God the day and hour of my birth was before ordained of thee and ever since thou hast preserved and kept 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 Kingdom thy will be done I cannot escape out of thine hands yea though I could yet Lord thou 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 our 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 Martyrdom It is an honour which the Angels in Heaven are not capable of I am here taught 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 proof and experience Ward pag. 161. All my former discourses were as a blind mans of Colours in comparison of my present feeling Oh what a precious Comforter is a good Conscience I have profited more in the School-house of this Prison than 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 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 forty men before the Prison door When the Provost brought him tidings that he was to be burnt at Six Pag. 42. or there abouts 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 dye adding by way of acclamation O how happy are the dead that dye 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 sown 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 fore alost into Heaven being invited to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. The Provost coming in with Bands Mr. Gay 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. Gay 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 Ward pa. 158. Lord support me and save me Caigneola Michaâ—la Caigneola Pa. 150 151. 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 judgment 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 off 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 Pa. 153. 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 Jolita Fox Vol. 1. pag. 53. Citizens of Briria in their very great torments cryâ—d out Vere magnus est Deus Christianarum 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 Ward pag. 159. Can I have said he a greater honour done me than to be served as my Lord Christ before Herod Lord seeing my persecutors 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 The Mirrour of Martyrs pag. 575. 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. John Cardmaker burnt in Smithfield 1555. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 250. 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 John Careles of Coventry Weaver Fox Vol. 3. pag. 713. 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 not perish in whatsoever opinion
dross of this world but such as be ignorant of the treasures of the everlasting joy in Heaven Who is afraâ—d to dye but such as hope not to live eternally What way is so sure a way to Heaven as to suffer in Christs Cause If there be any way oâ— Horseback to Heaven surely this is the way Acts 14.2 Tim. 3. The Devil cannot love his Enemies Should we look for fire to quench our thirst As soon shall Gods true Servants find peace and favour in Antichrists Regiment In a Letter to Mrs. Pa. 345. Anno Warcup My staffâ— standeâ— at the door I look continually for the Sheriffe to come for me and I bless God I am ready for him Now go I to practise that which I have preached Now am I climbing up to the hill it will cause me to puffe and to blow before I come to the cliffe The hill is steep and high my breath is short and my strength is feeble Pray therefore to the Lord for me that as I have now through his goodness even almost come to the top I may by his grace be strengthned not to rest till I come where I should be Oâ— loving Lord put out thy hand and draw me unto thee for no man cometh be he whom the Father draweth See my dearly beloved God's loving mercy He knoweth my shorâ— breath and great weakness As he sent for Elius is a fiery Chariot so sends he for me By fire my droâ— must be purified that I may be fine gold in hâ—â— sight In his Letter to Mr. Augustine Bâ—rnher I have now taken a more certain answer of death than ever I did Aâ— my God the hour is come glorifie thy most unworthy child I have glorified thee saith this my sweet Father and I will glorifie thee Amen Some of the subscriptions of his Letters were observable Pa. 356.357 361 362. The most miserable hard-hearted unthankful sinner John Bradford A very painted hypocrite John Bradford Miserrimus peccatur John Bradford The sinful John Bradford Pray pray pray Pa. 307. was the usual close of his Letters which he writ in Prison When he came into Smithfield he fell flat on his face and prayed then taking a Fagot in his hand he kissed it and so likewise the Stake and standing by the Stake lifting up his hands and eyes to Heaven he said O England England repent of thy sins repent of thy sins beware of idolatry beware of false Antichrist take heed they do not deceive thee and to his fellow Martyr he said Be of good comfort Brother for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord this night and then embracing the reeds the said Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that â—eads to life and few there be that find it What can be so heavy a burden as an unquiet Conscience to be in such a place as a man cannot be suffered to serve God in Christs Religion If you be loth to depart from your Kin Friends Remember that Christ calleth them his Mother Sisters and Brothers that do his Fathers will Where we find therefore God truly honoured according to his will there we can lack neither Friend nor Kin. If you be loth to depart for the â—â—andering of Gods Word Remember that Christ when his hour was not yet come departed out of his Countrey into Samaria to avoid the malice oâ— the Scribes and Pharisees and commanded hiâ— Apostles that if they were pursued in one place they should fly to another Thus did Paul and thâ— other Apostles Albeit when it came to such â— point that they could no longer escape than theâ— evidenced that their flying before came not oâ— fear but of godly wisdom to do more good anâ— that they would not rashly without urgent necessity offer themselves to death which had been tempting of God Brown John Brown told his wife as he sate in the Stocks that the Arch-Bishop had burnt his feet to thâ— bones Fox Vol 2. pag. 649. 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 thiâ— world he would deny me hereafter Thomas Brown being brought forth to be condemned Fox Vol. 3. pag. 630. Bonner said to him Brown you have beeâ— before me many times and I have took much paiâ— to win thee from thine errors yet thou and sucâ— like have and do report that I go about to seeâ— thy blood Yea my Lord said Brown indeed yoâ— be a Blood-sucker and I would I had as mucâ— blood as there is water in the Sea for you to suckâ— Bruger A Frier offering John Bruger Ward pa. 155. 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 man hands but the Son of God I am content with him for my onely Advocate Bruse I thank God said Peter Bruse my broken Leâ— suffered me not to fly this Martyrdome Pa. 159. I shall now have said John Buisson a double Goal-delivery one out of my sinful flesh Ward pag. 160. 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 Pa. 157. Burgon John Burgon to his Judges Pa. 156. 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. See his Life and Martyrdom before his Works set forth by Mr. Fox Baynes was brought before Cardinal Wâ—lsey 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 faith By me Kings reign When the Cardinal would have had him to refer himself to him promising him Favour he answered I will stick to the Holy Scripture and to Gods Book according to the simple Talent that God hath lent me Being called before the Bishops and Abbot of Westminster who demanded of him whether he would abjure or burn he was in a great agony and then thought rather to burn than 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
thy most merciful goodness Thou merciful Lord wast born for thy sake didst suffer hunger thirst for my sake didst teach pray and fast for my sake all thy holy actions and works thou wroughtest for my sake thou sufferedst most grievous pains and torments for my sake and finally thou gavest thy most precious body and blood to be shed on the Cross for my sake Now most merciful Saviour let all these things profit me c. Let thy blood cleanse and wash away the sport and soulness of my sins let thy righteousness hide and cover my unrighteousness Cyprian He went in the time of Persecution into voluntary Banishment Clark's first Volume of Lives pag. 51. Leigh's Saints Encouragements in evil times pag. 10. lest as he said he should do more hurt than good to the Congregation When he heard the sentence pronounced against him he said I thank God for freeing me from the Prison of this Body He said Amen to his own sentence of Martyrdome The Proconsul bidding him consult 〈…〉 it he answered In so just a Cause there needs no deliberation D. Daigerfield William Daigerfield and Joan his Wise who then gaue 〈◊〉 to her tenth child being imprisoned in several Prisons Fox Vol. 3â— pag. 759. Bishop Brooks sent for the man and told him that his Wise had recanted and so perswathod him to recant and so sent him to his Wife with a Form of Recantation with him which when his Wife say her heart clave in sunder and she dried out Alas Husband this long we have contributed one and hath Satan so far prevailed with you as to cause you to break the Voâ—â— which you made to God in Baptisme Hereupon 〈◊〉 bewailed his promise beg'd of God that he might not live so long as to call evil good and good evil light darkness or darkness light And accordingly 〈…〉 to pass Damlip Mr. Adam Damlip Fox Vol. 2. pag. 564. when he had been almost two years in the Marshalsey considering how he could not employ his talent there to God's Glory as he desired though he had many Favours in Prison resolved to write to the Bishop of Winchester earnestly to desire that he might come to his Tryal for said he I know the worst I can but lose my present life which I had rather do than here to remain and nor to be suffered to use my talent to God's Glory When he understood by the Keeper that his suffering was near he was notwithstanding very mercy and did eat his meat as well as over he did in all his life insomuch that some at the Board said unto him they wondred how he could eat his meat so chearfully knowing he was for near his death Al Masters said he Do you think that I have been so long God's Prisoner in the Marshalsey and have not yet learned to die Yes yes and I doubt not but God will strengthen me therein When he was told that his four Quarters should he hanged at four parts of Calice and his Head upon the Lanthern-gate Then shall I not need said he to provide for my Burial Dilos Alas said James Delos to the Monks that called him proud Heretick here I get nothing but shame Ward pag. 1151. I expect indeed preferment hereafter Denley Mr. John Denley being entreated by Bishop Bonner to recant said Fox Vol. 3. pag. 388. God save me from your Counsel In the Fire with the burning flame about him he sung a Psalm and having his face hurt with a Fagot hurled at him he left singing for a while and clapt his 〈◊〉 in his bleeding face and afterwards put his hands abroad and â—ung again till he died Dionysius Dionystus Arâ—pagâ—â—a who seeing the general Eclipse of the Sun at Christ's death Clarks first volume of Lives p. 12. said to one Either the God of Nature now suffers or the frame of the World shall be dissolved and to another God unknown in the flesh doth suffer When he was apprehended by Sisinius the Praesect and sharply reproved for preaching against the worship of their Gods and required to