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
with an holy scorn smiling at the threats of Tyrants who are the terrors of the mighty in the Land of the Living Wouldst thou see shackled Prisoners behave themselves like Judges and Judges stand like Prisoners before them Wouldst thou see some of the rare exploits of Faith in its highest elevation immediatly before it be swallowed up in the beatifical vision To conclude Wouldst thou see the heavenly Jerusalem pourtraied on Earth as the earthly Jerusalem once was upon a Tile Ezek. 4.1 And wouldst thou hear the melodious voices of ascending Saints in a ravishing consort ready to joyn with the heavenly Chorus in their ravishing Hallelujahs Then draw near come and see If thou be a man of an heavenly spirit here is brave suitable entertainment for thy spirit And after thou hast conversed a while with these excellent Spirits it may be thou wilt judge as I do That dead Saints are sweeter Companions in some respects for thee to converse with then those that are living And when thou shalt see the magnificent acts of their Faith their invincible patience their flaming love to Christ their strange contempt of the World their plainness and simplicity in the profession of the Gospel and their servent love to each other thou wilt mourn also with me to consider the scandalous and shameful relapse of Professors from these glorious heights and to think how many degrees these Graces are gone back in the souls of Professors as the Sun upon the Dial of Ahaz The Judicious Collector hath gathered this Posie from the Martyrs Graves bound up in an excellent method and presented it to thee Here thou hast the Cream of the larger Martyrologies scum'd off the very Spirits of them extracted which is more cheap and less tiresome He intends if God permit a Second Part speedily And I assure thee he is a Person singularly qualified for the Work having both Materials and Judgement to dispose his Collections Bless God for such profitable Instruments and improve their Labours Such a Book hath been long desired many have attempted it but every one hath not that Furniture of Books Parts for it Solomon detecting some of those artifices which the Buyer useth in Trading Prov. 20.14 detects this as one It is naught it is naught saith he Buyer i.e. he disparageth the Commodity to â—eat down the price but when he is gone he boasteth â— am mistaken if thou also do not boast of thy penny worth in this Book when thou art gone and hast well perused it that it may reach the end upon thy â—eart for which it is designed is the desire of thy â—riend to serve thee J. F. The Books Poetical Prologue I Tell their death's who dying made Death yield By Scriptures sword and Faith's unbattered shield Their number 's numberless who ran to dye Vnder their Saviours Standard valiantly More Saints ten Tyrant Emperours did slay Then for a year Five thousand to each day Since Jesuites from th' infernal Lake did rise More then Eight hundred thousand lost their lives In thirty years Bloody Duke d' Alva will'd In Six years Eighteen thousand to be kill'd In Henry 's and in Mary's Bloody Reign Eight thousand have inhumanely been slain Twelve thousand and seven hundred more were Stockt Or Whipt or Wrackt or else Exil'd or Mockt I only promise many a Swan-like Song Read them and beg of God with heart and tongue That as the Vine that 's cut and prun'd bears more In one year then it did in three before So may Christs Vine and may the Saints of God As Camomile grow better being trod And may Christs Sufferers in like cases find The living God as near as true as kind As these have found and learn sin more to fear Then parting with what er'e they count most dear Swan-like SONGS A. Adrian Ward 's life of faith in death pag. 160. ADrian's wife seeing the Coffin hooped with Iron wherein she was to be buried alive spake thus Have you provided this Pasty-crust to bake my flesh in Agnes Fax's Acts and Monuments c. Vel. 1.122 Agnes a Roman Martyr contemning all threats of tortures was assaulted as to her chastity To the lascivious Wretch she said Thou shalt willingly bathe thy sword in my blood if thou wilt but thou shalt not defile my body with filthy lust do what thou canst Hereupon his eyes were struck out by a flame of fire like unto a flash of lightning and upon her prayer he was restored to sight again When she saw a sturdy cruel fellow to behold approaching with a naked sword in his hand I am now glad said she and rejoyce more that such an one as thou a stout fierce strong and sturdy Souldier art come then if one more feeble weak and faint-hearted should come This even this is he I now confess that I do love I will make haste to meet him and will no longer protract my longing desire Albane Fox Vol. 1. pag. 114. Albane England's Proto-Martyr delivered up himself to the Souldiers instead of Amphibolus who had converted him to Christianity after he had fled to his house for refuge and