for Mr. Frith's escape and prevailed with the Porter 〈◊〉 agree with him in the suffering thereof and then told him that the business which he had undertaken viz. to lead him as a sheep to the slaughter 〈◊〉 grieved him that he was overwhelmed with care and sorrows whereupon he was resolved whâ—â— danger soever he incurred to find out a way to deliver him out of the Lyons mouth and so acquainted him with the way that he and the Porter haâ—â— agreed upon Mr. Frith having diligently hearkened to his Speech said with a smiling countenance And is this the effect of your secret consultation all this while surely you are like to lose your labour for if you should both leave me here and gâ— to Croydon declaring to the Bishops that you haâ—â— lost Frith I would surely follow after as fast as 〈◊〉 could and bring them news that I had found anâ— brought Frith back again Do you think that I am afraid to declare mine Opinion before the Bishop in so manifest a Truth You are a fond man saiâ— the Gentleman thus to talk Do you think thâ—â— your reasoning with the Bishops will do any good I much marvel that you were so willing to flie the Realm before you were taken and now so unwilling to save your self when you may Marry saiâ— Frith there is a great difference between escapinâ— then and now then I was at liberty and not attached but now being taken by the Higher Poâ—â—ers and that by Almighty Gods permission anâ— providence I am fallen into the Bishops handâ— onely for Religions sake and for such Doctrine 〈◊〉 I am bound in conscience under pain of damnatioâ— to maintain If I should now start aside and run away I should run from my God and from the testimony of his Word whereby I should deserve a thousand hells At the time of his burning Dr. Cook admonished all the people that they should no more pray for him then they would do for a Dog Whereupon Mr. Frith smiling desired the Lord to forgive him Fulgentius An Arian Bishop offering to punish the Priest that had most mercilesly beaten him if he desired it he said It is not lawful for a Christian to meditate revenge our Lord Christ well knows how to repay the injuries offered to and inflicted on his Servants If my case be avenged then lose I the reward of my patience It may also scandalize many little ones if I a Catholick should require judgement at an Arians hands In the midst of his greatest sufferings he used to say Plura pro Christo toleranda We must suffer more then this for Christ. G. Gardiner William Gardiner an English Merchant in Portugal was so much troubled in spirit at the sight of the Idolatry committed by the Priests in the Mass at the solemnization of the Marriage between the King of Pâ—rtugal's Son and the King of Spain's Daughter that he could not be quiet till he had though in the presence of the King and of the Nobles and whole City the next Sabbath with one hand snatched away the Cake from the Priest and trod it under his feet and with the other overthrew the Chalice The King asking him how he durst be so bold He answered Most noble Kinâ— The thing which you have seen was not done nor thought of me for any contumely or reproacâ— to your presence but onely for this purpose aâ—â— before God I do clearly confess to seek the salvation of this people Being ask'd who set him on He answered He was not moved by any man but by his oâ—â— Conscience there being no man under Heaven for whose sake he would put himself into so manifest a danger but he owed his service first to God and secondarily to their salvation wherefore if he had done any thing displeasing to them the ought to impute it to themselves who so irreverently used the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto so great Idolatry not without great ignomiâ—â—â—â— the Church violation of the Sacrament and the peril of their own soals except they repented For this he was cruelty tormented and burned and in the fire he â—unâ— Psal. 43. Iudge me O God and defend my 〈◊〉 against the unmerciful â—â—ple Gauderin Christopher Gauderin having been a Spend-thrift was converted by Lewis Stâ—llius telling him That he ought rather to distribute of his gettings to the poor then to spend them so wastfully for if he continued so God would surely call him to an account for it insomuch that he was chosen a Deacon in the Church in the execution of which Office he was taken and imprisoned and being ask'd how he came to turn Heretick seeing he learned not that of his Master the Abbot he answered I am no Heretick but a right believing Christian which he taught me not indeed but rather other vile qualities which I am ashamed now to rehearse Some objecting to him his youth being about the age of thirty He told them That mans life consisted but of two dayes viz. the day of his birth and the day of his death And for my part said he I am now willing by death to pass into eternal life The morning that he was to be executed He said to his Fellow-Prisoners having put on a clean shirt and washed himself Brethren I am now going to be married I hope before noon to drink of the wine of the Kingdome of Heaven A Frier coming to them as he said to convert them Christopher said unto him Away from us thou seducer of Souls for we have nothing to do with thee One of his Fellow-sufferers as the Hangman was gagging him said What shall we not have liberty in this our last hour to praise our God with our voice and tongue Brother said Gauderin let not this discourage us for the greater wrong our enemies think to do unto us the more assistance we shall find from God And so he never ceased to comfort them till he was gagged also and burnt Iune 2 1568. Gerard. About the year 1160. in the reign of Henry the Second came about thirty Waldensâ—s into England Gerardus being their Minister to labour to win Disciples to Christ. They were converted before a Council of Bishops at Oxford and Gerard speaking for them all said We are Christians holding and reverencing the Doctrine of the Apostles Being urged with arguments against their Doctrine they answered They believed as they were taught by Gods Word but would not dispute their faith Being admonished to repent and threatned if they did not they despised their Counsel scorned their threats saying Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven They were excommunicated burnt in the foreheads for Hereticks Mr. Gerard both in the forehead and cheek their cloaths were cut off to their Girdles and so whipt through Oxford they singing all the while Blessed are ye when men hate you and despitefully use you c. Ghest Laurence Ghest had his wife
and perswaded all that proâ—ess Gods Word manfully to persist in the defence of the same not with sword and violence but with suffering and loss of life rather then to deâ—ile themselves again with the whorish abominaon of the Romish Antichrist So the hour being come with my fact and example to ratifie confirm and protest the same to the hearts of all true Believers and to this end by the mighty assistance of Gods holy Spirit I resolved my self with much peace of conscience willingly to sustain whatsoever the Romish Antichrist should do against me When Mr. Warren the Chancellor willed 〈◊〉 chief Jaylor to carry me to the Bishop I laid 〈◊〉 his charge the cruel seeking of my death aâ—â— when he would have excused himself I told hâ—â— he could not wipe his hands so He was as gâ—â—â—â— of my blood before God as though he had muâ—thered me with his own hands He departed froâ— me saying I needed not to fear if I would be 〈◊〉 his belief God open his eyes and give him graâ—â— to believe this which he and all of his inclinatioâ— shall find I fear too true for their parts that 〈◊〉 they which cruelly maliciously and spitefully peâ—secute molest and afflict the Members of Chriâ—â— for their Conscience sake and for the true testâ—â—mony of Christs Word and cause them to be moâ—â— unjustly slain and murthered without speedy reâ—pentance shall dwell with the Devil and his Angeâ— in the fiery lake everlastingly where they shaâ—â— wish and desire cry and call but in vain as theâ—â— right companion Epulo to be refreshed of them whom in this world they contemned despised disdained as slaves misers and wretches The Bishop laid to my charge my not coming to Church Here I might have dallied with him and put him to his proofs Notwithstanding I answered him through Gods merciful help that I neither haâ— nor would come at their Church as long as their Mass was used there to save if I had them 〈◊〉 hundred lives The Bishop asking me whâ— should judge the Word I told him Christ waâ— content that the people should judge his Doctrine by searching the Scriptures and so was Paul Methinks ye should claim no farther priviledge noâ— preheminence then they had The Bishop telling me He was my Bishop and therefore I muâ—â— believe him If you say black is white said I must I also say as you say and believe the same because you say it is so If you will be believed because you be a Bishop Why find you fault with the people that believed Mr. Latimer Mr. Ridley Mr. Hooper c. that were Bishops Because they were Hereticks said the Bishop And may not you erre quoth I as well as they I looked for learning at my Lords hand to perswade me and he oppressed me onely with his Authority He said I dissented from the Church and asked me where my Church was before Kings Edward's time I desired him to shew me where their Church was in Elias time and what outward shew it had in Christs time The tidings that I should be carried to Lichfield did at first somewhat discourage me fearing least I should by reason of my great sickness through extream handling which I looked for have died in the Prison before I should come to my answer But I rebuked immediately with Gods Word this infidelity in my self c. after this manner What make I of God Is not his power as great in Lichfield as Coventry Doth not his providence extend as well to Lichfield as Coventry Was he not with Habakkuk Daniel Meshach and Ieremy in their most dangerous imprisonments He knows what things we have need of them He hath numbred all the hairs of our head The Sparrow falleth not to the ground without our heavenly Fathers will much more will he care for us if we be not faithless whom he hath made worthy to be witnesses of his truth So long as we put our trust in him we shall never be destitute of his help neither in prison nor in sickness nor in health nor in death nor before Kings nor before Bishops Not the Devil himself much less one of his Ministers shall be able to prevail against us With such like meditations I waxed chearful of good consolation and comfort So that hearing one say They could not provide Horses enough for us I said Let them carry us in a Dung-Cart for lack of Horses if they list I am well content for my part I told Iephcot the Chancellors Servant That they should have judgement without mercy that shewed no mercy and this mercy I found at his hand at Lichfield He put me into a Prison that same night where I continued till I was condemned in a place next to the Dungeon c. very cold with small light and there he allowed me a bundle of Straw instead of a Bed without Chair Form or any other thing to ease my self withall God of his mercy gave me great patience through prayer that night so that if it had been his pleasure I could have have been contented to have ended my life In the time of my imprisonment I gave my self continually to prayer and meditation of the merciful promises of God made unto all without exception of persons that call upon the Name of his dear Son Jesus Christ. I â—ound in my self daily amendment of health of body increase of peace in conscience and many consolations from God by the help of his holy Spirit sometime as it were a taste and glimmering of the life to come All for his onely Son Jesus Christs sake To him be all the praise for ever and ever The enemy ceased not many times sundry wayes to assault me Oftentimes objecting to my conscience my own unworthiness of the greatness of the benefit to be accounted amongst those that suffer for Christ for his Gospels sake Against him I replied with the Word of God on this sort What were all those whom God had chosen from the beginning to be his Witnesses and to carry his Name before the world Were they not men as well subject to sin and imperfections as other men be Who gave first unto him What hast thou that thou hast not received All have received of his fulness They were no bringers of any goodness to God but altogether receivers They chose not God first but God chose them They loved not God first but he loved them first Yea he both loved and chose them when they were his enemies full of sin and corruption as well as void of all goodness He is and will be the same God as rich in mercy as mighty as able as ready as willing to forgive sins without respect of persons to the worlds end of all them that call upon him God is near he is at hand he is with all with all I say and refuseth none excepteth none that faithâ—ully in true repentance call upon him in what hour what place or what time soever it be
not for murther or theft but because we will believe no more then the Word of God teacheth us Both rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the same When the fire was kindled with lifting up their hands to Heaven in an holy accord they said Lord Iesus into thy hands we commend our spirits Oldcastle Sir Iohn Oldcastle Lord Cobham was of great birth and in great favour with King Henry the Fifth so as Arch Bishop Arundel durst not meddle with him till he knew the Kings mind The King when he heard the Priests Accusations promised to deal with him himself which accordingly he did in private admonishing him to submit himself to his Mother the holy Church and as an obedient Child to acknowledge himself cupable The Christian Knight thus answered the King Most worthy Prince I am alwayes prompt and ready to obey forasmuch as I know you a Christian King and the appointed Minister of God bearing the sword to the punishment of evil doers and for safeguard of them that be vertuous Unto you next my Eternal God owe I my whole obedience and submit thereunto as I have done ever all that I have either of Fortuns or Nature ready at all times to fulfill whatsoever ye shall in the Lord command me But as touching the Pope and his Spirituality I owe them neither suit nor service forasmuch as I know him by the Scripture to be the great Antichrist the son of perdition the open Adversary of God and the abomination standing in the holy Place When he was by a wiâ—e cited to appear before the Arch Bishop c. he told the Messenger though he affirmed to him that it was the Kings pleasure that he should obey that citation of the Sumner that he would in no case consent to those most devillish practises of the Priests Upon his non-appearance the Arch Bishop judged him contumacious and afterwards excommunicated him c. This constant Servant of the Lord perceiving himself compassed on every side with deadly dangers he wrote a Christian Confession of his Faith and signed and sealed it with his own hand which was a brief Exposition of the Common Sum of the Churches Faith called the Apostles Creed In the close thereof I believe the Universal Law of God to be most true and perfect and they which do not follow it in their faith and works at one time or another can never be saved whereas he that seeketh it in faith accepteth it learneth it delighteth therein and performeth it in love shall tast for it the felicity of everlasting innocency This is my faith also that God will ask no more of a Christian Believer in this life but only to obey the Precepts of that most blessed Law If any Prelates of the Church require more or any other kind of obedience he contemneth Christ exalting himself above God and so becomes an open Antichrist All the Premises I believe particularly and generally all that God hath left in his holy Scripture that I should believe This Confession he delivered to the King desiring him that it might be examined by the most godly wife learned men of his Realm and if it be found in all points agreeable to the Verity that he might be holden for a true Christian if it be proved otherwise let it be condemned provided that he be taught a better Belief by the Word of God But the King would not receive it but commanded it to be delivered to his Judges Being threatned by Arch Bishop Arundel that he should be proclaimed an Heretick He said Do as ye shall think best for I am at a point I shall stand to my Bill to the death The Arch Bishop telling him That all Christians should follow the Determinations of holy Church he said That he would gladly believe and observe whatsoever the holy Church of Christs institution had determined or whatsoever God had willed him either to believe or do but that the Pope of Rome with his Cardinals Arch Bishops Bishops c. had lawfull power to determine such matters as stood not throughly with his Word he would not affirm When the Arch Bishop sent him their Determination concerning the Sacrament of the Altar c. he saw that God had given them over for their unbeliefs sake into most deep errours and blindness of mind and that their uttermost malice was purposed against him however he should answer and therefore he put his life into the hands of God desiring his onely Spirit to assist him in his next Answer At his second Appearance the Arch Bishop offering to absolve him from the Curse that was against him He with a chearfull countenance said God hath said by his holy Prophet Maledicam benedictionibus vestris i. e. I shall curse where you do bless and further said I will not desire your Absolution for I never trespassed against you And with that he kneeled down on the pavement holding up his hands towards Heaven and said I shrieve me here unto thee my Eternal Living God that in my frail youth I offended thee O Lord most grievously in pride wrath and gluttony in covetousness and in lechery Many men have I hurt in mine anger c. Good Lord I ask thee mercy And therewith weepingly stood up again and said with a mighty voice Lo good people lo for the breaking of Gods Law and his great Commandements they never yet cursed me but for their own Laws and Traditions most cruelly do they handle both me and other men and therefore both they and their Laws by the promise of God shall utterly be destroyed Being asked if he believed not in the determinations of the Church No forsooth said Ire for it is no God Being taxed to be one of Wickliff's Scholars As for the vertuous man Wickliffe said he I speak it before God and man that before I knew that despised Doctrine of his I never abstained from sin but since I learned therein to fear my Lord God it hath otherwise I trust been with me So much grace I could never find in all your glorious instructions He said further Your Fathers the old Pharisees ascribed Christs miracles to Belzebub and his Doctrine to the Devil and you as their natural children have still the self same judgement concerning his faithfull Followers They that rebuke your vicious living must needs be Hereticks and that must your Doctors prove when you have no Scripture to do it Since the venome of Iudas was shed into the Church ye never followed Christ nor stood in the perfection of Gods Law Being asked what he meant by that venome He answered Your Possessions and Lordships for then cried an Angel in the aire as your own Churches mention Wo wo wo this Day is venome shed into the Church of God Rome is the very nest of Antichrist and out of that nest come all his Disciples of whom Prelates Priests and Monks are the Body these pild Friers are the Tail