confess his errour said That they were no gods whom they worshipped but Idols the works of mens hands and that it was through meer ignorance solly and idolatry that they adored them adding that there was but one true God as he had preached After he was grievously tormented he was brought before Sisinius the second time who sentenced him to be beheaded forthwith Dyonisius told him he worshipped such Gods as would perish like Dung upon the Earth but as for my self said he come life come death I will worship none but the God of Heaven and Earth He pray'd thus at his death O Lord God Almighty thou onely begotten Son and Holy Spirit O Sacred Trinity which are without beginning and in whom is no division Receive the soul of thy Servant in peace who is put to death for thy Cause and Gospel He used to say That he desired these two thingâ— of God 1 That he might know the Truth himself and 2 That he might preach it as he ought to others Driver Alice Driver in her first Examination Fox Vol. 3. pag. 886. having got her Adversaries to acknowledge that a Sacrament is a sign and that it was Christ's Body his Disciples did eat the night before he was crucified Seeing it is said she a sign it cannot be the thing signified and how could it be Christs Body that was crucified seeing his Disciples had eaten him up over night except he had two Bodies At the end of her second Examination Pa. 887. She said Have you no more to say God be honoured You be not able to resist the Spirit of God in me a poor Woman I was an honest poor man's Daughter never brought up in the University as you have been but I have driven the Plough before my Father many a time I thank God yet notwithstanding in the desence of God's Truth and in the Cause of my Mr. Christ by his Grace I will set my foot against the foot of any of you all in the maintenance and defence of the same and if I had a thousand lives they should go for payment thereof When she was tied to the Stake Fox Vol. 3 pag. 888. and the iron Chain put about her neck O said she here is a goodly Neckerchief blessed be God for it Drowry Thomas Drowry the blind Boy Fox Vol. 3. pag. 703. to whom Bishop Hooper as he was going to the Stake after he had examined him said Ah poor Boy God hath taken from thee thy outward sight but he hath given thee another sight much more precious He that endued thy soul with the eye of Knowledge and Faith Shortly after Bishop Hooper's Martyrdome was cast into Prison Afterwards the Chancellor of Glocester asking him who taught him that Heresie that Christ's Body was not really present in the Sacrament of the Altar he said You Mr. Chancellor when in yonder
hangeth upon him that made thee who can as he please either twine it harder to last the longer or untwine it again to break the sooner Dost thou not then remember the saying of David Psa 104. When thou takest away thy Spirit O Lord from men they die and are turned again to their dust but when thou lettest thy breath go forth they shall be made and thou shalt renew the face of the earth Mat. 10. Remember the saying of Christ in his Gospel Whosoever seeketh to save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it Again Whosoever loveth Father or Mother above me is not meet for me He that will follow me let him forsake himself and take up his Cross and follow me What Cross the Cross of infamy and shame of misery and poverty of affliction and persecution for his Names sake Let the oft falling of these Heavenly Showres pierce thy stony heart Let the two edged sword of Gods holy Word sheer asunder the sinews of worldly respects even to the marrow of the carnal heart that thou mayest once again forsake thy self and embrace Christ and like as good subjects will not refuse to hazard all in the defence of their earthly and temporal Governour so fly not like a white-liver'd Milk-sop from the standing wherein thy chief Captain Christ hath set thee in array of this life Psal 16. Fight manfully come life come death the Quarrel is Gods and undoubtedly the Victory is ours But thou wilt say I will not break unity what not the unity of Satan and his members not the unity of darkness not the agreement of Antichrist and his adherents Tully saith of Amity Amicitia non est nisi inter bonos But mark my Friends yea Friend if thou beest not Gods enemy there is no unity but where Christ knitteth the knot among such as he is The agreement of all men is not an unity but a conspiracy Thou hast heard some threatnings against those that love themselves above Christ and against those that deny him for love of life saith he not He that denies me before men Mat. 10. I will deny him before my Father in Heaven And to the same effect writeth Paul It is impossible that they which were once enlightened and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift and were partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God if they fall away c. should be renewed again by repentance Heb. 10. And again If we shall willingly sin after we have received the knowledge of his Truth there is no oblation left for sin but the terrible expectation of judgement and fire which shall devour the adversaries Thus Paul writeth and this thou readest and dost thou not quake and tremble Well if these terrible thundring threatnings cannot stir thee to cleave unto Christ and forsake the world yet let the sweet consolation and promises of the Scriptures let the example of Christ and his Apostles holy Martyrs and Confessours incourage thee to take faster hold of Christ Hearken what he saith Mat. 5. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you for my sake Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven For so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you Hear what Isaiah saith Fear not tho curse of men Isa 51. be not afraid of their blasphemies for worms and moths shall eat them up like cloath and wooll but my righteousness shall endure for ever and my saving health from generation to generation What art thou then saith he that fearest a mortal man the child of man which fadeth away like the flower and forgetteth the Lord that made thee that spread out the Heauens and laid the foundation of the earth I am the Lord thy God that maketh the sea to rage and be still whose Name is the Lord of Hosts I shall put my Word in thy mouth and defend thee with the turning of the hand Christ also saith unto his Disciples They shall accuse you Luke 12. Mat. 13. and bring you before Princes and Rulers for my Names sake and some of you they shall persecute and kill but fear you not and care you not what you shall say for it is the Spirit of your Father that speaketh within you even the hairs of your head are all numbred Pag. 35. Lay up treasures for your selves where no thief cometh nor moth corrupteth Fear not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul Mat. 10. John 15. but fear him that hath power to destroy both soul and body If ye were not of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Let these and such like consolations taken out of Scriptures strengthen you to God-ward Let not the examples of holy men women go out of your mind as Daniel and the rest of the Prophets of the three children c. Return return again into Christs war and as becometh a faithful warriour Eph. 6. put on that armour that St. Paul teacheth to be most necessary for a Christian man And above all things take unto you the shield of Faith and be you provoked by Christs own example to withstand the Devil to forsake the world to become a true and faithful member of his mystical Body who spared not his own Body for our sins Throw down your self with the fear of his threatned vengeance for this so great hainous offence of Apostacy and comfort your self on the other hand with the mercy blood and promise of him who is ready to turn unto you whensoever you turn unto him Disdain not to come again with the lost Son seeing you have so wandred with him Be not ashamed to turn again with him from the swill of Strangers to the delicate of your most benigne and loving Father acknowledging that you have sinned both against Heaven and against Earth Against Heaven by staining the glorious Name of God and causing his most sincere and pure Word to be evil spoken of through you Against Earth by offending so many of your weak Brethren to whom you have been a stumbling block through your sudden slâ—ding Be not ashamed to weep bitterly with Peter to wash away the filth and mire of your offensive fall to say with the Publican Luke 18. Lord be merciful to me a sinner Remember the horrible History of Julian 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 let the lively remembrance of the last Day be alwayes before your eyes remembring the terrour that at that time shall befall the Runagates Fugitives from Christ who setting more by
him probably by his own appointment were a Lamb in a fiery Bush and the Sun-beams from Heaven descending down upon the Lamb rightly denoting as it seemed the manner of his suffering which afterward followed After his return in his Sermons he corrected sin and sharply inveighed against the iniquity of the world and corrupt abuses of the Church When he was elected Bishop of Worcester and Glocester he made humble supplication to the King either to discharge him of the Bishoprick or to dispense with him as to the wearing of such Garments and Apparel as the Popish Bishops were wont to do His Petition the King granted as appears by his Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury telling him That the Rites and Ceremonies he would be dispensed in were offensive to his conscience Pa. 147. The Oath also used them commonly in the consecration of Bishops was against his conscience as appears by the Earl of Warwick's Letter to the Archbishop writ by the Kings desire In the beginning of Q. Pa. 149. Mary's Reign when notice was given him that he should be sent for to London and how dangerous it was for him to appear he gave this Answer Once I did flee but now because I 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 Pa. 150. 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 acknowledg 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 Pa. 151. for the Church of Christ only 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 shal 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 Sheriff telling Mr. Hooper he wondred that he was so hasty and quick with the L. Chancellor he answered Mr. Sheriff 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 only 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 Pa. 152. 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 John 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 abjure 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 suffereâ— 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 Jeâ—â—s Christ and also require your continual Prayâ—rs that he which hath begun in us may continue â—t to the end I have taught the truth with my â—ongue and with my pen heretofore and hereafter â—hortly will confirm the same by Gods grace with â—y blood Your Brother in Christ J. H. Newgate Feb. 2. 1554. When the Keeper told him he should be sent to Glocester to be burned Pa. 153. he rejoyced very much â—ifting up his eys 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 Commissionre 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 death 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 setled my self through the strength of Gods holy Spirit patiently to pass through the torments and extremities
