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
head Neither could I be relieved or eased of the sharp stingings of my sins before I was taught of God that even as Moses exalted the serpent in the Desart so shall the Son of man be exalted that all which believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life As soon as I began to taste and savour this heavenly Lesson which none can teach but God onely I desired the Lord to encrease my faith And at last I desired nothing more then that I being so comforted by him might be strengthened by his holy Spirit and grace from above to teach the wicked his wayes which are mercy and truth that the wicked may be converted unto him by me who somtimes was also wicked Accordingly I did teach and set forth Christ being made for us by God his Faher our Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. Who was made sin for us i.e. a Sacrifice for sin that we through him should be made the righteousness of God 2 Cor. 5. Who became accursed for us to redeem us from the curse of the Law Gal. 2. I taught that all men should first acknowledge their sins and condemn them â—fterward hunger and thirst for that righteousness which is by faith in Christ c. Rom. 3. And forasmuch as this hunger and thrist was wont to be quenched with the fulness of mans righteousness Therefore oftentimes have I spoken of those works exhorting all men not so to cleave to them as they being satisfied therewith should loath or wax weary of Christ For those things I have been cryed out of attached and now cast into prison His abjuration cost him dear Pa. 271. it brought him even to despair his Friends were fain to be with him night and day Bishop Latimer saith That he thought all the Word of God was against him and sounded his condemnation To bring any comfortable Scripture to him was as though a man should run him through with a sword The day before his Execution Pa. 277. some Friends finding him eating heartily with much cheerfulness and a quiet mind they said They were glad to see him at that time so heartily to refresh himself O said he I imitate those who having a ruinous house to dwell in yet bestow cost as long as they may to hold it up In Prison he divers times proved the fire Leigh 's Saints Encouragements in evil times p. 27. by putting his finger near to the candle at the first touch of the candle his flesh resisting and he withdrawing his finger did after chide his flesh in these words Quid unius membri inustionem ferre non potes quo pacto cras totius corporis conflagrationem tolerabis What said he canst thou not bear the burning of one member and how wilt thou endure to morrow the burning of thy whole body I seel Fox Vol. 2. pag. 277. and have known it long by Philosophy that fire is hot yet I know some recorded in Gods Word even in the flame felt no heat and 〈◊〉 believe that though my body will be wasted by it my soul shall be purged thereby At the same time he most comfortably treated among his Friends of Isa 43.1 2 3. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy Name Thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt for I am the Lord thy God the Holy one of Israel thy Saviour The comfort whereof never left some of his Friends to their dying day The next morning the Officers fetching him to Execution a certain Friend entreated him to be constant and to take his death patiently Bilney answered I am sailing with the Mariner through a boisterous sea but shortly shall be in the Haven c. Help me with your Prayers Bland Mr. John Bland a Kentish Minister Fox Vol. 3. pag. 373. in his Prayer at the stake Lord Jesus for thy love I do willingly leave this life and desire rather the bitter death of thy Cross with the loss of all earthly things than to abide the blasphemy of thy Holy Name or else to obey man in the breaking of thy Command This death is more dear unto me than thousands of gold and silver Such love O Lord hast thou laid up in my breast that I hunger for thee as the Deer wounded desireth the soyl Blehere Levine Blehere said to his Friends Ward pag. 160. offering to rescue him by tumult Hinder not the Magistrates work nor my happiness Father thou soresawest the sacrifice from eternity now accept of it I pray thee Bongeor Agnes Bongeor Fox Vol. 3. pag. 849. having prepared her self to go with her Fellow-martyrs to the stake putting on a Smock made for that purpose and sending away her sucking infant to a Nurse through a mistake of her Name in the Writ Bowyer being put for Bongeor was kept back Hereupon she made piteous moan wept bitterly c. Because she went not with them to give her life in defence of her Christ of all things in the world life was least looked for by her In this perplexity a Friend came to her and put her in mind of Abraham's offering up Isaac I know quoth she that Abraham's will before God was accepted for the deed in that he would have done it if the Angel of the Lord had not stay'd him but I am unhappy the Lord thinks not me worthy of this dignity and yet I would have gone with my company with all my heart and because I did it not it is now my chief and greatest grief She was grieved because she had not offered her self though she had given away her child which was more than Abraham was put to Bossu Francis le Bossu Fox Vol. 3. cons. p. 68. a French Martyr to encourage his children to suffer martyrdom with himself he thus spake unto them Children we are not now to learn that it hath alwayes been the portion of Believers to be hated cruelly used and devoured by Unbelievers as sheep of ravening wolves if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him Let not these drawn swords terrifie us they will be but as a Bridge whereby we shall pass over out of a miserable life into immortal blessedness We have breathed and lived long enough among the wicked let us now go and live with our God He and his two Sons were killed embracing each other in the Massacre at Lyons in France 1572. Bradford Mr. John Bradford Fox Vol. 3. p. 281 282. the night before he was carried to Newgate he dreamt that Chains were brought for him to the Counter and that the day following he should be carried to Newgate and that the next day he should be burnt in Smithfield which
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
pretence of the true Religian c. that have killed more souls with heresie and superstition than all the Tyrants that ever killed bodies by fire sword or banishment c. and all souls that trust to these Hypocrites live to the Devil in everlasting pain as is declared by Hells following the pale Horse These pale Hypocrites stave stirred up Earthquakes i. e. he Princes of the world against Christs Church They have darkned the Sun and made the Moon bloody and have caused the Stars to fall from Heaven i.e. they have darkned with mists and daily darken the Sun of Gods word Pa. 159. imprisoned and chaised and butchered Gods true Preachers which â—nch only light at the Sun of Gods Word that their light cannot shine unto the world as they would Whereupon it comes to pass that many Christians fall from Gods true Word to hypocrisie most devillish superstition and idolatry In his Letter to Bishop Farrar Dr. Taylor Mr. Bradford and Mr. Philpot Prisoners in the Kings Bench in Southwark I am advertised that we shall be carried shortly to Cambridge there to dispute for the faith and for the Religion of Christ which is most true that we have and do profess I am as I doubt not ye be in Christ ready not only to go to Cambridge but also to suffer by Gods help death it self in the maintenance thereof I write this to comfort you in the Lord that the time draweth near and is at hand that we shall testifie before Gods enemies Gods Truth Yours and with you unto death in Christ J. H. May 6. 