this Realm that I am acquainted with but they shall write unto you and godlily threaten you with their Authority I will do all this yea I will kneel upon both my knees before the Kings Majesty and all his honourable Council with most humble Petition for your Reformation rather then the Devil shall possess you still to your final damnation so that I do not despair but verily trust one way or other to pluck both you and your crabbed Brother as crabbed as you say he is out of the Devils claws maugre the Devils heart In the moneth of October An. 1555. Mr. Latimer and Dr. Ridley were brought forth together to their final Examination and Execution At his last appearence being prest to recant he said I must use here the counsel of Cyprian who when he was ascited before certain Bishops that gave him leave to take deliberation and counsel to try and examine his opinion he answered them thus In sticking to and persevering in the truth no counsel nor deliberation must be taken and being asked which was most like to be the Church of Christ whether the persecuted or the persecutor Christ said he hath foreshewed That he that doth follow him must take up his Cross. How think you then my Lords Is it like that the See of Rome which hath been a continual persecutor is rather the Church or that small flock which hath alwayes been persecuted even to death Mr. Latimer being told That his and St. Cyprian's case was not one Yes verily said he my cause is as good as St. Cyprian's for his was persecution for the Word of God and so is mine As he was going to Execution Dr. Ridley spying him behind him said O be ye there Yes said Mr. Latimer have after as fast as I can follow When he could not be suffered to answer Dr. Smith's Sermon at their Execution on that in the Corinthians If I give my body to be burned and have not charity c. he said Well there is nothing hid but it shall be opened When a Fagot was brought kindled with fire and laid at Dr. Ridley's feet Mr. Latimer said Be of good comfort Mr. Ridley and play the man We shall this day light such a Candle by Gods Grace in England as I trust will never be put out He received the flame as it were embracing it and crying out vehemently O Father of Heaven receive my soul. Laverock Hugh Laverock an old lame man after he was chained to the Stake cast away his Crutch and comforting Iohn Apprice a blind man his Fellow-Martyr said unto him Be of good comfort my Brother for my Lord of London is our good Physician he will heal us both shortly thee of thy blindess and me of my lameness Lavoy Mr. Aymond de Lavoy a French Minister having intelligence that some were sent to apprehend him and being willed by his Friends to flie and shift for himself he said That he had rather never to have been born then so to do It is the office of a good Shepherd not to flie in time of peril but rather to abide the danger lest the Flock be scattered or else least in so doing he should leave some scruple in their minds Thus to think That he had fed them with dreams and fables contrary to the Word of God Wherefore beseeching them to move him no more therein he told them That he feared not to yield up both body and soul in the quarrel of that Truth which he had taught saying with St. Paul I am ready not onely to be bound for the testimony of Christ in the City of Bourdeaux but to die also When his Hearers flew upon the Sumner to deliver their Preacher out of his hands he desired them not to stop his Martyrdome seeing it was the Will of God that he should suffer for him he would not said he resist Whilst he was in Prison he bewailed exceedingly his former life though there was no man that could charge him outwardly with any crime One of the Presidents coming to him and shaking him by his beard bid him tell what fellows he had of his Religion None said he but such as know and do the Will of God my Father whether they be Nobles Merchants Husbandmen or of whatsoever degree they be In his torments in Prison he comforted himself thus This body once must die but the Spirit shall live The Kingdome of God abideth for ever In the time of his tormenting being but of a weak body he swounded afterward coming to himself again he said O Lord Lord why hast thou forsaken me The President answering Nay wicked Lutheran thou hast forsaken God Alas said he why do ye thus torment me O Lord I beseech thee forgive them they know not what they do All their tortures could not force him to confess one mans name but he said unto them I thought to have found more mercy with men Wherefore I pray God I may find mercy with him To the Friers that came to confess him after his condemnation he said Depart I will confess my sins to the Lord. Do ye not see how I am troubled enough with men will ye yet trouble me more others have had my body will ye also take from me my soul away from me At last he took a certain Carmelite bidding the rest to depart whom after much talk he did convert to the Truth Such trust have I said he to the Judge in my God that the same day when I shall die I shall enter into Paradise The Church said he is a Greek word signifying as much as Congregation or Assembly And so I say Whensoever the Faithfull do congregate together to the honour of God and amplifying of Christian Religion the Holy Ghost is verily with them By this it should follow said the Judge that there be many Churches It is no absurd thing said he to say there be many Churches or Congregations among the Christians and so speaketh St. Paul To all the Churches which are in Galatia When the Judges left him looking on him as a damned Creature he said with St. Paul Who shall separate me from the love of God shall the sword hunger or nakedness No nothing shall pluck me from him As he was carried to the place of Execution he sang Psal. 114. and preaching still as he went one of the Souldiers bidding the Carter therefore to drive apace he said unto him He that is of God heareth the Word of God Many being offended that passing by an image of the Virgin Mary he would not pray unto her lifted up his voice to God praying That he would not suffer him at any time to invocate any other but him alone At his Execution he said O Lord Make haste to help me tarry not do not despise the work of thy hands and you my Brethren that be Students I exhort you to learn the Gospel for the Word of God abideth for ever Labour to know
in all the will of God Whilst I was at Lancaster some of good will towards me but without knowledge that came to talk with me gave me the same counsel that Peter gave Christ as he went up to Ierusalem Master favour thy self c. But I answered with Christs sharp answer to Peter again Get thee behind me Satan and perceiving that they were an hinderance to me and that they savoured not the things which are of God but the things that are of men I made them plain answer that I neither could nor would follow their counsel but that by Gods grace I would both live and die with a pure Conscience and according as hitherto I had believed and professed for we ought in no wise said he to flatter and bear with them though they love us never so well which go about to pluck us away from the obedience which we owe unto God and to his Word but after Christs example sharply to rebuke them for their counsel God so strengthened me with his Spirit of boldness according to my humble request and prayer before everlasting thanks be given to him therefore that I was nothing afraid to speak to any that came to me no not even to Judges before whom I was thrice arraigned at the Bar among the Thieves with irons on my feet and put up my hand as others did but yet with boldness I spake unto them so long as they would suffer me They threatned and rebuked me for my preaching to the people out of Prison and for my praying and reading so loud that the people in the streets might hear When the Bishop of Chester came to Lancaster he was informed of me and desired to send for me and examine me but he said he would have nothing to do with Hereticks so hastily So hasty in judging and calling me Hereticks are our Bishops in their Lordly Dignities before they hear c. contrary to the Word of God which saith Condemn no man before thou hast tried out the truth of the matter and when thou hast made inquisition then reform righteously Give no Sentence before thou hast heard the Cause but first let men tell out their tale and he that giveth Sentence in a matter before he hear it is a fool and worthy to be confounded It is no new thing for the Bishâ—ps to persecute the Truth and the Prophets of the Lord for their constancy in preaching of the true Faith Faith for so did their Pharisaical Fore-fathers Pashur was the Head Bishop of the Temple the Ring-leader of false Prophets the chief Heretick-taker that is as much as to say the Outthruster of true Godliness He imprisoned the Prophet Ieremy c. The ungracious Bishop Iâ—son was such another Machab. 2.4 Such were also the execrable and blind Bishops Annas and Caiaphas who never spake the Truth of God themselves unless it were against their wills unwittingly to their own destruction At Chester several times came to me and with all probability of words and Philosophy or worldly wisdome and deceitfull vanity after the traditions of men and the beggarly Ordinances and Laws of the world but not after Christ went about to perswade me to submit my self to the Church of Rome and to acknowledge the Pope to be Head thereof and to interpret the Scriptures no otherwise then that Church did I answered That I do acknowledge and believe one Holy Catholick Church without which there is no Salvation and that this Church is but one because it ever hath doth and shall confess one Onely God and him onely worship and one Onely Messiah and him onely trust for Salvation which Church is ruled and led by one Spirit one Word and one Faith c. and is built onely upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the Head-corner-stone and not upon the Romish Laws the Bishop of Rome being the supreme Head c. and that this Church is a little poor silly flock dispersed and scattered abroad as sheep without a shepherd in the midst of wolves or as a company of Orphans and fatherless children led and ruled by the onely Laws Counsels and Word of Christ who is the supreme Head thereof assisting succouring and defending her from all assaults errours troubles and persecutions wherewith she is ever compassed about I was thrust at with all violence of craft and subtilty but yet the Lord upheld me Everlasting thanks be to that merciful and faithful Lord who suffereth us not to be tempted above our might but in the midst of our troubles strengtheneth us with his holy Spirit of comfort and patience giveth us a mouth and wisdome how and what to speak where against all his Adversaries are not able to resist At another appearance before the Bishop c. the Chancellor charged him That he had preached most heretically and blasphemously in many Parishes within the Bishops Diocess against the Popes Authority the Catholick Church of Rome c. He answered That he neither heretically nor blasphemously preached or spake against any of the said Articles but simply and truly as occasion served and as it were thereunto forced in Conscience maintained the Truth touching those Articles as said he all you now present did acknowledge the same in King Edward's dayes After the Bishop of Chester had read half-ways the Sentence of Condemnation he asked him whether he would not have the Queens mercy in time He answered He did gladly desire the same and did love her Grace as faithfully as any of them but yet he durst not deny his Saviour Christ and so lose his mercy everlasting and win everlasting death Being again called upon by the people to recant and save his life he said I would as fain live as any of you if in so doing I should not deny my Master Christ and again he should deny me before his Father in Heaven When the Bishop had read out the Sentence he said Now I will no more pray for thee then I will pray for a Dog Mr. Marsh answered That notwithstanding he would pray for his Lordship When he was in the Dungeon and none suffered to come near him some of the Citizens would at a hole upon the wall of the City that went into the Dungeon ask him how he did He would answer them most cheerfully that he did well and thanked God most highly that he would vouchsafe of his mercy to appoint him to be a witness of his Truth and to suffer for the same wherein he did most rejoyce beseeching him that he would give him grace not to faint under the Cross but patiently bear the same to his glory and comfort of his Church When he came to the place of Execution one shewing him a Writing under the great Seal and telling him It was a Pardon for him if he would recant he said That he would gladly receive the same but forasmuch as it tended to pluck him from God he would not receive it upon
and ready to be burned for the testimony of the Truth O dear Brethren and Sisters how much have you to rejoyce in God that he hath given you such faith to overcome this blood-thirsty Tyrant thus far And no doubt but he that hath begun that good work in you will fulfill it to the end O dear Hearts in Christ what a Crown of Glory shall ye receive with Christ in the Kingdome of God Oh that it had been the good will of God that I had been ready to have gone with you I lie in my Lords Little-ease in the day and in the night in the Cole-house alone and we look every day when we shall be condemned but I lie still at the Pools brink and every man goeth in before me but we abide patiently the Lords leisure with many Bands in Fetters and Stocks by the which we have received great joy in the Lord. And now fare you well dear Brethren and Sisters in this World but I trust to see you in the Heavens face to face How blessed are you in the Lord that God hath found you worthy to suffer for his sake O be joyfull even unto death Fear it not saith Christ for I have overcome death Be strong let your hearts be of good comfort and wait you still for the Lord. He is at hand The Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Tent round about them that fear him and delivereth them which way he seeth best for our lives are in the Lords hands and they can do nothing unto us before God suffer them Therefore give all thanks to God O dear Hearts you shall be clothed with long white Garments upon the Mount Sion with the multitude of Saints and with Jesus Christ our Saviour who will never forsake us O blessed Virgins you have played the wise Virgins part in that you have taken Oyl in your Vessels that ye may go in with the Bridegroom when he cometh c. but as for the foolish they shall be shut out because they made not themselves ready to suffer with Christ neither go out to take up his Cross. O dear Hearts How precious shall your death be in the sight of the Lord for dear is the death of his Saints O fare you well and pray The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Amen Pray pray pray By me R. R. written with mine own blood The Bishop asking him what he thought of his Fellow-Prisoner Ralf Allerton He answered That he thought him to be one of the elect Children of God and if he were put to death for his Faith and Religion he thought he should die a true Martyr The Bishop asking him how he did like the Order and Rites of the Church then used here in England He said That he ever had and then did abhor the same with all his heart Being perswaded to recant and ask mercy of the Bishop No said he I will not ask mercy of him that cannot give it Rought A Suffolk man so called and his Wife and several others being rebuked for going so openly and talking so freely Their answer was They acknowledged and believed and therefore they must speak and that the tribulation was by Gods good will and providence and