of sin and in love with the wayes of holiness These Speeches here collected are called Swan-like Songs for their remarkableness A Cloud of Witnesses and The Sufferers Mirrour for their usefulness The Israelites found not onely comfort in the shadow of the Cloud in the Wilderness but a directive vertue therein they were led by it There is a double power in such instances both to Comfort and to assimulate Solamen miseris c. 1 Cor. 10.13 To see that others have suffered worse is no small comfort to Sufferers Jacob's Sheep conceived according to the colour of the Rods that lay in the Troughs Our conceptions will be like our visions like the examples that are set before our eyes Here as in a Glass even the best may see their spots and all especially Sufferers may learn how to dress themselves for death How can the best of us read these passages without shame for our low attainments for our little proficiency in the School of Christ How unlike are our faces to the faces in this Mirrour How self-denying were they How selfish are we How crucified to the world were they How much glued thereunto are we How easie was it for them to chuse the greatest Sufferings rather then the least Sin How hard is it for us not to chuse the greatest Sin rather then the least Suffering How willing were they to part with all for Christ How unwilling are we to part with littles for Christ What an honour did they esteem it to suffer for Christ to be chain'd to be whipt to be wrackt to be halter'd to be stak'd for Christ Have we such esteems of sufferings for Christ and of such sufferings Are not we ashamed of our glory How patient were they under the greatest tortures How impatient are we under very little troubles How hot was their love to Christ his truths ordinances People How cold is ours How zealous were they for the honour of God How luke-warm are we How magnanimous were they How cowardly and dastardly are we How humble were they How proud are we How broken-hearted were they How hard-hearted are we What sympathizing spirits had they How little fellow-feeling is there now among Christians How active were they for the glory of God and good of souls under their sufferings how slothful are we And how little do we for either under our sufferings How strong was their Faith How weak is ours How fearless were they of man who can only kill the body How fearful are we How many of these Worthies attained unto Assurance and had their Evidences for Heaven clear How are the most of us in the dark as to an interest in God and a right and title to Glory How willing and desirous were they to die even a violent death How loth are we to die even a natural death How did they without the least fear play on the hole of this Asp and with much courage put their hand into the Den of this Cockatrice But how doth the fear of this King of Terrors make us subject to bondage Thus they are useful to shame us They are also useful to prepare us to die especially a violent death Such examples chalk the way more plainly Longum iter per praecepta breve efficax per exempla Seneca then bare direction These encourage more heartily these perswade more powerfully these chide unbelief with more authority I beseech you all who are the Lords people said one lately not to scare at suffering for the interests of Christ because of any thing you may see fall out in these dayes as to the sufferings of his servants but be encouraged to do and suffer for I assure you in the Name of the Lord he will bear all your charges I do again assure you in his Name he will furnish all your expences and bear all your charges Mr. Rough learn'd the way to Martyrdome by seeing and hearing Austo at the Stake in Smithfield Coming from his burning and being askt where he had been he made answer there where I would not but have been for one of mine eys would you know where forsooth I have been to learn the way And soon after he followed him in the same place and the same kind of death Now if one president made him so good a Scholar what Dullards and Non-proficients are we if such a Cloud of Instances work not in us a chearful ability to expect and encounter the same adversary so often foiled before our eyes I shall detain thee no longer from seeing these rare signts but now invite thee in the words of Rev. 6.7 The good Lord adde his blessing that thine eye may affect thy heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come and see and that these Remarkable passages may be thus usefull to all our souls and that the Cloud of Witnesses may not be a standing Witness against any of us Farewell To the Reader Reader THe life present is onely preparative to that to come as the hidden life in the womb to the more perfect and noble life in the world 1 Col. 12. Salvation is not instantaneous The Heirs of Glory make their gradual approaches to it and enter upon their Inheritance by degrees Rom. 13.11 And the neares they come to Heaven the more heavenly their Spirits are Could a man but hear the last breathings and whispers of dying Saints how would he melt and ravish Like the Sun they appear most great and glorious at setting God often leads them to the top of Pisgah whence they have a prospect of Canaan a little before they enter in to possess it But although God doth frequently indulge those that die in the Faith of Christ with rare and excellent visions of Christ yet ordinarily those that die for Christ as well as in Christ have a Benjamin's portion in comparison of their Brethren There is a joy proper to Martyrs which is bestowed upon them as an honorarium partly to reward their faithfulness in trials past and partly to encourage them to break through the difficulties which yet remain In these joys Heaven is let down to Earth glory antedated and a short salvation here obtained 1 Pet. 1.8 During the continuance of this glorious frame they are acted above the ordinary rate of man which makes the world stand at gize and all that behold them to admire at them Their aspect is rather angelical then humane Acts 6.15 and they seem no longer fit to be reckoned to the Tribe of mortals on Earth but rather ranked with the glorious Saints and Seraphims in Heaven they no longer wrap themselves up in their garment of flesh but the onely strife among them seems to be who shall first cast it off to put on the garments of glory prepared for them Reader wouldst thou see some of these Earthly Angels men that are a little too low for Heaven and much too high for Earth Wouldst thou see poor frail Creatures trampling the World under their feet and
right Yet said Rolph take heed of him he is a blood-sucker c. I fear not said Alcock he shall do no more to me than God will give him leave and happy shall I be if God will call me to dye 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 Fox Vol. 2. pag. 181. 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 when 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 than this present life which we lead What thing more odious and hateful than this world here present And let these worldly men here answer me What Countrey can we have more sweet than the Heavenly Countrey above What treasures more rich or precious than everlasting life and who be our Kinsmen but they which hear the Word of God Where be greater riches or dignities more honourable than 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 Jerusalem 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 dye in the Lord be not to dye 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 Cup. 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 confess before my Father which is in Heaven and he that denyeth me before men him will Falso 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 gone 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 ought 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
accordingly came to pass Being askt what he should do and whither he would go if he should have his liberty he said He cared not whether he want out or no but if he did he would marry and abide still in England secretly teaching the people as the time would suffer him When the Keepers Wife told him the sad News as she called it of the nearness of his death being to be burned the next day he put off his Cap and lifting up his eyes to Heaven said I thank God for it I have looked for the same a long time and therefore it cometh not now to me suddenly but as a thing waited for every day and hour the Lord make me worthy thereof Creswell offering to labour for him Pa. 292. and desiring to know what suit he should make for him What you will do said he do it not at my request for I desire nothing at your hands If the Queen will give me life I will thank her if she will banish me I will thank her if she will burn me I will thank her 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 Pa. 283. 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 Queens favour to live as a Subject without clog on Conscience but otherwise the Lords mercy is better to me than life Life in his displeasure is worse than death and death with his favour is true life He having refused again and again to answer to the Chancellors Quaeries Pa. 286. 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 Rome'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 matter 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 people had sworn my death into his hands have I committed it and do his good will be done The Earl of Derby lending one of his Servants to him Pa. 292. 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 than 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 dye as an Heretick Mr. Bradford replyed 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 Pa. 305. that was sent to him How de 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 Pa. 308. 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 with 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 Kingdom of God Now will God make known his Children When the wind doth not blow the Wheat cannot be known from the Chaffe but when the blast cometh then flyeth 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 than for any Parlour yea than for any pleasure that ever I had for in it I find God my most sweet good God alwayes Of all deaths it is most to be desired to dye 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 Pa. 310. I ask God heartily mercy that I do no more rejoyce than 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 applyed to every one of our deserts that from the bottom 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 than man Howbeit never for any thing resist or rise against the Magistrates A venge 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 than by your tarrying Gods Name should be dishonoured In his Letter to Cambridge Pa. 312. Thou my Mother the University hast not onely had the truth of Gods
