and Confessours yea with thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom thou dost now here begin to fashion us like that in his glory we may be like him also O good God what are we on whom thou shouldest shew this great mercy O loving Lord forgive us our unthankfulness and sins O faithful Father give us thy holy Spirit now to cry in our hearts Abba dear Father to assure us of our eternal election in Christ to reveal more and more thy Truth unto us to confirm strengthen and stablish us so in the same that we may live and die in it as Vessels of thy mercy to thy glory and to the commodity of thy Church Indue us with the Spirit of thy wisdome that with good conscience we may alwayes so answer the enemies in thy cause as may turn to their conversion or confusion and our unspeakable consolation in Jesus Christ for whose sake we beseech thee henceforth to keep us to give us patience and to will none otherwise for deliverance or mitigation of our misery then may stand alwayes with thy good pleasure and merciful will towards us Grant this dear Father not onely to us in this place but also to all others elsewhere afflicted for thy Names sake through the death and merit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen In his godly Meditations We are rather to be placed among the wicked then among thy children for that we are so shameless for our sin and careless for thy wrath which we may well say to be most grievous against us and evidently set forth in the taking away of our good King and the true Religion in the exile of thy Servants imprisonment of thy People misery of thy Children and death of thy Saints and by placing over us in authority thine enemies by the success thou gavest them in all that they took in hand by the returning again into our Countrey of Antichrist the Pope What shall we do what shall we say who can give us penitent hearts who can open our lips that our mouths might make acceptable confession unto thee O what now may we do Despair no for thou art God and therefore good thou art merciful and therefore thou forgivest sins with thee is mercy and propitiation and therefore thou art worshipped When Adam had sinned thou gavest him mercy before he desired it and wilt thou deny us mercy which now desire the same Adam excused his fault and accused thee but we accuse our selves and excuse thee and shall we be sent empty away Abraham was pulled out of Idolatry when the world was drown'd therein and art thou his God onely Israel in captivity in Egypt was graciously visited and delivered and dear God that same good Lord shall we alwayes be forgotten How often in the wilderness didst thou defer and spare thy plagues at the request of Moses when the people themselves made no Petition to thee and seeing we do not onely make our Petitions to thee but also have a Mediator for us now far above Moses even Jesus Christ shall we I say dear Lord depart ashamed Take into thy custody and governance for ever our souls and bodies our lives and all that ever we have Tempt us never further then thou wilt make us able to bear and alwayes as thy children guide us so that our life may please thee and our deaths praise thee through Jesus Christ our Lord for whose sake we heartily pray thee to grant these things c. not onely to us but c. especially for thy children that be in thraldome under their enemies in exile in prison poverty c. Be merciful to all the whole Realm of England grant us all true repentance and mitigation of our misery And if it be thy good will that thy holy Word and Religion may continue amongst us Pardon our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and if it be thy pleasure turn their hearts Oh mighty King and most High Almighty God who mercifully governest all things which thou hast made look down upon the faithful seed of Abraham c. consecrated to thee by the anointing of thy holy Spirit and appointed to thy Kingdome by thy eternal purpose free mercy and grace but yet as strangers wandring in this vile vile of misery brought forth daily by worldly Tyrants like Sheep to the slaughter Thou hast destroyed Pharaoh with all his Horse and Chariots puffed up with pride against thy people leading forth safely by the hands of thy mercy thy beloved Israel through the high waves of the roaring waters Thou O God the Lord of all Hosts and Armies didst first drive away from the Gates of thy people the blasphemous Senacherib slaying of his Army 85000 by the Angel in one night and after by his own Sons before his Idols didst kill the same blasphemous Idolater c. Thou didst transforâ— and change proud Nebuchadnezzar the enemy oâ— thy people into a bruit beast to eat grass and hayâ— to the horrible terrour of all worldly Tyrants c. Thou didst preserve those thy three Servants iâ— Babylon who with bold courage gave their bodies to the fire because they would not worship any dead Idol and when they were cast into the burning Furnace thou didst give them chearful hearts to rejoyce and sing Psalms and savedâ—â— unhurt the very hairs of their heads turnâ—ng the flame from them to devour their enemies Thou O Lord God by the might of thy right arm which governeth all broughtest Daniel thy Prophet safe into light and life forth of the dark Den of the devouring Lions c. Now also O heavenly Father beholder of all things to whom belongs vengeance thou seest and conâ—iderest how thy holy Name by the wicked Worldlings and blasphemons Idolaters is dishonoured thy sacred Word forsaken refused and despised thy holy Spirit provoked offended thy chosen Temple polluted and defiled Tarry not too long therefore but shew thy power speedily upon thy chosen Houshold which is so grievously vexed and so cruelly handled by thy open enemies Avenge thine own glorâ— and shorten these evil dayes for thine Elects sake Let thy Kingdome come of all thy Servants desired and though we have all offended thy Majesty Yet for thine own glory O merciful Lord suffer not the enemy of thy Son Christ the Romish Antichrist thus wretchedly to delude and draw from thee our poor brethren for whom thy Son once died that by his cruelty after so clear light they they should be made Captives to dumb Idols and devillish inventions of Popish Ceremonies thereunto pertaining Suffer him not to seduce the simple sort with this fond opinion that his false gods blind mumbling feigned Religion or his foolish Superstition doth give him such conquest such victories such triumph and so high an hand over us We know most certainly O Lord that it is not their arm and power but our sins and offences that hath delivered us to their fury and hath caused thee
and Iohn c. which is written without doubt for our instruction so that thereby you may see when men be wrongfully suspected or inâ—amed of heresie and so prohibited by Bishops to preach the Word of God that they ought for no mans commandment to leave or stop c. In his Answer to the two and twentieth Demand Priests have two names in Scripture Presâ—yteri Sacerdoâ—es They are most usually called Presbyteri who are set to be Prelates in the Church to guide the same by his blessed Word And Priests thus called Presbyteri in the Primitive Church what time were but few Traditions and Ordinances to let us from the strait institution made by Christ and his Apostles were the very same and none other but Bishops As many as are in this wise Priests ought to preach freely the Word of God in all places and times convenient c. Others be called Priests by this word Sacerdotes and thus be all Christians c. These ought not all to preach openlâ— in general Assemblies c. yet privately are they bound for instruction of their Servants Children Kinsfolk c. to speak that should be for the destruction of vice and upholding and increase of vertue c. Notwithstanding this I say both by supportation of Gods Law and also of Laws written in the Dâ—crees that in time of great necessity Lay people may preach c. In his Answer to the four and twentieth Demand Excommunication bindeth before God if it be lawfully denounced if the persons be guilty and if it be done with the consent of others gathered with the Bishop in Christs Name for the behoof of Christs Church for so used St. Paul in excommunicating the incestuous Corinthian and Christ requireth c. So that excommunication ought to be done as methinketh by the Congregation assembled together with their Pastour whose advice they ought principally to esteem and follow if it be vertuous and godly In his Answer to the thirtieth Demand Where you speak of Prelates Deputies I think such be little behoveful to Christs flock It were right and necessary that as the Prelates themselves will have the Revenues c. they should themselves labour and teach diligently the Word of God and not shift the labour from one to another till pity it is all be left undone Such doth Saint Iohn call thieves and murtherers c. God would have every man get his living by the sweat of his own face i. e. by his labour according to his estate and calling In his Answer to the five and thirtieth Demand That one singular person may judge more rightly then a great multitude assembled in a Council appeareth by Gods Law and by the Law of man Caiaphas is one instance A whole Council did submit to his Sentence Gamaliel is another Agreeable to this we find in the Decrees Dist. 31. the whole Council of Nice commending the Sentence of Paphnutius and upon this that Paphnutius did resist and prevail against the whole Council the Gloss notes that one singular person may gain-say an universal generality having a reasonable cause on his side Panormitane also gives his suffrage I would saith he rather believe one Lay person bringing in for him authority of Scripture then universal Council that ordaineth a thing without Scripture In his Answer to the five and fortieth Demand Concerning opinions or conclusions I can tell you of none other then I have shewed The sum whereof I think concluded in these two Scripture Propositions 1 Christ is the Head corner-stone of our faith whereupon it should be grounded neither is there salvation in any other c. 2 Men do worship God in vain teaching doctrines and precept or laws humane Thus I certifie you of all the opinions and conclusions which I intend or have intended to sustain and not to decline from neither for fear nor yet for love of man or men These Answers of Mr. Lambert the five and forty Articles against him were directed and delivered to Dr. Warham Arch Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1532. From the danger he was in at that time he was delivered by the death of Dr. Warham but falling into fresh Troubles through the indiscretion of Dr. Tailor and Dr. Barnes to make the quicker work following the precedent of St. Paul appealing to Caesar he appeals to the King who having lately taken upon him the Title of the Supreme Head of the Church of England would shew that Head had a Tongue could speak in matters of Divinity In Whitehall the place and day is appointed where an Act-Royal was kept the King himself being Opponent and Lambert the Answerer When the King commanded him to declare his mind c. He gave God thanks which had so inclined the heart of the King that he himself would not disdain to hear and understand the controversies of Religion for that it hapneth oftentimes through the cruelty of the Bishops that many good and innocent men in many places are privily murthered and put to death without the Kings knowledge But now forasmuch as that High and Eternal King of Kings in whose hands are the hearts of all Princes hath stirred up the Kings mind that he himself will be present to understand the Causes of his Subjects I do not doubt but that God will bring some great thing to pass through him to the setting forth of the glory of his Name When the King was worsted and wearied Arch Bishop Cranmer supplied his place arguing though civilly shrewdly against the truth and saith Dr. Fuller his own private judgement which was worse saith the same Author then keeping the clothes of those who killed Stephen seeing this Arch Bishop did actually cast stones at this Martyr in the Arguments he urged against him Yet after his whole body was reduced to ashes his heart was found entire and untouched an argument of his cordial integrity to the Truth though fear too much prevailed and too often on him After the Dispute was ended the King said unto him What sayest thou now Art thou yet satisfied Wilt thou live or die what sayest thou Thou hast yet free choice Mr. Lâ—mbert answered I commend my soul unto the hands of God but my body I wholly yield and submit to your clemency The King notwithstanding commanded the Lord Cromwell to reâ—d the Sentence of Condemnation against him And it is very observable that through the pestiferous and crafty counsel of Gardiner Satan who oftentimes raiseth up one Brother to destroy another brought about the death of this Martyr by such viz. Tailor Barnes Cranmer and Cromwell who afterwards suffered the like for the Gospels sake After his legs were consumed and burned to the stumps he lifting up such hands as he had and his fingers ends flaming with fire cried unto the people in these words None but Christ none but Christ. Mr. Clement Cotton in his
good counsel that they might become good Catholicks Sir said she they have a better Instructour then I for the Holy Ghost doth teach them I hope who I trust will not suffer them to erre Thereupon the Knight said It is time to look to such Hereticks Sir said she with that which you call Herelie do I worship my Lord God Then I perceive said Tyrrel you will burn with the rest for company No Sir said she not for company but for my Christs sake if so I be compelled and I hope in his mercies if he call me to it he will enable me to bear it To try her Tyrrel burnt the wrist of her hand with a candle till the very sinews crackt asunder saying often to her What whore wilt not thou cry To which she answered That she had no cause she thanked God but rather to rejoyce You said she have more cause to weep then I if you consider the matter well At last she said Sir have you done what you will do He answering yea and if thou thâ—nk it be not well then mend it She replied Mend it Nay the Lord mend you and give you repentance if it be his will and now if you think it good to begin at the feet and burn the head also She being asked by one how she could abide the painful burning of her hand She said at first it was some grief to her but afterward the longer she burned the less she felt even well near none at all Almondus My Body dies said Aâ—ondus a Via my Spirit lives Gods Kingdome abides ever God hath now given me the accomplishment of all my deâ—â—res Alost Francis d' Alost a Cutler in Flanders being conducted to Prison said Now you have taken me you think to deprive me of life and thereby to bring great damage to me but you are deceived for it is all one as if you took counters from me to fill my hand with a great sum of gold As he went to suffer he used that speech of the Apostle St. Peter I must now shortly put off this my earthly tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.10 which the love of Iesus my Lord constraineth me to do 2 Cor. 5.14 Amâ—chus Turn said he the other side also least raw flesh offend you Ambrose I have not so lived said he that I am ashamed to live longer nor yet fear I death because I have a good Lord. To Calignon Valentinians Eunuch threatning death he said Well do you that which becomes an Eunuch I will suffer that which becomes a Bishop Andrew When the Proconsul threatned Andrew the Apostle with the Cross if he left not off his preaching I would never said he have preached the Doctrine of the Cross if I had feared the suffering of the Cross. When he came to the Cross on which he was to be crucified he said O Cross most welcome and long look'd for with a willing mind joyfully I come to thee being the Scholar of him that did hang on thee welcome O Christ longed and looked for I am the Scholar of him that was crucified long have I coveted to embrace thee in whom I am what I am Anvil Frederick Anvil of Bearne to the Friers that willed him to call on the Virgin Mary three times repeated Thine O Lord is the Kingdome thine is the power and glory for ever and ever Let us fight let us fight Avant Satan avant Apprice Bonner asking Iohn Apprice what he thought of the Sacrament of the Altar he answered The Doctrine you teach is so agreeable to the world and embraced of the same that it cannot be agreeable to the Word of God Ardley Iohn Ardley being urged by Bonner to recant cried out If every hair of my head were a man I would suffer death for my Religion Being again sollicited to recant No God forbid said he that I should do so for then I shall lose my soul. Arethusius Marcus Arethusius having at the command of Constantinus pulled down a certain Temple dedicated to Idols and instead thereof built up a Church where the Christians might congregate under Iulianus he was beaten cast into a filthy sinck put into a basket anointed with honey and broth hung abroad in the heat of the Sun as meat for Wasps to feed on hereby it was hoped he would be enforced either to build up again the Temple which he had destroyed or else give so much money as would pay for the building of the same This good man whilest he hung in the basket did not onely conceal his pains but derided those wicked instruments of his torments calling them bafe low terrene people and himself exalted and set on high when they told him they would be contented with a small sum of money from him He said It is as great a wickedness to confer one half-penny in case of impiety as if a man should bestow the whole Askew Mrs. Iane Askew being called by the Bishop of Winchester a Parrot told him that she was ready to suffer not onely his rebukes but all things that should follow besides yea and all that gladly To her Confession in Newgate she thus subscribed Written by me Jane Askew who neither wish death nor fear its might and as merry as one bound towards Heaven In her Confession of her Faith she saith Though God hath given me the bread of adversity and the waters of trouble yet not so much as my sins have deserved When Nicholas Sharton counselled her to recant as he had done she said It had been good for him never to have been born In an Answer to a Letter of Mr. Lacell's she writ thus O Friend most dearly beloved in God I marvail not a little what should mâ—ve you to judge in me so slender a faith as to fear death which is the end of all misery In the Lord I desire you not to believe of me such weakness for I doubt not but God will perform his work in me like as he hath begun When Wrisley Lord Chancellor sent to her Letters at the Stake offering her the Kings pardon if she would recant she refusing once to look upon them gave this answer That she came not thither to deny her Lord and Master Attalus He answered to every question I am a Christian Being fired in an iron Chain Behold said he O you Romans this is to eat man's flesh which you falsly object to us Christians Audebert Blessed be God said Anne Audebert of Orleance for this Wedding Girdle meaning the Chain my first marriage was on this Lords Day and now my second to my Spouse and Lord Christ shall be on the same Augustine Boughs fall off trees said he and stones out of buildings and why should it seem strange that mortal men die Austine Austine a Barbar born about Hennegow in Germany as he was led to execution being desired by a Gentleman to have pity upon himself and if he would not
if she will condemn me to perpetual imprisonment I will thank her The Chancellor pressing him to do as they had done in hopes of the Queens mercy and pardon My Lord said he I desire mercy with Gods mercy i. e. without doing or saying any thing against God and his Truth pag. 290. but mercy with Gods wrath God keep me from Gods mercy I desire and also would be glad of the Qâ—eens favour to live as a Subject without clog on Conscience but otherwise the Lords mercy is better to me then life Life in his displeasure is worse then death and death with his favour is true life He having refused again and again to answer to the Chancellors Quaeries said That no fear but the fear of perjury made him unwilling to answer he having been six times sworn not to consent to the practising of any Jurisdiction or any Authority on the Bishop of Râ—me's behalf within the Realm of England I am not afraid of death I thank God I look and have looked for nothing else from your hands a long time but I am afraid when death cometh I should have maâ—ter to trouble my Conscience by the guilt of perjury As for my death as I know there are twelve hours in the day so with the Lord my time is appointed and when it shall be his good time then I shall depart hence but in the mean season I am safe enough though all the reople had sworn my death into his hands have I committed it and do his good will be done The Earl of Derby sending one of his Servants to him willing him to tender himself He told the Messenger that he thanked his Lordship for his good will towards him but in this case I cannot tender my self more then Gods honour The same Servant saying also Ah Mr. Bradford consider your Mother Sister Friends Kinsfolk Countrey what a great discomfort it will be to them to see you die as an Heretick Mr. Bradford replied I have learned to forsake Father Mother Brother Sister Friends and all that ever I have yea and my own self for else I cannot be Christs Disciple Being askt by a good Gentlewomans Servant that was sent to him How he did he answered Well I thank God for as men in Sailing which be near to the Shore or Haven where they would be would be nearer even so the nearer I am to God the nearer I would be In a Letter to his Mother and Brethren I am at this time in Prison sure enough from starting to confirm that I have preached unto you As I am ready I thank God with my life and blood to seal the same if God vouchsafe me worthy of that honour If we suffer with him we shall also reign wâ—th him Be not therefore faint-hearted but rather rejoyce at the least for my sake who now am in the right and high way to Heaven for by many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdome of God Now will God made known his Children When the wind doth not blow the Wheat cannot be known from the Chaffe but when the blast cometh then flieth away the Chaffe but the Wheat remaineth and is so far from being hurt that by the wind it is more cleansed from the Chaffe Gold when it is cast into the fire is the more precious so are Gods Children by afflictions Indeed I thank God more for this Prison then for any Parlour yea then for any pleasure that eyer I had for in it I find God my most sweet good God alwayes Of all deaths it is most to be desired to die for Gods sake such are sure to go to Heaven Death nor Life nor Prison nor Pleasure I trust in God shall be able to separate me from my Lord God and his Gospel Rejoyce in my sufferings for it is for your sakes to confirm the truth I have taught Howsoever you do be obedient to the Higher Powers that is in no point either in hand or tongue Rebel but rather if they command that which with good conscience you cannot obey lay your head on the Block and suffer what they shall do or say By patience possess your souls In his Letter to the City of London I ask God heartily mercy that I do no more rejoyce then I do having so great cause as to be an instrument wherein it may please my dear Lord and Saviour to suffer Although my sins be manifold and grievous yet the Bishops and Prelates do not persecute them in me but Christ himself his Word his Truth and Religion Let the anger and plagues of God most justly fallen upon us be applied to every one of our deserts that from the bottome of our hearts every one of us may say It is I Lord that have sinned against thee It is my hypocrisie my vain-glory my covetousness uncleanness carnality security idleness unthankfulness self-love c. which have deserved the taking away of thy Word and true Religion of thy good Ministers by Exile Imprisonment Death c. Prepare your selves to the Cross be obedient to all that be in Authority in all things that be not against God his Word for then answer with the Apostle It is more meet to obey God then man Howbeit never for any thing resist or rise against the Magistrates Avenge not your selves Commit your Cause to the Lord. If you feel in your selves an hope and trust in God that he will never tempt you above that he will make you able to bear be assured the Lord will be true to you and you shall be able to bear all brunts but if you want this Hope flee and get you hence rather then by your tarrying Gods Name should be dishonoured In his Letter to Cambridge Thou my Mother the University hast not onely had the truth of Gods Word plainly manifested unto thee by Reading Disputing and Preaching publickly and privately but now to make thee altogether excuseless and as it were almost to sin against the Holy Ghost if thou put to thy helping hand with the Romish Rout to suppress the Verity and set out the contrary thou hast my life and blood as a Seal to confirm thee if thou wilt be confirmed or else to confound thee if thou wilt take part with the Prelates and Clergy which now fill up the measure of their Fathers which slew the Prophets and Apostles that all the righteous blood from Abel to Bradford may be required at their hands For the tender mercy of Christ in his bowels and blood I beseech you to take Christs eye-salve to anoint your eyes that you may see what you do and have done in admitting the Romish rotten Rags which once you utterly expelled O be not the Dog returned to his vomit be not the Sow that was washed returning to her wallowing in the mire Beware least Satan enter in with seven worse Spirits c. It had been better you had never known the truth then after knowledge to have run
I have no air to breath at but a little stinking Hole where they lay all their Rubbish and where the Drunkards commonly vent their Urine and though I be laden with Irons both on my hands and feet eating through the flesh even to the bare bones c. and that I may make no escape guarded with fourty men before the Prison door When the Provost brought him tidings that he was to be burnt at Six or thereabouts that day He gave him thanks for the good News which he had brought him And going to the rest of the Prisoners he said Brethren I am this day to die for the Doctrine of the Gospel and now blessed be God I joy and rejoyce therein I had not thought that ever God would have done me this honour I feel my self replenished with joy more and more from minute to minute My God addeth new courage to me and my heart leapeth for joy within me Then exhorting them to be of good courage he told them it was no hard matter to die adding by way of acclamation O how happy are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Beware you do nothing said he against a good Conscience c. For if you do you shall certainly feel such an Hell in your Consciences as will never cease to vex and trouble you O my Brethren how good a thing is it to nourish a good Conscience One of the Prisoners asking him Whether he had finished a certain work which he had begun He answered No for now I must cease to labour because I am passing along to the heavenly rest The time of my departing is at hand I go to reap that in Heaven which I have â—own on Earth I have fought a good fight I am at the point of finishing my course from henceforth the Crown of Glory is laid up for me which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me Methinks said he with a joyful and smiling countenance that my spirit hath obtained wings to sore aloft into Heaven being invited to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. The Provost coming in with Bands Mr. Guy bid him welcome and gave him thanks again for his good news The Provost replying that it grieved him much that things should be carried so Mr. Guy joyfully answered I accept of you as my good Friend I love you with all my heart C. Caesar. O Lord said Leonard Caesar do thou suffer with me Lord support me and save me Caigneola Michaela Caigneola a noble Matron seeing her Judges look out of the Windows said to her fellow Martyrs These stay to suffer the torments of their Consciences and are reserved to judgement but we are going to glory and happiness When certain poor women wept and cried O Madam we shall never now have more Alms Yes hold said she yet once more and plucked of her Slippers and such other of her Apparel as she could with modesty spare from the fire Calberg I believe said Thomas Calberg to the Friers willing him to repent at the last hour that I am one of those workmen in Christs vineyard and shall presently receive my penny Calocerius He seeing the great patience of Faustinus and Iolita Citizens of Briria in their very great torments cried out Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum Verily great is the God of Christians Which words being heard caused him forthwith to be apprehended and martyred with those two famous Christians Cane When a fool's cap was put on Alexander Cane's head Can I have said he a greater honour done me then to be served as my Lord Christ before Herod Lord seeing my persecutours have no mercy have thou mercy on me and receive my soul. Canesire There is one Passage in your Letter said Claude de la Canesire in a Letter to his Wife from Lions which doth not a little comfort me namely that albeit you are loath to leave me yet you had rather have no husband at all then to have one that should betray the cause of Christ. Cardmaker Mr. Iâ—hn Cardmaker burnt in Smithfield 1555. in a Letter to a Friend writes thus You shall right well perceive that I am not gone back as some men do report me but as ready to give my life as any of my Brethren that are gone before me That day that I recant any point of Doctrine I shall suffer twenty kinds of death the Lord being my assistance as I doubt not but he will I have learned to rejoyce in poverty as well as riches for that I count now to be very riches I have conferred with some of my learned Adversaries and I find they are but Sophisters and shadows Careles Iohn Careles of Coventry Weaver being wisht by Dr. Martin to play the wise man's part to save that which God hath bought I thank you Sir said he and I put you out of doubt that I am most sure and certain of my salvation by Jesus Christ so that my soul is safe already whatsoever pains my body suffers here for a little time Art thou so predestinated to life said the Doctour that thou canst noâ— perish in whatsoever opinion thou dost die That God hath predestinated me to eternal life in Jesus Christ said he I am most certain and even so I am sure that his Holy Spirit wherewith I am sealed will so preserve me from all Heresies and evil opinions that I shall die in none at all When the Dr. told him that he was a goodly tall man and might do the Queen good service in Ireland He said wheresoever I am I am ready to her Grace the best service I can with body goods and life and if she or any under require me to do any thing contrary to Christs true Religion I am ready also to do service in Smithfield as my Bedfellows and other Brethren have done praised be God for them In his Letter to Mr. Philpot. Ah my true loving Friends how soon did you lay aside all other business to make a sweet plaister for my wounded conscience yea and that out of a painful pair of Stocks which place must needs be uneasie to write in But God hath brought you in a strait place that you might set my soul at liberty Ah good Ieremy hath Phassur put thee into the Stocks why now thou hast the right reward of a Prophet Though you lye in the dark slurred with the Bishops black coal-dust yet shall you shortly be made as white as snow in Salmon and as the wings of a Dove that is covered with silver and her feathers like gold You know the Vessel before it be made bright is soiled with oyl and other things that it may scour the better O happy be you that you be now in the scouring house for shortly you shall be set on the celestial shelf as bright as Angels My old Friends of Coventry have put the Counsel in remembrance of
Lord be merciful to me a sinner Remember the horrible History of Iulian of old and the lamentable case of Spira of late whose case methinks should be so green in your remembrance that being a thing of our time you should fear the like inconvenience seeing you are fallen into the like offence Last of all 〈◊〉 the lively remembrance of the last Day be alwayes before your eyes remembring the terrour that at that time shall befall the Runagates and Fugitives from Christ who setting more by the world then by Heaven more by their life then by him that gave them life did shrink yea fall away from him that forsook not them and contrariwise the inestimable joyes prepared for them that fearing 〈◊〉 peril nor dreading death have manfully fought and victoriously triumphed over all power of darkness over hell death and damnation through their most renowned Captain Christ who now stretcheth out his arms to receive you ready to fall upon your neck and kiss you and to feast you with the dainties and delicates of his own precious blood which undoubtedly if it might stand with his determinate purpose he would not let to shed again rather then you shall be lost The night before she suffered she sent unto her Sister the Lady Kâ—therine the New Testament in Greek at the end whereof she wrote thus I have sent you good Sister a Book which although it be not outwardly trimmed with Gold yet inwardly it is more worth then precious stones It is the Book of the Law of the Lord. It is his Testament and last Will which he bequeathed unto us wretches which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy and if you with a good mind read it and with an earnest mind do purpose to follow it it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life It shall teach you to live and learn you to die It shall win you more then you should have gained by the possession of your woful Fathers lands for as if God had prospered him you should have inherited his lands so if you ply diligently this Book seeking to direct your life after it you shall be an inheriter of such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you nor the thief steal nor the moth corrupt Desire with David to understand the Law of the Lord God Live still to die that you by death may purchase eternal life Trust not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen your life the young die if God call assoon as the old Labour alwayes to learn to die defie the world deny the Devil and despise the flesh and delight your self onely in the Lord. Be penitent for your sins but yet despair not be strong in faith and yet presume not Desire with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ with whom even in death there is life Be like the good Servant and even at mid-night be waking least when death cometh and stealeth upon you as a thief in the night you be with the evil Servant found sleeping and least for lack of oyl ye be found like the foolish women and like him that had not on the Wedding Garment and then ye be cast out from the Marriage Rejoyce in Christ as I do Follow the steps of your Master Christ and take up your Cross. Lay your sins on his back and alwayes embrace him And as concerning my death rejoyce as I do that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption for I am assured that I shall for loosing of a mortal life win an immortal life the which I pray God grant you and send you of his grace to live in his fear and to die in the true Christian Faith from the which in Gods Name I exhort you that you never swarve neither for hope of life nor fear of death for if you will deny his truth for to lengthen your life God will deny you and yet shorten your dayes And if you will cleave unto him he will prolong your dayes to your comfort and his glory to the which glory God bring me now and you hereafter when it shall please him to call you Fare you well good Sister and put your onely trust in God who onely must help you In her Speech upon the Scaffold Good people I am come hither to die and by a Law I am condemned to the same The Fact against the Queens Highness was unlawful and the consenting thereunto by me but touching the procurement and desire thereof I do wash my hands thereof in innocency before God and you and therewith she wrung her hands I pray you bear me witness that I die a true Christian and that I look to be saved by no other mean but onely by the mercy of God in the blood of his onely Son Jesus Christ. I confess when I did know the Word of God I neglected the same loved my self and the world and therefore this plague is worthily happened to me for my sins and yet I thank God of his goodness that he hath thus given me a time and respite to repent and now good people while I am alive I pray you assist me with your Prayers In her Prayer Thou O Lord art the onely Defender and Deliverer of those that put their trust in thee and therefore I being defiled with sin c. overwhelmed with miseries vexed with temptations and grievously tormented With the long imprisonment of this vile mass of clay my sinful body doth come unto thee O merciful Saviour craving thy mercy and help who hast said Thou wilt not suffer us to be tempted above our power O merciful God consider my misery best known unto thee and be thou unto me a strong Tower of defence Suffer me not to be tempted above my power but either be thou a Deliverer to me out of this great misery or else give me grace patiently to bear thy heavy hand and sharp correction It was thy right hand that delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh who for the space of four hundred years did oppress them and keep them in bondage O deliver me sorrowful wretch for whom thy Son Christ shed his precious blood on the Cross out of this miserable captivity and bondage How long wilt thou be absent for ever O Lord hast thou forgotten to be gracious and shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure Wilt thou be no more entreated Is thy mercy clean gone for ever and thy promise come utterly to an end for evermore Why dost thou make so long tarrying Shall I despair of thy mercy O God far be that from me I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus give me therefore grace to tarry thy leisure When the Handkerchief was tied about her eyes she kneeling down and feeling for the Block said What shall I do where is it and being directed by one of the Standers by she laid her head down upon the Block and stretching forth her Body