that his Judgements were right to purâ—â—â— them with others for their sins and that of very faithfulness and mercy God had caused them to be troubled bled and that one hair of their heads should not perish before the time but all things should work unto the best to them that love God and that Christ Jesus was their life and onely righteousness and that onely by faith in him and for his seke all good things were freely given them also forgiveness of sins and life everlasting Rupea You may said Castalia Rupea throw my body from this steep Hill yet will my soul mount upward again Your blasphemies more offend my soul then your torments do my body Russel Ieremy Russel being apprehended in the Diocess of Glasgow in Scotland A. 1539. and railed upon answered This is your hour and power of darkness Now sit ye as Judges and we stand wrongfully accused and more wrongfully to be condemned but the day shall come when our innocence shall appear and that ye shall see your own blindness to your everlasting confusion Go forward and fulfill the measure of your iniquity He comforted his Fellow-Prisoner Alexander Kennedy of whom see the second Part under K. saying Brother fear not more mighty is he that is in us then he that is in the world the pain that we shall suffer is short and shall be light but our joy and consolation shall never have end and therefore let us contend to enter in unto our Master and Saviour by the same strait way which he hath taken before us Death cannot destroy us for it is destroyed already by him for whose sake we suffer Rycetto Mr. Anthony Rycetto of Vincence being condemned to be drowned his Son about twelve years of age comieg to visit him besought him with tears to yield and to save his life that he might not be left fatherless A true Christian said his Father is bound to forego Goods Children yea and life it self for the maintenance of Gods honour and glory A Captain telling him That Francis Sega was resolved to recant What tell you me said he of Sega I will perform my vows unto the Lord my God A Priest presenting him with a wooden Crucifix exhorting him to return and to die in the favour of God reconciling himself to the Church of Rome the holy Spouse of Christ But he rejected the Crucifix and besought the Priest to come out of the snare of the Devil to cleave to Jesus Christ and to live not according to the flesh but after the Spirit If you do otherwise said he assure your selves your unbelief will bring yâ—u into that Lake of fire that shall never be quenched for though yâ—u confess with your mouth that you know Iesus Christ yet you not onely deny him by your works but you persecute him in his Members being bewitched by the Pope the open enemy of the Son of God As he was carrying to be drowned because it was very cold he called for his Cloke which they had taken from him Whereupon the Wherry-man said unto him Fearest thou a little cold What wilt thou do when thou art cast into the Sea Why art not thou carefull to save thy self from drowing Dost not thou see that the poor Flea skips hither and thither to save her life His answer was And I am now flying to escape eternal death Being arrived at the place where he was to suffer the Captain put a Chain of Iron about his middle with a very heavy Stone fastned thereto Then Rycetto lifting his eyes to Heaven said Father forgive them for they know not what they do And being laid on the Planck he said Lord Iesus into thy hands I commend my spirit FINIS These are the
said Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit In her troubles she writ the following Verse with a pin Non aliena putes homini quae obtingere possunt Sors hodierna mihi tunc erit illa tibi In English thus Think nothing strange which man cannot decline My Lot's to day to merren may le thine Deo juvante nil nocet livor malus Et non juvante nil juvat labor gravis Post tenebras spero lucem In English thus If God protect me malice cannot end me If not all I can do will not defend me After dark night I hope for light H. Haggar He was persecuted for saying A. 1520. that There shouâ—d be a battel of Priests and all the Priests should be slain and that the Priests should a while rule but they should all be destroyed for making of false gods That the men of the Church should be put down and the false gods that they mâ—ke and after that they should know more and then shouâ—d be a merry world Hale When Thomas Hale was taken by an Alderman of Bristow and another he said unto them You have sought my blood these two years and now much good do it you He was burned A. 1557. for saying The Sacrament of the Altar is an Idol Hall Nicholas Hall in his Answer to the first Article against him granted himself a Christian man and acknowledged the determinations of the holy Church i. e. of the Congregation or Body of Christ but denied to call the Catholick and Apostolick Church his Mother because he found not this Word Mother in the Scripture To the second he said That whereas before he held the Sacrament to be but onely a token or remembrance of Christ's death now he said that There is neither token nor remembrance becasue it is now misused and clean turned from Christs institution c. Hallewin Harman When Cornelius Hallewin of Antwerp had received a sharp Letter sent him from the Minister of the Flemish Church upon the occasion of a recantation spread and falsly fathered upon Cornelius the blood gushed out of his nose he spread abroad his arms and made pitiful out-cries What to deny the Truth said he God forbid O that the faithful should conceive so hardly of me Good God thou knowest I am innocent nor have I this way offended When he was condemned to die the Margrave offered him that he should die a more easie kind of death if he would give ear to the Priests which he had brought to him to Prison No Sir said he God forbid I should do such a thing Do ye with my body what ye will As they bound him and Harman of Amsterdam Harman willed the Margrave to take heed what he did for said he this will not go for payment in Gods sight in bereaving us thus of our Lives I wish you therefore to repent before it be too late You cannot long continue this tyrannous course for the Lord will shortly avenge it A Cross being offered them and a promise that they should be beheaded and not burnt if they would take it into their hands they said They would not give the least sign that might be of betraying the Truth and that it was all one to them what death they were put to so they died in and for the Lord. The punishment they said could last but for a while but the glory to come was eternal At the Stake Cornelius fell on his knees praying God to forgive his enemies who had sinned through ignorance When the Margrave of Antwerp offered Halleâ—iâ— and Harmar mitigation of torments upon abjuation We are resolved said they these momentary afflictions are not worthy that exceeding weight of glory that shall be revealed Hallingdale Articles against Iohn Hallingdale 3 That during the reign of King Edward he did depart from his former Faith and Religion and so doth continue and determineth so to do as he saith to his life's end 4 That he hath divers times said That the Faith Religion and Ecclesiastical Service received observed and used now in this Realm is not good but against Gods command c. And that he will not in any wise conform himself to the same â—ut speak and think against it during his natural life 5 That he absenteth himself continually from his Parish Church c. 6 That he will not have his Child by his will as he saith confirmed by the Bishop Unto all which Articles he made this answer that he confessed all and every part to be true He told Bâ—nner that the blood of the Prophets and of the Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth was found in the Babylonical Church which is the Church where the Pope is head Because I will not come to your Babylonical Church therefore you go about to condemn me Being demanded whether he would recant he answered That he would continue and persist in his Opinions to the death When the Sentence was read He openly thanked God that he never came into the Church since the abomination came into it When William Hallywell and the twelve more that were burnt in one Fire at Stratford the how near London were condemned and carried down thither to be burnt they were divided into two parts in two several Chambers Thereupon the Sheriffe came to the one part and told them That the other had recanted and their lives therefore should be saved willing and exhorting them to do the like and not to cast away themselves unto whom they answered That their Faith was not built on man but on Christ crucified Then the Sheriffe went to the other part and said the like to them but they answered as their Brethren had done before That their Faith was not built on man but on Christ and his Word Hamelin Mr. Philibert Hamelin of Tournay refusing offers of escape out of Prison said I esteem it altogetder unleseeming for a man that is called to preach Gods Word unto others to run away and to break Prison for fear of danger but rather to maintain the Truth taught even in the midst of the flaming fire After Sentence of death was past upon him he eat his meat as joyfully as though he had been in no danger speaking to them of the happiness of eternal life evidencing that A good conscience is a continual feast When he was apprehended there was apprehended with him his Host whom he thought he had converted but afterward he renounced Christ and his Word Whereupon he said unto him O unhaâ—py and more then miserable Is it possible for you to be so foolish as for the sâ—ving of a few dayes which you have â—o â—â—ve by the course of nature so to start away and deny the Truth Know you therefore that although you have by your folishness avoided the corporal fire yet your life shall be never the longer for you shall die before me and God shall not give you the grace that it shall
entirely desiring your everlasting felicity to warn you and most heartily desire you to watch and pray On the high mountains doth not grow most plenty of grass neither are the highest trees farthest from danger but seldome sure and alwayes shaken of every wind that bloweth Such a deceitful thing saith our Saviour is honour and riches that without grace it choketh up the good seed sown c. It maketh a man think himself somewhat that is nothing at all for though for our honour we esteem our selves and stand in our own light yet when we shall stand before the living God there shall be no respect of persons for riches helpeth not in the day of vengeance nor can we make the Lord partial for money Though the world rage and blaspheme the Elect of God ye know that it did so unto Christ his Apostles and to all that were in the Primitive Church and shall be unto the worlds end I beseech you in the bowels of Christ my Lord Jesus stick fast unto the Truth let it never depart out of your hearts and conversations c. Yours in him that liveth for ever In his Letter to his Wife after his Condemnation I exhort you to love God with all your heart and soul and mind c. To lay sure hold on all his promises that in all your troubles you may run strait to the great mercy of God c. And be sure that neither Devil Flesh nor Hell shall be able to hurt you But if you will not keep his holy Precepts and call for Gods help to walk in the same but will leave them and do as the wicked world does then be sure to have your part with the wicked world in the burning lake Beware of Idolatry which most of all stinks in Gods Nostrils and hath been of all good men detested from the beginning of the world for the which what Kingdomes c. God hath punished with most terrible plagues c. to the utter subversion of them is manifestly to be seen through the whole Bible yea for this he draadfully plagued his own people c. But how he hath preserved those that abhorred superstition and idolatry c. is also to be seen from the beginning out of what great danger he hath delivered them yea when all hope of deliverance was past as touching their expectation c. I exhort you also in the bowels of Christ that you will exercise and be stedfast in Prayer the onely mean to obtain of God whatsoever we desire so it be askt in Faith O what notable things do we read in Scripture that have been obtained through fervent Prayer Whatsoever you desire of God in Prayer ask it for Jesus Christ's sake for whom and in whom God hath promised to give us all things necessary Though what we ask come not by and by continue still knocking and he will at length open his treasures of mercy c. Yet once again I warn you that ye continue fervent in Prayer c. In his Letter to Mr. Throgmorton Whereas the love of God hath moved you to require my Son to be brought up before your eyes and the self same love hath also moved me to leave him in your hands as a Father in my absence I shall require you in Gods behalf according to your promise that ye will see him brought up in the fear of the Lord and instructed in the knowledge of his holy Word that he may learn to leave the evil and know the good c. And this I require you to fulfill or cause to be fulfilled as ye before the Living God will make answer for the same Yours and all mens in Christ Iesus Hector Bartholomew Hector being condemned was threatned that if he spake any thing to the People his Tongue should be cut off yet he did not forbear He pray'd for the Judges That God would forgive them and open their eyes He refused a Pardon offered him at the Stake At his Death many wept saying Why doth this man die who speaketh of nothing but of God When he was called before Authority to be examined he would answer them to nothing before he had made his Prayer to God Whereupon falling down upan his knees he said Lord open my mouth and direct my Speech to utter that onely that may tend to thy honour and glory and the edification of thy Church When he was bound to the Stake Gunpowder and Brimstone was brought to be placed about him he lifting up his eyes to Heaven said Lord how sweet and welcome is this to me Hernaudes Mr. Iulian Hernaudes a Spanish Martyr came from the Wrack and the Tortures of the Inquisition inflicted on him for bringing with him and causing to be brought into Spain many Books of the Holy Scriptures in Spanish as from a Conquest saying to his Fellow-prisoners as he past by them These Hypocrites are gone away confounded no less then wolves that have been long hunted When he was brought forth to his Execution he said to the rest Courage my valiant and constant Brethren now is the hour come in which as the true Champions of Iesus Christ we must witness his Truth before men and for a short tryal for his sake we shall triumph with him for ever and ever Herwyn When Iohn Herwyn of Flanders was led to Prison the Bailiffe meeting certain Drunkards in the Street and saying They say we have many Gospellers in Houscot but it little appears by these disorders he replied Mr. Bailiffe is drunkenness a sin What of that said the Bailiffe Why then said Herwyn commit you not these fellows to Prison seeing it is your office to punish vice and to protect such as fear God After he was in Prison because he was not called forth before the Magistrates assoon as he desired and expected he grew heavy and sad asking Why they so delayed the matter for his heart was fired with an holy zeal to confess Christ before his Judges When he was brought forth he admonished his Judges to examine the Doctrine of the Roman Church by the true Touch-stone which is the holy Scripture that so they might discern how opposite and contrary the one is to the other Consider also said he what the words of St. Peter import where the affirms That we ought to obey God rather then man c. When he craved for Justice either one way or another they urged him to desist from his Opinion but he answered That his faith was not built on an Opinion but said he the Lord hath taught me to eschew evil and do good Seest thou not said they how these opinions have troubled the world and how many of the learneder sort do contradict them So far is it off said he that the Doctrine of the Gospel should be the cause of troubles debates and strifes which raign in the world These troubles indeed arise from the rage of men And as for your learned