1554. In his Letter to his Wife Pa. 160. As the Devil hath entred into their hearts that they themselves cannot or will not come to Christ to be instructed by his holy Word so can they not abide any others to become Christians and lead their lives after the Word of God buâ— hate persecute rob imprison and kill them whether male or female though they have never offended Gods or Mans Law yea though they daily pray for them and wish them Gods grace having no respect to Nature The Brother persecuteth the Brother the Father the Son and most dear Friends are become most mortal Enemies And no marvel for they have chosen sundry Masters the one the Devil the other God The one agree with the other as God and the Devil agree between themselves Gen. 21. Gal. 4. As he that was born after the flesh persecuted in times past him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now Therefore forasmuch as we live in this life amongst so many great perils and dangers the only remedy is what Christ hath appointed Luke 21. Ye shall possess yourselves in patience When troubles come we must be patient and in no case violently nor seditiously to resist our persecutors because God hath such care of us that he will keep in the midst of all troubles the very hairs of our heads c. And seeing he hath such care of the hairs of our head how much more doth he care for our life it self Their cruelty hath no farther power than God permitteth and that which cometh unto us by the will of our heavenly Father can be no harm loss destruction to us but rather gain wealth and felicity That the spirit of man may feel these consolations the giver of them the heavenly Father must be prayed unto for the merits of Christs Passion for it is not the nature of man that can be contented until it be regenerated and possessed with Gods Spirit to bear patiently the troubles of mind or body When the mind of man sees troubles on every side threatning poverty yea death except the man weigh these brittle and uncertain treasures that be taken from him with the riches of the life to come and this life of the body with the life in Christs blood and so for the love and certainty of the heavenly joyes contemn all things present doubtless he shall never be able to bear the loss of goods and life The Christian mans faith must be alwayes upon the resurrection of Christ when he is in trouble and in that glorious Resurrection he shall see continual joy yea victory and triumph over all persecution trouble sin death hell the Devil and all other persecutors the tears and weepings of the faithful dried up their wounds healed their bodies made immortal in joy their souls for ever praising the Lord in conjunction and society everlasting with the blessed company of Gods Elect in perpetual joy Col. 3. If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father When he biddeth us seek the things that are above he requireth that our minds never cease from prayer and study in Gods Word untill we see know and understand the vanities of this world the shortness end misery of this life and the treasures of the world to come the immortality thereof the joyes of that life and so never cease seeking until such time as we know certainly and be perswaded what a blessed man he is that seeketh the one and findeth it and careth not for the other though he lose it and in seeking Pa. 161. to have right judgement between the life present and the life to come we shall find how little the pains imprisonment standers lies and death it self is in the world in respect of pains everlasting the Prison infernal and Dungeon of Hell the Sentence of Gods judgement and everlasting Death When a man hath by seeking the Word of God found out what the things above be then must he seâ— his affections upon them And this Command is more hard than the other for mans knowledge many times sees the best men know that there is a life to come better than this present c. Yet they set not their affection upon it they do more affect and love indeed a trifle of nothing in this world that pleaseth their affection than the treasure of all treasures in Heaven We must set our affections on things above i. e. when any thing worse than Heaven offereth it self to be ours if we will give our good wills to it and love it in our hearts then ought we to see by the judgement of Gods Word whether we may have it without Gods displeasure if we cannot if the riches of this world may not be gotten nor kept by Gods Law neither our lives continued without the denial of his honour we must set our affections upon the riches and life that is above and not upon things that be upon the earth This second Command requires that as our mind judgeth Heavenly things to be better than Earthly and the life to come better than the present life so we should chuse them before other and prefer them c. These things be easie to be spoken of but not so easie to be used and practised Read Psa 88. wherein is contained the prayer of
also by him written De Sacerdotum Monachorum carnaliuns abominatione speaking Prophetically of the reformation of the Church he hath these words Moreover hereupon note and mark by the way that the Church of God cannot be reduced to its former dignity or be reformed before all things first be made new The truth whereof is plain by the Temple of Solomon As my mind now giveth me I believe that there shall arise a new people formed after the new man which is created after God of the which people new Clerks and Priests shall come and be taken which all shall hate covetousness and the glory of this life hastening to an heavenly conversation All these things shall come to pass and be brought by little and little in order of times dispensed of God for the same purpose and this God doth and will do for his own goodness and mercy and for the riches of his great longanimity and patience giving time and space of repentance to them that have long lain in their sins to amend and flie from the face of the Lords fury whilest in the mean time the carnal people carnal Priests successively shall fall away and be consumed as with the moth c. In another Letter You know how I have detested the avarice and inordinate life of the Clergy wherefore through the grace of God I suffer now persecution which shortly shall be consummate in me neither do I fear to have my heart poured out for the Name of Christ Jesus If you shall be called to any Cure in the Countrey let the honour of God and the salvation of souls move you thereunto and not the having of the living or Commodities thereof See that you be a Builder of your Spiritual House being gentle to the poor and humble of mind and waste not your goods in great fare I fear if you do not amend your life ceasing from your costly and superfluous apparel lest you shall be grievously chastised as I also wretched man shall be punish'd which have used the like being seduced by custome and evil men and worldly glory whereby I have been wounded against God with the spirit of pride And because you have notably known both my preaching and outward conversation even from my youth I have no need to write many things to you but to desire you for the mercy of Jesus Christ that you do not follow me in any such levity and lightness which you have seen in me You know how before my Priesthood which grieveth me now I have delighted oftentimes to play at Chess and have neglected my time and have unhappily provoked both my self and others to anger by that Play Wherefore besides other my innumerable faults for this I desire you to invocate the mercy of the Lord that he will pardon me This Letter to this Minister was not to be opened by him before he was srue of Mr. Hus his death In a Treatise De Sacerdotum c. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 381. before mentioned he hath these words In writing these things and what else I have written before nothing else hath moved me hereunto but onely 〈◊〉 love of our Lord Jesus crucified whose prints anâ— stripes according to the measure of my weakneâ— and vileness I covet to bear in my self beseechinâ— him to give me grace that I never seek to gloâ— in my self or in any thing else but onely in 〈◊〉 Cross and in the inestimable ignominy of 〈◊〉 Passion I do not therefore doubt but these thing will like all such as unfeignedly love the Loâ— Christ crucified and will not mislike not a little all such as be of Antichrist durst not have so written unless the Lord Jesus Christ crucified by hâ— inward motion had so commanded me Hyperius Ward 's Living Speeches c. pag. 155 O what a difference is there said Martin Hâ— perius betwixt this and eternal fire Who woâ—â— shun this to leap into that FINIS
Allen to give her Father and Mother good counsel Fox Vol. 3. pag. 830. that they might become good Catholicks Sir said she they have a better Instructor than I for the Holy Ghost doth teach them I hope who I trust will not suffer them to erre Thereupon the Knight said It is time to look to such Hereticks Sir said she with that which you call Heresie do I worship my Lord God Then I perceive said Tyrrel you will burn with the rest for company No Sir said she not for company but for my Christs sake if so I be compelled and I hope in his mercies if he call me to it he will enable me to bear it To try her Tyrrel burnt the wrist of her hand with a candle till the very sinews crackt asunder saying often to her What whore wilt not thou cry To which she answered That she had no cause she thanked God but rather to rejoyce You said she have more cause to weep than I if you consider the matter well At last she said Sir have you done what you will do He answering yea and if thou think it be not well then mend it She replied Mend it Nay the Lord mend you and give you repentance if it be his will and now if you think it good to begin at the feet and burn the head also She being asked by one how she could abide the painful burning of her hand She said at first it was some grief to her but afterward the longer she burned the less she felt even well near none at all Almondus My Body dies said Almondus a Via my Spirit lives Gods Kingdom abides ever Ward c. pag. 157. God hath now given me the accomplishment of all my desires Alost Francis d' Alost Fox Vol. 3. Cont. p. 34. a Cutler in Flanders being conducted to Prison said Now you have taken me you think to deprive me of life and thereby to bring great damage to me but you are deceived for it is all one as if you took counters from me to fill my hand with a great sum of gold As he went to suffer he used that speech of the Apostle St. Peter I must now shortly put off this my earthly tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.10 which the love of Jesus my Lord constraineth me to do 2 Cor. 5.14 Amachue Turn said he the other side also Ward pa. 141. least raw flesh offend you Ambrose I have not so lived said he that I am ashamed to live longer Ward pa. 139 140. nor yet fear I death because I have a good Lord. To Calignon Valentinians Eunuch threatning death he said Well do you that which becomes an Eunuch I will suffer that which becomes a Bishop Andrew When the Proconsul threatned Andrew the Apostle with the Cross Fox Vol. 1 pag. 43. if he left not off his preaching I would never said he have preached the Doctrine of the Cross if I had feared the suffering of the Cross When he came to the Cross on which he was to be crucified he said O Cross most welcome and long look'd for with a willing mind joyfully I come to thee being the Scholar of him that did hang on thee Ward pa. 138. welcome O Christ longed and looked for I am the Scholar of him that was crucified long have I coveted to embrace thee in whom I am what I am Anvil Frederick Anvil of Bearne Ward pag. 156. to the Friers that willed him to call on the Virgin Mary three times repeated Thine O Lord is the Kingdom thine is the power and glory for ever and ever Let us fight let us fight Avant Satan avant Apprice Bonner asking John Apprice what he thought of the Sacrament of the Altar he answered Fox Vol. 3. pag. 700. The Doctrine you teach is so agreeable to the world and embraced of the same that it cannot be agreeable to the Word of God Ardley John Ardley being urged by Bonner to recant Fox Vol. 3. pag. 253. cryed out If every hair of my head were a man I would suffer death for my Religion Being again sollicited to recant No God forbid said he that I should do so for then I shall lose my soul Arethusius Marcus Arethusius having at the command of Constantinus pulled down a certain Temple Fox Vol 1. pag. 128. dedicated to Idols and instead thereof built up a Church where the Christians might congregate under Julianus he was beaten cast into a filthy sink put into a basket anointed with honey and broth hung abroad in the heat of the Sun as meat for Wasps to feed on hereby it was hoped he would be enforced either to build up again the Temple which he had destroyed or else give so much money as would pay for the building of the same This good man whilest he hung in the basket did not onely conceal his pains but derided those wicked instruments of his torments calling them base low terrene people and himself exalted and set on high when they told him they would be contented with a small sum of money from him He said It is as great a wickedness to confer one half-penny in case of impiety as if a man should bestow the whole Askew Mrs. Jane Askew being called by the Bishop of Winchester a Parrot told him that she was ready to suffer not onely his rebukes but all things that should follow besides yea and all that gladly To her Confession in Newgate she thus subscribed Written by me Jane Askew who neither wish death nor fear its might and as merry as one bound towards Heaven In her Confession of her Faith she saith Though God hath given me the bread of adversity and the waters of trouble yet not so much as my sins have deserved When Nicholas Sharton counselled her to recant as he had done she said It had been good for him never to have been born In an Answer to a Letter of Mr. Lacell's she writ thus O Friend most dearly beloved in God I marvail not a little what should move you to judge in me so slendar a faith as to fear death which is the end of all misery In the Lord I desire you not to believe of me such weakness for I doubt not but God will perform his work in me like as he hath begun When Wrisley Lord Chancellor sent to her Letters at the Stake offering her the Kings pardon if she would recant she refusing once to look upon them gave this answer That she came not thither to deny her Lord and Master Attalus He answered to every question Ward pa. 240. I am a Christian Being fired in an iron Chain Behold said he O you Romans this is to eat man's flesh which you falsly object to us Christians Audebert Blessed be God said Anne Audebert of Orleance for this Wedding Girdle meaning the Chain my first marriage was on this Lords Day Ward pa. 154. and now my second to my Spouse and Lord
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