being bound was carried before the Judge who at that time was sacrificing to his Idols The Judge perceiving the fraud told Albane Forasmuch as thou hadst rather convey away the Rebel and Traytor to our gods than deliver him up to the Souldiers that he might undergo due punishment for blaspheming our gods look what torments he should have suffered if he had been taken the same shalt thou suffer if thou refuse to practise the Rites of our Religion Albane notwithstanding his threats told him plainly to his face that he would not obey his command Then said the Judge of what House and Stock art thou Albane answered It matters not of what Stock I am but if thou desirest to know my Religion be it known unto thee I am a Christian c. Then the Judge demanded his name my Parents said he named me Albane and I honour and worship the true and living God that made all things of nothing The Judge told him If he would save his life he must come and sacrifice to their gods Albane answered The sacrifice that you offer to the Devil profits you nothing but rather purchaseth for you eternal pains and Hell fire The Judge commanded him to be beheaded The Executioner observing his faith and servent prayers fell down at his feet casting from him the sword desired rather to be executed for or with him than to do execution upon him yet afterwards another gave the fatal blow Alcock Constable Rolf John Alcocks Master having bail'd his Servant Fox Vol. 3.383 said unto him I am sorry for thee for truly the Parson will seek thy destruction Sir said Alcock I am sorry I am a trouble to you as for my self I am not sorry but I do commit my self into Gods hands and I trust he will give me a mouth and wisdom to answer according to
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
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
her to dâ—e for his Truth and to wear his Livery meaning the Haltar which the Hangman had put about her neck Then sitting down at Table to break her fast with the three other condemned Servants of Christ giving thanks to God she exhorted them to be of good courage and to trust unto the end in his free and onely mercy She then called for a clean linen Wastcoat making her self ready Ward pag. 151. as if she had been going to a Wedding Mr. Ward tells us that sâ—e put on her Bracelets for I go said she unto my Husband Being commanded as she was led to execution to take a Torch into her hand and to acknowledge she had offended God and the King Away away said she with it I have neither offended God nor the King according to your meaning nor in respect of the cause for which I suffer I am I confess a sinful woman but I need no such light for helping me to ask forgiveness of God for my sins past or present Use such things your selves who sit and walk in the darkness of ignorance and errour Then one of her Kinsfolks met her in the way presented to her view her little children praying her to have compassion on them I must needs tell you said she that I love my children dearly but yet neither for the love I bear to them or any thing else in this world will I renounce the Truth or my God who is and will be a Father unto them to provide better for them then I should have done and therefore to his providence and protection I commend and leave them When she saw the three men about to die silent and not to call on God she exhorted them thereto and gave them an example Glover Mr. Robert Glover in his Letter to his Wife hath many memorable passages Fox Vol. 3. pag. 422. the chief I shall collect I thank you heartily most loving Wife for your Letters sent to me in my imprisonment I read them with tears more than once or twice with tears I say for joy and gladness that God hath wrought in you so merciful a work 1 An unfeigned repentance 2 An humble and hearty reconciliation 3 A willing schmâ—ssion and obedâ—ence to the will of God in all things These your Letters and the hearing of your godly proceedings have much relieved and comforted me c. and shall be a goodly Testimony for you ar the great Day against many worldly and dainty Dâ—mes which set more by their own pleasure and praise in this world than by Gods Gâ—ory little regarding as it appeareth the everlasting health of their own souls or others So long as God shall lend you continuance in this miserable world above all things give your self continually to Prayer lifting up pure hands without anger wrath or doubting forgiving as Christ forgives And that we may be the better willing to forgive it is good often to call to remembrance the multitude greatness of our sins which Christ daily and hourly pardoneth and forgiveth us And because Gods Word teacheth us not onely the true manner of praying but also what we ought to do or not to do in the whole course of our life what pleaseth or displeaseth God Joh 12. and that as Christ saith The Word of God that he hath spoken shall judge us Let your Prayer be to this end especially that