was damb'd and his Child both Iudge you no farther said he then ye may by the Scritures How can your Child being an Infant said Harpsfield believe The deliverance of it said Hankes from sin standeth in the faith of his Parents Saint Paul saying Else were your Children unclean To trust to any said Bonner we bid you not but to pray to them we bid you They that list said Hankes receive your Doctrine You teach me that I should not believe nor trust in any but to call on them and Saint Paul saith How shall I call on him on whom I believe not Bonner calling him fool he said A Bishop must be blameless or faultless sober discreet no chider nor given to anger Mr. Hankes telling Bonner That Christ saith These tokens shall follow them that believe in me They shall speak with new tongues câ—st out Devils and if any drink deadly poyson it shall not hurt them Bonner ask'd him With what new tongues do ye speak Forsooth said Hankes where before I came to the knowledge of Gods Word I was a foul Blasphemer and filthy talker Since I came to the knowledge thereof I have praised God with the sâ—me tongue and is not this a new tongue How do you said Bonner cast out Devils Christ said Hankes did câ—st them out by his Word and he hath left the same Word that whosoever doth credit and believe it shall câ—st out Devils Did you said Bonner ever drink deadly poyson Yea forsooth thee I have said Hankes for I have drunk of the pâ—stilent Traditions and Ceremonies of the Bishop of Rome Bonner threatning that he should be burnt for an Heretick Where prove ye said Hankes that Christ or his Apostles did kill any man for his faith Did not Paul said B. excommunicate Yes my Lord said H. but there is a great difference between excommunication and burning If you will have us grant you to be of God then shew mercy for that God requireth An old Bishop perswading him to learn of his Elders to bear somewhat I will bear with nothing said he that is contrary to the Word of God Fecknam charging him for building his Faith on Latimer â—ranmer Ridley c. I build my Faith said he upon no man and that ye well know for if those men and as many more as they be should recant and deny that they have said or done yet will I stand to it and by this shall ye know that I build my Faith upon no man Chadsey asking him What he said of the Bishop of Rome From him said he and all his detestable enormities good Lord deliver us Bonner saying You speak of Idols and you know not what they mean God hath taught us what they be said Hankes for whatsoever is made graven or devised by mans hand contrary to Gods Word the same is an Idol Chadsey telling him It was pity he should live In this case said he I desire not to live but rather to die I wouâ—d my part might be to morrow Bonner threatning to send him to Newgate My Lord said he you can do me no better pâ—easure Bonner telling the Keeper His Prisoner would not go to the Sermon Yes my Lord said he I pray you let me go and that that is good I will receive and the rest I will leave behind me Bonner asking after his imprisonment Whether he was the same man he was before he answered I am no Changeling nor none will be Miles Huggard asking him Where he proved that Infants were to be baptized Go teach all Nations said he baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Sir here is none excepted Bonner threatning him again Ye shall do no more said he then God shall give you leave As for your cursings railings and blasphemings I care not for them for I know the moths and worms shall eat you as they eat cloth or wooll His examination he writ himself and subscribed it T.H. Who desireth all faithful men and Brethren to pray unto God to strengthen me in his Truth unto the end Pray pray pray gentle Brethren pray Bonner advising him at his publick examination to speak advisedly for he stood upon life and death Well said he I will willingly receive what shall be put unto me My Lord as you be my friend in causing these my sayings to be written so do you cause them to be read and yet I will never go from them Being exhorted to return again to the bosome of the Mother Church No my Lord said he that will I not for if I had an hundred bodies I would suffer them all to be tâ—rn in pieces rather then I will abjure or recaâ—t Some of his Friends being not a little confirmen by his example and discourses yet being somewhat afraid of so sharp a punishment desired him a little before his death that in the midst of the flame he would shew some token if he could whereby they might be more certain whether the pain of burning were so great that a man might not therein keep his mind quiet and patient Whereupon it was agreed between them that if the rage of the pain were tolerable then he should lift up his hands above his head towards Heaven before he gave up the ghost Accordingly when he had continued long in the fire his speech taken away his skin drawn together his fingers consumed so that all concluded he was dead contrary to all expectation he reached up his hands burning on a light fire over his head to the living God and with great rejoycing as it seemed clapped them three times together He was burned to ashes Iune 10. 1555. In his Letter to the Congregation The holy Spirit conduct and lead you all in all your doings that you may alwayes direct your deeds according to his holy Word that when he shall appear to reward every man according to his works ye may as obedient children be found watching ready to enter into his everlasting Kingdome with your Lamps burning and not be ashamed of this life which God hath lent you c. All flesh saith the Prophet is grâ—ss and all his glory as the flower of the field which for a season sheweth her beauty and as soon as the Lord bloweâ—h upon it it withereth away and departeth Here we are as Pilgrims and Strangers following the footsteps of Moses among many unspeakable dangers c. in danger of that dreadful Dragon and his sinful seed to be tempted devoured and tormented who ceaseth not behind every Bush to lay a baâ—t c. casting abroad his Apples in all places times and seasons to see if Adam will be allured and enticed to leave the living God and his most holy commandment c. promising the world at will to all that will fall down and for a mess of pottage sell and set at naught the everlasting Kingdome of Heaven Therefore I am bold in bonds as
my sweet Saviour Christ doth stir up the minds not onely of my familiar friends in times past but of sundry heretofore to me unknown to help me sending me not onely necessaries for this life but comfortable Letters encouraging me and exhorting me to continue grounded and stablished in the Faith c. I call daily upon God in whom is all my trust and without whom I can do nothing that he would perfect what he hath begun being assured he will so do forasmuch as he hath given me not onely to believe â—ut to suffer for his sake The Lord strengthen me with his Holy Spirit that I may be one of the number of those Blessed which enduring to the end shall be saved My trust in the Lord is that this my business shall happen to the furtherance of the Gospel God will to your consolation gloriously deliver by one means or other his Oppressed Onely tarry ye the Lords leisure and wait still for the Lord. He tarrieth not that will come look for him therefore and faint not and he will never fail you Marshall I was from eternity said Christopher Marshall of Antwerp a sheep destined to the slaughter and now I go the Shambles Gold must be tried in the fire Massey I must needs here mention an Infant without a Christian Name and not capable of speaking because its death still speaks aloud This Infant was the child of Perotine Massey the Wife of a Minister of Gods Word for fear fled out of the Island of Guernsey She with her Mother and Sister were burnt for absence from Church The Babe properly was never born but by the force of the flame burst out of his Mothers Belly alive and yet by the command of the Bailiffe supreme Officer in the then absence of the Governour cast again into the fire and therein consumed to ashes It seems this bloody Bailiffe was minded like the cruel Tyrant commanding Canis pessimi ne catulum esse relinquendum though this indeed was no dog but a Lamb and that of the first minute and therefore too young by the Levitical Law to be sacrificed Here was a spectacle without precedent a cruelty built three generations high that Grandmother Mother and Grandchild should all suffer in the same flame Maximinus We are ready said Maximinus and Iubentius to lay off the last garment the flesh Melancthon I tremble to think said Philip Melancthon with what blind devotion I went to Images whilst I was a Papist When Luther began to oppose the Pope he was sent for by Prince Frederick Duke of Saxony to Wittenberg to teach the Greek Tongue and yet then he was but two and twenty years old An. 1518. When he was first converted he thought it impossible for his Hearers to withstand the evidence of the Truth in the Ministry of the Gospel but after he had been a Preacher a while he complained That old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon In the year 1519. he went with Luther to Lipswich where he disputed with Eccius In this Disputation Eccius brought a very subtile Argument which he being not able suddenly to answer said I will answer you to morrow Eccius replying That is little for your credit if you cannot answer it presently Sir said he I seek dot mine own glory in this business but the Truth To morrow God willing you shall hear further In the year 1521. when the Divines of Paris had condemned Luther's Doctrine and Books he wrote an Apology for him against their furious Decree In his Epistle to the Reader See Christian Reader what Monsters in Divinity Europe hath bred The last year the Sophisters of Colen and Lorain condemned the Gospel by some naked Propositions confirmed neither by Scripture nor reason Mâ—dder then they are they whoever they be who have at Paris condemned Luther There is no cause to wonder that they are no more favourable to Luther Alas they were not more favourable to their own great Gerson when the Schools at Paris were more wholesome It concerns us to consider what is decreed not who have decreed it The Apostle will not have us give place no not to Angels corrupting the Gospel Farewell to the Name of our Masters farewell to the Name of Parisians unless in their own Schools In the Christian Commonwealth nothing prevails but the Voice of Christ which whosoever hears not is not Christs They say that Luther ought rather to be overcome by fire then by reason They accuse Luther of Heresie not because he dissents from Universities Fathers Councils not because he dissents from the Scripture and the Opinions of Universities Fathers Councils they call the first Principles of Faith But it will be said Luther doth dissent from the Scripture because he dissents from the Expositions of Scripture which from Fathers Councils and Schools have hitherto been received This is as I perceive the Hinge of the Controversie Here I ask this Question of our Masters Whether the Scriptures be so delivered that their meaning cannot certainly be collected without the Exposition of Councils Fathers and Schools If you deny that the meaning of the Scripture cannot certainly be concluded without their glosses I cannot see why the Scriptures were delivered or why the Apostles invite us to the study of the Scriptures If you grant it certainly the Scripture ought to be preferred not onely before the Schools and Fathers but before Councils determining otherwise May not then Luther oppose unto Councils Fathers Schools the certain sense and meaning of Scripture But we will not yield so much that Luther opposeth the Fathers and Councils When the Wars for Religion brake out in Germany he foresaw in a Dream the Captivity of the Eâ—ectâ—r of Saxony and the Lantgrave of Hess fifteen dayes before they were taken When the Plague broke out in Wittinberg and the University was removed he said He feared not that Plague but a far worse Plague which threatned the ruine of the Commonwealth In the year 1534. in his Letter to Camerarius he gives this reason why he refused King Henry's offers if he would come into England Perhaps saith he many things are reported amongst you concerning England that it lyeth open now for the Religion of the purer Doctrine but I have intelligence from a good hand that the King hath no great care of the Affairs of the Church onely this Good comes of his rejecting the Popes Authority that for the present no cruelty is used towards those that are desirous of better Doctrine When he went to Hagenaw to meet the Protestant Divines there foreseeing that he should fall into a mortal disease he made his Will and left it with Cruciger saying Viximus in Synodis jam moriemur in illis In English thus Imploy'd in Synods living oft was I Now in a Synod I am like to die He was often threatned with Banishment out of Germany of which he writes thus I have through Gods mercy been here
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
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
Letter to the Brethren imprisoned What worthy thanks can we render unto the Lord for you my Brethren namely for the great consolation which through you we have received in the Lord who notwithstanding the rage of Satan that goeth about by all manner of subtile means to beguile the world and also busily laboureth to restore and set up his Kingdome again that of late began to decay and to fall to ruine ye remain still unmoveable as men grounded upon a strong rock And now albeit that Satan by his Souldiers and wicked Ministers daily as we hear draweth numbers unto him so that it is said of him That he plucketh even the Stars out of Heaven whiles he driveth into some men the fear of death and loss of all their Goods and offereth unto others the pleasant baits of the world c. to the intent they should fall down and worship not the Lord but the Dragon the old Serpent which is the Devil that great beast and his image and should be enticed to commit fornication with the Strumpet of Babylon c. Yet blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which hath given unto you a manly courage and hath so strengthned you in the inward man by the Power of his Spirit that you can contemn as well all the terrours as also the vain allurements of the world esteeming them as meer trifles and things of nought In the Faith of Christ stand ye fast my Brethren and suffer not your selves to be brought under the yoke of bondage and superstition any more and be of good comfort and remember that our grand Captain hath overcome the world We never had a better or more just cause either to contemn our life or shed our blood we cannot take in hand the defence of a more certain clear and manifest Truth Shall we or can we receive and acknowledge any other Christ instead of him who is alone the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father c. Let such wickedness my Brethren let such horrible wickedness be far from us What can your Adversaries else do unto you by persecuting you and working all cruelty and villainy against you but make your Crowns more glorious yea beautifie and multiply the same c. In another Letter to the Brethren Now even now out of doubt Brethren the pit is opened against us and the locusts begin to swarm and Abaddon now reigneth ye therefore my Brethren which pertain unto Christ and have the Seal of God marked in your foreheads i. e. are sealed with the Earnest of the Spirit to be a peculiar people of God quit your selves like men and be strong for he that is in us is stronger then he which is in the world and ye know all that is born of God overcometh the world and this is our victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Let the world fret let it rage never so much be it never so cruel and bloody yet be sure that no man can take us out of the Fathers hands for he is greater then all c. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect c. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation c. In his Letter to Mr. West his quondam Chaplain I wish you grace in God and love of the Truth without which truly established in mens hearts by the mighty hand of the Almighty God it is no more possible to stand by the Truth in Christ in time of trouble then it is for the wax to abide the heat of the fire I am perswaded Christs words to be true Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven and I believe that no earthly Creature shall be saved whom the Redeemer and Saviour of the world shall before his Father deny If you had wished that neither fear of death nor hope of worldly prosperity should let me to maintain Gods Word and his Truth which is his glory and true honour it would have like me well You desire me for Gods sake to remember my self Indeed it is now time so to do for so far as I can perceive it standeth me upon no less danger then of the loss both of body and soul and I trow then it is time for a man to awake if any thing will awake him He that will not fear him that threatneth to cast both body and soul into everlasting fire whom will he fear With this fear O Lord fasten thou together our frail flesh that we never swerve from thy laws You say you have made much suit for me God grant that you have not in suing for my worldly deliverance impaired and hindred the furtherance of Gods Word and his Truth To write unto these whom you name I cannot see what it will avail me but this I would have you know That I esteem nothing available for me which also will not further the glory of God Sir How nigh the day of my dissolution and departure out of this world is at hand I cannot tell the Lords Will be fulfilled how soon soever it shall come My conscience moves me to require both you and my Friend Dr. Harvey to remember your promises made to me in times past of the pure setting forth and preaching of Gods Word and his Truth These promises although you shall not need to fear to be charged with them of me hereafter before the world yet look for none other but to be charged with them at Gods hand My conscience and the love I bear you biddeth me now say unto you both in Gods Name fear God and love not the world for God is able to cast both soul and body into hell fire What is it else to confess or deny Christ in this world but to maintain the Truth taught in Gods Word or for any worldly respect to shrink from the same He that will wittingly forsake either for fear or gain of the world any one open Truth of Gods Word if he be constrained he will assuredly forsake God and all his Truth rather then he will endanger himself to lose or to leave that he loveth indeed better then he doth God and the Truth of his Word I like very well your plain speaking telling me I must either agree or die Sir I know I must die whether I agree or no. But what folly were it then to make such an agreement by the which I could never escape the death which is common to all and also incur the guilt of death and eternal damnation Lord grant that I may utterly abhor and detest this damnable agreement so long as I live If you do not confess and maintain to your power and knowledge that which is grounded upon Gods Word but will either for fear or gain of the world shrink and play the Apostate indeed you shall die the death In his Letter to Mr. Grindall then in Exile at Frankford afterward Arch Bishop
will have his course When his Brother brought him Gun-powder he said I will take it to be sent of God therefore I will receive it as sent of him To my Lord Williams he said My Lord I must be a Suitor to you for divers poor men and my Sister c. There is nothing in all this world troubleth my conscience I praise God this onely excepted When he saw the fire flaming towards him he said Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Lord receive my soul Lord have mercy upon me In his Letter to all his true Friends I warn you all that ye be not amazed or astonied at the kind of my departure and dissolution for I assure you I think it the most honour that ever I was called to in all my life and therefore I thank my Lord God heartily for it c. For know ye that I doubt no more but that the causes wherefore I am put to death are Gods causes and the causes of the Truth then I doubt that the Gospel which Iohn wrote is the Gospel of Christ or that Paul's Epistles are the very Word of God And to have an heart willing to abide and stand in Gods Cause and in Christs Quarrel even unto death I assure thee O man it is an inestimable gift of God given onely to the true Elect and dearly beloved Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdome of Heaven for the holy Apostle and also Martyr in Christs Cause St. Peter 1 Pet. 4. saith If ye suffer rebuke in the Name of Christ i. e. in Christs Cause and for his Truths sake then are ye happy and blessed for the glory of the Spirit of God resteth upon you and if for rebukes suffered in the Name of Christ a man is pronounced blessed and happy how much more blessed and happy is he that hath the grace to suffer death also Wherefore all ye that be my true Lovers and Friends rejoyce and rejoyce with me again and render with me hearty thanks to God our heavenly Father that for his Sons sake my Saviour and Redeemer Christ he hath vouchsafed to call me being so vile and sinfull a wretch in my self unto the high dignity of his true Prophets of his faithfull Apostles and of his holy Elect and chosen Martyrs to die in defence and maintenance of his eternal and everlasting Truth If ye love me indeed you have cause to rejoyce for that it hath pleased God to call me to a greater honour and dignity then ever I did enjoy before either in Rochester or London or should have had in Durham whereunto I was last of all elected yea I count it greater honour before God indeed to die in his Cause then is any earthly or temporal promotion or honour that can be given to a man in this world And who is he that knoweth the Cause to be Gods to be Christs Quarrel and of his Gospel to be the Commonweal of all the Elect and chosen Children of God of all the Inheritors of the Kingdome of Heaven Who is he I say that knoweth this assuredly by Gods own Word and the Testimony of his Conscience as I through the infinite goodness of God not of my self but by his grace acknowledge my self to do and doth in deed and in truth love and fear God love and believe his Master Christ and his blessed Gospel and the Brotherhood the chosen Children of God and also lusteth and longeth for eternal life who is he I say again that would not that cannot find in his heart in this Cause to be content to die Farewell Pembrohe Hall in C. of late mine own Colledge my Cure and my Charge what cafe thou art in now God knoweth I know not well Wo is me for thee mine own dear Colledge if ever thou suffer thy self by any means to be brought from setting forth Gods true Word In thy Orchard I learned without Book all Pauls Epistles yea and I ween all the Canonical Epistles save only the Apocalyps Of which study although in time a great part did depart from me yet the sweet smell thereof I trust I shall carry with me into Heaven The Lord grant that this zeal and love to that part of Gods Word which is a Key to all the Scripture may ever abide in that Colledge so long as the world shall endure O thou now wicked and bloody See of London c. hearken thou whorish Bawd of Babylon thou wicked limb of Antichrist thou bloody Wolf why slayest thou and makest havock of the Prophets of God why murthereft thou so cruelly Christs poor silly Sheep which will not hear thy voice because thou art a stranger and will follow none other but their own Pastor Christ his voice Thinkest thou to escape or that the Lord will not require the blood of his Saints at thy hands Instead of my farewell to thee now I say fie upon thee fie upon thee silthy Drab and all thy false Prophets To you my Lords of the Temporality will I speak c. Know ye that I had before mine eyes onely the fear of God and Christian charity toward you that moved me to write for of you hereafter I look not in this world either for pleasure or displeasure if my talk shall do you never so much pleasure or profit you cannot promote me nor if I displease you can you harm me for I shall be out of your reach I say unto you as St. Paul saith unto the Galatians I wonder my Lords what hath bewitched you that ye so suddenly are fallen from Christ unto Antichrist from Christs Gospel unto mans Traditions from the Lord that bought you unto the Bishop of Rome I warn you of your perill be not deceived except you will be found willingly consenters to your own death Understand my Lords it was neither for the priviledge of the Place or Person thereof that the See and Bishop of Rome were called Apostolick but for the true trade of Christs Religion which was taught and maintained in that See at the first of those godly men and therefore as truly and justly as that See then for that true trade of Religion and consanguinity of Doctrine with the Religion and Doctrine of Christs Apostle was called Apostolick so as truly and as justly for the contrariety of Religion and diversity of Doctrine from Christ and his Apostles that See and the Bishop thereof at this day both ought to be called and are indeed Antichristian The See is the Seat of Satan and the Bishop of the same that maintaineth the Abominations thereof is Antichrist himself indeed As for your displeasure by that time this shall come to your knowledge I trust by Gods grace to be in the hands and protection of the Almighty my heavenly Father the living Lord the greatest of all and then I shall not need I trow to fear what any Lord no nor what King or Prince can do unto me Much cause have you to
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
A CLOUD OF WITNESSES OR THE Sufferers Mirrour Made up of The SWANLIKE-SONGS and other CHOICE PASSAGES of several MARTYRS and CONFESSORS to the Sixteenth Century in their Treatises Speeches Letters Prayers c. in their Prisons or Exiles at the Bar or Stake c. Collected out of The Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius Fox Fuller Petrie Scotland And Mr. Samuel Ward 's Life of Faith in Death c. and Alphabetically disposed By T. M. M. A. Hebr. 12.1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us run with patience the race that is set before us James 5.10 Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering afflliction and patience London Printed for the Author and are to be fold by Robert Boulter in Saint Paul's Church-yard 1665. Gentle Reader THou art desired to take notice that through the transposing of some Leaves of the Manuscript the Authour living far distant there hath been committed an Errour at the Press in Mr. Iohn Bradford's Letters beginning at Page 44. Line 26. immediately before Mr. Iohn Brown Wherefore thou art entreated to turn to Page 68. Line 6. and read to Page 71. Line 26. and so the Mistake will be rectified Renowned Mr. Samuel Ward of Ipswich gives the following testimony to the living speeches of dying Christians which he collected AS for their last Speeches and Apothegms pity it is no better mark hath been taken and memory preserved of them The choice and prime I have culled out of ancient Stories and later Martyrologies English Dutch and French The profit and pleasure hath paid me for the labour of Collecting and the like gain I hope shall quit the cost of thy Reading By these which are but an handful of Christs Camp-Royal it sufficiently appears they had their Faith fresh and lively in the face of their grand Enemy Death and by vertue of their Faith their Spirits Wits and Tongues untroubled and undismayed The learned and ingenious Author of the Preface to Mr. Frith's Treatises of preparation to the Cross under the Title of Vox Pisces or the Book-Fish gives the following Testimony to several of the remarkable passages in this Collection PErhaps unto some Palats no Lequor seemeth desirable but that which hath a delicious tang of the curiosity of these later Times both for method and stile For my part I say with the words in the Gospel Luke 5.39 The old Wine is better And accordingly contemplating and comparing the devout Discourses written in our Language upon the breaking forth of the Light of Reformation I am far more deeply taken with the solid simplicity and powerful Spirit which methinks I find in the Writings of those Confessors and Martyrs who watered the Garden of Reformation with their own bloud in this Land then with the more elaborate and artificial composures written more lately in the Times of our Peace Who in reading the Letters and Ghostly Meditations of blessed Bradford Taylor Philpot c. yea even of other their Brethren less learned that wrote and spake with that Hand Heart and Breath which they were most ready to yield up for the testimony of the Truth doth not therein perceive that lively warmth of holy zeal which is able to awake even a dull and sleepy soul Among which Martyrs as this worthy Frith is one of the first for antiquity so well may he be in the foremost rank for comfortable exhortation and soundness of Doctrine The Collectors Preface THe Speeches of dying men are remarkable the Speeches of dying Christians are much more remarkable How remarkable then are the Speeches of dying Witnesses for Christ It is rationally expected that dying men much more that dying Christians and most of all that dying Witnesses for Christ should speak best at last It is their last And the Sun shineth brightest at setting They are immediately to give in their last account They are upon the borders of Eternity And the motions of Nature are more intense as they draw nearer the Center To be sure Saints are most heavenly when nearest Heaven Rivers the nearer the Sea the sooner are met by the Tide We have good Scripture-ground to expect that dying Christians especially dying Witnesses for Christ should have extraordinary assistances from on high for their last Discourses That the Wine of the Spirit should be strongest in them at their last They have Gods Word for it That in that hour it shall be given them what they shall speak for it is not they that speak but the Spirit of their Father One observeth that when Stephen was to deliver his last speech and to suffer he was filled with the Holy Ghost so that all that sate in the Council looking stedfastly on Stephen saw his face as if it had been the face of an Angel His soul was so warmed by the love of God that he looked both his Adversaries and the tempestuous approaching Storm out of countenance When he was stoned he got a larger sight He saw the Heavens opened and his Majestick Glorious Master the light-giving Diamond of Heaven standing at his Fathers right hand And this he got no doubt as for himself so to hearten all those that were to come after he being the first Martyr after Christ. Hence it hath been often found that their last Speeches have been Oraculous and Prophetical Zenophon personates Cyrus as inspired whilst he is breathing out his last requests The nearer we return to the Original Divinity as Plotinus speaketh the more Divine we grow One observeth from a Scripture instance That what hath been asserted by dying Witnesses hath most speedily come to pass Zachariah told the children of Israel Because ye have for saken the Lord he hath also forsaken you For this he was immediately stoned and the Lord sealed his Word very speedily afterwards For the Assyrians coming with a small company against them the Lord delivered a very great multitude into their hands and so without delay in their sight sealed the words of his dying Witness Zachariah And why his word sooner then Isaiah's Ieremiah's Ezekiel's c. By them he pleaded much longer with his Apostatizing Church I know none but this It was the Lords pleasure and to shew his respect to dying Witnesses that he would have what they say taken special notice of It may be that he might shew that whatever fail the words of dying Witnesses shall not fall to the ground It is true we must not lay such weight upon these sayings as we must lay upon Scripture prophesies for though such sayings may be true prophesies yet we are not infallibly assured that these are prophesies till they be accomplished yet their sayings while dying for and in the Lord do give good encouragement to them that remain alive and so to be much esteemed by them whether they respect the honour of God or the good of souls The last Speeches of Christs