when we stood up to purge our selves thereof you said You would cut out our tongues and cause us to be pulled out of the Church by violence But there you gave your self a shrewd blow c. Being asked by the Bishop of Winchester if he would recant he said My faith is grounded more stedfastly than to change in a moment It is no process of time can alter me unless my faith were as the wayes of the Sea When he was condemned he desired God wiâ— a loud voice That he would not lay his blood 〈◊〉 their charge if it were his good will Green Mr. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 622. Bartlet Green wrote in Mr. Bartram Calthrâ—â— Book a little before his death thus Two thing have very much troubled me whilst I was in 〈◊〉 Temple Pride and Gluttony which under 〈◊〉 colour of Glory and good Fellowship drew 〈◊〉 almost from God Forsomuch as vain-glory is so subtile an adves sary that almost it woundeth deadly ere ever 〈◊〉 man can perceive himself to be smitten therefoâ—â— we ought so much the rather by continual prayeâ— to labour for humbleness of mind Glutrony beginneth under a charitable pretence of love and society and hath in it most uncharitableness Let us therefore watch and be sober for oâ— adversary the Devil walketh about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour Vale mi Buirame mei memineris ut semper simillimi efficismur Vale c. Farewell my Bartram and remember me that we may be alwayes like Farewell at Newgate Jan. 20. A. 1556. In his Letter to Mr. Pa. 623. Philpet Being accused that I spake against the real Presence and the Sâ—crifice of the Mass and that I affirmed that theâ—â— Church was the Church of Antichrist I confesseâ— it and that I would continue therein though noâ— maintain it by learning my conscience being satisfied in the truth which is sufficient to my salvation I told Mr. Welch Forasmuch as it pleâ—seth you to use me so familiarly for he behaveâ— himself towards me as though I had been his equal I shall open my mind freely to you I consider my youth lack of wit and learning which would God it were but a little under the opinion that some men have of me But God is not bound to time wit or knowledge but rather chooseth the weak things of the world to confound the mighty neither can men appoint bounds to Gods mercy Rom. 9. For I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy There is no respect of persons with God whether he be old or young rich or poor wise or foolish Fisher or Basket-maker God giveth knowledge of his truth through his free grace James 1. to whom he list Now I am brought hither before a great many Bishops and learned men to be made a fool and a laughing-stock but I weigh it not a rush for God knoweth that my whole study is to please him Besides that I care not for mans pleasure or displeasure As he was going to Newgate after he was condemned there met with him two Gentlemen Pa. 627. that seeing him burst out into tears to whom Mr. Green said Ah my friends is this your comfort you are come to give me Must I who needed to have comfort ministred to me become now a comforter of you When he was going to and was at the Stake he repeated this Distich Christe Deus sine te spes est mihi nulla salutis Te duce vera sequor te duce falsa nego In English thus O Christ my God sure hope of health Besiâ—es thee I have none The truth I love and falshood hate By thee my guide alone These Verses he wrote in a Book of Mr. Hussey's of the Temple Behold thy self by me Such one was I as thou And thou in time shall be Even dust as I am now Bartlet Green In his Letter to his Friends of the Temple Pa. 628. Very Friends are they which are knit together by the knot of Charity Charity doth not decay but increase in them that die faithfully If thy Friend be out of sight is thy friendship ended If he be carried into Heaven is Charity hindred thereby The Fathers of the Primitive Church gave thanks for their Friends that died in the Faith to prove that Charity died not with Death What saith Saint Paul We are members of his body of his flesh and of his blood we are members one of another Is the hand or Arm Foot or Leg a member when it is dissevered from the body What is it that couples us but love When all things shall fail love faileth never Hope hath his end when we get that we hoped for Faith is finished in Heaven Love endureth for ever Spiritual love I mean for carnal love when that which we love is lost doth perish with the flesh Neither was that ever but fleshly love which by distance of place or severing of bodies is parted asunder If we keep Christs commandment in loving each other as he loved us then should our love be everlasting This friendship Paul felt when it moved him to say That neither length nor breadth neither height nor depth should sever him from the love of Christ Now you may say Why writeth thou this Truly to the end that if our friendship be stable you may accomplish this the last request of your Friend c. Mr. Fleetwood I beseech you remember Wittrance and Cook two singular men among common Prisoners Mr. Fernham Mr. Bell and Mr. Hussey as I hope will dispatch Palmer and Richardson with his companions I pray you Mr. Palmer think on J. Grove an honest poor man Traiford and Rice Apprice his Accomplices My Cousin Thomas Witton a Scrivener in Lombard-street hath promised to further their delivery at the least he can instruct you which way to works I doubt not but that Mr. Bowyer will labour for Goodwife Cooper for she is worthy to be holpen and Berard the Frenchman There be also divers others well-disposed men whose deliverance if you will not labour for yet I humbly beseech you to seek their relief For these and all other poor Prisoners I make this my humble suit and prayer to you all my especial good Friends beseeching you by all the bonds of amity in the bowels of mercy to tender the cases of miserable Captives Help to cloath Christ visit the Afflicted comfort the Sorrowful and relieve the Needy The very God of peace guide your hearts to have mercy on the poor and love faithfully together Amen This present Monday when I look to die and to live for ever Yours for ever Bartlet Green In his Letter to Mrs. Elizabeth Clark I shall not cease with continual Prayer to labour for you desiring Almighty God to increase that which he hath long since begun in you of fober life and earnest zeal towards his Religion 1 Tim. 5. She that is a true Widow and friendless putteth her trust in God continuing day
and night in supplication and prayer but she that liveth in pleasure is dead even yet alive And verily she is a true widow that hath married Christ forsaking the vanities of the world and the lusts of the flesh 1 Cor. 7. For as the married woman careth how to love and serve and please her Husband so ought the Widow to give all her soul and heart thoughts and words studies and labours faithfully to love God vertuously to bring up her children and houshold and diligently to provide for the poor and oppressed Not to live in pleasure but to watch unto prayer stedfostly laying up all her trust in God Luke 2. Of Anna it is written That she never went out of the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day to bring up her children and houshold godly in the nurture and information of the Lord. Ephes 6. There are most manifest examples against Parents for the offences of Children Contrariwise how greatly might Hanna rejoyce over Samuel her Son whom she had brought up in the House of the Lord Pa. 629. But above all Widows thrice blessed was the happy Mother of the seven Sons that so had instructed them in the fear of the Lord that by no torments they would shrink from the love of his Truth To be liberal to Strangers 1 Tim. 5. to wash the Saints feet and minister to them