men it is impossible for humane wisedom to comprehend the Doctrine of God for which cause Christ saith Father I thank thee that thou hast hid these secrets from the wise men of the world and hast revealed them unto Babes When those two Malefactors that were coupled with him brake Prison and fled he might have escaped but fearing his flight might be imputed to the godly Christians in the City he would not fly When he was advertised of his Sentence He thanked God for advancing him to so high an honour as to be counted worthy to suffer for his Name As he passed forth from the Court viewing the people who waited to see him he said See here how this wicked world rewards the poor Servants of Christ. Whilst I gave my self to drunkenness c. I was never in danger of these bands lifting up his hands which were bound I was then counted a good fellow and at that time who but I But no sooner began I by conversion to ask after a godly life but the world made war upon me and became my enemy persecuting and imprisoning me and now lest of all sending me to the place where I must pay my last debt But the Servant is no better then his Lord for seeing they persecuted him no question they will persecute us At the Stake he said Brethren I fight under the Standard and in the quarrel of my great Lord and Captain Christ. I am now going to be crucified follow you me when God of his goodness shall call yoâ— to it He was burnt Nov. 4. An. 1560. Hierome I find two of this Name 1. Mr. William Hierome Vicar of Stepney near London Being accused for preaching against Magistrates he affirmed as before he had preached That 〈◊〉 Magistrate of himself could make any Law or Laws 〈◊〉 bind the infeâ—i ur people unless it were by the power and authority of his or their Princes to him or them given but onely the Prince Adding If the Prince make Laws consenting to Gods Laws we are bound to obey them and if he make Laws repugnant to the Laws of God c. yet we are bound not violently to resist or grudge against him At the Stake he gave the following Exhortation to the people I say unto you good Brethren that God hath bâ—ught us all with no small price neither with gold nor silver nor other such things of small value but with his most precious blood Be not unthankful therefore but do what you can to keep his Commandments i. e love your Brethren If God hath sent thee plenty help thy neighbour that hath need give him good counsel if he lack Bear your Cross with Christ. Let all Christians put no trust nor confidence in their works but in the blood of Christ to whom I commit my soul beseeching you all to pray to God for me and for my Brethren here present with us c. 2. Mr. Hierome of Prage When he was brought Prisoner to Constance several of the Bishops said unto him Hierome why didst thou fly and didst not appear when thou wast cited He answered Because I could not have any safe conduct c. and I would not my self be the occasion of my perils and danger but if I had known of this citation although I had been in Bohemia I would have returned again When certain cried out Let him be burned let him be burned He answered If my death doth delight and please you in the Name of God let it le so When he was welcomed to Prison by a Friend of Mr. Hus saying to him Be constant and fear not death for the Truths sake of the which when you â—ere at liberty you did preach so much goodness He answered Truly Brother I do not fear death and forâ—smuch as we know that we have spoken much thereof in times past let us now see what may be known or done in â—ffect Vitus asking him how he did He answered Truly Brother I do very well After a long sore imprisonment he was forced to recant and consent unto the death of Mr. Iohn Hus that he was justly condemned and put to death but his hopes of freedome thereupon were disappointed for they caused him to be carried back unto the same Prison but not so straitly chained and bound as before After his Recantation and Consent to the death of Mr. Hus he refused to answer to any Questions propounded to him in private except he might be brought before the Council They supposing he would confirm his former Recantation sent for him May 25. An. 1416. When he was brought before them he began with Prayer to God beseeching him to give him Spirit ability and utterance which might most tend to the profit and salvation of his own soul. Then he spake unto them thus I know that there have been many excellent men which have suffered much otherwise then they have deserved being oppressed with false witnesses and condemned with wrong judgement as Socrates Plato Anaxagoras Zeno Boetius Moses Ioseph Isaiah Daniel and almost all the Prophets c. Iohn Baptist Christ Stephen and all the Apostles who were condemned to death not as good men but as seditious stirrers up of the people and contemners of the gods and evil doers This was the old manner of ancient and learned men and most holy Elders that in matters of Faith they did differ many times in Arguments not to destroy the Faith but to find out the Verity So did Augustine and Hierome dissent As for Mr. Hus he was a good just and holy man to his knowledge and much unworthy that death which he did suffer At last he added That all the sinâ— that ever he had committed did not so much gnaw and trouble his conscience as did that onely sin which he had committed in that most pestiferous fact whenas in his Recantation he had unjustly spoken against that good and holyman and his Doctrine and especially in consenting to his wicked condemnation Concluding that he did utterly revoke that wicked Recantation which he made in that cursed place and that he did it through weakness of heart and fear of death and that whatsoever he had spoken against that blessed man he had altogether lied upon him and that it did repent him with his whole heart that ever he did it Being again brought forth to have judgement given him and prest to recant what he had before spoken in open audience in commendation of Mr. Wickliffe and Mr. Hus He said unto them I take God to my witness and I protest here before you all that I do believe and hold the Articles of the Faith as the holy Catholick Church doth hold and believe the fame but for this cause shall I now ceâ—oondemned for that I will not consent with you to the condemnation of those most holy and blessed men aforesaid whom you have most wickedly condemned for their detesting and abhorring your wicked and abominable life
After the Bishop of Londy had ended his Sermon which was but an exhortation to condemn Mr. Hierome he said unto them You shall condemn me wickedly and unjustly but I after my death will leave a remorse in your conscience and a nail in your heart and here I cite you to answer unto me before the most high and just Iudge within an hundred years This Prophesie was printed in the Coin called moneta Hussi of the which Coin I my self saith Mr. Fox have one of the Plates having the following superscription printed about it Centum revolutis annis Dâ—o respondebitis mihi An hundred years come and gone With God and me you shall reckon After Sentence was pronounced against him a long Mitre of paper painted about with red Devils was brought to him whereupon he said Our Lord Iesus Christ whenas he should suffer death for me most wretched sinner did wear a Crown of Thorns upon his Head and I for his sake instead of that Crown will willingly wear this Mâ—tre or Cap. When the fire was kindled he said Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit O Lord God Father Almighty have mercy upon me and pardon mine offences for thou knowest how sincerely I have loved thy Truth When the Executioner began to kindle the fire behind him he bade him kindle it before his face for said he If I had been afraid of it I had not come to this place having had so many opportunities offered to me to escape it At the giving up of the ghost he said Hanc animam in flammis offero Christe tibi This soul of mine in flames of fire O Christ I offer thee In his Letter to Mr. Iohn Hus. My Master in those things which you have both written hitherto and also preached after the Law of God against the pride avarice and other inordinate vices of the Priests go forward be constant and strong and if I shall know that you be oppressed in the cause and if need shall so require of mine own accord I will follow after to help you as much as I can In the Letter of Poggius Secretary to the Council of Constance to Leonard Aretin concerning Hierome's death I profess I never said any man who in talking especially for life and death hath come nearer the eloquence of the Ancients whom we do so much admire It was a wonder to see with what words with what Eloquence Arguments Countenance and with what confidence he answered his Adversaries and maintained his own Cause that it is to be lamented that so fine a wit had strayed into the study of Heresie if it be true that was objected against him When it was refused that he should first plead his own Cause and then answer to the railings of Adversaries he said How great is this iniquity that when I have been three hundred and forty dayes in most hard prisons in filthiness in dung in fetters and want of all things ye have heard my Adversaries at all times and ye will not hear me one hour Ye are men and not gods ye may slip and erre and be deceived and seduced c. When it was demanded what he could object to the Articles against him It is almost incredible to consider how cunningly he answered and with what Arguments he defended himself He never spake one word unworthy of a good man that if he thought in his heart as he spake with his tongue no cause of death could have been against him no not of the meanest offence In the end Poggius saith O man worthy of everlasting remembrance among men This Epistle is in Fascicuâ— râ—â— expetend fol. 152. Holland A Friend of Mr Roger Holland's thanking the Bishop for his good will to his Kinsman and beseeching God that he might have grace to follow his Council Sir said Mr. Holland You crave of God you know not what I beseech God to open your eyes to see the light of his Word Roger said his Kinsman hold your peace lest you fare the worse at my Lords hands No said he I shall fare as it pleaseth God for man can do no more then God doth permit him The Register asking him Whether he would submit himself to the Bishop before he was entred into the Book of contempt I never meant said he but to submit my self to the Magistrate as I learn of St. Paul Rom. 13. yet I mean not to be a Papist they will not submit themselves to any other Prince or Magistrate then those that must first be sworn to maintain them and their doings Bâ—nner telling him Roger I perceive thou wilt be ruled by no good counsel c. He answered I may say to you my Lord as Paul said to Felix and to the Iews Acts 22. 1 Cor. 15. It is not unknown to my Master whose Apprentice I was that I was of this your blind Religion c. having that liberty under your auricular Confession that I made no conscience of sin but trusted in the Priests absolution c. So that Lechery Swearing and all othervices I accounted no offence of danger so long as I could for money have them absolved And thus I continued till of late God hath opened the Light of his Word and called me by his grace to repentance of my former idolatry and wicked life The antiquity of our Church is not from Pope Nicholas or Pope Ione but our Church is from the beginning even from the time that God said to Adam That the seed of the woman should break the Serpents head c. All that believed this promise were of the Church though the number were oftentimes but few and small as in Elias dayes when he thought there was none but he that had not bowed the knee to Baal c. Moreover of our Church have been the Apostles and Evangelists the Martyrs and Confessors that have in all Ages been persecuted for the testimony of the Word of God After Sentence was read against him he said Even now I told you that your authority was of God and by his sufferance and now I tell you God hath heard the prayer of his Servants which hath been poured forth with tears for his afflicted Saints which daily you persecute This I dare be bold in God to speak which by his Spirit I am moved to say that God will shorten your hand of cruelty that for a time you shall not molest his Church And this shall you in short time perceive my dear Brethren to be the most true for after this day in this place shall there not be any by him put to the trial of Fire and Fagot Which accordingly came to pass He was the last burnt in Smithfield Then he began to exhort his Friends to repentance and to think well of them that suffered for the testimony of the Gospel The day that Mr. Holland and the rest suffered a Proclamation was made that none should be so bold as
am called to this Place and Vocation I am throughly perswaded to tarry and to live and die with my sheep When he was imprisoned in the Fleet he writes thus I am so hardly used that I see no remedy saving Gods help but I shall be cast away in Prison before I come to Judgement But I commit my just cause to God whose will be done whether it be by life or death Winchester exhorting him to the unity of the Catholick Church and to acknowledge the Popes Holiness to be Head of the same Church promising him the Queens mercy he answered That forasmuch as the Pope taught Doctrine altogether contrary to the Doctrine of Christ he was not worthy to be accounted a Member of Christs Church much less to be Head thereof wherefore he would in no wise condescend to any such usurped Jurisdiction neither esteemed he the Church whereof they called him Head to be the Catholick Church of Christ for the Church of Christ onely heareth the voice of her Spouse Christ and flieth the strangers Howbeit said he if in any point to me unknown I have offended the Queens Majesty I shall humbly submit my self to her mercy if mercy may be had with safety of conscience and without the displeasure of God Come Brother said he to Mr. Rogers who was sent with him to the Counter in Southwark must we two take this matter first in hand and begin to fire these Fagots Yea Sir said Mr. Rogers by Gods grace Doubt not said Mr. Hooper but God will give strength The Sheriffe telling Mr. Hooper he wondred that he was so hasty and quick with the Lord Chancellor he answered Mr. Sheriffe I was nothing at all impatient although I was earnest in my Masters Cause and it standeth me so in hand for it goeth upon life and death not the life and death of this world onely but also of the world to come In his Letter for the stopping of certain false rumours spread abroad concerning his Recantation by the Bishops and their Servants The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all them that unfeignedly look for the coming of our Saviour Christ. Amen Dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord and my Fellow-Prisoners for the Cause of Gods Gospel I do much rejoyce and give thanks unto God for your constancy and perseverance in affliction unto whom I wish continuance to the end And as I do rejoyce in your faith and constancy in afflictions that be in Prison even so I do mourn and lament to hear of our dear Brethren that yet have not felt such dangers for Gods Truth as we have and do feel and be daily like to suffer more yea the very extream and vile death of the fire yet such is the report abroad as I am credibly informed that I Iohn Hooper a condemned man for the Cause of Christ should now after sentence of death being in Newgate Prisoner and looking daily for Execution recant and abjuâ—e that which heretofore I have preached and this talk ariseth of this That the Bishop of London and his Chaplains resort unto me Doubtless if our Brethren were as Godly as I could wish them they would think that in case I did refuse to talk with them they might have just occasion to say that I were unlearned and durst not speak with learned men or else proud and disdained to speak with them But I fear not their Arguments neither is death terrible to me I am more confirmed in the truth which I have preached heretofore by their coming Therefore ye that may send to the weak Brethren pray them that they trouble me not with such reports of Recantations as they do for I have hitherto left all things of the world and suffered great pains and imprisonment and I thank God I am as ready to suffer death as a mortal man may be It were better for them to pray for us then to credit or report such rumours that be untrue We have enemies enough of such as know not God truly but yet the false report of weak Brethren is a double cross I wish your eternal salvation in Jesus Christ and also require your continual Prayers that he which hath begun in us may continue it to the end I have taught the truth with my tongue and with pen heretofore and hereafter shortly will confirm the same by Gods grace with my blood Newgate Feb. 2. 1554. Your Brother in Christ J. H. When the Keeper told him he should be sent to Glocester to be burned he rejoyced very much lifting up his eyes and hands to Heaven he praised God that he saw it good to send him among the people over whom he was Pastor there to confirm with his death the truth which he had before taught them not doubting but the Lord would give him strength to perform the same to his glory Sir Anthony Kingston formerly his Friend then a Commissioner to see Execution done upon him coming to him a little before his death bid him consider that life was sweet death was bitter c. It is true said Mr. Hooper I am come hither to end this life and to suffer death here because I will not gainsay the former truth which I have heretofore taught among you True it is that daath is bitter and life is sweet but alas consider that the death to come is more bitter and the life to come is more sweet therefore for the desire and love I have to the one and the terrour and fear of the other I do not so much regard this death nor esteem this life but have settled my self through the strength of Gods holy Spirit patiently to pass through the torments and extremities of the fire now prepared for me rather then to deny the truth of his Word desiring you and others in the mean time to commend me to Gods mercy in your Prayers I thank God said the Knight that ever I knew you for God did appoint you to call me being a lost child and by your good instructions where before I was both an Adulterer and Fornicator God hath brought me to the forsaking and detesting of the same If you had the grace so to do said the Bishop I do highly praise God for it and if you have not I pray God you may have and that you may continually live in his fear The Knight and the Bishop parting with tears the Bishop told the Knight that all the troubles he had sustained in Prison had not caused him to utter so much sorrow A Papist telling him he was sorry to see him in that case Be sorry for thy self man said he and lament thine own wickedness for I am well I thank God and death to me for Christs sake is welcome When he was committed to the Sheriffe of Glâ—cester the Mayor and Aldermen at first saluted him and took him by the hand Mr. Mayor said Mr. Hooper I give most hearty thanks to you and to the rest of