Rolph take heed of him he is a blood-sucker c. I fear not said Aâ—cock he shall do no more to me then God will give him leave and happy shall I be if God will call me to die for his Truths sake In his first Letter to Hadley he writes thus O my Brethren of Hadley why are ye so soon turned from them which called you into the Grace of Christ to another Doctrine Though those should come unto you that have been your true Preachers and preach another way of salvation then by Jesus Christs death and passion hold them accursed yea if it were an Angel came from Heaven and would tell you that the sacrifice of Christs body upon the Cross once for all were not sufficient for all the sins of all those that shall be saved accursed be he Why cometh this plague upon us Cometh not this upon thee because thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Thine own wickedness shall reprove thee and thy turning away shall condemn thee that thou mayest know how evil and hurtful a thing it is that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Algerius Pomponius Algerius whilst he was a Prisoner at Venice before he was burnt at Rome writ thus in his comfortable Letter to the Christians departed out of Babylon into Mount Sion To mitigate your sorrow which you take for me I cannot but impart unto you some portion of my joyes which I feel to the intent you may rejoyce with me I shall utter that which scarce any will believe I have found a nest of honey an honey-comb in the entrails of a Lion In the deep dark Dungeon I have found a Paradise of pleasure In the place of sorrow and death tranquility of hope and life where others do weep I do rejoyce when others do shake and tremble there I have found plenty of strength and boldness in strait bands and cold irons I have had rest Behold he that was once far from me now is present with me whom once I could scarce feel I now see most apparently whom once I saw afar off now I behold near at hand whom once I hungred for the same now approacheth and reacheth his hand unto me he doth comfort me and heapeth me up with gladness he driveth away all bitterness he ministreth strength and courage c. O how easie and sweet is the Lords yoke Learn ye well-beloved how amiable the Lord is how meek and merciful who visiteth his servants in temptations neither disdaineth he to keep company with us in such vile and stinking Caves Will the blind and incredulous world think you believe this or rather will it not say thus No thou wilt never be able to abide long the burning heat the pinching hardness of that place c. The rebukes and frowning faces of great men how wilt thou suffer Dost not thou consider thy pleasant Countrey the Riches of the World thy Kinsfolk the delicate pleasures and Honours of this life Dost thou forget the solace of thy Sciences and fruit of all thy Labours Wilt thou thus lose all thy labours which thou hast hitherto sustained Finally fearest thou not death which hangeth over thee O what a fool art thou which for one words speaking mayest salve all this and wilt not But now to answer Let this blind world hearken to this again What heat can there be more burning then that fire which is prepared for thee hereafter What things more hard and sharp and crooked then this present life which we lead What thing more odious and hateful then this world here present And let these worldly men here answer me What Countrey can we have more sweet then the Heavenly Countrey above What treasures more rich or precious then everlasting life and who be our Kinsmen but they which hear the Word of God Where be greater riches or dignities more honourable then in Heaven And as touching the Sciences let this foolish world consider Be not they ordained to know God whom unless we do know all our labours our night-watchings our studies and all our enterprises here serve to no purpose all is but labour lost Furthermore let the miserable worldly men answer me What remedy or safe refuge can there be unto him who lacks God who is the life medicine of all men how can he be said to fly from death when he himself is already dead in sin If Christ be the way verity life how can there be any life without Christ The solely heat of the Prison to me is coldness the cold winter to me is a fresh spring in the Lord. He that feareth not to be burned in the fire how will he fear the heat of weather Or what careth he for the pinching frost which burneth for the love of the Lord The place is sharp and tedious to them that be guilty but to the innocent it is mellifluous Here droppeth the delectable dew here floweth the pleasant Nectar here runneth the sweet milk here is plenty of all good things In this world there is no mansion firm to me and therefore I will travel up to the New Ierusalem which is in Heaven and which offereth it self to me without paying any Fine or Income I have travelled hitherto laboured and sweat early and late watching day and night and now my travels begin to come to effect What man can now cavil that these our labours are lost which have followed and found out the Lord and Maker of the World and which have changed death with life If to die in the Lord be not to die but to live most joyfully where is this wretched worldly Rebel which blameth us of folly for giving away our lives unto death O how delectable is this death to me to taste of the Lords Câ—p. I am accused of foolishness for that I do not rid my self out of these troubles when with one word I may But doth not Christ say Fear not them which kill the body but him which killeth both body and soul and whosoever shall confess me before men him will I also câ—nâ—ess before my Father which is in Heâ—vâ—n and he that denieth me before men him will I also deny before my Heavenly Father Seeing the words of the Lord be so plain how or by what authority will this wise Counsellor approve this his counsel which he doth give God forbid that I should relinquish the commandements of God and follow the counsels of men for it is written Blessed is the man that hath not gâ—ne in the way of sinners and hath not stood in the counsel of the ungodly c. Psal. 1.1 God forbid I should deny Christ where I ough to confess him I will not set more by my life then by my soul neither will I exchange the life to come for this world here present This Letter he underwrit thus From the delectable Orchard of Leonine Prison 12 Calend. August An. 1555. Allen. Sir Edmond Tyrrel bidding Rose Allen to give her Father and Mother
the Scripture to be altered When the Emperour threatned to banish him c. if he obeyed not he said Those Bug-bears were to be propounded to Children but for his part though they might take away his life yet they could not hinder him from professing the Truth When Modestus the Praefect asked him Know you not who we are that command it No body said Basil whilst you command such things Know ye not said the Praefect that we have Honours to bestow upon you They are but changeable said Basil like your selves Hereupon he threatned to confiscate his Goods to torment him to banish him or kill him he answered He need not fear confiscation that had nothing to lose nor banishment to whom Heaven onely is a Countrey nor torments when his body would be dash'd with one blow nor death which is the onely way to set him at liberty The Praefect telling him he was Mad he said Opto me in aeâ—â—ernum sic delirare I wish I may for ever be thus Mad. The Praefect another time threatning him with death he said Would it would fall out so well on my side that I might lay down this carkass of mine in the quarrel of Christ and in the defence oâ— his Truth who is my Head and Captain The Praefect desiring that he would not by rashly answering throw himself away offered him a day and night to consider further of it but Basil said I have no need to take further counsel about this matter Look what I am to day the same thou shalt find me to morrow but I pray God that thou change not thy mind Benden Alice Benden when she was in Prison at Canterbury agreed with a fellow Prisoner to live both of them with two pence half penny a day to try thereby how well they could sustain penury and hunger before they were put to it At her first coming into the Bishops Prison she was much troubled and expostulated why her Lord did suffer her to be sequestred from her loving Fellowes in so extreme misery But was comforted by these words Why arâ— thou so heavy O my soul The right hand of the Lord can change all At the stake she took forth a shilling of Philip and Mary which her father had bowedâ— and sent her when she was first in Prison desiring her Brother there present to return the same to her Father again that he might understand she never lacked money whilst she lay in Prison Bennet Mr. Thomas â—ennet a School-master in Exceter being press't by a Doctour a Gray Frier to recant for putting upon the doors of the Cathedral in Schedules That the Pope is Antichrist and that we ought to worship God onely and not the Saints said I take God to record my life is not dear to me I am weary of it seeing your detestable doings to the utter destruction of Gods flock so that I desire death that I may no longer be partaker of your detestable idolatries and superstitions or be subject unto Antichrist your Pope Away from me I pray you vex my soul no longer ye shall not prevail If I should hear and follow you this day everlasting death should hang over me a just reward for them that prefer the life of this world before life eternal Berger Peter Berger burnt at Lions 155â— beholding the multitude at the stake said Great is the Harvest Lord send Labourers I see the heavens open to receive me Bâ—tken When she was brought to the Rack she said My Masters wherefore will you put me to this torture seeing I have no way offended you Is it for my Faith's sake you need not torment me for that for as I was never ashamed to make confession thereof no more will I be now at this present before you I will freely shew you my mind therein But for all 〈◊〉 when they proceeded on with what they inteâ—â—â—â— Alas my Masters said she If it be so that I must suffer this pain then give me leave first to call upon God Her request they granted whilst she waâ— praying one of the Commissioners was so surâ—â—â—â— with fear and terrour that by and by he swoâ—â—â— â—nd could not be fetcht again and so she escaâ—â—â— the torture Bilney Mr. Thomas Bilney in a Letter to Dr. Tonstal Bishop of London he gives this account of his conversion The woman which was twelve years vexed with the bloudy Flux had consumed all that she had upon Physicians and yet was still worse and worse untill such time as she came to Christ and after she had once touched the hem of his vesture through faith she was healed O mighty power of the most High which I also most miserable sinner have often tasted and felt Before I came to Christ I had likewise spent all I had upon ignorant Physicians They appointed me Fastings Watchings buying of Pardons and Masses c. But at last I heard speak of Jesus even then when the New Testament was first set out by Erasmuâ— At first I was allured to read rather for the Latine having heard it was eloquently done then for the Word of God At the first reading I hit upon this sentence of St. Paul O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul in 1 Tim. 1. It is a true saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief This sentence through Gods instruction and inward working did so exhilarate my heart being before wounded with the guilt of my sins insomuch that my bruised bones leapt for joy After this the Scripture began to be more pleasant to me then the honey or the honey-comb Therein I learned that all my Travels all my Fasting and Watching all the redemption of Masses and Pardons without faith in Christ were but a hasty and swift running out of the right way or else much like the vesture made of Fig-leaves wherewithall Adam and Eve went about in vain to cover their nakedness and could never obtain quietness and rest till they believed in the promise of God that Christ the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Neither could I be relieved or eased of the sharp stingings of my sins before I was taught of God that even as Moses exalted the serpent in the Desart so shall the Son of man be exalted that all which believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life As soon as I began to taste and savour this heavenly Lesson which none can teach but God onely I desired the Lord to encrease my faith And at last I desired nothing more then that I being so comforted by him might be strengthened by his holy Spirit and grace from above to teach the wicked his wayes which are mercy and truth that the wicked may be converted unto him by me who sometimes was also wicked Accordingly I did teach and set forth Christ being made for us by God his Father our Wisdome Righteousness
come to Gods company In his Letter to Mr. Laurence Saunders A Friend having moved the Prisoners to subscribe to the Papists Articles with this condition so far as they are not against Gods word Dr. Taylor and Mr. Philpot think the salt sent by our Friend is unseasonable for my own part I pray God in no case I may seek my self and indeed I thank God I purpose it not In another Letter This will be offensive therefore let us Vadere plane and so sane I mean let us all confess we are no changlings but re ipsa are the same we were in Religion and therefore cannot subscribe except we will dissemble both with God with our selves and with the world In his Letter to Dr. Cranmer Dr. Ridley and Dr. Latimer Our dear brother Rogers hath broken the Ice valiantly this day I think or to morrow at the uttermost hearty Hooper sincere Saunders and trusty Tailor end their course and receive their Crown The next am I who hourly look for the Porter to open me the Gates after them to enter into the desired Rest. God forgive me mine unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy For though I justly suffer for I have been a great Hypocrite c. the Lord pardon me yea he hath done it he hath done it indeed yet what evil hath he done Christ whom the Prelates persecute his truth which they hate in me hath done no evil nor deserved death O what am I Lord that thou shouldest thus magnifie me Is this thy wont to send for such a wretched Hypocrite in a fiery chariot as thou didst for Elias In his Letter to the Lord Russel Faith is reckoned and worthily among the greatest gifts of God by it as we are justified and made Gods children so are we Temples and Possessours of the Holy Spirit yea of Christ also Eph. 4. And of the Father himself Iohn 14. By faith we drive the Devil away 2 Pet. 5. We overcome the world 1 Iohn 5. And are already Citizens of Heaven c. Yet the Apostle doth match even with faith yea as it were prefer suffering Persecution for Christs sake Phil. 1. Though the wisdome of the world think of the Cross according to sense and therefore flieth from it as from a most great ignominy and shame yet Gods Scholars have learned to think otherwise of the Cross as the Frame-house wherein God frameth his Children like to his Son Christ the Furnace that fineth Gods gold the High-way to Heaven the Suit and Livery of Gods servants the earnest and beginning of all consolation and glory In his Meditation on the Commandements As the first Command teacheth me as well that thou art my God as what God thou art therefore of equity I should have no other Gods but thee that is I should onely hang on thee trust in thee serve thee call on thee obey thee and be thankful to thee so because thou didst reveal thy self visibly that thou mightest visibly be worshipped The second Commandement is concerning thy Worship that in no point I should follow in worshipping thee the device or intent of any man Saint Angel or Spirit but should take all such as idolatry and image-service be it never so glorious And why forsooth because thou wouldst I should worship thee as thou hast appointed by thy Word for if service be acceptable it must be according to the Will of him to whom it is done and not of him who doth it c. So that the meaning of this Precept is that as in the first I should have none other Gods but thee so I should have no worship of thee but such as thou appointest And therefore utterly abandon mine own will and reason all the reasons and good intents of man and wholly give my self to serve thee after thy will and word Thou bidst me not to take thy Name in vain as by temerarious or vain swearing c. So by denying thy truth and word or concealing it when occasion is offered to promote thy glory and confirm thy truth By reason whereof I may well see that thou wouldst have me to use my tongue in humble confessing thee and thy word and truth after my Vocation c. Thy Ministers I pray not for thy Church I am not careful for no not now good Lord when wicked Doctrine most prevaileth Idolatry Superstition and Abomination abound the Sacraments c. blasphemously corrupted c. all which my wickedness brought in my profaning of the fourth Commandement and my not praying Thy Ministers are in Prison dispersed in other Countreys spoiled burnt murthered many fall for fear of goods life name c. from the truth they have received to most manifest idolatry false Preachers abound among the people thy people dearly bought even with thy bloud are not fed with the bread of thy Word but with swillings and drink for swine Antichrist wholly prevaileth and yet for all this also I am too careless nothing lamenting my sins which have been the cause of all this Help thy Church cherish it and give it harbour here and elsewhere for Christs sake Purge the Ministry from corruption and false Mâ—niâ—ters Send out Preachers to feed thy people Destroy Antichrist and all his Kingdome Give to such as be fallen from thy truth repentance Keep others from falling and by their falling do thou the more confirm us Confirm thy Mâ—nisters and poor people in Prison and Exile Strengthen them in thy truth Deliver them if it be thy good will Give them that with conscience they may so answer their Adversaries that thy servants may rejoyce and thy Adversarieâ— be confounded Avenge thou thy own cause â— thou God of Hosts Help all thy people and mâ—â— especially because I have most need Set my heart strait in case of Religion to acknowledgâ— thee one God to worship none other God to reâ—verence thy Name and keep thy Sabbaths Set mâ— heart right in matters of humane conversation tâ— honour my Parents to obey Rulers and reverencâ— the Ministry of the Word to have hands cleaâ— from bloud true from theft a body free from Aâ—dultery and a tongue void of all offence but purge the heart first O Lord c. In his Meditation concerning the sober usage of the body and the pleasures of this life O that I could consider often and heartily that this body God hath made to be the tabernacle and mansion of our soul for this life but by reason of sin dwelling in it is become now to the soul nothing else but a prison and that most strait vile stinking filthy c. Then should I not pamper up my body to obey it but bridle it that it may obey the soul then should I flie the pain it putteth my soul unto by reason of sin and provocation to all evil and continually desire the dissolution of it with Paul and the deliverance from it as much as ever did prisons his deliverance out
to turn away from us But turn again O Lord let us fall into thine hands c. least these vain Idolaters do rejoyce at the miserable destruction of those men whom they make Proselvtes and from thy Doctrine Apostates But O Lord thy will be fulfilled this is thy righteous judgement to punish us with the tyrannical yoke of blindness because we have cast away from us the sweet yoke of the wholesome Word of thy Son our Saviour Yet consider the horrible blasphemies of thine and our enemies They say in their hearts there is no God which either can or will deliver us Wherefore O heavenly Father the Governour of all things the Avenger of the Causes of the poor the fatherless the widow and the oppressed look down from Heaven with the face of thy fatherly mercies and forgive us all former offences and for thy Son Jesus Christs sake have mercy upon us who by the force and cruelty of wicked and blasphemous Idolaters without causes approved are haled and pulled from our own houses are slandered slain and murdered as Rebels and Traytors like persons pernicious pestiferous seditious pestilent and full of mortal poyson to all men contagious whereas we do meddle no farther but against the hellish powers of darkness c. which would deny the will of our Christ unto us we do contend no farther but onely for our Christ Crucified and the onely salvation by 〈◊〉 blessed Passion Therefore O Lord for 〈◊〉 glorious Names sake for Jesus Christs sake c. make the wicked Idolaters to wonder and stanâ— amazed at thy Almighty power Use thy wonteâ— strength to the confusion of thine enemies and 〈◊〉 the help and deliverance of thy persecuted people All thy Saints do beseech thee therefore The young Infants which have some deal tasted of thy sweet Word by whose mouths thou hast promised to make perfect thy praises whose Angels do always behold thy face who besides the loss of us their Parents are in danger to be compelled and driven without thy great mercies to serve dumb and insensible Idols do cry and call unto thee Their pitiful Mothers with lamentable tears lie prostrate before the Throne of thy Grace Thou Father of the fatherless Judge of the widdows and Avenger of all the oppressed Let it appear O Lord Omnipotent that thou dost here Judge Avenge and punish all wrongs offered to all thy little Ones that do believe in thee Do this O Lord For thy Names sake Arise up O Lord and thine enemies shall be scattered and confounded So be it O Lord most merciful at thy time appointed Brown Iohn Brown told his wife as he sate in the Stocks that the Arch-Bishop had burnt his feet to the bones so as he could not set them upon the ground and all to make them deny Christ which said he I will never do for if I should deny him in this world he would deny me hereafter Thomas Brown being brought forth to be condemned Bonner said to him Brown you have been before me many times and I have took much pains to win thee from thine errors yet thou and such like have and do report that I go about to seek thy blood Yea my Lord said Brown indeed you be a Blood-sucker and I would I had as much blood as there is water in the Sea for you to suck Bruger A Frier offering Iohn Bruger a forreign Martyr a Wooden Cross at the Stake No said he I have another true Cross imposed on me which now I will take up I worship not the work of mans hands but the Son of God I am content with him for my onely Advocate Bruse I thank God said Peter Bruse my broken Leg suffered me not to flie this Martyrdome Buisson I shall now have said Iohn Buisson a double Goal-delivery one out of my sinful flesh another from the loathsome Dungeon I have long lain in Burgins Lord said Annas Burgins in the midst of his torments forsake me not least I forsake thee Burgon Iohn Burgon to his Judges asking him if he would appeal to the High-Court answered Is it not enough that your hands are polluted with blood but you will make more guilty of it Barnes When Dr. Barnes was brought before Cardinal Wolsey He told him he thought it necessary that his Golden Shoos and Golden Cushions c. should be sold and given to the poor for that such things were not comely for his Calling neither was the Kings Majesty maintained by his Pomp but by God who saith By me Kings reign When the Cardinal would have had him to reâ—fer himself to him promising him Favour he anâ—swered I will stick to the Holy Scripture and tâ— Gods Book according to the simple Talent thaâ— God hath lent me Being called before the Bishops and Abbot oâ— Westminster who demanded of him whether hâ— would abjure or burn he was in a great agony and then thought rather to burn then to abjure but perswaded by Gardiner and Fox because they said he should do more good in time to come He abjured and carried his Fagot to Pauls After they had long detained him in Prison notwithstanding upon notice given him of their intentions to burn him notwithstanding his abjuration he escaped out of England into Germany where he made his supplication to King Henry the Eighth against the Lordly Bishops and Prelates of England for the intollerable injuries wrongs and oppressions wherewith they had vexed not onely himself but all true Preachers of Gods Word and Professors of the same contrary to the Word of God and their own Laws and Doctors I do not believe saith he that ever God will suffer long so great Tyranny against his Word and so violent Oppressions of Christians as they now use and that in the Name of Christ and his Holy Church Now it is come to that that whoever he be high or low poor or rich wise or foolish that speaketh against them and their vicious living he is either made a Traytor to your Grace or an Heretick against Holy Church as though they were Kings or Gods If there be any men that Preach Dispute or put forth in Writing not any thing touching them though it be never so blasphemous against God the Blood of Christ and his Holy Word they will not once be moved therewith But if any man speak against their Cloaked Hypocrisie or against any thing belonging to them by which their abominations are disclosed nothing can excuse but he must either to open shame or cruel death and that under the accusation of Treason But who is he that would be a Traitor or maintain a Traitor against your Majesty Sure no man can do it without the great displeasure of the eternal God The Doctrine of the Gospel teacheth all obedience to Rulers and not Sedition and such as have preached the Word of God onely have never been the movers of disobedience or rebellion against Princes but they have been
ready to suffer with all patience whatsoever Tyranny any Power would minister unto them giving all people example to do the same whereas the Papists exempt the Pope and Priests from being bound to obey Magistrates Yea as to the people they teach that the words requiring Subjection are a Counsel and not a Command and that the Popes Authority is sufficient to Dispense with all the Commandments of God Wherefore most gracious Prince I lowly and meerly desire your Majesty to Judge between the Bishops and me which of us is truest faithfullest to God and to your Majesty The following Articles were some of Dr. Barnes his Position in his Sermon which the Bishops condemned for Heresie 1 If thou believe that thou art more bound to serve God to morrow which is Christmass day or on Easter day or on Whitsunday for any holiness that is in one day more then another thou art superstitious 2 Now dare no man preach the Truth and the very Gospel of God especially they that be feeble and fearful but I trust yea I pray to God that it may shortly come that false and manifest errours may be plainly shewed c. 3 We make now adayes Martyrs I truâ—â— we shall have many more shortly for the Verity could never be preached plainly but persecution followed 6 I will never believe neither can I believe that one man may be by the Law of God 〈◊〉 Bishop of two or three Cities yea of a whole Countrey for it is contrary to Saint Paul who saith I have left thee behind to set in every City a Bishop 7 It cannot be proved by Scripture that a man of the Church should have so great temporal possessions 8 Sure I am that they cannot by the Law of God have any Jurisdiction secular 9 They say they be the Successors of Christ and his Apostles but I can see them follow none but Iudas for they bear the purse and have all the money To burn me or to destroy me saith he in his Defence of the Two and twentieth Article cannot so greatly profit them for when I am dead the Sun and the Moon and the Stars and the Elements yea and also Stones shall defend this Cause against them rather then the Verity should perish As for me I do promise them here by this present Writing and by the fidelity I owe to my Prince that if they will be bound to our noble Prince after the manner of his Law and after good conscience and right that they shall do me no violence nor wrong but discuss and dispute these Articles and all other that I have written after the holy Word of God and by Christs holy Scripture with me then will I as soon as I may know it present my self unto our most noble Prince to prove these things by Gods Word against you all He also writ unto King Henry the Eighth an excellent Treatise to prove from the Scriptures of Truth and out of the Writings of the Fathers that faith onely justifieth before God Prefacing it thus Now if your Grace do not take upon you to hear the Disputation of this Article out of the ground of holy Scripture my Lords the Bishops will condemn it before they read it as their manner is to do with all things that please them not and which they understand not and then cry they Heresie Heresie an Heretick an Heretick he ought not to be heard c. He writ also several other Treatises as what the Church is what the Keyes of the Church be and to whom they were given Against free-will that it is lawful for all men to read the holy Scriptures that mens constitutions which are not grounded in Scripture bind not the Conscience c. In which Treatise he tells us there be two manners of Powers a Temporal and a Spiritual Power The Temporal is committed to Magistrates in this Power the King is chief and full Ruler c. Unto this Power must we be obedient in all things that pertain to the ministration of this present life and of the Commonwealth not onely for avoiding of punishment but for conscience sake So that if this Power command any thing of Tyranny against right and law alwayes provided it repugne not against the Gospel nor destroy our Faith our Charity must needs suffer it Nevertheless if he command thee any thing against right or do thee any wrong if thou canst by any reasonable and quiet means without sedition insurrection or breaking of the common Peace save thy self or avoid his Tyranny thou mayest do it with good Conscience But in no wise mayest thou make any resistance with sword or with hand but obey except thou canst avoid as I have shewed thee But now it will be enquired if it please the King to condemn the New Testament in English and to command that none of his Subjects shall have it under displeasure whether they be bound to obey this Command or no To this he answers having shewed why the King should not lay any such Command on his Subjects If the King forbid the New Testament or any of Christs Sacraments or the preaching of the Word of God or any other thing that is against Christ under a temporal pain or under the pain of death men should first make faithful prayers to God and then intercede the King for a release of the Command If he will not do it they shall keep their Testament with all other Ordinances of Christ and let the King exercise his Tyranny if they cannot flee and in no wise under pain of damnation shall they withstand him with violence but suffer patiently and leave the Vengeance of it to their heavenly Father which hath a scourge to tame those Bedlams with when he sees his time Neither shall they deny Christs Verity nor forsake it before the Prince lest they run the danger of being denied by Christ before his Father This may be proved by the examples of the Apostles when the High Priests of the Temple commanded Peter and Iohn that they should no more Preach and Teach in the Name of Jesus They made them answer It was more right to obey God then man Also the Pharisees came and commanded our Master Christ in Herods Name to depart from thence under pain of death But he would not obey but bid them go tell that Wolf Behold I cast out Devils c. Nevertheless I must continue this day to morrow and the next day c. So that he left not the Ministration of the Word for the Kings pleasure nor yet for fear of death The three Children also would not obey the Kings command against Gods Word Daniel would not leave off Prayer though commanded by the King So that Christians are bound to obey in suffering the Kings Tyranny but not in consenting to his unlawful Command Alwayes having before their eyes the comfortable saying of our Master Christ Fear not them that can onely kill the body and that
of Peter Happy are ye if ye suffer for righteousness sake c. As for the Spiritual Power it hath no authority to make Statutes or Laws to order the World by but onely faithfully and truly to preach the Word not adding thereto nor taking therefrom If these Ministers will of Tyranny above the Word of God make any Law or Statute it must be considered whether it be openly and directly against the Word of God and to the destruction of the Faith c. such Statutes men are not bound for to obey neither of Charity for here Faith is hurt which giveth no place to Charity nor for avoiding of slander c. The more that men be offended at the Word and the stiffer they be against it the more openly and plainly yea and that to their faces that make such Statutes must we resist them with these words We are more bound to obey God then man The other manner of Statutes be when certain things that be called indifferent be commanded to be done of necessity c. Here must they also be withstood and in no wise obeyed for in this is our Faith hurt and liberty of Christianity c. and therefore must withstand them that will take this liberty from us with this Text of Scripture We are bought with the price of Christs blood we will not be the servants of men This Text is open against them that will bind menâ— Consciences in those things that Christ hath left them free in Of this we have an evident example in Paul who would not circumcise Titus when the false Brethren would have compelled him thereunto as a thing of necessity It is plain that by Christ we are made free and nothing can bind us to sin but his Word At the Stake Dr. Barnes began with this Protestation following I am come hither to be burned as an Heretick and you shall hear my belief whereby you shall perceive what erroneous opinions I hold I believe in the holy and blessed Trinity three Persons and one God that cteated and made all the World and that this blessed Trinity sent down the Second Person Jesus Christ into the womb of the most blessed and purest Virgin Mary c. I believe that without the consent of mans will or power he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and took flesh of her and that he suffered hunger thirst cold and other passions of our body sin except c. And I do believe that he lived here among us and after he had preached and taught his Fathers Will he suffered the most bitter and cruel Death for me and all mankind And I do believe that this his Death and Passion was the sufficient Price and Ransome for the sin of all the World And I do believe that through his Death he overcame the Devil Sin Death and Hell and that there is none other satisfaction unto the Father but this his Death and Passion onely and that no work of man did deserve any thing of God but only his Passion as touching our justification for I acknowledge the best work that ever I did is impure and unperfect Herewithal he cast abroad his Arms and desired God to forgive him his Trespasses Wherefore I trust in no good work that ever I did but onely in the Death of Christ and I do not doubt but through him to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven The Sheriffe hastening him to make an end he turned to the people and desired all men to forgive him and if he had said any evil at any time unadvisedly whereby he had offended any man or given any occasion of evil that they would forgive it him and amend that evil they took of him and to bear witness that he detested and abhorred all evil Opinions and Doctrines against the Word of God and that he died in the Faith of Jesus Christ by whom he doubted not to be saved Bressius If Gods Spirit say true I shall streight rest from my labours My soul is even taking her wings to flie to her resting place Brez A Lady visiting Mr. Guy de Brez a French Minister Prisoner in the Castle of Tournay told him She wondred how he could either eat or drink or sleep in quiet for were I in your case said she the very terrour thereof would go â—igh to kill me O Madam said he the good Cause for which I suffer and that inward Peace of Conscience wherewith God hath endued me makes me eat and drink with greater content then mine enemies can which seek my life Yea so far off is it that my bonds or chains do any way terrifie me or break off my sleep that on the contrary I glory and take delight therein esteeming them at an higher rate then Chains and Rings of Gold or any other Jewels of price whatsoever Yeâ— when I hear the ratling of my Chains methinks I hear some Instrument of Musick sounding in mine ears not that such an effect comes meerly from my Chains but in regard I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of thâ— Gospel In his Letter to his Wife These thought came at first thronging into my head What mean we to go so many in company together as we did Had it not been for such and such we had never been discovered or taken But meditating on the Providence of God my heart began to find wonderful rest saying thus in my self O my God the day and hour of my birth was before ordained of thee and ever since thou hast preserved and kepâ— me in great perils and dangers and hitherto delivered me out of all And if now the hour be come wherein I must pass out of this life into thy Kingdome thy will be done I cannot escape out oâ— thine hands yea though I could yet Lord theâ— knowest I would not seeing all my felicity depends upon conforming my will to thine This World is not the place of our Rest No Heaven is ouâ— Home this is but the place of our Banishment Take into your consideration the honour the Lord doth you in giving you an Husband that is not onely called to be a Minister of Christs Gospel but also so highly advanced of God as to be accounted worthy to partake of the Crown of Martyrdome It is an honour which the Angels in Heaven are not capable of I am here taughâ— to practise what I have preached to others yea let me not be ashamed to confess that when I heretofore preached I spake but as a Parrot in regard of that which I have now better learned by prooâ— and experience All my former discourses were as a blind mans of Colours in comparison of my present feeling Oh what a precious Comforter in a good Conscience I have profited more in the School-house of this Prison then ever I did in all my life before I would not change my condition with theirs that persecute me though I am lodged in the vilest Prison they have dark and obscure where
