absent what is he other then Christs Vicar But what then is that Church but a multitude without Christ and what is such a Vicar but Antichrist and an Idol How much better do the Apostles who call themselves the Servants of Christ present not the Vicars of Christ absent In his Appeal Nov. 17. 1520. Seeing Leo the Tent doth persevere hardned in his tyranny and hath by his Bull condemned unheard and unconvicted and moreover as an Infidel and an Apostate doth flie and find fault with Councils and most wickedly prefer his Tyranny before their Power and most impudently doth require me to deny the Faith of Christ c. and to omit nothing that may shew him to be Antichrist doth subject the Scripture to himself and with incredible blasphemy trample thereupon I Martin Luther do make it known to all that I stick to my former Appeal from him to the next Council c. In a Letter of his to Herman Tulichins before his Treatise de Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae Whether I will or no I am made more learned daily so many and so great Masters contending with me I have writ more then two years ago concerning Indulgences but so that I am now wonderfully sorry for the publishing of that Book for I was then very superstitiously devoted to the Roman Tyranny and therefore would not have Indulgences which I saw so generally approved altogether rejected Now O that I could perswade all Booksellers and others that read my Books to burn those concerning Indulgences and instead thereof receive this position Indulgences are the wickednesses of the Flatterers of Rome Whereas then I denied the Popes primacy to be of Divine Right I yielded it to be of Humane Right but now I know and am certain that the Papacy is the Kingdome of Babylon and the power of Nimrod that mighty Hunter and therefore instead of what I have written of that subject take this position Papacy is the mighty hunting of the Roman Bishop When the Cardinals burnt Luther's Books he burnt the Popes Decrees and his Bull lately sent out against him and gives us the following account why he did so I Martin Luther called Dr. of Divinity do notifie to all that by my will counsel and help the Books of the Pope of Rome were burnt c. and that 1 Because we have ancient examples for the burning of wicked and corrupt Books Acts 19. 2 I am a Baptised Christian and a Doctor of holy Scripture and a daily Preacher and therefore it belongs to me my Condition my Oath my Office to abolish at least to hinder perverse false seducing and wicked Doctrines And yet 3 I had not gone about this work unless I had upon experience found the Pope and Pontificians Corrupters and Seducers not onely to erre and seduce but after many admonitions by me given so hardned and bewitched that they will not onely not suffer themselves to be taught but condemn and burn the Evangelical Doctrine to confirm their Antichristian Diabolical abominations 5 Because by their burning of my Books Truth is endangered c. I have also being moved as I hope by the holy Ghost for the confirming and preserving the Christian Verity and the common people have caused their Books to be burnt having looked for their hopeless amendment Let none therefore be moved by the sublime Titles of the Books the Canon Law The Decreetals c. but first see what is taught therein and then judge whether they be burnt justly or unjustly When Luther threw the Popes Bull into the fire Decemb. 10. 1520. Because said he thou hast troubled the holy One of the Lord eternal fire shall trouble thee The same day in his Prelection on the Psalter he admonished his Hearers to take heed of Popish Institutions That this burning was but a small business it should be that the Pope that is the Papal See should be burned Unless said he with a grave countenance ye do with all your hearts depart from the Popish Kingdome your souls cannot be saved so diverse is the Kingdome of the Pope from the Kingdome of Christ and the life of a Christian that it would be safer to live in a Wilderness and see no man then to live in that Antichristian Kingdome Let every one therefore that hath any care of his own soul take heed lest he deny Christ by assenting to Popery Whoever will now be a Minister he must perish either in this World or that which is to come If he dare not contradict the working of errour in the World to come if he doth contradict in this World his life will be hazarded For my part I had rather run any danger here then expose my Conscience to give such an account for Silence as God will require Therefore having heartily dissented from the Roman madness I do now abominate that Babylonian Plague And these things I will declare to my Brethren as long as I live If I cannot withstand so great a destruction of Souls yet many of our own may be kept from running headlong to Hell Let others do what they please It is high time to repent In his Letter to Prince Frederick Duke of Saxony before his Postills The Apostle requires that a Bishop should not onely be mighty in Doctrine but able to convince gain-sayers Not that I account my self a Bishop seeing the Riches and Mitre by which a Bishop is now known are wanting but because whosoever fulfills the Office of preaching dischargeth the Office of Bishop who ought to be a two-handed Ehud and kill Eglon and I do set my self to the work of peace being through the grace of God a bold Contemner of my Adversaries though in the midst of Swords Bulls Trumpets and Papistical Alarms that cannot terrifie me And indeed what cannot I do in him who comforts me In his Letter to Iustus Ionas I fear lest whilst we fight valiantly for grace and good works we do in the mean time deprive our selves of grace and good