of their Faith Against fleshly lust preach continually all that ever you can for that is the raging beast which devoureth men for whom the flesh of Christ did suffer In another Letter O holy God how largely doth Antichrist extend his power and cruelty But I trust that his power shall be shortned and his iniquity shall be detected more and more amongst the faithful people Let Antichrist rage so much as he will yet he shall not prevail against Christ. I am greatly comforted in those words of our Saviour Happy be you when men shall hate you and shall separate you and shall reâ—uke you and shall câ—st out your name as execrable for the Son of man Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven O worthy yea a most worthy consolation which not to understand but to practiae in time of tribulation is an hard Lesson Certainly it is a great matter for a man to rejoyce in trouble and to take it for joy to be in divers temptations A light matter it is to speak it and to expound it but a great matter to fulfill it For why our most patient and most valiant Champion himself c. was troubled in spirit and said My soul is heavy unto death c. and yet he notwithstanding being so troubled said to his Disciples Let not your hearts be troubled O most merciful Christ draw us weak creatures after thee for except thou shouldst draw us we are not able to follow thee Without thee we can do nothing much less enter into the cruel death for thy sake Give us that prompt and ready spirit a bold heart an upright faith a firm hope and perfect charity that we may give our lives patiently and joyfully for thy Names sake In another Letter I love the counsel of the Lord above gold and precious stones Wherefore I trust in the mercy of Jesus Christ that he will give me his Spirit to stand in his Truth Pray to the Lord for the spirit is ready but the flesh is weak Know this for certain that I have had great conflicts by dreams in such sort as I had much ado to refrain from crying out I dreamed of the Popes escape before he went and after the Lord Iohn had told me thereof immediataly in the night it was told me that the Pope should return to you again I dreamed also of the apprehending Mr. Hierom although not in full manner as it was done All the imprisonments whither and how I am carried were opened to me before although not fully after the same form and circumstance Many Serpents oftentimes appeared to me having heads also in their tail but none of them could bite me These things I write not esteeming my self a Prophet or that I extol my self but onely to signifie to you what temptations I had in body and also in mind and what great fear I had lest I should transgress the Commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a Letter to the Lord Iohn de Clum I pray you expound to me the dream of this night I saw how that in my Church of Bethlem they came to raze all the Images of Christ and did put them out The next day after I arose and saw many Painters which made more fairer Images and many more then I had done before which thing I was very glad and joyful to behold And the Painters with much people about them said Let the Bishops and Priests come now and put out these Pictures Which being done much people seemed to me in Bethlem to rejoyce and I with them and I awaking therewith felt my self to laugh c. This Vision the Lord Iohn and Mr. Hus himself in his Book of Epistles Ep. 45. seemeth to expound and applieth the Images of Christ to the preaching of Christ and of his life The which preaching and doctrine of Christ though the Pope and Cardinals should extinguish in him yet did he foresee and declare that the time should come wherein the same doctrine should be revived again by others so plenteously that the Pope with all his power should not be able to prevail against it In the Forty eighth Epistle seeming to speak with the same Spirit of Prophesie he hath these words But I trust those things which I have spoken within the House hereafter shall be preached upon the top of the House In a certain Treatise also by him written De Sacerdotum Monachorum carnalium abominatione speaking Prophetically of the reformation of the Church he hath these words Moreover hereupon note and mark by the way that the Church of God cannot be reduced to its former dignity or be reformed before all things first be made new The truth whereof is plain by the Temple of Solomon As my mind now giveth me I believe that there shall arise a new people formed after the new man which is created after God of the which people new Clerks and Priests shall come and be taken which all shall hate covetousness and the glory of this life hastening to an heavenly conversation All these things shall come to pass and be brought by little and little in order of times dispensed of God for the same purpose and this God doth and will do for his own goodness and mercy and for the riches of his great longanimity and patience giving time and space of repentance to them that have long lain in their sins to amend and flie from the face of the Lords fury whilest in the mean time the carnal people and carnal Priests successively shall fall away and be consumed as with the moth c. In another Letter You know how I have detested the avarice and inordinate life of the Clergy wherefore through the grace of God I suffer now persecution which shortly shall be consummate in me neither do I fear to have my heart poured out for the Name of Christ Jesus If you shall be called to any Cure in the Countrey let the honour of God and the salvation of souls move you thereunto and not the having of the living or Commodities thereof See that you be a Builder of your Spiritual House being gentle to the poor and humble of mind and waste not your goods in great fare I fear if you do not amend your life ceasing from your costly and superfluous apparel lest you shall be grievously chastised as I also wretched man shall be punished which have used the like being seduced by custome and evil men and worldly glory whereby I have been wounded against God with the spirit of pride And because you have notably known both my preaching and outward conversation even from my youth I have no need to write many things to you but to desire you for the mercy of Jesus Christ that you do not follow me in any such levity and lightness which you have seen in me You know how before my Priesthood which grieveth me now I have delighted oftentimes to play at Chess
will to the flaming Bush that he is willing to accompany the Church in the fiery Furnace Say after the perusal of this Manual I dare trust in God in the greatest difficulties I will take no thâ—ught what to answer to the Sons of men but will believe it shall be given in that hour I will cast all my care on him I will assure my self that as my tribulations do so my consolations shall abound he hath been others help therefore under the shadow of his wings will I rejoyce They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded Here you have Gods former dealings with and appearings for his suffering Saints to publish to thee and me what his future behaviour will be What David said of the tried sword we may of God much rather There is none like it I have considered the dayes of old the years of ancient times I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High Moreover in these Gleanings thou wilt see the excellency of Christ and the high advantages of Faith in that the Lord Christ is worthy for whose sake all is to be parted from Here is the Lord Iesus rated and valued above all the comforts contentments and happiness of both the worlds not that these were of a Stoical Apathy or prodigal of their blood and lives onely Christ was the first Figure and all the world but empty Ciphers without him The estimate which their souls set on Christ did infinitely exceed the rate which they sâ—â— on any thing else all was but dross and dung this is the voice of all these Saints â—â—arted Christ is not valued at all if he be not valued above all What shall I say more Here you may see somewhat to shoar up the dejected Christians who may be too much discouraged at the low condition of Gods Church upon reading here sad Melancthon may be contenteâ— to let God continue the reins of Government in his own hands and we may when even sinking leaâ—â— of Austin Let the world said he sink or swim be ruined or prosper I will bless the Lord that made the world Here you may in short see the Cavils against the Cross blown off to your hand the objections against the Truth abundantly silenced Here you will meet with seasonable Cautions against unscriptural Compliances Here cases of the present Age are briefly debated and cleared and here you may have a Directory how to keep your Consciences inoffensive towards God towards the Saints and towards them that are without But Reader I will not detain thee from enjoying the labours of my Friend The Lord bless them to thee and me See that thou refuse not him that speaketh from Heaven nor these whose blood like their Masters cries against their enemies for vengeance but calls aloud to you to stand fast in the Faith once delivered and to consider the end of their Warfare which that thou mayest is heartily desired by A Cordial Friend to all the Friends of Christ S.L. Swan-like SONG' 's The Second Part. I. Ieuville NIcholas Ieuville being condemned to be burned alive and his tongue to be cut out the Tormentor putting the Halter about his Neck said Praised be God for I am now counted worthy to be one of the Heavenly Order Ignatius When Trajan the Emperour returned from the Parthian War and came to Antioch having commanded gratulatory Sacrifices to be offered in every City he required Ignatius who was Pastour of the Church at Antioch to be present at those Sacrifices but he before Trajan's face did justly and sharply reprove their Idolatry for which cause he was delivered by ten Souldiers to be carried to Rome As he passed through Asia so guarded he confirmed the Congregations through every City where he came preaching the Word of God to them and giving them wholesome Exhortations When he came to Smyrna he wrote an Epistle to the Church at Ephesus and another to the Church of Magnesia on the River Meander and another to the Church at Trallis In his Epistle to the Ephesians You have heard of my being carried bound from Syria for the common Name and Hope I hope through your prayers I shall so fight against the Beasts at Rome that through Martyrdome I shall become his Disciple who offered himself a sacrifice for us unto God I do not command you as if I were any thing for though I am in bonds for the Name of Christ I am not as yet perfect in Christ Jesus Now I begin to be a Disciple Onesimus himself doth exceedingly commend your decent and meet order and that you all live according to the Truth and that there is no place for Herest among you and that you hear none farther then he preacheth Christ Jesus in truth Oppose their anger with mildness and their proud brags with humility and their cursings with praying and their errors with stedfastness in the Faith Let us be found in Christ Jesus unto everlaststing life Without him nothing becomes you in whom I carry about these bonds spiritual pearls in which I may stand advanced by the help of your prayer of which I alwayes desire to be partaker that I may be numbred among the Ephesian Christians who have alwayes in the strength of Christ consented with the Apostles See that you often meet together to give God thanks and to praise him for when you have often met together in the same place the power of Satan is weakened and his mischief vanisheth away by the concord of your faith The Tree is manifested by its fruit the work of profession doth not now appear unless by the power of Faith we be found to persevere to the end It is herrer to be a Mute and a Christian then to be Talkative and no Christian. It is good to teach but let him that teacheth do what he teacheth In his Letter to the Mâ—gnesians It becomes us not onely to be called but to be Christians As there be two sorts of moneys one Gods the other the Worlds so each sort hath its peculiar stamp Unbelievers have the stamp of the World Believers in love have the stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ through whom unless our Will be inclined to die after the example of his Passion his Life is not in us There is one Christ then whom nothing is more excellent Let all therefore agree as in one Temple Although I am in bonds I am not to be compared with one of you yet at liberty I know you are free from pride and when I praise you I know you even blush In his Exhortation prefixt to his Epistle to the Church at Trallis he perswades them not to refuse Martyrdome lest thereby they should lose the hope that
God he that is present with the Beasts is present with God I hear all onely in the Name of Christ that I may suffer with him he strengthning me who is made perfect man What doth it profit me if any one praise me and blaspheme my Lord not confessing him to be clothed with flesh Your prayer hath reached to the Church of Antioch which is in Syria whence I salute you all being bound in Gods honourable bonds though unworthy being the last of all there yet made worthy by the will of God not according to my Conscience but of the meer grace of God c. In one of his Epistles he saith Truly I did see him Christ in flesh after his resurrection and do believe that it is he c. He used to say That there is nothing better then the peace of a good Conscience That good and wicked men are like true and counterfeit money the one seems to be good and is not the other both seems and is good That the Lions teeth are but like a Mill which though it bruiseth yet wasteth not the good Wheat onely prepares and sits it to be made pure Bread Let me said he be broken by them so I may be made pure Manchet for Heaven Other graces are but parts of a Christians armour as the shield of Faith c. but Patience is the Panoply or whole armour of the man of God Ioan. The Lady Ioan Queen of Navar who was poysoned at Paris a few dayes before the bloody Massacre on Aug. 24. 1572. in her sickness she said I take all this as sent from the hand of God my most merciful Father nor have I during this extremity feared to die much less murmured against God for inflicting the same upon me knowing that whatsoever he doth he doth the same so as all in the end shall turn to my everlasting good I depend wholly upon Gods providence knowing that all things are wisely disposed of by him As for this life I am in a good measure weaned from the love of it in regard of the afflictions that have followed me from my youth hitherto but especially because I cannot live without daily offending my good God with whom I desire to be with all my heart In regard of mine own particular my life is not dear unto me seeing so long as I live in this frail flesh I am still prone and apt to sin against God onely my care is somewhat for my children which God hath given me because they shall be now deprived of me in their young years yet I doubt not but although it should please God to take me from them that himself will be a Father to them and a Protector over them as he hath been to me in my greatest afflictions and therefore I commit them wholly to his government and Fatherly care She often uttered these words O my God in thy good time deliver me from this body of death and from the miseries of this life that I may no more offend thee and that I may attain to that felicity which thou in thy Word hast promised me To a Minister a little before her death she said I neither expect Salvation Righteousness nor Life from any else then from my onely Saviour Jesus Christ being assured that his onely merit abundantly sufficeth for the full satisfaction of all my sins albeit they are innumerable Ioris Iohn Ioris of Assahen in a Letter of his to his Parents and Friends a little before his Martyrdome writ thus Most dear Father and Mother Sister and Brother I write here unto you comfortable news viz. That in all my life I never saw any day so pleasing to me as this is in which the Lord hath counted me worthy to be one of his Champions and to suffer for his holy Name for which I give him most humble and hearty thanks Rejoyce with me I pray you that God hath now called me to so glorious and welcome Marriage Day O how precious in the sight of the Lord our God is the death of his Martyrs Dear Friends two Priests and some of the Magistrates have sought to terrifie me with many threats thinking to turn me aside from my holy Profession but the Lord of his great mercy hath given me grace to withstand them all I plainly told them I was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ but would be willing and ready to die in the defence thereof following my Lord and Master Jesus Christ through all afflictions to be made Partaker with him at last of his eternal joyes in his celestial Tabernacle Wherefore if God shall call any of you forth to suffer ought for his Names sake bear the same I beseech you with meekness and patience not declining from the truth for fear or favour to the right hand or to the left But fear him rather who is able to cast soul and body into hell The time which God hath lent us to converse in this world is but short and therefore let us begin to abandon the love of this world with all things therein betimes that so we may be ready to follow the call of God Dear Father and Mother I do take my last farewell of you until we meet together again in the Kingdome of Heaven where we shall partake of that joy that shall last for ever all sorrows tears and griefs being wiped away Be ye not therefore grieved I pray you but be patient for the affliction which is befallen me is most acceptable to me for which also I bless and praise the Lord. Iueson Thomas Iueson being prest to recant said I would not recant for all the goods in London I do appeal to Gods mercy and will be none of your Church nor submit my self to the same And that I have said I will say it again And if there came an Angel from Heaven to teach me any other Doctrine then that which I am in now I would not believe him Iuleddo or Iulitta A Servant to a good Gentlewoman telling Mr. Bradford that her Mistress had been sorer afflicted with her own Father and Mother then ever he was with his imprisonment Mr. Bradford bid her tell her Mistress That he had read that day a godly History written by Basilius Magnus of Iuleddo a vertuous Widow She had great Lands and many children and nigh her dwelt a Cormorant which for her godliness hated her and out of very malice took away her lands so that she was fain to go to Law The Judge demanded of him why he wrongfully with-held these Lands from this Woman He answered he might because she was disobedient to the Kings proceedings for she will in no wise worship his gods nor offer sacrifice unto them Woman said the Judge thereupon if this be true thou art like not onely to lose thy Land but thy Life Whereupon she said And is there no remedy but either to worship your false gods or else to lose my