when his hour was not yet come departed out of his Countrey into Samaria to avoid the malice of the Scribes and Pharisees and commanded his Apostles that if they were pursued in one place they should fly to another Thus did Paul and the other Apostles Albeit when it came to such a point that they could no longer escape then they evidenced that their flying before came not of fear but of godly wisdome to do more good and that they would not rashly without urgent necessity offer themselves to death which had been a tempting of God After he had recanted and was brought to Saint Mâ—ry's Church in Oxford where Dr. Cole after he had preached bitterly against him shewing why he was to be executed notwithstanding his Recantation prest him to evidence to the people his conversion to Popery Dr. Cranmer entreated the people to pray with him and for him that God would pardon his sins especially his Recantation After he had prayed he told them It is a sad thing to see so many so much dote upon the love of this false World and be so careful of it and so careless of Gods love or the World to come therefore this shall be my first exhortation thaâ— you set not your minds overmuch upon this glozing World but upon God and the World to come and to learn to know what this Lesson meaneth which St. Iohn teacheth That the Love of this World is hatred against God Let rich men consider and weigh three Scriptures Luke 18. It is hâ—rd for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of Heaven 1 John 3. He that hath the suâ—stance of this world and seeth his Brother in necessity and shutteth up his mercy from him how can he say that he loveth God James 5.1 2. Go to now ye rich men weep and hard for the miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted Another exhortation is That next under God you obey your King and Queen willingly and gladly without murmuring or grudging They are Gods Mâ—nisters Whosoever resisteth them resisteth the Ordinance of God And now I come said he to the great thing that so much troubleth my Conscience more then any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life and that is the setting abroad a Writing contrary to the Truth which now here I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand contrary to the Truth which I thought in my heart and written for fear of death and to save my life if it might be And forasmuch as my hand offended writâ—ng contrary to my heart my hand shall first be punished therefore for may I come to the fire it shall be first burned At the Stake when the fire began to burn near him he stretching out his arm put his right hand into the flame which he held so stedfast that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched His eyes lifted up to Heaven he cried out even as long as he could speak O his unworthy hand His last words were the words of Stephen Lord Iesus receive my spirit Cromwel Thomas Lord Cromweâ— Earl of Essâ—x the morning that he was executed having chearfully eaten his break-fast passing out of the Prison down the Hill in the Tower met the Lord Hungerford going to Execution for other matter and perceiving him to be heavy and doleful he willed him to be of good comfort for if you repent said he of what you have done there is mercy enough for you with the Lord who for Christs sake will forgive you and though the break-fast we are going to be sharp yet trusting in the mercy of the Lord we shall have a joyful dinner In his Prayer on the Scaffold O Lord Jesus who art the onely health of all men living and the everlasting life of them which die in thee Being sure that the thing cannot perish which is committed to thy mercy willingly now I leave this frail and wicked flesh in sure hope that thou wilt in better wise restore it to me again at the last day in the resurrection of the Jâ—st I see and acknowledge there is in my self no hope of salvation but all my confidence hope and trust is in thy most merciful goodness Thou merciful Lord wast born for my sake didst suffer hunger and thirst for my sake didst teach pray and fast for my sake all thy holy actions and works thou wroughtest for my sake thou sufferedst most grievous pains and torments for my sake and finally thou gavest thy most precious body and blood to be shed on the Cross for my sake Now most merciful Saviour let all these things profit me c. Let thy blood cleanse and wash away the spots and foulness of â—â— sins let thy righteousness hide and cover my unâ—righteousness Cyprian He went in the time of Persecution into volunâ—tary Banishment lest as he said he should 〈◊〉 more hurt then good to the Congregation When he heard the sentence pronounced aâ—gainst him he said I thank God for freeing mâ— from the Prison of this Body He said Amen to his own sentence of Martyrdome The Proconsul bidding him consult abouâ— it he answered In so just a Cause there needs no deliberation D. Daigerfield William Daigerfield and Ioan his Wife who then gave suck to her tenth child being imprisoned in several Prisons Bishop Brooks sent for the man and told him that his Wife had recanted and so perswaded him to recant and so sent him to his Wife with a Form of Recantation with him which when his Wife saw her heart clave in sunder and she cried out Alas Husband thus long we have continued one and hath Satan so far pervaâ—led with you as to cause you to break the Vow which you made to God in Baptisme Hereupon he bewailed his promise and beg'd of God that he might not live so long as to call evil good and good evil light darkness or darkness light And accordingly it came to pass Damlip Mr. Adam Damlip when he had been almost two years in the Marshalsey considering how he could not employ his talent there to God's Glory as he desired though he had many Favours in Prison resolved to write to the Bishop of Winchester earnestlâ— to desire that he might come to his Tryal for said he I know the worst I can but lose my present life which I had rather do then here to remain and not to be suffered to use my talent to God's Glory When he understood by the Keeper that his suffering was near he was notwithstanding very merry and did eat his meat as well as ever he did in all his life insomuch that some at the Board said unto him they wondred how he could eat his meat so chearfully knowing he was so near his death Ah Masters said he Do you think that I have been so long God's Prisoner in the Marshalsey and have not yet learned to die Yes yes and I doubt not but God
them Go to them said she and say these words from me Tanquam ovis i. e. just like a sheep to the slaughter At her departing from Woodstock she wrote these Verses with her Diamond in a Glaâ—â— Window Much suspected by me Nothing proved can be Qâ—oth Elizabeth Prisoner When a Popish Priest press'd her hard to declare her Opinion of Christs Presence in the Sacrament she truly and warily answered him thus T was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And what the Word did mâ—ke it That I believe and take it Esch. Iohn Esch and Henry Voes burnt at â—ruxels 152 â— being asked what they believed they said The Books of the Old and New Testmant And being asked whether they believed the Decrees of the Councils and the Fathers they said Such aâ— agreed to the Scriptures they believed and being asked whether it were any deadly sin to transgress the Decrees of the Bishop of Româ— they said That it is to be attributed onely to the Precepâ— of God to bind the Conscience of man or to lose it Being condemned they gave thanks to God their Heavenly Father which had delivered them through his great Goodness from that false and abominable Priesthood they having been Augustine Friers and made them Priests of his Holy Order receiving them unto him as a Sacrifice of â—â— sweet Odour The greatest Errour that they were accused of was that men ought to trust onely in God forasmuch as men were lyars and deceitful in all their words and deeds and therefore there ought no trust or asfiance to be put in them The day of their Execution said they the day we have long desired One of them feeing that the fire was kind led at his feet said Methinks you do strow Roses under my feet Eulalia The Virgin Eulalia of Emerita in Portugal having secretly got out of her Fathers house where she was kept close for fear least she should offer her self to Martyrdome went couragiously unto the Tribunal or Judgement-seat and in the midst of them all cried out Would you know what I am Behold I am one of the Christians an enemy to your Divelish Sacrifices I spurn your Idols under my feet I confess God omnipotent with my heart and mouth Go to thou Hangman burn cut mangle thou these earthly Members it is an easie matter to break a brittle substance but the inward mind thou shalt not hurt for any thing thou canst do The Judge endeavouring to perswade her to recant saying Behold what pleasures thou mayest enjoy by the Honourable House thou camest of What! wilt thou kill thy self so young a flower she being not much above twelve years of age and so near those Honourable Marriages and great Dowries thou mayest enjoy Eulalia did not answer him but being in a great fury spit in the Tyrants face threw down the Idols and spurnt abroad with her feet â—he heap of Incense prepared for the Censers When one joint was pulled from another she said Behold O Lord I will noâ— forget thee what a pleasure is it for them 〈◊〉 Christ that remember thy triumphant Victorieâ— to attain unto these high dignities F. Fabrianus First better said Christopher Fabrianus the sweet First the Battel the Victory when I 〈◊〉 dead Every drop of my blood shall preach Christ and set forth his Praise Faninus Faninus an Italian kissed the Apparitor thaâ— brought him word of his Execution To one reminding him of his Children he said I have lest them to an able and faithful Guardian To his Friends weeping he said That is weâ—â— done that you weep for joy with me To one objecting Christs agony and sadness tâ— his chearfulness Yea said he Christ was sad thaâ— I might be merry He had my sins and I have 〈◊〉 merits and righteousness To the Friers offering him a woodden Crucifâ—â— he said Christ needs not the help of this Piece 〈◊〉 imprint him in my mind and heart where he haâ—â— his Habitation Farellus Mr. William Farellus being questioned by 〈◊〉 Magistrates of Metis by what Authority or 〈◊〉 whose request he preached answered By 〈◊〉 Command of Christ and at the request of hâ—â— Members Farrar Mr. Richard Iones coming to Dr. Robert Farraâ— Bishop of St. David a little before his death aâ—â— seeming to lament the painfulness of the death he was to suffer the Bishop said to him That if he saw him once to stir in the pains of his Burning he should then give no credit to his Doctrine Accordingly he never moved but even as he stood holding up his stumps so he continued still till Richard Gravell with a staffe dashed him upon the head and so strook him down Filicu Iohn Filicul and Iulian Lâ—ville who suffered in France being threatned if they constantly persisted to be burnt alive and to have their tongues cut out or otherwise onely to be strangled and to have the use of their tongues contemned the offer saying You would fain have us renounce our God for saving our selves from a little pain but it shall not be so and looking one upon another said We are ready not onely to lose one or two of our Members but the whole Body and to be burned and burned again in the defence of the Truth When the time of their execution came the Officer put into their hands being tyed a Wooden Cross which they flung away with their teeth saying That they were now to bear a more noble and excellent Cross then that When their tongues were cut God gave them utterance insomuch that they were heard to say We bid Sin the Flesh the World farewel for ever with whom we shall never have to do hereafter At last when the Tormenter came to smear them with Brimstone and Gunpowder Go to said Filiolus salt on salt on the rotten and stinking flesh Fillula By these Ladders said Iohn Fillula to his Fellows we ascend the Heavens now begin we to trample under feet Sin the World the Flesh and the Devil Filmer Henry Filmer said to Person and Testwood his fellow Martyrs Be merry my Brethren and lift up your hands to God for after this sharp break-fast I trust we shall have a good dinner in the Kingdom of Christ our Lord and Redeemer Flower William Flower alias Branch being told his death was near said I hunger for the same dear Friend being fully ascertain'd that they can kill but the body which I am assured shall receive again life everlasting and see death no more Bishop Bonner perswaded him to recant promising him thereupon great things he answered That which I have said I will stand to and therefore I require that the Law may proceed upon me At another time Do what you will I am at 〈◊〉 point for the Heavens shall as soon fall as I will forsake mine opinion In his Prayer Have mercy upon me for thy dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christs sake in whom I confess onely to be
all salvation and justification and that there is none other mean nor way noâ— holiness in which or by which any man can be saved in this World Burning in the fire he cried out three timesâ—punc O the Son of God have mercy upon me O the Son of God receive my soul. Folks Elizabeth Folks being examined whether she believed the presence of Christs Body to be in the Sacrament substantially and really answered That she believed that that was a substantial and real lâ—e When Sentence of Condemnation was reaâ— against her she kneeled down lifting up her eye and hands to Heaven she praised God that ever she was born to see that most blessed and happy day that the Lord would count her worthy to suffer for the testimony of Christ and Lord if it be thy will forgive them that have done this against me for they know not what they do At the Stake she being hindred from giving her Petticoat to her Mother who kissed her and exhorted her to be strong in the Lord threw it away from her saying Farewel all the World farewel Faith and Hope and so taking the Stake in her hand said Welcome Love c. When she and the other five that suffered with her were nailed to the Stakes and the fire about them they clapped their hands together for joy in the fire Fox The day after Queen Mary's death Mr. Iohn Fox preaching at Basil to the English Exiles did with confidence tell them That now was the time come for their return into England and that he brought that News by command from God The Lady Anne Hennage being given up for dead He told her she had done well in fitting her self for death but that she should not die of that Sickness and being blamed by her Son in Law for disquieting her mind with hopes of life He answered that he had said no more then was commanded hâ—m for it seemed good to God that she should recover and so she did Mrs. Honywood having been sick of a Consumption almost twenty years was scarce able to speak when Mr. Fox came to her onely faintly she breathed forth a desire to end her dayes Mr. Fox after he had prayed with her told her That she should not onely grow well of that Consumption but also live to an exceeding great age As well might you have said quoth Mrs. Honywood that if I should throw this Glass against the Wall I might believe it would not break to pieces and holding a Glass in her hand out of which she had newly drunk she threw it forth but the Glass falling first on a Chest and then on the ground neither brake nor crackt Accordingly this eminent Christian Gentlewoman being then Sixty years of age recovered and lived till she was above Ninety and could reckon above three hundred and sixty of her Children and Childrens Children He also foresaw his own death and therefore sent away his sons that they might not be present Frith Mr. Iohn Frith with some others chosen into Christs Church Oxford whose Foundation was laid by Cardinal Wolsey conferring together upon the abuse of Religion then crept into the Church were therefoâ—e accuâ—ed of Heresie unto the Cardinal and cast into Prison within a deep Cave under the ground of the same Colledge where their salt Fish was laid Through the filthy stinch thereof they were all infected and some took their death but Mr. Frith was wonderfully preserved and was translated from that University after many miseries undergone both beyond Sea and in his own Land to another School namely to a more setled Discipline of affliction the Tower of London where as he remained a Patient in regard of the Persecution which he suffered so did he also the office of a Physician in prescribing to others Preparatives and Remedies in the like case To which end A.D. 1532. he employed his pen in writing those Treatises which now go under the name of Vox Pisces or the Book-Fish Concerning which the Author of the Preface thereunto observes that in some sort they ran the Fortune of the Author being held in captivity in the Sea and kept in Iohah's Prison the belly of a Fish being in danger there to be consumed as the Author was like to have perished in the Dungeon at Oxford by the noysome stinch of Fish The Wine therein offered saith the same Author is the purest juyce of a Grape of the Vine Christ Jesus trode in the Wine-press of Persecution about an hundred years since Which being put in a Paper Vessel and formerly miscarrying by wrack in the transporting is now beyond expectation in a strange Living Vessel brought back again to Land no doubt to the end that it might after long lying hid in store be anew broached and dispersed abroad for the refreshing of many thirsty souls to whom it is like to taste not the worse but the better for the long lying in so salt a Cellar as is the bottome of the Sea wherein by all probability it hath been buried for many years Mr. Frith did not light his Candle at the Lamp of Mr. Calvin which then was not extant nor of great Luther who was then but in the beginning of his growth And yet saith the same Author How judiciously is there shewn the use of the Cross among Christians to consist in the due preparation for it and constant patience under it How foundly are we taught that our Election and Justification are of Gods meer mercy and not for any thing foreseen in us That remission of sins is through Christ onely That no man can merit for others That true Believers do sin yet fall not away utterly from Christ. As the Work commends the Author so the Author much more the Work When he wrote of the Cross he fought valiantly under the Cross he turned his words of patience into the perfect work of patience He had the like happâ—ness to that of St. Paul to bring forth children unto Christ in his bands Whilst he was kept close Prisoner in the Tower by his Letters and Treatises he gained many souls to Christ and among others which is most observable he converted one Râ—sâ—â—l to the Truth who had formerly dipped his Pen in Gall and wrote most bitterly against the Truth of the Gospel and against the Writings of this Prisoner of Christ then â— bands for the Gospel Like a Swan he sang most sweetly before his death and foretold both particularly his own Martyrdome and the propagation of the Gospel through all England within twenty years after his death which accordingly came to pass in the Reign of King Edward He was as it were a Prâ—mrose in the new Spring of the Gospel And though he wrote in the twilight between the night of Popery and the day of Reformation yet God so enlightned him that his Treâ—â—ise of the Sacraments was the Candle at which that great Torch Archbishop Cranmer was lighted as Mr. Fox reporteth That
the world We are strangers in this world and citizens of Heaven Ye sons of men why love ye vanities and seek lies how long love you infancy or childhood The godly have most comfort though iâ— this life they be as sheep ordained to be slain and seem forsaken of God c. yet they do not despair no not in death but are sure they shall pass through death to life eternal c. Also they have this comfort that their death is good and precious theâ— also know that through Christs death death is overcome and abolished Christ by his death hath changed their death into a sleep Such as be at the point of death ought to take comfort and be strong in that they know that they carry with them both Letter and Token which is Baptisme whereby their death is incorporate with the death of Christ and that it is not their death so much as the death of Christ. Wherefore let them surely trust that they shall overcome as that death of Christ hath overcome Unto the godly it is a great comfort that they know that death is not in the power of Tyrants nor put into the hand of any Creature least they should be much troubled c. they shall onely die when it pleaseth the Lord. We cannot live any longer then the Lord hath appointed and we shall not die though we be in the greatest peril and extreme jeopardy before our hour Then wherefore should they fear death they cannot live longer then God hath appointed nor die any sooner It is the comfort of the godly in all adversity that through the Grace of God they shall be revived and raised up as well the body as the soul the souls to Justice the bodies to Glory This hope the wicked have not c. It is a great comfort that affliction shall not endure continually and the afflictions of this time are not worthy of the Glory which shall be shewed upon us Our trouble which is but temporal and light worketh an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory unto us who look not on the things that are seen but on them which are not seen If a man praise a very fool saith Mr. Frith in his Preface to his Mirrour and think his wit good and profound he is indeed more fool then the other Thus seeing man praiseth and commends riches honour c. and such other vain and transitory things which are but as a dream and vanish like a flower of the field when a man should have most need of them he himself is more vain then those things which are but vanity If God hath opened the eyes of thy mind saith the Mirrour it self and have given thee Spirit and Wisdome through the knowledge of his Word boast not thy self of it but rather fear and tremble for a chargeable Office is committed unto thee which if thou fulfil it is like to cost thee thy 〈◊〉 at one time or other with much trouble and persâ—â—cution but if thou fulfill it not then shall tâ—â— Office be thy Damnation For St. Paul saith Wâ—â—â— to me if I â—â—each not And by the Propher Ezekâ—â— God saith If I say unto the wicked that he shall die tâ— death and thou shew him not of it the wicked shall 〈◊〉 in his iniquity but I shall require his blood at thy haâ—â—â— But peradventure our Divines would expouâ—â— these Texts onely of them that are sent and haâ—â— cure of souls Whereunto I answer That eveâ— man that hath the light of Gods Word revealed unto him is sent wheresoever he seeth necessity anâ— hath the cure of his Neighbours soul e. g. If Goâ— hath given me my sight and I perceive a blinâ— man going in the way which is ready for lack 〈◊〉 sight to fall into a pit wherein he would likely perish I am bound by Gods Command to guide hiâ— till he be past that jeopardy or else if he perisâ—â— therein his blood shall be required at my handâ— Thus if I perceive my Neighbour like to perish 〈◊〉 lack of Christs Doctrine then am I bound to instruct him with the knowledge God hath given me or else his blood shall be required at my hand Peradventure they will say that there is already one appointed to watch the Pit c. and thereforâ— I am discharged and need take no thought Where unto I answer I would be glad that so it were notwithstanding if I perceive that the Watchmen bâ— asleep or run to the Ale-house c. and through his negligence espie my Neighbour in danger oâ— the Pit then am I nevertheless bound to lead him from it I think that God hath sent me at that time to save that soul from perishing and the Law oâ— God and Nature that bindeth me thereunto which chargeth me to love my Neighbour as my self to do unto him as I would be done unto If God hath given thee riches c. thou art yet the very owner of them but God is the Owner who saith by the Prophet Gold is mine and silver is mine and he hath for a season made thee a Steward of them so see whether thou with be faithful in the distribution of them according to his Commands Our spiritual Possessionaries are double Thieves and Murtherers as concerning the body besides their murthering of the soul for lack of Gods Word which they will neither preach or suffer any other to do it purely but persecute them and put them unto most cruel death First they are Thieves and Murtherers because they distribute not what they have from charitable Forefathers to the intent it should have been ministred unto the Poor but upon Horses Coaches c. gorgeous apparel and delicate fare c. Thus they defraud the Poor of their bread and so are Thieves and because this bread is their life they are Murtherers also Besides they are Thieves and Murtherers for withdrawing their perfect Members from labour whereby they might minister unto their Neighbours necessities I speak of as many as are not occupied about preaching Gods Word Besides these and many other Treatises he wrote also several choice Letters whilest he was Prisoner in the Tower In his Letter to the faithful Followers of Christs Gospel he thus expresseth himself It cannot be express'd Dearly Beloved in the Lord what joy and comfort it is to my heart to perceive how the Word of God hath wrought and continually worketh among you so that I find no small number walking in the wayes of the Lord according as he gave us Commandment willing that we should love each other as he loved us Now have I experience of the faith which is in you and can testifie that it is without simulation that ye love not in word and tongue onely but in deed and truth What can be more trial of a faithful heart then to adventure not onely to aid and succour by the means of other which without danger may not be admitted
and seven children brought to him the Bishop hoping to overcome him by his natâ—ral affection to them and his wife beginning to exhort him to favour himself He desired her not to be a block in his way for that he was in good course running toward the mark of his salvation Gibson Some of the Articles exhibited against Mr. Richard Gibson 3 That he hath commended allowed defended and liked both Cranmer Lâ—timâ—r Ridley and all other Hereticks here in this Realm of England according to the Ecclesiastical Laws condemned for Hereticks and also liked their Opinions 4 That he hath comforted aided assisted and maintained both by words and otherwise Hereticks and erroneous Persons or at the least suspected and infamed of Heresies c. 5 That he hath affirmed that the Religion now used in this Realm is in no wise agreeable to Gods Word and Commandment c. The Bishop asking him if he knew any cause why the Sentence should not be read against him he said the Bishop had nothing wherefore justly to condemn him Sentence being read He again admonished Gibson to remember himself and so save his soul. Mr. Gibson answered That he would not hear the Bishops babling boldly protesting that he was contrary to them all in his mind though he aforet me kept it secret for fear of the Law And speaking to the Bishop he said Blessed am I that am cursed at your hands We have nothing now but thus will I for as the Bishop saith so it must be And no heresie is it to turn the truth of Gods Word into lies and that do you Mr. Gibson also propounded Nine Articles to Bonner by him to be answered by yea or nay or else by saying he could not tell 1 Whether the Scriptures of God written by Moses and other holy Prophets of God through faith that is in Christ Jesus be available Doctrine to make all men in all things unto salvation learned without the help of any other Doctrine or no 3 Whether the holy Word of God as it is written doth sufficiently teach all men of what dignity estate or calling by Office whatsoever be or they be their full true and lawful duty in their Office and whether every man be found upon the pain of eternal damnation in all things to do as he is thereby taught and commanded and in no wise to leave undone any thing that is to be done being taught and commanded by the same 4 Whether any man the Lord Jesus Christ God and man only except by the holy Ordinance of God ever was is or shall be Lord over Faith 5 By what lawful Authority or Power any man of what Dignity Estate or Calling soever he or they be may be so bold as to alter or change the holy Ordinances of God or any of them or any part of them 6 By what evident tokens Antichrist in his Ministers may be known seeing it is written That Satan can change himself into the similitude of an Angel of Light and his Ministers fashion themselves as though they were Ministers of righteousness 7 What the Beast is which maketh war with the Saints of God and what the gorgeous and glittering Whore is which sitteth upon the Beast Gilby Mr. Anthony Gilby an exiled Minister of Christ in Queen Mary's dayes in his Admonition speaks thus Whereas many have written many profitable Admonitions to you twain O England and Scotland both making one Island most happy if you could know your own hapiness and others with Pen and Tongue with Word with Writing with jeopardy and loss of Lands Goods and Lives have admonished you both twain of that cankered poyson of Papistry that ye foster and pamper to your own perdition and utter destruction of your selves and yours souls and bodies for now and ever I thought it my duty seeing your destruction to mans judgement to draw so near hom much or how little soever they have prevailed yet once again to admonish you both to give testimony to that truth which my Brethren have written and especially to stir your hearts to repentance or at the least to offer my self a witness against you for the justice of God and his righteous judgements which doubtless if your hearts be hardned against you both are at hand to be uttered Thus by our writing whom it pleaseth God to stir up of your Nations all men that now lâ—ve and that shall come after us shall have cause also to praise the mercy of God that so oft admonisheth before he strikes and to consider his just punishment when he shall pour forth his vengeance Give ear therefore betimes O Britain for of that name both rejoyceth whilest the Lord calleth exhorteth and admonisheth that is the acceptable time when he will be found If ye refuse the time offered ye cannot have it afterward though with tears as did Esau ye do seem to seek it Yet once again in Gods behalf I do offer you the very means which if God of his mercies grant you grace to follow I doubt nothing but that of all your enemies speedily ye shall be delivered Ye rejoyce at his Word I am sure if ye have any hope of the performance Then hearken to the matter which I write unto you not forth of mens Dreams and Fables nor forth of prophane Histories painted with mans wisdome vain eloquence or subtile reasons but forth of the infallible Word of God Is not this Gods curse and threatning amongst many others pronounced against the sinful Land and disobedient people That strangers shall devour the fruit of thy Land and be above thee c. and thy strong walls wherein thou trusted shall be destroyed c. And doth not Isaiah reckon this also as the extremity of all plagues for the wickedness of the people to have women raised up to rule over them But what saith the same Prophet in the beginning of his prophesie for a remedy against these and all other evils Yâ—ur hands are full of blood saith he O ye Princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah but wash you make you clean take away your wicked thoughts forth of my sight â—ease to do evil learn to do well c. Then will I turn my hand to thee and purge out all thy dross and take away thy tynne and I will restore thy Iudges as aforetime and Counsellors as of old And Moses said before in the place alledged That if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord 〈◊〉 God and do his Commandments thou shalt be blessed 〈◊〉 the Town and blessed in the Field The Lord shall caâ—â—â— thine enemies that rise up against thee to fall befoâ—â— thee c. Lo the way in few words O Britany 〈◊〉 win Gods favour and therefore to overcome thinâ— enemies But to print this more deeply upon your hearts O ye Princes and people of that Island whom God hath begun to punish seek I want you no snifting holes to excuse your faults no political
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
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