God of his great mercy would open and reveal more more daily to your heart the true sense knowledge and understanding of his mest holy Word and give you grace in your living to express the fruit thereof And forasmuch as Gods Word is as the Holy Ghost calleth it The Word of affliction 1 Cor. 1. i.e. it is seldome without hatred persecution peril danger of loss of goods and life c. Call upon God continually for his assistance casting your accounts what it is like to cost you endeavouring your self through the help of the Holy Ghost by continuance of prayer to lay your foundation so sure that no storm or tempest shall be able to overthrow it remembring alwayes as Christ saith Lots wife Luke 17. i. e. to beware of looking back to that thing that displeaseth God and nothing more displeaseth God than I dolatry that is false worshiping of God otherwise than his Word commandeth They object they be the Church c. My answer was The Church of God knoweth and acknowledgeth no other head but Jesus Christ the Son of God whom ye have refused and chosen the man of sin the Son of perdition enemy to Christ Pa. 423. the Devils Deputy and Lieutenant the Pope Christs Church heareth teacheth and is ruled by his Word John 1 as he saith My Sheep hear my voice If you abide in me and my Word abide in you you be my Disciples Their Church repelleth Gods Word forceth all men to follow their traditions Christs Church dares not add nor diminish alter or change his blessed Testament Acts 7. but they be not afraid to take away all that Christ instituted and go a whoring as the Scripture saith with their own inventions c. The Church of Christ is hath been and shall be in all ages under the Cross persecuted molested and afflicted the world ever hating them because they are not of the world but these persecute murther slay and kill such as profess the true doctrine of Christ be they in learning living conversation and other vertues never so excellent Christ and his Church referred the trial of their doctrine to the Word of God John 5. and gave the people leave to judge thereof by the same Word search the Scriptures But this Church taketh away the Word from the people and suffereth neither learned nor unlearned to examine or prove their doctrine by the Word of God The true Church of God laboureth by all means to resist and withstand the Iusts desires motions of the world the flesh the Devil these for the most part give themselves to all voluptuousness c. I likened them to Nimrod whom the Scripture calls a mighty Hunter telling them That that which they could not have by the Word they would have by the Sword and be the Church whether men will or no. Beware of such as shall advertise you something to bear with the world as they do for a season There is no dallying with Gods matters It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God Remember the Prophet Elias 1 Chr. 18 Luke 9. Why halt ye on both sides Remember what Christ saith He that putteth his hand to the Plough and looketh back is not worthy of me And seeing God hath hitherto allowed you as a good Souldier in the foreward play not the Coward neither draw back to the rere-ward Saint John numbreth among them that shall dwell in the fiery Lake such as be fearful in Gods Cause Set before your eyes alwayes the examples of such as have
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
whether we fear more God or man It was an easie thing to hold with Christ whilst the Prince and world held with him but now the world hateth him it is the true trial who be his Wherefore in the Name and in the Vertue Strength and Power of his holy Spirit prepare your selves in any case to adversity and constancy Let us not run away when it is most time to fight Remember none shall be crowned but such as fight manfully and he that endureth to the end shall be saved Ye must now turn all your cogitations from the peril you see and mark the felicity that followeth the peril either victory in this world of your enemies or else a surrender of this life to inherit the everlasting Kingdome Beware of beholding too much the felicity or misery of this world for the consideration and too earnest or love fear of either of them draweth from God Wherefore think with your selves as touching the felicity of the world it is good but yet none otherwise than it standeth with the favor of God It is to be kept but yet so far forth as by keeping of it we lose not God It is good abiding and tarrying still among our friends here but yet so that we tarry noâ— therewithal in Gods displeasare and hereafter dwell with the Devils in fire everlasting There is nothing under God but may be kept so that God being above all things we have be not lost Of adversity judge the same Imprisonment is painful but yet liberty upon evil conditions is more painful The Prisons stink but yet not so much as sweet Houses where the fear and true honour of God is lacking I must be alone and solitary It is