works Truly having beheld these terrible dayes of anger I desire nothing more then that my head were a fountain of water that I may weep for that late devastation of souls which the Kingdome of Sin and Perdition wrought The Roman Monster sits in the midst of the Church and boasts of his Deity the Pontificials flatter him the Sophisters obey him and the Hypocrites will do any thing for him In the mean time Hell enlargeth her bosome and openeth her mouth beyond measure and Satan sports in the ruining of Souls Pray to God for me that I may be delivered from wicked and unbelieving men in this Babylon and that my mouth may be opened to the praise of the glory of the grace of the Gospel of his Son Be of good courage and fear not this Baal-phogor seeing he is scarce Baal-zebub a Fly if yet we believe seeing Jesus Christ is God blessed for ever From the place of my Exile June 8. 1521. When he had safe conduct from the Emperour Charles the Fifth to come to and return from Wormes dated March 6. 1521. he took his Journey thither and though his Friends informed him in a Town near Wormes that his Books were before his coming condemned in publick Proclamations and therefore that it was dangerous for him to go notwithstanding the Emparours promise yet having heard all they could say he told them As for me since I am sent for I am resolved and certainly determined to enter the City in the name of our Lord Christ Iesus yea although I knew that there were so many Devils to resist me as there are Tiles to cover all the Houses in the whole World c. At his first appearance before the Emperour two things were demanded of him Whether those Books there present were his and whether he would recant their Contents or edhere thereunto He granted the former but as to the later Forasmuch said he as the question concerneth Faith and the salvation of Souls and because it concerns the Word of God then which nothing is of greater account as well in Heaven as on Earth and which all ought duly to rererence it will be rash and dangerous to pronounce any thing before I be well advised seeing through unadvisedness I may speak less then the business requires and more then truth both which call to mind that of Christ Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny before my Father in Heaven I therefore humbly beseech the Imperial Majesty to grant me time to deliberate so that I may satisfie the Question without any prejudice to the Word of God and peril of my own soul. Whereupon a days time was granted him It is observable that as he was going to appear and whilst he was in that Assembly of Princes Luther was exhorted by some present to be couragious and to play the man and not to fear that onely can kill the body c. and also when thou art before Kings think not what thou shalt speak for it shall be given to you in that hour When he appeared the next time he answered thus Most Serene Emperour and your most Illustrious Princes and most merciful Lords I appear before you here at the hour prescribed unto me yesterday in obedience to your Command humbly beseeching for Gods mercy that your renowned Majesty and your most Illustrious Honours would be pleased benignly to hear this Cause which is I hope the Cause of Righteousness and Truth As for my self I can affirm nothing but this That I have taught and writ hitherto in singleness of heart what I thought tended onely to Gods glory and the sincere instruction of Christs faithful Ones As for the second Question I beseech your most Excellent Majesty and your Honours to observe that all my Books are not of one sort There be some in which I have so Sincerely and Evangelically handled the Religion that consists in Faith and Observance that my very Enemies are forced to be harmless profitable and worthy to be read of Christians If I should revoke these what shall I do Even I alone of all men repugning the unanimous confession of all shall condemn that Truth which both Friends and Foes confess Another sort of my Books inveigheth against the Papacy and the Doctrine of the Papists as those who by their Doctrines and most wicked Examples have corrupted the whole state of Christianity in soul and body for none can deny nor hide it seeing the experience and sad complaints of all are witnesses that the Consciences of the Faithful are most miserably insnared vexed and tortured by the Popes Laws and the Doctrines of men and that the substance especially of this famous Germany hath been and is yet most tyrannically and by unworthy means devoured When as they themselves by their Laws provide as in Dist. 9. 25. q. 1. 2. that the Popes Laws and Doctrines that are contrary to the Scripture and the Sentiments of the Fathers should be reprobated for erroneous If therefore I should revoke these I shall strengthen Tyranny and open not onely Windows but Doors and wide Gates to so great wickedness which is like to extend farther and with greater licentiousnesses then ever it durst heretofore and by the testimony of this my retractation their most licentious Kingdome of Wickedness and lest subject to punishment most intollerable to the miserable common people will yet be more confirmed and established especially if this be bruited that I have done this by the Authority of your most Excellent Majesty and the whole R●man Empire Good Lord What a Cloak shall I be to their Wickedness and Tyranny The third sort is of such as I have writ against some particular persons such who have laboured all that ever they could to maintain the Romish Tyranny and to demolish the Religion which I have taught I confess I have been more bitter against these then became my Religion and Profession Neither do I make my self a Saint nor do I dispute concerning my Life but concerning the D●ctrine of Christ. It is notwithstanding unsafe for me to revoke these for this Recantation will occasion Tyranny and Wickedness to reign again more ragingly over Gods people then ever Yet seeing I am a man and not God I can no otherwise defend my Books then Iesus Christ himself my Lord defended his Doctrine who being examined about his Doctrine before Annas and cufft by a Servant said If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil If the Lord himself who knew he could not erre did not refuse to have testimony given against his Doctrine even by a most vile Servant how much more then should I that am but vile corruption and can of my self do nothing but erre desire and expect the testimony of any against my Doctrine Therefore I beseech for Gods mercy your most Excellent Majesty and your most Illustrious Honours or any other of high or low degree to give in his testimony to convict my Errours