to speak to them or receive any thing of them upon pain of imprisonment Notwithstanding the people cried out desiring God to strengthen them and they prayed for the people and the restoring of his Word At length Mr. Holland embracing the Stake and the Reeds said Lord I most humbly thank thy Majesty that thou hast called me from the stake of death unto the light of thy heavenly Word and now unto the fellowship of thy Saints that I may sing and say Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Lord into thy hands I commit my spirit Lord bless these thy people and save them from idolatry Hooper Mr. Iohn Hooper in his exile writ a Declaration of Christ and his Office and a Declaration of the holy Commandmants of Almighty God c. In his Epistle before his Declaration of Christ and his Office to the Duke of Somerset Because the right of every just and lawful Heir is half lost and more when his Title and Claim is unknown I have written this little Book containing what Christ is and what his Office is that every godly man may put to his helping hand to restore him again to his Kingdome who hath sustained open and manifest wrong this many years as it appeareth by his evidence and writing the Gospel sealed with his precious blood In his Declaration ch 3. Jesus Christ in all things executed the true Office of a Bishop to whom it appertained to teach the people which was the chiefest part of the Bishops Office and most diligently and straitly commanded by God As all the Books of Moses and the Prophets teach and Christ commanded Peter Iohn 20. and Paul all the Bishops and Priests of his time Acts 20. Christ left nothing untaught but as a good Doctor manifested unto his Audience all things necessary for the health of man Iohn 4. He gave also his Apostles and Disciples after his resurrection commandment to preach and likewise what they should preach Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature teaching them to observe what I have commanded Matt. 28. As they did most sincerely and plainly without all glosses or additions of their own inventions and were as testimonies of the Truth and not the Authors thereof Alwayes in their Doctrine they taught the thing that Christ first taught and Gods holy Spirit inspired them Gal. 1. 2 Cor. 3. Holy Apostles never took upon them to be Christ's Vicar in the Earth nor to be his Lieutenant But said Let a men so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4.1 And in the same Epistle the Apostle Paul hiddeth the Corinthians to follow him in nothing but where he followed Christ chap. 11. They ministred not in the Church as though Christ was absent although his most glorious Body was departed into the Heavens above but as present that alwayes governeth his Church with his Spirit of Truth as he promised Matth. ult Behold I will be with you to the end of the world In the absence of his Body he hath commended the protection and governance of his Church to the Holy Ghost one and the same God with the Father and himself It was no little pain that Christ suffered in washing away the sins of this Church therefore he will not commit the defence thereof to man It is no less glory to defend and keep the thing won by force then it is by force to obtain the victory Therefore he keepeth the defence and governance of the Church onely and solely himself in whom the Devil hath not a jot of right Though the Apostles were instructed in all truth c. they were but Ministers Servants Testimonies and Preachers of this verity and not Christ's Vicars on Earth c. but onely appointed to approve the thing to be good that God's Law commanded and that to be ill which the Word of God condemned Seeing that Christ doth govern his Church alwayes by his holy Spirit and bindeth all the Ministers thereof unto the sole Word of God what abomination is this that one Bishop of Rome c. should claim to be Christ's Vicar on Earth and take upon him to make any Laws in the Church of God to bind the conscience beside the Word of God and by their Superstition and Idolatry put the Word of God out of his place All that are not blinded with the smoke of Rome know the Bishop of Rome to be the Beast Iohn describeth in the Apocalyps as well as the Logician knoweth that risibilitate distinguitur homo a caeteris animantibus Christs supremacy and continual presence in the Church admits no Lieutenant nor general Vicar Likewise it admitteth not the Decrees and Laws of men brought into the Church contrary unto the Word and Scripture of God which is onely sufficient to teach all verity and truth for the salvation of man ch 4. This Law teacheth man sufficiently as well what he is bound to do unto God as unto the Princes of the world Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Nothing necessary for man but in this Law it is prescribed Of what degree vocation or calling soever he be his duty is shewed unto him in the Scripture And in this it differeth from mans laws because it is absolutely perfect and never to be changed nothing to be added to it nor taken from it And the Church of Christ the more it was and is burdened with mans laws the farther it is from the true and sincere verity of Gods Word Though Basil Ambrose Epiphanius Augustine Bernard and others erred not in any principal Article of the Faith yet they did not inordinately and more then enough extol the Doctrine and Tradition of men and after the death of the Apostles every Doctors time was subject to such Ceremonies and manners that were neither profitable nor necessary Unto the writings of Scripture onely and not unto the writings of men God hath bound and obligated his Church In this passage I admonish the Christian Reader that I speak not of the Laws of Magistrates or Princes that daily order new Laws for the preservation of their Commonwealths as they see the necessity of their Realms or Cities require but of such Laws as men have ordained for the Church of Christ which should be now and for ever governed by the Word of God This Law must prevail We must obey God rather then man The example hereof we have in Daniel of the Three Children who chose rather to burn in the fiery Furnace then to worship the Image that Nebuchadnezzar had made So did the Apostles Acts 5. Cursed be those that make such Laws and cursed be those that with sophistry defend them ch 5. The Authority of Gods word requireth me to pronounce this true Judgement in the case of Images that be not worshipped in the Church that their presence in the Church is against Gods Word as well as to say Sancta Maria ora pro nobis The Old
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
Hunter you can do no more then God will permit you Well said B. will you recant indeed by no means No said H. never while I live God willing Bonner asking him how old he was he said He was Nineteen years old Well said B. you will be burned ere you be Twenty if you will not recant H. answered God strengthen me in his Truth Bonner even after Sentence was past offering him if he would then recant to make him a Freeman of the City and to give him Forty pound in money to set up with or to make him Steward of his House c. Hunter said unto him My Lord if you cannot perswade my Conscience by Scriptures I cannot find in my heart to turn from God for the love of the world for I count all things worldly but loss and dung in respect of the love of Christ. If thou diest in this mind said B. thou art condemned for ever God judgeth righteously said H. and justifieth them whom man condemneth unjustly When he was brought to Burntwood to be burned his Father and Mother came to him and desired heartily of God that he might continue to the end in that good way which he had begun and his Mother said unto him That she was glad that ever she was so happy to bear such a Child which could find in his heart to lose his life for Christs Names sake Then said he to his Mother For my little pain which I shall suffer which is but short Christ hath promised me a Crown of Joy May you not be glad of that Mother With that his Mother kneeled down on her knees saying I pray God strengthen thee my Son to the end Yea I think thee as well bestowed as any Child that ever I bare His Father said I was afraid of nothing but that my Son should have been killed in the Prison for hunger and cold the Bishop was so hard to him The night before his Execution he had a dream that he was where the Stake was pitcht where he should be burned and that it was at the Towns end where the Butts stood which was so indeed and that he met his Father going to the Stake and that there was a Priest at the Stake which went about to have him recant and that he said to him Away false Prophet and that he exhorted the people to beware of him and such as he was which things came to pass accordingly Whilst he was led to the Stake the Sheriffs Son came to William and embraced him saying William be not afraid of these men who are here present with Bills and Weapons ready prepared to bring you to the place where you shall be burned William answered I thank God I am not afraid for I have cast my account what it will cost me already Then the Sheriffs Son could speak no more to him for weeping When he met his Father according to his dream his Father said unto him God be with thee Son William William answered God be with you good Father and be of good comfort for I hope we shall meet again when we shall be merry At the Stake the Sheriffe told him That there was a Letter from the Queen if he would recant he should live if not he must be burned No said William I will not recant God willing Mr. Brown telling him upon his desire to the people to pray for him as long as he was alive I will pray no more for thee then I will pray for a Dog Mr. Brown said William now you have that you sought for and I pray God it be not laid to your charge in the last day howbeit I forgive you I ask no forgiveness of thee said Mr. Brown Well said William if God forgive you not I shall require my blood at your hands Then said William Hunter Son of God shine upon me Immediately the Sun in the Firmament shined out of a dark cloud so full in his face that he was constrained to look another way When the Priest came according to his dream he said Away thou false Prophet Beware of them good people and come away from their abominations lest that you be partakers of their plagues Then said the Priest look how thou burnest here so shalt thou burn in Hell William answered Thou lyest thou false Prophet away thou false Prophet away When the fire was kindled his Brother said to him William think on the holy Passion of Christ and be not afraid of Death William answered I am not afraid Then lift he up his hands to Heaven and said Lord Lord Lord receive my spirit Higbed Mr. Higbed of Essex being prest by Bonner to recant answered I will not abjure for I have been of this mind these sixteen years and do what ye can ye shall do no more then God will permit you to do and with what measure ye measure unto us look for the same again at Gods hands When his Articles and Answers were read he said Ye go about to trap us with your subtilties and snares and though my Father and Mother and other my Kinsfolk did believe as you say yet they were deceived in so believing and whereas you say Doctor Cranmer and others c. be Hereticks I do wish that I were such an Heretick as they were and be Then Bonner asked him again Whether he would turn from his error and come to the unity of their Church No said he I would ye would recant for I am in the truth and you in error Hus. Mr. Iohn Hus preaching at the honourable and very solemn Funeral of three in Prague who had been put to death in Prison for calling the Pope Antichrist and speaking against Indulgences at whose Funeral was sung on this wise These be the Saints which for the Testament of God gave their bodies c. much commended them for their constancy and blest God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had hid the way of his Verity so from the prudent of the world and had revealed it to the simple who chose rather to please God then man This occasioned his expulsion out of Prague being before excommunicated by the Pope The Emperour having given safe conduct to Mr. Iohn Hus to come to the general Council at Constance he promised to come professing he was ready alwayes to satisfie all men which shall require him to give a reason of his faith and hope c. and giving notice to all that could object any error or heresie to him to appear and not spare him The Twenty sixth day after he came to Constance two Bishops c. were sent to him to bring him before the Pope and his Cardinals To whom he answered I am not come to defend my Cause particularly before the Pope and his Cardinals but to appear before the whole Council and there answer for my defence openly c. unto all such things as shall be demanded or required of me Notwithstanding forasmuch as
you do require me so to do I will not refuse to go with you and if it happen that they evil intreat me yet nevertheless I trust in my Lord Jesus that he will so comfort and strengthen me that I shall desire much rather to die for his glory sake then to deny the Verity which I have learned by his holy Scriptures When he came to the Cardinals they told him they had heard that he had taught great and manifest errors through the Realm of Bohemia c. You shall understand answered Mr. Hus that I am thus minded and affectioned that I should rather chuse to die then I should be found culpable of one only error much less of many and great errors For this cause I am willingly come to the general Council to receive correction if any man can prove any errors in me Some of the Articles presented to the Council against him 4 He saith that all Priests be of like power 8 He holdeth this opinion That a man being once ordained a Priest or a Deacon cannot be forbidden or kept back from the office of preaching When several false witnesses rose up against him he said Albeit they were as many more in number as they are I do much more esteem yea and without comparison regard the witness of my Lord God before the witness of all mine adversaries He being ask'd whether it was lawful for him to appeal unto Christ answered Verily I do affirm before you all that there is no more just nor effectual plea then that which is made unto Christ forasmuch as the Law doth determine that to appeal is no other thing then in a cause of grief or wrong done by an inferiour Judge to implore and require aid and remedy at an higher Judges hands Who is then an higher Judge then Christ Who can know or judge the matter more justly or with more equity In him is found no deceit nor can he be deceived Who can better help the miserable and oppressed then he It being in his Accusation that he counsel'd the people to resist with the sword all such as did gainsay his Doctrine c. he answered That he at all times when he preached did diligently admonish and warn the people that they should arm themselves to defend the truth of the Gospel according to the saying of tbe Apostle With the helmet and sword of salvation that he never spake of any material sword but of that which is the Word of God Some more Articles against him taken out of his Treatise of the Church 1 There is but one holy universal or Catholick Church which is the universal Company of all the Predestinate 6 A reprobate man is never a member of the holy Church 18 An Heretick ought not to be committed to the secular powers to be put to death for it is sufficient that he suffer the Ecclesiastical censure In his appeal Forasmuch as the most mighty Lord One in Essence Three in Person is both the chief and first and also the last and uttermost refuge of all those which are oppressed and forasmuch as the Lord Jesus Christ very God and Man being compassed in with the Priests Scribes and Pharisees wicked Judges and Witnesses c. hath left behind him this godly example for them that shall come after him to the intent they should commit all their causes into the hand of God O Lord behold my affliction c. thou art my Protector and Defender O Lord thou hast given me understanding and I have acknowledged thee For mine own part I have been as a meek Lamb which is led unto sacrifice and have not resisted against them Deliver me from mine enemies for thou art my God I appeal to the Sovereign and most just Judge who is not defiled with cruelty nor can be corrupted with gifts and rewards neither yet be deceived by false witness I Iohn Hus do present and offer this my appeal to my Lord Jesus Christ my just Judge who knoweth and defendeth and justly judgeth every mans just and true cause The day before his condemnation when four Bishops were sent by the Emperour to him to know whether he would stand to the judgement of the Council Mr. Iohn de Clum spake thus unto him Mr. I. Hus I require you if you know your self guilty of any of those errours which are objected against you that you will not be ashamed to alter your mind to the will of the Council if contraiwise I will be no Author to you that you should do any thing contrary to your conscience but rather to suffer any kind of punishment then to deny that which you have known to be the truth Mr. Hus with tears answered Verily as before I have oftentimes done I do take the most High God for my witness that I am ready with my whole heart and mind if the Council can instruct me any better by the Scripture to change my purpose One of the Bishops telling him he should not be so arrogant as to prefer his own opinion before the judgement of the whole Council he said If he which is the meanest or least in all this Council can convict me of errour I will with an humble heart and mind do whatsoever the Council shall require of me When they condemned his appeal as heretical he said O Lord Jesus Christ whose Word is openly condemned here in this Council unto thee again do I appeal which when thou wast evil intreated of thine enemies didst appeal unto God thy Father committing thy Cause unto a most just Judge that by thy example we also being oppressed with manifest wrongs and injuries should flee unto thee Whilst they were reading his Sentence He interrupted them often and specially when he was charged with obstinacy he said with a loud voice I was never obstinate but as alwayes heretofore even so now again I desire to be taught by the holy Scriptures and I do profess my self to be so desirous of the truth that if I might by one onely word subvert the errours of all Hereticks I would not refuse to enter into what peril soever it were to speak it When the Sentence was ended kneeling down upon his knees he said Lord Jesus Christ forgive mine enemies by whom thou knowest that I am falsly accused c. forgive them for thy great mercies sake When he was degraded he spake to the people thus These Lords and Bishops do exhort and counsel me that I should here confess before you all that I have erred the which thing to do if it might be done with the infamy and reproach of man onely they might peradventure easily perswade me thereunto but now truly I am in the sight of the Lord my God without whose great ignominy and grudge of mine own conscience I can by no means do that which they require of me With what countenance should I behold the Heavens With what face should I look upon
them whom I have taught whereof there is a great number if through me it should come to pass that those things which they have hitherto known to be most certain and sure should now be made uncertain Should I by this my example astonish or trouble so many souls so many consciences endued with the most firm and certain knowledge of the Scriptures and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and his most pure Doctrine armed against all the assaults of Satan I will never do it neither commit any such kind of offence that I should seem more to esteem this vile carcase appoâ—nted unto death then their health and salvation When one of the Bishops took from him the Chalice saying O cursed Iudas c. We take away from thee this Chalice of thy salvation But I trust said he unto God the Father Omnipotent and my Lord Jesus Christ for whose sake I do suffer these things that he will not take away the Chalice of his Redemption but have a stedfast and firm hope that this day I shall drink thereof in his Kingdome The other Bâ—shops took away the Vestments put upon him and each of them giving him their curse Whereunto he saâ—d That he did willingly embrace and hear those blasphemies for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Bâ—shops caused to be made a Crown of Paper in which were printed three ugly Devils and this title set over their heads Hâ—resiarcha A Ring-leader of an Heresie and he saw it he said My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake did wear a Crown of Thorns why should not I then for his sake wear this light Crown be it never so ignominious Truly I will do it and that willingly When it was set upon his head the Bishops said Now we commit thy soul unto the Devil But I said Mr. Hus lifting up his eyes toward Heaven do commit my Spirit into thy hands O Lord Jesus Christ unto thee I commend my Spirit which thou hast redeemed When the people heard his prayers at the Stake they said What he hath done afore we know not but now we see and hear that he doth speak and pray very devoutly and godlily After he had prayed some while being raised by his Tormentors with a loud voice he said Lord Jesus assist and help me that with a constant and patient mind I may bear and suffer this cruel and ignominious death whereunto I am condemned for the preaching of thy most holy Gospel and Word When he beheld the Chain with which his Neck was to be tied to the Stake he smiling said That he would willingly receive the same Chain for Jesus Christs sake who he knew was bound with a far worse Chain The Duke of Bavaria before the fire was kindled coming to him and exhorting him to be mindful of his safeguard and renounce his errors he answered What error should I renounce whenas I know my self guilty of none for as for those things that are falsly alledged against me I know that I never did so much as once think them much less preach them for this was the principal end and purpose of my Doctrine that I might teach all men repentance and remission of sins according to the verity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Exposition of the holy Doctors wherefore with a cheerful mind and courage I am here ready to suffer death He told them at his death That out of the ashes of the Goose so Hus in the Bohemian Language signifies an hundred years after God would raise up a Swan so Luther in that Language signifies in Germany whose singing should affright all those Vultures and who should escape their burning This Prophesie was exactly fulfilled in Lutâ—er who rose up just an hundred years after 1415 the year when Mr. Hus was burnt and though he so enraged the Pope and his powerful party he died in his bed In his Letter to the people of Prague Be circumspect and watchful that ye be not circumvented by the crafty trains of the Devil and the more circumspect ye ought to be for that Antichrist laboureth the more to trouble you The last judgement is near at hand death shall swallow up many but to the elect children of God the Kingdome of God draweth near because for them he gave his own body Fear not death love together one another persevere in understanding the good will of God without ceasing Let the terrible and horrible Day of Judgement be alwayes before your eyes that you sin not and also the joy of eternal life whereunto you must endeavour Let the passions of our Saviour be never out of your minds that you may bear with him and for him gladly whatsoever shall be laid upon you for if you shall consider well in your minds his Cross nothing shall be grievous unto you and patiently you shall give place to tribulations cursings rebukes stripes and imprisonment and shall not doubt to give your lives for his holy truth if need require Know ye Well Beloved that Antichrist being stirred up against you deviseth divers persecutions But I am in good hope that through the mercy of our God and by your Prayers I shall persist strongly in the immutable verity of God unto the last breath I commend you to the merciful Lord Jesus Christ our true God and the Son of the immaculate Virgin Mary who hath redeemed us by his most bitter death without all our merits from eternal pains from the thraldome of the Devil and from sin From Constance A. 1415. In his Letter to his Benefactors I exhort you by the bowels of Jesus Christ that now ye setting aside the vanities of this present world will give your service to the eternal King Christ the Lord. Trust not in Princes nor in the Sons of men in whom there is no health for the Sons of men are dissemblers and deceitful To day they are to morrow they perish but God remaineth for ever He hath his Servants not for any need he hath of them but for their own profit unto whom he performeth that which he promiseth and fulfilleth that which he purposeth to give He casteth off no faithful Servant from him for he saith Where I am there also shall my Servant be yea the Lord maketh every Servant of his to be the Lord of all his possession giving himself unto him and with himself all things O happy is that Servant whom when the Lord shall come he shall find watching Happy is the Servant which shall receive that King of Glory with joy Wherefore well beloved Lords and Benefactors serve you that King in fear In his Letter to the Lord Iohn de Clum The iniquity of the great Strumpet i. e. of the malignant Congregation whereof mention is made in the Apucalyps is detected and shall be more detected with the which Strumpet the Kings of the Earth do commit fornication fornicating spiritually from Christ and as is there said sliding back from
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
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
for this purpose that albeit this late most raging storm hath taken from you the presence of Christ for a time so that you have doubted whether it was Christ which you saw before or not and albeit that the vehemency of this contrary wind that would drive you from Christ hath so employed your ears that almost you have forgotten what he was who commanded you to come to himself when that he cried Come unto me c. Pass from Babylon O my People c. Yet despair not such offences have chanced to Gods Elect before you If obstinately ye shall not continue yet shall you find mercy and grace So long as Peter neither feared danger nor mistrusted Christs Word so long the waves did serve his feet as if they had been dry solid and sure ground c. to instruct us That lively faith makes man bold and is able to carry in through such perils as be uncapable to nature But when faith begins to faint then beginneth man to sink down in every danger Indeed with Gods Elect in their greatest fear and danger there resteth some small spark of faith which by one means or other declareth it self albeit the afâ—lâ—cted person in fear or danger doth not presently perceive the same Lord save me declares that Peter knew the power of Christ able to deliver him and that he had some hope through Christs goodness to obtain deliverance It is also to be noted that in his great jeopardy Peter murmureth not against Christ neither blame him albeit at his Command he had left his Boat he saith not Why lettest thou me sink seeing I have obeyed thy Command Moreover he asked help of Christ alone Immediately stretched forth his hand c. Note That God is alwayes nigh to those that call on him faithfully c. What was visibly done to Peter is done to Christs members invisibly in all ages Open your ears Dear Brethren and let your hearts understand that our God is unchangeable his gracious hand is not shortned this day If we know the danger we are in and unfeignedly call for deliverance the Lords hand is nigher then the sword of our enemies Christs rebuke of Peter teacheth us That God doth not flatter nor conceal the faults of his Elect but maketh them manifest that the offenders may repent and that others may avoid the like offences In passing to Christ through the storms of this world it is not onely required that our faith be fervent in the beginning but constant to the end and not faint We have less excuse for doubting then Peter for he might have alledged that he was not advertised that any great storm should have risen between him and Christ which we cannot justly alledge for since Christ hath appeared to us he hath continually blown in our ears that persecution should follow the Word that we professed Alas then why doubt we through this storm to go to Christ Support O Lord and let us sink no farther O blessed and happy are those that patiently abide the deliverance of the Lord. The raging Sea shall not levour them albeit they have fainted c. The Majesty of Christs presence shall put to silence this boisterous wind the malice of the Devil which so bloweth in the hearts of Princes Prelates and earthly men c. Peradventure some there are of Gods Elect beholdinâ— such as have sometimes boldly professed Christs verity now to be returned to their accustomed abominations and themselves to be so overcome of fear that against their knowledge and conscience they stoop to an Idol and with their presence maintain the same fear whether it be possible the Members of Christs Body can be permitted so horribly to fall to the denial of their Head The dolour and fear of such I grant to be most just for O how fearfull is it for the love of this transitory life in the presence of man to deny Christ and his known and undoubted Verity Yet such as be not obstinate contemners of God I should counsel that they would rather appeal to Mercy then to pass against themselves the fearfull Sentence of Condemnation and to consider that God includeth all under unbelief that he may have Mercy on all And that all Christs Apostles fled from him and denied him in their hearts and yet were not rejected for ever Some may demand How shall it be known in whom faith is not utterly quenched and in whom it is seeing all flee from Christ and bow down to Idolatry Hard it is and in a manner impossible that one man should be able to judge of another that could not Elijah do of the Israelites in his daies but yet a man may of himself And wilt thou have a trial whether the root of faith remaineth with thee or not Feelest thou thy soul fainting in faith as Peter felt his body sink down in the waters Art thou as sore afraid that thy soul shall drown in hell if thou consentest or obeyest idolatry as Peter was that his body should drown in the waters Desirest thou as earnestly the deliverance of thy soul as Peter did the deliverance of his body Believest thou that Christ is able to deliver thy soul and that he will do the same according to his promise Dost thou call upon him without hypocrisie now in the day of thy trouble Dost thou thirst for his presence and for the liberty of his Word again Mournest thou for the great abominations that now overslow the Realm of England If these promises remain in thy heart then art not thou altogether destitute of faith neither shalt thou descend to perdition for ever but the Lord shall mercifully stretch forth his mighty hand and deliver thee How it neither appertains to thee to demand nor to me to define I think not that suddenly and by one means shall all the faithfull in England be delivered from Idolatry No it may be that God so strengthens the hearts of some of those that have fainted before that they will resist Idolatry to the death and that were a glorious and triumphant deliverance of others God may so touch the hearts that they will chuse to go as Pilgrims from Realm to Realm suffering hunger cold heat thirst weariness and poverty then they will abide having all abundance in subjection of Idolatry To some God may offer such occasions that in despight of Idolaters they may remain in their own Land and yet neither Bow the knee to Baal nor lack the lively food of Gods most holy Word Seeing we are so like the Disciples let us make such a complaint as the following one unto God G God the heathen are entred into thine inheritance they have defiled thy holy Temple and have profaned thy blessed Ordinances c. Thy Prophets are persecuted and none are permitted to speak thy Word freely the poor Sheep of thy Pasture are commanded to drink the venemous waters of mens traditions c. Such is
the tyranny of these most cruel Beasts that they say plainly they shall root us out at once so that no remembrance shall remain of us on earth O Lord thou knowest we are but flesh c. We confess we are punished most justly thy blessed Gospel was in our ears like a Lovers Song it pleased us for a time but alas our lives did nothing agree with holy Statutes But be thou mindfull O Lord that thy enemies blaspheme thy holy Name c. Thy Gospel is called Heresie and we are accused as Traitors for professing the same c. Albeit our sins accuse and condemn us yet do thou according to thy great Name Correct us but not in thy hot displeasure spare thy people and permit not thine inheritance to be in rebuke for ever c. Gather us yet once again to the wholesome treasures of thy most Holy Word that openly we may confess thy blessed Name within the Realm of England Amen Abide patiently the Lords deliverance avoiding and flying such offences as may separate and divide you from the blessed Fellowship of the Lord Jesus at his second coming Watch and pray resist the Devil and rowe against this vehement Tempest and the Lord shall come shortly to your comfort and you shall say Behold this is our God we have waited for him and he hath saved us Mr. Knox remained at Frankford till some more given to unprofitable Ceremonies then to the sincerity of Religion essaied by a most cruel barbarous and bloody practice to dispatch him out of the way They accused him to the Magistrates of high Treason against the Emperâ—ur and his Son Philip and Mary Queen of England for that in his Admonition to England he called the Emperour no less an Enemy to Christ then Nâ—ro and Queen Mary more cruel then Iâ—zabel The Magistrates perceiving their malice and abhorring their bloody attempt gave advertisement secretly to him to depart their City because they could not save him if he were required by the Emperâ—ur or by the Queen of England in the Emperours Name The night before his departure he made a most comfortable Sermon of the Death and Resurrection of Christ and of the unspeakable joyes that were prepared for Gods Elect which in this life suffer persecution for the Testimony of his blessed Name From Frankford he went to Geneva and thence to Diep and thence to Scotland At his coming to Edinburg the Lord made him instrumental for the comforting the troubled conscience of Mrs. Elizabeth Adamson who under extreme torments of body said A thousand years of this torment and ten times more joyned unto it is not to be compared to a quarter of an hour that I suffered in my Spirit I thank my God through Jesus Christ that hath delivered me from that fearful pain and welcome be this even so long as it pleaseth the Majesty of Heaven to exercise me therewith At his coming into Scotland he began as well in private conference as preaching to shew how dangerous a thing it was to communicate in any son with Idolatry Whereupon the Question was debated Whether in any wise it was lawful for Christian to go to Mass or to communicate with the abused Sacraments in the Papistical manner I was urged that Paul at the command of Iames and of the Elders of Ierusalem passed to the Temple and feigned himself to pay his Vow with others But this and other things were so fully answered bâ— Mr. Knox that Mr. Maitland confessed I see verâ— perfectly that our shifts will serve nothing before God seeing that they stand us in so small stead before men His Answer to the fact of Paul c. was 1 The fact was most unlike going to Mass for to pay Vows was sometimes Gods command as was never Idolatry and their Mass from the Original was and remained odious Idolatry 2 I greatly doubt said he whether either Iames's command or Paul's obedience proceeded of the holy Ghost seeing he fell into the most desperate danger that ever he sustained before for obeying worldly-wise counsel Mr. Knox was so successfull in a short time through the blessing of God that the Earl of Glencarn the Earl of Marschel and Henry Drummond were so contented with his Exhortation that they willed him to write unto the Queen Regent somewhat that might move her to hear the Word of God He obeyed their desire and wrote that which was afterwards published and is called The Letter to the Queen Dowager which was delivered to her own hands by the Earl of Glencarn The Queen having read it delivered it to the Bishop of Glâ—scow saying in mockage Please you my Lord to read a Pasquil which words coming to the ears of Mr. Knox occasioned him to make the Additions to his Letter In his Letter The Christians Victory standeth not in resisting but suffering as our Sovereign Master pronounceth to his Disciples That in patience they should possess their souls and Isaiah painteth forth all other Battels to be with violence tumult and blood-shedding but the Victory of Gods people to be in quietness silence and hope meaning that all others that obtain victory do enforce themselves to resist their Adversaries to shed blood and to murder but so do not Gods Elect for they suffer all things at the command of him who hath appointed them to suffer being most assuredly perswaded that then onely they triumph when all men judge them oppressed for in the Cross of Christ alwaies is included a secret and hid victory never well known till the Sufferers appear altogether to be as it were exterminate for then onely did the blood of Abel cry to God when proud Cain judged all memory of his Brother to have been extinguished Sometimes God toucheth the hearts of those who in mans judgement have power to destroy his people with pity to save them c. for two causes specially 1 To comfort his weak Warriers in their manifold temptations And 2 To give a testimony of his favour to such great ones Pity and mercy shewed to Christs afflicted flock as they never lacked reward temporal so if they be continued and be not changed into cruelty are assured signes and seals of everlasting mercy to be received from God From those words of Christ Fuâ—fill the measure of your Fathers that all the blood which hath been shed since the blood of Abel the just till the blood of Zechariah c. It is evident that the murderers of our time are guilty of all the blood that hath been shed from the beginning and it is but equal and just it should be so for whosoever sheddeth the blood of any one of Christs members for professing his Truth consenteth to all the murder that hath been made from the beginning for that cause As there is one Communion of all Gods Elect of which every member is participant of the righteousness of Christ so is there a communion among the reprobates by which