in their adversity Saint Paul as though they onely had been therefore meet appointed onely Widows to minister to the Saints and to gather for the poor Alas That Christ so hungreth and no man will feed him is so fore opprest with thirst and no man will give him drink destitute of all lodging and not relieved sick and not visitted imprisoned and not seen In times past men could bestow large sums of money on Copes Vestments and Ornaments of the Church why rather follow we not St. Ambrose his example who sold the same for the relief of the poor or Chrysostom's command who willed first to deck and garnish the living Temple of God But alas such is the wickedness of these our last dayes that nothing moves us neither the pure Doctrine the godliness of life nor good examples of the Ancient Fathers If in any thing they erred that will their charitable children embrace publish and maintain with sword faggot and fire but all in vain they strive against the stream for though in despite of the Truth by force of the ears of crafty perswasion they may bring themselves into the haven of Hell yet can they not make all men believe that the banks move while the ship saileth nor ever shall be able to turn the direct course of the stream of Gods Truth In another Letter Better is the day of death saith Solomon than the day of birth Happy are the dead that die in the Lord. Man of woman is born in travel to live in misery man through Christ doth die in joy to live in felicity he is born to die and dieth to live Strait as he cometh into the world with cries he uttereth his miserable estate strait as he departeth with Songs he praiseth God for ever Scarce yet in his cradle three deadly enemies affault him after death no Adversary may annoy him whilst he is here he displeaseth God when he is dead he fulfilleth his will Here he dieth every hour there he liveth continually here is sin there is righteousness here is time there is eternity here is hatred there is love here is pain there is pleasure here is misery there is felicity Seek therefore the things that are above c. Grey The Lady Jane Grey Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk For Vol 3 pag. 13 14 c. whose Mother was Daughter to Mary King Henry the Second's Sister having personated a Queen for ten dayes and upon Queen Maries Proclamation being imprisoned the Queen sent Mr. Fecknam to her two dayes before her death to commune with her and reduce her from the Doctrine of Christ to Queen Maries Religion Pag. 31. The effect of which communication here followeth Madam said Fecknam I lament your heavy Case c. You are welcome unto me Sir said the Lady Jane if you come to give me Christian Exhortation And as for my heavy Case I thank God I do so little lament it that rather I account the same for a more manifest Declaration of Gods favour towards me than ever he shewed me at any time before and therefore there is no cause why either you or other which bear me good will should lament or be grieved with this my Case being a thing so profitable for my souls health I am here come said he from the Queen and Council to instruct you in the true Doctrine of the right Faith c. I heartily thank the Queen said she who is not unmindful of her humble Subject I hope no less that you will do your duty therein both truly and faithfully What is then said he required of a Christian To believe said she in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost three Persons and one God What said he is there nothing else required or looked for in a Christian but to believe in him Pag. 32. Yes said she We must love him with all our heart with all our soul and with all our mind and our Neighbour as our self Why then said he faith justifies not and saveth not Yes verily said she Faith as Paul saith onely justifies Why said he St. Paul saith If I have all faith without love it is nothing True said she for how can I love him whom I trust not or how can I trust him whom I love not Faith and love go both together and yet love is comprehended in faith How must we love our Neighbour said he To love our Neighbour said she is to feed the hungry to cloath the naked and give drink to the thirsty and to do to him as we would do to our selves Why then said he it is necessary unto salvation to do good works also and it is not sufficient onely to believe It is meet said she that a Christian in token that he follows his Master Christ to do good works yet may we not say that they profit to our salvation for when we have done all we be unprofitable servants and faith onely in Christs blood saveth us How many Sacraments are there said he Two said she The one the Sacrament of Baptisme by which I am washed with water regenerated by the Spirit that washing is a token to me that I am a child of God the other the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which offered to me is a sure seal and testimony that I am by the blood of Christ which he shed for me on the Cross made partaker of the everlasting Kingdome There are seven said he By what Scripture said she find you that Well said he we will talk of that hereafter What do you receive in
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
of the fire now prepared for me rather than to deny the truth of his Word desiring you and others in the mean time to commend me to Gods mercy in your Prayers I thank God said the Knight that ever I knew you for God did appoint you to call me being a lost child and by your good instructions where before I was both an Adulterer and Fornicator God hath brought me to the forsaking and deâ—esting of the same If you had the grace so to do said the Bishop I do highly praise God for it and if you have not I pray God you may have and that you may continually live in his fear The Knight and the Bishop parting with tears the Bishop told the Knight that all the troubles be had sustained in Prison had not caused him to uttes so much sorrow A Papist telling him he was sorry to see him in that case Be sorry for thy man said he and Iament thine own wickedness for I am well I thank God and death to me for Christs sake is welcome When he was committed to the Sheriff of Glocester Pa. 154. the Mayor and Aldermen at first saluted him and took him by the hand Mr. Mayor said Mr. Hooper I give most hearty thanks to you and to the rest of your Brethren that you have vouchsafed to take me a Prisoner and condemned man by the hand whereby to my rejoycing it is somewhat apparent that your old love and friendship towards me is not altogether extinguished and I trust also that all the things I have taught you in times past are not utterly forgotten c. For the which most true and sincere Doctrine because I will not now account it falshood and Heresie as many other men do I am sent hither by the Queens command to die and am come where I taught it to confirm it with my blood And now Mr. Sheriffs My request to you is that there may be a quick Fire shortly to make an end in the mean time I will be as obedient unto you as your selves would wish If you think I do amiss in any thing hold up your finger and I have done for I am not come hither as one inforced or compel to die for it is well known I might have had my life with worldly gain but as one willing to offer and give my life for the truth rather than to consent to the wicked Papistical Religion of the Bishop of Rome c. When the Sheriffs fetcht him from his Chamber to the place of Execution with Bills Weapons c Mr. Sheriffs said he I am no Traytor neither needed you to have made such a business to bring me to the place where I must suffer for if ye had willed me I would have gone alone