thou dost die That God hath predestinated me to eternal life in Jesus Christ said he I am most certain and even so I am sure that his Holy Spirit wherewith I am sealed will so preserve me from all Heresies and evil opinions that I shall dye in none at all When the Dr. told him that he was a goodly tall man and might do the Queen good service in Ireland He said wheresoever I am I am ready to do her Grace the best service I can with body goods and life and if she or any under require me to do any thing contrary to Christs true Religion I am ready also to do service in Smithfield as my Bed-fellows and other Brethren have done praised be God for them In his Letter to Mr. Pa. 715. Philpot. Ah my true loving Friends how soon did you say aside all other business to make a sweet plaister for my wounded conscience yea and that out of a painful pair of Stocks which place must needs be uneasie to write in But God hath brought you in a strait place that you might set my soul at liberty An good Jeremy hath Phassur put thee into the Stocks why now thou hast the right reward of a Prophet Though you lye in the dark slurred with the Bishops black coal-dust yet shall you shortly be made as white as snow in Salmon and as the wings of a Dove that is covered with silver and her seathers like gold You know the Vessel before it be made bright is soiled with oyl and other things that it may scour the better O happy be you that you be now in the scouring house for shortly you shall be set on the celestial shelf as bright as Angels My old Friends of Coventry have put the Counsel in remembrance of me not six dayes ago saying I am more worthy to be burnt than any that hath been burned yet God's blessing on their hearts for their good report God make me worthy of that dignity and hasten the time that I may ser forth his glory Blessed be the time that ever I came into the Kings Bench to be joyned in love and fellowship with such dear children of the Lord. In his Letter to his Wife Pa. 716. Are not two sparrows saith Christ sold for a farthing and yet not one of them shall perish without the will of your Heavenly Father c. As though he should have said if God hath such respect and care for a poor sparrow which is not worth one farthing it shall not be taken in the lime-twig net or pitfall until it be his good will and pleasure you may be well assured that not one of you whom he so dearly loveth that he hath given his onely dear Son for you shall perish or depart forth of this miserable life without his good will and pleasure Let not the remembrance of children keep you from God The Lord himself will be a Father and a Mother better than ever you or I could have been unto them He himself will do all things necessary for them yea as much as rock the cradle if need be In his Letter to Mr. Bradferd Pa. 717. If we had been thankful to God for the good Ministers of his Word we had not so soon been deprived both of it and them Take not away all thy true Preachers forth of this Realm O Lord but leave us a seed least England be made like unto Sodom and Gomorrah when thy true Lots be gone Hearken O Heavens and then Earth give ear and bear me witness at the great Day that I do here faithsully and truly the Lord's message to his dear Servant to his singularly beloved elect child John Bradford John Bradford thou man so specially beloved of God I pronounce and restifie unto thee in the Name of the Lord Jehovah that all thy sins whatsoever they be be they never so many so grievous or so great be fully and freely pardoned releâ—sed and forgiven thee by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ thine onely Lord and sweet Saviour in whom thou doest undoubtedly believe Christ hath cleansed thee with his blood and cloathed thee with his Righteousness and hath made thee in the sight of God his Father without spot or wrinckle so that when the fire doth his appointed office thou shalt be received as a sweet burnt-sacrifice into Heaven where thou shalt joyfully remain in God's presence for ever as the true inheriter of his everlasting Kingdom unto the which thou wast undoubtedly predestinate and ordained by the Lords infallible purpose and decree before the foundation of the world was laid and that this is most true that I have said I call the whole Trinity the Almighty and Eternal Majesty of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost to my record at this present whom I humbly beseech to confirm and stablish in thee the true and lively feeling of the same Amen Selah In his Letter to his dear faithful Brethren in Newgate Pa. 719. condemned to dye Cease not my dearly Beloved so long as you be in this life to praise the Lord with all your hearts for that of his great mercy infinite goodness he hath vouched you worthy of this great dignity to suffer for his sake not onely the loss of goods wife and children long imprisonment cruel oppression but death it self in the fire This is the greatest promotion that God can bring you or any other into in this vail of misery yea so great an honour as the highest Angel in Heaven is not permitted to have and yet hath the Lord for his dear Son Christ's sake reputed you worthy of the same yea and that before me and many others who have both long looked and longed for the same Rejoyce with double joy and be glad my dear Brethren for doubtless you have more cause than can be exprest But alas I that for my sins am left behind may lament with the holy Prophet Woe is me that the dayes of my joyful rest are prolonged Ah cursed Satan I which hath caused me so sore to offend my most dear loving Father whereby mine exile and banishment is so long prolonged Oh Christ my dear Advocate pacifie thy Father's wrath which I have justly deserved that he may take me home to him in his sweet mercy In his Letter to Mr. Green c. Pa. 720. If they be so blessed of God that dye in the Lord as the Holy Chost saith they be how much more blessed and happy then are you that die not onely in the Lord but for the Lord. O blessed Green c. fresh green shalt thou be in the Lord's House and thy fruits shall never wither nor decay O happy Mr. Whittle Peter's part thou hast well play'd therefore thy reward and portion shall be like his Now hast thou good experience of mans infirmity but much more proof and taste yea sense and feeling of God's abundant bottomless mercy Although Satan desired
my friends get ye hence The presence of God to whose goodness I commend my soul is abundantly sufficiently for me Colver Sheep we are for the slaughter said Francis Colver to his two Sons Ward pa. 163. massacred together with himself this is no new thing let us follow millions of Martyrs through temporal death unto eternal life Coo. Roger Câ—â— being asked by the Bishop of Norwich Fox Vol. 3419. whether he would not obey the Kings Laws answered As far as they agree with the Word of God I will obey them Whether they agree with the Word of God or no we are bound to obey them said the Bishop though the King were an Infidel Coo replyed If Shadrach Meshach and Abednego had so done Nebuchadnezzar had never confessed the Living God Constantine Being carried with other Martyrs in a Dung-Cart to the place of Execution Ward pa. 154. he spake thus Well yet are we a precious odour and a sweet savour to God in Christ Cornford John Cornford one of the last five that suffered Martyrdome in Queen Mary's dayes when the Sentence should have been passed Fox Vol. 3. pag. 893. and they should have been executed by the Papists being moved in Spirit with a vehement zeal for God in the name of them all pronounced Sentence of Excommunication against the Papists in these words In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the most mighty God and by the power of the holy Spirit and the authority of his holy and Apostolick Church We do hereby give into the hands of Satan to be destroyed the bodies of those Blasphemers and Hereticks that do maintain any errour against his most holy Word or do condemn his most holy Truth for Heresie to the maintenance of any false Church or seigned Religion so that by this thy just judgment against thy Adversaries thy true Religion may be known to thy great glory and our comfort to the edifying of all our Nation Lord Jesus So be it It is observable that within six dayes after this Excommunication Quen Mary died and the tyranny of all English Papists with her Conlogue Brethren and Sisters said Peter Conlogue of Breda at the Stake be you alwayes obedient to the Word of God and fear not those that can kill the body Fox Vol. 3. pag. 50. for on the soul they can have no power as for me I am now going to meet my glorious Spouse the Lord Jesus Christ Cranmer When Dr. Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury was Excommunicated he said Fox Vol. 3. pag. 92. From this your Judgement and Sentence I appeal to the just Judgement of God Almighty trusting to be present with him in Heaven for whose presence in the Altar I am thus condemned In his Letter to Mr. Wilkinson Pa. 677. The true Comforter in all distresses is onely God through his Son Jesus Christ Whosoever hath him hath Comfort enough although he were in a Wilderness all alone He that hath twenty thousand in his company if God be absent is in a miserable Wilderness In him is all comfort and without him is none Wherefore I beseech you seek your dwelling there where you may truly and rightly serve God dwell in him have him ever dwelling in you After he had recanted and was brought to Saint Mary's Church in Oxford where Dr. Cole after he had preached bitterly against him shewing why he was to be executed notwithstanding his Recantation prest him to evidence to the people his conversion to Popery Dr. Cranmer entreated the people to pray with him and for him that God would pardon his sins especially his Recantation After he had prayed he told them Pa. 669. It is a sad thing to see so many so much dote upon the love of this false World and be so careful of it and so careless of Gods love or the World to come therefore this shall be my first exhortation that you set not your minds overmuch upon this glozing World but upon God and the World to come to learn to know what this Lesson meaneth which St. John teacheth That the Love of this World is hatred against God Let rich men consider and weigh three Scriptures Luke 18. It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heavin 1 John 3. He that hath the substance of this world and seeth his Brother in necessity and shutteth up his mercy from him how can he say that he loveth God James 5.1 2. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you your riches are corrupted Another exhortion is That next under God you obey your King and Queen willingly gladly without murmuring or grudging They are Gods Ministers Whosoever resisteth them resisteth the Ordinance of God And now I come said he to the great thing that so much troubleth my Conscience more than any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life and that is the setting abroad a Writing contrary to the Truth which now here I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand contrary to the Truth which I thought in my heart and written for fear of death and to save my life if it might be And forasmuch as my hand offended writing contrary to my heart my hand shall first be punished therefore for may I come to the fire it shall be first burned At the Stake when the fire began to burn near him he stretching out his arm put his right hand into the flame which he held so stedfast that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched His eyes lifted up to Heaven he cried out even as long as he could speak O his unworthy hand His last words were the words of Stephen Lord Jesus receive my spirit Cromwel Thomas Lord Cromwel Earl of Essex Fox Vol. 2. pag. 529. the morning that he was executed having chearfully eaten his break-fast passing out of the Prison down the Hill in the Tower met the Lord Hungerford going to Execution for other matter and â—erceiving him to be heavy and doleful he willed him to be of good comfort for if you repent said he of what you have done there is mercy enough for you with the Lord who for Christs sake will forgive you and though the break-fast we are going to be sharp yet trusting in the mercy of the Lord we shall have a joyful dinner In his Prayer on the Seaffold O Lord Jesus Pa. 515. who art the onely health of all men living and the everlasting life of them which die in thee Being sure that the thing cannot perish which is committed to thy mercy willingly now I leave this frail and wicked flesh in sure hope that thou will in better wise restore it to me again at the last day in the resurrection of the Just I see and acknowledge there is in my self no hope of salvation but all my considence hope and trust is in