into thy hands I commend my Spirit Amen Keyser Leonard Keyser as he was led to the place where he was to be burnt said O Lord Jesus remain with me sustain and help me and give me force and power When the wood was ready to be set on fire he cried with a loud voice O Jesus I am thine have mercy upon me and save me Knox. Mr. Iohn Knox wearied with removing from place to place by reason of the Persecution that came upon him by the Bishop of St. Andrews was determined to have left Scotland and to have visited the Schools of Germany he had then no pleasure in England by reason that although the Popes Name was suppressed yet his Laws and Corruptons remained in full vigour but was prevailed with by some Gentlemen for their Childrens sake whose Education he had undertaken to go to St. Andrews that he might have the benefit of the Castle which was fortified against the Papists since the death of the Cardinal in it Thither he came An. 1547. where he was called to the Ministry after this manner Mr. Rough having shew'd in a Sermon what power the Congregation how small soever passing the number of two or three had to elect any man in the time of need as that was in whom they espied the gifts of God and how dangerous it was to refuse to hear the voice of such as desire to be instructed he directed his words to Mr. Knox saying Brother you shall not be offended although that I speak unto you that which I have in charge even from all those here present which is this In the Name of God and of his Son Jesus Christ and in the name of these that presently call you by my mouth I charge you that you refuse not this holy Vocation but as ye tender the glory of God the encrease of Christs Kingdome the edification of your Brethren and the comfort of me whom ye understand well enough to be oppressed by the multitude of labours that you take upon you the publick office and charge of preaching even as you look to avoid Gods heavy displeasure and desire that he shall multiply his graces upon you And in the end he said to those that were present was not this your charge to me and do ye not approve this Vocation They answered it is and we approve it Besides this Vocation that which necessitated Mr. Knox to enter in the publick place was his beating by his Pen Dean Annan a rotten Papist that had long troubled Mr. Rough in his Preaching from all defences that he was compelled to flie to his last refuge the Authority of the Church which said the Dean damned all Lutherans and Hereticks and therefore he would not dispute Whereupon Mr. Knox in the open audience of the Parish-Church of St. Andrews told the Dean thus As for your Roman Church as it is now corrupted and the Authority thereof wherein stands the hope of your victory I no more doubt but that it is the Synagogue of Satan and the head thereof called the Pope to be that man of sin of whom the Apostle speaks then I doubt that Jesus Christ suffered by the procurement of the visible Church of Ierusalem yea I offer my self by word or writing to prove the Roman Church this day farther to degenerate from the purity which was in the daies of the Apostles then was the Church of the Iews from the Ordinance given by Moses when they consented to the innocent death of Jesus Christ. The people hearing the offer cried with one consent We cannot all read your writings but we can all hear your preachings therefore we require you in the Name of God that ye let us hear the Probation of what you have affirmed for if it be true we have been miserably deceived The next Lords Day he preached on Dan. 7. And another King shall rise after them and he shall be unlike unto the first and he shall subdue three Kings and shall speak words against the most High and shall consume the Saints of the most High c. In the beginning of his Sermon he shewed the great love of God towards his Church whom he pleased to forewarn of dangers to come so many years before they came to pass After he made a short Discourse of the four Empires the Babylonian Persian Grecian and Roman in the destruction of the fourth rose up that last beast which he affirmed to be the Roman Church for to none other power that ever hath been yet do all the Notes that God shewed to the Prophets belong except to it alone and to it they do properly appertain as such as are not more then blind may clearly see Then he shewed that the Spirit in the New Testament gives to this King other new names as the man of sin the Antichrist the whore of Babylon which he proved to belong to the Papists and their head the Pope Hereupon he was with Mr. Rough convented before the Sub Prior of St. Andrews c. and several Articles were read against them The strangeness said the Sub Prior of these Articles which are gathered forth of your Doctrine have moved us to call for you to hear your Answers Mr. Knox said I for my part praise my God that I see such an Auditory but because it is long since that I have heard that ye are one that is not ignorant of the Truth I may crave of you in the Name of God yea and I appeal your conscience before that supreme Judge that if ye think any Article there expressed contrary to the Truth of God that ye oppose your self plainly unto it and suffer not the people to be therewith deceived but if in your conscience you know the Doctrine to be true then will I crave your Patrâ—cinie thereto that by your Authority the people may be moved the â—ather to believe the Truth The Sub Prior answered I come not here as a Judge but onely familiarly to talk and therefore I will neither allow nor condemn but if ye list I will reason Why may not the Church for good causes devise Ceremonies to decore the Sacraments and other Gods Service K. Because the Church ought to do nothing but in faith and ought not to go before but is bound to follow the voice of the true Pastor S. It is in faith that the Ceremonies are commanded and they have proper significations to help our faith they have a godly signification and therefore proceed from faith and are done in Faith K. It is not enough that man invent a Ceremony and then give it a signification according to his pleasure for so might the Ceremonies of the Gentiles and of Mahomet be maintained but if any thing proceed from faith it must have the Word of God for its assurance for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Now if ye will prove that your Ceremonies proceed from faith and do please God
you must prove that God hath commanded them else they are sin for whatsoever is not of faith is sin S. Will ye bind us so strait that we may do nothing without the express Word of God What if I ask drink think ye that I sin and yet I have not Gods Word for me K. I would ye should not jest in so grave a matter neither would I that you should begin to hide the truth with Sophistry As to your drinking I say that if ye either eat or drink without assurance of Gods Word in so doing you displease God by sinning against him for the creatures are sanctified by the Word and Prayer The Word is this all things are clean to the clean But the Question is not of meat or drink wherein the Kingdome of God consisteth not but of Gods true Worshipping without which we can have no society with God and here it is doubted if we may take the same liberty in using of Christs Sacraments that we may do in eating and drinking Moses saith All that the Lord thy God commandeth thee to do that do thou to the Lord thy God adde nothing to it diminish nothing from it By these Rules I think the Church of Christ will measure Gods Religion and not by that which seems good in their own eyes S. Pardon me I spake it because I was dry Frier follow the Argument F. I will prove that those Ceremonies ye damn are ordained by God for the Ceremonies of the Church are the gold silver and precious stones which do abide the fire and consume not away c. K. I praise God through Christ I find his Word true Christ bids us not fear when we shall be called before men to give Confession of his truth For it shall be given in that hour what we shall speak If I had sought the whole Scriptures I could not have produced a place more potent to confound you I would learn of you what fire it is that your Ceremonies do abide and in the mean give you this Argument from the same Text against you That which can abide the fire can abide the Word but your Ceremonies cannot abide the Word therefore they cannot abide the fire then are they not gold silver and precious stones F. I deny your Mâ—nor viz. That our Ceremonies may not abide the trial of Gods Word K. I prove That abides not the trial of Gods Word which Gods Word condemns but Gods Word condemns your Ceremonies therefore they do not abide the trial thereof but as a Thieâ— abides the trial of the Inquest and thereby is condemned to be hanged c. The Minor is evident for the plain and strait Commandement is Not thâ—â— thing that appears good in thine eyes shalt thou do to the Lord thy God but what the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that do thou adde nothing to it diminish nothing from it Now unless ye be able to prove that God hath commanded your Ceremonies this Command will damn both you and them The Frier would not answer directly but ever fled to the Authority of the Church Whereto Mr. Knox answered oftner then once That the Spouse of Christ had neither Power nor Authority against the Word of God Then said the Frier you will leave us no Church Indeed said Mr. Knox in David I read that there is a Church of Malignants that Church ye may have without the Word c. but as for me I will be of none other Church except of that which hath Jesus Christ to be Pastour which hears his voice and will not hear a stranger Upon the appearance of one and twenty French Gallies in the sight of the Castle the Castle was demanded to be delivered and the Governour refusing it was besieged by Sea and Land the Plague being within Mr. Knox ever told them within That their corrupt life having fallen into all kind of licentiousness puft up with pride of their success and relying on England for help in case of need could not escape the punishment of God When they triumphed of their Victory he lamented and said They saw not what he saw When they bragged of the force and thickness of their Walls he said They should be but Egge-shells When they vaunted England will rescue us he said Ye shall not see them but ye shall be delivered into your enemies hands and shall be carried into a strange Countrey The last of Iuly the Castle was delivered upon Articles That the lives of all in the Castle should be saved and safely transported into France c. In France the principal that looked for freedome were put into several Prisons and the rest were left in the Gallies and miserably used among which Mr. Knox was all the Winter When Mr. Iames Balfour afterwards Sir Iames Balfour and an Apostate would ask Mr. Knox if he thought that ever they should be delivered his Answer ever was That God would deliver them from that bondage to his glory even in this life When the Gallies returned to Scotland within sight of St. Andrews Mr. Iames willed Mr. Knox who was then extremely sick that few hoped his life to look to the Land and asked if he knew it He answered Yes I know it well for I see the Steeple of that place where God in publick opened my mouth to his glory and I am fully perswaded how weak soever I now appear that I shall not depart this life till that my tongue shall glorifie his holy Name in the same place This he spake many years before he sate foot on Scottish ground In answer to a Letter from those that were imprisoned in Mount Michel Mr. Knox writes That if without the blood of any shed or spilt by them for their deliverance they might set themselves at liberty they might safely do it But to shed any mans blood for their freedome thereto would he never consent Adding farther that he was assured that God would deliver them and the rest of that company even in the eyes of the world but not by such means they looked for that the praise of their deliverance should redound to his glory onely He willed therefore every one to take the occasion that God offered to them provided that they did nothing against Gods command for deliverance Adding that in one instant God delivered the whole company into the hands of unfaithful men but so would he not relieve them but some would he deliver by one means and at one time and others must abide for a season upon his good pleasure When Mr. Knox was delivered he came into England and was Preacher to Barwick then to Newcastle then to London c. But before he was delivered whilst in the Gallies he wrote a Treatise containing the Summe of his Doctrine and the Confession of his Faith and sent it to his Familiars in Scotland with his Exhortation that they should continue in the truth which they had professed notwithstanding any
original nor antiquity from worldly Princes but from the eternal God alone so are not Subjects bound to frame their Religion according to the appetite of their Princes Daniel and his fellows were Subjects to Nebuchadnezzar and unto Darius and yet they would not be of their Religion The three Children said We make it known to thee O King that we will not worship thy gods And Daniel prayed publickly to his God against the express command of the King You are not the Church said the Queen that I will nourish I will defend the Church of Rome for I think it is the true Church of God Your will Madam said he is no reason neither doth your thought make that Roman Harlot to be the immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ. And wonder not Madam that I call Rome an Harlot for that Church is altogether polluted with all kind of spiritual fornication c. Yea I offer my self further to prove that the Church of the Iews who crucified Christ Jesus when they manifestly denied the Son of God was not so far degenerated from the Ordinances and Statutes which God gave by Moses and Aaron to his people as the Church of Rome is declined from the purity of Religion which the Apostles taught and planted You interpret the Scriptures said she in one manner and they in another whom shall I believe who shall be Iudge Believe said he God that speaketh plainly in his Word and further then the Word teacheth you ye shall believe neither the one nor the other The Word of God is plain in it self and if there appear any obscurity in one place the Holy Ghost who is never contrarious to himself explains the same more clearly in other places When he was accused as one that had irreverently spoken of the Queen and that travelled to bring her into hatred and contempt of the people and that he had exceeded the bounds of his Text. Madam said he if your ears had heard the whole matter that I treated of if there be in you any spark of the Spirit of God yea of honesty and wisdome you would not justly be offended with any thing I spake My Text was this And now O Kings understand be learned ye Iudges of the earth After Madam I had declared the dignity of Kings and Rulers the obedience due to them I demanded this Question But oh alas what account shall the most part of Princes make before the supreme Judge whose Throne and Authority so shamefully they abuse The complaint of Solomon is this day most true That Violence and Oppression do occupy the Throne of God on earth for whilst that Murtherers Blood-thirsty men Oppressors c. dare present themselves before Kings and Princes and the poor Saints of God are banished and exiled what shall we say but that the Devil hath taken possession in the Throne of God which ought to be â—earful to all wicked doers and a refuge to the innocent and oppressed And how can it be otherwise For Princes will not understand c. Gods Law they despise his Statutes and holy Ordinances they will not understand for in fidling and singing they are more exercised then in reading or hearing Gods most blessed Word c. And of dancing Madam I said That albeit in Scripture I find no praise of it and in profane Writers it is termed the gesture rather of those that are mad then of sober men Yet do I not utterly condemn it provided that two vices be avoided 1 That the principal Vocation of those that use that exercise be not neglected for the pleasure of dancing 2 That they dance not as the Philistines their