better to be so and have God with me then to be in company with the wicked Loss of Goods is great but loss of Gods grace and favour is greater I am a poor simple creature and cannot tell how to answer before such a great sort of noble learned and wise men It is better to make answer before the pomp and pride of wicked men than to stand naked in the fight of all Heaven and Earth before the just God at the later day I shall die then by the hands of the cruel man He is blessed that loseth his life full of miseries and findeth the life of eternal joyes It is pain and grief to depart from Goods and Friends but yet not so much as to depart from grace and heaven it self Pa. 157. Wherefore there is neither felicity nor adversity of this world that can appear to be great if it be weighed with the joyes or pains in the world to come I can do no more but pray for you do the same for me for Gods sake For my part I thank the heavenly Father I have made mine accounts and appointed my self unto the will of the heavenly Father as he will so I will by his grace I am a precious jewel now and daintily kept never so daintily for neither mine own man nor any of the Servants of the House may come to me but my Keeper alone Jan. 23. 1555. In another Letter Pa. 158. The grace mercy and Peace of God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ be with you my dear Brethren and with all those that unfeignedly love and embrace his holy Gospel Amen We must give God thanks for the Truth he hath opened c. and pray unto him that we deny it not nor dishonour it with idolatry but that we may have strength and patience rather to die ten times over than to deny him once Blessed shall we be if ever God make us worthy of that honour to shed our blood for his Names sake and blessed then shall we think those Parents which brought us into this world that we should be carried from this mortality into immortality Col. 3. If we follow the command of Paul that saith If ye be risen with Christ seek these things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God we shall neither depart from the vain transitory goods of this world nor from this wretched and mortal life with so great pains as others do There is no better way to be used in this troublesome time for your consolation than many times to have Assemblies together of such men and women as be of your Religion in Christ and there to take and renew among your selves the truth of your Religion to see what ye be by the Word of God and to remember what ye were before ye came to the knowledge thereof to weigh and confer the dreams and false yes of the Preachers that now preach with the Word of God that retaineth all truth and by such talk and familiar resorting together ye shall the better find out all their lies that now go about to deceive you and also both know and love the Truth that God hath opened to us It is much requisite that the Members of Christ comfort one another make prayers together confer one with another so shall ye be stronger and Gods spirit shall not be absent from you but in the midst of you to teach you to comfort you to make you wise in all godly things patient in adversity and strong in persecution Ye see how the Congregation of the wicked by helping one another make their wicked Religion and themselves strong against Gods Truth and his people Ye may perceive by the life of our fore-fathers that Christs words In the world ye shall have trouble He that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution be true for none of all his before our time escaped trouble then shall ye perceive that it is but a folly for one that professeth Christ truly to look for the love of the world Ye be no better than your fore-fathers Be glad that ye may be counted worthy Souldiers for this War and pray to God when ye come together that he will use and order you and your doings 1 That ye glorifie God 2 That ye edifie the Church and Congregation 3 That ye profit your own souls In all our doings beware ye be not deceived for although this time be not yet so bloody and tyrannous as the time of our fore-fathers that could not bear the Name of Christ without danger of life and goods yet is our time more perillous for soul and body Therefore of us Christ said Luke 18. Think ye when the Son of man cometh he shall find faith upon the earth He speaks not of being christened and in name a Christian but of saving Faith and doubtless the scarcity of Faith is now more and will I fear increase than it was in the time of the greatest Tyrants that ever were In Rev. 6. ye may perceive that at the opening of the fourth Seal came our a pale Horse and he that sate upon him was called Death and Hell followed him This Horse is the time when Hypocrites and Dissemblers entred into the Church under
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
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
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