merry He had my sins and I have â— merits and righteousness To the Friers offering him a woodden Crucisâ— he said Christ needs not the help of this Piece 〈◊〉 imprint him in my mind and heart where he haâ— his Habitation Farellus Mr. Clark 's first Volume of Lives pag. 674. William Farellus being questioned by 〈◊〉 Magistrates of Metis by what Authority or 〈◊〉 whose request he preached answered By â— Command of Christ and at the request of â— Members Farrar Mr. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 216. Richard Jones coming to Dr. Robert Farrâ— Bishop of St. David a little before his death aâ— 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 Barning he should then give no credit to his Doctrine Accordly 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 Filieul John Filieul and Julian Leville who suffered in France being threatned if they constantly persifted to be burnt alive The Mirrour of Martyrs pag. 595. 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 Fox Vol. 2. pag. 144. 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 than 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 Fiiâ—lus salt on salt on the rotten and stinking flesh Fillula By these Lidders said John Fillula to his Felows we ascend the Heavens Ward pag. 153. now begin we to rample 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 Fox Vol. 2. pag. 555. 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 Fox Vol. 3. pag. 242. said I hunger for the same dear Friend being sully 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 promimising 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 a 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 justification and that there is none other mean nor way nor holiness in which or by which any man can be saved in this World Burning in the fire he cryed out three times O the Son of God have mercy upon me O the Soâ— of God receive my soul Folks Elizabeth Folks being examined Fox Vol. 3. pag. 832. 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 lye When Sentence of Condemnation was read against her she kneeled down listing up her eye and bands 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. See his Life before his second Vol. of Acts and Monum John 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 than was commanded him 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 only 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 so 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. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 304. John Frith with some others chosen into Christs Church Oxford whose Foundation was laid by Cardinal Wolsey conferring together upon the abuses of Religion then crept into the Church were therefore accused of Heresie unto the Cardinal and cast into Prison within a deep Cave under the ground of the same Colledge where their salt Fâ—sh was laid Through the filthy stench thereof they were all infected and some took their death but Mr. Frith
keep us and also comfort us with the Holy Ghost and set our Conscience at peace and make us be glad in God Pag. 69 c. c. Christian patience hath certain conditions whereby it is known to be true patience 1 It grudgeth not neither excuseth it self as though it should suffer unworthily for his sins wherefore he sitteth down and holdeth his peace as Jeremiah saith 2 It casteth all carefulness on God and committeth it self wholly to God that Gods will be done and not his 3 It humbleth himself and casteth off the pleasures of the World A Prep to the Cross Pag. 70. 4 He is merry and ready to suffer yet more heavy and grievous evils We must look for help in all afflictions for God promiseth his help saying I am with you Fear ye not I will strengthen you But the manner Pag. 72. time and kind of help is unknown unto us that Faith and Hope may have place which sticketh to these things which are not seen nor heard God delivereâ—â— when most need is Pag. 76. that his glory may shine the brighter He will therefore help Pag. 89. when we be in â— manner compelled to despair in all humane help and when all carnal counsel deceiveth us for God only will be glorified He doth prolong help for our utility and profit Pa. 91. that he might exercise and prove Faith by temptation so that he onely might possess the title and name of Helper He that believeth makes not haste Pag. 92 93. He which yet seems a far off shall appear at the end and shall not lye although he tarry yet look for him for he is coming and at the last he shall come and shall not be slow It is also a great comfort to them that be in affliction to remember that they have Christ See cha 12 of the Prep to the Cross l. 1. and c. 12. l. 2. See p. 105. and his Prophets and Apostles and all good and holy men for their examples Furthermore it is a great comfort to the godly that the wicked whom God doth use as a rod to scourge the godly go not clear away without punishment whom he maketh either shamefully ashamed or through their own counsel he doth take them and bringeth them into the same destruction which they themselves have studied and found out for others The cause is For he that huâ—teth one faithful Pa. 109 110. wrongeth not onely him but God who doth revenge the injury and wrong done to the faithful as injury done to himself He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Saul Saul why persecutest thou me If thou beest tempted concerning the Gospel Pa. 136 c. or suffering persecution for the Gospel think of these Scriptures He that receiveth not my Cross and follows not me is not worthy of me If any man will come after me let him forsake himself and take his Cross and follow me For he that will save his soul shall lose it Contrariwise he that loseth his soul for my sake shall find it He that will confess me before men I will confess him before my Father The Apostles rejoyced that they were counted worthy The Servant is not above his Lord all they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution If thou must dye and leave Wife and Children and thy dear Friends say The Lord shall be their Defender for God both will and is able to cherish mine to nourish and defend them for he is the Father of the fatherless and the Widows Husband I forget things behind my back See also chap. 16. l. 2. and endeavour my self to those things that are before my face They that have Wives let them be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not If Satan say thou must forsake the world what then Answer thou contrariwise I shall attain Heaven For blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord. All the world lyeth in wickedness All that are born of God overcome the world and this is the victory which overcometh the world our faith All the world shall perish with its lusts and desires Love not the world nor the things of the world We are strangers in this world 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 See p. 176 c. of the Preparation c. though in this life they be as sheep ordained to be flain 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 they also know that through Christs death death is overcome and abolished Pa. 180. Christ by his death hath changed their death into a sleep Such as be at the point of death Pa. 184. 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 Pa. 191. 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 than the Lord hath appointed and we shall not die Pa. 193. though we be in the greatest peril and extream jeopardy before our hour Then wherefore should they fear death Pa. 202. they cannot live longer than God hath appointed nor die any sooner It is the comfort of the godly in all adversity See pag. 205 c. 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 Pa. 223 224. 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 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 than 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 than
It may also scandalize many little ones if I a Catholick should require judgement at an Arians hands In the midst of his greatest sufferings he used to say Plura pro Christo toleranda We must suffes more than this for Christ G. Gardiner William Gardiner Fox Vol. 2. pag. 746. an English Merchant in Portugal was so much troubled in spirit at the sight of the Idolatry committed by the Priests in the Mass at the solemnization of the Marriage between the King of Portugal's Son and the King of Spain's Daughter that he could not be quiet till he had though in the presence of the King and of the Nobles and whole City the next Sabbath with one hand snatched away the Cake from the Priest and trod it under his feet and with the other overthrew the Chalice The King asking him how he durst be so bold He answered Most noble King The thing which you have seen was not done nor thought of me for any contumely or reproach to your presence but onely for this purpose as before God I do clearly confess to seek the salvation of this people Being ask'd who set him on He answered He was not moved by any man but by his own Conscience there being no man under Heaven for whose sake he would put himself into so manifest a danger but he owed his service first to God and secondarily to their salvation wherefore if he had done any thing displeasing to them they ought to impute it to themselves who so irreverently used the Sacrament of the Lords Supper unto so great Idolatry not without great ignomony to the Church violation of the Sacrament and the peril of their own souls except they repented For this he was cruelly tormented and burned and in the fire he sung Psal 43. Judge me O God and defend my cause against the unmerciful people Gauderin Christopher Gauderin Fox Vol. 3. Cont. 49. having been a Spend thrist was converted by Lewis Stallins telling him That he ought rather to distribute of his geitings to the poor then to spend them so wastfully for if he continued so God would surely call him to an account for it insomuch that he was chosen a Deacon in the Church in the execution of which Office he was taken and imprisoned and being ask'd how he came to turn Heretick seeing he learned not that of his Master the Abbot he answered I am no Heretick but a right believing Christian which he taught me not indeed but rather other vile qualities which I am ashamed now to rehearse Some objecting to him his youth being about the age of thirty He told them That mans life consisted but of two dayes viz. the day of his birth and the day of his death And for my part said he I am now willing by death to pass into eternal life The morning that he was to be executed He said to his Fellow-Prisoners having put on a clean shirt and washed himself Brethren I am now going to be married I hope before noon to drink of the wine of the Kingdome of Heaven A Frier coming to them as he said to convert them Christopher said unto him Away from us thou seducer of Souls for we have nothing to do with thee One of his Fellow-sufferers as the Hâ—ngman was gagging him said What shall we not have liberty in this our last hour to praise our God with our voice and tongue Brother said Gauderin let not this discourage us for the greater wrong our enemies think to do unto us the more assistance we shall find from God And so he never ceased to comfort them till he was gagged also and burnt June 2. 