Fathers for the pleasure that they take in the displeasure of Gods people for if they do so they shall receive the reward of dancers and that will be to drink in Hell unless they speedily repent So shall God turn their mirth into sudden sorrow for God will not alwayes afflict his people nor wink at the tyranny of Tyrants Many that stood by witnessed That Mr. Knâ—x had recited the very words that publickly he spake The Queen looked about upon some of the Reporters and said Your words are sharp enough as you have spoken them but yet they were told me in another manner If you hear any thing of my self that misliketh you come to my self and tell me and I shall hear you Madam said he I am called to a publick Function within the Church of God and appointed by God to rebuke the sins of all I am not appointed to come to every man in particular to shew him his offence for that labour were infinite If your Majesty pleaseth to frequent the publick Sermons then I doubt not but you shall fully understand both what I like and mislike as well in your Majesty as in all others Or if your Majesty will assign me a certain day and hour when it shall please you to hear the Form and Substance of Doctrine which is proposed in publick to the Churches of this Realm I will most gladly wait upon your Majesties pleasure time and place but to come and wait upon your Chamber door or elsewhere and then to have no farther liberty but to whisper my mind in your Majesties ear or to tell you what others think or speak of you neither will my conscience nor the Vocation whereto God hath called me suffer it Mr. Knox departed with a reasonable merry countenance whereat some Papists offended said He is not afraid which heard by him he answered Why should the pleasant face of a Lady afray me I have looked in the faces of many angry men and yet have not been afraid above measure When the Courtiers pickt quarrels against the Preachers for reprehending avarice oppression excess riotous cheer banquetting immoderate dancing and whoredome that thereof ensues which then began to abound at Court alledging That all their preaching was turned into railing Mr. Knox told them It cometh to our ears that we are called Railers whereof albeit we wonder yet we are not ashamed seeing that the most worthy Servants of God that before us have travelled in this Vocation have so been stiled but unto you do I say that the same God who from the beginning hath punished the contempt of his Word and hath poured forth his vengeance on such proud mockers shall not spare you yea he shall not spare you before the eyes of this wicked generation for the pleasure whereof ye despise all wholesome admonition Have you not seen greater then any of you sitting where ye sit Earl Huntly pick his nails and pull down his Bonnet over his eyes when Idolatry Witchcraft Murder Oppression c. were rebuked was not this his common talk When these Knaves have railed their fill then will they hold their peace Have ye not heard it affirmed to his own face that God should revenge that his blasphemy even in the eyes of such as were witness to his iniquity By your hands
to the joyes of thy salvation Now all ye which behold my wound tremble for fear and take heed that ye slumber not nor fall into the like crime but rather let us assemble together and rend our hearts c. I mourn and am sorry at the heart-root O ye my Friends that ever I so fell c. Let the Angels lament over me because of this my dangerous fall Let the Assemblies of Saints lament over me for that I am severed from their blessed societies Let the holy Church lament over me for that I am wofully declined Let all the people lament over me for that I have my deaths wound Bewail me that am in like case with the reprobate Jews for this which was said unto them by the Prophet Why dost thou preach my Laws c. now soundeth alike in mine ears What shall I do that am thus beset with manifest mischiefs Alas O death why dost thou linger Herein thou dost spite and bear me malice O Satan what mischief hast thou wrought unto me How hast thou pierced my breast with thy poysonous dart Thinkest thou that my ruine will avail any thing at all Thinkest thou to procure to thy self any ease or rest whilst that I am grievously tormented who is able to signifie unto thee whether my sins be wiped and done away whether I shall not again be coupled with and made a Companion to the Saints O Lord I fall down before thy Mercy-seat have mercy upon me who mourn thus out of measure because I have greatly offended Rid my soul O Lord from the roaring Lion The Assembly of the Saints doth make intercession for me who am an unprofitable Servant Shew mercy O Lord to thy wandring Sheep who is subject to the rending teeth of the ravenous Wolf save me O Lord out of his mouth c. Let my sackcloth be rent asunder and gird me with joy and gladness Let me be received again into the joy of my God Let me be thought worthy of his Kingdome through the earnest Petitions of the Church which sorroweth over me and humbleth her self to Jesus Christ in my behalf to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all glory and honour for ever and ever Amen Ormes Cicely Ormes of Norwich was taken for that she said to two Martyrs at the Stake That she would pledge them of the same Cup. The Chancellour of Norwich offered her That if she would go to the Church and keep her tongue she should be at liberty and believe as she would She told him She would not consent to his wicked desire therein do with her what he would for if she should she said God would surely plague her Then the Chancellour told her He had shewed more favour to her then ever he did to any and that he was loth to condemn her c. But she answered him That if he did he should not be so desirous of her sinful flesh as she would by Gods grace be content to give it in so good a quarrel Before she was taken this time she had recanted but never was quiet in Conscience till she had forsaken all Popery Between the time she had recanted and now was taken she had provided a Letter for the Chancellour to let him know that she repented her recantation from the bottom of her heart and would never do the like again while she lived but before the Letter was delivered she was taken When she came to the Stake she kneeled down and prayed and then said Good people I believe in God the Gather God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God This do I not nor will I recant but I recant utterly from the bottom of my heart the doings of the Pope of Rome and all his Popish Priests and Shavelings I utterly refuse and never will have to do with them again by Gods grace And good people I would ye should not think of me that I believe to be saved in that I offer my self here unto the death for the Lords Cause but I believe to be saved by Christs Death and Passion and this my death is and shall be a witness of my faith unto you all here present Good people as many of you as believe as I believe pray for me Laying her hand on the Stake she said Welcome the Cross of Christ. She was burnt at the same Stake that that Simon Miller and Elizabeth Cooper was burned at to whom she had said That she would pledge them c. After she had wiped her hand blacked with the Stake she touched the Stake again with her hand and kissed it and said Welcome the sweet Cross of Christ. After the Tormentors had kindled the sire about her she said My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Oswald Iohn Oswald denied to answer any thing untill his Accusers should be brought face to face before him Nevertheless said he the Fire and Fagots cannot make me afraid but as the good Preachers which were in King Edward's dayes have suffered and gone before so am I ready to suffer and come after and would be glad thereof P. Palmer Mr. Iulius Palmer was wont to say None were to be accounted valiant but such as could despise injuries When he was a Papist he told Mr. Bullingham then a Papist also As touching our Religion even our Consciences bear witness that we taste not such an inward sweetness in the profession thereof as we understand the Gospellers to taste in their Religion yea to say the truth we maintain we wot not what rather of will then of knowledge But what then rather then I will yield to them I will beg my bread His Conversion was occasioned by the constancy of the Martyrs at their death he having oft said in King Edward's dayes That none of them all would stand to death for their Religion When he returned from the burning of Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer he cried out Oh raging Cruelty Oh Tyranny tragical and more then barbarous From that time he studiously sought to understand the Truth for which they suffered When he resolved upon leaving his Fellowship in Magdalens Colledge in Oxford he was demanded of a special Friend Whither he would go or how he would live He made this answer Domini est terra plenitudo ejus The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Let the Lord work I will commit my self to God and the wide world After his leaving his Fellowship being at Oxford he was perswaded to hear Frier Iohn that succeeded Peter Martyr in the Divinity Lecture and hearing him blaspheme the Truth departed and being found in his Chamber weeping and askt why he slipt away so on a sudden O said he if I had not openly departed I should have openly stopped my ears for the Friers blasphemous talk in depraving the Verity made my heart worse to smart then if mine ears had been cut off
from my head Afterwards Supping in the company of the said Frier and other great Papists and having refused to kiss his hand or to pledge him and being askt why he was so unwise and uncivil in his carriage He answered Oleum eorum non demulcet sed frangit caput meum The oyle of these men doth not supple but breaketh my head Another time a little before his death reasoning stifly for the Truth Mr. Barwick then Fellow of Trinity Colledge told him Well Palmer now thou art stout and hardy in thy Opinion but if thou wert once brought to the Stake I believe thou wouldst tell me another tale I advise thee beware of the fire it is a shrewd matter to burn Truly said Palmer I have been in danger of burning once or twice and hitherto I thank God I have escaped But I judge verily it will be my end at last welcome be it by the grace of God Indeed it is an hard matter for them to burn that have the mind and soul linked to the body as a Thiefs foot is tyed in a pair of Fetters but if a man be once able through the help of Gods Spirit to separate and divide the soul from the body for him it is no more mastery to burn then for me to eat this piece of bread After he had not onely resigned up his Fellowship but left his School at Reading for Conscience sake he went to his Mother at Esham hoping to get from her some Legacies left him by his Father Her first words to him were Thou shalt have Christs curse and mine whithersoever thou goest Oh Mother said he your own curse you may give me which God knoweth I never deserved but Gods curse you cannot give me for he hath already blessed me Whereas you have cursed me I again pray God to bless you and prosper you all your life long At his Trial at Newberry Dr. Ieffery told him he would make him recant and wring peccavi out of his lying lips ere he had done with him But I know said Palmer that although of my self I be able to do nothing yet if you and all mine enemies both bodily and ghostly should do your worst you shall not be able to bring that to pass neither shall ye prevail against Gods mighty Spirit by whom we understand the truth and speak it so boldly Ah said Ieffery are you full of the Spirit are you inspired with the Holy Ghost Sir said Palmer no man can believe but by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost therefore if I were not a Spirtual man and inspired with Gods holy Spirit I were not a true Christian. He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his I perceive said Ieffery you lack no words Christ hath promised said Palmer not onely to give us store necessary but with them such force of matter as the Gates of Hell shall not be able to confound or prevail against it Christ replied Ieffery made such a promise to his Apostles I trow you will not compare with them Palmer answered with the holy Apostles I may not compare yet this promise I am certain pertaineth to all such as are appointed to defend Gods Truth against his enemies in the time of their persecution for the same Then said Ieffery it pertaineth not to thee Yes said Palmer I am right well assured that through his grace it appertaineth at this present to me as it shall appear if I may dispute with you before this Audience Thou art but a beardless Boy replied Ieffery and darest thou presume to offer disputation or to encounter with a Doctor Remember Doctor said Palmer the wind bloâ—eâ—h where is listeth c. Out of the mouth of Infants c. Thou hast hid these things from the wise c. God is not tied to 〈◊〉 wit learning place nor person and though your wit and learning be greater then mine yet your belief in the Truth and zeal to defend the time is no greater then mine The Catholick Church I believe yet not for her own sake but be-because she is holy that is to say a Church that grounds her belief upon the Word of her Spouse Christ. After Dinner Sir Richard Alridges sent for Mr. Palmer to his Lodging and by offers tempted him to recant Mr. Palmer told him that as he had in two places already recounced his livelyhood for Christs sake so he would with Gods grace be ready to surrender and yield up his life also for the same when God should send time When the Knight perceived he would by no means relent Well Palmer said he then I perceive one of us twain must be damned for we be of two Faiths and certain I am there is but one Faith that leadeth to Life and Salvation O Sir said Palmer I hope we both shall be saved How may that be said the Knight Right well Sir said Palmer for as it hath pleased our merciful Saviour according to the Gospels parable to call me at the third hour of the day even in my flowers at the age of four and twenty years even so I trust he will call you at the eleventh hour of this your old age and give you everlasting life for your portion Mr. Winchcome perswading him to take pity on the pleasant flowers of lusty youth before it be too late Sir said Palmer I long for those springing flowers that shall never fade away Brethren said Palmer to his fellow Prisoners an hour before his Execution be of good cheer in the Lord and faint not Remember the words of our Saviour Christ Matth. 5.10 11 12. We shall not end our lives in the fire but change them for a better life yea for Coles we shall receive Pearls For Gods holy Spirit certifieth our spirit that he hath even now prepared for us a sweet Supper in Heaven for his sake which suffered first for us As he arose from Prayer at the Stake two Popish Friers came behind him and exhorted him yet to recant and save his soul. Mr. Palmer answered Away away tempt me no longer away I say from me all ye that work iniquity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my tears When he was bound to the Post he said Good people pray for us that we may persevere to the end and for Christs sake beware of Popish Teachers for they deceive you When the fire was kindled and took hold of his body and the bodies of Iohn Gwin and Thomas Aâ—kine they lifted up their hands to Heaven and quietly and cheerfully as though they had felt no smart cried Lord Iesus strengthen us Lord Iesus assist us Lord Iesus receive our souls After their three heads by force of the raging and devouring flames of the fire were fallen together in a cluster so that they were all judged already to have given up the ghost suddenly Mr. Palmer as a man awaked out of sleep moved his tongue and jaws and was heard to pronounce this