to the Stake and have troubled none of you at all When he saw the multitude of people that were assembled he said unto them that were about him Alas why be these people assembled and come together peradventure they think to hear something of me now as they have in times past but alas speech is prohibited me Notwithstanding the cause of my death is well known unto them when I was appointed here to be their Pastor I preached unto them true and sincere Doctrine and that out of the Word of God because I will not account the same to be Heresie and untruth this kind of death is prepared for me When he was come to the place where he was to suffer after he had begun to pray a Box was brought and laid before him upon a stool with his Pardon or leastwise it was feigned so to be from the Queen if he would turn at the sight thereof he cried If you love my soul away with it if you love my soul away with it In his Prayer he was overheard to say Lord I am Heil but thou art Heaven I am swill and a sink of sin but thou art a gracious God and merciful Redeemer Pa. 155. Thou art ascended into Heaven receive me Hell to be partaker of thy joys where thou sittest in equal glory with thy Father for well knowest thou wherefore I am come hither to suffer and why the wicked do persecute this thy poor servant not for my sins and transgressions against thee but because I will not allow their wicked doings to the contaminating of thy blood and to the denial of the knowledge of thy Truth wherewith it did please thee by thy holy Spirit to instruct me the which with as much diligence as a poor wretch might being thereto called I have set forth to thy glory And well seest thou my Lord and God what terrible pains cruel torments be prepared for thy Creature such Lord as without thy strength none is able to bear or patiently to pass But all things that are impossible with man are possible with thee Therefore strengthen me of thy goodness that in the fire I break not the rules of patience or else asswage the terrour of the pains as shall seem most to thy glory When he was at the Stake three irons made to bind him to the Stake were brought one for his Neck another for his Middle and the third for his Legs He refusing them said Ye have no need thus to trouble your selves for I doubt not but God will give strength sufficient to abide the extremity of the fire without bands notwithstanding suspecting the frailty and weakness of the flesh but having assured confidence in Gods strength I am content ye do as ye shall think good When he was first scorch'd with the fire Pa. 156. he pray'd saying mildly and not very loud but as one without pains O Jesus the son of David have mercy upon me and receive my soul When the second fire was spent and only burnt his lower parts he said for Gods love good people let me have more fire In the third fire he prayed with somewhat a loud voice Lord Jesus have mercy on me Lord Jesus have mercy on me Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The Reasons of Mr. Hooper 's refusing the Episcopal Habits c. I find thus C. Why do not you my Lord use these innocent and harmless weeds See Cabal p. 13 14. H. I put my self upon the tryal of the searcher of Hearts that no obstinacy but meer Conscience makes me refuse these ornaments C. These Ornaments are indifferent of themselves and of ancient use in the Church H. They are useless being ridiculous and superstitious C. Nay my Lord being enjoyned by lawful Authority they become necessary not to salvation but to Church-unity H. Being left indifferent by God it is presumption in man to make them necessary C. By a moderate use of these Ceremonies we may gain Papists into the Church H. While you hope to gain Papists into the Church you lose many Protestants out of it C. You discredit other Bishops who have used this Habit. H. I had rather discredit them than destroy mine own conscience C.
How think you being a private person to be indulged with to the disturbance of the publick Uniformity of the Church H. If it please your Grace but to read these Letters I hope you will be satisfied and then he produced the Letters from the Earl of Warwick and King Edward C. These are to desire that in such reasonable things wherein my Lord Elect of Glocester craveth to be born withall at your hands you would vouchsafe your graces favour the principal cause is that you would not charge him with any thing burdenous to his conscience J. Warwick WE do understand you stay from Consecrating our well-beloved Mr. J. Hooper because be would have you omit and let pass certain Rites and Ceremonies offensive to his Conscience whereby you think you shall fall in premunire of Laws We have thought good by advice of Our Council to discharge you of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures you should run into by omitting any of the same and these Our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge Edwardus Rex In his Letter writ in Answer to one sent him concerning certain taken in Bow Church-yard Fox Vol. 3 Pag. 116. whilst they were praying I do rejoyce in that men can be so well occupied in this perilous time and flee for remedy to God by Prayer as well for their own lacks and necessities as also charitably to pray for them that persecute them So doth the Word of God command all men to pray charitably for them that hate them and not to revile any Magistrate with words or to mean him evil by force and violence They also may rejoyce that in well doing they werâ— taken to prison Thus fare you well and pray God to send his true Word into this Realm again amongst us which the ungodly Bishops have now banished In his Letter to those Christians so taken Prisoners The grace favour consolation Pa. 1â—â— and aid of the Holy Ghost be with you now and ever So be it Dearly beloved in the Lord ever since I heard of your imprisonment I have been marvellously moved with great affections and passions as well of mirth and gladness as of heaviness and sorrow Of gladness in this that I perceived how ye be bent and given to prayer and invocation of Gods help in these dark and wicked proceedings of men against Gods glory I have been sorry to perceive the malice and wickedness of men to be so cruel devillish and tyranical to persecute the people of God for serving of God c. These cruel doings do declare that the Papists Church is more bloody and tyrannical than ever was the sword of the Ethnicks and Gentiles Trajan the Emperour commanded That no man should be persecuted for serving of God but the Pope and his Church have cast you into Prison being taken doing the Work of God and one of the excellentest Works that is required of Christians viz. whilest ye were in Prayer O glad may ye be that ever ye were born to be apprehended whilest ye were so vertuously occupied Blessed be they that suffer for righteousness sake If God had suffered them that took your bodies then to have taken your life also now had you been following the Lamo in perpetual joyes away from the company and assembly of the wicked men But the Lord would not have you suddenly so to depart but reserveth you gloriously to speak and maintain his Truth to the world Be ye not careful what ye shall say for God will go out and in with you and will be present in your hearts and in your mouths to speak his wisedome though it seems foolishness to the world He that hath begun this good work in you continue in the same unto the end Pray unto him Mat. 10. that ye may fear him only that hath power to kill both body and soul and to cast them into hell fire Luke 12. Be of good comfort all the hairs of your head are numbred and there is not