1568. Gerard. About the year 1160. Clarks Martyrolegy pag. 41. in the reign of Henry the Second came about thirty Waldenses into England Gerardus being their Minister to labour to win Disciples to Christ They were converted before a Council of Bishops at Oxford and Gerard speaking for them all said We are Christians holding and reverencing the Doctrine of the Apostles Being urged with arguments against their Doctrine they answered They believed as they were taught by Gods Word but would not dispute their faith Being admonished to repent and threatned if they did not they despised their Counsel scorned their threats saying Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven They were excommunicated burnt in the foreheads for Hereticks Mr. Gerard both in the forehead and cheek their cloaths were cut off to their Girdles and so whipt through Oxford they singing all the while Blessed are ye when men hate you and despitefully use you c. Ghest Laurence Ghest had his wife and seven children brought to him the Bishop hoping to overcome him by his natural affection to them and his wise beginning to exhort him to favour himself Fox Vol. 1. pag. 1012. He desired her not to be a block in his way for that he was in a good course running toward the mark of his salvation Gibson Some of the Articles exhibited against Mr. Richard Gibson Fox Vol. 3 pag. 858. Richard Gibson 3 That he hath commended allowed defended liked both Cranmer Latimer Ridley and all other Hereticks here in this Realm of England according to the Ecclesiastical Laws condemned for Hereticks 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 Pa. 859. 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 aforetime 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 he or they be their full true and lawful duty in their Office and
to Mr. Harlow be brought to light and it shall testifie that he was not ashamed to say That the liberty of the Preachers tongues would cause the Council and Nobility to rise up against them for they could not suffer so to be entreated These were the fruits in the time of Harvest a little before the Winter came and of the time of Mary what should I write It hath cast off the Truth known and confessed and followeth lyes and errours which once it detested Pag. 72. It buildeth the building which once it destroyed it raiseth up the idols which once were there confounded They persecute they banish they burn Christ the Son of God in his members Pag. 73. But to be short this onely remaineth for both these Nations that they repent and return into the Vineyard with the first Son and bring forth the fruits of Repentance The fruits of Repentance I call not onely to know your sins and to lament them but to amend your lives to make strait the Lords paths by resisting Satan and Sin obeying God in doing the works of righteousness and executing Gods precepts and Judgements so long amongst you contemned Mat. 3. for even now is the Axe put to the root of the tree c. The Lord hath now his Fan in his hand and will purge his floor c. Repent there ore whilst you have time before you be fanned hewn down and fired Pag. 74. Here have we to lament the miserable state of mankind which is so seduced by the subtile Serpent that he cannot know his misery when he is admonished nor perceive his perdition when it draweth so near When the Servants of God set forth his Truth they are charged to trouble Realms and Countreys as was Elias when they warn men not to joyn hands with wicked Kings and Princes they are counted Traytors as was Isaiah and Jeremiah such is mans malice Wherefore I do admonish and exhort you both in the Name of the living God that how soever you have hitherto shewed your selves the Servants of men to bear and flatter with the world that now ye learn in Gods cause to despise the faces of men to bend your selves against this wicked world neither regarding the Visors of Honours vain Titles nor dignities any farther than they seek Gods onely Glory for his Glory will he not suffer to be contemned for any cause no he will pour contempt on those Princes that strive against his Truth but those that glorifie him will he glorifie Behold Pag. 75 your onely remedy remaining â—s to repent your time of ignorance of stubbornness of cruelty of idolatry wherein ye have so long continued Mourn for your ignorance and now with all diligence seek for knowledge of the Word of God and openly profess the Gospel which is the power of God where of ye ought not to be ashamed Cease at the last from your old stubbornness and labour in the Vineyard with all meekness Cease from your cruelty against Christs Members learn to suffer for Christs sake if ye will be true Christians Banish all Idolatry and Popish Superstition from amongst you else can ye have no part in Christs Kingdom no more than Christ can be partaker with Antichrist Pray to the Lord of Hosts and Armies to give you the courage strength and means The Lords Arm is not shortened now no more than of old Be strong therefore in the Lord for the defence of the Truth though all the World rise against it Now when the battel is fierce against the living God for dead idols against the Gospel of Christ for the inventions of Antichrist against Christs members for Popish ceremonies can any of you that will be accounted Gods Children still halt of both hands Pag. 76. If you will maintain Gods truth in the Earth he will receive you as his Children into the Heavens if you confess his Christ before this wicked Generation Christ shall confess you before his Father in the Heavens in the presence of his Angels But if you persist stubbornly to banish Gods Word and his Son Christ in his Members forth of your Earthly Kingdomes how can ye look for any part in his Heavenly Kingdom Pag. 77. Lo here is the choice of life and death of misery and wealth offered to you by Gods mercies and the means how you may win Gods favour opened whereby onely ye may prevail against your enemies God grant you hearts to answer as the people did to Joshua offering the like choice Josh 24. God forbid say they that we should forsake God we will serve the Lord our God and obey his voice for he is our God And we your banished Brethren by the Power of God to provoke you forwards will thus pronounce with Joshua That we and our Families will serve the Lord God though all Nations run to Idols though all people do persecute us We know that Satan hath but a short time to rage and that Christ our Captain right speedily will crown his So Idiers to whom as he is the eternal God with his Father be all honour and glory for ever and ever So be it A short Prayer which Mr. Gilby made for the saithful in those dayes See it at the end of the Dialogue O Lord God and most merciful Father we beseech thee for the honour of thy Holy Name to desend us from that Antichrist of Rome and from all his detestable enormities manners laws garments and ceremonies Destroy thou the counsel of all the Papists and Atheists enemies of thy Gospel and of this Realm of England Disclose their mischiefs and subtile practises Confound their devices Let them be taken in their own wiliness And strengthen all those that maintain the Cause and Quarrel of thy Gospel with invincible force and power of the Holy Spirit so that they fail not to proceed go forward to that true Godliness commanded in thy Holy Word with all simplicity and sincerity to thy Honour Glory the comfort of thine Elect and the confusion of thine enemies through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen Amen And say from the heart Amen Glee When the Friers told Madam La Glee Fox Vol. 3. Cont. p. 24. that she was in a damnable estate It seems so indeed said she being now in your hands but I have a God that will never leave me nor forsake me for all that Thou hast said they renounced the Faith It is true said she I have renounced your faith which I am able to shew is rejected and accursed of God and therefore deserves not so much as to be called Faith When news was brought her Pag 25. that she was condemned to be hang'd she fell down upon her knees and blessed God for that it pleased him to shew her so much mercy as to deliver her by such a kind of death out of the troubles of this wretched world and to honour her so far as to call
be of Christ by the like must we be judged Christians also that if we flee for Christ the places whereunto we flee may bear witness for what cause we are fled Pa. 229. Neither is it a sufficient excuse which many alledge that they believe to be saved by Christ that they have sufficient knowledge of their duty and the rest they can supply by their own diligence I dare say their faith is not so much but they had need to desire with the Apostles Lord encrease our faith And if they will so confess why do they forsake the chiefest means that God hath ordained which is the open Congregations of his people where his Word the fountain of Faith is most purely preached and where the godly Examples of others may be a sharper spur to prick them forward and as for the knowledge and diligence of such there may be no buckler to defend their doings for if they have those gifts whereof they boast where may they better bestow them than in the Church of God except they will say they are born to themselves and have the gifts of God which he would have common to others applyed to their own private fancy which is to lap them up in a clout and not to put them forth to the vantage of the owner as did the unprofitable Servant Pa. 230. and as do all they to whom God hath given either learning counsel or worlâ—ly substance who either for the strength of Cities pleasantness of the air traffick or merchandize or for any other worldly respect or policy do absent themselves from the Congregation and company of their poor Brethren where Christ hath advanced his Standard and blown his Trumpet If God then give you not strength at the first to stand in his Profession to the death nor that you cannot be quiet in conscience a biding in your Countrey you see how his mercy hath given you liberty to kill and what places he hath appointed you to flee unto that is where you may do good to your selves and others where ye may be free from Superstition and Idolatry where your faith may be encreased and not diminished and your selves strengthened and confirmed and more strongly armed But if you in tarrying will neither stand manfully to Christ your Master but betray him doing as the Papists do nor yet with thanks use this remedy that God hath granted to our infirmity to resort to his Churches godlily instituted what answer shall ye be able to make to his Majesty when he shall call for an account of your doings How shall you avoid his wrathful indignation now ready to be poured upon his enemies For in taking part with their impiety you must be partakers of their Cup likewise Neither is this any new or hard Doctrine that may exceed your capacity but may rather be termed your A. B. C. and first Principles where in none ought to be ignorant That if we will be Christs Scholars we must learn to bear his Cross and to follow him not to cast it off our shoulders with the enemies Pa. 233. and run from him Be no more deceived in so plain a matter If the Lord be God follow him if Baal be God go after him Let not the example of any lead you into errour for men are but mortal Trust in the Lord for he is a sure rock Trust not your own shifts for they will deceive you Mark the end of others and in time be warned These Lessons are hard to the flesh but easie to the spirit The way of the Lord