my witness that I never preached Christ Jesus in contempt of any man neither mind I at any time to present my self to that place having either respect to my own private commodity or to the worldly hurt of any creature But to delay to preach to morrow unless the body be violently withholden I cannot in conscience for in this Town and Church God began first to call me to the dignity of a Preacher from the which I was reft by the tyranny of France and procurement of the Bishops what torment I sustained in the Gallies c. is now no time to recite This onely I cannot conceal which more then one have heard me say when absent from Scotland That my assured hope was in open audience to preach at Saint Andrews before I departed this life And therefore my Lords seeing that God above the expectation of many hath brought my body to the same place where first I was called to the office of a Preacher and from the which I was most unjustly removed I beseech your Honours not to stop me from presenting my self unto my Brethren And as for the fear of danger that may come to me let no man be sollicitous for my life is in the custody of him whose glory I seek and therefore I cannot so fear their boast or tyranny that I will cease from doing my duty when of mercy he offereth the occasion I desire not the hand of any man to defend me onely I crave audience c. Whereupon the Lords were fully content he should preach and so he did upon the ejection of the buyers and sellers forth of the Temple applying the corruption that was then to the corruption that is in Papistry and Christs fact to the duty of those to whom God gives power and zeal to remove all Monuments of idolatry When the Lords and those that favoured Reformation were driven from Edinburg to Sterling which was the time of their greatest trouble Mr. Knox preached on Psal. 80.5.6 7 8. In the Sermon God in wisdome sometimes suffers his chosen Flock to mockage and dangers yea apparent destruction that they may feel the vehemency of Gods indignation that they may know how little strength is in themselves that they may leave a testimony to the generations following as well of the malice of the Devil against Gods people as of the marvellous Work of God in preserving his little Flock by far other means then man can espy It is a great and sore temtation when God turns away his face from our Prayers c. This temptation no flesh can overcome or abide unless the mighty Spirit of God interpose as appears in Saul when God would not hear him The difference between the Elect and Reprobate in this temptation is this The Elect sustained by the secret power of Gods Spirit still call upon God albeit he appear to contemn their Prayers as Iacob did c. But the Reprobate being denied their requests do cease to pray and contemn God and it may be seek to the Devil for what they cannot obtain by God Such is our tender delicacy and self-love of our own flesh that those things which we lightly pass over in others we can greatly complain of if they touch our selves When the sins of men are rebuked in general seldome is it that man descendeth within himself accusing and condemning in himself that which most displeaseth God but rather he doubteth that to be a cause which before God is no cause indeed as the Israelites supposed the cause of their overthrow was because they had lifted the Sword against their Brethren of Benjamin and yet the express command that was given them did deliver them from all crime in that cause The true cause was their going to execute judgement against the wicked without repentance for their own former offences and defection from God and their trusting in their own strength they were a great multitude and the other far inferiour to them When we were a few c. we called upon God and took him for our Protector Defence and Refuge among us we had no bragging of multitude nor of our strength nor of our policy we did onely sob to God to have respect to the equity of our Cause and to the cruel pursuit of the tyrannical Enemy But since that our Number hath been multiplied and great Ones joyned with us nothing hath been heard but This Lord will bring these many hundred Spears this man hath the credit to perswade the Countrey If this Eare be ours no man in such bounds will trouble us Thus we made flesh our Arm. It resteth that we turn to the Eternal our God who beateth down to the death that he may raise up again to leave the remembrance of his wonderous deliverance to the praise of his own Name which if we do unfeignedly I no more doubt but that this our dolour confusion and fear shall be turned into joy honour and boldness then that God gave victory to the Israelites over the Benjamites after that twice with ignominy they were repulsed Yea whatsoever shall become of us and our mortal carkases I doubt not but that this Cause in despight of Satan shall prevail for it is the eternal Truth of the eternal God It may be that God shall plague some for that they delight not in the Truth albeit for worldly respects they seem to favour it yea God may take some of his dearest Children away before that their eyes see greater troubles but neither shall the one nor the other so hinder this Action but in the end it shall triumph After the taking of Kinghorn at which time the Queen Regent blasphemously said Where now is Iohn Knox his God My God is now stronger then he even in Fife Mr. Knox preached a comfortable Sermon on the danger wherein the Disciples of Christ when they were in the midst of the Sea and Jesus upon the Mountain exhorting them not to faint but to rowe against the contrary blasts till that Jesus Christ should come for said he I am assuredly perswaded that God will deliver us from this extreme trouble as that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ which I preach unto you this day The fourth watch is not yet come abide a little the Boat shall be saved and Peter which hath left the Boat shall not drown In his Letter to Sir William Cicil Secretary of State in England As from God you have received Life Wisdome and Honours c. so ought you wholly to apply the same to the advancement of his glory c. which alas in times past you have not done For to the suppressing of Christs true Evangel to the erecting of Idolatry and to the shedding of the blood of Gods most dear Children have you by silence consented and subscribed this your most horrible defection from the known Truth and once professed c. He hath not dealt with you as with others
c. but you guilty in the same offences hath he fostered as it were in his own bosome during the time of that most miserable thraldome under Queen Mary and now hath set you at such liberty as the fury of Gods enemies cannot hurt you except that willingly against his Honour you take pleasure to conspire with them God requires of you earnest repentance for your former defection and an heart mindful of his merciful providence and a will ready to advance his glory that evidently it may appear that in vain you have not received these graces of God To performance whereof of necessity it is that carnal wisdome and worldly policy to both which you are too much inclined give place to Gods naked Truth Very love compells me to say That except the Spirit of God purge your heart from that Venome which your eyes have seen destructive to others that you shall not long escape the reward of Dissemblers Now you are in that estate and credit in the which you shall either comfort the sorrowful and affâ—icted for righteousness sake or else you shall molest and oppugne the Spirit of God speaking in his Messengers The Comforters of the afflicted for godliness have promise of comfort in their greatest necessities but the Troublers of Gods Servants how contemned soever they appear before the world are threatned to have their Names in execration to the Posterities following Except that in the Cause of Christs Evangel you be found simple sincere fervent and unfeigned you shall taste of the same cup which Politick Heads have drunk in before I hear that some of that poor Flock of late assembled in Geneva are so extremely handled that those who most rudely have shed the blood of Gods most dear Children find this day among you greater favours then they do Alas This appeareth much to repugne to Christian Charity for whatsoever hath been mine offence this I fear not to affirm in their Cause That if any that have suffered Exile in those most dolorous dayes of Persecution deserve praise and commendation for peace concord sober and quiet living it is they From Diep April 10. 1559. In his Letter to Queen Elizabeth Consider deeply how for fear of your life you did decline from God and bow to Idolatry going to Mass under your Sister Mary her persecution of Gods Saints Let it not appear a small offence in your eyes that you have declined from Christ Jesus in the day of your Battel neither would I that you should esteem that mercy to be vulgar and common which you have received viz. that God hath covered your Offence hath preserved your Person when you were most unthankful and hath Exalted you c. Commonly it is seen that such as refuse the counsel of the Faithful appear it never so sharp are compelled to follow the deceit of Flatterers to their own perdition Edinburg Iuly 28. A. 1559. When Mass was permitted to the Queen for a time Mr. Knox the next Sabbath after the first Mass shewed what terrible plagues God had taken upon Realms and Nations for Idolatry and added That one Mass was more fearful to him then if Ten thousand armed Enemies were Landed in any part of the Realm of purpose to suppress the whole Religion for said he in our God there is strength to resist and confound multitudes if we unfeignedly depend upon him whereof heretofore we have had experience but when we joyn hands with Idolatry it is no doubt but both Gods amiable presence and comfortable defence will leave us and what shall then become of us Alas I fear that experience will teach us to the grief of many When God began to make his words good He did in the audience of many Dec. 1565. ask God mercy that he was not more vehement and upright in suppressing that Idol at the beginning For said he albeit I spake that which offended some which this day they see and feel to be true yet did I not that which might have been done for God had not onely given me knowledge and a tongue to make known the impiety of that Idol but he had given me credit with many who would have put in execution Gods Judgements if I would onely have consented thereto but so careful was I of that common tranquility and so loth was I to offend some that in secret conference with zealous men I travelled rather to mitigate yea to slacken that fervency God had kindled in them then to animate or encourage them to put their hands to the Lords Work wherein I acknowledge my self to have done most wickedly and from the bottome of my heart do ask of my God pardon that I did not what in me lay to have suppressed that Idol in the beginning When the Queen accused him for stirring up her Subjects against her Mother her Self and that he was the cause of much sedition great slaughter in England and that all he did was by Necromancy Madam said Mr. Knox may it please your Majesty patiently to hear my simple answers and first If to teach the Word of God in sincerity if to rebuke Idolatry and to will a people to worship God according to his Word be to raise Subjects against their Princes then cannot I be excused but if the true knowledge of God and his right worshipping be the chief cause which must move men to obey their just Princess from their heart as it is most certain they are wherein can I be reprehended I think and am surely perswaded that your Majesty hath had and now hath as unfeigned obedience of such as profess Christ Jesus within this Realm as ever your Father or Progenitors had of those that were called Bishops And now shortly to answer the other two Accusations I heartily praise my God through Jesus Christ that Satan that enemy of mankind and the wicked of the world have no other crimes to lay to my charge then such as the world it self knoweth to be most false and vain If indeed in any of the places where I was in England during the time of my being there there was either Battel Sedition or Mutiny I shall confess my self a shedder of blood but God so blessed my weak labours in Barwick wherein then commonly used to be slaughter by reason of quarrels that used to arise among Souldiers that there was great quietness all the time that I remained there And whereas they slander me of Magick Necromancy c. all the Congregations that ever heard me know what I spake against such acts and those that use such impiety but seeing my Master was accused thus even that he was possessed with Belzebub I must patiently bear their false accusations But yet said the Queen you have taught the people to receive another Religion then their Princes can allow and how can that Doctrine be of God seeing God commandeth Subjects to be obedient to their Princes Madam said he as right Religion took neither
hath God executed the judgement threatned But what amendment can be espied in you Idolatry was never in greater quiet vertue and vertuous men never in more contempt vice was never more bold nor punishment less feared And yet who guides the Queen and Court who but Protestants O horrible slanderers of God and of his holy Evangel Better it were unto you plainly to renounce Christ Jesus then thus to expose his blessed Evangel to mockage If God punisheth not you that this same age shall see your punishment the Spirit of righteous judgement guides me not When the Queen sent for Mr. Knox and would have him to perswade the people especially the Gentlemen of the Wâ—st not to put hand to punish any for using themselves in their Religion as pleased them He willed her Majesty to punish Male-factours according to the Laws and he durst promise quietness upon the part of them that professed the Lord Jesus within Scotland but if her Majesty thought to delude the Laws he said He feared some would let the Pâ—â—ists understand that without punishment they should not be suffered so manifestly to offend Gods Majesty I shall cause said the Queen to summon all offenders and ye shall know that I shall minister justice I am assured then said he that ye shall please God and enjoy rest and tranquillity within your Realm which to your Majesty is more profitable then all the Popes power can be In his Letter to the Earl of Murray Seeing I perceive my self frustrate of my expectation which was that you should ever have preferred God to your own affection and the advancement of his truth to your own commodity I commit you to your wit and to the conducting of those which can better please you In a Sermon concerning the Queens Marriage he said Whensoever the Nobility of Scotland who profess the Lord Jesus consent that an Infidel and all Papists be Infidels shall be Head to our Sovereign ye do so far as in you lies banish Christ Jesus from this Realm yea bring Gods vengeance on the Countrey a plague upon your selves and perchance you shall do small comfort to your Sovereign When he was upon that account brought before the Queen Madam said he when it shall please God to deliver you from that bondage of darkness and errour wherein ye have been nourished for lack of true Doctrine your Majesty will find the liberty of my tongue nothing offensive Out of the Pulpit I think few have occasion to be offended at me but there I am not Master of my self but must obey him who commands me to speak plain and to flatter no flesh upon the face of the earth But what have you to do said she with my Marriage I am sent said he to preach the Evangel of Iesus Christ to such as please to hear It hath two parts Repentance and Faith Now Madam in preaching of Repentance of necessity it is that the sins of men be noted that they may know wherein they offend but so it is that the most part of your Nobility are so addicted to your affections that neither Gods Word nor yet their Commonwealth are rightly regarded and therefore it becometh me to speak that they may know their duty And so he repeated to her self what he had said in publick Whereupon the Queen wept but when she had given place to her inordinate passions Mr. Knox said Madam in Gods presence I speak I never delighted in the weeping of any of Gods Creatures c. much less can I rejoyce in your Majesties weeping but seeing I have given you no just occasion to be offended but have spoken the truth as my Vocation craves of me I must sustain your Majesties tears rather then I dare hurt my conscience or betray the Commonwealth by silence About that time he pâ—ayed thus Deliver us O Lord from the bondage of Idolatry Preserve and keep us from the tyranny of Strangers Continue us in peace and concord among our selves if thy good pleasure be O Lord for a season Being asked Why he prayed for quietness for a season and not absolutely His answer was That he durst not pray but in faith and faith in Gods Word assured him That constant quietness would not continue in that Realm wherein Idolatry had been suppressed and then was permitted to be erected again The Master of Maxwell telling him That he would not find that men will bear with him in times to come as they had done in times past If said he God stand my Friend as I am assured he of his mercy will so long as I depend upon his promise and prefer his glory to my life and worldly profit I little regard how men behave themselves towards me c. The Earl of Murray and the Secretary sent for Mr. Knox and lamented that he had so highly offended the Queen by writing Letters desiring the Brethren from all parts to convene at Edinburg that there was no hope for him unless he would confess his offence and put himself in her Majesties will I praise God through Jesus Christ said he I have learned not to fear the things that the Godless multitude fear I have the testimony of a good conscience that I have given no offence to the Queen for I have done nothing but my duty and so my hope is that my God will give me patience to bear what will ensue When he was called before the Queen and her Council the Secretary Lethington told him the Queen was informed That he travelled to raise a tumult of her Subjects against her and for certification thereof produced one of his Letters which he owned Then said the Secretary Mr. Knox Are not you sorry from your heart that such a Letter hath passed your Pen c. Before I repent said he I must be taught my offence Offence said Lethington If there were no more but the Vocation of the Queens Leiges the offence cannot be denied Remember your self my Lord said Knox there is a difference betwixt a lawfull and an unlawfull Vocation If I have been guilty in this I have oft offended since I came last into Scotland for what Vocation of Brethren hath ever been since to which my Pen hath not served and before this no man laid it to my charge as a crime Then was then said Lethington and now is now we have no need of such Vocation as sometimes we have had The time that hath been said Knox is now before my eyes for I see the poor flock in no less danger then it hath been at any time before except that the Devil hath gotten a Vizard upon his face before he came in with his own face discovered by open tyranny seeking the destruction of all that refused Idolatry and then I think you will confess the Brethren lawfully assembled themselves for defence of their lives and now the Devil comes under the Cloak of Justice to do that which God would
not suffer him to do by strength by crafty deceit making the Prince party c. After a long conference between the Queen and Mr. Knox the Secretary told him He might return to his house for that night I thank God and the Queens Majesty said he and Madam I pray God to purge your heart from Papistry and to preserve you from the counsel of â—latterers for how pleasant soever they appear to your ear and corrupt affections for the time experience hath taught us in what perplexity they have brought famous Princes After he was gone the Nobility in the presence of the Queen absolved Mr. Knox. In his Prayer for the Queen O Lord if thy good pleasure be purge the heart of the Queen Majesty from the venome of Idolatry and deliver her from the thraldome and bondage of Satan into the which she hath been brought up and yet remains for the lack of true Doctrine and let her see by the illumination of thy Spirit that there is no means to please thee but by Jesus Christ thy onely Son and that Jesus Christ cannot be found but in thy holy Word nor yet received but as it prescribes which is to renounce our own wisdome and preconceived opinion and worship thee as it commands that in so doing she may avoid the eternal damnation which is ordained for all obstinate impenitenâ—s and that this poor Realm may also escape that plague and vengeance which inevitably followeth Idolatry maintained against the manifest Word and the light thereof Secretary Lethington was offended at two things therein 1 Because he prayed for the Queen conditionally If it be thy good pleasure c. Where have ye an example of such a Prayer Mr. Knox answered Wheresoever the examples are I am sure of the Rule which is this If we shall ask any thing according to his Will he shall grant us I have learned to pray in faith now faith you know depends upon the Word of God and so it is that the Word of God teacheth me that Prayer profiteth the Sons and Daughters of Gods Election Besides did not the Apostles pray as they commanded others to pray Now Peter commanded Simon Magus to pray conditionally If it be pâ—ssible c. 2 Where find ye that the Scriptures call any the Bond-slaves of Satan said the Secretary or that the Prophets of God spake of Kings and Princes so irreverently The Scripture saith said Mr. Knox that by nature we are all the children of wrath and our Master Christ affirms That such as do sin are servants to sin c. Behold I send thee saith Christ to Paul to the Gentiles to turn them from the power of Satan unto God Kings and Queens are not excepted but all unfaithfull are pronounced to stand in one rank and to be in bondage to one Tyrant the Devil Elisha was a Subject in the Kingdome of Israel and yet how little reverence did he give to the King he feared not to say to King Iehoram What have I to do with thee c. As the Lord of Hosts liveth in whose sight I stand if it were not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not have looked toward thee c. Lethington telling him That we are not bound to follow extraordinary examples unless we have the like command c. I grant said Mr. Knox if the example repugne the Law as if a covetous man should borrow silver raiment c. from his neighbour and withhold the same alledging the example of the Israelites in Egypt c. But where the example agrees with the Law c. it stands to us in place of a Commandement for as God in his Nature is constant and immutable so cannot he condemn in the ages subsequent that which he hath approved in his Servants before us Lethington telling him That prosperity doth not alwaies prove that God approves the facts of men Yes said he when the facts of men agree with the Law of God and are rewarded according to his own promise expressed in his Law the prosperity that succeeds them is a most infallible assurance that God hath approved them Upon the nineteenth of August An. 1565. a little while after the Queen was married to the Lord Darley who to please the Protestants came to Church Mr Knox preached upon Isa. 26.13 14 15 16 c. wherein he said That God sets in Government for the offences and ingratitude of the people Boyes and Women and that God justly punished Ahab and his posterity because lie would not take order with that harlot Iezabel for which Sermon he was called in question and in answering said more then he had preached for he added That as the King had to please the Queen gone to Mass and dishonoured the Lord God so should God in his Justice make her an instrument of his ruine and so it fell out in a very short time But the Queen being incensed at these words to please her he was forbid to preach for a time This Sermon he took care to have it printed to make known to the world what ground there was to deal so with him as he tells us In his Epistle to the Reader I dare not deny least that in so doing I should be injurious to the Giver but that God hath revealed to me secrets unknown to the world and also that he hath made my tongue a Trumpet to forewarn Realms and Nations yea certain great revelations of mutations and changes when no such things were feared nor yet was appearing A portion whereof cannot the world deny be it never so blind to be fulfilled and the rest alas I fear shall follow with greater hast and in more full perfection then my sorrowfull heart desireth Notwithstanding these revelations and assurances I did ever abstain to commit any thing to writing contented onely to have obeyed the charge of him who commanded me to cry If any then will ask to what purpose this onely Sermon is set forth and greater matters omitted I answer To let such as Satan hath not altogether blinded see upon how small occasions great offence is now conceived For this Sermon from my Bed I was called before the Council and after long reasoning I was by some forbidden to preach in Edinburg so long as the King and Queen were in Town The Sermon he writ for the Press the last day of August 1565. when the Castle of Edinburg was shooting against the Exiled for Christs sake and therefore he concluded thus Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit for the terrible roaring of Guns and the noise of Armour do so pierce my heart that my soul thirsteth to depart Be merciful to thy flock O Lord and at thy good pleasure put an end to my misery The next Sabbath after the Earl of Murray was slain a Note was sent to Mr. Knox among the Papers wherein were written the names of those that desired
to preach his Truth so he will strengthen me to suffer for it to the edification of them who have by his working taken fruit thereby and so I desire you and all others that favour me for his sake likewise to pray for it is not I without his mighty helping hand that can abide that brunt but I have trust that God will help me in time of need which if I had not the Ocean I think should have divided my Lord of London and me by this day for it is a rare thing for a Preacher to have favour at his hand who is no Preacher himself and yet ought to be I pray God both he and I may discharge our selves he in his great Cure and I in my little One to Gods pleasure and safety of our souls Amen In his Reply to Sir Edward Baynton's Answer Truly I were not well advised if I would not either be glad of your instruction or yet refuse my own reformation but yet it is good for a man to look before he leap First you mislike that I say I am sure I preach the Truth saying in reproof of the same God knoweth certain Truth Indeed none knoweth certain Truth but God and those which be taught of God as faith Paul for God revealeth it to them and saith Christ They shall be all taught of God As to my arrogancy either I am certain or uncertain that it is Truth that I preach If it be Truth why may I not say so to encourage my Hearers to receive the same more fervently and pursue it more studiously If I be uncertain why dare I be so bold to preach it If your Friends in whom you trust so greatly be Preachers after Sermon I pray you ask them whether they be sure that they taught you the Truth or no. If they say they be sure you know what followeth if they say they be not sure when shall you be sure that have such doubtful Teachers Our knowledge here you say is but dark as through a Glass What then Therefore it is not certain and sure I deny your Argument by your leave yea if it be by Faith it is most sure for the certainty of Faith is the surest certainty as Duns and other School-Doctors say There is a great difference between certain knowledge and clear knowledge for that may be of things aâ—sent that appear not this requireth the presence of the object or thing known It is true there are too many that have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge there are also who have knowledge without zeal holding the truth in unrighteousness and there are that have lost the spiritual knowledge of Gods Word which they had before because they have not ensued it nor promoted the same but rather with their mother wits have impugned the wisdome of the father and hindred the knowledge thereof which therefore hath been taken away from them To him hath not that also which he hath i. e. seems to have shall be taken away To abuse that which a man hath or not to use it well is as not to have it It behoveth every Preacher to have so deep and profound knowledge that he may call this or that Truth which this or that he taketh in hand to preach for Truth and yet he may be ignorant in many things both this or that as Apollo was but such things whether this or that he will not attempt to preach for the Truth There be many things in Scripture in which I cannot discern certainly verum falsum no not with all the exercise I have in Scripture nor yet with the help of all Interpreters I have to content my self and others in all scrupulosity that may arise but in such I am wont to wade no farther in the stream then that I may either go over or else return back again having ever respect nor to the ostentation of my little wit but to the edification of them that hear me as far forth as I can neither passing mine own nor yet their capacity It is but foolish humility willingly to continue alwayes an infant still in Christ for though Paul would not have us to think arrogantly of our selves and above that which it becometh us to think of our selves yet he biddeth us so to think of our selves as God hath distributed to every one the measure of faith He that may not with meekness think in himself what God hath done in him and of himself as God hath done for him how shall he or when shall he give due thanks to God for his gifts Every opinion or manner of teaching which causeth dissention in a Christian Congregation is not of God by the Doctrine of St. Iohn but not every thing whereupon followeth dissention causeth dissention An occasion is sometime taken and not given The Galatians having for Preachers and Teachers the false Apostles by whose teaching they were degenerate from the sweet liberty of the Gospel into the sour bonds of Ceremonies thought themselves peradventure a Christian Congregation when Paul writ his Epistle unto them so that the false Apostles might have objected to Paul that his Apostleship was not of God forasmuch as there was dissention in a Christian Congregation by occasion thereof while some would renew their opinions by occasion of the Epistle others would opine as they were wont to do and follow their great Lords and Masters the false Apostles who were not Heathen but high Prelates of the Professors of Christ. I would also learn of your Friends whether St. Hieromes Writings were of God which caused dissention in a Christian Congregation What were they that called him falsarium and corrupter of Scripture and for envy would have bitten him with their teeth Unchristen or Christen What had Unchristen to do with Christian Doctrine They were worshipful Fathers of a Christian Congregation men of much more hotter stomacks then right judgement of a greater authority then good charity But Hierom would not cease to do good as he saith himself for the evil speaking of them that were naught giving in that an ensample to us of the same And I pray you what mean your Friends by a Christian Congregation all those trow ye that have been Christened But many of those be in worse condition and shall have greater damnation then many Unchristned for it is not enough to a Christian Congregation that is of God to have been Christned but it is to be considered what we promise when we be Christned to renounce Satan his works his pomps which thing if we busie not our selves to do let us not crack that we profess Christs Name in a Christian Congregation in one Baptism And whereas they adde In one Lord I read Not every one that saith Lord Lord c. And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not that I bid you And whereas they adde In one Faith St. Iames saith Shew me thy Faith by thy Works And the Scripture saith
Fornicatâ—res Adulteros judicabit Dominus i. e. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will jundge In his Letter to Mrs. Wiâ—kinson out of Bocardo in Oxford If the gift of a pot of cold water shall not be in oblivion with God how can God forget your manifold and bountiful gifts when he shall say to you I was in Prison and you visited me God grant us all to do and suffer while we be here as may be to his will and pleasure Amen Yours in Bocardo H. L. In his Letter to Dr. Ridley You say except the Lord assist me with his gracious aid in the time of his Service I shall I know play but the part of a white-livered Knight Truth it is for Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing much less suffer death of our Adversaries through the Bloody Law prepared against us But it followeth If you abide in me and my Word abide in you ask what you will and it shall be done for you What can be more comfortable Better a few things well pondered then to trouble the memory with too much You shall prevail more with praying then with studying though mixture be best for so one shall alleviate the tediousness of the other I intend not to contend much with them in words after a reasonable account of my Faith given for it shall be but in vain They will say as their Fatherr said when they have no more to say We have a Law and by our Law he ought to die Be ye stedfast and unmoveable Stand fast If ye abide if ye abide c. But we shall be called obstinate sturdy ignorant heady and what not So that a man hath need of much patience that hath to do with such men Diotrephes now of late did ever harp upon Unity Unity Yea Sir said I but in Verity not in Popery Better is a diversity then an unity in Popery The Marrow-bones of the Mass are altogether detestable and therefore by no means to be born withall so that of necessity the mending of it is to abolish it for ever What fellowship hath Christ with Antichrist Come forth from among them and separate your selves from them saith the Lord. It is one thing to be the Church indeed and another thing to counterfeit the Church I thank you that you have vouchsafed to minister so plentiful Armour unto me being otherwise altogether unarmed saving that he cannot be left destitute of help who rightly trusteth in the help of God I onely learn to die in reading of the New Testament and am still praying to my God to help me in time of need My Prayer shall you not lack trusting that you do the like for me for indeed there is the help c. There is no remedy now they have the Master bowl in their hand and rule the roast but patience Better it is to suffer what cruelty they will put upon us then to incur Gods high indignation Wherefore be of good cheer in the Lord duly considering what he requireth of you and what he doth promise you Our common enemy shall do no more then God will permit him God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength c. Be at a point what you will stand to stick unto that and let them both say and do what they list They can but kill the body which is of it self mortal neither shall they do that when they list but when God will suffer them when the hour appointed is come Let them not deceive you with their sophistical sophisms and fallacies you know that false things may have more appearance of truth then things that be most true Remember Paul's watch-word Let no man deceive you with likeliness of speech Fear of death doth most perswade a great number be well ware of that argument The flesh is weak but the willingness of the spirit shall refresh the weakness of the flesh The number of the Cryers under the Altar must needs be fulfilled If we be segregated thereunto Happy are we That is the greatest promotion that God giveth in this world to be such Philippians to whom it is given not onely to believe but to suffer c. But who is able to do these things Surely all our ability all our sufficiency is of God He requireth and promiseth Let us declare our obedience to his will when it shall be requisite in the time of trouble yea in the midst of the fire When that Number is fulfilled which I ween shall be shortly then have at the Papists when they shall say Peace all things are safe c. Christ shall come gloriously to the terrour of all Papists but to the great consolation of all that will here suffer for him Comfort your selves one another with these words Pray for me pray for me I say pray for me I say for I am sometime so fearful that I would creep into a Mouse-hole sometime again God doth visit me with his comfort So he cometh and goeth to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity to the intent to give thanks to him that is worthy lest I should rob him of his due as many do yea almost all the world Farewell Fare you well once again and be thou stedfast and unmoveable in the Lord. Paul loved Timothy marvellous well notwithstaing he saith unto him Be thou partaker of the affliction of the Gospel and again Harden thy self to suffer afflictions Be faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life saith the Lord. Mr. Fox records one Letter more of this holy mans which he wrote when he was Bishop of Worcester to a Iustice of Peace who could not at first bear his being told by this Servant of God his fault in oppressing and wronging a poor man but sent him word in great displeasure that he would not take it at his hands c. but afterward proved a good man in which Letter his close is very observable Consider with your self saith Mr. Latimer what it is to oppress and defraud your Brother and what followeth thereof It is truly said The sin is not forgiven except the thing be restored again that is taken away No restitution no salvation which is as well to be understood of things gotten by fraud guile and deceit as of things gotten by open theft and rollery I will do the best I can and wrestle with the Devil omnibus vâ—riâ—us to deliver you and your Brother out of his possession I will leave no one stone unmoved to have you both saved There is neither Arch Bishop nor Bishop nor any learned man in either University or elsewhere that I am acquainted with that shall not write to you and by their learning confute you There is no godly man of Law in this Realm that I am acquainted with but they shall write to you and confute you by Law There is neither Lâ—rd nor Lady nor any Noble person in