one of them can perish except your heavenly Father suffer it to perish Now you be in the field and placed in the fore-front of Christs battel Doubtless it is a singular favour of God and a special love of him towards you to give him his preheminence as a sign that he trusteth you before others of his people Wherefore dear Brethren and Sisters continually fight this Fight of the Lord. Your Cause is most just and godly ye stand for the true Christ who is after the flesh in Heaven and for his true Religion and Honour which is amply fully sufficiently and abundantly contained in the holy Testament sealed with Christs own blood How much be ye bound to God who puts you in trust with so holy and just a cause Remember what lookers on you have to lee and behold you in your fight God and all his holy Angels who be ready alwayes to take you up into Heaven if ye be flain in his fight Also you have standing at your backs all the multitude of the Faithful who shall take courage strength and desire to follow such noble and valiant Christians as you be Be not afraid of your Adversaries 1 Joh. 4. for he that is in you is stronger than he that is in them Shrink not although it be pain to you your pains be not now so great as hereafter your joyes shall be Read the Comfortable Chapters to the Romans 8.10 15. Hebrews 11.12 And upon your knees thank God that ever ye were accounted worthy to suffer any thing for his Names sake Read the second Chapter of Luke and there you shall see how the Shepherds that watched their Sheep all night as soon as they heard that Christ was born at Bethelem by and by went to see him They did not reason not debate with themselves who should keep the Wolf from the Sheep in the mean time but did as they were commanded and committed their Sheep unto him whose pleasure they obeyed So let us do now we be called commit all other things to him that calleth us He will take heed that all things shall be well He will help the Husband he will comfort the Wife he will guide the Servants he will keep the House he will preserve the Goods yea rather then it should be undone he wil wash the Dishes and rock the Cradle Cast therefore all your care upon God for he careth for you Besides this you may perceive by your imprisonment that your Adversaries weapons against you be nothing but flesh and blood and tyranny for if they were able they would maintain their Religion by Gods Word but for lack of that they would violently compel such as they cannot by holy Scripture perswade because the holy Word of God and all Christs doings be contrary unto them Ipray you pray for me and I will pray for you Fleet Jan. 24. 1555. In a Letter to certain of his Friends Pa. 156. Now is the time of trial to see
unto him But as Jerusalem stood in the way and was an impediment to the Wise men so doth the Synigogue of Antichrist that beareth the Name of Jerusalem i. e. the Vision of Peace and among the people now is called the Catholick Church standeth in the way that Pilgrims must go by through this world to Bethlem i. e. the house of bread or plentifulness is an impediment to all Christian Travellers yea and except the more grace of God be will keep the Pilgrim still in her that they shall not come where Christ is at all and to stay them indeed they take away the Star of Light which is Gods Word that it cannot be seen Ye may see what great dangers hapned unto these Wise men whilst they were learning of Lyars where Christ was 1 They were out of their way And 2 They lost their Guide and Conductor If we come into the Church of men and ask for Christ we go out of the way and lose also our Conductor and Guide that only leadeth us streight thither Sister take heed you shall in your journey towards Heaven meet with many a monstrous beast have salve therefore of Gods Word therefore ready you shall meet husbands children lovers and friends that shall if God be not with them be very le ts and impediments to your purpose You shall meet with slander and contempt of the world and be accounted ungracious and ungodly you shall hear and meet with cruel tyranny to do you all extremities you shall now and then see the troubles of your own conscience and feel your own weakness you shall hear that you be cursed by the sentence of the Catholik Church with such like terrours that pray to God and follow the Star of his Word and you shall arrive at the Port of Eternal Salvation by the merits onely of Jesus Christ Hudson When Thomas Hudson of Ailesham in Norfolk saw the Constable come to his house to apprenend him Fox Vol. 3 Pag. 869. he said Now mine hour is welcome friends welcome you be they that shall lead me to life in Christ I thank God therefore and the Lord enable me thereto for his mercies sake for his desire was and he ever prayed if it were the Lords will that he might suffer for the Gospel of Christ When Berry threatned him saying I will write to the Bishop my good Lord c. O Sir said he there is no Lord but God though there be many lords and many gods Wilt thou recant said Berry the Priest or no The Lord forbid said Hudson I had rather die many deaths then to do so When he came first to the Stake Pa. 870. he was very sad not for his death but for lack of feeling his Christ and therefore came from his Fellow-sufferers under the Chain and fell down upon his knees and prayed and at last he rose with great joy as a man new changed even from death to life and said Now I thank God I am strong and pass not what man can do unto me Hullier Mr. John Hullier Conduct in Kings Colledge at Camâ—ridge suffered martyrdome at Cambridge April 2. A. 1556. In his Letter to the Christian Congregation Fox Vol. 3. pag. 696. It standeth now most in hand O dear Christians all them that look to be accounted of Christs flock at the great and terrible day when a separation shall be made c. faithfully in this time of great affliction to hear our Master Christs voice the onely of true Shepherd of our souls who saith Mat. 24. Whosoever shall endure to the end shall be saved In this time we must needs either shew that we be his saithful Souldiers Ephes 6. and continue in his battel to the end putting on the Armour of God the buckler of Faith the breast-plate of Love the helmet of Hope and Salvation and the Sword of his Holy Word with all instance of supplication prayer or else if we do not work and labour with these we are Apostates and false Souldiers shrinking most unthankfully from our Gracious and Soveâ—reign Lord and Captain Christ and leaning to Belial for he saith plainly Whosoever beareth not my Cross and followeth me cannot be my Disciple Luke 14. and No man can serve two Masters for either he must hate the one and love the other Mat. 6. or else he shall lean to the one and despise the other Elias also said unto the people Why halt ye between two opinions 1 Kin. 18. If the Lord be God follow him or if Baal be he follow him If Christ be that onely good and true Shepherd that gave his life for us then let us that bear his mark and have our consciences sprinkled with his blood follow altogether for our salvation his heavenly voice and calling according to our profession and first promise If we shall not certainly say what we can though we bear the Name of Christ John 10. we are none of his Sheep indeed for he saith manifestly My sheep hear my voice and follow me A stranger they will not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of a stranger The craft and wiliness of our subtile enemy is manifold and divers and full of close windings At this present day if he cannot induce one throughly as others do to savour his devillish Religion of good will and