is a strait path but most faithful sure and comfortable From Geneva this first of Jan. An. 1558. Goose John Goose burnt in England An. 1473. Clarks Martyrology pag. 57. being prest by the Sheriff of London to recant and so deliver himself from death answered That for his Religion he was at a pass and neither could nor would recant the same When the Sheriff gave him some meat Fox Vol. 1. pag. 939. of which he did eat heartily he said to the standers by I eat now a good and competent Dinner for I shall pass a sharp shower before I go to Supper Gordius When a solemn Feast was celebrated in Caesarea Fox Vol. 1. pag. 117. in honour to Mars Gordius a Citizen thereof who had been a Centurion and had chosen exile for sometime in the heat of Persecution left the Desert wherein he lived in exile and got him up into the chief place of the Theater and with a loud voice cried out Behold I am found of them that sought me not and to taose that asked not for me have I openly appeared The Sheriff asking him who he was from whence he came and for what he came thither I am come said he to publish that I set nothing by your desires against the Christian Religion but that I profess Jesus Christ to be my hope and safety The Sheriff threatning him with all kind of torments It would be to me a damage said he if I should not endure divers torments for Christs Cause When he was tormented he lifted up his eyes to Heaven saying The Lord is my helper I will not fear the thing that men can do unto me I will learn no evil for thou Lord with me He blamed the Tormentors if they favoured him at all The Sheriff promising great things if he would deny Christ It â—ieth not in you said be to place any in Authority which be worthy to have a place in Heaven When he was led out of the City to be burnt many with tears beg'd him to save himself but he said Weep not I beseech you for me but rather for those that bring us to the fire and thereby purchase Hell fire to themselves Truly I am ready for the Name of Christ to suffer a thousand deaths if need were Some perswading him to deny Christ with his tongue and to keep his Conscience to himself My tongue said he which by the goodness of God I have cannot be brought to deny the Author and giver of it for with the heart we believe unto righteousness and with the mouth we confess unto salvation Gorgius When the Tyrant offered Gorgius promotion Ward pag. 141. Have ye any thing said he equal to or more worthy than the Kingdom of Heaven Gonzalve Mr. John Gonzalve a samous Preacher in Sevil Fox Vol. 3. Cont. p. 12. was often observed in all his Sermons to aim at this mark To deliver mens minds from that blind conceit of meriting by works that so way might be made for justification onely by faith in Christ Jesus and deeply to ingraft in them the knowledge of the sole merit of his plenary satisfaction When he was led to the place of his Martyrdome he never shewed the least sign of his being dismay'd Pag. 13. but contrariwise with great constancy and courage of heart standing above all the people to whom he had formerly preached and delivered the pattern
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 bond as entirely desiring your everlasting selicity to warn you and most heartily desire you to watch and pray On the high mountains doth not grow most plenty of graâ—s neither are the highest trees farthest from danger but feldome sure and alwayes shaken of every wind that bloweth Such a deceitful thing saith our Saviour is honour and riches that withour 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 Prov. 1. and blaspheme the Elect of God ye know that it did so unto Christ his Apostles and to all that were in the Prinitive Church and shall be unto the worlds end I beseech you in the bowels of Christ my Lord Jesus stick sast 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 Pa. 267. 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 derested 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 dreadfully 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. Pa. 268. 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 Jesus Hector Bartholomen Hector being condemned Fox Vol. 2 pag. 155. 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 Fox Vol. 3 cont pag. 5. he would answer them to nothing before he had made his Prayer to God Whereupon falling down upon 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. Julian Hernaudes Fox Vol. 3. cont p. 14. a Spanish Martyr came from the Wrack and the Tortures of the Inquisition inflicted on him for bringing with him and causing to 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 than 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 non is the hour come in which as the true Champions of Jesus 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 John Herwyn of Flanders Fox Vol. 3. Cont p. 17. was led to Prison the Baâ—liffe 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 drankenness a sin What of that said the Baâ—liffe 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 he art 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 he affirms That we ought to obey God rather that 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 Psal 14. but said he
else not Be not amazed though they speak of never so many years nor name never so many Doctors If either the Authority of Bishops of the greater part should have power to interpret the Scripture the sentence of the Pharisees should have been prefer'd before the sentence of Zachary Simeon Elizabeth or the blessed Virgin Consider the true Church is many time but a small Congregation as Isaiah saith Unless God had left us a remnant we had been as Sodom Therefore the interpretation of the Scripture is not obligated to ordinary power nor the most part Beware of deceit when thou hearest the name of the Church The verity is then assaulted They call the Church of the Devil the holy Church many time Remember Christian Reader that the gift of interpreting the Scripture is the Light of the Holy Ghost given unto the humble and penitent person that seeketh onely to honour God and not unto those persons that claim it by title or place because be is a Bishop or followed by succession Peter oâ— Paul Remember therefore to examine all Doctrine by the Word of God for such as preach it aright have their infirmities and ignorance they may depart from the Truth or else build some superstition and false Doctrine upon the Gospel of Christ Superstition is to be avoided false Doctrine to be abhorred whosoever be the Author thereof Prince Magistrate or Bishop As the Apostles made answer Acts 5. We ought to obey God rather than man ch 13. The Law is necessary for a justified man to teach him with what works he should exercise his faith will and obedience unto God We may not chuse works of our own wisdome to serve him withal He would have us to be governed by his Word as David saith Thy Word is a light unto my feet And Christ In vain do they worship me by the commands of men In the second Declaration See his Declaration of the holy ten Com. of Almighty God Printed Anne 1548. pag. 8 9. Moses commandeth Deut. 4. that no man should decline from this Law neither to the right nor left hand i.e. That no man should add to or take any thing from it but simply to observe it as it is given or written to us From this right line and true rule of Gods Word man erreth divers wayes Sometimes by ignorance because he knoweth not or will not know that only the express Word of God sufficeth He holdeth with the most part and condemneth the better as it is to be seen at this present day This reason taketh place it is allowed of the most part and established by so many holy and learned Bishops therefore it is true c. Another way that leadeth from the Word of God is many times the power and authority of this world as we see by the Bishop of Rome and all his adherents who give more credit to one Charter and gift of Constantine than to the whole Bible Another erreth by mistaking of the time making his superstition far elder than it is c. One saith thus My Father believed and should I believe the contrary Pag. 11. Whereas no Law at all should be spoken of conscience but the only Word of God which never altered nor can be altered Mat. 5. Luk. 10. Psal 18.119 If Heavens and Earth made by word cannot be altered how much more the Word it self Unto which Law the conscience of man in matters of faith is bound only Pag. 13. Such as can interpret nothing will say I have an ill opinion of God in Heaven and of the superiour Powers on Earth because I damn the Disciples of the false Doctors with the Doctors and take from all Powers on Earth authority to prescribe unto their Subjects any Law touching Religion of the soul As concerning those that be seduced by false Teachers St. Luke c. 6. Ezekiel 3. and 13. judge as I do Both he that leadeth to damnation and he that is led Pag. 14. falleth into the pit Notwithstanding I believe that in the midst of darkness when all the world as far as man might judge had sworn unto the Bishop of Rome Christ had his Elect that never consented to his false Laws as it was in the time of Elias 1 Kings 19. where God saith He had preserved seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal Pag. 15. As many as die before us seduced by false Teachers without repentance the Scripture condemneth As many as believed them not but trusted to the Scripture or else deceived yet repented before they died live eternally in joy and solace and are saved as John saith Rev. 13. in the blood of the Lamb. As touching the superiour Powers of the Earth it is not unknown to all men that have read and marked the Scripture that it pertaineth nothing to their Office to make any Law to govern the consciences of their Subjects in Religion but to reign over them in this case as the Word of God commandeth Pag. 16. Howbeit in their Realms they make what Laws they will and as many as they will command them to be kept as long it pleaseth them and change them at their pleasure as they shall see occasion for the wealth commodity of their Realms Unto the which superiour Powers we owe all obedience both of body and goods and likewise our daily prayer for them to Almighty God c. And as many divers Commonwealths as there be so many divers Laws there may be Howbeit all Christian Kings and Kingdomes with other Magistrates should reign by one Law and govern the Churches of their Realms solely by the Word of God Pag. 17. which is never to be changed Thus Christ commanded his Apostles to teach and their Audience to hear the things he commanded Matth. 28. Mark 16. Pag. 26. Moses prescribeth unto his Audience seven Rules wherewith he prepareth them to the receiving of the ten Commandements 1 A right perswasion of Gods word that God will undoubtedly give the good promised to the good and inflict the evil threatned against the evil Pag. 29. 2 To have a right opinion of the Magistrates and superiour Powers of the Earth to give them no more nor any less honour and reverence than the Word of God commandeth For lack of this preparative the world hath erred from the Truth this many years Men do not look what Gods Word saith but extol the authority of mans Laws preferring the decree of a general or provincial Council before the Word of God Pag. 30. 3 Another preparative is obedience both to God and man It were as good nere read the Law in case we mind not to be obedient Pag. 31. Pag. 32. Pag. 34. 4 To observe jus gentium 5 To esteem the Doctrine of the Commandments as it is worthy 6 A true and right understanding of the Law not to constrain the letter against the mind of the Text but behold alwayes the consent of the Scripture