that my Lord Christ is stronger then our enemies that he will defend me from their rage if he will not his good will be done this I can confidently promise that no peril shall come to your Excellency for my sake An. 1522. In his Letter to Sebastian Schlick a Bohemian Nobleman The loathsome death of the Papacy is at hand and its unavoidable ruine approacheth and as Daniel saith She comes to an end and none shall help her In a short time I shall by my writings Christ favouring of me free the Bohemians from their reproach and cause that the name of Popery shall be odious and abominable throughout the world and that to be a Papist and to be anathematized shall be all one Iuly 15. 1522. In his Answer to King Henry the Eighth's Book against him Let not King Henry impute my sharpness against him to me but to himself If seeing that meer corruption and a wretched worm dare knowingly belye the Majesty of my Heavenly King it cannot but be lawfull for me for my Kings sake to bespatter the King of England with his own dirt and to trample under foot his Crown filled with blasphemy against Christ. The Lord cleared up his Will by degrees unto me till by the hand of the mighty Iacob it came to this that by evident and pure Scriptures I was convinced that the Pope Cardinals Bishops Priests Monks Masses and that whole Kingdome with their Doctrines and Ministries are meer lies idols and the very abomination standing in the holy place yea and the Scarlet Whore sitting upon the Beast drunk with the blood of Christs Witnesses and making the Kings of the Earth drunk with the cup of her fornications and abominations This Truth being discerned I was forced to retract some of my Writings and still do so being sorry at the very heart I ever writ one syllable in favour of the Pope and his Kingdome Yea I spake too modestly in my Treatise concerning the Babylonish Captivity of the Church in calling Papacy the Popes mighty hunting for that from the example of Nimrod may be said of all profane civil Powers to whom notwithstanding God would have us to be subject to honour them and pray for them I now say most truly That Papacy is the most pestilent abomination of Prince Satan Against the sayings of Fathers Men Angels Devils I set not ancient Custome not multitude but the Word of one Eternal God Here I stand sit abide glory triumph over the Papists Thomists Henry 's Sophisters and all the gates of Hell The Word of God is above all God is on my side what should I care if a thousand Austines a thousand Cyprians a thousand Churches of Henry be against me God cannot erre nor deceive but Austine and Cyprian as all the Elect may erre yea have erred Let the Henry's the Bishops the Turk and the Devil himself do what they can we are the children of the Kingdome worshipping and waiting for that Saviour whom they and such as they spit upon and crucifie If any be offended at my sharpness against the King let him take this Answer It is no great matter if I contemn and bite an earthly King whenas he feared not at all in his Writings to blaspheme the King of Heaven In the year 152â— a Diet was held at Norinberg in the absence of the Emperour wherein the Edict of Wormes was made null of this the Popes Legate complained to the Princes saying That Luther was not punished according to the Emperours Edict The Princes Answer was That the Court of Rome neglected Reformation that Germany was so far enlightned with the Sermons and Writings of Luther that if they should go about to put the Edict in execution great tumults would arise and the people would be ready to think that they went about to oppress the Truth and to put out the light of the Gospel that so they might the better defend those manifest vices which could be no longer concealed In the year 1525. Luther married Katherine a Boren who had formerly been a Nun The change of his Condition troubled him because of the unseasonableness of the time it being then when Germany weltred in the blood of the Clowns and Saxony mourned for the death of their Prince insomuch that Melancthon was fain to labour to comfort him all he could In his Letter to Melancthon who was much troubled at the rage of the Papists and Caesars threats to subvert the Gospel In private conflicts I am weak and you are strong but in publick conflicts you are found weak and I stronger because I am assured that our Cause is just and true If we fall Christ the Lord and Ruler of the world falleth with us and suppose he fall I had rather fall with Christ then stand with Caesar. I extremely dislike your excessive cares with which you say you are almost consumed That these reign in your heart it is not from the greatness of the danger but the greatness of your incredulity If the Cause be bad let us revoke it and fall back if it be good why do we make God a lyar Be of good comfort I have overcome the world If Christ be the Conquerour of the world why should we fear as if it would overcome us A man would fetch such Sentences as these upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem Be not afraid â—e couragious and cheerfull solicitous for nothing the Lord is at hand to help us When the Diet was met at Ausburg in the year 1530. the Elector of Saxony sent to Luther to know Whether the Cause of Religion should be referred to the judgement of the Emperour He answered This honour is to be given to the Word of God onely to be Iudge of sacred Controversies In his Preface before the Smalcaâ—dian Articles In many Bishopricks divers Parishes are destitute of spiritual food c. I fear for this Christ will call a Council of Angels to destroy Germany as he destrâ—yed Sodom and Gomorrah Our sins weigh us down and suffer not God to be gracious to us because instead of repenting we defend our abominations O Lord Jesus Christ do thou summon and hold a Council and redeem thy Servants by the glorious coming The Popes and Popelings are past cure therefore help us poor and distressed men who groan unto thee and seek thee with our hearts c. When the Papists charged him for an Apostaâ—e he yielded himself to be one but a blessed and holy one who had not kept his promise made to the Devil I am said he no otherwise a Revolter then a Magician renouncing his Covenant made with the Devil and betaking himself to Christ. When he fell sick of the Stone he made his Will in which he bequeathed his Detestation of Popery to his Friends and to the Pastours of the Church having made before this Verse Pestis eram vivus moriens â—ro mortua Papa In English thus I living
stopt Romes breath And dead will be Romes death In this last Prayer Feb. 18. 1546. I pray God to preserve the Doctrine of his Gospel among us for the Pâ—pe and the Council of Trenâ— have grievous things in hand O heavenly Father my gracious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ thou God of all consolation I give thee hearty thanks that thou hast revealed to met thy Son Jesus Christ whom I believe whom I profess whom I glorifie whom the Pope and the reut of the wicked persecute and dishonour I beseech thee Lord Jesus Christ receive my soul. O my heavenly Father though I be taken out of this life and must lay down this frail body yet I certainly know that I shall live with thee eternally and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit Thou O God of Truth hast redeemed me In this last Will. O Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent person upon earth I have neither house nor lands nor possessions nor money to leave Thou Lord hast given me Wife and children Them Lord I give back unto thee Nourish instruct and keep them O thou the Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widow as thou hast done to me so do to them When he saw his Daughter Magdalen ready to die he read to her Isa. 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise c. Adding My Daughter Enter thou into thy Chamber in peace I shall ere long â—e with thee for God will not permit me to see the punishment which hangs over the head of Germany When the Elector gave him a new Gown he said I am made too much of for if here we receive a full recompence for our labours we shall hope for none in another life I say flatly That God shall not put me off with these low things In the Cause of God said he I am content to undergo the hatred and violence of all the world When his head was out of order as it used to be towards his later end he would usually say Strike Lord strike mercifully I am prepared because by thy Word I am forgiven mine iniquities and have fed upon thy body and blood He used to say that three things would destroy Christian Religion Forgetfulness of the Blessings received by the Gospel security which reigns every where and worldly wisdome which will seek to bring all things into Order and to support the publick Peace by wicked counsels Erasmus said of him God hath given to this later age a sharp Physician and that because of the greatness of its diseases Mr. Fox saith of him That Luther a poor Fryer should be able to stand against the Pope was a great miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace having so many enemies was the greatest of all When Myconius fell into a Consumption 1541. and wrote to Luther That he was sick unto life and not unto death Luther wrote back I pray Christ our Lord our salvation and health c. that I may not live to see thee and some others of our Colleagues to die and go to Heaven and leave me here among the Devils alone I pray God I may first lay down this dry exhausted and unprofitable Tabernacle Farewell and God forbid that I should hear of thy death while I live The Lord prolong thy life for me This I desire this I will and let my will be done Amen for this will hath the glory of God not my pleasure nor advantage for its end By and by hopeless Myconius recovered and lived six years longer even till after Luther's death Hence Iustus Ionas speaking of him saith That man could have of God what he pleased He would by no means endure that any should be called after his Name for said he the Doctrine which I teach is none of mine neither did Idie for any man neither would Paul 1 Cor. 3.4 c. endure such terms Besides we are all Christians and profess the Doctrine of Christ And lastly because the Papists use to do so calling themselves Pontificians whom we nought not to imitate M. Mallot Often have we hazarded our lives said Iohn Mallot a Souldier for the Emperour Charles the Fifth and shall we now shrink to die for the King of Kings Let us follow our Captain Man Thomas Man having broken Prison after his recantation said If I be taken again of the pild knave Priests I wist well I shall go the holy Angel and then be an Angel in Heaven Accordingly the Sheriffe of London when he had brought him into Smithfield to be burnt put him into Gods Angel He thanked God that he had been instrumental to convert seven hundred persons Marbeck Iohn Marbeck was a skilfull Organist in the Quire of Windsor a man of admirable industry and ingenuity His English Concordance the first that ever was in English Bishop Gardiner himself could not but commend as a piece of singular industry King Henry the Eighth hearing thereof said That he was better imployed then those Priests that accused him Being prest to discover Hereticks and being told he could not do God and the King greater service If I knew said he who were Hereticks indeed it were somewhat But if I should accuse him to be an Heretick that is none What a worm would that be in my conscience so long as I live Yea it were a great deal better for me to be out of this life then to live in such torment He being called a Dolt who would not discover them who should be sent for and would utter then all they can of him Whatsoever said he they shall say of me let them do it in the Name of God I will say no more of them nor of any man else then I know Being further prest to write down what he knew of such he thus prayed unto God O most merciful Father of Heaven thou that knowest the secret doings of all men have mercy upon thy poor Prisoner that is destitute of all help and comfort Assist me O Lord with thy special grace that to save this frail and vile body which shall turn to corruption in its time I have no power to say or to write any thing that may be to the casting away of my Christian Brother but rather O Lord let this vile flesh suffer at thy will and pleasure Grant this O most merciful Father for thy dear Son Jesus Christs sake Then he rose up and began to search his Conscience what he might write and at last writ thus Whereas your Lordship will have me to write of such things as I know not of my Fellows at home May it please your Lordship to understand that I cannot call to remembrance any manner of thing whereby I may justly accuse any one of them
unless the reading of the New Testament which is common to all men be an offence More then this I know not The Bishop of Winchester asking him What helpers he had in setting forth his Concordance None my Lord said he None said the â—ishop how can that be It is not possible that thou shouldst do it without help Truly my Lord said he I did it without the help of any man save God alone Nay said the Bishop I do not discommend thy diligence but what shouldst thou meddle with the thing which pertaineth not to thee And then speaking to one of his Chaplâ—ins said This Fellow hath taken upon him to set out the Concordance in English which Book when it was set out in Latine was not done without the help and diligence of a dozen learned men at least and yet he will bear me in hand that he hath done it alone The Bishop of Salisbury asking him How he could invent such a Book or know what a Concordance meant without an Instructer I will tell your Lordship said he what Instructer I had to begin it When Thomas Matthews Bible came first out in Print being not able to buy one I borrowed one and intended to have writ it out and was gone as far as Iâ—shua which when Mr. Turner understood he told me it would be a more profitable work to set out a Concordance in English A Concordance said I what is that He told me it was a Book to find out any word in the whole Bible by the letter and that there was such an one in Latine already and that it required not so much learning as diligence This is all the instruction that ever I had before or after of any man Being asked How he could with this instruction bring it to this order and form as it is He answered I borrowed 〈◊〉 Latine Concordance and began to practise my wit and at last with great labour and diligence brought it into this order But I marvel greatly why I should be so much examined about this Book Have I committed any offence in doing it or no If I have I am loth any other should be molested or punished for my fault Therefore to clear all men in this matter this is my request That ye will try me in the rest of the Book that is undone You see I have onely done with letter L. Now take what word you will of M. and so in every letter following and give me the words in a piece of Paper and let me be any where alone with Pen Ink and Paper the Latine Concordance and the English Bible and if I bring you not those words written in the same order and form as the rest be then it was not I did it but some other This is honestly spoken said the Bishop of Ely and then shalt thou bring many out of suspition Accordingly he writ in a dayes time in the same order and form as he had done the rest all the words they gave him which contained three sheets of Paper and more Being threatned if he did not discover what he knew his fingers should be made to tell If you do tear said he the whole body in pieces I trust in God you shall never make me accuse any man wrongfully If thou art stubborn said Dr. Oking thou wilt die for it Die for it said Marbeck wherefore should I die You told me the last day before the Bishops that as soon as I had made an end of that piece of the Concordance they took me I should be delivered and shall I now die This is a sudden mutation You seemed then to be my Friend but I know the cause you have read the Ballad I made of Moses Chair and that hath set you against me but whensoever ye shall put me to death I doubt not but I shall die Gods true man and the Kings This worthy Confessor was of so sweet and amiable nature That all good men did love and few bad men did hate him yet was he condemned in the year 1544. to be burnt at Windsor which his Pardon prevented of which divers causes were assigned 1 That Bishop Gardner bare him a special affection for his skil in the Mystery of Musick 2 That such who condemned him procured his Pardon out of remorse of conscience because of the slender evidence against him 3 That it was done out of design to reserve him for a discovery of the rest of his Party and if so their plot failed them for being as true as Steel whereof his Fetters were made which he wore in Prison for a good time he could not be frighted or flattered to make any detection Marcus v. Arethusius Part. 1. Marcus of Arethuse being hung up in a Basket anointed with honey and so exposed to the stinging of Wasps and Bees said to his Persecutors that stood and beheld him How am I advanced despising you that are below on Earth Marlorate Mr. Augustine Marlorate Minister of Roan when in the Civil Wars of France that City was taken by storm was taken also and brought before Monâ—orency the Constable of France who said unto him Thou art he who hast seduced the people If I have seduced them said he it is God that hath done it rather then I for I have preached nothing to them but his divine Truth You are a seditious person said the Constable and the cause of the ruine of this City As for that imputation said he I refer my self to all that have heard me preach be they Papists or Protestants whether I ever medled with matters of the Politick State or no. The Constable told him swearing a great Oath we shall see within a few dayes whether thy God can deliver thee out of my hands or no. It is observable how speedily Gods Judgements found out his Persecutors The Captain that apprehended him was slain within three weeks by one of the basest Souâ—diers in all his Company The Constables Son was shortly after slain in the Battel of Dreux Two of his Iudges also died very strangely soon after viz. The President of the Parliament by a Flux of Blood which could be by no means stanched The other being a Councellor voiding his Urine by his Fundament with such an intolerable stink that none could come near him Villeben that switched him with a Wand as he was carried on the Hurdle to Executionâ— a while after escaped death by the loss of his hand wherewith he had so basely smitten this Servant of the Lord. Marsake Sir Lâ—wis Marsake was so glad of the Sentence of Condemnation that he went out praising God and singing of Psalms To a Souldier that would have hindred him from stepping aside to call upon God What said he will you not let us pray in that little time which we have When Halters were put about the necks of his two Fellow-sufferers he seeing himself to be spared because of his Order and Degree called to the Lieutenant
for one of those precious Chains about his neck in honour of his Lord. Why I pray you said he do you deny me the badge of so excellent an Order Is not my Cause the same with theirs Marsh. Mr. George Marsh Minister in Lancashire writes thus concerning his Troubles My Friends and Relations advised me to flee If I were taken said they and would not recant as they thought I would not and God strengthning and assisting me never shall it would not onely put them to great sorrow and losses and shame but also my self after troubles and painful imprisonment unto shameful death To their counsel my weak flesh would gladly have consented but my spirit did not fully agree thinking and saying thus unto my self That if I so fled away it would be thought and reported that I did not onely flee my Countrey and nearest and dearest Friends but from Christ holy Word of late years within my heart or at least with my life professed and with my mouâ—h taught I knew not what to do but ceased not by earnest prayer to ask and seek counsel of God aâ—â— of other my Friends whose godly judgement and knowledge I much trusted to Still I was undetermined what to do but told a Friend that had prayed with me for direction I doubted not but God according as our prayer and trust was would give me such wisdome and counsel as should be most to his honour and glory the profit of my Neighbours and Brethren and mine own eternal salvation by Christ in Heaven At length one came to me with Letters from a faithful Friend which I never read nor looked on who said thus My Friends advice was that I should in no wise flee but abide and boldly confess the Faith of Jesus Christ. At which words I was so confirmed and established in my Conscience that from thenceforth I consulted no more whether it were better to flee or to tarry but was at a point with my self that I would not flee but go to Mr. Barton who did seek me and patiently bear what cross it should please God to lay upon me Whereupow my mind and conscience being much troubled before was now merry and in quiet state Thereupon I went to Mr. Barton He shewed me a Letter from the Earl of Derby wherein he was commanded to send me to Lathum Thither I went The Earl asked me whether I was one that sowed dissention among the people I denied it and desired to know mine Accusers but that could not be granted He asked me whether I was a Priest I said No but a Minister c. I was asked whether I had ministred with a good Conscience I answered I had ministred one year with a good Conscience I thanked God and if the Laws of the Realm would have suffered me I would have ministred still and if the Laws at any time hereafter would suffer me to minister after that sort I would minister again The Vicar of Prescot having communed with me a good while concerning the Sacrament of the Altar told my Lord and his Council that the answer which I had made before and then made was sufficient for a Beginner and one that did not profess a perfect Knowledge in that matter and thereupon I had more favour Hereupon I was much more troubled in my spirit then before because I had not with more boldness confessed Christ but in such sort as mine Adversaries thereby thought they should prevail against me Hitherto I went about as much as lay in me to rid my self out of their hands if by any means without open denying of Christ and his Word that could be done This considered I cried more earnestly to God to strengthen me with his holy Spirit with boldness to confess him and to deliver me from their enticing words and that I might not be spoiled through their Philosophy and deceitful vanity after the traditions of men and ordinances of the world and not after Christ. The Vicar of Prescot and Parson of Grapnal much exhorted me to leave mine Opinions saying I was much deceived understanding the Scriptures amiss and much counselled me to follow the Catholick Church of Christ and to do as others did I answered My faith in Christ conceived by his holy Word I neither might nor would deny alter or change for any living creature whatsoâ—vâ—r â—e were Afterwards Mr. Sherburn and Mr. Mâ—â—r perswaded me to leave mine Opinions because of the advâ—rsity of the Maintainers of them and the prosperity of the Favourers of the Religion now used I answered That I believed and leaned onely to the Scriptures not judging things by prosperity or adversity They advised me not to let shame hinder me from renouncing mine Opinions I answered That what I did I did not for the avoiding of any worldly shame saying My soul and life were dearer to me then the avoiding of any worldly shame neither yet did I it for any vain praise of the world but in the reverent fear of the Lord. Mr. Sherburn told me that it was great pity I should cast my self away c. I answered That my Life Mother Children Brethren Sisters and Friends with other Delights of this life were as dear and sweet to me as unto any other man and that I should be as loth to lose them as another would if I might hold them with a good conscience and without the ignominy of Christ. But seeing I could not do that my trust was that God would strengthen me with his holy Spirit to lose them all for his sake for I take my self said I for a Sheep appointed to be slain patiently to suffer what cross soever it shall please my merciful Father to lay upon me After this Mr. Moor told me I was unlearned and erred from the Catholick Faith stubborn and stood altogether in mine own conceit I answered For my learning I acknowledge my self to know nothing but Jesus Christ even him that was crucified and that my Faith was grounded on Gods holy Word onely and such as I doubted not pleased God and as I would stand in to the last God assisting me and that I did not say or do any thing of stubbornness self-wilfulness vain-glory or any other worldly purpose but with good conscience and in the fear of God Desiring him to speak to my Lord and his Council that I might find some mercy at their hands but he giving me but short answer then I said I commit my Cause to God who hath numbred the hairs of my head and appointed the dayes of my life saying I am sure God who is a Righteous Iudge would make inquisition for my blood according as he hath promised I desire the Reader of this Relation to pray for me and all them that be in bonds that God would assist us with his holy Spirit that we may with boldness confess his holy Name and that Christ may be magnified in our bodies that we may stand full and perfect
are accounted worthy of the Kingdome of Heaven for which we also suffer It is verily saith the Apostle a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulations to them that trouble us and rest to us that be troubled These things we ought to have before our eyes alwayes that in the time of persecution whereof all that will be the children of God shall be partakers and some of us are already we may stand stedfast in the Lord and endure even to the end that we may be saved for unless we like good Warriers of Iesus Christ will endeavour our selves to please him who hath chosen us to be souldiers and fight the good Fight of Faith to the end we shall not obtain that crown of Righteousness which the Lord that is a right our Iudge shall give all them that love his Coming Let us therefore ground our selves on the sure Rock Christ for other foundation can no man lay besideâ— that which is laid already which is Iesus Christ. If any buâ—ld on this foundation gold silver c. By fire the Apostle doth mean persecution the portion of those that do preach and profess the Word of Christ which is called the Word of the Cross. By gold c. he understands them that in the midst of persecution abide stedfast in the Word By hay and stubble such as in time of persecution do fall away from the Truth When Christ doth purge his floor with the wind of adversity these are scattered as light chaffe which shall be burnt with unquenchable fire If they which do believe do in time of persecution stand stedfastly in the Truth the Builder I mean the Preacher of the Word shall receive a reward and the Work shall be preserved and saved but if so be that they go back and swerve when persecution ariseth the Builder suffereth loss i. e. shall lose his labour and cost but let he shall be saved if he being tried in the fire of persecution doth abide fast in the Faith Wherefore my Beloved give diligent heed that ye as liâ—ing stones be â—uilt upon the sure Rock c. Let â—s be sure that unless we keep Christ and his holy Word dwelling by Faith in the House and Temple of our hearts the same thing that Christ threatneth to the Iews shall happen unto us viz. The unclean spirit of ignorance superstition idolatry and unbelief the Mother and Head of all Vices which by the grace of God was cast out of us bringing with him seven other spirits worse then himself shall to our utter ruine return again to us and so shall we be in worse case then ever we were before for if â—e after we have escaped from the filthiness of the world through the Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ be yet entangled therein and overcome then is the latâ—r end worse then the beginning and it had been letter for us not to have known the way of righteousness 〈◊〉 after we have known it to turn from the holy Commandment given unto us for it is then hapned unto us according to the true Proverb The Dog is turned to his vomit and the Son that was washed to wallowing in the mire It is not possible saith the Apostle that they which were once enlightned c. if they fall away should be renewed again by repentance c. St. Paul's meaning in this place is That they that believe unfeignedly Gods Word do abide stedfast in the known Truth If any therefore fall away from Christ and his Word it is a plain token that they were but dissembling Hypocrites for all their fair faces outwardly and never believed truly c. They went out from us because they were not of us c. If we sin willingly after we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgement c. Wherefore let us on whom the ends of the world are come take diligent heed unto our selves that now in these last and perillous times in which the Devil is come down and hath great wrath because he knoweth his time is but short and whereof the Prophets Christ and the Apostles have given us such warning we withhold not the Truth in unrighteousness believing doing or speaking any thing against our knowledge and conscience or without faith c. If ye believe me ye shall die in your sins Dear Friends we trust to see better of you and things which accompany salvation and that ye being the good ground watered with the moistness of Gods Word plentifully preached among you will with a good heart hear the Word of God and keep it bringing forth fruit with patience and that you will be none of those forgetful and hypocritical hearers who although they hear the Word suffer the Devil to catch away what was sown in their hearts either having no root in themselves endure but a season and as soon as persecution ariseth because of the Word by and by they are offended or with the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches choak the Word and so are unfruitful Read the Parable of the Sower and note especially That the most part of the hearers of Gods Word are but Hypocrites hearing the Word without any fruit or profit yea to their greater condemnation for onely the fourth part of the seed doth bring forth fruit Therefore let not us that be Ministers or Professors and Followers of Gods Word be discouraged though that very few do give credit and follow the Doctrine of the Gospel and be saved We trust that ye will not like the Gadarenes for fear to lose your worldly substance or other delights of this life banish away Christ and his Gospel from among you If ye do your own blood will be upon your own heads And as ye have had more plentiful preaching of the Gospel then others so ye shall be sure to be sorer plagued and the Kingdome of God shall be taken from you and given to another Nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof Wherefore my dearly beloved in Christ take good heed unto your selves and ponder well in your minds how fearful and horrible a thing it is to fall into the hands of the Living God and see that ye receive not the Word in vain but declare your faith by your good works among which the chiefest are to be obedient to the Magistrates sith they are the Ordinance of God whether they be good or evil unless they command idolatry and ungodliness i. e. things contrary to true Religion for then we ought to say with Peter We ought more to they God then man But in any wise we must beware of Tumult Insurrection Rebellion or Resistance The weapon of a Christian in this matter ought to be the Sword of the Spirit which is Gods Word and Prayer coupled with humility and due submission and with readiness of heart rather