glory my care in my great temptations was to have the senses of my soul open to perceive the Voice of God saying Whosoever denieth me before men him will I deny before my Father and his Angels And to save the life corporal is to lose the life eternal and he that will not suffer with Christ shall not reign with him Therefore most tender Ones I have by Gods Spirit given over the flesh with the fight of my soul and the Spirit hath the victory The flesh shall now ere it be long leave off to sin the Spirit shall reign eternally I have chosen Death to confirm the Truth by me taught What can I do more Consider with your selves that I have done it for the confirmation of Gods Truth Pray that I may continue to the end The greatest part of the assault is past I praise my God I have in all my assaults felt the present aid of my God I give him most hearty thanks therefore Look not back nor be ye ashamed of Christs Gospel nor of the bonds I have suffered for the same It is no time for the loss of one man in the Battel for the Camp to turn Back Up with mens hearts blow down the dawbed Walls of Heresie Let one take the Banner and the other the Trumdet I mean not to make corporal resistance but pray and ye shall have Elias defence and Elizeus company to fight for you The Cause is the Lords My heart with pangs of death is assaulted but I am at home yet with my God alive Pray for me c. From Newgate Prison in haste the day of my Condemnation I. R. In his Letter to the Congregation two dayes before he suffered Whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution for it is given unto them not onely to believe but to suffer and the Servant or Scholar cannot be greater then his Lord or Master but by the same way the Head is entred the Members must follow My dear soul is departing this Life to my great advantage I make change of morality for immortality of corruption to put on incorruption to make my body like to the Corn cast into the ground which except it die first it can bring forth no good fruit Happy are they that die in the Lord which is to die in the Faith of Christ professing and confessing the same before many Witnesses What a Journey by Gods power I have made these eight dayes is above flesh and blood to bear but as Paul saith I may do all things through him who worketh in me Iesus Christ. My course Brethren I have run I have fought a good fight the Crown of Righteousness is laid up for me my day to receive it is not long to Pray Brethren for the enemy doth yet assault Be not ashamed of the Gospel of the Cross by me preached nor of my suffering for with my blood I affirm the same I go before I suffer first the baiting of the Butchers Dogs yet I have not done what I should have done What was undone impute that to frailty and ignorance and with your love cover that which was and is naked in me God knoweth ye are all tender to me My heart bursteth for the love of you Ye are not without the great Pastour of your souls who so loveth you that if men were not to be found as God be praised there is no want of them he would cause stones to minister unto you Cast your care on that Rock the wind of temptation shall not prevail Past and pray for the dayes are evil Look up with your eyes of hope for your redemption is not far off but my wickedness hath deserved that I shall not see it and also that which is behind of the blood of our Brethren which shall also be laid under the Altar shall cry for your relief The Friday at night before Mr. Rough was taken being in his Bed he dreamed That he saw two of the Guard leading Cuthbert Sympson Deacon of the said Congregation and that he had the Book about him wherein were written the Names of all them that were of the Congregation Afterwards he awaked and having told the dream unto his Wife after some time spent in reading he fell asleep again and dreamed the same dream again and awaking told his Wife his dream and said O Brother Cuthbert is gone And whilst he was making ready for to go and see how it was with him Mr. Sympson came into Mr. Rough's House and brought the Book with him Mr. Rough having told him his dream perswaded him to carry the Book no more about with him which he was loth to promise because said he dreams are but fancies and not to be credited Then Mr. Rough straitly charged him in the Name of the Lord to do it Whereupon Mr. Sympson left the Book with Mrs. Rough. And so the Congregation was preserved The next night Mr. Rough dreamed That he himself was forcibly carried to the Bishop and that the Bishop pluckt off his beard and cast it into the fire saying these words Now I may say I have had a piece of an Heretick burned in my House And so accordingly it came to pass Rose Mr. Thomas Rose born at Exmouth in Devon when he was first taken was sorely stocked in Prison The Stocks were very high and great so that day and night he did lie with his back on the ground upon a little straw with his heels so high that by means the blood was fallen from his feet his feet were without sense for a long time His Mother might not be suffered to see him Afterwards Cranmer set him at liberty When he was brought before Gardiner being taken at Bow in London with five and thirty more Winchester told him That he would know who were his Maintainers or else he would make him a foot longer My Lord said he you shall do as much as pleaseth God and no more yet the Law is in your hand but I have God for my Maintainer and none other At his second Examination the Chancellour ask'd him What he said to the real presence in the Sacrament I wist right well said he you are made an instrument to seek innocent blood Well you may have it if God permit it is present and at hand for I came not hither to lie but to die if God see it good in defence of that which I have said Wherefore you may begin when you think good c. At his third Examination the Bishop saying Ah Sirrah you will admit nothing but Scripture I see well No truly my Lord said he I admit nothing but Scripture for the Regiment of the Soul for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and where the Word of God is not there ought no belief to be given for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Roth. Richard Roth in his Letter to certain Brethren and Sisters condemned at Colchester