favour their wicked doings Now chuse you which way you will take either the narrow c. or the broad way c. I for my part have now written this short admonition to you of good will as God is my witness to exhort you to that way which at length you shall prove and find to be best and I do not only write this but I will with the assistance of Gods grace seal it with my blood Hunter Atwell a Sumner Fox Vol. 3 pag. 190. telling William Hunter it was never a merry world since the Bible came abroad in English Say not so for Gods sake said Hunter for it is Gods Book out of which every one that hath grace may learn to know what things both please God and also what displeaseth him Could not we tell said Atwell before this time how God was served No said Hunter nothing so well as we may now if that we might have his blessed Word amongst us still as we have had You must turn or burn said Atwell God give me grace said Hunter that I may believe his Word and confess his Name whatsoever come thereof Whereas you doubt of my belief said Hunter to Wood the Vicar of Southwell I would it were tryed Pag. 19. Whether that you or I would stand faster in our Faith Yea thou Heretick said Wood wouldst thou have it so tryed That which you call heresie said Hunter I serve my Lord God withall I would that you and I were fast tyed to a Stake to prove whether that you or I would stand strongest to our Faith It shall not be so tryed said Wood No said Hunter I think so for if I might I think I know who would soonest recant for I durst set my foot against yours even to the death Bonâ—er telling him Pa. 192. that he was content he should keep his conscience to himself so that he would go to Church and receive c. No said he I will not do so for all the good in the world Then said Bonner I will make you sure enough I warrant you Well said 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 Pa. 193. 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 pare 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 Sheriff 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 Highed Mr. Highed of Essex being prest by Bonner to recant Fox Vol. 3 pag. 196. 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
truth Mr. Hâ—â— 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 he is own opinion before the judgment of the whole Council Pa. 817. he said If he which is the meanest or least in all this Council can convact 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 Pa. 819. 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 Pa. 820. 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 deâ—â—ous of the truth that if I might by one only 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 saâ—fly accused c. forgive them for thy great mercies sake When he was degraded he spake to the people â—hâ—s These Lords and Bishops do exhort and counsel me that I should here confess before you â—ll that I have erred the which thing to do if it might be done with the infamy and reproach of â—an onely they might peradventure easily perâ—wade me thereunto but now truly I am in the â—ight of the Lord my God without whose great â—gnominy 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 â—eavens With what face should I look upon â—â—em whom I have taught where of there is a great number if through me it should come to pass that those things which they have hitherto known to be â—ost certain and sure should now be made uncerâ—ain Should I by this my example astonish or â—rouble 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 appointed unto death then their health and salvation When one of the Bishops took from him the Chalice saying O cursed Judas c. We take away from thee this Chalice of thy salvation But I truth 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 Bishops took away the Vestments put upon him and each of them giving him their curse Whereunto he said That he did willingly embrace and hear those blasphemies for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Then the Bishops caused to be made a Crown of Paper in which were printed three ugly Devils and this title set over their heads Heresiarchs A Ring-leader of an Heresie and he saw it he said My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake did wear 〈◊〉 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 Pa. 821. they said What he had 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 Pa. 822. before the fire was kindled coming to him and exhorting him to be mindful of his safeguard and renounce his errors be answered What error should I renounce when as 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 Clarks first Volume of Lives pag. 217. Leigh 's Saints Encouragements in evil times out of Luther 's Preface before Daniel 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 Vaâ—tures and who should escape their burning This Prophesie was exactly fulfilled in Luther 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 Pa. 823. 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 judgment 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 Judgment 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 wel in your minds his Cross nothing shall be grievous unto you and patiently you shall give place to tribulations cursings rebukes stripes and imprisonment and shall not doubt to give your lives for his holy truth if need require Know ye Well Beloved that Antichrist being stirred up against you deviseth divers persecutions But I am in good hope Pa. 824. that through the mercy of our God and by your Prayers I shall persist strongly in the immutable verity of God unto the last breath I commend you to the merciful Lord Jesus Christ our true God and the Son of the immaculate Virgin Mary who hath redeemed us by his most bitter death without all our merits from eternal pains from the thraldome of the Devil and from sin From Constance A. 1415. In his Letter to his Benefactors I exhort you by the bowels of Jesus Christ that now ye setting aside the vanities of this present world will give your service to the eternal King Christ the Lord. Trust not in Princes nor in the Sons of men in whom there is no health for the Sons of men are dissemblers and deceitful To day they are to morrow they perish but God remaineth for ever He hath his Servants not for any need he hath of them but for their own profit unto whom he performeth that which he promiseth and fulfilleth that which he purposeth to give He casteth off no faithful Servant from him for he saith Where I am there also shall my Servant be yea the Lord maketh every Servant of his to be the Lord of all his possession giving himself unto him and with himself all things O happy is that Servant whom when the Lord shall come he shall find watching Happy is the Servant which shall receive that King of Glory with joy Wherefore well beloved Lords and Benefactors serve you that King in fear In his Letter to the Lord John de Clum The iniquity of the great Strumpet i.e. of the malignant Congregation whereof mention is made in the Apocalyps is detected and shall be more detected with the which Strumpet the Kings of the Earth do commit fornication fornicating spiritually from Christ and as is there said sliding back from the truth and consenting to the lies of Antichrist through his seduction and through fear or through hope of confederacy forgetting of worldly honour I rejoyced to perceive your mind now to give over the vanity and painful service of this present world and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ quietly at home whom to serve is to reign as Gregory saith whom he that serveth faithfully hath Jesus Christ himself in the Kingdome of Heaven to minister unto him as himself saith Blessed is that Servant whom when the Lord shall come he shall find waking and so doing Verily I say unto you that he rising shall gird himself and shall minister unto him This do not the Kings of the world to their Servants In another Letter As touching death God doth know why he doth defer it both to me and to my well beloved Brother Mr. Jerome who I trust will do holily and without blame and do know also that now he suffereth more valiantly then I my self a wretched sinner God hath given us a long time that we may call to mind our sins the better and repent for the same more fervently He hath granted us time that our long and great temptation should put away our grievous sins and bring the more consolation He hath given us time wherein we should remember the horrible rebukes of our merciful King and Lord Jesus and should ponder his cruel death and so more patiently may learn to bear our afflictions And moreover that we might keep in remembrance how the joyes of the liâ—e to come are not given after the joyes of this world immediately but through many tribulations the Saints have entred into the Kingdome of Heaven for some of them have been cut and chopt all to pieces some their eyes bored through some sod some roasted some slain alive some burned quick stoned crucified grinded between milstones drawn and haled hither and thither unto Execution drowned in waters strangled and hanged torn in pieces vexed with rebukes before death pined in prisons and afflicted in bonds and who is able to recite all the torments and sufferings of the holy Saints which they suffered under the Old and New Testament for the verity of God And it will be a marvel if any man now shall escape unpunished who dare boldly resist the wickedness and perversity especially of those Priests which can abide no correction In another Letter I desire Pa. 825. that if Audience be given me that the King will be there present himself c. And that you Right Noble and Gracious Lord John with the Lord Henry and the Lord Wencelaus c. if you may will be present and hear what the Lord Jesus Christ my Procurator and Advocate and most gracious Judge will put into my mouth to speak that whether I live or die you may be true and upright witnesses with me lest lying lips should say hereafter that I swerâ—ed from the truth which I have preached In another Letter My faithful and beloved in Christ be not afraid with their Sentence in condemning my Books they shall be scattered hither and thither abroad like light Butterflies and their Statutes shall endure as Spider-webs They were about to shake my constancy from the verity of Christ but they could not overcome the vertue of God in me They would not reason with the Scriptures against me c. And when I said I was desirous to be instructed if I did in any thing erre the chief Cardinal answered Because thou wouldst be informed there is no remedy but that thou must first revoke thy Doctrine according to the determination of fifty Batchelors appointed O high instruction These things I thought good to write unto you that you may know how they have overcome with no grounded Scripture nor with reason but onely did essay with terrours and deceits to perswade me to revoke and to abjure But our merciful God whose Law I have magnified was and is with me and I trust so will continue and will keep me in his grace unto death In another Letter Beloved I thought it needful to warn that you should not be discouraged because the Adversaries have decreed that my Books shall be burnt Remember how the Israelites burned the Preachings of the Prophet Jeremy and yet they could not avoid the things that were prophesied of in them Pa. 826. for after they were burnt the Lord commanded to write the same Prophesie again and that larger which was done It is also written in the Books of the