give some exmple of boldness and constancy mingled with patience in the fear of God that ye and others of our Brethren through our example may be encouraged and strengthned to follow us that ye also may leave example to your weak Brethren in the world to follow you Amen Brethren the time is short it remaineth that ye use this world as though ye used it not for the fashion of this world passeth away See that ye love not the world nor the things that be in the world but set your affections on heavenly things c. Be meek and long-suffering serve and edifie one another with the gift that God hath given you beware of strange Doctrine c. August 30 1555. In his Letter to Ienkin Crampton c. These be earnestly to exhort you yea and to beseech you in the tender mercy of Christ that with purpose of heart ye cleave unto the Lord and that ye worship him in spirit in the Gospel of his Son for God will not be worshipped after the commandments and traditions of men nor yet by any other means appointed prescribed and taught us but by his holy Word and though all men almost defile themselves with the wicked traditions of men and ordinances after the world and not after Christ yet do ye after the ensample of Daniel and his three Companions c. Be at a point with your selves that ye will not be defiled with the unclean meats of the Heathen I mean the filthiness of Idolatry and the very Heathenish Ceremonies of the Papists but as the true Worshippers serve ye God in spirit and verity according to the sacred Scriptures Above all things I wish you continually and reverently to search and read the Scriptures and with the wholesome admonitions of the same to teach exhort comfort and edifie one another now in this time of the great famishment of souls for want of the food of Gods Word And doubt not but that the merciful Lord who hath promised to be with us even to the worlds end and when two or three are gathered together in his Name he will be in the midst of them will assist you and teach you the right meaning of the sacred Scriptures will keep you from all errours and lead you into all truth as he hath promised And though you think your selves unable to teach yet at the command of Christ now in time of famine seeing the hungry people in the wilderness far from any Towns if they be sent away fasting are sure to faint and perish by the way employ those five loaves and two fishes that ye have upon that hungry multitude although you think it nothing among so many And he that increased the five loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand men c. shall also augment his gifts in you not onely to the edifying of others but to an exceeding great increase of your own knowledge in God and his holy Word And fear not your Adversaries for either according to his accustomed manner God shall blind their eyes that they shall not spie you or get you favour in their sight or else graciously deliver you out of their hands by one means or other Comfort your selves in all your adversities and stay your selves in him who hath promised not to leave you as fatherless and motherless children without any comfort but that he will come unto you like a most gentle and merciful Lord. In another Letter The same grace and peace do I wish unto you which St. Paul wisheth to them to whom he writ c. Grace is taken for the free mercy and favour of God whereby he saveth us freely without any of our deservings or works of the Law Peace is taken for the tranquility of conscience being perswaded that through the onely merits of Christs death and blood-shedding there is an atonement and peace made between God and us so that God will no more impute our sins unto us nor condemn us Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus nor of us his Prisoners but suffer ye adversity with the Gospel for which word we suffer as evil doers unto bonds but the Word of God is not bound with us Therefore we suffer all things for the Elects sake that they also may obtain the Salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory Wherefore stand ye fast in the Faith and be not moved from the hope of the Gospel so shall ye make us with joy to suffer for your sakes and as the Apostle saith To fulfill that which is behind of the Passions of Christ in our flesh for his Bodies sake which is the Congregation St. Paul doth not here mean that there wanteth any thing in the Passion of Christ which may be supplied by man but the words are to be understood of the Elect in whom Christ is and shall be persecuted to the worlds end The Passion of Christ then i. e. of this Châ—rch his mystical Body shall not be perfect till all whom God hath appointed have suffered for his sake On our parts nothing can be greater consolation and inward joy to us in our Adversity then to hear of your Faith and Love and that ye have a good remembrance of us alwayes praying for us as we do for you Now are we alive if ye stand stedfast in the Lord. Good Shepherds do alwayes count the welfare and prosperous estate of Christs Flock to be their own While it goeth well with the Congregation it goeth well with them also in whatever affliction they be but when they see the Church in peril then be they weary of their own lives and can have no rest nor joy Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I do not burn But this affection is not in them that seek their own lucre and glory God is wont for the most part to warn his Elect what trouble shall happen to them for his sake not to frighten them thereby but rather to prepare their minds against the boisterous storms of Persecution In his Letter to Robert Langley I thank you for visitting me a Prisoner for Christ and unacquainted with to your cost and for your promise that if I did want any thing necessary to this life you with some others would help me and rejoyce greatly in the Lord who stirs up the hearts of others to be careful for me in this my great necessity I thank God as yet I do want nothing and intend to be as little chargeable to others as I can yet if I want I will be bold with you and others to send for your help desiring you in the mean while to pray for me and all others in the bonds of Christ that God would perform the thing which he hath begun in us that we may confess Jesus Christ with boldness and fight the good Fight of Faith In another Letter These be to certifie you that I greatly rejoyce in the Lord for that
and faithful followers of him therein persevering in purity of doctrine and holiness of life Other things Jesus Christ the Lord who is able and willing to look after his own concernments will take care of He will defend his own Church Go to then O my Brethren so let your light shine forth that God the Father may be glorified in us and the Name of Christ be made illustrious and conspicuous by the light of your life Continue to love one another unfeignedly Lead your whole life as in the sight as under the eye of God In vain do we press to holiness if our words be without deeds there is need of the Light of life and the heavenly Spirit if we will confound Satan and convert this world unto Christ the Lord. O my Brethren What a cloud is there arising what a storm a coming what a defection is at hand But it becomes you to stand fast The Lord who is careful of his own affairs will be present with you For my self I pass not the horrible aspersion of corrupting the Truth that is câ—st upon me I am just now going before the Tribunal of Christ and that through grace with a clear conscience There it will appear that I have not seduced the Church The night before he died when a very dear Friend returned to him Oecolampadius asked him What news he had brought His Friend answering None I will tell you some then said Oeculampadius I shall presently be with my Lord Christ. A while after being asked Whether the light offended him He putting his hand to his heart said Here is abundance of light Here is light enough Ogner or Ogvier Robert Ognier's Son said to his Father and Mother at the Stake with him Behold millions of Angels about us and the Heavens opened to receive us To a Frier that railed Thy cursings are blessings To a Nobleman that offered him life and promotion Do you think me such a fool that I should change eternal things for temporary And to the people We suffer as Christians not as Thieves or Murtherers When the Provâ—st of Lile had seized on Robert Ogvier his Wife and his two Sons Baudicon and Martin as they were conveyed along through the streets of the City Baudicon with a loud voice said O Lord assist us by thy grace not onely to be Prisoners for thy Name but to confess thy holy Truth in all purity before men so far as to seal the same with our bloods for the edification of thy poor Church When they were brought before the Magistrates they said unto Robert Ogvier c. It is told us that you never come to Mass yea and also disswade others from coming thereto and that you maintain Conventicles in your Houses He answered Whereas you lay to my charge that I go not to Mass I refuse so to do indeed because the death and precious blood of the Son of God and his sacrifice is utterly abolished there and troden under foot for Christ by one sacrifice hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified The Mass is the meer invention of men and you know what Christ saith In vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men As for the second Accusation I cannot nor will deny but there have met together in my House honest people fearing God for the advancement of Gods glory and the good of many and not to wrong any I knew indeed the Emperour had forbid it but what then I knew also that Christ in his Gospel hath commanded it Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there saith he am I in the midst of them Thus you see I could not well obey the Emperour but I must disobey Christ. In this case then I choose rather to obey my God then man When one of the Magistrates demanded what they did when they met together Baudicon the eldest Son of Robert Ogvier answered If it please you my Masters to give me leave I will open the business at large to you Leave being granted he lifting up his eyes to Heaven began thus When we meet together in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to hear the Word of God we first of all prostrate upon our knees before God and in the humility of our spirits do make a confession of our sins before his Divine Majesty Then we pray that the Word of God may be rightly divided and purely preached we also pray for our Sovereign Lord the Emperour and for all his honourable Councellors that the Commonwealth may be peaceably governed to the glory of God yea we forget not you whom we acknowledge our Superiours intreating our good God for you and for this whole City that you may maintain it in tranquility Thus I have summarily related what we do Think you now whether we have offended highly in this matter of our assembling When Robert and Baudicon were condemned they praised God for the Sentence and when they were returned to Prison after Sentence was past they rejoyced that the Lord did them that honour to enroll them in the number of his Martyrs Robert being told by a seducing Frier That iâ— he would give ear to him he would warrant him he should do well Poor man said he how darest thou attribute that unto thy self which belongs to the eternal God and so rob him of his honour For it seems by thy speech that if I will hearken to thee thou wilt become my Saviour No no I have one onely Saviour Jesus Christ who by and by will deliver me from this present evil world I have one Doctor whom the heavenly Father hath commanded me to hear and I purpose to hearken to none other Another Frier exhorting him to have pity of his soul which Christ had redeemed Thou willest me said the good old man to pity mine own soul. Dost not thou see what pity I have on it when foâ— thâ— Name of Christ I willingly abandon this body of mine â—n the fire hoping to day to be with him in Paradise I have put all my confidence in God and my hope wholly is fixt on the merits of Christs Death and Passion he will direct me the right way unto his Kingdome I believe whatsoever the holy Prophets and Apostles have written and in that Faith will I live and die Baudicon said Let my Father alone and trouble him not thus he is an old man and hath an infirm body hinder him not I pray you from receiving the Crown of Martyrdome One telling Baudicon That he would sell all he was worth to buy Fagots to burn him and that he found too much favour He answered The Lord shew you more mercy Some of the Friers having fastned a Crucifix betwixt the old mans hands when Baudicon espied it he said Alas Father what do you now will you play the Idolater even at the last hour and then pulling the Idol out of his hands threw it away saying What cause
to be now an inheritor of the Kingdome of Satan a Minister to be found wallowing in impiety a man beautified with honour and dignity to be in the end blemished with shame and ignominy a lofty Turret yet suddenly thrown to the ground a fruitfull Tree yet quickly withered a burning light yet forthwith darkned a running fountain yet by and by dried up Wo is me that ever I was decked with gifts and graces and now seen pitifully deprived of all But who will minister moisture to my head and who will give streams of tears unto my eyes that I may bewail my self in this my sorrowful plight Alas O my Ministry how shall I lament thee O all ye my Friends tender my Case and pity my Person that am so dangerously wounded Pity me O ye my Friends for that I have now trodden under foot the Seal and Cognisance of my Profession and joyned in league with the Devil Pity me O ye my Friends for that I am rejected and cast away from before the face of God There is no sorrow comparable to my sorrow there is no affliction that exceeds my affliction no bitterness that passeth my bitterness no lamentation more lamentable then mine neither is there any sin greater then mine and there is no salve for me Where is that good Shepherd of souls where is he that went down from Ierusalem to Iericho which salved and cured him that was wounded by Thieves Seek me out O Lord that am fallen from the higher Ierusalem which have broken the vow I made in Baptism c. Alas that ever I was Doctor and now occupy not the room of a Disciple Thou knowest O Lord that I sell against my will whereas I went about to enlighten others I darkned my self when I endeavoured to bring others from death to life I brought my self from life to death when I minded to present others before God I presented my self before the Devil when I desired to be found a Friend and Favourer of Godliness I was found a Foe and a Furtherer of Iniquity when I set my self against the Assemblies of the wicked and reproved their doings there found I shame and the most pestilent wound of the Devil Some promised me to be baptized but after that I passed from them the Devil the same night transformed himself into an Angel of Light and said unto me When thou art up in the morning go on and perswade them and bring them to God but the Devil going before me prepared the way c. and I O unhappy creature skipping out of my Bed at the dawning of the day could not finish my wonted Devotion neither accomplish my usual Prayers desiring that all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth whilst in the mean time I wrapped my self in the snares of the Devil I gat me to those wicked men I required of them to perform the covenant made the night before I silly soul knowing not their subtilty and we came to the Baptism O blinded heart how didst thou not remember O foolish mind how didst thou not bethink thy self O witless brain how didst thou not understand But it was the Devil that lulleâ— thee asleep and in the end slew thy unhappy and wretched soul O thou Devil what hast thou done unto me how hast thou wounded me I bewailed sometimes the fall of Sampson but now have I fallen worse my self I bewailed formerly the fall of Solomon but now have I fallen worse my self Sampson had his hair cut off but the Crown of Glory is fallen off my head Sampson lost the carnal eyes of his body but my spirititual eyes are put out it was the wiliness of a woman that brought confusion upon him but it was my tongue brought me into this sinfull condition Alas my Church liveth yet I am a Widdower my Sons be alive yet I am barren every creature rejoyceth and I alone am desolate and sorrowfull c. Bewail me O ye blessed people of God who am banished from God Bewail me who am shut out of the Wedding-chamber of Christ. Bewail me who am abhorred of the Angels and severed from the Saints Who knoweth whether the Lord will have mercy on me and whether he will pity my fall whether he will be moved with my desolation whether he will have respect to my humiliation and incline his tender compassions towards me I will prostrate my self before the threshold and porch of his Church that I may intreat all people both small and great saying unto them trample and tread me under foot who am the unsavoury salt tread upon me who have no tast nor favour of God tread upon me who am fit for nothing Now let the Elders mourn for that the Staffe whereon they leaned is fallen Now let the young men mourn for that their Schoolmaster is fallen Now let the Virgins mourn for that the Advancer of Virginity is defiled Now let the Ministers mourn for that their Patron and Defender is shamefully fallen Wo is me that I fell so lewdly wo is me that I fell most dangerously and cannot rise again Assist me O holy Spirit and give me grace to repent Let the fountains of tears be opened and gush out into streams to see if peradventure I may have grace throughly to repent and to wipe out of the Book of my Conscience the Accusations Printed therein against me But thou O Lord think not upon my polluted lips neither weigh thou the tongue that hath uttered lewd things but accept of my repentance c. and have mercy upon me and raise me up out of the mire of corruption for the puddle thereof hath even choaked me up Wo is me that was sometimes a Pearl glistering in the golden Garland of Glory but now am thrown into the dust and trodden in the mire of contempt Wo is me that the Salt of God now lieth on the Dunghill c. Now I will address my self and turn my talk unto God Why hast thou lift me up and cast me down I had not committed this impiety unless thou hadst withdrawn thine hand from me But why O Lord hast thou shut my mouth by thy holy Prophet David Have I been the first that sinned or am I the first that fell Why hast thou forsaken me being desolate and banished me from among thy Saints and astonished me when I shonld preach thy Laws David himself who hath shut up my mouth sinned too bad in thy sight yet upon his repentance thou receivedst him to mercy Peter that was a Pillar after his fall wiped it away with salt tears not continuing long in the puddle of his infidelity Now I humbly beseech thee O Lord call me back for that I tread a most perillous and destructive way Grant me that good Guide and Instructer the Holy Ghost that I become not an habitation of Devils but that I may tread under foot the Devil that trod upon me and overcoming his sleights may be again restored
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
to absolve Christ although he sought to do it What said Dr. Weston do you make the King Pilate No Dr. said Ridley I do but compare your deeds with Caiaphas his deeds and the High Priests who would condemn no man to death as you will not and yet would not suffer Pilate to deliver Christ. Being required to answer to his Articles presently though he had time given him till the morrow First said he I require the Notaries to take and write my Protestation that in no point I acknowledge your Authority or admit you to be my Judges as you are authorized from the Pope c. At last the Bishop of Lincoln with his Cap in his hand desired him to turn But Dr. Ridley made an absolute Answer That he was fully perswaded the Religion he defended to be grounded on Gods Word and therefore without great offence towards God great peril and damage of his soul he could not forsake his Master and Lord God For my part said Weston I take God to witness I am sorry for you I believe it well my Lord said Ridley forasmuch as one day it will be burthenous to your soul. After Sentence was read against him the Bishop of Glocester came to his Prison and would have perswaded him yet to recant upon promise of the Queens mercy but he answered him My Lord you know my mind fully herein and for the Doctrine which I have taught my conscience assures me it was sound and according to Gods Word to his glory be it spoken the which Doctrine the Lord God being my helper I will maintain so long as my tongue shall wag and breath is within my body and in confirmation thereof seal the same with my blood Do with me as it shall please God to suffer you I am well content to abide the same with all my heart The Servant is not above his Master if they dealt so cruelly with our Saviour Christ as the Scripture maketh mention and he suffered the same patiently how much more doth it become us his Servants The Bishop bidding him to hold his peace he answered That so long as his tongue and breath would suffer him he would speak against their abominable doings whatsoever hapned unto him for so doing When in the degrading of him they read We do take from you the Office of preaching the Gospel c. Dr. Ridley gave a great sigh and looking up towards Heaven said O Lord God forgive them this their wickedness After his Degradation Brooks the Bishop of Glocester refusing to talk with him he said Seeing that you will not suffer me to talk neither will vouchsafe to hear me what remedy but patience I refer my cause to my heavenly Father who will reform things that be amiss when it shall please him In his Supplication to the Queen It may please your Majesty for Christ our Saviours sake in a matter of Conscience and now not for my self but for other poor men to vouchsafe to hear and understand this humble Supplication It is so Honourable Princess that whilst I was Bishop of London divers Tenants took Leases of me and the Chaâ—ter for valuable considerations but now Bishop Bonner will not allow those Leases which must redound to many poor mens utter ruine Wherefore this is mine humble Supplication That either their Leases may stand or their moneys be restored to them and their former Leases now the Fines paid to me may easily be repaid if you will be pleased to command some portion of those Goods I left in my house to be sold for that end I suppose half of the value of my Plate will go nigh to restore all such Fines received When Bishop Brooks delivered Dr. Ridley to the Bailiffs charging them not to suffer any to speak with him and to bring him to the place of Execution when they were commanded he said God I thank thee and to thy praise be it spoken there is none of you all able to lay to my charge any open or notorious crime for if you could it should surely be laid in my lap I see very well you play the part of a proud Pharisee said Brooks exalting and praising your self No no no said Ridley to Gods glory onely is it spoken I confess my self to be a miserable wretched sinner and have great need of Gods help and mercy and do daily call and cry for the same The night before he suffered his Beard was washed and his legs and as he sate at Supper with Mr. Mr. Irish and Mrs. Irish he invited them to his Marriage To morrow said he I must be married and was as merry as ever in all his life Wishing his Sister he asked his Brother sitting at the Table Whether she could find in her heart to be there oâ— no yea I dare say said his Brother with all her heart I am glad to hear so much of her said Dr. Ridley At this talk Mrs. Irish wept whereupon Dr. Ridley said O Mrs. Irish you love me not now I see-well enough for in that you weep it doth appear you will not be at my Marriage neither are content therewith indeed you be not so much my friend as I thought you had been but quiet your self though my Breakfast shall be somewhat sharp and painfull yet I am sure my Supper shall be more pleasant and sweet When he arose from the Table his Brother offered him to watch all night with him but he said No no no that you shall not for I mind God willing to go to Bed and sleep as quietly to night â—s ever I did in my life When he espied Mr. Latimer at the Stake he ran to him embraced and kissed him and said Be of good heart Brother for God will either asswage the fury of the flame or else strengthen us to abide it After Dr. Smith had preached on 1 Cor. 13. If I give my Body to be burned c. Dr. Ridley kneeled down on his Knees towards the Lord Williams c. â—nd said I beseech you my Lord even for Christs like that I may speak but two or three words Whereupon the Bayliffs and Dr. Marshal Vice-Chancellor of Oxford ran hastily to him and with their hands stopped his mouth and said Mr. Ridley if you will recant you shall not onely have liberty to speak but your life Not otherwise said Ridley No said Marshal Well said Dr. Ridley so long is the breath is in my Body I will never deny my Lord Christ and his known Truth Gods Will be done in me I commit our Cause to Almighty God who shall indifferently judge all Being in his shirt he said O heavenly Father I give unto thee most hearty thanks for that thou â—ast called me to be a Professour of thee even unto death I beseech thee Lord God take mercy upon this Realm of England and deliver the same from all her enemies To the Smith he said Good Fellow knock in the Chain hard for the flesh
hear me patiently seeing I am appointed to die and look daily when I shall be called to come before the eternal Judge and therefore you cannot think but that I onely study to serve my Lord God and to say that thing which I am perswaded assuredly by Gods Word shall and doth please him and profit all to whom God shall give grace to hear and believe what I do say If the Popes supremacy be necessary to salvation to be owned How chanced it that ye were all my Lords so light as for your Princes pleasures H. 8. and E. 6. which were but mortal men to forsake the Unity of your Catholick Faith i. e. to forsake Christ and his Gospel How chanced it also that ye and the whole Parliament did not onely abolish and expell the Bishop of Rome but also did abjure him in your own persons and did decree in your Acts great Oaths to be taken for that purpose On the other side if the Law and Decree which maketh the supremacy of the See and Bishop of Rome over the universal Church of Christ be a thing of necessity required unto salvation by an Antichristian Law as it is indeed then my Lords never think other but the day shall come when ye shall be charged with this your undoing that which once ye had well done and with this your perjury and breach of your Oath which Oath was done in judgement justice and truth agreeable to Gods Law The Whore of Babylon may for a time dally with you and make you so drunken with the wine of her filthy stews and whoredomes as with her dispensations and promises of pardon a poena culpa that you may think your selves safe but be ye assured when the Living Lord shall try the matter by fire and judge it according to his Word unless ye repent without all doubt ye shall never escape the hands of the Living God for the guilt of your perjury and breach of your Oath then shall ye drink of the Cup of the Lords indignation and everlasting wrath which is prepared for the Beast his false Prophets and all their partakers For he that is partner with them in their whoredomes and abominations must also be partner with them in their plagues and be thrown with them into the Lake burning with brimstone and unquenchable fire In his Letter to the Prisoners c. and Exiles For the fervent love that the Apostles had unto their Master Christ and for the great commodities and increase of all godliness which they felt by their faith to ensue of afflictions in Christs Cause And thirdly For the heaps of heavenly joyes which the same do get unto the godly which shall endure in Heaven for evermore for these causes they rejoyced that they were accounted worthy to suffer contumelies and rebukes for Christs Name And Paul was so much in love in that which the carnal man loatheth so much i. e. with Christs Cross that he judged himself to know nothing else but Christ crucified he gloried in nothing else but Christs Cross. Why should we Christians fear death Can death deprive us of Christ who is all our comfort our joy and our life Nay forsooth But on the contrary Death shall deliver us from this mortal body which loadeth and beareth down the Spirit that it cannot so well perceive heavenly things in the which so long as we dwell we are absent from the Lord. And who that hath a right knowledge of Christ our Saviour that he is the eternal Son of God life light the wisdome of the Father all goodness all righteousness and whatsoever heart can desire yea infinite plenty of all these above that that mans heart can conceive or imagine for in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily and also that he is given us of the Father and made of God to be our wisdome our righteousness our holiness and our redemption who I say is that believeth this indeed that would not gladly be with his Master Christ To die in the defence of Christs Gospel is our bounden duty to Christ and also to our neighbour to Christ for he died for us and rose that he might be Lord of all and seeing he died for us we also saith St. Iohn 1 Ioh. 3. should jeopard yea give our life for the Brethren Farewell dear Brethren farewell and let us comfort our hearts in all troubles and in death with the Word of God for Heaven and Earth shall perish but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever In his Lamentation for the change of Religion in England Of late in every Congregation throughout all England was made Prayer and Petition unto God to be delivered from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities from all false doctrine and heresie and now alas Satan hath perswaded England by his falâ—hood and craft to revoke her old godly prayer c. This is one maxime and principle in Christs Law He that denieth Christ before men him shall Christ deny before his Father and all his holy Angels in Heaven Now then seeing the doctrine of Antichrist is returned again into this Realm and the higher Powers alas are so deceived and bewitched that they are perswaded it to be Truth and Christs true Doctrine to be errour and heresie and the old Laws of Anticrist are allowed to return with the power of their Father again What can be hereafter looked for of Christians abiding in this Realm but extreme violence of death or else to deny their Master Therefore prepare and arm thy self to die for both by Antichrists accustomable Laws and Scripture Prophesies there is no likelyhood of any other thing except thou wilt deny thy Master Christ which is the loss at the last of body and soul unto everlasting death My counsel to such as are yet at liberty is to flie from the plague and get them hence I consider not onely the subtilties of Satan and how he is like to deceive it it were possible even the chosen of God and also the great frailty which is oftentimes more in a man then he doth know in himself and which in the time of temptation will utter it self but also the examples of Christ Paul Elias c. and Christ saith When they persecute you in one City flie unto another Truly before God I think that the abomination that Daniel prophesied of so long before is now set up in the holy Place the Doctrine of Antichrist his Laws Rites and Religion contrary to Christ and to the true serving and worshipping of God I understand to be that abominition therefore now is the time in England for those words of Christ Then saith Christ they that be in Jewry let them flie into the Mountains then saith he mark this then for truly I am perswaded and I trust by the Spirit of God that this then is commanded By those in Iewry I understand such who truly confess one Living God and the
we suffer the like reproach â—ame and rebuke of the world and the like perâ—ecution losing of our goods and lives forsaking as â—â—r Master Christ commandeth Father Mother â—â—ster Brethren Wives Children and all â—â—at there is being assured of a joyfull Resurâ—â—ction and to be crowned in glory with them â—ccording to the infallible Promises made unto us in Christ our onely and sufficient Mediatour c. But let us consider that if it be Gods good will and pleasure to give his own beloved heart i. e. his beloved Church and the Members thereof into the hands of their Enemies â—o chasten try and prove them and to bring them â—o the true unfeigned acknowledging of their own â—atural stubbornness disobedience towards God â—nd his Commands as touching the love of God â—nd their Brethren and their natural inclination â—and readiness to love Creatures to seek their own â—usts and pleasures c. to promote repentance in â—hem and crying to God for forgiveness and for he said of the Spirit daily to mortifie those evil deâ—ires and lusts c. with many other causes What doth he hereafter with those Enemies into whose â—ands he hath given his tenderly beloved Darlings He destroyeth and damneth the impenitent Enemies as is evident in Herod Pharaoh c. And think ye that bloody butcherly Bishop of W. and his most bloody Brethren shall escape or that England shall not for their offences and especially for the maintenance of their Idolatry and wilful following of them not abide a great brunt Ye undoubtedly If God look not mercifully on England the seeds of utter destruction are sown in iâ— already c. Spite of Nebuchadnezzar's beard and maugre his heart the captive inthralled and miserable Jews must come home again and have their City and Temple builded up again by Zerubbabel c. and Babylon's Kingdome must go to ruine and be taken of Strangers the Persians and Medes So shall the dispersed English Flock be brought again into their former estate or to a better c. and our bloody Babylonical Bishops c. brought to utter shame and ruine for God cannot and undoubtedly will not for ever suffer their abominable lying false doctrine their hypocrisie blood-thirst whoredome idleness their pestilent life pampered in all kind of pleasure their Thrasonical boasting pride their malicious envious and poysoned stomacks which they bear towards his poor and miserable Christians If judgement begin at the House of God c. The morning that he should be burnt he was found fast asleep so that he could scarce with much jogging be awakened At last being raised and waked and bid to make haste Then said he if it be so I need not to tie my Points So little daunted was this Proto Martyr of all the blessed Company that suffered in Queen Mary's dayes at the tidings of death and of such a death After he was degraded by Bonner but one Petition viz. That he might talk a few words with his Wife before his burning but that would not be granted Probably he desired to speak to her that he might reveal where he had hid the Book he had writ of his Examinations and Answers But mans malice could not hinder Gods Providence from bringing that Book to his Wifes hands after his death out of the blind corner in the Prison where he had hid and where it could not be found by his enemies though they made diligent search for his Papers When he was in Prison he told the Printer of Mr. Fox's Acts and Mon. who was then a Prisoner also for Religion thus Thou shalt live to see the alteration if this Religion and the Gospel to be freely preached again and therefore have me commended to my Brethren as well in Exile as others and bid them be circumspect in displacing the Papists and putting good Ministers into Churches or else their end will be worse then ours Whilst he was a Prisoner in Newgate he had devised that he with his Fellows should have but one meal a day they paying for two the other meal should be given to those that lacked on the other side of the Prison but their Keeper would not suffer it The Lords Day before he suffered he drank to Mr. Hooper being then underneath him and said That there never was a little Fellow that would better stick to a man then he would stick to him Supposing they should both be burnt together But it hapned otherwise As he was to be brought out of Newgate to Smithfield Mr. Woodroâ—fe one of the Sheriffs came to him and asked him if he would recant That which I have preached said Mr. Rogers I will seal with my blood Then said the Sheriffe thou art an Heretick That shall be known said he at the day of Judgement Well said W. I will never pray for thee But said he I will pray for you A little before his burning at the Stake his Pardon was brought to him if he would recant but he utterly refused it His Wife and Children being eleven in number ten that could go and one sucking on the Breast met him by the way as he was going towards Smithfield but this sight grievous indeed to flesh and blood could nothing move him As he was burning he washed his hands as it were in the flame Romanus When Galerius with Asclepiades invaded the City of Antioch by force of Armes to drive the Christians to renounce their pure Religion Romanus ran to the Christians at that time congregated together and declared that the Wolves were at hand that would devour the Christian Flock but fear not said he neither let this imminent peril disturb you my Brethren Hereupon old Men and Matrons Fathers and Mothers young Men and Maidens were most ready to shed their blood in the defence of their Christian Profession Romanus so encouraged them that they did not stick to offer their naked throats wishing gloriously to die for the Name of their Christ. Whereupon Romanus was brought before the Emperour who said What art thou the Author of this sedition art thou the cause why so many shall lose their lives By the gods I swear thou shalt smart for it and first in thy flesh shalt thou suffer the pains whereunto thou hast encouraged the hearts of thy fellows Romanus answered Thy sentence O Emperour I joyfully embrace I refuse not to be sacrificed for my Brethren and that by as cruel means as thou canst invent And whereas thy Souldiers were repelled from the Christian Congregation that so hapned because it lay not in Idolaters and worshippers of Devils to enter into the holy House of God and to pollute the Place of true Prayer When the Tormenters would not truss him up and draw out his Bowels because he was of noble Parentage the Captain commanded him to be scourged with Whips with knaps of Lead at the ends Instead of tears sighs and groans Romanus sung Psalms all the time of his whipping requiring them not to favour him