free heart to help to uphold the same yet he will inveigle him to resort to his wicked and whorish School-house to keep company with his Congregation there and to hold his peace and say nothing whatsoever he think c. by that subtile means flattering him that he shall both save his life and also his goods and live in quiet But if we look well on Christs holy Will Testament we shall perceive that he came not to make any such peace upon Earth nor that he gave any such peace to his Disciples I leave peace with you saith he my peact I give you John 14.15 16. not as the world giveth it give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled and fearful These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye should have peace in the world ye shall have affliction but be of good cheer I have overcome the world Luke 14. The Servant is not greater then his Lord and Master if they have persecuted me they shall also persecute you If any man come to me and hateth not his father and mother c. yea and moreover his own life it is not possible for him to be my Disciple Blessed be ye that now weep for ye shall laugh and woe be unto you that now laugh Pa. 697. for ye shall mourn and weep He that will find his life shall lose it Therefore the God of that true peace comfort preserve us that we never obey such a false Flatterer who at length will pay us home once for all bringing for temporal peace and
quietness everlasting trouble c. for these vain and transitory goods extream loss of the eternal treasure and inheritance for this mortal life deprivation of the most joyful life immortal and endless death most miserable c. I judge it better to go to School with our Master Christ and to be under his Ferula and Rod although it seems sharp and grievous for a time that at length we may be inhetiters with him of everlasting joy rather then to keep company with the Devils Scholars the adulterous generation in his School that is all full of pleasure for a while and at the end to be payed with the wages of continual burning in the most horrible Lake which burneth evermore with fire and brimstone c. What doth he else I pray you that resorteth to the Ministration and Service that is most repugnant to Christs holy Testament there keeping still silence and nothing reproving the same but in the face of the world by his very deed it self declare himself to be of a false fearful dissembling feigned and unfaithful heart discouraging as much as lies in him all the residues of Christs Host giving a manifest offence unto the weak and also confirming encouraging and rejoycing the hearts of the adversaries in all their evil doing by which he shewed himself neither to love God whom he seeth to be dishonoured and blasphemed of an Antichristian Minister nor yet his neighbour before whom he should rebuke the evil according to the command Thou shalt not hate thy Neighbour Lev. 18.2 Tim. 1. but reprove him c. But God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love Be not ashamed to testifie our Lord but suffer adversity with the Gospel Mat. 10. through the power of God c. 1 Pet. 3. Fear not them that kill the body c. Fear not though they seem terrible unto you neither be troubled but sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts Only let your conversation be as becomes the Gospel Phil. 1. c. in nothing fearing your adversaries which is to them a token of damnation and to you of salvation and that of God for unto you it is given not only to believe in Christ but to suffer for his sake In the Revelation it is written That the fearful shall have their part with the Unbelieving and Abominable Rev. 21. in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Wide is the gate and broad is the way which leadeth to destruction Matt. 7. and many there be that go in thereat but strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Thus I wholly commit you to him Pa. 698. and to the Word of his grace which is able to build surther beseeching you most heartily to pray for me that I may be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and stand perfect in all things being always prepared and ready looking for the mercy of our Lord unto eternal rest and I will pray for you as I am most bound So I trust he will graciously hear us for his promise sake in Christ Your Christian Brother a Prisoner of the Lord John Hullier In another Letter to the Congregation of Christs faithful followers Most dear Christians having now the sweet comfort of Gods saving health and being confirmed with his free Spirit be he onely praised therefore I am constrained in my conscience to admonish you as ye tender the salvation of your souls by all manner of means to separate your selves from the Antichristian Company considering what is said in the Revelation If any man worship the Beast and his Image Revel 14 and receive his mark in the forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured into the cup of his wrath c. The Beast is none other but the carnal and fleshly Kingdome of Antichrist What do they else but worship this Beast and his Image who after they had escaped from the filthiness of the world 2 Pet. 2. through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are yet again tangled therein and overcome using dissimulation for fear of their displeasure doing one thing outwardly and thinking inwardly another So having them in reverence under a cloak and colour to whom they ought not so much as to say God speed Joh. Ep. 2 and adjoyning themselves to the Malignant Congregation which they ought to abhor as a Den of Thieves and Marderers and a Brothel-house of most blasphemous Fornicators But this feignedness and dissimulation Christ and his Gospel will no ways allow Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation Luke 9. of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father c. Cursed be the dissemblers c. Mal. 1. Heb. 6. Luke 6. Ye were once enlightned and tasted of the heavenly gift And no man that putteth his hand to the Plough and looketh back is apt for the Kingdome of God They went out from us but they were not of us 1 Joh. 2. for if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us Wherefore good Christians for Gods dear love deceive not your selves through your own wisdome 1 Cor. 3. and through the wisdome of the world which is falshood before God but certifie and stay your own consciences with the faithful Word of God Psa 145 Hebr. 3. c. Though Gods mercy is over all his works yet it doth not extend but onely to them that hold fast the considence and rejoycing of hope unto the end not being weary of well doing but rather every day waxing stronger and stronger in the inward man In the Revelation where it is entreated of the Beast and his Image it is said Rev. 13. Here is the sufferance of Saints and here are they that keep the Commandments and Faith of Jesus Christ intimating that God doth use those wicked men as instruments for a time to try the patience and faith of his peculiar people c. Peradventure you will say What shall we do shall we cast our selves head-long to death I say not so but this I say That we are all bound if ever we look to receive salvation at Gods hands in this case to be wholly obedient to his determinate counsel c. and then to cast all our care on him who worketh all in all for the best unto them that love him Now thus he commandeth Come away from her my people Rev. 18. that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Come out from among them Pa. 699. and joyn not your selves to their unlawful Assemblies yea do not once shew your selves with the least paâ— of your body to