word Iesus Epitaphium in Palmerum Palmerus flammas Christi pro dogmate pâ—ssus Impositum pondus ceu bona Palma tâ—lit Non retrocessit sed contra erdentior ivit Illaesam retinens fortis in igne fidem Propterea in Coelum nunc Palmifer iste receptus Iustitiâ— Palmam not pereuntis habot Paulinus When he had his City Gold Silver and all taken away he said Lord let not the loss of these things trouble me for thou art all and more then all these to me Pareus David Pareus having foreseen the great miseries that would come upon the Palatinate when the Spaniards came in with their Army by Prodigies and Dreams he was perswaded to retire himself At his departure he cried out O Heidelberg Heidelberg But it is better to fall into the hands of God then of men whose tender mercies are cruelty Paschalis It is a small matter said Lewis Paschalis to die once for Christ if it might be I could wish I might die a thousand deaths for him Patingham Patrick Patingham being much prest by Bonner to recant He protested that the Church which the Bishop believed was no Catholick Church but was the Church of Satan and therefore he would never turn to it c. Peloquine The Inquisitors telling Dyonisius Peloquine his life was in his own hands Then said he it were in an ill keeping Christs School hath taught me to save it by losing it and not by the gain of a few dayes or years to lose eternity Person Mr. Anthony Person being come to the place of Execution with a chearfull countenance embraced the Post in his arms and kissing it said Now welcome mine own sweet Wife for this day shalt thou and I be married together in the love and peace of God Pulling the straw unto him he laid a good deal thereof upon the top of his head saying This is Gods Hat now am I dressed like a true Souldier of Christ by whose merits onely I trust this day to enter into his joy Peter The Apostle Peter was crucified his head being down and his feet upward he himself so requiring because he was he said unworthy to be crucified after the same manner form as the Lord was c. Seeing his Wife going to her Martyrdome belike as he was yet hanging upon the Cross he was greatly joyous and glad thereof and cried out unto her with a loud voice Remember the Lord Iesus None but Christ Nothing but Christ. Phileas Phileas Bishop of the Thumitans whilst he was in bonds before he received the Sentence of Death wrote to the Congregation over which he was Bishop exhorting them to persist in the Truth of Christ professed notwithstanding the Torments inflicted upon the Martyrs in his dayes which he thus describes Some beat them with Cudgels some with Rods some with Whips some with Thongs and some with Cords Some of them having their hands bound behind their backs were lifted up upon Timber-logs and with certain Instruments their members and joynts were stretched forth whereupon their whole bodies hanging were subject to the will of the Tormentors who were commanded to afflict them with all manner of torments not on their sides onely but bellies thighs and legs They scratched them with the talens and claws of wild Beasts Some were seen to hang by one hand upon the Engine whereby they might feel the more grievous pulling out of the rest of their joynts and members Some were stretched out after they were beaten upon a new kind of Rack Others were cast down upon the Pavement where they were oppressed so thick and so grievously with torments that it is not almost to be thought what afflictions they suffered Some died of their torments not a little shaming and confounding their enemies by their singular patience Others were condemned and willingly and cheerfully were martyr'd Philpot. Mr. Iohn Philpot Son of Sir Peter Philpot of Huntshire being threatned to be removed from the Kings Bench to Lullards Tower said You have power to transfer my Body from place to place at your pleasure but you have no power over my soul. God hath appointed a day shortly to come in the which he will judge us with righteousness howsoever you judge of us now When Story threatned him with a worse Prison he said God forgive you and give you more mercifull hearts and shew you more mercy in the time of need Do quickly that you have in hand Bonner telling him He marvelled they were so merry in Prison singing and rejoycing in their naughtiness Methinks said he you do not well herein you should rather lament and be sorry My Lord said Mr. Phiâ—pot the mirth that we make is but in singing certain Psalms as we are commanded by St. Paul willing us to be merry in the Lord singing together in Hymns and Psalms We are my Lord in a dark comfortless place and therefore it behoveth us to be merry least as Solomon saith Sorrowfulness eat up our heart St. Paul saith If any man be of upright mind let him sing and we therefore to testifie we are of an upright mind to God though we be in misery do sing After this conference with Bonner I was saith Mr. Philpot carried to my Lords Cole-house again where I with my six Fellows do rouz together in the straw as cheerfully we thank God as others do in their Beds of Down When he was brought before Bonner and the Bishop of Bath c. a second time before he answered any questions he fell down upon his knees before them and prayed thus Almighty God thou art the Giver of all wisdome and understanding I beseech thee of thine infinite goodness and mercy in Jesus Christ to give me most vile sinner in thy sight the Spirit of wisdome to speak and answer in thy Cause that it may be to the contentation of the Hearers before whom I stand and also to my better understanding if I be deceived in any thing Bonner telling the Bishop of Wercester that he did not well to exhort him to make any Prayer for in this point said he they are much like to certain arrant Hereticks of whom Pliny maketh mention that did daily sing Antelucanos Hymnos praise unto God before the dawning of the day Mr. Philpot replied My Lord God make me and all you here present such Hereticks as those were that sang those Morning Hymns for they were right Christians with whom the Tyrants of the world were offended for their well doing Afterwards he made this Protestation I protest here before God and his Eternal Son Jesus Christ my Saviour and the Holy Ghost and his Angels and you here present that be Judges of that I speak that I do not stand in any Opinion of wilfulness or singularity but onely upon my conscience certainly informed by Gods Word from the which I dare not go for fear of damnation The Bishop of Worcester telling him he was of â—â—ch
true cause for it 29 That we are no more bound to pray in the Kirk then in other places 32 That the Pope is the head of the Kirk of Antichrist 34 That they which are called Princes and Prelates in the Church are Thieves and Robbers By these Articles exhibited in the year 1494 which God of his merfull providence caused the enemies of his Truth to keep in their Registers may appear how God retained some spark of light in Scotland in the time of greatest darkness When Arch Bishop Blacater asked Adam Read Whether he believed that God was in Heaven he answered Not as I do the Sacraments seven Whereupon Blacater insultingly said unto the King Sir Lo he denies that God is in Heaven Whereat the King wondring said Adam Read what say you He answered May it please your Majesty to hear the end between the Churle and me and therewith turned to the Bishop and said I neither think nor believe as thou thinkest that God is in Heaven though I am most assured that he is not onely in Heaven but also in the Earth but thou and thy Faction declare by your works that either you think there is no God at all or else that he is so set up in Heaven that he regards not what is done on Earth for if thou firmly believedst that God were in Heaven thou shouldst not make thy self Check-mate to the King and altogether forget that charge that Iesus Christ the Son of God gave to his Apostles to preach the Gospel and not to play the proud Prelates as all the rabble of you do this day And now Sir said he to the King judge you whether the Bishop or I believe best that God is in Heaven Then the King said to him Adam Read Wilt thou burn thy Bill He answered Sir the Bishop and you will Ridley Dr. Nicholas Ridley then Bishop of London went about Septemb. 8. â— 1552. to see the Lady Mary and offered to preach before her but she told him The door of the Parish Church adjoyning shall be open to you if you come and you may preach if you list but neither I nor any of mine shall hear you Madam said he I trust you will not refuse Gods Word I cannot tell said she what you call Gods Word that is not Gods Word now that was Gods Word in my Fathers dayes Gods Word said he is all one in all times but hath been better understood and practised in some Ages then in other After this Conference Sir Thomas Wharton one of the Lady Mary's Officers brought the Bishop to the place where they dined but the Bishop after he had drunk pausing a little while and looking very sadly brake out into these words Surely I have done amiss Why so said the Knight For I have drunk said he in that place where Gods Word offered hath been refused whereas if I had remembred my duty I ought to have departed immediately and to have shaken off the dust of my feet for a testimony against this House These words were spoken by the Bishop with such vehemency that some of the Hearers afterwards confessed That their hairstood upright upon their heads This done the Bishop departed In the time of Queen Iane in his Sermon at Paul's Cross he prophesied at it were That if ever the Lady Mary were Queen she would bring in Foreign Power to reign over them besides the subverting the Christian Religion then established Shortly after this Sermon Queen Mary was proclaimed and Dr. Ridley speedily repaired to Fremingham in Suffolk to Queen Mary but had but cold welcome there he was spoiled of his Dignity and sent back upon a lame halting Horse to the Tower In the Tower he was sometimes invited to the Lieutenants Table where he had conference with Secretary Brown c. In that Conference It is not in Scripture said Dr. Ridley as in the witness of men where a â—umber is credited more then one A multitude of affirmations in Scripture and one affirmation is all one as to the truth if the matter That which any one of the Evangeâ—ists spâ—ke inspired by the Holy Ghost is as true â—s that which is spoken by them all What John saith of Christ I am the door of the Sheâ—p is as true as what Matthew Mark Luke c. say This is my body â—â—t the Scripture words are onely true in the sence in which they were spoken As for Unity I embrace it â—it be with Verity and joyned to our Head Christ. â—â—r Antiquity I am perswaded that to be true which â—reneus saith That which is first is true Our Religion was first truly taught by Christ himself and his Apostles c. You know I were a very fool if I â—iu'd in this matter dissent from you if that in my â—onscience the Truth did not inforce me sâ— to do Ye perâ—ive I trow it is out of my way if I esteemed worldly â—â—in Afterwards he was sent out of the Tower with Cranmer and Latimer to dispute at Oxford When he was the first time brought before the Commissioners they asked him Whether he would dispute or no He answered That as long as God gave him life he should not onely have his heart but also his mouth and Pen to defend his Truth In his Protestation before his Disputation Whilst I weighed with my self how great a charge of the Lords Flock was of late committed to me for which I am certain I must render an account to my Lord God c. and that moreover by the command of the Apostle Peter I ought to be ready alwayes to give a reason of the hope that is in me with meekness and reverence unto every one that shall demand the same Besides this considering my duty to the Church of Christ and to your Worships being Commissioners by publick Authority I determined to obey your command in openly declaring to you my mind touching the Propositions which you gave me And albeit plainly to confess unto you the truth in these things which ye now demand of me I have thought otherwise in times past then now I do yet God I call to record unto my soul I lye not I have not altered my judgement as now it is either by constraint of any man or Laws or for the dread of any dangers of this world or for any hope of commodity but onely for love of the Truth revealed to me by the grace of God as I am undoubtedly perswaded in his holy Word and in the reading of the Ancient Fathers Dr. Weston telling him What he said contained onely evasions and starting holes I cannot said Dr. Ridley start far from you I am captive and bound Bertram said he was the first that pulled me â—y thâ— ear and that first â—rought me from the common errour of the Popish Church and caused me to search more diligently and exactly both the Scriptures and the Writings of the old Ecclesiastical Fathers in this matter
Commonwealth their minds by the sight of the outward Image might be withdrawn or wander from the matter To allow a most certain peril for an uncertain profit and the greatest danger for the smallest benefit in matters of Faith and Religion is a tempting of God and a grievous offence In the Primitive Church there were no Images in places of Assembly for Religion this the Heathens objected to the Christians for a crime as Origen and Arnobius testifie c. Lactantius saith It is not to be doubted that there is no Religion wheresoever is any Image Not onely by Varro's judgement but also by St. Augustine's approbation of Varro the most pure and chast observation of Religion and nearest the Truth is to be without Images By the judgement of this ancient Father Epiphanius to permit Images in Churches is against the Authority of Scripture meaning against the second Commandment c. Besides Epiphanius doth reject not onely graven and molten but painted Images Again he spared not the Image of Christ yea he did not onely remove it but with a vehemency of zeal cut in pieces and he is carefull that no such kind of painted Images be permitted in the Church It is manifest to them that read Histories that not onely Emperours but also divers and sundry Councils in the East Church have condemned and abolished Images both by Decrees and Examples But this notwithstanding experience hath declared That neither Councils nor Writings Preachings Decrees making of Laws prescribing of Punishments have holpen against Images to which Idolatry hath been committed nor against Idolatry whilst Images stood In his Letter to his Dear Brother and Reverend Fellow-Elder in Christ Iohn Hooper My dearly beloved Brother c. whom I reverence in the Lord c. Forasmuch as I understand by your works that we throughly agree and wholly consent together in those things which are the grounds and substantial points of our Religion against which the world so furiously rageth in our dayes howsoever in time past by certain by-matters and circumstances of Religion your wisdome and my simplicity I grant hath a little jarred each of us following the abundance of his own sense and judgement Now I say be you assured that even with my whole heart God is my witness in the bowels of Christ I love you in the Truth and for the Truths sake which abideth in us and as I am perswaded shall by the grace of God abide in us for evermore Because the world as I perceive Brother busily conspireth against Christ our Saviour with all possible force and power let us joyn hands together in Christ and if we cannot overthrow yet to our power and as much as in us lies let us shake those high Altitudes not with carnal but with spiritual weapons Let us also prepare our selves for death by which after our short afflictions here by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall triumph together with him in eternal glory I pray you Brother salute in my Name your Reverend Fellow-Prisoner and Venerable Father Dr. Cranmer by whom since the first day that I heard of his most godly and fatherly constancy in confessing the Truth of the Gospel I have conceived great consolation and joy in the Lord. It will also be to me great joy to hear of your constancy and fortitude in the Lords Quarrel I am earnestly moved to counsel you not to hasten the publishing of your Works especially under your own Name least your mouth should be stopped hereafter and all things taken away from the rest of the Prisoners whereby otherwise if it so please God may be able to do good to many Farewell in the Lord my most Dear Brother Once again and for ever in Christ my most Dear Brother farewell Rieux Dionysius de Rieux was one of them who was first burned at Melda or Meaux in France An. 1528. for saying That the Mass is a plain denial of the Death and Passion of Christ. He was alwayes wont to have in his mouth the Words of Christ He that denieth me before men him also will I deny before my Father Rogers Mr. Iohn Rogers preaching at Paul's Cross even after Queen Mary was come to the Tower of London confirmed the Truth of that Doctrine which he and others had there taught in King Edward's dayes exhorting the people constantly to remain in the same and to beware of all pestilent Popery Idolatry and Superstition For that Sermon he was called in Question In his Examination and Answer Ian. 22. 1555. I never granted King Henry the Eighth to have any Supremacy in spiritual things as are the forgiveness of sins giving of the holy Ghost authority to be a Judge above the Word of God The Chancellor asserting That the Parliament that abolished the Popes Supremacy was with most great cruelty constrained thereunto He answered With cruelty Why then I perceive that you take a wrong way with cruelty to perswade mens consciences for it should appear by your doings now that the cruelty then used hath not perswaded your consciences How would you then have your consciences perswaded with cruelty Sir Richard Southwell telling him That he would not burn in this year when it cometh to the Purpose he answered Sir I cannot tell but I trust to my Lord God yes lifting up his eyes to Heaven I desire the hearty and unfeigned help of the Prayers of all Christs true Members the true Imps of the true unfeigned Catholick Church that the Lord God of all consolation will now be my comfort aid strength buckler and shield as also of all my Brethren that are in the same case and distress that I and they all may despise all manner of threats and cruelty and even the bitter burning fire and the dreadfull dart of death and stick like true Souldiers to our dear and loving Captain Christ our onely Saviour and Redeemer and the onely true Head of the Church that doth all in us all which is the property of an Head and that we do not traiterously run out of his Tents or rather out of the plain field from him in the greatest jeopardy of the battel but that we may persevere in the fight if he will not otherwise deliver us till we be most cruelly slain of his enemies For this I most heartily and at this present with tears most instantly and earnestly desire and besâ—ech you all to pray In his second Examination and Answer Ian. 28 29. 1555. Should said the Chancellor when the Parliament hath concluded a thing any private person have authority to discuss whether they had done right or wrong No that may not be I answered shortly That all the Laws of men might not neither could rule the Word of God but that they all must be discussed and judged thereby and obey thereto and neither my conscience nor any Christians could be satisfied with such Laws as disagreed from that Word Mr. Hooper and Mr. Cardmaker were